Validating the IS-Impact Model At Queensland University Of Technology (QUT): Part A

The overall research aims to develop a standardised instrument to measure the impacts resulting from contemporary Information Systems (IS). The research adopts the IS-Impact measurement model, introduced by Gable et al, (2008), as its theoretical foundation, and applies the extension strategy described by Berthon et al. (2002); extending both theory and the context, where the new context is the Human Resource (HR) system. The research will be conducted in two phases, the exploratory phase and the specification phase. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of the exploratory phase. 134 respondents from a major Australian University were involved in this phase. The findings have supported most of the existing IS-Impact model’s credibility. However, some textual data may suggest new measures for the IS-Impact model, while the low response rate or the averting of some may suggest the elimination of some measures from the model.

Troubling Empowerment : A feminist critique of a rural women and communication technology project

Participatory research methodologies and interactive communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly seen as offering ways of enhancing women’s empowerment and rural community development. However, some researchers suggest the need for caution about such claims. This book details findings from an evaluation of a feminist action research project that explored the impacts of ICTs for rural women in Queensland, Australia, in terms of personal, business and community development. Using praxis and poststructuralist feminist theories and methodologies, this innovative study presents a rigorous analysis and critique of women's empowerment and participation. This study demonstrates the value of adopting a critical yet pragmatic approach that takes diversity and difference, power-knowledge relations, and the contradictory effects of participation into account. This is argued to enable the development of more effective strategies for women’s empowerment, participation and inclusion. This book should be of particular interest to researchers, postgraduate students, and others working in the fields of communication, gender, and rural development, and feminist evaluation and ethnography.

Creative Economies, Creative Cities: Asian-European Perspectives

Thirteen papers examine Asian and European experiences with developing national and city policy agendas around cultural and creative industries. Papers discuss policy transfer and the field of the cultural and creative industries--what can be learned from Europe; creative industries across cultural borders--the case of video games in Asia; spaces of culture and economy--mapping the cultural-creative cluster landscape; beyond networks and relations--toward rethinking creative cluster theory; the capital complex--Beijing's new creative clusters; the European creative class and regional development--how relevant Richard Florida's theory is for Europe; getting out of place--the mobile creative class taking on the local--a U.K. perspective on the creative class; Asian cities and limits to creative capital theory; the creative industries, governance, and economic development--a U.K. perspective; Shanghai's emergence into the global creative economy; Shanghai moderne--creative economy in a creative city?; urbanity as a political project--toward post-national European cities; and alternative policies in urban innovation. Contributors include economists. Kong is with the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore. O'Connor is at Queensland University of Technology. Index.

Robot path planning in dynamic environments using a simulated annealing based approach

Mobile robots are widely used in many industrial fields. Research on path planning for mobile robots is one of the most important aspects in mobile robots research. Path planning for a mobile robot is to find a collision-free route, through the robot’s environment with obstacles, from a specified start location to a desired goal destination while satisfying certain optimization criteria. Most of the existing path planning methods, such as the visibility graph, the cell decomposition, and the potential field are designed with the focus on static environments, in which there are only stationary obstacles. However, in practical systems such as Marine Science Research, Robots in Mining Industry, and RoboCup games, robots usually face dynamic environments, in which both moving and stationary obstacles exist. Because of the complexity of the dynamic environments, research on path planning in the environments with dynamic obstacles is limited. Limited numbers of papers have been published in this area in comparison with hundreds of reports on path planning in stationary environments in the open literature. Recently, a genetic algorithm based approach has been introduced to plan the optimal path for a mobile robot in a dynamic environment with moving obstacles. However, with the increase of the number of the obstacles in the environment, and the changes of the moving speed and direction of the robot and obstacles, the size of the problem to be solved increases sharply. Consequently, the performance of the genetic algorithm based approach deteriorates significantly. This motivates the research of this work. This research develops and implements a simulated annealing algorithm based approach to find the optimal path for a mobile robot in a dynamic environment with moving obstacles. The simulated annealing algorithm is an optimization algorithm similar to the genetic algorithm in principle. However, our investigation and simulations have indicated that the simulated annealing algorithm based approach is simpler and easier to implement. Its performance is also shown to be superior to that of the genetic algorithm based approach in both online and offline processing times as well as in obtaining the optimal solution for path planning of the robot in the dynamic environment. The first step of many path planning methods is to search an initial feasible path for the robot. A commonly used method for searching the initial path is to randomly pick up some vertices of the obstacles in the search space. This is time consuming in both static and dynamic path planning, and has an important impact on the efficiency of the dynamic path planning. This research proposes a heuristic method to search the feasible initial path efficiently. Then, the heuristic method is incorporated into the proposed simulated annealing algorithm based approach for dynamic robot path planning. Simulation experiments have shown that with the incorporation of the heuristic method, the developed simulated annealing algorithm based approach requires much shorter processing time to get the optimal solutions in the dynamic path planning problem. Furthermore, the quality of the solution, as characterized by the length of the planned path, is also improved with the incorporated heuristic method in the simulated annealing based approach for both online and offline path planning.

MoBlogs, Sharing Situations, and Lived Life

This chapter considers shared encounters through blogging in the light of John Urry’s new mobilities paradigm. We review relevant literature on mobile blogging (moblogging) – blogging, pervasive image capture and sharing, moblogging and video blogging – and describe common issues with these digital content sharing practices. We then document some features of how technology affords “reflexive encounters” through the description of a blogging study involving smokers trying to quit, describing important connections between mobilities – physical, object, and communicative mobility. Finally, we present some challenges for new blogging technologies, their relevance to social encounters, and possible future directions through considering the mobile self; the new digital life document; and digital content sharing practices.

Searching the self in Seoul : trans-youth and urban social networking in Korea

This paper presents a brief analysis of Seoul trans-youth’s search for identity through urban social networking, arguing that technological, socio-cultural and environmental (urban) contexts frame how mobility and ubiquity are (re)created in Seoul. The paper is empirically based on fieldwork conducted in Seoul, South Korea, from 2007 to 2008 as part of a research project on the mobile play culture of Seoul trans-youth(a term that will be explained in detail in the following section). Shared Visual Ethnography (SVE) was used as the research method which involved sharing of visual ethnographic data that were created by the participants. More specifically, the participants were asked to take photos, which were then shared and discussed with other participants and the researcher on the photo-sharing service Flickr. The research also involved a questionnaire and daily activity diaries, as well as interviews. A total of 44 Korean transyouths – including 23 females and 21 males – participated in interviews and photo-sharing. The paper draws specifically on the qualitative data from individual and/or group interviews, the total duration of which was 2–2.5 hours for each participant.

The impact of health information technology on the quality of medical and health care : a systematic review

Objective: To systematically review the published evidence of the impact of health information technology (HIT) on the quality of medical and health care specifically clinicians’ adherence to evidence-based guidelines and the corresponding impact this had on patient clinical outcomes. In order to be as inclusive as possible the research examined literature discussing the use of health information technologies and systems in both medical care such as clinical and surgical, and other health care such as allied health and preventive services.----- Design: Systematic review----- Data Sources: Relevant literature was systematically searched on English language studies indexed in MEDLINE and CINAHL(1998 to 2008), Cochrane Library, PubMed, Database of Abstracts of Review of Effectiveness (DARE), Google scholar and other relevant electronic databases. A search for eligible studies (matching the inclusion criteria) was also performed by searching relevant conference proceedings available through internet and electronic databases, as well as using reference lists identified from cited papers.----- Selection criteria: Studies were included in the review if they examined the impact of Electronic Health Record (EHR), Computerised Provider Order-Entry (CPOE), or Decision Support System (DS); and if the primary outcomes of the studies were focused on the level of compliance with evidence-based guidelines among clinicians. Measures could be either changes in clinical processes resulting from a change of the providers’ behaviour or specific patient outcomes that demonstrated the effectiveness of a particular treatment given by providers. ----- Methods: Studies were reviewed and summarised in tabular and text form. Due to heterogeneity between studies, meta-analysis was not performed.----- Results: Out of 17 studies that assessed the impact of health information technology on health care practitioners’ performance, 14 studies revealed a positive improvement in relation to their compliance with evidence-based guidelines. The primary domain of improvement was evident from preventive care and drug ordering studies. Results from the studies that included an assessment for patient outcomes however, were insufficient to detect either clinically or statistically important improvements as only a small proportion of these studies found benefits. For instance, only 3 studies had shown positive improvement, while 5 studies revealed either no change or adverse outcomes.----- Conclusion: Although the number of included studies was relatively small for reaching a conclusive statement about the effectiveness of health information technologies and systems on clinical care, the results demonstrated consistency with other systematic reviews previously undertaken. Widescale use of HIT has been shown to increase clinician’s adherence to guidelines in this review. Therefore, it presents ongoing opportunities to maximise the uptake of research evidence into practice for health care organisations, policy makers and stakeholders.

Structural health monitoring of bridges using acoustic emission technology

Bridges are an important part of society's infrastructure and reliable methods are necessary to monitor them and ensure their safety and efficiency. Bridges deteriorate with age and early detection of damage helps in prolonging the lives and prevent catastrophic failures. Most bridges still in used today were built decades ago and are now subjected to changes in load patterns, which can cause localized distress and if not corrected can result in bridge failure. In the past, monitoring of structures was usually done by means of visual inspection and tapping of the structures using a small hammer. Recent advancements of sensors and information technologies have resulted in new ways of monitoring the performance of structures. This paper briefly describes the current technologies used in bridge structures condition monitoring with its prime focus in the application of acoustic emission (AE) technology in the monitoring of bridge structures and its challenges.

Virtual mooting : using technology to enhance the mooting experience

While a range of benefits to students participating in mooting have been identified by the legal education literature, there are impediments to students participating in mooting that have been revealed by recent surveys of law students at QUT. These impediments include time, geographical location and a failure to perceive the benefits of mooting. This paper will explore the benefits of using technology to overcome these impediments, evaluate technological options to facilitate distance mooting, such as the use of Second Life, Elluminate and video conferencing, and will recommend a trial of these options.

Bend and stretch : pedagogical callisthenics in creative practice honours

The supervision of research higher degree (RHD) candidates in creative practice-led programs poses challenges for both candidates and supervisors. Changes in international postgraduate training agendas have complicated this ever-shifting terrain. This paper investigates the honours research training year. This fourth year is made up of a project and coursework and is a traditional entry point for doctoral study. At Creative Industries, honours acts as a precursor and model for supervisory practice in postgraduate creative arts in an interdisciplinary faculty. The findings indicate that best practice may involve ‘bending and stretching’ existing pedagogical approaches for an increasingly interdisciplinary and mobile research environment. This discussion considers the supervision of candidates enrolled in Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Creative Industries honours courses that encompass a range of disciplines including creative writing, fashion, animation and performance studies. We present results of an analysis of the work of honours students who are creative practitioners (many of whom will, or have, moved into the RHD environment). This examination was undertaken in order to develop an understanding of the dynamics of creative practice at this level, particularly in light of the growing emphasis on early research training in Australian universities. Specific pedagogical strategies mooted include establishing a common research vocabulary, an increasing focus on research design, and a linking of theory and practice.

An investigation of consumer acceptance of M-Banking in Australia

Mobile phone banking (M-Banking) adoption around the world has been slow, and this has been perpetuated by the limited research that has been undertaken in the area. To address this gap, the study developed a model of antecedents to consumers' intention to sue M-Banking using attitudinal theory as a framework. To test the model, a quantitative web-based survey was undertaken with 314 respondents. The findings show that perceived usefulness, compatibility, perceived risk, perceived cost and attitude are primary determinants of consumer acceptance of M-Banking in an Australian context, The research contributes to an enhanced understanding of the multiple antecedents beliefs to customer attitudes and usage intentions that must be considered when introducing technology into the service encounter.

Conveying identity with mobile content

A series of mobile phone prototypes called The Swarm have been developed in response to the user needs identified in a three-year empirical study of young people’s use of mobile phones. The prototypes take cues from user led innovation and provide multiple avatars that allow individuals to define and manage their own virtual identity. This paper briefly maps the evolution of the prototypes and then describes how the pre-defined, color coded avatars in the latest version are being given greater context and personalization through the use of digital images. This not only gives ‘serendipity a nudge’ by allowing groups to come together more easily, it provides contextual information that can reduce gratuitous contact.