Relationship Based Procurement Strategies for the 21st Century

This book Relationship-based Procurement Strategies for the 21st Century, is an important foundation document to better understand social and industry drivers from traditional adversarial contracting techniques to a more relationship-based approach building on the strengths of individual partners. This publication has evolved from the Commonwealth Government’s sponsorship of the case study of The National Museum of Australia Project—the first building construction project (as distinct from a resource development or engineering project) undertaken by a project alliance anywhere in the world.

Unpacking Japan's 21st century "National Conversation" : images of the future beyond the iron cage of the "Catch Up" model

How does the image of the future operate upon history, and upon national and individual identities? To what extent are possible futures colonized by the image? What are the un-said futurecratic discourses that underlie the image of the future? Such questions inspired the examination of Japan’s futures images in this thesis. The theoretical point of departure for this examination is Polak’s (1973) seminal research into the theory of the ‘image of the future’ and seven contemporary Japanese texts which offer various alternative images for Japan’s futures, selected as representative of a ‘national conversation’ about the futures of that nation. These seven images of the future are: 1. Report of the Prime Minister’s Commission on Japan’s Goals in the 21st Century—The Frontier Within: Individual Empowerment and Better Governance in the New Millennium, compiled by a committee headed by Japan’s preeminent Jungian psychologist Kawai Hayao (1928-2007); 2. Slow Is Beautiful—a publication by Tsuji Shinichi, in which he re-images Japan as a culture represented by the metaphor of the sloth, concerned with slow and quality-oriented livingry as a preferred image of the future to Japan’s current post-bubble cult of speed and economic efficiency; 3. MuRatopia is an image of the future in the form of a microcosmic prototype community and on-going project based on the historically significant island of Awaji, and established by Japanese economist and futures thinker Yamaguchi Kaoru; 4. F.U.C.K, I Love Japan, by author Tanja Yujiro provides this seven text image of the future line-up with a youth oriented sub-culture perspective on that nation’s futures; 5. IMAGINATION / CREATION—a compilation of round table discussions about Japan’s futures seen from the point of view of Japan’s creative vanguard; 6. Visionary People in a Visionless Country: 21 Earth Connecting Human Stories is a collection of twenty one essays compiled by Denmark born Tokyo resident Peter David Pedersen; and, 7. EXODUS to the Land of Hope, authored by Murakami Ryu, one of Japan’s most prolific and influential writers, this novel suggests a future scenario portraying a massive exodus of Japan’s youth, who, literate with state-of-the-art information and communication technologies (ICTs) move en masse to Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido to launch a cyber-revolution from the peripheries. The thesis employs a Futures Triangle Analysis (FTA) as the macro organizing framework and as such examines both pushes of the present and weights from the past before moving to focus on the pulls to the future represented by the seven texts mentioned above. Inayatullah’s (1999) Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) is the analytical framework used in examining the texts. Poststructuralist concepts derived primarily from the work of Michel Foucault are a particular (but not exclusive) reference point for the analytical approach it encompasses. The research questions which reflect the triangulated analytic matrix are: 1. What are the pushes—in terms of current trends—that are affecting Japan’s futures? 2. What are the historical and cultural weights that influence Japan’s futures? 3. What are the emerging transformative Japanese images of the future discourses, as embodied in actual texts, and what potential do they offer for transformative change in Japan? Research questions one and two are discussed in Chapter five and research question three is discussed in Chapter six. The first two research questions should be considered preliminary. The weights outlined in Chapter five indicate that the forces working against change in Japan are formidable, structurally deep-rooted, wide-spread, and under-recognized as change-adverse. Findings and analyses of the push dimension reveal strong forces towards a potentially very different type of Japan. However it is the seven contemporary Japanese images of the future, from which there is hope for transformative potential, which form the analytical heart of the thesis. In analyzing these texts the thesis establishes the richness of Japan’s images of the future and, as such, demonstrates the robustness of Japan’s stance vis-à-vis the problem of a perceived map-less and model-less future for Japan. Frontier is a useful image of the future, whose hybrid textuality, consisting of government, business, academia, and creative minority perspectives, demonstrates the earnestness of Japan’s leaders in favour of the creation of innovative futures for that nation. Slow is powerful in its aim to reconceptualize Japan’s philosophies of temporality, and build a new kind of nation founded on the principles of a human-oriented and expanded vision of economy based around the core metaphor of slowness culture. However its viability in Japan, with its post-Meiji historical pushes to an increasingly speed-obsessed social construction of reality, could render it impotent. MuRatopia is compelling in its creative hybridity indicative of an advanced IT society, set in a modern day utopian space based upon principles of a high communicative social paradigm, and sustainability. IMAGINATION / CREATION is less the plan than the platform for a new discussion on Japan’s transformation from an econo-centric social framework to a new Creative Age. It accords with emerging discourses from the Creative Industries, which would re-conceive of Japan as a leading maker of meaning, rather than as the so-called guzu, a term referred to in the book meaning ‘laggard’. In total, Love Japan is still the most idiosyncratic of all the images of the future discussed. Its communication style, which appeals to Japan’s youth cohort, establishes it as a potentially formidable change agent in a competitive market of futures images. Visionary People is a compelling image for its revolutionary and subversive stance against Japan’s vision-less political leadership, showing that it is the people, not the futures-making elite or aristocracy who must take the lead and create a new vanguard for the nation. Finally, Murakami’s Exodus cannot be ruled out as a compelling image of the future. Sharing the appeal of Tanja’s Love Japan to an increasingly disenfranchised youth, Exodus portrays a near-term future that is achievable in the here and now, by Japan’s teenagers, using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to subvert leadership, and create utopianist communities based on alternative social principles. The principal contribution from this investigation in terms of theory belongs to that of developing the Japanese image of the future. In this respect, the literature reviews represent a significant compilation, specifically about Japanese futures thinking, the Japanese image of the future, and the Japanese utopia. Though not exhaustive, this compilation will hopefully serve as a useful starting point for future research, not only for the Japanese image of the future, but also for all image of the future research. Many of the sources are in Japanese and their English summations are an added reason to respect this achievement. Secondly, the seven images of the future analysed in Chapter six represent the first time that Japanese image of the future texts have been systematically organized and analysed. Their translation from Japanese to English can be claimed as a significant secondary contribution. What is more, they have been analysed according to current futures methodologies that reveal a layeredness, depth, and overall richness existing in Japanese futures images. Revealing this image-richness has been one of the most significant findings of this investigation, suggesting that there is fertile research to be found from this still under-explored field, whose implications go beyond domestic Japanese concerns, and may offer fertile material for futures thinkers and researchers, Japanologists, social planners, and policy makers.

Cyberinfrastructure inside out : definition and influences shaping its emergence, development, and implementation in the early 21st century

The authors provide a theoretically generative definition of cyberinfrastructure (CI) by drawing from existing definitions and literature in social sciences, law, and policy studies. They propose two models of domestic and international influencers on CI emergence, development, and implementation in the early 21st century. Based on its historical emergence and computational power, they argue that cyberinfrastructure is built on, and yet distinct from the current notion of the internet. The authors seek to answer two research questions: firstly, what is cyberinfrastructure? And secondly, what national and international influencers shape its emergence, development and implementation (in e-science) in the early 21st century? Additionally, consideration will be given to the implications of the proposed definition and models, and future directions on CI research in Internet studies will be suggested.

Saying sorry in the 21st century : public apologies in a digital world

The public apology to the Forgotten Australians in late 2009 was, for many, the culmination of a long campaign for recognition and justice. The groundswell for this apology was built through a series of submissions which documented the systemic institutionalised abuse and neglect experienced by the Forgotten Australians that has resulted, for some, in life-long disadvantage and marginalisation. Interestingly it seems that rather than the official documents being the catalyst for change and prompting this public apology, it was more often the personal stories of the Forgotten Australians that resonated and over time drew out quite a torrent of support from the public leading up to, during and after the public apology, just as had been the case with the ‘Stolen Generation.’ Research suggests (cite) that the ethics of such national apologies only make sense if their personal stories are seen as a collective responsibility of society, and only carry weight if we understand and seek to Nationally address the trauma experienced by such victims. In the case of the Forgotten Australians, the National Library of Australia’s Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants Oral History Project and the National Museum’s Inside project demonstrate commitment to the digitisation of the Forgotten Australians’ stories in order to promote a better public understanding of their experiences, and institutionally (and therefore formally) value them with renewed social importance. Our project builds on this work not by making or collecting more stories, but by examining the role of the internet and digital technologies used in the production and dissemination of individuals’ stories that have already been created during the period of time between the tabling of the senate inquiry, Children in Institutional Care (1999 or 2003?) and a formal National apology being delivered in Federal Parliament by PM Kevin Rudd (9 Nov, 2009?). This timeframe also represents the emergent first decade of Internet use by Australians, including the rapid easily accessible digital technologies and social media tools that were at our disposal, along with the promises the technology claimed to offer — that is that more people would benefit from the social connections these technologies allegedly were giving us.

Fashion, the body and technology : tracing early 20th century techno-utopian ideas, aesthetics and impulses in 21st century wearable technology

‘Wearable technology’, or the use of specialist technology in garments, is promoted by the electronics industry as the next frontier of fashion. However the story of wearable technology’s relationship with fashion begins neither with the development of miniaturised computers in the 1970s nor with sophisticated ‘smart textiles’ of the twenty-first century, despite what much of the rhetoric suggests. This study examines wearable technology against a longer history of fashion, highlighted by the influential techno-sartorial experiments of a group of early twentieth century avant-gardes including Italian Futurists Giacomo Balla and F.T. Marinetti, Russian Constructivists Varvara Stepanova and Liubov Popova, and Paris-based Cubist, Sonia Delaunay. Through the interdisciplinary framework of fashion studies, the thesis provides a fuller picture of wearable technology framed by the idea of utopia. Using comparative analysis, and applying the theoretical formulations of Fredric Jameson, Louis Marin and Michael Carter, the thesis traces the appearance of three techno-utopian themes from their origins in the machine age experiments of Balla, Marinetti, Stepanova, Popova and Delaunay to their twenty-first century reappearance in a dozen wearable technology projects. By exploring the central thesis that contemporary wearable technology resurrects the techno-utopian ideas and expressions of the early twentieth century, the study concludes that the abiding utopian impetus to embed technology in the aesthetics (prints, silhouettes, and fabrication) and functionality of fashion is to unify subject, society and environment under a totalising technological order.

Creative Industries and Urban Development : Creative Cities in the 21st Century

"The concept of creative industries has developed considerable academic and policy momentum in the 21st century. There has been a connection identified between the rise of creative industries and the urbanisation of the world’s population, particularly in relation to the significance of cities as sites of cultural production and consumption. Much of the work on creative industries and cities, however, has drawn upon 'imagined geographies' about the relationship between creativity and place. This collection draws together contributions that critically appraise recent urban cultural policy discourses, as well as reflecting on the role of culture and creative industries in the future development of cities."---publisher website

Managing distraction and attention in diverse cohorts : 21st century challenges to law student engagement

It is imperative that we consider the use of current and emerging technologies in terms of the nature of our learners, the physical environment of the lecture theatre, and how technology may help to support appropriate pedagogies that facilitate the capturing of student attention in active engaging learning experiences. It is argued that a re-evaluation of pedagogy is required to address the tech-savy traits of the 21st century learner and the extent to which their mobile devices are capable of not only distracting them from learning but also enhancing face-to-face learning experiences.

Online environmental citizenship : blogs, green marketing and consumer sentiment in the 21st Century

Over the last three decades, the rise in consumer generated content has enabled more environmentally conscious points of view to effect mainstream opinion (Kalafatis, Pollard, East & Tsogas, 1999; Barber, Taylor & Strick, 2009). Consequently, more people are buying into environmentalist ideology and organizing themselves to influence social change. Focus has shifted from attracting public awareness to concern for green ideas, discourse, and environmental citizenship, the latter becoming the guideline by which debates on such topics are regulated (Follows & Jobber, 2000; Dobson, 2003).

Stockholm Syndrome : architecture, politics and the human body

The exchange between the body and architecture walks a fine line between violence and pleasure. It is through the body that the subject engages with the architectural act, not via thought or reason, but through action. The materiality of architecture is the often the catalyst for some intense association; the wall that defines gender or class, the double bolted door that incarcerates, the enclosed privacy of the bedroom to the love affair. Architecture is the physical manifestation of Lefebvre’s inscribed space. It enacts the social and political systems through bodily occupation. Architecture, when tested by the occupation of bodies, anchors ideology in both space and time. The architect’s script can be powerful when rehearsed honestly to the building’s intentions and just as beautiful when rebuked by the act of protest or unfaithful occupation. This research examines this fine line of violence and pleasure in architecture through performance, in the work of Bryony Lavin’s play Stockholm and Revolving Door by Allora & Calzadilla as part of the recent Kaldor Public Art Projects exhibition 13 Rooms in Sydney. The research is underpinned by the work of Architect and theorist, Bernard Tschumi in his two essays, Violence of Architecture and The Pleasure of Architecture. Studying architecture through the lens of performance shifts the focus of examination from pure thought to the body; because architecture is occupied through the body and not the mind.

NRM engagement between remote dryland communities and government agencies : success factors from Australia

The management of dryland environments involves the interaction of multiple government agencies and citizens, and is required to respond to a wide range of responsibilities and aspirations for a given region. This paper focuses on the characteristics of engagement between management agencies and citizens in a dryland region, presented here as a series of success factors. These factors are based on empirical research carried out in the Lake Eyre Basin in Australia, one of the world’s largest inwardly draining basins. The results reinforce generic and dryland-specific factors supporting successful community engagement. The former, such as building trust, working in partnership, supporting community champions, and maintaining transparency, are necessary but insufficient for achieving successful community engagement in the case study region. In addition, community engagement in the case study region also required respecting the extreme conditions and extraordinary variability of the Basin and committing to longer timeframes even if the outcomes of community engagement are slow to accrue, in order to take advantage of opportunities in more prosperous times.

The Politics and Legality of Prisoner Disenfranchisement in Australian Federal Elections

To remove the right of prisoners to vote does many things. … It signals that whatever the prisoner says is not of interest to those at the top, that you are not interested in talking to them or even listening to them, that you want to exclude them and that you have no interest in knowing about them. INTRODUCTION In June 2006, Australia passed legislation disenfranchising all prisoners serving full-time custodial sentences from voting in federal elections. This followed a succession of changes dating from 1983 that alternately extended and restricted the prisoner franchise. In 1989 and 1995, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) federal government prepared draft legislation removing any restrictions on prisoner voting rights in federal elections; the measures were defeated and withdrawn. With the 2006 legislation, the Howard Coalition government (composed of the Liberal and National parties) successfully achieved the total disenfranchisement it first sought in 1998. This chapter examines the politics and legality of the 2006 disenfranchisement. This will be approached, first, by briefly outlining the key provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, offering a short legislative history of prisoner franchise, and examining some of the key constitutional issues. Second, the 2006 disenfranchisement introduced in the Electoral and Referendum (Electoral Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2006 will be examined in greater detail, particularly in terms of the manner in which it was achieved and the arguments that were mobilized both in support of and against the change.

Physical inactivity remains the greatest public health problem of the 21st century : evidence, improved methods and solutions using the '7 investments that work' as a framework

In 2009, BJSM's first editorial argued that ‘Physical inactivity is the greatest public health problem of the 21st century’.1 The data supporting that claim have not yet been challenged. Now, 5 years after BJSM published its first dedicated ‘Physical Activity is Medicine’ theme issue (http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/43/1.toc) we are pleased to highlight 23 new contributions from six countries. This issue contains an analysis of the cost of physical inactivity from the US Centre for Diseases Control.2 We also report the cost-effectiveness of one particular physical activity intervention for adults.3