Aliens, borders and social citizens : Health and community services for trafficked women

Australian policy makers recognise women who are trafficked to Australia (and these are largely for the purposes of sexual exploitation) primarily as victims of crime. The main public mechanism by which the "problem" of trafficked people in Australia is managed is the criminal law. At the same time, however, as a signatory to the UN Protocol on Trafficking and the Declaration of Human Rights, the Australian Government also recognises the rights of women trafficked to Australia to access health and community services in the wake of the health damage and trauma they often incur as a consequence of their experience. Current evidence suggests that trafficked women in Australia face considerable barriers in being able to avail themselves of such a right and of the services that accompany it. This paper explores the tensions posed by Australian policy and service approaches to trafficked women in light of the concept of social citizenship and the ways in which it is mediated in the Australian context by national border protection policy.

Opportunities and challenges in engaging citizens in the co-production of infrastructure-based public services in Australia

Research and practice have observed a shift towards service-oriented approaches that depend on input from citizens as co-producers of services. Yet in the delivery of public infrastructure the focus is still on managing assets rather than services. Using a Policy Delphi approach, we found that although experts advocate service-centric approaches guidelines and policies lack a service-centric perspective. Findings revealed a range of impediments to effective stakeholder involvement. The paper contributes to co-production and new public governance literature and offers directions for public infrastructure decision-makers to support and reconnect disengaged government–citizen relations, and determine ways of understanding optimal service outcomes.

Bridging the gap between citizens and local authorities via e-government

Among the many promises of the digital revolution is its potential to strengthen social equality and make governments more responsive to the needs of their citizens. E-government is the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to transform governments by making them more accessible, effective, accountable, and making the most of the new technologies to deliver better quality and more accessible public services. This paper provides an overview of recent literature addressing e-government issues, and includes a discussion of its implications at the municipal level. It also covers Australian experiences in establishing and managing e-government services.

Measuring factors that influence the utilisation of preventive care services provided by general practitioners in Australia

Background: Relatively little research attention has been given to the development of standardised and psychometrically sound scales for measuring influences relevant to the utilisation of health services. This study aims to describe the development, validation and internal reliability of some existing and new scales to measure factors that are likely to influence utilisation of preventive care services provided by general practitioners in Australia.----- Methods: Relevant domains of influence were first identified from a literature review and formative research. Items were then generated by using and adapting previously developed scales and published findings from these. The new items and scales were pre-tested and qualitative feedback was obtained from a convenience sample of citizens from the community and a panel of experts. Principal Components Analyses (PCA) and internal reliability testing (Cronbach's alpha) were then conducted for all of the newly adapted or developed scales utilising data collected from a self-administered mailed survey sent to a randomly selected population-based sample of 381 individuals (response rate 65.6 per cent).----- Results: The PCA identified five scales with acceptable levels of internal consistency were: (1) social support (ten items), alpha 0.86; (2) perceived interpersonal care (five items), alpha 0.87, (3) concerns about availability of health care and accessibility to health care (eight items), alpha 0.80, (4) value of good health (five items), alpha 0.79, and (5) attitudes towards health care (three items), alpha 0.75.----- Conclusion The five scales are suitable for further development and more widespread use in research aimed at understanding the determinants of preventive health services utilisation among adults in the general population.

Let them bloom : Growing colourful citizens with caring classroom teachers

This paper examines the essential qualities of a good classroom teacher. The analogy of a caring gardener who understands the individual growing needs of a vast variety of plants is used. The paper argues for the freedom to have differing non-sectarian curricula and for trust to be placed in the teaching profession.

Citizen’s right to the digital city: Urban interfaces, activism, and placemaking

Edited by thought leaders of the fields of urban informatics and urban interaction design, this book brings together case studies and examples from around the world to discuss the role that urban Interfaces, citizen action, and city making play in the quest to create and maintain not only secure and resilient, but productive, sustainable, and liveable urban environments. The book debates the impact of these trends on theory, policy, and practice. The chapters in this book are sourced from blind peer reviewed contributions by leading researchers working at the intersection of the social / cultural, technical / digital, and physical / spatial domains of urbanism scholarship. The book appeals not only to research colleagues and students, but also to a vast number of practitioners in the private and public sector interested in accessible accounts that clearly and rigorously analyse the affordances and possibilities of urban interfaces, mobile technology, and location-based services to engage people towards open, smart and participatory urban environments.

Making usability affordable in the design of e-government services: User-centred design for public sector websites

E-government provides a platform for governments to implement web-enabled services that facilitate communication between citizens and the government. However, technology-driven design approach and limited understanding of citizens' requirements have led to a number of critical usability problems on the government websites. Hitherto, there has been no systematic attempt to analyse the way in which theory of User-Centred Design (UCD) can contribute to address the usability issues of government websites. This research seeks to fill this gap by synthesising perspectives drawn from the study of UCD and examining them based on the empirical data derived from case study of the Scottish Executive (SE) website. The research employs a qualitative approach in the collection and analysis of data. The triangulated analysis of the findings reveals that e-government web designers take commercial development approach and focus only on technical implementations, which lead to websites that do not meet citizens' expectations. The research identifies that e-government practitioners can overcome web usability issues by transferring the theory of UCD to practice. © Copyright 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

How do customers of a financial services institution judge its communications

Communications are important for relationships within a marketing channel from both a theoretical and managerial perspective. Yet it is a problematic area for scholars. Thus, this research addresses the problem of how do customers of a financial services institution perceive communications with an ideal institution? This study's case research methodology used in-depth interviews with 34 carefully selected customers of a building society. The factors that make up customers' attitudes about corporate communications for an ideal financial services institution were identified and actual perceptions were compared against that ideal. The findings confirmed the importance of communications for customers in a relationship with a financial services provider and suggested communication priorities for customers in this context. In addition, the findings suggested sources of communication dissatisfaction for customers. These findings build upon the literature that speculates about customer perceptions of communications with organizations but provides little evidence to support hypotheses. The contributions arose from the emphasis on the customers' own attitudes and the patterns found within them.