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UncategorisedSURVEY Workplace Flexibility after the GFC
editor | February 28, 2010Aequus Partners are conducting research into workplace flexibility, the implementation of the Right to Request legislation and the impact of the GFC. Please take a couple of minutes to complete their survey.
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Think Social and Compete
Erin Green | February 23, 2010Social innovation competitions are hitting the big time around the globe as more and more companies and organisations recognise the need for new approaches to social problems and the impact open and crowd-sourced solutions can have.
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Rediscovering the Lost Years: Early Intervention Pain Management
Stephen Gibson | February 21, 2010By the time most patients arrive at a tertiary pain management clinic, such as the Caulfield Pain Management and Research Centre where I practice, they have already spent years living with pain. As the President of the Australian Pain Society I also meet many people living with pain.
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Online Collaboration & Public Sector Publishing
David Schulz | February 16, 2010The most profound change is not when things in the landscape change, but when the landscape itself changes. When people notice a problem and solve it, that’s not quite as shocking as when something we didn’t even realise was broken, gets fixed or improved. Then we all sit up and take notice.Guttenberg’s printing press made it possible to cheaply produce multiple copies of books. Books were no longer the preserve of the wealthy and the church. However I’m not sure the rarity of books was seen as a problem by the great unwashed at the time. It was just the way it was. And I’m pretty certain the church and the wealthy elite didn’t identify the lack of learning as a problem within their workforce.I see the same principle in the way governments produce their publications.
The 21st Century Media (R)evolution
jim.macnamara | February 16, 2010In researching his new book MacNamara concluded that the recent changes to media and public communication are not simply an evolution – rather, radical change is afoot that will reverberate through media, advertising, journalism, public relations and politics.
With so much being written and spoken about Web 2.0-enabled social media, it might seem that there’s nothing new that can be said. However, a challenge is that the growing literature is a mix of claims and counter-claims, optimism and pessimism, gung-ho plans and fear.
EC thinking on privacy definitely on the move…
Malcolm Crompton | February 16, 2010The European Commission (EC) and its partners hosted a conference on “Trust in the Information Society” in Spain 10-11 February where the winds of change became even more apparent.
This was a conference organised under the huge Framework Program 7 (FP 7) research stream funded by the European Commission. FP 7 has a very impressive research component on ICT Trust and Security Research under its ICT Challenge 1: Pervasive and Trustworthy Network and Service Infrastructures.
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, 18 March 2003
Jim Staples | February 16, 2010Published below is the transcript of an open letter to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition delivered on the eve of Australia's invasion if Iraq in 2003.
An open letter to the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition on the law of war-making in Australia, J.F. Staples, 144 Shepherd Road, Bywong 2621, Tuesday 18 March 2003.
Gentlemen,
What is projected by you, the Prime Minister, and not dearly and firmly opposed by you, the Leader of the Opposition – with your nimble footwork back and forth, and from side to side on the morality of the issue – is an act of aggression against the state of Iraq, its territory and its people.
Not only is it an unprovoked act of war contrary to the law of nations and contrary to the United Nations Charter, it is an invasion of the Australian Constitution.
The criminal liability (?) of John Howard for the subversion of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
Jim Staples | February 15, 2010Senator Scott Ludlam has introduced the "Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service Bill 2008 [No.2]", which is now under enquiry by the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. Published below is a letter I sent to the research officer Miss Felicity Hill on February 8 2010. My letter was not sent to the Committee directly because submissions are now closed.
Holding on to Hope for Young People
Clive Leach | February 12, 2010The 2nd Australian Positive Psychology and Well-being Conference provides a unique platform to raise awareness of the potential for evidence-based coaching to add value to strategies targeting young people at risk.
Just under six months ago I wrote my first blog for Open Forum titled ‘Where there’s hope there’s flourishing young people’. In the article I focused on how evidence-based coaching, as an applied positive psychology, might build well-being, resilience and hope in at risk or ‘disengaged’ young people. I also raised the potential for coaching to assist those who support at risk young people; such as volunteers, youth workers and managers within the public and Not for Profit sectors.
Why do we all think it’s ok for poor kids to learn less?
lizkeen | February 11, 2010My family lives in a disadvantaged community. According to the Australian Bureau of Statisitcs, we are the 7th most disadvantaged community in New South Wales.
I work at our local youth centre and volunteer at my childrens’ primary school and I am shocked to see the signs of poverty around me: the amount of people missing teeth, struggling with drug addictions, malnourished or obese.
So when the governments new My School website came out, I expected our school to rate poorly. In fact I was more frustrated to see that we were rated against schools in less disadvantaged areas than I was by our rating in the straight comparisons.
I focused on my son’s results. He was in Year 3 last year and he did fine.
One little word that made all the difference for Iran
ejames | February 10, 2010Tehran, February 11, 1979: the Shah of Iran is knocked from power, ending fifty four years of rule. A day that marks the beginnings of the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini take control of the Iranian capital.
Fast forward 31 years to today, February 11, 2010, and Iran is set for major confrontations between the government and opposition protestors. Protestors angry about, amongst many things, the result of the presidential election held in June last year.
Officially Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the June 12 elections. However, leaked papers indicate opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi won over Mehdi Karoubi, with Ahmadinejad running third. The government also admitted that in some provinces voter turn-out was higher than 100%. These provinces were all won by Ahmadinejad.
Benefit of cap and trade ETS is it speaks the language of GDP
JEQP | February 9, 2010Many people deride environmental and sustainability concerns as apocalyptic, arguing that life in the developed world has consistently improved over the past few hundreds of years and will continue to do so.
The basis for this claim is a profound faith in progress driven by advancements in science and improvements in technology. At this point I don’t want to get into the merits of the claim that our lives have improved because we now have three TV sets rather than two, but to argue that science and technology aren’t enough to save the environment because of the way progress is measured; ie, via growth in gross domestic product (GDP).
The event that now goes by the acronym GFC (global financial crisis) is often said to be paradigm-changing, to have changed the system. It hasn’t.
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