Identifying and delineating information experience as a research domain : A discussion paper

A line of information and information literacy research has emerged that has a strong focus on information experience. Strengthened understanding, profiling and theorising of information experience as a specific domain of interest to information researchers is required. A focus on information experience is likely to have a major influence on the field, drawing attention to interpretive and experiential forms of research.

State of the art and future challenges for information literacy research

This short paper focuses on strategic issues and important research questions.

Representative learning design and functionality of research and practice in sport

Egon Brunswik proposed the concept of “representative design” for psychological experimentation, which has historically been overlooked or confused with another of Brunswik’s terms, ecological validity. In this article, we reiterate the distinc­tion between these two important concepts and highlight the relevance of the term representative design for sports psychology, practice, and experimental design. We draw links with ideas on learning design in the constraints-led approach to motor learning and nonlinear pedagogy. We propose the adoption of a new term, repre­sentative learning design, to help sport scientists, experimental psychologists, and pedagogues recognize the potential application of Brunswik’s original concepts, and to ensure functionality and action fidelity in training and learning environments.

An investigation of unique challenges in National Historic relics and scenic sites (NHRSSs) in Chinese research literature 1982-2008 using co-word analysis

National Housing Relics and Scenic Sites (NHRSSs) in China are the equivalent of National Parks in the West but have contrasting features and broader roles when compared to their Western counterparts. By reviewing and analysing more than 370 academic sources, this paper identifies 6 major issue clusters and future challenges that will influence the management of NHRSSs over time. It also provides a number of cases to illustrate the particular features of NHRSSs. Identifying the hot issues and important challenges in Chinese NHRSSs will provide valuable insights into priorities now being discussed in highly populated areas of the World.

Service delivery in one-stop government portals : observations based on a market research study in Queensland

New government service delivery models based on a “franchise” metaphor are being proposed recently to allow more citizen-centric service delivery by decoupling the government’s internal departmental structure from the way services are presented and delivered to citizens. In order to evaluate the approach from an online channel perspective, the Queensland Government commissioned a market research study to compare their websites with the online presences of the UK Government and the South Australian Government, who both have adopted the “franchise” approach. The study aimed to inform an understanding of citizens’ preferred model for interacting in the online channel and to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of the existing websites. In this paper, we will a) report on the findings of this third party usability study and b) position the study, in the form of a critical reflection, against the background of a more comprehensive “Transformational Government” approach using a “franchise marketplace”. The critical reflection points towards limitations of the study with regard to this bigger picture and discusses the potential benefits of service bundling that remained unconsidered in the study.

Efficiency of research performance of Australian universities : a reappraisal using a bootstrap truncated regression approach

The motivation of the study stems from the results reported in the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2010 report. The report showed that only 12 universities performed research at or above international standards, of which, the Group of Eight (G8) universities filled the top eight spots. While performance of universities was based on number of research outputs, total amount of research income and other quantitative indicators, the measure of efficiency or productivity was not considered. The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, to provide a review of the research performance of 37 Australian universities using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap approach of Simar and Wilson (2007). Second, to determine sources of productivity drivers by regressing the efficiency scores against a set of environmental variables.

A highway for research in science education that no longer leads to the frontier

A review of "Progressing science education: constructing the scientific research programme into the contingent nature of learning science", by Keith S. Taber, Dordrecht, Springer, 2009.

Taking stock of temporary organizational forms : a systematic review and research agenda

This paper brings together the research on temporary organizational forms. Despite a recent surge in publications on this topic, there have been few attempts to integrate knowledge on what we know of such temporary forms of organization. In order to correct this, an integrative framework is proposed around four central themes: time, team, task and context. Within each of these themes, the paper offers an overview of the literature, the gaps in what we know, and what future directions might be taken by scholars hoping to contribute to this important and rapidly growing field.

A Research Framework for Investigating Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in Hong Kong

PPP is a general term covering all contracted relationships between the public and private sectors to produce a public asset or to deliver a public service. Its major advantage lies in utilising resources from the private sector to alleviate some of the financial burdens of the government. The Asian financial turmoil in the late 1990s has imposed enormous pressure on the budget of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government. With a continuous outcry for better public services due to the rapid development of Hong Kong, alternative financing models need to be sought to ensure sustainability. Hong Kong has the advantage of being the international gateway to Mainland China, and with this benefit has attracted overseas enterprises to base their offices in Hong Kong for the Asian market. Obviously the private sector has much to contribute. The HKSAR Government has realised the benefits of using PPP in Hong Kong as well as the success achieved overseas. But a more thorough research is needed to develop the most suitable practice of PPP in terms of project nature, project complexity, project type and project scale under which PPP is most appropriate for Hong Kong. This paper provides an initial report of a research project being funded by the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the HKSAR. The project aims to evaluate the benefits and risks of PPP adopted in Australia and the United Kingdom, and from these previous experiences to develop a best practice framework for implementing PPP in Hong Kong. It firstly reports on the status of PPP development trend and the hands-on experiences which have been drawn in these countries. Qualitative and quantitative research methods applied in conducting the research are discussed. The likely impacts of the study are highlighted. It is believed that the construction industry and the government would benefit a lot as a result of this study, and further procurement and project financing options would be opened up for delivering better future public service.

Towards an orchestration theory in business transformation management (research in progress)

Business transformations are large-scale organisational change projects that, evidence suggests, are often unsuccessful. This study aims to develop a conceptual model that explains how management services that are required for a business transformation are orchestrated during such a initiative. We classify management services such as (but not limited to) change management, risk management, IT management, financial management, program management and so forth as bearing transformational and/or transactional capabilities in a transformation initiative. We then draw upon three principles of musical composition, namely melody, harmony and rhythm, and illustrate how they apply to the orchestration of management services in the management of business transformations. In order to illustrate our emerging model, we examine the case of Malaysia Airlines, who have managed to successfully turnaround the near-bankrupt organisation beyond survival. We demonstrate how the notions of melody, harmony and rhythm can be used to describe their endeavour. We conclude by discussing next steps of our research.

Using strategic movement to calibrate a neural compass : a spiking network for tracking head direction in rats and robots

The head direction (HD) system in mammals contains neurons that fire to represent the direction the animal is facing in its environment. The ability of these cells to reliably track head direction even after the removal of external sensory cues implies that the HD system is calibrated to function effectively using just internal (proprioceptive and vestibular) inputs. Rat pups and other infant mammals display stereotypical warm-up movements prior to locomotion in novel environments, and similar warm-up movements are seen in adult mammals with certain brain lesion-induced motor impairments. In this study we propose that synaptic learning mechanisms, in conjunction with appropriate movement strategies based on warm-up movements, can calibrate the HD system so that it functions effectively even in darkness. To examine the link between physical embodiment and neural control, and to determine that the system is robust to real-world phenomena, we implemented the synaptic mechanisms in a spiking neural network and tested it on a mobile robot platform. Results show that the combination of the synaptic learning mechanisms and warm-up movements are able to reliably calibrate the HD system so that it accurately tracks real-world head direction, and that calibration breaks down in systematic ways if certain movements are omitted. This work confirms that targeted, embodied behaviour can be used to calibrate neural systems, demonstrates that ‘grounding’ of modeled biological processes in the real world can reveal underlying functional principles (supporting the importance of robotics to biology), and proposes a functional role for stereotypical behaviours seen in infant mammals and those animals with certain motor deficits. We conjecture that these calibration principles may extend to the calibration of other neural systems involved in motion tracking and the representation of space, such as grid cells in entorhinal cortex.