Smart information portals, tailored to the communities needs, will contribute to emerging national information infrastructure for consumer focused information provision. They will support government initiatives promoting the role of online access to reliable, quality information in achieving good health, patient empowerment, participation in informed decision making, self management, and greater treatment compliance. Through the National Research Priority 3 goal of smart information use, the project addresses Priority 2 goals relating to ageing well; ageing productively; preventive health care; and strengthening the social and economic fabric to enable Australians to make choices that lead to healthy, productive and fulfilling lives.

Socio-technical determinants of agile network-centric organisations

A/Prof H. Hasan (University of Wollongong), Dr K. Crawford (Novae Research), Dr D. Hart (ANU), Dr H. Linger, Dr L. Warne (Department of Defence) and Ms I. Ali (Department of Defence) - (2005-2007 $157,000)

Many companies provide value for customers by exploiting information and communication technology in support of networks of self-organising employee teams. Such network-centric approaches to organisational structure and function are becoming desired in diverse government organisations and societal settings. On one hand, the civil society is increasing reliant on virtual networks and online communities. On the other, the military's imperative to learn how to fight smarter in the information age heralds a fundamental shift from platform-centred warfare to a mode with diffuseness of command and control. The findings of this research will enable the potential benefits of network- centrism to be realised in these nationally critical areas.

One day, we'll all invest this way! Regulating online investment

Prof D. Kingsford Smith (Faculty of Law), Dr K. Williamson and Prof S. Bottomley (ANU) - (2005-2007 $285,000)

This project will provide policy recommendations to promote national research priority 3: particularly goals 4 & 5. It will do this by using good regulation to increase the safety of online investing services. It will bring to Australia international expertise not available here, crucial to good regulation of online investing. If investors trust this mostly beneficial technology it will further Australians' prosperity through investment e.g. for retirement. Competitive advantage through good regulation will bring overseas investors to Australia through the Internet. It will consolidate its role as a financial centre.

With 51% of adults owning shares, this research could save Australians more than $1.6 billion per annum!

Electronic Health Records: Achieving an effective and ethical legal and recordkeeping framework

Dr L. Iacovino, Dr D. Mendleson (Deakin University School of Law), Dr B. McSherry (Monash University Faculty of Law) and Mrs M. Paterson (Monash University Faculty of Law) - (2002-2004 $79,453)

This project takes place in the context of recent proposals for a nationally coordinated distributed system of electronic health records. Without any systematic ethical and legal safeguards or recordkeeping framework, the application of new technologies for networking health records lacks social credibility. This multidisciplinary study will provide a set of principles and standards relating to authenticity, ownership, access, privacy and confidentiality of doctor-patient communications in a networked environment, which, if implemented, will benefit patients and the medical community thus furthering the development of a more efficacious national health system.

Linkage

Context-aware mobile decision support systems for medical emergency management in mass gatherings

A/Prof F. Burstein, A/Prof L. Churilov (Monash University Faculty of Business & Economics), A/Prof A. Zaslavsky (Monash University Faculty of IT), A/Prof J. Wassertheil (Peninsula Health), Prof P.A. Arbon (Flinders University of Australia) - (2007-2009 $156,000)
Partner Organisation: Intel Australia

This project contributes to gaining a clearer understanding of the nature and requirements of medical emergency during mass gathering events. We will build and test a mobile real time decision support tool for improving efficiency of medical decisions to strengthen Australia's ability to manage potential health- related hazards. This project addresses research priorities of promoting and maintaining good health. It capitalizes on smart information use and will be of great benefit to mass gatherings emergency management. This project will also train highly qualified IT specialists critical to Australia's scientific and industrial development, thus increasing our competitiveness in information technology R&D.

Generating knowledge and avoiding plagiarism: Smart information use by secondary students

Dr K. Williamson, Dr J. McGregor (Charles Sturt University), Prof. J. Weckert (CSU), Dr Y. Al-Saggaf (CSU) and Ms S. Boyd - (2006-2007 $109,372)
Partner Organisations: Scotch College, Mater Christi College, Wesley College and Kooringal High School

Schools and tertiary institutions across Australia and the world are struggling to deal with the increasing problem of plagiarism. Public discussion tends to revolve around detection. By focusing on dealing with the roots of the problem through innovative teaching at the secondary level, the project supports recent school curriculum efforts in all Australian states, in International Baccalaureate schools and in the educational sector worldwide. The flow-on effect at tertiary levels will contribute to the national benefits from the project. A toolkit that provides positive solutions to plagiarism will benefit any educator who is concerned about plagiarism and knowledge generation.

Overcoming barriers to effective Internet use by community sector organisations

Prof. D. Schauder and Dr K. Williamson
Partner Organisation: VICNET

Providing adequate Internet access for rural and regional Australia is an important priority for governments at all levels. For communities in these areas to benefit from the information economy and realise a continuing improvement in their social, economic and environmental wellbeing, such access must be both affordable and sustainable. Community organisations make an important contribution in these areas and this research will examine the questions about how they adopt such innovations, and how they make use of the Internet to further interaction with their community. It will identify and examine barriers to such use, relating the barriers to both their root causes and the benefits / behaviour on which they impact.

Enhancing patient management and clincial systems in hospital ward settings using mobile, wireless technologies

Dr L. Heslop (Monash University School of Nursing), Dr L. Dawson, A/ Prof. J. Fisher, Dr A. Howard (NEC) and Dr A. Rothfield (Southern Health) - (2004-2006 $75,000)
Partner Organisations: NEC and Southern Health

Wireless networks, hand held devices and associated applications are key emerging technologies. This project will investigate the implementation of wireless devices and applications for patient administration at Southern Health in two ward settings (neurology and neurosurgery) at Monash Medical Centre. A wireless infrastructure is being installed and clinical staff will be able to conduct their rounds with notebook computers or PDAs at the patients' bedside. The research team will assess the acceptance of the new devices and applications by nursing and medical staff. Outcomes from the project will include a set of guidelines and techniques for introducing and managing technology-enhanced patient administration and clinical systems.

Trust and Technology: Building archival systems for Indigenous oral memory

Prof. S. McKemmish, Dr L. Russell (Monash University CAIS), Prof. D. Schauder, Dr G. Johanson and Ms J. Heazlewood (Public Record Office of Victoria) - (2003-2006 $293,300)
Partner Organisations: Public Record Office of Victoria, Victorian Koorie Records Taskforce, Koorie Heritage Trust and Australian Society of Archivists - Indigenous Issues SIG

Oral memory, the passing of culture and history from one generation to the next through storytelling and song, has always been an integral part of Australian Aboriginal culture and, prior to European settlement, was the main method of transferring cultural and historical information. Although oral memory is still highly valued by Indigenous people, to date there has been no extensive effort by Australian archival services to discover how to capture it and make it accessible to the relevant communities. Many significant records about Indigenous communities reside in institutions such as libraries, public record offices and other archives, and are often text-based and written from a non-Indigenous perspective. For reasons such as distrust in government institutions, and lack of educational opportunities, many Aboriginal people have been reluctant (and often unable), to access this material.

Starting late 2003, this three-year project will undertake an extensive analysis of Indigenous needs in order to develop trust and understanding of key issues such as access to archives, intellectual property, and authenticity. Archival techniques and information technology will then be used to build a prototype of a trusted archival system for Indigenous oral memory, emphasising preservation and access.

Create once, use many times - The clever use of metadata in eGovernment and eBusiness recordkeeping processes in networked environments

Prof. S. McKemmish, Mr A. Cunningham (National Archives of Australia) and A/Prof A. Gilliland-Swetland (UCLA) - (2003-2005 $192,000)
Partner Organisations: State Records Authority of NSW, Australian Society of Archivists and National Archives of Australia

Descriptive metadata, ie. structured context-rich information about business processes, agents and information resources, is a vital tool in managing business transactions and related information objects in complex intranet/internet environments to support eBusiness and eGovernment. However the implementation of recordkeeping metadata standards is proving to be problematic: tools for automatic metadata creation are inadequate, and current systems environments generally do not support the sharing of metadata between business systems for multiple purposes. This research project will develop a proof of concept prototype to demonstrate how standards-compliant metadata can be created once in particular application environments, then used many times to meet a range of business purposes. The prototype will be implemented in a test-bed site to provide a model for best practice.

Improving meteorological forecasting practice with knowledge management systems

Dr H . Linger, A/Prof. F. Burstein, Dr K. Korb (Monash University CSSE), Dr A. Nicholson (Monash University CSSE), Mr C. Ryan and Mr J. Kelly (Bureau of Meteorology) - (2002-2003 $240,000)
Partner Organisation: Bureau of Meterology

Twenty-first century weather forecasting presents a number of challenges. Meteorologists need to assess a vast amount of data under strict time constraints, incorporate predictive numerical modeling and their collective experiential knowledge into the forecast process, learn from the forecast process, and meet increasing user demand within limited resources. This project seeks to help forecasters meet these challenges by changing the information technology paradigm which has traditionally underpinned meteorology from one exclusively comprised of predictive numerical models to one which incorporates the knowledge and experience of forecasters.

This research builds on a longstanding and very successful collaboration between the Bureau and Monash.

An intelligent, user-sensitive portal to breast cancer knowledge online

Prof. S. McKemmish, Dr K. Williamson, A/Prof. F. Burstein, A/Prof J. Fisher, Ms J. Anderson, Ms S. Lockwood (Breast Cancer Action Group) and Ms Rosetta Manaszewicz (Breast Cancer Action Group) - (2002-2004 $170,000)
Partner Organisations: Breast Cancer Action Group (VIC) Inc. and BreastCare Victoria

Although there is now a plethora of information resources available online for women with breast cancer and their families, research indicates dissatisfaction with its timeliness, relevance, format and quality. Information and decision support needs vary according to disease stage, education, age, location and ethnicity, however the resources are most often designed for a homogenous mass audience. The project will address these issues by analysing the diverse information needs of women with breast cancer and their families and by assessing and describing existing online resources in user-aware ways. It will then design and prototype a web-based user-sensitive portal capable of matching user-aware resource descriptions and user needs profiles to provide differentiated access to breast cancer knowledge online.