History of, state-based group, no national continuity - ie.  Use of different ABC logos in different states! lack of unified front...why??

Membership? why all old people? why is it so 'uncool' for under 35's? brief comparison with other NFP's like Amnesty... who have a young membership base.

Awareness of ABC's plight amongst young people? FABC don't actively market to young people using events like JJJ outdoor broadcasts/o-weeks.

**********

Today I went to the ABC vigil at the Southbank studios. I met a few people from the Victorian group and got a badge and bumper sticker! Lots of cars were honking their support for the ABC as they drove past, so that was good. Also saw William McInnes (Australian actor) there! :)

Williams includes detailed figures and specifics about funding for his Radio National program, Ockham's Razor, which are pretty hilarious. For example, Williams and his team were issued a $167/month 'travel' budget. Where can you fly for $167? (well, technically Canberra, but that's beside the point!) haha.

Williams also says his program's yearly budget is not even two thirds of the amount needed to make a 30-second TV commercial. Looks like he might be doing a few Kindy science experiments then, maybe the bi-carb soda rocket one?  He also says when he needs a joke at a dinner party, he simply reads his annual budget for the year and the guests start to laugh!

He writes about the different categories of television and radio - and sees the ABC as a 'specialist' broadcaster. Comparisons are made to Canada, the BBC and PBS (who are not doing so well either).

Overall, a very useful, tongue-in-cheek book, which is almost ten years old. Robyn Williams speaks with honesty about a subject he is obviously very passionate about, and I'm sure I'll look further into his other (non-science specific) books.

Jackie's advice is to start to develop my research question by establishing what I really want to know. At the moment I have a million ideas in my head that are linked, but it would be an enormous thesis if I put all my ideas together.

Jackie says I should definitely focus my ideas on why there is such a committment to the ABC in Australia, and talk to Friends Of The ABC (FABC). I'm going to call them this weekend and see if there are any burning questions they have which I could look at for the year (e.g - the perception of FABC in Australia, their biggest worries, funding for the ABC etc). If so, Jackie says it would be great to sort of work 'with' FABC to research this thesis. She told me that another student (I think for Ph.D) is looking at SBS and has their support and backing for the project. How cool!

To do list for the weekend:

Do some readings for Communication Revolutions

Make a start on my Communication Revolutions assignment

Call FABC (In Vic and ACT)

Look at Adrian's list of things to do before next class!

Initially I had some problems with strange formatting appearing in my entries, so I switched to primitive notepad to type up my entries before posting. I have also had difficulties keeping track of people posting comments under my entries, but we have since been shown how to amend this.

As noted in my 'Achilles' Heel' entry, procrastination is my biggest problem, although thankfully I love having lists and crossing things off. From now on I really want to focus on getting x amount of things done each day, in preparation for both general Uni and my thesis. Here is my  Time Spent on Tasks Graph. I actually enjoy editing and polishing work, because I am a bit of a spelling nerd and it also means that the assignment/project is almost done!

I am happy now to say that I have a supervisor, Jackie Dickenson, and that I can speak with confidence when I talk to others about my topic.

Next year I would really like to work in Journalism or Communications. I am kicking myself (so hard!) for missing the 'general/all disciplines' closing date for applications for Victorian Government Graduate Positions. :( I think I am a good all-rounder, and would love to do something like this.

Elgg has been a good way for us all to communicate across the board, as shown in discussions/panics about our Communication Revolutions essay. I think Elgg has even helped us to find out just a little bit more about each other - Happy Birthday Annalise for last week!

Time Spent on Tasks Graph

Achilles' Heel: "A seemingly small but actually crucial weakness."
(www.answers.com)

My Achilles' Heel would have to be procrastination. I constantly put off things that need to be done. On the other hand, I do love making lists and crossing things off - thereby having a 'productive' day. I think if I spend more time on things like research and reading in the future, I would have some better assignments!

Another (probably quite common) weakness of mine is getting the work/study/life balance right. Sometimes I get home from work and just want to watch TV/go out, so I think "Everyone is watching TV/going out in the evenings, so why can't I?" I hate being a student and having to work at the same time, so I must admit I will be glad when the balancing act is over.

The 7:30 Report, ABC TV - 21/1/1997 (22mins)

Back in 1996/97, Bob Mansfield was hired to determine the ABC's strengths and weaknesses as a broadcaster. He came up with new ideas about how the ABC can operate most efficiently and worked on areas that needed improvement. In this episode of the 7:30 Report, Virginia Hausegger (who now presents the ABC Canberra news!) interviews both Mansfield and Brian Johns, the ABC's Managing Director, on the report's findings.

Mansfield is critical of the ABC management, Radio Australia and drama/documentaries being broadcast. He suggests documentaries and drama should be commissioned from outside, and says there is no role for Radio Australia within the ABC. During the course of the interview, Hausegger asks whether he is looking at the ABC from a business model perspective or as a cultural institution, which I think is a good point.

Many have argued that Bob Mansfield was paid by the Government to be critical of the ABC and its role in Australia. However, I don't think this is entirely the case (he does say the ABC is doing a great job and highly endorses Triple J and children's programming). Nevertheless, this video is quite valuable to my research as the Mansfield Report was an extremely big deal at the time - and hopefully I can find out if all the suggested changes to the ABC were actually implemented, and if so, were they as a direct consequence of the report?

If I take an article written by a journalist from a journalism magazine, does that count as a 'refereed article'?

Also, I finally have a supervisor! My first meeting with her is tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon). *sigh of relief*

Thanks everyone!

BTW, I found a funny cartoon on the web: My honours year! The Honours Year

I found this reference through Informit and although I could easily have left it, I couldn’t help myself and had to have a read! (anyone who knows me will understand my opinions on some television news and so-called ‘current affairs’)
 
Using information from the 2001 Australian Election Study, the author established background and socio-economic data from participants (interesting!). Bean found that viewers who watched the ABC for election information came from different socio-economic backgrounds and had different political leanings compared with those who watched commercial stations. 

This is an interesting table from the article. Look particularly at SBS/ABC in the ‘university degree’ section:ABC viewers, university degrees

Contact Mary Mavroudis - she is the subject librarian for Applied Communication. 9925 4744 or mary.mavroudis@rmit.edu.au

Carlton library is on Cardigan Street. It's about 2 doors up from a theatre restaurant called Draculas. I think it's RMIT building 94, on level 3.

Hope that helps!