Breaking Boundaries : recasting the “local” newspaper as “geo-social” news in a digital landscape

This paper reconceptualises the role of the small “local” newspaper in a new media environment and argues that definitions and concepts currently used to describe and define such publications are becoming increasingly problematic as newspapers shift into both print and online formats. The paper highlights the continued importance of geography for such newspapers at a time when there is wide academic debate on the relevance of territory and boundaries and the impact of time–space compression in a new media world. It argues, however, that a focus on a newspaper’s geographic connection must also acknowledge the increasing boundlessness and openness of the social space in which a newspaper operates. Ultimately this paper suggests the concept of “geo-social” news may be a more appropriate framework for scholars to consider such publications. I draw on the work of geography scholars, and discussions around “space” and “place” to construct the notion of “geo-social” news, highlighting some exemplars of small commercial newsroom practices in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada and discussions with newspaper editors in Australia to demonstrate the relevance of the “geo-social” concept.

Negotiating gender boundaries : tensions in developing a professional identity as a female physical educator in boys' schools

Historically, gendered boundaries and their impacts on education have been widely contested. The global gender policy debate over the last sixty years has significantly vacillated between prioritising issues of educational and social practice that appear to privilege one gender over another (Lingard, Martino & Mills, 2009). The very nature of the title ‘Boys’ school’ conveys a hard gendered boundarying. In a socio-political climate where boys’ supposed underachievement has been attributed to the presumed “feminisation of teaching” (Hoff Sommers, 2000) it is not surprising that the rhetoric around the purpose and intent of boys’ education privileges masculinist discourses and practices. Physical Education (PE) and sport is often implicated as prominent curriculum spaces where the tensions produced through gendered discourse-power relations are played out, often at the expense of marginalised others.

Understanding the sources of uncertainty to reduce the risks of undesirable outcomes in large-scale freshwater ecosystem restoration projects: an example from the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

There are a growing number of large-scale freshwater ecological restoration projects worldwide. Assessments of the benefits and costs of restoration often exclude an analysis of uncertainty in the modelled outcomes. To address this shortcoming we explicitly model the uncertainties associated with measures of ecosystem health in the estuary of the Murray– Darling Basin, Australia and how those measures may change with the implementation of a Basin-wide Plan to recover water to improve ecosystem health. Specifically, we compare two metrics – one simple and one more complex – to manage end-of-system flow requirements for one ecosystem asset in the Basin, the internationally important Coorong saline wetlands. Our risk assessment confirms that the ecological conditions in the Coorong are likely to improve with implementation of the Basin Plan; however, there are risks of a Type III error (where the correct answer is found for the wrong question) associated with using the simple metric for adaptive management.