tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/foundation-essays-175/articlesFoundation essays – The Conversation2013-11-11T19:43:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190712013-11-11T19:43:22Z2013-11-11T19:43:22ZWhat is a book in the digital age?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34675/original/hcr86yrh-1383815787.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Left: Girl Reading, by Franz Eybl. Oil on canvas, 1850. Right: Woman Reading, by Andrew Stevovich. Oil painting, 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr, Plum Leaves; Wiki Commons, Andr.V.S.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a professional <a href="http://zoesadokierski.com/">book designer</a>, I’ve spent a decade observing electronic books from a cagey distance. A couple of years ago, I reluctantly recognised the need to engage with these alien book forms, both as a reader and <a href="http://www.pagescreenstudio.com/">a designer</a>. It is the 21st century.</p>
<p>What I have come to realise is this: electronic books can do certain things that print books cannot, and therein lies their value. Enhanced electronic books are changing our definition and expectations of books. </p>
<p>My office, home and handbag are still stuffed with print books; eBooks (e for electronic) have not replaced pBooks (p for print) in my life. I find myself toggling between the two. </p>
<p>I consider the relationships between print and electronic books from the perspective of a reader and designer. What are these different formats, and how do they affect the way we produce and consume content? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33657/original/hndmgdk3-1382581612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Print book versus electronic book: a visual overview.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Sadokierski</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The smell and feel of paper</h2>
<p>Let’s get nostalgia out of the way quickly. Print books have a material quality that electronic books do not. For many of us, the intimacy of cradling a book close to our chest, hanging our head over it and shutting out the real world is a sacred ritual. The smell and feel of paper can never be replicated by a cold, hard screen.</p>
<p>Although it’s possible to read an electronic book in a bath, it’s less relaxing and more dangerous (not in a fun way). Browsing a bookstore or library and flicking through books is a social, embodied experience. Clicking on a screen is not.</p>
<p>Amazon.com has a complex algorithm to suggest books I may like based on previous purchases, but I’d rather have a librarian or bookseller make suggestions based on their expertise and a conversation, and walk out holding the book object. The tactile differences between page and screen will always be an issue for those of us raised on ink and paper.</p>
<p>But watch how a toddler tapping stubbornly at a magazine becomes annoyed that the image isn’t changing. That child is unlikely to feel the same nostalgia for print as her parents, because her understanding of “book” will be significantly different to theirs.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aXV-yaFmQNk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A magazine is an iPad that doesn’t work.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The technology we use to present and consume information has changed. The toddler who understands that tapping a glassy surface should make an image change demonstrates that technology is developing at an unprecedented rate, and unless we are constantly attentive we risk being left behind.</p>
<h2>New tech, new challenges</h2>
<p>Although often linked, anxiety about the new is different than nostalgia for the old.</p>
<p>A print book is a beautifully simple technology to use. Pick the thing up, turn each leaf in sequence until finished. If literate, anyone can pick up and read any print book.</p>
<p>An electronic book is a more complex technology. An eBook requires a computer, eReader or tablet, and a power source to keep the device charged. It requires computer access to a website or digital catalogue where files can be downloaded, and an understanding of how to use it.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34665/original/dkjqp786-1383804186.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gestures: pinch; pan; two-hand rotate; two finger scroll.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GRPH3B18</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pages aren’t just turned, they are clicked and pinched and swiped – movements that need to be learned, and vary between different devices and brands.</p>
<p>In other words, you need new kinds of literacy to even get to the text. Moreover, you need to keep up with constant development and updating of these devices and programs, and understand the value and limitations of different devices, formats and suppliers.</p>
<p>This market-driven mess is the major issue with current eBooks. Different eReaders are made by different companies – Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and the Sony Reader, to name a few. Then there are tablets, such as Apple’s iPad, which perform a range of functions similar to a computer, one of which is enabling users to read eBooks through an app (short for “application”, or computer program). </p>
<p>These different devices run on different software, and require different file types. An eBook that works on a Kindle may not work on an iPad. There is no single file type that allows an eBook to be published all devices.</p>
<p>So although cutting out the printing and binding process of traditional book production may seem to reduce production time and costs, the confusion of designing for different platforms and devices means an entirely new and more complicated production process has been introduced.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Content has to be designed ‘responsively’ – to flow into the different formats of different devices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">jiraisurfer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Urgency to capture the market means many of these devices and the software/programs on them are released before they have been properly tested, and have faults that need to be addressed by constantly updating to newer versions of the software.</p>
<p>Amazon’s Kindle Fire eReader, released just before Christmas 2011, was riddled with <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/kindle-fire-hd-problems/">bugs and problems</a>: volume-control glitches, an off-switch that was easily hit by accident, slow loading time and an unresponsive touch screen. Hundreds of articles and forums are dedicated to problems associated with iPads: overheating devices, Wi-Fi connectivity issues, slow charging, apps and eBooks refusing to sync or download. </p>
<p>This can seem overwhelming when you could just pick up a print book and begin reading immediately.</p>
<p>Yet the complexity of the digital system is what allows eBooks to do astounding things, and offers versatility and accessibility impossible in print.</p>
<h2>More pros than cons</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34659/original/wjxxj8xd-1383802176.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martouf</span></span>
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<p>The most immediate appeal of eBooks for digitally-reluctant readers is the efficiency afforded by an eReader. Packing for a vacation, a single device the width of a novella that contains hundreds of books is incredibly convenient and offers a previously unimagined variety of instantaneous choice.</p>
<p>Travelling on the Trans-Mongolian Rail a few years ago, I constantly cursed the bulk of Anna Karenina. With an eReader, I could have slipped Tolstoy’s entire oeuvre into my jacket pocket, with some Dostoyevsky for good measure. Then again, finding a power source in a yurt would have proved problematic.</p>
<p>Other appealing aspects of eBooks are immediacy and variety. Incredible numbers of eBooks, including many that are difficult to find in print, are available instantly from repositories, with no delivery time, and with many at a lower cost than print books. </p>
<p>The US-based online literary archive <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/kindle-fire-hd-problems/">Project Gutenberg</a> has more than 42,000 free eBooks – digitised books that have fallen out of copyright.</p>
<p>Most publishers offer new releases in both print and electronic editions simultaneously. These eBooks are direct translations of print books; the same text is scanned in, or typeset for an eReader, exactly as it would appear in the print edition. For those direct translations, the difference between a print and electronic edition is a matter of the reader’s preference. The content of the book is the same, only the format differs.</p>
<h2>A richer reading experience</h2>
<p>A more curious breed are “enhanced eBooks”, which include audio-visual and interactive elements such as short videos and animations.</p>
<p>UK company <a href="http://www.touchpress.com">Touch Press</a> are leading that field. Their titles include <a href="https://theconversation.com/master-craftsman-how-ts-eliot-led-the-way-in-the-digital-publishing-revolution-19689">an edition of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land</a> that contains a scanned draft of the manuscript hand-edited by Ezra Pound, an original video performance of the poem, and a suite of video interviews with poets, theatre directors and scholars discussing the cultural significance of the poem.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ek9aodZE1q4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">T.S. Eliot’s classic poem, The Waste Land, for iPad.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They have also produced an edition of Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings that allows users to zoom at extraordinary resolution and compare Leonardo’s theories against modern knowledge with 3D models of human anatomy, as well as interactive demonstrations.</p>
<p>Touch Press is also behind an animated, annotated <a href="http://www.touchpress.com/titles/theelements/">periodic table of elements</a> that has to be seen to be believed. Their highly interactive release, Gems and Jewels, allows users to rotate the pictures within the books to see the other side.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6LX2Bz6xC4s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Touch Press’ website manifesto reads: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Books are one of the defining inventions of civilisation. Today publishing is being transformed by digital technologies. The aim of Touch Press is to create new kinds of books that re-invent the reading experience by offering information that is enhanced with rich media and that adapts dynamically to the interests and experience of the reader.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These kinds of publications are different than the eBooks that are straight translations from print to digital. They include audio-visual and interactive elements that cannot be reproduced on the page.</p>
<p>These are the eBooks that are changing the way we consider what a book is, and could be.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Sadokierski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As a professional book designer, I’ve spent a decade observing electronic books from a cagey distance. A couple of years ago, I reluctantly recognised the need to engage with these alien book forms, both…Zoe Sadokierski, Lecturer, School of Design, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189102013-11-07T19:36:32Z2013-11-07T19:36:32ZYouth vs truth: how box sets beat the box office<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34616/original/vycqx77b-1383788191.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Let's be honest: the sofa's often better than the cinema. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/HBO</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The northern summer of 2013 was a bad one for Hollywood. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1815862/">After Earth</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210819/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Lone Ranger</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/?ref_=nv_sr_1">White House Down</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/?ref_=nv_sr_1">World War Z</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663662/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Pacific Rim</a> were among the million-dollar turkeys. And you may have noticed the DVD shelves feature more TV series than ever before. </p>
<p>So what’s going on?</p>
<p>Cinema has been in crisis for 70 years. In the 1950s, it responded to the challenge of television with bigger, brighter and brasher spectacles. But the problem with big-budget spectacle is obvious: when you bet the bank, it’s easy to lose your shirt. </p>
<p>A few massive flops such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Cleopatra</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061584/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7">Dr Dolittle</a> in the 1960s were enough to frighten investors and producers off the strategy. </p>
<p>In the place of that approach, Hollywood discovered low-budget movies with the kind of adult themes television of the 1960s and 1970s couldn’t or wouldn’t handle. From <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/?ref_=nv_sr_2">Easy Rider</a> (1969) to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Taxi Driver</a> (1976), the strategy worked, but a handful of expensive bombs such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080855/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Heaven’s Gate</a> (1980) changed LA executives’ minds again.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">sanberdoo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the TV problem persisted. How could you get your would-be audience to leave the sofa (and the proximity of the refrigerator) to go down town to the movie theatre? In 1975 and 1976, two films set the model for the future: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Jaws</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/?ref_=nv_sr_2">Star Wars</a>. Spielberg’s shark story was more than a film: it was an event. </p>
<p>George Lucas’s first installment of his sci-fi epic went one better by opening up a new market for spin-offs: toys, clothes, games, theme-park rides and merchandise of every kind. </p>
<p>Best of all, both films created the opportunity to tell more stories with the same basic set up: what Hollywood would come to call a <em>franchise</em>.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Viktor hertz</span></span>
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<p>The lesson was clear: parents might not be persuaded to get up off the couch, but teens everywhere could be persuaded to evade the watchful eye of Mom and Dad. For nearly 40 years, that wisdom has framed the way Hollywood has made movies. </p>
<p>Reducing drastically the number of films they make each year, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_film_studio#Today.27s_Big_Six">the six major studios</a>, who together control more than 80% of global box office, concentrate on the 12-to-25 age range. </p>
<p>The major target is boys, especially younger teens who tend to visit the cinema in groups, with a significant subsidiary market for slightly older teens on dates, and girls heading out for an evening together.</p>
<p>Older film fans talk about genres such as westerns and science fiction. The industry talks about blockbusters for boys and date movies and rom-coms for girls.</p>
<h2>Distraction</h2>
<p>The rise of computer games in the 1980s and the internet in the 1990s increased competition for young audiences’ attention, already distracted by rock music, the revitalisation of the comic book industry in the 1980s, and a massive boom in consumer magazines in the same decade. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33671/original/djfypbck-1382587259.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">myrrh ahn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1980s, video piracy rattled the business: in the 2000s <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-battle-has-been-won-but-the-war-on-piracy-is-far-from-over-16211">the problem of piracy</a> exploded, as an increasingly internet-savvy generation used file-sharing to access the movies the studios lavished so much money and care on. </p>
<p>The first strategic response by Hollywood was architectural. Loosening implementation of laws on cross-ownership starting in the 2000s allowed the majors to return to the theatrical end of the business, where they invested huge sums on new multiplexes, luxurious seating and state-of-the-art sound systems. </p>
<p>The second strategic response was marketing. Today, at least a third of the budget for a new release is spent on “P&A”, prints and advertising. Increasingly sophisticated teasers and trailers, reports from the set, leaks to the press and huge advertising campaigns jockey for the biggest possible success.</p>
<p>The focus of the campaign is the opening weekend. Top-budget movies not only have to open to big crowds; the opening weekend establishes the brand of the film, which will be essential for its long-term success. </p>
<p>Once the title, the logo, the specially-commissioned typeface and the carefully selected images have saturated television, billboards, websites, social media, newsprint and magazines, the stage is set for the longer haul of DVD sales and rentals, video-on-demand streaming, cable, satellite and free-to-air TV. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33580/original/f3v3hyqh-1382508343.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nice shades … but World War Z underperformed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hannibal Hanschke/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to top industry scholar <a href="http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_26228.html">Tino Balio</a>, that is where, in the 2010s, well over 60% of movie revenues are generated.</p>
<p>Films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Lord of the Rings</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Avatar</a> (whose second and third installments are in preparation for 2016 and 2017 release) are typical franchises in at least three senses:</p>
<p>1) Each film in the series remains open to a sequel.<br></p>
<p>2) Because of the gap between release dates, fans are likely to buy a previous instalment to get in the mood in advance of the latest episode. <br></p>
<p>3) The films are made with a lavish attention to detail that invites multiple viewings.</p>
<p>Franchises are good for studios. A one-off film is a prototype: as scriptwriting guru <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goldman">William Goldman</a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/457097-nobody-knows-anything-not-one-person-in-the-entire-motion">famously said</a> of Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.”</p>
<p>If we could predict success, there would never be such a thing as a box office bomb. </p>
<p>But if your <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258463/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4">first Bourne movie</a> is a hit, the chances its sequel will crash and burn are significantly lowered. </p>
<p>Add to this the fact that all the majors are now parts of multimedia conglomerates, and that a franchise based on an already-successful product has a much better chance of success itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33685/original/nmwyd764-1382589706.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pirates of the Caribbean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Disney Enterprises</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether it’s a theme-park ride (Disney’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325980/?ref_=tt_rec_tt">Pirates of the Caribbean</a>) or a comic book family (Warner’s <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/">DC Comics</a>, Disney’s <a href="http://marvel.com/">Marvel</a>), franchises build on synergies with other branches of their parent companies.</p>
<h2>Curiosity</h2>
<p>In the mid-20th century, some major film companies shunned TV. </p>
<p>Others started making television, among them the wildly successful <a href="http://www.disney.com.au/">Disney</a>, which brokered its music hits, theme parks and TV shows to expand into grown-up films and computer animation, and to acquire the US’s <a href="http://www.disneyabctv.com/web/index.aspx">ABC television network</a> in 1995. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33675/original/3t4grtkr-1382588666.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Mohundro</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This pattern was repeated through the relationship of Paramount with CBS, NBC’s with Universal, Newscorp’s ownership of both Fox Studios and the Fox TV network. Time Warner own HBO and the Turner network among other TV properties, and Sony, owners of Columbia, has also moved into television. </p>
<p>Television is no longer the upstart challenger, it seems, but another wing of the same industry. And that’s without factoring in the studios’ involvement in online, mobile and games media. </p>
<p>The youth market looks pretty much locked in. So why was the northern summer of 2013 such a tough one for youth-oriented blockbuster movies following a tried and tested formula?</p>
<p>The secret may just be that older audience that was left behind in the blockbuster boom of the 1970s, sitting cheerfully at home minding the store. </p>
<p>When the cable and satellite TV markets began to mature in the late 1970s, they were still dependent on advertising. But soon enough, execs began to notice the audience left behind by cinema. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33673/original/fjcj2zpf-1382588018.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arnaud H</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those people were happy to pay a subscription to see premium product, especially without the interruptions of commercial breaks. Back catalogues of classic movies and premium runs of new films were early entrants. </p>
<p>In 1997, HBO changed the game by launching its prison drama <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118421/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Oz</a>, followed in 1999 by the first season of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141842/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Sopranos</a>. </p>
<p>Suddenly, we had television that wasn’t dumbed down to meet the requirements of advertisers, that used the serial form to develop complex characters, and that addressed grown-up themes in an adult form.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33676/original/vqn2vjwg-1382588977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Breaking Bad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lydia Fizz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the 2000s, shows such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/">Band of Brothers</a>, <a href="http://www.hbo.com/#/deadwood">Deadwood</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318997/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Angels in America</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248654/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Six Feet Under</a> had not only demonstrated the unfed demand for adult programming; they had staked a claim, with series such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Wire</a>, to the role once occupied by the popular social novels of Charles Dickens or Upton Sinclair. </p>
<p>As the top shows garnered awards and critical praise in the serious as well as the popular press, the shows became collectable items, much like great novels, to be viewed and savoured more than once.</p>
<p>Despite his success with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</a>, Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Firefly</a> was dropped after only one season, and as wily a judge of popular taste as Spielberg has consistently failed to ignite a TV franchise. </p>
<p>Is TV unsuited to spectacular fantasy? The success of the BBC’s revamped <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0">Dr Who</a> and <a href="http://www.hbo.com/#/game-of-thrones">HBO’s Game of Thrones</a> might suggest otherwise. </p>
<p>Is TV likely to go the same way as the “new Hollywood” of the 1970s, overwhelmed by teen action and superhero spectacle? Unlikely at present given the critical and commercial success of <a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad">AMC’s Breaking Bad</a>. </p>
<p>The reliable, comfortably-off audience for serious TV drama may yet trump that fickle youth demographic who stayed away in the summer of 2013.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Cubitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The northern summer of 2013 was a bad one for Hollywood. After Earth, The Lone Ranger, White House Down, World War Z and Pacific Rim were among the million-dollar turkeys. And you may have noticed the…Sean Cubitt, Professor of Film and Television, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187492013-11-06T19:33:27Z2013-11-06T19:33:27ZDon’t stop believing: religion has a place in Australia’s future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34311/original/pq67cqg8-1383527303.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unprecedented 22% of Australians have declared themselves to be of "no religion".</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jetuma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently the Prime Minister <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-15/abbott-draft-carbon-tax-repeal/5023826">called upon</a> the Labor Party to “repent” of its introduction of the carbon tax. His comments were ridiculed by some critics, not for the substance of what he said, but for the language he used. </p>
<p>Concepts such as “repentance”, “sin”, even “forgiveness”, are seen as being at odds with objective, scientific analysis, and out of step with 21st-century Australia.</p>
<p>Like much of the developed world, in the last 50 years Australia has seen an extraordinary decline in the proportion of the population that claims religious affiliation. Historians have questioned the extent to which Australians have ever been particularly religious.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, religious language, religious culture and religious issues permeate contemporary Australian life.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/">Royal Commission</a> is underway investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse, with a major focus on sexual abuse in the churches. The debate about same-sex marriage is frequently portrayed in the media as a contest between conservative Christian and enlightened liberal values. </p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of Australian children attend schools run by religious organisations. Australian religious leaders are frequently in the news, attempting to hold governments to public account, or being criticised themselves for failing to meet their own standards.</p>
<p>So what is religion? How does it manifest in contemporary Australia? And why does anyone bother with it any more?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33681/original/44vyfxtn-1382589289.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hindu Australians celebrate the Ganesh Festival at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Helensburgh, NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Celeste33/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013">2011 census</a>, 68.3% of Australia’s population identified a religious affiliation, while an unprecedented 22% – 4,800,000 people – declared themselves to be of “no religion”. </p>
<p>The Christian Research Association <a href="http://www.cra.org.au/the-persistence-of-religion-what-the-census-tells-us/">argues</a> that the 2011 data shows the surprising durability of religious identity in a secular context: although religious affiliation dropped by 1.2 percentage points between 2006 and 2011, this was slower than the decline of 3.3 percentage points between 2001 and 2006. </p>
<p>The rate of decline in religious belief has slowed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34306/original/xf4hgs7b-1383526657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leonard John Matthews</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As religious demographers note, the declaration of affiliation on the census does not translate into visible participation in religious rituals such as church attendance. There is no straightforward way to measure how many people attend religious services weekly, monthly or annually. And, as <a href="http://tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/">Elizabeth I</a> would have said, it is impossible to make “windows into men’s souls”.</p>
<p>But it is possible to measure religious activity in ways other than church attendance or census affiliation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33679/original/sz7swqh8-1382589174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Easter Sunday service at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Paul Miller</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sociologists and anthropologists have used analysis of believing, behaving and belonging to detect religious practices in human societies. These categories – the “three Bs” – stem from the work of French sociologist <a href="http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Biography.html">Emile Durkheim</a>, who attempted to define religion a century ago.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34307/original/hpc5t8hx-1383526988.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leonard John Matthews</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Durkheim’s major work, <a href="http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/forms.html">Elementary Forms of the Religious Life</a> (1912), was based on early ethnographic accounts of Australian Aboriginal culture, specifically the <a href="http://aboriginalart.com.au/culture/arrernte.html">Arrernte people</a>. Durkheim’s thesis has been contested and modified, not least because of his flawed, second-hand approach to understanding Arrernte country and language. </p>
<p>It is nevertheless striking that Indigenous Australians stand at the heart of the study of religion as a social phenomena despite historic marginalisation in what has been seen as one of the most secular nations on Earth.</p>
<p>Moreover, Indigenous Australian cultures continue to challenge the modern European tendency to separate the sacred from the secular, the supernatural from the social, the physical from the spiritual.</p>
<h2>Belonging</h2>
<p>It seems clear that Australians still believe. Two-thirds of us tick a religious identity box on the census. Australians are also well imbued with non-institutional beliefs: the fair-go, mateship, the dream of owning home and land, the belief that “our golden soil has wealth for toil”.</p>
<p>Australians engage in a wide range of ritual behaviours. </p>
<p>Some of us go to church, mosque, synagogue, temple. But what about daily visits to the gym, weekly football matches, Saturday morning grocery shopping, marathons and bike rides, the annual ANZAC commemoration, the sacred opportunity for pilgrimage to the Somme, Kokoda, Gallipoli? It is rare for a death to go entirely unmarked by even the most basic of funeral rituals.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33677/original/tbg5w9qf-1382589004.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hawthorn supporters celebrate the club’s 2013 AFL Grand Final win.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Dale Cumming</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is the category of belonging that is most difficult to assess in Australia. The membership of many churches has declined, and where power and influence is overtly exerted, it is viewed with suspicion. Yet community clubs and workers’ unions have also lost members, perhaps at a faster rate than the churches.</p>
<p>Do we live, then, in a secular society? </p>
<p>Yes, in the sense religious beliefs are able to be as critically interrogated and assessed as any other viewpoint. No, in that Australia is host to a bewildering variety of religious identities and ritual behaviours, now firmly including “no-religionism”.</p>
<p>A more useful concept than secularisation is detraditionalisation, as developed by Belgian theologian <a href="https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/researchers/8/">Lieven Boeve</a> in a western-European context. Detraditionalisation describes the loss of connection, a break in transmission, the fracturing of identity throughout western society, whereby tradition is interrupted.</p>
<p>This phenomenon applies not only to religion but also to a whole range of cultural and artistic arenas – music, literature, fine arts, philosophy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33686/original/qb4psh3j-1382589877.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra plays an outdoor concert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/David Crosling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A loss of institutional attachment to what were the dominant religious groups a century ago, the growth of “no religion”, and the pluralisation of religious participation across a wide range of faiths can therefore be seen as parallel to the decline in political-party membership, the rise of minor parties, and the alienation of many voters from politics.</p>
<p>It is the stress of detraditionalisation that helps to provoke culture wars, such as those fought out over the shape of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/national-curriculum">national history curriculum</a>. For traditions help us to answer the ultimate questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Are we alone?</p>
<p>The loss of tradition, of an elite canon of key truths, documents, rituals, can separate us from each other, leaving us bereft of identity, or it can allow new traditions and truths to emerge. The experience of loss, however, is traumatic, as the ultimate questions still remain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33689/original/4hhfjhz5-1382591127.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn, Sydney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Threthny/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is part of the nature of humanity to strive to answer these questions. This is a mission that religion shares with the sciences. Although different tools may be used where religion is predicated on faith and science on doubt, both require imagination.</p>
<p>It is a mission religion also shares with politics. It’s no wonder politicians elicit support from voters through the appeal to values, for it is an appeal to beliefs that can change behaviours.</p>
<p>It is a mission religion shares with the arts, including sport. All represent the attempt to give expression to our beliefs through beauty, performance, physical achievement.</p>
<p>Whether based on dogma and superstition, irrational fears and dreams, bonds of affection and hatred, located in institutional frameworks or private piety, religion is part of the ways in which humans try to answer our biggest questions.</p>
<p>Religion undoubtedly has a place in Australia’s future. It is nothing more and nothing less than a body of beliefs, behaviours, and identities through which we attempt to answer, or even just live with, our deepest questions.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18749/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Sherlock is a member of the Anglican Church of Australia.</span></em></p>Recently the Prime Minister called upon the Labor Party to “repent” of its introduction of the carbon tax. His comments were ridiculed by some critics, not for the substance of what he said, but for the…Peter Sherlock, Vice-Chancellor, University of DivinityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/192372013-11-05T19:35:33Z2013-11-05T19:35:33ZGlobal shift: Australian fashion’s coming of age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34337/original/xb223mpy-1383536620.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RMIT Graduate Sharlee Young's Collection, Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2012.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monty Coles</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifty years ago, the notion of Australian fashion may have been regarded as an oxymoron. This is not a critique of Australians’ capacity to be intrinsically stylish, as there is plenty of evidence to reflect the contrary.</p>
<p>Rather, the Australian fashion industry, historically, was based on adopting and adapting the looks that evolved internationally, predominantly from Europe. The contemporary fashion industry in Australia has really only developed an individual identity in the past 20 years.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33639/original/ykfjvgth-1382578518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maggi Tabberer modelling a classic 1950s Phillipa Gowns dress in a photograph taken in Melbourne in 1958.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Powerhouse Museum, Bruno Benini</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To put this into some context is to also understand the evolution and shifts in the Australian fashion system over the past four decades.</p>
<p>My early memories of the Australian fashion industry in the 1970s are clustered in two key geographical locations: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_Lane,_Melbourne">Flinders Lane</a> in Melbourne and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surry_Hills,_New_South_Wales">Surry Hills</a> in Sydney. These two locales housed industrial spaces in multi-floor buildings where the heart and soul of the fashion industry thrived. </p>
<p>Fast track to the 2000s and the industry had dispersed. With the rising costs of inner-city locations, fashion houses moved their bases out across suburbs and designers and brands spread across Australia. Local manufacturing has now shrunk to a level of being minute or bespoke and most production now takes place in offshore factories with no connection to the local scene.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33511/original/n3jy6qs3-1382487705.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian model Maggi Eckardt modelling Ninette fashion in a photograph taken in Melbourne in 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Powerhouse Museum, Bruno Benini</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The geographical displacement of the fashion industry and the shift in manufacturing practices has resulted in a move from an Australian large-scale manufacturing hub to the development of fashion clusters across major cities in which creative collaborations thrive and emerging designers prosper.</p>
<p>Australian fashion is in a unique position, with approximately 85% of its industry representation being small to medium businesses. As a cohort of enterprises, they are spread across the nation, often working in isolated pockets.</p>
<p>Across Australia, many smaller practitioners are flourishing, despite the efforts of mainstream media to create alarmist commentary on the industry going into a downhill slide and no future for our creative designers.</p>
<p>Commercial viability has been in the headlines recently, with a number of mid-sized businesses going into voluntary or forced administration. At the moment, we are working through a period of major shifts in the fashion system globally.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33697/original/8pcxv5h2-1382607243.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Models on the runway for the Christina Exie show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Sydney this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New challenges</h2>
<p>As more designer labels struggle (<a href="http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/lisa-ho-to-close-its-doors-forever/story-fnda1bsz-1226665617195">Lisa Ho</a>, <a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/10/1/retail/bettina-liano-administration-report">Bettina Liano</a> and <a href="http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/kirrily-johnson-in-voluntary-administration/story-fnda1bsz-1226673885996">Kirrily Johnston</a> to name a few), they often do not have the infrastructure and resources to deal with higher overheads such as increased shop rents, volatile global supply chains and shifts in purchasing patterns of major retailers. </p>
<p>It only needs one thing to go wrong for a business to be destroyed.</p>
<p>One of the key issues for many fashion labels is that they have continued to work within a system that worked ten years ago but is less successful today. Designers who rely on wholesaling are finding it increasingly difficult to survive in a world where long lead times requiring investment in production and materials are no longer offset by retailers with a fat cheque.</p>
<p>Retailers now commonly demand payment terms of 90 days or more (meaning the designer gets paid 90 days or more after the invoice is issued) and all the risk sits with the designer supplying the product. If merchandise doesn’t sell then, the retailer demands a discount – or worse, returns all the goods within the 90-day period.</p>
<p>In the case where goods may be faulty, the designers are finding it increasingly difficult to make a claim against suppliers in other countries with different trade rules and retailers equally refusing to accept the goods.</p>
<h2>Cautious optimism</h2>
<p>There is light at the end of the tunnel with two areas of specialisation having the capacity to strengthen businesses.</p>
<p>The first concept is: “keep it small, keep it special.” Emerging designers are opening engaged and experiential retail spaces, offering informed and positive service (by staff who know and love the product). These are often pop-up stores that encourage the consumer to buy now, before it disappears. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33325/original/s4rx3yw9-1382323490.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lulamae Pop Up Shop in central Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Wuttke and Breathe Architecture.;</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A second commercial proposition and an incredible growth area is the world of online retail. Online shopping has become the new norm and allows designers to be in control of their own supply chain.</p>
<p>Engaging websites enable smaller scale enterprises to test the retail market, react to consumer demand and offer merchandise globally, without the constraints of potentially expensive and volatile international expansion. </p>
<p>The online world is providing Australian designers with a fertile interface with global fashion advocates, without the constraints of trying to make it big overseas. But this does require shifting the processes and systems embedded with the fashion industry – something not easily done.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33344/original/5754phpz-1382324989.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The online shop of Melbourne brand Alpha60.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">http://www.alpha60.com.au/</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Northern exposure</h2>
<p>There is also the sometimes-unrealistic benchmark placed on designers to expand into international markets; a difficult burden to endure.</p>
<p>I often get asked who are Australia’s most successful designers? The global guide for fashion success has historically been embedded in the concept that a designer needs to make it in one of “the big four”: New York, London, Paris or Milan. They also need to attract the attention of the global press.</p>
<p>To do this requires significant investment and often minimal return. My advice, using Australian vernacular, is to focus on your own backyard first. The shining light of global expansion is not so rosy when you are chasing creditors in foreign lands, dealing with multitudes of different customs requirements and hit with overwhelming freight bills.</p>
<p>The global fashion scene is shifting and we are on the brink of a new era. The assumption that Australia is a season behind is no longer relevant. In fact, the concept of a “fashion season” is an unrealistic construct altogether. </p>
<p>Global fashion has not followed weather patterns for years (which is why, for some obscure reason, sweaters are delivered into stores as we swelter through January and swimwear adorns shelves in July as the temperatures hit their lowest of the year and snow falls in surrounding mountains).</p>
<p>The concept of trans-seasonal fashion – clothing that is adaptable for many climates – has become quite the norm across the globe. This has been predominantly fuelled by the need for large scale fashion conglomerates to attract some of the lucrative share of the Middle East and Asian markets, where climates are often distinctly different to Europe and the USA.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33513/original/cn9m98r7-1382493417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian designers Nicky Zimmermann (left), Simone Zimmermann (far right) with Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales from Sydney label Romance Was Born.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australian designers benefit from this shift, as they create collections adaptable to varying temperatures – a criterion that works across Australia as it does for global market penetration.</p>
<p>The way we wear clothes has also changed, as we move from our air-conditioned houses to our air-conditioned cars and then to our air-conditioned offices. The need for weather-specific wear has fallen significantly and this opens opportunities to develop designs of varying weights and fibres that are adaptable to many environments.</p>
<p>All of this is, of course, only relevant if an Australian designer sees the need to pursue the dream of global expansion. To be an Antipodean designer in an industry that is run on Northern Hemisphere seasons is only a problem in a Northern Hemisphere-focused industry or if a designer perceives being aligned to the big four fashion cities as a priority. Many do not.</p>
<h2>Goodbye New York, hello Melbourne</h2>
<p>The world balance is shifting and markets are changing. “Same old, same old” – a phrase that equals devastation in the world of fashion – has been heard on the streets of Milan, London, New York and Paris recently. Not referring to specific collections but rather to the painfully exhausting Fashion Week system that grinds through each season, with the endless runway shows at enormous expense, promoting many of the same big name brands in an incessant cycle to sell more lipsticks, sunglasses and perfumes.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://racked.com/archives/2013/09/04/before-it-starts-nytimes-declares-fashion-week-is-over.php">proposed</a> in the New York Times during that city’s recent Fashion Week in September this year: “New York Fashion Week officially starts tomorrow, but according to the Times, it’s already passé. </p>
<p>The newspaper of record spoke to a group of fashion folks and heard essentially the same message from everyone – "we’re tired and we don’t feel like doing this”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33509/original/nkdt6d9b-1382486536.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Front-row at New York Fashion Week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Peter Foley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fashion is an industry that prides itself on quick response, change, innovation and creativity, yet is perpetuating a cycle of boredom for many involved. The time is ripe for change as the world embraces innovative digital interfaces and newly emerging fashion cities such as Melbourne challenge the “big four” for fresh experiences and stimulating style.</p>
<p>An up-and-coming tier of creative cities are becoming hot spots for fashion innovation clusters. Around the globe, cities such as Amsterdam, Shanghai, Istanbul, Seoul, Berlin and Melbourne are being touted as incubators of inspiration.</p>
<p>In part, the evolution of an Australian fashion identity is constrained by the geographical dislocation of our country. Rather than discuss Australian fashion style, it is more pertinent to address the ethos of major cities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1223&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33642/original/mhvhmtr3-1382579631.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1223&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melbourne street style: relaxed, stylish and wearable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Julian Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Living in Melbourne and as an advocate for that city’s creative energy, I am most expert to address how, in this city, fashion flourishes under the auspices of what I have termed “fusion fashion”.</p>
<p>In fusion food, a mix of different culinary references combine to create a new palate. In fashion, the term relates to the synthesis of fashion references such as English bespoke tailoring mixed with the quirkiness of Asian style with a referential nod to Australian casualness – all blended together into a genre that Melbourne holds as uniquely its own. Fusion fashion provides for a one-of-a-kind wardrobe that is relaxed, stylish and wearable.</p>
<p>This style ethos is well suited to inspire global fashion advocates. It might just be what puts Antipodean fashion on the map.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Webster is affiliated with the Council of Fashion and Textiles Industries of Australia (the fashion industry - peak body) as Director and
Chair: The Australian Fashion Council
</span></em></p>Fifty years ago, the notion of Australian fashion may have been regarded as an oxymoron. This is not a critique of Australians’ capacity to be intrinsically stylish, as there is plenty of evidence to reflect…Karen Webster, Associate Professor - Deputy Head of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188392013-11-03T19:34:08Z2013-11-03T19:34:08ZYou’ve got $7 billion – so how will you fund the arts?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33525/original/h5mjrsy3-1382497036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Public funding should promote unintended consequences.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abode of Chaos</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year the Australian Bureau of Statistics did the maths – government spends about <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4172.0main+features82012">A$7 billion</a> annually in Australia on arts and culture. The exact dollar figure varies depending on what we count, but it includes heritage, broadcasting and botanical gardens, along with all the usual suspects: performing arts, literature, film, visual arts, and so on.</p>
<p>For the sake of argument, let’s assume A$7 billion is exactly the right amount of public funding for the arts. </p>
<p>To make this exercise fun, let’s suppose that no political horse-trading was involved in reaching this figure. Let’s assume this figure is the result of disinterested economic calculation of the size of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externalities">positive externality</a> in the production of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good">public good</a>, all wrapped in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willingness_to_pay">willingness-to-pay</a> studies, and tied with a big bright <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost%E2%80%93benefit_analysis">cost-benefit</a> ribbon.</p>
<p>So what’s next? </p>
<p>Do we put away our box of shiny economic tools and turn to grubby political compromise to allocate the exact <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_failure">market-failure</a> correcting amount of public funding?</p>
<p>In Australia, as in Europe, this is more or less what we do. Economics to justify an economically efficient level of spending – and politics to implement it. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33538/original/57rt2vxr-1382499020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">°]°</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Estimate market failure, then politically intervene in direct proportion. This is the standard 20th-century model of applied <a href="http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Public_goods">public goods</a>. </p>
<p>Observe this in action in science (CSIRO), academic research (Australian Research Council), and sports (Australian Institute of Sport), among others.</p>
<p>Yet modern economics suggests that it would be better if we turned the process upside down. Let politicians determine the level of funding in a given area – and let economists determine the allocation.</p>
<p>Why? The political model of funding allocation is very bad at creating – or even recognising – new knowledge. In fact, political allocation mechanisms cause incentives that reward lobbying and punish experimental or innovative thinking. </p>
<p>Only by weakening those incentives can arts and cultural funding seek to be more than a rearguard preservation exercise or sinecure for vested interests. </p>
<p>There are four principles we should consider:</p>
<h2>One: favour indirect over direct funding</h2>
<p>Direct funding takes small amounts from many taxpayers and pools it in a few large granting bodies for dispersal to many recipients. The indirect funding model eliminates those big pools – incidentally the places where all the layers of necessary accountability, governance, expert-committees, lobbying and rent-seeking accumulate. </p>
<p>The indirect model offers tax credits to anyone – private citizen, corporation, foundation or NGO alike – for spending on arts and culture. This approach has at least three great strengths:</p>
<p>1) It does not require government approval of arts and cultural activities. Philanthropists can be great patrons. They can be far more edgy and engaging than government – just look at David Walsh’s <a href="http://www.mona.net.au/">Museum Of Old and New Art</a> in Hobart and the art collections of advertising tycoon <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saatchi_Gallery">Charles Saatchi</a>. Tax breaks allow for public support of the arts - without the public judgment of funding criteria (which eventually, inevitably collapses into the politicisation of art and culture).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33527/original/63tt2nqy-1382497473.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the Pavilions at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) near Hobart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>2) Indirect funding sets up a diversity of funding options: private and public, philanthropic and corporate, big and small. This is messy, and it certainly makes arts management more difficult – but such diversity promotes the spread of ideas. It also serves to protect the quirky idea from being catastrophically overlooked by one dominant funding source. A diverse funding mix will be a more robust and resilient funding ecology that is actually more likely to find the crazy genius.</p>
<p>3) Indirect funding weakens incentives to capture by lobbyists and bureaucrats. In other words, less time and resources need be devoted to political organisation and lobbying. This mitigates the arts and cultural grants “support industry”. The cost of this support industry, as <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/fragile-picture-of-future/story-e6frg8n6-1226693768389">Nicholas Rothwell</a> reported recently, can be observed in Australia’s Indigenous arts sector.</p>
<h2>Two: fund outputs, not inputs</h2>
<p>We tend to fund inputs for political reasons, specifically as ways of tying funding to particular jobs, groups or regions. The political reasons may be good – but they always add up to bad economic reasons, otherwise known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_loss">deadweight losses</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33531/original/h5gctxqp-1382497856.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">So you think you can … fund the arts?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Channel Ten/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A practical example of the difference is to fund <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/business/31leonhardt.html?ex=1327899600&en=4aca8bec1f9a18d3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&_r=0">prizes</a> – which are awarded for achieving some specified output – rather than grants. Grants often promise some output but they only contractually fund the input.</p>
<p>Prizes have long been part of art and culture, just as they have in sports, science, <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/16740639">innovation</a>, and other fields of human endeavour. The enormous popularity of the various “So you think you can dance/sing/debate …” franchises illustrates the creative energy and diversity that such prizes stimulate. We should probably make more use of prizes in public arts and cultural funding than we do.</p>
<p>Funding outputs can also depoliticise arts funding by focusing attention on what we actually want to achieve rather than how we want to achieve it. Applicants are evaluated purely on their ability to be the best at what has been sought. There tends to be a lower bullshit component to prizes than to grants.</p>
<h2>Three: fund demand, not supply</h2>
<p>Demand-side funding is often superior to supply-side funding because it better aligns producer incentives and it more effectively aggregates consumer preferences. In both cases you’re seeking to fund those who receive the output – in this case, audiences – who therefore are in the best position to evaluate and monitor quality.</p>
<p>Supply-side funding involves a lot of trust and often expensive monitoring. This is why economists tend to favour demand side funding: it economises on information and the need for human perfection. Again, it’s a more robust institutional solution.</p>
<p>A useful example is to compare vouchers, where the funding amount is gifted to the consumer, to grants, where the funding amount goes to the producer. Vouchers are used to allocate money to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_vouchers">schools</a>, <a href="http://www.business.vic.gov.au/industries/science-technology-and-innovation/programs/innovation-voucher-program">business innovation</a>, and numerous <a href="http://www.oecd.org/gov/budgeting/43515545.pdf">other public services</a>; this is a model that could be adapted to arts and culture.</p>
<h2>Four: be more like venture capital</h2>
<p>Some of the lessons of venture capital – which is also in the creativity business – have not been learned by public sector arts and cultural bureaucrats. (I’m not being ironic: really – there are actual lessons to learn.)</p>
<p>What does this mean in practice? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33533/original/hz2vc379-1382498239.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1115&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Adopt a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_portfolio_theory">portfolio</a> approach which explicity recognises probabilities of success and failure. This will inform a funding model that incorporates variance endogenously, rather than getting all upset when things don’t work out. </p>
<p>This will often mean aggressively pursing difference – and supporting it not as a sop to the weird, but as a rational risk-management strategy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/blogs/Economic%20growth/crowdfunding_public_services_big_opportunity_big_challenge">Crowdfunding</a> arts and cultural public goods should be considered.</p>
<p>Rather than gift, or what is these days mostly debt funding, take <a href="http://humancapitalproject.com.au/">equity stakes</a> in artists to fund training and development. If we must persist with direct/input/supply funding, this will enable us to at least create a more liquid public asset.</p>
<p>Fund experiments and <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/provocations/assets/features/state_of_uncertainty">demand discovery</a>. Experiments are a public good because they provide new information to others.</p>
<p>Seek voluntary funding models such as <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10286639509357990#.UlM2NmSMFJE">lotteries</a>. Lotteries may even be effective for allocation of funds as well as for raising them – and this would also limit the conformity and conservatism that expert panels tend to exhibit.</p>
<h2>Let’s encourage unintended consequences</h2>
<p>Arts and cultural funding could be improved if we could just agree on a level of funding – and then use economic analysis to design the models of funding delivery. In short, give the tax system a bigger role – and the expert panels a smaller one. Make differences at the margins by funding skewed toward outputs and the demand side. </p>
<p>Public funding of arts and culture should concern itself with producing <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/UnintendedConsequences.html">unintended consequences</a>. The problem with the existing direct, input focused model is that it at best only produces intended consequences, and at worst collapses to a kind of welfare. </p>
<p>We really should be more ambitious than this. </p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18839/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Potts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Last year the Australian Bureau of Statistics did the maths – government spends about A$7 billion annually in Australia on arts and culture. The exact dollar figure varies depending on what we count, but…Jason Potts, Professor of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193082013-10-31T19:40:23Z2013-10-31T19:40:23ZBuilding a nation: the state of play in Australian architecture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34151/original/prytwdyq-1383189112.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Architects such as Glenn Murcutt tailor their designs to the Australian landscape. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anthony Browell/AAP Image</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Sydney Opera House celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. This Australian icon was, of course, designed by Danish architect <a href="http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/about/the_architect.aspx">Jørn Utzon</a>, as a result of an international design competition held at a time when many Australians still looked to the northern hemisphere for stylistic guidance and direction; a time when we imported European or American culture.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33554/original/szqp33h2-1382501438.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Have we moved beyond importing overseas architects for our national icons?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some 40 years on, we are now exporting culture and Australian architects are designing iconic buildings in other parts of the world, such as the <a href="http://populous.com/profile/rsheard/#">2012 London Olympic Park and Stadium</a>, and the <a href="http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercube-national-swimming-centre/">Beijing National Aquatics Centre (the Water Cube)</a>.</p>
<p>So is there a unique Australian “style” and, if so, where did it come from?</p>
<h2>A backwards glance</h2>
<p>In 1788, when British settlers first started arriving in Australia, <a href="http://www.vernaculararchitecture.com/">vernacular</a> Australian architecture (based on localised needs and construction materials) consisted of nomadic shelters, designed and built by indigenous Australians. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33655/original/7s324jhv-1382581252.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Due to the significant numbers of architects who subsequently moved from England to Australia to join the British colonies, 19th-century Australian architecture quickly changed to be largely Eurocentric in focus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33656/original/7qcgvtf2-1382581516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition building, built between 1878 and 1880.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Museum Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 20th century, however, buildings started to adapt to respond to Australia’s unique climatic conditions, which offer year-round access to the outdoors. The influence of America saw families seeking to own freestanding houses with backyards, to satisfy their increasing desire to fulfil the “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Dream">Australian Dream</a>”.</p>
<p>In the late 20th century, as Australia started to become more multicultural, derivative designs began to be replaced with imported exotic styles, especially those of South-East Asian influence. Freestanding houses started to be replaced with semi-detached and <a href="http://architectureau.com/articles/residential-architecture-multiple/">high density housing</a>, as urban precincts started to develop.</p>
<h2>Challenge accepted</h2>
<p>Australian architects are now responding to the unprecedented 21st-century challenges of population growth, preservation of the environment and the threats of climate change.</p>
<p>As architects continue to shape urban precincts and their supporting infrastructure, the design of public space has now importantly changed focus to preserving the quality of both the built and natural environments. The sensitive relationship between buildings and the Australian landscape that hosts them is of critical importance, and something for which we are becoming internationally recognised.</p>
<p>While much of the industrialised world has been in recession for the past few years, Australia’s economy has grown, as have neighbouring Asian economies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33560/original/y2s75psy-1382502198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">China’s National Aquatics Centre, also known as the ‘Water Cube’, was designed by Australian architects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Dean Lewins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Currently, Australia has seven of the <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/330759/">largest 100 architecture practices</a> in the world: <a href="http://www.woodsbagot.com/">Woods Bagot</a>, <a href="http://www.hassellstudio.com/">Hassell</a>, <a href="http://www.coxarchitecture.com.au/">Cox Architecture</a>, <a href="http://www.hboemtb.com/">HBO + EMTB</a>, <a href="http://www.ghd.com/australia/">GHD</a>, <a href="http://www.hamessharley.com.au/">Hames Sharley</a>, and <a href="http://thomsonadsett.com/">Thomson Adsett Architects</a>.</p>
<p>For most of these large practices, income from international projects is actually more than the income generated by domestic projects. Across the whole architectural sector the figure for international income is nearer to 10%, but it is clear that we are now exporting much of our talent, skill and cultural expertise rather than importing it.</p>
<h2>The architectural Oscars</h2>
<p>So how does Australia compare, architecturally, with the rest of the world? How have we fared in international awards, prizes and festivals such as the prestigious <a href="http://goo.gl/lUrd9f">Pritzker Architecture Prize</a>, the <a href="http://goo.gl/usu9Kk">World Architecture Festival</a>, and the <a href="http://goo.gl/fgP3Fh">Venice Architecture Biennale</a>?</p>
<p>There is just one Pritzker Architecture Prize <a href="http://www.pritzkerprize.com/about/purpose">awarded annually</a> to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>honour a living architect/s whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33545/original/y3smts2m-1382499636.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Magney House at Bingie Bingie on the NSW South Coast, designed by Australian architect Glenn Murcutt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Anthony Browell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There has been one Australian recipient of the Pritzker prize in its 35-year existence: <a href="http://www.ozetecture.org/2012/glenn-murcutt/">Glenn Murcutt AO</a> in 2002. His award was based on a career that focused largely on designing houses that responded directly to unique Australian conditions. </p>
<p>Indeed, the period of Murcutt’s foundational work in the latter part of last century coincided with growing international recognition of Australian architecture.</p>
<p>Glenn Murcutt grew up in Papua New Guinea, where he developed an appreciation for simple vernacular architecture and a relationship with nature. He practised sustainability long before it became an architectural buzzword. His design philosophy, <a href="http://www.be.unsw.edu.au/profile/glenn_murcutt-ao">“touch the earth lightly”</a>, motivates him to design in response to environmental factors, using locally-sourced materials and to sensitively fit into the Australian landscape.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33653/original/m2bzs4j3-1382580888.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mary Short House in Kempsey, NSW, designed by Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, whose motto is “touch the earth lightly”.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Glenn Murcutt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This sensitive attitude to the environment and our tin and timber tradition – a history of functional sheds and beach houses – gained Australia international attention.</p>
<p>Now Australian architects are bringing that same sensitive attitude to larger projects in many parts of the world. </p>
<h2>International attention</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/">World Architecture Festival</a> is an annual program of awards, jury critiques, and international speakers, all celebrating the best architecture of the past year. It was first held in 2008 in Barcelona but for the past two years has been in <a href="http://goo.gl/Yu1gLY">Singapore</a>.</p>
<p>This annual get-together brings more than 2,000 architects from all over the globe, and exhibits short-listed projects from more than 40 nations to compete for awards in 16 built project categories and 11 future project categories.</p>
<p>In 2013, Australian architects achieved unprecedented levels of success in the World Architecture Festival <a href="http://goo.gl/sN7fJ1">awards program</a>, winning the categories of Culture, House, Transport, Future Infrastructure and Competition Entries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33561/original/jxwyssk5-1382502465.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toi o Tamaki in Auckland, New Zealand won the 2012 RIBA International Award for architectural excellence and the 2013 World Architecture Festival Building of the Year Award.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Supplied by the Royal Institute of British Architects</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australian architects also won three of the highest awards. It is also worth noting that two of the three winning projects are outside of Australia:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>World building of the year: Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorpe with New Zealand architects Archimedia.</p></li>
<li><p>Future project of the year: the <a href="http://www.archichannel.com/project/national-maritime-museum-of-china/#link">National Maritime Museum of China</a>, by Cox Architecture</p></li>
<li><p>Landscape category: The Australian Garden, Australia, by Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Paul Thompson.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33565/original/qw3rp4px-1382503093.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Australian Garden, Australia, by Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Paul Thompson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of the <a href="http://www.tcl.net.au/projects/cultural-interpretative/australian-garden">Landscape category winner</a>, the judges noted that the project “stood out with its originality and strong evocation of Australian identity”.</p>
<p>Of the <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/439260/the-left-over-space-house-cox-rayner-architects/">House</a> category winner, a delightful little timber home in Brisbane, they noted “a realness and authenticity to the spirit of the house”.</p>
<p>It seems, then, that there is definitely an identifiable Australian design identity, something for which we can be recognised and rewarded.</p>
<p>Australian architecture has also been recognised at the <a href="http://goo.gl/aeBVHP">Venice Architecture Biennale</a>. The Biennale is a showcase of cutting-edge contemporary architecture and architectural thinking, through the exhibitions by invited architects, and through the self-curated <a href="http://goo.gl/L8dYjL">national pavilions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33476/original/22tbqmqp-1382441475.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Entrance to the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr. Philip Crowther</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia is one of only 30 nations to exhibit in its own pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. We have done so in a temporary pavilion since 1988, but a new permanent pavilion has been designed by Australian firm <a href="http://www.dentoncorkermarshall.com/">Denton Corker Marshall</a> and will be built soon. The pavilion typically attracts around 90,000 visitors during the Venice Architecture Biennale.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33478/original/m6nq3qqp-1382441721.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interior of the Australian Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr. Philip Crowther</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33480/original/vsjjhqzq-1382441779.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Facade of the Australian Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr. Philip Crowther</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Global shifts</h2>
<p>Perhaps our rough-and-tumble early colonial heritage has served us well in developing a resilient approach to the rapidly changing global environment.</p>
<p>Free of the European notion of heritage and the constraints of ancient cities filled with historic buildings, we have engaged with a greater diversity of perspectives, from Australia’s 40,000 year indigenous history, through a sensitivity to the environment, to the realisation that we are part of a 21st-century Asia.</p>
<p>We are no longer operating on the distant fringes of Europe or America, but now firmly at the centre of a global shift in both economic and cultural perspectives.</p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s new Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Sydney Opera House celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. This Australian icon was, of course, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, as a result of an international design competition held at…Philip Crowther, Associate Professor, Head of Discipline of Architecture, Queensland University of TechnologyLindy Osborne, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191082013-10-30T19:41:06Z2013-10-30T19:41:06ZThe creative economy could fuel Australia’s next boom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34102/original/kbwrzh6h-1383110760.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With the right policy levers, Australia's next big boom could be creative by design.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sebastiaan ter Burg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is richly blessed with an abundance of resources which, along with robust legal, business and political infrastructure, has allowed it to pull through tough times on several occasions.</p>
<p>As we face a slowing of the current boom in resources terms of trade, there is now much casting around for alternative sources of economic growth potential.</p>
<p>Among the options are alternative energy sources, contributing to the food security of south-east Asian countries, education, tourism and high value services exports such as financial products and architecture.</p>
<p>But what about looking to our creative economy to fuel our next big boom?</p>
<h2>The creative economy</h2>
<p>The concept of the creative economy has been developed with greatest rigour in countries not as well endowed with natural assets as Australia is. The UK has been a leader, with <a href="http://www.cebr.com/reports/flat-white-economy-driving-london/">creative employment surpassing financial services in London in the wake of the global financial crisis</a>. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/A-Manifesto-for-the-Creative-Economy-April13.pdf">creative economy manifesto</a> released by the UK charity Nesta, declares that country’s creative economy to be “one of its great national strengths, historically deeply rooted and accounting for around one–tenth of the whole economy”. It provides jobs for 2.5 million people.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33950/original/fc8m6mvh-1383003726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Warren Clarke</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the UK government <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_industries#CITEREFDCMS2001">defined</a> creative industries as “those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property”, it included sectors such as the arts, media and new media, design and architecture.</p>
<p>The concept of the creative economy takes the original idea of creative industries and broadens the focus to include the contributions that people in creative occupations, and creative industries as enterprises, make to the economy as a whole.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33920/original/j2xxgf2x-1382938964.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">jepoycamboy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New Zealand has a sharply-honed focus on value-adding in niche manufacture through design and strategies that artfully integrate creative with environmental tourism. Just look at the link between their world-leading cinema technology and the numbers of overseas visitors lining up to see the landscape that starred as Middle Earth in the Tolkien film adaptations.</p>
<p>Several European countries and cities trade heavily on cultural heritage at one demographic end and contemporary artistic scenes at the other. Berlin springs to mind, where one can spend the morning in the <a href="http://www.dhm.de/">Deutsche Historisches Museum</a> and the afternoon at a gritty artist-run gallery in a former warehouse squat.</p>
<p>Serious attention to the concept in our region is seen in <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/25/content_6645161.htm">China</a>, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/08/08/south-korea-sees-creativity-as-key-to-growth/">South Korea</a> and <a href="http://www.mci.gov.sg/content/dam/mica_corp/Publications/MasterPlan/Download/Download1/ERCdesignsingapore.pdf">Singapore</a>.</p>
<h2>Australian story</h2>
<p>In earlier <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stuart-cunningham-301/articles">articles</a> for The Conversation, I have outlined the shape of the creative economy in Australia. I have stressed creative services – business-to-business activities such as design, architecture, digital content, software development, advertising and marketing – as high-growth, highly innovative economic activity.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.cci.edu.au/node/1457">latest evidence from the 2011 census</a> tells a compelling story of the growing role creative services play in the mainstream Australian economy.</p>
<p>Examples include digital interface designers who have helped revolutionise the finance industry, technical writers in online education export, or simulation and games experts who make training environments for mining companies or defence operations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33958/original/qv5rm92x-1383010010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SETUP Utrecht</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not hard to see why there should be such relatively high growth patterns in creative services and creative occupations embedded in other industries.</p>
<p>The progressive embedding of the internet and associated digital applications into the general economy has seen rapid rises in demand for website design and online visual communication, as well as online advertising, database design and development and automation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33917/original/cpkvrxvm-1382938724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technology has fuelled job creation in creative industries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fernando de Sousa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Video and audio content can now be created, consumed and shared online by almost anyone with access to a smartphone and the internet, fuelling increasingly sophisticated consumer demand for creative content. In the viral marketing era, much of the content is co-produced and disseminated by the consumers themselves.</p>
<h2>A role for government</h2>
<p>A new government brings new priorities. Contemplating the prospects of the creative economy as a focus for policy attention, I would suggest three options going forwards.</p>
<p>First, the intensity and ambition of the Abbott government’s early priority engagement with Asia has been a surprise to some but is deeply heartening, as there is so much to do. Senior journalist Paul Kelly, among many others, has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/tony-abbotts-toughest-test-will-be-at-home-on-china/story-e6frg74x-1226738590589#">urged in The Australian</a> that “Australia’s attitude towards China cannot remain frozen in the resource-trade mindset”.</p>
<p>Nowhere is digital culture transforming economies as rapidly as in Asia. Australia’s competitiveness in our region depends on our ability to engage with Asian and especially Chinese digital capital.</p>
<p>Pan-Asian digital distribution platforms are expanding, consolidating, and professionalising. For the first time in Australia, China’s major online mega-corporations including e-commerce firm <a href="http://www.alibaba.com/">Alibaba</a>, internet company <a href="http://www.tencent.com/en-us/index.shtml">Tencent</a> and Chinese search engine <a href="http://www.baidu.com/">Baidu</a> are presenting their wares at an inaugural China Digital Conference in Sydney and Melbourne in November.</p>
<p>Do Australian creative-digital entrepreneurs possess the requisite business, language and programming skills to take advantage of Asian digital markets and the deep export opportunities they may offer? This is a major challenge for the future.</p>
<p>In terms of the second potential option for Australia’s new government, Federal Arts Minister <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=008W7">George Brandis</a> achieved a very significant advance in the short time he had in his previous role as Arts Minister in the Howard government in 2007. </p>
<p>That was the successful introduction of the Coalition’s model for supporting the screen industry, the <a href="http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/8e503f3d-f49f-4d78-a3d5-4568f51e5f3c/Offset_guidelines_july08.pdf">generous producer offset</a>, a refundable tax offset for producers of Australian films for up to 40% of feature film costs. This policy, updated in 2011, has had a very positive, stabilising influence.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=719&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33922/original/7tw4qg8p-1382939074.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Senator George Brandis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Alan Porritt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/opinion/taking-arts-to-the-next-level/story-fn9n9z9n-1226710602311">major speech</a> during the election campaign, Senator Brandis articulated “six core principles” that will guide Coalition arts policy: excellence, integrity, artistic freedom, self-confidence, sustainability and accessibility. He emphasised that, “wherever possible, funding should be structured so as to encourage commercial success”.</p>
<p>Some of the best creative industries and digital economy policy thinking in this country was developed ten years ago under Howard-era Minister <a href="http://www.monash.edu.au/alumni/find/profiles/prominent-alumni/richard-alston.html">Richard Alston</a>, whose portfolio brought together communications, IT and the arts in a productive synergy.</p>
<p>There is still much unfinished business from that fertile period of policy thinking. It was chipped away at with the creation of the <a href="http://www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au/industrysupport/creativeindustries/Pages/default.aspx">Creative Industries Innovation Centre</a>, which offers business reviews and other services to people working in creative industries and is a part of advisory agency <a href="http://www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx">Enterprise Connect</a>. </p>
<p>Several aspects of the previous government’s cultural policy, <a href="http://creativeaustralia.arts.gov.au/executive-summary/">Creative Australia</a>, helped chip away at this question too.</p>
<p>The current pressure point is whether the new government will retain the <a href="http://www.aussiejobs.innovation.gov.au/programs/industry-innovation-precincts/Pages/default.aspx">Industry Innovation Precincts</a> program (or a version of it).</p>
<p>One of the 11 “partnerships” <a href="http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2013/08/uts-supports-plans-for-jobs-explosion-in-digital-industries">announced</a> by the previous Industry Minister <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=AW5">Kim Carr</a> was the <a href="http://www.katelundy.com.au/2013/09/19/creative-digital-innovation-partnership/">Creative Digital Innovation Partnership</a>, which aims to drive economic growth and job creation through partnerships between educators, employers and entrepreneurs working in creative and digital industries. This partnership is key if we are to grow beyond the a resources-focused mind set.</p>
<h2>Think: design</h2>
<p>The third current area of opportunity is design and “design thinking”, a buzz term that refers to the way design is being mainstreamed into much industry, workforce and policy thinking.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.agda.com.au/news/national/1083/uk-design-policy-expert-sir-george-cox-to-visit-australia">Sir George Cox’s</a> influential <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/cox_review/coxreview_index.cfm">Review of Creativity in Business</a> in 2005 for the UK government positioned design, when it is thought of as a distinct sector, as a bridge between the arts and engineering sciences.</p>
<p>It saw design as a link between research and enterprise in the innovation chain when design is thought of as method or mindset that links research into new ideas on the one hand, and the development of practical applications on the other.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33960/original/8x6dfhcb-1383010558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Design thinking has business applications, among others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ixdaseattle</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Business applications of design thinking, or design integration, have been developed at a state level in Australia, but we lag our OECD confreres conspicuously in design research, development and policy.</p>
<p>Design activity is notoriously underestimated in official national statistics, and employed designers are so broadly embedded throughout industry sectors that their contributions can be significantly under-counted.</p>
<p>Design has been conspicuously absent from national policy attention since its excision from the purview of the Australia Council in the 1980s.</p>
<p>It must now come back into focus, if Australia is to turn to the creative economy as part of its next big boom. </p>
<p><br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s new Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Cunningham’s research related to this article receives support from the Australian Research Council. He is involved in the bid for a Creative Digital Innovation Partnership.</span></em></p>Australia is richly blessed with an abundance of resources which, along with robust legal, business and political infrastructure, has allowed it to pull through tough times on several occasions. As we…Stuart Cunningham, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189512013-10-29T19:41:22Z2013-10-29T19:41:22ZWhat is Indigenous Australia in 2013?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33983/original/6ysnbxym-1383020276.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Of course, there is no singular Indigenous Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angelo Soulas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is Indigenous Australia in 2013? To begin to answer this question, I believe it is important to proceed with a few key caveats:</p>
<p>1) There is no singular Indigenous Australia. Thus, anything written at the level of broadness reflected in the question will tend towards generalisations that risk eliding the diversity and richness of the Indigenous experiences in Australia.</p>
<p>2) Indigeneity is an open question in and of itself. It is a matter of personal and community identification that has significant ramifications for social justice and the allocation of resources.</p>
<p>3) It is probably not appropriate for an outsider such as myself to speak on these issues. In fact the ideal form of this essay would be a series of testimonials from various Australians of Indigenous heritage from different regions, classes, communities, genders, and ages. I have asked a few of my friends to provide some testimonials, and a few of these are included in this essay, but in no way should what I discuss be considered representative or even comprehensive.</p>
<p>With these caveats, I believe it is important to write this essay for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, in the four and a half years that I have spent as a Design Anthropologist in Melbourne I have been deeply moved by my everyday experiences of the diversity, vibrancy, and resiliency in Australia’s Indigenous communities. Second, as an African-American migrant to Australia who works with people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage in design and the arts, I possess a unique “outsider’s” perspective on what the phenomenon of Indigenous Australia(s) might be. </p>
<p>This perspective is based on similar histories of colonisation, dispossession, the criminalisation and sexualisation of “black bodies,” attempted genocide, and discrimination. It is based on continued disparities in the physical health, incarceration rates, education rates, social and emotional well-being in Indigenous Australian and African-American communities. But most importantly, it is based on a shared capacity to continue in the struggle for social, economic, and environmental justice with a sense of righteous anger, hope and joy.</p>
<p>This essay is divided into three themes (“diverse”, “hybrid” and “resilient”) that I have heard repetitively in conversations, presentations, and discussions with Australians of Indigenous heritage. </p>
<p>As a specialist in design and the arts, I will often describe how these themes are made tangible through the visual cultures of Indigenous Australia in 2013.</p>
<h2>Diverse</h2>
<p>Indigenous Australia in 2013 is diverse. The Australian <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/cashome.nsf/4a256353001af3ed4b2562bb00121564/7464946b3f41b282ca25759f00202502!OpenDocument">Commonwealth definition</a> of Indigenous refers specifically to someone who is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a person of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, who identifies as being from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, and who is accepted as such by the community in which the person associates.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This definition does not address the diversity of Indigenous communities if one includes migrants of Indigenous heritage from their respective nations. Yet, they are also part of Indigenous Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33835/original/nxttmcg9-1382858219.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maree Clarke’s 2012 Ritual and Ceremony Exhibition at Swinburne University included rediscovered cultural practices of possum skin cloaks, kopi mourning caps, and male mourning scarification.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Tunstall</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But even working within the Commonwealth definition of Indigenous, the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is represented through each one’s different “home” country or island; history of European encounter; location in urban, regional, or urban setting; class, gender and age; and language and customs. </p>
<p>It is estimated by <a href="http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/lryb/PDFs/walshyallop_ch1.pdf">Australian linguists</a> that at the time of European contact, there were more than 250 Indigenous languages spoken, with more than 500 dialects. According to the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2076.0main+features902011">2011 Australian Census</a>, more than 100 Indigenous languages including creoles are spoken in Indigenous Australia.</p>
<p>Nicholas Rothwell, in a recent article in <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/opinion/dilemma-of-difference-in-indigenous-art-awards/story-fn9n9z9n-1226695723611#sthash.W9qjOuzl.dpuf">The Australian</a>, discusses the implications of this diversity for judging the 77 works presented in the 2013 <a href="http://artsandmuseums.nt.gov.au/museums/natsiaa">Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award</a>. While recognising the “sensitivities that surround the discussion of indigenous identities,” he states that the show displayed the “dilemma of difference” in which Indigenous traditional arts are evaluated against contemporary arts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33837/original/7hxz8mzd-1382860505.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ray Thomas’s painting See, Hear, and Say No Evil from his 2012 Swinburne Exhibition, Contemporary Gunnai Style, features recovered Gunnai language and background patterns from Gunnai shields.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Tunstall</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, from the perspective of Indigenous Australia, art and design, my Indigenous artist friends and colleagues approach diversity as being less of a dilemma than a point of celebration. In Victoria, where I work, artists such as <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/visiting/birrarung-gallery/artist-profiles/maree-clarke/">Maree Clarke</a>, <a href="http://www.daao.org.au/bio/treahna-hamm/">Treahna Hamm</a>, <a href="http://www.swinburne.edu.au/design/indigenous-design-dialogues/">Ray Thomas</a>, <a href="http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/possum-skin-cloaks/12103/on-country-baraparapa-elder-esther-kirby/">Aunty Esther Kirby</a>, and <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/videos/speaking-about-booruns-canoe/">Steaphan Paton</a> actively seek to recapture traditional knowledge and practices in order to give them contemporary forms.</p>
<h2>Hybrid</h2>
<p>As part of this diversity, Indigenous Australia 2013 recognises its hybridity both in its racial heritage but also in its history. One of my doctoral students, Myles Russell Cook, articulates this growing perspective in his email response to me for this essay:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am a descendant of the Wotjobaluk people on my mother’s side and I am white. As a young white man with Aboriginal heritage living in inner-city Melbourne this means that I, like many others, identify within a discourse of hybridity. </p>
<p>That is, I openly embrace all of my cultural heritages, including my Aboriginality. I have always felt the need to justify my skin colour by explaining that I have grown up within contemporary urban Aboriginal communities. I have endeavoured to, wherever possible and practical, learn Aboriginal languages and customs. </p>
<p>I both self-recognise my Aboriginality and am recognised by many elders and custodians of the land. However, I still find my identity is dependent on my social context. It is fluid and shifting, unstable and constantly being redefined.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As an African-American, which itself is both a racial and cultural mix of African, European, and Native American heritages, I resonate with this emergent aspect of Indigenous Australia. I celebrate it as a manifestation of shift in the cultural and political oppression that Indigenous Australians have faced. Perhaps tied to the Commonwealth’s Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples in 2008, there is now room in Australia to be both Indigenous and Australian.</p>
<p>Nowhere in the art and design world has this been made more apparent than in the recently opened <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/whatson/current-exhibitions/first-peoples/">First Peoples</a> exhibition on permanent display at the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33972/original/2xvdhm5c-1383017893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Display panels at the First Peoples exhibition at Bunjilaka, Melbourne Museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museum Victoria/ John Broomfield </span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the last sections of the exhibition is entitled Our Shared History. As a Design Anthropologist, I have visited many colonial and Indigenous museums all over the world. Bunjilaka is the first I have attended that tells the story of Indigenous peoples in a voice that says, “This is your history as well, so let’s explore our shared history together”.</p>
<h2>Resilient</h2>
<p>The fact Indigenous Australia in 2013 can claim its diversity, hybrid histories, and identities speaks to the most enduring aspect of Indigenous peoples—resilience. Here I respectfully leave the last word to my Swinburne colleague Andrew Peters (Wurundjeri/ Yorta Yorta descendant):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In many respects, an answer to this question remains largely unchanged from the same question in 1967. Chronic disparities in health, welfare and education statistics paint a bleak picture of greater recognition of problems, but little actions of remedy. Racism continues to haunt many sectors of Indigenous Australia despite the many claims of its demise in this country. </p>
<p>However, the future is not bleak. The knowledge of the culture from non-Indigenous people is slowly growing, and more and more sections of our society are embracing Indigenous culture. And fundamental to the continuation of these positive steps is the ever-resilient, always present pride that we, as Indigenous Australians, have in our culture, our ancestors, our history, and our people. Enduring cultural pride, above all, describes Indigenous Australia in 2013.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br>
<br>
<br>
<em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s new Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Dori Tunstall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What is Indigenous Australia in 2013? To begin to answer this question, I believe it is important to proceed with a few key caveats: 1) There is no singular Indigenous Australia. Thus, anything written…Elizabeth Dori Tunstall, Associate Professor, Design Anthropology, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189582013-10-28T19:26:52Z2013-10-28T19:26:52ZGo on then … what are the creative industries?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33790/original/6f79xr8z-1382678612.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Hutchinson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Creativity is the X factor of modern industry. When it slumps, our economy splutters.</p>
<p>Creativity is the source of the unprecedented wealth of the last two centuries. Yet we still understand very little about it.</p>
<p>Ideas create the industries and societies that generate the capital and income that lifts the world up. That is simple to say but difficult to achieve.</p>
<p>In the 1990s we began to talk about creative industries. We bundled fashion, design, advertising, architecture, publishing, software, movies, television and similar enterprises into their own sector. They became a lobby. In major economies, creative industries make up about 3%-5% of employment. As poorer economies develop, the size of their creative industries grows.</p>
<p>The term “creative industries sector”, though, is a bit of misnomer. For any industry can be creative. Conversely, fashion and design industries and their ilk often are lame. Little is creative or even interesting about today’s consumer computer companies.</p>
<p>In 2000, creative industries evangelists promised us a brilliant future. Some 30% of the population would belong to the creative class. The baton of creativity would pass from computing to bio-technology. Broadband networks would revolutionise business. Yet none of this happened. </p>
<p>Instead we ended up with prolonged global stagnation. We are in this pickle because we are less creative today than we were 50 years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33789/original/gpkxn823-1382676916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">LucyPB2urJelly</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any industry can be creative. Agriculture is just as important as media. Creativity should not be confused with glamour. Movies are glitzy but today they are also mostly banal. The days of Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford are long behind us. </p>
<p>The same is true of technology. If we compare the period 1930-1969 to 1970-2009, the per-capita number of significant Australian inventions declined.</p>
<p>More lobbies, more policies and more government money won’t fix this. Bio-medical research is a cautionary example. After 1970, research money <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-University-Preeminence-Indispensable/dp/1610390970/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382676560&sr=1-1&keywords=great+american+university">in real terms</a> exploded. Yet the number of new molecular entities approved for drug use in the United States in the 2000s was barely more than in the 1950s.</p>
<p>The arts are equally miserable. In the 1950s, discussion raged about the relative merits of figurative and abstract art. Tradition was pitched against modernity, ornament against smooth surfaces. Then along came arts council funding. </p>
<p>This was followed by obsequious hyper-ventilating discourses and finally the “neo” and “post” movements. The result was tedium. We can barely recollect the names of the practitioners of this anaemic era, let alone compare them with the monuments of Cubism, De Stijl or Abstract Expressionism. </p>
<p>In the past 40 years, the most interesting work in the arts has been in commercially-minded design and architecture. Works like Rem Koolhaas and OMA’s 2008 <a href="http://www.oma.eu/news/2012/cctv-completed">China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters</a> in Beijing are impressive. But these remain the exception.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33783/original/f4gz8n9s-1382676011.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The China Central Television (CCTV) tower under construction in Beijing, 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Reynolds/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This suggests that, for all our rhetoric, we still do not understand how creativity works. We try to institutionalise something that defies institutionalisation. There is no document-driven procedure for creativity. It is very hard to nail down. This is because what lies at its heart is very odd.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33788/original/yfy2q3xy-1382676480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Harvey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Creative people do what most people including most clever people do not do. They take what others normally think of as being unrelated and put them together. That is what it means to be creative. It is a very off-putting thought process, not unlike that of an acerbic comedian.</p>
<p>Someone at AT&T <a href="http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/17air.html">had the idea</a> of putting together the concepts of (wired) telephony and (wireless) radio in 1917. Almost a century later we carry in our pockets the fruits of that original thought meld. Very few people think like that. </p>
<p>Creative societies allow those who <em>do</em> the freedom to muse and the room to convince others that their outlier idea will soon enter the mainstream and define the norm.</p>
<p>Creative people look at the exception and see it as the rule. They are not being difficult or outlandish. While often witty, they are not self-consciously wacky. They just see X as Y. That is their gift and their curse. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33782/original/4v49thck-1382675827.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tyler</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They see change as continuity not novelty. Creators are innate conservatives born with a wicked sense of irony.</p>
<p>Some societies and some eras go along with this. Some don’t. We pay lots of lip-service to the creative economy. But our time is not very creative. The arts and the sciences are dull. Technology and industry are not very innovative. No new industry sectors are emerging. This is a big problem. </p>
<p>The French economist <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Say.html">Jean-Baptiste Say</a> rightly observed in the early 19th century that in a modern dynamic economy supply creates demand. This means that without interesting and exciting products people save their money, and sluggish economies stagnate. That’s where we find ourselves in 2013.</p>
<p>Our larger problem is that we mistake glamour for creation. We think that working in the air-conditioned pastel offices of a designated creative industry makes us creative. It does not. We need to stop mistaking pretty labels for real entities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33785/original/hb2qy45w-1382676223.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Moses M</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We now have to go back to scratch. We need a hard re-think about what creativity is and how we encourage it. We need to de-regulate creativity and let it off the leash. Since the 1970s we have forged a society fixated on petty rules and stern processes. Universities are among the worst offenders. </p>
<p>The result is not creation but enervation. We call our research and development creative but mostly it is not. We are risk-averse and shy of discovery.</p>
<p>One of the few exceptions to this in the past 40 years was Silicon Valley in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. It was truly free-wheeling. It was a place where a young man like Steve Jobs could combine his love of modernist aesthetics and electronic technologies. But that’s long gone.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33787/original/rg3234vm-1382676335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steve Jobs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monica M. Davey/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Silicon Valley in its brief hey-day was philosophically libertarian. Today it is wearisomely left-liberal. Sanctimony has replaced discovery. Moralism has supplanted gusto. The fire of excitement has given way to the same ideology of correctness that haunts the universities today. Big ideas have been replaced by minute rules.</p>
<p>PayPal’s <a href="http://www.foundersfund.com/team/peter-thiel">Peter Thiel</a> is right when he observes that the technology and economics of our other key industries such as air travel and energy are stuck <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX07zPupNdc">in the 1960s and 1970s</a>. American critic and scholar <a href="http://www.uarts.edu/users/cpaglia">Camille Paglia</a> is right when she observes that, since the early 1970s, the arts <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444223104578034480670026450">have been a wasteland</a>. </p>
<p>And I can’t see much monumental in the sciences since the structure of DNA was discovered in the 1950s. The incidence of classic science papers declines sharply after 1970.</p>
<p>We are not like Germany in the 1890s or California in the 1950s. One produced a stream of great philosophy and science; the other a stream of great technology. Until the tap was switched off – in one case by totalitarianism; in the other case by big government liberalism. </p>
<p>Little of our era will enter the history of ideas. Twittering on about creative industries makes no difference if our industries are not creative.</p>
<p>Our biggest problem today is that we lack ambition, energy and imagination. Our problem is us. Only we can fix that problem.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s new Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Murphy receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a project on creativity.</span></em></p>Creativity is the X factor of modern industry. When it slumps, our economy splutters. Creativity is the source of the unprecedented wealth of the last two centuries. Yet we still understand very little…Peter Murphy, Head of School of Creative Arts, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183272013-10-27T10:30:25Z2013-10-27T10:30:25ZDoes Australia ‘get’ culture?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33843/original/vwpsw2yt-1382871206.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia does not lack art, artists or audiences, but ...</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Why doesn’t Australia <em>get</em> culture? What is it about culture that defeats our perception to the point where, like an unwelcome magic trick, it vanishes as an object of collective concern? </p>
<p>For a country so settled it has no dialects and doesn’t bother with a national bill of rights, what is it about culture – the normal accompaniment of national cohesion – we fail to discern and value? Why does the nasally satire of Monty Python’s “Bruces” sketch still bite, 43 years after it was first broadcast? </p>
<p>Why, after all the attention, achievement and acclamation our cultural sector has garnered, when it has ballooned in size and financial contribution, when it is part of every moment of our complex waking lives, is it often regarded as little better, in the inimitable words of Barry Humphries’ character Sandy Stone, than a very nice night’s entertainment?</p>
<p>Reading some of the responses to my Conversation article <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-a-super-culture-ministry-heres-why-16993">on a proposed “super ministry for culture”</a> published in August this year, I wondered from what inexhaustible well of ignorance Australia’s educated class draws its elixir of cultural deafness.</p>
<h2>All Australians</h2>
<p>Today, culture matters more than ever. The 19th century was the age of mass military mobilisation, the 20th of mass economic mobilisation. The 21st century is the age of mass cultural mobilisation, and beyond the immersive hedonism of our shopping malls and the art-free minds of many of our politicians, collisions rage between whole ways of life in which culture is the content, framework and bloody inspiration.</p>
<p>However dysfunctional such polities may be, they are aware in a way that we are not of the centrality of culture, its capacity to be both limitlessly diverse and powerfully binding. We are not all rich. We are not all white. But we are all Australians, of one kind or another. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33426/original/v259qqq3-1382406274.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous artist Lena Nyadbi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Porritt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That should mean more than footy loyalties and welling up with tears on Anzac Day. It should mean an internal order of value that allows us to articulate who we are and engage with those who are not as we are. </p>
<p>A national culture is not the opposite of cosmopolitan awareness. It is its ground and guarantee. Without a grasp of the importance of our own culture how can we appreciate anyone else’s?</p>
<h2>The accident of English</h2>
<p>There are two reasons why Australia’s sense of a national culture is weak and intermittent. The first is to do with language. The accident of English allows us to free-ride the cultural goods and services of the two international powers that have so far dominated our fate, Britain and the US. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33504/original/z2gx84rz-1382480383.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mrs Edna Everage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from Neftali / Shutterstock.com </span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our quest for independence did not involve the assertion of a separate linguistic identity, as with Israel, or a contested one, such as bilingual Canada. Uniquely among post-colonial countries we do not have a national theatre. Instead, we are a net cultural importer, soaking up the art developed for other people and sensibilities.</p>
<p>I grew up the son of a (very) English father and a (trenchantly) Australian mother, the recipient of two different ways of looking at culture that don’t meet on equal terms. The Anglo-Saxon countries cast a long shadow, supplying us not only with cultural objects and experiences but with expectations too. </p>
<p>As Australian writer <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/phillips-angell-arthur-15438">AA Phillips</a> <a href="http://misonou.livejournal.com/530016.html">famously put it</a> in 1950:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the back of the Australian mind, there sits a minatory Englishman … Subconsciously the educated Australian feels a guilty need to placate this shadowy figure. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This ascendancy has lessened over the years but has it gone away? Watching the Australian film industry wither on the vine, our television drama go from worse to worser, and our theatre gorge itself on foreign classics, it’s tempting to think not.</p>
<p>The second reason has to do with our peaceful history. No major wars have been fought on Australian soil (or none that we openly acknowledge, at any rate). Our cultural consciousness has never been pushed into sharp awareness by invasion or forced colonisation. </p>
<p>Geoffrey Blainey’s <a href="http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/display_title.asp?ISBN=9780732911171&Author=Blainey,%20Geoffrey">The Tyranny of Distance</a> has allowed a feeling of unthreatened relaxation that has bordered on inertia. Culture touches everyone’s life. But because no-one has ever tried to take ours away, it remains under-served. </p>
<p>Unless you are Indigenous, of course, in which case you will be acutely aware that in the modern, mobilised world, politics and culture are the same side of the one coin.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Warning: cringe may immediately occur.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Turning away</h2>
<p>“When I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver,” is the threatening quote <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring">often misattributed</a> to Hermann Göring, Nazi founder of the Gestapo. Yet the Nazis became the greatest patrons of the arts since <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero">Emperor Nero</a> went into the music business. </p>
<p>Obsessed with projecting German supremacy in every sphere, the second world war was fought on the cultural front as well, with artists drawn into a savage struggle for hearts and minds. After 1945, Europe and America started promoting their own culture, getting serious about it once they realised that’s where most people live their lives.</p>
<p>Increased leisure time, the egalitarianism war’s sacrifices brought, and a new interest in cultural activities of all kinds, led to arts councils, touring programs, cultural exchange. </p>
<p>Looking at the sorry mess of the Middle East and Afghanistan today you feel that’s a lesson the West needs to learn all over again.</p>
<p>Australia never learnt it. We took an opposite tack, erecting a barrier designed to keep the rest of the world out – the <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/08abolition.htm">White Australia policy</a>. In turning away from the world, we turned away from ourselves. The cultural history of Australia in the 1950s and 1960s is depressing not because so little happened but because so much tried to.</p>
<h2>As good as it gets</h2>
<p>Australia is now <a href="http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/australia/">one of the most privileged countries</a> in the richest epoch in the whole of human history. Economically, it doesn’t get much better. Yet the last election was fought in a flailing panic of gratuitous materialism and widespread whinging about standards of living. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33428/original/v6wjjwf5-1382406589.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Smith/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Journalist <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/tom-allard-20120322-1vlrc.html">Tom Allard</a> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/the-affluenza-effect-20130830-2sw3t.html">noted</a> “the disconnect between reality and sentiment”. Meanwhile, economist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ross-garnaut-237/profile_bio">Professor Ross Garnaut</a> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/the-affluenza-effect-20130830-2sw3t.html">warned</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a new political culture that elevates private over public interests and the immediate over the longer term. If we continue within the political culture … we will live in greater comfort for a short while. But sooner rather than later we will experience deep economic recession with high unemployment. We can expect bitter conflict within our society, and unhappiness about our institutions.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A sense of culture</h2>
<p>We are a country not without culture but without a sense of culture. That distinction is crucial. Australia does not lack art, artists or audiences. But as a nation we find it hard to see culture in any but consumerist terms. </p>
<p>Debates about cultural value degenerate into stoushes over personal preference – Schoenberg symphonies versus school concerts, elitism versus equity. Lack of catholicity of taste transmutes into cultural rigidity, even intolerance. For all the talk about a technologically-connected world and <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/australia-in-the-asian-century">the Asian century</a>, the drivers of our national imagination feel querulous and underpowered.</p>
<p>Launching Sophia Turkiewicz’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2956808/">Once My Mother</a> in August, for example, Australian director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0175352/">Robert Connolly</a> delivered a withering assessment of the current state of documentary film financing. </p>
<p>Turkiewicz starting looking for support in 1975 – which makes her hardihood notable even by Australian standards. Long-form documentaries fall between the cracks of current production models. That this is more than a glitch is evidenced by the fact documentary film-making is fast migrating to the internet, where interactive, multi-platform formats offer greater diversity and creative sophistication. </p>
<p>In 2011, Once My Mother finally attracted support from <a href="http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding/documentary/Signature_Doc.aspx">Screen Australia’s Signature Documentary Program</a>, a fund established in 2011 aimed at documentary storytelling that is bold in form and content.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xqK6ZJrQsYY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Once My Mother.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Turkiewicz’s film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2956808/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl">focuses on her Polish refugee mother</a>: “a story of survival and forgiveness, explored through a troubled mother and daughter relationship, revealing an epic journey from a Siberian gulag to safety in Australia”. </p>
<p>Its advance screenings <a href="http://tix.adelaidefilmfestival.org/session2_aff.asp?sn=Once+My+Mother&s=">attracted warm commendations</a> from film directors Bruce Beresford and Peter Weir, giving Connolly <a href="http://www.screenhub.com.au/news/shownewsarticleG.php?newsID=49262">a platform to lambast</a> the myopia of Australia’s cultural gatekeepers: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For two years I watched [Turkiewicz] grinding heroically away for love and no money […] Given the obvious quality of the work, it made no sense. Actually, it all too depressingly <em>made entire sense</em>. For reasons best known to them, the then ABC and SBS commissioning editors repeatedly passed on the film […] and because the way things currently work, no SBS or ABC presale means no funding body support, and no funding body support usually means no film.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Stories of systemic frustration can be found in every area of Australian culture, both the traditional high arts and the newer creative industries. They indicate a situation whereby commercial imperatives block artistic ones because the internal order of value that should keep them in productive tension is not present to the needed degree.</p>
<h2>Due process</h2>
<p>So where do we go from here? Fortunately, Australia’s weak sense of culture has produced a compensating strength: its <a href="http://creativeaustralia.arts.gov.au/">cultural policy process</a>. </p>
<p>Meeting with some UK researchers earlier this year I heard the same admiring message time and again: how cultural policy in Australia is bold, comprehensive and of high quality, a real attempt to cast the problem of culture beyond the doings of a few lead institutions. This is not a partisan achievement. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33507/original/296sr5f2-1382485603.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toby Schmitz (left) and Tim Minchin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Sydney Theatre Company</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Labor and Liberal governments have both contributed to developing cultural policy as a positive field of endeavour. Given that the bureaucratic provision of something as wayward as culture is difficult to begin with, Australia has done well in utilising its support infrastructure (the <a href="http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/">Australia Council</a> is going strong 15 years after the UK replaced its own independent <a href="http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/">Arts Council</a> with a hands-on Ministry of culture which, surprise, surprise, doesn’t work any better).</p>
<p>“A strong and slow boring of hard boards,” is how the German sociologist <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/70587-politics-is-a-strong-and-slow-boring-of-hard-boards">Max Weber described politics</a>. Those boards are doubly thick when it comes to culture. Nevertheless, good cultural policy is crucial for all those who want to see Australian culture well served and serving Australia well. </p>
<p>Culture warrants a high position in the new government’s pecking order. If Australia is to <em>get</em> culture any time soon, it will need leadership from the centre. The administrative machinery and money are there (despite our complaints). </p>
<p>What’s needed is an evolved policy vision.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>This is a foundation essay for The Conversation’s new Arts + Culture section. If you are an academic or researcher with relevant expertise and would like to respond to this article, please use our <a href="https://theconversation.com/pitches/new">pitch facility</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>A previous version of this article included the line: “For a country so settled it has no dialects and doesn’t bother with a written constitution …”. This was amended on October 29 to more closely reflect the author’s intentions.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Meyrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why doesn’t Australia get culture? What is it about culture that defeats our perception to the point where, like an unwelcome magic trick, it vanishes as an object of collective concern? For a country…Julian Meyrick, Professor of Strategic Arts, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/4052011-04-04T23:47:32Z2011-04-04T23:47:32ZHow universities learnt a lesson in humility – and are all the better for it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215/original/Alan_Levine_flickr_USyd_2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The ivory tower has been destroyed -- metaphorically speaking.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Levine/flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foundation Essay – Universities are still often known as ivory towers, other-worldly spaces of solitude where privileged elites known as academics seek refuge from the harsh realities of the world. </p>
<p>Although pejorative, the ivory tower image, originally Biblical, still manages to charm and seduce. Think of the majestic sandstone quadrangle of the University of Sydney. </p>
<p>Stroll through the ocean-side, eucalyptus-dotted campus of the University of California at San Diego. Spend a few peaceful hours in the frescoed medieval library of Bologna’s oldest university. </p>
<p>Surely these are places of rest and reflection? Spaces of personal self-discovery, refuges from hum-drum necessity, ultimately sites for the disinterested pursuit of universal knowledge? </p>
<p>They are not. During my lifetime, the ivory tower has been destroyed by a combination of forces. It has become a multi-purpose multiversity: an apparatus of government; a profit-seeking market corporation; a self-administering bureaucracy; a public space of scientific inquiry and debate about the public good. </p>
<p>Look at the trends. Universities are becoming government agencies. Boxed in by quality assessment exercises, financial inspections and state funding with strings, they are no longer places (as Kant put it) where only scholars pass judgement on scholars. </p>
<p>A government audit culture spreads: in the name of quality, everything seems subject to external political controls. Even research bodies are forced to conform to governments’ national objectives. </p>
<p>But universities are pulled in the opposite direction, by competitive market pressures. Gone forever are the days (as the old joke had it) when academics were voted into chairs only at the age they’d forgotten the meaning of the word ‘irrelevant’. Higher education is big business, or the tool of business. </p>
<p>The university is expected to balance its books, or even to make a surplus. Its press officers work overtime to market their ‘brand’ of higher education on the global market. </p>
<p>Students are fee-paying customers. Research designed to yield technology transfers and patents (‘patents, not papers’) is prioritised. In such fields as informatics and biotechnology, top-down support is given to start-up enterprises capable of commercially exploiting stocks of knowledge. Academics market themselves as consultants. Teaching becomes a saleable commodity, packaged for students in bite-sized learning packs and easy-to-open handouts. </p>
<p>More than a few universities stake out still different pathways to the future. Some protect themselves against the contradictory forces of government and the market by reacting defensively. </p>
<p>They pinch and squeeze themselves into successive rounds of review and re-organisation, hoping that their own experiments in self-regulation using the latest techniques of the new public management will ramp up their fiscal strength and administrative efficiency.</p>
<p>Internal re-organisations often produce great internal misery: endless meetings, mountains of email, peer group assessments, in general the loss of professional freedoms.</p>
<p>In response, some institutions of higher education seek regeneration through civic engagement with wider publics, including powerless groups who find it otherwise impossible to find their voice under democratic conditions. </p>
<p>What is especially interesting about this public service vision of the university is its creative response to those futilitarians and pessimists who bemoan its destruction by the combined forces of government, market and self-administration. </p>
<p>The forces of cynicism and listlessness should not be underestimated; many academics undoubtedly feel that paradise has been lost, that higher education, despite its unprecedented resources and growth, is directionless, no longer capable of bringing reason and knowledge to the world.</p>
<p>The trouble with the dysphoria is that it ignores the positive effects of the disappearance of the ivory tower. </p>
<p>Flung into a cyclotron of conflicting aspirations and outcomes, the university is forced to ditch its old metaphysical arrogance, of the kind satirised in the well-known story about the group of Englishwomen roaming the countryside recruiting soldiers at the outbreak of the First World War. </p>
<p>Sweeping into Oxford, they confronted a don in his Oxonian master’s gown, reading Thucydides in the original Greek. ‘And what are you doing to save Western civilisation, young man?’, one of the women demanded. Drawing himself up to his full height, the don looked down his nose, and replied: ‘Madam, I am Western civilisation!’ </p>
<p>Thanks to what some see as its ruination, the university abandons such arrogance. Faced with a surfeit of data and different ways of seeing and doing things, higher education becomes a force for humility, an open space for publicly handling conflicting perceptions of ‘reality’. </p>
<p>The university befriends hyper-complexity. It mobilises suspicion of Truth. It stimulates awareness that our lives can be interpreted in multiple and different ways. It triggers the intelligent search for making public sense of a dynamic and highly complex world. </p>
<p>When universities function well, they champion the search for commercially viable knowledge and organise resistance to commercialism. They support government initiatives and cultivate suspicion of government ideologies and injustices. </p>
<p>Universities deal with the powerful and speak in defence of the weak. They give voice to the ironies of the human condition. They champion the public ethos of pluralism, lending it institutional force, so potentially placing the university on a collision course with ignorance, confusion, lies and nonsense - and all the other material forces of the 21st-century that threaten its multiple commitments to the public good.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/better-connecting-the-university-to-the-public-debate-343">Better connecting the university to the public debate</a>
By Glyn Davis</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-science-is-so-clear-why-is-the-argument-so-clouded-334">When the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?</a>
By Ross Garnaut</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-better-formula-for-science-communication-222">A better formula for science communication</a>
By Peter Doherty</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-universities-its-the-ideas-stupid-282">What’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid</a>
By Patrick McCaughey</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-reporting-climate-change-342">The science of reporting climate change</a>
By Brian McNair</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-university-must-reinvent-itself-to-survive-37">The modern university must reinvent itself to survive</a>
By Simon Marginson</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Keane is Director of the newly-founded Sydney Democracy Initiative and Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney. His most recent book, The Life and Death of Democracy (2009), was short-listed for the 2010 Non-Fiction Prime Minister’s Literary Award. </span></em></p>Foundation Essay – Universities are still often known as ivory towers, other-worldly spaces of solitude where privileged elites known as academics seek refuge from the harsh realities of the world. Although…John Keane, Professor of Politics, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/372011-03-30T20:04:10Z2011-03-30T20:04:10ZThe modern university must reinvent itself to survive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81/original/Marginson_uni_allaboutuni2307.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The dreaming spires of universities must evolve to survive. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">allaboutuni/flickr </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foundation Essay – In 1529 the great monasteries of England and the 400 smaller establishments had never looked so good. They were doubly protected, by universal belief and by their many material connections into English society, the economy, politics and the court. </p>
<p>Monasteries were centres of farming and craft production, the source of community welfare, way stations for travellers across the land. They provided valued careers for younger sons. Cathedrals loomed over the landscape. Holders of vast wealth and power, the monasteries could not be touched. </p>
<p>Ten years later in 1539 the bill for the confiscation of the large monasteries passed the parliament. They were already gone, their plate and jewellery seized by the Crown, their personnel forcibly expelled, furniture and hangings left for pillage or rot, and much of the massive stonework dismantled for local building. The smaller establishments had been dissolved by statute three years earlier.</p>
<p>After the death of the monasteries life went on. The fires of hell did not swallow up Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII’s Inquest into the monasteries. The King soon squandered his new wealth in an unsuccessful war in France. Other countries still had their cathedrals and religious houses. But the hard headed English never brought them back. They found more modest ways to worship and believe. They created other forms of charity. They became cynical about other kinds of corrupt local authority. Somebody new made the wine. </p>
<p>The moral of the story is that nothing in the world, not even the rock beneath our feet, abideth forever. Every so often nation-states and societies discover that they can live without the institutions they have inherited. </p>
<p>When institutions stand for nothing more, nothing deeper or more collective, no greater public good, than the aggregation of self-interest - like the monasteries in England, that accumulated vast social resources but came to exist only for themselves and those who used them – it is then that institutions are vulnerable. Self-interest can be channelled in a thousand other ways. The institutions disappear and their functions become picked up elsewhere. </p>
<p>Universities are not monasteries, not exactly. Monasteries save your soul or say they will. Universities promise to save your mortgage. They give your head a new coat of paint and send you into the job market clutching a piece of paper. </p>
<p>Or so it seems. But other agencies can issue certificates for work, for a fee. Research can be run from corporate or government labs. Scholars and humanists can be sent back to private life to finance their activities themselves. Students who want real knowledge can buy e-books and read them. New ideas can be sourced from civil society, the business world and the communicative space, as they were in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe, and as they are from the Internet today. </p>
<p>What greater good would be lost if universities closed tomorrow? If higher education is emptied out of its public purposes we can no longer justify its survival. </p>
<p>Today’s higher education institutions need a larger purpose that underpins their existence, a purpose that is more than a marketing slogan. The 21st century university needs to redefine itself as a creator, protector and purveyor of public goods.</p>
<p>Since their beginnings universities have been embedded in communities, cities, nations and in Europe a global region. They are also universal and promote mobile knowledge. Universities are soaked in transmitting, studying and creating knowledge, and part of a larger network of institutions that do this, a network that has always been international. Knowledge is the unique claim of higher education. It is at the core of every public and private good that we create.</p>
<p>Today there are at two versions of such a collective rationale on offer. One is the Confucian ethic in East Asia. This runs deeper than the commitment to education in Western Societies—it is as deep as classical civilization or the Judeo-Christian tradition is for us. In the Confucian world the project of self-cultivation via education is joined to filial duty and the honour of the ancestral line. Success in and through education lodges the family more securely in space and time.</p>
<p>The other rationale is the Western tradition of education as opportunity, social improvement, modernization and economic enrichment. When we talk about higher education for public good, we normally draw from these values. In the last century they have driven the growth of mass higher education systems across the globe, in East Asia along with the rest. But the Western tradition of education as modernization, improvement, opportunity and enrichment contains ambiguities. In the neo-liberal era it has become more exclusively focused on modernization as economic enrichment, following western corporate and private ideals. </p>
<p>And perhaps Western democratic modernization in education—expressed above all by the American philosopher John Dewey (who was much interested in China)—is less specifically grounded in scholarship and research than is the Confucian tradition. </p>
<p>The slide into credentialism—‘just a piece of paper’—is a little easier for us. Nevertheless, both traditions are prone to credentialism. Current debates about the university, in China and the West, have converged. Both traditions, the Confucian ethic and democratic education as modernization, are undermined by state-driven economic instrumentalism, by modernization simply reduced to enrichment. In both China and the West it is said by many observers that the university has ‘lost its soul’.</p>
<p>So how do we reclaim that soul? What tools do we have with which to imagine something more ‘public’? There are two main ideas. The first derives from economics. This is Paul Samuelson’s notion of public goods and private goods (goods, plural). Public goods are available to all, and their consumption by one person won’t reduce their availability for others. Goods with neither quality are classified as fully private goods.</p>
<p>Knowledge is almost a pure public good, as the economist Joseph Stiglitz pointed out. Once released into the world it is available to all. Thus basic research everywhere is government funded. It is also a global public good. The mathematical theorem retains its valuable all over the world no matter how many times it is used.</p>
<p>The second idea is that of ‘the public good’ (singular). . It tends to emphasizes joint or collective activities and benefits, or a resource that is used by all, like the medieval commons. In the social democratic tradition the common public good is associated with democratic forms, openness, transparency, popular sovereignty and grass-roots agency.</p>
<p>Let’s move now to thinking about how public good or public goods are created in higher education. Public goods do not emerge in a vacuum. They do so only under the existing conditions of higher education—conditions the both limit and enable what can be achieved. I will talk about two of these conditions</p>
<p>First, the practice of global public good or goods in higher education has to be slotted into a landscape already occupied by established ways of imagining and practising higher education. There are three powerful ideals at work in the sector, widely known inside and outside higher education. They are associated with differing concepts, and differing political, economic and social interests. There are tensions between them. They also have a long history of co-existence. Together they shape our sense of the possible in this sector.</p>
<p>The first is the idea of higher education as an economic market: education and research as products, higher education as national economic competition, universities as business firms, the World Trade Organisation- of a one-world free trade zone in learning and Intellectual Property. Global capitalism provides the dominant modernizing ideals of the last two centuries. It is strong in higher education both the capitalist West and socialist China and everywhere dominates state blueprints for higher education reform. </p>
<p>The second idea has older roots. This is higher education as a field of status ranking and competition: universities as makers of graduate status; universities as bearers of institutional status; the higher education hierarchy regulated by world of mouth and national and global rankings. </p>
<p>Inside research universities the status imaginary is generally the strongest of the three. The bottom line for the university is its own prestige. Its revenues are only a means to that end. We all feel the tug of the claims of status. It seems they are irresistible in both East and West. A career at Seoul National University in Korea is so valued that selected employees pay large sums of money at entry.</p>
<p>The third idea is the networked and potentially more egalitarian university world patterned by communications, collegiality, linkages, partnerships and global consortia. This imaginary was always part of higher education, but has gained ground in the last twenty years, the era of global communications.</p>
<p>The other condition of public goods in higher education is that higher education is soaked in politics. Like the monasteries (until their dissolution), higher education is valued and contested. People use it to secure advantage. Some do so in organized ways. Politics continually shapes the production of both public and private goods. The way public goods are organized, recognized and disseminated becomes part of their contents—and the organization of public goods is shaped by the constituencies and coalitions with a stake in them. </p>
<p>The political process is essential to public goods. But an imperfect instrument for realizing them. It does not always recognize the collective benefits created in higher education, such as the dissemination of advanced scientific literacy. When such benefits are not embedded in active constituencies they remain invisible, undefended and underfunded. Moreover, in public political debate there is much confusion about the nature of public goods and the distinction between public and private goods.</p>
<p>‘The fair allocation of private goods’ in higher education is a fiction. It is unachievable. Unless—as often happens—fairness is watered down so as to judge as fair whatever unequal result is thrown up by competition. In the same manner we judge the outcome of a sporting contest post hoc as ‘fair’, when we really mean ‘an accomplished fact’. This brutish notion of fairness mostly prevails in higher education.</p>
<p>Competition is always better at creating private goods than public goods. Advocates of equity in higher education spend too much energy trying to create fair competition, which is impossible. It is the competitive order itself that should be tackled, particularly the way status differentials in higher education, feeding the continuous jousting, undermine the commons.</p>
<p>In the absence of a whole of society tradition like Confucianism, we locate ‘public’ in higher education and elsewhere in an imaginary space regulated by the nation-state. Collective democratic forms are aligned to the legal boundaries of sovereign nations. Hence terms like ‘public sector’, ‘public interest’, the ‘public service’, ‘democratic public education’ and so on. When we use the term ‘public’ here we mean not just the collective interest, but the nation. The public good is what we expect the nation to do, on a good day at least. </p>
<p>But ‘good’ does not stop at the border. The world is interdependent. Problems of ecology, food, water, energy and epidemic disease, not to mention financial flows and global inequality, ram home that message daily. Knowledge, our stock in trade, moves freely shared across national borders to the ends of the Earth without regard for states.</p>
<p>We need to define, discuss and regulate the common and collective global public good—in higher education and other sectors. But our inherited idea of ‘public’ needs to be fastened onto a state. And there is no global state.</p>
<p>We must break our imagined dependence on states as the source of the collective, of global public goods. Because knowledge lends itself to global flows, in a knowledge-intensive age, research universities have already become important creators of global goods—though this is under-recognised. There is collaborative research on global problems: climate change, water, food, epidemic disease.</p>
<p>How might we advance the creation of global public goods in and through higher education? Let us first identify the challenges. The larger enemy of the public good and public sphere is not the economic market, but the status hierarchy. Global rankings have caught all universities, all over the world, in the same status incentive trap. </p>
<p>Status competition plays out not only between universities but between national systems, ranking them vertically on the world scale and confirming the dominance of the comprehensive Anglo-American science university. It narrows the diversity of knowledge that secures global value, through which public goods are created. Global public knowledge goods in English rate. Global public knowledge goods in Hungarian are off the page.</p>
<p>We need to evolve a new imaginary of higher education, alongside the economic market, status competition, and networks and flows. The global public goods ideal. Global public good must be grounded in a vision which secures consent, shapes mentalities and governs practices. An aspiration for the university that connects to the knowledge-bearing functions, especially research and public information, while grounded in local, national and cross-border constituencies.</p>
<p>This suggests a post-national approach to creating global public goods. The global public space lies mostly outside direct governance, in collaborative networks, NGOs, cyber-space. Here higher education is helping to build global society. We need to break out of the iron-bound national-level struggles over public good and private interest in higher education.</p>
<p>It means not abandoning the nation, but positioning it in something larger. If nations and their cultures want to shape global society, they must become global to do it. Some will say it is a tall order to expect universities to behave this way. But that is a symptom of the malaise. Not a sign it is impossible to overcome. </p>
<p>Universities have lost rationale, and need to reground themselves in the social. They will need to find the way to visibly create global public goods, if they are not to follow the Tudor Monasteries.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/better-connecting-the-university-to-the-public-debate-343">Better connecting the university to the public debate</a>
by Glyn Davis</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-science-is-so-clear-why-is-the-argument-so-clouded-334">When the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?</a>
By Ross Garnaut</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-better-formula-for-science-communication-222">A better formula for science communication</a>
By Peter Doherty</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-universities-its-the-ideas-stupid-282">What’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid</a>
By Patrick McCaughey</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-reporting-climate-change-342">The science of reporting climate change</a>
By Brian McNair</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-learnt-a-lesson-in-humility-and-are-all-the-better-for-it-405">How universities learnt a lesson in humility — and are all the better for it</a>
By John Keane</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Marginson receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects program</span></em></p>Foundation Essay – In 1529 the great monasteries of England and the 400 smaller establishments had never looked so good. They were doubly protected, by universal belief and by their many material connections…Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2642011-03-24T02:12:56Z2011-03-24T02:12:56ZAccidental discovery and the importance of communication<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180/original/Einstein_graphic_for_Attila.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Accidental discoveries during academic research have changed the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Leon Neal</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Foundation essay –</strong> “If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?” While slightly flippant, this comment by Albert Einstein captures the unpredictability of research beautifully. There are many examples of this. </p>
<p>A mathematical approach which was first applied to using radio-telescopes to search for exploding black holes turned out to be fundamental to solving the wireless networking “multipath” problem. </p>
<p>That, in turn, led to CSIRO’s patented technology that underpins many of today’s high speed wireless local area networks and inspired countless additional innovations and improvements to our way of life. </p>
<p>Breakthroughs in linguistics from UTS and other institutions allowed improved communication between hospital medical practitioners culminating in significantly improved patient outcomes. </p>
<p>Professor Hung Nguyen, Dean of Engineering and Information Technology at UTS, initially designed robots to play chess. After recognising the links between the artificial intelligence of robotics and neuroscience, he went on to focus one area of his research to utilise robotics for people with severe disabilities. That resulted in the development of the thought controlled wheelchair. </p>
<p>Significant breakthroughs such as these take a long time to develop, and there is a media friendly outcome at the end, making them an easy story to tell. </p>
<p>But for the full benefit of research to be achieved, it is critical that the outcomes of current research and the latest thinking are made accessible to the general public. And that means publishing not only traditional journal papers, conference presentations and books, but beyond. </p>
<p>The more obvious facets of research - the latest in health and medical breakthroughs or must have gadgets, already shape the way we live. </p>
<p>However we sometimes forget the significance of research outcomes that enable our everyday decision making. They provide robust input to our opinions, or help foster an engaged community and shape public consciousness. </p>
<p>Research has the ability to provoke debate around some of the major global issues we are facing – and in turn support fact-based government policy. </p>
<p>The case for communicating research is clear. </p>
<p>At one level it can help us make day to day decisions. Research conducted by UTS’s Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health revealed that if people suffering chest pains delay going to a hospital by just 15 minutes it significantly increases the chance of death. </p>
<p>And a novel IT approach is trialling the real time tracking of Sydney buses beamed directly to our smart phones. </p>
<p>Timely and public communication of research also provides the robust information and necessary evidence base which shapes critical policy decisions, industry investment choices or influences community groups. </p>
<p>Research outlining society’s views towards tolerance and diversity provided the backbone for a recent session held in parliament on cosmopolitan and civil society. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most powerful aspect of research is its potential to act as a catalyst to stimulate and support public debate. </p>
<p>Climate change is undoubtedly one of the most challenging issues facing society today. The broad, accessible dissemination of the underpinning scientific evidence and potential solutions is fundamental to determining our response as a country. </p>
<p>Similarly, the latest research from the Global Phosphorus Network raises new issues such as the critical nature of the declining phosphorus stocks, and the implications for world food supply. It’s an issue which has not yet seriously appeared on any government’s radar, but it should.</p>
<p>The nature of research and how it can be utilised is changing. Multidisciplinary and ‘left field’ approaches are unquestionably the future trend for research. This is complemented by the breadth and diversity of new and digital media. </p>
<p>Research findings are now much more accessible to specialists in other fields. Industry and community members, too, can add to or use the original research in ways undreamt of by the researchers. </p>
<p>Take malaria. It threatens half the world’s population - over 230 million cases are reported each year. A much wider audience was exposed to a potentially critical breakthrough when the Walter and Eliza Hall institute and UTS’s i3 Institute published the first pictures of the malaria parasite in more accessible media channels, as well as academic literature. This could lead to innovative solutions to malaria being put forward from sectors of society completely unrelated to mainstream malaria research. </p>
<p>With these significant potential benefits, many universities and academics are putting significant time and effort in to broader engagement and attempts to engage the public consciousness. </p>
<p>There is a recognition by a number of us in the sector that we’re on a journey. Our efforts to support energetic media offices, proactive academics, and the adoption of new media channels is just the start. We are also increasing direct engagement with government and growing industry promoting programs such as public seminar series.</p>
<p>What are the challenges to more accessible research communication? Ironically it is often the pressure we put on our own academics. To be successful as academics we need to write for a critical academic community and contain theoretical constructs and abstraction which can, at times, present an impenetrable barrier to the non academic. Not just in terms of language, but also relevance. </p>
<p>The late Glenda Adams, an author and former UTS writing teacher, describes this beautifully in an essay in The Australian Author published shortly after her death in 2007. “I sometimes feel that universities have placed a large pot of abstract nouns at their gates and to enter we must dip into the pot and take three abstract nouns and make something of them,” she wrote. </p>
<p>Allowing academics the time to reframe their research to focus on the issues and outcomes which are relevant to a non-academic audience will allow greater accessibility. </p>
<p>The sheer amount of information generated during even one research project, which can run to many publications, conference papers and more, is also an intimidating barrier to even the most inquisitive citizen. </p>
<p>It is clear, quite rightly, that we are entering a period with increased emphasis on the demonstration of value for money of publically funded research. </p>
<p>The results of the first round of Excellence for Research Australia have recently been published. While very thorough, this exercise focused necessarily on elements including publications and citations which are essentially meaningless to the general public and was unable to include broader metrics on the impact of research on society.</p>
<p>Essentially, we have a dichotomy set up which needs to be carefully managed. We need to balance the drive towards a focused definition of quality which will direct funding, against the need to ensure that our publically funded research has the broadest possible impact in society. </p>
<p>The mainstream media have an important role in communicating research outcomes, and providing informed rather than sensational commentary on the issues that affect society. I believe that this is still not happening enough. There is sometimes an assumption (an incorrect one) that the general public does not want, or cannot cope with a complex, knowledgeable debate. </p>
<p>I believe that universities and researchers have a vital role to play in stimulating relevant, evidenced based discussion as part of their research activities. </p>
<p>Research is always outward looking, driven by a desire to change and improve the world around us. </p>
<p>At UTS we are committed to producing research solutions that tackles national and international challenges, and of course communicating these outcomes. </p>
<p>Our researchers are looking forward to joining The Conversation to share their insights and research findings within this new community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Foundation essay – “If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?” While slightly flippant, this comment by Albert Einstein captures the unpredictability of research beautifully…Attila Brungs, Professor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research), UTS, University of Technology SydneyJim Macnamara, Professor of Public Communication, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/3342011-03-24T00:00:00Z2011-03-24T00:00:00ZWhen the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151/original/garnaut_AAP.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C635%2C1309%2C673&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Too much focus on balance doesn't present the true picture.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the evidence for climate change continues to strengthen, public acceptance of the science keeps declining. Closing the gap could be a question of better communication.</p>
<p>At the commencement of the Garnaut Climate Change Review, I faced the question that confronts all who are not climate scientists and who are required for one reason or another to take a position on the climate science: how do we know if propositions put forward by some climate scientists are right? </p>
<p>By the time I concluded the Review in September 2008, I had read a fair bit of climate science, published by people, including some “sceptics”, with genuine credentials and records of publication in professionally reputed scientific journals. I was exposed to more of the literature through the work of a conscientious team in the Review’s secretariat, and of scientists advising me in various ways.</p>
<p>Few who contributed to the real climate science doubted that the average temperatures on earth were rising, and that this reflected the increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of human activity. </p>
<p>This view was supported by the learned academies in all of the countries of scientific achievement and the overwhelming majority of specialists in the core disciplines contributing to climate science.</p>
<p>As I noted in the Review, there is no genuinely scientific dissent from the main propositions of the physics of climate change that increased concentrations of greenhouse gases raise the earth’s temperature by calculable amounts. The premise on which I worked through the 2008 Review was that the main propositions of the mainstream science were right “on a balance of probabilities”.</p>
<p>When I came update my Review of the science for a paper released on March 10 this year, it was clear that the new evidence strongly confirmed the mainstream science.</p>
<p>Yet, over the same three year period, between work for the 2008 Review and the Update, some polling evidence suggests that an increasing proportion of the public doubts the mainstream science.</p>
<p>There are many factors contributing to this increase in dissent. But two of the more important are communications based. </p>
<p>Mainstream media has often sought to provide balance between people who base their views on the mainstream science and people who don’t - if you like, between scientific authority, and unscientific opinion. That is a very strange sort of balance.</p>
<p>It is a balance of numbers of words and not a balance of scientific authority. </p>
<p>This, in turn, may exacerbate the second communication issue: scholarly reticence. In the field of climate change science, I wonder whether we are seeing the effects of a professional reticence about stepping too far in front of received wisdom in one stride.</p>
<p>In bringing together the best of scholarly thought and the techniques of conventional journalism, _The Conversation _is well placed to make a vital contribution to bridging the gap between scientific and public knowledge.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/better-connecting-the-university-to-the-public-debate-343">Better connecting the university to the public debate</a>
by Glyn Davis</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-better-formula-for-science-communication-222">A better formula for science communication</a>
By Peter Doherty</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-universities-its-the-ideas-stupid-282">What’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid</a>
By Patrick McCaughey</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-reporting-climate-change-342">The science of reporting climate change</a>
By Brian McNair</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-learnt-a-lesson-in-humility-and-are-all-the-better-for-it-405">How universities learnt a lesson in humility — and are all the better for it</a>
By John Keane</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-university-must-reinvent-itself-to-survive-37">The modern university must reinvent itself to survive</a>
By Simon Marginson</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Garnaut is affiliated with the Garnaut Climate Change Review and the Garnaut Climate Change Review Update 2011.</span></em></p>While the evidence for climate change continues to strengthen, public acceptance of the science keeps declining. Closing the gap could be a question of better communication. At the commencement of the…Ross Garnaut, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222011-03-24T00:00:00Z2011-03-24T00:00:00ZA better formula for science communication<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126/original/2292191571_142deccd46_o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why is science so hard to communicate?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Huff/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Foundation Essay –</strong> Getting certain points across can be difficult. And yet democracies don’t function properly in the absence of broad, public discussion based on well-sourced information. </p>
<p>Especially when it comes to complex ideas based in science, providing such information in ways that are both accessible and comprehensible presents major challenges. </p>
<p>Of course, distinguishing between statements based in painstakingly acquired data, statistically valid analysis and probing discussion versus commercially, ideologically or emotionally driven opinion can be extremely difficult for even the educated among us. </p>
<p>Most of us are not trained to approach the world through the prism of probability and relative risk, the central philosophy underpinning all primary research and scientific consensus. </p>
<p>The human condition is such that, while our “immediate”, lower-brain “fight and flight” instincts are well-honed, science-based warnings of long-term threats are harder for us to take seriously, especially when the necessary counter-measures require a degree of behavioural change now. </p>
<p>Also, science is increasingly up against deliberate disinformation. </p>
<p>We see this currently with issues such as climate change and childhood vaccination, where committed organisations and individuals will, for whatever reason, seek to discredit the reasoned scientific consensus reached by active researchers and responsible professionals. </p>
<p>We see information sources that should be reliable, including “quality” newspapers, increasingly failing to report major news items and well-developed analysis that could throw doubt on their particular editorial “spin”. </p>
<p>Then there’s the problem of the scientists themselves. Most are dedicated to what they do in the field or in the laboratory. While they might like to get this or that general message across to a broader public, they have little idea how to go about it. </p>
<p>When active researchers talk on radio, for instance, they often use words such as “abrogate”, “rigorous”, “systematic”, “probabilistic” and so forth that, while central to the way they think, are simply not in the general vocabulary. </p>
<p>Listen to any real scientist talk and you will get an opinion that is reasoned and nuanced, whereas journalists want to tell a straightforward story that isn’t laced with “ifs” and “buts”. </p>
<p>Science communication just isn’t easy, and there are issues at every level.</p>
<p>Some strategies do work. Narrated by people such as David Attenborough, well-produced TV nature documentaries are watched by the type of viewer that tunes in to the Discovery Channel or National Geographic. </p>
<p>But the focus on what is visually stunning often detracts from the underlying scientific message. We remember something but, unless we buy the DVD, the nature of TV viewing is such that we retain impressions and forget the complexities, even if they do surface in the narration. </p>
<p>That’s why the written word, whether encountered in a book, a newspaper or an online blog is so important. The record is there, and we can go back over and reflect on what is being said.</p>
<p>After a decade and a half spent trying to get some science-based ideas across to a broader public while still practising as a research investigator, I’ve come to the somewhat depressing view that the only safe form of communication is via direct-to-air TV or radio; or to write books and opinion pieces that (if edited) can be scrutinised before publication. </p>
<p>Otherwise the results can be disastrous. After talking on the telephone to a print journalist, I customarily approach the paper the next morning with a sense of what too often proves to be well-justified dread. </p>
<p>It’s not that I blame the journalist, or the sub-editor for that matter; it’s just that I’m left feeling personally compromised. Was I so unclear? Did I really say that? </p>
<p>This is not, I think, an uncommon sensation for scientists who try to interact with the media. The two cultures are fundamentally different, and competent science journalists are an increasingly threatened species.</p>
<p>That’s why I think that the idea behind The Conversation is terrific. Whether in science, history or the arts, those who have the capacity to discuss complex issues from the basis of evidence rather than opinion tend to be found in Australia’s universities and scientific research institutes. </p>
<p>It is essential they are neither silenced nor discouraged from speaking out, particularly when it comes to matters of vital, immediate interest.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/better-connecting-the-university-to-the-public-debate-343">Better connecting the university to the public debate</a>
by Glyn Davis</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-science-is-so-clear-why-is-the-argument-so-clouded-334">When the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?</a>
By Ross Garnaut</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-universities-its-the-ideas-stupid-282">What’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid</a>
By Patrick McCaughey</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-reporting-climate-change-342">The science of reporting climate change</a>
By Brian McNair</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-learnt-a-lesson-in-humility-and-are-all-the-better-for-it-405">How universities learnt a lesson in humility — and are all the better for it</a>
By John Keane</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-university-must-reinvent-itself-to-survive-37">The modern university must reinvent itself to survive</a>
By Simon Marginson</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter C. Doherty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Foundation Essay – Getting certain points across can be difficult. And yet democracies don’t function properly in the absence of broad, public discussion based on well-sourced information. Especially when…Peter C. Doherty, Laureate Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/3432011-03-24T00:00:00Z2011-03-24T00:00:00ZBetter connecting the university to the public debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287/original/Tulane_Public_Relations.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Universities need to participate in a wider dialogue.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tulane Public Relations</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Foundation Essay –</strong> A democracy needs conversations that range broadly, find space for many voices, accept new information, explore unexpected ideas, allow people to reach a judgement about the issues that matter to them.
We associate such conversations with political institutions and the media. Yet universities are also a traditional site for such exchanges, a forum for the clash of ideas essential in thinking through public policy.</p>
<p>For universities, the challenge can be how to participate in a wider dialogue. Most scholarship is published in specialist journals, while the best campus conversations occur away from the public, in classrooms and hallways, around ideas ancient and modern. The great lecturer encourages a new generation to grapple with intellectual challenges that have preoccupied those who came earlier – along with those emerging problems that students will be first to tackle. We rely on students to carry those ideas further.</p>
<p>Some of this ferment finds its way to a broader discussion. Research can occasionally influence policy debates, when currents of thought seep into public conversation, usually many times removed from their original authors and context.</p>
<p>In the late 1960s a group of economists at the Melbourne Institute began examining health service outcomes for Australians. They documented the very different pathways for rich and poor, and suggested a universal national health insurance scheme. Though the introduction of Medibank is associated with the Whitlam government, the basic ideas of a different approach to safeguarding health was adopted quickly by both sides of politics ahead of the 1972 federal elections. The idea of universal health insurance coverage, largely unexplored for the first three-quarters of a century of Australian federation, became conventional wisdom within a short span, and the machinery invented to realise the vision has endured for a generation.</p>
<p>Such direct influence is rare. Much research, and most teaching, does not speak to pressing policy issues, but to broader concerns about the philosophical, historical, scientific and engineering underpinnings of our society. It remains locked on campus, a conversation for the moment, carried forward by students and scholars engaged with particular texts or questions. Campus life can foster a sense of isolation, of notions that struggle to travel.</p>
<p>The web has helped bridge that remoteness. It sits alongside traditional forms of public engagement - the choirs, public lectures, orchestras, theatre companies, websites, blog pages, the three minute thesis topic presentations and lively pages of student newspapers that give content to the university mission, inviting the outside in, connecting campus to surrounding community.</p>
<p>Publications such as The Conversation offer an opportunity to engage still further – to share findings and ideas, and provide a public space for discussion, disputation and evidence. It can become a virtual campus, a set of discussions in electronic hallways, a shaping and influence that may travel eventually beyond participants to a wider world.</p>
<p>This is how dialogue begins. It is how a democracy ensures the voices of the many are engaged. For as Walter Bageheot observed, more than a century ago, ‘no state can be first-rate which has not a government by discussion’.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-science-is-so-clear-why-is-the-argument-so-clouded-334">When the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?</a>
By Ross Garnaut</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-better-formula-for-science-communication-222">A better formula for science communication</a>
By Peter Doherty</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-universities-its-the-ideas-stupid-282">What’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid</a>
By Patrick McCaughey</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-reporting-climate-change-342">The science of reporting climate change</a>
By Brian McNair</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-learnt-a-lesson-in-humility-and-are-all-the-better-for-it-405">How universities learnt a lesson in humility — and are all the better for it</a>
By John Keane</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-university-must-reinvent-itself-to-survive-37">The modern university must reinvent itself to survive</a>
By Simon Marginson</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glyn Davis is Vice-Chancellor of The University of Melbourne, which is a Founding Partner of The Conversation.</span></em></p>Foundation Essay – A democracy needs conversations that range broadly, find space for many voices, accept new information, explore unexpected ideas, allow people to reach a judgement about the issues that…Glyn Davis, Professor of Political Science and Vice-Chancellor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/3422011-03-24T00:00:00Z2011-03-24T00:00:00ZThe science of reporting climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106/original/McNair_climate_-yury-.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> Barren: the public is being let down on climate change reporting.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Foundation Essay – In his recent statements on the poor state of the Australian debate on global warming (meaning discussion of its causes, and how to deal with it in policy terms) Professor Ross Garnaut drew attention to the role of the media. </p>
<p>He argued that “debate about scientific matters that occurs in the public domain (such as in newspapers and blog sites) can come to be divorced from scientific quality, rigour and authority”. As a result, people are confused, and losing faith in the science of climate change. </p>
<p>Not that the media are the only source of growing scepticism as to the seriousness of global warming. Garnaut acknowledges that the leak of emails from a British university which appeared to show scientists manipulating data – Climategate – was damaging to public belief in the reality of human-generated, or anthropogenic climate change. </p>
<p>Then came the damp squib of the Copenhagen climate summit, when the politicians signally failed to agree on meaningful action. And in Australia, after a decade of drought rashly attributed by some environmental zealots to global warming, came the great floods. No wonder, as Garnaut noted, more than half of Australians are “confused as to what to believe”. </p>
<p>So the politicians and the scientists are far from innocent on this question, and let’s not let them off the hook. But there IS, as Garnaut suggests, a problem with the media’s coverage of climate change. </p>
<p>Indeed, there’s a problem with media coverage of science in general, which arises from the very nature of news, and the heightened obligation on all public actors, including scientists, to manage news. </p>
<p>First, the media. </p>
<p>Journalists in the main know little more about science than their readers. Very few of them have science degrees, and very few journalism degrees give students a grounding in even the most basic scientific principles. </p>
<p>In my capacity as a journalism educator, I have tried to introduce this knowledge to journalism students on occasion, and been criticised for giving them ‘irrelevant’ information. </p>
<p>Why do we need to know about MMR, autism and Andrew Wakefield, they asked? Because media coverage of this issue was an ill-informed, panic-mongering scandal, I replied, which scared hundreds of thousands of parents away from a vaccine protecting their children from mumps, measles and rubella. The UK, where Wakefield did his greatest damage, now grapples with a very real measles epidemic. </p>
<p>As for the editors and proprietors, they have little interest in the complexity and open-endedness of scientific work. News media in the competitive cultural marketplace of our times need stories that can be told in eye-catching headlines, captured in a few hundred words at most. </p>
<p>They like dramatic pictures and lurid speculation, and the more that a science story can be told in those terms the better. ‘Millions at risk of swine flu’ (or SAARs, or avian bird flu, or ‘mad cow’ disease - there’s a new threat every year, it seems) makes a better, because more sellable news story than – ‘Some risk of catching this new strain of flu, but more people will die in swimming pool accidents in Australia this year, and every year, than will be killed by this latest in a long line of exotic sounding but ultimately low risk threats to your health’. </p>
<p>The need to sell news in an evermore crowded information marketplace leads directly to the scarification of readers, viewers and listeners with lurid images of impending death and catastrophe. In a world of proliferating news sources and ever greater competition for the news dollar, the tendency to media-generated panic is intensified. </p>
<p>The availability of user generated video, as in recent apocalyptic footage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, adds to the sense of impending calamity. </p>
<p>Today, fuelled by digital technology and UGC, health and other kinds of scares go global at the speed of light, as information is disseminated around online networks with unprecedented immediacy. </p>
<p>Governments and policy-makers are bounced into making hasty, ill-thought out statements which may or may not reassure, but certainly give the story fresh legs for another round of the 24-hour, always-on, real-time news cycle. </p>
<p>As for the scientists, they are under pressure to package their work in neat soundbites for ease of media consumption. We (and I count myself amongst them) are advised to present our research findings in terms likely to grab an editor’s attention on a busy news day. Hence, the endless iterations of ‘coffee/red wine/fatty foods give you/protect you from cancer/heart disease’. </p>
<p>The ‘news’ about this or that newly-discovered risk factor for this or that disease or condition rarely bears scrutiny, even if the research on which it is based might have some value as a contribution to a complex and intellectually demanding debate. </p>
<p>The qualifications and nuances which typically surround scientific research findings are often sacrificed in the search for publicity and the headline which equates to ‘profile’ and ‘impact’ in the eyes of funders and academic managers. We are all in the business of public relations now, urged to feed the media with sexy data, even where the truth is more prosaic.</p>
<p>All of this makes for good teaching material in university lectures on the sociology of risk and the media’s role in generating misplaced public anxiety. But in the era of anthropogenic global warming the debate about media coverage and public understanding of science has become a matter of life and death. </p>
<p>If we get the science on climate change wrong – the journalists, the scientists, the politicians, the public – we are in for a hellish time down the road. </p>
<p>So what can be done to improve the coverage of science in the mainstream media? </p>
<p>Editors and journalists should be better trained, for a start, in the interpretation of scientific research and the data it generates. </p>
<p>We need more science correspondents with science degrees, and the ability to translate the science into common discourse. We need more scientific input to journalism education. </p>
<p>We need media organisations prepared – in the public interest - to sacrifice the dramatic headline for the more nuanced analysis of risk. Of course there can be heated debate and opinion in coverage of these issues, but not at the cost of balanced, reasoned, evidence-based analysis. </p>
<p>This may be a big ask, given the commercial nature of most of our media. In that respect, the growth of online information sources can help break the hold of Big Media on what the public gets to hear about emerging risks to their health and safety. </p>
<p>Publications like this one should help too, by giving scientists a dedicated platform for the presentation of their work. </p>
<p>And then there’s the public. Is there anything the readers, viewers and listeners of news media can do to improve science journalism? We humans like to be scared witless, to be afraid of things that go bump in the night. Science news, from that perspective, is a bit like those cavemen and women who used to huddle round the fire in the darkness, sharing their stories of monsters and demons. </p>
<p>Fear and a sensitivity to risk are hard-wired into the human psyche, and there is part of us that relishes media images of looming apocalypse. We live in the healthiest, wealthiest, most peaceful era in human history, and that’s a measurable fact. But we are more anxious, less happy, than previous generations, including those who fought world wars and died on average in their 40s. Maybe those two trends are related.</p>
<p>Maybe it is unrealistic to expect news media not to play to our apparent fascination with disaster and calamity when covering the latest virus/disaster/extreme weather event/technological innovation. </p>
<p>In the short term, though – and the science is clear on this - the world IS warming. Former UK Tory minister John Gummer is in Australia, making the point that there is clear all-party consensus in Europe and the US around climate change, and that concern for the environment isn’t just for ‘warmists’ and woolly liberals. Australia, he argues, is dangerously behind the times in its apparent denial of the problem. </p>
<p>We DO, in Australia, need a rational debate about why climate change is happening, and what we can do to protect future generations from the consequences of the worst case scenario. </p>
<p>Only the media can provide us with an accessible public platform in which to have that debate, and from which the policy makers can draw guidance as they strive to govern.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/better-connecting-the-university-to-the-public-debate-343">Better connecting the university to the public debate</a>
By Glyn Davis</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-science-is-so-clear-why-is-the-argument-so-clouded-334">When the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?</a>
By Ross Garnaut</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-better-formula-for-science-communication-222">A better formula for science communication</a>
By Peter Doherty</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-universities-its-the-ideas-stupid-282">What’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid</a>
By Patrick McCaughey</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-learnt-a-lesson-in-humility-and-are-all-the-better-for-it-405">How universities learnt a lesson in humility — and are all the better for it</a>
By John Keane</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-university-must-reinvent-itself-to-survive-37">The modern university must reinvent itself to survive</a>
By Simon Marginson</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/342/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian McNair receives funding from the ARC</span></em></p>Foundation Essay – In his recent statements on the poor state of the Australian debate on global warming (meaning discussion of its causes, and how to deal with it in policy terms) Professor Ross Garnaut…Brian McNair, Professor of Journalism, Media and Communication, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2822011-03-24T00:00:00Z2011-03-24T00:00:00ZWhat’s the point of universities? It’s the ideas, stupid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194/original/McCaughey_Don_Pugh_Flickr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C225%2C371%2C271&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The purpose of universities is to generate knowledge.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Don Pugh Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Foundation Essay – Universities are at permanent risk of getting a bad rap.. They are too remote, too elitist, too unworldly, too expensive (especially in the US). They are ‘irrelevant’ to the needs and cries of the times. As a prominent provincial businessman, who, of all things was sponsoring an art prize I was judging, remarked: “It’s plumbers not PhD’s we need.” The Antipodean ‘university of hard knocks’ has many disgruntled alumni.</p>
<p>These standardized complaints have recently received sanction at the highest level. Lord John Browne’s report on higher education in the UK recommended that government funds should be directed to those disciplines which could demonstrate clear economic impact and benefit to the state - science and technology, economics and business, law and medicine. Lord Browne could see no point in funding the arts and the humanities even though during his tenure as chairman of BP, the company was a generous and enlightened patron of the arts. Although these views have produced the predictable hand-wringing debate, the Cameron-Clegg government appears set to adopt them.</p>
<p>I am sure, or maybe just hopeful, that universities fight back against such philistinism but few Vice-Chancellor’s are in a position to bite the hand that may toss them a few scraps of sustenance. Taking on the universities and cutting their funding brings out an authoritarian strain in social democratic governments. “Don’t worry: we’ll cut them down to size, those pampered academics and idle students” plays well with the complainers. </p>
<p>Impassioned public demonstrations such as London saw last autumn and Wisconsin this past winter, to say nothing of the Arab Revolt of 2011, may advance some change but one wonders…</p>
<p>More effective lines of argument and action lie in universities demonstrating publicly that part of their enterprise is directed at the wider comunity along with some of its resources. In one sense universities have done that all along. Public lectures by eminent visiting scholars and intellectuals have been standard operating procedure for the past sixty years. As an undergraduate, I heard and can still vividly recall public lectures to packed audiences by the likes of Sir Herbert Read and Mario Praz amongst others. But something more systemic, less adventitious, is required of universities if they are to demonstrate their value (and their values) to the wider community. There has to be a way of presenting the very best of the university’s reaching and research in a palatable form to a lay audience.</p>
<p>One finds little resistance to such thinking within the academy. Over the past four years I have directed the Festival of Ideas at the University of Melbourne. The first Festival in 2009 was on Climate Change/Cultural Change. When I was developing the idea and planning the event, I talked to a variety of scientists and social scientists for whom climate change was a major pre-occupation. Without exception everybody I met talked about the social dimension of their work; each expressed a strong wish to get the story out there and into the public domain. It was as though they wanted to to open their laboratories onto the street. And so it has proven again with the second Festival of Ideas for June 2011 on the theme The Pursuit of Identity: Landscape, History and Genetics. The geneticists - be they in medical, biological, botanical or agricultural reseach - want to explain and demonstrate the social ramifications of their work, how it changes our view of ourselves and promises to re-shape the world.</p>
<p>The very notion of a bi-annual Festival of ideas - largely the branchild of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis - is predicated on the idea of placing the best of academic discourse before the public, acting out publicly the values of the university. For five days anybody who remembers to register at ideas.unimelb.edu.au can hear such eminent minds as Douglas Hilton, Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute or Ary Hoffmann, the leading botanist of his generation or such distinguished historians as Sir David Cannadine and Linda Colley, both from Princeton, or such prominent Australian writers and intellectuals as Tom Keneally on the Australian Identity Today or Gareth Evans on National Identity and Global Conflicts. The enterprise of the University is to take ideas to the marketplace and I don’t mean Wall St.</p>
<p>Two further points should be made. First, one of the ironies of of university life is that you can have outstanding scholars, scientists and critics in fields ranging from the French Revolution to the genetic modification of seeds to the work of James Joyce and yet few beyond their immediate circle of students and colleagues ever gets to hear them lecture or discuss their field.The Festival supplies such a platform.</p>
<p>Second, the Festival brings scholars and scientists, artists and performers from outside Australia and from around its far flung cities and centres of learning. No single university, no matter how distinguished, has a monopoly on the best thinking across all disciplines. But it can reach out and tap the best minds across the global spectrum of learning and put that at the feet of its local community.</p>
<p><em>This Foundation Essay is part of a series of articles to mark the launch of The Conversation. Others in the series are:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/better-connecting-the-university-to-the-public-debate-343">Better connecting the university to the public debate</a>
by Glyn Davis</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-science-is-so-clear-why-is-the-argument-so-clouded-334">When the science is so clear, why is the argument so clouded?</a>
By Ross Garnaut</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-better-formula-for-science-communication-222">A better formula for science communication</a>
By Peter Doherty</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-reporting-climate-change-342">The science of reporting climate change</a>
By Brian McNair</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-learnt-a-lesson-in-humility-and-are-all-the-better-for-it-405">How universities learnt a lesson in humility — and are all the better for it</a>
By John Keane</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-modern-university-must-reinvent-itself-to-survive-37">The modern university must reinvent itself to survive</a>
By Simon Marginson</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick McCaughey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Foundation Essay – Universities are at permanent risk of getting a bad rap.. They are too remote, too elitist, too unworldly, too expensive (especially in the US). They are ‘irrelevant’ to the needs and…Patrick McCaughey, Director, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.