85000 research outputs found
Sort by
Banh Chung AR: Triangulating Technofemininity, Gender Roles, and Vietnamese Cultural Heritage
No full textIn Vietnamese society, femininity has long been associated with domesticity, particularly in the context of cooking and cultural preservation. Women have traditionally been expected to maintain household duties and prepare food for significant cultural events, such as the Banh Chung-making ritual during Lunar New Year. This responsibility places pressure on women to serve as the primary bearers of cultural traditions, while men are typically relegated to supportive roles in physical tasks (Nguyen 2015; Phan 2008). The intersection of femininity, play, and cultural preservation offers a unique opportunity to rethink traditional gender roles in Vietnamese society. Banh Chung AR (2022), an Augmented Reality (AR) project designed by the researcher, who is a Vietnamese woman, digitises the Vietnamese sticky rice cake making ritual- a tradition often tied to women’s domestic roles during Lunar New Year (Tết). The project’s interactive nature encourages users, regardless of gender, to engage in the virtual cakemaking experience, demonstrating the potential of digital platforms to promote gender inclusivity and shared responsibility in preserving cultural heritage. This paper explores how the project reimagines femininity and play within Vietnamese culture through examining the evolving gender roles in Vietnamese society, TechnoFemininity (Harkin 2023) and postcolonial critiques to challenge gender norms.</p
Nitrogen-vacancy centre in lonsdaleite: a novel nanoscale sensor?
No full textHexagonal diamond, often called lonsdaleite, is an exotic allotrope of carbon, predicted to be harder than cubic (conventional) diamond with a wider bandgap. Due to its pure sp bonded lattice, it should be expected to host sub-bandgap defect centres (colour centres). Here we perform \textit{ab initio} modeling of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) colour centres in hexagonal diamond nanocrystals; for both the neutral and negatively charged species (NV and NV). We identify three distinct configurations for the NV center: two of which are analogous to NV in diamond, and one which is a configuration that can only exist in the hexagonal form. The diamond-like NV systems comprise three symmetry equivalent centers which reside on the same carbon plane, and one defect that is split across two planes and replaces a carbon-carbon bond. There is an additional NV centre where the N and V each have four nearest neighbour carbon atoms. The presence of this latter configuration would provide an unambiguous determination of the hexagonal nature of lonsdaleite. Quantum chemical analysis show all derivatives to be thermochemically stable, and each with their own unique photophysical properties, spectral profiles, and magneto-optical characteristics. By assuming that the ground state properties of the NV in hexagonal diamond are comparable to those of NV in cubic diamond, albeit with increased strain, we predict ground state fine structure splitting for two of the centres of 2.74~GHz and 4.56~MHz, compared with 2.87~GHz for cubic diamond. The possibility of optically detected magnetic resonance with NV in lonsdaleite would provide a new carbon-based quantum sensing system, and an unambiguous method to resolve outstanding issues around the structure of lonsdaleite as hexagonal diamond.</p
Re-thinking Fashion Futures: Co- Designing Digital Tools with Vietnam’s Textile Craft Communities
No full textThis developmental paper discusses the early findings from the Vietnam Design Research Studio for Sustainable and Resilient Fashion Futures (VDRS) at RMIT University Vietnam’s School of Communication & Design, with a focus on community innovations in sustainable fashion and will reflect on successes and challenges of the initial community workshops.
The VDRS project seeks to find inclusive ways to document and sustain indigenous fashion practices and knowledge across Vietnam's ethnic tribes. It aims to address the challenges faced by these minority communities in safeguarding their traditional textile practices and cultural heritage in the context of globalization and urbanization
The research of the project highlights the importance of participatory methodologies and their challenges. It emphasizes the role of local communities in driving alternative sustainable fashion practices and presents the outcomes of creative collaborations. The paper aims to provide insights into the potential of participatory design and community involvement in forming future fashion ecosystems, contributing to the broader dialogue on sustainable and ethical fashion.
By engaging in collaborative fieldwork, the project aims to understand the unique techniques and symbolism embedded in ethnic minority textiles. Through workshops, exhibitions, and symposiums, the project facilitates dialogue, knowledge sharing, and collaborative learning between the communities and the broader fashion community, aided by strong partnerships with local museums, SME’s and non-governmental organisations, fostering a renewed appreciation for traditional practices within a modern context.
The project, implemented collaboratively by researchers and practitioners of RMIT Vietnam and RMIT Melbourne, focuses on learning with local communities and centering their voices to bring about meaningful change in the fashion industry.
One of the project's key outcomes is developing an open-access digital platform that serves not only as a repository for research findings, but also as collaboration and communication tool for artisans. The platform hopes to enable practitioners to collaborate, present digitised representations of textile techniques and artefacts, and promotes traditional fashion knowledge to a global audience. It will also contribute to the integration of indigenous fashion practices into RMIT's Fashion curriculum, expanding its reach and impact.
The research project aims to engage and empower local communities by providing economic opportunities, capacity building, exposure and skill enhancement. By centering their voices and involving them in the decision-making processes, the project seeks to promote cultural diversity, preserve cultural heritage, and establish regenerative, land, and place-based fashion frameworks. The collaboration with stakeholders, including Adobe, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum and the Museum of Ethnology, Oxfam Vietnam, and the Center for Rural Economy Development (CRED), further strengthens the project's impact and sustainability.
Through this research project, we envision a fashion industry that embraces localised and biocentric approaches, renewing fashion systems and challenging prevailing ideals. By learning with local communities, the VDRS project aims to create a more inclusive and sustainable future for the fashion industry in Vietnam.</p
Analysis of AWS Rekognition and Azure Custom Vision Performance in Parking Sign Recognition
No full textAutomated recognition and analysis of parking signs can greatly enhance the safety and efficiency of both autonomous vehicles and drivers seeking navigational assistance. Our study focused on identifying parking constraints from the parking signs. It offers the following novel contributions: (1) A comparative performance analysis of AWS Rekognition and Azure Custom Vision (CV), two leading services for image recognition and analysis. (2) The first AI-based approach to recognising parking signs typical for Melbourne, Australia, and extracting parking constraint information from them. We utilised 1225 images of the parking signs to evaluate the AI capabilities for analysing these constraints. Both platforms were assessed based on several criteria, including their accuracy in recognising elements of parking signs, sub-signs, and the completeness of the signs. Our experiments demonstrated that both platforms performed effectively and are close to being ready for live application on parking sign analysis. AWS Rekognition demonstrated better results for recognition of parking sign elements and sub-signs (F1 scores of 0.991 and 1.000). It also performed better in the criterion “No text missed”, providing the result of 0.94. Azure CV performed better in the recognition of arrows (F1 score of 0.941). Both approaches demonstrated a similar level of performance for other criteria.</p
Evaluating a leadership development program through co-design and insider outsider action research
No full textPurpose This paper reports on the establishment phase of a co-designed evaluation project of a leadership development program in a rural health service in Victoria, Australia. Design/methodology/approach We used autoethnography to capture the perspectives of key stakeholders in an insider/outsider action research project. Findings Our findings highlight how co-design can effectively be used to build authentic academic and/or practitioner partnerships, the organic nature of action research in human resource management (HRM) interventions and the opportunity that insider and/or outsider research provides for deep engagement and mutual learning involving reflective practitioners, pracademics and impact-driven academics leading to far-reaching outcomes and impact. Our study also highlights how training evaluation can be strengthened by a process involving several stages and diverse stakeholders. Originality/value Our study provides a methodological framework for HRM research that can be used to bridge the research-practice gap in HRM and encourage learning and knowledge sharing. The study contributes towards building leadership capabilities and a resilient rural healthcare workforce.</p
Industry Partnered Learning: A Conceptual Overview from the RMIT Perspective
No full textIn accordance with RMIT University’s Vietnam country commitment, the authors of this position paper wish to communicate a research informed and conceptually rich overview of industry partnered learning's key tenets: employability, authentic assessment as a catalyst for student identity, and stakeholder responsibility. In collaboration with partner universities, RMIT believes that it can provide data-driven insights, research findings, and interdisciplinary expert opinions to shape effective policies and promote best practices about industry partnered learning in higher education across Vietnam. </p
Reverence to the Winds
No full textReverence to the Winds is the first chapter of the Reverence project, a media arts installation that explores humanity’s interaction with the natural world, focusing on the wind as a dynamic force, both a destructive and constructive. This work incorporates AI-generated images influenced by haiku keywords, dynamically modulated by real-time weather data. By bridging art, technology, and environmental science, the piece activates users’ thermoreception, enabling participants to perceive changes in temperature as if physically experiencing the wind’s effects. The installation extends the tradition of poetic responses to nature, creating an ever-changing reflection of the natural world through a blend of visual, auditory, and tactile elements.Research Contribution:This work exemplifies collaboration between art practitioners, engineers, and technologists, showcasing the interdisciplinary potential of media arts in addressing global environmental challenges. By integrating real-time and archived environmental data into an artistic framework, the installation introduces innovative methods of creating data-driven, dynamic, responsive art to incite critique of new media aesthetics. This dichotomy reminds audience to respect natural forces while innovatively using them for sustainable development. Furthermore, Reverence to the Winds represents a significant effort to raise awareness and appreciation for media arts in Vietnam, a field still in its nascent stage in the region.The installation's inclusion in the Vietnam Festival of Creativity and Design (VFCD) 2024 aligns with national cultural and socioeconomic development objectives. As an initiative supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (VICAS), VFCD fosters a "creative belt" across Vietnam and aims to expand the country's participation in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. This broader cultural strategy underscores the work's significance in advancing Vietnam's creative and cultural industries.Research Significance:Reverence to the Winds represents a critical advancement in the integration of environmental awareness and sensory media art. By leveraging AI, weather data, and innovative sensory technologies, the installation fosters a profound connection between the audience and natural phenomena. Its significance lies in its potential to raise awareness of environmental challenges while positioning media arts as a vital component of Vietnam’s cultural and creative industries. The work’s inclusion in VFCD 2024 situates it within a broader cultural strategy to support Vietnam’s creative development, providing a model for future interdisciplinary collaborations that merge technology, art, and environmental science.More information about the project can be found here: http://project-reverence.net/Photos by Dr. Renick Bell.</p
Museum pedagogy and assessment strategies: A case study of two museum educators at an Australian immigration-themed museum
No full textBackground and Purpose: The role of museums has increasingly evolved from artifact repositories to educational spaces, promoting meaningful and active learning engagement. Despite museums’ established role in supporting school curricula, there remains limited studies exploring museum educators’ instructional and assessment practices. This study addresses this gap by examining the pedagogical approaches and assessment strategies employed by museum educators at an immigration-themed museum in Victoria, Australia.Methodology: A qualitative interpretivist case study design was employed, involving two experienced museum educators. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations of teaching sessions. Thematic analysis, following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step framework, facilitated the identification and interpretation of emergent themes. Findings: Key findings revealed that educators employed blended instructional frameworks combining constructivist and behaviourist elements. Pedagogical approaches predominantly featured narrative techniques supported by object-based learning (OBL), storytelling, questioning, and scaffolding. Informal assessment played a continuous role in enabling instructional adaptation to meet diverse learner needs. Contributions: The study enhances museum education literature by detailing practical pedagogical strategies and assessment methods utilized within museum settings. These insights hold substantial implications for professional development, guiding curriculum-linked educational program development, and highlighting effective instructional practices beneficial to both museum and classroom contexts. </p
Heat Vulnerability Index FAQs
No full textA guide to Frequently Asked Questions about the Heat Vulnerability Index released in the Australian Urban Observatory (auo.org.au) in 2025 with results mapped for Local Government Areas, suburbs and neighbourhoods. The Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) is a composite index developed for the 21 largest
cities in Australia to identify areas and populations most at risk from heat-related
impacts based on 3 components: heat exposure; heat sensitivity; and adaptive capability. The AUO Heat Vulnerability Index developed is aimed to inform targeted local urban and health planning and climate adaptation
strategies.</p
‘We're trying to get out of here, that's what we're doing’: A Bourdieusian examination of ‘choice’ in the National Disability Insurance Scheme
No full textThe notion of choice underpinning Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has its origin in neoliberal assumptions about the inherent value of market choice in human services reform and in the disability movement's advocacy for the right to self‐determination. Little is known about how people in institutional settings experience choice in the NDIS context. Based on a critical ethnographic study, this article explores the choices made by 12 people with psychosocial disability living in two Victorian supported residential services (SRS). The study found that despite the goal of most participants being to move into independent accommodation, 2 years after the start of the roll‐out of the NDIS, most participants were still living in SRS. Adopting a Bourdieusian conceptual framework, we show that the choices participants made were constrained by the institutional field in which they were living, their low capitals, and their relative powerlessness. This novel application of the concepts of field, habitus, and capitals in the NDIS context has implications for debates about the impact of marketisation and personalisation on individuals with limited agency. The findings have implications for policy and practice in other institutional settings and jurisdictions where public service delivery is framed around the notion of choice. Points for practitioners This research shows that a key choice for residents with psychosocial disability living in SRS was to move into independent housing. However, choice over their housing goals was constrained by living in an institutional setting and their relative powerlessness. Residents in these settings and NDIS participants living in other segregated institutional settings will need independent housing and living navigators if they are to find pathways into independent housing.</p