Building an ARK.

The Australian Policy and History network was set up in March 2010 in a collaborative effort led by historians from The University of New England, Deakin and the ANU. It aims at linking historians with policy makers, the media and the public.

David Lowe from Deakin is one of the sites founders and he explained how the site worked in a recent article for D!ssent. "Essentially, historians whose work finds echoes in current policy debates are encouraged to post short, digestible syntheses or slightly longer reports, that can be found easily in an online environment".

The site itself seems to still be a work in progress but it is clear from the content available already that APH could become a valuable resource not just for policy makers but anyone with an interest in providing themselves with an historical platform on current issues, a service the mainstream media is desperately bad at providing.

Here is a link for just one example of the types of content the site provides. Its an article by Bronwyn Hopwood of the University of New England (do people call it The University of New England, or can I just say UNE?) arguing for the establishment of an Australian Repository of Knowledge (ARK) that would be available to all Australian universities, secondary schools and public libraries to ensure the lasting availability of and access to academic material and also to encourage its use by the general public.