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UncategorisedImplementing a Rational E-Health System in Australia
alison gordon | September 25, 2007On September 19 2007 a strategic workshop discussing the challenge of implementing a rational e-health system in Australia was held in Parliament House, Canberra. Convened by Global Access Partners, it featured a paper commissioned by the Australian Centre for Health Research and written by Professor Michael Georgeff, Director of E-health Research, Monash University.
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UncategorisedGlobally (dis)connected
tamaraplakalo | September 24, 2007Digital divide is only one problem we’re facing in realising the promises of a unified, Internet-enabled virtual future …
SARAJEVO – I had an interesting conversation with my boss the other day. As I am currently stationed in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a place where democratisation and transition experiments are mixing with the post-war recovery, he wanted to know if there are any interesting Internet-related projects happening here. He assumed that here, like everywhere else on the planet, social and economic activities are gravitating towards the virtual space.
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Uncategorised
Facilitating consultative democracy
tamaraplakalo | September 11, 2007Political needs of a system (or a time), often determine what democratic political participation actually means.
Democratisation is a term that is most often used to describe the process of increased political participation. In the past, political participation was described as voting, joining a political party, or in the case of some experimental social engineering projects of the 20th century, such as Yugoslavia's socialist self-management, as creating consultative bodies at all levels of social, economic and political activity, regardless of their success. In its less democratic forms, political participation has historically been facilitiated through rallies, rioting, lobbying, formation of nationalist movements, paramilitary or other pressure groups, in other words, by any means serving the human need to exercise political will.
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Uncategorised
Valuing Spatial Data
Nick Sharp | September 11, 2007There's lots of information and policy advice on spatial data pricing but not much about establishing the value of spatial data be it physical $ costs such as collection, storage etc or intrinsic as in the more it is used the more value it has. We know there is large $ investment in spatial data […]
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UncategorisedAnd the Heart of Sarajevo goes to … film
tamaraplakalo | September 2, 2007The rising star on the European film festival circuit, Sarajevo Film Festival remains more of an experience than a film marathon.
There is something to be said for the festivals of art and culture in the “countries in transition”, as they are fashionably referred to in global political circles. Last week, Steve Buscemi, in attendance at the Sarajevo Film Festival, which successfully wrapped up for the 13th time a few days ago in the Bosnian capital; semi-jokingly observed that his latest feature, Interview, was seen by more people in its one Open Air cinema projection in Sarajevo, than during its entire US cinema release season.
The first Sarajevo Film Festival was held in the basement of the Bosnian Academy of Performing Arts during the worst year of Sarajevo’s 1990s siege, in 1994. Fitting the surreal concept of a film festival in a war zone, it opened with Quentin Tarrantino’s Pulp Fiction.
At the time, a foreign journalist asked a respected local theatre director: “Why a festival during the war?”. The director responded, “Why a war during the festival?”. For those of you wrapped in the reality of mortgage repayments, APEC city shut-downs, Joey’s ecstasy taking, terrorism and economic performance, it may seem like a strange conversation. But the poignancy of it really hits home for anyone who has ever posed an existential question or two.
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UncategorisedOpen spaces or open slather?
MalevolentMiss | August 19, 2007Sydney open spaces need better management, so what are the councils doing?
The brouhaha over the lack of open space in Sydney continues across a number of local government areas (LGAs). The city has lost considerable amounts of open space over the past 25 years. More and more people are being crammed into less space as councils cave in to the developers. Sporting groups call for more facilities while those who prefer to engage in passive recreation lament that they are being deprived of access and dog owners think of themselves as marginalised.
What is being done on an across-Sydney basis to solve the issue of our shrinking open space? How should the matter of who gets to use Sydney's open spaces and for what purpose be resolved? Do we need a comprehensive plan (and agency) to manage resources across council boundaries or are our lives over-regulated as it is?
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UncategorisedEXCLUSIVE: 13th SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL REPORT
editor | August 10, 2007
One of the most vibrant film festivals in Europe in the last decade, the Sarajevo Film Festival, focuses on the region of Southeast Europe. The festival aims to present important and inovative films of high artistic value made throughout the world. In 2006 the festival screened more than 120 features and some 50 short films. This year, Open Forum brings you an exclusive insight into the world of Southern European cinema.
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Uncategorised
The interesting thing about interest rates….
alison gordon | August 9, 2007People are not happier because their debt suffocates them. Living outside their means has decreased their quality of life, not improved it.
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Uncategorised
What we can all learn from “The Simpsons”
alison gordon | August 2, 2007What is it about The Simpsons that speaks to such a wide audience?
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Uncategorised
Facing Up to Reality
alison gordon | July 26, 2007The Girl Guides changing approach to young women from potential housewives and good deed doers to savvy, independent individuals.
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Uncategorised
The Demise of Accountability
alison gordon | July 18, 2007Is the problem that nobody has made athletes painfully aware that like every other individual in society they are (or should be) completely accountable for their actions?
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UncategorisedWhen does a key become an identifier?
StephenWilson | July 10, 2007Should we re-visit the intuition that identities can be federated? Do we really know what it means to "add up" a bank card and a Medicare card? Do we have the mathematics to do such a thing with rigor, asks Stephen Wilson.
I wonder …
Is a passport an "identifier"?
Is a drivers licence an identifier?
Is a credit card an identifier?
Is a professional membership card an identifier?
Is a building access card an identifier?
Is a house key an identifier?
Is a car key an identifier?Or putting the questions another way …
