22 January 2009

In the presence of a legend

A claim that we were in the presence of greatness at the Leonard Cohen concert last night is easy to defend.

First, the instrument: his voice was extraordinary after all these years, from the first spirited bars of "Dance Me to the End of Love" when the honeyed tones filled the stadium with ease, yet with intimacy (singing only to me, surely), to the prayerful intoning of the poems "A Thousand Kisses Deep" and "If it be Your Will". Until he left the stage at 11.30pm, the voice did not waver, and I suspect it could have easily played on.

Then there was the performance, like a devotion: kneeling, or singing with eyes closed in rapture as if to the Lord of Song. The tender enfolding of the mike in two hands arranged as if in prayer, or offering up something holy to be handed on.

He's funny. "I spent a few years looking into religions and philosophies, but cheerfulness kept bursting through". There was joy, and an exquisite sense of the power of the moment to be savoured, right now, as one never knows when one's voice will be silenced...(if it be Your will).

Acknowledging everyone in the venue, he included thanks to the audience "for keeping the songs alive all these years". Our pleasure.

08 January 2009

The Aussies are so damn hot there's a heat wave in NZ

Thought for the day: the NZ Herald reports today

"Warm air coming across the Tasman Sea has been blamed for the scorching temperatures (in NZ yesterday), which went into the 30s in several North Island centres" (...and unofficially topped 40C..)

07 January 2009

ANZCA news for Media International Australia (Feb.09)

The first days of 2009 in Auckland are a blur of spectacular summer days, still nights, and the sweet sense of a few last hurrahs before we begin the serious business of handling a recession. Reluctantly back at my desk, I join a few hardy souls at my place of work scanning the figures, attempting to divine whether an economic downturn will bring increased interest in higher education – that is, more bums on seats. We all like to think so. There may be nothing like the cool breeze of rising unemployment to focus our attention on the relationship between university study and “the industry”.

The lull of summer is also a traditional opportunity for page 1 media exposure for university researchers. So it was that Professor John Hattie from the University of Auckland appeared on the front page of a NZ Sunday newspaper on January 4, where his 15-year study of student achievement, involving a total of 83 million students, was hailed as “teaching’s Holy Grail”. Hattie’s key finding: the most important factor in student achievement is - not class sizes - but the relationship a student has with the teacher, embodied in trust and effective feedback. My lifetime of teaching so far tells me this is indisputable, but with the relentless focus on increasing student/staff ratios in the tertiary education sector in NZ, my challenge is how to protect the conditions in which the necessary trusting relationships can be fostered. Hattie calls for a carrot approach: boost salaries and provide the incentive of performance payments for excellence. Presumably then, we will find creative ways to produce it. Time and motion studies, anyone?

Our upcoming conference, Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship at QUT in Brisbane from 8 - 10 July 2009 is an unparalleled opportunity to ensure that we are mixing with peers in communication research and education, debating the issues that unite us, sharing in one another’s latest research and hearing from outstanding keynote speakers. Abstracts and papers are due 6 February. Now is the time to ensure you register for the conference and consider accommodation options in this most appealing of mid-year destinations.

Finally, I invite you to take up the opportunity to renew your membership online. We have installed a PayPal facility on the ‘Join’ page of the ANZCA site so that the business of ensuring your continued access to MIA, the Australian Journal of Communication, a wonderful network of peers across the Australasian/Pacific region, the annual conference and more, is as easy as 1-2-3.