People with disability and new disaster communications: access and the social media mash-up

This article explores how a lack of access to increasingly complex and overlapping digital communications platforms in times of disaster for people with disabilities has the potential to make already life-threatening situations considerably more dangerous. As we are increasingly coming to rely on a social media mash-up of digital platforms to assist in communications during disaster situations, the issue of accessibility for people with disabilities is as dire as if it was high ground during a tsunami or transport during a typhoon. The contemporary social media environment is characterised by a complex and overlapping network of complementary platforms, populated by user-generated content, where people communicate and exchange ideas. In this environment, YouTube videos are posted to Facebook and embedded in blogs, and Twitter is used to link to these other sites and is itself embedded in other platforms. These networks are increasingly supplementing and supplanting more traditional communication platforms, such as the television and radio, particularly in times of disaster. The concern of this paper is that the elements from which this mash-up of communications channels is made are not always accessible to people with disabilities. This evolving network of social media-based communication exposes the limits of existing Internet-based universal design.     

Zusammenfassungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung German translations by Monika Lütke-Daldrup.     

Partnering with Russia's new entrepreneurs: Software tsarina olga kirova

This article focuses on a Russian woman entrepreneur who established a very successful software firm under license from an American software company. The case illustrates a productive and successful partnership between a Western company and a new Russian entrepreneur. Recent developments in Russian entrepreneurship are reviewed, and the selection of Russian entrepreneurs as business partners is evaluated. The American company is described briefly, followed by an in-depth discussion of its Russian partner and founder, Olga Kirova. Conclusions and interpretations are offered on choosing the right Russian partners, assessing their personal values, objectives and leadership skills, being a good Western business partner, and considering Russian women as business associates.     

The big data divide and its consequences

Recent advances in technology and the increasing volumes of data that they enable have led to a wave of scholarly and popular attention to big data. While big data is often heralded for its ability to provide insight, the data, its analysis, and its outcomes are not evenly distributed. Currently, scholarship on big data is extending past work on the digital divide, theorizing a new big data divide. While this work most directly addresses the issues of ownership and access to big data, some work extends the divide to issues relating to skill and use. This extension opens up new complications relating to identity, social sorting, use, agency, and global development that are inextricably related to the issues above and to the study of big data. These issues go beyond the simple language of the digital divide extending inquiries into the realm of digital inequalities more generally. Any work on big data and the big data divide needs to engage with a more broad‐based notion of digital inequalities to be better equipped to handle the complex issues above, as well as the material, democratic, and identity problems that big data bring about.     

The service system challenges of work with juvenile justice involved young people in the Hunter Region,Australia

Current policies suggest that collaborative approaches are core to working effectively with juvenile justice involved young people. However, there is little research examining the workings of multi‐agency and collaborative endeavours in this field, or the experiences of the human service workers facilitating these connections. This paper reports on qualitative research that resulted from the Juvenile Justice and Education Equity in the Hunter Region project. Thirty‐eight human service workers were interviewed about their perceptions of the workings, strengths and challenges of the service system that supports young people who come into contact with the Children's Court in the Lower and Upper Hunter regions of New South Wales. Data analysis revealed three key themes related to (1) service gaps, cycles and maelstrom; (2) pursuing authentic service engagement; and (3) insider–outsider dynamics in service provision. Findings are discussed in relation to emerging practice and research agendas.     

Developing and testing a satisfaction survey for nursing home residents: the Ohio Experience

Input from consumers has become an important part of quality improvement in long-term care and for consumer decision-making. This paper documents the development of the Ohio Nursing Home Resident Satisfaction Survey (ONHRSS) through a partnership of state government, research, and industry experts. The instrument was tested and refined through two waves of data--a pretest phase and later with statewide data. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses with statewide data identified eight primary factors along with an underlying, secondary Global Satisfaction factor. Reliability of the domains ranged from .69 to .95. Recommendations for further refinement and testing of the instrument are discussed along with policy and practice implications.     

Whose ‘wee country’?: identity politics and sport in Northern Ireland

This article responds to calls in this journal for increased attention to identity, culture, power and sport. It explores, for the first time, the lived realities of identity politics in a divided society, through interviews with 12 self-declared Irish nationalists and republicans that represented Northern Ireland. Important insights are revealed into national eligibility decisions for either Irish team, motivated mainly by ‘shop window’ visibility and being seen as the best of a peer group. Political and sporting nationalisms were not necessarily analogous. A significant original finding is that the lived experiences of being closer to ‘the other’ resulted in an overall reinforcement rather than dissolution of difference. Visual and oral ‘national’ symbols such as flag, and especially anthem, delineated such difference, being symbolic walls of the mind. ‘Our wee country’ was thus a polarised and polarising fantasy shield. The article concludes by reconsidering the role of sport as a lens through which to examine identity and its’ place as part of the ‘problem’ and ‘solution’.