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www.southgatearc.org
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Communicating in SpaceThe good work of ARISS and the AMSAT group may have fallen on deaf ears
as we hear research based at The University of Queensland is taking journalism
where it hasn't gone before by asking the question: how will
people stay in Dr John Cokley, from UQ's School of Journalism and Communication, is working with a multi-disciplinary, international team of researchers looking at how people will communicate with each other in space, and especially how they will send and receive news. Dr Cokley concedes "Astronauts have 'ham' radio and even a version of the internet now that is going someway to meet needs," he said. Dr Cokley said the idea of researching news communications for space
communities, or "Astronauts as Audiences" as he has dubbed it,
might sound a bit far fetched in Australia, but this type of innovative
research was taken very seriously in Europe and America where space agencies
command "As humans expand into space, communities will form," Dr Cokley said. Dr Cokley said one of the biggest problems facing space communities is the dominance of men. "This could lead to a wild-west mentality, similar to places like Alaska and Australia of the 19th Century where towns were full of task-orientated men just there to do a job. "Is that really how we want space to be colonised?" He said this lack of gender equity made it all the more important people in space communities had "news from home" and "stayed in touch" with family members and friends. Dr Cokley's previous research into other remote communities, such as Antarctica, had shown even the simple act of having local newspapers faxed to isolated workers can make a huge difference. Media inquiries: Dr John Cokley Source: Wireless Institute of Australia
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