No Taste For Health: How Tastes Are Being Manipulated To Favour Foods That Are Not Conducive To Health And Wellbeing

Background : “The sense of taste,” write Nelson and colleagues in a 2002 issue of Nature, “provides animals with valuable information about the nature and quality of food. Mammals can recognize and respond to a diverse repertoire of chemical entities, including sugars, salts, acids and a wide range of toxic substances” (199). The authors go on to argue that several amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—taste delicious to humans and that “having a taste pathway dedicated to their detection probably had significant evolutionary implications”. They imply, but do not specify, that the evolutionary implications are positive. This may be the case with some amino acids, but contemporary tastes, and changes in them, are far from universally beneficial. Indeed, this article argues that modern food production shapes and distorts human taste with significant implications for health and wellbeing

FireWatch: Community engagement and the communication of bushfire information

Successive bushfire inquiries in Australia have called for authorities to more effectively harness and disseminate bushfire information. Recommendations from these inquiries suggest a new approach to bushfires involving greater co-ordination, in which home dwellers, emergency fire services and government work more closely together and acknowledge that education, safety, planning and emergency management can be effective responses to the threat of bushfire. Policymakers and community members are seeking to revise bushfire protocols and access new sources of authoritative information, which may help guide public responses. Nonetheless, the effective communication of information regarding bushfires still seems to be problematic (Department of Justice, 2013). This paper reports on findings from an ARC-funded research project, titled Using Community Engagement and Enhanced Visual Information to Promote FireWatch Satellite Communications as a Support for Collaborative Decision-Making. The project investigated the fire information communications environment of remote Australia in order to develop a suitable, user-friendly bushfire information website. Using a ‘communicative ecologies’ framework, this paper analyses findings from interviews held in 2012 and 2013 with community members living in the remote area of Kununurra, Western Australia. Interviewees described a fragile ‘communicative ecology’ where the coverage or reach of different communications technologies is variable, and where there are reception and compatibility problems. They also expressed disappointment and frustration about the lack of fire information in times of bushfire – as well as a lack of operational transparency and effective community engagement on the part of emergency organisations

Towards a natural history of internet use? Working to overcome the implications for research of the child-adult divide

Using a metaphor borrowed from the biological sciences, this paper discusses a ‘natural history’ of Internet use. As ‘digital natives’ many of today’s teenagers and young people have grown up and matured interacting with the Internet from an early age. Research about young people’s Internet use tends, however, to focus on the protection of minors. Young people, 16 years or older, are often excluded from noncommercial research about how young people grow into more mature patterns of Internet use. This paper highlights how parents with teenagers are building dynamic models of their children’s engagement with the Internet as they mature. Parents reported changes in the level of their children’s Internet use as they age and they envisage further changes as their children mature. We also identify the variety of ways in which parents support their children’s developing Internet skills that anticipate and respond to Internet risks and excessive Internet use

The Western Australian New Music Archive: finding, accessing, remembering and performing a community of practice

In 2009, the music composition department at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) and Perth organisation Tura New Music embarked upon a project to develop and establish the Western Australian New Music Archive (WANMA), a digital repository and interface of new music by Western Australian composers from 1970 to the current day. The project seeks to discover, collect, collate, digitise, store and disseminate music recordings, video documentation, scores and other evidence surrounding Western Australian new music. WANMA is now a funded Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage research project involving collaboration between the State Library of Western Australia, WAAPA, Tura New Music, the National Library of Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Commission. This paper discusses the background of WANMA, and the relevance of the digitisation agenda to the development of pilot projects which have informed the current approach to the construction of the archive. It uses the concept of a community of practice to locate connections between musicians and other artists involved in new music creation and production, and the artworks they produce. It notes the influence of non-verbal communication in cementing links between participants in a community of practice and includes among such communicative events the roles of audience member and participant in the artistic endeavours of others. The important performative element of the project is also discussed, as a way of projecting and integrating the archive into the present and the future. Although WANMA is in its early days and is not yet publicly accessible, it has already raised a range of issues around copyright and definitions of relevance beyond the remit of this project. Such matters require active collaboration and communication to establish acceptable parameters for an actively searchable archive which can be interrogated along a range of dimensions: from the locale of the performance to the birthplace of the composer. New music is a complex and evolving artform and WANMA recognises and celebrates this fact

Your neighbours are your friends : An investigation into microgeographical exchanges in the remote northwest of Australia between 1987-2012

This paper addresses intersections of communication, technology and geography in remote areas of Western Australia. It uses verbatim accounts from fieldwork bracketing decades of communication development to explore changes and constants in the micro-geographical exchange strategies of people living in the remote northwest of Australia. It articulates the continuing irony that the Australians who most need reliable and effective communications are those who experience the greatest difficulty in accessing them. We contend that geographical isolation and continuing problems with the reliability and reach of communication technologies in remote Western Australia have cultivated a robust community in which flexibility, resilience and interdependence redress, to some degree, the vulnerability remote communities often experience—especially in times of stress or crisis. The paper includes historical interviews from the 1980s and contemporary (2012) interviews carried out as part of an ARC Linkage-funded project, 2012-14, with industry partner Landgate, a Western Australian government entity

Nutritional narratives: cultural and communications perspectives on plant-based diets

This paper responds to a range of popular materials circulating in the public sphere asserting a plant-based (PB) diet is of benefit to humans and a protection against many chronic diseases. Although directed at a lay audience, books such as The China Study (Campbell & Campbell) are based upon extensive academic research, and highlight multiple health, environmental and social advantages of PB diets over traditional western diets. Arguments advocating PB nutrition, however, generally struggle to achieve traction in the public sphere. Narratives around PB food choices, and difficulties in shifting mainstream eating patterns, reflect the cultural symbolism attached to food, and the significance of food as an economic commodity. Moreover, the ‘expert’ status of the medical establishment privileges medical interventions over preventative PB approaches. This paper applies Cultural Studies and Health Communications perspectives to investigate bottlenecks preventing the adoption of a PD diet by a wider cross-section of the population

Sustaining online communities in the charitable health sector: how to keep a good thing going

What happens when an online community part-funded by a competitive grant process in partnership with a relevant charitable organisation reaches its use-by date? What reasons might an organisation have for continuing (or not) to support the community and its future development? How is ‘ownership’ transferred from the research institution to the not-forprofit organisation, along with any possible risks? These are all good questions: not least because it seems that most communities in this position are not ‘adopted’ by their not-forprofit sponsors, but languish on the sidelines waiting for a benefactor to pick up the potential costs and risks. This paper explores the Australian experience of forming online communities to support notfor- profit organisations’ user populations, and then finding the sponsoring organisation hesitating to adopt the project after the research has successfully demonstrated need and demand. It identifies drivers and inhibitors affecting the decision to support, neglect or abandon online communities

0-8: Young children\u27s Internet use

Internet participation, by young children (0-8) is increasing world-wide. Tweens (9-12 year olds) usage patterns now resemble of those of teenagers 5 to 6 years ago, and younger schoolaged children’s usage is increasing to the equivalent of tweens. Pre-schoolers are also going online at ever-increasing rates. This paper reports on evidence assembled in an international network of Internet researchers about young children under 9 and their increasing engagement with the Internet. The increase in children’s (0-8) Internet participation indicates certain trends and usage patterns that warrant further attention by researchers, educators and policy makers. Primary school aged children under the age of 9 are visiting ‘virtual worlds’—Web sites such as Minecraft, Club Penguin and Webkinz—that have components of social networking (Bauman & Tantum, 2009; Gee 2013; Tuukkanen et al, 2012), as well as joining 13+ social network sites such as Facebook (.Young Children, 2012). These under-agers are, as a result of youth and inexperience, less likely to have the digital skills needed to negotiate these sites safely (Livingstone et al, 2011). The increasing popularity of touch screen devices (iPads, smartphones) with pre-schoolers is also contributing to the increase in young children accessing the Internet (Brouwer et al, 2011; Verenikina et al, 2001), yet contemporary paediatric advice is to heavily restrict screen time for young children (eg. Sigman, 2012). It is unclear whether such advice accounts for the opportunities inherent in interactive play technologies. To date, little is known about the benefits and opportunities, or the risks and challenges, of children’s internet use in the 0-8 year old age group. Most research has concentrated on older children, partly because the primary concern to date has been around teenagers and partly because there are many more methodological, cost and ethical issues associated with researching younger children. From what we do know about younger children’s increased internet activity, however, it is becomming apparent that more research is needed

Ngala Healthy You, Healthy Baby: a personalized online program to support healthy weight in pregnancy and early life

Perinatal maternal obesity is common and has significant child and maternal health consequences. Online resources have the potential to engage young mothers to adopt healthier lifestyles during pregnancy and postpartum. Intercept interviews with 53 pregnant women at antenatal clinics and focus groups with 67 new mothers at mothers’ groups and playgroups were conducted to determine preferred types and formats of online information and support. The expressed needs of women were matched to behaviour change theory to guide development of the Healthy You Healthy Baby website and Smartphone application. A mix of factual and practical online information, self-assessment, goal-setting and feedback in an interactive format is recommended to motivate and support women to achieve healthy lifestyles in the perinatal period. Referral to online resources by health professionals and quality assurance of content is important to increase the confidence of women to act on it

Measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth: a comparative review

Background Satisfaction is the one of the most frequently reported outcome measures for quality of care. Assessment of satisfaction with maternity services is crucial, and psychometrically sound measures are needed if this is to inform health practices. This paper comparatively reviews current measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth. Methods A review of the literature was conducted. Studies were located through computerised databases and hand searching references of identified articles and reviews. Inclusion criteria were that the questionnaire was a multi-item scale of satisfaction with care during labour and birth, and some form of psychometric information (either information about questionnaire construction, or reliability, or validity) had to be reported. Results Nine questionnaires of satisfaction with care during labour and birth were identified. Instruments varied in psychometric properties and dimensions. Most described questionnaire construction and tested some form of reliability and validity. Measures were generally not based on the main theoretical models of satisfaction and varied in scope and application to different types of samples (e.g. satisfaction following caesarean section). For an in-depth measure of satisfaction with intrapartum care, the Intrapartal-Specific Quality from the Patient’s Perspective questionnaire (QPP-I) is recommended. Brief measures with good reliability and validity are provided by the Six Simple Questions (SSQ) or Perceptions of Care Adjective Checklist (PCACL-R). Conclusions Despite the interest in measures of satisfaction there are only a small number of validated measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth. It is important that brief, reliable and valid measures are available for use in general and specific populations in order to assist research and inform practice