Honours Scholarship Recipients

Our congratulations to the following people who have been awarded an Honours Scholarship for 2009.

Benjamin Ball - University of Technology, Sydney
Ingrid Barberis - University of Queensland
Matthew D'Orazio - University of Tasmania
Peter Lyle - University of Tasmania
Tim Nugent - University of Tasmania
Christina Yum - University of Sydney
Leon Johnson - Griffith University

Each recipient will receive $4000, paid in two even amounts midway through each semester.

A short summary of their Honours Projects are below:

Benjamin Ball - University of Technology, Sydney

The Photojournalism Pop-Up Book
The fundamental question propelling my honours thesis is this:   Can photojournalism be used as a platform to tell long-narrative stories on the internet, and if so, how?   Within this question there are several sub-areas of investigation: Should online journalism, and online photojournalism in particular, move beyond using the internet as a new platform for already established traditions, and explore ways in which the unique interactivity of the online platform can be incorporated into journalism in innovative ways?  #Might such creative uses of interactivity lessen the distance between subject and viewer by creating an experiential space which is not purely mediated, and in so doing diminish 'sympathy fatigue'?  Can creativity and interactivity hold people's interest long enough to tell in-depth stories on the internet?  If long-narrative photojournalism can reach a broad audience on the internet, can it be produced sustainably? That is, is there a market? My thesis is important because it will affect the way I work in the future, and potentially influence the work of other photographers with similar interests.

Ingrid Barberis - University of Queensland

The role of mesofaunal grazing in the health of coral reefs.
Grazing is a vital process in maintaing a healthy coral reef. Grazers keep the levels of algae low enough so that they don't take over the surfaces of the corals and prevent them from photosynthesising. Fish are thought to be important, but there is very little known about the effects of invertebrate grazing on reef health. There is also very little known about the ecology of these organisms. During the day the reef is teaming with movement and life, while at night time many of these life forms retreat to crevices and hideaway spots within the very structures that make up the reef habitat. Within these structures, live a variety of cryptic invertebrate species which remove algae from complex cavities in the framework of the reef and make way for other non-grazing species to utilize the same space. This study is designed to fill a gap in the literature by observing, recording and describing the grazing ecology and behaviour of invertebrate species found living in the branching corals at Heron Island.

Matthew D'Orazio - University of Tasmania

Web-based Sharing of Ego-centric Route Descriptions
In 2004, as part of their research, Lueg and Bidwell found that 'photos taken from an egocentric perspective photos taken from the perspective of the individual in question could be a 'powerful resource in pedestrian navigation'. The research hypothesis follows directly on from the initial research: 'Web-based sharing of egocentric route descriptions can be used to effectively guide a visitor to a destination in an unknown environment'.  What does this mean? Is it useful for people to follow a route illustrated by a series of images taken from their perspective. For example, trying to find a specific shop in the middle of a busy city; a series of images may exist, each taken at the required intervals in order for a person to identify their current position and where they need to move next. Naturally this is not limited to urban street routing; this may turn out to be a very useful tool for everything from bush walking to large indoor complexes.

Peter Lyle - University of Tasmania

Mobile interaction with screen real estate
My research is to examine the state of user interaction between mobile devices and large public display screens.  The focus will be an investigation of the ways people interact with screen real estate.  This project falls under the Computing sub-discipline, Mobile HCI (Mobile Human-Computer Interaction).  The major goals will be determining how interfaces for large public screens may be developed with a focus on usefulness and usability. 

Tim Nugent - University of Tasmania

Group-Based Exploration of Destinations
A large amount of work is spent supporting the exploration of tourism attractions, such as museums. However a large amount of visitors to a particular destination are families or groups. This project is about developing an iPhone app that will allow members of a group to visit a tourism area as a collaborative activity.  The focus is not on the destination being visited but on making available information about the behaviour of the members of the groups to one another. The information to be displayed includes the current location and the previous location of other members of the group and possibly linking in with existing information about nearby attractions to the group members. The idea behind this thesis is that a group of people will be interested in seeing what the other members of their group are doing, where they are and what and where they have recently been.  The actual hypothesis being tested by this thesis is 'Groups exploring an area like seeing the location and possibly the past routes of their members'.

Christina Yum - University of Sydney

Understanding holistic task management
At present, individuals and teams employ numerous strategies to manage their tasks over both physical and digital mediums. There is much potential for computer-based "to-do list" tools to maintain links between tasks, resources, events, contacts and other associated digital information to improve the productivity of individuals and the co-ordination amongst team members.
A field trial where people make use of a set of tools for planning their tasks over multiple machines and using an iPhone will also be completed to learn how different devices are used in personal task management. These studies will give a better understand of how these tools could better support the management and completion of tasks both in a team and individual setting.   This project is important as task list creation and management is extremely diverse amongst individuals and teams.

Leon Johnson - Griffith University

The Viability of Integrating Modes of Animation in Contemporary Cinema
I will be researching the technique of combining 2D and 3D animation in contemporary cinema. I will be focusing on the use of the perception of depth on screen using 2D and 3D elements. This technique can be an alternative visual avenue worth exploring.  The feature length films Titan A.E. (2000), Treasure Planet (2002) and Tekkonkinkreet (2006) have each employed this hybrid technique of combining the two types of animation in new ways. I will compare these separate projects and discuss the advantages and disadvantages and how they overcame issues relating to the integrating of 2D and 3D on such large scale projects. This will also do an image analysis of the three films.  I believe this a great opportunity to discover something new. I believe that in this day and age of animation we need to keep exploring this creative medium even more. One way of pushing the boundaries is to have another good look at the art of integrating these two mediums of animation to discover new ways to tell stories to the next generation.  My general strategies to finalize my studio research will be to produce a short animation of 3-4minutes in length that uses 2D and 3D.