Dr. Jason Sargent lectures in the field of Information Systems in the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Jason’s early career was spent in border protection. After performing a variety of roles (Contraband Enforcement Team, Primary Line/Immigration, Snr Boarding & Patrol Officer, and Communications), Jason succumbed to the 7-yr occupation itch and ventured into academia as a mature aged student, and despite needing to make the jump from a Commodore 64 to Pentium 133, embarked head-first and head-strong into a 4-yr ICT Degree! Despite this inauspicious start, Jason earned a PhD in Education from the University of Sydney, first class Honours with double specialisation of Business Information Systems & Electronic Commerce from the University of Wollongong and two technical Diplomas in IT (Network Engineering & PC & Network Support with Distinction) from the Illawarra Institute of Technology.
Jason’s doctoral candidature was based in the Centre for Research on Computer Supported Learning and Cognition, Faculty of Education & Social Work. His thesis explored complexities in attainment of higher education by refugees on the Thai-Burma Border through a trinity of theoretical lenses: social capital, communities of practice and blended learning and came about through his association with the Melbourne-based Refugee Tertiary Education Committee (now Outreach of Universities to Refugees–OUR). His doctoral fieldwork was carried out near Mae Pa and Mae Sot, Thailand. Jason’s undergraduate Honours thesis, titled “The Digital Aid Framework”, introduced to the field of technology-enabled humanitarian relief a conceptual end-to-end technology integration framework for humanitarian (refugee) relief operations. His DAF thesis was awarded the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Award for highest grade achieved in an honours project in the Faculty of Informatics, University of Wollongong, in 2003 and his ACM Ubiquity article summarising the DAF was subsequently used as course material at the University of California-Davis.
Jason’s research has been published as conference papers, journal articles and textbook chapters in Australia, America, Germany, Italy, China and Chile. His current research focus is on the Extensible Digital Aid Framework (xDAF) and on the use of social media, especially Twitter, in the humanitarian crisis domain. He is a firm believer that his role as an academic consists of research + teaching in equal value and that Joseph Joubert was 100% correct — To teach is to learn twice.