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Professor John Rosenberg. |
Monash's Faculty of Information Technology has attracted $1.35 million in funding from the federal government's Science Lectureships Initiative to develop educational tools for an Australia-wide Internet workforce.
Known as 'Building the Internet workforce', the project involves Monash, as grant recipient and manager, working in conjunction with the universities of Queensland and Sydney.
The aim of the project is to deliver the skilled Internet workforce required by Australian industry over the next five years and beyond.
Key staff involved in the project include faculty dean Professor John Rosenberg, Associate Professor Phil Steele, Dr Michael Kölling, Ms Ainslie Ellis, Professor Liz Kendall and Ms Angela Carbone.
Professor Rosenberg said the importance of the project had been highlighted by the federal government's IT & T Skills Taskforce, which had quantified the skills shortage.
"There is now a strong recognition within the IT and business sector that Australia must form an urgent response to this problem or abandon its aspirations of becoming a leading on-line economy. Ultimately the only real solution is an effective education and training system," he said.
"Monash will bring to the project its proficiency in network computing, its interactive Java teaching environment and its experience in the provision of flexible-delivery IT programs and studio-based teaching."
Professor Rosenberg said much of Monash's involvement would revolve around the Sun Microsystems Authorised Academic Java Campus, located at the Peninsula campus - the only such facility in Australia.
The materials and resources produced by the project team will be made available to all Australian tertiary IT educational institutions, including universities and TAFE colleges, to assist them in offering Internet development education. As well, an appropriate subset of the materials will be made available to all Australian secondary schools.
The project has the support of key industry leaders and associations as well as the state government. Negotiations are under way which could lead to other state governments and partners becoming involved.
Further information on 'Building the Internet workforce' project can be obtained from Professor Rosenberg on extn 32406.
Monash Faculty of Art and Design senior lecturer Mr Troy Innocent was last week named the inaugural recipient of a grant from the Cinemedia Digital Media Fund.
The fund is the only state-based industry development body that supports new works by digital media artists.
The grant was announced during the launch of the fund at the Faculty Gallery on Caulfield campus by the Minister for State and Regional Development, the Hon. John Brumby.
Launching the fund, Mr Brumby said Victoria was keen to promote excellence and innovation in the field of digital media and was enthusiastic about working closely with higher education institutions to encourage students in the medium.
The grant was awarded as part of Cinemedia's research and experimentation program, which supports artists seeking to undertake specific research or experimentation in digital media that may lead to new artwork, as well as new ways of thinking about or uses for the artwork.
Mr Innocent, who has been working with digital media for the last 10 years, has gained support from the program for his project, the transmutational meta-processor (TMMP).
The TMMP, he said, aims to build upon current understanding of the nature of digital media by creating a process for "building and interpreting an evolving, three-dimensional multimedia language".
"This language will use form, colour, movement, sound and structural relationships as the essential communication elements," Mr Innocent said.
He hopes the result of his research will reflect a digital media aesthetic, broaden the community's understanding of the digital realm, and suggest new opportunities for communication.
Mr Innocent believes his research may also lead to an authoring system that has the potential to be developed into a commercial software product that captures the processes explored by the work at a mass-media level, hence crossing the line between art and the multimedia industry.
In conjunction with the launch of the fund, the Faculty Gallery is featuring an exhibition of digital art by emerging new artists.
The exhibition, Option Digital, runs from 20 March until 7 April. Gallery hours are Mondays to Fridays from 11 am to 5 pm.
The Hon.
John Brumby, Minister for State and Regional Development, left,
with Faculty of Art and Design senior lecturer and research grant recipient
Mr Troy Innocent.
International Women's Day lunchAbout 110 staff and students from the Caulfield campus recently enjoyed the insightful commentary of award-winning journalist Ms Virginia Trioli at a lunch celebrating International Women's Day at the Caulfield Race Course. Ms Trioli, who is a journalist for The Bulletin magazine, spoke of the issues women faced in the fight for equality - especially in the workplace. Her past employer, The Age, had recently handed over editorial control to women for a day, following a call from the United Nations on the world's media to do so for the first International Women's Day of the new century. While she felt the gesture was 'tokenistic', she said it wasn't that women had never been offered senior positions at the paper, just that such positions often covered unusual hours with little opportunity for flexibility. Ms Trioli encouraged women to use their collective voice to force change. "Until a woman says, 'Yes, I will take the job, but on my terms', things are unlikely to change," she said. Following the lunch, a Women's Networking and Support Group was established on the Caulfield campus. Staff wishing to become involved should contact Ms Helen Dunne on extn 31595 or email Helen.Dunne@adm.monash.edu.au - Julie Ryan
Guest
speaker at the International Women's Day lunch at Caulfield Ms Virginia
Trioli, |
Careers
fairThe Monash Student Employment and Careers Service (MONSEACS) recently held the biggest graduate careers fair ever held on the Clayton campus.
The fair attracted around 5700 students from all Monash's Victorian campuses and more than one hundred employers from organisations representing business, economics, commerce, arts, law, education, engineering, information technology, science and pharmacy.
According to MONSEACS manager Ms Irmgard Good, there is increasing competition among employers to attract the best graduates.
"Careers counsellors at MONSEACS Ms Gilda Moss and Ms Liz Rasztotszky have been arranging for employers to attend the event since late last year when they invited organisations to register their interest in the fair and in the broader campus recruitment program," Ms Good said.
In February this year, approximately 11,000 final-year students received an information pack listing the organisations that would be attending the fair as well as information about the career education workshops MONSEACS runs for students on all Victorian campuses.
Further information about the services offered by MONSEACS can be found at www-monseacs.adm.monash.edu.au
Applicants for the International Researchers Exchange Scheme (IREX) should lodge GST-inclusive applications to the Research Grants and Ethics Branch by 31 March.
For further details, refer to the RGEB web page at www.monash.edu.au/resgrant/grantinfo/ARC/arcirex.html or contact Genevieve Flore on extn 55313.
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