Social and mobile interaction design to increase the loyalty rates of young blood donors

Young adults represent the largest group of first time donors to the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, but they are also the least loyal group and often do not return after their first donation. At the same time, many young people use the internet and various forms of social media on a daily basis. Web and mobile based technological practices and communication patterns change the way that young people interact with one another, with their families, and communities. Combining these two points of departure, this study seeks to identify best practices of employing mobile apps and social media in order to enhance the loyalty rates of young blood donors. The findings reported in this paper are based on a qualitative approach presenting a nuanced understanding of the different factors that motivate young people to donate blood in the first place, as well as the obstacles or issues that prevent them from returning. The paper discusses work in progress with a view to inform the development of interactive prototypes trialling three categories of features: personal services (such as scheduling); social media (such as sharing the donation experience with friends to raise awareness); and data visualisations (such as local blood inventory levels). We discuss our translation of research findings into design implications.

Emerging methods for digital media research : an introduction

Now as in earlier periods of acute change in the media environment, new disciplinary articulations are producing new methods for media and communication research. At the same time, established media and communication studies meth- ods are being recombined, reconfigured, and remediated alongside their objects of study. This special issue of JOBEM seeks to explore the conceptual, political, and practical aspects of emerging methods for digital media research. It does so at the conjuncture of a number of important contemporary trends: the rise of a ‘‘third wave’’ of the Digital Humanities and the ‘‘computational turn’’ (Berry, 2011) associated with natively digital objects and the methods for studying them; the apparently ubiquitous Big Data paradigm—with its various manifestations across academia, business, and government — that brings with it a rapidly increasing interest in social media communication and online ‘‘behavior’’ from the ‘‘hard’’ sciences; along with the multisited, embodied, and emplaced nature of everyday digital media practice.

Advertising and promotion : an integrated marketing communications perspective

This text explores the area of advertising and promotion practice. It shows how real organisations coordinate the various elements of the promotional mix with other marketing activities."--Provided by publisher

The naturally imperfect form : investigations of the application of digital sculpting methods - extracted art : incorporating and translating ‘found art’ into the medium of digital sculpture

This dissertation analyses how physical objects are translated into digital artworks using techniques which can lead to ‘imperfections’ in the resulting digital artwork that are typically removed to arrive at a ‘perfect’ final representation. The dissertation discusses the adaptation of existing techniques into an artistic workflow that acknowledges and incorporates the imperfections of translation into the final pieces. It presents an exploration of the relationship between physical and digital artefacts and the processes used to move between the two. The work explores the 'craft' of digital sculpting and the technology used in producing what the artist terms ‘a naturally imperfect form’, incorporating knowledge of traditional sculpture, an understanding of anatomy and an interest in the study of bones (Osteology). The outcomes of the research are presented as a series of digital sculptural works, exhibited as a collection of curiosities in multiple mediums, including interactive game spaces, augmented reality (AR), rapid prototype prints (RP) and video displays.

Background to the development of a curriculum for the history of “cyber” and “communications��� security

For any discipline to be regarded as a professional undertaking by which its members may be treated as true “professionals” in a specific area, practitioners must clearly understand that discipline’s history as well as the place and significance of that history in current practice as well as its relevance to available technologies and artefacts at the time. This is common for many professional disciplines such as medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law and so on but not yet, this paper submits, in information technology. Based on twenty five elapsed years of experience in developing and delivering Cybersecurity courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, this paper proposes a rationale and set of differing perspectives for the planning and development of curricula relevant to the delivery of appropriate courses in the history of cybersecurity or information assurance to information and communications technology (ICT) students and thus to potential information technology professionals.

Digital storytelling as everyday activism : Queer identity, voice and networked publics

This thesis investigates the role of personal Digital Stories shared in public spaces as catalysts for social change. By analysing the influence of workshop facilitators, organisations, digital platforms and networked publics on voice and self-representation, it sheds light on shifting meanings of publicness and privacy, both face to face and online. This thesis argues that, despite numerous obstacles, the cumulative influence of diverse voices dispersed among networked publics shape new cultural norms, thereby contributing to gradual social change.

Digital soapboxes : towards an interaction design agenda for situated civic innovation

We argue that there are at least two significant issues for interaction designers to consider when creating the next generation of human interfaces for civic and urban engagement: (1) The disconnect between citizens participating in either digital or physical realms has resulted in a neglect of the hybrid role that public place and situated technology can play in contributing to civic innovation. (2) Under the veneer of many social media tools, hardly any meaningful strategies or approaches are found that go beyond awareness raising and allow citizens to do more than clicking a ‘Like’ button. We call for an agenda to design the next generation of ‘digital soapboxes’ that contributes towards a new form of polity helping citizens not only to have a voice but also to appropriate their city in order to take action for change.

Assessment of precision timing and real-time data networks for digital substation automation

This project researched the performance of emerging digital technology for high voltage electricity substations that significantly improves safety for staff and reduces the potential impact on the environment of equipment failure. The experimental evaluation used a scale model of a substation control system that incorporated real substation control and networking equipment with real-time simulation of the power system. The outcomes confirm that it is possible to implement Ethernet networks in high voltage substations that meet the needs of utilities; however component-level testing of devices is necessary to achieve this. The assessment results have been used to further develop international standards for substation communication and precision timing.

"SporTV" : the legacies and power of television

This chapter begins from the premise that, to date, television remains the dominant communications technology in the digital media sport environment. It argues that sports-related programming is often overlooked in favour of event coverage in the study of sports television. Analysis focuses on three areas - platform interaction, technological innovation, and content ecologies - and describes technological innovations arising from television coverage of sports, with a particular focus on online video, audience measurement, and 3D production and viewing.

Women's participation in the Australian digital content industry

The research investigated women’s participation in the Australian Digital Content Industry, which encompasses both multimedia and games production. The Digital Content Industry is an area of growing economic and social significance, both in Australia and internationally. Women are under-represented in core Digital Content Industry work but there has been little theoretical or empirical investigation of the underlying issues. This research identified a range of influences on women’s participation and provides a better understanding of this complex social phenomenon by proposing that influences should be understood from the perspective of agent-driven mechanisms. The key contribution is a new theory - the Acts of Agency Theory - which was used to discuss the phenomenon and issues underpinning women’s participation and to recommend strategies that should foster greater participation of women in the Digital Content Industry.

Future Information Communication Technology and Applications : ICFICE 2013

Focuses on the various aspects of advances in future information communication technology and its applications Presents the latest issues and progress in the area of future information communication technology Applicable to both researchers and professionals These proceedings are based on the 2013 International Conference on Future Information & Communication Engineering (ICFICE 2013), which will be held at Shenyang in China from June 24-26, 2013. The conference is open to all over the world, and participation from Asia-Pacific region is particularly encouraged. The focus of this conference is on all technical aspects of electronics, information, and communications ICFICE-13 will provide an opportunity for academic and industry professionals to discuss the latest issues and progress in the area of FICE. In addition, the conference will publish high quality papers which are closely related to the various theories and practical applications in FICE. Furthermore, we expect that the conference and its publications will be a trigger for further related research and technology improvements in this important subject. "This work was supported by the NIPA (National IT Industry Promotion Agency) of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning)."

CUOL – "See You Online" : teaching strategies for digital literacy practices in the English curriculum

Literacy educator Kathy Mills, observes that creating multimodal and digital texts is an essential part of the national English curriculum in Australia. Here, she presents five practical and engaging ways to transform conventional writing tasks in a digital world.

The Convergence Review and the principle of Australians' access to and opportunities for participation

The recent Australian Convergence Review’s second principle states: “Australians should have access to and opportunities for participation in a diverse mix of services, voices, views and information”. However, in failing to define its own use and understanding of the terms ‘access’ and ‘participation’ the Convergence Review exposes itself to criticism. These terms would no doubt be made unambiguously clear should the Review’s recommendations move towards policy, and this paper contributes to this discussion by framing access and participation, from the perspective of the ‘produser’ (Bruns, 2008), around three separate but related issues: the failure to frame the discussion that will be undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission’s 2012 2013 Copyright Inquiry; the prioritising of the market over and above media accountability and the health of the public sphere; and the missed opportunity to develop a national framework for digital literacy and advanced digital citizenry.

Social Media Sites as Online Information Grounds : An exploratory study of the ways in which Information Technology (IT) professionals experience social media

Social media tools are often the result of innovations in Information Technology and developed by IT professionals and innovators. Nevertheless, IT professionals, many of whom are responsible for designing and building social media technologies, have not been investigated on how they themselves use or experience social media for professional purposes. This study will use Information Grounds Theory (Pettigrew, 1998) as a framework to study IT professionals’ experience in using social media for professional purposes. Information grounds facilitates the opportunistic discovery of information within social settings created temporarily at a place where people gather for a specific purpose (e.g., doctors’ waiting rooms, office tea rooms etc.), but the social atmosphere stimulates spontaneous sharing of information (Pettigrew, 1999). This study proposes that social media has the qualities that make it a rich information grounds; people participate from separate “places” in cyberspace in a synchronous manner in real-time, making it almost as dynamic and unplanned as physical information grounds. There is limited research on how social media platforms are perceived as a “place,” (a place to go to, a place to gather, or a place to be seen in) that is comparable to physical spaces. There is also no empirical study on how IT professionals use or “experience” social media. The data for this study is being collected through a study of IT professionals who currently use Twitter. A digital ethnography approach is being taken wherein the researcher uses online observations and “follows” the participants online and observes their behaviours and interactions on social media. Next, a sub-set of participants will be interviewed on their experiences with and within social media and how social media compares with traditional methods of information grounds, information communication, and collaborative environments. An Evolved Grounded Theory (Glaser, 1992) approach will be used to analyse tweets data and interviews and to map the findings against the Information Ground Theory. Findings from this study will provide foundational understanding of IT professionals’ experiences within social media, and can help both professionals and researchers understand this fast-evolving method of communications.