The page in print: designing better documents with desktop publishing: second edition

The ready availability and sheer power of desktop publishing has forced many users and producers of documents to look beyond the mere presentation of words on a page. Even the most rudimentary of word processors gives the user the power to produce professional documents that command the reader\u27s attention. This book was originally published in 1994 in response to the growing demand for guidance in producing documents in the face of an abundance of choice. This new edition has included extra material on electronic publishing, including a chapter on designing electronic documents for applications such as the World Wide Web. The book has been produced to offer an easy and painless introduction to desktop publishing and its principles, regardless of the medium. The Page in Print: Designing Better Documents with Desktop Publishing is supported by the smaller reference book A Thumbnail Guide to Desktop Publishing which provides a ready reference guide to terminology and concepts central to document production. Although designed to work together, both books can be used independently as a standalone resource. The package has been produced for anyone who regularly works with words and images on a page or screen: business people, students, lecturers, teachers, and writers

On-line training for SMEs: final report

This research aimed to explore the appropriateness of on-line training delivery methods for small business owner/managers. It is widely recognised that training and education are effective ways to reduce small business failure. In Australia, small business accounts for 96 percent of Australian private sector, non-agricultural businesses and they employ 47 percent of the private sector, non-agricultural workforce. Not surprisingly then, encouraging the development of the skills of the workforce has emerged as a major priority for government policy. However, what is also recognised is that many small business owner/managers (SBOs) have limited e-competencies. Results of this research confirmed this and also demonstrated that SBOs have a poor understanding of the concept of on-line training. It would appear, therefore, that many SBOs first need to acquire the technical skills to enable them to undertake on-line training and they also need a better understanding of what is possible through this method of training delivery

Working for excellence in the e-conomy: 2nd international We-B conference

Welcome to Perth, Western Australia, and to the 2nd International We-B Conference 2001 working for excellence in the e-conomy hosted by the We-B Centre, School of Management Information Systems at Edith Cowan University. This is an international conference for academics and industry specialists in e-business, e-government and related fields. The conference has drawn participants from national and international organisations. All submitted papers were subjected to an anonymous peer review process managed by the Conference Committee

Intranet Usability and Design

Over the last few years, companies have scrambled to get their commercial websites up and running, but have seen the intranet as being a space where they can put information, without worrying about making it user friendly or even useful. This paper describes a piece of introductory research which set out to discover how much emphasis a small, a medium and a large organisation were placing on their Intranet. The resultant interviews highlight some of the issues that can then be used to provide a set of guidelines for best practice in Intranet design

Developing a positive experience of introductory information systems for women at two Australasian universities

This paper examines how academics can contribute to encouraging greater uptake of IS majors by women. Using a qualitative reflective approach we identify the perceptions and experiences of female undergraduates taking introductory IS courses in two universities, one in Australia and one in New Zealand, and discuss ways in which to improve their learning experience. We examine ways to improve the delivery of introductory IS courses in order to make information systems more relevant and less dreary to women undergraduates. The paper concludes with some recommendations for marketing courses and areas of further research

University of Melbourne.

Institutional, national and global pressures demand that universities address issues of quality in teaching and learning. The maintenance of existing courses and the imperative to offer new courses online necessitates the development of measures and guidelines that can inform instructional designers and academics. A number of quality guidelines have been produced that reflect different contexts and purposes. Some focus on school learning, some on pedagogy alone and some that reflect the designs of particular courseware management software. This paper sets out to describe a workable set of guidelines for academic and support staff in the development and benchmarking of online course quality across the institution that emphasised current approaches to teaching and learning in higher education supported by appropriate content and delivery strategies