Emerging Records Management in 21st Century New Zealand Government – Part 2

This research project focused on the following questions: 1. How do New Zealand public servants identify and manage electronic records that are of significant value and importance to their government agency, created through the use of text messaging, instant messaging, digital video technologies and wikis? 2. To what extent and in what ways are the electronic records management practices to manage records created with emergent technologies, such as text messaging, instant messaging, digital video technologies, and wikis, in line with legal and policy requirements? 3. What recommendations for effective electronic records management across New Zealand government agencies can be made

Identity Management in Information Age Government: Exploring Concepts, Definitions, Approaches and Solutions

Our research question is the following: What could be a useful working definition of Identity Management in government at present? a) What are conceptualisations, definitions and approaches of IDM in government according to academic literature? b) Which e-authentication solutions have been developed in other jurisdictions

The Use of New Media by Political Parties in the 2008 National Election

The overall purpose of this research project has been to undertake an empirical, exploratory study into how political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs in and around the 2008 national election campaign, and their implications. The following research questions have been explored: How, in what form, and to what extent did political parties in New Zealand make use of ICTs during the 2008 national election? How can the use, and non-use, of ICTs be understood and explained? What are the implications of the uptake and use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for their external relationships with voters? What recommendations can be made regarding the use of ICTs by New Zealand political parties for election campaigning

Improving Information Sharing for Effective Social Outcomes

The research project focused on the following questions: To what extent and how is personal information of individuals with complex social needs collected, managed, and shared across government and other organisations? What are barriers and enablers to cross-government information sharing? What are existing strategies and arrangements for enabling cross-government information sharing in other jurisdictions? What can New Zealand learn from other jurisdictions in that respect? How, and under what conditions, can cross-government information sharing be improved in order to achieve more effective social outcomes

Transition 2.0: Digital technologies, higher education, and vision impairment

This article introduces Transition 2.0, a paradigm shift designed to study and support students with disabilities' transition to higher education. Transition 2.0 is the result of a qualitative study about how a group of young people with vision impairments used digital technologies for their transition to university. The findings draw from observations, a researcher diary, focus groups, individual interviews, and data from social media. The article discusses a conventional view of transition, referred to here as Transition 1.0, which has dominated disability-related research and service provision in higher education. It counters this view by further developing the conceptual framework for Transition 2.0. The findings expand current conceptual approaches to transition by incorporating in the analysis the role played by digital tools such as social media and mobile devices. They also provide a new lens through which to study and understand student engagement in higher education

Research Report ‘E-mail Records Management in 21st Century New Zealand Government’

Our research has focused on the following research questions: 1. How do individual employees across the New Zealand government identify and manage e-mail records of significant value and importance to their government agency? 2. To what extent are personal electronic record management practices of individual employees in line with legal requirements set out by the New Zealand Public Records Act (2005)? 3. What specifications for effective electronic record management across the New Zealand government can be identified? What recommendations to New Zealand government agencies can be made in this respect

Transition 2.0: Digital technologies, higher education, and vision impairment

This article introduces Transition 2.0, a paradigm shift designed to study and support students with disabilities' transition to higher education. Transition 2.0 is the result of a qualitative study about how a group of young people with vision impairments used digital technologies for their transition to university. The findings draw from observations, a researcher diary, focus groups, individual interviews, and data from social media. The article discusses a conventional view of transition, referred to here as Transition 1.0, which has dominated disability-related research and service provision in higher education. It counters this view by further developing the conceptual framework for Transition 2.0. The findings expand current conceptual approaches to transition by incorporating in the analysis the role played by digital tools such as social media and mobile devices. They also provide a new lens through which to study and understand student engagement in higher education

E-mail Recordkeeping Methods and Behaviours of New Zealand Central Government Employees

Government agencies are becoming increasingly dependent on e-mail systems as communication and information transfer tools. Many e-mail messages contain information vital to the business of government, and therefore organisations need to manage the messages in accordance with managerial, legal, and democratic requirements. On a daily basis, government employees send and receive numerous e-mails and, on behalf of their organisations, make decisions about how to manage them. Although the New Zealand Public Records Act (2005) provides guidelines for records management to New Zealand government agencies, the question is what methods and behaviours are individual employees using to manage business e-mails. So far, however, there is no empirical knowledge available on how individual employees in New Zealand central government agencies manage business e-mail messages. This paper presents the findings of a recently conducted online survey examining how individual employees of New Zealand central government departments identify and manage e-mails of significant value to the business of government. The results show that employees tend to recognise e-mail as a critical tool in the workplace; however, they also tend to make decisions on identifying and managing the messages on an individual basis, rather than in compliance with organisational requirements

Transition issues in higher education and digital technologies: the experiences of students with disabilities in New Zealand

Research on transition to higher education and young people with disabilities has increased in recent years. However, there is still limited understanding of transition issues and how digital technologies, such as social media and mobile devices, are used by this group of students to manage these issues. This article presents the findings of an empirical study that addressed this matter based on young people’s views and experiences. The qualitative study was conducted in the context of a group of students with vision impairments transitioning to a New Zealand university. The findings draw from observations, a researcher diary, focus groups, individual interviews, and data from social media. The study shows that, like their non-disabled peers, the students actively engaged with interactive and collaborative digital technologies to make sense, individually and collectively, of different transition issues before, during and after the first academic trimester of their university journey

ICT-enabled self-determination, disability and young people

Research and practice about self-determination in the context of disability has centred on teaching skills and providing support to help people with impairments to be independent. However, limited research exists about the impact of Information and Communication Technologies, in particular social media and mobile devices, on the development of self-determination skills among people with disabilities. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study which collected data from observations, a researcher diary, focus groups, individual interviews and data from social media. The focus of the study was on young people with vision impairments who were transitioning to university life. The study found that the participants developed self-determination skills by using and adapting collaborative and interactive online tools and mobile devices according to their transition needs. This finding expands the understanding of the implications of new technologies for young people with disabilities’ personal development and the enhancement of self-determination