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SPIRAL 2008 #5 - May Newsletter
May 17th, 2008
*Systemic - Participatory - Inquiry - Research - Action - Learning*
SPIRAL — The Victorian Statewide Action Research Network
www.spiral-victoria.net
Notice of our next meeting NEXT THURSDAY 22 MAY
plus some nice new items of information and resources
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Summary of contents of this newsletter:
1. Notice of SPIRAL meeting — next Thursday 22 May 2008
2. ALARA postgrads AR special interest group
3. Australian Learning Communities conference, Adelaide 26-28 October
2008
4. Social action and technology conference, Melbourne 11-13 November
2008
5. A comprehensive website on biz approaches — many using AR
6. An Indigenous photographic autoethnography
7. Communities in Control conference, Melbourne 16-17 June 2008
8. The Journal of Research Practice
More details…
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1. THE NEXT SPIRAL MEETING
Thursday, May 22nd
5.30 - 7.30 pm
Room 410, 4th floor
207 Bouverie Street, University of Melbourne
Gillian Fletcher
‘Just tell us what to do’: The challenges of promoting action
research within HIV prevention work in Burma.
Gillian works for the Red Cross and is a PhD candidate at the
Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society
at La Trobe University.
Meeting convenor: “Bill Genat” <bgenat[at]unimelb.edu.au>
—————————-
2. ALARA AR postgraduate studies special interest group
A message from ALARA (the Action Learning Action Research
Association) that they have set up a Special Interest Group called
“Action Research and Postgraduate Research” facilitated by Ernie
Stringer. The group includes both supervisors and students
identifying common problems and supporting each other to work
through them.
ALARA’s website address is: <http://www.alara.net.au/home>
(note there are loads of resources on this website including open
access back issues of journals)
In Victoria at Borderlands in association with the Augustine Centre
in Hawthorn, Jacques Boulet facilitates a group that meets face to
face as part of the ‘oases’ Graduate School of Community Research
(ph) 9819 3239
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3. Australian Learning Communities Network 5th Biennial National
Conference
‘Connecting Faces, Places and Spaces’
Hyatt Regency Adelaide, 26 - 28 October 2008
Call for Abstracts — closes Friday 16 May 2008 at 5pm
Further information can be found on the conference website
<http://www.alcnconference.com/>
Or by contacting the conference secretariat:
<alcnconference[at]saugov.sa.gov.au>
The conference is a partnership between Australian Learning
Communities in association with the *Department of Further Education,
Employment, Science and Technology, South Australia*
—————————-
4. Social action and technology conference, Melbourne
11-13 November 2008
Making Links 2008: Community - Responsibility - Sustainability
The conference where social action and technology converge
11th - 13th November 2008
The University of Melbourne
Website: http://www.makinglinks.org.au/ http://tr_1210056666615
Making Links focuses on how technology can enhance and
support social inclusion. As usual, the conference will include
practical skills-building sessions and networking opportunities for
workers and volunteers in community organisations who work with
and/or are interested in web development, multimedia, Web 2.0 and
mobile technology. It will include: a bus tour of community ICT and
digital divide initiatives around Melbourne; and a mini film festival
showcasing community- based short films and digital arts at
Melbourne’s famous digital arts venue the Horse Bazaar.
You can get in touch with other delegates via the
Making Links Facebook event listing:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=18098235803
and the Making Links Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7075421142
CALL FOR PAPERS In 2008
We seek proposals for oral paper presentations, workshops and
multimedia displays. A computer lab will be available for technical
workshops. Abstracts and proposals should be submitted at
http://www.makinglinks.org.au/ and will be reviewed by the conference
committee. Selected presenters will be invited to submit a paper for
double blind peer review and consideration for a 2009 special issue
of 3CMedia, the Journal of Community, Citizen’s and Third Sector
Media and Communication.
The themes listed on the website are a guide to the kinds of
questions that are of interest to the conference. We welcome
proposals for oral presentations, case studies and practical
workshops. If you’d like to discuss your ideas with someone,
the contact details for committee members in five states are
on our website.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Conference Chair Jill Sergeant, Australian Federation of AIDS
Organisations Organising Committee Marcus Foth, Creative Industries
Faculty, Queensland University of Technology Nathan Frick,
Vibewire Simon Gee, DonorTec / Connecting Up Sriram Guddireddigari,
Infoxchange Australia Jonathan Hallett, WA Centre for Health
Promotion Research, Curtin University of Technology Jason King,
Consultant Liliana Ruti, Information and Cultural Exchange Juan
Salazar, Media Studies and Production, University of Western Sydney
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact Lindy McKeown Consultant and Educator Australia
Email: lindy[at]lindymckeown.com
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5. A comprehensive website on biz approaches — many using AR
Thanks to Susie Goff, Prez of ALARA news notice — for an astounding
compendium of business approaches to change and knowledge, many
drawing on AR approaches, at:
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/index.html
See for example, change management, quality and organisational
development/learning, appreciative inquiry, spiral dynamics, systems
thinking, etc.
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6. An Indigenous photographic autoethnography
Donna Allemans of ALARA has let us know that Vesper Tjukonai invites
you to visit her blog and see what’s happening in Ngarrindjeri
Country (Coorong, South Australia). A very moving narrative…
<http://narrung.blogspot.com/>
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7. Communities in Control conference 16-17 June, Melbourne
A message from Rhonda Galbally…
I’d like to invite you to the upcoming Communities in Control
Conference on 16 & 17 June (at the Moonee Valley Racecourse),
and would be so grateful if you could pass on the details to your
colleagues and networks, as we’re hoping to have the broadest
possible attendance this year. The conference brings together
sustainability and environment, public health, human rights and
social inclusion - a whole of government and whole of society
approach to resolving the big problems facing Australia.
This is the community 2020 summit. I would love you to come and
participate in what’s become the event to inspire, encourage, support
and sustain us all in our efforts towards making Australia a great
place for everyone. I look forward to welcoming you.
Website for information and registration:
<http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/cic2008><http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/cic2008>
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8. The Journal of Research Practice
Bob Dick through Cornell PAR-Announce reminds us that the Journal of
Research Practice, at http://jrp.icaap.org/ is now in its fourth year
of existence (apologies for cross-postings)
It has carried many action research papers, and you are invited to
consider it for your own articles. The journal is open access,
peer-reviewed, and offers supportive reviewing; quick turn-around
times, and provides high-quality copy editing. It also charges no
subscription or pay-per-view fees to readers and no submission
or publication fees to authors. It has a distinguished and
international editorial board and follows a rigorous editorial
process to ensure quality and relevance.
The editor is a long-standing friend of action research and systems
thinking, and may be contacted at: D.P. Dash, PhD; Editor, Journal of
Research Practice (JRP) Email: dpdash[at]mib.ac.in
The journal seeks to develop our understanding of research as a type
of evolving practice. It promotes inquiry into how different ways of
doing research or questioning its assumptions and results may improve
it or inspire new research. The journal aims to facilitate research
education and promote innovative and self-reflective forms of
research in different fields. JRP is not a journal for reporting the
results of specific research projects or the state of research in a
specific discipline.
Instead, it focuses on aspects of research practice that are of
interest to researchers in different fields of inquiry. Authors are
invited to write about their research experiences, reflecting
critically upon the challenges they faced and ways they found
(or suggest) for dealing with them. Every JRP article is expected
to find readers in multiple fields of inquiry and trigger fresh
thinking about some aspects of research practice and education.
You can submit articles online by first registering on the website.
Submissions are solicited in different categories:
(a) Main Article — full-length articles relating to JRP’s
publication focus;
(b) Research Design — articles discussing basic issues and choices
of research design;
(c) Provocative Idea — articles communicating fresh ideas on some
challenges of doing research; and
(d) Review — reflective reviews of published material (books,
journal issues, films, web-based resources, etc.).
The review time for papers is about 4 weeks on average. Please find
the Author Guidelines at:
http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/information/authors
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Finally, a message about this SPIRAL message…
With the enforcement of Australia’s SPAM Act from 10 April 2004, we
are obliged to always ask whether you would like us to continue to
contact you by email with SPIRAL sendouts and any other related
items. See at end if you wish to discontinue.
The Privacy legislation also requires us to clarify that we collect
personal contact information for the purposes of providing you with
an opportunity for networking and relevant information provision
through the Victorian state-wide Systemic Participatory Inquiry
Research Action Learning network. This information is shared only
by members of the network (or those assisting us do this) for the
purposes of arranging the send outs. The contact details are not
forwarded to any other parties.
Requests to make contact with or send information through the network
are received by the convenors or/and the organising group. As a
service to the SPIRAL network, we forward to you material we think
you might find of interest. We choose only material central enough
to the cluster of interest that connects SPIRAL members.
Our policy to date has been to send this to you ‘as is’ (sometimes we
might shorten it). We have, to date, not changed the content, partly
because we haven’t felt we should, and partly because we haven’t
wanted to assume we had the knowledge to do so. If there is a strong
response to a forwarded notice, we would advise informing the
originator of the message, or/and send it to us to share with the
network in the next sendout.
SPIRAL does not at this stage have the capacity to run a
Bulletin Board or listserv but recommends ALARA’s
at: http://www.alarpm.org.au/
or Bob Dick’s ARlist email <bdick[at]scu.edu.au>,
We also welcome any other feedback about the operation of the network
and its meetings, AR-related information or notices for circulation
and of course new members who want to join.
__________________________
Jill Sangunietti & Bill Genat
Joint Convenors 2008
c/o SPIRAL network sponsor is the
Action Research Issues Association (ARIA)
Inc. # A0016248Z Reg. c/o:
2 Minona Ave
Hawthorn, Vic 3122
aria.inc[at]gmail.com
www.spiral-victoria.net