Social Change Symposium keynote presentation by Dr Dallas Rogers, Head of Urbanism in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney.

New digital tools are increasing the speeds, formats and breadth of the research and communication mediums available to researchers. Affordable high-quality microphones and digital audio editing on laptops allow researchers to collaborate in new ways. Podcasting allows us to push at the boundaries of what a research method and a research community might be. Podcasting, like radio, is a potentially powerful digital tool for engaging with a broad range of public, policy, student and professional audiences. Each stage of the podcast and radio production process is an opportunity to ethically intervene into social and political worlds. In this talk Dr Rogers will discuss three media projects: 1) to critically consider why we might initiate a podcast or radio project; 2) to interrogate how we are expressing ourselves as academics; 3) to question the ethics of academic podcast and radio production; 4) to explore to whom we are disseminating content; 5) and to ask about the impression we believe we are making.

The first project is City Road Podcast and working with ABC Radio National as a radio producer. City Road is a response, perhaps, to the increasing pressure placed on academics to communicate the social and political implications of their research beyond the academy. Academics are increasingly evaluated on how well they communicate their research to ‘the public’. Arguably, podcast and radio production offer academics a way to make our research more accessible. Yet, the new community radio and university podcasting partnerships in Australia, for example, are productively blurring the line between academia and journalism.

The second project is The city under COVID-19: Podcasting as digital methodology. This rapidly mobilised international podcast project involved 25 urban scholars from around the world provided audio recordings about their cities during the COVID lockdowns. Many of those who provided short audio 'reports from the field' recorded on their mobile phones were struggling to make sense of their experience in their city. I’ll discuss the digital methodology opportunities podcasting affords.

The third project is Amplify: Story, Resistance, Radio. This public art gallery take-over was part live ‘Pirate Radio’ performance, part futuring workshop, and part sound exhibition about the importance of amplification and listening in urban politics. Amplify was a living, breathing example of how stories occupy urban space and generate solidarity. It responded to long-standing calls to protect music and creative spaces in our cities, to create more diverse media landscapes and to champion First Nations music and journalism. This take-over sound project invited people to share stories about sound and activism in their city through live radio broadcasts from the gallery and visual conversations covering key moments of amplification of the past, present and future.

Dallas Rogers is Head of Urbanism in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. He works on the colonial and contemporary politics of land, housing, property and urban development. His research spans urban and historical geography with a focus on the intersections of race, class, nature, technology and capital. Dallas leads major studies of urbanism funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and other government and non-government funders. His current ARC studies include: Digital technologies and the private rental sector in Australia; Inequality in Australia: housing in the asset society; and The University and the City. Dallas is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Housing Policy. He has written well over 50 opinion pieces for The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and The Conversation. Dallas had graduate qualifications in radio production and produces radio features for ABC Radio National. He is the founder of City Road Podcast, amongst others radio projects.

Order of Proceedings: 4:30pm - 5:30pm, followed by a networking reception and refreshments.

A recording of the presentation will be made available on the Social Change Symposium website after the event.

This event is being held as part of RMIT University's Social Change Symposium, presented in collaboration with the College of Design and Social Context and the Social Change Enabling Impact Platform.