Information practices of teen content creators : the intersection of action and experiences a grounded theory study

What are the information practices of teen content creators? In the United States over two thirds of teens have participated in creating and sharing content in online communities that are developed for the purpose of allowing users to be producers of content. This study investigates how teens participating in digital participatory communities find and use information as well as how they experience the information. From this investigation emerged a model of their information practices while creating and sharing content such as film-making, visual art work, story telling, music, programming, and web site design in digital participatory communities. The research uses grounded theory methodology in a social constructionist framework to investigate the research problem: what are the information practices of teen content creators? Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and observation of teen’s digital communities. Analysis occurred concurrently with data collection, and the principle of constant comparison was applied in analysis. As findings were constructed from the data, additional data was collected until a substantive theory was constructed and no new information emerged from data collection. The theory that was constructed from the data describes five information practices of teen content creators. The five information practices are learning community, negotiating aesthetic, negotiating control, negotiating capacity, and representing knowledge. In describing the five information practices there are three necessary descriptive components, the community of practice, the experiences of information and the information actions. The experiences of information include information as participation, inspiration, collaboration, process, and artifact. Information actions include activities that occur in the categories of gathering, thinking and creating. The experiences of information and information actions intersect in the information practices, which are situated within the specific community of practice, such as a digital participatory community. Finally, the information practices interact and build upon one another and this is represented in a graphic model and explanation.

Arts-health intersections : a model of practice for consistency in the arts-health sector

The field of Arts-Health practice and research has grown exponentially in the past 30 years. While researchers are using applied arts as the subject of investigation in research, the evaluation of practice and participant benefits has a limited general focus. In recent years, the field has witnessed a growing concentration on the evaluation of health outcomes, outputs and tangential benefits for participants engaging in Arts-Health practice. The wide range of methodological approaches applied arts practitioners implement make the field difficult to define. This article introduces the term Arts-Health intersections as a model of practice and framework to promote consistency in design, implementation and evaluative processes in applied arts programmes promoting health outcomes. The article challenges the current trend to solely evaluate health outcomes in the field, and promotes a concurrent and multidisciplinary methodological approach that can be adopted to promote evaluation, consistency and best practice in the field of Arts-Health intersections. The article provides a theoretical overview of Arts-Health intersections, and then takes this theoretical platform and details a best model of practice for developing Arts-Health intersections and presents this model as a guide.

Nurses' experiences of practice and political reform in long-term aged care in Australia : implications for the retention of nursing personnel

Keywords gerontological nursing;health care reform;health policy;long-term care;recruitment and retention Aim  The aim of the study was to explore registered nurses’ experiences in long-term aged care in light of the political reform of aged care services in Australia. Background  In Australia, the aged care industry has undergone a lengthy period of political and structural reform. Despite reviews into various aspects of these reforms, there has been little consideration of the effect these are having on the practice experiences and retention of nursing staff in long-term care. Methods  In this critical hermeneutic study, 14 nurses from long-term care facilities in Australia were interviewed about their experiences during the reform period. Results  The data revealed a sense of tension and conflict between nurses’ traditional values, roles and responsibilities and those supported by the reforms. Nurses struggled to renegotiate both their practice roles and values as the reforms were implemented and the system evolved. Nursing management support was an important aspect in mediating the effect of reforms on nursing staff. Conclusion  This research highlights both the tensions experienced by nurses in long-term aged care in Australia and the need to renegotiate nursing roles, responsibilities and values within an evolving care system. This research supports a role for sensitive and proactive nursing management during periods of industry reform as a retention strategy for qualified nursing personnel.

A multilevel investigation into the effects of the philosophical community of inquiry on 6th grade students' reading comprehension, interest in maths, self-esteem, pro-social behaviours and emotional well-being

This investigation measured the effects of a one year participation in an Australian Philosophical Community of Inquiry program on 280 sixth grade students' reading comprehension, interest in maths, self-esteem, social behaviours, and emotional well-being. A multilevel model for change was used to detect differences in the response variables, between a quasi-experimental group and comparison group. Results showed that, for participants, reading comprehension significantly increased while interest in maths decreased. No differences between the groups were found for pro-social behaviour and emotional well-being. Self esteem, however, declined for participants while nonparticipants' self esteem increased.

Bonding and bridging : transition to school and social capital formation among a community of Indigenous Australian children

This study reports on an intervention program designed to facilitate transition to school of a whole community of Indigenous Australian children who had previously not been attending. The children were from families displaced from their traditional lands and experienced on-going social marginalisation and transience. A social capital framework was employed to track change in the children’s social inclusion and family-school engagement for two years, from school entry. Sociometric measurement and interview techniques were applied to assess the children’s social connectedness and peer relationship quality. Using these data, analyses examined whether bonding within the group supported or inhibited formation of new social relationships. Although transience disrupted attendance, there was a group trend towards increased social inclusion with some evidence that group bonds supported bridging to new social relationships. Change in family-school engagement was tracked using multi-informant interviews. Limited engagement between school and families presented an on-going challenge to sustained educational engagement.

Media arts section, arts Pop : arts packages of practice

This Media Arts-POP implements Media Arts curriculum in a Year 4 classroom at Waterford West State School, Queensland. While media arts form was the lead area for this package, students developed knowledge of and skills in English, visual arts and some elements of music. In the media arts elements, students learned to use media production equipment (in this case iPads, although other tablets could be used), and to use techniques such as composition and lighting to capture digital images and to record voice and sound effects. The package demonstrates that a number of curriculum areas can be combined to ensure that various curriculum areas are covered without losing the specificity of any one area.

Analysis of the needs of the East Coast cluster regional natural resource management bodies in relation to planning for climate change adaptation

The Climate Change Adaptation for Natural Resource Management (NRM) in East Coast Australia Project aims to foster and support an effective “community of practice” for climate change adaptation within the East Coast Cluster NRM regions that will increase the capacity for adaptation to climate change through enhancements in knowledge and skills and through the establishment of long‐term collaborations. It is being delivered by six consortium research partners: * The University of Queensland (project lead) * Griffith University * University of the Sunshine Coast * CSIRO * New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage * Queensland Department of Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts (Queensland Herbarium). The project relates to the East Coast Cluster, comprising the six coastal NRM regions and regional bodies between Rockhampton and Sydney: * Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) * Burnett‐Mary Regional Group (BMRG) * SEQ Catchments (SEQC) * Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority (CMA) (NRCMA) * Hunter‐Central Rivers CMA (HCRCMA) * Hawkesbury Nepean CMA (HNCMA). The aims of this report are to summarise the needs of the regional bodies in relation to NRM planning for climate change adaptation, and provide a basis for developing the detailed work plan for the research consortium. Two primary methods were used to identify the needs of the regional bodies: (1) document analysis of the existing NRM/ Catchment Action Plans (CAPs) and applications by the regional bodies for funding under Stream 1 of the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund, and; (2) a needs analysis workshop, held in May 2013 involving representatives from the research consortium partners and the regional bodies. The East Coast Cluster includes five of the ten largest significant urban areas in Australia, world heritage listed natural environments, significant agriculture, mining and extensive grazing. The three NSW CMAs have recently completed strategic level CAPs, with implementation plans to be finalised in 2014/2015. SEQC and FBA are beginning a review of their existing NRM Plans, to be completed in 2014 and 2015 respectively; while BMRG is aiming to produce a NRM and Climate Variability Action Strategy. The regional bodies will receive funding from the Australian Government through the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund (NRM Fund) to improve regional planning for climate change and help guide the location of carbon and biodiversity activities, including wildlife corridors. The bulk of the funding will be available for activities in 2013/2014, with smaller amounts available in subsequent years. Most regional bodies aim to have a large proportion of the planning work complete by the end of 2014. In addition, NSW CMAs are undergoing major structural change and will be incorporated into semi‐autonomous statutory Local Land Services bodies from 2014. Boundaries will align with local government boundaries and there will be significant change in staff and structures. The regional bodies in the cluster have a varying degree of climate knowledge. All plans recognise climate change as a key driver of change, but there are few specific actions or targets addressing climate change. Regional bodies also have varying capacity to analyse large volumes of spatial or modelling data. Due to the complex nature of natural resource management, all regional bodies work with key stakeholders (e.g. local government, industry groups, and community groups) to deliver NRM outcomes. Regional bodies therefore require project outputs that can be used directly in stakeholder engagement activities, and are likely to require some form of capacity building associated with each of the outputs to maximise uptake. Some of the immediate needs of the regional bodies are a summary of information or tools that are able to be used immediately; and a summary of the key outputs and milestone dates for the project, to facilitate alignment of planning activities with research outputs. A project framework is useful to show the linkages between research elements and the relevance of the research to the adaptive management cycle for NRM planning in which the regional bodies are engaged. A draft framework is proposed to stimulate and promote discussion on research elements and linkages; this will be refined during and following the development of the detailed project work plan. The regional bodies strongly emphasised the need to incorporate a shift to a systems based resilience approach to NRM planning, and that approach is included in the framework. The regional bodies identified that information on climate projections would be most useful at regional and subregional scale, to feed into scenario planning and impact analysis. Outputs should be ‘engagement ready’ and there is a need for capacity building to enable regional bodies to understand and use the projections in stakeholder engagement. There was interest in understanding the impacts of climate change projections on ecosystems (e.g. ecosystem shift), and the consequent impacts on the production of ecosystem services. It was emphasised that any modelling should be able to be used by the regional bodies with their stakeholders to allow for community input (i.e. no black box models). The online regrowth benefits tool was of great interest to the regional bodies, as spatial mapping of carbon farming opportunities would be relevant to their funding requirements. The NSW CMAs identified an interest in development of the tool for NSW vegetation types. Needs relating to socio‐economic information included understanding the socio‐economic determinants of carbon farming uptake and managing community expectations. A need was also identified to understand the vulnerability of industry groups as well as community to climate change impacts, and in particular understanding how changes in the flow of ecosystem services would interact with the vulnerability of these groups to impact on the linked ecologicalsocio‐economic system. Responses to disasters (particularly flooding and storm surge) and recovery responses were also identified as being of interest. An ecosystem services framework was highlighted as a useful approach to synthesising biophysical and socioeconomic information in the context of a systems based, resilience approach to NRM planning. A need was identified to develop processes to move towards such an approach to NRM planning from the current asset management approach. Examples of best practice in incorporating climate science into planning, using scenarios for stakeholder engagement in planning and processes for institutionalising learning were also identified as cross‐cutting needs. The over‐arching theme identified was the need for capacity building for the NRM bodies to best use the information available at any point in time. To this end a planners working group has been established to support the building of a network of informed and articulate NRM agents with knowledge of current climate science and capacity to use current tools to engage stakeholders in NRM planning for climate change adaptation. The planners working group would form the core group of the community of practice, with the broader group of stakeholders participating when activities aligned with their interests. In this way, it is anticipated that the Project will contribute to building capacity within the wider community to effectively plan for climate change adaptation.

Building a community of learners within the STEM higher education classroom

Building rich and authentic learning experiences in the STEM classroom, is a challenge for many educators within Higher Education. While many Higher Education Institutions have embraced the need to transform current teaching and learning practices and include a range of online tools, this has often been met with some resistance and approaches that do not always recognise the academic who are a critical component to the success of the transformational process. Over the last decade the Internet has evolved from being a tool used by a few dedicated educators to one that is being used by the majority of educators. However, what is important is how this great resource is used in teaching and learning to allow students to build knowledge. The ability for students to construct knowledge and engage in higher order thinking skills is at the heart of educational practices, and building a community of learners has the potential to support these practices, especially within STEM education. This paper explores the relationship between students and an academic teaching in a technology rich STEM learning environment and their adoption of social community and shared tools. In particular the paper reports on the critical components that make a successful community of learners and the educational tools and approaches that were successfully used to enhance the student learning experience in a STEM classroom.

DIY media architecture: Open and participatory approaches to community engagement

Media architecture’s combination of the digital and the physical can trigger, enhance, and amplify urban experiences. In this paper, we examine how to bring about and foster more open and participatory approaches to engage communities through media architecture by identifying novel ways to put some of the creative process into the hands of laypeople. We review technical, spatial, and social aspects of DIY phenomena with a view to better understand maker cultures, communities, and practices. We synthesise our findings and ask if and how media architects as a community of practice can encourage the ‘open-sourcing’ of information and tools allowing laypeople to not only participate but become active instigators of change in their own right. We argue that enabling true DIY practices in media architecture may increase citizen control. Seeking design strategies that foster DIY approaches, we propose five areas for further work and investigation. The paper begs many questions indicating ample room for further research into DIY Media Architecture.

Influence of practice setting on contact lens prescribing in the United Kingdom

We sought to determine the impact of optometric practice setting on contact lens prescribing by analysing annual survey data of lens fits collected between 2009 and 2013 from independent and national group practices throughout the United Kingdom. Compared to national group practices, independent practices fit contact lenses to older patients and more females. Independent practices also undertake a lower proportion of soft lens fits overall (and thus a higher proportion of rigid lens fits), soft toric lens fits and daily disposable lens fits. There is a higher proportion of soft extended wear and multifocal lens fits in independent practices. We conclude that contact lens fitting behaviour is influenced by optometric practice setting.

Photography & Fictions: Locating Dynamics of Practice

What happens to photographic truth when it is thwarted, subverted, stretched and even outwitted? The photography presented in this book provides a range of responses and practices- from the blatant to the exquisitely subtle- and all in the name of fiction. With full-colour images, Photography & Fiction: locating dynamics of practice illustrates and explains the latest issues and ingenious creativity involved in making pictures. The book is the consequence of a significant gathering of photographers, curators, and academics during the 5th Queensland Festival of Photography. Its themes include Fiction-as-Truth, deceptive photography, technology’s fictive potential, as well as the highly personal and inner worlds of human experience.

Scoping study into wound management nurse practitioner models of practice

Objectives The primary objective of this research was to investigate wound management nurse practitioner (WMNP) models of service for the purposes of identifying parameters of practice and how patient outcomes are measured. Methods A scoping study was conducted with all authorised WMNPs in Australia from October to December 2012 using survey methodology. A questionnaire was developed to obtain data on the role and practice parameters of authorised WMNPs in Australia. The tool comprised seven sections and included a total of 59 questions. The questionnaire was distributed to all members of the WMNP Online Peer Review Group, to which it was anticipated the majority of WMNPs belonged. Results Twenty-one WMNPs responded (response rate 87%), with the results based on a subset of respondents who stated that, at the time of the questionnaire, they were employed as a WMNP, therefore yielding a response rate of 71% (n≤15). Most respondents (93%; n≤14) were employed in the public sector, with an average of 64 occasions of service per month. The typical length of a new case consultation was 60min, with 32min for follow ups. The most frequently performed activity was wound photography (83%; n≤12), patient, family or carer education (75%; n≤12), Doppler ankle-brachial pressure index assessment (58%; n≤12), conservative sharp wound debridement (58%; n≤12) and counselling (50%; n≤12). The most routinely prescribed medications were local anaesthetics (25%; n≤12) and oral antibiotics (25%; n≤12). Data were routinely collected by 91% of respondents on service-related and wound-related parameters to monitor patient outcomes, to justify and improve health services provided. Conclusion This study yielded important baseline information on this professional group, including data on patient problems managed, the types of interventions implemented, the resources used to accomplish outcomes and how outcomes are measured.

Pivotal people, pivotal journeys: Interim report on the impact of a fundraising study tour on CEOs and their organisations

A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted with CEOs of 12 fundraising organisations across Australia to answer the question - how mights a change in the CEO's fundraising knowledge improve fundraising activity and outcomes for their organisation? The CEOs along with the inaugural Australian Grantmaker of the Year, Caitriona Fay from Perpetual and lead researcher Dr Wendy Scaife travelled to San Antonio, Texas, USA to attend the annual Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) conference in March 2014. Participants identified five main success factors for such group learning initiatives about fundraising: - Getting away from the day to day business of running the organisation - Informal, social time to debrief and get to know others - Diversity of organisations whereby no one was in direct competition to others - Commitment, openness and willingness of individuals to participate - Group facilitation This research has been supported by the Perpetual Foundation – Trustees Endowment, The Edward Corbould Charitable Trust, and the Samuel and Eileen Gluyas Charitable Trust under the management of Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd.

The gut microbial community of midas cichlid fish in repeatedly evolved limnetic-benthic species pairs

Gut bacterial communities are now known to influence a range of fitness related aspects of organisms. But how different the microbial community is in closely related species, and if these differences can be interpreted as adaptive is still unclear. In this study we compared microbial communities in two sets of closely related sympatric crater lake cichlid fish species pairs that show similar adaptations along the limnetic-benthic axis. The gut microbial community composition differs in the species pair inhabiting the older of two crater lakes. One major difference, relative to other fish, is that in these cichlids that live in hypersaline crater lakes, the microbial community is largely made up of Oceanospirillales (52.28%) which are halotolerant or halophilic bacteria. This analysis opens up further avenues to identify candidate symbiotic or co-evolved bacteria playing a role in adaptation to similar diets and life-styles or even have a role in speciation. Future functional and phylosymbiotic analyses might help to address these issues.

How to develop an online community for pre-service and early career teachers

This paper contributes a number of design principles for developing large-scale online communities of pre-service and early career teachers (PS&ECTs). It presents the paradigms of connected learning, networked learning and communities of practice and contrasts them. It describes the potential for online communities to meet the needs of PS&ECTs and it identifies gaps that exist within certain types of existing online communities that currently support PS&ECTs. The paper proposes design principles for a new type of online community for PS&ECTs. These principles are drawn from the literature and from the preliminary outcomes of a pilot study.