Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Artistic research has sought to gain academic legitimacy through adapting to scientific methods, while also retaining the mandate of the humanities in the reproduction of culture. In both cases, Western epistemologies have structured what constitutes knowledge and how it is circulated and shared. The contemporary university is far more connected to its local environment, bringing the potential of engaging broad publics in the life of the institution. Innovation and experimentation with local artistic forms is one way that artistic research can powerfully animate the 21st century university mission in the Asia Pacific.

This paper argues that class analysis contains important tools for understanding contemporary socio-economic inequality in the new media environment. For research seeking to promote the reduction of inequality, the Marxian class analytical tradition has two important features: (1) it
identifies collectively-held interests in contrast to the methodological individualism of neo-classical economics, thus providing a basis for political action; and (2) it understands those interests as relational and socially constituted, and therefore processual and able to be changed. Class
analysis has declined in effectiveness due to its failure to respond to critiques emanating from identity-based new social movements (e.g. feminism, anti-racism, etc.). These critiques have required universalist social theory such as classical Marxism to reflexively understand its cultural
and historical specificity. I argue that such an understanding is becoming possible through analysis of the role of information in the economy. The evidence suggests that the economy is fundamentally a cultural/informational entity, rather than a base for a cultural/ideological superstructure.
The paper sketches a revised class theory from a cultural perspective to yield a class analytical framework that will be useful for those excluded from the dominant networks of economic and cultural exchange.

Australia is currently rolling out one of the most expensive and ambitious infrastructure projects in the nation's history. The National Broadband Network is promoted as a catalyst for far-reaching changes in Australia's economy, governmental service provision, society and culture. However, it is evident that desired dividends, such as greater social engagement, enhanced cultural awareness and increased civic and political participation, do not flow automatically from mere technical connection to the network. This article argues that public institutions play a vital role in redistributing technological capacity to enable emerging forms of social and cultural participation. In particular, we examine public libraries as significant but often overlooked sites in the evolving dynamic between digital technology, new cultural practices and social relations. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork across the public library network of the state of Queensland, we attend to the strategies and approaches libraries are adopting in response to a digital culture.