More Australian university rankings (2007-Oct)

Ross Williams from Melbourne University’s Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research has ranking the international standing of Australia’s 37 public universities using a scoped methodology;

Overall in research, ANU is ranked first followed by Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland in that order. If scope is ignored Melbourne is first ranked followed by Sydney, Queensland and ANU in that order. — Ross Williams, Melbourne Institute [1]

At the top end of the rankings, allowance for scope moves ANU to first place but the ordering of the other GO8 universities remains unchanged. The result is not surprising given that the ANU medical school is relatively new and the staff profiles of the seven state based GO8 universities are similar. — Ross Williams, Melbourne Institute [2]

[1] Ranking Australian Universities: Controlling for Scope – Executive Summary(PDF) (2007-Oct) [Melbourne Institute]
[2] Ranking Australian Universities: Controlling for Scope (PDF) (2007-Oct) [Melbourne Institute]

Geocaching in Second Life

The worlds first cache that crosses over to a virtual world???

That’s correct folks there is a geocache in Second Life Virtual Geocache (GA0483) on Geocaching Australia. [1]

So how about ‘in world’ geocaching?

Second Life residents can travel to Houlihan, pick up their in-world GPS unit and locate their first cache. The GPS unit is a held item that beeps with increased frequency the closer to the cache. They can then log into the geocaching website and log their find. [2]

Second Life : Geocaching in SL

This will need further investigation

[1] Virtual Geocache (GA0483) [Geocaching Australia]
[2] SLG In the News Again [SLGEOCACHING]
[3] Geocaching in SL (2007-April-04) [SL Games]