Testing advertising via new media : an exploratory study of advertising practitioner attitudes

New media, as a free and universal communication tool, has had an impact on the power of the general public to comment on a variety of issues. As the public can comment favourably or unfavourably on advertisements, such as on Youtube, the advertising industry must start using weblogs to research reaction to their advertising campaigns. This exploratory study examines the responses of some advertising industry practitioners, both advertisers and agencies, on the impact of new media, specifically weblogs, and the use of new media as a source of research on advertising campaigns.

Groundwater Visualisation System (GVS): a software framework for developing low-end, scalable and robust software for 3D visualisation and animation of groundwater conceptual models

Effective management of groundwater requires stakeholders to have a realistic conceptual understanding of the groundwater systems and hydrological processes.However, groundwater data can be complex, confusing and often difficult for people to comprehend..A powerful way to communicate understanding of groundwater processes, complex subsurface geology and their relationships is through the use of visualisation techniques to create 3D conceptual groundwater models. In addition, the ability to animate, interrogate and interact with 3D models can encourage a higher level of understanding than static images alone. While there are increasing numbers of software tools available for developing and visualising groundwater conceptual models, these packages are often very expensive and are not readily accessible to majority people due to complexity. .The Groundwater Visualisation System (GVS) is a software framework that can be used to develop groundwater visualisation tools aimed specifically at non-technical computer users and those who are not groundwater domain experts. A primary aim of GVS is to provide management support for agencies, and enhancecommunity understanding.

Australian media ethics regime and ethical risk management

Media organizations are simultaneously key elements of an effective democracy and, for the most part, commercial entities seeking success in the market. They play an essential role in the formation of public opinion and the influence on personal choices. Yet most of them are commercial enterprises seeking readers or viewers, advertising, favorable regulatory decisions for their media, and other assets. This creates some intrinsic difficulties and produces some sharp tensions within media ethics. In this article, we examine such tensions—in theory and practice. We then consider the feasibility of introducing an ethics regime to the media industry—a regime that would be effective in a deregulated environment in protecting public interest and social responsibility. In the article, we also outline a rationale and a methodology for the institutionalization of an acceptable and workable media ethics regime that aims to protect the integrity of the industry in a future of undoubtedly increasing commercial pressure.

There, yet not there : human relationships with technology

There is a “reality” to being online which we know to be false. We are simultaneously “there” but “not there” as we talk, work and play with others in online spaces. We move between physical and virtual spaces in ways that realise the predictions made for computers in the mid-20th Century and enact scenarios from science fiction. We are left wondering if our thoughts - through our disembodied selves - have become a “second self” or if we have become part of the machine itself. Information and communication technology (ICT) have brought differing human and technological agencies to all aspects of contemporary life including teaching and learning. This paper attempts to identify and categorise these agencies through the genres of technics and to illustrate them – and our relationships with technology - through reference to philosophy, fiction and reality. It also stands as an introduction to this special issue on the agency of technology.

Beyond airport enclaves : insights for overcoming turf wars

Airports, over time, have emerged as separate independent entities often described as ‘enclaves’. As such airports regularly planned and implemented developments within their boundaries with limited inclusion of local actors in decision making processes. Urban encroachment on airport boundaries has increasingly focused the planning interests of airports to consider what their neighbouring cities are doing. Likewise city planners are progressively more interested in the development activities of airports. Despite shared interests in what happens on the either side of the fence line, relationships between airports and their neighbouring cities have often been strained, if not, at times, hostile. A number of strategies and conceptualisations for the co-existence of urban and airport environs have been put forward. However, these models are likely to have a limited effect unless they can be implemented to maximise opportunities for both cities and airports, and at the same time not confound their long-term interests. The isolation of airport planning from local and regional planning agencies, and the resulting power struggles are not new. Under current conditions the need to ‘bridge the gap’ between airports and their urban surrounds has become an increasing, yet under explored imperative. This paper examines the decision making arena for airport-region development to define the barriers, enablers, tensions and puzzles for the governance of airport-region development, from a cross-country perspective. Findings suggest that while there are many embedded rule structures that foster airport-region tensions, there are nonetheless a number of pathways for moving airports beyond decision making enclaves, to more integrated mechanisms for city and regional planning. In providing preliminary answers for overcoming the barriers, tensions and intractable issues of mutually agreeable airport and city development, the research makes a primary contribution to the ground level governance of collaborative planning. This research also serves as a launching point for future, more detailed research into the areas of airport-region decision making and collaborative planning for airport-regions. This work was carried out through the Airport Metropolis Research Project under the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects funding scheme (LP0775225).

Fashion manufacturing in New Zealand : can design contribute to a sustainable fashion Industry?

In the late 1990s New Zealand fashion gained some international recognition for its dark edginess and intellectual connection due to its colonial past (Molloy, 2004). In the years since, this momentum seems to have dissipated as local fashion companies have followed a global trend towards inexpensive off shore manufacturing. The transfer of the making of garments to overseas workers appears to have resulted in a local fashion scene where many garments look the same in style, colour, cut and fit. The excitement of the past, where the majority of fashion designers established their own individuality through the cut and shape of the garments that they produced, may have been inadvertently lost. Consequently a sustainable New Zealand fashion and manufacturing industry, with design integrity, seems further out of reach. The first question posed by this research project is, ‘can the design and manufacture of a fashion garment, bearing in mind certain economic and practical restrictions at its inception, result in the development of a distinctive ‘look’ or ‘handwriting’?’ Second, through development of a collection of prototypes, can potential garments be created to be sustainably manufactured in New Zealand?

Redesigning the inspection blitz in the post WorkChoices environment

The regulatory enforcement literature proposes a continuum with two principal perspectives to gaining compliance with regulations at its extremes – a compliance approach and a deterrence approach. Within these perspectives a range of strategies and tools are used to support the broad intent of an enforcement agency. One tool is the inspection blitz, concentrating resources where significant non-compliance is suspected. While agencies enforcing minimum labour standards in the Australian federal jurisdiction have traditionally used the blitz strategy as an occasional tool, it is now more regularly used. This paper examines the blitz as an enforcement tool, placing it within the compliance/deterrence perspectives, before exploring its use by the Workplace Ombudsman/Fair Work Ombudsman. We argue that multiple factors have led to the blitz’s redesign in the post-Work Choices environment, and that its current framework and persuasive compliance nature is not appropriate for all situations.

Adiabatic compression testing - part I : historical development and evaluation of fluid dynamic processes including shock-wave considerations

Adiabatic compression testing of components in gaseous oxygen is a test method that is utilized worldwide and is commonly required to qualify a component for ignition tolerance under its intended service. This testing is required by many industry standards organizations and government agencies. This paper traces the background of adiabatic compression testing in the oxygen community and discusses the thermodynamic and fluid dynamic processes that occur during rapid pressure surges. This paper is the first of several papers by the authors on the subject of adiabatic compression testing and is presented as a non-comprehensive background and introduction.

Adiabatic compression testing - part II : background and approach to estimating severity of test methodology

Adiabatic compression testing of components in gaseous oxygen is a test method that is utilized worldwide and is commonly required to qualify a component for ignition tolerance under its intended service. This testing is required by many industry standards organizations and government agencies; however, a thorough evaluation of the test parameters and test system influences on the thermal energy produced during the test has not yet been performed. This paper presents a background for adiabatic compression testing and discusses an approach to estimating potential differences in the thermal profiles produced by different test laboratories. A “Thermal Profile Test Fixture” (TPTF) is described that is capable of measuring and characterizing the thermal energy for a typical pressure shock by any test system. The test systems at Wendell Hull & Associates, Inc. (WHA) in the USA and at the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Germany are compared in this manner and some of the data obtained is presented. The paper also introduces a new way of comparing the test method to idealized processes to perform system-by-system comparisons. Thus, the paper introduces an “Idealized Severity Index” (ISI) of the thermal energy to characterize a rapid pressure surge. From the TPTF data a “Test Severity Index” (TSI) can also be calculated so that the thermal energies developed by different test systems can be compared to each other and to the ISI for the equivalent isentropic process. Finally, a “Service Severity Index” (SSI) is introduced to characterizing the thermal energy of actual service conditions. This paper is the second in a series of publications planned on the subject of adiabatic compression testing.

Ties that blind? How strong ties affect small business owner-managers’ perceived trustworthiness of their advisors

This research investigates how a strong personal relationship (strong tie) between a small business owner-manager and his professional or informal advisor affects the relationship between the advisor's recent performance and the owner-manager's perceptions of the advisor's trustworthiness in terms of ability, benevolence and integrity. A negative moderating effect could point to a 'tie that blinds': the owner-manager may be less critical in evaluating the advisor's perceived trustworthiness in light of their recent performance, because of the existing personal relationship. A conceptual model is constructed and examined with survey data comprising 153 young Finnish businesses. The results show that strong ties increase the owner-manager's perception of the advisor's integrity, disregarding their recent performance. For professional advisors, strong ties reduce the impact of recent performance in the owner-manager's evaluation of their ability. For informal advisors, a strong tie makes it more likely that their benevolence will be evaluated highly in light of their recent performance. While the results show that 'ties can blind' under certain circumstances, the limitations of the study raise the need for further research to specify these contextual factors and examine the causal link between the choice of advisor and business performance.

Food insecurity in Brisbane : the single mother’s struggle

Using a feminist reflexive approach this paper reports on interviews with single mother’s in the Brisbane area about their experiences with food shopping and household food security. Preliminary findings suggest that most experience significant stress around the amount of money they have available for food. As the price of food and other costs of living increase, the only budget item that is flexible – groceries - is squeezed tighter. All women expressed a reluctance to ask for help from strangers at agencies instead relying on the support of family and friends to keep them food secure. Sometimes family and friends had no spare resources to help or were not aware of the extent their friend or relative might be struggling. The increased risks of poverty and food insecurity mean many go without as feeding the children takes precedence. The quality of their diets is variable with many reporting on aiming for quantity rather than being concerned with nutritional balance. Exhaustion and stress from being over-committed doing three roles, mother, father and housekeeper was self-identified as a key factor leading to mental health conditions such as depression, burnout and break down. Female single parent households are vulnerable to reducing welfare benefits as children grow or child support changes. Current policy forces single parents out to work but many can only manage part-time work for lower wages and are barely able to cope with this extra burden often resenting the reduction in benefits it brings. Public perceptions, derision and the notions of choice surrounding single parenting leave the cohort divided and silent for fear of reprisals. In my investigation issues arise about welfare policy that keep benefits low and workplace patriarchal power that can contribute to systemic poverty and the widening of the gender gap in poverty. So far analysis suggests a better support system around community food security including some hands on home help services, nutritional information, cooking classes, community gardening and other social capital building activities are needed for these women in order to avoid long-term health problems and help them better care for the next generation.

Land Use & Public Transport Accessibility Index (LUPTAI) tool : the development and pilot application of LUPTAI for the Gold Coast

LUPTAI is a decision-aiding tool to enable local and state governments to optimise land use and transport integration. In contrast to mobility between land uses (typically via road), accessibility represents opportunity and choice to reach common land use destinations by public transport and/or walking. LUPTAI uses a GIS-based methodology to quantify and map accessibility to common land use destinations by walking and/or public transport. The tool can be applied to small or large study areas. It can be applied to the current situation in a study area or to future scenarios (such as scenarios involving changes to public transport services, public transport corridors or stations, population density or land use). The tool has been piloted on the Gold Coast and the results are encouraging. This paper outlines the GIS-based methodology and the findings related to this pilot study. The paper demonstrates benefits and possible application of LUPTAI to other urbanised local government areas in Queensland. It also discusses how this accessibility indexing approach could be developed into a decision-support tool to assist local and state government agencies in a range of transport and land-use planning activities.

The aesthetico-ethical subject : another narrative about being ethically responsible

This paper builds on work I presented at the PESA conference in 2007, which moved through both aesthetic and ethical theory to generate a new theory of creative integrity around the issues of autonomy, agency and authenticity. This preliminary theorizing had its origins in my undergraduate ethics classroom where I was confronted with advertising students who resisted the idea of being taught ethics, along with all the philosophical ethical theories traditionally used to do this.

Preliminary review of over-regulation in Australian financial services

This article examines a preliminary review and the limited evidence of over-regulation in Australian financial services. The 1997 Wallis Report and the CLERP 6 paper resulted in the amendments to Ch 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) by the Financial Services Reform Act. Nearly a decade later the system based upon 'one-size fits all' dual track regime and a consistent licensing regime has greatly increased the costs of compliance. In the area of enforcement there has not been a dramatic change to the effective techniques applied by ASIC over other agencies such as APRA. In particular there are clear economic arguments, as well as international experiences which state that a single financial services regulator is more effective than the multi-layered approach adopted in Australia. Finally, in the superannuation area of financial services, which is worth A$800 billion there is unnecessary dual licensing and duplicated regulation with little evidence of any consumer-member benefit but at a much greater cost

Adventures in pedagogy : the trials and tribulations of teaching common law in China

China is now seen as arguably, the next economic giant of the 21st century. From a country closed in the past to the external world, the Chinese market now presents as one of the most lucrative in the world economy. One area that has drawn increasing international interest is education - it has been estimated that by 2020 there will be 25 million excess demands for higher education places that the Chinese tertiary educational system cannot meet. Many overseas institutions have developed programs to cater for this immense potential market. In 2000 the Law Faculty of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)introduced a new postgraduate program specifically targeting the Chinese market. This paper is a brief assessment of the program - it examines general issues in the pedagogical delivery of programs in LOTE (Language Other Than English) and the use of 'proxies' in the delivery of LOTE programs. The paper concludes that while the UTS program demonstrates that it is feasible to use proxy lecturers or interpreters in the delivery of programs in LOTE, the exercise entails significant problems that can undermine the integrity of such programs.