ElAnt v4n2 - KEEPING IN TOUCH - Citizenship Database:Deakin University

Volume 4, Number 2
April 1998


Citizenship Database


ATTENTION TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY


Deakin University

There is here an opportunity for teachers, researchers and promoters of the cultures of the Ancient World to recognize that the understanding and interpretation of antiquity may be enhanced to some degree by comparative study of recent developments by means of The Australian Citizenship Database.

The Australian Citizenship Database is now available at:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~citizen/

This searchable database contains material relating to the sociological, political, policy and welfare dimensions of citizenship, ranging from theoretical and analytic academic literature to descriptive material useful for case studies on specific current issues. It currently contains entries for books, book chapters and journal articles, and will be extended to include reports media items and theses. Many of these entries have abstracts, and where possible the full text is included, or a link is provided to the Internet location of the full text. The database includes a privatisation Collection which has a main focus on privatisation in Victoria.

While the great bulk of material on the database will reflect contemporary activity or recent history by design, it is also possible to observe that present developments and argument are sometimes better understood by reference to earlier political practices or philosophical analyses. There is here an opportunity for teachers, researchers and promoters of the cultures of the Ancient World to recognize that the understanding and interpretation of antiquity may be enhanced to some degree by comparative study of recent developments. To this end the Citizenship Database is a contemporary tool which already contains some material surveying the ancient past in a context of historical and thematic development of citizenship. It is this dimension which I propose might be exploited and utilized by scholars of classical antiquity.

Access to the Database is through the WWW and involves no membership fee or subscription.

The purpose of my approach to you via Electronic Antiquity is to seek an expression of interest in the Database and to possibly promote its existence to larger numbers of classicists and ancient historians through this medium. I should be most pleased to receive any opinion or enquiry which may arise in consequence and will respond at the earliest opportunity.

Material is selected for the database on the following criteria:
  • academic literature in English that is directly relevant to citizenship studies and that has been published since 1987, or published earlier but considered to be basic to current thinking and debates;
  • published Australian material such as reports by government agencies, advocacy organisations and practitioners, and select media items, that describe and analyse current social, political, policy or welfare issues that are relevant to citizenship;
  • unpublished Australian material such as theses, reports and pamphlets that make theoretical or descriptive contributions to understanding debates about citizenship, or provide information about current issues that are relevant to citizenship.
The theoretical and analytic material is intended to represent current thinking and debates in the English language literature, and does not have an Australian focus. The material on specific issues focuses on Australian cases, although non-Australian cases may be included for comparative purposes. There is also to be found here an interface for expanding insight and access for teachers, researchers, practitioners, students and members of the wider community in their respective cultural and historical periods of expertise and interest, and appraising citizenship in classical antiquity. Material relating particularly to such cultural, social, legal, literary or historical dimensions might be expanded to informed contributors.

A feature of this database, which will be implemented over the next few months, is the linking between conceptual and case study material. A user looking for material about a particular issue may check the retrieved records to see what general citizenship topics are relevant to that issue, and then search on those topics to see how they relate to other issues that on the surface seem quite different. Alternatively, a user who is interested in a particular theoretical topic may search the database to find several case studies where this is relevant.

We would like your responses to this database. The Internet site has a discussion page which will focus on monthly topics, a page through which users can suggest material to be added to the database, and an email feedback screen.

The Australian Citizenship Database has been funded by Deakin University, the ARC Research Infrastructure (Equipment and Facilities) grant to the Australian Citizenship Database Network program, and the Reichstein Charitable Foundation. dies where this is relevant.

Centre for Citizenship & Human Rights
Faculty of Arts
Deakin University
Geelong, Victoria 3217

Tel: (03) 52272113
Fax: (03) 52 272155
E-mail: cchr@deakin.edu.au
Internet: http://arts.deakin.edu.au/cchr/

COPYRIGHT NOTE: Copyright remains with authors, but due reference should be made to this journal if any part of the above is later published elsewhere.
Electronic Antiquity Vol. 4 Issue 2 - April 1998 edited by Peter Toohey and Ian Worthington antiquity-editor@classics.Server.edu.au
ISSN 1320-3606