Workplace information literacy : cultivation strategies for 'working smarter' in 21st century libraries

This paper presents a hybrid framework of Swedish cultural practices and Australian grounded theory for organizational development and suggests practical strategies for 'working smarter' in 21st Century libraries. Toward that end, reflective evidence-based practices are offered to incrementally build organizational capacity for asking good questions, selecting authoritative sources, evaluating multiple perspectives, organizing emerging insights, and communicating them to inform, educate, and influence. In addition, to ensure the robust information exchange necessary to collective workplace learning, leadership traits are proposed for ensuring inclusive communication, decision making, and planning processes. These findings emerge from action research projects conducted from 2003 to 2008 in two North American libraries.

“Yarning” as a method for community-based health research with indigenous women : the indigenous women's wellness research program

This project explores yarning as a methodology for understanding health and wellness from an indigenous woman's perspective. Previous research exploring indigenous Australian women's perspectives have used traditional Western methodologies and have often been felt by the women themselves to be inappropriate and ineffective in gathering information and promoting discussion. This research arose from the indigenous women themselves, and resulted in the exploration of using yarning as a methodology. Yarning is a conversational process that involves the sharing of stories and the development of knowledge. It prioritizes indigenous ways of communicating, in that it is culturally prescribed, cooperative, and respectful. The authors identify different types of yarning that are relevant throughout their research, and explain two types of yarning—family yarning and cross-cultural yarning—which have not been previously identified in research literature. This project found that yarning as a research method is appropriate for community-based health research with indigenous Australian women. This may be an important finding for health professionals and researchers to consider when working and researching with indigenous women from other countries.

The embodied hybrid space : designing social and digital interventions to facilitate connected learning in coworking spaces

This thesis developed and evaluated strategies for social and ubiquitous computing designs that can enhance connected learning and networking opportunities for users in coworking spaces. Based on a social and a technical design intervention deployed at the State Library of Queensland, the research findings illustrate the potential of combining social, spatial and digital affordances in order to nourish peer-to-peer learning, creativity, inspiration, and innovation. The study proposes a hybrid notion of placemaking as a new way of thinking about the design of coworking and interactive learning spaces.

High-risk, high-stake relationships: building effective industry-university partnerships for Work Integrated Learning (WIL)

Many industry peak and professional bodies advocate students undertake professional work placements as a key work integrated learning (WIL) experience in accredited university degree courses. However, mismatched expectations and gaps in the way industry partners (IPs) are supported during these work placements can place these high-stake alliances at risk. A review of models and strategies supporting industry partners indicates many are contingent on the continued efforts of well-networked individuals in both universities and IP organisations to make these connections work. It is argued that whilst these individuals are highly valued they often end up representing a whole course or industry perspective, not just their area of expertise. Sustainable partnership principles and practices with shared responsibility across stakeholder groups are needed instead. This paper provides an overview of work placement approaches in the disciplines of business, engineering and urban development at an Australian, metropolitan university. Employing action research and participatory focus group methodologies, it gathers and articulates recommendations from associated IPs on practical suggestions and strategies to improve relationships and the resultant quality of placements.

Collaboration, connections and consequences : a study of cultural intermediation within the ABC Pool institutional online community

This thesis addresses the question of what it means to be a public broadcaster in the context of a rapidly changing media landscape, in which audiences no longer only watch and consume but now also make and share media content. Through a close investigation of the ABC Pool community, this thesis documents how the different interests of the stakeholders within an institutional online community intersect and how those interests are negotiated within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It demonstrates a new approach towards the cultural intermediation of user-created content within institutional online communities. The research moves beyond the exploration of the community manager role as one type of intermediary to demonstrate the activities of multiple cultural intermediaries that engage in collaborative peer production. Cultural intermediation provides the basis for institutional online community governance.

Broadcasting digital stories on Australian community television : the Digistories Anthology

Community-based arts and media movements have been intsrumental in building population-wide creative capacity for cultural development, social participation and social transformation in many parts of the world. Digital storytelling is a form of media practice that was pioneered in the United States at the intersection of these movements. It is described here as a ‘co-creative’ media production method. This description aims to differentiate the approaches to collaborative content creation that are used in community cultural development (CCD) and community media movements from those valued in professional and consumer modes of media production. Yet, the products of co-creative practices, such as digital stories, do not circulate widely through existing media networks or through the newer social media networks that Australian CCD and community media movements anticipated by at least twenty years. The complex politics of story ownership are one of a number of factors that often render ‘publication’ a secondary consideration in the making of digital stories. The possibility of ‘downstream’ use and re-use of stories in other networks is not usually considered in initial planning and development processes. As landmark projects such as Capture Wales indicate, even where stories are made for broadcast outcomes, television can be a problematic window for exhibiting digital stories. Scepticism about the brave new world of reality television and user generated content also circulates in digital storytelling networks, especially when it comes to ethical concerns for managing the risks of harm associated with widespread distribution of digital stories to indiscriminate publics. This publication reports on a collaborative action research project that took a closer look at some of the constraints relating to the problems of re-purposing digital stories for television. It focussed on ‘best practice’ for managing the risks of harm to storytellers in the process of re-purposing digital stories for broadcast on community television.

Evolving a design driven ‘hybrid’ research approach to inform and advance sustainable outcomes in the built environment sector

A significant reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a priority, and the preservation of existing building stock presents a significant opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of our built environment. Within this ‘wicked’ problem context, and moving beyond the ad hoc and incremental performance improvements that have been made to date, collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts are required to find rapid and transformational solutions. Design has emerged as a strategic and redirective practice, and lessons can therefore be learned about transformation and potentially applied in the built environment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a pragmatic and novel research approach for undertaking such applied design driven research. This paper begins with a discussion of key contributions from design science (rational) and action research (reflective) philosophies in creating an emerging methodological ‘hybrid design approach’. This research approach is then discussed in relation to its application to specific research exploring the processes, methods and lessons from design in heritage building retrofit projects. Drawing on both industry and academic knowledge to ensure relevance and rigour, it is anticipated that the hybrid design approach will be useful for others tackling such complex wicked problems that require context-specific solutions.

Teaching fractions to adult learners enrolled in a civil construction course : knowledge, action and materials action in tandem

This paper investigates the teaching and learning of fractions to Indigenous adult learners in a Civil Construction Certificate Course. More specifically it explores why the use of materials is critical to building knowledge and understanding. This focus is important for two reasons. First, it allows for considerations of a trainer’s approach for teaching fractions and, second it provides insights into how adult learners can be supported with representing their practical experiences of fractions to make generalisation thus building on their knowledge and learning experiences. The paper draws on teaching episodes from an Australian Research Council funded Linkage project that investigates how mathematics is taught and learned in Certificate Courses, here, Certificate 11 in Civil Construction. Action research and decolonising methods (Smith, 1999) were used to conduct the research. Video excerpts which feature one trainer and three students are analysed and described. Findings from the data indicate that adult learners need to be supported with materials to assist with building their capacity to know and apply understandings of fractions in a range of contexts, besides construction. Without materials and where fractions are taught via pen and paper tasks, students are less likely to retain and apply fraction ideas to their Certificate Course. Further they are less likely to understand decimals because of limited understanding of fractions.

Undertaking practice-led research through a Queensland-wide women’s history project

This paper focuses on a practice-led research project where the author as artist/researcher participates in a Queensland-wide women’s history project to celebrate Queensland’s Suffrage Centenary in 2005. The author participated in the Women’s Historical Shoebox Collection, where Queensland women were invited to decorate and fill a shoebox with personal and symbolic items that speak about their lives and the lives of their women forebears. This paper explores the practice-led research process that enabled the artist/researcher to design and assemble her contribution. Fredericks describes the iterative process of developing the shoebox and the themes that developed through her artistic practice. She also describes the content of her shoebox and explains the symbolism underpinning the items. The Women’s Historical Shoebox Collection is now owned by the State Library of Queensland and the Jessie Street National Women’s Library.

Using Participatory Design (PD) as youth engagement strategy to inform design and development of evidence-based wellbeing e-tools

The paper presents a participatory design research framework as a primary method for structuring youth engagement, participation and contribution to the design, development and usability evaluation of three evidencebased e-tools for wellbeing, which include smart phone mobile apps as well as e-health websites. The three projects are part of a series of six e-tools part of Safe and Supportive program under Young and Well CRC. The participatory design method, developed by Zelenko (2012) for application in design of online health promoting technologies, was further piloted in partnership with Inspire USA for specific application within the CRC, deploying a combination of creative design workshops and speculative design activities in developing e-tool prototypes with young people. This paper presents the resulting participatory research framework as it was implemented across the e-tool projects to facilitate active youth participation in co-designing the e-tools and ensuring the final designs are relevant to young people and deliver health messages in engaging ways. The principles of Participatory Design (PD) that inform the new framework include a high degree of participant agency in creative decisionmaking and a commitment to the process of co-designing, with young people working alongside designers and developers. The paper will showcase how the PD framework was applied across three projects to increase young people’s contribution to final design outcome.

Homelessness and leaving care : the experiences of young adults in Queensland and Victoria, and implications for practice

This research first asks ‘What happens when young people leave state care?’ in respect of Victoria and Queensland and second ‘What are the service support implications of this?’ A number of methods were used to explore these questions including semi-structured interviews with 27 young adults aged 19-23 years who had been homeless or at risk of homelessness, and focus groups with young people and service providers. This study provides support for the proposition that young people should be proactively and voluntarily involved in periodic monitoring of their lived experience post care and linkage of this monitoring to the activation of timely support. The great majority of young people involved in this study thought this was not only desirable but important. Whilst some young people will be in close contact with leaving care services many others will not. New research is recommended to develop a mentoring and support activation process using participatory monitoring and action research methods. This type of approach reflects the importance of utilising processes with young people in care and leaving care which acknowledge their personhood and capacity to contribute voluntarily to the processes which seek to support them.

Making space to learn : leading collaborative classroom design

Design principles for learning spaces for 21st century learning emphasise flexibility and collaboration. Yet it is rare in Australian schools for school leaders to invite students and teachers to collaborate in the design process or to prepare them for the transition into innovative physical learning spaces that are often designed to challenge and change existing learning habits. This article presents a qualitative case study of how one primary school leader led a successful transition for a teacher and her students by inviting them to design their future physical learning space and reconstruct their pedagogic relationships. This article analyses her leadership practices drawing from literature in the learning space, student voice and leadership fields to consider the benefits and challenges experienced by the collaborators when making space to learn.

Smart cities: An effective urban development and management model?

It is argued that the smart cities model promise solutions to fuel sustainable development and a high quality of life with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement. The paper provides a critical review of this model and application attempts of smart urban technologies in contemporary cities by particularly looking into emerging practices of ubiquitous eco-cities as exemplar smart cities initiatives. Through a thorough review of literature and best practices on the smart cities model, this paper attempts to address the research question of whether smart cities model is just another fashionable city brand or an effective urban development and management model to solve the problems of our cities. The findings shed light on urban planning and development considerations for the integration of smart urban technologies and their possible implications in shaping up of the built environment to produce prosperous and sustainable urban futures.

Using performance measurement models for benefit realization with enterprise systems: The Queensland Government approach (Case Study)

A range of influences, technical and organizational, has encouraged the wide spread adaption of Enterprise Systems (ES). Nevertheless, there is a growing consensus that Enterprise Systems have in the many cases failed to provide the expected benefits to organizations. This paper presents ongoing research, which analyzes the benefits realization approach of the Queensland Government. This approach applies a modified Balance Scorecard. First, history and background of Queensland Government’s Enterprise Systems initiative is introduced. Second, the most common reasons for ES under performance are related. Third, relevant performance measurement models and the Balanced Scorecard in particular are discussed. Finally, the Queensland Government initiative is evaluated in light of this overview of current work in the area. In the current and future work, the authors aim to use their active involvement in Queensland Government’s benefits realization initiative for an Action Research based project investigating the appropriateness of the Balanced Scorecard for the purposes of Enterprise Systems benefits realization.