Gender issues in the career development of IT professionals: a global perspective

Each period of technological change carries with it high expectations of societal and organizational restructuring that will favour the disadvantaged. The same is true for the Information and Communication Technologies. The fast expansion of the IT labour market, the need for diverse talents, the shift in the demand from technical to more general management and business skills, and the government's and employer's initiatives to improve women's representation in the IT sector created an image that? IT is one of the best-equal opportunity areas 'that provide wider opportunities for women to enter and succeed in this industry'. Nevertheless, the validity of these claims is yet to be established through empirical analysis.

School mathematics and ICT: are we doing enough? - The talk

The author discusses how to improve the use of ICT in mathematics education. A number of measures are recommended including the need to conduct an ICT-and-mathematics audit across the curriculum. The author points out that ICT is changing traditional understandings of literacy and numeracy and how it is taught. ICT approaches may help to teach things in slightly different ways, but will not necessarily do this any better than old ways. The author highlights that teaching is changing from face-to-face oral discussion to virtual talk, with ICT just the latest technology in a long line of technological innovations that have transformed teaching since the nineteenth century.

What`s in a game?

Computer games are among the most visible texts of the new information and communication technologies. For many parents, teachers and other adults, computer games have become a focus for their fears about social and technological change, including the changing nature of childhood and the threats to Australia's national and cultural heritage and identity posed by the multinational (and predominantly American) products that saturate the market. However, there are several alternative ways of 'reading' computer games and interpreting their possible effects. These lesson ideas invite students to explore some of these alternatives by examining the storylines and other characteristics of selected games. Through these activities students will:
• experiment with alternative ways of 'reading' selected computer games
• explore issues of gender, violence and cultural values in selected computer games
• discuss and debate the fears held by many adults about the possible effects of computer games on young people
• cooperate with others in justifying a position.

Chemical modification of timber decking: looking to the future

To help avoid conflict and even market rejection, the design and introduction of new technologies can be aided by consideration of the potential concerns of different stakeholder groups. An assessment of their desired goals for technological change may be useful for pre-empting changes in the  parameters of acceptability for technologies. As part of a research  programme evaluating the parameters of acceptability for bio-based  technologies using life cycle assessment of products and an analysis of the  perceptual frameworks of stakeholders, respondents from four stakeholder  groups in New Zealand were interviewed about the desirable and  undesirable trajectories for chemical modification technologies. Three  examples of pine decking products derived using different amounts and  types of chemical modification served to help explore the contemporary  criteria and rationale for acceptability. The responses of the 70 respondents  in those four groups indicated that new technologies need to be able to  prove their worth with regard to both tangible and intangible qualities if they  are to be accepted into the market in the place of either the existing product  or an inorganic competitor.

Enhancing Knowledge Sharing with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The acceleration of technological change and trade liberalization in the 1990s have significantly intensified market competition and transformed the world economic infrastructure from a resource- and manufacturing-based economy to one in which knowledge and services are the key drivers of economic growth. In order for an organization to capitalize on its knowledge and truly become a learning organization, it must begin to systematically manage and leverage knowledge existing internally and externally to create and sustain its competitive advantage. Numerous empirical studies on knowledge management have examined the relative effectiveness of various enablers, such as organizational structure, technology, culture, managerial system and strategy on knowledge creation and sharing in organizations. The enablers examined earlier are mostly related to organizational infrastructure that promotes knowledge sharing in organizations. This paper examines specifically the critical role of information and communication technology (ICT) in facilitating and enhancing knowledge sharing and organizational performance. This study adopted a process oriented approach by using Nonaka’s (1994) knowledge sharing model. The results indicate that significant positive effects of ICT support on knowledge sharing and all dimensions of knowledge sharing are significant predictors of organizational performance.

Transforming value perception in music information systems

Information systems are changing the way artists and consumers create, use and interact with music. Music experience has become richer and more sophisticated than simply buying and listening to music. New links between IS and music are forging unprecedented levels of creative e-collaboration, innovative music technology development, new music commerce and marketing methods, alongside with the emergence of e-music communities nurturing up-and-coming artists careers. Distinct from non-creative industries, the music industry is at the forefront of technological innovation where the ubiquitous adoption of music downloading, widespread use of personal music systems, and value chain disintermediation has shifted the focus of value delivery towards consumer control. This paper provides new insights into the effect of recent technological change on stakeholders within the music industry value chain, and of music information systems upon creative music products. The paper further explores the stakeholder perceptions of the value added or depleted from music by the technology, and examines the future expectations of information systems amidst the volatility and uncertainty of the music industry.

Are Chinese firms innovative or imitative?

In recent time, many Chinese firms have not only operated quite successfully at their home front, competing with those giant multinational companies inside China, they are also moving offshore. The short internationalisation process of Chinese firms looks both sudden and unexpected, causing many to wonder the success factors for Chinese firms. A dynamic innovation that combines strategic, organisational, cost as well as technological change was believed to have contributed to the fast growing Chinese firms in the global stage. This paper reviews the literature related to these areas of innovation. It also discusses reasons for firms to innovate or imitate, using institutional perspective and resource-based view (RBV). Intertwined with these discuss ion, empirical studies of innovative performance among Chinese firms are also analysed. The results show that in fact most Chinese firms still follow an imitative strategy, but there is a clear evidence of strategic cost innovation widely practiced among Chinese firms.

Malmquist indices of total factor productivity changes in the Australian construction industry

Construction is an important industry and forms a vital part of national economics in the world. Factors affecting the productivity of the construction industry should be measured appropriately to reflect its development situation and economic performance. The Malmquist index method with a novel decomposition technique is employed to estimate the total factor productivity of the Australian construction industry during the period 1990-2007 and to analyse the factors affecting the technological change in the industry. Research results exemplified by two input variables and one output variable elaborate how construction technology, pure technical efficiency and scale economy take effect in the change of construction productivity. In addition, based on temporal and spatial comparisons, the analysis for construction productivities reveals their changes over time and across the country. Proposals and recommendations are expected to be beneficial for policy making and strategic decisions to improve the performance of the Australian construction industry.

Blockbusters for the youtube generation : a new product of convergence culture

While scholars have paid much attention to YouTube in a Web 2.0 environment, the YouTube blockbuster is yet to be discussed as part of this convergence culture. It differs from transmedia storytelling in that no single company owns or controls the characters or concepts. Once users have elevated videos with rich narrative qualities to the heights of fame within YouTube and other virtual social networks, they are taken from the YouTube archive by global commercial media and given new exchange values in traditional media forms such as books, films, television shows and ancillary products, using fragmented classical narrative techniques to do so. This paper traces the history of the blockbuster as a way of large commercial media adapting to social and technological change after World War II, to its refinements in the 1970s to cater for younger audiences and changes in the media landscape, to its most recent incarnation in YouTube. We argue that the economic and cultural values of the blockbuster are being transformed and refigured by the new form it has begun to take within convergence culture.

Ethics, entrepreneurship and the adoption of e-book devices

Electronic books (e-books) are rapidly gaining popularity as a technological innovation that will change the way people read books. A social cognitive perspective to understand how a person adopts an e-book device is utilised in this paper to empirically test the results of a survey. A portion of the conceptual model is supported by the results of the survey that demonstrates the importance of an individual's ethics and entrepreneurial orientation to the adoption behaviour they have about e-book devices. This paper highlights for practitioners the importance of focusing on marketing the ethical and innovativeness of e-book devices.

Information technology competencies for Malaysian accountants – an academic's perspective

An increase in the pace of technological change has revolutionised the way accountants perform their jobs. In response to this challenge, the identification of a new comprehensive set of information technology competencies combined with information technology skills and other skills (namely, soft skills) are necessary. This study uses mixed methods to identify which information technology skills and competencies are required for accountants from the perspective of academics in Malaysia. Findings indicate that spreadsheets, word processing and accounting software were ranked as much-needed skills to be acquired by accountants while communication skills were ranked as the most required skills, and delegation skills as the least required. Although academics have an important role to determine accountants’ information technology skills and competencies, they are still unfamiliar with the exact soft skills that should be blended in utilising information technology.

Found footage: recycling historic material a-historically

The digital has speeded up multi-platform image delivery, to impose sampling and collagic strategies into the way we process information. This is a trauma inducing situation. During an earlier period of technological change reading the moving landscape similarly overwhelmed the early train traveller. Wolfgang Schivelbusch noted that ‘The inability to acquire a mode of perception adequate to technological travel crossed all political, ideological and aesthetic lines.’ (1983) New perceptual strategies had to be developed that contextualized the blur and the streak produced by looking out the train window without overwhelming the viewer. Utilizing Chris Brewin’s (2001) model of two parallel memory systems, this paper argues that, as another round of unprecedented technological change impacts on our senses, another ‘re-alignment’ of the senses is required. Chris Brewin’s (2001) model of two parallel memory systems, of Verbally Accessible Memory (VAM) and Situational Accessible Memory (SAM), suggests that the current information explosion requires a greater emphasis on the SAM system for processing information and critical thinking. Processed through the amygdala, SAM is implicit, situationally triggered, information intensive and conveys no sense of time. Found footage films, like those of Martin Arnold and Peter Tscherkassky that cut up, layer, repeat and recycle historic imagery perform the sampling and collagic strategies that characterize this SAM memory system to demonstrate a more visually based mode of critical thinking.

Does privatisation drive innovation? Business model innovation through stakeholder viewpoints: the case of Sydney Airport 10 years post-privatisation

Broad economic and social reform, rapid technological change and increasing global competition have meant that organisations must consider all aspects of their business model in order to successfully create and capture ongoing customer value. In this study it is proposed that business model innovation must always consider and incorporate the symbiotic and interdependent relationship that stakeholders have with an organisation. One particular aspect of economic reform, privatisation, has become an important driver of economic growth in many economies, particularly when linked with the rapid growth of air travel. Privatisation of an airport can generate a radical change in the overall business model for the airport owner and the various stakeholders involved in the operation of the airport. Sydney Airport has restructured its overarching business model to meet the demands of stakeholders. Using feedback from key stakeholders, this research examines the generally accepted view that airport privatisation leads to an improvement in airport performance. Chesbrough's Business Model Framework provides a lens to assist the analysis of Sydney Airport operations before and after privatisation, and provides valuable insights into the impact of privatisation on business model innovation. © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2014.

Open access : just one item in a Pandora’s box

The scholarly publication model is discussed and the impact of the current technological change on knowledge and communication generally on the scholarly publication model is set out. The proposal is made that rather than open access being the cause of the apparent and impending collapse of the scholarly publication industry, it is but one driver of a far wider change in scholarly publication. That change will have effects that extend well beyond the simple decision of whether a publication should be available by subscription or by one of the forms of open access. A number of other changes to scholarly publication are also itemized. The change is inevitable but its extent is as yet unclear.