E-Commerce research in Australia : inviting a comparative analysis

Published research in the area of electronic commerce has increased several fold in recent years. Australian researchers have participated actively in this research field. An emphasis on quality has prompted us to review the publications in the area of electronic commerce. This paper reports on research, that used a framework developed by Scornavacca et al. (2005), to examine papers published in the leading, relevant journals and conferences over the period 2000 to 2005. Analyses of papers in the electronic commerce area, published during this period, reflects a number of trends in terms of research outlets, approaches, and methods used. The analyses presented here invite a comparative analysis by Scandinavian researchers in ecommerce. The Scandinavian research community represents an appropriate environment against which to benchmark the Australian research outputs. It is our hope that the analyses in this paper will lead to mutual learning and collaboration between researchers in both contexts.

Total factor productivity and efficiency in Australian colleges of advanced education

The former colleges of advanced education were an important component of the higher education sector in Australia. Uses the Malmquist total factor productivity index to investigate the efficiency and productivity of Australian colleges of advanced education during the 1980s. The results from this analysis indicate that these colleges recorded modest growth in technical change and total factor productivity, but did not fare all that well in terms of growth in technical and scale efficiency during the 1980s. As a group, however, the former colleges of advanced education had attained high levels of technical and scale efficiency.

Phelan's bibliometric analysis of the impact of Australian educational research

Phelan (2000) has produced a complex bibliometric analysis of the international contribution of Australian educational research based upon publications and citations reported in the journals indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information - the Standards & Poors of the academic world. This paper examins Phelan's analysis, showing its strengths and weaknesses, as well as examining his proposal for the establishment of an Australian database along the lines of the ISI's index.

Biography and the project of labour history: Marxist anticipations and Australian examples

The popularity of biography among the general public and historians has been despite a theoretical ambivalence among historians about the validity of the project. This has particularly been the case for labour historians who aspire to write the history of a class rather than that of individuals. This article identifies two divergent traditions within labour biography, broadly defined as reflection on the role of the individual in historical movements. One, uniting traditional Marxists and labourists, regards individuals as no more than the symbol of a class. Examples are Karl Kautsky and in Australia Fin Crisp. Another, unites activist revolutionaries and revisionist social democrats, and argues that the individual can make a difference. Examples include Trotsky and in Australia the young Evatt and Gordon Childe. Political disillusionment encouraged both Childe and Evatt to move towards the determinist position. This article suggest that recent discussions of the inherently divided nature of the self may offer an alternative to both these positions.

Health Diaries in a Rural Australian Study

The authors designed a study around the use of health diaries comprising both open- and closed-ended questions and kept over a 16-week period by 118 rural and remote-dwelling families in Victoria, Australia. Participants documented their use of health services, episodes of illness, actions taken to keep healthy, and reflections on services and programs. In this article, the authors report on the health diary method. They discuss the qualitative ways in which the participants used their study involvement to enrich their lives: accessing health information and advice, furthering their concerns about rural health, and using the research process for social support. The authors discuss issues surrounding the rural and remote context of the study and the length of time over which the diaries were kept.

The ambivalence of otherness: the manifestation of `whiteness` in an Australian school--1988-1998

In recent times, and in times of insurgent globalisation, modern notions of identity and with them, conceptions of essential and primordially defined difference seem to have fallen apart. Identity is understood as postmodern, a 'moveable feast' of ever-in-process, negotiated differences. The examination of the material and conceptual terms and conditions that position these logics otherwise suggests that these arguments remain tied within conceptions of ourselves made through the ambivalent conceptions of others. In this paper, I trace these paradoxical relations as they are represented in a particular local Melbourne school at each end of a decade and at a time of increasing demographic change and global transformation. Teachers and parents understood and defined their identities and the identities of others in ways that were increasingly fragmented, changing and complex. Beneath these changing patterns, they continued to define others as different and as not us in ways that were ambivalent and extreme. These negotiations took place differently in recent years as the definitions of essential notions of identity changed and became more complex to define. Nevertheless, they continued as ambivalent stories of otherness that transversed the tortuous spectrum between orientalism and nativism speculated upon in post-colonial writings.

Australian women`s experiences of living with hepatitis C virus: results from a cross-sectional survey

Background: Of the estimated 160 000 Australians currently infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), over one-third are women and very few have received clinical treatment, with most managing their illness in non-specialist settings. Little is known about the experiences of women living with HCV in the general community. The present study provides the results from the first comprehensive social survey of Australian women's experiences of living with HCV.

Methods: In 2000, a questionnaire was administered to a largely non-clinical sample of women with HCV (n = 462) living in the state of Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The questionnaire was self-administered with a return rate of 75%. The mean age was 35 years and 83% were 'current' or 'past' injecting drug users. The mean time since diagnosis was 4.6 years (SD = 4.0) and the mean time since infection was 10.5 years (SD = 8.2).

Results: Fifty-eight percent of women reported experiencing symptoms related to their HCV, the most common being tiredness (78%) and nausea (44%). Of the sample, 56% currently saw a doctor for their HCV, and while 52% had ever been referred to a specialist, only 17% of the total sample had ever begun interferon-based combination or monotherapy. Forty-eight percent of women reported experiencing less favorable treatment by a health professional because of their HCV. Age-related self-assessed health status was significantly lower than Australian norms, as were SF-12 physical and mental health scores. The SF-12 physical and mental health scores were highly correlated, indicating a significant physical and mental health burden associated with HCV.

Conclusion: The social, physical and mental health needs of women living with HCV are considerable. Most women had not accessed specialist treatment and the response of the primary health care system to HCV-related women's health issues requires improvement.

Going public : a decade of Australian autobiography

Autobiography is based on a paradox. It is a generic representation of identity, but identity and genre appear to be antithetical. If we conventionally think of our identity as unique (singular, autonomous and self-made), how then can the presentation of that identity be generic? How, when narrating our lives, can we be both singular and understandable? Does narrating a life presuppose a way of writing (that is, a genre) that will make it recognisable as a story of a life? And how individual can we be, given that we are social animals? We live in families, form attachments and belong to institutions. How much is identity a case of identifying with others?

Pathways to health through Australian woodlands and forests: `Sign-posts` from recent research and practice

Health is inherently 'ecological' and the natural environment plays a crucial role in human health and well-being. Yet we do not necessarily design, manage or market such areas in ways that acknowledge this link. This paper draws on recent research by a Deakin University team exploring the links between use of and involvement in the maintenance of forests/woodlands, and health and well-being outcomes. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to collect data from forest/woodland users and tram volunteers contributing to management and maintenance of such areas, concerning their perceptions of the impacts of the experience
on their health and well-being. In two of the projects, samples of 'users' and 'volunteers' were compared with samples 'non-users' and 'non-volunteers'. Several of the studies included the use of scales of self-rated health, social cohesion, and frequency of use of medical services.The studies have identified a range of perceived physical, mental and social health benefits resulting from use of and/or engagement with forests/woodlands. Study findings have implications for design, management and marketing of such areas, since they identity factors influencing use of and engagement with such areas, and have the potential to promote more widespread recognition of the value of such areas and more commitment to them by individuals, communities and governments. The challenge for us is to build on this research base to more clearly Signpost the mutually beneficial links between forest and woodland ecosystems and human health and well-being, creating new and better pathways to a healthy future.

Marketing information sources and the performance of Australian businesses

This study investigated the various sources of information used by business organisations and their association with business performance indicators. The results showed that larger Australian companies predominantly used various internal and external secondary data sources of information, followed by formal primary marketing research. The study indicated an association between market share and the use of competitors, advertising agencies, and sales promotion agencies as sources of information, while overall financial performance was associated with the use of competitors and media/trade publications.