Design process

Christina Waterson interviews Queensland interior designer Marisha McAuliffe about her PhD research into process, and why some people are drawn to create.

Investigating marketing managers' perspectives on social media in Chile

Social media has reached global proportions, yet little is known about firms’ engagement with these Web 2.0 technologies in emerging markets within Latin America. The study investigates Chilean marketing managers’ perspectives on social media platforms, the benefits or barriers to their firm’s marketing practices and the impact they have on the immediate marketing environment based on in-depth interviews. Applying Okazaki and Taylor’s (2013) social media framework the findings provide an understanding of social media’s role for Chilean firms in customer engagement, brand image enhancement, return on investment, and meeting consumer needs through time and place. Additional themes emerged on the use of social media through Smartphones and their value for future marketing activities.

Financial institutions using social media – do consumers perceive value?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer perceptions of value of financial institutions using social media to interact with consumers; if overall perceived value predicts a consumer’s intention to adopt, and if intention predicts self-reported adoption of social media to interact with a financial institution; and if perceptions of value in using social media to interact with a financial institution changes over time. Design/methodology/approach Self-administered surveys were run at two time points; 2010 and 2014. Data were analyzed using multiple and mediated regressions, and t-tests. Comparisons are made between the two time points. Findings Perceived usefulness, economic value, and social value predicted overall perceived value, which in turn predicted a consumer’s intention to adopt social media to interact with a financial institution. At Time 2, adoption intention predicted self-reported usage behavior. Finally, there were significant differences between perceptions across Time 1 and 2. Research limitations/implications The implications of the research highlight the importance of overall perceived value in the role of adoption intention, and that at Time 2, adoption intention predicted self-reported adoption to read and share content. A reduction in perceptions of value and intentions from Time 1 to Time 2 could be explained by perceptions of technology insecurity. In future studies, the authors recommend examining inhibitors to adoption including hedonic value. Practical implications The findings suggest that consumers will use social media if the sector creates and clearly articulates consumer value from using social media. The sector also needs to address technology security perceptions to increase usage of social media. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to investigate the consumer’s perspective in social media adoption by financial institutions, by exploring the role of value in consumer adoption and usage of social media.

A blended learning approach to the teaching of professional practice in architecture

This paper reports on a number of blended learning activities conducted in two subjects of a Master of Architecture degree at a major Australian university. The subjects were related to “professional practice” and as such represent a little researched area of architectural curriculum. The research provides some insight into the student perceptions of learning opportunity and engagement associated with on-line delivery modes. Students from these two subjects were surveyed for their perceptions about the opportunity for learning afforded by the on-line components, and also for their perceived level of engagement. Responses to these perceptions of traditional and on-line modes of delivery are compared and analysed for significant differences. While students were generally positive in response to the learning experiences, analysis of the results shows that students found the traditional modes to assist in their learning significantly more than on-line modes. Students were neutral regarding the opportunity for engagement that on-line modes provided. Analysis of the students’ gender, age and hours of paid work was also conducted to ascertain any relationship with attitudes to the flexibility of on-line delivery; no significant relationship was detected. This study has shown that students were generally resistant to on-line engagement opportunities and their ability to support learning.

An empirical analysis of the factors and measures of Enterprise Architecture Management success

Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) is discussed in academia and industry as a vehicle to guide IT implementations, alignment, compliance assessment, or technology management. Still, a lack of knowledge prevails about how EAM can be successfully used, and how positive impact can be realized from EAM. To determine these factors, we identify EAM success factors and measures through literature reviews and exploratory interviews and propose a theoretical model that explains key factors and measures of EAM success. We test our model with data collected from a cross-sectional survey of 133 EAM practitioners. The results confirm the existence of an impact of four distinct EAM success factors, ‘EAM product quality’, ‘EAM infrastructure quality’, ‘EAM service delivery quality’, and ‘EAM organizational anchoring’, and two important EAM success measures, ‘intentions to use EAM’ and ‘Organizational and Project Benefits’ in a confirmatory analysis of the model. We found the construct ‘EAM organizational anchoring’ to be a core focal concept that mediated the effect of success factors such as ‘EAM infrastructure quality’ and ‘EAM service quality’ on the success measures. We also found that ‘EAM satisfaction’ was irrelevant to determining or measuring success. We discuss implications for theory and EAM practice.

Social media and niche sports: The netball ANZ championship and commonwealth games on twitter

This article analyses and compares Twitter activity for the niche sport of netball over the 2013 trans-Tasman ANZ Championship competition and the international Commonwealth Games event in 2014. Patterns within the Twitter data that were discovered through an analysis of the 2013 ANZ Championship season are considered in terms of the Commonwealth Games, and thus compared between a quasi-domestic and an international context. In particular, we highlight the extent to which niche sports such as netball attempt to capitalise on the opportunities provided by social media, and the challenges involved in coordinating event-specific hashtags, such as the #netball2014 hashtag promoted by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Corresponding geographies: Remapping work and workplace in the age of digital media

This essay makes three related claims about digital media creative clusters through a case study of the Hub in Glasgow, Scotland. First, online social networking platforms are an increasingly “common sense” feature that property developers include to attract media workers to purpose-built properties. Second, integrating and managing professional identities through the construction of place are considered necessary to promote that place to a larger audience. Finally, reorganizing place in this way refashions creative work as a more nebulous concept, a process that integrates formerly distinct aspects of our work and nonwork lives into the common pursuit of innovation for economic gain.

Community uses of co-creative media. Digital storytelling and Co-creative Media : The role of community arts and media in propagating and coordinating population-wide creative practice

This report describes a dynamic ‘Co-creative Media System’ that is emerging in the social space bounded by the following institutional pillars: • major cultural institutions (including screen culture agencies, libraries, museums, galleries and public service broadcasters) • the Community Arts and Cultural Development sector (historically supported through various programs of the Australia Council for the Arts) • the community broadcasting sector • the Indigenous media sector, and • the higher education sector. It illustrates how this system activates the immense creative potential of the Australian population through the ongoing development and application of participatory storytelling methods and media.

Crystal palaces: Copyright law and public architecture

This paper investigates copyright law and public architecture in the context of cultural institutions of Australia. Part 1 examines the case of the Sydney Opera House to illustrate the past position of architects in respect of copyright law. It goes onto consider the framework laid down by the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 (Cth) to resolve copyright disputes over moral rights and architecture. Part 2 considers the argument over the proposed renovations to the National Gallery of Australia between Dr Brian Kennedy and the original architect Colin Madigan. Part 3 finally deals with the allegations that Ashton Raggatt McDougall, the architects of the National Museum of Australia, plagiarised the designs of Daniel Libeskind for the Jewish Berlin Museum.

Information encountering on social media and tacit knowledge sharing

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how social media may support information encountering (i.e., where individuals encounter useful and interesting information while seeking or browsing for some other information) and how this may lead to facilitation of tacit knowledge creation and sharing. The study employed a qualitative survey design that interviewed twenty-four physicians who were active users of social media to better understand the phenomenon of information encountering on social media. The data was analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The study found six main ways through which social media supports information encountering. Furthermore, drawing upon knowledge creation theories, the study concluded that information encountering on social media facilitates tacit knowledge creation and sharing among individuals. The study provides new directions for further empirical investigations to examine whether information encountering on social media actually leads to tacit knowledge creation and sharing. The findings of the study may also provide opportunities for users to adopt social media effectively or gain greater value from social media use.

Extending genetic linkage analysis to diffusion tensor images to map single gene effects on brain fiber architecture

We extended genetic linkage analysis - an analysis widely used in quantitative genetics - to 3D images to analyze single gene effects on brain fiber architecture. We collected 4 Tesla diffusion tensor images (DTI) and genotype data from 258 healthy adult twins and their non-twin siblings. After high-dimensional fluid registration, at each voxel we estimated the genetic linkage between the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), Val66Met (dbSNP number rs6265), of the BDNF gene (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) with fractional anisotropy (FA) derived from each subject's DTI scan, by fitting structural equation models (SEM) from quantitative genetics. We also examined how image filtering affects the effect sizes for genetic linkage by examining how the overall significance of voxelwise effects varied with respect to full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the Gaussian smoothing applied to the FA images. Raw FA maps with no smoothing yielded the greatest sensitivity to detect gene effects, when corrected for multiple comparisons using the false discovery rate (FDR) procedure. The BDNF polymorphism significantly contributed to the variation in FA in the posterior cingulate gyrus, where it accounted for around 90-95% of the total variance in FA. Our study generated the first maps to visualize the effect of the BDNF gene on brain fiber integrity, suggesting that common genetic variants may strongly determine white matter integrity.

Brain fiber architecture, genetics, and intelligence: a high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) study

We developed an analysis pipeline enabling population studies of HARDI data, and applied it to map genetic influences on fiber architecture in 90 twin subjects. We applied tensor-driven 3D fluid registration to HARDI, resampling the spherical fiber orientation distribution functions (ODFs) in appropriate Riemannian manifolds, after ODF regularization and sharpening. Fitting structural equation models (SEM) from quantitative genetics, we evaluated genetic influences on the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD), a novel measure of fiber spatial coherence, and on the generalized fiber anisotropy (GFA) a measure of fiber integrity. With random-effects regression, we mapped regions where diffusion profiles were highly correlated with subjects' intelligence quotient (IQ). Fiber complexity was predominantly under genetic control, and higher in more highly anisotropic regions; the proportion of genetic versus environmental control varied spatially. Our methods show promise for discovering genes affecting fiber connectivity in the brain.

Mapping genetic influences on brain fiber architecture with high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI)

We report the first 3D maps of genetic effects on brain fiber complexity. We analyzed HARDI brain imaging data from 90 young adult twins using an information-theoretic measure, the Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD), to gauge the regional complexity of the white matter fiber orientation distribution functions (ODF). HARDI data were fluidly registered using Karcher means and ODF square-roots for interpol ation; each subject's JSD map was computed from the spatial coherence of the ODFs in each voxel's neighborhood. We evaluated the genetic influences on generalized fiber anisotropy (GFA) and complexity (JSD) using structural equation models (SEM). At each voxel, genetic and environmental components of data variation were estimated, and their goodness of fit tested by permutation. Color-coded maps revealed that the optimal models varied for different brain regions. Fiber complexity was predominantly under genetic control, and was higher in more highly anisotropic regions. These methods show promise for discovering factors affecting fiber connectivity in the brain.

Genetics of brain fiber architecture and intellectual performance

The study is the first to analyze genetic and environmental factors that affect brain fiber architecture and its genetic linkage with cognitive function. We assessed white matter integrity voxelwise using diffusion tensor imaging at high magnetic field (4 Tesla), in 92 identical and fraternal twins. White matter integrity, quantified using fractional anisotropy (FA), was used to fit structural equation models (SEM) at each point in the brain, generating three-dimensional maps of heritability. We visualized the anatomical profile of correlations between white matter integrity and full-scale, verbal, and performance intelligence quotients (FIQ, VIQ, and PIQ). White matter integrity (FA) was under strong genetic control and was highly heritable in bilateral frontal (a 2 = 0.55, p = 0.04, left; a 2 = 0.74, p = 0.006, right), bilateral parietal (a 2 = 0.85, p < 0.001, left; a 2 = 0.84, p < 0.001, right), and left occipital (a 2 = 0.76, p = 0.003) lobes, and was correlated with FIQ and PIQ in the cingulum, optic radiations, superior fronto- occipital fasciculus, internal capsule, callosal isthmus, and the corona radiata (p = 0.04 for FIQ and p = 0.01 for PIQ, corrected for multiple comparisons). In a cross-trait mapping approach, common genetic factors mediated the correlation between IQ and white matter integrity, suggesting a common physiological mechanism for both, and common genetic determination. These genetic brain maps reveal heritable aspects of white matter integrity and should expedite the discovery of single-nucleotide polymorphisms affecting fiber connectivity and cognition.