Learning beyond books : strategies for ambient media to improve libraries and collaboration spaces as interfaces for social learning

With the advent of digital media and online information resources, public libraries as physical destinations for information access are being increasingly challenged. As a response, many libraries follow the trend of removing bookshelves in order to provide more floorspace for social interaction and collaboration. Such spaces follow a Commons 2.0 model: they are designed to support collaborative work and social learning. The acquisition of skills and knowledge is facilitated as a result of being surrounded by and interacting with a community of likeminded others. Based on the results of a case study on a Commons 2.0 library space, this paper describes several issues of collaboration and social learning in public library settings. Acknowledging the significance of the architectural characteristics of the physical space, we discuss opportunities for ambient media to better reflect the social attributes of the library as a place; i.e. amplify the sense of other co-present library visitors and provide opportunities for shared encounters and conversations, which would remain invisible otherwise. We present the design of a user check-in system for improving the library as a physical destination for social learning, sharing, and inspiration for and by the community.

A study of Beijing‘s competitive advantage as an emergent media capital

The development of creative industries has been connected to urban development since the end of the 20th century. However, the causality of why creative industries always cluster and develop in certain cities hasn‘t been adequately demonstrated, especially as to how various resources grow, interact and nurture the creative capacity of the locality. Therefore it is vital to observe how the local institutional environment nurtures creative industries and how creative industries consequently change the environment in order to better address the connection between creative industries and localities. In Beijing, the relocation of CCTV, BTV and Phoenix to Chaoyang District raises the possibility of a new era for Chinese media, one in which the stodginess of propaganda content will give way to exciting new forms and genres. The mixing of media companies in an open commercial environment (away from the political power district of Xicheng) holds the promise of more freedom of expression and, ultimately, to a =media capital‘ (Curtin, 2003). These are the dreams of many media practitioners in Beijing. But just how realistic are their expectations? This study adopts the concept of =media capital‘ to demonstrate how participants, including state-media organisations, private media companies and international media conglomerates, are seeking out space and networks to survive in Beijing. Drawing on policy analysis, interviews and case studies, this study illustrates how different agents meet, confront and adapt in Beijing. This study identifies factors responsible for the media industries clustering in China, and argues that Beijing is very likely to be the next Chinese media capital, after enough accumulation and development, although as a lower tier version compared to other media capitals in the world. This study contributes to Curtin‘s =media capital‘ concept, develops his interpretation on the relationship of media industries and the government, and suggests that the influence over the government of media companies and professionals should be acknowledged. Therefore, empirically, this study assists media practitioners in understanding how the Chinese government perceives media industries and, consequently, how media industries are operated in China. The study also reveals that despite the government‘s aspirations, China‘s media industries are still greatly constrained by institutional obstacles. Hence Beijing really needs to speed up its pace on the path of media reform, abandon the old mindset and create more room for creativity. Policy-makers in China should keep in mind that the only choice left to them is to further the reform.

Regulating journalists? The Finkelstein Review, the Convergence Review, and News Media Regulation in Australia

This paper identifies two major forces driving change in media policy worldwide: media convergence, and renewed concerns about media ethics, with the latter seen in the U.K. Leveson Inquiry. It focuses on two major public inquiries in Australia during 2011-2012 – the Independent Media Inquiry (Finkelstein Review) and the Convergence Review – and the issues raised about future regulation of journalism and news standards. Drawing upon perspectives from media theory, it observes the strong influence of social responsibility theories of the media in the Finkelstein Review, and the adverse reaction these received from those arguing from Fourth Estate/free press perspectives, which were also consistent with the longstanding opposition of Australian newspaper proprietors to government regulation. It also discusses the approaches taken in the Convergence Review to regulating for news standards, in light of the complexities arising from media convergence. The paper concludes with consideration of the fast-changing environment in which such proposals to transform media regulation are being considered, including the crisis of news media organisation business models, as seen in Australia with major layoffs of journalists from the leading print media publications.

The International Film and Television School in Cuba : for a stronger media culture in the global south

A little-known facet of Cuban internationalism is the Cuba shares in the education of young people who want to help build a stronger media culture that represents voices from the global South. Cuba was instrumental in the establishment and operation of the International Film and Television School at San Antonio de los Baños. The Cuban government provided the location and buildings for the school, and among the range of international media professionals who teach the students are selected Cuban professors from the Institute of the Arts, based n Havana. The International Film and Television School is supported by funding from Spain and other countries, and by the willingness of international media professionals to teach short courses for little more than an honorarium. Cuba used to provide full scholarships for student from the South to study a two-year course in film or television, but now charges fees for its three-year diploma course.

Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance information : a study of two global clothing and sports retail companies

This paper investigates the social and environmental disclosure practices of two large multinational companies, specifically Nike and Hennes&Mauritz. Utilising a joint consideration of legitimacy theory and media agenda setting theory, we investigate the linkage between negative media attention, and positive corporate social and environmental disclosures. Our results generally support a view that for those industry‐related social and environmental issues attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention, these corporations react by providing positive social and environmental disclosures. The results were particularly significant in relation to labour practices in developing countries – the issue attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention for the companies in question.

Engaging social customers : influencing new marketing strategies for social media information sources

A global, online quantitative study among 300 consumers of digital technology products found the most reliable information sources were friends, family or word of mouth (WOM) from someone they knew, followed by expert product reviews, and product reviews written by other consumers. The most unreliable information sources were advertising or infomercials, automated recommendations based on purchasing patterns or retailers. While a very small number of consumers evaluated products online, rating of products and online discussions were more frequent activities. The most popular social media websites for reviews were Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and e-Bay, indicating the importance of WOM in social networks and online media spaces that feature product reviews as it is the most persuasive piece of information in both online and offline social networks. These results suggest that ‘social customers’ must be considered as an integral part of a marketing strategy.

Developing intercultural competence in pre-service teachers from Australia and Malaysia : insights from the “Patches” programme

Developing intercultural competence in pre-service teachers from Australia and Malaysia: Insights from a Patches program. Innovative pedagogies can offer pre-service teachers the opportunity to develop their intercultural competence and take up more globalised viewpoints. One such innovation is the Patches program which brought together Malaysian and Australian pre-service teachers who were studying at the same university in Brisbane, Australia, to actively explore issues of cultural and linguistic difference. The participants were 14 Australian fourth-year pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a program on inclusive education, and 58 Malaysian pre-service teachers who had recently arrived at the university in Brisbane to commence their second year of an international education program. In peer groupings, these domestic and international pre-service teachers engaged in a series of interactive tasks and reflective writing workshops exploring intercultural experiences, over a period of ten weeks. Each element or ‘patch’ in the program was designed to build up into a mosaic of intercultural learning. The flexible structuring of the Patches Program provided a supportive framework for participant interaction whilst allowing the groups to decide for themselves the nature and extent of their involvement in a series of community-related tasks. The process of negotiating and implementing these activities formed the basis for establishing meaningful relationships between the participants. The development of the participants’ intercultural competence is traced through their reflective narratives and focus group discussions, drawing on Byram’s concept of the five savoirs. Explaining aspects of Australian culture to their newly arrived Malaysian peers, allowed the Australian pre-service teachers to take a perspective of outsideness towards their own familiar social practices. In addition, being unusually positioned as the linguistic other amongst a group of Bahasa Melayu speakers, highlighted for the Australian pre-service teachers the importance of being inclusive. For the Malaysian pre-service teachers, participation in the Patches program helped to extend intercultural understandings, establish social networks with local students, and build a sense of community in their new learning environment. Both groups of pre-service teachers noted the power of “learning directly by interacting rather than through books”. In addition to interacting interculturally, the process of reflecting on these intercultural experiences is seen as integral to the development of intercultural competence.

Developing academic and intercultural competence : the impact of a Patches program

This symposium focuses on an innovative Patches program that addresses imperatives with respect to the development of intercultural competence. The term, Patches, in this project refers to writing tasks and intercultural activities wherein each task becomes a ‘patch’ that eventually creates a quilt of learning as experienced by 58 second year BEd students from Malaysia and 14 fourth year domestic (Australian) BEd students. We take intercultural competence to mean students “ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on [their] intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes” (Deardorff, 2006). The papers in this symposium provide detailed information about the design of the program, its impact on students’ perceptions of themselves as students, writers, and emerging professionals, and students’ development of intercultural competence.

Alter/Asians : Asian-Australian Identities in Art, Media and Popular Culture

Exploration of how Australia and Asia are intertwined in everyday culture, and in the imagined worlds of Australians of all backgrounds. Investigates Asian cultural production of art, literature, media and performance that embody Asian social and cultural experiences. Includes endnotes, bibliography and index. Ang and Chalmers work in the School of Cultural Studies at University of Western Sydney. Law and Thomas are Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellows at Australian National University and the Research Centre in Inter-communal Studies respectively.

Social media and Web 2.0 : teacher-librarians, risk and inequity

This paper reports research into teacher-­‐librarians’ perceptions of using social media and Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. A pilot study was conducted with teacher-­‐librarians in five government schools and five private schools in southeast Queensland. The findings revealed that there was a strong digital divide between government schools and private schools, with government schools suffering severe restrictions on the use of social media and Web 2.0, leading to an unsophisticated use of these technologies. It is argued that internet ‘over-­‐ blocking’ may lead to government school students not being empowered to manage risks in an open internet environment. Furthermore, their use of information for academic and recreational learning may be compromised. This has implications particularly for low socioeconomic students, leading to further inequity in the process and outcomes of Australian education.

‘The health-location connection’: using GIS and social media on smartphones to track engagement with the Local urban environment for work, recreation, and physical activity

A technologically innovative study was undertaken across two suburbs in Brisbane, Australia, to assess socioeconomic differences in women's use of the local environment for work, recreation, and physical activity. Mothers from high and low socioeconomic suburbs were instructed to continue with usual daily routines, and to use mobile phone applications (Facebook Places, Twitter, and Foursquare) on their mobile phones to ‘check-in’ at each location and destination they reached during a one-week period. These smartphone applications are able to track travel logistics via built-in geographical information systems (GIS), which record participants’ points of latitude and longitude at each destination they reach. Location data were downloaded to Google Earth and excel for analysis. Women provided additional qualitative data via text regarding the reasons and social contexts of their travel. We analysed 2183 ‘check-ins’ for 54 women in this pilot study to gain quantitative, qualitative, and spatial data on human-environment interactions. Data was gathered on distances travelled, mode of transport, reason for travel, social context of travel, and categorised in terms of physical activity type – walking, running, sports, gym, cycling, or playing in the park. We found that the women in both suburbs had similar daily routines with the exception of physical activity. We identified 15% of ‘check-ins’ in the lower socioeconomic group as qualifying for the physical activity category, compared with 23% in the higher socioeconomic group. This was explained by more daily walking for transport (1.7kms to 0.2kms) and less car travel each week (28.km to 48.4kms) in the higher socioeconomic suburb. We ascertained insights regarding the socio-cultural influences on these differences via additional qualitative data. We discuss the benefits and limitations of using new technologies and Google Earth with implications for informing future physical and social aspects of urban design, and health promotion in socioeconomically diverse cities.

Chinese media

From an area of specialist research a decade ago China’s media has become now an important element of research and teaching worldwide, not only in specific Chinese cultural studies courses at the university level but increasingly in post-graduate research and in the domain of business consultancy. Edited by Michael Keane and Wanning Sun, leading experts in the field, this new title is a ‘mini library’ of the foundational and the very best cutting-edge scholarship on Chinese media

Hypercapitalism : language, new media and social perceptions of value

Using examples from contemporary policy and business discourses, and exemplary historical texts dealing with the notion of value, I put forward an argument as to why a critical scholarship that draws on media history, language analysis, philosophy and political economy is necessary to understand the dynamics of what is being called 'the global knowledge economy'. I argue that the social changes associated with new modes of value determination are closely associated with new media forms.

Masturbation and the media

This paper explores the important role the media play in informing young people about masturbation. A pilot study of focus groups with twenty-two young Australians, aged between 14-16 explored what they know about sex and sexuality, and where they have found that knowledge. This paper reports on their knowledge about masturbation. Although researchers agree that masturbation can be a positive part of healthy sexual development, most young people reported that they received very little positive information about it from their parents or in formal sex education in school. These young people’s discussions around this topic were largely ambivalent, but also highly complex due to the varying levels and types of information that they receive. In this context the media play a vital role in providing information about masturbation through books and magazines for young women, and television comedies for young men.

The changing role of copyright in China’s emergent media economy

This chapter introduces the changing role of copyright in China from a historical perspective. It begins by briefly tracing the history of copyright, from a censorship-related system associated with the emergence of the printing press in imperial China, through modernisation during the Republican period, abolition under communism and finally to the introduction of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) first copyright law in 1990 and the nation's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001.