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Dark Mofo 2026: The fire this time
This year’s Dark Mofo was a fleeting visit, a day and a half lifted from a longer trip to Tasmania’s north-west coast, where I’ve been spending time with my mother, who is approaching her 90th year. She lives near Ulverstone, and something is grounding about being there, in the flat grey light of a Tasmanian…
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Capstones in the Age of AI: Why the final subject has never mattered more
There is much to consider regarding university capstone subjects. When mentioned, responses typically fall into one of two categories: either an enthusiastic endorsement of their transformative potential or a weary acknowledgment of the overwhelming expectations placed upon them, expectations that no single course could realistically meet. Both reactions are understandable and reflect a long-standing tension…
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Thailand Diary: nine days on Koh Phangan
I arrived in Bangkok on a beautiful morning, checked into my “suite”, a small, boxy room with no design logic and felt immediately at ease. This is the paradox of Thailand. The comfort factor is extraordinarily high even when the physical circumstances are modest. No matter how ugly Thai modernism may be, there are always…
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Book review: Tim Berners-Lee, This Is for Everyone
There is a particular kind of reading experience that feels less like consuming a book and more like walking alongside someone who helped shape the world you grew up in. Tim Berners-Lee’s memoir This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web, written with journalist Stephen Witt and published by Macmillan in September…
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The Quiz and AI: Reconsidering what outcomes really matter
The emergence of generative AI has sparked ‘wicked problem’ questions among educators: What is a quiz for? Is it still useful? Measuring what students know through quizzing them suddenly feels inadequate when an AI system can answer factual (and deliberative) questions faster and more accurately than a human. However, beneath this dilemma sits something more interesting:…
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Digital Archipelagos: A personal reflection on DHA2025 and its evolution in Australasia
Genesis, definitions, and memory Digital humanities remains a contested term, as all definitions must be! The field has been variously described as the intersection of computing and humanities disciplines, a methodological commons, and a site of computational engagement with cultural materials. Such contestation is healthy, signalling vitality, yet it also generates considerable waffle. I am…
