Sciences Books

Principles of Information Systems

Ralph Stair et al. — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:42:01 PDT

Today, information systems (IS) are used for business processes from communications to order processing and number crunching, and in business functions ranging from marketing to human resource management, accounting, and finance. Regardless of your future occupation, the chances are that you will need to understand what IS can and cannot do and be able to use IS to help you accomplish your work. You will be expected to suggest new uses of IS and participate in the design of solutions to business problems employing IS. You will be challenged to identify and evaluate IS options. To be successful, you must be able to view IS in terms of business and organisational needs.

For your solutions to be accepted, you must identify and address their impact on fellow workers. For these reasons, a course in IS is essential for business students in today’s high-tech world. Our primary objective with this text is to develop the best IS text and accompanying materials for the IS university courses required by business students. We present IS concepts that every business student must learn in order to be successful. This text has been written specifically for the IS curriculum, and it discusses IT and IS concepts in a business context with a strong managerial emphasis.

ISBN: 9780170188456

Conceptualising Community Cultural Development: The Role of Cultural Planning in Community Change

Christopher C. Sonn et al. — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:27:26 PDT

There is a growing recognition of the importance of engaging grassroots communities in all aspects of community building and other initiatives to address concerns about declining community well-being. Within the domain of community development there is an emphasis on building individual, family and community strengths to build capable communities. Although there is this shift in focus among service deliverers and policy-makers, Campbell and Jovchelovitch (2000) have suggested that there are no clear theoretical models that specify the processes through which participation and engagement with local communities translate into benefits for individuals and communities. Community Cultural Development (CCD) is one of the methodologies used by the Community Arts Network WA (CAN WA) to foster local community participation, using culture and arts as means for promoting community capacity and sense of community. However, even though CCD has the potential to contribute to community capacity, there is still a lack of clarity about the mechanisms and processes through which that is achieved. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a clearer conceptual understanding of how CCD activities impact on community.

ISBN: 0958123500

Social Psychology and Everyday Life

Darrin Hodgetts et al. — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:53:01 PDT

Offering a fresh, innovative approach, this international textbook encourages students to consider how social psychology can inform their understanding of the social world around them. Illustrative scenarios based on realistic everyday events, from shopping in a supermarket to taking a taxi, highlight just how relevant this subject is to tackling the issues that can arise in a diverse, multi-cultural society. By integrating core social psychology theories and concepts with more critical perspectives, Social Psychology and Everyday Life provides a valuable, broad, coherent and stimulating introduction to the field that is suitable for all students interested in social psychology. The book also situates social psychology within the broader social sciences, and in particular scholarship on media, place, health, justice, indigeneity, immigration, and social change.

ISBN: 9780230217959

Arts Participation and Wellbeing in Regional Western Australia: A Quantitative Study of the Shire of Denmark in the Great Southern Region

Julia Anwar McHenry — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:00:22 PDT

In 2006, Ms Anwar McHenry was awarded first class honours for this thesis, which was submitted in December 2005 for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Arts Management) at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University.

This thesis explores the belief that engaging in the arts has a positive influence on wellbeing, not just for individuals considered disadvantaged or “at-risk”, but also for the wellbeing of society and communities. An attempt was also made to determine how the benefits of participation in the arts compares to the possible benefits derived from other forms of community participation. An examination into the current literature on arts participation and its links with wellbeing, as well as social impact research was combined with a quantitative survey derived and adapted from wellbeing indicators. The survey was conducted via telephone interviews with 76 participants residing in the Shire of Denmark, Western Australia. The sample was made up of the combination of a pre-test sample, drawn from all sectors of the community, and 61 participants randomly selected from the local telephone directory. Significant relationships were found with both arts and community participation in relation to positive and negative affect, personal attitudes and traits, and trust and solidarity within the community. These relationships were evident for both the amount of time spent participating, as well as with the particular status as a participant or non-participant. Arts participation was more strongly associated with the direct cognitive measure ‘satisfaction with quality of life’ than community participation. The only item that revealed a relationship with both community participation and total participation, but not arts participation, was one that represented empowerment and political action as an aspect of social capital. The sample size was smaller than anticipated, and the presence of confounding variables and a large overlap between arts and community participants hindered the analysis of the data. Despite these limitations, this research has developed a workable methodology from which future research can be based, as well as demonstrated the ease with which standardised satisfaction, wellbeing and social capital measures can be adapted and administered to explore the relationship between arts participation and community wellbeing. It is recommended that future research continue this focus on the place of the arts in a healthy society and how involvement in the arts can contribute to overall wellbeing, sustainability and health, rather than the evaluation of short term or one-off arts projects as an interventionist approach.

ISBN: 978-3838318318

Due to copyright restrictions this book is unavailable for download.