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Budget 2010: Public Sector ICT Spending Slashed By £500 Million (article)
by Georgina O'Toole
from TechMarketView / eGovMonitor
"Georgina O’Toole from Tech Market View examines the impact of the Chancellor's Budget and subsequent efficiency statements from departments and agencies on the public sector ICT spend."

Adapting agriculture to climate change : preparing Australian agriculture, forestry and fisheries for the future [book]

Editors: Chris Stokes & Mark Howden

"Moves beyond describing the causes and consequences of climate change to providing options for people to work towards adaptation action. Climate change implications and adaptation options are given for the key Australian primary industries of horticulture, forestry, grains, rice, sugarcane, cotton, viticulture, broadacre grazing, intensive livestock industries, marine fisheries, and aquaculture and water resources. Case studies demonstrate the options for each industry." - cover.
Call number: 632.10994 ADA 2010
Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Projected Costs of Generating Electricity 2010 [online]

Authors: Nuclear Energy Agency / International Energy Agency

"Presents the latest data available for a wide variety of fuels and technologies, including coal and gas (with and without carbon capture), nuclear, hydro, onshore and offshore wind, biomass, solar, wave and tidal as well as combined heat and power (CHP). It provides levelised costs of electricity (LCOE) per MWh for almost 200 plants, based on data covering 21 countries (including four major non-OECD countries), and several industrial companies and organisations. For the first time, the report contains an extensive sensitivity analysis of the impact of variations in key parameters such as discount rates, fuel prices and carbon costs on LCOE. Additional issues affecting power generation choices are also examined." - abstract.

This book is overdue! : how librarians and cybrarians can save us all [book]

Author: Marilyn Johnson

"Those who predicted the death of libraries forgot to consider that in the automated maze of contemporary life, none of us--neither the experts nor the hopelessly baffled--can get along without human help. And not just any help--we need librarians, who won't charge us by the question or roll their eyes, no matter what we ask. Who are they? What do they know? And how quickly can they save us from being buried by the digital age?" - cover.

Call number: 025.04 THI 2010
Click here, and request a copy from the library!

A Guide to the Business analysis body of knowledge (BABOK guide) [book]

Authors: Kevin Brennan / International Institute of Business Analysis
"Business analysis involves understanding how organizations function to accomplish their purposes and defining the capabilities an organization requires to provide products and services to external stakeholders. ... [This guide contains] a framework that describes the business analysis tasks that must be performed in order to understand how a solution will deliver value to the sponsoring organization." - page 3.

Call number: 658.401 GUI 2009
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Communicating climate change: history, challenges, process and future directions (journal article)
by Susanne C. Moser
from Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, Vol 1 No 1 pp 31-53
"Since anthropogenic climate change first emerged on the public agenda in the midto-late 1980s, public communication of climate change and—more recently—the question of how to communicate it most effectively have witnessed a steep rise. This paper synthesizes what is known, presumed, and still unknown about how to effectively communicate this problem."

A new look at carbon offsets (journal article)
By Marcel Brinkman
from McKinsey Quarterly Feb 2010
"Carbon markets will continue to play a role in pricing—and limiting—emissions, but the opportunity in developing markets may be less promising than once expected."
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.

Chasing the Hottest IT: Effects of Information Technology Fashion on Organizations (journal article)
By Ping Wang
from MIS Quarterly Vol. 34 Issue 1 Mar 2010, pp. 63-85
"What happens to organizations that chase the hottest information technologies? This study examines some of the important organizational impacts of the fashion phenomenon in IT. An IT fashion is a transitory collective belief that an information technology is new, efficient, and at the forefront of practice. Using data collected from published discourse and annual IT budgets of 109 large companies for a decade, I have found that firms whose names were associated with IT fashions in the press did not have higher performance, but they had better reputation and higher executive compensation in the near term. Companies investing in IT in fashion also had higher reputation and executive pay, but they had lower performance in the short term and then improved performance in the long term. These results support a fashion explanation for the middle phase diffusion of IT innovations, illustrating that following fashion can legitimize organizations and their leaders regardless of performance improvement. The findings also extend institutional theory from its usual focus on taken-for-granted practices to fashion as a novel source of social approval. This study suggests that practitioners balance between performance pressure and social approval when they confront whatever is hottest in IT."

Information Systems Innovation for Environmental Sustainability (journal article)
By Nigel P Melville
from MIS Quarterly Vol. 34 Issue 1 Mar 2010, pp. 1-21
"Human life is dependent upon the natural environment, which, most would agree, is rapidly degrading. Business enterprises are a dominant form of social organization and contribute to the worsening, and enhancement, of the natural environment. Scholars in the administrative sciences examine questions spanning organizations and the natural environment but have largely omitted the information systems perspective. We develop a research agenda on information systems innovation for environmental sustainability that demonstrates the critical role that IS can play in shaping beliefs about the environment, in enabling and transforming sustainable processes and practices in organizations, and in improving environmental and economic performance. The belief--action--outcome (BAO) framework and associated research agenda provide the basis for a new discourse on IS for environmental sustainability."

Open science : sharing knowledge in the global century [book]

Authors: Julian Cribb, Tjempaka Sari / CSIRO Publishing
Describes "low-cost, effective means to transfer knowledge to target audiences in industry, government, the community and to the public at large. ... Features sections on good science writing, practical advice on how to develop communication and media strategies, ways to measure communication performance, how to handle institutional 'crises', how to deal with politicians and much more." - cover.

Call number: 501.4 OPE 2010 or
Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Information management (journal article)
By Brian Detlor
from International Journal of Information Management Vol. 30 Issue 2 Apr 2010, pp. 103-108
"Information management concerns the control over how information is created, acquired, organized, stored, distributed, and used as a means of promoting, efficient and effective information access, processing, and use by people and organizations. Various perspectives of information management exist. In this paper, three are presented: the organizational, library and personal perspectives. Each deals with the management of some or all of the processes involved in the information lifecycle. Each concerns itself with the management of different types of information resources. The purpose of this paper is to clearly describe what, “information management” is and to clarify how information management differs in regards to closely related terms."
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.

The critical success factors of business process management (journal article)
By Peter Trkman
from International Journal of Information Management Vol. 30 Issue 2 April 2010, pp. 125-134
"Although business process management (‘BPM’) is a popular concept, it has not yet been properly theoretically grounded. This leads to problems in identifying both generic and case-specific critical success factors of BPM programs. The paper proposes an underlying theoretical framework with the utilization of three theories: contingency, dynamic capabilities and task–technology fit. The main premise is that primarily the fit between the business environment and business processes is needed. Then both continuous improvement and the proper fit between business process tasks and information systems must exist. The underlying theory is used to identify critical success factors on a case study from the banking sector."
Contact the Library if you require a copy of this article.

Requiem for a species : why we resist the truth about climate change [book]

Author: Clive Hamilton
Sometimes facing up to the truth is just too hard. There have been any number of urgent scientific reports in recent years emphasising just how dire the future looks and how little time we have left to act. But around the world only a few have truly faced up to the facts about global warming.This book is about why we have ignored those warnings, so that now it is too late. It is a book about the frailties of the human species: our strange obsessions, our hubris, and our penchant for avoiding the facts. It is the story of a battle within us between the forces that should have caused us to protect the earth, like our capacity to reason and our connection to nature, and our greed, materialism and alienation from nature, which, in the end, have won out.

Call number: 363.73874 REQ 2010
Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Transport for suburbia : beyond the automobile age [book]
Author: Paul Mees
The need for effective public transport is greater than ever in the 21st century. With countries like China and India moving towards mass-automobility, we face the prospects of an environmental and urban health disaster unless alternatives are found. It is time to move beyond the automobile age. But while public transport has worked well in the dense cores of some big cities, the problem is that most residents of developed countries now live in dispersed suburbs and smaller cities and towns. These places usually have little or no public transport, and most transport commentators have given up on the task of changing this: it all seems too hard.

This book argues that the secret of 'European-style' public transport lies in a generalizable model of network planning that has worked in places as diverse as rural Switzerland, the Brazilian city of Curitiba and the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver. It shows how this model can be adapted to suburban, exurban and even rural areas to provide a genuine alternative to the car, and outlines the governance, funding and service planning policies that underpin the success of the world's best public transport systems.

Find it at: 388.4 TRA 2009 or Click here, and request a copy from the library!

The Internet of Things (journal article)
By Michael Chui, Markus Löffler, and Roger Roberts
from McKinsey Quarterly Mar 2010
"More objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate. The resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks."
Contact the Library to obtain a copy of this article.

Knowledge creation measurement methods (journal article)
By Rebecca Mitchell and Brendan Boyle
from Journal of Knowledge Management Vol 14 Iss 1 2010, pp. 67 - 82
"This paper sets out to examine the operationalisation of knowledge creation. Given the importance of knowledge creation for national and corporate wealth, assessing its measurement is a valuable exercise; however, current research utilises a range of measures, and this lack of agreed construct operationalisation is a barrier to robust empirical investigation. This paper aims to review current measurement methods and to construct a taxonomy of knowledge creation measures."

Knowledge sharing in organisational contexts: a motivation-based perspective (journal article)
By Alice Lam and Jean-Paul Lambermont-Ford
from Journal of Knowledge Management Vol 14 Iss 1 2010, pp. 51-66
"Facilitating knowledge sharing within organisations is a difficult task: the willingness of individuals to share and integrate their knowledge is one of the central barriers. This paper aims to develop a motivation-based perspective to explore how organisations resolve the social dilemma of knowledge sharing."

Beyond the ‘iron triangle’: Stakeholder perception of key performance indicators (KPIs) for large-scale public sector development projects (journal article)
By Sharmas-ur-Rehman Toor and Stephen Ogunlana
from International Journal of Project Management Vol 28 Issue 3 Apr 2010, pp. 228-236
"Performance measurement criteria vary from project to project. Despite much work on the subject, there is no commonly agreed framework of performance measurement on mega projects. To bridge this gap, this research targets to investigate the perception of the key performance indicators (KPIs) in the context of a large construction project in Thailand. The study explores the significance of key performance indicators in perspective of various construction stakeholders (client, consultants, and contractors). Findings indicate that the traditional measures of the iron triangle (on-time, under-budget and according to specifications) are no more applicable to measuring performance on large public sector development projects. Other performance indicators such as safety, efficient use of resources, effectiveness, satisfaction of stakeholders, and reduced conflicts and disputes are increasingly becoming important. This implies that the Thai construction industry is slowly departing from the traditional quantitative performance measurement to a rather mix of both quantitative and qualitative performance measurement on large-scale public sector development projects."
Contact the Library to obtain a copy of this article.

Deliberate ignorance in project risk management (journal article)
By Elmar Kutsch and Mark Hall
from International Journal of Project Management Vol 28 Issue 3 Apr 2010, pp. 245-255
"The management of project risk is considered a key discipline by most organisations involved in projects. Best practice project risk management processes are claimed to be self-evidently correct. However, project risk management involves a choice between which information is utilized and which is deemed to be irrelevant and hence excluded. Little research has been carried out to ascertain the manifestation of barriers to optimal project risk management such as ‘irrelevance’; the deliberate inattention of risk actors to risk. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of IT project managers, investigating their reasons for deeming certain known risks to be irrelevant. The results both confirm and expand on Smithson’s [Smithson, M., 1989. Ignorance and Uncertainty. Springer-Verlag, New York] taxonomy of ignorance and uncertainty and in particular offer further context related insights into the phenomenon of ‘irrelevance’ in project risk management. We suggest that coping with ‘irrelevance’ requires defence mechanisms, the effective management of relevance as well as the setting of, and sticking to priorities. "
Contact the Library to obtain a copy of this article.

The 200 km city: Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast (journal article)
by Peter Spearritt
from Australian Economic History Review, Vol 49 No 1 March 209, pp. 87-106
"Since the 1970s, several Southeast Queensland coastal towns in areas marketed as the 'Gold Coast' and the 'Sunshine Coast' have merged with each other and joined with Brisbane to become one of the world's longest urban coastal strips. The population of this 200 km long city is fast approaching three million. This urban pattern reflects the preferences of many Australians about where and in what type of housing they would like to live. The unplanned nature of this growth raises several policy challenges relating to resource use and traffic congestion."

THE COMPLEX POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE (journal article)
By Andrew Norton
from Policy Vol. 25 Issue 4 Summer 2009/2010, pp. 22-26
"The public's aspirations for climate change policy are not matched by their willingness to act."

Mapping climate change knowledge: an editorial essay (journal article)
by Mike Hulme
from Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-8
"The relationship between climate and society has always been dynamic. Physical climates
have played important roles in the biological and social evolution of human beings and fashioned the biogeophysical systems which provide the goods and services from which human economic and cultural life emerges. Similarly, humans have imposed themselves upon climate, both in the ways in which climates have been imagined, studied, and articulated in thought and language and in the growing influences that human actions have had on the physical operations of climate.
This relationship between climate and society has been characterized throughout history and prehistory by both creativity and fear. ...
Examples of contestation emphasise the need for stronger interactions between the traditional climate disciplines of meteorology, oceanography, ecology, and economics on the one hand, and the social sciences and the interpretative humanities on the other. The perspectives and contributions of these latter disciplines are now probably more important than the climate sciences to ongoing public and policy debates."

Automated verification of security pattern compositions (journal article)
By Jing Dong, Tu Peng and Yajing Zhao
from Information & Software Technology Vol 52 Issue 3 Mar 2010, pp. 274-295
"Software security becomes a critically important issue for software development when more and more malicious attacks explore the security holes in software systems. To avoid security problems, a large software system design may reuse good security solutions by applying security patterns. Security patterns document expert solutions to common security problems and capture best practices on secure software design and development. Although each security pattern describes a good design guideline, the compositions of these security patterns may be inconsistent and encounter problems and flaws. Therefore, the compositions of security patterns may be even insecure. In this paper, we present an approach to automated verification of the compositions of security patterns by model checking. We formally define the behavioral aspect of security patterns in CCS through their sequence diagrams. We also prove the faithfulness of the transformation from a sequence diagram to its CCS representation. In this way, the properties of the security patterns can be checked by a model checker when they are composed. Composition errors and problems can be discovered early in the design stage. We also use two case studies to illustrate our approach and show its capability to detect composition errors."
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.

State of the World 2010 : Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability [journal]

Author: Worldwatch Institute

"It will take a sustained, long-term effort to redirect the traditions, social movements and institutions that shape consumer cultures towards becoming cultures of sustainability. These institutions include schools, the media, businesses and governments. Bringing about a cultural shift that makes living sustainably as 'natural' as a consumer lifestyle is today will not only address urgent crises like climate change, it could also tackle other symptoms like extreme income inequity, obesity and social isolation that are not typically seen as environmental problems.

State of the World 2010 paints a picture of what this sustainability culture could look like, and how we can - and already are - making the shift." - from publisher.

Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Find it at: State of the World : a Worldwatch Institute report on progress towards a sustainable society, in the journal collection.

Internet marketing : strategy, implementation and practice [book]

Author: Dave Chaffey

"Provides comprehensive, practical guidance on how companies can get the most out of the web to meet their marketing goals." - cover. Chapters include: Business-to-consumer internet marketing, Evaluation and improvement of digital channel performance, and Campaign planning for digital media, Internet marketing strategy.

Find it at: 658.872 INT 2009 or
Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Top 10 Energy Events in 2009 (journal article)
from Beijing Review, No 6 Feb 11 2010
"Recently, China's State Council decided to set up the National Energy Commission led by Premier Wen Jiabao to step up strategic policymaking and coordination. As a closely related topic to the national economy and people's livelihoods, the energy issue has always attracted considerable attention. The country's energy industry also witnessed a series of significant changes in 2009. The top 10 energy news events of 2009, as selected by the Economic Information Daily under Xinhua News Agency, are in this article."

Doing business in a new climate : a guide to measuring, reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions [book]

Authors: Paul Lingl, Deborah Carlson and the David Suzuki Foundation

Around the world, a growing number of businesses are taking steps to reduce their climate impact by managing their greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, these businesses are discovering that effective greenhouse gas management can enhance their brands, motivate employees, increase operational efficiencies, and save money.

This guide walks readers through the key activities that make up a greenhouse gas management program, including measuring, reducing, and offsetting emissions and developing a communications strategy around the program. Throughout, case studies of over fifty leading businesses from around the world highlight innovation and solutions to common challenges, and further resources are provided for each section.

Find it at: 658.4083 DOI 2010 or
Click here, and request a copy from the library!

House Bill Would Authorize Grants For 'Green' Infrastructure. (journal article)
by Jay Landers
from Civil Engineering, January 2010, Vol. 80 Issue 1, p10-11, 2p
"A summary is presented of the bill H.R. 4202, the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009, prepared by U.S. House Representative Donna F. Edwards, December 3."
See also two Letters to the Editor concerning this article
The Politics of Green Infrastructure

Delivering Transportation Infrastructure Through Public-Private Partnerships: Planning Concerns. (journal article)
by Matti Siemiatycki
from Journal of the American Planning Association; Winter2010, Vol. 76 Issue 1, p43-58, 16p
"The types of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which private sector partners take on increased responsibility for project design, construction, financing, and operation have become popular in the United States and around the world as means of delivering large-scale transportation infrastructure. However, it is unclear what implications this model of project delivery has for planning theory and practice as distinct from public policy more generally.
This research identifies the need for new ex ante evaluation tools, risk transfer mechanisms, community engagement processes, and data tracking and performance monitoring procedures, to prevent negative consequences from transportation PPPs. "

The road to positive R&D returns (article)
by Eric David, Tony Tramontin and Rodney Zemmel
from McKinsey Quarterly, February 2010
"Scientific innovation is not the only route to higher R&D productivity. Attention to the familiar management areas of cost, speed, and decision making can still reap rewards."
Free registration required

Viral loop : the power of pass-it-on [book]

Author: Adam L. Penenberg

Examines the secret behind the success of companies such as Google, eBay and Facebook - the 'viral loop' or 'the ability to grow a company exponentially because the customers themselves spread it.' Case studies are used to analyse why viral marketing and networks work, and how these business models can be used in other areas.

Find it at: 659.133 VIR 2009 or

Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Eco-innovation in industry : enabling green growth [online]
Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Eco-innovation will be a key driver of industry efforts to tackle climate change and realise “green growth” in the post-Kyoto era. Eco-innovation calls for faster introduction of breakthrough technologies and for more systemic application of available solutions, including non-technological ones. It also offers opportunities to involve new players, develop new industries and increase competitiveness. Structural change in economies will be imperative in coming decades.

This book presents the research and analysis carried out during the first phase of the OECD Project on Sustainable Manufacturing and Eco-innovation. Its aim is to provide benchmarking tools on sustainable manufacturing and to spur eco-innovation through better understanding of innovation mechanisms. It reviews the concepts and forms an analytical framework; analyses the nature and processes of eco-innovation; discusses existing sustainable manufacturing indicators; examines methodologies for measuring eco-innovation; and takes stock of national strategies and policy initiatives for eco-innovation.

IT trends in local public services 2009/10: Stretched to breaking point (article)
by John Serle
from eGov Monitor (UK) 08.02.2010
"IT Trends 2008/09 predicted that by 2010 public services would be stretched to breaking point as demand continued to increase and capacity declined. John Serle, IT Trends Editor discusses the latest report."

Never mind the quality feel the width: University–industry links and government financial support for innovation in small high-technology businesses in the UK and the USA (journal article)
by Andy Cosh and Alan Hughes
from Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol 35 No 1 Feb 2010, pp. 66-91
"In this paper we use a size and industry matched sample of over 1,900 UK and US businesses for the period 2004–05 in the manufacturing and business services sectors to analyse the relative “strength” of the university–industry ecosystems in which these firms operate in the two economies. Our analysis shows that in both countries universities per se play a quantitatively smaller role as a source of knowledge for business innovation than either the business sector itself or a variety of organisations intermediating between the university and business sectors. Our analysis reveals a much more diffuse university–industry ecosystem in the UK in which a higher proportion of businesses claim links external to themselves in their pursuit of knowledge for innovation and a higher proportion report directly connecting with universities. US firms are more likely to access knowledge through a combination of business and intermediary sources and are less likely to have established formal collaborative or partnership agreements in the 3 years prior to the survey. We also find, however, that a higher proportion of US firms place a very high value on the connections they have with universities and are much more likely to commit resources to support such innovation related university interactions. A similar pattern of diffuse but weaker links characterise the supply of public sector financial assistance for innovation in our sample firms. UK firms are more likely to be in receipt of assistance, but receive far less per firm in absolute terms and relative to their R&D expenditures. It appears that the UK university–industry ecosystem is characterised by a greater width than quality of interaction. "

Adverse selection and financing of innovation: is there a need for R&D subsidies? (journal article)
by Tuomas Takalo and Tanja Tanayama
from Journal of Technology Transfer Vol 35 No 1 Feb 2010, pp. 16-41
"We study the interaction of private and public funding of innovative projects in the presence of adverse-selection based financing constraints. Government programs allocating direct subsidies are based on ex ante screening of the subsidy applications. This selection scheme may yield valuable information to market-based financiers. We find that under certain conditions, public R&D subsidies can reduce the financing constraints of technology-based entrepreneurial firms. First, the subsidy itself reduces the capital costs related to the innovation projects by reducing the amount of market-based capital required. Second, the observation that an entrepreneur has received a subsidy for an innovation project provides an informative signal to the market-based financiers. We also find that public screening works more efficiently if it is accompanied with subsidy allocation. "

Place makers : contemporary Queensland architects [book]

Editors: Miranda Wallace, Sarah Stutchbury

"A collection of 55 of the most arresting residential, public and institutional buildings designed by Queensland architects over the past two decades." - cover.

Click here to request a copy through your library.

Call number: 720.9943 PLA 2008

Delivering e-learning : a complete strategy for design, application and assessment [book]

Author: Kenneth Fee

"Presents a complete strategy for training and development. From deciding when to use, how to design, tips on selecting suppliers, and how to measure its effectiveness. Delivering E-Learning describes a new and better way of understanding e-learning. The author looks at overcoming objections to e-learning and acknowledging poor past practice before presenting a new strategic approach. It places the emphasis firmly on learning, not the technology, de-mystifying the jargon and de-bunking industry myths. The current way most people look at e-learning is flawed, and this means they are missing its full potential.

This book provides a clear framework to better understand e-learning. Proposing a strategic approach to implementing e-learning, the author demonstrates how to align e-learning strategy with learning and business strategies. It offers a complete resource for applying e-learning to any organization.

Find it at: 371.334 DEL 2009 or Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Cities, Towns and Renewable Energy : Yes In My Front Yard [online]

Authors: International Energy Agency & OECD

Local governments have the power to influence the energy choices of their citizens. Many cities and towns have already encouraged energy efficiency measures. Even so, as demand for energy services continues to grow, the energy infrastructure that every city and town depends on will need to be expanded, upgraded or replaced. This provides the opportunity to increase the deployment of renewable energy technologies and decentralised energy systems, and hence gain the multi-benefits of increased energy security, climate change mitigation and sustainable development, but also the social benefits of reduced air pollution, such as improved health and employment. ...

The goals of this report are to inspire city stakeholders by showing how renewable energy systems can benefit citizens and businesses, assist national governments to better appreciate the role that local municipalities might play in meeting national and international objectives, and help accelerate the necessary transition to a sustainable energy future.

Indicator development as 'boundary spanning' between scientists and policy-makers (journal article)
By Helga Pülzl and Ewald Rametsteiner
from Science and Public Policy Vol 36 Number 10 Dec 2009, pp. 743-752
"In sustainability impact assessments the development of widely accepted indicators that structure the subject area and provide the framework for assessing sustainability impacts is clearly important. We argue that the development of sustainability indicators in science-based initiatives works across the science/policy interface where social and natural scientists as well as stakeholders and policy-makers both translate concepts and ideas to each other and thus make value judgments about the selection of indicators and related sub-classes. This explains why pure scientific indicator initiatives based on simple 'knowledge transfer' models are unlikely to succeed. Instead, sustainability indicator development requires a 'knowledge transaction model' which spans the boundary between the scientific and the political domains."

Gartner Identifies Four Information Management Roles IT Departments Need to Remain Effective (article)
from WebWire, Jan 18 2010
“Over the next two years, business demand for IT-driven growth and innovation will outstrip the supply of qualified people to fulfill job roles and as result traditional IT tasks are moving outside the IT department,” said Debra Logan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The future of IT lies outside the IT department. Increasingly CIOs are coming from “the business” and “users” are taking control of their own information delivery infrastructure.” By the end of 2010, Gartner predicts that 40 per cent of people who report into IT in a matrixed fashion or directly will have substantial business and non-IT experience.
Organisations need staff with different skills from the ones they were originally hired for. These are not IT people as organisations know them.

Groundwork for growth : building the infrastructure that Australia needs [book]

Author: Rob Sims, Business Council of Australia

"The report warns that as economic growth returns and the population continues to expand, infrastructure bottlenecks that appeared towards the end of the last boom are certain to reappear. Infrastructure efficiency and capacity is particularly important to Australia because of our small and dispersed population and distance from markets." - press release.

Find it at: 363.60994 GRO 2009 or Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Population growth and Australia's 2020 greenhouse gas emission commitments (journal article)
by Bob Birrell and Ernest Healy
from People and Place Vol 17 No 4 pp.18-28
"The Australian Government has stated an unconditional commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent on year 2000 levels by 2020. However, in the absence of new abatement measures, Treasury-led modelling indicates that Australia's emissions will grow from 553 milion tonnes in 2000 to 774 million tonnes in 2020. This article disaggregates the Treasury modelling in order to estimate the contribution of population expansion to this growth. It shows that 83 per cent of the forecast will be attributable to population growth. This article concludes that it is very unlikely we will achieve the target by 2020 in the absence of attention to the population growth factor."

Lessons from multi-agency information management projects: Case of the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) Project, Singapore (journal article)
By Thompson Teo and Tat Koon Koh
from International Journal of Information Management Vol. 30 Issue 1 Feb 2010, pp. 85-93
"Multi-agency information management projects are becoming increasingly common. Yet, there is relatively limited research in this area, particularly in the context of electronic government (e-government). This paper fills this gap in the literature by examining a successful information management project called the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) that aims to streamline the various licenses (managed by different agencies) required to operate a business in Singapore. The findings suggest that multi-agency projects are inherently more complex than single agency projects. A set of lessons on managing such projects is presented and these lessons should prove useful to researchers and practitioners as multi-agency information management projects become increasingly more widespread."
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.

Greening our built environment : costs, benefits, and strategies [book]

Authors: Greg Kats, Principal author ; Jon Braman and Michael James

“Green” buildings—buildings that use fewer resources to build and to sustain—are commonly thought to be too expensive to attract builders and buyers. But are they? The answer to this question has enormous consequences, since residential and commercial buildings together account for nearly 50% of American energy consumption—including at least 75% of electricity usage—according to recent government statistics.

This eye-opening book reports the results of a large-scale study based on extensive financial and technical analyses of more than 150 green buildings in the U.S. and ten other countries. It provides detailed findings on the costs and financial benefits of building green. According to the study, green buildings cost roughly 2% more to build than conventional buildings—far less than previously assumed—and provide a wide range of financial, health and social benefits. In addition, green buildings reduce energy use by an average of 33%, resulting in significant cost savings.

Find it at: 720.47 GRE 2009 or, Click here to request a copy through your library.

How Carbon Offsets Will Change The World As We Know It (article)
by Mark Schapiro
from New Matilda, January 22 2010
"With a preserve designed in large part to safeguard stored carbon, a new set of imperatives comes into play. Turning trees into carbon credits requires knowing how to extrapolate from carbon measurements to determine a forest's potential as a carbon sink. It requires knowing as precisely as possible how many trees there are and of what size — which means minimising the unpredictable activities of human beings, as small scale as they might be. "

Has Anyone Told The Transport Planners About Climate Change? (article)
by Elliot Fishman
from New Matilda, 22 January 2010
"Government investment in transport and land-use planning needs to reflect the new reality of oil depletion and climate change. Outer suburbs without rail lines and streets without bicycle lanes need to become a thing of the past. Without a change in mindset and investment, by 2030 we might just be left with empty freeways, perhaps better described as gigantic bike lanes, several bankrupt toll road operators and a number of energy analysts saying "I told you so". Let's make 2010 the year in which we confront the reality of peak oil and climate change. "

Future files : a history of the next 50 years [book]

Author: Richard Watson

"Prediction is a dangerous game - the future is never a straight, linear extrapolation from the present. Unexpected innovations and events will conspire to trip up the best-laid plans - but it's better than not thinking about the future at all. ... Filled with provocative forecasts about how the world might change in the next half century. It examines emerging patterns and developments in society, technology, economy, and business, and makes educated speculations as to where they might take us." - cover.

Want to read this book? Click here, & request a loan through your library.

Or find this book in the collection at: 303.49 FUT 2009

Retrofitting suburbia : urban design solutions for redesigning suburbs [Find this book at: 307.760973 RET 2009]

Authors: Ellen Dunham-Jones and June Williamson

"While there has been considerable attention by practitioners and academics to development in urban cores and new neighborhoods on the periphery of cities, there has been little attention to the redesign and redevelopment of existing suburbs. Here is a comprehensive guidebook for architects, planners, urban designers, and developers that illustrates how existing suburbs can be redesigned and redeveloped. The authors, both architects and noted experts on the subject, show how development in existing suburbs can absorb new growth and evolve in relation to changed demographic, technological, and economic conditions."--BOOK JACKET.

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Total quality in the construction supply chain [book]

Authors: John Oakland & Morton Marosszeky

"Organizations in the construction industry struggle with three key issues: quality management or better meeting customer expectations, supply chain management or more effectively working with suppliers to provide a seamless service to customers, and knowledge management, the challenge of learning between collaborating organisations and between people working on similar projects around the world. Excellence in these key aspects of business is the hallmark of great companies. This book tackles each of these themes, demonstrating their significance as strategic concepts for the construction sector and illustrating how development goals in each of the areas can be met." - cover.

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The Effect of IT Governance Maturity on IT Governance Performance (journal article)
By Mårten Simonsson, Pontus Johnson and Mathias Ekstedt
from Information Systems Management Vol. 27 Issue 1 Winter 2010, pp. 10-24
"There are several best practice based frameworks that detail effective arrangements for the internal structure of an IT organization. Although it is reasonable that there is a correlation
between the quality of the internal structure of an IT organization – labeled IT governance maturity, and the external impact of the same IT organization on the business – labeled IT governance performance, this has not been validated. The results, based on 35 case studies, confirm the hypotheses of a positive correlation between IT governance maturity and IT governance performance. Among IT processes described in 34 references, the internal structure of the IT organization, clearly defined organizational structures and relationships, mature quality management, and cost allocation show the strongest positive correlation to IT governance performance. The maturity of project management and service level management, as well as performance and capacity management, show almost no correlation to IT governance
performance. The findings can be used to improve current frameworks for IT governance."

Balanced Scorecard Implementation of Security Strategies: A Framework
for IT Security Performance Management (journal article)
By Tejaswini Herath Hemantha Herath and Wayne G Bremser
from Information Systems Management Vol. 27 Issue 1 Winter 2010, pp. 72-81
"The article develops a conceptual framework for strategic implementation of IT security using a balanced scorecard (BSC) approach. Current research has mostly looked at economics of IT security, technical considerations, and behavioral aspects of what counter measures are available to firms instead of how successful or cost effective the investments or counter measures are. More specifically, our article provides a framework for building and implementing scorecards for information security performance management."

Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant (journal article)
from Issues in Science & Technology Vol. 26 Issue 2 Winter 2010, pp. 81-84
"The article focuses on the competition regarding clean energy markets of Asia and the U.S. It speculates that Asian countries China, Japan and South Korea will outperform the U.S. for clean energy market dominance due to its big government investments as a support for research and innovation, domestic markets, manufacturing capability, and related infrastructures. It projects that the U.S. will be out-invested by those Asian countries with three-to-one margin in 2015 albeit the passing of the former's climate and energy legislation bill. It notes that the Chinese government provides free land, research and development (R&D) money, and loans with lower interest rates for clean technology firms than the U.S. Several graphs are also presented depicting the energy-related data of the countries."

Changing Climate, More Damaging Weather (journal article)
By Robert Repetto and Robert Easton
from Issues in Science & Technology Vol. 26 Issue 2 Winter 2010, pp. 67-74
"The article discusses the impact of changing climate on infrastructure and public safety investments in the U.S. It notes that the failure to acknowledge the effects of climate change results to dangerously inaccurate guidance for significant infrastructure and public safety investments. It suggests to speed up research programs which associate climate change and extreme weather events on the embodiment of its estimates. It states that underestimation of future weather probabilities can lead to unreliable decisions regarding investment and programs that make communities and infrastructure resist extreme weather. It explains that climatic change impact will heighten the possibilities that New York will be hit by more severe hurricanes in which infrastructure investors will be affected."

Enforcement of planning and environmental laws in Queensland [book]

Author: Leanne O'Brien

This book provides a detailed guide to handling enforcement issues and proceedings in the planning and environment jurisdiction in Queensland.

Written for lawyers, compliance officers and local government prosecutors who are new to the field, topics covered include planning and environmental offences, conditions of development approvals, investigations, statutory notices, duplicity, negotiations, compromising prosecutions, court proceedings, defences and sentencing. Explanations of the law are supported by analyses of cases, practical commentary and practice tips. While aimed primarily at new-comers to the jurisdiction, the text's extensive scope and analyses mean aspects of the work will also be of interest to experienced practitioners.

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Can Technology Really Save Us from Climate Change? (journal article)
By Alex Rau, Rob Toker and Joanne Howard
from Harvard Business Review Vol 88 Iss 1 Jan 2010, pp. 21-23
"The article presents the authors' views on the outlook for the development of technological innovations and entrepreneurial industries that can reverse global warming. The discussion focuses on Moore's Law in the context of how long it takes to develop and implement energy-related innovations. The efficient use of capital investment and government regulations for clean technology and cost-benefit analysis for projections of emission rates and abatements in new energy technologies such as wind energy and solar photovoltaics are discussed."

OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 [online]

Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

"At a time when world economy is in the midst of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 provides the statistical information necessary to define a response to these global challenges.
This edition of the Scoreboard illustrates and analyses a wide set of indicators of science, technology, globalisation and industrial performance in OECD and major non OECD countries (notably Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa). Indicators are organised around five issues: responding to the economic crisis, targeting new growth areas, competing in the world economy, connecting to global research, and investing in the knowledge economy."

Investigating the Ipswich to Brisbane commuting pattern: a quantitative approach (journal article)
by Jonathan Corcoran et al.
from Australian Planner, Vol 46 No 2 2009
"Through a quantitative analysis of JTW data available in the Census of Population and Households we add to the current planning debate on traffic congestion in the Ipswich·Brisbane corridor. The analysis of JTW data enables investigation of the notion that there are high levels of leakage of Ipswich's residents commuting from Ipswich to the neighbouring Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA). In doing so we use quantitative methods to firstly calculate the degree of self containment (i.e. the proportion of people living and working within an area) within the Ipswich sub-region and secondly to map the mean direction of commuting. More specifically, the policy problem addressed in this paper is to determine the extent to which commuters living in Ipswich have a tendency for an easterly direction of JTW travel (i.e. towards Brisbane City and Brisbane's CBD using the main east-west corridor). We suggest
that the visual exploration of the JTW data can enhance the analytical capability through the integration of statistical and cartographic measures to assist in transport planning."

It's how you use it that counts. (journal article)
by Michael Bond
from New Scientist Vol 204 No 2732, pp.36-39
"The article suggests that having a high intelligence quotient (IQ) does not guaranty all-round intelligence. According to professor Keith Stanovich of the University of Toronto, IQ tests fail in measuring abilities that are crucial to making good judgments in real-life situations. The palaentologist Stephen Jay Gould also claimed that general intelligence was a mathematic artefact."

A Green Grid Rolls off the Blueprint - special report
from China Today, November 2009
"The Renewable Energy Law of 2006 has put the development of China's new energy industry onto the fast track. Government investment in this sector has grown at an annual rate of 20 percent over the past few years. In 2008 support for new energy enterprises reached RMB 3.8 billion. This is just the beginning for this industry....
China plans to increase the share of renewable energy in the total amount of energy consumption from the current 9 percent to around 40 percent by 2050. According to Wang Jun, director of the New and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Bureau, this is not merely expediency in the face of unpredictable oil prices on the international market. More important than that, the application of green energy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and have a significant impact on global climate change."

Innovation and growth : chasing a moving frontier [online]

Authors: OECD / World Bank

"Innovation is crucial to long-term economic growth, even more so in the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis. Making innovation-driven growth happen requires action in a wide range of policy areas, from education and science and technology to product and labour markets and trade." - abstract.

Business process mapping : improving customer satisfaction [book]

Authors: J. Mike Jacka, Paulette J. Keller

"Business Process Mapping is a powerful tool that offers a solid understanding of any given process, as well as the methods for that process to be more effective, and ensures that true value is being provided to customers. From management to internal auditor to external consultant, the new edition includes more detailed work and examples related to ERM [Enterprise Risk Management] practices, particularly focusing on how objectives, risks, and key performance indicators are fundamental to understanding and analyzing processes. As well, new tools are included toward enhancing and enriching the basic work done with process mapping." - from publisher.

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