The role of the internet in building social capital amongst homosexually active men: virtual communities in HIV prevention. Social capital comprises features of social organisation such as civic participation, norms of reciprocity and trust in others that facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit, including health and wellbeing. The proposed research focuses on the role of the internet in producing the networks that engender social inclusion and community connectedness. There is scepticism about ....The role of the internet in building social capital amongst homosexually active men: virtual communities in HIV prevention. Social capital comprises features of social organisation such as civic participation, norms of reciprocity and trust in others that facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit, including health and wellbeing. The proposed research focuses on the role of the internet in producing the networks that engender social inclusion and community connectedness. There is scepticism about whether the 'virtual community' of the Internet can build social capital. The study will explore the potential benefits as well as harms to those homosexually active men who use the internet to access health information, meet sexual partners and build friendships that affirm gay identity and community inclusion.Read moreRead less
Chaos, Information Technology, Global Administration and Daily Life. The project draws attention to unforseen effects arising from IT, and suggests ways of incorporating these effects into the system, rather than ignoring them or applying more of the same disordering order. Disorder cannot always be cured by better or stricter management, as disorder is intertwined together with modes of ordering and their interaction with natural or social orders.
The project gives a framework to help org ....Chaos, Information Technology, Global Administration and Daily Life. The project draws attention to unforseen effects arising from IT, and suggests ways of incorporating these effects into the system, rather than ignoring them or applying more of the same disordering order. Disorder cannot always be cured by better or stricter management, as disorder is intertwined together with modes of ordering and their interaction with natural or social orders.
The project gives a framework to help organisations implement IT systems to allow people to participate productively in government, administration or the workplace without resenting computer systems or feeling ignored or sidetracked. Changing the ways we look at order and chaos will help Australian leaders deal with a chaotically appearing world situation.Read moreRead less
Civilizing Divorce: Social Change, Law and the Transformation of Parenthood. The project will leave policy-makers, professionals, law reformers, and parents and their children themselves, better equipped to navigate their way through a major process of transformation in the way our intimate lives are structured. It will help take some of the 'heat' out of the child custody debate, to see current changes as an integral part of a broader process of change in our emotional relationships, and to br ....Civilizing Divorce: Social Change, Law and the Transformation of Parenthood. The project will leave policy-makers, professionals, law reformers, and parents and their children themselves, better equipped to navigate their way through a major process of transformation in the way our intimate lives are structured. It will help take some of the 'heat' out of the child custody debate, to see current changes as an integral part of a broader process of change in our emotional relationships, and to broaden the conceptual resources available to policy-making and law reform concerning post-separation child custody.Read moreRead less
Contact zones: activism, art and media in Italy, 1994-2006. This project will generate knowledge about recent activism, social change and contemporary art practices in Italy; it will add to Australia's international reputation as a centre of research on contemporary Italy; it will assist in facilitating cultural relations between Australia and Italy as already established in cultural and scientific bilateral agreements.
New media, new narratives: Beyond broadcasting. This project investigates the cultural and social implications of the tension between new and traditional media, in a collaborative project with ABC News. It uses a new model of training journalism cadets- often the groundbreakers for the organisational cultural change needed in a world of convergent media-and demonstrates how media organisations can innovate in what they produce, how they produce it, and in their audience relations.The project wi ....New media, new narratives: Beyond broadcasting. This project investigates the cultural and social implications of the tension between new and traditional media, in a collaborative project with ABC News. It uses a new model of training journalism cadets- often the groundbreakers for the organisational cultural change needed in a world of convergent media-and demonstrates how media organisations can innovate in what they produce, how they produce it, and in their audience relations.The project will also demonstrate the important role of public broadcasting in new media innovation and in building new relationships with audiences.Read moreRead less
Developing a Community Partnership for supporting Aboriginal and remote students in nursing through distance education. Remote and Aboriginal students are culturally isolated in the distance education (DE) environment. With the critical need to increase numbers of registered nurses in isolated communities, Area Health and Aboriginal Health are collaborating with CSU to identify problems faced by nursing students under DE conditions. The study will use a critical theoretical approach to identifyi ....Developing a Community Partnership for supporting Aboriginal and remote students in nursing through distance education. Remote and Aboriginal students are culturally isolated in the distance education (DE) environment. With the critical need to increase numbers of registered nurses in isolated communities, Area Health and Aboriginal Health are collaborating with CSU to identify problems faced by nursing students under DE conditions. The study will use a critical theoretical approach to identifying resource (including social capital) deficits to this group. It will develop and evaluate a partnership model involving health services, university and local community. This partnership will construct a network of support to systematically address these deficits. This model would be transferable to all remote learning.Read moreRead less
The Cultivation of Middle-Class Taste: Reading, Tourism and Education Choices in Urban China. In urban China, high-income professionals and consumers have enormous influence on the development of élite education, travel, and cultural pursuits, but also on the stability of the Party-State. Their choices will materially affect Australian economic strategy, and will impact the socio-political character of the entire region. This project works to support Australian understanding of the tastes, aspir ....The Cultivation of Middle-Class Taste: Reading, Tourism and Education Choices in Urban China. In urban China, high-income professionals and consumers have enormous influence on the development of élite education, travel, and cultural pursuits, but also on the stability of the Party-State. Their choices will materially affect Australian economic strategy, and will impact the socio-political character of the entire region. This project works to support Australian understanding of the tastes, aspirations and national priorities of this new formation: the Chinese middle class. The approach and outcomes of the research will enhance Australia's global position in innovative, relevant Asian scholarship, support good economic strategy, and provide an accurate socio-cultural lens through which to engage with Chinese and regional futures.Read moreRead less
Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of t ....Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of the postmodern self and their political effects. With a particular interest in emotional life, this study will provide critical information on how individuals and communities can manage creatively the uncertain conditions of postmodernity.Read moreRead less
Community Foundations of Resilience of Young People. Understanding and promoting resilience in young people is one of the most important health priorities of the Federal Government. The proposed project advances resilience research in a new direction. It is highly innovative in bringing together a research team from disciplines and professional knowledge domains that generally do not inform each other, to fill the conceptual gap in current knowledge around care, control and social resilience usi ....Community Foundations of Resilience of Young People. Understanding and promoting resilience in young people is one of the most important health priorities of the Federal Government. The proposed project advances resilience research in a new direction. It is highly innovative in bringing together a research team from disciplines and professional knowledge domains that generally do not inform each other, to fill the conceptual gap in current knowledge around care, control and social resilience using an applied community development project and a methodology of engagement with young people, to bring about social change.Read moreRead less
Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circle ....Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circles. The project has the capacity to provide insights into and benefits for policy discourse on government deficit-spending and public debt.Read moreRead less