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

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

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

FireWatch: Creative responses to bushfire catastrophes

No abstract available

Digitods: Toddlers, touch screens and Australian family life

Children are beginning to use digital technologies at younger and younger ages. The emerging trend of very young children (babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers) using Internet connected devices, especially touch screen tablets and smartphones, has elicited polarising opinions from early childhood experts.At present there is little actual research about the risks or benefits of tablet and smartphone use by very young children. Current usage recommendations, based on research into passive television watching which claims that screen time is detrimental, is in conflict with advice from education experts and app developers who commend interactive screen time as engaging and educational

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

Digital Literacy and young children: towards better understandings of the benefits and challenges of digital technologies in homes and early years settings. : Policy briefing of DigiLitEY COST Action IS1410 and the Digital Childhoods SIG of the European Early Childhood Research Association.

Non peer reviewe

Collaborative decision making in an Australian University the impossible dream?

Managerialism is the dominant management practice in higher education decision-making. Collaboration is only allowed, or even actively encouraged, in teaching and research. In all other organisational matters there is a prevailing top-down approach to decision-making. The result is managers who believe that they always know better than those they manage. This paper challenges that dominant philosophy. It utilises a qualitative study of the latest strategic planning process at Murdoch University where there was an attempt to use a more collaborative and participatory approach. It concludes that there will need to be significant changes in organisational culture; communication processes; leadership ethos; and, management mindsets before effective collaboration, in the form of employee participation and involvement in decision-making, can develop and flourish

Biological metaphor of \u27natural history\u27 for Internet use: The child-adult social maturation journey

Using a metaphor borrowed from the biological sciences, this article 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 non-commercial research about how young people grow into more mature patterns of internet use.This article 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