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Dr Tama Leaver

PhD 2006 - The University of Western Australia

BA(Hons) 2000 - First Class Honours in English, Communcation and Cultural Studies, The University of Western Australia

Image of Staff Member
    • Role:
    • Lecturer
    • Department:
    • Department of Internet Studies
    • Location:
    • Building 208 311A
    • Telephone:
    • +61 8 9266 9266 1258

I'm a lecturer in the Internet Studies department at Curtin University of Technology, with a strong interest in digital culture, from the changing landscapes of commercial media in the face of participatory culture, to the role of social software in education and everyday life. I have a background in cultural studies, film studies, digital media and comparative literature, and gained my PhD in English, Communication & Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia for a thesis entitled "Artificialities: From Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Culture - Subjectivity, Embodiment and Technology in Contemporary Speculative Texts." My research record and other information is available in my Curriculum Vitae, and for more detailed information about my research, click here.

Research Interests

  • digital media;
  • blogs;
  • copyright (in particular the Creative Commons and other alternative copyright arrangements)
  • cultural studies;
  • cybercultures;
  • participatory culture;
  • citizen journalism;
  • embodiment;
  • film studies;
  • science fiction;
  • flexible delivery;
  • open educational resources (OERs);
  • social software (including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace);
  • teaching & learning in higher education.

Full details of my current research are available here.

Research Projects

Full details of my current research are available here.

Teaching - Undergraduate

In 2011 I will be primarily be teaching:

  • Web Communications 101 (and 501)
  • Web Media 207 (and 507)

Memberships

The Association of Internet Researchers <http://aoir.org/>

The Australian and New Zealand Communication Association <http://www.anzca.net/>

Cultural Studies Association of Australasia <http://csaa.asn.au/>

Awards

2009 University of Western Australia Research Development Award ($9552) for 'Science Fiction Television: Rethinking Aliens, Bodies and Identity in the Twenty-First Century'. [NB: Grant was awarded but not taken due to shifting to my new position at Curtin University of Technology in 2009.]

2008-2009 University of Western Australia Improving Student Learning Grant ($3000) from the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning for the 'Development of a comprehensive resource giving understandable details of copyright and other legal issues which students encounter when creating work for, or transferring work to, the world outside of education'.

2005 Excellence in Teaching Award: Early Career Teacher awarded by the University of Western Australia.

Publications

Book Chapters (Authored, Research Quality)

  • Leaver, T. 2008. 'Humanity’s Children:' Constructing and Confronting the Cylons. In Cylons in America: Critical Studies of Battlestar Galactica, eds Potter and C.W. Marshall, 132-142. New York: Continuum.

Refereed Articles (Scholarly Journals)

  • Leaver, T. 2008. Watching Battlestar Galactica in Australia and the Tyranny of Digital Distance. Media International Australia 1(126): 145-154.
  • Leaver, T. 2006. The Blogging of Everyday Life. Reconstruction: studies in contemporary culture. 6(4).
  • Leaver, T. 2004. Iatrogenic Permutations: From Digital Genesis to the Artificial Other. Comparative Literature Studies 41(3): 424-435.
  • Leaver, T. 2004. Rationality, Representation and the Holocaust in Life is Beautiful. Limina 10: 70-80.
  • Leaver, T. 2004. ‘The Infinite Plasticity of the Digital’: Posthuman Possibilities, Embodiment and Technology in William Gibson’s Interstitial Trilogy. Reconstruction: studies in contemporary culture 4(3).
  • Leaver, T. 2003. WebCT: Will the future of online education be user friendly?. Fibreculture Journal 2.
  • Leaver, T. 2003. Interstitial Spaces and Multiple Histories in William Gibson's Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties. Limina 9: 118-130.

Fully written papers (Refereed Conference proceedings)

  • Schrape, J, Flintoff, K, Leaver, T, Molineux, M, Herrington, A, and O'Hare, S. 2010. A scholarship program for academic staff to develop exemplary online learning tasks. ascilite 2010, 05/12/2010. Sydney: ascilite.
  • Balnaves, M, Willson, M, and Leaver, T. 2010. Habermas and the Net. 60th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, 23/06/2010. Singapore: All Academic, Inc.