Fresh ideas : services thinking for social marketing

Purpose The social marketing literature tends to focus on upstream marketing (policy) and downstream (individual behaviour change) and has a limited view on midstream (working with partners and community groups) social marketing. The paper proposes midstream social marketing should also include an understanding of how services and service employees influence and support individual behaviour change goals. The paper presents four key services marketing principles - derived from services theory and thinking - which the paper believes to be essential for implementing effective midstream social marketing. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that uses service theory and case-examples to show how service thinking can be used as a midstream social marketing approach. Findings For effective uptake and impact of social marketing services amongst people and populations, social marketers need to design programs that consider the service experience, the service employee, service quality/customer value and the active role of the customer in value creation. Research limitations/implications Services marketing is a well-established sub-discipline of marketing which, until recently, has not interacted with social marketing. The extension and application of services theory for social marketing can enrich and propel the social marketing discipline forward. Further research is recommended to evaluate how service principles can be applied in practice. Social implications Given that social marketing services tend not to be accessed in sufficient numbers by the people who most need them, social marketers need to think beyond the technical, cognitive, and organisational-focused goals when designing social services. Originality/value This paper identifies key service theories that social marketers should understand and use and is thus a source of fresh ideas for theory and practice.

A multilevel model of work-life : examining the impact of group structure and relational job design

One in five Australian workers believes that work doesn’t fit well with their family and social commitments. Concurrently, organisations are recognising that to stay competitive they need policies and practices that support the multiple aspects of employees’ lives. Many employees work in group environments yet there is currently little group level work-life balance research. This paper proposes a new theoretical framework developed to understand the design of work groups to better facilitate work-life balance. This new framework focuses on task and relational job designs, group structures and processes and workplace culture.

Improving work and life balance : building a multilevel model of work-life balance focusing on group structure and relational job design

One in five Australian workers believes that work doesn’t fit well with their family and social commitments. Concurrently, organisations are recognising that to stay competitive they need policies and practices that support the multiple aspects of employees’ lives. Many employees work in group environments yet there is currently little group level work-life balance research. This paper proposes a new theoretical framework developed to understand the design of work groups to better facilitate work-life balance. This new framework focuses on task and relational job designs, group structures and processes and workplace culture.

A securities market operator's use of the "please explain" price query and its impact on compliance

Market operators in New Zealand and Australia, such as the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), have the regulatory power in their listing rules to issue queries to their market participants to explain unusual fluctuations in trading price and/or volume in the market. The operator will issue a price query where it believes that the market has not been fully informed as to price relevant information. Responsive regulation theory has informed much of the regulatory debate in securities laws in the region. Price queries map onto the lower level of the enforcement pyramid envisaged by responsive regulation and are one strategy that a market operator can use in communicating its compliance expectations to its stakeholders. The issue of a price query may be a precursor to more severe enforcement activities. The aim of this study is to investigate whether increased use of price queries by the securities market operator in New Zealand corresponded with an increase in disclosure frequency by all participating companies. The study finds that an increased use of price queries did correspond with an increase in disclosure frequency. A possible explanation for this finding is that price queries are an effective means of appealing to the factors that motivate corporations, and the individuals who control them, to comply with the law and regulatory requirements. This finding will have implications for both the NZX and the ASX as well as for regulators and policy makers generally.

Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma : a comprehensive review of clinical, pathological and molecular data

Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma (Ca ex PA) is a carcinoma arising from a primary or recurrent benign pleomorphic adenoma. It often poses a diagnostic challenge to clinicians and pathologists. This study intends to review the literature and highlight the current clinical and molecular perspectives about this entity. The most common clinical presentation of CA ex PA is of a firm mass in the parotid gland. The proportion of adenoma and carcinoma components determines the macroscopic features of this neoplasm. The entity is difficult to diagnose pre-operatively. Pathologic assessment is the gold standard for making the diagnosis. Treatment for Ca ex PA often involves an ablative surgical procedure which may be followed by radiotherapy. Overall, patients with Ca ex PA have a poor prognosis. Accurate diagnosis and aggressive surgical management of patients presenting with Ca ex PA can increase their survival rates. Molecular studies have revealed that the development of Ca ex PA follows a multi-step model of carcinogenesis, with the progressive loss of heterozygosity at chromosomal arms 8q, then 12q and finally 17p. There are specific candidate genes in these regions that are associated with particular stages in the progression of Ca ex PA. In addition, many genes which regulate tumour suppression, cell cycle control, growth factors and cell-cell adhesion play a role in the development and progression of Ca ex PA. It is hopeful that these molecular data can give clues for the diagnosis and management of the disease.

The burning season

"Every year deliberately lit fires rage across Indonesia. They destroy pristine rainforest, endanger orangutans and contribute to climate change. A young carbon trading entrepreneur goes in search of a solution." "Dorjee Sun, a young Australian Entrepreneur, believes there's money to be made from protecting rainforests in Indonesia, saving the orangutan from extinction and making a real impact on climate change. Armed with a laptop and a backpack, he sets out across the globe to find investors in his carbon trading scheme. It is a battle against time. Achmadi, the palm oil farmer is ready to set fire to his land to plant more palm oil, and Lone's orangutan centre has reached crisis point with over 600 orangutans rescued from the fires. The Burning Season is an eco-thriller about a young man not afraid to confront the biggest challenge of our time."

With budget cuts coming, ABC and SBS stand divided

Did SBS chief executive Michael Ebeid score a well-timed free kick or an own goal in his attack on the ABC this week? The ABC recently secured the free-to-air television rights for the Asian Cup football tournament to be held in Australia early next year, together with tonight’s match between the Socceroos and Japan. A lower bid by SBS – still in some circles fondly known as the “Soccer Broadcasting Service” – was rejected, dealing a significant blow to the smaller public broadcaster. The ABC was reportedly asked to make a bid by Football Federation Australia. The FFA presumably believes the ABC’s coverage will attract larger audiences to the game. This is despite SBS’s long-term success with the sport. It should not be forgotten, however, that while SBS has largely been defined by its long connection with the world game, ABC was the home of football from the late 1950s until the 1980s. But the stoush is only partly about football. It was surely no coincidence that it comes on the eve of the government’s formal announcement of the size of the cuts to public broadcasting...

Love hurts: The costly reality of online romance fraud

Online dating and romance scams continue to lure in Australians with figures this week showing people have lost more than A$23 million this year alone, with average individual losses at A$21,000 – three times higher than other types of fraud. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) set up the Scam Disruption Project in August to help target those it believes have been caught in such scams. Over three months it sent 1,500 letters to potential victims in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The figures released this week show that 50 people have been scammed, losing a total A$1.7 million – that’s an average of A$34,000 per victim. Almost three quarters of the scams were dating and romance related, which saw it evolve into the number one category of fraud victimisation. Romance scams continue to pose a problem – despite the efforts of the police and ACCC – so why is it that people continue to fall for them?

Urban public space and the marginalisation of children and young people

In the 21st century city, public space for a range of users, but especially children and young people, has come under threat. Watson proposed that “public space itself has come under attack from several directions-thematisation, enclosure into malls and other controlled spaces, and privatisation, or from urban planning and design interventions to erase its uniqueness”. Largely as a result of these trends, Scott observed that “young urbanites form a marginalised age class movement is restricted, out of fear and distrust, within aims to protect, monitored by city surveillance methods within the security-obsessed fabric”. The use of public space by children and young people is a contentious issue in a number of countries and a range of measures deployed to control public space curtail the rights of children and young people to claim the space for their use through curfews, oppressive camera surveillance and at times, the unwarranted attentions of police and private security personnel.

Readers' resposes versus reader-response theories : An empirical study

This study examines both theoretically an empirically how well the theories of Norman Holland, David Bleich, Wolfgang Iser and Stanley Fish can explain readers' interpretations of literary texts. The theoretical analysis concentrates on their views on language from the point of view of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. This analysis shows that many of the assumptions related to language in these theories are problematic. The empirical data show that readers often form very similar interpretations. Thus the study challenges the common assumption that literary interpretations tend to be idiosyncratic. The empirical data consists of freely worded written answers to questions on three short stories. The interpretations were made by 27 Finnish university students. Some of the questions addressed issues that were discussed in large parts of the texts, some referred to issues that were mentioned only in passing or implied. The short stories were "The Witch à la Mode" by D. H. Lawrence, "Rain in the Heart" by Peter Taylor and "The Hitchhiking Game" by Milan Kundera. According to Fish, readers create both the formal features of a text and their interpretation of it according to an interpretive strategy. People who agree form an interpretive community. However, a typical answer usually contains ideas repeated by several readers as well as observations not mentioned by anyone else. Therefore it is very difficult to determine which readers belong to the same interpretive community. Moreover, readers with opposing opinions often seem to pay attention to the same textual features and even acknowledge the possibility of an opposing interpretation; therefore they do not seem to create the formal features of the text in different ways. Iser suggests that an interpretation emerges from the interaction between the text and the reader when the reader determines the implications of the text and in this way fills the "gaps" in the text. Iser believes that the text guides the reader, but as he also believes that meaning is on a level beyond words, he cannot explain how the text directs the reader. The similarity in the interpretations and the fact that the agreement is strongest when related to issues that are discussed broadly in the text do, however, support his assumption that readers are guided by the text. In Bleich's view, all interpretations have personal motives and each person has an idiosyncratic language system. The situation where a person learns a word determines the most important meaning it has for that person. In order to uncover the personal etymologies of words, Bleich asks his readers to associate freely on the basis of a text and note down all the personal memories and feelings that the reading experience evokes. Bleich's theory of the idiosyncratic language system seems to rely on a misconceived notion of the role that ostensive definitions have in language use. The readers' responses show that spontaneous associations to personal life seem to colour the readers' interpretations, but such instances are rather rare. According to Holland, an interpretation reflects the reader's identity theme. Language use is regulated by shared rules, but everyone follows the rules in his or her own way. Words mean different things to different people. The problem with this view is that if there is any basis for language use, it seems to be the shared way of following linguistic rules. Wittgenstein suggests that our understanding of words is related to the shared ways of using words and our understanding of human behaviour. This view seems to give better grounds for understanding similarity and differences in literary interpretations than the theories of Holland, Bleich, Fish and Iser.

Saako terveysuskoja synninpäästön? : Naispappien käsityksiä laihdutus- ja terveyskulttuurista nykyisessä mediayhteiskunnassa

Background and aims. Fatness and dieting have been the object of interest between many fields for a long time. Home economics as a discipline enables a comprehensive inspection of fatness and dieting reviewing different disciplines. In addition to the aspect where the pursuit of dieting and health is seen from the perspective of medical and health science it is also been reviewd as a social and cultural phenomena. This study contemplates the influence of history, religion, medicalization and media on dieting and health culture. The objective is to find out if the modern dieting and health culture has gathered influences from centuries ago and absorbed religious features. The stress deriving from appereance has been discussed in the public and there are many solutions conserning weight issues. The purpose of this study is to find out what personal experiences and thoughts female pastors have conserning these questions. The media – which is one of the most influential systems nowadays – has undeniably a great effect on the consumer. The goal is furthermore to estimate the effect of the media on the changing of dieting and health culture. The three main research questions are: 1. What kind of conseptions do female pastors have of dieting and health culture and of its religious features? 2. What kind of personal experiences and conseptions do female pastors have of dieting and strivines of health? 3. How do female pastors regard the image the media has supplied of dieting and health culture? Material and methods. The qualitative data was gathered in year 2009 using the halfstructured theme interview -method. The data consists of interviews conducted with specialists of spiritual matters, i.e. ten female pastors who are between 35 and 60 years old and live in the metropolitan area. The analytical procedure used is called a theory based context analysis. Results and conclusions. Results of this study show that the idealization of slimness and healthiness is a matter discussed in the public on a daily basis. The problem faced was that the media provided contradictory information regarding fatness and dieting and the standard of slimness in commercials focused on females. The pursuit of dieting and healthiness was believed to include also religious elements. In the Middle Ages and the era after that the fatness, overeating and the pleasure one gets from eating was still seen as a condemnable matter in our culture. One could say this was like a sin. The respondents believed that healthiness, healthy living, optimal eating and good looks were a matter more or less equal than a religion. This was a derivative from the fact that treasuring health has become a life stearing value for many people. In the priest’s profession dieting and the pursuit of health was seen in the light of problems arising from weight issues. In ones profession for example the unhealthy eating in festive situations was seen as a matter that leads to unnecessary weight. Another aspect was the job circumstances that limited the degree of movement. The belief was that the female pastors would in a decreasing fashion confront stress deriving from appearence in their job. Keywords: dieting, fatness, healthiness, slimness, female pastors, religion, medicalization, media

Writing fashion’s future: the gods and monsters of the Anthropocene

This paper identifies two narratives of the Anthropocene and explores how they play out in the realm of future-looking fashion production. Each narrative draws on mythic comparisons to gods and monsters to express humanity’s dilemmas, albeit from different perspectives. The first is a Malthusian narrative of collapse and scarcity, brought about by the monstrous, unstoppable nature of human technology set loose on the natural world. In this vein, philosopher Slavoj Zizek (2010) draws on Biblical analogies, likening ecological crisis to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. To find a myth to suit the present times, novelist A.S Byatt (2011) proposes Ragnarök, a Norse myth in which the gods destroy themselves. In contrast, the second narrative is one of technological cornucopia. Stewart Brand (2009, 27), self-described ‘eco-pragmatist’ writes, ‘we are as gods and we have to get good at it’. In his view, human technologies offer the only hope to mitigating the problems caused by human technology – Brand suggests harnessing nuclear power, bioengineering of crops and the geoengineering of the planet as the way forward. Similarly, the French philosopher Bruno Latour (2012, 274), exhorts us to “love our monsters”, likening our technologies to Doctor Frankenstein’s monster – set loose upon the world, and then reviled by his creator. For both Brand and Latour, human technology may be monstrous, but it must also be turned toward solutions. Within this schema, hopeful visions of the future of fashion are similarly divided. In the techno-enabled cornucopian future, the fashion industry embraces wearable technology, speed and efficiency. Technologies such as waterless dyeing, 3D printing and self-cleaning garments shift fashion into a new era of cleaner production. Meanwhile, in the narrative of scarcity, a more cautious approach sees fashion return to a new localism and valuing of the hand-made in a time of shrinking resources. Through discussion of future-looking fashion designers, brands, and activists, this paper explores how they may align along a spectrum to one of these two grand narratives of the future. The paper will discuss how these narratives may unconsciously shape the perspective of both producers and users around the fashion of today and the fashion of tomorrow. This paper poses the question: what stories can be written for fashion’s future in the Anthropocene, and are they fated, or can they be re-written?

Implementing sustainable farming practices in the Herbert: The Oakleigh Farming Company experience

The Oakleigh Farming Company has been progressively changing its farming practices on its property at Cordelia in the Herbert River District. During the last ten years the changes have included the adoption of raised beds at 1.8m row spacing, controlled traffic and dual row planting using double disc opener planters. This paper describes some of the changes that have been made to the farming system and examines their impact on farm productivity and economic performance. Since changing to the current farming system, the farm gross margin has increased from $789/ha to $897/ha. In addition to the numerous cost savings, the new farming system has reduced the time spent on tractors by 54% across the whole farm. Return on investment on the 1997 farming system was 1.6% versus 2.7% on their current farming system. The farming company is continually looking for new ways to improve profitability and believes that innovation is critical for the long term sustainability of the sugar industry.

Comparing Notes 1918-1991

Memoir by Pierre Ferrand, written in 1992, including recollections of his meeting with Alfred Doeblin in the freight car of a military transport leaving occuppied Paris in 1940 for Cahors, information on Ferrand's family which Ferrand believes is portrayed in Doeblin's "Schicksalsreise," critical comments on Doeblin's work and character, and information on Ferrand's father's work as Advisor on German Affairs for the French government and on the family's emigration to the United States; newspaper clipping of 1991 with letter to the editor on Frederick the Great by Pierre Ferrand.

Plasmatic Transformation

The session examines the role of the metaphysical and physical in art and animation and how this relates to natural spaces. Soviet Russian film director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein saw animation as possessing an ability called “plasmaticity”, the capacity for a being to assume any conceivable form dynamically. He saw each being as “primordial protoplasm, not yet possessing a ‘stable’ form, but capable of assuming any form” (Eisenstein 1989, 21). He was enamoured by the capacity of animation to transform and be liberated, of being able to escape from a fixed and static identity—to embody a "rejection of the once-­‐and-­‐forever allotted form" in which we are held (Eisenstein 1989, 21). Czech Surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer uses a metaphysical approach based on a belief in animism to art and animation. He believes that objects possess a conscious life or spirit, he says ‘Objects conceal within themselves the events they’ve witnessed. I don’t actually animate objects. I coerce their inner life out of them.’ (Švankmajer in Imre 2009, 214) In this animistic world there are no boundaries or rules, no physical or conceptual restrictions; anything is possible, with inanimate objects and places able to become animate and transact in a conscious relationship with humans and each other. This session invites artists, animators and theorists to discuss their conceptions and approaches to using visuals to promote and provoke transformation.