Net Critic

Dr Matthew Allen
Internet thinker, researcher and educator

Affiliations

Who I am

First and foremost, I see myself as a thinker about the ways in which technological innovation in networked communications and media – principally the Internet – are remaking the way people live and interact. The Internet provides both the means of change, and also a rich source of metaphors and meanings by which to think differently about the world. The changes the Internet brings are by no means all for the better; nor are they planned or controlled in many cases. The Internet makes a critical difference to our lives in the early 21st century; and I seek to be a critical thinker about that difference: to be a net critic.

I am an institutionalised thinker, an academic in the Department of Internet Studies, Curtin University of Technology. In this role, I conduct research into various aspects of the Internet past, present and future; I craft and deliver degree programs along with my colleagues that educate individuals and the society to which they belong about the Internet. I supervise doctoral students who represent the cutting edge of research into the Internet as a social phenomenon. I communicate ideas about the Internet to the community, through public speaking and media commentary.

As an academic, I have also become closely involved in the management and development of higher education as an institution, particularly in relation to teaching and learning. Therefore, as much as I study change in the knowledge society – principally around the impact of networked ICTS – I also lead, practice (and sometimes suffer) change within the academy, one of the institutions of knowledge in society.

Formal Bio

Dr Matthew Allen is Associate Professor and Head of Department, Internet Studies at Curtin University of Technology; he is also a Teaching Fellow of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Matthew has worked at Curtin University since 1994, establishing and sustaining a program of Internet research and education from 1999 onwards. Matthew is an innovative educator, nationally recognised for his work in online learning, and currently researching the link between student learning and knowledge networking. He is also a critic and researcher of the social uses and cultural meanings of the Internet, most recently analysing the development of Web 2.0. He served as President of the Association of Internet Researchers from 2005-2007. He is the author of several articles and papers on things Internet, as well as on television and popular culture; he is the author of two books, most recently and successfully, a textbook on critical thinking: Smart Thinking, published by Oxford University Press Australia.

Professional History

Born in England, but having lived most of my life in Australia, I studied history at the University of Sydney in the 1980s (BA (Hons) History) and then completed a PhD in history and organisational changes at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU. I have regularly reshaped and refashioned my academic career since then; first joining the History Department at the University of Western Australia to teach Australian history, then moving into the teaching of critical thinking in the School of Social Sciences at Curtin University. During this time, I was mainly conducting research into contemporary media, especially television and gender and, along the way, acquired an MA from Murdoch University in Literature and Communication. In the mid-1990s I started to explore the use of the Internet for more effective distance education and soon realised that it would have profound effects on both teaching and learning for all students and on society as a whole.

Since then, I have gone on to establish what is now the Department of Internet Studies and craft with colleagues a new kind of undergraduate degree – the BA (Internet Studies) (to be renamed the BA (Internet Communications) in 2010) – which aimed to create professionally capable, creative thinkers, communicators and users of the Internet. This degree is also an ongoing exploration in how best to use the Internet for education, since most students study fully online. The department also offers postgraduate education and is home to several doctoral students, including some studying fully online.

Because of my ongoing interest in and success with introducing new academic programs, based on innovative pedagogy, I have also played a role within Curtin in the overall management and development of teaching and learning, being Associate Dean Teaching and Learning in Humanities from 2003 to 2005. I have run many workshops on teaching and learning and related issues with the aim of creating new kinds of teaching practices in higher education.

Some Career Achievements

  • Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Fellow, 2009
  • Inaugural Head of Department, Internet Studies, Curtin University of Technology, 2008–
  • National Lecture Tour for Australian Computer Society, 2006
  • President of Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), 2005-2007
  • Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Award, Internet Studies Team, Curtin University of Technology 2003
  • Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) – Category Social Sciences, 2000