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	On-line PhDs awarded
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	media releases | Centre for Animation and Interactive Media | RMIT home page

First on-line PhDs awarded by RMIT University

 

Simon Pockley and Russell Naughton, of RMIT University's Centre for Animation and Interactive Media, have been awarded Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

In a world first, Simon's PhD was researched, supervised, submitted, examined and stored entirely on-line.

Russell's work began as a master degree project to develop an interactive on-line radio broadcast system for Radio Australia. It grew into a PhD which was examined using a 'traditional' paper version of the research report, a multi-platform CD-ROM 'capture' of the web site, and a four-point international phone link-up.

[ about Simon Pockley   | about Russell Naughton ]
[ visit the Centre for Animation and Interactive Media ]

 

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Dr Simon Pockley - 'The Flight of Ducks'

`The Flight of Ducks' was the world's first PhD in which the research was conducted, supervised, submitted, examined, and stored entirely on-line.

You can view 'The Flight of Ducks' at http://www.cinemedia.net/FOD/

Its passage through the paper-based traditions of the academic community has created waves which are now eroding the walls of Higher Degrees Committees across the world.

A controversial work concerned with digital preservation, `The Flight of Ducks' is built around a deeply layered collection of archival material from a camel expedition into the central Australian frontier in 1933.

Confronting difficult issues of Aboriginal representaion, `The Flight of Ducks' demonstrates how 'new networked media' can be used to provide different forms of access to create a responsive documentary.

Like the stories of journeys in oral epic poetry, it continues to evolve as a proliferating organism which is shaped by its participants, by a continuous refinement of its content, and by a primary concern to provide long-term access to its content.

`The Flight of Ducks' has been accessible since 1995. For the last three years it has been visited by approximately 4,000 individuals per week. In 1996 it was identified by the National Library of Australia as being of national significance and was archived as a pilot project.

In 1997 it won the Premier of Victoria's Gold Award for Best Multimedia Production, as well as an ATOM award for Best On-line Production. It was also the inaugural winner of the John Bird Award for On-line Excellence. Parts of this work have been collected by the State Library of Victoria's Experimedia on-line gallery.

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Russell Naughton - Adventures in CyberSound

You can explore 'Adventures in CyberSound' at http://www.cinemedia.net/SFCV-RMIT-Annex/rnaughton/phd3000.html

Russell commenced a master degree by project with RMIT University in 1995, aiming to construct a prototype, interactive, on-line audio broadcast (radio) service. To document the project, Adventures in CyberSound, an on-line research site, was developed. Adventures in CyberSound examined in depth the history of radio and the related media services of telegraphy, telephony, facsimile, television, photography and cinema.

In May 1996 Russell the prototype into a 'real world' service for Radio Australia, the international broadcasting service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In December 1996 Russell's studies were upgraded to doctoral level.

Russell's PhD was examined using a 'traditional' paper version of the research report, a multi-platform CD-ROM 'capture' of the web site, and a four-point, national and international phone link-up. The examiners were Drs Dale Spender and Patricia Gillard (Australia) and Dr Michael Ameigh (USA).

The CD-ROM, as well as containing a hypertext version of the research report, contained (dependent on the examiner having a 'live' Internet connection) active hyperlinks to the project site Radio Australia Online.

In late May 1999, Russell was appointed as an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University, working on interactive digital television development at the Center for Telecommunications and Information Engineering.

More about Russell Naughton:

• Current CV http://www.cinemedia.net/RMIT/rnaughton/phd9100.html
  
• Research site home page  http://www.cinemedia.net/RMIT/rnaughton/phd3000.html
  
• Organisations using his work  http://www.cinemedia.net/RMIT/rnaughton/phd8580.html
  
• CILECT Distance Learning Conference, Los Angeles, April 1999  http://www.hypermedia.ucla.edu/cilect/html/content/bios/naughton_bio.html
  
• Statement about his future work  http://www.cinemedia.net/RMIT/rnaughton/phd1000.html
  
• Entry in "Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) in the humanities" at the University of Virginia http://etext.virginia.edu/ETD/directory/listings/naughton.html
  
• John Bird Award 1998 http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~rpyjp/JBaward98.html

 

Centre for Animation and Interactive Media

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