Elements of an environmental offsets policy : a working paper towards a policy for an environmental banking scheme appropriate for Queensland

In the past eight years, Australia has adopted the use of environmental offsets as a means to compensate for environmental degradation from development. Queensland has more environmental offsetting policies than any other Australian State or Territory. The methodology has profound effects on development companies, landowners (both private and public), regional land planning, organizations, government agencies, monetary banking institutions and environmental conservation bodies.

The Australian Nonprofit Sector Legal Almanac 2010, ACPNS Working Paper 53

This is the third year that we have summarised annual developments in the law for nonprofit staff, boards and volunteers. We were encouraged by the interest shown in last year’s publication and the use made of the digital copy on our web site, so here is the almanac for the Jan 2010–Dec 2010 period. We are delighted that the Australian Charity Law Association and PilchConnect (Victoria) have again agreed to contribute and promote the publication as well. These two organisations are beginning to fill the void of professional legal development and assistance to small nonprofit organisations that has characterised Australia for too many years. The first conference of the Australian Charity Law Association in Sydney was a significant event and one of the addresses is included in the Almanac. Other materials from the conference can be accessed at the Centre’s website.

The relationship between building characteristics and the chemical composition of surface films found on glass windows in Brisbane, Australia

Films found on the windows of residential buildings have been studied. The main aim of the paper was to assess the roles of the films in the accumulation of potentially toxic chemicals in residential buildings. Thus the elemental and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compositions of the surface films from the glass windows of eighteen residential buildings were examined. The presence of sample amounts of inorganic elements (4.0–1.2 × 106 μg m−2) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the films (BDL - 620.1 ng m−2) has implications for human exposure and the fate of pollutants in the urban environment. To facilitate the interpretation of the results, data matrices consisting of the chemical composition of the films and the building characteristics were subjected to multivariate data analysis methods, and these revealed that the accumulation of the chemicals was strongly dependent on building characteristics such as the type of glass used for the window, the distance from a major road, age of the building, distance from an industrial activity, number of smokers in the building and frequency of cooking in the buildings. Thus, building characteristics which minimize the accumulation of pollutants on the surface films need to be encouraged.

An examination of tax-deductible donations made by individual Australian taxpayers in 2008-09, ACPNS Working Paper 54

Each year, The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (CPNS) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) collects and analyses statistics on the amount and extent of tax-deductible donations made and claimed by Australians in their individual income tax returns to deductible gift recipients (DGRs). The information presented below is based on the amount and type of tax-deductible donations made and claimed by Australian individual taxpayers to DGRs for the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. This information has been extracted mainly from the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) publication Taxation Statistics 2008-09. The 2008-09 report is the latest report that has been made publicly available. It represents information in tax returns for the 2008-09 year processed by the ATO as at 31 October 2010.

Designing for engagement towards healthier lifestyles through food image sharing : the case of I8DAT

This paper introduces the underlying design concepts of I8DAT, a food image sharing application that has been developed as part of a three-year research project – Eat, Cook, Grow: Ubiquitous Technology for Sustainable Food Culture in the City (http://www.urbaninformatics .net/projects/food) – exploring urban food practices to engage people in healthier, more environmentally and socially sustainable eating, cooking, and growing food in their everyday lives. The key aim of the project is to produce actionable knowledge, which is then applied to create and test several accessible, user-centred interactive design solutions that motivate user-engagement through playful and social means rather than authoritative information distribution. Through the design and implementation processes we envisage to integrate these design interventions to create a sustainable food network that is both technical and socio-cultural in nature (technosocial). Our primary research locale is Brisbane, Australia, with additional work carried out in three reference cities with divergent geographic, socio-cultural, and technological backgrounds: Seoul, South Korea, for its global leadership in ubiquitous technology, broadband access, and high population density; Lincoln, UK, for the regional and peri-urban dimension it provides, and Portland, Oregon, US, for its international standing as a hub of the sustainable food movement.

Start playing with your food : fun food experiences with mobile social media

Healthy and sustainable food is gaining more attention from consumers, industry, and researchers. Yet many approaches to date are limited to information dissemination, advertisement or education. We have embarked on a three year collaborative research project (2011 – 2013) to explore urban food practices – eating, cooking, growing food – to support the well-being of people and the environment. Our overall goal is to employ a user-centred interaction design research approach to inform the development of entertaining, real-time, mobile and networked applications, engaging playful feedback to build motivation. Our aspiration for this study is to deliver usable and useful mobile and situated interaction prototypes that employ individual and group strategies to foster food cultures that provide new pathways to produce, share and enjoy food that is green, healthy, and fun.

Factors that influence Information Systems decisions and outcomes: A summary of key themes from four case studies" (2006). ACIS 2006 Proceedings. Paper 43.

This paper reports a summary of key findings from an examination of Information Systems decision making in four organisations. The study focused on what factors influenced decision makers during the critical preimplementation phase of Information Systems projects when systems were evaluated, selected and acquired. Using data gathered from interviews and organisational documentation, a critical hermeneutic analysis was performed in order to build an understanding of how informational and contextual influences acted on decision makers. Eight broad themes of factors were identified as having influence on decision makers and outcomes.

Frock Paper Scissors [website]

Frock Paper Sissors (http://www.frockpaperscissors.com): curated web based fashion work. Research has focussed on creating a professional and ‘real world’ website (available in the international/public arena) while producing a high quality design and journalistic fashion medium. The hard copy Frock Paper Scissors magazine has been the focus of assessment in a Fashion and Style Journalism class for the last five years, and for the last three years, students from an Advanced Web Design class have been involved in the production of the accompanying web site, http://www.frockpapersissors.com. This project researches the ways in which synergies across design disciplines can be developed through student engagement on authentic design projects. The Frock Paper Scissors website is a curated collaboration of work from the Fashion,Journalism, Creative Industries and Communication Design discipline areas in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Research focusses on how this authentic assessment task has been integrated into the two design (and communication)classes; discussing the different approaches taken by teaching staff, the challenges faced, and the ways in which student learning outcomes have been improved through interactions between design disciplines. The final curated work is a public/international website which successfully displays student work and engages students from different design (and creative industries) fields on an authentic design project within their studies.

Frock Paper Scissors [annual hard copy fashion magazine editions]

The Frock Paper Scissors magazine (and accompanying web site, www.frockpapersissors.com ) has been the focus of assessment in a Fashion and Style Journalism unit from 2006 to 2011 (current). The research has focused on the ways in which synergies across disciplines can be developed through student engagement on authentic projects (with a public audience). Up to 80 students from the Fashion Design, Journalism, Media Communication, Creative Industries, Business, Creative Writing and Communication Design discipline areas in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) work on the content, production, layout and funding for the Frock Paper Scissors magazine (and web site). Research focusses on how this authentic assessment task has been integrated into the classes; discussing the approaches taken by teaching staff, the challenges faced, and the ways in which student learning outcomes have been improved and their career outcomes enhanced. The final output requires staff to curate a professional hard copy fashion magazine(and website) where 5,000 copies are distributed annually throughout south east Queensland, Sydney, Melbourne, London, New York and Amsterdam.