Ozlit () offers more than 500 pages of Australian Literary information, and more than 1100 entries in their Books and Writers database, which is also fully searchable. A search engine is available that allows you to search the whole Ozlit site for information. There is also a links database available that allows you to search for references on writers.
Ozlit offers information in chapters. The Ozlit index page allows the user to simply click on the desirable chapters. The first of these chapters is called Australian Literature. This page offers links to all the available services about Australian Literature that Ozlit provides. Such links include Australian Aboriginal writers list, Australian publishers, book reviews, editorials, literary awards and prizes, and many more. Chapter two, Ozlit magazine – online reading/writing, offers the visitor editorials, poetry, reviews, and short stories. Chapter three, is a page dedicated to young Australian readers, it offers stories for children, but they are not all by Australian writers. Chapter four offers literary links (not all Australian), chapter five offers research and educational links for Australian literature, and chapter six offers links that access all sorts of information related to Australian poetry.
The most useful services relating specifically to Australian Literature that are available include the books and writers database. It allows you to simply type the author or book your looking for in the search engine, and it sends you directly to your desired link. For example, by searching Sara Douglass I am lead to a link that offers a short biography and a list of her books, some of which are also accessible.
iii. In no more than 300 words critically compare the two sites. Which gives the better service? Which is more user friendly? Which is more information rich? Which is aesthetically more pleasing to use?
It can be clearly seen that the designer of both these sites are dedicated to paying
credit to Australian literature of all kinds. They both offer clear-
cut access to the information provided. The information on both sites is easily
accessible. Ozlit is much more information rich compared to Middlemiss’ site, but
it is for this reason that the Middlemiss website is slightly easier to browse through.
Nevertheless, the Ozlit website is much more information rich, in that it provides
the user with much more links outside its own homepage and it has a lot more
authors and books than the other website. It also provides a search engine, which
makes searching for specific information much easier. It is also better in that
it is much more interactive than the Middlemiss site. It allows people to join in
discussions and debates about Australian literature via e-mailing. They also
provide reviews of Australian books, and even offer a research and educational aid
page, dedicated to assisting people in studies of Australian Literature.
Ozlit would have to be more user friendly, simply because it offers a lot more
information. Its vast amounts of information may sometimes lead u astray, but it
every page has direct access back to the main page when you get lost, although
this may get tedious at times. Middlemiss’ sites ‘lack’ of information compared to
Ozlit makes browsing through the website much more easier. It is a cycle of
Information within the one website, so the chances of getting lost are minimal.
Whereas Ozlit provides other links and you will often find yourself lost or back
where you started. Middlemiss’ website would have to be more aesthetically
pleasing to use, simply because of the straightforward structure of the web page.
Its design is consistent and linking sites follow through, every linking site also
allows you return to the homepage. The font and its colour schemes are
co- ordinated and easy on the eyes, whereas the Ozlit website’s colours are a bit
dramatic, and the advertisements do getting annoying. Overall, both sites had
positive and negative aspects about them, the information rich site would have to
be Ozlit, but the aesthetically more pleasing site would have to be Middlemiss.
iv. In no more than one page, use both sites to compile a list of relevant
resources for any one of the authors studied in our unit.
Both of the sites listed above provided a short biography of David Malouf. They spoke of his birthplace, Brisbane, and his parent’s origins, Lebanon and London. They also list the literary prizes he has won, and what he has won them for.
The Middlemiss website provides a lists of all of Malouf’s works, some of which have further links to a description of that book. The awards that he has won are also accessible; they lead to a site that describes what sort of award it is.
This site also directs the user to a site by Jorg Heinke, in Germany, who is writing his thesis on David Malouf and has collected all his research onto his David Malouf page. (Which is not working at the moment.)
Cecile Fouache, from the University de Rouen in France, has done a fair amount of research on a PhD thesis on contemporary Australian literature including a large bibliography of . His site offers a list of all Malouf’s works, as well as another extensive list of general articles about Malouf. Available also are articles on Malouf’s works. These articles do not come in full text on the net, and are only available by going to a library and searching for the journals.
Ozlit provides a lot more other links relevant to Malouf and his works. (Most of which are currently inaccessible, some of the ones I have been able to retrieve are done so through a keyword search from ) Some of which are reviews on his works (which I am having trouble accessing). Also available is an interview () with Malouf, who talks about his book The Conversations at Curlow Creek.
Unfortunately, the Randomhouse website About David Malouf has expired.
An online search is available at the Westerly Magazine website, although it only offers the issue number that any reviews relating to Malouf and his works, and not a full text of the article.
Telnet into the National Library of Australia is also available, but it only offers a catalogue to search for available material on Malouf and his works.
The site offers offline resources that are available, these include by Imagined Lives: A Study of David Malouf, David Malouf by Ivor Indyk, and by , , Barry Andrews (which is a good general reference work on Australian writers in general).
v. Write a 300 word evaluation of the usefulness of the material you have found
for this particular author.
Some of the relevant resources available on the primary websites are useful.
Although some are not, simply because they are unavailable, or have been
expired. But those that are available (through the google search) prove useful, for
example the interview. If access was available to the necessary locations
(i.e. The National Library of Australia) the catalogue search available on Ozlit
would also prove useful. Therefore the only really useful resources are available
offline and at a library. The links that are available are therefore only helpful
because they offer complete references to the offline resources which makes.
searching for them easier. For example on the Cecile Fouache website, references
such as these: DEVER, Maryanne. "Secret Companions: The Continuity of David
Malouf's Fiction." World Literature Written in English, 26.1 (1986): 62-74, are
available. Not only are they complete references, there is also a long list available
on articles relating to his works. It is also my belief that the books written about
David Malouf would prove useful, the links that are available provide the name of
the book as well as the author. The Fouache website again would have to be the
most useful because, unlike the Ozlit website, full references of the books are
available. The Ozlit website does not provide the publisher and year of publication.
Middlemiss, Perry. Literature. 16th September 2003. 23rd September 2003.
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Schmidt, Peter & Mareya Schmidt. 12th January 2001. 23rd September 2003. < >
