CV
CONTACT DETAILS
Dr Tama Leaver
Communication Studies (M202)
University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway
Crawley WA 6009 Australia
Ph: ( +61 8 ) 6488 2104
email: tama.leaver@uwa.edu.au
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
PhD in English, Communication and Cultural Studies
University of Western Australia
Thesis Title: Artificialities: From Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Culture - Subjectivity, Embodiment and Technology in Contemporary Speculative Texts
2001-2006
Bachelor of Arts Degree with First Class Honours in English
University of Western Australia
1995-2000
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Lecturer
Communication Studies, University of Western Australia
2008-
Associate Lecturer (Higher Education Development)
Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
University of Western Australia
2006-2007
Associate Lecturer
English, Communication and Cultural Studies
University of Western Australia
2004-2005
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
REFEREED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
‘Watching Battlestar Galactica in Australia and the Tyranny of Digital Distance’, Media International Australia, 126, February 2008, pp. 145-154. [Postprint PDF]
“‘Humanity’s Children:’ Constructing and Confronting the Cylons” in Tiffany Potter and C.W. Marshall, eds, Cylons in America: Critical Studies of Battlestar Galactica, New York: Continuum, 2008, pp. 131-142.
“The Blogging of Everyday Life”, Reconstruction, 6, 4,2006, http://reconstruction.eserver.org/064/leaver.shtml
[’Theories/Practices of Blogging’ special issue].[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Iatrogenic Permutations: From Digital Genesis to the Artificial Other’, Comparative Literature Studies, 41, 3, 2004, pp. 424-435, http://muse.uq.edu.au/journals/comparative_literature_studies/v041/41.3leaver.pdf [’Cybernetic Readings’ special issue, edited by N. Katherine Hayles].[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘‘The Infinite Plasticity of the Digital’: Posthuman Possibilities,Embodiment and Technology in William Gibson’s Interstitial Trilogy’, Reconstruction, 4, 3, 2004, http://reconstruction.eserver.org/043/leaver.htm [’Posthumanous’ special issue].[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Rationality, Representation and the Holocaust in Life is Beautiful”,Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 10, 2004, pp. 70-80, http://limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/past_volumes/volumes_610/volume_10?f=73872. [Archive Copy - PDF]
‘WebCT: Will the future of online education be user friendly?’, FibrecultureJournal, 1.2, 2003, http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue2/issue2_leaver.html. [Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Interstitial Spaces and Multiple Histories in William Gibson’s VirtualLight, Idoru and All Tomorrow’s Parties‘, Limina: A Journal
of Historical and Cultural Studies, 9, 2003, pp. 118-130, http://limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/past_volumes/volumes_610/volume_9?f=73863.
[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘”Your appeal to my humanity is pointless”: The Borg and RadicalPerformativity in Star Trek‘, Outskirts: Feminisms Along the Edge,9 , May/August 2002, http://www.chloe.uwa.edu.au/outskirts/archive/volume9/leaver. [Reprinted by request in Fables and Reflections, 4, April 2003, pp. 68-76] [Archive Copy - PDF]
‘The Discovery of HAL’s Body: Representations of Artificial Intelligence and Embodiment in Science Fiction Cinema’ in Undisciplined Thoughts, Eds Penny O’Connor and Jane Scott, Perth: Black Swan Press, 2002, pp. 15-22.
INTERVIEWS
‘Post-Poster-the-historian and other Historical Questions: An Interview with Mark Poster’, co-conducted with Kate Riley, Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 11, 2005, pp. 1-6, http://limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/90432/interview_poster.pdf [Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Gorilla Tactics: Interviewing Joe Boughton-Dent regarding Donkey John and Political Simulation Games in Australia’, M/C Reviews: ‘Protest’, November 2004, http://reviews.media-culture.org.au/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1899.[Archive Copy - PDF] [Full version of the interview is at http://ponderance.blogspot.com/2004/10/joe-boughton-dent-donkey-john-and-role.html.]
BOOK REVIEWS & REVIEW ARTICLES
‘Book Review: Axel Bruns and Joanne Jacobs, eds, Uses of Blogs,’ Resource Centre for Cybercultural Studies, February 2008, http://rccs.usfca.edu/bookinfo.asp?ReviewID=479&BookID=366.
‘Book Review: Brian Fitzgerald (ed.), Open Content Licensing: Cultivating the Creative Commons’, CATLyst, 1, May 2007, pp. 33, http://www.catl.uwa.edu.au/CATLyst/current/1/book_review.
‘Book Review: Viviane Serfaty’s The Mirror and the Veil: An Overview of American Online Diaries and Blogs‘, Resource Centre for Cybercultural Studies, November 2006, http://rccs.usfca.edu/bookinfo.asp?ReviewID=434&BookID=304.
‘Review Article: Mark J.P Wolf and Bernard Perron (eds), The Video Game Theory Reader; Sarah Kember, Cyberfeminism and Artificial Life; and Lisa Nakamura, Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet‘, Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 10, 2004, pp. 21-130, http://limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/past_volumes/volumes_610/volume_10?f=74588.[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Book Review: Dan Harries’ (ed.) The New Media Book‘, Metro,140, Autumn 2004, pp. 168-170, http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=12875948&db=a0h.[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Book Review: William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition‘, Resource Centre for Cybercultural Studies, October 2003, http://rccs.usfca.edu/bookinfo.asp?ReviewID=249&BookID=210.
‘Book Review: Kim Newman’s (ed.) Science Fiction/Horror‘, Metro, 137, Summer 2003, pp. 175-177, http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=10005258&db=a0h.[Archive Copy - PDF]
‘Book Review: David Bell’s An Introduction to Cybercultures‘, Resource Centre for Cybercultural Studies, January 2003, http://rccs.usfca.edu/bookinfo.asp?ReviewID=222&BookID=187.
‘Book Review: Greg Egan’s Schild’s Ladder‘, Science Fiction: A Review of Speculative Literature, 44, 2002, pp. 58-59.
‘Book Review: David Trend (ed.), Reading Digital Culture‘, Limina:A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 8, 2002, pp. 180-182, http://limina.arts.uwa.edu.au/past_volumes/volumes_610/volume_8?f=74573.[Archive Copy - PDF]
OTHER NOTABLE (Non-Refereed) WRITING & PUBLICATIONS
‘A broad band of ideas: Web 2.0 @ The Learning Futures Symposium’, Screen Education, 48, Summer 2008, pp. 74-77.
‘The Haunting of Spiders, Cities and DVDs’, In Media Res, 21 June 2007, http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/videos/2007/06/21/
the-haunting-of-spiders-cities-and-dvds/
‘Matrices of Embodiment: Bodies, Gender and The Matrix‘, Borderlands, 2, August 2003, pp. 43-55.[Winner of a 2004 Western Australia Science Fiction Foundation ‘Tin Duck’ Award]
‘A Midsummer Night’s Comic’, Fables and Reflections, 1, November 2001, pp. 55-60.
‘Post-Humanism and Ecocide in William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner‘, The Cyberpunk Project, 1997, http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/post-humanism_and_ecocide.html.(Italian translation: ‘Post-Umanità ed Ecocidio in Neuromante di William Gibson e in Blade Runner di Ridley Scott’, Intercom:Science Fiction Station, 1997, http://www.intercom.publinet.it/BR5.htm.)
CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
‘Putting windows in the ivory tower: Challenges and changes to university practice in the face of Web 2.0 tool use by students‘ paper presented at The Teaching and Learning Forum, Curtin University, January 2008.
‘“We’re sorry, but the clip you selected isn’t available from your location:” Watching Battlestar Galactica in Australia and the Tyranny of Digital Distance’ presented at the Thinking Society, Thinking Culture Symposium, Perth, September 2007.
‘Student Podcasting and “Participatory Pedagogies”‘, presented at the NMC (New Media Consortium) Online Conference on The Impact of Digital Media,Online, October 2006.
‘iPodium:Student Podcasting and Participatory Pedagogies‘, paper presented at the 7th Annual Association of Internet Researchers Association Conference (Internet Research 7.0: Internet Convergences), Brisbane, September 2006. [Abstract,Powerpoint Slides and mp3 recording here.]
‘iTeach, iLearn: Student Podcasting‘ paper presented at The Teaching and Learning Forum, University of Western Australia, February
2006, [Powerpoint Slides, Mp3 Recording and Notes Online]
‘Blog This! Weblogs, Critical Thinking and Peer to Peer Learning‘ paper presented at The Teaching and Learning
Forum, Murdoch University, February 2005.
‘The Blogging of Everyday Life’ paper presented at the Cultural Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) Conference (’Everyday Transformations: The Twenty-First Century Quotidian’ theme), Murdoch University, December 2004.
‘Artificial Mo(u)rning: Special Effects, Spider-Man and September 11th’ paper given at the English, Communication and Cultural Studies Works-in-Progress Seminar Series, October 2004.
‘Spider-Man and September 11th’, draft paper given at the ‘Media Cultures’ postgraduate seminar series chaired by Mark
Poster at the Institute for Advanced Studies, 2nd September 2004.
‘Iatrogenic Permutations: From Digital Genesis to the Artificial Other’ expanded paper given at the English, Communication and Cultural Studies Works-in-Progress Seminar Series, June 2003.
‘Iatrogenic Permutations: From Digital Genesis to the Artificial Other’ paper given at the American Comparative Literature Association Conference, April 2003 in San Diego (’Cybernetic Readings’ panel chaired by N. Katherine Hayles).
‘WebCT: Will the future of online education be user friendly?’ paper given at the Teaching and Learning Forum, Edith Cowan Joondalup, February 2003.
“The Discovery of HAL’s Body: Representations of Artificial Intelligence and Embodiment in Science Fiction Cinema” given at the Undisciplined
Thoughts conference, Curtin University, November 2001.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
(All teaching unless otherwise noted occurred at The University of Western Australia).
UNITS/PROGRAMMES TAUGHT
Foundations of University Teaching and Learning. Semesters 1 & 2, 2006; 2007 [Co-coordinated with Dr Allan Goody]
Postgraduate Teaching Internship Scheme. 2006; 2007. [Co-coordinated with Dr Allan Goody]
Introduction to University Teaching, Semesters 1 & 2, 2006; 2007. [Coordinator]
iGeneration: Digital Media & Participatory Culture. Special Course for the Honours in Communication Studies Programme. Semester 2, 2005 [Course Coordinator].
[Course syllabus and blog: http://i-generation.blogspot.com/.]
Digital Media. Communication Studies 203. Semester One, 2005. [Tutor & Lecturer] (Teaching duties were mainly on the Nedlands campus, but also included giving lectures and tutorials in Hong Kong for as part of UWA’s external BA(Communication Studies) programme run through Hong Kong University: Space in the Centre for International Degree Programmes.)
Sex, Bodies, Spaces: Gender and Pop Culture. Women’s Studies & English, Communication and Cultural Studies. [Women’s Studies 201], Semester One, 2005. [Tutor & Lecturer] (Teaching duties were mainly on the Nedlands campus, but also included giving lectures and tutorials in Hong Kong for as part of UWA’s external BA(Communication Studies) programme run through Hong Kong University: Space in the Centre
for International Degree Programmes.)
Self.Net: Communicating Identity in the Digital Age. Women’s Studies & English, Communication and Cultural Studies, [English 252/Women’s Studies 205] , Semester 2, 2004. [Course Coordinator]
SmARTS Programme [Cultural Studies, Research Skills and Project Management programme for Year 11 students, run through English, Communication & Cultural Studies using both online and face-to-face teaching], 2004. [Tutor]
Reading The Body. Women’s Studies & English, Communication and Cultural Studies, [Honours Unit], Semester Two, 2003. [Guest seminar on ‘Twenty-first century bodies’]
Reading Texts, Mediating Culture. English, Communication and Cultural Studies, [English 218/318], Semester Two, 2003. [Tutor]
Reading Theory. English, Communication and Cultural Studies, [English 291/391], Semester Two, 2002. [Tutor]
Sex, Bodies, Spaces: Masculinity and Femininity in Contemporary Culture. Women’s Studies & English, Communication and Cultural Studies, [English 289/398], Semester One, 2002. [Tutor]
GUEST LECTURES
‘Media(ted) Masculinities’ for Sex, Bodies, Spaces: Gender and Pop Culture, Semester One, 2007.
‘Metropolis‘ for Ecotexts: Nature/Writing/Technology, Semester One, 2007.
‘Blade Runner’ for Ecotexts: Nature/Writing/Technology, Semester One, 2007.
‘Web 2.0′ for Enviroment and Technology in Australia [History 2214], Semester Two, 2006.
‘Playing Games, Sim(ulating) Worlds and Having Divine Powers’ for Self.Net: Identity in the Digital Age [WOMN2205], Semester One, 2006; repeated Semester Two, 2006.
‘Online Communities’ for Self.Net: Identity in the Digital Age [WOMN2205], Semester One, 2006.
‘Resistance is Fertile’ for Self.Net: Identity in the Digital Age [WOMN2205], Semester One, 2006.
‘The Wired Everyday: Weblogs’ for Self.Net: Identity in the Digital Age [WOMN2205], Semester One, 2006; repeated Semester Two, 2006.
‘Sergei Eisenstein and the Film(ing) of History’ for Modernity’s crisis, 1914 and all that… [History 121], Semester One, 2004.
‘Electronic Selves, Digital Culture’ for Screen Cultures/Print Cultures [English 112], Semester One, 2004.
‘Buffy: Reading the Vampire Slayer’ for Screen Cultures/Print Cultures [English 112], Semester One, 2004.
‘Fan Culture, Media Citizen’, for Screen Cultures/Print Cultures [English 112], Semester One, 2003; repeated Semester One, 2004.
‘Jacking in to Virtualities’ for Reading Theory [English 291/391], Semester Two, 2002.
‘Gender in Cyberspace: A Binary Problem?’ for Sex, Bodies, Spaces [English 289/398], Semester One, 2002.
GUEST WORKSHOPS
‘The Future(s) of Reproduction in Science Fiction Cinema’ for Sex, Bodies, Spaces [English 289/389], Semester One, 2002 and repeated Semester One, 2003.
PUBLIC TALKS, INVITED PRESENTATIONS AND PARTICIPATION IN POPULAR MEDIA
Interviewed by Nat Jones on RTR FM Radio’s ‘Morning Magazine’, RTR FM (92.1), 9.10am, 17 March 2008. (Talking about social software use by the Australian Defence Force).
Invited presentation: ‘Building an Online Presence During Candidature’ for Research Careers Week held by the Postgraduate Students’ Organisation, University of Western Australia, September 2007. [Talk recording available here.]
Interviewed for: Kerr, Sheryl-Lee, ‘Celebs in Cyberspace’ Sunday Times, STM Magazine, September 2 2007, p. 21. [PDF Copy Here]
Invited presentation: ‘MySpace is better than Yours: Promoting your arts on the internet’ for the PropelArts Forum, PropelArts –Youth Arts WA, August 2007.
Interviewed by Laura Miller on RTR FM’s ‘Morning Magazine’, RTR FM (92.1), 10.15am, 31 July 2007. (Talking about Facebook, MySpace, class and Australian politics; listen to the mp3).
Interviewed for: Ho, Evana. ‘Tête à tête by net or Twitter over the ether’, The West Australian, 16 May 2007, p. 50. (Scanned image of article here: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/501699745_b7c0a15b11_o.jpg).
Interviewed for: Schaer, Cathrin, ‘A Life Less Ordinary,’ Vogue Australia, May 2007, pp. 198-201.
Interviewed for: Waters, Sue, ‘Using Social Software with Students’ and ‘How Universities are using Lectopia to podcast lectures’, Mobile Technology in TAFE Podcast, March 2007, http://tinyurl.com/38h6g2 and http://tinyurl.com/3cyux6.
Seminar entitled ‘Podcasting 101′ delivered for staff at the Film and Television Institute of Western Australia on Thursday, 12th October,
2006.
Interviewed for: Kempshall, Pete, ‘Space Age’, Sunday Times, STM Magazine, August 27 2006, pp. 12-15. [PDF Copy Here]
Invited panel discussion on “Understanding Cross Platform and New Media” at the Film and Television Institute of Western Australia on Thursday, 30th March 2006.
Invited public lecture on ‘Terminal Masculinities: Bodies, Subjects & Machines in the Terminator Trilogy’ given at the Lawrence
Wilson Art Gallery as part of the Crash (and other Earthly pleasures) exhibition, 3rd March 2006. [PDF of Talk Abstract Here]
Interviewed for: Kerr, Sheryl-Lee, Kathryn Shine and Gail Williams, ‘Joining Forces’ Sunday Times, STM Magazine, February 19 2006, pp. 12-15. [PDF (pp. 12-13) and PDF (pp. 14-15)]
Interviewed for: Hutchinson, Jane and Sheryl-Lee Kerr, “The eye generation”, Sunday Times, STM Magazine, 30 October 2005, pp. 12-15. [PDF Copy Here]
Interviewed for: Hotz, Robert Lee, “Camera Phones Give Flashers Unexpected Exposure”, LA Times, September, 6, 2005, simultaneously cross-published in the Chicago Tribune and Sun Sentinel. [Text copy here.]
Profiled in: Kidman, Angus, “Pondering a Journey of 100,000 Words”, The Australian, “IT Alive” Liftout, 12 July 2005, p. 5, (Scanned image of the article here: http://photos22.flickr.com/25386949_8658763197_o.jpg).
Interviewed for: McConnachie, Dahna. “Blogging at the end of the earth”, PC World, 14, October 2004, http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;715547121;fp;2;fpid;1,
simultaneously cross-published in ComputerWorld: The Voice of IT Management and LinuxWorld.Com.Au.
Interviewed on RTRFM Radio’s (92.1 FM) ‘Morning Magazine’ program by Ian Dawson regarding weblogs on
27 October 2004 (an mp3 recording of the interview is available here: http://www.archive.org/download/Morning_Magazine_BlogNite/rtr.mp3,which was recorded between 11.30am and 12pm).
Invited public talk on ‘Blogging Universities’ delivered at BlogNite:Blogging at the end of the Earth, Curtin University, 27 October 2004.
[The text of my talk can be read at http://ponderance.blogspot.com/2004/10/blogging-universities.html.]
GRANTS, AWARDS & PRIZES
Excellence in Teaching Award: Early Career Teacher
(awarded by the University of Western Australia) [2005]
WASFF (’Tin Duck’) Award for Best Professional Short Work (awarded by the Western Australian Science Fiction Foundation) [2004]
FAHSS Dean’s Postgraduate Award
(awarded by the Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the Universityof Western Australia) [2003]
ACLA: Postgraduate Travel Award
(awarded by the American Comparative Literature Association) [2003]
UWA Teaching Internship
(awarded by the University of Western Australia) [2002]
Top Postgraduate Prize
(in recognition of commitment to and support of Postgraduate Students, awarded
by the University of Western Australia’s Postgraduate Students’ Association)[2001]
Matilda Award for Cultural Excellence
(Awarded to the postgraduate-run journal Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies of which I was an editorial member when the awardwas granted) [2001]
Australian Postgraduate Award
(Scholarship) [2001 - 2004]
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND RELATED EXPERIENCE
Referee reports on articles for Outskirts, New Talents 21C, Philament: A Postgraduate Journal of the Arts and AJETS (Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society).
Manuscript Review for Polity Press (Digital Media and Society series). [2007]
Advisory/Review Panel for perthDAC 2007 - The Future of Digital Media Culture, 7th International Digital
Arts and Culture Conference, 15 -18th September 2007, Perth, Australia.
Organising Committee for the 2007 Teaching and Learning Forum, Perth, Australia, January 30-3st 2007.
Advisory panel for the Joint International Conference on CyberGames and Interactive Entertainment 2006
(CGIE2006), “game-art-interface” special session, 4-6 December 2006.
Research Assistant to Associate Professor Jane Long (English, Communication and Cultural Studies/Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Western Australia) preparing material for the unit Self.Net: Communicating Identity in the Digital Age [July 2003 - June 2004]
Reviews Editor for Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies [2003 - 2004]
Research Assistant for the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science internal report submitted for the Australian Universities Quality Audit (AUQA) [September - December 2002]
Editor of the English, Communication and Cultural Studies Postgraduate Newsletter [2002]
Web Editor of Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies [2002 - 2004]
Arts Faculty Representative - University of Western Australia’s Postgraduate Student’s Association (PSA) [2001]
Member of the Editorial Collective for Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies [2001 - 2004]
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
The Association of Internet Researchers <http://aoir.org/>
Cultural Studies Association of Australasia <http://csaa.asn.au/>
RELATED COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
Teaching Internship (including the UWA Foundations of Teaching and Learning Course)
Centre for Staff Development, UWA. [2002]
Certificate Course in Research Skills and Strategies
Centre for Student Learning and Research Skills, UWA. [2001 ]
ACADEMIC REFEREES
Professor Mark Poster
Professor of History and Film & Media Studies
University of California, Irvine
230 Murray Krieger Hall
Irvine, CA 92697-3275 USA
Phone: (+1) (949) 824 6338
Email: poster@uci.edu
Associate Professor Jane Long
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
University of Western Australia
M466, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009
Phone: (+61) (8) 6488 2077
Email: jelong@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Professor Ian Saunders
Head of School
School of Social and Cultural Studies
The University of Western Australia
M257, Crawley WA 6009
Phone: (+61) (8) 6488 7248
Email: ians@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
