E-Government Research Domain: Comparing the International and Russian Research Agenda

Part 1: E-Government FoundationsInternational audiencePositioning e-government as a discipline is a matter of continuous discussion, and it remains topical to estimate its conceptual integrity and explore the interconnection between the main research contexts, especially due to the emergence of new areas like e-participation. The analysis of the national research programs and their comparison to the global agenda is also becoming more salient. Addressing these two issues by means of a scientometrics approach, we explore the extended e-government domain on the global scale and in the Russian Federation. Findings suggest that the global e-government represents a coherent field, although further integration between research contexts is important. At the same time, the Russian e-government research is lagging behind, due to low internationalization and few stimuli for knowledge production

Entering Their World: Using Social Media to Support Students in Modern Times

Modern technology-rich environments provide a variety of tools with various types of capabilities that can support student success at the tertiary level. While university-supported learning platforms such as Moodle typically support this academic purpose, social networking sites such as Facebook can also be used within university studies to support student success. One cohort of students and their academic mentor at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in New South Wales, Australia were connected together through a Facebook group. The aim of this Facebook group was to provide support to a group of students transitioning into university study, and into a Bachelor of Primary Education (BPrimEd) degree after successfully completing one full year of university study. Using free access social media software rather than a prescribed licensed program for this purpose provided a platform on which the cohort could access support from their peers and university staff, and generate a community of learners. This chapter details a \u27Students as Partners in Research\u27 project that investigated how the Bachelor of Social Sciences: Education for Change (BSSE4C) Facebook group was used by its members to support and encourage the cohort through their first year of university studies, and support their journey into a BPrimEd degree. It has been co-authored by some of the students and university academics involved, and reflects our collective work on this project