Mark Balnaves

PhD, B.Communications
Adjunct Research Fellow

Email: mark.balnaves@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Dr Mark Balnaves has held professorial positions in communication and new media, returning to Perth after completing an overseas posting to the Gulf University of Science and Technology (GUST).

    His professional media background is in print and television journalism, with membership of the International Federation of Journalists

    Dr Balnaves has published over 60 papers and book chapters with leading journals and publishers Penguin, Sage, Bloomsbury Academic and Palgrave MacMillan. Books include Mobilising the Audience (2002), A New Theory of Information and the Internet: Public Sphere Meets Protocol (2011) and Rating the Audience: The Business of Media (2011). The best seller Media Theories and Approaches: A Global Perspective (2008) is being prepared for a second edition.

    In 2011 Dr Balnaves was invited as a World Thinker to the annual Festival of Thinkers in the United Arab Emirates to debate and discuss media issues.

    Dr Balnaves's current research interests are in how journalists and citizens understand, use and react to complex knowledge in a big data digital economy.

  • Books

    • Balnaves M, Wilson M, A new theory of information and the Internet: Public sphere meets protocol, Peter Lang Publishing, Bern, Switzerland, 208 (2011)
    • Balnaves M, O'Regan T, Goldsmith B, Rating the audience: The business of media, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, United Kingdom, 224 (2011)
    • Balnaves M, Donald S, Shoesmith B, Media theories and approaches: A global perspective, Palgrave Macmaillan, London, United Kingdom, 339 (2008)
    • Balnaves M, O'Regan T, Sternberg J, Mobilising the audience, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia, 384 (2002)
    • Balnaves M, Caputi P, Introduction to quantitative research methods: An investigative approach, SAGE, London, United Kingdom, 272 (2001)
    • Balnaves M, Donald J, Donald S, Atlas of media and information, Penguin Books, London, United Kingdom, 128 (2001)
    • Balnaves M, Donald J, Donald S, Der Fischer Atlas Medien, Fischer, Frankfurt, Germany, 128 (2001)
    • Balnaves M, Donald J, Donald S, The global media atlas, British Film Institute, London, United Kingdom, 128 (2001)

  • Book chapters

    • A return to the good old days: Populism, fake news, yellow journalism, and the unparalleled virtue of business people, Balnaves M, in Handbook of Management History https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-319-62348-1_45-1.pdf
    • Balnaves M, 'Domestication of Anglo-Saxon Conventions and Practices in Australia', Television Audiences Across the World: Deconstructing the Ratings Machine, Palgrave Macmillan, London 164-178 (2014)
    • Balnaves M, 'Still the British Model? The BARB versus Nielsen', Television Audiences Across the World Deconstructing the Ratings Machine, Palgrave Macmillan, London 53-68 (2014)
    • Balnaves M, Shoesmith B, Walsh L, 'E-democracy: Media-liminal space in the era of age compression', International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments, Springer, Berlin, Germany (2006)
    • Balnaves M, Green K, Shoesmith B, Hwee L, 'Push, Pull, Layering, and Blogs: User Behaviour in the Online Medium', Asia-Pacific Internet Handbook: Emerging Powerhouses, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, India 124-145 (2003)
    • Balnaves M, 'New Media, New Audiences', The Media & Communications in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, Australia 293-303 (2002)
    • New land, last home: The Vietnamese elderly and the Family Migration Program, Thomas T, Balnaves M, New land, last home: the Vietnamese elderly and the Family Migration Program, Australian Govt. Public Service, Canberra, Australia, 59 (1993)

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Balnaves, M., Digital economy planning in Kuwait, IEEE https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8624795
    • Dean S, Williams C, Balnaves M, 'Living dolls and nurses without empathy', Journal of Advanced Nursing, (2016)
    • Balnaves M, Holmes K, Wang Y, 'Red Bags and WeChat (Weixìn): Online collectivism during massive Chinese cultural events', Global Media Journal: Australian Edition, 9 (2015)
    • Dean S, Williams C, Balnaves M, 'Practising on plastic people: Can I really care?', Contemporary Nurse, 51 257-271 (2015)
    • Balnaves M, 'The Australian finance sector and social media: Towards a history of the new banking', Media International Australia, - 132-145 (2012) [C1]
    • Balnaves M, O'Regan T, 'The politics and practice of television ratings conventions: Australian and American approaches to broadcast ratings', Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 24 461-474 (2010)
    • Balnaves M, 'Sublime Communication Technologies', MEDIA INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA,
      135-136 (2009)
    • Balnaves M, Grunig J, Mahoney J, 'The illusion of control in public relations', Prism, 6 (2009) [C3]
    • Green L, Bloustien G, Balnaves M, '"We Are Next!": Listening to Jewish Voices in a Multicultural Country', M/C Journal, 11 (2008)Balnaves M, Aly A, '"They want us to be afraid": Developing a metric of the fear of terrorism', The International Journal of Diversity in Organisa, 6 113-122 (2007)
    • Balnaves M, Aly A, 'Media, 9/11, and fear: a national survey of Australian community responses to images of terror', Australian Journal of Communication, 34 101-112 (2007) [C1]
    • Kabir N, Balnaves M, 'Students "at Risk": Dilemmas of Collaboration', A Journal of Media and Culture, 9 (2006)
    • Balnaves M, Aly A, 'The Atmosfear of Terror: Affective Modulation and the War on Terror', a journal of media and culture, 8 (2005)
    • Balnaves M, Tomlinson-Baillie K, '"They are simply not worth it": The global games market, media liminality and the Manga revolution', Australian Journal of Communication, 32 (2005)
    • Balnaves M, Mayrhofer D, Shoesmith B, 'The media professions and the new humanism', Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 18 191-203 (2004)
    • Balnaves M, Varan D, 'Beyond Exposure: Interactive television and the new media currency', Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy: quarterly journal of media research and resources, 105 95-104 (2002)
    • Balnaves M, Caputi P, Oades L, 'A theory of social action: Why personal construct theory needs a superpattern corollary', Journal of Constructive Psychology, 13 117-134 (2000)
    • Balnaves M, Phillips G, 'Shifting the Paradigm: A radio experiment' (2000)
    • Balnaves M, 'Factors influencing residential demand for broadband service subscription in the Australian Capital Territory' (1997)
    • Balnaves M, 'Review: Theories of Information Society', Journal of Sociology, 33 244-246 (1997)
    • Balnaves M,  ‘Theories of information society’ Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology,
    • Balnaves M, 'Modelling future telecommunications communities: Final report to Telstra Multimedia' (1996)
    • Balnaves M, 'Modelling Future Communication Communities: Narrow-band and Broadband Trials in Canberra, Australia', Electronic Markets, 5 12-13 (1995)
    • Balnaves M, 'Review: Reforming Universal Service: The Future of Consumer Access and Equity in Australian Telecommunications', Prometheus: critical studies in innovation, 13 148-150 (1995)
    • Balnaves M, 'Review: The Unobtrusive Researcher: a guide to methods', Journal of Sociology, 31 144-145 (1995)
    • Balnaves M, 'The Paperless Working Environment: a case study in human-computer interaction in a CALS and multi-media environment' (1995)
    • Balnaves, M Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology, 29 279-281 (1993)
    • Balnaves M, 'Review: Zones of Engagement', Journal of Sociology, 29 279-281 (1993)
    • Balnaves M, 'The Sociology of Information', Journal of Sociology, 29 93-111 (1993)
    • Balnaves M, Caputi P, 'Corporate actors and corporate constructs: To what extent are Personal Constructs personal?', Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 6 119-138 (1993)
    • Kirsty W, Balnaves M, Caputi P, 'Information, Communication and Telecommunications: A Pilot Study of the Behaviour of Citizens', Prometheus: critical studies in innovation, 10 311-322 (1992)
    • Balnaves M, Caputi P, 'Social Equity in Communications Policy', Media Information Australia, 61 76-80 (1991)

  • Conference papers

    • James MB, Balnaves M, Fulton J, 'Situational Theory of the Digital Persona: public relations for non-human internet agents', Refereed Proceedings of The ANZCA Conference 2015: Rethinking Communication, Place and Identity. (2016)
    • Balnaves M, Kerrigan S, King E, McIntyre K, Williams C, 'Creative Industries Entrepreneurship: the Hunter', Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Creating Space in the Fifth Estate (2016)
    • Kerrigan SM, Williams CL, Balnaves M, Hutchinson S, King E, McIntyre K, 'How creative, how industrial: Attitudes to the term creative industries in the Hunter Region', Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Creating Space in the Fifth Estate (2016)
    • McIntyre P, Balnaves M, Kerrigan SM, Williams C, King E, 'Creative industries in the Newcastle LGA: are they reliant on social media?', Refereed Proceedings of the 2014 ANZCA Conference: The digital and the social: communication for inclusion and exchange (2014)
    • Fulton JM, Balnaves M, 'Australia and changes in Western media', Refereed Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Global Networks-Global Divides: Bridging New and Traditional Communication Challenges (2013)
    • Balnaves M, Willson M, Leaver T, 'Entering Farmville: Finding value in social games', Refereed Proceedings of the 2012 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference: Communicating Change and Changing Communication in the 21st Century (2012)
    • Balnaves M, 'The ratings intellectual', Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Communication on the edge 2011 (2011)
    • Balnaves M, 'The social mood reader: Mapping citizen engagement using the semantic web and supercomputing', Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Communication on the edge 2011 (2011)
    • Balnaves M, Hartz-Karp J, Sullivan B, 'Social Media, Climate Change and Schools: the impact of collaborative governance', ANZAPS / WPSC 2011: Proceedings of the 3rd Australian and New Zealand Association of Planning Schools conference and World Planning Schools congress (2011)
    • Leaver T, Balnaves M, Wilson M, 'The ubiquity of information filtration', Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference: Communication on the edge 2011 (2011)
    • Balnaves M, 'Internet Aggregators: The Impact of the Classifiers on Open Communication', Record of Communications and Research Forum 2010 (2010)
    • Balnaves M, Leaver T, Willson M, 'Habermas and the Net', 60th International Communication Association Conference (2010)
    • Balnaves M, Allen M, 'E-governance As Digital Ecosystem: A New Way to Think About  Citizen Engagement and the Internet?', Proceedings of the International Conference on
      e-Government 2009 (2009)
    • Balnaves M, Allen M, 'Is e-Governance a Function of Government or Media? Some Directions for Future Research and Development of Electronically Mediated Citizen Participation', Conference  of the Association of Internet Researchers (2009)
    • Balnaves M, O'Regan T, 'Comparing Television Ratings Conventions: Australian and American approaches to broadcast ratings', Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship: Refereed Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference 2009 (2009)
    • Balnaves M, O'Regan T, 'Survey Wars: The Explosion of Audience Measurement', Record of the Communications Policy & Research Forum 2009 (2009)
    • Rodan D, Balnaves M, 'Democracy to come: Active forums as indicator suites for  e-participation and e-governance', Lecture Notes in Computer Science (2009)
    • Balnaves M, O'Regan T, 'Constructing an audience ratings convention', Power and Place: Refereed Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference 2008 (2008)
    • Aly A, Balnaves M, Chalon C, 'Behavioural Responses to the Terrorism Threat: Applications of the Metric of Fear', Recent advances in security technology (2007)
    • Balnaves M, Luca J, 'Zones of Privacy: A Prototype Information-Sharing Database Based on Moor's Theory of Privacy', Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (2007)
    • Balnaves M, 'The impact of digital personae on privacy: Positive and negative rights in  the case of kids at risk', Empowerment, creativity, innovation: challenging media and communication in the 21st century (2006)
    • Balnaves M, Aly A, 'Islamic communities and media activism in Australia', Empowerment,  creativity, innovation: challenging media and communication in the 21st century (2006)
    • Balnaves M, Aly A, 'Media activism and democracy in Australia', 2006 Communications Policy and Research Forum (2006)
    • Balnaves M, Luca J, 'The impact of digital persona on the future of learning: A case study on digital repositories and the sharing of information about children at risk in Western Australia', ASCILITE 2005 - The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (2005)
    • Balnaves M, Tomlinson-Baillie K, 'Yu-Gi-Oh: Interactive Games Narratives in the Era of Compression', International Journal of Learning (2005)
    • Balnaves M, Scott D, 'Smart communities: Using new media to assist children at risk', 2004 Australia and New Zealand Communication Association Conference Proceedings (ANZCA04) (2004)
    • Balnaves M, Shoesmith B, Walsh L, 'Participatory technologies: The use of the internet in civic participation and democratic processes', The Australian Electronic Governance Conference 2004 (2004)
    • Balnaves M, Varan D, 'Digital television (DTV): An overview of developments in Australia, the USA and the UK', 2004 Australia and New Zealand Communication Association Conference Proceedings (ANZCA04) (2004)
    • Balnaves M, Walsh L, 'What is e-democracy? An introduction', 2004 Australia and New Zealand Communication Association Conference Proceedings (ANZCA04) (2004)
    • Balnaves M, Varan D, 'Digital Television Advertising: Prospects and Challenges for Australia', 2001: A Digital Odyssey (1999)
    • Balnaves M, Caputi P, Rawstorne P, 'Key predictors of adoption of new media: the role of personality in diffusion of innovations', Published Proceedings of the 1998 Communications Research Forum (1998)
    • Balnaves M, Caputi P, Williamson K, 'Basic Telecommunications Needs Model - A Methodology for Assessing Information And Communication Poverty', Regional Interests And Global Issues: The Challenges Of Telecommunications Integration For The Pacific (1992)

  • Professional affiliations

    • Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) journalism section
    • International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
    • Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA)
    • European Consortium of Communication Research (ECCR)
    • International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)

  • Grants

    • Online Money and Fantasy Games – an applied ethnographic study into the new entrepreneurial communities.
      ARC (Australian Research Council), $240,000
    • Transitions to a Sustainable City – Geraldton WA: An applied study intoco-creating sustainability though civic deliberation and social media
      ARC (Australian Research Council),  $358,000
    • The Emergence, Development and Transformation of Media Ratings Conventions and Methodologies in Australia, 1930–2008
      ARC (Australian Research Council),  $265,000
    • Australian responses to the images and discourses of terrorism and the other: establishing a metric of fear
      ARC (Australian Research Council),  $146,000
    • Female Spies 191–1950: real and imagined
      Edith Cowan University, $3,000
    • Media Buying
      Edith Cowan University, $3,000
    • Smart Communities: applied research into integrated government services and regional networked neighbourhoods to support children and young people at risk.
      ARC (Australian Research Council), $125,000
    • Interactive Television Audience Research Laboratory
      ARC (Australian Research Council) $400,000
    • Media Buying in the Marketing and Media Curriculum
      ACNielsen and Murdoch University collaboration Australia, $5,000
    • Governing Media Audiences
      Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, $5,710
    • Infrastructure Support for the Advertisers Federation of Australia/Murdoch University National Online Advertising Archive
      Murdoch University | Australia, $48,000
    • Constructing the Australian Television Audience: an analysis of the role of Australian advertising and marketing trade journals and conferences in conceptualising audiences
      Murdoch University | Australia , $2,475
    • Crossing Cultural Frontiers
      WorldSpace | United States, $5,000
    • Development of the National Online Advertising Archive
      RBIG | Australia, $8,000
    • Driver Education and Information Package, Institute for Research in Safety and Transport, Murdoch University
      Federal Office of Road Safety (now ATSB) | Australia, $40,000
    • Factors Influencing Residential Demand for Broadband Service Subscription in the Australian Capital Territory (stage 1)
      ACTEW | Australia, $10,000
    • Factors Influencing Residential Demand for Broadband Service Subscription in the Australian Capital Territory (stage 2).
      ACTEW | Australia, $40,000
    • Responses of Students, Employers and Educational Providers to the Provision of Narrowband and Broadband Educational Services
      DEET | Australia, $350,000
    • Vice-Chancellor’s Visiting Scholars Scheme
      University of Canberra | Australia, $3,000
    • Evaluation of Student Research Scheme
      Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), $3,000
    • Futures Research in the Televillage
      Telecom Fund for Social and Policy Research in Telecommunications | Australia, $15,000
    • Involving Key Stakeholders in the Community
      University of Canberra | Australia , $40,000
    • The Paperless Working Environment
      Siemens Ltd, $20,000
    • Information and Communication Needs
      RMIT University | Australia, $240,000
    • Telecommunications Policy Research
      ARC (Australian Research Council), $29,000
    • Basic Telecommunications Needs
      Telecom and Telecom Australia Consumer Council | Australia, $42,000
    • Elderly Vietnamese and the Family Migration Program
      Bureau of Immigration Research, $30,000
    • Social Equity and Telecommunications
      Telecom and Telecom Australia Consumer Council | Australia, $7,000
    • Technology and Stress
      RMIT University | Australia, $19,000