Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 242 March 30 2004
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J By Simon Atkinson
TIGHT security on QUT’s IT system helped ensure its 45,000 email users were protected from the latest worm virus to sweep the globe.
The Netsky virus triggered millions of spam emails to be sent – and at times the infl ux of incoming messages rose 800 per cent on normal QUT levels.
At the height of the problem pressure on the system meant legitimate emails were delayed – with reports of some taking up
to two hours to arrive.
But only a tiny proportion of infected emails made it as far as the inboxes of staff and students, says Barry Lynam, QUT’s senior network engineer (security).
“These viruses aren’t going to stop being created but we are confi dent we can deal with them,” Mr Lynam said.
“We have tried various strategies including one using a new technology known as Real-time Black Lists (RBL) which has reduced our spam by an average of 36,000 spam messages a day.”
Mr Lynam said that infected zip fi les had only got through to users without up-to-date anti-virus software on their computers.
He urged staff and students who access university email from home to ensure their own computers had up-to-date anti- virus packages running.
Laboratory manager of QUT’s Information Security Research Centre Sam Lor said that viruses and system slowdowns were not going to stop.
“I do not see the problem abating anytime soon because many users are not educated about viruses and the software at their fi ngertips is too powerful,”
Mr Lor said.
“Computer viruses are malicious codes or programs
that instruct your computers or software to perform operations that the user doesn’t intend – but it doesn’t happen automatically.
“Users are normally needed to trigger them – usually by clicking on links or opening emails and attachments.
“The trouble is many people don’t know what not to click on and what is suspicious. Unless education is increased we are not going to see much improvement in the situation.”
Mr Lynam also warned about the growing problem of email scams which have been sent to hundreds of QUT addresses.
Known as “phishing” the spam message requests that recipients link to a page purporting to be a bank website.
The sites may appear authentic but are actually counterfeits of the real thing.
The objective of these email messages is to gather internet bank login details.
“QUT can’t do anything about this sort of email except to urge staff and students to ignore them,” Mr Lynam said.
“Some of the latest attempts look just like the genuine bank sites, but it doesn’t matter how professional they look or how helpful they appear–
don’t respond or reveal any information.
“It is best never to click on a link in an email unless you are absolutely sure who it has come from.”
Mr Lynam reminded QUT network users that dealing with music and films without the permission of copyright-holders was illegal and would not be tolerated by the university.
These included cases of ripping, burning, peer-to-peer networking, file-sharing, file- swapping or downloading from sites offering MP3 fi les.
See cartoon page 6.
By Mechelle Webb
QUT researchers want to put more “bums on seats” in regional and country theatres as part of a new $400,000 study.
Dr Rebecca Scollen said live theatre audiences were declining but little research had been done on ways to solve the problem.
She said the three-year “Talking Theatre” project aimed to fi nd out why people didn’t attend the theatre – and their reactions if they did.
Dr Scollen is the newest Australian Postdoctoral Fellow at QUT’s Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre and will be the study’s principal researcher.
The project will recruit non-theatregoers from 14 regions across Queensland and the Northern Territory and survey them about their entertainment, cultural and creative needs.
“The participants will attend theatre performances in their region and take part in post-performance group discussions to talk about their reactions to the shows and the venues,” Dr Scollen said.
“Theatre audiences are in the decline so it is important to fi nd a way to encourage non-theatregoers into the theatre and to provide them with an experience that will ensure they return.
“I have spent the majority of my life in regional Queensland and so it was very important to me to design a major research and development program that would benefi t non-city areas.”
The study has been funded by the Australian Research Council, Arts Queensland, Arts Northern Territory, QUT and the Northern Australian Regional Performing Arts Centres Association (NARPACA).
NARPACA president Ian Perkins said the results would be critical to the survival of regional theatres, which faced different issues to those in capital cities.
“For the fi rst time we have the opportunity to develop fi ndings of direct and specifi c value for our own individual communities, recognising that each of them has different characteristics and priorities,” he said.
“The implications for venue managers are critical to developing new audiences and increasing patronage – if you like, ‘more bums on seats’.”
IT staff
fi ght off e-attack
QUT researcher Dr Rebecca Scollen pictured in
Australia’s largest regional theatre, the Empire in Toowoomba.
Traffi c woes take their toll Page 2
Academic seeks romance Page 5
Light
expectations
Page 7
New software makes sense of survey info
UNIVERSITIES across Austr alia wanting to know what students think about their experiences both in and out of the classroom can now access that information at the click of a mouse.
QUT in conjunction with the University of Technolog y, Sydney, has developed CEQuery, leading edge software that will be able to analyse the comments made each year in the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ).
While it collects huge amounts of quantitative data the CEQ also collects graduates’ thoughts on the best aspects of the university experience and those that need improving in areas such as educational outcomes, staff, course design, assessment and support.
Each year about 30,000 graduates respond to the CEQ and until now the large number of comments made had never been systematically analysed and understood.
The federal government will make CEQuery available to all universities throughout Australia free of charge.
AUSTRALIAN comic genius Geoff Portmann has been appointed the new head of Film and Television at QUT.
Mr Portmann has been the ABC’s Head of Comedy for the past six years and directed the legendary sitcom Mother and Son for six seasons earlier in his ABC TV career.
Actor Garry McDonald, who starred in Mother and Son, has labelled Mr Portmann “the finest comedy director in Australia”.
QUT’s Dean of Creative Industries, Professor John Hartley, said the faculty’s newest addition was a tremendous coup for the university.
“I’m delighted to be able to announce that QUT has offered the position of Associate Professor and Head of Film and Television to Geoff Portmann, who will join us at the end of March,” he said.
“He brings with him more than 25 years of experience in television comedy, from the early days of Aunty Jack and Norman Gunston right through to The Games and Welcher and Welcher.
“As the ABC’s head of comedy, and an executive producer, he has been responsible for bringing to the screen some of the most acclaimed comedy series in Australia including Frontline, The Games, BackBerner, The Micallef Program and Club Buggery.”
Mr Portmann’s appointment comes at an exciting time for QUT’s innovative Creative Industries Faculty.
It moved into a new, purpose-built base – the Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove – this year, giving more than 2500 students an opportunity to utilise a multimedia headquarters with high-tech digital surroundings, studios and performance spaces.
“This is an exciting time for the faculty and an opportunity to push and fuzzy the boundaries even further in a new environment that has been created with the researcher, artist, designer and enterprise in mind,” Professor Hartley said.
Professor Portmann has directed over 130 episodes of situation comedy in Australia – more than any other director in Australia.
He has worked in all forms of television production, ranging from single camera to multi-camera, location to studio, reality to fantasy, and with film and video.
Copyright in common
‘Toll’ to ease traffi c?
By Mechelle Webb
A QUT academic has applauded the RACQ’s push for a “user-pays” system for drivers who want to enter inner Brisbane during peak traffi c times.
Transport specialist Professor Luis Ferreira said “congestion charges” would be a big step toward solving the city’s traffi c woes.
“If we are serious about reducing the negative impacts of congestion we need to embrace the concept of charging for the use of a scarce resource – road space,” he said.
“Such charges however need to be based on the level of congestion imposed and not simply as a means of funding new road projects.
“ The evidence from around the world is that the community is much more ready to accept congestion charging if the revenues raised are put to work on improving alternatives to the use of the private car.”
Professor Ferreira, who lectures in the School of Civil Engineering, said a strong education and information campaign was needed to explain the need for congestion charges.
But he said people also needed to be encouraged to use buses and trains – and convinced that spending public money on public transport was a good move.
“Public transport subsidies should not be seen as ‘pouring money down the drain’ if they result in reduced total community costs of transport by alleviating congestion, reducing the need for new road capacity, and making better use of existing transport infrastructure,”
he said.
But he said there was a gap between people’s opinions on the merits of public transport – and their actual behaviour.
“Whilst the community is strongly supportive of public transport for environmental and other reasons, individual
behaviour is actually inconsistent with that support due to the immediate advantages of the car in terms of speed, comfort and independence,” he said.
“Public transport improvements, such as better access and more frequent services, was need to be coupled with increases in car travel costs and restraint measures, such as increased parking controls and charges.”
Professor Ferreira said building more roads was not necessarily a solution to future gridlocks.
“Planners need to factor in the issue of so called ‘induced traffi c’ which results when a new road is built,” he said.
“This relates to the traffi c which would otherwise not be present at all were it not for the new road providing the extra capacity.
“Without the proper charging we will see new facilities ‘suck-in’ traffi c and become part of the problem rather than contribute to the solution in the medium to long term.”
THE Queensland University of Technology has been selected to spearhead Australia’s involvement in an international push for greater public access to creative
works that are subject to copyright restrictions.
The non-prof it organisation behind the movement, Creative Commons, is based at Stanford Law School in the United States and promotes a less restrictive copyright licence system that makes selected intellectual works more accessible to the general public.
Creative Commons’ push for alternative copyrights has been embraced by many academics around the world who want to openly share their fi ndings with the global community.
QUT has now been chosen as the Australian institutional affi liate and will coordinate a public effort to bring the system to Australia and translate Creative Commons’
licences for use in this country.
The head of QUT’s Law School,
Professor Brian Fitzgerald, pictured above, and QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Technology, Information and Learning Support) Tom Cochrane, pictured below, are co-leaders of the International Commons (iCommons) Australia project.
Professor Fitzgerald and Mr Cochrane
helped launch the project in Sydney and Melbourne last week.
Stanford law professor and Creative Commons chairman Lawrence Lessig said the organisation was thrilled to expand the movement to Australia and work with QUT.
“Australia will be a vital participant in bring ing the international Cultural Commons to fruition,” he said.
Professor Fitzgerald said the new relationship was also exciting for QUT and authors of creative works.
“There is already strong demand within the Australian community for a legal means for facilitating the distribution of open content and Creative Commons will be a tremendous platform on which to build these protocols and agreements,” he said.
Mr Cochrane said copyright law and regulation was receiving increased attention and that Creative Commons would help fi nd collaborative solutions appropriate to rapidly changing digital environments.
“Creative Commons respects authorship and creativity but wants to explore new ways of sharing copyright,” he said.
For more information on Creative Commons, visit www.creativecommons.org
– Mechelle Webb
Comedy
pro makes switch
from TV to
QUT role
THE business enter prise centre at QUT’s new Creative Industries Precinct can already boast a “full house” sign.
The new Kelvin Grove centre was fully-tenanted before students even started to arrive at the new
$60million arts precinct and will house innovative young businesses in a creative environment.
Steve Copplin, the CEO of CIP Pty Ltd, said the centre aimed to strengthen the university’s links between industry and students.
He said three businesses had already moved in, with another three relocating soon to fi ll the premises.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the response,” he said.
“Given the level of interest I think it will do really well.
“There’s pent-up demand for this sort of base. People have realised fairly quickly the value of having all these facilities together in a
university environment.
“We’re going to be encouraging relationships between students and these companies, which will hopefully give QUT students the chance to work on real-life projects as part of their courses.”
The companies based at the CIP enterprise centre include Brisbane business Q-Ball (web content and inter net development) and New South Wales mig rant Cognitia Studios (advertising, graphic art, web design).
Aeroplane Heaven has already moved in and will use the new QUT premises to continue its work doing add-ons for the Microsoft Flight Simulator. This involves adding specifi c planes and air battles to the international simulator program.
CIP Pty Ltd is the company set up by QUT to manage the Creative Industries Precinct’s business interests as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
By Mechelle Webb
BRISBANE’S housing market could face fi ve years of stagnation following the boom that has seen prices double in the last three years, according to a research expert who visited QUT this month.
Ron Bewley – the head of quantitative research at CommSec – said home-buyers would have to make sure they were “cashed up” and fi nancially secure before investing in a property, because big profi ts were unlikely to be made if they were forced to sell quickly due to a change of circumstances.
“It shouldn’t be too bad in the long run but there’s more uncertainty in the short- term … you’d have to be more cautious,”
he said.
Mr Bewley visited Brisbane to address QUT staff and students at a seminar hosted by QUT’s School of Economics and Finance.
His lecture focused on “the Sydney effect” and research that showed Sydney was insulated from market changes in other Australian capital cities, despite the strong impact its property prices had on the rest of the country.
Mr Bewley said Brisbane had been playing
“catch-up” from a long period where infl ation out-stripped the city’s property price rises.
“You had eight years of prices effectively going down,” he said.
But he said property prices – which spiralled partly as a result of the Sydney effect – were now expected to slow.
He said the past six months had seen softer prices in Sydney, with that change now starting to be felt in Brisbane.
“Brisbane’s affected by a six to 12-month lag so you should be being affected right about now,” he said.
Mr Bewley said national property price patterns indicated periods of growth were then followed by about fi ve years of stagnation.
“The last quarter was particularly strong in Brisbane (but) it would be quite reasonable now to expect Brisbane to have its growth rate fall rather sharply,” he said.
Housing research boss calls for caution
A QUT plant virolog ist’s belief that a report recommending the importation of bananas from the Philippines was f undamentally fl awed and would expose Australia to a disease impossible to eradicate, was vindicated this month.
Two days following Professor James Dale’s assertion that a Biosecurity Australia report had contradicted itself in places in its assessment of the import risk from Banana Bract Mosaic Virus (BBrMV), the quarantine body admitted that the report had an error.
Professor Dale had earlier found that the report had contradictions – with one page saying that BBrMV was “widespread” in the Philippines – while on the next page it said it was
“rarely encountered”.
Immediately following Professor
Dale’s alert, Biosecurity Australia reported that there was a transcription error in a spreadsheet used to estimate the risk of disease from imported Filipino bananas.
It admitted quarantine measures it had recommended would now have to be changed, but added that although there was an error, it did not affect the ultimate fi nding that it was safe to import the fruit.
Professor Dale, who undertook World Bank-funded BBrMV research in the mid-90s and is now director of the Science Research Centre in QUT’s Faculty of Science, says it is hard to fathom how Biosecurity Australia could conclude that there was only a very low probability of importing BBrMV with Philippines bananas.
“This virus was very widespread in the Philippines when we were collecting there 10 years ago. It is spread rapidly by aphids and eradication of similar viruses from perennial crops such as bananas is near impossible,” he said.
“Its symptoms are known to be variable. Even when symptoms appear, they are not obvious to an untrained eye because the virus does not kill the plant … but it reduces the yield.
“It is a crucial point that only a few years ago quarantine authorities rejected the restricted importation of this virus for research purposes, but now our standards appear to be diluted to such an extent that we have a report recommendation that probably guarantees this virus will be introduced into Australia.
“If we conservatively estimate that there is a 10 per cent infection rate, the risk that the virus is present in a tonne of hard green fruit is 72 per cent. This is a profoundly different scenario to what Biosecurity Australia is presenting in its risk analysis model.”
Despite saying it did not change the fi ndings of the analysis, Biosecurity Australia said the period for public comment on the report would be extended.
Plant expert exposes fl awed banana report
Full house at new CI enterprise centre
Professor James Dale, pictured below, is concerned about the disesase risk of importing Filipino bananas.
Professor Ron Bewley at QUT
Comment
by the Vice-Chancellor
TODAY’S universities are repeatedly asked to demonstrate performance and excellence.
While there are several traditional benchmarks by which these can be measured for universities as organisations, it is worthwhile reminding ourselves that university success depends on the achievements of people, and no reward is as real as the acknowledgement gained for remarkable accomplishments achieved at the individual level.
In this regard QUT is indeed excelling.
In recent months, a number of staff, students and alumni have captured international and national attention for their outstanding scholarship and innovation.
In this edition comes news of inventive architecture PhD student Veronica Garcia-Hansen whose design to incor porate natural light in skyscrapers earned her accolades at the Far Eastern Economic Review Asian Innovation Awards in Singapore.
Veronica joins a long list of recent QUT award-winners. These include law lecturer Sally Kift, who was one of eight national recipients at the
Australian Awards for University Teaching; Associate Professor and head of dance Dr Cheryl Stock, who received a prestigious lifetime achievement award at the Australian Dance Awards; fi lm and television graduate Jo Kasch who won the Sir Peter Ustinov Scriptwriting Award presented in New York; and a team of graduate urban and regional planning students who secured a national award in urban design from the Planning Institute of Australia.
And institutionally, the Brisbane Graduate School of Business has been ranked one of the world’s leading fulltime MBA programs in the London Financial Times’ annual
“FT100” MBA global rating.
Universities should be places of inspiration, innovation and intellectual challenge, where creativity can fl ourish and where achievement is supported, recognised and rewarded.
External recognition of the achievements of our staff and students shows that QUT is already such a community, and should motivate us all as we work to make QUT an even stronger university.
Peter Coaldrake
Recognising achievements
By Mechelle Webb
SINGLE mothers from around south- east Queensland have been urged to be part of a QUT study into why single mums face higher levels of anxiety.
Researcher Janette McMahon needs 200 mums to participate in the study by fi lling out a survey on their experiences.
Ms McMahon said the importance of research into the psychological well- being of single mothers could not be understated.
“Previous studies have shown that
single mothers are subject to high levels of anxiety and therefore feel more vulnerable,” she said.
“My study on single mothers aims to help understand the factors which contribute to their anxiety.
“Hopefully, this information will assist in developing counselling programs for single mums.”
Ms McMahon is an honours student in psychology and combines her QUT research work with raising three children on her own.
She said she knew fi rsthand that solo parenting was not an easy job.
“Financial strain, number of children, occupational status and education all contribute to the anxiety experienced by single mums,” she said.
She said more and more mothers were raising their kids alone.
“Single parent families have increased in Australia by 53 per cent from 1986 to 2001,” she said.
“In 83 per cent of these families the single parent is the mother.”
Ms McMahon said people who responded to her call for volunteers would be mailed survey forms that would take about 20 minutes to complete, along
with a stamped self-addressed envelope to return the survey.
“By answering some simple questions, single mums have a chance to help researchers better understand the problems they face,” she said.
The study is being supervised by Dr Nigar Khawaja from the Faculty of Health’s School of Psychology and Counselling.
Single mothers interested in helping can provide their contact details by calling Ms McMahon on 0402 008 644 or emailing her on
By Heath Kelly
YOUNG Queenslanders from 15 communities throughout the state will be the driving force behind a cutting-edge internet radio project being developed by QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty.
Under the direction of lead investigator and Creative Industries (CI) dean, Professor John Hartley, urban, regional, remote and Indigenous communities will create and network their own content through the development of an audio-streaming site.
In its initial phase, the Youth Internet Radio Network will run for two years and fi eld work and training has commenced in participating comunities.
CI research and development coordinator Professor Greg Hearn said the benefits to young people, particularly in regional communities, would be enormous.
“There will be great benefi ts for individuals living in isolation in terms of connecting them with people around the world, especially those that live in similar conditions,” he said.
“This is not just another radio station going online but is going to be driven by the idea of getting the communities
actively involved.”
Professor Hear n said content could take the form of radio plays in conjunction with the Queensland Youth Theatre, original live music in association with project partner Q- Music, and personal or community digital story telling.
Apart from benefi ts to the individual and the community in general, Professor Hearn was optimistic the project would also present a number of commercial opportunities.
“What we want to have at the end of the exercise is a very clear understanding of the way remote communities can participate in the digital content economy,” he said.
Professor Hearn said there had already been interest from UNESCO in the idea of developing content creation tools.
Project leader Jo Tacchi, who recently returned from the Oxford Internet Institute, has also entered into negotiations to develop a similar project in the UK.
The project is being fi nanced by a
$340,000 Australian Research Council grant and involves a partnership between QUT and the Queensland Gover nment Off ice of Youth Affairs, Brisbane City Council, Arts Queensland, Q Music and Queensland Aids Council.
PROPERTY developers and councils should consider the special needs of older people due to the high proportion of pedestrian fatalities among over 65s, according to a QUT researcher.
Design and built environment masters student Jenny Bopp said one third of pedestrian injuries involved people over 65.
Ms Bopp said that in her study of older pedestrians in two Brisbane suburbs, participants reported that they required shelters and well-lit footpaths, with even surfaces clear of overhanging trees and shrubs, and median strips to facilitate street crossing.
She also found that shared pedestrian/bike paths were worrying for older pedestrians who feared being hit by a bicycle or falling over, and a fear of vehicles in local streets prevented many older people from walking in their neighbourhood.
“Designers need to consider the reduction in physical and cognitive skills of people over 65 if the high percentage of road casualties among this age group is to be reduced,” Ms Bopp said.
“For many older people, walking is the only exercise they can manage, as well as being low-cost and sociable, and they are told to walk for their health but they often don’t even feel safe walking around their own suburbs.”
Ms Bopp studied two contrasting pedestrian environments: Bulimba as an older, traditional suburb with grid street layout, and a mix of residential and commercial buildings; and Forest Lake as a new masterplanned community with modern cul-de-sac streets, a shopping centre and an artifi cial lake.
‘Hidden Genders’
captured
A LEADING Singaporean fi lm-maker has visited QUT to showcase a documentary about mixed genders.
Julina Khusaini is a Moslem fi lmmaker who has explored the fascinating world of two cultures in Thailand and India who see themselves as neither men nor women.
Creative Industries Precinct at Kelvin Grove this month hosted a free public screening of her documentary, Hidden Genders.
The f ilm – which was commissioned by National Geographic and screened at last year’s New York Film Festival – looks at how different cultures and religions perceive individuals who are “neither male nor female”.
Julina works with The Right Angle Group in Singapore and has experience in current affairs and drama.
QUT has an inter national industry partnership with The Right Angle Group.
Single mums needed for
study into high anxiety levels
Poor street designs
threaten older folk
Tuning the dial to rural digital radio
Single mother of three and QUT researcher Janette McMahon is calling on single mothers for a new anxiety study. Janette is pictured with her children (from left) Amy,11, Chloe,6, and Sarah,9.
Project leader Jo Tacchi – Carmen Myler
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By Carmen Myler
LOVERS of romance novels are being sought for a QUT study into the pleasure people get from reading romance fi ction.
Creative writing senior lecturer Dr Glen Thomas, pictured below, and a team from the Creative Industries Faculty are investigating the reading habits of romance fi ction enthusiasts.
Dr Thomas said he expected nearly all study participants to be women but would be very interested to hear from any men who make up just 1 per cent of readers within this genre.
“We know very little about the men who read romance fiction except that they tend not to own up to it,” he said.
“Bookshop owners tell me that guys who come in to buy romance novels almost exclusively say ‘just picking this up for the wife’ or something like that.”
Dr Thomas said he was undertaking research into the romance market because it was one of the world’s most economically successful
creative industries.
“People look down on romance as a genre yet worldwide these novels account for more than 50 per cent of all mass market paperback books sold and sales are worth A$1.5billion per year,”
he said.
“I also fi nd it curious that as sociological data show more people are living alone, these books with their ‘happily-ever after’ endings and focus on relationships are growing ever more popular.”
Dr Thomas said the stereotype of romance reader as bored housewife was long gone but the books still tended to reinforce gender stereotypes, something most other research has focused on.
“Textual studies used to assume that women would read these books and just absorb everything they read but more recent international research indicates that people do negotiate the content a bit more than that and have opinions about it,” he said.
“I want to fi nd out more about the habits of Australian readers and what pleasure they get from reading different types of romance fi ction.”
Dr Thomas said his study was also surveying romance authors and their relationship with their readership, something that has not been previously examined.
Students and staff interested in participating should contact Dr Thomas on 07 3864 8284 or at [email protected]
By Simon Atkinson
A QUT researcher has won a top accolade after shedding light on the design dilemma of how to channel natural light into the dark recesses of buildings.
PhD student Veronica Garcia- Hansen has created a system to capture natural light and distribute it to parts of buildings which get insufficient sunlight.
Her “light pipe” design was incorporated into plans for a new skyscraper to be built in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
The technology impressed judges at the Far Eastern Economic Review Asian
Innovation Awards in Singapore where she received a Bronze award – third place in a fi eld of 120 entries.
Tests found that Ms Garcia-Hansen’s design could halve the number of fl uorescent light tubes needed in the building.
Benefi ts of using natural sunlight include more enjoyable work ing conditions, reduced electricity bills and minimised energy consumption.
Ms Garcia-Hansen said: “Natural light makes a real difference to the feel of a building as well as to the environment. The design is relatively inexpensive and could be incorporated into poorly sunlit older buildings as well as new developments.”
The light pipes use laser cut panels – technology patented by Adjunct Associate Professor from QUT’s School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Dr Ian Edmonds.
These panels defl ect sunlight into the pipes which are 80cm high, two metres wide, 20 metres long and mirrored on the inside. Once inside the pipe, extractors distribute the light throughout the building.
The problem of a lack of natural sunlight is most acute in ‘deep-plan’
buildings where the centre of the building is a long way from windows.
“The Malaysian skyscraper was designed to be very eco-friendly and worker-friendly. In the afternoon,
the sun would make the west of the building very hot, so the architect put the lift shafts, stairwells and store cupboards on that side, with staff to work in the east of the building where it was cooler,” Ms Garcia-Hansen said.
“But this created the problem of few windows on the west facing wall and we wanted to design a way of transferring the light from the west – where the sun would be in the afternoons – into the east side of the tower. That’s where the horizontal pipes came in.”
Ms Garcia-Hansen worked in her home country of Argentina as an architect for two years before winning a QUT scholarship in 2001.
She is now fi ne-tuning her design
to optimise the amount of sunlight that can be channelled through the pipes and beginning to write up her fi ndings.
Dr Edmonds, who is supervising Ms Garcia-Hansen’s project, said he was delighted with the award and the results of the research.
“The building industry is notoriously slow to take up new technologies, but the light pipes are extremely innovative and there’s a lot of interest,” he said.
“Veronica has worked out how to get the light into the buildings and use it effectively. It has real potential.”
Dr Richard Hyde of The University of Queensland was also involved in the project the project.
Architects see light at end of the tunnel
Built Environment and Engineering PhD student Veronica Garcia-Hansen pictured with light panels developed by her supervisor Dr Ian Edmonds.
Novel project seeks romantics
David Hawke’s Eyeview
IN BRIEF...
NEW National Australia Bank chairman Graham Kraehe kept strictly to steel when he visited Brisbane this month for the fi rst QUT Business Leaders’ Forum of 2004. Mr Kraehe was selected as the year’s fi rst guest speaker in his capacity as chairman of BlueScope (BHP) Steel and would not be drawn on questions about the bank by forum moderator Kerry O’Brien (pictured above).
By Heath Kelly
A QUT study is about to discover whether a high-tech windscreen warning system will become the motor vehicle dashboard of the future.
The Head-Up Display (HUD) device called DataVision is already used by American fi ghter pilots but also has the potential to signifi cantly reduce crashes on Australian roads.
The high-tech device has the capacity to project warnings about road dangers onto windscreens plus a myriad of other data including speed levels and maps by utilising a range of technolog y including Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Wireless Web and night vision.
The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) at QUT has been approached by the American developers of the device to research its effectiveness when driving in demanding and harsh conditions.
The maker of the product, the Milwaukee-
based Enforcer Technology, is planning to launch a consumer version of DataVision, into the market in early 2005.
Dr Andry Rakotonirainy, who will be heading up the CARRS-Q study, said the aim of the device was to reduce the level of visual distraction and keep driver attention on the road.
Driver information is displayed on the windscreen by a small projector that is attached to a computer.
“You program into your computer what you want displayed such as speed limit warnings, even e-mail – whatever is displayed on the computer is projected onto the windscreen,”
Dr Rakotonirainy said.
“For example if the Head Up Display is attached to a night vision device then it can display objects on the road – previously in the darkness - such as pedestrians and animals.”
Dr Rakotonirainy said the CARRS-Q study was essential to evaluate the human factors associated with using the device, and
in particular its safety features and driver acceptance.
“We need to examine if it is dangerous to display something of this type on your windscreen and if it may or may not affect your peripheral vision,” he said.
“A few studies that have been completed that show it is one of the most non-obtrusive ways to display information and we want to validate such a result in Australia.”
High-quality graphics as well as real-time, full-motion video for rear and side view images can be displayed on the windscreen’s viewing area, which is about the size of a palm pilot.
“The whole purpose of the device is to keep the driver’s vision on the road and we need to discover what the level of distraction is with this device,” Dr Rakotonirainy said.
He said the problems with other HUD devices currently on the market were that they were only installed in very expensive European cars and manufacturers f ixed accessible information.
Former staff help build university tradition
New bank boss sticks to steel
High-tech driving on way
Uni gives peace a chance
Students from Mexico and Columbia will study at QUT later this year thanks to a new scholarship. The four free English language and Study Abroad places are being provided under the Peace Scholarship Trust.The fi rst peace scholars – two from each country – will begin study in Semester two this year and stay on for Semester one of 2005. QUT is one of 27 Australian universities that will waive fees under the scheme – which aims to promote global understanding and peace through education. Visit www.idp.com/globalpeace for more information.
Go into bat for Batten disease
The campus community at Kelvin Grove has a chance to show their support for families touched by the rare Batten disease on Wednesday 31 March at a lunchtime sausage sizzle in front of C Block. The awareness-building fundraiser is being organised on behalf of the Batten Disease Support and Research Association by Martin Gregg from the Faculty of Health, whose nine-year old daughter Georgia was unexpectedly struck by the rare degenerative neurological disease three years ago. Keepsake miniature cricket bats and lapel pins will also be on sale.
TV roles invented for QUT alumni
Producers at ABC TV have selected two QUT alumni as panellists for their new weekly program, The New Inventors, which went to air earlier this month. Engineering/
IT alumnus Dr James Moody and science alunmus Bernie Hobbs will judge the merits of three prototypes pitched by their inventors. Neither alumnus is a stranger to the limelight. Bernie is a well-known science writer and broadcaster with the ABC. James was Young Australian of the Year (science and technology) in 2001, Australian Young Professional Engineer of the Year in 2000 and QUT’s Outstanding Alumni Young Achiever in 2002.
STAFF who leave QUT are being encouraged not to close the door on the university.
For almost two years, the Community of Former Staff (CoFS) has been aiming to keep ex-employees in touch with QUT life.
The organisation has around 160 members – former academic and non- academic staff – who worked at QUT or its predecessor institutions.
Group chairman and former Assistant Dean in the Faculty of IT, Dr Bob Smyth said: “The aims are to get former staff together socially, to keep them as part of the QUT community, and to assist them to volunteer their services to QUT if they wish to.
“If you have former staff who have
been part of the university over a long time, they can also contribute by sharing their knowledge and, so, help to build tradition at QUT.
“It is important that if staff want to keep in touch they are able to do so, now that a former staff group is in place.”
A tour of Parliament House takes place in early April, guided by Don Campbell- Stewart, a former QUT staff member involved in the building’s refurbishment.
“Social functions are organised with an emphasis on fellowship and enjoyment but also with an opportunity to participate in some aspect of contemporary QUT life,”
Dr Smyth said.
Former staff interested in joining can call Ms Anne-Maree Jaggs on 07 3864 5148 or email [email protected]
THE Creative Industries Faculty has published its second annual anthology of QUT creative writing student and graduate work.
I won’t be long… is a collection of new Queensland writing by students and graduates – edited by postgraduate students and staff – and featuring 20
pieces which span themes of loss, love, otherness and redemption.
People seeking copies can purchase them for $12 from the creative writing discipline office (KGI216) or lecturer Stuart Glover’s offi ce (KG215). Mr Glover can be contacted at [email protected] or on 07 3864 9662.
Student anthology published
‘ROAD safety is no accident’, says the World Health Organisation – promoting World Health Day on April 7.
And it is no accident that the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) is taking part in a series of events to mark the occasion.
CARRS-Q director Professor Mary Sheehan said the centre wanted to mark the day with key activities to highlight the importance of research and work being undertaken in road safety – fostering collaboration and action to progress this area of work.
Latest available fi gures show that 1,627 people were killed on Australia’s roads in 2002/3 – including 316 in Queensland.
The World Health Organisation estimate 1.2 million people die
worldwide in road incidents each year.
“One of our centre’s key goals is to actively raise awareness of the importance of road safety and accident prevention within the general public, industry and government,” Professor Sheehan said.
“This year’s World Health Day provides the opportunity for us to take our message to those who we aim to reach.
“The activities we have planned for April 7 will focus on our abilities, as a whole community, to improve road safety through collaborative efforts.”
The day’s activities include a breakfast forum with key note speakers.
The CARRS-Q web site will also feature links to WHO reports and information.
Road safety message from QUT for World Health Day
QUT honoured one of Malaysia’s top educators, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Ng Lay Swee, at a graduation ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on March 14.
The highly respected research scientist and prominent university leader was made a Doctor of the University.
The graduation ceremonies in KL, Hong Kong and Singapore also gave V-C Professor Peter Coaldrake the opportunity to thank employers who participated in QUT’s International Work Placement Scheme.
The scheme saw more than 40 international students from QUT undertake six weeks of work experience with employers in their home countries during the university vacation period.
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A NEW inter nship prog ram with the Queensland Institute of Medical Research has strengthened QUT’s links with the biotechnology industry.
Five g raduates worked at the prestigious institute over summer, with a focus on patents and intellectual property.
They are among the fi rst students to complete QUT’s Bachelor of Biotechnology Innovation – a degree that integrates the science and the business of biotechnology.
Queensland’s Minister for State Development and Innovation, Tony McGrady, met with some of the graduates during a visit to QIMR this month.
The young scientists who completed internships were Lahn Straney, Douglas Bugden, Barry Jackson, Aisha Laguerre and Yoko Asakawa.
Mr Straney is now continuing his links with QIMR as business development associate.
Mr McGrady said the State Government helped back the QUT course when it began in 2001 by contributing $200,000.
He said almost 7500 new biotechnology scientists would be needed in Queensland by 2010 and that the Bachelor of Biotechnology Innovation emphasised “the science of the 21st century” and the importance of being business savvy.
By Heath Kelly
NOT even a bomb blast could dampen QUT graduate Carol Moller-Neilsen’s enthusiasm for the Turkish capital of Istanbul following her return to Brisbane from an AIESEC exchange program.
The 27-year-old spent four months living and working in Turkey after securing a traineeship with an insurance company through AIESEC, a student organisation that aims to develop young leaders by giving them a chance to experience other cultures through paid work placements.
With Carol deter mined to try something different from following the well-worn path to London following her graduation from her Bachelor of Business degree midway through last year, AIESEC’s offer to work in Istanbul proved the perfect alternative.
“Istanbul is an unbelievable city, the people are friendly, the noise on the streets is amazing, there is something happening 24 hours a day,”she said.
Unfortunately her stay was marred by the bombing of the HSBC bank headquarters and British consulate in November.
“I was in the subway when both bombs went off … it was only when I got to our offi ce and someone pointed out the HSBC building to me and I saw all its windows shattered that I found out,” Carol said.
“I was shaken and for the fi rst few days after it happened – people were scared because no-one knew if another bomb was going to explode.”
Although she spent some time in London soon after, the bombings did not stop Carol extending her stay in
Istanbul by a few weeks.
It gave the former QUT student more time to experience all the bustling city of eight million had to offer from the early morning Moslem calls to prayer to the tempting delights of a Turkish bazaar.
She made a number of friends both at work and at the university dorm where she stayed with AIESEC members from throughout the world also on similar work placement programs.
Carol retur ned to Brisbane in January to take up a place with leading accounting f ir m, Price WaterhouseCoopers and admitted she was missing the vibrant city on the cusp of Europe and Asia.
Carol said her AIESEC work placement has had a profound effect on her outlook on life and has improved her ability to adapt to different situations.
“During one of my fi rst days at work, the person I was sitting next to did not know English and I did not know any Turkish and we just communicated via a translation service on the internet,”
she said.
“AIESEC tries to develop leadership skills and by meeting all these people from a different culture and living in another city it defi nitely changed my perspective on life,” she said.
For those wanting to join the AIESEC program, email them at [email protected], visit them in room 113 in B Block Gardens Point or call 07 3864 1265.
Exchange took Carol on a bazaar journey
Biotech graduates linked with QIMR
Biotechnology innovation graduates who completed an internship at QIMR from left Barry Jackson, Aisha Laguerre, Lahn Straney and Douglas Bugden.
Back home after an exciting exchange placement in Turkey, QUT graduate Carol Moller- Neilsen.
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About iNSiDE QUT
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department. Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. This paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and the media.
Letters to the editor are welcome. Email [email protected] or mail Editor, Inside QUT, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld, 4001. Marketing and Communication is located at Room 501, Level 5, M Block, at Gardens Point. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of QUT or the editorial team.
Janne Rayner (editor) 07 3864 2361 Simon Atkinson 07 3864 1150 Heath Kelly 07 3864 1841 Carmen Myler 07 3864 1150 Mechelle Webb 07 3864 4494 Tony Phillips (Photography) 07 3864 5003 Rachel Murray (Advertising) 07 3864 4408 Richard De Waal (Design)
By Janne Rayner
A TEAM of creative industries researchers from QUT is investigating how Chinese culture is responding to the rapid internationalisation of its economy since joining the World Trade Organisation in 2001.
The research team is looking at such diverse areas as the changing face of China’s media – especially coverage of world soccer and the Olympic Games, China’s mobile phone market, local fashion magazines and MBA courses in China.
“This study will be the fi rst research undertaken in Australia about creative industries in China,” lead investigator and QUT Creative Industries Dean Professor John Hartley said.
“China has a thriving entrepreneurial population which is very focused on
modernisation and looking for ways to be more innovative and creative.
“This is an important step for China as it seeks to connect with the global knowledge economy and as it aims to become more than a location for the manufacturing of other countries’
innovations.”
Professor Hartley said the project would examine the dynamics of four industry sectors related to culture and services – media, advertising, tourism and education – and look at the role they play in linking China to the international community.
“For example, with the growing popularity of international sports like soccer and the upcoming Olympic Games, how do the local media adjust to imported models of coverage to build a local following and how do they exploit related sponsorship
partnerships?” he asked.
“Even China’s mobile phone market is interesting from the creative point of view, with local advertising strategies and campaigns achieving success as they target a patriotic Chinese market with red, jewel-inlaid handsets.
“Service sectors such as advertising, media and education are currently in transition in China in response to the changing economy and the promotion of private enterprise and the market.
“As a consequence, there is enormous opportunity for emerging creativity, as China breaks away from imitation towards innovation.”
The three-year study is being funded by the federal government under an Australian Research Council Discovery grant.
ART by nine of QUT’s top visual arts graduates of 2003 is on display at the QUT Art Museum until April 4.
Organisers of Nascent have hand- picked the exhibits which include video, fi lm, sculpture, painting and an installation.
Pictured is detail from “Do you remember the 12th of December”
by Wilkins-Hill (Wesley Hill and
Wendy Wilkins).
For many of the graduates it will be their debut exhibition.
The Art Museum, at Gardens Point campus, is now open from 10am until 8pm on Wednesdays.
Other opening hours are: 10am to 5pm Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; and noon until 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
EXERCISE experts from around Austr alia and overseas will gather at QUT next month to discuss the latest in sports science developments and ways to keep the country fit.
The AAESS Exercise and Sports Science 2004 National Conference, which runs from April 14 to 16, will focus on chronic disease, sports science and professional practice issues for the industry.
And with Australia’s standing in world sport at an all-time high in an Olympic year, the conference will also focus on ways to improve elite and sub-elite athletic performance.
A major theme will be using exercise in the prevention, treatment and management of chronic diseases including
“syndrome X” (diabetes, obesity, etc), cancer, cardiovascular disease and lower back pain, as well as
physical problems associated with ageing.
The Australian Association for Exercise and Sports Science event has attracted speakers including former Australian Institute of Sport chairman and surf lifesaving champion John Bloomf ield, international biomechanics expert Paavo Komi from Finland, and QUT’s own head of the School of Human Movement Studies, Professor Tony Parker.
QUT obesity expert and exercise scientist Associate Professor Andrew Hills will also speak at the conference.
Exercise physiolog ists, sports scientists, psycholog ists, biomechanists, motor learning experts, physiotherapists, dieticians, and fi tness leaders are among those attending.
Conference on elite and everyday fi tness
Visual artists on show
QUT study explores
creativity in new China
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HKTB
Researchers are exploring culture in today’s China.
– Mechelle Webb ILLUSTRATION BY RICHARD DE WAAL
