Toward open research: A narrative review of the challenges and opportunities for open humanities

Open research represents a new set of principles and methodologies for greater cooperation, transparent sharing of findings, and access to and re-use of research data, materials or outputs, making knowledge more freely available to wider audiences for societal benefit. Yet, the future success of the international move toward open research will be dependent on key stakeholders addressing current barriers to increase uptake, effectiveness, and sustainability. This article builds on “An Agenda for Open Science in Communication,” raising dialog around the need for a broader view of open research as opposed to open science through a deeper understanding of specific challenges faced by the humanities. It reviews how the multifaceted nature of humanities research outputs make open communication formats more complex and costly. While new avenues are emerging to advance open research, there is a need for more collaborative, coordinated efforts to better connect humanities scholars with the communities they serve

Reaching perinatal women online: The healthy you, healthy baby website and app

Overwhelming evidence reveals the close link between unwarranted weight gain among childbearing women and childhood adiposity. Yet current barriers limit the capacity of perinatal health care providers (PHCPs) to offer healthy lifestyle counselling. In response, today\u27s Internet savvy women are turning to online resources to access health information, with the potential of revolutionising health services by enabling PHCPs to guide women to appropriate online resources. This paper presents the findings of a project designed to develop an online resource to promote healthy lifestyles during the perinatal period. The methodology involved focus groups and interviews with perinatal women and PHCPs to determine what online information was needed, in what form, and how best it should be presented. The outcome was the development of the Healthy You, Healthy Baby website and smartphone app. This clinically-endorsed, interactive online resource provides perinatal women with a personalised tool to track their weight, diet, physical activity, emotional wellbeing, and sleep patterns based on the developmental stage of their child with links to quality-assured information. One year since the launch of the online resource, data indicates it provides a low-cost intervention delivered across most geographic and socioeconomic strata without additional demands on health service staff

The digital environmental humanities (DEH) in the anthropocene: Challenges and opportunities in an era of ecological precarity

Researchers in the complementary fields of the digital humanities and the environmental humanities have begun to collaborate under the auspices of the digital environmental humanities (DEH). The overarching aim of this emerging field is to leverage digital technologies in understanding and addressing the urgencies of the Anthropocene. Emphasizing DEH’s focus on natural and cultural vitality, this article begins with a historical overview of the field. Crafting an account of the field’s emergence, we argue that the present momentum toward DEH exhibits four broad thematic strains including perennial eco-archiving; Anthropocene narratives of loss; citizen ecohumanities; and human-plant-environment relations. Within each of the four areas, the article identifies how DEH ideas have been implemented in significant projects that engage with, envision, re-imagine, and devise communities for environmental action and transformation. We conclude with suggestions for further bolstering DEH by democratizing environmental knowledge through open, community-engaged methods

Promoting healthy weight in the preschool years: a portfolio and planning guide to address barriers in primary care

The rapidly rising incidence of overweight and obesity in Australia, particularly among young children has led to an urgent need for effective prevention. Recent figures indicate that 15% of preschool children in Australia are overweight, and a further 6% are obese1,2, with rates rising steadily especially among children from lower socioeconomic groups. Family, childcare, primary health care, early childhood education and the community are influential environments for young children3-7 with the potential to engage in an integrated approach to promote healthy weight and development of healthy eating and active lifestyle habits during the pre-school years5,8,9. In 2006, the Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC) team conducted a major systematic review on the prevention of overweight and obesity among children aged 2-6 years, on behalf of the Australian Primary Health Care Institute (APHCRI), with funding from the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (DOHA)10

Online healthy lifestyle support in the perinatal period: What do women want and do they use it?

Unhealthy weight gain and retention during pregnancy and postpartum is detrimental to mother and child. Although various barriers limit the capacity for perinatal health care providers (PHCPs) to offer healthy lifestyle counselling, they could guide women to appropriate online resources. This paper presents a project designed to provide online information to promote healthy lifestyles in the perinatal period. Focus groups or interviews were held with 116 perinatal women and 76 PHCPs to determine what online information perinatal women and PHCPs want, in what form, and how best it should be presented. The results indicated that women wanted smartphone applications (apps) linked to trustworthy websites containing short answers to everyday concerns; information on local support services; and personalised tools to assess their nutrition, fitness and weight. Suggestions for improvement in these lifestyle areas should be practical and tailored to the developmental stage of their child. PHCPs wanted evidence-based, practical information, presented in a simple, engaging, interactive form. The outcome was a clinically endorsed website and app that health professionals could recommend. Preliminary evaluation showed that 10.5% of pregnant women in Western Australia signed up to the app. Use of the app appeared to be equitable across urban and rural areas of low to middle socioeconomic status

Engaging Primary Health Care Providers in the Promotion of Healthy Weight Among Young Children: Barriers and Enablers for Policy and Management

Recent national efforts to stem the alarming growth of childhood overweight and obesity in Australia have highlighted the importance of preventative strategies that focus beyond the child-on parents, families, primary health care providers (PHCPs) and child care services. But, while such efforts have to date focused on school-based interventions, once poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles have set in, a growing body of research is indicating that PHCPs can play a more influential role in monitoring and modifying factors affecting prevention and early intervention in preschool children. This paper presents the findings of a systematic review to: (a) identify key barriers to the effective engagement of PHCPs with parents and child care staff in the promotion of healthy weight among children aged 2-6 years, (b) appraise promising interventions for strengthening the capacity of PHCPs to effectively deal with these barriers, and (c) synthesise policy options to encourage and engage PHCPs. The study draws on the lessons of promising interventions to highlight the urgent need to address organisational, attitudinal, knowledge, skills and training barriers, to facilitate the engagement of PHCPs in different settings-based environments (clinical, child care, home and community)

Pastoral care in education

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. During the past decade, there has been growing recognition the school environment plays a major role in the social and emotional competence and wellbeing of children. As a consequence, increasing national and international commitment has been directed towards the development of Health Promoting Schools2, with efforts being made to assess how curriculum and pastoral practice can best contribute to students’ social, emotional, physical and moral wellbeing. Within Australia, the National Safe Schools Framework3 has set as a key priority the importance of achieving a shared vision of physical and emotional safety and wellbeing for all students in all Australian schools, as well as identifying guiding principles and standards that can inform practice and assist school communities to build safe and supportive environments. 2. Within this context, the present report investigates current empirical and theoretical literature describing pastoral care standards to inform the development of new guidelines for all Western Australian government schools. The first section of the report begins by reviewing definitions of the concept of pastoral care, and what it implies for the process of implementing successful strategies. The second section examines a number of best practice pastoral care standards developed nationally and internationally, and assesses their implications for Western Australian government schools. In doing this, the report analyses the impact of these policies on: developing supportive processes for children, teachers and schools; shaping teaching and learning; encouraging dialogue with the students; developing partnerships with other services within the community; shaping the school organisation, ethos, and environment; and developing tools for evaluating pastoral care standards. Finally, the last section draws on the findings of both the literature review, as well as an audit of Australian government and non-government education sector pastoral care policies and standards, to compile a series of recommendations to inform future practice of pastoral care standards in schools by the Western Australian Department of Education and Training. 3. In reviewing current literature, four factors continually emerge as core components in pastoral care, namely: the promotion of health and wellbeing, resilience, academic care, and social capital. While traditionally, definitions of pastoral care have been associated with the fostering of children’s moral welfare and values of mutual respect through extra-curricular activities, today the health and wellbeing of students is increasingly being attributed to school conditions, school relationships, means of fulfilment, and health status4. Subsequently, pastoral care has taken on a more inclusive function, being seen as inextricably linked with academic curriculum and the structural organisation of the school, thereby promoting: “pupils’ personal and social development and fostering positive attitudes: through the quality of teaching and learning; through the nature of relationships amongst pupils, teachers and adults other than teachers; through arrangements for monitoring pupils’ overall progress, academic, personal and social; through specific pastoral and support systems; and through extra-curricular activities and the school ethos”. From this perspective, pastoral care can assist adolescents to develop positive self-esteem, healthy risk taking, goal setting and negotiation, enhancing protective factors contributing to their resiliency as well as developing a sense of social cohesion that together can improve their overall health and wellbeing. 4. In section two of the report, an overview of best practice models of pastoral care in Australia (the Gatehouse Project, the K-10 Framework, the New Basics Project, MindMatters, the Community Care Project, and the Catholic Sector model), Great Britain, Canada and the United States, draws attention to core principles and standards which form the basis upon which to develop appropriate approaches to improving student health and wellbeing. Notably, past experience points to the need for comprehensive, multi-level interventions which incorporate whole school approaches, group targeted approaches, individual target programs, and casework, focusing on: - Primary prevention - to promote health and wellbeing and build a sense of belonging; - Early Intervention - to strengthen coping and reduce risk; - Intervention - to build networks to access support and treatment; and - Postvention - to restore positive relationships. 5. Nevertheless, an audit of the use of pastoral care policy by different school sectors across Australia indicated that only 4 out of 29 sectors reporting having a pastoral care policy for their schools. Moreover, while sectors recognised the strengths of pastoral care policy, key perceived weaknesses included their fundamental complexity and the burden of overload in meeting these obligations, as well as the lack of professional education and guidance for teachers and parents, student staff relations, and how policy may be operationalised by schools at the local level. Thus much remains to be done with regard to developing and implementing effective regional/national standards for effective practice, and any real change will require long-term commitment from both the government and schools

Review of existing Australian and international cyber-safety research

Information and communication technologies have permeated almost all areas of society and become an important component of daily functioning for most Australians. This is particularly true for Internet and mobile phone technology. The majority of Australian households (67% in 2007 – 2008) have access to the Internet and over 11 million Australians use the Internet as an integral part of their personal, social and occupational activities. By mid-2008, there were over 22 million active mobile phones being used in Australia, which equates to more than one phone for every citizen. There are many benefits associated with Internet and mobile phone use; however, there are also risks, particularly with the Internet. In fact, there is almost daily media discussion of these risks and dangers. However, to ensure that the information contained in this review was as accurate as possible, we primarily sourced quality research literature published in scientific journals both in Australia and overseas. In addition, quality material not published in scientific journals was consulted and included where appropriate, thus ensuring that this review was based on reliable research studies containing the most current and accurate research evidence available. From the outset, it is important to note that there are several methodological and ethical issues in relation associated with the measurement and examination of many cyber-safety risks. The nature of this type of research makes it very difficult to address certain risk areas, in particular those that relate to children (e.g., online grooming)

How “open” are Australian museums? a review through the lens of copyright governance

Museums are increasingly employing innovative digital techniques to curate, link, and market collections, enabling new kinds of public engagement to better connect with popular culture. By embracing contemporary modes of delivery to open access to their collections, museums are signalling a drive toward greater democratisation of knowledge and information through increased interaction and accessibility. Yet with this has come a series of copyright and legal complexities. This paper reviews current copyright barriers for museums in Australia and examines how international examples offer potential models and ways forward. The authors conclude that recent copyright modernisation reviews offer the museum sector an opportunity to restructure its strategies. As online formats evolve, there is an urgent need to explore how amendments to copyright laws in some countries have allowed for more fair and flexible use of cultural artefacts and orphan works