About Common Ground

Founded as an educational and academic publisher in 1984, Common Ground has evolved into a producer and manager of content for print and the Internet. The company works in four related areas, Common Ground Conferences, Common Ground Publishing, Common Ground Research and Common Ground Software.

Common Ground Conferences

Common Ground has managed numerous major national and international conferences since 1989, including (since 1997) websites with e-commerce facilities, and online and print publication of conference materials. Some conferences are initiated by Common Ground (such as the Learning Conference and the Humanities Conference), and others are conducted on contract to other organisations (such as the Art of Dissent and the Fourth Pillar Conference for the Cultural Development Network).

Common Ground offers innovative technology support for conventional conferences, including: in-house web development; online ecommerce registration; online call for papers and publication of conference papers in electronic and print formats which can be purchased online. For further details, see Common Ground Conferences.

Common Ground Publishing

Common Ground's principal areas of activity in the field of publishing are:

  • Publication of trade and academic books: in conventional offset printed format; digitally printed format; and in electronic formats which can be downloaded through the Internet. See Common Ground Publishing.
  • Publishing service provision, enabling organisations to publish more effectively using our suite of dynamic human and electronic resources encompassing editorial, design, layout, typesetting and electronic formatting, marketing and distribution functions.
  • Development of Internet-based publishing systems designed to create a low-cost, high-tech publishing solution for small organisations who require short print runs, an online bookshop and an electronic environment within which content storage, management and production functions can be managed in a distributed environment. See CGPublisher.

Common Ground Research

Common Ground’s Principal areas of research activity are:

  • The Centre for Workplace Communication and Culture. Founded in 1991, this centre has undertaken some one hundred major research and development projects in the areas of workplace culture, communication, language learning and cultural diversity. The Centre has also managed two major international workplace change conferences. See Workplace Cultures.
  • Creator to Consumer in a Digital Age. A joint venture with RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, this is a major research program examining the future of publishing. Our research efforts have been focussed on the effects of digital technologies on the printing and publishing industry in Australia, funded by the Federal Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. This work is now recognised internationally as the most extensive research in recent times into the nature of technological and business change in all tiers of the publishing supply chain. See C-2-C Project.

Common Ground Software

Since 1999, Common Ground has also become extensively involved in software development, built upon the Common Ground Markup Language (CGML). This software development has been in the following areas:

  • CGPublisher for publishers and knowledge producing communities who are would-be publishers. See CGPublisher.
  • CGPublisher for schools, linked with the Learning By Design curriculum design templates. See Learning by Design.
  • CGPublisher for universities, managing research, teaching and learner content. See CGPublisher.
  • CGPublisher for organisations, a knowledge management tool. See CGPublisher.
  • CGLexicon, or the XML schema which is the foundation for all Common Ground software, and the basis for the Common Ground Dictionary. See CGLexicon.