Computing and Information Systems - Research Publications
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ItemNavigating Online Down Under: International Students’ Digital Journeys in Australia(Rowman & Littlefield, 2018)Research focusing on the experiences of international students tends to centre directly on their educational experiences rather than their everyday lives outside study. Moreover, much of this research has concentrated almost exclusively on the various impacts of the physical, geographic mobility of international students as they move from one country to another, with very little exploration of their digital experiences. There also exists extensive research on the social media and information seeking experiences of young people in different regions of the world. Some of this research provides a comparison between different sources of information and uses of social media. However, there has been little research on what happens when young people move between regions or countries. Borrowing Chang and Gomes’ (2017a) concept of the digital journey, where in crossing transnational borders, migrants might also cross digital borders, this chapter provides some concrete examples of the digital experiences of international students as they transition––wholly or partly––to the Australian digital environment. How do international students transition from certain online environments into others that may be completely different, even alien, to what they have previously experienced? Referring to qualitative and quantitative data collected from three separate projects conducted between 2012 and 2017, this chapter shows that in making the digital journey, international students in Australia do not so much quit their original digital comfort zones as widen their digital horizons. Understanding international students’ digital journeys is particularly significant since it has implications for future research in international student well-being and the provision of support services for students.
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ItemBetter Health Explorer: Designing for Health Information Seekers(Association for Computing Machinery, 2015)A vast amount of health information has been published online, yet users often report difficulties in locating information in this particular domain. Based on our prior research, we consider four categories of online health information seekers who demonstrate mixed information needs. Although their searching needs are often well satisfied by entering keywords into search engines, their need to explore information is not so well supported, thus affecting their user experience and satisfaction. In this paper, we propose design principles for supporting the exploration of online health information. We present the rationale and the design process of a web app - Better Health Explorer - which is a proof-of-concept app tailored to health information exploration. This work contributes to the design of online health information systems as well as exploratory systems in general.
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ItemBetter health information exploration(ACM, 2015-12-07)The provision of health information has to be clear and appealing to users. Research has shown that health information seekers do not all have the same attributes, skills or needs. In any given health-related app or website, there is a need to provide tools for accessing information in ways that appeal to users. This is not always supported by current web technologies. As such, based on prior research on health information seeking behaviour and needs, we designed and created a proofof- concept website named Better Health Explorer to experiment on health information seekers. The pilot results show a positive effect on supporting and improving the experience of seekers with exploratory search behaviour.
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ItemThe Things We Talk About When We Talk About Browsing: An Empirical Typology of Library Browsing Behavior(Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), 2019-12-01)Libraries increasingly offer much of their collection online, rendering it invisible or unavailable to readers who, for reasons of information experience, prefer to browse the shelves. Although the evidence that shelf browsing is an important part of information behavior is increasing, information browsing as a behavior is somewhat of a black box (in contrast to web browsing, which is relatively well understood). It seems likely from early work that browsing is not, in fact, a monolithic behavior, but rather a set of behaviors and goals. The typologies presented in these works, however, are of a too high level to offer much insight into what support is needed for successful online browsing. In contrast, a recent spate of speculative browsing technologies meet some browsing needs, but offer little theoretical understanding of how systems support browsing. The major contribution of this article is a new typology of library browsing behavior based on recent observations of browsing behavior in libraries. The secondary contribution is an understanding of the interface features that would support these types of information browsers in an online environment.
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ItemA systematic examination of the use of Online social networking sites for sexual health promotion(BMC, 2011-07-21)BACKGROUND: In recent years social networking sites (SNSs) have grown rapidly in popularity. The popularity of these sites, along with their interactive functions, offer a novel environment in which to deliver health promotion messages. The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which SNSs are currently being used for sexual health promotion and describe the breadth of these activities. METHODS: We conducted a systematic search of published scientific literature, electronic sources (general and scientific search engines, blogs) and SNSs (Facebook, MySpace) to identify existing sexual health promotion activities using SNSs. Health promotion activities were eligible for inclusion if they related to sexual health or behaviour, utilised one or more SNSs, and involved some element of health promotion. Information regarding the source and type of health promotion activity, target population and site activity were extracted. RESULTS: 178 sexual health promotion activities met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review; only one activity was identified through a traditional systematic search of the published scientific literature. Activities most commonly used one SNS, were conducted by not-for-profit organisations, targeted young people and involved information delivery. Facebook was the most commonly used SNS (used by 71% of all health promotion activities identified), followed by MySpace and Twitter. Seventy nine percent of activities on MySpace were considered inactive as there had been no online posts within the past month, compared to 22% of activities using Facebook and 14% of activities using Twitter. The number of end-users and posts in the last seven days varied greatly between health promotion activities. CONCLUSIONS: SNSs are being used for sexual health promotion, although the extent to which they are utilised varies greatly, and the vast majority of activities are unreported in the scientific literature. Future studies should examine the key factors for success among those activities attracting a large and active user base, and how success might be measured, in order to guide the development of future health promotion activities in this emerging setting.
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ItemThe Twitter Adventure of #MyHealthRecord: An Analysis of Different User Groups During the Opt-Out Period.(IOS Press, 2019-08-08)My Health Record (MHR), which is an online health summary for Australians, was changed from the opt-in to the opt-out model, and therefore sparked a vast discussion on Twitter. In order to understand the debate, the information dissemination and the levels of engagement, we have analysed tweets posted from July 2018 to February 2019. In this paper, we report on the findings of the patterns of discussion, the hashtags and the numbers of retweets and likes from different user categories. The results show that the discussion was highly political, and the tweets from the MHR official accounts had lower propagation and engagement than other user groups. This work highlights the implications of using social networking sites (SNSs) to promote large-scale mandatory electronic health record systems.
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ItemMind the Gap: Information Sharing Between Health, Mental Health and Social Care Services(IOS Press, 2019)Information sharing is key to integrated, collaborative, and continuous care. People with a lived experience of mental illness may access several services across the health, mental health and social care sectors, which creates challenges for information sharing. The health informatics community has traditionally not prioritised social care informatics. However, with the growing role of social care in the lives of people with complex health conditions, now is the time when we must consider the articulation between health informatics and social care informatics in Australia. This paper reports the results of a qualitative study to understand the current context of information sharing between health, mental health and social care services. Interviews and focus groups with nine clinicians, caseworkers and support workers were undertaken. Thematic analysis supported the development of several themes. These include the growing role of social care services, the importance of trust and the challenge created by the complexity of conditions people can present with when accessing social care services. To ensure the growing range of social care services do not get left behind with the increasing digitisation of the Australian health system, the health informatics community should prioritise the inclusion of social care informatics in its scope of practice.
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ItemThe Use of Web-Based Technologies in Health Research Participation: Qualitative Study of Consumer and Researcher Experiences(JMIR Publications, 2018-10-01)Background: Health consumers are often targeted for their involvement in health research including randomized controlled trials, focus groups, interviews, and surveys. However, as reported by many studies, recruitment and engagement of consumers in academic research remains challenging. In addition, there is scarce literature describing what consumers look for and want to achieve by participating in research. Objective: Understanding and responding to the needs of consumers is crucial to the success of health research projects. In this study, we aim to understand consumers’ needs and investigate the opportunities for addressing these needs with Web-based technologies, particularly in the use of Web-based research registers and social networking sites (SNSs). Methods: We undertook a qualitative approach, interviewing both consumer and medical researchers in this study. With the help from an Australian-based organization supporting people with musculoskeletal conditions, we successfully interviewed 23 consumers and 10 researchers. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed with thematic analysis methodology. Data collection was stopped after the data themes reached saturation. Results: We found that consumers perceive research as a learning opportunity and, therefore, expect high research transparency and regular updates. They also consider the sources of the information about research projects, the trust between consumers and researchers, and the mobility of consumers before participating in any research. Researchers need to be aware of such needs when designing a campaign for recruitment for their studies. On the other hand, researchers have attempted to establish a rapport with consumer participants, design research for consumers’ needs, and use technologies to reach out to consumers. A systematic approach to integrating a variety of technologies is needed. Conclusions: On the basis of the feedback from both consumers and researchers, we propose 3 future directions to use Web-based technologies for addressing consumers’ needs and engaging with consumers in health research: (1) researchers can make use of consumer registers and Web-based research portals, (2) SNSs and new media should be frequently used as an aid, and (3) new technologies should be adopted to remotely collect data and reduce administrative work for obtaining consumers’ consent.
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ItemInforming the Design of a health virtual community of practice: a knowledge translation approach(AISel, 2018)Access to knowledge forms an integral part of the continuous learning processes of medical and other health professionals throughout their career. Modern technologies have become instrumental in ex-tending learning processes to the online realm, particularly through the use of social media technologies. Health Practitioners’ (HPs) exploitation of online social media technologies for online learning and knowledge sharing purposes has evolved into Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP). However, there is limited research on the types of knowledge being shared to fulfil the notion of ‘knowledge-into-action’ in the healthcare domain. In addition, little is known of the use of online social media technologies as a catalyst to achieve ‘knowledge-into-action’. This research in progress paper extends the conceptual model from our previous work and draws on current literature that identifies the types of knowledge being shared in a Health VCoP. We discuss some of our data using our conceptual lens as a preliminary analysis of our work. Expected outcomes are a new extended conceptual model that fulfils the notion of ‘knowledge-into-action’ that informs the design of an IT artefact based on types of knowledge being shared in a Health VCoP.
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ItemEngaging Consumers with Musculoskeletal Conditions in Health Research: A User-entred Perspective(IOS PRESS, 2017)Consumers are frequently involved in different kinds of health research, such as clinical trials, focus groups, and surveys. As pointed out by different studies, recruiting and involving consumers to participate in academic research can be challenging. While different research and guidelines are provided to instruct researchers to recruit participants ethically, they seldom consider the needs and expectations of consumers. In this research, we interviewed 23 consumers with musculoskeletal conditions in Australia, to understand their needs and motivations for participating in research from a user-centred perspective. Based on these data, we systematically summarise consumers' feedback into four main themes: (1) Research as Learning Opportunity; (2) The Important Role of Communities and Health Professionals; (3) Research Transparency and Updates; and (4) Special Needs for People with MSK Conditions. As a result, a few recommendations are proposed and researchers should further consider these when designing consumer-based studies. Ultimately, with a better understanding of consumers, we hope that our research can enhance consumer engagement and improve their participation in health research.