AUSTRALIANAPPRENTICE OF THE YEAR

VIVA MEXICO

MUSCLE MANIFESTO

HIGH IN THE SKY

PRACTICAL DISASTER

Issue 6 Summer 2006www.vu.edu.au

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4 VC welcome2006 has been an exceptional

year for VU. The Vice-Chancellor

writes about new plans which will

shape the University’s future.

4 In briefA new multimedia facility, the

opening of a $1.8 million youth

hub, and a champion chef are just

three of the in brief stories in this

issue.

8 Practical disasterThe skills of two trainee

paramedics are put to the test

during a virtual medical emergency

on the St Albans Campus.

10 Multicultural mediaMultimedia students have created

a DVD offering practical advice to

job seekers in the western suburbs.

15 Tokyo todaiProfessor Les Terry looks back at a

year teaching at the University of

Tokyo as Chair/Visiting Professor

of Australian Studies.

16 Reclaiming waterAs Australia faces its worst

drought on record, researchers are

examining water’s next frontier –

recycling – to combat the country’s

worsening water shortage.

18 Know fearMartin Fluker knows the dangers of

adventure sports, which is why he’s

writing his thesis on what motivates

people to do them.

19 Online crime Online auction fraud is big and

growing, but consumer awareness

is lagging. A new report examines

the experiences of Australian

consumers at online auctions.

25 Health competenceThe Institute for Health and

Diversity is addressing the impact

that social and cultural diversity is

having on the health of western

region communities.

26 High as the skyTwo Tourism Management students

are fl ying high following a Co-op

year at Los Angeles International

Airport.

28 Executive resourceHelena Steel has spent 20 years in

Human Resources. At the top of her

game, she has come back to VU to

share what she’s learnt.

29 Project reputationMichael Jackson has ‘built’

some of Melbourne’s fi nest

buildings. He’s now back at VU

to deliver a master-class in project

management.

Jac Boyle spent 2006 as an exchange student in Mexico. Living in a remote village, she taught English and lived on less than $20 a week. In a two-page feature, she tells her incredible story.

20CONTENTS

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11 Muscle manifestoFootball expert Nathan Buckley

has published a new book on

weight training, and it’s already

having an impact on the Magpies.

12 Building a countryStudent Ismenio Martins da Silva

refl ects on his time in East Timor

and explains how VU’s scholarship

program will help with future work.

14 Animal attractionGreg Gordon teaches students

at VU’s Werribee Campus to be

animal technicians – the often

misunderstood job of caring for

animals used in research.

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY CONNECTIONSPUBLISHER

Marketing and Communications Dept.Victoria University, AustraliaPO Box 14428Melbourne VIC 8001, Australia© Victoria University

20 Viva MexicoExchange student Jac Boyle has

kept a diary of her adventures

while living in a remote Mexican

village. She teaches English,

carpentry and massage.

23 WinnerKevin Baker has been crowned

Australian Apprentice of the Year

2006. We take a look at his rise

to the top.

24 Legendary lettersThe University received letters,

emails and phone calls expressing

gratitude and thanks following its

90th year celebrations. Here are

some extracts.

CONTACT US

Phil Kofoed – Managing EditorPHONE: +61 3 9919 4956EMAIL: publications@vu.edu.auwww.vu.edu.au

CONCEPT DESIGN

Perks Design Partners

ART DIRECTION AND LAYOUT

Victoria University Graphic Services

30 My life as a blogStefan Schutt examines the gobal

craze of blogging – online diaries

which have popped up all over the

internet in recent years.

31 VU booksSporting moments which changed

football forever and how

technology is changing the way

children learn are among the topics

in new books by VU authors.

COVER PHOTO

Sharon Walker

ALL PHOTOS

Sharon Walker except where noted

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108

30

VC Welcome

STRONG FOUNDATIONSThree philanthropic foundations have donated a total of $138,000 to fund three VU Foundation student scholarship programs over the next three years.

The Bennelong Foundation has given $48,000 to establish the Transition Scholarships Program. Four three-year scholarships of $4000 each per year are being offered to secondary school students experiencing fi nancial hardship, and who want to attend TAFE and/or higher education at VU in 2007.

The Invergowrie Foundation has donated a total of $45,000 to females experiencing disadvantage who wish to advance to VU TAFE and/or higher education studies. This program is offering six $1500 TAFE scholarships and three $3000 higher education scholarships.

The Pratt Foundation is dedicating $45,000 to support three VU Foundation East Timor Scholarships. The Scholarships are awarded to East Timorese students who can provide a signifi cant contribution to their country.

VU and the VU Foundation welcome our new philanthropic partners.

For more information: 03 9919 5568, www.vu.edu.au/scholarships

Interested in establishing a VU scholarship, award or prize? Contact Julie Tester: 03 9919 1207, julie.tester@vu.edu.au

VU’s future is taking shape, and it has not gone unnoticed. We might even claim to being the talk of the town when our differentiation statement was announced.

As part of this vision for the future, we have made fi ve bold commitments which include: students spending 25 per cent of their learning on the job and in the community; two new TAFE faculties; personalised learning programs; the creation of 12 industry and community focused roundtables; and projects specifi cally targeted at the western region.

These moves will strengthen our links with industry and ensure that job readiness becomes an even stronger part of our ‘New School of Thought’.

In sport, we have joined forces with The Western Bulldogs, Maribyrnong Secondary College, and the Victoria Institute of Sport to create the State’s fi rst government sports school. The school will attract talented athletes from the western suburbs and from across Victoria.

The shape of the City Flinders Campus is changing and the relocation of the South Melbourne Campus to the CBD has been a huge success.

In this issue you can also read more about the changing shape of VU and our new facilities. These include the launch of the $5 million Department of Visual Arts, Design and Multimedia.

On the research front, Associate Professor Zou is working on the removal of colour from recycled water, which is of major importance to the region.

Congratulations go to Kevin Baker, the 2006 Australian Apprentice of the Year. This is an outstanding achievement and a credit to his hard work and dedication.

Special thanks goes to all of the friends, family, and Legends themselves, who took the time to write to me personally, expressing their gratitude and appreciation for the events VU organised to celebrate its 90th year. You can read many extracts from these letters in this issue.

2006 has been an exceptional year for VU, but watch this space as 2007 takes shape!

Professor Elizabeth HarmanVice-Chancellor and PresidentDecember 2006

Left to right: Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Harman, Minister for Manufacturing and Export André Haermeyer and Chancellor Hon. Justice Frank Vincent.

4

RECIPE FOR SUCCESSPancakes and pork aren’t the most obvious choices when cooking up an award-winning dish.

Ester Penafl orida, a Victoria University third-year apprentice chef, chose the ingredients when preparing for the four-day Melbourne Culinary Challenge at this year’s Fine Food Australia exhibition at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

Competing against 60 apprentices from across the state, Ester had to prepare two dishes for the cook-off competition. She created an Asian-infused pork dish with shitake mushrooms for a main course and a pear clafoutis, a cross between a pancake and a pudding, for dessert.

Ester, who works as an apprentice in the kitchens of Melbourne’s exclusive Westin Hotel, was awarded the gold medal in the Third Year Apprentice category.

“It was an incredibly intimidating experience and I didn’t expect to win, but it was well worth it,” Ester says.

Four other VU apprentice chefs also won medals during the heated cook-off.

DIVERSITY AWAREA teaching and diversity forum to help raise awareness of Victoria University’s culturally diverse student population was held at Footscray Nicholson Campus in June as part of the University’s ongoing efforts to strengthen links with its multicultural student body.

A range of community and academic speakers presented their thoughts on issues, including education and resettlement faced by our international students.

The morning schedule included a welcome from Karen Jackson, of VU’s Department of Equity and Social Justice. Ms Jackson is a Yorta Yorta woman strongly committed to Indigenous issues, particularly in Victoria, and is co-ordinator of VU’s Koori Development and Support unit.

As one of Australia’s most multicultural universities, VU continues to excel with innovative pathways in education for migrants and the emerging African community in Melbourne.

The Sudanese Dambai Dance Group provided a colourful and artistic addition to the proceedings.

MULTIMEDIA NIRVANAVU’s new $5 million Department of Visual Arts, Design and Multimedia facilities were opened in October by André Haermeyer, Minister for Manufacturing and Export.

Spanning three fl oors of the City Flinders Campus’ Flinders Street building, the facilities include an open plan studio, fully-equipped computer labs, teaching studios and a video production facility.

Mr Haermeyer said the challenge ahead was to harness Victoria’s design capabilities and to develop more creative ways of doing things.

“Meeting this challenge will require a highly skilled and design-aware workforce, and this new art space will help supply that need,” he said.

Multimedia student Nino Aniceto won two awards at this year’s prestigious ATOM awards. His work ‘Good Evil Deeds’ won him the Best Tertiary Interactive Game and Best Tertiary Multimedia.

VU held all fi ve fi nalist spots in the Best Tertiary Multimedia category and four out of fi ve fi nalist spots in the Tertiary Interactive Game category.

Villagers in East Timor perform live music in the street.

A student at work in one of the art studios at VU’s new $5 million Department of Visual Arts, Design and Multimedia at City Flinders Campus.

VU apprentice chef and gold medal winner, Ester Penafl orida.

A member of the Sudanese Dambai Dance Group.

In Brief

5

In Brief

Students at work in the new Problem-Based Learning (PBL) facilities at Footscray Park Campus.

ON BRAND BULLDOGSVU took its partnership with the Western Bulldogs to a new level when it took ‘ownership’ of Melbourne’s Telstra Dome one Saturday in June.

While the Bulldogs took on Hawthorn, VU dominated all manner of on and off-fi eld promotions. VU messages streamed across large screens and Bulldogs players ran through a VU banner.

“It was a really good way for us to strengthen our partnership with the Bulldogs and to raise VU’s profi le with the public,” said Christine Mountford, manager of VU’s Centre for Commencing Students.

Samantha Kerr, aged 5, was the day’s heart-warming highlight.

As the winner of the Mascot prize competition, Samantha – great grand-daughter of the 1954 Footscray Premiership team’s legendary rover, John Kerr – touched the sentiments of thousands as she ran through the VU banner with the Bulldogs.

More events with the Bulldogs are in the pipeline for 2007, so watch this space.

TEACHING PASSIONTwo Victoria University academics were awarded Carrick Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in August.

Associate Professor Steve Selig and senior lecturer Dennis Hemphill, both from the School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance, received the nationally-contested awards.

Belinda McLennan, VU’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) said the citations show VU has excellent teachers and that the University’s current efforts to promote a focus on student-centred learning are being recognised nationally.

Associate Professor Selig received the award for “sustained passion, vision, creativity, energy and engagement in the leadership of a postgraduate program that is under a continuous cycle of review and improvement”.

Dr Hemphill received his award for “a decade of institutional leadership in curriculum development and educational support for student learning in the Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development.”

PROBLEM BASEDVictoria University opened its new Problem-Based Learning (PBL) facilities on at Footscray Park Campus in August. The custom-designed engineering training facility has a $1.98 million budget.

PBL is learner-centred rather than teacher-centred, and focuses on developing capabilities rather than covering content.

“Our PBL initiatives will underpin the University for the future,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor Elizabeth Harman. “Our strong links with industry will be re-confi gured and built upon – and job readiness will become an even stronger part of our defi nition.”

PBL project director Alec Simcock said: “Graduates need to have good interpersonal and communication skills; to work effectively in teams; to think creatively, laterally and fl exibly; and to interact with other disciplines and cultures. This is what we are giving our students with Problem-Based Learning.”

This year, VU introduced Problem-Based Learning to all its Bachelor of Engineering programs in Architectural, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering.Web: www.vu.edu.ai/pbl

VU took ‘ownership’ of Melbourne’s Telstra Dome at a Western Bulldogs–Hawthorn game in June.

Associate Professor Steve Selig and senior lecturer Dennis Hemphill.

6

NEW SCHOOL RECYCLINGA new recycling awareness project is to be launched by VU and Brimbank City Council.

The project will see students at dozens of schools across Brimbank learning more about the benefi ts of recycling.

The Council and the Iramoo Discovery Centre at VU’s St Albans Campus have agreed to combine their resources, expertise and networks to hold practical classes on the subject.

VU will provide classroom space at Iramoo, while Brimbank Council will donate demonstration recycling, green waste and compost bins, in addition to a worm farm and standard landfi ll rubbish bins.

The formal partnership was signed by VU and Brimbank Councillor, Dr Kathryn Eriksson in August.

“Encouraging school students to become enthusiastic recyclers helps Council to promote waste minimisation and education to the wider community,” Eriksson said. “We strongly believe that if young people practice recycling at school, they will encourage and infl uence other family members to recycle at home.”

SUNBURY HIGH NOTEVictoria University’s new $4.75 million Sunbury Music School was opened by Lynne Kosky, Minister for Education and Training in May.

And as the birthplace of Australia’s legendary rock music festival, where better than Sunbury to set up a contemporary music school?

Facilities include extensive sound-production equipment, seven studios and a comprehensive computer laboratory.

The school is already thriving, training the next generation of musicians, singers, songwriters, composers, studio technicians, audio engineers and managers.

Some of Australia’s top musicians teach at the school, including Kiernan Box (keyboard/piano), a former member of the The Blackeyed Susans; Karl Lewis (drums), who played with Bachelor Girl; and Nicola Eveleigh (fl ute), who is a member of the group, Coco’s Lunch.

VU’s Music department offers courses starting at Certifi cate IV and continuing through to diploma and degree level.

YOUTH HUB SHINESVictoria University has celebrated its part in the opening of a new $1.8 million youth ‘hub’ in Sunshine in October. The Visy Cares Youth Hub will deliver educational, employment, health and justice services support to young people aged 12–24.

The Hub is built inside one of the remaining old MV Harvester buildings and will include VU’s TAFE Youth Transitions Unit. The unit will house computers and will be supported by engagement programs developed by VU Youth Studies students.

VU lecturer Dr Robyn Broadbent spent the past seven years working towards the creation of the Hub alongside VU Chancellor Frank Vincent.

“We hope it will offer young people, who may not traditionally have thought about going to university, a gateway to fi nding out more about further education and the opportunities on offer at VU,” Dr Broadbent said.

The Hub is the result of a partnership between government, local business and not-for-profi t organisations, including VU.

VU Chancellor Hon. Justice Frank Vincent (left) and Hon. John Thwaites, Deputy Premier of Victoria, open the Hub.

VU’s Professor Ian Rouse and Brimbank Councillor Dr Kathryn Eriksson sign the recycling education partnership at the Iramoo Discovery Centre.

VU’s new $4.75 million Sunbury Music School is training the next generation of professionals for the music industry.

In Brief

7

When Sophie Faulkner and Sarah Field arrived at St Albans Campus last May, they stepped into a catastrophe. There appeared to have been a workshop explosion. Twenty-one victims were waiting for help.

Faulkner and Field arrived at their paramedic clinical class expecting to pick up a few skills by practicing on mannequins. But they and 28 other second-year Bachelor of Health (Paramedics) students had walked onto a simulated disaster site.

Victims grabbed at them pleading for help, others moaned or screamed. They were directed to attend to a man covered in extensive burn injuries who had diffi culty

DEVI ABRAHAM

8

breathing. Their task was to provide emergency care and get him to the hospital. It was mayhem, with high noise levels and billowing smoke making visibility low.

“We had a patient in obvious agony that was depending on us,” Sophie said. “We forced ourselves to go back to what we learnt in the classroom and put it into practice.”

Overcoming their initial confusion, Sophie and Sarah assessed their patient’s injuries, gave him pain relief and covered him with wet towels. “We were performing as though it were a real disaster,” Sophie said. “There was no one there to help us or make sure that we were doing it correctly.”

It was the University’s fi rst Multi-Casualty Incident Day. Organised by the Department of Paramedic Science, it was to give the students a taste of what a real disaster could be like. First-year students and representatives from Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV) and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) acted as victims.

Lecturers took great pains to ensure that the site looked like an authentic disaster. Casualties ranged from an amputated arm and leg to a penetrating chest injury and an eviscerated abdomen. Props and make-up created chilling effects.

The medical equipment was identical to what is used by ambulance crews, and a radio dispatcher deployed the paramedic crews one at a time, making the event even more authentic. Faulkner and her partner were the fourth crew to arrive on the scene. The ambulance commander, also a second-year student, assigned the pair to their burns victim, a representative from RAV.

A multi-casualty incident is one that paramedic professionals will face at some time in their career, said lecturer and event organiser Susan Furness. It involves multiple casualties, injuries both serious and minor, and several emergency and support agencies on site.

Furness and lecturer Tina Ivanov conceptualised and organised the Multi-Casualty Incident Day to prepare VU’s future paramedics for the realities they would face on the job. It took place over three days and none of the students knew about it beforehand.

“It’s important to give it to them now while they can make mistakes and not kill anybody,” Furness said. “Multi-casualty incidents are highly stressful events and require a great deal of concentration.”

But she need not have worried. The students faced the emergency like professionals. “It made me stop and think, ‘Gee, I’d really feel comfortable being looked after by these guys’.”

She wasn’t the only one. Brad Kenyon is Senior Operations Offi cer, RAV Area 5. As a paramedic for the Bendigo region and other parts of rural Victoria, dealing with real multi-casualty incidents are a part of his job.

“It was one of the best simulations I’ve been to,” Kenyon said. “It was run very well and run in real time, which is the best way to experience it.” Acting as the victim with a penetrating chest injury, he said he was impressed by the care he received. “They got past being overwhelmed. It showed that they remembered the things they were taught in the classroom.”

More than anything else, Furness, Ivanov and the other lecturers in the department wanted the Multi-Casualty Incident Day to equip and empower their students to be excellent paramedics when they leave Victoria University. Judging from the students’ responses, they are achieving that objective.

“You can do skills over and over again in a classroom setting, but when there is a patient and no one looking over your shoulder, you have to rely completely on yourself and on your partner,” Sophie said.

VU is one of two universities in the state that offers the paramedics course. The lecturers are all practising paramedics. The students also do compulsory on road clinical placements.

“Our aim is not to provide students with a piece of paper,” Furness said. “Rather to ensure that they are able to work on the road as paramedic professionals.”

Web: www.vu.edu.au/courses

Paramedics

Right: Student Skye Dennler attends to a ‘patient’ at the scene.

Left: Patient Stan Burtt receives treatment.

9

Body Copy: Futura Light 8.5pt/12pt, 8pt space after paragraph, aligned left. 100% Black.

Pull-Out Copy: Futura Light 13.5pt/18.5pt, +20 tracking,10pt space after paragraph, aligned left. Type colour to match feature headline colourway.

FUTURA EXTRABOLD CONDENSEDSTACKED, JUSTIFIED TYPE

Futura Light 13.5pt, aligned right. 100% Black.

Futura Condensed Bold & Medium 7pt/8pt, 7pt space after paragraph, aligned left, 3mm inset. Reverses white out of background.

Caption box colour to match feature headline colourway.

10

Victoria University’s TAFE multimedia students aren’t just gamers and aspiring fi lmmakers. They have a heart to make a difference. They are using their skills to make an impact in Melbourne’s multicultural west.

The students have put together a DVD for the Brimbank City Council and Centrelink. Connecting Communities in Brimbank – A Guide to Employment & Education offers advice to Brimbank residents who face barriers in fi nding suitable employment. Its focus is on migrants and refugees, many of whom are overseas-qualifi ed professionals, and people living with disabilities.

Centrelink and Brimbank Council approached VU’s Department of Visual Arts, Design and Multimedia at St Albans Campus about the project last year.

“We wanted it to be a local initiative as far as possible,” says Elmo Perera, Multicultural Service Offi cer for Centrelink Area West. “Victoria University plays an important role in the lives of residents in Brimbank, so we thought they would be best suited for the project.”

VU multimedia lecturer Ben Dudding started on the project with second-year Advanced Diploma in Multimedia students enrolled in his Video and Sound III subject during fi rst term.

Putting the DVD together involved all the elements of a real job. The students had to understand the expectations and needs of their customer, design and author the DVD and work as a team.

The DVD needed to be usable in four languages: Arabic, Dinka (a Sudanese dialect), English and Vietnamese. This meant fi nding people who could translate all the text and the spoken parts, and fi nding narrators who could speak the language.

Arabic in particular presented a unique problem – it is read from right to left. The DVD template had to be turned around to accommodate the language. Second-year multimedia student Ali Qazim, a native Arabic speaker originally from Iraq, came on board to translate.

The DVD contains information about the Brimbank area, opportunities for education and training, and how to look for jobs and services offered by Brimbank Council and Centrelink.

Because of the overall breadth of the project, it needed more than a single term to complete. A group of fi ve dedicated students took time out of their fi nal-semester projects to see the project through to its completion.

Dudding was impressed with his students’ attitude. “They had to squeeze the DVD in with their other work, without which they couldn’t graduate,” he says.

Student Ben Fenech says: “If I start something, I want to see it right through to the end. I wanted to be there when it was fi nished.”

The project was a win-win situation for all involved. Centrelink and Brimbank Council received an excellent, professional product at low cost, the students received some compensation for their work, and they experienced working for a commercial client before they formally entered the workforce.

Iudita Trifa, Community Programs Co-ordinator with Aged and Disability Services for Brimbank Council, says it was fantastic working with the University and the students.

“I found them to be very professional,” Trifa says. “They did everything they could to develop a DVD that is accessible to the wider community. They understood the concept, what we actually wanted and our target group.”

Student Karl Ervine considers the project an eye-opener. It has given him insight into the realities of the multimedia industry. “It was like working on a large-scale, commercial project,” he says.

MULTICULTURAL MULTIMEDIADEVI ABRAHAM

Multimedia

Front: Student Ben Fenech. Back (left to right): Students Tamara Ramljak, Karl Ervine and teacher Ben Dudding.

10

A Victoria University professor is part of a team that is creating a new holy grail for Australian Rules footballers.

Dr Con Hrysomallis, a lecturer in the School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance, joined Collingwood Football Club’s star captain Nathan Buckley and the team’s head conditioning coach Dr David Buttifant to write Weight Training for Australian Football.

The book is a comprehensive look at weight training for footballers of all levels, from junior to senior and elite-level athletes. The programs are tailored specifi cally for football players, and contain the latest evidence-based information.

“There haven’t been any recent books like this,” Hrysomallis says. “The last one was probably 10 years ago, and there have been many new developments in the fi eld.”

Each of the book’s author’s: Hrysomallis the researcher; Buttifant the conditioning coach; and Buckley the football player, brought their unique perspective on weight training to the table. The result is a holistic look at the subject for Aussie Rules players.

“The major attraction the book should hold is the opportunity for players of all ages and abilities to improve their on-fi eld performance by using the up-to-date strength and conditioning concepts detailed in the book,” says Buckley. “I know it would have been a helpful resource to me when I was younger.”

Left to right: Dr David Buttifant, Nathan Buckley and Dr Con Hrysomallis.

The book is already making an impact on the Magpies.

“We use this book,” says Buttifant. “We tried the exercises out on the Collingwood players. It’s all positive. We also give them to all of our younger players. They’re doing a lot of these exercises.”

Club players feature prominently throughout the book in photos demonstrating the exercises.

The three men met at Victoria University a number of years ago. Hrysomallis has lectured in the School of Human Movement, Recreation and Performance for the past 10 years and has an avid interest in weight training, specifi cally how it applies to football. Buttifant met Hrysomallis while doing his PhD in Exercise Physiology.

Buckley studied Human Movement full time during 1995–96. Hrysomallis was one of his lecturers.

“The knowledge I gained from my studies has been invaluable in understanding my body and the systems most important to high performance,” Buckley says. “In that regard, I consider my study has proven to be an integral part of my football preparation and performance.”

Because of his interest in conditioning and football, Hrysomallis keeps in contact with Collingwood and tries to get involved with projects involving weight training and sports science.

“I was teaching but also wanted some involvement in the practical side of the profession, because I’ve always had an interest in weight training,” Hrysomallis says. “The team is well resourced and interested in science, and how it applies to physical training.”

His experiences in the industry gives him a favourable edge with his students. “I want to teach aspects as they apply in the fi eld,” he says. “It enhances interest and credibility with my students.”

It has even affected his own team preferences. “I followed Carlton all my life, but now I follow Collingwood. Once you start getting involved, you can’t help but wish the guys well.”

MUSCLE MANIFESTO

Human Movement, Recreation and Performance

DEVI ABRAHAM

11

12

The ground in the small East Timor village of Ferik-Sare is lush and green. The villagers make their living from seasonal crops, such as maize, upland rice and cassava. It is innocent and picturesque. But not long ago, the people of Ferik-Sare had a serious problem. They had no running water.

Ismenio Martins da Silva found himself in Ferik-Sare in April 2003. He was the fund co-ordinator with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and his mission was to fi nd a sustainable source of water for the people of this 2000-strong community.

The project was extensive and took months to complete. But after a stream of consultants, designers, engineers and workers, Ferik-Sare’s citizens were the proud new owners of a community fi rst – tap water.

They had public toilets, a drainage system and clean drinking water – all sanitised. As a sign of their gratitude, the villagers welcomed da Silva, community offi cials and others from CIDA with fl owers at the inauguration.

DEVI ABRAHAM

Scholarships

“We had an opportunity to rebuild our country, and we took it,” da Silva says. “I felt so happy. If you can help others, it’s a blessing.”

13

“We had an opportunity to rebuild our country, and we took it,” da Silva says. “I felt so happy. If you can help others, it’s a blessing.”

The prosperity of East Timor and its people is a driving force in da Silva’s life, and Victoria University is a key partner in furthering his dreams.

He is the second recipient of the Victoria University Foundation East Timor Scholarship. The scholarship supports an East Timorese student who can provide a signifi cant contribution to their country’s development. The scholarship includes a living and travel allowance, and the University waives tuition fees. Da Silva is studying his Masters in Asia-Pacifi c Studies – Community Development.

Da Silva fi nished his undergraduate degree in English literature from Jember University in East Java, Indonesia, and returned to East Timor in 1999.

His country was on the brink of a United Nations-sponsored referendum that would see the East Timorese vote for independence. Da Silva worked as a translator for the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) during the elections. He translated for several Australian policemen who were with UNAMET as United Nations civilian police.

After his country’s independence in May 2002, he joined the country’s civil service, fi rst with the Infrastructure Department and then as a national land dispute offi cer with the Department of Justice.

More than anything else, da Silva attributes these roles with heightening his awareness of public service. It gave him a taste of what it meant to make a difference in his country and how he could help East Timor succeed.

“It was an honour to be part of something from the very beginning,” he says.

Community development work soon followed. Da Silva held jobs with CIDA, British Aid and the Norwegian Agency for Development and Co-operation. For each of these development agencies he worked as the national representative in charge of project proposals, distributing aid and reporting to the agency boards.

Despite these experiences, da Silva wanted more tools to help his people. “East Timor needs people who have skills, people who can share their knowledge with others,” he says. “I needed to learn more theory so I could go back and help my people.”

He came to Victoria University in February 2006 to build his knowledge base and acquire more skills. His lecturers, who are experienced in Asia–Pacifi c affairs and have worked in the developing world, are teaching da Silva the practical skills that he plans to take back with him to East Timor.

When he graduates at the end of 2007, he will return home to continue development work and to teach community development at the National University of Timor Loro Sa’e.

“My only dream is to work with communities,” da Silva says. “I feel like I’m the luckiest person to come to VU and study. A degree is only valuable if it helps people become more confi dent in their society. When I go back, I want to help build my country.”

The fi rst recipient (2005) of the Victoria University Foundation East Timor Scholarship was Alex Freitas.

The VU Foundation wishes to acknowledge the role played by The Pratt Foundation, the VU Staff Workplace Giving program and our donors in making the East Timor Scholarship possible. For more information, contact the VU Foundation on 03 9919 1207.

“I feel like I’m the luckiest person to come to VU and study.”

Two boys water a village crop in East Timor. Photo courtesy of Oxfam Australia www.oxfam.org.au

Left: Ismenio Martins da Silva.

Right: Ismenio at village water source.

Student Janet Campbell-Wright and Greg Gordon at the Royal Melbourne Show’s Animal Nursery.

Photo by Tim Burgess.

ANIMAL ATTRACTION

Animal Technology

WENDY HARGREAVES

Wildlife rescue volunteer Greg Gordon has a curious day job for a man so passionate about saving animals. Gordon teaches students at Victoria University’s Werribee Campus to be animal technicians – the sometimes controversial and often misunderstood job of breeding and caring for animals used in biomedical research.

He also spends countless hours rescuing stricken wildlife in the Werribee and Hoppers Crossing areas to the west of Melbourne. But this self-confessed animal lover sees no confl ict between saving native wildlife and rearing laboratory mice.

In fact, Gordon says students are more suited to the University’s TAFE certifi cate and diploma courses in animal technology if they are passionate about animals and want to see medical researchers do the right thing.

“Animal technicians are the ethical guardians – to make sure animals are properly cared for in research laboratories,” Gordon says. “We need people who really care about animals in this industry to make sure everything is done humanely. Our aim is to help researchers make important scientifi c breakthroughs using the minimum number of animals for the maximum result.”

Each year, Gordon expects half of his fi rst-year students to be surprised by the realities of the course. Many apply for the program, run by the Department of Science and Biotechnology, in the mistaken belief they will be studying veterinary science.

“They soon start to realise the difference, but it can be emotionally diffi cult for some of them,” Gordon says. “But it doesn’t take long for them to understand that the course is about the ethics of animal technology and how to care for animals.”

Gordon says his job was of vital importance to scientifi c research. Under Australian law, all medicines – for both animals and humans – must be tested on animals in laboratories. “There is a misconception out there that animal research is cruel,” he says. “This could not be further from the truth. Animals in research laboratories are very healthy and receive amazing care – much better than most farm animals.”

Animal technology students do one year of full-time study to gain the certifi cate, followed by two years of part-time study to gain the diploma. Job prospects are excellent at the many medical research laboratories at Melbourne’s universities, hospitals and research institutions.

Gordon’s students put their love of animals on show every September at the Royal Melbourne Show, helping with the ever-popular Animal Nursery. At this year’s show, the Department of Science and Biotechnology also organised a display of unusual pets such as rats, reptiles and mini-beasts including scorpions and stick insects.

Gordon also played a major role in setting up the University’s wildlife rehabilitation course in conjunction with Wildlife Victoria, where he has served as a volunteer for the past six years.

The wildlife course has graduates across the nation, including a small group of inmates and guards at Barwon Prison. A government supported wildlife rehabilitation centre has been set up inside the prison grounds to care for reptiles seized by customs from smugglers leaving Australia. The prison program is now expanding to include possums.

“Just because we work in animal research, doesn’t mean we don’t care for animals,” Gordon says.

14

TODAI DAYS

Letter from Japan

Professor Les Terry: “ ... many of my assumptions about Japan slip away one by one.”

WENDY HARGREAVES

15

Professor Les Terry reminiscences of a year teaching at the University of Tokyo as Chair/Visiting Professor of Australian Studies during 2005 – 06.

The Chair of Australian Studies is located in the Centre for Pacifi c and American Studies at the Komaba Campus of the University of Tokyo (known as Todai), the most prestigious university in Japan. It is a balmy October day and I am standing in front of my fi rst class. I have been advised only the day before that for the fi rst two or three weeks students are allowed to ‘try out’ the different subjects.

They move from class to class assessing what is on offer and, I am warned, may even leave part way through the session so that they can look at what else is available at the same time.

I am to deliver classes to three levels of students: fi rst and second year; third and fourth year; and postgraduate. I begin to worry about how I will fi t the material that I have planned for the courses into the one and half hours that is allocated for each subject over the next 13 weeks.

In the fi rst session, overwhelmed by the humidity, I hear myself talking too fast. That night I lie awake refl ecting on how I might have done things differently and worry that none of the students will choose Australian Studies.

But I am excited when in the following week many of them come back. In the coming months I draw on years of experience of teaching at one of the most culturally diverse universities in Australia (Victoria University) to take the students at Todai, and later at Keio University, on a weekly ‘excursion’ to Australia.

Material on colonisation, debates about an Australian republic, as well as issues of identity, among other things, provide a focus for the fi rst and second-year students.

With the third and fourth-year group I explore current issues in Australian politics. Given the range of backgrounds in the classroom (Japanese, Malaysian, Romanian, Swedish, French and American) there is lively discussion about the way in which developments in Australia are either mirroring or contrasting with shifts in governance internationally.

At the postgraduate level, I work with a Japanese student exploring the texts of a number of Australians who have written about Japan, examining their interpretations of his country.

But at the core of my teaching at all levels is the idea that the Australian nation is an imagined space that is always being reinterpreted or argued over. Working within this framework my students are keen to know more about Indigenous Australia and debates about rights and reconciliation. They are interested in the impact of colonisation on the Aboriginal people and are clearly surprised that Australia still has a Head of State who is British. There is also considerable interest in Australian multiculturalism.

“How is it possible for a nation to exist without a single identity?” asks one of my students.

Before taking up the posting, I had assumed that Japanese students would not talk openly in the class, that the atmosphere would be highly formal or that my lack of Japanese would make teaching and living in Japan diffi cult for me. But through my contact with the students at Todai, and the Japanese people more generally, many of my assumptions about Japan slip away one by one.

The generosity and humour of the students and staff, the encouragement given to my project work, as well as my engagement with Japanese academics interested in Australian politics, literature, and a range of other aspects of Australia, all contribute to a better understanding of how Australia is viewed by the Japanese.

The excitement of learning some Japanese from scratch, the buzz of moving around the big commercial centres at Shinjuku and Shibuya, the lessons in Japanese archery at a temple in the mountains outside of Tokyo, are only some of the many other highlights for me of ‘travelling’ Japan.

I am reminded of the thoughts of Humphrey McQueen, who held the chair in 1988–89. On being asked by an inquiring student why he had come to Japan, the Australian historian and writer answered by saying that he had travelled here to know more about his own country.

Having now spent two exciting semesters ‘travelling’ across the political and social landscape of my country with similarly questioning students at Todai, I understand very well what the Australian historian was trying to say all those years ago.

DEVI ABRAHAM

Research

A small canister of fi ne, white powder has Linda Zou excited. The powder is titanium dioxide.

“This will help remove the colour from the water for recycling,” Associate Professor Zou says.

Associate Professor Zou is Principle Research Fellow at Victoria University’s Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI). She is trying to fi nd a way to remove the colour from recycled water.

As Australia faces its worst drought on record, researchers like Associate Professor Zou are examining water’s next frontier – recycling – to combat the country’s worsening water shortage.

The director of the ISI, Professor Stephen Gray, came to VU in May 2006 after researching water treatment with the CSIRO for 16 years. He says the main focus of the ISI is water research with a strong focus on treatment technologies.

“This is the way of the future,” Professor Gray says. “The work that we do should be of relevance to Victoria but also to Australia and the world. We want to assist water authorities in understanding new technologies and in doing so increase the effi ciency.”

Thanks to a $380,000 Smart Water Grant, the ISI is working on two water research projects: Improving Aesthetic Quality by Removing Colour and Trace Organics from Treated Wastewater for Recycle ($220,000); and Opportunities for Designer Recycled Water ($160,000).

“Both of these projects are critical to support more recycling of water,” Associate Professor Zou says. She says the technologies being investigated will potentially make the recycling process more viable and more acceptable.

“Not recycling properly treated water is a waste of resources. But to be able to utilise what we have, we must remove two obstacles – colour and salt.”

Treated wastewater is sewage that has undergone extensive treatment and deemed safe for gardening, toilet fl ushing and other non-drinking purposes. It is one of the key ways households can minimise their dependency on using potable water for non-drinking use.

However, treated wastewater is usually an unattractive brown or yellow colour. This is a considerable deterrent to its widespread use. Despite efforts by scientists, they have been unable to fi nd a way to effi ciently remove the colour. But Associate Professor Zou is fi nding that the combination of titanium dioxide and ultraviolet light is effectively removing the colour.

Her team of researchers at the University’s Werribee Campus have designed a small-scale reactor in the laboratory to treat small quantities of wastewater. “Titanium dioxide is ideal,” Associate Professor Zou says. “It does not generate secondary pollutants, and it can be reused, which makes it very cost effective.”

If the process is proved commercially viable, Associate Professor Zou believes large-scale reactors could be built at water treatment plants, such as the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee, which treats about 52 per cent of Melbourne’s sewage, or about 485 million litres a day.

16

“One of the main solutions is going to be using alternative water sources in place of drinking water.”

Left: Victoria University senior lecturer Peter Lechte and Maribyrnong City Council’s environmental manager, Gavin Mountjoy at Footscray Park. The wetlands treatment system will save the Council 20–25 mega litres of water annually – the equivalent of 10 Olympic swimming pools.

Top: Associate Professor Linda Zou.Photo by Tim Burgess.

Her second research project involves fi nding a way to make treated wastewater suitable for irrigation. Treated effl uent usually has high levels of salt, which decreases crop yields and can degrade soil to the extent that it becomes unusable. Associate Professor Zou is examining ways to remove the salt, at the same time leaving other minerals in the water that are benefi cial to crops, such as magnesium and calcium.

Victoria University’s practical applications of effi cient, new water treatment technologies are not limited to that being carried out at the Institute for Sustainability and Innovation.

Two years ago, senior lecturer Peter Lechte gave six of his fi nal-year Bachelor of Civil Engineering students a project. They were to research and write a report on the feasibility of using water collected in a stormwater drainage system to irrigate the historic Footscray Park – adjacent to Footscray Park Campus – using a wetlands system.

“If you read the newspapers you will know that our water situation is putting us in diabolical trouble,” Lechte says. “One of the main solutions is going to be using alternative water sources [for non-drinking applications] in place of drinking water.”

His students liaised with the local Maribyrnong City Council to determine the area of the water catchment needed to water the park, and the design of the wetlands and a storage area. When the Council read the students’ fi nal report, it became the foundation for a massive Council-wide project.

The Council was already planning to reduce water consumption by 20 per cent within its constituency by 2015, and planners had been examining different avenues to achieve this. The Council’s environmental manager, Gavin Mountjoy, said the students’ report directed them toward Footscray Park.

“The groundwork they did showed that it was a viable idea,” Mountjoy said. “We were infl uenced by it. It got

the ball rolling.” The Council hired consultants, sought funding and now plans are in place to begin the project.

They have raised $700,000 for the wetlands treatment system, which they expect to complete by the end of 2007. The system is projected to save the Council 20–25 mega litres of potable water annually. This is the equivalent of 10 Olympic swimming pools and equals a reduction in the Council’s annual water consumption of 6.5 per cent.

Student Leigh Holmes, who co-authored the initial report, considers the outcome a great accomplishment.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Holmes says. “It is tremendously rewarding to do something at uni and for people to actually go ahead and try it. This is not only good for the Council, it’s good for Melbourne.” Holmes is now employed as a hydraulics engineer with Coomes Consulting in Melbourne.

Lechte’s current fi nal-year civil engineering students are investigating a large drain in Ascot Vale that drains a signifi cant portion of the local area into the Maribyrnong River. They are looking at the possibility of harvesting the water, treating it and using it to irrigate a golf course and a new urban development.

“We like to have our students involved in practical, real-world projects that can have a real impact with signifi cant community benefi ts,” Lechte says.

17

Caught in a breaking 10-foot wave at the famous Kumera Patch, an exposed reef and surfers’ mecca in New Zealand, Martin Fluker watched his life pass before his eyes. Then 15 years old, it was Fluker’s fi rst time out surfi ng in big wave conditions.

“It was like being in a furious, giant washing machine,” Fluker says. “I fi nally broke the surface, got a quick breath, only to be hit by the next 10-foot wave in the set. It was a near-death experience.”

But it did not kill his thirst for adventure. Fluker continued to surf, and at 18 left his native New Zealand to travel the world for the next six years. During his travels, he rode a motorbike around Australia and trekked alone through the famed Annapurna range in the Himalayas for 28 days.

He returned to Australia and began working as a porter at Queensland’s Hamilton Island Resort, later being promoted to the resort’s conventions co-ordinator and duty manager.

Fluker discovered there were many students from Victoria University’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing working at the resort as part of their work placement. He began thinking: ‘One day these students will come back with a degree and be my boss’. He packed up, moved to Victoria and started a Bachelor of Business in Tourism Management at VU.

“I loved the fact that I was feeding my brain again,” he says. Twelve years later, with a masters degree and a PhD, Fluker is still at VU. He now lectures in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing, and co-ordinates the undergraduate Tourism Management degree.

Fluker is fascinated by what motivates people to pursue the high-risk activities of adventure tourism. His PhD thesis was titled: Perceived Risk in Adventure Tourism, which was based on data gathered from more than 600 adventure tourists. He predicts the outcomes of the study will help further defi ne the growing adventure tourism market and assist operators in satisfying their clients’ needs.

It is a topic he was well qualifi ed to research. While studying his undergraduate degree, he worked as a white-water rafting guide for international adventure tourism company Peregrine Adventures. And he has had many bungee jumps – once leaping down a 60-metre drop while strapped to a motor scooter. Rock climbing is another of his risk-taking activities.

But his lust for adventure does not compare with the love he discovered for teaching while tutoring during his Masters in Tourism Management. The fi rst class he taught as a lecturer was Introduction to Tourism. A few years later, he co-wrote the textbook now used for the class, Understanding and Managing Tourism.

Fluker is an innovative lecturer, using engaging tools, such as video and podcasts. He explains theory using personal anecdotes to capture students’ interest.

He recently cut back on his risk-taking activities following marriage and the birth of his son. “I think more about the consequences these days,” he says. He now goes mountain biking to get his risk ‘rush’.

He is currently teaching Nature Based Tourism, a subject in which students learn about the environment and sustainability, and how that works with adventure-based tourism. He is also developing a subject that will look at ways surf tourism can improve people’s lives in small communities.

“I owe a lot to VU for giving me my education,” Fluker says. “It’s good to know that I’m part of a university team that has received awards acknowledging it as the best in the state and the country.”

KNOW FEAR

Martin Fluker gets a risk ‘rush’ mountain biking at the You Yangs.

Photo courtesy of Tourism Victoria.

DEVI ABRAHAM

Academic Profi le

18

Online auction fraud is big and growing, but consumer awareness is lagging. The Communications Law Centre’s recent report, Going, Going, Gone: Online Auctions, Consumers & the Law (July 2006) examines the experiences of Australian consumers at online auctions.

The centre – an affi liate of Victoria University with a research unit at VU’s Law School – conducted a survey and found that 48 per cent of buyers reported problems with their purchases on online auction sites.

More than one in fi ve of the 510 buyers surveyed (22 per cent) said they had paid for goods they had never received and almost 20 per cent received items different to those advertised.

CLC legal offi cer Nick Moustakas says the study highlighted the need for a systematic collection of data on web fraud.

“One of the major problems is that there aren’t appropriate data collection systems presently in place,” Moustakas says. “We need law enforcement agencies and consumer departments to get on top of that. The US is a little ahead of us in this area.”

As well it might be. Overseas data, particularly from the United States, shows that fraud at online auctions

is a leading category of complaints about fraud. The data also shows that online auctions are one of the most common consumer complaints generally – of either online or offl ine consumer concerns.

Auction-type websites are big business worldwide, and not just for individuals. Many businesses regularly sell goods at online auction sites too.

Here in Australia, more than 4.4 million Australians visited eBay’s Australian site in March 2006 alone. However, Moustakas says the growing popularity of these sites has not been matched by consumers’ awareness of the risks involved and of their legal rights.

The CLC survey found that a high proportion (39 per cent) of problems experienced by Australian buyers are either not being successfully resolved, or were resolved only on a few occasions.

In attempting to settle disputes, most people (79.8 per cent) approached the seller directly. About half (50.7 per cent) contacted the auction site operator and 31.9 per cent used an online dispute resolution service.

Only 5.6 per cent contacted the police and less than 2 per cent went to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or state-based fair trading or consumer affairs offi ces.

“One of the reasons that a small number of people who are contacting the police or consumer affairs departments is a lack of awareness by consumers of their rights,” Moustakas says.

Despite the problems that exist at online auctions, Moustakas says that buyers and sellers still have legal rights. Australian consumer protection laws, for example, will apply when customers buy from a business at an auction site even if it is not a registered business. However, there are grey areas, such as the legal liability of online auction site operators that need to be ironed out.

Some of the best protection was offered by the method of payment. The use of third-party payment facilities, such as the PayPal service offered by eBay, can protect consumers. This service offers ‘payment protection’, whereby refunds are provided for dissatisfi ed customers with genuine grievances who purchased goods through eBay valued at up to $1500.

Credit card purchases also offered a degree of protection to aggrieved purchasers, but this was not generally the case for those who use direct debit from a savings account.

“There are all sorts of traps though, which is why it’s extremely important for people to read the rules of the site and the payment providers,” Moustakas says.

Despite the problems that were found to exist at auction sites, the peak consumer watchdog, the ACCC, has made no comment on the report to date.

ONLINE CRIMECommunications Law Centre

Online legal expert Nick Moustakas.

JIM BUCKELL

19

Left: Jac with some of her high school students

Right: (from left to right) Elizabeth, 6, an orphan who spends each night with a different family in the village.

Mari and Orlando, two local children.

The local pharmacy and medical centre.

Jac Boyle with Mari, a student in her preschool art class.

Photos by Jac Boyle.

Jacinta (Jac) Boyle spent 2006, the third year of her VU teaching degree, as an exchange student with the University of Monterrey (UDEM) in Mexico.

Jac completed second semester (August to December) off campus working with a volunteer organisation on community projects in a small village on the outskirts of the remote town of Matias Romero in the poor southern state of Oaxaca, 1000km south of Mexico City.

She taught English and Communication (in Spanish) at the local high school and ran workshops in the local community.

ARRIVING AT MATIAS ROMEROAfter 17 hours in a bus, I was sitting on the steps of the Matias Romero bus station wondering if I should get back on the bus and go back to Mexico City. I honestly felt I would prefer to go back to where I could at least stay in my comfort zone ... plus there was the chance I could jump on a plane and fl y right back to Australia.

But I don’t. I continue to wait for some people I had never met or spoken to and hope that they will happily drive one hour to pick me up and then drive back to their tiny village where I am supposed to be living for the next four months.

I smile at passing-by locals, wondering why they are staring at me. It is actually my face that is freaking them out, because I am so different. I smile at them. I wanted to scream ‘YOU’RE ODD, NOT ME’.

JAC BOYLE

VIVA MEXICO Student Exchange

Then, suddenly, amidst all the stares, coming towards me are two gold-toothed grinning Mexicans yelling ‘Yaci, HOLA!’. For a minute I thought they had the wrong person, but then remembered that Mexicans pronounce their Spanish ‘j’ as ‘y’ and I realised they did have the right person. I had just been renamed Yaci.

MY ADOPTED VILLAGEI am constantly reminded in all I do here that I am nowhere close to my comfort zone. I live with a Mexican family in a small Oaxaqueño village and eat their local produce, which each day is bought at the community markets.

Each day I go to a local high school and teach. I am surrounded by poverty. My wage is less than A$20 a month. After living here, I realise that everything is in proportion, and that I have made the right decision to take part in exchange abroad. The experience is so real, so gut wrenching and honest.

MY AIDS WORKSHOPThe people seem to have so much more faith in me than I have in myself. “Yaci! Can you run a workshop tomorrow about AIDS?” I give a frightened look. I reply, “Si, sure”.

That night after a busy day running a carpentry workshop for high school students and teaching at the high school, I read up about AIDS from a book I found on the bookshelves of the house of the padre (priest) of the village. I spend all night trying to learn about HIV, AIDS and how to teach it all in Spanish.

20

21

JAC THE NURSEI go to the local medical clinic with a student who is complaining of severe stomach pains. After examining my student, the only doctor (a student doctor) said I should take her into Matias Romero soon. I asked him: “But can’t you prescribe some medicine for her pain ... anything?” He said: “No, we don’t have any medicine here, we ran out months ago and we don’t have any money to replenish it.”

A similar story is told in every village. There is a huge gap between the government’s six-year plan to improve education and health services to those in need, and the reality in which poor Mexicans are living.

TEACHERS’ STRIKEThere have been massive protests by the teachers in the state of Oaxaca. They are on strike for better conditions for their students and better pay. It’s been four months now that the students have not had classes. No one is budging. The government refuses to pay higher wages and improve the school conditions, and the teachers are not leaving the capital (also named Oaxaca) until their demands are met.

I read yesterday that because of this break in their schooling, a whole generation of students face a life of unemployment. Many children in this village have now lost the motivation to learn. What example are their teachers setting by refusing to return to teach their classes? What will happen if the teachers return to their classes and they have no students to teach?

The school where I teach is free from government ties and has teachers, and has been running normally.

WARM, BALMY DAYSThe weather in southern Mexico can only be described as perfect with warm, balmy days and cool rainy nights. The thought of putting on a sweater crosses my mind perhaps once every three weeks. Most nights it rains very

heavily and the next day houses have often collapsed or been washed away down the river. The people here are so used to the rains they see the danger as just a part of their lives.

MORE WORKSHOPSIn my spare time I run several workshops and information sessions for the local community (aside from my high school classes), including English, cooking, carpentry, making leather shoes, massage, teenage pregnancy (it is considered normal to drop out from school at the age of 12 to raise a child), the affects of too much sugar (there is a high level of diabetes), basic medical workshops, art and jewelry-making for children under the age of fi ve, workshops on the importance of the youth staying in Mexico instead of migrating illegally to the USA (there is an absence of youth here as most of them cross the border to the USA and don’t come back), and workshops on Fairtrade ...

FAIR TRADEMuch of my time has focused on running Fairtrade workshops, in particular in relation to coffee, orange juice, beef, corn and honey. This follows the work I did with VU last year in promoting the University to become Fairtrade in its cafes. I didn’t realise that it was such a big deal here, that the problems were not only with coffee and cocoa, but with everything these farmers produce.

Products with Fairtrade certifi cation allow disadvantaged producers in the developing world to get a better deal (wage), including a minimum price that covers the cost of sustainable production, plus a little extra that is invested in development projects.

It’s amazing to be living within communities that have no idea about Fairtrade, and to be making a difference just by giving a workshop on the two different kinds of lifestyle they can expect from choosing fair trading or unfair trading.

After living here, I realise that everything is in proportion, and that I have made the right decision to take part in exchange abroad. The experience is so real, so gut wrenching and honest.

22

These people are directly affected by the consumer choices I make back in Australia. I feel their frustrations and sense of injustice. I am documenting a few of their stories and, hopefully, when I get back to Australia I can be their voice.

EVERYTHING SUGARDue to a lack of education (advertisements somehow prove chocolate milk and coca cola are healthier than a glass of water) the diet here usually consists of having sugar in everything – and then it’s deep fried. One woman told me it’s one way to get rid of diseases. I told her about the dangers of saturated fats. “Really?” she said. “But it tastes so good. How else would you eat lettuce?” Yes, she actually fries her lettuce.

Women here are traditionally overweight. It is not surprising. Slowly, I am convincing my friends here that coffee actually taste good without fi ve spoons of sugar. Still, I am told to fatten up so I can look more feminine.

It’s interesting that people do not see a connection between all their gold fi llings and their high sugar intake. With the lack of health education offered in schools and to the local community, it’s no wonder that there is such a high level of cancer, diabetes, and heart and respiratory problems.

THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLI fi nd it hard to believe that I am actually teaching a class called Communication in Spanish when I can’t even speak Spanish properly. But for some reason, despite my protests, everyone seems to think that I can. Occasionally, I burst into fi ts of nervous, yet hysterical, laughter when I am speaking Spanish. They must think I am weird. But the students work hard and we have lots of fun.

My English class is also great fun because I can put to practice my ‘Spanglish’ and pretend that it’s all part of the class and that by speaking that way we can learn

much more English. When they ask me what a word is in Spanish after I have just said it in English, I tell them to go and look it up in their dictionaries because that’s all part of the learning. But it’s really because I don’t know what the word is in Spanish.

MY EXCHANGE IS ALMOST OVERMy experience here has enabled me to increase my knowledge of the world outside of Australia and face a lot of the challenges presented to teachers in poorer communities. I really do think this will make me a better teacher when I fi nish my teaching degree next year. This experience has really opened up my eyes.

It is nice to know that I am leaving a part of my own culture with these people, in return for how much they are teaching me. The other day I gave a CD of Australian music to one of my students who got 100% for an English test. Today I was walking through the centre of town and I heard the Hilltop Hoods blasting from loudspeakers in front of a corner shop that his parents own. I had a little dance in the street. It was really strange to hear Australian music in such a small village in the south of Mexico.

I will be really sad to leave these wonderful people. I have learnt so much and become a part of this community. But I am also excited to be going back to Australia, and look forward to making my learning sustainable when I return to Victoria University.

Jac’s experience has made it possible for other students to follow in her footsteps. The University of Monterrey had never before placed an overseas student in an indigenous community. They are now planning to offer community placements to future exchange students.

Jac will return to Australia in February 2007 to complete the fourth year of her teaching degree. She can be contacted by email: jacinta.boyle@students.vu.edu.au

Student Exchange

VICTORIA ABROAD

Victoria University actively encourages its students to undertake an international study experience at some stage of their degree.

VU sends students on exchange programs to 19 different countries each semester, including Fiji, Korea, Japan, the US and Canada, as well as 4–6 students a year to Mexico.

100 students a year take part in the scheme and the number has increased by 40 per cent in the last 18 months.

VU offers exchange students Travel Grants of $3000 and a OS-Help Loan up to $5000.

For further information on VU’s exchange programs contact Victoria Abroad:

PHONE: 03 9919 1296EMAIL: educationabroad@vu.edu.auWEB: www.vu.edu.au/International/StudyAbroad

Top: A cross illustrating the eight indigenous groups that belong to the local parish.

Bottom: Alo, 23 and her son Saul, 4. Saul has missed six months of kindergarten because his teachers are on strike.

When Kevin Baker repaired his fi rst computer at the age of seven, he never dreamt it would lead to this. The Victoria University TAFE student has just been named Apprentice of the Year at the 2006 Australian Training Awards. The award, which carries a $5000 prize, is Australia’s highest honour for apprentices.

“It is surreal and I am still coming to terms with the fact that I have won the award,” Baker says. “My parents are over the moon about it.”

The awards are the culmination of the State and Territory Awards with winners from each State and Territory competing at the national fi nals.

2006 has been quite a year for the 22 year old. This is his third award. He was also VU Apprentice of the Year and Outstanding Student of the Year – Apprentice at the Victorian Training Awards.

VU is thrilled with the win. Professor John McCallum, VU’s Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said: “This is an outstanding win. He was the only Victorian student to win a national award, and it’s a credit to his hard work and dedication.”

Baker studies at VU’s Sunshine Campus and is a fourth year apprentice electro-technician at GM Holden’s Port Melbourne plant. He also runs two businesses of his own in the automotive and computer fi elds.

All of this is a big step forward for the boy who, at the age of seven, saw no mystery to the myriad of microchips and wiring inside his family’s PC. He simply pulled the box apart, fi xed the problem and put it back together again. Now, Baker performs miracles on multimillion-dollar automotive robotics.

“I’ve always been right into computers, even when I was a little kid,” Baker says. “I was really lucky that my parents saw this skill at an early stage and supported me.”

Baker started an apprenticeship with Holden in 2003, fresh from fi nishing Year 12 at his home suburb of Hoppers Crossing.

He has no regrets about taking the trade path. In fact, he urges more school leavers to follow suit.

“I had the marks to go straight to university after school, but I was much better off getting a trade,” he says. “I got to study with a full-time wage, and now I can get credit towards a university degree. It’s the best of both worlds.”

He says VU’s Sunshine Campus was a great place to study because staff kept up with the latest technology, offering constant challenges and real-world experience. Holden remains in constant contact with VU to help them develop the program to suit their needs.

“I chose to study at VU because it was the most technically oriented campus offering TAFE courses in electrotechnology systems. Studying at VU and working at Holden was a great mix of on and off-the-job training.“

Baker completed his Certifi cate IV in Electrical (Motor Control) last year with 11 high distinctions. When he fi nishes the fourth and fi nal year of his apprenticeship in January, he will be a licensed electrician.

But his education is far from over. Kevin is taking night classes at VU to complete an Advanced Diploma in Engineering – Principal Technical Offi cer. He hopes to fi nish the diploma this year and start an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at VU next year. His diploma course work will be credited to the degree.

AUSTRALIAN APPRENTICE WINNER

Apprenticeships

Kevin Baker: “I had the marks to go straight to university after school, but I was much better off getting a trade.”

WENDY HARGREAVES

23

This year, Victoria University celebrated its 90th birthday with the publication of 90 Years, 90 Legends, an inspirational account of VU’s history told through profi les of 90 of VU’s Legends. The Legends included administrators, academics and students, all of whom contributed to the development of the University or made a major contribution to society.

Football legend Ron Barassi; Creighton Burns, former editor of The Age; Cliff Callinan, the manager of the world’s then biggest engineering project, the Snowy River Scheme; and Antarctic explorer Arch Hoadley, principal of VU’s fi rst predecessor institution, are a few of the fi gures honoured in the book.

The launch of 90 Years, 90 Legends was followed by a week of festivities, including a gala dinner in June attended by more than 500 guests, many of whom were VU Legends. The dinner celebrated VU’s 90 years and all those who helped forge VU since 1916.

Since then, the University has received letters, emails and phone calls expressing gratitude and thanks from many of the Legends themselves or their relatives who expressed their appreciation to VU for honouring their mums, dads or grandparents. Below are a few extracts from the dozens of letters received.

“Looking back 60 years, I would never have dreamt at the time that my school, Footscray Technical School, would acknowledge me so! The education I received in those short years has stood me exceptionally well ever since. I hope to keep close to VU now, and into the future.” – Peter Thomson, 1929–

Peter Thomson studied a Diploma of Applied Chemistry, Footscray Technical School, 1944–45; arguably Australia’s greatest-ever golfer; member of World Golf Hall of Fame

“It was an inspired idea to mark the occasion with the book 90 Years, 90 Legends. It has given our family a great deal of pleasure to see our mother, Gladys Hope (Nee Carson), and our grandfather, William Carson, honoured in this way.” – Thelma York, daughter of Gladys Hope, 1903–95

Gladys Hope was a student at Footscray Technical School in 1919; a staff member, 1920–33; and teacher, 1942–67

“The Legends night was something very special. The evening had an extraordinary warm, magical feel and ambience. Firstly, congratulations to you, (Vice-Chancellor) Elizabeth Harman, for presiding over this point in time ... and preparing Victoria University for the Centennial. Secondly, and notably, your support for honouring my mother, Essie Burbridge OAM, for which I remain forever grateful.” – Ken Burbridge, son of Essie Burbridge, 1908–2004

Essie Burbridge provided support and care to many students attending VU’s predecessor institutions.

“Many thanks and congratulations to you [Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Harman] and the University team for a really great evening to celebrate 90 Years and 90 Legends. I am deeply honoured to be included in the legends, and I thank you for that privilege.” – Sadie Stevens OAM, 1926–

Sadie Stevens was Vice-President of the Footscray Institute of Technology Council; Founding Member of the Victoria University Council; Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University, 1995–98; honorary degree, Master of Arts

“Congratulations on VU’s 90 Years, 90 Legends celebration. This event was nothing short of a phenomenal success and I think has done not only you (Elizabeth Harman), but all those involved and the University proud.” – Campbell Rose, 1964–

Campbell Rose, Bachelor of Applied Science, Footscray Institute of Technology; Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, VU, 2005; Australian Sports Medal, 2000; CEO, Western Bulldogs

“I was delighted to accept the nomination, by two of my ex-students, to become a Victoria University Legend. My surprise at the confi rmation of actually receiving one of the valued nominations was only surpassed by the excitement of the actual celebratory dinner. The evening allowed all Legends to actively participate in renewing old acquaintances and recalling our working, or studying, days at Footscray.”

Jackie Woodroffe introduced a wide range of specifi c-purpose English language programs at Footscray Institute of Technology and VU; Head of School, General Studies at Footscray College of TAFE – Jackie Woodroffe, 1935–

Copies of 90 Years, 90 Legends can be purchased from the VU bookshop for $19.95. Further details: http://bookshop.vu.edu.au

LEGENDARY LETTERS

90 Years, 90 Legends

SIMON HUNTER

Junior School students using electronics equipment, c. 1950s

24

25

Diversity has been a popular buzz word for some years, so much so that its importance is often diluted or forgotten. But when it comes to health, Victoria University’s Institute for Health and Diversity (IHD) takes it very seriously.

IHD was launched in October 2005 following research that highlighted how social problems and cultural diversity were impacting on the health and wellbeing of ethnic communities across Melbourne’s western region.

Inequalities were found in both health policy and in the delivery of treatment. Evidence of greater disparities in major illnesses such as diabetes, cancer and mental health problems were also found.

The institute plans to address these issues through research, training, education and engagement. Additionally, the institute will work with primary health care providers to help them better understand the needs of local communities of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

“The institute was established to create an evidence base to support service provider organisations and professionals in promoting health and wellbeing by strengthening a culturally competent health system,” says interim IHD director Dr Roger Edwards.

“Melbourne’s western region is one of the richest sources of community diversity in Australia and within it exists some of the highest disparities in health outcomes compared with the rest of Australia. It is here we hope our research will have the greatest impact, shaping both future policy and treatment.”

Diabetes is at the top of the institute’s agenda following a recent $5 million award from the Priority Research and Innovation Program (PRIP). The funding will be used to examine cultural competence in diabetes prevention and care. The Federal Government has highlighted diabetes as a major issue in Australia. Studies into lifestyle, exercise and diet will form a core part of the IHD project.

IHD is keen to ensure its resources are aligned with state and national healthcare agendas, but will not focus solely on diabetes. Research into communication and attitudes towards health will also be carried out, as well as measuring the economic impact of innovative interventions.

“In due course we hope there will be a full range of institute activities that meet the needs and provide a better understanding of western suburb communities,” Dr Edwards says.

Looking to the future, the institute’s ambition is to become a respected, dynamic and self-sustaining research and teaching centre.

One way in which it hopes to achieve this vision is through the recruitment of a range of experts engaged in fi elds such as cross-cultural communications, cross-cultural health, cultural competence, mental health and health economics. The institute will also draw on expertise across Victoria University and through newly forged international links in the fi eld.

Dr Edwards has spent close to twenty years of his career in medical device research, development, regulation and manufacture. Between 1996 and 2002, he was the director of the Co-operative Research Centre for International Food Manufacture and Packaging Science. As the regional executive in a large chemical company, he has worked extensively across the Asia-Pacifi c in the fi eld of occupational health, safety and the environment. He most recently worked as a consultant specialising in the commercialisation of new technologies.

HEALTH COMPETENCE

Institute for Health and Diversity

SIMON HUNTER

Dr Roger Edwards: “Melbourne’s western region has some of the highest disparities in health outcomes compared with the rest of Australia.”

26

Workplace Learning

Rubbing shoulders with A-list celebrities like heartthrob Hugh Jackman, party girl Paris Hilton, former royal Sarah Ferguson and jet setting to exotic locations like Las Vegas and Palm Springs sounds more like the life of a Hollywood star than a university student.

But for Victoria University Bachelor of Business – Tourism Management students it becomes a reality when they sign up for a Co-op year of paid training with Qantas at Los Angeles International Airport.

Up to 12 students are hand-picked every year by Qantas Airways Business Manager Alice Kiss to train with Hallmark Aviation Services as part of the ground team at LA airport.

Kiss says the airport has more than 60 million passengers passing through its gates every year and is the fi fth busiest airport in the world.

“The VU students are training in the thick of the action at the front line,” she says. “They are dealing with check-in, departure, baggage, ticketing and the fi rst and business class lounges, to name just a few.”

Two students who jumped at the chance to train in LA are 23-year-old Lauren Camilleri and 21-year-old Vu Nguyen. Both say it was the best experience of their lives and something they will never forget.

“It was everything I ever dreamed of and more,” says Camilleri. “LA is the most diverse city I’ve ever been to. It was amazing. I had the time of my life.”

Nguyen says training with an iconic Australian company like Qantas was “brilliant”. “I learnt so much,” he says. “Not only about effective communication, professionalism and working in a team environment, but I also developed leadership and technical skills.

“Although we were living and working in LA for only 12 months, in that small amount of time I developed a lifetime of memories. It was the most exciting experience of my life.”

Camilleri says it was always busy at LA airport, with planes landing every two minutes. “There are

four runways and nine terminals with planes landing simultaneously. On a usual evening shift we dealt with fi ve departing planes to Australia, which could involve organising more than 1500 passengers. And we had to get all fl ights out on time or Qantas would be fi nancially penalised.”

VU’s Centre for Work Integrated Learning manager Barry Broons says the Co-op program was developed exclusively with Qantas and Hallmark in 2002.

“The program, which sees students training in an operational airline position with Qantas for 12 months at LA airport, is unique in the Australian higher education sector,” Broons says.

He says the program always creates a great deal of excitement among prospective business students on Open Day, and there is little wonder why. Not only do the students meet, greet and deal with sporting stars, celebrities, movie stars, politicians and royalty, many also use the geographic location as an opportunity to explore North America.

Nguyen says although LA was not like you see in the movies, it “really grows on you. It became my second home, and I do miss it.”

Both students, who returned to Australia earlier this year to complete the fi nal subjects of their degree, have managed to snare impressive jobs with local companies.

Camilleri has started work part time with local airline Jetstar as a customer service offi cer at Melbourne Airport, while Nguyen is working with the Melbourne Aquarium, also in customer service. Both juggled their work and study commitments before they graduated in November.

“My time in LA really prepared me for work in the industry,” Camilleri says. “I gained a lot of maturity and the hands-on work with Qantas has allowed me to slot in easily at Jetstar. Because of the experience I gained overseas I have come into this job with a lot more knowledge of the industry than most of the other recruits.

“Working in LA is the best thing I’ve done in my life. I met so many interesting people and learnt so much, not only about the business, but about myself as well. It was a great learning experience and 100 per cent worth it.”

INGRID SANDERS

Left: Lauren Camilleri and Vu Nguyen say their Co-op year working with Qantas at Los Angeles International Airport was the best experience of their lives and something they will never forget.

Right: Centre for Integrated Learning Manager Barry Broons, Quantas Airways Business Manager Alice Kiss, and VU Students Lauren Camilleri and Vu Nguyen.Photo by Maurice Grant – Drew.

27

There are many challenges in the human resources fi eld. For Victoria University alumni Helena Steel, the challenges of motivating employees and regulating corporate standards come with ease. Helena completed her Master of Business in Training and Change Management at VU’s Faculty of Business and Law in 2001.

Helena has worked as a HR professional for more than 20 years. Her career spans from General Manager of Human Resources for Australian Aviation Engineering Services to National Human Resources Manager for a large US multinational company.

She served as the Victorian president of the Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI) during 2004 and 2005, and is a fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute. She has coached with Australia’s foremost executive coaching and leadership fi rms, and is director and principal coach of the Open Door Coaching Group. Helena is also a member of the National Speakers Association, as well as a Toastmaster.

Highly respected in the industry, Helena is now the director of her own business, The Open Door Coaching Group. Her various clients include CPA Australia and AHRI, among many others.

Helena says things have changed drastically over the past 20 years.

“Previously, HR used to be termed as ‘personnel’,” she says. “Now, HR professionals are expected to understand the entirety of the business and translate that knowledge into their dealings with employees. The HR practitioner needs to be a leader on the executive team – our place at the executive table has been earned.”

Helena is using her experience to help human resource students in VU’s School of Management. Her training at VU and the rewards she gained have inspired her to participate in VU’s Human Resources Mentoring Program.

“We need to train those going out in the fi eld to be smart about their skill set and utilise all of the training they have received to be recognised as a driving force in any company.”

One of her motivating tools is to inform upcoming graduates that there is more than one career path once they complete their degree. She says the options following an HR education are enormous.

“When I graduated there was only one option – a purely HR position. Now I try to tell students that an HR graduate has seven to eight options for their career path.”

Helena’s experience covers a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, metals and plastics technology, sales, customer service, call centres, logistics, healthcare, airlines, and local and state government.

To be fl exible and expansive in joining the fi eld of HR seems to be the key – not only in moving ahead, but also making a difference in the company.

Helena says an important point is that many people come to HR later in life, and often from very different streams of industry. She paraphrases a favourite quote from Helen Keller: ‘When one door closes, another one opens’.

“Other business experience is highly valued,” she says. “The experience brought from different fi elds is very important in HR, as it lends a more objective view to HR practice.”

Helena is excited about giving back to VU by mentoring students. “This course gives you the opportunity to become strategic and then align processes. The course offers you emotional intelligence that will lead to a great career in HR.”

Helena’s other qualifi cations include a Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, an Advanced Certifi cate in Personnel, a Certifi cate IV in Life Coaching, and a Certifi cate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training.

EXECUTIVE RESOURCE

Alumni

Helena Steel: “The HR practitioner needs to be a leader on the executive team – our place at the executive table has been earned.”

KRISTINA LINGUA

28

It isn’t often you get the chance to meet Michael Jackson. But here he is, sitting in an impressive boardroom on the ninth fl oor of a Queen Street offi ce building in Melbourne’s CBD. Okay, this is not the pop star, but his Melbourne namesake – a VU graduate and director of project management fi rm, Incoll.

This Michael Jackson does not trade in pop records, but in projects. And it is his outstanding management of these projects that has brought him and his company considerable success.

Incoll is one of Australia’s leading independent project management companies. They are hired to oversee, manage and ensure multimillion-dollar projects run smoothly. Australia Post, the Defence Housing Authority and Westpac are just a few of their clients.

“We work across most industry sectors including commercial, retail, health and industrial, delivering project services focused on our clients needs,” says Jackson. “This can range from managing the entire development and construction of landmark buildings from scratch, or to simply providing clients with expertise and support on one particular aspect of a project.”

Jackson was appointed as a director of Incoll seven years ago. Before that he ran his own project management company. He has spent more than 29 years in the building industry. In that time he has delivered dozens of high-profi le projects, including an appointment by VicUrban as an independent assessor for the development of Melbourne’s new $50 million V1 residential tower.

Incoll manages a national project turnover worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Their Victorian operations generate an impressive 85 per cent of its revenue through repeat and referral business.

He believes his success has come from hard work, innovation and strong client relationships – attributes he has developed and championed throughout his career. But another essential ingredient has been his 17-year relationship with VU. He graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Building and Project Management in 1991, and a Master of Engineering in 1995.

“My career could have plateaued without further education,” he says. “VU turned me into the professional person I am today and it helped me realise my potential as a project manager by equipping me with the primary tools to succeed.

“Most importantly, the VU Project Management Education program taught me that project management is a professional career. It allowed me to develop my skills beyond standard functional project management to be able to provide a complete, high-quality, risk-managed professional project management service.”

Jackson’s relationship with VU continued following his graduation in 1995, including guest lecturing to fi rst-year project management students. Michael sits on VU committees and provides a valuable link with industry.

“I deliver the introductory lecture in Project Management Fundamentals,” he says. “I am often the fi rst external lecturer that students see, and I get a real buzz from giving something back. It’s my way of showing my appreciation for what the University has done for me. I like to think I give the students a big dose of motivation, and try and communicate to them exactly what professional project management is all about.”

In November, he will deliver the fi rst of VU’s Project Management Master Class Seminar Series to students, alumni and industry professionals on the topic of Client-Focused Project Management.

Jackson lives and breathes project management. He even admits to occasionally dreaming about it. But it is not the only thing in life he is passionate about.

Outside of Incoll’s offi ces, he turns his hand to a very different kind of project – managing his teenage daughter’s blossoming music career.

Alex, 13, plays the electric guitar. She has twice toured the east coast of Australia, performed in front of 10,000 screaming fans at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena and hopes to soon record her fi rst album.

“When we are on the road, I am not only her manager but also her sound engineer, roadie and producer,” Jackson says. “I have had to apply my project management skills in order to create and manage all of these opportunities for her, and she is doing fantastically well.”

When the interview ends I head for the elevator, casting a glance back at the boardroom, half expecting Jackson to moonwalk back into his offi ce. With a name like Michael Jackson, who would blame him for giving it a shot.

PROJECT REPUTATION

Alumni

Michael Jackson has delivered dozens of high-profi le projects, including Melbourne’s new $50 million V1 residential tower in the Docklands.

SIMON HUNTER

29

Strange things seem to be happening to the ways we interact with each other and society. The line between our private and public selves is becoming increasingly blurred, and for this we can largely thank the internet and its precocious offspring Web 2.0.

The term Web 2.0 was fi rst coined in 2004 and it’s caught on like wildfi re. It’s a simple moniker but its meaning is slippery; generally it refers to a new generation of technically sophisticated, easy-to-use websites that promote communication and sharing instead of the one-way information delivery that defi ned the web in the Dark Ages (i.e. pre-2001).

These days the internet revolves largely around Web 2.0 ‘social software’ and the trend is not letting up. Witness the huge growth of social networking sites like MySpace (http://www.myspace.com), photo and video storage and sharing sites like YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) and Flickr (http://www.fl ickr.com).

Online diaries or ‘weblogs’ like Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) are also part of the phenomenon, though purists would argue they’re not truly social software, more one-person soapboxes that provide only limited opportunity for others to share or respond.

But perhaps the unfettered narcissism of blogs is the reason for their appeal. In fact blogs are blossoming like never before. The blog tracking and search site Technorati (http://www.technorati.com) indexed 57.4 million blogs when I checked today. When I checked a month or two ago, the fi gure was more like 45 million. Things move fast in the blogosphere. What’s more, blogs are increasingly being imbedded within everything from news portals to networking hubs like MySpace.

The reasons for this growth are easy to see. Blogs are free, easy to set up and easy to use. You log on, type your thoughts, hit ‘publish’ and it’s on the internet.

With a blog you can be whomever you want. You can take on a new or enhanced identity, or you can be yourself in all your glory or banality. You can rant at

the world, confess your sins, dictate a shopping list or make outrageous claims, all to a bunch of anonymous computer users. It’s all power and little consequence, unless of course your employer catches you talking dirty about them and sacks you (it’s happened). You have a platform and you may even have an audience. Or you can generate your audience by attaching keywords called ‘tags’ to your posts so others interested in the topic can fi nd you.

As self-contained entities with editorial committees of one, most blogs differ greatly from multi-user sites like Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) that encourage people to check and edit others’ content. Your political blog can link to a network of similarly oriented blogs that will never challenge your views. That can be a worry. Studies such as the 2000 examination of political sites by Cass Sustein, a law professor at the University of Chicago, have shown that the internet acts as a self-reinforcing mechanism for people who only seek out opinions that concur with their own. Of course the reverse can also be true – you can fi nd out stuff that you’d never get through CNN, such as the famous blog by Baghdad resident Salam Pax.

Blogs occupy a weird transitional space: they take the confessional, private aspects of diary writing and translate them to the public-but-anonymous domain of the web. Increasingly, they also incorporate self-promotion, fanzine-style journalism, revenue raising through add-ons such as Google Adwords, political lobbying and corporate marketing – as exemplifi ed by the blogger who was paid $US100,000 a year to promote ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ DVDs.

Blogs are unruly, decentralised and have been known to expose corporate and government untruths, just as they can serve their cause. They can be off-the-cuff and calculated, full of unsolicited ravings and thoughtful commentary, all those things. They fulfi l the promise of the internet of making broadcasters of the little guy, but lack the big guys’ editorial quality control. They speak to us about an age in fl ux. Welcome to the brave new world.

Stefan Schutt teaches in the Department of Visual Art Design and Multimedia. He describes himself as a pre-internetter who jumped on the back of the tech bus and is still hanging on after a decade of working in dot coms and teaching multimedia.

The VU TAFE multimedia group has an unoffi cial blog that documents things of interest in the world of blogs:www.blogville.net.au

MY LIFE AS A BLOG

Opinion

Stefan Schutt: “Blogs are unruly, decentralised and have been known to expose corporate and government untruths.”

STEFAN SCHUTT

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HISTORYFounded in 1916 as Footscray Technical School and established as Victoria University in 1990.

STUDENT POPULATIONCurrent student population: more than 44,000 enrolled students

International students: more than 6900

Postgraduate students: more than 3600

CAMPUSES AND SITES

City FlindersCity KingCity Queen (site)Footscray NicholsonFootscray ParkNewportMeltonSt AlbansSunburySunshineWerribee

FACULTIESArts, Education and Human Development

Business and Law

Health, Engineering and Science

TAFE SCHOOLSBusiness and Service Industries

Human Services, Science and Technology

Further Education, Arts and Employment Services

Engineering, Construction and Industrial Skills

GENERAL ENQUIRIESPHONE: +61 3 9919 4000

COURSE INFORMATIONCentre for Commencing StudentsPHONE: +61 3 9919 4110

EMAIL: ccs@vu.edu.au

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENQUIRIESVictoria University International

PHONE: +61 3 9919 1164EMAIL: international@vu.edu.au

POSTAL ADDRESSVictoria UniversityPO Box 14428Melbourne VIC 8001

WEBwww.vu.edu.au

VU Books

VU FACTS

NEWBOOKS

Insolvency Law in East AsiaEdited by Roman TomasicPublished by Ashgate

An essential guide to insolvency in East Asia. This book provides a comprehensive overview of insolvency law, related rules and procedures in the region. The text is suitable for both practitioners and students.

Football Fever: Moving the GoalpostsEdited by Rob Hess, Bob Stewart and Matthew NicholsonPublished by Maribyrnong Press

A collection of research papers that examine key moments that changed the game. Topics include: the professionalisation of rugby union and today’s TV rights war.

Shift to the Future: Rethinking Learning with New Technologies in EducationBy Nicola YellandPublished by Routledge

An exploration of how new technologies are changing the way children develop, learn and interact in the 21st century, and how this has enabled children to extend the boundaries of their social interactions.

Japan’s Changing Security Policy: An Overall ViewBy Sharif ShujaPublished by School of Law, University of Maryland

An examination of Japan’s strategic thinking and security policy in the context of regional tensions. Shuja argues that these tensions may stimulate Japan to become a strong assertive nation.

Overland 184: The Politics of the Australian LanguageEdited by Nathan HollierPublished by O L Society Limited

In this issue, Joel Deane, novelist and the senior speechwriter for Victoria premier Steve Bracks, examines how Australia’s political leaders can re-engage the wider community in the national political conversation.

Making NoisesBy Euan MitchellPublished by OverDog Press

A novel focusing on a controversial experiment during the 1990s by the Australian federal government in which juvenile offenders and Indigenous music are used to lift the Prime Minister’s youth vote.

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VU ART

ARTIST/STUDENT: Amanda SammutCOURSE: Diploma of Arts – Visual ArtTITLE: Psychic DumpDATE: 2006MEDIA: Oil on canvas

WWW.VU.EDU.AUCRICOS Provider No. 00124K