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Melanie Swalwell

@melswal.bsky.social
1K followers 445 following 74 posts

Prof of Digital Media Heritage, Swinburne University. #AusEAASI Project Lead. 🖤💛❤️ ally, living and working on Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung lands.

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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I am excited to be en route to Switzerland to keynote at the "Beyond Regional Game Histories" conference. It's been a long while since I've been able to get to international conferences in the flesh, so I'm very much looking forward to hanging out with people and sharing all that we've been doing!
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Raphael Satter @raphae.li · 23/09/2026
Here’s our story: www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
reuters.com
Australia PM Albanese says OpenAI agent breached government website in June
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday an AI agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in ​June, accessing public and non-public files in the first k...
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New paper just published with @cyndemoya.bsky.social "Building Better Environments: A Baker’s Dozen of Methodologies for Configuring and Selecting Emulation Environments in EAASI". Open source FTW! #AusEAASI #EAASI #digipres #archives #gamepres #borndigital www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
degruyterbrill.com
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I'm thrilled to share news about an online #mediaarts exhibition I've curated with Helen Stuckey, "Revisiting Australian CD-ROM Art of the 1990s". With the support of @aarnet.edu.au and the #EAASI platform, it is now possible to access ten key Australian interactive artworks of the 1990s, online.
Screenshot of Megan Heyward's "I Am A Singer" CD-ROM artwork, emulated in EAASI. It shows a portrait of the main character, a woman who has amnesia.
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Region Locked - Documentary @regionlocked-doco.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Thanks to everyone who pledged to Region Locked today! We are doing this to have the Australian gaming community involved in the project and cannot wait to create it for you! We still have a long way to go - so please pledge, follow and share! www.kickstarter.com/projects/reg...
kickstarter.com
Region Locked: A Documentary Series on Aussie Video Games
'Region Locked' tells the story of the Australian video game industry and the legends that formed it.
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Lori Emerson @loriemerson.net · 15/07/2026
old media are the new cool—-
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The zero sum argument is so deceptive, and wrong on this issue of AI training: we currently have a licensing system that works nicely. But according to the ABC, “Supporters of reform claim…jobs and businesses move offshore and Australian creatives receive nothing”. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...?
abc.net.au
A 60-year-old law could decide if Australia gets billions in AI investments
Tens of billions of dollars in investment, and Australia's ambition to become a global AI power, could hinge on a law written in 1968 for an era of black-and-white television, film and radio.
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Anthony Klan @anthonyklan.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
🚨Australia's taxpayer-funded Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal remains a top executive of major pro-Israel lobby group ECAJ. Her ECAJ role was exposed last year - yet she still holds the position. And refuses to answer Senate... theklaxon.com.au/q4oi
theklaxon.com.au
Segal remains Israel lobby executive, two years into role - The Klaxon
Taxpayer-funded Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal remains a top executive of a major pro-Israel lobby group, more than two years into the role.
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con questi nuovi ritmi americani (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🏳 @racheledini.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
I'm excited to share my piece in Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, which examines OpenAI's claims about ChatGPT's creative writing skills, Big Tech's weaponisation of grief and nostalgia, and the collapse of the academic humanities. lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
lareviewofbooks.org
Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I look forward to following the defamation suits!
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FloPic.\ @flopica.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The campaign against Labor's tax changes has all the hallmarks of the campaign against the mining tax under Gillard. Wealth is being redistributed and those affected are doing their best to prevent it, to the detriment of everyone else. #auspol
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The @australiainstitute.org.au is doing a great job explaining the significance of the budget changes, at a time when false consciousness is the prevailing wind in #auspol.
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Nathan Garland @n8sci.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
while government/universities are getting research output for bottom-dollar, because of goodwill and sweat equity students/staff put in, it won’t change. also, isn’t it so weird the argument huge salaries are “essential to aTtrACt tOp tAlEnt” to university VC roles never applies to PhD students?! 🤔🤔
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Very cool! Electric buses in Barcelona charge via an ultra-fast overhead 'pantograph'. Charge speed is up to 500kW, charging batteries to 80% in 5 to 8 minutes. www.endesa.com/en/projects/...
endesa.com
Next stop: ultrafast charging in Barcelona
The H16 line has the first ultra-fast charging point using a pantograph for electric buses installed in Spain and one of the first in Europe.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
.@GetUp.org.au are running a campaign petitioning the Federal government to regulate the building of new data centres. Sign here: getup.org.au/campaigns/big-tech/data-centres/stop-the-data-drain
getup.org.au
Stop the Data Drain
An independent movement to build a progressive Australia and bring participation back into our democracy.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Calling artists with content on Floppies or CD-ROMs*!! The Digital Heritage Lab is sharing access to our specialist disk imaging equipment. We will show you how to preserve your obsolete disks* (CD-ROMs, Floppies, Zips). The #AusEAASI website has details: auseaasi.org/artist-outre...
auseaasi.org
Artist Outreach | The Australian Emulation Network
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
A delightful read. www.theguardian.com/games/2026/m...
theguardian.com
I touched a ZX Spectrum for the first time in decades – and I liked it | Dominik Diamond
Meeting ‘my people’ – video gamers with very long memories – took me back to an era of machine play that lacked megabytes but had far more tangible presence
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Anthony has done terrific journalism that #auspol desperately needs. Please support this fundraiser if you can, now.
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Anthony Klan @anthonyklan.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
🚨A big shout-out: Tomorrow The Klaxon kicks off its annual fundraising campaign as part of the Local and Independent News Association (LINA). From 7am AEST (Sunday) LINA will double all donations for a short period of time. If you could support us it would be hugely appreciated!
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Sharon Howard @sharonhoward.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I don't think people fully understand yet just how fragile university-hosted digital resources are after external funding ends (especially if the lead academic retires or moves or is made redundant).
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
The recording of my keynote from the @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Videogame Preservation symposium in March 2026 is here: youtu.be/vuSH8QYlqUs?... #vgpres26
youtu.be
Videogame Preservation: Practices and Approaches - Introduction and Keynote
YouTube video by Digital Scholarship at Oxford
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Hooray!! We have needed an orphan works provision in Australia for a long time.
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Altmetric @altmetric.com · 18/03/2026
THREAD Doomscroll THIS Hey we get it. It's dark out there. But there's so much good stuff going on too. Here's a timeline cleanse courtesy of the endless determination of the world's researchers. 1/18
#Academicchatter #academicsky #goodnews #altmetrics
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Emily Marlow @emarlow.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Melanie Swalwell, Professor of Digital Media Heritage at Swinburne University in Melbourne, opens the conference with a talk on games preservation in Australia. I feel oddly patriotic for some reason seeing 1990s Aussie games in emulation & preservation. #vgpres26
media.tenor.com
bart simpson is looking at a globe while talking on a phone
ALT: bart simpson is looking at a globe while talking on a phone
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Calling artists with content on Floppies or CD-ROMs*!! The Digital Heritage Lab is sharing access to our specialist disk imaging equipment. We will show you how to preserve your obsolete disks* (CD-ROMs, Floppies, Zips). The #AusEAASI website has details: auseaasi.org/artist-outre...
auseaasi.org
Artist Outreach | The Australian Emulation Network
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I'm delighted to be keynoting next Thursday at the Online Symposium "Videogame Preservation: Practices and Approaches" organised by the Bodleian Libraries @bodleian.ox.ac.uk. I will present on "Play It Again" & the #AusEAASI network. @aarnet.edu.au www.digitalscholarship.ox.ac.uk/event/videog...
digitalscholarship.ox.ac.uk
Videogame Preservation: Practices and Approaches, an Online Symposium
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 29/01/2026
Congrats to @brewster.kahle.org for being named to the Computer History Museum 2026 Fellows! "For pioneering roles in online search engines, and in digital preservation and open access to knowledge provided by the Internet Archive" More info ➡️ computerhistory.org/2026-fellow-...
For pioneering roles in online search engines, and in digital preservation and open access to knowledge provided by the Internet Archive

If you want to solve hard problems, have hard problems.
— Brewster Kahle
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Following on from the signing of Treaty last month, the Victorian state government today offered a formal apology to First Peoples, recognising past injustices. It's well worth watching. Allan has my respect. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...
abc.net.au
Victorian government makes historic apology to Aboriginal people
The Victorian government makes a historic apology to Aboriginal Victorians, in one of the first public acts to follow the signing of the state's treaty agreement.
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Michael Evans @colombiadocs.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Covert Action in Chile: The Significance of the Church Committee Report 50 Years Later nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
Covert Action in Chile: The Significance of the Church Committee Report 50 Years Later
Washington D.C. December 4, 2025 -  Fifty years ago today, Senator Frank Church convened the first public congressional hearing ever held on CIA covert operations to overthrow a foreign government, fo...
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
This is why I mask, because I don’t want Long Covid (or worse).
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Andy Jackson @anj.digipres.club.ap.brid.gy · 27/11/2025
DPC Blog: Call for comments on a new guide to help you copy those floppies www.dpconline.org/blog/call-for-com… thanks to #FutureNostalgia led by @makethecatwise #DigiPres
dpconline.org
Call for comments on a new floppy disk guide - Digital Preservation Coalition
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Eu. Federation of Game Archives, Museums & Preservation Projects @efgamp.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
We are delighted to team up with @europeana.bsky.social supporting a webinar on November 26, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. CET, on the significance of #computergames as and for #culturalheritage. The webinar is aimed at professionals in the #GLAMsector. Registration is free of charge.
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Belinda Barnet @manjusrii.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
The irony here is that academics don’t just write the articles for free—we also referee and edit for them for free. Something is deeply broken. “New Zealand's eight universities spent $30-million a year on journal licences and about half of that sum went to Elsevier. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
rnz.co.nz
Universities in 'battle of the century' with journal publisher Elsevier
One New Zealand university told its staff all universities in New Zealand and Australia would "lose some degree of access" to the publisher's 1600 titles from the start of next year.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
youtu.be/Jf-jHCdafZY?... www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
youtu.be
Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Original Version)
YouTube video by Yothu Yindi
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
This is a hugely significant step.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Some good news from Australia - no text and data mining exceptions to copyright will be introduced for training AI. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
abc.net.au
Artists tell AI to 'solve the problem' as copyright carve-out ruled out
Labor has ruled out changing copyright laws to give tech giants free rein to train artificial intelligence models on creative works after the proposition was met with widespread backlash from artists.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
I am sensing something of a pattern here 🤔 Audited accounts show surpluses - not budget crises - at ANU and UoN. Who's next? bsky.app/profile/aust...
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The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · 24/10/2025
New Australia Institute analysis shows the University of Newcastle had net assets over $1.8 billion at the end of 2024, contrary to claims that the university is in a finanical crisis. #auspol
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Matt Ryan @mattdjryan.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
This is incredible news, and shows the incredible power of collective action. The fight against the neoliberal university (my own included) goes on, but its nice to hear some good news for a change.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Australian academic colleagues will want to fill this out: "The Australian University Census on Staff Wellbeing: An investigation of psychosocial safety climate in Australia's universities" doit.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
doit.az1.qualtrics.com
Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions
Qualtrics sophisticated online survey software solutions make creating online surveys easy. Learn more about Research Suite and get a free account today.
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The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · 02/10/2025
New Australia Institute analysis shows the ANU had a $90 million profit in 2024 and INCREASED the value of its net assets... All while the ANU was claiming a budget crisis to justify staff cuts! @richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol
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Australian Society of Authors @asauthors.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
The settlement website in the Bartz v Anthropic class action is now live and can be found here: www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com. It includes comprehensive information about the case and settlement, including a searchable tool to see if your books are included in the settlement and a claim form.
anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
ANT Homepage | ANT
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Prof Brendan Crabb AC @brendancrabb.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
And an excellent accompanying commentary. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Long COVID is here to stay—even in children
Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC, also known as long COVID) are complex, multisystem, long-lasting complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection that profoundly impact the daily life of those...
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Australian Society of Authors @asauthors.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
A formidable coalition of Australian creators and book industry organisations attended a Senate Inquiry hearing yesterday to strongly oppose the Productivity Commission’s proposal for a text and data mining exception for AI training. Read more: www.asauthors.org.au/news/its-not...
asauthors.org.au
‘It’s not copy-charity. It’s copyright’: Authors oppose copyright exception for AI training at Senate Inquiry - Australian Society of Authors
Creators and book industry organisations attended a Senate Inquiry hearing to oppose the proposal for a copyright exception for AI training.
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Kevin Driscoll 📳੯‧̀͡⬮ @kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2025
🏆 The #sigcis2025 awards are up!! 🏆 📖 Computer History Museum Prize ➡️ @apdamegriff *The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet* nyupress.org/9781479818310/the-two-… 📄 The Mahoney Prize ➡️ @theodorajewell “Settler Computing: Water Algorithms and the Equitable […]
aoir.social
Original post on aoir.social
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
The eSafety Commissioner has done something right. It’s heartening to see such a hefty fine handed down for image-based abuse. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
abc.net.au
Man fined $350k in Federal Court for creating deepfake porn
A man who made deep fake pornographic images of prominent Australian women and posted them to a website has been fined $343,500 by the Federal Court — the first case of its kind in the country.
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Rachel Hall-Clifford, PhD, MPH, MSc @rahallclifford.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
I stan Violet!
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Excited to see this post about preserving #gamehistory and use of the EU’s Out of Commerce works.
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
John Passfield, #homebrew #gamehistory legend! There’s heaps more on his early work in my Homebrew book, and at playitagainproject.com
playitagainproject.com
Play It Again Project | Retro Gaming Archive
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Melanie Swalwell @melswal.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Heartened to see that the Australian Society of Authors are pushing back against a proposed text and data mining exception to the Copyright Act to allow the training of AI. Did you see this @manjusrii.bsky.social ? www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
abc.net.au
Authors warn AI copyright exception a 'free pass' for Big Tech to steal work
The Productivity Commission's interim report on AI has triggered a fierce backlash from the literary community.
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