The following offers an overview of what it means for cities to be "smart." It draws the supporting definitions and critical insights into smart cities from a series of papers presented at the 2009 Trans-national Conference on Creating Smart(er) Cities. What the papers all have in common is their desire to overcome the all too often…

People who love books can find entering an Australian library in the so-called "cyber-age" to be an unsettling experience. The first thing you notice is the reduced emphasis on book shelves in favour of empty but architecturally pleasing "public spaces", comfortable cushions, computer terminals, sometimes even new cafes and…

In recent years public libraries have experimented with user-generated or community-contributed content through the interactive tools of Web 2.0. For some commentators this not just establishes a new relationship between libraries and their publics, but signals the end of information hegemony and an "expert paradigm". Such claims need to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide description and analysis of how a traditional industry is currently using e-learning, and to identify how the potential of e-learning can be realised whilst acknowledging the technological divide between younger and older workers. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory qualitative methodology…

The term "critical literacy" refers to use of the technologies of print and other media of communication to analyze, critique, and transform the norms, rule systems, and practices governing the social fields of everyday life (A. Luke, 2004). Since Freire's (1970) educational projects in Brazil, approaches to critical literacy have been…

Backpackers are pioneers of mobility, who provide a unique domain for critical tourism research. The lineage of backpacker ideals, including pursuit of authentic experiences, independence, escape and social interaction, can be traced back to the "tramps" of the 1880s and the "drifters" of the 1970s. The recent emergence of the…

The nature of learning in a public library is relevant to what place e-learning and social networking technologies might have there. That a public library aims to provide something for everyone is also important. Alice Springs Public Library (ASPL) is a place of learning; it is also a crowded and composite space. The use ASPL could make of the…

This "at a glance" publication investigates the idea of "informal learning", which has been described as an iceberg: "mostly invisible at the surface and immense in its mostly submerged informal aspects" (Livingstone 2000). It does so in order to offer some definitional clarity for those needing to uncover that…

Over the past decade or so, an educational evolution has been redefining our understanding and practices of adult community education (ACE) in profound and comprehensive ways. The name of this transformation is e-learning. A bountiful interpretation and practice of "e-learning" in ACE results inevitably in extending our educational work;…

Learning in workplaces is always mediated through talk. It is tempting for management to seek to utilise everyday talk as part of learning and therefore enhance productivity. This paper examines the responses of workers to interventions that aim to formalise informal conversations at work as part of an explicit workplace learning strategy. It…

This paper and presentation reviews the collective opinion of key Australian researchers concerning the emerging technologies most likely to have a significant impact on learning and teaching in regional, rural and remote areas. It then draws on the conclusions of the Horizon Report (2008) concerning key ICT drivers likely to influence…

At the Western Institute of Technical and Further Education (WITAFE) in New South Wales (NSW), vocational education and training (VET) courses are being delivered to students in isolated homesteads and remote Aboriginal communities by Interactive Distance eLearning (IDL). IDL provides satellite-supported two-way broadband voice, one-way video and…

The provision of, and participation in, workplace training and development has received significant recent attention in Australia in the face of rapid technological change, an ageing labour force and a growing skill shortage. Accordingly, many organisations have put in place policies and practices that ostensibly aim to encourage and support…

This report presents a comprehensive picture of how young Australians are faring by bringing together data from a variety of sources and drawing on the comments of young people themselves. Overall the report presents a positive picture, showing how important young people are to this country and why it makes good economic and social sense for…

The events of September 11, 2001, the terrorist attack that destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York changed the world, and while the effects were much reduced in faraway Australia, they became immediately apparent online. Any view through the global window was likely to be changed, an impossible to anticipate. To me,…