This paper argues that diasporas (communities which live outside, but retain their connections with, their homelands) are getting larger, thicker and stronger – with important implications for global economics, identity, politics and security. The author compares diasporas to 'world wide webs' emanating from states, with dense, interlocking, often electronic strands spanning the globe and binding...

This paper presents preliminary results from a study of how the Internet and the Web might reconfigure access to scientific information. The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods ? in-depth interviews and webmetric analysis ? to explore how the Internet and Web are reinforcing the role of existing sources of information, or tending to either...

The internet and mobile phones play a much greater role than expected in the lives of young people who are socially, culturally or economically marginalised, challenging the concept of the 'digital divide' which suggests that marginalised young people's use of technology is limited. Researchers found that young people who are marginalised and at risk of...

The Media Report takes a critical look at some interesting new online initiatives which promote user-interaction and were launched just in time for the current federal election campaign.

Coping with change will require flexibility from both the media and regulators and that change will only continue to accelerate, argues the ACCC chair. But the legacy of that change is that technology and the growing swell of community input is placing the future of the industry in the hands of the public.