Social Informatics Research Group
Ongoing Research Projects
Calculating staff: understanding expectations and perceptions of academic work
Professor Caroline Chan (external), Dr Darryl Coulthard and Professor Brian Corbitt (external)
In recent years there has been a much needed focus on academic output: increasing teaching quality, student satisfaction and engagement and also increasing focus on increasing research quality and output . Implicit is the assumption that the production frontier - the productivity of academics - had not been optimised and that continuous improvement and productivity can be found.
This study is a pilot for a larger study of workloads and management in the university, which attempts to provide practical policy advice for the improvement and utility of workload measures and provide needed information on the ability of academics to increase and change their workload and where academics find difficult or conflicting work demands. The aim of this pilot study is to begin to examine the underpinning assumptions of continuous improvement, managerialism and validity of measurement from the perspective of academic.
Emergent Web 2.0 stakeholder communication strategies by businesses
Funding: $6,394
Dr Craig Parker, Dr Dilal Saundage and Chia Yao Lee
This project explores emergent Web 2.0 communication strategies which Australian small through to large businesses are using with stakeholders and whether the strategies are different depending on the type of Web 2.0 application. This qualitative, explore research involves content analysis of the publicly available Web 2.0 content of business websites or associated third party services (e.g. Facebook). A secondary outcome of this project will be to explore the Web 2.0 strategies which are being used for environmental and social responsibility related communications among businesses and their stakeholders.
Publications:
- Lee, C.Y., Saundage, D. and Parker, C.M. (2010) Helping businesses leverage Web 2.0 to generate social capital, 21st Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Brisbane, 1-3 December.
- Chua, A., Deans, K.R. and Parker, C.M. (2009) Exploring the types of SMEs which could use blogs as a marketing tool: a proposed future research agenda, Australasian Journal of Information Systems 16(1): 117-136.
The development of a social ecology model of technology cooption
Dr Darryl Coulthard and Dr Susan Keller
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/AIMS
Publications:
- Coulthard, D. and Keller, S. (2010) A social ecological model of ICT cooption: surveillance creep in the information age, 21st Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Brisbane, 1-3 December.
Changes to IS publications as a result of ERA and neo-liberalism
Dr Darryl Coulthard and Dr Susan Keller
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/AIMS
Online communication of environmental and social responsibility by SMEs
Dr Craig Parker, Bardo Fraunholz, Dr Ambika Zutshi and Merete Crofts
This project explores how Australian SMEs communicate their environmental and social responsibility activities and values via their websites. This qualitative, exploratory research involves content analysis of SME websites from a range of industry sectors. Future research will involve surveys and interviews with SME owner-managers to explore their rationale for website communication decisions.
Publications:
- Parker, C.M., Fraunholz, B., Zutshi, A. and Crofts, M. (2010) How do Australian small and medium enterprises communicate their environmental improvement activities online?, Australasian Journal of Information Systems 17(1): 5-21.
- Parker, C.M., Zutshi, A. and Fraunholz, B. (2010) Online corporate social responsibility communication by Australian SMEs: a framework for website analysis, 23rd Bled eConference, Bled, Slovenia, 20-23 June, pp. 509-523.
- Parker, C.M., Zutshi, A. and Fraunholz, B. (2010) How Australian small businesses are using their websites to communicate CSR initiatives, 2010 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 6-10 August.
- Parker, C.M., Fraunholz, B. and Zutshi, A. (2009) How do Australian small and medium enterprises communicate their corporate social responsibility activities online?, 23rd Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 1-4 December.
Practical strategies and approaches to engage SMEs in environmental improvement
Dr Craig Parker, Dr Janice Redmond (external), Dr Mike Simpson (external)
This project explores the (negative) impact which SMEs have on the environment and the interventions which can be used by all levels of governments and other stakeholders to engage SMEs in environmental improvement.
Publications:
- Parker, C.M., Redmond, J. and Simpson, M. (2009) A review of interventions to encourage SMEs to make environmental improvements, Environment & Planning C: Government & Policy 27(2): 279-301.
- Carr, R., Graham, M., Mason, C. and Parker, C.M. (2009) Encouraging SMEs to participate in the management of common pool resources, 23rd Annual Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, Melbourne, Australia 1-4 December.
- Redmond, J., Walker, B., Wang, C., Simpson, M. and Parker, C.M. (2008) The impact of small business on the environment, 31st Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference, Belfast, Ireland, 5-7 November.
- Parker, C.M., Redmond, J. and Simpson, M. (2008) Intervention strategies to engage small and medium sized enterprises in environmental good practice, 2nd SME - Entrepreneurship Global Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 3-4 July.
Examining the adoption of 3D virtual worlds for teaching and learning in higher education in Australia
Chia Yao Lee and Professor Caroline Chan (external)
3D Virtual Worlds refer to computer-generated synthetic reality environments, commonly known as Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs), that enable multiple users to communicate and interact with each other, as well as with various elements of the environment. 3D Virtual Worlds also enable educators and students to play an active role in designing and managing the virtual environment to suit teaching and learning requirements. Several education initiatives involving 3D Virtual Worlds have been hailed as major breakthroughs in teaching and learning but were not subjected to rigorous assessment of their suitability and effectiveness.
The study seeks to better understand how higher education institutions in Australia utilise 3D Virtual Worlds like Open Sim and Second Life to support and enhance teaching and learning activities. In seeking to gain a deeper insight into how educators gain value from 3D Virtual Worlds, the study examines the current use of 3D Virtual World-enabled teaching and learning activities. The study also seeks to investigate key challenges faced by educators in adopting the new platform, and how they have addressed the challenges.
A case study of trust in Iran and its effects on B2B trading
Dr Darryl Coulthard
Student Researcher: Arezou Pour Mirza (PhD candidate)
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/AIMS
Facebook — community concerns regarding its use by juveniles
Dr Darryl Coulthard
Student Researcher: ????
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/AIMS
Adopting eEducation in Victorian schools: a case study
Dr Darryl Coulthard
Student Researcher: ????
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/AIMS
The impact of benchmarking on management and governance within Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics in New Zealand
Dr Darryl Coulthard
Student Researcher: ????
PROJECT DESCRIPTION/AIMS
Understanding the sources of business value of B2B electronic markets
Chia Yao Lee
The project introduces a conceptual framework for understanding the key sources of business value from B2B Electronic Markets. Aggregation, Matching and Integration were used as the 3 key sources of business value. Based on detailed case studies of 6 organizations in the Asia Pacific region, the study gained significant insight into organisational adoption of various Electronic Market business models. In recent years, some B2B Electronic Markets have performed poorly, and yet others have excelled and delivered substantial benefits to organizations. This study investigates the possible factors underlying successful/unsuccessful of B2B Electronic Markets adoption. It also helps formulate strategies for implementing business process suited for Electronic Market and E-Business models. The study contributes to research and practice in B2B Electronic Markets, E-Business and Supply Chain Management by emphasizing current issues in organisational change and business process redesign.
