The open government partnership: what are the challenges and opportunities for New Zealand?

In November 2013 New Zealand signed up to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which was established in 2011 and comprises 63 nations. The OGP operates as a partnership on two levels: nationally, as a partnership between governments and civil society organisations to effect reforms in various areas; and internationally between nations sharing ideas and good practice and collaborating in areas of transparency, integrity and public safety.&nbsp

Contemporary Christian radio in Britain: A new genre on the national dial

Only in the second decade of the twenty-first century has contemporary Christian radio appeared as a new genre in Britain, unlike the United States where it has long been a significant format. Responsibility for religious broadcasting in the United Kingdom was, for most of the twentieth century, fulfilled by the BBC. However, the gradual relaxation of broadcasting regulations since the 1980s and the introduction of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) have provided openings for Christian radio stations, and since 2009 the United Kingdom has had two national stations broadcasting from mainland studios for the first time. This article explores recent developments in this genre, using primary research interviews with Christian radio broadcasters. It suggests that what started out as a way for Christians to evangelize and proselytize their message has become a radio service that broadcasts almost exclusively to converted believers. It also observes that the programming and scheduling of these stations closely resembles the speech-and-music-mix style of BBC Local Radio, implying an attempt to insert themselves directly into the mainstream of the radio spectrum

Integrating groupware technology into the learning environment

This paper presents the hard lessons learned from the introduction of groupware technology within a final‐year software engineering module. The module began in 1997 and is now in its fourth year. The paper provides a detailed account of our successes and failures in each year, and describes what the authors now feel is a successful model for integrating groupware into the learning environment. The paper is important because it provides a longitudinal study of the use of groupware within a learning environment and an insight into the key success factors associated with the use of groupware. Success factors relate not only to the technology but also to social factors such as group facilitation and social protocols, to factors associated with monitoring and assessment, and to factors related to the skills development associated with being a member of a global team