Mobile Me: Young People, Sociality and the Mobile Phone. The project tests and reinforces child-centred, participatory research practices and outcomes. It underlines the NSW Commission for Children and Young People's commitment to investigating contemporary problems and opportunities for young people, and to formulating appropriate policy responses. The project is designed to elicit and interpret young people's and pre-teen's views on their communicative environment, and to understand the mechan ....Mobile Me: Young People, Sociality and the Mobile Phone. The project tests and reinforces child-centred, participatory research practices and outcomes. It underlines the NSW Commission for Children and Young People's commitment to investigating contemporary problems and opportunities for young people, and to formulating appropriate policy responses. The project is designed to elicit and interpret young people's and pre-teen's views on their communicative environment, and to understand the mechanisms through which social relationships, information conduits, and knowledge networks are built and sustained. The dissemination of the findings will bring young people, educationalists and industry players into a productive dialogue on the benefits and dangers of this pervasive technology.Read moreRead less
Effective communication and improved patient safety: Addressing the complexities of managing high risk medications in metropolitan and regional hospitals. Current costs of hospital-related incidents are around AU$2 billion per year, and the most common cause of these incidents is ineffective communication. Medication incidents relating to use of high risk medications are particularly critical because of the increased severity of patient outcomes. High risk medications are administered in busy en ....Effective communication and improved patient safety: Addressing the complexities of managing high risk medications in metropolitan and regional hospitals. Current costs of hospital-related incidents are around AU$2 billion per year, and the most common cause of these incidents is ineffective communication. Medication incidents relating to use of high risk medications are particularly critical because of the increased severity of patient outcomes. High risk medications are administered in busy environments, and involve patients who are cared for by many different health professionals in technologically complex settings. These factors increase the likelihood of more medication incidents. The unique knowledge obtained will inform policies and identify strategies for better communication. Health professionals and patients can adopt these strategies to improve medication safety.Read moreRead less
The role of the internet in building social capital amongst homosexually active men: virtual communities in HIV prevention. Social capital comprises features of social organisation such as civic participation, norms of reciprocity and trust in others that facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit, including health and wellbeing. The proposed research focuses on the role of the internet in producing the networks that engender social inclusion and community connectedness. There is scepticism about ....The role of the internet in building social capital amongst homosexually active men: virtual communities in HIV prevention. Social capital comprises features of social organisation such as civic participation, norms of reciprocity and trust in others that facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit, including health and wellbeing. The proposed research focuses on the role of the internet in producing the networks that engender social inclusion and community connectedness. There is scepticism about whether the 'virtual community' of the Internet can build social capital. The study will explore the potential benefits as well as harms to those homosexually active men who use the internet to access health information, meet sexual partners and build friendships that affirm gay identity and community inclusion.Read moreRead less
Chaos, Information Technology, Global Administration and Daily Life. The project draws attention to unforseen effects arising from IT, and suggests ways of incorporating these effects into the system, rather than ignoring them or applying more of the same disordering order. Disorder cannot always be cured by better or stricter management, as disorder is intertwined together with modes of ordering and their interaction with natural or social orders.
The project gives a framework to help org ....Chaos, Information Technology, Global Administration and Daily Life. The project draws attention to unforseen effects arising from IT, and suggests ways of incorporating these effects into the system, rather than ignoring them or applying more of the same disordering order. Disorder cannot always be cured by better or stricter management, as disorder is intertwined together with modes of ordering and their interaction with natural or social orders.
The project gives a framework to help organisations implement IT systems to allow people to participate productively in government, administration or the workplace without resenting computer systems or feeling ignored or sidetracked. Changing the ways we look at order and chaos will help Australian leaders deal with a chaotically appearing world situation.Read moreRead less
Time out of mind? Australians' experience of time in the network society. Computer mediated communication is profoundly affecting the ways in which individuals live. The rapidity of the process has left many changes unexplored and under analysed. The project will comprise a three-year ethnographic study to uncover the ways in which people think about time, about electronic networks, and by what means these influence how they make sense of their lives, their work, and their relationships in a fas ....Time out of mind? Australians' experience of time in the network society. Computer mediated communication is profoundly affecting the ways in which individuals live. The rapidity of the process has left many changes unexplored and under analysed. The project will comprise a three-year ethnographic study to uncover the ways in which people think about time, about electronic networks, and by what means these influence how they make sense of their lives, their work, and their relationships in a fast-changing and globalising world. The project will result in an international workshop on 'Time and Networks'; an edited collection of articles from workshop participants; and an internationally published book on the project's findings.Read moreRead less
The Connected Home: probing the effects and affects of domesticated information and communication technologies. Australia is a major consumer of ICTs, and the contemporary Australian home now plays the role of 'communications node' in global as well as local networks. This project investigates the effective use of these domestic communications technologies, the affects of this use on the household, how information and communication technologies shape the home, and how the home shapes the technol ....The Connected Home: probing the effects and affects of domesticated information and communication technologies. Australia is a major consumer of ICTs, and the contemporary Australian home now plays the role of 'communications node' in global as well as local networks. This project investigates the effective use of these domestic communications technologies, the affects of this use on the household, how information and communication technologies shape the home, and how the home shapes the technologies. The study's findings will provide important information to government and non-government agencies concerned with social connection in contemporary Australian suburbs, and will provide important information to communications service providers, and to designers and manufacturers of domestic ICTs.Read moreRead less
The Development and Evaluation of an Online Support System for Mental Health Workers in Rural, Remote and Regional Areas. Suicide has been estimated to cost Australia over $460 million/year. Rural suicide workers have mulitfaceted roles pivotal to their communities' social well being, yet suffer professional isolation and inadequate access to resources and expertise through geographic remoteness.
Online technologies potentially offer effective support mechanisms. This research will increase fu ....The Development and Evaluation of an Online Support System for Mental Health Workers in Rural, Remote and Regional Areas. Suicide has been estimated to cost Australia over $460 million/year. Rural suicide workers have mulitfaceted roles pivotal to their communities' social well being, yet suffer professional isolation and inadequate access to resources and expertise through geographic remoteness.
Online technologies potentially offer effective support mechanisms. This research will increase fundamental knowledge by:
* developing, implementing and rigorously evaluating the effectiveness and transferability of an innovative online model for professional support and expertise; and
* systematically addressing the complex ethical, professional and technical issues associated with using online technology to assist suicide reduction.Read moreRead less
Understanding Online Gender: Structures and Use of Computer Mediated Communication and its Social Environments. The project uses participant observation of the Internet mailing list Cybermind, to explore the dynamics and effects of gender online. Users of the list will be followed through their everyday interactions, and through their experience of other online forums, to see how these effects vary.
Presentation of gender in personal Web pages will also be investigated, as will patterns of e ....Understanding Online Gender: Structures and Use of Computer Mediated Communication and its Social Environments. The project uses participant observation of the Internet mailing list Cybermind, to explore the dynamics and effects of gender online. Users of the list will be followed through their everyday interactions, and through their experience of other online forums, to see how these effects vary.
Presentation of gender in personal Web pages will also be investigated, as will patterns of exploration of the Web.
Results will help the design of Internet communication structures, by government and business, which are supportive of both multi-gendered communication and use of the World Wide Web, given variations in topic and social function.Read moreRead less
Australian youth: exploring ethnicity in cyberspace. Australia's youth are moving towards adulthood in a society that is both ethnically diverse and increasingly reliant on information technologies. This project will investigate how these characteristics of our society are intersecting for young people, as they use computer-mediated communication to seek information relevant to their ethnic backgrounds and interact with others from their ethnic groups. The central aim of the project is to establ ....Australian youth: exploring ethnicity in cyberspace. Australia's youth are moving towards adulthood in a society that is both ethnically diverse and increasingly reliant on information technologies. This project will investigate how these characteristics of our society are intersecting for young people, as they use computer-mediated communication to seek information relevant to their ethnic backgrounds and interact with others from their ethnic groups. The central aim of the project is to establish how this activity is impacting on the process of ethnic identity construction and young Australians' sense of 'community'. The research findings will also provide a broader understanding of young people's use of information technologies.Read moreRead less
Speed, Time and the Political Process in Australia. The project represents the first empirically-based study to research the traditional processes of political decision-making from the perspective of time and speed in the context of economic globalisation and the networked society. A clearer understanding of how political processes function in a globally-networked setting will provide valuable insight into how well the fundamental, politically grounded, aspects of Australian life and culture are ....Speed, Time and the Political Process in Australia. The project represents the first empirically-based study to research the traditional processes of political decision-making from the perspective of time and speed in the context of economic globalisation and the networked society. A clearer understanding of how political processes function in a globally-networked setting will provide valuable insight into how well the fundamental, politically grounded, aspects of Australian life and culture are functioning. This unique perspective will form the basis of an incisive method of applying 'time-awareness' not only to the political process, but to the many national/community sectors across Australian society that depend upon responsible and effective decision-making practices.Read moreRead less