About Us
What is edgeX?
The edgeX research project
* is being coordinated by the Creative Industries Faculty Research Office at the
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and is a partnership project between QUT,
The University of Queensland and
Ipswich City Council. The project has been funded for a three year period by the federal government through the Australian Research Council and Ipswich City Council. It aims to involve community groups and people from the Ipswich area in creating digital content such as digital art, music and podcasts, and text-based content.
edgeX is a research project and hosts ‘Expo’ style competitions. Ipswich residents and community groups are encouraged to create content to enter into competitions on this website. From time to time edgeX will run training workshops with groups in Ipswich on how to produce content for the site – audio (music, speech, podcasts and so on), text (stories, reports, journals) and visuals (digital stories, videos, photographic and art work). Competitions will be judged by experts from the digital content industry and arts organisations.
Who are we?
Project Leader:
Jo Tacchi (j.tacchi at qut.edu.au)
Chief Investigators:
Liz Ferrier (e.ferrier at uq.edu.au)
Axel Burns (a.bruns at qut.edu.au)
David Rooney (d.rooney at uq.edu.au)
Phil Graham (p.graham at qut.edu.au)
Post-doctoral researcher:
Sal Humphreys (s.humphreys at qut.edu.au)
Project officer:
Daniel Lalor (daniel.lalor at qut.edu.au)
What are the benefits for participants?
Through the edgeX website people in Ipswich can publish their creative work online. Participants’ competition entries will be seen by commercial producers and people from arts organisations. Ipswich residents can use this site to keep each other up to date on their community activities and to show their creative work to each other and the world.
About edgeX research
Because this is a research project a number of academics are investigating what happens on the website, and in the competitions, as well as what kind of content is produced and how the network of the site develops. The research team will consult with participants over the life of the project to determine what directions they would like the project to develop in and how they would like that to happen.
The research involves informal discussions with participants, observing the network and the website and what happens on the message boards, what happens in the training workshops, analysing the content produced, and some interviews with participants, as well as group discussions. This is to help us better understand how people engage with new media, including in social settings.
We may also ask you to fill in a questionnaire, about yourself and how you currently use different media, which might take 20 minutes to fill in. The research will be written up and published in academic publications.
Using the edgeX website
The edgeX website is available for uploading your content if you decide to participate in the project. Some conditions apply to using the website including that you agree to use the content moderation system appropriately and understand that the site has an administrator who may choose to moderate the content. You will need to register to use the site and will need to provide accurate information about your name, age and email address. We are able to terminate your account if you don’t follow the conditions of use of the site. We want this site to be a safe place for people of all ages, and will take the steps necessary to ensure that it is. (You will see the full list of conditions when you register on the website).
Confidentiality
Any personal information you provide will be used for the purpose of this project only. Any personal information will be available only to the members of the project team and confidentiality is guaranteed. Your identity will be protected and your name will not be used in any academic publications that result from the research. You may choose to mask your identity or use your real name on the website and in competitions.
Questions and concerns
If you have any questions or concerns about this project you can contact us at any time personally:
By email to Sal Humphreys (s.humphreys at qut.edu.au)
or
Daniel Lalor (daniel.lalor at qut.edu.au) or Ph. 3381 1232
If you have any complaint and would like to talk to one of the project’s chief investigators you can email Liz Ferrier (e.ferrier at uq.edu.au) Phone: 3381 1058
If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of this project, you can contact the Research Ethics Officer at Queensland University of Technology at ethicscontact at qut.edu.au Ph. 3138 2340
*
The full title of the edgeX project is: Mapping the missing grassroots: ethnographic action study of local grassroots broadband content (co) creation and consumption.