benomara.com is live!
Welcome to benomara.com! Here you can find information about my writing, research and short films.
Many thanks to Mark at eFront for the whole shebang, and Kim for the tech savvy feedback!
A Month of Conferences
The end of 2009 is shaping up as conference time for me. I will be presenting on the use and application of ICT to communicate messages of health and wellbeing for refugee and migrant communities at:
- Empowering communities: learning from community informatics practice (Prato Community CIRN Conference, Italy, 4-6 November 2009)
- Digitally Empowering Communities: Learning from Development Informatics Practice (3rd International IDIA Conference, Berg-en-Dal Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 28 October 2009)
- Making Links 2009: Social Action and Technology (17-18 November)
I will also be presenting on writing for short film production at the 2009 AAWP Annual Conference: Margins and Mainstream, Hamilton, New Zealand, 26-28 November.
Confronting housing inequality
This article was a weekly feature at Eureka Street in May 2009. It explored the effects of gentrification on people, families and communities from lower socio-economic and/or culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The story highlighted how a lack of information and awareness around housing and renting options adds to the cost and challenges of relocation or finding a place to live due to gentrification.
Fast Track Facsimile
Six Sentences published my first piece of fiction! Fast Track Facsimile is a ’short-short’ story about job redundancy, magical photocopiers and the perils of management-speak. Six Sentences is ace, heaps of cool flash fiction.
Confessions of a Videogame Junkie
Eureka Street ran this story in Christmas ‘08. It explores the consumerist nature of the videogame industry and argues for the innovative use and social application of multimedia technology, such as using ICT to support the health and wellbeing of refugee and migrant communities. I also managed to sneak in a bit about drinking beers and playing Galaga…
Family memories for sale
The Herald Sun published a personal piece I wrote about my family’s beach house at Sandy Point. My grandparents built their little shack in the early 60s and spent all those summers in the backyard with the kids, baking under the sun on brightly coloured banana lounges and smoking cigarettes. I used to go tree surfing down there – this involved jumping off the beach lookout (in some spots a three metre drop) into the tea trees on the dunes below.