JS/DH: An Introduction to Jewish Studies/ Digital Humanities Resources

Introduction to a new column in "Judaica Librarianship" which will focus on reviewing digital humanities projects in Jewish Studies

Building the Foundations of Scholarship at Home: Salo Baron and the Judaica Collections at Columbia University Libraries

Salo Baron’s impact on Judaic scholarship in the 20th century is hardly unknown. Moreover, his leadership of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Project solidly places him in the annals of the history of bibliography as well. Less well-known, however, is the outsized impact Baron had on the collections at his home institution. In this chapter, I will discuss how Salo Baron’s connections and advocacy for the Judaica collections at Columbia University ensured its place as a top primary source collection of Judaica in the United States

JS/DH: Primary Sources and Open Data

Column on digital humanities and Jewish Studies, focusing on open data in digitized material

Addressing alcohol and tobacco harms in remote Indigenous communities and rapid responses to mental health crises in regional centres

Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) were initially designed as part of a wide range of innovative and significant Queensland Government reforms. As well as supply control, these promised to reduce alcohol and substance misuse and violence through demand reduction by addressing key social determinants: economic development; education and training, land and sustainable natural resource management, housing, and health 3, 4. The limited available evidence in the peer-reviewed published literature points to some favourable impacts of restrictions 5, 6, including a reduction in indicators of serious injury in some communities to historically low levels 7. These favourable findings were reflected in an internal Queensland Government review 4. However, the evidence that these initial positive effects were experienced in all communities, or that they have been sustained, particularly after the most recent round of restrictions in 2008, has become equivocal 8. This paper was the first in a unique evaluation research program designed to examine the health and social effects of Queensland�s AMPs 1, 9. It investigates issues surrounding implementation of the designed AMP intervention components, specifically their perceived impacts on alcohol supply and consumption, violence, injury and community health and well-being. Perceptions and experiences are reported of the community leaders, service providers and relevant organisations with a mandate or responsibility for alcohol-related matters in the affected AMP communities and nearby towns.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy

Jewish Studies in the Digital Age: Introduction

Introduction to the (open access) book Jewish Studies in the Digital Age (De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022). Abstract: As in all fields and disciplines of the humanities, Jewish Studies scholars find themselves confronted with the rapidly increasing availability of digital resources (data), new technologies to interrogate and analyze them (tools), and the question of how to critically engage with these developments. This volume discusses how the digital turn has affected the field of Jewish Studies. It explores the current state of the art and probes how digital developments can be harnessed to address the specific questions, challenges and problems that Jewish Studies scholars confront. In a field characterised by dispersed sources, and heterogeneous scripts and languages that speak to a multitude of cultures and histories, of abundance as well as loss, what is the promise of Digital Humanities methods--and what are the challenges and pitfalls? The articles in this volume were originally presented at the international conference #DHJewish - Jewish Studies in the Digital Age, which was organised at the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at University of Luxembourg in January 2021. The first big international conference of its kind, it brought together more than sixty scholars and heritage practitioners to discuss how the digital turn affects the field of Jewish Studies

Study Protocol - Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) in remote indigenous communities in Queensland: their impacts on injury, violence, health and social indicators and their cost-effectiveness

BACKGROUND: In 2002/03 the Queensland Government responded to high rates of alcohol-related harm in discrete Indigenous communities by implementing alcohol management plans (AMPs), designed to include supply and harm reduction and treatment measures. Tighter alcohol supply and carriage restrictions followed in 2008 following indications of reductions in violence and injury. Despite the plans being in place for over a decade, no comprehensive independent review has assessed to what level the designed aims were achieved and what effect the plans have had on Indigenous community residents and service providers. This study will describe the long-term impacts on important health, economic and social outcomes of Queensland’s AMPs. METHODS/DESIGN: The project has two main studies, 1) outcome evaluation using de-identified epidemiological data on injury, violence and other health and social indicators for across Queensland, including de-identified databases compiled from relevant routinely-available administrative data sets, and 2) a process evaluation to map the nature, timing and content of intervention components targeting alcohol. Process evaluation will also be used to assess the fidelity with which the designed intervention components have been implemented, their uptake and community responses to them and their perceived impacts on alcohol supply and consumption, injury, violence and community health. Interviews and focus groups with Indigenous residents and service providers will be used. The study will be conducted in all 24 of Queensland’s Indigenous communities affected by alcohol management plans. DISCUSSION: This evaluation will report on the impacts of the original aims for AMPs, what impact they have had on Indigenous residents and service providers. A central outcome will be the establishment of relevant databases describing the parameters of the changes seen. This will permit comprehensive and rigorous surveillance systems to be put in place and provided to communities empowering them with the best credible evidence to judge future policy and program requirements for themselves. The project will inform impending alcohol policy and program adjustments in Queensland and other Australian jurisdictions.The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC, Project Grant #APP1042532), with additional support from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute-funded Centre for Research Excellence for the Prevention of Chronic Conditions in Rural and Remote High Risk Populations at James Cook University & University Adelaide. Dr Caryn West is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Early Career Research Post – Doctoral Fellow (NHMRC ECR, #APP1070931).Associate Professor Clough holds a NHMRC Career Development Award (#APP1046773)

Alcohol management plans in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australian communities in Queensland: community residents have experienced favourable impacts but also suffered unfavourable ones

Background: In Australia, 'Alcohol Management Plans' (AMPs) provide the policy infrastructure for State and Commonwealth Governments to address problematic alcohol use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. We report community residents' experiences of AMPs in 10 of Queensland's 15 remote Indigenous communities.\ud \ud Methods: This cross-sectional study used a two-stage sampling strategy: N = 1211; 588 (48%) males, 623 (52%) females aged ≥18 years in 10 communities. Seven propositions about 'favourable' impacts and seven about 'unfavourable' impacts were developed from semi-structured interviews. For each proposition, one-sample tests of proportions examined participant agreement and multivariable binary logistic regressions assessed influences of gender, age (18–24, 25–44, 45–64, ≥65 years), residence (≥6 years), current drinking and Indigenous status. Confirmatory factor analyses estimated scale reliability (ρ), item loadings and covariances.\ud \ud Results: Slim majorities agreed that: AMPs reduced violence (53%, p = 0.024); community a better place to live (54%, 0.012); and children were safer (56%, p < 0.001). More agreed that: school attendance improved (66%, p < 0.001); and awareness of alcohol's harms increased (71%, p < 0.001). Participants were equivocal about improved personal safety (53%, p = 0.097) and reduced violence against women (49%, p = 0.362). The seven 'favourable' items reliably summarized participants' experiences of reduced violence and improved community amenity (ρ = 0.90).\ud \ud Stronger agreement was found for six 'unfavourable' items: alcohol availability not reduced (58%, p < 0.001); drinking not reduced (56%, p < 0.001)); cannabis use increased (69%, p < 0.001); more binge drinking (73%, p < 0.001); discrimination experienced (77%, p < 0.001); increased fines, convictions and criminal records for breaching restrictions (90%, p < 0.001). Participants were equivocal (51% agreed, p = 0.365) that police could enforce restrictions effectively. 'Unfavourable' items were not reliably reflected in one group (ρ = 0.48) but in: i) alcohol availability and consumption not reduced and ii) criminalization and discrimination.\ud \ud In logistic regressions, longer-term (≥ 6 years) residents more likely agreed that violence against women had reduced and that personal safety had improved but also that criminalization and binge drinking had increased. Younger people disagreed that their community was a better place to live and strongly agreed about discrimination. Current drinkers' views differed little from the sample overall.\ud \ud Conclusions: The present Government review provides an opportunity to reinforce 'favourable' outcomes while targeting: illicit alcohol, treatment and diversion services and reconciliation of criminalization and discrimination issues.\ud \u

Care-Related Risk Factors for Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers in Elderly Adults with Hip Fracture

To identify care-related factors associated with increased incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU

Alcohol management plans in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australian communities in Queensland: Community residents have experienced favourable impacts but also suffered unfavourable ones

Background: In Australia, ‘Alcohol Management Plans’ (AMPs) provide the policy infrastructure for State and Commonwealth Governments to address problematic alcohol use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. We report community residents’ experiences of AMPs in 10 of Queensland’s 15 remote Indigenous communities. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a two-stage sampling strategy: N = 1211; 588 (48%) males, 623 (52%) females aged ≥18 years in 10 communities. Seven propositions about ‘favourable’ impacts and seven about ‘unfavourable’ impacts were developed from semi-structured interviews. For each proposition, one-sample tests of proportions examined participant agreement and multivariable binary logistic regressions assessed influences of gender, age (18–24, 25–44, 45–64, ≥65 years), residence (≥6 years), current drinking and Indigenous status. Confirmatory factor analyses estimated scale reliability (ρ), item loadings and covariances. Results: Slim majorities agreed that: AMPs reduced violence (53%, p = 0.024); community a better place to live (54%, 0.012); and children were safer (56%, p < 0.001). More agreed that: school attendance improved (66%, p < 0. 001); and awareness of alcohol’s harms increased (71%, p < 0.001). Participants were equivocal about improved personal safety (53%, p = 0.097) and reduced violence against women (49%, p = 0.362). The seven ‘favourable’ items reliably summarized participants’ experiences of reduced violence and improved community amenity (ρ = 0.90). Stronger agreement was found for six ‘unfavourable’ items: alcohol availability not reduced (58%, p < 0.001); drinking not reduced (56%, p < 0.001)); cannabis use increased (69%, p < 0.001); more binge drinking (73%, p < 0.001); discrimination experienced (77%, p < 0.001); increased fines, convictions and criminal records for breaching restrictions (90%, p < 0.001). Participants were equivocal (51% agreed, p = 0.365) that police could enforce restrictions effectively. ‘Unfavourable’ items were not reliably reflected in one group (ρ = 0.48) but in: i) alcohol availability and consumption not reduced and ii) criminalization and discrimination. In logistic regressions, longer-term (≥ 6 years) residents more likely agreed that violence against women had reduced and that personal safety had improved but also that criminalization and binge drinking had increased. Younger people disagreed that their community was a better place to live and strongly agreed about discrimination. Current drinkers’ views differed little from the sample overall. Conclusions: The present Government review provides an opportunity to reinforce ‘favourable’ outcomes while targeting: illicit alcohol, treatment and diversion services and reconciliation of criminalization and discrimination issues. Keywords: Alcohol, Indigenous, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Australian, Legal intervention, EvaluationThe study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC, Project Grant #APP1042532) with additional support from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute-funded Centre for Research Excellence for the Prevention of Chronic Conditions in Rural and Remote High Risk Populations at James Cook University & University Adelaide. Associate Professor Caryn West is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Early Career Research Fellow (#APP1070931). Professor Clough holds a NHMRC Career Development Award (#APP1046773)