Living the nation

Belonging to and identifying with a nation has, since the latter half of the 18th century, been a distinctly human quality. To be human is to be part of a nation. Yet, contemporary theorists such as Appadurai and Fukuyama argue this universal human trait is undergoing vast change, threatened, it seems, by irrelevance and obsolescence, a return to tribalism and widened conceptual horizons represented by the likes of transnationalism and cosmopolitanism. These same threats are often attributed to the changing ideas and experience of spatiality and temporality enabled by information and communication technologies such as the Internet, spurred on by the rising intensity of flow amongst and within the human population. This paper argues that in the analysis of changes to the nation—which I suggest is best considered as the nexus of the body politic, the social body and human bodies—it is the notion of lived time and lived space that is most appropriate. The notion of the lived is borrowed and extended from Henri Lefebvre, who theorises that between mentally conceived and physically perceived space, lies its socially lived counterpart, which he defines as “the materialisation of social being”. As such, lived space (and time) draws on both its material and mental aspects. It is the thesis of this paper that against such a background as lived time and lived space the nation becomes much more than a political concept and/or project and is revealed as lived phenomenon, experienced in and through the dynamics of everyday praxis. Inherent to this argument is the understanding that it is the interplay between the possibilities imagined of the nation and; its eventual realisation through social acts and practices that marks it as a profoundly human institution.

Nation and Internet : Malaysia and the multimedia super corridor

As part of a development plan-in-progress spanning a total of 25 years (1996 to 2020), Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor MSC provides a unique opportunity to witness a brief and microcosmic unfolding of that process which Lewis Mumford lays out in exhaustive detail in Technics and Civilization (Mumford, 1963). What makes it doubly interesting is the interlocking of national imagining, destiny and progress with a specific group of technologies, information and communication technologies (ICT), of which the Internet is part. This paper casts Malaysia’s development and implementation of the MSC as the core round which an enquiry of the association between the nation and the Internet is woven. I argue here that there are 3 dissonances that occur within the relationship between the Malaysian nation and the Internet. The first of these arises from the tension between the premises underlying techno-utopianism and pro-Malay affirmative action. The second is born of the discordance between the “guaranteed” freedom from online censorship and the absolute punitive powers of the state. The third lies in the contradiction between the Malaysian nation, as practiced through graduated sovereignty and its pro-Bumiputera affirmative action. Together, these three comprise the inflections that the Internet has on Malaysia. Further, I contend that aside from adding to the number of ways in which the nation is understood and experienced, these inflections also have the potential to disrupt how the nation is lived. By lived I mean to denote the realisation of the nation that occurs in and through everyday life.

The Guardian Reportage of the UK MP Expenses Scandal: a Case Study of Computational Journalism

The Guardian reportage of the United Kingdom Member of Parliament (MP) expenses scandal of 2009 used crowdsourcing and computational journalism techniques. Computational journalism can be broadly defined as the application of computer science techniques to the activities of journalism. Its foundation lies in computer assisted reporting techniques and its importance is increasing due to the: (a) increasing availability of large scale government datasets for scrutiny; (b) declining cost, increasing power and ease of use of data mining and filtering software; and Web 2.0; and (c) explosion of online public engagement and opinion.. This paper provides a case study of the Guardian MP expenses scandal reportage and reveals some key challenges and opportunities for digital journalism. It finds journalists may increasingly take an active role in understanding, interpreting, verifying and reporting clues or conclusions that arise from the interrogations of datasets (computational journalism). Secondly a distinction should be made between information reportage and computational journalism in the digital realm, just as a distinction might be made between citizen reporting and citizen journalism. Thirdly, an opportunity exists for online news providers to take a ‘curatorial’ role, selecting and making easily available the best data sources for readers to use (information reportage). These activities have always been fundamental to journalism, however the way in which they are undertaken may change. Findings from this paper may suggest opportunities and challenges for the implementation of computational journalism techniques in practice by digital Australian media providers, and further areas of research.

Three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structures in the guanidinium salts of the monocyclic dicarboxylic acids rac-trans-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid (2:1, anhydrous), isophthalic acid (1:1, monohydrate) and terephthalic acid (2:1, trihydrate).

The structures of bis(guanidinium)rac-trans-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate, 2(CH6N3+) C8H10O4- (I), guanidinium 3-carboxybenzoate monohydrate CH6N3+ C8H5O4- . H2O (II) and bis(guanidinium) benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate trihydrate, 2(CH6N3+) C8H4O4^2- . 3H2O (III) have been determined and the hydrogen bonding in each examined. All three compounds form three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded framework structures. In anhydrous (I), both guanidinium cations give classic cyclic R2/2(8) N--H...O,O'(carboxyl) and asymmetric cyclic R1/2(6) hydrogen-bonding interactions while one cation gives an unusual enlarged cyclic interaction with O acceptors of separate ortho-related carboxyl groups [graph set R2/2(11)]. Cations and anions also associate across inversion centres giving cyclic R2/4(8) motifs. In the 1:1 guanidinium salt (II), the cation gives two separate cyclic R1/2(6) interactions, one with a carboxyl O-acceptor, the other with the water molecule of solvation. The structure is unusual in that both carboxyl groups give short inter-anion O...H...O contacts, one across a crystallographic inversion centre [2.483(2)\%A], the other about a two-fold axis of rotation [2.462(2)\%A] with a half-occupancy hydrogen delocalized on the symmetry element in each. The water molecule links the cation--anion ribbon structures into a three-dimensional framework. In (III), the repeating molecular unit comprises a benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate dianion which lies across a crystallographic inversion centre, two guanidinium cations and two water molecules of solvation (each set related by two-fold rotational symmetry), and a single water molecule which lies on a two-fold axis. Each guanidinium cation gives three types of cyclic interactions with the dianions: one R^1^~2~(6), the others R2/3(8) and R3/3(10) (both of these involving the water molecules), giving a three-dimensional structure through bridges down the b cell direction. The water molecule at the general site also forms an unusual cyclic R2/2(4) homodimeric association across an inversion centre [O--H...O, 2.875(2)\%A]. The work described here provides further examples of the common cyclic guanidinium cation...carboxylate anion hydrogen-bonding associations as well as featuring other less common cyclic motifs.

Bis(4-carbamoylpiperidinium)biphenyl-4,4'-disulfonate

In the title isonipecotamide salt 2C6H13N2O+.C12H8O6S22-,the asymmetric unit comprises one biphenyl-4,4'-disulfonate dianion which lies across a crystallographic inversion centre and another in a general position [dihedral angle between the two phenyl rings is 37.1(1)deg], together with three isonipecotamide cations. Two of these cations give a cyclic homomeric amide-amide dimer interaction [graph set R2/2(8)],the other giving a similar dimeric interaction but across an inversion centre, both dimers then forming lateral cyclic R2/4(8) pyrimidinium N-H...O interactions. These units are linked longitudinally to the sulfonate groups of the dianions through piperidinium N-H...O hydrogen bonds, giving a three-dimensional framework structure.

Concept building

In this world of continuous change, there’s probably one certainty: more change lies ahead. Our students will encounter challenges and opportunities that we can’t even imagine. How do we prepare our students as future citizens for the challenges of the 21st century? One of the most influential public intellectuals of our time, Howard Gardner, suggests that in the future individuals will depend to a great extent on the capacity to synthesise large amounts of information. ‘They will need to be able to gather together information from disparate sources and put it together in ways that work for themselves and can be communicated to other persons’(Gardner 2008, p. xiii). One of the first steps in ‘putting things together’ so they ‘work’ in the mind is ‘to group objects and events together on the basis of some similarity between them’ (Lee & das Gupta 1995, p. 116). When we do this and give them a collective name, we are conceptualising. Apart from helping to save our sanity by simplifying the vast amounts of data we encounter every day, concepts help us to understand and gain meaning from what we experience. Concepts are essential for synthesising information and they also help us to communicate with others. Put simply, concepts serve as building blocks for knowledge, understanding and communication. This chapter addresses the importance of teaching and learning about concepts and conceptual development in studies of society and environment. It proceeds as follows: first, it considers how individuals use concepts, and, second, it explores the characteristics of concepts; the third section presents a discussion of approaches that might be adopted by teachers intending to help their students build concepts in the classroom.

Providing a better work environment for competitive advantage – conceptual considerations linking commitment and firm-specific human resources

Managing for uncertain futures is a major concern in the area of strategic management with environmental stability fading and increasing global impacts on local decisions. One critical resource that has attained special interest lies in talented and qualified employees. It is a challenge to motivate such employees to invest in firm-specific assets that may form a valuable basis for competitive advantage. Short term contracts and a lack of care for employees make it hard to establish a committed workforce. The aim of the paper is the elaboration of a conceptual framework showing the links and contributing to a better understanding of how the alignment of interests of employees and firms maybe a valuable contribution to the understanding of competitive advantage.

Monitoring and regulatory role of the balanced scorecard in controlling organisational identities

This thesis employs the theoretical fusion of disciplinary knowledge, interlacing an analysis from both functional and interpretive frameworks and applies these paradigms to three concepts—organisational identity, the balanced scorecard performance measurement system, and control. As an applied thesis, this study highlights how particular public sector organisations are using a range of multi-disciplinary forms of knowledge constructed for their needs to achieve practical outcomes. Practical evidence of this study is not bound by a single disciplinary field or the concerns raised by academics about the rigorous application of academic knowledge. The study’s value lies in its ability to explore how current communication and accounting knowledge is being used for practical purposes in organisational life. The main focus of this thesis is on identities in an organisational communication context. In exploring the theoretical and practical challenges, the research questions for this thesis were formulated as: 1. Is it possible to effectively control identities in organisations by the use of an integrated performance measurement system—the balanced scorecard—and if so, how? 2. What is the relationship between identities and an integrated performance measurement system—the balanced scorecard—in the identity construction process? Identities in the organisational context have been extensively discussed in graphic design, corporate communication and marketing, strategic management, organisational behaviour, and social psychology literatures. Corporate identity is the self-presentation of the personality of an organisation (Van Riel, 1995; Van Riel & Balmer, 1997), and organisational identity is the statement of central characteristics described by members (Albert & Whetten, 2003). In this study, identity management is positioned as a strategically complex task, embracing not only logo and name, but also multiple dimensions, levels and facets of organisational life. Responding to the collaborative efforts of researchers and practitioners in identity conceptualisation and methodological approaches, this dissertation argues that analysis can be achieved through the use of an integrated framework of identity products, patternings and processes (Cornelissen, Haslam, & Balmer, 2007), transforming conceptualisations of corporate identity, organisational identity and identification studies. Likewise, the performance measurement literature from the accounting field now emphasises the importance of ‘soft’ non-financial measures in gauging performance—potentially allowing the monitoring and regulation of ‘collective’ identities (Cornelissen et al., 2007). The balanced scorecard (BSC) (Kaplan & Norton, 1996a), as the selected integrated performance measurement system, quantifies organisational performance under the four perspectives of finance, customer, internal process, and learning and growth. Broadening the traditional performance measurement boundary, the BSC transforms how organisations perceived themselves (Vaivio, 2007). The rhetorical and communicative value of the BSC has also been emphasised in organisational self-understanding (Malina, Nørreklit, & Selto, 2007; Malmi, 2001; Norreklit, 2000, 2003). Thus, this study establishes a theoretical connection between the controlling effects of the BSC and organisational identity construction. Common to both literatures, the aspects of control became the focus of this dissertation, as ‘the exercise or act of achieving a goal’ (Tompkins & Cheney, 1985, p. 180). This study explores not only traditional technical and bureaucratic control (Edwards, 1981), but also concertive control (Tompkins & Cheney, 1985), shifting the locus of control to employees who make their own decisions towards desired organisational premises (Simon, 1976). The controlling effects on collective identities are explored through the lens of the rhetorical frames mobilised through the power of organisational enthymemes (Tompkins & Cheney, 1985) and identification processes (Ashforth, Harrison, & Corley, 2008). In operationalising the concept of control, two guiding questions were developed to support the research questions: 1.1 How does the use of the balanced scorecard monitor identities in public sector organisations? 1.2 How does the use of the balanced scorecard regulate identities in public sector organisations? This study adopts qualitative multiple case studies using ethnographic techniques. Data were gathered from interviews of 41 managers, organisational documents, and participant observation from 2003 to 2008, to inform an understanding of organisational practices and members’ perceptions in the five cases of two public sector organisations in Australia. Drawing on the functional and interpretive paradigms, the effective design and use of the systems, as well as the understanding of shared meanings of identities and identifications are simultaneously recognised. The analytical structure guided by the ‘bracketing’ (Lewis & Grimes, 1999) and ‘interplay’ strategies (Schultz & Hatch, 1996) preserved, connected and contrasted the unique findings from the multi-paradigms. The ‘temporal bracketing’ strategy (Langley, 1999) from the process view supports the comparative exploration of the analysis over the periods under study. The findings suggest that the effective use of the BSC can monitor and regulate identity products, patternings and processes. In monitoring identities, the flexible BSC framework allowed the case study organisations to monitor various aspects of finance, customer, improvement and organisational capability that included identity dimensions. Such inclusion legitimises identity management as organisational performance. In regulating identities, the use of the BSC created a mechanism to form collective identities by articulating various perspectives and causal linkages, and through the cascading and alignment of multiple scorecards. The BSC—directly reflecting organisationally valued premises and legitimised symbols—acted as an identity product of communication, visual symbols and behavioural guidance. The selective promotion of the BSC measures filtered organisational focus to shape unique identity multiplicity and characteristics within the cases. Further, the use of the BSC facilitated the assimilation of multiple identities by controlling the direction and strength of identifications, engaging different groups of members. More specifically, the tight authority of the BSC framework and systems are explained both by technical and bureaucratic controls, while subtle communication of organisational premises and information filtering is achieved through concertive control. This study confirms that these macro top-down controls mediated the sensebreaking and sensegiving process of organisational identification, supporting research by Ashforth, Harrison and Corley (2008). This study pays attention to members’ power of self-regulation, filling minor premises of the derived logic of their organisation through the playing out of organisational enthymemes (Tompkins & Cheney, 1985). Members are then encouraged to make their own decisions towards the organisational premises embedded in the BSC, through the micro bottom-up identification processes including: enacting organisationally valued identities; sensemaking; and the construction of identity narratives aligned with those organisationally valued premises. Within the process, the self-referential effect of communication encouraged members to believe the organisational messages embedded in the BSC in transforming collective and individual identities. Therefore, communication through the use of the BSC continued the self-producing of normative performance mechanisms, established meanings of identities, and enabled members’ self-regulation in identity construction. Further, this research establishes the relationship between identity and the use of the BSC in terms of identity multiplicity and attributes. The BSC framework constrained and enabled case study organisations and members to monitor and regulate identity multiplicity across a number of dimensions, levels and facets. The use of the BSC constantly heightened the identity attributes of distinctiveness, relativity, visibility, fluidity and manageability in identity construction over time. Overall, this research explains the reciprocal controlling relationships of multiple structures in organisations to achieve a goal. It bridges the gap among corporate and organisational identity theories by adopting Cornelissen, Haslam and Balmer’s (2007) integrated identity framework, and reduces the gap in understanding between identity and performance measurement studies. Parallel review of the process of monitoring and regulating identities from both literatures synthesised the theoretical strengths of both to conceptualise and operationalise identities. This study extends the discussion on positioning identity, culture, commitment, and image and reputation measures in integrated performance measurement systems as organisational capital. Further, this study applies understanding of the multiple forms of control (Edwards, 1979; Tompkins & Cheney, 1985), emphasising the power of organisational members in identification processes, using the notion of rhetorical organisational enthymemes. This highlights the value of the collaborative theoretical power of identity, communication and performance measurement frameworks. These case studies provide practical insights about the public sector where existing bureaucracy and desired organisational identity directions are competing within a large organisational setting. Further research on personal identity and simple control in organisations that fully cascade the BSC down to individual members would provide enriched data. The extended application of the conceptual framework to other public and private sector organisations with a longitudinal view will also contribute to further theory building.

The Guardian reportage of the UK MP expenses scandal: a case study of computational journalism

The Guardian reportage of the United Kingdom Member of Parliament (MP) expenses scandal of 2009 used crowdsourcing and computational journalism techniques. Computational journalism can be broadly defined as the application of computer science techniques to the activities of journalism. Its foundation lies in computer assisted reporting techniques and its importance is increasing due to the: (a) increasing availability of large scale government datasets for scrutiny; (b) declining cost, increasing power and ease of use of data mining and filtering software; and Web 2.0; and (c) explosion of online public engagement and opinion.. This paper provides a case study of the Guardian MP expenses scandal reportage and reveals some key challenges and opportunities for digital journalism. It finds journalists may increasingly take an active role in understanding, interpreting, verifying and reporting clues or conclusions that arise from the interrogations of datasets (computational journalism). Secondly a distinction should be made between information reportage and computational journalism in the digital realm, just as a distinction might be made between citizen reporting and citizen journalism. Thirdly, an opportunity exists for online news providers to take a ‘curatorial’ role, selecting and making easily available the best data sources for readers to use (information reportage). These activities have always been fundamental to journalism, however the way in which they are undertaken may change. Findings from this paper may suggest opportunities and challenges for the implementation of computational journalism techniques in practice by digital Australian media providers, and further areas of research.

The 'Dirty Work' of the Lie

The panel "Duplicity/Complicity: Performing and Misperforming Lies" at PSi #15 in Croatia in July 2009 examined the half-truths, hidden assumptions and power relations embedded in every act of performance through an analysis of the way bodies, buildings, personae and communities perform and misperform lies. It was a collection of new academic voices from Australia and Croatia, intersecting and colliding and, at times, outright lying, with each other and with commentary from Alan Read. Inspired by this successful adventure in collaborative academic mis-performance, "The ‘Dirty Work’ of the Lie" takes the challenge set by the Prelude Panel at PSI #15 and subjects the ideas emerging from this panel to "friendly fire" in order to build a multi authored response to 'performance that lies', with reference to the work of A Chorus of Women, disabled artists Bill Shannon, Aaron Williamson and Kathryn Araneillo, US dance performer Ann Liv Young and US theatre and festival director Peter Sellars. In doing so, "The 'Dirty Work' of the Lie" provides a reflexive response to the duplicity inherent in the performances, and also in our own academic analyses. With Alan Read acting as interlocutor, each contributor will creatively respond to a paper presented by another, developing the key intersecting issues that emerged through the formation of the panel. These issues include impression management, self-belief and performers who are 'taken in by their own act', the dirty work of taking others in with an act, the guerrilla dimension of lying, the productivity of the lie, and questions of audience engagement and ethics. As a result, this new paper tests how the 'misperformance' of lies across different cultural sites, be it deliberate or accidental, can become a productive – and, indeed, politicised – aspect of cultural performance, betraying accepted attitudes, ideas and structures of authority and offering alternative visions. Through it’s distinctively multi vocal texture, "The 'Dirty Work' of the Lie" also interrogates the modes of analysis available to us, questioning the 'duplicity' in our reflecting, responding and listening to each other as well as the work.

Stripping Sight Bare : Alison Jones’ ‘Portraits by Proxy’

In this paper I analyse UK artist Alison Jones’ sonic interventions Portrait of the Artist by Proxy (2008), Voyeurism by Proxy (2008) and Art, Lies and Audio Tapes (2009). In Portrait of the Artist by Proxy, Jones – who, due to deteriorating vision, has not seen her reflection in a mirror in years – asks and trusts participants to audio-describe her own image back to her. In Voyeurism by Proxy, Jones asks participants to audio-describe erotic drawings by Gustav Klimt. In Art, Lies and Audio Tapes, Jones asks participants to audio-describe other artworks, such as W.F. Yeames’ And When Did You Last see Your Father?. In these portraits by proxy, Jones opens her image, and other images, to interpretation. In doing so, Jones draws attention to the way sight is privileged as a mode of access to fixed, fundamental truths in Western culture – a mode assumed to be untainted by filters that skew perception of the object. “In a culture where vision is by far the dominant sense,” Jones says, “and as a visual artist with a visual impairment, I am reliant on audio-description …Inevitably, there are limitations imposed by language, time and the interpreter’s background knowledge of the subject viewed, as well as their personal bias of what is deemed important to impart in their description” . In these works, Jones strips these background knowledges, biases and assumptions bare. She reveals different perceptions, as well as tendencies or censor, edit or exaggerate descriptions. In this paper, I investigate how, by revealing unconscious biases, Jones’ works renders herself and her participants vulnerable to a change of perception. I also examine how Jones’ later editing of the audio-descriptions allows her to show the instabilities of sight, and, in Portrait of the Artist by Proxy, to reclaim authorship of her own image.

Thelma and Disease : Susan Gilman's Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven [A Review]

In the nineteenth century, when female travel narratives of miss(adventure) were still read as excursions rather than expeditions, it was common for women travellers to preface their writing with an apology or admission of guilt—a type of disclaimer that excused the author for engaging in such inappropriate activity and bothering the reader with their trivial endeavours. Susan Gilman’s Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven offers no such thing. Instead Gilman begins her memoir with a confession about its lack of lies, half-truth and spin. ‘This is a true story,’ she writes, ‘recounted as accurate as possible and corroborated by notes I took at the time and by others who were present.’

Managing creativity and its paradoxes in the film industry

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the various types of paradoxes underlying the nature of creativity, which in turn affect the foundations of organizations and organization change in the 21 st century. The film industry best illustrate the interaction of such paradoxes, creativity and organizational change. This paper examines how small and medium-sized finns in the emerging Singapore film industry stay competitive by managing or not managing these paradoxes. Design/methodology/approach: The study reported in this paper explores the opinions, attitudes and experiences of key decision-makers in the Singaporean film industry. Findings: This paper introduces the idea that an analysis of the various paradoxes driven by creativity in today's society provides hints on a deeper understanding of organizational change and development in the 21" century. Practical implications: The findings indicate that managers need practical tools that will enable them to comprehend and better manage these emerging contradictions and fully understand the implications of paradoxical situations and organizational change. Research limitations: The distinctive nature of the Singaporean firms means that certain factors examined may be more or less significant in the film industry in other countries. Originality/value: The value of this paper lies in the knowledge that paradox considerations are becoming significant in understanding pluralism and the processes of organizational change.

The conversion of lignocellulosics to levulinic acid

Biomass represents an abundant and relatively low cost carbon resource that can be utilized to produce platform chemicals such as levulinic acid. Current processing technology limits the cost-effective production of levulinic acid in commercial quantities from biomass. The key to improving the yield and effi ciency of levulinic acid production from biomass lies in the ability to optimize and isolate the intermediate products at each step of the reaction pathway and reduce re-polymerization and side reactions. New technologies (including the use of microwave irradiation and ionic liquids) and the development of highly selective catalysts would provide the necessary step change for the optimization of key reactions. A processing environment that allows the use of biphasic systems and/or continuous extraction of products would increase reaction rates, yields and product quality. This review outlines the chemistry of levulinic acid synthesis and discusses current and potential technologies for producing levulinic acid from lignocellulosics.

On location : the imagined private interior in public life

This paper reveals the interior landscapes of selected contemporary Australian films, such as The Caterpillar Wish and Bad Boy Bubby, to develop a number of thematic influences on the manner in which domestic and private lives are constructed through filmic imagination. The research uncovers the conditions that contribute to particular scenographic representations of the humble interiors that act as both backdrop and performer to subtle and often troubled narratives. Such readings are informed by the theoretical works of writer Gertrude Stein, among others, who explore the relationships between the scenographic third dimension and the fourth dimensional performance in the representation of narrative space. A further theoretical thread lies in Giuliana Bruno’s work on the tension between private and public filmic space, which is explored through the public outing of intensely private spaces generated through narratives framed by the specificities of found interiors. Beyond the interrogation of qualities of imagined filmic space is the condition whereby locations, once transformed by the event of movie making are consequently forever revised. These altered conditions subsequently reinvest the lives of those who return to the location with layered narratives of occupation. Situationally, the now reconverted interior performs as contributor to subsequent private inhabitation, even if only as imagined space. The possibility here is that the qualities of the original may be superimposed and recontextualised to invest post-produced interiors with the qualities of the other space as imagined. This reading of film space explores new theoretical design scenarios for imagined and everyday interior landscapes.