Tom Valcanis

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Tom Valcanis (that’s me) could be found sat in school "reading the dictionary." The story is beat up, of course, by my best friend Aaron Brooker. He’d also say I got my pen licence months after the rest of the class because my hands couldn't keep up with my handwriting. This is undoubtedly true.

Communication isn't my passion. I’ve never devoted patches of grey matter for pouring through books, coining memorable phrases or putting words to others' thoughts. Writing flows through me like electricity does a light-bulb, like a purr does a day-old kitten.

When I took to high school, I threw myself at humanities. A Bachelors' degree in Political Science followed. My academic itch wasn't quite scratched after graduation, though.

I returned to university to complete a Masters of Communication and Media Studies, focusing on journalism. Emerging with a coursework GPA of 4.00, I was accepted into the advanced dissertation program mid-way through Semester 1.

The program is reserved for the top 10% of students and applicants are only considered at the end of Semester 2. My paper 'An iPhone in Every Hand: Media Ecology, Communication Structures and the Global Village' was published in ETC: A Review of General Semantics in 2011 and has been cited numerously by students and academics since.