Order supported by law : the enforcement of norms in virtual communities

As online social spaces continue to grow in importance, the complex relationship between users and the private providers of the platforms continues to raise increasingly difficult questions about legitimacy in online governance. This article examines two issues that go to the core of egitimate governance in online communities: how are rules enforced and punishments imposed, and how should the law support legitimate governance and protect participants from the illegitimate exercise of power? Because the rules of online communities are generally ultimately backed by contractual terms of service, the imposition of punishment for the breach of internal rules exists in a difficult conceptual gap between criminal law and the predominantly compensatory remedies of contractual doctrine. When theorists have addressed the need for the rules of virtual communities to be enforced, a dichotomy has generally emerged between the appropriate role of criminal law for 'real' crimes, and the private, internal resolution of 'virtual' or 'fantasy' crimes. In this structure, the punitive effect of internal measures is downplayed and the harm that can be caused to participants by internal sanctions is systemically undervalued.

Social Impact of Mining Survey : Aggregate Results Queensland Communities

This is the final report from a study into the social impact of mining in Queensland.

What information counts at the moment of practice? Information practices of renal nurses

Aims. This article is a report of a study done to identify how renal nurses experience information about renal care and the information practices that they used to support everyday practice. Background. What counts as nursing knowledge remains a contested area in the discipline yet little research has been undertaken. Information practice encompasses a range of activities such as seeking, evaluation and sharing of information. The ability to make informed judgement is dependent on nurses being able to identify relevant sources of information that inform their practice and those sources of information may enable the identification of what knowledge is important to nursing practice. Method. The study was philosophically framed from a practice perspective and informed by Habermas and Schatzki; it employed qualitative research techniques. Using purposive sampling six registered nurses working in two regional renal units were interviewed during 2009 and data was thematically analysed. Findings. The information practices of renal nurses involved mapping an information landscape in which they drew on information obtained from epistemic, social and corporeal sources. They also used coupling, a process of drawing together information from a range of sources, to enable them to practice. Conclusion. Exploring how nurses engage with information, and the role the information plays in situating and enacting epistemic, social and corporeal knowledge into everyday nursing practice is instructive because it indicates that nurses must engage with all three modalities in order to perform effectively, efficiently and holistically in the context of patient care. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Economic prosperity, suburbanization, and the creative workforce : findings from Australian suburban communities

This paper considers the changing relationship between economic prosperity and Australian suburbs, noting that what has been termed “the first suburban nation” in experiencing an intensification of suburban growth in the 2000s, in the context of economic globalization. The paper reports on a three-year Australian Research Council funded project into “Creative Suburbia”, identifying the significant percentage of the creative industries workforce who live in suburban areas. Drawing on case studies from suburbs in the Australian cities of Brisbane and Melbourne, it notes the contrasts between the experience of these workers, who are generally positive towards suburban life, and the underlying assumptions of “creative cities” policy discourse that such workers prefer to be concentrated in high density inner urban creative clusters.

Early years teachers’ epistemic beliefs and beliefs about children’s moral learning

There is strong political and social interest in values education both internationally and across Australia. Investment in young children is recognised as important for the development of moral values for a cohesive society; however, little is known about early years teachers’ beliefs about moral values teaching and learning. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationships between Australian early years teachers’ epistemic beliefs and their beliefs about children’s moral learning. Three hundred and seventy-nine teachers completed a survey about their personal epistemic beliefs and their beliefs about children’s moral learning. Results indicated that teachers with more sophisticated epistemic beliefs viewed children as capable of taking responsibility for their own moral learning. Conversely, teachers who held more naive or simplistic personal epistemic beliefs agreed that children need to learn morals through learning the rules for behaviour. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for moral pedagogy in the classroom and teacher professional development. It is suggested that in conjunction with explicitly reflecting on epistemic beliefs, professional development may need to assist teachers to ascertain how their beliefs might relate to their moral pedagogies in order to make any adjustments.

Using a knowledge-based approach : the way healthy communities make decisions

The planning for Knowledge Cities faces significant challenges due to the lack of effective information tools. These challenges are magnified while planning healthy communities. The Australian Health Information Council (AHIC) concluded in its last report that health information needs to be shared more effectively (AHIC, 2008). Some research justifies the use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) as an E-planning tool, particularly in the context of healthy communities. However, very limited research has been conducted in this area to date, especially in terms of evaluating the impact of these tools on decision-makers within the health planning practice. The paper presents the methodological instruments which were developed to measure the impact of the E-planning tool (i.e., Health Decision Support System [HDSS])) on a group of health planners, namely, the Logan Beaudesert Health Coalition (LBHC). The paper is focused on the culture in which decisions were made before and after the intervention of the HDSS. Subsequently, the paper presents the observed impact of the HDSS tool, to facilitate a knowledge-based decision-making approach. This study is an attempt to make some contribution to the Knowledge Cities literature in the context of planning healthy communities by adopting E-planning tools.

Actioning university-community engagement : leadership, mentoring and professional communities

This presentation focuses on actioning university-community engagement through a Department of Employment, Education and Work Relations (DEEWR) grant. The project associated with this grant is titled Teacher Education Done Differently (TEDD) and it is currently in its third and final year of operation. TEDD aims to facilitate benefits for all partners (i.e., teachers, school executives, students, preservice teachers, university staff, and education departments). This project aims to facilitate understandings and skills on advancing mentoring and teaching practices for preservice teachers.

School education as social and economic governance : responsibilising communities through industry-school engagement

This article examines shifts in educational and social governance taking place in Queensland, Australia, through Industry School Engagement Strategy of Education Queensland and its Gateway Schools program. This significant educational initiative is set within the context of the social investment agenda first articulated in the education policy framework, Queensland State Education-2010. The article traces the historic extension of this governmental strategy through establishment of the Gateway Schools concept that brokers industry-school partnerships with global players in the Queensland economy. Industry sectors forming the partnerships include Minerals and Energy, Aerospace, Wine Tourism, Agribusiness, Manufacturing and Engineering, Building and Construction and ICT. We argue that this ‘post-bureaucratic’ model of schooling represents a new social settlement of neoliberal governance, in which educational outcomes align with economic objectives, and frame the conditions for community self-governance.

Building engaged, sustainable online communities : a case study of an adventure travel website

This paper will provide an overview of a join research initiative being developed by the Queensland University of Technology in conjunction with the Australian Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre in relation to the development and analysis of online communities. The intention of this project is to initially create an exciting and innovative web space around the concept of adventure travel and then to analyse the level of user engagement to uncover possible patterns and processes that could be used in the future development of other virtual online communities. Travel websites are not a new concept and there are many successful examples currently operating and generating profit. The intention of the QUT/Smart Services CRC project is to analyse the site metrics to determine the following: what specific conditions/parameters are required to foster a growing and engaged virtual community; when does the shift occur from external moderation to a more sustainable system of self-moderation within the online community; when do users begin to take ownership of a site and take an invested interested in the content and growth of an online community; and how to retain active contributors and high-impact power users on a long-term basis. With the travel website rapidly approaching release, this paper begins the process of reflection, outlining the process undertaken and the findings so far aggregated whilst also positioning the project within the greater context of current online user participation and user generated content research.

The analysis of social capital in online social communities

Social networks have proven to be an attractive avenue of investigation for researchers since humans are social creatures. Numerous literature have explored the term “social networks” from different perspectives and in diverse research fields. With the popularity of the Internet, social networking has taken on a new dimension. Online social communities therefore have become an emerging social avenue for people to communicate in today’s information age. People use online social communities to share their interests, maintain friendships, and extend their so-called circle of “friends”. Likewise, social capital, also known as human capital, is an important theory in sociology. Researchers usually utilise social capital theory when they investigate the topic relating to social networks. However, there is little literature that can provide an explicit and strong assertion in that research area due to the complexity of social capital. This thesis therefore focuses on the issue related to providing a better understanding about the relationship between social capital and online social communities. To enhance the value within the scope of this analysis, an online survey was conducted to examine the effects of the dimensions of social capital: relational capital, structural capital, and cognitive capital, determining the intensity of using online social communities. The data were derived from a total of 350 self-selected respondents completing an online survey during the research period. The main results indicate that social capital exists in online social communities under normal circumstances. Finally, this thesis also presents three contributions for both theory and practice in Chapter 5. The main results contribute to the understanding of connectivity in the interrelationships between individual social capital exchange within online social networks. Secondly, social trust was found to have a weak effect in influencing the intensity of individuals using online social communities. Third, the perpetual role of information sharing has an indirect influence on individual users participating in online social communities. This study also benefits online marketing consultants as marketers can not only gain consumer information easier from online social communities but also this understanding assists in designing effective communication within online social communities. The cross-sectional study, the reliability of Internet survey data, and sampling issues are the major three limitations in this research. The thesis provides a new research model and recommends that the mediating effects, privacy paradox, and social trust on online social communities should be further explored in future research.