Julian Thomas is Director of the Institute for Social Research and Professor of Media and Communications at Swinburne University of Technology. His research interests are in new media, information policy and the history of communications technologies. Before coming to Swinburne in 2000, he taught new media at RMIT, and worked on the staff of the Productivity Commission's Broadcasting Inquiry. Julian is an Associate Editor of the website Australian Policy Online, and was co-editor with Peter Browne of Briefings, a public policy book series published by UNSW Press. He is a board member and Treasurer of the Public Interest Journalism Foundation, a member of the Consumer Consultative Forum of the Australian Media and Communications Authority, and is Convenor of the Swinburne University node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI).