Research in action for community informatics : A matter for conversation (editorial introduction)

This special issue of the Journal of Community Informatics brings together people from a diverse range of disciplines to discuss how academic researchers and community practitioners and activists can work together to explore the use of information and communication technologies, social media, augmented reality, and other forms of network technologies for research and action in pursuit of social responsibility. The aim is to connect people with ideas, ideas with research projects, and harness new media to further inquiry into socially just outcomes in our community. Some of the papers are based on presentations given at the "Research for Action: Networking University and Community for Social Responsibility" workshop chaired by Matthew Allen and Marcus Foth, at the Making Links 2010 conference in Perth, WA on 15 Nov 2010.

The role of soil characteristics on temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter

The uncertainty associated with how projected climate change will affect global C cycling could have a large impact on predictions of soil C stocks. The purpose of our study was to determine how various soil decomposition and chemistry characteristics relate to soil organic matter (SOM) temperature sensitivity. We accomplished this objective using long-term soil incubations at three temperatures (15, 25, and 35°C) and pyrolysis molecular beam mass spectrometry (py-MBMS) on 12 soils from 6 sites along a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient (2–25.6°C). The Q10 values calculated from the CO2 respired during a long-term incubation using the Q10-q method showed decomposition of the more resistant fraction to be more temperature sensitive with a Q10-q of 1.95 ± 0.08 for the labile fraction and a Q10-q of 3.33 ± 0.04 for the more resistant fraction. We compared the fit of soil respiration data using a two-pool model (active and slow) with first-order kinetics with a three-pool model and found that the two and three-pool models statistically fit the data equally well. The three-pool model changed the size and rate constant for the more resistant pool. The size of the active pool in these soils, calculated using the two-pool model, increased with incubation temperature and ranged from 0.1 to 14.0% of initial soil organic C. Sites with an intermediate MAT and lowest C/N ratio had the largest active pool. Pyrolysis molecular beam mass spectrometry showed declines in carbohydrates with conversion from grassland to wheat cultivation and a greater amount of protected carbohydrates in allophanic soils which may have lead to differences found between the total amount of CO2 respired, the size of the active pool, and the Q10-q values of the soils.

Make-buy decisions in the face of technological change: does industry clockspeed matter?

Some evidence in the area of make-buy decisions for new technologies suggests that it is a good idea for a company to pursue a fairly rigorous ''make'' policy in the early days of a potentially disruptive innovation. Other studies prescribe exactly the opposite, promoting instead a ''buy'' strategy. This paper seeks to bridge the gap between these perspectives by suggesting that both strategies are valid, but that they are most successfully applied in different market environments. The ''make'' prescription may be more suited to either extremely fast or extremely slow rates of technological change, while a ''buy'' strategy might be more appropriate in market sectors where technologies evolve at a medium pace. This paper highlights the importance of industry clockspeed and supplier relationships in make-buy decisions for new technologies, and puts forward two new hypotheses that require empirical testing.

Exploratory investigation of atmospheric total suspended particulate matter and heavy metals in urban air

Atmospheric concentration of total suspended particulate matter (TSP) and associated heavy metals are a great concern due to their adverse health impacts and contribution to stormwater pollution. This paper discusses the outcomes of a study which investigated the variation of atmospheric TSP and heavy metal concentrations with traffic and land use characteristics during weekdays and weekends. Data for this study was gathered from fifteen sites at the Gold Coast, Australia using a high volume air sampler. The study detected consistently high TSP concentrations during weekdays compared to weekends. This confirms the significant influence of traffic related sources on TSP loads during weekdays. Both traffic and land use related sources equally contribute to TSP during weekends. Almost all the measured heavy metals showed high concentration on weekdays compared to weekends indicating significant contributions from traffic related emissions. Among the heavy metals, Zn concentration was the highest followed by Pb. It is postulated that re-suspension of previously deposited reserves was the main Pb source. Soil related sources were the main contributors of Mn.

Domestic and international innovation partnerships : do they matter for innovation outcomes of South African firms?

This paper studies the impact of the diversity of domestic and international innovation partnerships on the innovation outcomes of South African firms. A number of competing hypotheses are formulated and tested empirically using a sample of South African firms in manufacturing and services by applying Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses. Results show that having an innovation partnership, particularly an international partnership, is beneficial to innovation outcomes. However, it also emerges that too diverse a set of international partnerships is detrimental to innovation outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion and a number of proposals for future research.

Regulations and policy measures related to the reduction of ambient particulate matter

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An exploration of Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Syndrome – a matter of risk and reputation

ABSRACT. Despite the surge in online retail sales in recent years there still remains reluctance by consumers to complete the online shopping process. A number of authors have attributed consumers’ reluctance to purchase online to apparent barriers. However, such barriers as yet have not been fully examined within a theoretical context. This research explores the application of the perceived risk theoretical framework. Specifically, performance risk and the influence of perceived performance risk has on the phenomenon of Internet Abandoned Cart Syndrome (ACS) is evaluated. To explore this phenomenon, a number of extrinsic cues are identified as playing a major role in the performance evaluation process of online purchases. The results of this study suggest the extrinsic cues of brand, reputation, design and price have an overall impact on the performance evaluation process just prior to an online purchase. Varying these cues either positively or negatively had a strong impact on performance evaluation. Further, it was found that positive or negative reputation was heavily associated with shopping cart abandonment.

Do planning regulations matter? : a comparison of South East Queensland and South Florida

At one level the urban landscapes of South Florida and South East Queensland look quite similar. However at another level the context of planning and planning control and regulation is quite different. To understand the contextual differences between South Florida and South East Queensland, four themes will be used, some of which were based on Cullingworth and Booth. The four themes include: demography, governance, the law and regulatory philosophy. After having evaluated South Florida and South East Queensland across these four themes, we propose a framework for examining whether these differences have shaped planning outcomes and in particular, the built form.

Does venture opportunity variation matter? Investigating systemic process differences between innovative and imitative new ventures

The central thesis in the article is that the venture creation process is different for innovative versus imitative ventures. This holds up; the pace of the process differs by type of venture as do, in line with theory-based hypotheses, the effects of certain human capital (HC) and social capital (SC) predictors. Importantly, and somewhat unexpectedly, the theoretically derived models using HC, SC, and certain controls are relatively successful explaining progress in the creation process for the minority of innovative ventures, but achieve very limited success for the imitative majority. This may be due to a rationalistic bias in conventional theorizing and suggests that there is need for considerable theoretical development regarding the important phenomenon of new venture creation processes. Another important result is that the building up of instrumental social capital, which we assess comprehensively and as a time variant construct, is important for making progress with both types of ventures, and increasingly, so as the process progresses. This result corroborates with stronger operationalization and more appropriate analysis method what previously published research has only been able to hint at.

Matter

In this video, an abstract swirling colour-field animation is accompanied by a female voice-over that describes facts and analogies about the earth, the universe and our place in it. This work engages with scientific language and the signifying processes of analogy. It questions the capacity of language to describe epic ideas like the qualities and quantities of the universe and our place in it. By emphasizing the absurdity of describing the scale and formation of the universe through analogies with the ‘everyday’, this work draws attention to the limits of verbal language and its assumed relationship to rational thought.

Patients’ satisfaction with acute care hospital foodservice: does age matter?

In an aging population, healthcare providers should understand the foodservice preferences of the elderly to reduce the risk of malnutrition through adequate nutrition. Conflicting reports exist for elderly patient satisfaction regarding foodservice.1 This study aimed to investigate the relationship between age and foodservice satisfaction within the acute care hospital setting. Patient satisfaction was assessed using the Acute Care Hospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire with data collected over three years (2008–2010, n = 785) at The Wesley Hospital, Brisbane. Age was grouped into three categories; <50, 51–70 and >70 years. ANOVA was used to measure age related differences in patients’ overall foodservice satisfaction, four foodservice dimensions and two independent statements (meal size and hot food temperature). Results showed that older patients were more satisfied than younger patients and indicated increasing satisfaction with increasing age regarding food quality (F2,767 = 15.787, p < 0.001), staff/service issues (F2,768 = 12.243, p < 0.001), physical environment (F2,765 = 5.454, p = 0.004), meal size (F2,730 = 10.646, p < 0.001) and hot food temperature (F2,730 = 10.646, p < 0.001). While patients aged >70 years also reported greater satisfaction with meal service quality, those aged 51–70 years indicated the lowest (F2,762 = 9.988, p < 0.001). Overall patient satisfaction across all age groups was high (4.26–4.43/5) and a trend of increasing satisfaction with increasing age was evident (F2,752 = 2.900, p = 0.056). These findings suggest patients’ satisfaction with hospital foodservice increases with age and can assist foodservices to meet the varying generational expectations of their clients.

Privacy by design : Does it matter for social networks?

Privacy is an important component of freedom and plays a key role in protecting fundamental human rights. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that without appropriate levels of privacy, a person’s rights are diminished. Users want to protect their privacy - particularly in “privacy invasive” areas such as social networks. However, Social Network users seldom know how to protect their own privacy through online mechanisms. What is required is an emerging concept that provides users legitimate control over their own personal information, whilst preserving and maintaining the advantages of engaging with online services such as Social Networks. This paper reviews “Privacy by Design (PbD)” and shows how it applies to diverse privacy areas. Such an approach will move towards mitigating many of the privacy issues in online information systems and can be a potential pathway for protecting users’ personal information. The research has also posed many questions in need of further investigation for different open source distributed Social Networks. Findings from this research will lead to a novel distributed architecture that provides more transparent and accountable privacy for the users of online information systems.