Suchergebnisse

The Australian Government has set an ambitious target that at least 20 per cent of Australia's electricity needs will be met by Renewable Energy (RE) sources by 2020. Given the limited use of RE sources for electricity generation, this national Renewable

On 1 July 2012, Australia commenced operation of its clean energy legislation (CEL) with the introduction of a carbon price of A$23 per tonne. Prior to the commencement of CEL, the government engaged with business stakeholders in a round of structured con

Public participation in environmental policy development offers governments and private organizations opportunities to gather community views and test policy instruments and solutions. In this study, a concept mapping analysis of 1702 online comments from 344 individuals has been undertaken to determine the balance between climate change debate and policy development, and some of the major issues surrounding policy implementation. The results show that counterproductive and intolerant climate science debate, opposing political party policy alignments, and disagreement on policy implementation serve as impediments in developing workable climate change policy. The research also exposes how individuals can 'hijack' the online discussion forums in attempts to further their own agendas. This suggests that online forums might be better designed to integrate with the larger policy development system.

Purpose: The frequent occurrence of emergencies and disasters continues to threaten community safety and security. Emergency communications and warning systems (ECWS) allow people to make decisions and take actions before, during and after the emergency or disaster. The critical objective of this study is to determine the critical capacities of ECWS in the Australian context. Design/methodology/approach: This study used stakeholder analysis in which written submissions from individuals, and public and private organizations collected by the Australian federal government were subjected to structured coding techniques in order to identify major ECWS capacity issues. The summary of findings were generating by axially collapsing and summarizing the coded statements. Findings: Findings showed that a broad range of ECWS are deployed in the Australian context. These ECWS come with social and/or technical limitations that suggest the importance of adopting an integrated or systems based approach for their construction and deployment. Also, while the identification of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities reinforced the argument for an integrated systems approach for ECWS, this also demonstrated the pressing need to build resilience and redundancy into domestic infrastructure networks. In addition, new and innovative ECWS technologies and solutions will enable improved emergency or disaster management in the future. Originality/value: This paper simultaneously considers important factors and issues impacting ECWS and provides an instructive discourse on the requirement for more combinative ECWS.

The Australian Government has set an ambitious target that at least 20 per cent of Australia's electricity needs will be met by Renewable Energy (RE) sources by 2020. Given the limited use of RE sources for electricity generation, this national Renewable

On 1 July 2012, Australia commenced operation of its clean energy legislation (CEL) with the introduction of a carbon price of A$23 per tonne. Prior to the commencement of CEL, the government engaged with business stakeholders in a round of structured con

The steady growth in major development projects suggests that firms will increasingly need to respond to more stringent environmental determinations and project approvals. Accordingly, this article positions offsets as a mechanism for integrated environmental planning and management in response to development impacts. The study uses a stakeholder analysis methodology to identify and explicate the environmental planning and management practices that can be delivered by offsets, while demonstrating how firms and governments may use offsets as a tool to plan and manage environmental conservation and protection. However, despite our positive expectations, the research found that the current framework of offsets rules, regulations and supporting infrastructure requires changes if effective planning and management of the environment is to be facilitated through the offsets mechanism.

The growth of interactive online lifestyles and social networks has arguably left IT users more exposed to privacy breaches. While governments continue to revise privacy legislation, the issue of online business relationships and privacy expectations remain contentious. Indeed, fewer studies have explored the expectations of users who willingly and knowingly engage in online activities that carry privacy risks. In this study, we examine the expectations and attitudes towards online privacy of a select group of 102 IT professionals. Using a qualitative survey, we show that these users have expectations of online privacy, particularly securing and protecting information from unknown third parties. Unfortunately, these expectations may go unsatisfied with third-party monitoring enabling information disclosure. In response, users argue that enhanced technical and complementary administrative measures should be actively pursued to improve privacy outcomes. The article builds further understanding of privacy expectations and trust behaviours, while exposing the importance of technical credibility from the online organisation and user perspectives.

This paper discusses results from a research study in the design and implementation of information documents and products in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It presents a composite ethnographic and case study analysis of user-centred information design practices at the ATO from 2001-2005, and shows that the ATO has been an active proponent of user centred design practices in developing business information documents and products for an extended period of time, while also Identifying potential opportunities to improve business simulation, design and product construction. The article highlights that user-centred design principles may have broad based application in both the public and private sectors.

This paper discusses results from a research study in the design and implementation of information documents and products in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It presents a composite ethnographic and case study analysis of user-centred information design practices at the ATO from 2001-2005, and shows that the ATO has been an active proponent of user centred design practices in developing business information documents and products for an extended period of time, while also Identifying potential opportunities to improve business simulation, design and product construction. The article highlights that user-centred design principles may have broad based application in both the public and private sectors.

Public participation in Sustainable Development Planning (SDP) of cities represents significant challenges to governments and private organizations responsible for developing infrastructure. In this study, a regional government used a series of electronic discussion papers and questions to enable online forum discussions and exchanges between 196 participants on the major SDP issues related to city development up to 2030. This study used a rigorous and structured QSR nvivo analysis of 690 online forum postings to determine the participants' major SDP concerns for the city over a 20-year period. The collective results of the investigation show that future integrated transport networks, higher density residential and commercial land use, and sustainable population growth are still the subject of concern and intense debate among forum participants, SDP experts and the government. The research also demonstrates the capacity of green information and technology systems to serve as important mechanisms for SDP participation and consultation.

Public participation in Sustainable Development Planning (SDP) of cities represents significant challenges to governments and private organizations responsible for developing infrastructure. In this study, a regional government used a series of electronic discussion papers and questions to enable online forum discussions and exchanges between 196 participants on the major SDP issues related to city development up to 2030. This study used a rigorous and structured QSR nvivo analysis of 690 online forum postings to determine the participants' major SDP concerns for the city over a 20-year period. The collective results of the investigation show that future integrated transport networks, higher density residential and commercial land use, and sustainable population growth are still the subject of concern and intense debate among forum participants, SDP experts and the government. The research also demonstrates the capacity of green information and technology systems to serve as important mechanisms for SDP participation and consultation.