VICTORIA L. REDFERN – BIOGRAPHY

VICTORIA L. REDFERN

Scholar, Innovator, and Storyteller

Victoria L. Redfern is a former academic, information scientist, narrative cultural historian, and entrepreneur with a distinguished career in Information Technology and Information Science/Studies (Research) as well as education, cultural history, performance art, and business leadership. She holds four postgraduate qualifications:

Graduate Certificate Professional Development Education

Graduate Diploma Professional Development Education

Master of Educational Leadership

Master of Information Studies (Research)

Her Master of Information Studies (Applied Research) and experience enhance her advanced knowledge of information management, library science, archives and, data management.

Victoria also studied Historiography at the Australian National University (ANU, non-degree), enhancing her expertise as a cultural historian.

Victoria’s professional roles include:

Academic and Librarian: University tutor/lecturer, academic librarian, and later a role with the Australian Federal Government.

Student Leadership: Elected Postgraduate Student Representative on the University of Canberra Student Union Board for three consecutive years. She was publicly commended for outstanding contributions, such as: Harmony Days, Open Days, Library Weeks, the University of Canberra 20th Year celebrations to the university community and students.

Mature Aged Students Orientation: She served as the annual invited Guest Speaker for the Mature Aged Students Orientation at the University of Canberra, inspiring both first-time and returning learners.

Museum Governance: Victoria was a Board Member of the Australian National Museum of Education for ten years, shaping educational heritage.

Performance Art and Cultural Engagement: Victoria trained at the Australian Academy of Music Theatre at the Sydney Opera House, performing in its Recording Hall and Concert Hall, and later in Sydney nightclubs. As a Foundation Member of the Joan Sutherland Society of Sydney, she contributed to celebrating Australia’s iconic opera singer and fundraising for Annual Scholarships encouraging early-career opera singers.

Entrepreneurship: Founder, Owner, and CEO of Redfern International Enterprises Pty Ltd in Australia. Since 1996 Victoria actively continues to run her company which leverages her expertise in innovation and information science to drive international business ventures.

Victoria’s work spans academic publications, digital innovation, creative projects, and ongoing entrepreneurial leadership, including novels, a musical, an opera, and a forthcoming historical book on the former Mary’s Mount Passionist Monestery in Goulburn, NSW, Australia.

Victoria’s 2005 Applied Research Innovation – Rootza, her patented tool, was researched, designed and created from 1996 for her 2005 Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Information Studies. The thesaural/thesaucratic database for core concept searching and the use of enhanced digital literacies for undergraduate students, the general public, business, corporate users, and education continues to play a role in the history of information digital literacies. The organising of web information and embedding instructional prompts to guide critical evaluation and efficient searching remains valuable to this day.

Her applied methodology—prototyping, testing, and refining in diverse settings—made Rootza a versatile solution for academic, public, professional, and educational information-seeking challenges.

Early Recognition: Victoria entered Rootza – her core concept search tool into the United States of America Webby Awards in 2005-2006, highlighting Rootza’s cutting-edge potential during its development phase.

Patent Status: Victoria lodged patent applications with IP Australia in 2005 and with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2006, securing Rootza’s innovative status in global educational technology. Both patents were granted.

International Recognition: In 2007, Victoria was one of 7 finalists at the IASTED Web-Based Education Conference in Chamonix, Switzerland where she was invited to present her paper “World Wide Web: Online Core Concept Thesaucratic Database Development to Improve Information Seeking” and, demonstrate the software which showcased Rootza’s prototype.

Promotional Video: Victoria produced and directed a 3-minute demonstration video, launched on YouTube on March 24, 2011 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPNZ-lIfduU).  The video illustrates Rootza’s thesaural/thesaucratic interface and its role in education.

Key Publication on Rootza

Victoria’s PhD research culminated in the foundational book:

Title: 21st Century Digital Information Literacy: Undergraduate Students and Information Literacy: The Rootza Solution. 2011. Lambert Academic Publishing (ISBN: 978-3659217906).

Year: 2011

Publisher: Lambert Academic Publishing (ISBN: 978-3659217906)

Key Highlight: Details of her 2005 applied research, from identifying digital literacy gaps to designing, testing, and patenting Rootza for students, the public, business, corporate users, and education.

Naturally, Victoria has also published the results of her research as well as papers on the subject of student digital information literacies in various academic journals.

As a resident of the former Mary’s Mount Passionist Monastery in Goulburn, New South Wales (now apartments), she was inspired to write a social history on the monastery.  This reflects her expertise as a narrative cultural historian.

Title: Passion and Desire: Mary’s Mount Passionist Monastery – A Historical Perspective features black-and-white archival photos, personal reflection from her residency, and an artificial intelligence generated illustration.

Details: Researched over 4-5 months in 2025, with editing completed in August.  This book will be published by her own company Victoria L. Digital Publications. The book will be published on this the Victoria L. Travelreads website. 

Significance:  The history of Marys Mount Passionate Monestery weaves her experience as a monastery resident with historical archival materials which craft an immersive narrative on faith, Catholic Passionist life and to a lesser degree, community in Australia’s NSW Southern Highlands.

Victoria’s Other Creative Works includes:

Three Completed Novels: Focused on international crime involving art fraud, set in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia, with two books slated for self-publication in 2026, and a third in progress.  These works weave intrigue and cultural insight, showcasing her narrative skill in a global crime context.

Music and Opera: Original works reflecting her performance art training at the Sydney Opera House and her engagement with the Joan Sutherland Society of Sydney – now the Joan Sutherland Richard Bonynge Foundation.

Connecting Redfern International Enterprises to Victoria’s creative projects.

As Founder, Owner, and CEO of Redfern International Enterprises Pty Ltd, her  entrepreneurial leadership infuses her creative projects with a global, strategic perspective.

Victoria’s company focus on international business ventures mirroring the international scope of her art fraud novels set in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia, where cross-border intrigue and cultural nuances drive the narratives.

Victoria’s experience running a business informs the high-stakes, investigative plotting of these novels, reflecting the same analytical rigor seen in Rootza’s development for business, corporate users, and education.

Similarly, her management of Redfern International Enterprises may streamline the logistics of her creative output, such as navigating self-publishing via Victoria L. Travel Reads, (Victoria L. Digital Publishing) for her novels.

Victoria’s entrepreneurial mindset—evident in Rootza’s 2005-2006 Webby entry and 2005/2006 patents—parallels the innovative storytelling in her historical and crime works, blending precision with creativity to captivate diverse audiences.

Why This Matters:

From Rootza’s 2005-2006 Webby Awards entry, the 2005 IP Australia patent, and 2006 US patent for students, public, business, corporate users, and education, to the 2007 IASTED finalist honour in Chamonix, the 2011 book and video, her leadership of Redfern International Enterprises Pty Ltd, and now Victoria L. Travel Reads under her Victoria L. Digital Publishing and the publishing of her further novels and academic articles bridge Victoria’s experience in applied research, digital innovation, narrative storytelling, and entrepreneurship.

Victoria’s four postgraduate qualifications (Graduate Certificate Professional Development Education, Graduate Diploma Professional Development Education, Master of Educational Leadership, Master of Information Studies (Research) and ANU Historiography studies underpin this legacy.

Victoria’s commended service to the University of Canberra, separate role as Guest Speaker for the Mature Aged Students Orientation (for first-time and returning learners), Board Member of the Australian National Museum of Education (ANME) and Foundation Member status with the Joan Sutherland Society of Sydney highlights her educational and cultural impact.

Victoria’s art fraud novels set in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia, and Passion and Desire, showcase her narrative versatility, from global crime to cultural history.

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Representing her company Redfern International Enterprises and Victoria L. Digital Publications, Victoria is a member of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).  Her interest lies in Top Level Domains (TLDs) which are underutilised in Australia.  Following, she has become involved in an information program to help address this issue and assist Australian business.

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