About
At present I’m a lecturer in Communication Studies at the University of Western Australia with a strong interest in digital culture, from the changing landscapes of commercial media in the face of participatory culture, to the role of social software in education and everyday life. I have a background in cultural studies, film studies, digital media and comparative literature, and gained my PhD in English, Communication & Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia for a thesis entitled “Artificialities: From Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Culture - Subjectivity, Embodiment and Technology in Contemporary Speculative Texts.” My research record and other information is available in my Curriculum Vitae, and for more detailed information about my research, click here.
Present Position
Presently I’m employed as a Lecturer in Communication Studies at the University of Western Australia. I teach a number of courses, including the upper level unit Digital Media (Comm2203) as well as Honours units such as iGeneration: Digital Communication and Participatory Culture; you can read my about my teaching here. I have relatively broad research interests which I approach mainly from a cultural studies perspective.
My most recent previous position was with the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning which entailed coordinating a number of key training initiatives for postgraduates and early career academics, especially the Foundations of University Teaching and Learning unit, the Postgradute Teaching Internship Scheme and the smaller-scale Introduction to University Teaching.
My Blogs & Blog History
This website includes my main blog, which began in March 2007. From May 2003 until March 2007 I primarily blogged at Ponderance, the archives of which remain online as long a Google continue to support static blogs. Since late 2005 I’ve also written my rather unimaginateively titled Tama’s eLearning Blog which focuses on various online tools (often those located within the ‘web2.0′ set, but no exclusively) which can enhance learning experiences (this blog is updated sporadically). Also, as part of MyResearchSpace, which is a social software hub for UWA’s graduate researchers, I write Tama Talks Blogs which focuses on aspects of blogging relevant to this community. Finally, In May 2007 I contributed to the UWA group blog ‘Blogs: The New University Workspace?‘ which examined the role of blogs as part of teaching and learning.
Archive
As of September 2007, this blog is being archived by the National Library of Australia and can thus be found in Pandora - Australia’s Web Archive.
Comment Policy
Meaningful comments are encouraged. Posting comments using a real name and with a link back to a real website are encouraged, but not necessary. Conversation, community and criticism are valued here. Debate is also welcome - arbitrary rudeness is not. As the blog owner and author, I maintain the right to delete comments which I deem to be rude and outside of meaningful conversation (I vastly prefer not to delete comments, but retain that right).
Also, this blog is protected by spam filters which means there many be a delay between comments being posted and them appearing in the blog. If a genuine comment has not appeared within a couple of days, please email me and I’ll check if it’s stuck in a spam folder.
Since this blog is archived in various places, including the National Library of Australia, the act of posting comments here gives the right for those comments to be archived.
Colophon
I currently live and work in Perth, Western Australia. In June 2007, I married the love of my life, Emily. Beyond my academic interests, I also dabble in photography (in a fairly amateur sense) and have a number of photos on Flickr.
