Sustainable futures for learning in a climate of change: mobile apps, social media, and crisis informatics during emergencies and disasters

Emergencies and disasters are different types of crisis events which can affect students and staff in their on-campus roles and off-campus activities. In such events, mobile technologies, mobile software applications (apps), and mobile social networks are becoming increasingly relied upon to communicate, to swiftly send and received information and images, to deliver learning moments, and to check the safety of colleagues and friends. This paper investigates the intersection of mlearning, mobile social media, mobile apps, and crisis informatics in times of emergencies and disasters, using the recent Gipplsand earthquake in south-eastern Australia as an exemplar. It also discusses proactive preparation for educational resilience during emergencies and disasters.

From Masterchef to the Arab spring via Wikileaks : social media and political change

This comparison between Bahrain and Australia shows how the main impact of social and mobile media has been in the form of facilitators of rapid political mobilization, as well as tools for everyday socializing and entertainment. Social media are both contributors to, and symptomatic of, a blurring of the boundaries between politics and entertainment, and public and private spheres, whether their users are in Australia or Bahrain, but they are not in themselves the makers of material sites of democracy or even agency.

Social media's impact on journalism : a study of media's coverage of anti-corruption protests in India

The year 2011 was memorable for many in India – for those who participated in numerous anti-corruption protests, and for those who witnessed these protests via all pervasive mainstream news media. This paper will use inter-media agenda-setting discourse to explain the Indian media’s coverage of the so-called ‘Anna movement’. It will outline how the use of mobile and social media platforms by the ‘India Against Corruption’ organisers and the educated middle class influenced the mainstream media’s coverage of the protests. The paper will consider the implication of this coverage, in the light of the unique position of power the Indian news media has in this transitioning society.

Evaluating Australian social media policies in relation to the issue of information disclosure

Information disclosure is a key concern for many organisations especially in the era of social media. Social media allows for information disclosure to occur easily due to the ubiquitous usage of technology such as mobile devices. Acceptable social media policies can be used by organisations and their employees to improve their decision making behaviours as well as being used as a controlling mechanism to mitigate the issue of information disclosure. Through a review of related research literature along with a content analysis of publicly available Australian social media policies, this paper identifies a perceived gap pertaining to the issue of information disclosure in current Australian social media use policies. To fill this gap, we have highlighted the key components when developing an organisational social media policy. An evaluation criteria is also proposed by the paper that organisations can use to assist in mitigating the information disclosure.

Social media conflict: platforms for racial vilification, or acts of provocation and citizenship?

Although racism remains an issue for social media sites such as YouTube, this focus often overshadows the site’s productive capacity to generate ‘agonistic publics’ from which expressions of cultural citizenship and solidarity might emerge. This paper examines these issues through two case studies: the recent proliferation of mobile phone video recordings of racist rants on public transport, and racist interactions surrounding the performance of a Maori ‘flash mob’ haka in New Zealand that was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. We contrast these incidents as they are played out primarily through social media, with the case of Australian Football League player Adam Goodes and the broadcast media reaction to a racial slur aimed against him by a crowd member during the AFL’s Indigenous Round. We discuss the prevalence of vitriolic exchange and racial bigotry, but also, and more importantly, the productive and equally aggressive defence of more inclusive and tolerant forms of cultural identification that play out across these different media forms. Drawing on theories of cultural citizenship along with the political theory of Chantal Mouffe, we point to the capacities of YouTube as ‘platform’, and to social media practices, in facilitating ground-up antiracism and generating dynamic, contested and confronting micropublics.

A study into how Australian banks use social media

Social Media is a term commonly used to describe a group of individual web based services that have grown beyond the provisioning of the capability to connect, network or blog. The popular social networking services have evolved into a ‘platform’ by incorporating a multitude of functionalities through an array of applications to attract millions of users. This has created a favourable environment for businesses to exploit the benefit of having access to millions of social media users by using it as a business support tool. Studies indicate that social media services are being used by businesses for engaging with the general public, enhancing customer interaction, and for crisis communications. Whilst there are many businesses who have adopted social media, others have either rejected the idea or are still unsure about how to proceed. This paper analyses the functionality of selected social media services in order to explore how Australian banks use such services strategically. It reports findings from a longitudinal study of Australian bank use of four popular social media services: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube.

The role of entrepreneurial marketing in social media

Social media are increasingly emerging as a source of competitive advantage, as a means of reaching and engaging consumers, and as a source of consumer insight. This paper identifies challenges associated with the implementation of social media as perceived by senior marketers. Using a qualitative thematic analysis methodology, we identify differences between entrepreneurial and nonentrepreneurial organisations in social media implementation. It is proposed that entrepreneurial marketing may provide theoretical guidelines for implementation of social media. The paper concludes with research propositions that will test the effectiveness of entrepreneurial marketing in overcoming the implementation challenges of social media.

Can qualitative content analysis be adapted for use by social informaticians to study social media discourse? A position paper

IS research on social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs) has so far used user surveys or quantitative content analysis (QuantCA) research methods almost exclusively. There is considerable potential for social informatics research to use qualitative content analysis (QualCA) to explore social media discourse and its appropriation by people “in situ”. This paper presents the position that QualCA offers researchers the flexibility to identify emergent research questions and units of analysis which they may not have preconceived. This is likely to be important for IS research because of the infancy and evolving nature of social media discourse. The paper puts forward suggestions on how the QualCA research method can be adapted for this type of research.

Blogs bother me : social media, journalism and the curriculum

This paper grew out of the authors’ interest in updating the journalism curriculum at AUT (Aukland University of Technology) to better reflect the impact of online media, including social media, on the work of journalists. The challenge for journalism educators is to remain relevant in rapidly changing news and education environments. Our study suggests that while the vast majority of students have some engagement with social media, particularly social networking, and are aware that it can be a powerful tool for journalists, they are still not entirely comfortable with its techniques and they are not experimenting with social media as a production platform as much as we first thought. In short, it appears that they do not have command of professional fluency with social media tools. In response to these findings we have begun to introduce some social media tools and processes directly into the units we teach, in particular: digital story-telling techniques; the use of Twitter and location-based applications; encouraging the ethical use of Facebook etc. for sourcing stories and talent for interviews; podcasting, soundslides and video for the Web, Dreamweaver, InDesign and PHP-based content management systems. We do not see the work to date as the end-point of the changes that we know are necessary, but we are acutely aware of the limitations (structural, institutional and financial) that suggest we should continue with this small-steps approach for the foreseeable future.

A framework for elearning with social media using DRM

This paper provides a proposal for personal e-learning system (PELS) architecture in the context of social network environment. The main objective of PELS is to develop individual skills on a specific subject and share resources with peers. Our system architecture defines organization and management of personal learning environment that aids in creating, verifying and sharing learning artifacts and making money at the same time. We also focus on in our research one of the most interesting arenas in digital content or document management called Digital Right Management (DRAM) and its application to eLearning.