MyResearchSpace

By David Glance, University of Western Australia

The long tail of academic publishing David Glance

In 2004, Wired Editor Chris Anderson wrote an article and later a book about how online businesses were […]

By David Glance, University of Western Australia

Owni, Wikileaks and others’ site on surveillance software http://spyfiles.org

Iran it seems has been the target of another novel form of malware <a […]

Associate Professor David Glance
There have been enough social media disasters of late to make one thing clear: manipulating sentiment through social networks is next to impossible.

The McDonald’s #McDStories campaign in January was supposed to allow the public to share fond memories of eating at McDonald’s. Instead, responses quickly…[Read more]

Assoc Professor David Glance
Whenever the press covers a story about hackers, a great deal of the discussion concerns the nature of online identity, the cohesiveness of hacking groups, and the individuals that identify with these groups. This is particularly the case with discussion of hackers that consider themselves part of the…[Read more]

Associate Professor David Glance
From July 1 2012, Australians will be able to register for their own Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR). At least this was what Rosemary Huxtable, deputy secretary of the department of health and ageing has reaffirmed to a parliamentary senate committee. At that point, $467m will have…[Read more]

Research Assistant Professor Kristyn Bates
Genetic mutations are the cause of many incurable diseases and we now have tests to predict the likelihood of people developing inherited diseases. But predictive genetic tests for neurodegenerative diseases have many implications and, for some, such tests are like opening Pandora’s box.

A…[Read more]

Professor David Blair
I have spent almost 40 years trying to detect gravity waves.

When I started there were just a few of us working away in university labs. Today 1,000 physicists working with billion-dollar observatories are quietly confident the waves are within our grasp.

If we are right, the gravity wave search will have taken…[Read more]

Prof Gordon Royle
Last month, a team led by Gary McGuire from University College Dublin in Ireland made an announcement: they had proven you can’t have a solvable Sudoku puzzle with less than 17 numbers already filled in.

Unlike most mathematical announcements, this was quickly picked up by the popular scientific media. Within a few…[Read more]

Assoc Prof David Hodgkinson
Aviation is a growing source of emissions. Emissions from aviation are increasing against a background of decreasing emissions from many other industry sectors. Airlines – with their international reach – are facing a confusing welter of regulation that makes emissions reduction difficult.

…[Read more]

Assoc Prof Andrew Whitehouse
The DSM giveth, and the DSM taketh away – this is the less-than-complimentary sentiment of many people within the autism community as the clock ticks down to the publication of the most eagerly-anticipated book of 2013.

DSM, of course, is an abbreviation for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental…[Read more]

Assoc Prof David Glance
A white paper was released this week stating that “Gen Y” employees could be better engaged and motivated by applying “game dynamics” to the workplace. Bunchball, the company behind the paper, would say that of course, because it sells technology that allows other software vendors to “gamify” their products.

But…[Read more]

Professor Carlos Duarte
We are seeing the first signs of dangerous climate change in the Arctic. This is our warning that humanity is facing a dire future.

The Arctic region is fast approaching a series of “tipping points” that could trigger an abrupt domino effect of large-scale climate change across the entire planet. The region…[Read more]

Assoc Prof David Glance
Late last week, Apple announced the launch of a new piece of software, iBooks Author, and a new version of its eBook reader, iBooks 2. It’s a development that promises to accelerate the move to interactive eBooks, by radically simplifying their development.

The days of bulky textbooks…[Read more]

Assoc Prof Karl-Heinz Wyrwoll
For thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians burned forests to promote grasslands for hunting and other purposes. Recent research suggests that these burning practices also affected the timing and intensity of the Australian summer monsoon.

It is perhaps difficult for some of us…[Read more]

By Assoc Prof David Glance
According to the Wall Street Journal, camera manufacturer Kodak is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following a long struggle to maintain any sort of viable business.

Smartphones are changing the way we take (and share) photos.
Apple

The…[Read more]

By Professor David Kennedy
Archaeology is the study of the remains of the past but has long been predatory on the sciences and their ever-growing technologies. I was brought up as a student in 1970s Britain, when we learned of the wonderful revelations to be made through aerial viewing of almost any human landscape.

…[Read more]

Want to quit smoking, lose weight, manage your diabetes or get a good night’s sleep? No worries. There’s an app for all of that.

But it’s not always clear which medical apps are based on solid evidence and which aren’t.

We asked the experts to review eight prominent medical apps. They considered whether the apps were useful and medically…[Read more]

By Assoc Prof David Glance
Around this time of year you see plenty of articles (such as this one) reflecting on notable technologies and events of the year now gone. Such pieces will also attempt to predict the events of the year just started.

h.koppdelaney

When reading these articles, it’s worth…[Read more]

By Assoc/Prof David Glance

At approximately 1pm on Friday, a customer of Telstra BigPond – Australia’s largest internet service provider – posted on a forum that:

“If you do a Google search for that number [the number for Telstra’s ‘Bundles’ department, 1800 008 851], you get a very interesting result. Um, Telstra, that’s customer…[Read more]

By Assoc/Prof David Glance
It’s unlikely James Bond would have been recruited this way. The perks of this job do not include driving an Aston Martin, sipping martinis in exotic locations or saving the UK by shooting the cat-stroking villain.

Nowadays, a secret service job involves a computer, possibly located in a basement, and the…[Read more]