Learning fast: broadband and the future of education

Educational institutions have always had a central place in the online age. Before the advent of high-speed broadband, other communications technologies and services also played a big role in education.  University researchers were among the first Australian users of what became known as the Internet. When the domain name system was deployed in the mid-1980s, the .au domain was delegated to Robert Elz at the University of Melbourne. When the Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee decided to set up a national communications network to support research, Geoff Huston transferred to its payroll from ANU to work as technical manager for AARNet, whose current chief executive, Chris Hancock, is interviewed by Liz Fell in this issue. When a 56 kbps ARPANET link with Australia was made by NASA and the University of Hawaii via Intelsat in June 1989, the connection was established in Elz’s University of Melbourne laboratory. (Clarke 2004: 31) In earlier times, the postal service made learning-at-a-distance possible by ‘correspondence’, particularly in remote areas of Australia. Advances in radio communications made it easier and the interactivity more immediate. Television sets and later video cassette and DVD players and recorders made it more visual. The telephone provided a tool of communication for teachers and learners; the best of them understood that most people were both at different times. Then simple low bandwidth tools like email and web browsing provided new ways for students, teachers and their institutions to communicate and distribute and share information. Learning management systems like Blackboard have been widely deployed through the education sector. Information that was once housed in libraries is now available online and social media platforms are providing new ways for students to collaborate. Ubiquitous, faster broadband and mobile access via smartphones and tablets promise further transformations. &nbsp

Radio's digital challengers

This article describes the early decisions taken about digital radio in Australia in the 1990s, the second round of decisions implemented in legislation in 2007 and subsequent developments, the state of digital terrestrial radio in what is generally to be considered its most successful market, the United Kingdom, and the challenges facing digital radio when it is introduced in Australia in 2009

Wireless politics II

Broadband was one of the few issues that deeply divided the major parties in the August 2010 federal election. Labor and the Coalition disagreed about how big the problem was, what was needed to fix it, and how much should be spent. Strikingly, their positions cleaved down an old fault-line. Labor planned much more wire; the Coalition emphasised a bigger role for wireless. This article examines the background to this conflict and the arguments presented in support of the Labor Governments heavy investment in fixed line infrastructure. It then indulges in a thought experiment to argue the opposite case that mobile access networks will dominate in the future so as to undermine the rationale for subsidising (not for building without subsidy if commercial investors choose to do so) some or all of the FTTP NBN. It concludes that a Government planning the biggest intervention in Australian infrastructure history might find itself with rather more competition from wireless access networks and rather less interdependence and symbiosis between wire and wireless than it hopes

Language learning journal : the official journal of the Association for Language Learning

Ernest Fisk was the dominant figure in early wireless in Australia. He headed Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia), AWA, 1917–44, and was managing director of Electric and Musical Industries (EMI) in London, 1945–51. Arriving in Australia in 1911 at a critical moment in wireless development, Fisk became the main local representative for an industry that was born global. He was not, however, the first, as is often claimed. This article examines his predecessors, whose failures tell a good deal about Fisk's strengths, the good fortune of his timing and the business strategies of early multinational wireless companies

Making media policy: looking forward, looking back

Seeking papers for the media stream at the conference and articles for this issue of Media International Australia, our aim was to examine contemporary media policy issues that benefited from some kind of historical analysis. Rather than starting with history, confident that it served up powerful and useful lessons, the idea was to begin with the current policy challenges and see whether history helped. Unsurprisingly, most authors found it did---though not always, and for different reasons

Book review: 'Hector', by Rozzi Bazzani

Jock Given reviews 'Hector' by Rozzi Bazzani, Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2015