Dr Eleanor Sandry
Western Australia, 2024
e[dot]sandry[@]curtin[dot]edu[dot]au
elsan[@]cantab[dot]net

Educational Qualifications

PhD in English, Communication and Cultural Studies (2012)
University of Western Australia (UWA)
“Close encounters with robots: re-evaluating otherness in communication”.
This thesis explores a wide range of communication theory by analysing human-robot interactions from science, art and science fiction. Its central aim is to examine the ways in which otherness and difference can be valued as part of communication, as opposed to being regarded as a problem that must be overcome.

Masters in Communication Studies (2005)
UWA
Completion of this masters by coursework included a thesis, “Lectures as landscapes of temporary shared reality: interdisciplinary theories in support of positive educational effects”.
This research considered communication in the lecture theatre, providing a theoretical basis to argue that lectures can be an effective part of the tertiary education process.

BA Honours in Natural Sciences 2:1 (1991)
University of Cambridge, UK

Publications (note that, where possible, preprints are available either here or on the Full Text page for material not linked here as open access)

Book
Sandry, E. (2015). Robots and Communication. Pivot Series. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK. (Full details from Palgrave with free sample material. Also available for purchase from online book sellers including Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.)

Book Chapters
Sandry E. (in press). Anthropomorphism and its Discontents. Handbook of the Ethics of AI. Ed. David Gunkel. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Sandry, E. (2023). HMC and Theories of Human-Technology Relations. The SAGE Handbook of Human-Machine Communication. Eds. Andrea L. Guzman, Rhonda McEwen & Steve Jones. Sage.

Sandry, E. (2019). Interdependence in collaboration with robots. Routledge Companion to Disability and Media. Eds. Katie Ellis, Beth Haller & Gerard Goggin. Routledge: New York.

Sandry, E. (2018). Taking social machines beyond the ideal humanlike other. A Networked Self: Human Augmentics, Artificial Intelligence, Sentience. Ed. Zizi Papacharissi. Routledge: New York.

Sandry, E. (2018). Aliveness and the off-switch in human-robot relations. Human-Machine Communication. Ed. Andrea Guzmann. Peter Lang: New York.

Sandry, E. (2016). The Potential of Otherness in Robotic Art. Robotics and Art – Exploring an Unlikely Symbiosis. Eds. Damith Herath, Christian Kroos, and Stelarc. Springer: Singapore.

Sandry, E. (2015). Rethinking Communication: Care Robots as Collaborative Assistants. Re-Orientation — Translingual Transcultural Transmedia (pp. 196-209)Eds. John Hartley and Weiguo Qu. Fudan University Press: Shanghai, China.

Sandry, E. (2014). Same … yet Other: Interpersonal Communication across Alternate Worlds. The Multiple Worlds of Fringe (pp. 77-92). Eds. Sherry Ginn, Tanya R. Cochran, and Paul Zinder. McFarland: North Carolina.

Journal Articles
Webster, L., Leaver, T., & Sandry, E. (2022). Transmedia storytelling during the COVID-19 pandemic: Marvel’s WandaVision and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. First Monday, 27(7). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v27i7.11784 (Open Access)

Sandry, E. (2022). Who or what is creative? Collaborating with machines to make visual art. Transformations, 36, 54–70. http://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Trans36_04_sandry.pdf (Open Access)

Sandry, E., Gomez, R. & Nakamura, K. (2021). Art, Design and Communication Theory in Creating the Communicative Social Robot ‘Haru’. Frontiers in Robotics and AI: The Art of Human-Robot Interaction, Creative Perspectives from Design and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.577107 (Open Access)

Sandry, E. & Peaty, G. Joyful Encounters: Learning to Play Well with Machines. (2021). Cultural Science Journal, 12(1): 44–58. doi: http://doi.org/10.5334/csci.137 (Open Access)

Sandry, E. (2018). Automation and human relations with the private vehicle: from automobiles to autonomous cars. Media International Australia 166(1): 11-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X17737644 (subscription required, author’s accepted manuscript)

Sandry, E. (2017). Creative Collaborations with Machines. Philosophy & Technology, 30(3): 305–319. doi: 10.1007/s13347-016-0240-4 (subscription required, author’s accepted manuscript PDF.)

Sandry, E. (2015). Re-evaluating the form and communication of social robots: the benefits of collaborating with machinelike robots. International Journal of Social Robotics, 7(3): 335-346. doi: 10.1007/s12369-014-0278-3 (subscription required, author’s accepted manuscript PDF.)

Sandry, E. & Willson, M. (2014). Interruptions: reconsidering the immaterial in human engagements with technology. Transformations 25. PDF

Sandry, E. (2014). “Face to face” learning from others in Facebook groups. Digital Culture & Education 6(1): 1-12. HTML/PDF

Sandry, E. (2012). Dancing around the subject with robots: ethical communication as a “triple audiovisual reality”. PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication 4(1): 79-90. (An extended version of the ANZCA paper shown below.) PDF

Refereed Conference Publications
Aylett M., Gomez, R., Sandry, E. & Sabanovic, S. (2023). Unsocial Robots: How Western Culture Dooms Consumer Social Robots to a Society of One. Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3582751

Vasylkiv, Y., Ragel de la Torre, R., Chulani, J., Merino, L., Sandry, E., Brock, H., Nakamura, K., Irani, P. & Gomez, R. (2021). Design and Development of a Teleoperation System for Affective Tabletop Robot Haru. IEEE International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR), 10-13 November, 2021. IEEE. https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-90525-5_49

Vasylkiv, Y., Zhen, M., Li, G., Sandry, E., Brock, H., Nakamura, K., Irani, P., & Gomez, R. (2021). Automating Behavior Selection for Affective Telepresence Robot. IEEE International Conference on Robots and Automation (ICRA), 30 May-5 June 2021. IEEE.

Sandry, E. (2018). Encounter, Story and Dance: Human-Machine Communication and the Design of Human-Technology Interactions. Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI ’18) 4-6 December 2018. ACM. PDF

Sandry, E. (2011). Dancing around the subject with robots: ethical communication as a “triple audiovisual reality”.
Published in the Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2011 Conference, “Communication on the edge: Shifting boundaries and identities”. Proceedings (Sandry PDF available from list)

Sandry, E. (2008), Are workshops a valuable way to engage the future student? Evaluating workshops and tutorials in Women’s Studies. Published in the Proceedings of the 17th Annual Teaching and Learning Forum 2008, “Preparing for the graduate of 2015”. HTML

Sandry, E. (2006). Positively speaking – actively listening: interdisciplinary reflections on lecturing as valuable in higher education.
Published in the Proceedings of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) 2006 Conference, “Critical visions: thinking, learning and researching in higher education”. PDF

Invited Talks
Virtuous human-robot assemblages: trust and tempered anthropomorphism. Interdisciplinary Workshop on Robots & AI in Society, 8-9 November 2018, University of Western Sydney.

Aliveness and the off-switch in human-robot relations. UWA Day of Ideas, 16 October 2017, University of Western Australia.

Panel member for Robots and Art book launch, 13 August 2016, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, http://pica.org.au/show/robots-and-art-exploring-an-unlikely-symbiosis/

Sandry, E. & Ellis, K. Depending on technology, DISRUPTED Festival of Ideas, 1 November 2014, State Library of Western Australia.

Communication and Otherness in Robotic Art, for the “Robots and Art: Misbehaving Machines” workshop as part of the International Conference for Social Robotics (ICSR) 2014, Sydney, Australia. (Video linked from title.)

Sandry, E. & Stelarc. Art and Robotics. IEEE-RAS Response Robotics Summer School, 29 September 2014, Perth, http://roboticart.org/ra2014/

Robots, Animals and Humans. presented at ZUMC Executive Staff Development Program, Curtin University, 23 July, 2014

(In)dependent Robot-Assisted Living. Culture+8 New times, new zones, Margaret River, 6 June, 2014

Robots, Animals and Humans: from proposal to thesis and beyond. ZUMC PhD Induction Program, Curtin University, 18 February, 2014

‘Tempered’ Anthropomorphism and/or Zoomorphism. 11 June 2013, Bristol Robotics Laboratory, UK.

Conference and Seminar Presentations
International Communication Association (ICA) Conference 2020, Fully-Online.
Presented paper, “Communicating with “Haru”: From Prototype to Experimental Design”.

International Communication Association (ICA) Pre-conference 2020, “Open Questions in Human-Machine Communication”, Fully-Online.
Presented paper, “Researching long-term interactions with Haru: open questions and the value of qualitative research”.

Open Literacy Research Symposium, Tencent and Curtin University Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT) 30 September – 1 October, 2019, Fremantle, WA.
Presented joint paper, Sandry, E. & Peaty, G. “Learning to Play Well with Others: Robots, Bots and Humans”.

Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI ’18) 4-6 December 2018, Melbourne, Australia.
Presented paper, “Encounter, Story and Dance: Human-Machine Communication and the Design of Human-Technology Interactions”.

International Communication Association (ICA) Conference 2017, San Diego, US.
Presented paper, “Communication theory and the activity, agency and alterity of machines”.

International Communication Association (ICA) Pre-conference 2017, “Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents”, San Diego, USA.
Presented paper, “Vehicular interventions: theorising human-machine communication on the road now and in the future”.

International Communication Association (ICA) Post-conference 2016, “Communicating with Machines: The Rising Power of Digital Interlocutors in Our Lives”, Fukuoka, Japan.
Presented paper, “Negotiating power, aliveness and the off-switch in human-robot relations”.

International Communication Association (ICA) Conference 2016, “Communicating with Power”, Fukuoka, Japan.
Presented paper, “Communication theory, critical disability studies and technologies for collaborative in(ter)dependence”.

Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2015 Conference, “Rethinking Communication, Space and Identity”, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Presented paper, “Activity, agency and communication in human interactions with non-humanoid robots”.

Robo-philosophy 2014 conference, Aarhus, Denmark.
Remotely presented paper, “Re-evaluating the form and communication of social robots“. (Video and abstract linked from title.)

British Society for Literature and Science conference 2014, Guildford, UK.
Presented paper, “Minding the gap: creating new knowledge by respecting interdisciplinary difference”.

Teaching and Learning Forum 2014, Perth, Australia.
Presented paper, “Improving lecture engagement: Online’s relationship with Face-to-Face? ‘It’s complicated'”.

Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2013 Conference, “Global Networks – Global Divides”, Perth/Fremantle, Australia.
Presented paper, “Making ‘Extreme Eye Contact’ with Amanda Palmer in Offline and Online Encounters”.

International Communication Association (ICA) 2013 Preconference, “Conditions of Mediation”, London, UK.
Presented paper, “Mediation and the revelation of a ‘face’ in encounters between selves and others online”.

Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2012 Conference, “Communicating Change and Changing Communication in the 21st Century”, Adelaide, Australia.
Presented paper, “Ethics in the Face of Asymmetry: Flexible Relationships between Changing Communicators”.

British Society for Literature and Science conference 2012, Oxford, UK.
Presented paper, “Analysing the science and art of communication by considering interactions between humans and machines in Iain M. Banks’ The Player of Games“.

Australia-Asia-Pacific-Institute (AAPI) Seminar series 2011, “We are not alone: understanding and explaining human’s relations with the nonhuman world”, Curtin University.
Presented paper, “Re-evaluating otherness in communication with non-humanoid robots”.

Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) 2011 Conference, “Communication on the edge: Shifting boundaries and identities”, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Presented refereed paper, “Dancing around the subject with robots: ethical communication as a ‘triple audiovisual reality'”.

School of Social and Cultural Studies, UWA
2010 Graduate Conference, “Grey Matters: Navigating the In-between in Social and Cultural Studies”.
Presented paper, “Emotion and Reason in Communication: Navigating a Course between Self and Other”, winning the prize for best 20-minute paper.

Attendance and presentation at:
STEP (Science, Technology and Economic Progress)
National Doctoral Program 2008.
Theme: “Technological Rhythms, Socio-Cultural Change”.
Hosted by hosted by the University of Western Sydney, Parramatta Campus

School of Social and Cultural Studies, UWA
2008 Graduate Conference, “Over the Threshold”.
Presented paper, “Communicating with radically different technological others as companion species”.

Australian Women’s and Gender Studies Association (AWGSA) conference 2008, Perth, Australia.
Presented paper, “Being with ‘it’: creating un-gendered others”.

British Society for Literature and Science conference 2008, Keele, UK.
Presented paper, “Beautiful machines: robotic technology and conceptions of a ‘machine aesthetic’”.

Teaching and Learning Forum 2008, Perth, Australia.
Presented refereed paper, “Are workshops a valuable way to engage the future student? Evaluating workshops and tutorials in Women’s Studies”.

Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts conference 2007, “CODE”, Portland, Maine, USA.
Presented paper, “Machine codes in conversations with embodied emotional robots”.

Limina conference 2007, UWA.
Presented paper, “Relating to strange beings: exploring the alterity of embodied emotional robots”.

British Society for Literature and Science conference 2007, Birmingham, UK.
Presented paper, “Face and body in developing human-robot relations”.

School of Social and Cultural Studies, UWA
2006 Graduate Conference, “Off the Map: Charting New Cartographies in Social and Cultural Studies”.
Presented paper, “Using science fiction to map borderlands between the humanities and the sciences”.

HERDSA 2006 Conference, “Critical visions: Thinking, Learning and Researching in Higher Education”, Perth, WA.
Presented refereed paper, “Positively speaking – actively listening: interdisciplinary reflections on lecturing as valuable in higher education”.

School of Social and Cultural Studies, UWA
2005 Graduate Conference, “Intersections: Crossing Borders and Blurring Boundaries”.
Presented paper, “Lectures as temporary shared realities”.

Scholarships, Awards and Prizes

Faculty of Humanities Academic Study Program 2023 (six months)
MCASI Small Grant 2019
Faculty of Humanities Academic Study Program 2017 (six months)
Curtin Faculty of Humanities Book of the Year Award (ECR) 2016
Curtin Faculty of Humanities Journal Article of the Year Award (ECR) 2016
MCCA Small Grants x3 2015
Curtin RPI Grant 2014 (Rounds 1 and 2)
Curtin eScholar Award 2013
Curtin RPI Grant 2013
ANZCA Conference Travel Bursary 2011
UWA School of Social and Cultural Studies Conference Prize for Best Paper 2010
UWA Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Postgraduate Award in both 2008 and 2007
Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts Conference Travel Award 2007
UWA Teaching Internship 2007
Australian Postgraduate Award from 2006

Professional Memberships

International Communication Association (ICA)
Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA)
Society for Literature Science and the Arts (SLSA)
British Society for Literature and Science (BSLS)

Other Appointments

Human-Machine Communication Journal Editorial Board from 2018
Member of the Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT), Curtin University from 2013
Journal of Literature and Science (JLS) Advisory Board Member from 2013
Cultural Science Journal, CCAT Cultural Science Team 2018/2019
Member of the Limina Journal Editorial Collective 2006/2007

Research supervision:

  • Internet Communications Project – student projects include: internship projects; analysis of AI and political communication through social media; managing social media at work, the potential effects of changes to data privacy laws in Europe, influencer strategies on YouTube, the role and impact of the Internet of Things in the development of smart cities, creation of a web series: “Copyright: Innovation or Frustration”
  • Honours – student projects include: creating short film documentaries on gaming communities in Perth as part of an analysis of these communities; analysing creative fiction as a mode of communication alongside academic writing; exploring made-for-internet films, the produser and the co-existence of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media.
  • Masters – projects include: analysis of the implications of web technologies for ceramicists; exploration of telepresence robots and accessibility; analysis of discussions around human-brain interfaces; investigation into digitisation, convergence, collaboration, and participation in relation to theatre; an analysis of football (soccer) clubs, their digital branding and effective social media strategies.
  • PhD – projects include: analysing the sociotechnical imaginaries around AI and media; exploring the relationship between Twitch streamers, the games they play and their audiences; analysing transmedia current and future strategies; investigating how communication technology professionals engage with technology.

Coordinating, lecturing and tutoring:

  • Web Communications
  • Writing on the Web

Teaching and Research Employment

Senior Lecturer, December 2018 – ongoing, Internet Studies, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University.
Lecturer, June 2014 – December 2018, Internet Studies, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University.
CCI Research Fellow, August 2013 – January 2014, Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University.
Early Career Development Fellowship, June 2012 – June 2014, Department of Internet Studies, Curtin University
.
PhD, Masters and Honours Supervision across various projects relating to online communication, human-technology relations and communication theory.
Coordinating and teaching across a the discipline’s undergraduate and graduate taught units.
Lead unit coordinator for Web Communications and Writing on the Web.
Writing and presenting research.

Web Communications and Web Media, Curtin University, Semester one, 2012.
Tutor for these units in Internet Studies.

Web Communications, Curtin University, Semesters one and two, 2010.
Tutor and workshop facilitator for this introductory unit in Internet Studies.

Communication Studies 1101, Human Technology: Debating Communication, UWA, Semester two, 2009.
Tutor and guest lecturer for this introductory unit in Communication Studies.
Guest lecture, “The Net, Blogs and Interactivity”.

Communication Studies 3301, Case Studies in Communication, The Importance of Story, UWA, Semester one, 2009.
Tutor, guest lecturer and workshop facilitator for this upper level unit in Communication Studies.
Guest lecture, “Your ‘vocation’ stories: personal reflection as storying”.

Women’s Studies 2201, Sex, Bodies, Spaces: Gender & Pop Culture, UWA, Semester one, 2009.
Guest lecture, “Reproducing Technologies”.

Tutoring Services International, 2009 – 2010.
Individual tutoring for undergraduate and postgraduate students, including thesis structuring, formatting and editing advice for research students.

Communication Studies 1101, Human Technology: Debating Communication, UWA, Semester two, 2007.
Tutor and guest lecturer (two lectures) for this introductory unit in Communication Studies.  Also completed curriculum development for a module in this unit, developing a lecture, designing a tutorial activity and choosing readings.
Guest lectures, “Language and Code” and “Self and Other: Humans and Machines”.

Women’s Studies 2201, Sex, Bodies, Spaces: Gender & Pop Culture, UWA, Semester one, 2007.
Tutor, guest lecturer and workshop facilitator for this upper level unit in Women’s Studies.
Guest lecture, “Reproducing Technologies”.

October 1991 – June 1992
Supervisor in History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, UK.

General Employment

July 2004 – March 2006
Educational Technology Developer/Web Developer, Multimedia Centre, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UWA.
Worked on the development of tailored simulations and associated websites for use in the teaching of French Language and German Cinema Studies.  Also completed the custom build of online training modules in WebCT.

February 2004
Freelance Website Developer
Freelance project developing the successful funding application website for the Network for Early European Research, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UWA.

January 2003 – January 2004
CygNET Web Coordinator, UWA Library
Working on the Library website, and also providing technical training and support to the library staff who provided and formatted its content.

November 1992 – July 2002
Working as an IT consultant, systems analyst, designer and developer in the UK.
In many of these roles I was responsible for preparing training documents and running training for staff in bespoke IT systems.

Teaching-related IT Skills and Experience

  • Experienced in many aspects of maintaining a web presence, including writing content and the integration of many different Web 2.0 tools
  • Expert user of Blackboard including uploading content, discussion boards and uploading marks and marked work
  • Designer and developer of a variety of Web-based Learning Systems while at the Multimedia Centre in UWA