Industries, artists, friends and fans : marketing young adult fictions online

The Internet has facilitated the coming together of formerly more separated youth taste cultures, such that literary, screen and graphic fandoms now more readily overlap. Media industries have invested in online strategies which create an ongoing relationship between producers and consumers of entertainment media texts. Using the Internet marketing campaign for Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga as a case study, the paper examines the role of the publishing industry in marketing popular teen literary fiction through online channels in ways that often disguise promotional intent.

Above the bottom line : understanding Australian screen content producers

The recently completed Australian Screen Producer Survey provides the most current and detailed picture of the culture, motivations and aspirations of a highly influential sector of the content production industries. Drawing upon the results of the survey, this article reflects on the historical and theoretical difficulties entailed in defining the producer as a professional category, before outlining some of the survey’s key findings. In particular, it examines producers’ demographic and sectoral profile, analyses their attitudes towards the relative importance of education and experience, and explores their underlying motivations. Amongst other findings, the survey reveals a tendency towards idealism among Australian producers that would appear to be at odds with the financial realities of the business. It therefore offers a variety of stakeholders (including government and educational institutions, as well as producers themselves) with the opportunity to reflect upon the future shape and direction of the Australian media industry.

The Australian screen producer in transition

The role of the screen producer is ramifying. Not only are there numerous producer categories, but the screen producer function is also found on a continuum across film, television, advertising, corporate video and the burgeoning digital media sector. In recent years, fundamental changes to distribution and consumption practices and technologies should have had a correlate impact on screen production practices and on the role of existing screen producers. At the same time, new and recent producers are learning and practising their craft in af ield that has already been transformed by digitization and media convergence. Our analysis of the work, experience and outlook of screen producers in this chapter is based on data collected in the Australian Screen Producer Survey (ASPS), a nationwide survey conducted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, the media marketing firm Bergent Research and the Centre for Screen Business at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2008/2009 and 2011.2 We analyse the results to better understand the practice of screen production in a period of industry transition, and to recognize the persistence of established production cultures that serve to distinguish different industry sectors.

A comparative study on economic factors of construction industries in Australia and China

The construction sector produces the facilities needed for a large majority of the production of goods and services, in which a sizeable proportion of Gross Domestic Product is generated. Recent trends in the globalisation of construction markets indicate that many countries consider construction industry competitiveness as crucial, and are working to increase construction productivity, in particular where the construction industries play an important role in their economic development. This paper first points out the research importance in international construction. Based on economic analyses of construction industries, a study is then carried out to focus on the economic sizes and benefits of the Chinese construction industry and to compare them with the Australian construction industry. Results derived from such an international construction comparison will assist in the Australian construction communities understanding the construction markets and industries in China and will benefit in international construction participation and cooperation.

On-screen supervision relationships versus face-to-face

Videoconferencing provides access to essential training for probationary psychologists in rural areas. However the unique aspects of videoconferenced communication (Jerome & Zaylor, 2000) challenge an assumed equivalency of face-to-face and videoconferenced interactions. This study investigated the relevance of power, involvement, and an established model of supervision (Bernard, 1979, 1997) to the working relationship in videoconferenced supervision. Semistructured interviews were conducted with four supervisors, eighteen trainees experienced in videoconferenced supervision and four trainees experienced in face-to-face supervision. Data were analysed by qualitative content analysis, coding pertinent theoretical constructs. Results confirmed that the roles defined by Bernard's supervision model (teacher, counsellor and consultant) were relevant to videoconferenced supervision. However a further role emerged as well. Power and involvement dimensions also had relevance for videoconferenced interactions with some suggestion that the power discrepancy between trainee and supervisor was increased. Complexities arising from videoconferencing included some trainees avoiding involvement by blaming technical malfunctions, some reporting curtailed emotional expression and others reporting freer emotional expression due to the distal nature of the medium. The findings affirm some unique features to videoconferenced supervision and validate a framework to further explore the impact of videoconferencing upon supervisory relationships.

Creative arts practice, creative industries : method and process as cultural capital

The value of artistic research is related not only to the products of creative arts practices, but also to methodological, material and social processes through which they operate.

This paper argues that although creative arts research methods – the use of personally situated, interdisciplinary and emergent approaches – contradict what is usually expected of research, such approaches underpin the innovative capacity of studio enquiry and its implication for extending practice-led research pedagogy across all research disciplines.

Training general practitioners in flexible sigmoidoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer

Background: A screening programme to detect polyps or early carcinoma would significantly reduce the mortality and morbidity of colorectal cancer (CRC). The aims of the present study were to evaluate: (i) the feasibility of training general practitioners in flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) for CRC screening; (ii) the acceptability of screening by faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) and FS in asymptomatic standard risk Australians aged over 50 years; and (iii) the yield of such screening. Methods: Subjects were recruited by general practitioner (GP) referral, newspaper advertisement or by a direct approach to retirement villages. Participants were mailed a FOBT kit and a prescreening questionnaire. Flexible sigmoidoscopy was performed by a GP supervised by an experienced endoscopist. Subjects then completed a second questionnaire. General practitioners were assessed after 50 unassisted procedures. Results: A total of 264 individuals contacted the study coordinator; 169 were screened. Screening was accepted well by the participants. Fifteen per cent of subjects had polyps and 4% had a positive FOBT. Training in FS was adversely affected by the availability of resources. Three GPs completed 50 unassisted procedures over a 15-month period, but none were able to reliably assess the distal bowel. Conclusions: Although the three trainees and their supervisors did not consider that the GPs were adequately trained after 50 unassisted procedures, training was adversely affected by limited resources within the Victorian public hospital system. Screening by FOBT and FS was considered to be acceptable by the patients undergoing these procedures. Existing facilities are not adequate if GPs are to be trained in FS as part of a national CRC screening program.

(falling into) the space between the screen and the audience

The following is from a presentation at the Double Dialogues Conference, On Space, at The University of Otago, Dunedin, June 3, 2006.There is a space between things, and between things there is a space – a gap. This presentation considers the gap – that space in the cinema – between the audience and the screen. I am referring to the Cinema as an institution, and the cinema as a location. It is a space where films are screened: (often) with a screen, a projector facing the screen and an audience hovering between.

Australian mechanical engineers : industries and attributes

The US and UK have had significant influence on the delivery and content of engineering programs both globally and particularly on Australia and yet the industrial profile of Australia has historically been significantly different from that of the US and UK. This paper first presents a study into the differences in industrial profile in the employment of mechanical engineers in the US, UK and Australia. This paper then presents key findings from a role-based study that identified the relative significance of a broad range of attributes for the most common mechanical engineering roles in the six industries that employ the greatest number of Australian mechanical engineers.

Buyer-supplier relationships and brand strategy within commoditised industries : a suggested theoretical framework

Research into commodity markets has identified an increase in non-price based competition. In pursuit of sustainable bases for differentiation, many commodity industries including fresh produce, dairy and meat are introducing branded products. Using the Resource-Based View (RBV), this paper postulates that such branding is influenced by the nature of the buyer-supplier relationship. We suggest that the individual resources and capabilities of trade partners, in addition to the capabilities of that relationship, influence the brand strategies pursued. Moreover, we propose that by combining organisational resources and capabilities and brand strategy in an holistic framework, we may explain variations in buyer-supplier relationship performance.

eCommerce in service industries : extending the socio-technical paradigm

The socio-technical framework (STF) is useful for describing how technologies are embedded in social systems and how people, groups and technologies are interrelated. This perspective, however, lacks theoretical specificity and has limited usefulness in explaining the dynamics of actual situations. In this paper we address the question of how to extend the STF to better analyse technologies in their social context. We build on the STF by including the concept of ‘information ecology’ and research on service provision to suggest a more empirically focussed way of analysing the relationships between people and technologies. In particular, we examine changes that have occurred as B2C eCommerce technologies have been implemented in service organisations, using case study findings from retail banking to introduce the concept of ‘Coactive Commerce Systems’. This concept provides a theoretically based descriptor for understanding the technologically-mediated interrelationships between organisations and their customers.

Relational capabilities and brand strategy within commoditised industries

In many traditionally commoditised industries, organisations are recognising that their product offering alone does not cultivate a competitive advantage. As commoditised products face greater price competition, many are looking for a more sustainable form of differentiation. Within the fresh fruit and vegetable, dairy and meat industries, organisations are increasingly value-adding and focusing on branded offerings to gain such advantage. Whilst this is witnessed within industry, there is little academic evidence that discusses the relationship between dyad partners and how this impacts their branding strategy. This paper conceptually discusses how relationships between buyer and supplier trade partners can impact the branding strategies that are ultimately pursued by dyad participants. The relationship between trade partners is conceptualised using the resource-based view. Consideration is given to relationship complexities, the external environment and performance measurement.