Linda Leung | University of Technology Sydney (original) (raw)
Papers by Linda Leung
The SAGE Handbook of Media and Migration, 2020
Forced Migration Review, 2011
Simply having access to technology does not resolve the problem of communication between displace... more Simply having access to technology does not resolve the problem of communication between displaced people and their families.
This essay examines the ways in which ethnic minorities are engaging with representations of ethn... more This essay examines the ways in which ethnic minorities are engaging with representations of ethnicity on the Web through the production and consumption of forms of auto/biography.
The report of the Refugees and Communication Technology Workshop, held in 2009 is now available. ... more The report of the Refugees and Communication Technology Workshop, held in 2009 is now available. The workshop looked at issues in refugees' use of communication technology in the contexts of displacement and settlement. While not all of the ideas and recommendations summarised in the report could be actioned, participants and readers are welcome to use and apply them for the provision of services to their own communities or clients. The workshop was an outcome of Linda Leung's Shopfront research fellowship. The workshop was facilitated by Cath Finney Lamb co-author with Linda of the research monograph Technology's Refuge. In addition to the workshop report, an article by Linda that summarises the issues raised and solutions proposed in the workshop will be published in the November edition of the Telecommunications Journal of Australia. Linda has also been awarded funding to conduct further research on refugees’ telecommunications literacy upon arrival in Australia and d...
Australian Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, 2014
This paper attempts to synthesise different bodies of literature relating to technology and inequ... more This paper attempts to synthesise different bodies of literature relating to technology and inequality. The use of technology by minority groups has been studied, but in isolation. That is, it has been examined within particular marginalised communities rather than across them. For example, migrants and the ways that technologies are deployed to sustain connections between family members in different countries have been investigated extensively. Indigenous groups' appropriation of technologies to overcome distance in rural and remote areas has also been explored in depth. The role of technology in providing Warschauer,M.
... 35 Carla Drago, Linda Leung and Mark Ward Chapter 5 The Art of 'Slow': Taki... more ... 35 Carla Drago, Linda Leung and Mark Ward Chapter 5 The Art of 'Slow': Taking Time in the Digital Age 49 Linda Leung and Daisy Tam Chapter 6 The Personal is the Political: Why Feminism is Important to Experience Design 57 Linda Leung and Adrienne Tan Chapter 7 ...
Technology and In/equality: Questioning the …, 2000
Experience Design, 2015
This is a chapter I wrote for the book 'Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies' edi... more This is a chapter I wrote for the book 'Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies' edited by Peter Benz. It interrogates the practice of discrimination that is part of designing technologically mediated experiences, and examines the implications for making products and services accessible to the marginalised.
The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian C... more The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian Centre for Interaction Design’s Vir-tual Communities program. The project aims to mine knowledge from an email archive through a 3D user interface and interaction. Working with a client organization, the project seeks to address the knowledge management needs of a small distributed company. The project is currently about to release its first beta version for testing. |
[S]tereotypes are useful for camouflaging the social arrangements which we impose upon the aged m... more [S]tereotypes are useful for camouflaging the social arrangements which we impose upon the aged members of our society.
Ethnicity: Race, Resistance & the World Wide Web is concerned with how technology is appropriated... more Ethnicity: Race, Resistance & the World Wide Web is concerned with how technology is appropriated by those with limited access to it, as well as the problems and possibilities which arise when technology is made available to marginalised groups. Contact:
Traversing the numerous studies of minority groups and the access to technology highlights the ne... more Traversing the numerous studies of minority groups and the access to technology highlights the necessity of rethinking the popular notion of 'digital divides' by which particular communities are considered disadvantaged in their access to the Internet. The research points to pervasive technological determinism in the ways that services are designed to push users online regardless of the evidence that an array of minority groups prefer and use other means of communicating and seeking information. The 'digital divide' is evidence that information services have not been designed to be inclusive of a significant proportion of the wider community. It is also an inadequate model for conceptualising the diversity of technologies that are now used, as well as the literacies required to access them. Instead of dichotomising user groups, with minorities representing those who are disadvantaged and deprived of computers, there are persuasive business, regulatory and legal arguments for compelling service providers to consider their users as part of a spectrum of affordabilities, literacies and technologies through which their services are accessed. Looking across digital divides: possible interventions in inclusive and accessible service design
The thesis undertakes pioneering work in the study of Web production, representation and consumpt... more The thesis undertakes pioneering work in the study of Web production, representation and consumption through its focus on ethnic minorities. The comprehensive crosssection of Web content discussed shows significant ethnic minority activity despite the apparent white, Western, male and middle class profile of cyberspace. This empirical dimension of the research not only complements the large body of theoretical work that has been done about cyberspace, but also uses theoretical models from a range of academic disciplines (especially media studies) to anchor its analysis of the Web. The particularities of the Web are investigated empirically through the involvement of a group of ethnic minority women, including myself, who were the research subjects. This demanded methodological innovation given the comparatively minimal empirical work that has been done on the Web and subsequently, the lack of any conventional approaches to studying this new technology. The research was also made met...
6 the personAl Is the polItICAl: why femInIsm Is ImportAnt to experIenCe desIgn Linda Leung and A... more 6 the personAl Is the polItICAl: why femInIsm Is ImportAnt to experIenCe desIgn Linda Leung and Adrienne Tan In their many responses ... this balancing act between social equity and digital content.'Television is a shared and gendered medium; so is video'(Silverstone 1990: 179 ...
The paper examines how fear is communicated to refugees, asylum seekers, and the public through A... more The paper examines how fear is communicated to refugees, asylum seekers, and the public through Australia's immigration policy and practice. Between 1992 and 1994, Australian law moved from permitting (but not enforcing) limited detention of asylum seekers, to a blanket policy of mandatory detention which, at one point, had up to 12,000 individuals in detention. The author argues that the deployment of technology is instrumental in conveying this fear, ranging from the technologies of containment, surveillance, and identification used in immigration detention centres (IDCs) to the prohibited access to information and communication technologies to detained asylum seekers. These practices suggest that the liberating possibilities of technology become a source of fear when available to those considered undeserving of such freedom. The strict regulation of detainees' use of technology, based on unwritten policies which allow access to certain kinds of media while prohibiting oth...
There are numerous arguments for the usefulness of paper prototyping. It allows the identificatio... more There are numerous arguments for the usefulness of paper prototyping. It allows the identification and prevention of design problems and usability issues before work begins on an electronic proof of concept (EPOC). It is less costly and more flexible than testing with an EPOC and then amending it after it has been built. However, this project presented challenges in relation to paper prototyping an application that represents email data three- dimensionally. Although it was possible to do some abstract prototyping on paper, there were limitations in the extent to which a 3D model could be articulated two-dimensionally. The paper details the authors' multi- methodological approach to developing an application which enables the search, display and filtering of email data beyond the standard functionalities available in conventional email software. Such methodologies included persona development, task analysis, competitor analysis, abstract (paper and electronic) prototyping. This ...
The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian C... more The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian Centre for Interaction Design’s Virtual Communities program. The project aims to mine knowledge from an email archive through a 3D user interface and interaction. Working with a client organization, the project seeks to address the knowledge management needs of a small distributed company. The project is currently about to release its first beta version for testing.
The SAGE Handbook of Media and Migration, 2020
Forced Migration Review, 2011
Simply having access to technology does not resolve the problem of communication between displace... more Simply having access to technology does not resolve the problem of communication between displaced people and their families.
This essay examines the ways in which ethnic minorities are engaging with representations of ethn... more This essay examines the ways in which ethnic minorities are engaging with representations of ethnicity on the Web through the production and consumption of forms of auto/biography.
The report of the Refugees and Communication Technology Workshop, held in 2009 is now available. ... more The report of the Refugees and Communication Technology Workshop, held in 2009 is now available. The workshop looked at issues in refugees' use of communication technology in the contexts of displacement and settlement. While not all of the ideas and recommendations summarised in the report could be actioned, participants and readers are welcome to use and apply them for the provision of services to their own communities or clients. The workshop was an outcome of Linda Leung's Shopfront research fellowship. The workshop was facilitated by Cath Finney Lamb co-author with Linda of the research monograph Technology's Refuge. In addition to the workshop report, an article by Linda that summarises the issues raised and solutions proposed in the workshop will be published in the November edition of the Telecommunications Journal of Australia. Linda has also been awarded funding to conduct further research on refugees’ telecommunications literacy upon arrival in Australia and d...
Australian Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, 2014
This paper attempts to synthesise different bodies of literature relating to technology and inequ... more This paper attempts to synthesise different bodies of literature relating to technology and inequality. The use of technology by minority groups has been studied, but in isolation. That is, it has been examined within particular marginalised communities rather than across them. For example, migrants and the ways that technologies are deployed to sustain connections between family members in different countries have been investigated extensively. Indigenous groups' appropriation of technologies to overcome distance in rural and remote areas has also been explored in depth. The role of technology in providing Warschauer,M.
... 35 Carla Drago, Linda Leung and Mark Ward Chapter 5 The Art of 'Slow': Taki... more ... 35 Carla Drago, Linda Leung and Mark Ward Chapter 5 The Art of 'Slow': Taking Time in the Digital Age 49 Linda Leung and Daisy Tam Chapter 6 The Personal is the Political: Why Feminism is Important to Experience Design 57 Linda Leung and Adrienne Tan Chapter 7 ...
Technology and In/equality: Questioning the …, 2000
Experience Design, 2015
This is a chapter I wrote for the book 'Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies' edi... more This is a chapter I wrote for the book 'Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies' edited by Peter Benz. It interrogates the practice of discrimination that is part of designing technologically mediated experiences, and examines the implications for making products and services accessible to the marginalised.
The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian C... more The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian Centre for Interaction Design’s Vir-tual Communities program. The project aims to mine knowledge from an email archive through a 3D user interface and interaction. Working with a client organization, the project seeks to address the knowledge management needs of a small distributed company. The project is currently about to release its first beta version for testing. |
[S]tereotypes are useful for camouflaging the social arrangements which we impose upon the aged m... more [S]tereotypes are useful for camouflaging the social arrangements which we impose upon the aged members of our society.
Ethnicity: Race, Resistance & the World Wide Web is concerned with how technology is appropriated... more Ethnicity: Race, Resistance & the World Wide Web is concerned with how technology is appropriated by those with limited access to it, as well as the problems and possibilities which arise when technology is made available to marginalised groups. Contact:
Traversing the numerous studies of minority groups and the access to technology highlights the ne... more Traversing the numerous studies of minority groups and the access to technology highlights the necessity of rethinking the popular notion of 'digital divides' by which particular communities are considered disadvantaged in their access to the Internet. The research points to pervasive technological determinism in the ways that services are designed to push users online regardless of the evidence that an array of minority groups prefer and use other means of communicating and seeking information. The 'digital divide' is evidence that information services have not been designed to be inclusive of a significant proportion of the wider community. It is also an inadequate model for conceptualising the diversity of technologies that are now used, as well as the literacies required to access them. Instead of dichotomising user groups, with minorities representing those who are disadvantaged and deprived of computers, there are persuasive business, regulatory and legal arguments for compelling service providers to consider their users as part of a spectrum of affordabilities, literacies and technologies through which their services are accessed. Looking across digital divides: possible interventions in inclusive and accessible service design
The thesis undertakes pioneering work in the study of Web production, representation and consumpt... more The thesis undertakes pioneering work in the study of Web production, representation and consumption through its focus on ethnic minorities. The comprehensive crosssection of Web content discussed shows significant ethnic minority activity despite the apparent white, Western, male and middle class profile of cyberspace. This empirical dimension of the research not only complements the large body of theoretical work that has been done about cyberspace, but also uses theoretical models from a range of academic disciplines (especially media studies) to anchor its analysis of the Web. The particularities of the Web are investigated empirically through the involvement of a group of ethnic minority women, including myself, who were the research subjects. This demanded methodological innovation given the comparatively minimal empirical work that has been done on the Web and subsequently, the lack of any conventional approaches to studying this new technology. The research was also made met...
6 the personAl Is the polItICAl: why femInIsm Is ImportAnt to experIenCe desIgn Linda Leung and A... more 6 the personAl Is the polItICAl: why femInIsm Is ImportAnt to experIenCe desIgn Linda Leung and Adrienne Tan In their many responses ... this balancing act between social equity and digital content.'Television is a shared and gendered medium; so is video'(Silverstone 1990: 179 ...
The paper examines how fear is communicated to refugees, asylum seekers, and the public through A... more The paper examines how fear is communicated to refugees, asylum seekers, and the public through Australia's immigration policy and practice. Between 1992 and 1994, Australian law moved from permitting (but not enforcing) limited detention of asylum seekers, to a blanket policy of mandatory detention which, at one point, had up to 12,000 individuals in detention. The author argues that the deployment of technology is instrumental in conveying this fear, ranging from the technologies of containment, surveillance, and identification used in immigration detention centres (IDCs) to the prohibited access to information and communication technologies to detained asylum seekers. These practices suggest that the liberating possibilities of technology become a source of fear when available to those considered undeserving of such freedom. The strict regulation of detainees' use of technology, based on unwritten policies which allow access to certain kinds of media while prohibiting oth...
There are numerous arguments for the usefulness of paper prototyping. It allows the identificatio... more There are numerous arguments for the usefulness of paper prototyping. It allows the identification and prevention of design problems and usability issues before work begins on an electronic proof of concept (EPOC). It is less costly and more flexible than testing with an EPOC and then amending it after it has been built. However, this project presented challenges in relation to paper prototyping an application that represents email data three- dimensionally. Although it was possible to do some abstract prototyping on paper, there were limitations in the extent to which a 3D model could be articulated two-dimensionally. The paper details the authors' multi- methodological approach to developing an application which enables the search, display and filtering of email data beyond the standard functionalities available in conventional email software. Such methodologies included persona development, task analysis, competitor analysis, abstract (paper and electronic) prototyping. This ...
The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian C... more The paper details the preliminary results of a research and design project for the Australasian Centre for Interaction Design’s Virtual Communities program. The project aims to mine knowledge from an email archive through a 3D user interface and interaction. Working with a client organization, the project seeks to address the knowledge management needs of a small distributed company. The project is currently about to release its first beta version for testing.
This is a chapter I wrote for the book 'Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies' edited by P... more This is a chapter I wrote for the book 'Experience Design: Concepts and Case Studies' edited by Peter Benz. It interrogates the practice of discrimination that is part of designing technologically mediated experiences, and examines the implications for making products and services accessible to the marginalised.
The Mind the Gap report, authored by Dr. Linda Leung from the University of Technology Sydney, ex... more The Mind the Gap report, authored by Dr. Linda Leung from the University of Technology Sydney, explores the experiences of refugees as communications consumers in Australia, and describes a trial education program aimed at developing higher level communications literacies during the settlement process.
Interviews with over 30 refugees in different capital cities found that as new arrivals to Australia, refugees tend to have low communications technology literacy having generally been deprived of communications during their displacement in refugee camps or intermediate countries. While refugees generally arrive with base level consumption literacies (which enable them to use at least one telecommunications device to primarily receive calls), living in Australia demands higher level literacies (such as owning and taking financial responsibility for a range of technology products).
The project also brings to light:
the low levels of knowledge about communications products and communications technology literacy on the part of newly arrived refugees;
the lack of support for communications technology awareness and use in settlement service provision for refugees;
and the gap that exists between telecommunications literacy (for which there is no formalised support during settlement) and computer literacy skills (which, along with English language tuition, are provided as part of the refugee settlement process).
The findings informed the development of a trial education program that includes four modules: Landlines vs. Mobiles, Understanding Mobile Phones, Mobile Phone Plans, and Phone Cards. The report recommends that community education initiatives focus on mobile technology and the differences between pre and post paid services, traps to avoid in the market, and advice on existing products that give consumers more control (prepaid options, for example). The report concludes by outlining the implications of the research for immigration policy as well as regulation in the telecommunications industry.
This book offers extensive research into multi-disciplinary forms of digital experience design. I... more This book offers extensive research into multi-disciplinary forms of digital experience design. It includes unique autobiographical accounts of people working in the experience design industry today. It examines the growth in digital experience design and how offline worlds inspire online design through the lenses of other disciplines. Although the dot.com bubble burst long ago, the interactive media industry is still flush with fresh talent, new ideas, and financial success. Digital Experience Design chronicles the diverse histories and perspectives of people working in the dot.com world alongside an account of the current issues facing the industry. From the perspective of older disciplines such as education, fine art, and cinema, this volume investigates how dot.com practitioners balance the science of usability with abstract factors such as the emotional response design can provoke. Contributors from a wide-range of different backgrounds offer autobiographical accounts of their careers in the digital experience design and interactive media industry. Digital Experience Design seeks to borrow from alternative fields that have richer traditions and longer histories in experience design to assist current online designers and practitioners. With in-depth discussion of a variety of disciplines and topics, including screen-based design and e-learning, this edited volume is a valuable resource for industry practitioners and students and teachers of interactive media.
Helen Kennedy has painted a detailed moral and emotional landscape of the web: beginning from its... more Helen Kennedy has painted a detailed moral and emotional landscape of the web: beginning from its inception as a space founded upon principles of freedom, through the emergence of professional practices surrounding it, to the standards that now underpin making the web accessible to all. The book offers an alternative way of reading the hope and utopianism associated with the Internet in the 1990s. While many critical Socio-Technical Studies (STS) theorists perceived it as a collective technologically determined delusion that conveniently ignored ingrained inequalities, Kennedy argues that these affective beginnings were the basis for an industry founded upon ethical principles that subsequently attracts ethically motivated labourers. For web professionals, the book inspires some reflective thinking about why we were drawn to our industry and the ways we work in it. For students and teachers of digital media, it provides a much needed philosophical framework for web industry practice.