As we settled into our seats for the flight back to Perth, I think it might have been the size of my book that caught my neighbour's attention. At $260.70, the Sage Handbook of Action Research was the most expensive book I'd ever purchased. Having had not a moment to myself since I picked it up, I was keen to taste my wares, but my neighbour was intrigued. What's action research?" he inquired. Well, research in the midst of action, research by those who live and work in a situation, that develops knowledge as a consequence of and in support of becoming more effective. Research in which the "felt needs and experienced sufferings of the agents involved animate the process and ground it in a stubborn persistence that leads, over time, to an increased capacity to act effectively that involves adjustments in action that spill over into a reframing of beliefs" (Laws and Rein, 2003).

Finding those actions that make a difference is hard work, when the constraints of the present, with their roots deep in history and habit, bind you yourself as much as those around you to what has been. I've found strange comfort in something from Michel Foucault.

In a week where I used Google to source contacts and current literature on evaluation of engagement in NRM (I?ve finally realised that you get the best results out of Google when you key in exactly what you want, rather than trying for keywords), I also found myself deciding that I learn most when I stay at home.