Mary Power

How SMS makes a difference to communication

Louise Horstmanshof et al. — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:26:05 PST

Migrating close to home: New Zealand migrants' identity in Australia

Alison E. Green et al. — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:08:22 PDT

Communicating with Australian deaf people about communication technology

Mary R. Power et al. — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:13:22 PDT

The paper examines deaf people's knowledge of modern Internet communication technologies and the possible benefits they could obtain from them. We found that organisations for deaf people were active in informing their members but a very large number of people deafened by ageing were not so aware of possible benefits. Signing deaf people benefit from video communication by telephone and the Internet. Signing avatars are also of considerable benefit in making available text and voice sites on the Internet. Methods of promoting awareness for better access and suggestions for their implementation are examined.

The internet and government disability policy development in the United Kingdom

Des Power et al. — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:00:38 PST

People with disabilities represent a significant but often overlooked proportion of the British population (10 million people, 18%). They are publicly represented by organisations consisting of and managed by people with disabilities themselves (e.g., British Deaf Association) and organisations for their benefit, often managed or advised by people from the “helping professions” (e.g., Royal National Institute for the Deaf). Many community organisations attempt to influence government policy by both direct lobbying with government and its agencies. They use the media to gain awareness and support . This paper investigates how a sample of key disability organisations use the Internet to inform their members, publicise their activities, describe the need for policy changes or new initiatives and encourage political action to redress what they see as inequalities.

This paper examines the policy campaigning of major organisations representative of a range of types of disabilities as found on their websites and asks whether these campaigns influence government policy by examining a number of both central and local government initiatives to see the extent to which they reflect the campaigns of the organisations. The paper finds that disability organizations use websites to put their messages about disability issues and to put the views and standpoints of disabled people in the public domain and that in an election year they give clear instructions to disabled people on how to increase the power of their vote by actively participating in activities through which political parties will understand their views.

Agenda setting in real-life negotiations

Mary Power — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:24:39 PST

Many negotiators in union/management disputes or business, academic, legal, political, religious and social settings work with multiple parties. Frequently several parties join together against a more powerful employer or group despite not having identical needs, goals and interests. This article compares “real life” accounts of the strategies used by three experienced union and management negotiators with recommendations derived from laboratory research which examine the effect of issue agendas, decision rules and power imbalances on the quality of negotiated agreements in classroom settings using simulated problems.

Windmills on the horizon of the Great Ocean Road: An interactive exercise in multi-party dispute prevention and resolution

Mary Power — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:25:50 PST

In an exercise involving a contentious environmental issue concerning the location of wind farms participants investigate different perspectives on issues and devise rules that can be applied to “co-operative” disputes generally. Participants familiarize themselves with several kinds of negotiating and bargaining strategies and tactics useful in managing multi-party negotiations. The exercise gives participants practice in separating points of agreement and points of difference. As a part of this process, stakeholders are identified and the facts and opinions surrounding the issue described. As well as deciding what arguments could be used, parties to a disagreement need to establish how they will conduct the negotiation and the rules by which they will evaluate its success. In addition to learning how to prepare for, conduct and evaluate a multi-party cooperative dispute, participants gain opportunities for practice in persuading other parties of the merit of the arguments for their case.

Crisis command: Strategies for managing corporate crises

Hamish McLean et al. — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:28:13 PDT

A quarter of crisis-hit organisations do not survive,' Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 2004.

Is your organisation equipped with the necessary tools to respond quickly and effectively to any type of crises? A lack of a clear defined strategy can have far-reaching repercussions on revenue, incoming work and reputation.

Ark Group's new Crisis Command report is a practical, how-to guide, packed with key strategies and realistic advice to help you prepare for and manage organisational crises. It provides valuable guidance on how to take command, how to communicate, how to work as a team facing unprecedented pressure and scrutiny, particularly from stakeholders, and how to emerge stronger.

Key case studies and contributions from researchers and expert practitioners around the world will also provide you with proven solutions and mechanisms used to respond to crises, overcome disaster and protect your firm.

Video games and a culture of conflict

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:28:12 PDT

Extract:
Video games are big business. Grand Theft Auto IV had sales of US4500 million in its first week (Canning, 2008b) and Halo 3 earned US$170 million for Microsoft in its opening day sales (Casey, 2007). In 2007, the Brisbane Times reported the release of videogame Halo 3 with the headline, "Online bloodbath as half a billion killed" as 1,441,353 played Halo 3 in its first 24 hours (Casey, 2007). Reviewing Halo 3 for the New York Times, Herold (2007) reinforced the centrality of the violence: "the story of Halo 3 is the same as that of Halo 2 and the original Halo: a lot of things get in your way and you kill them ... The game's pleasures lie in the things you kill and how you do it ... Weapons include shotguns, sniper rifles, flame throwers and a giant sledgehammer that slices most monsters in half with a single blow if you can just get close enough".
Herold continued by purporting that consumers are conditioned by the industry to accept or even demand video game violence: "Halo 3 is not just a game: it is a phenomenon fueled by obsessed fans, slick advertising and excessive press coverage".

Relationship satisfaction and conflict styles of partners

Mary Power et al. — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:11:21 PST

Past research Reese-Weber and Kahn (2004) shows that perceptions of parental conflict resolution style are related to current conflict styles with romantic partners. Cramer (2003) demonstrated that negative conflict reduces relationship satisfaction. This study provides data to document how subjects view their own conflict styles (defined as specific types of conflict behaviour (Cosier and Ruble, 1981) together with behavioural orientations towards conflict (Thomas, 1975) in their relationships with parents and partners and relates these comparisons of past relationships with levels of satisfaction (Hendrick, 1988) in current relationships. Their perception of their own conflict style is matched with their scores on a validated measure of conflict styles (Conflict-Resolution Behaviour Questionnaire (CRBQ) Rubenstein & Feldman (1993). By comparing their own assessment of their conflict style with the results on the CRBQ we obtained a measure of the metacognitive awareness of conflict resolution styles of the participants. We then compare their relationship satisfaction with their metacognitive awareness of their own style and their assessment of their partner's style. This survey was lodged on the web on 11-9-2005 and results were down loaded on 15.12.2005. The survey was composed of 110 questions 96 of them used a Likert scale. There were 6 multiple choice and 8 open ended questions. Three hundred and sixty nine logons were registered and two hundred and eight seven began the survey with about 220 answering most questions. 67% were female and 33% male and all but two were or had been in heterosexual relationships. 51.8% were currently in a relationship and 28.2% answered the survey in relations to a recent past relationship. Relationship length ranged between 1 month and twenty four years. Just over half the subjects (51.6% were aged between 18-25 with 16.7% aged between 26-35, 13.9% aged between 36-45 ; 11.%% between 46-55 and 6.3% aged 56 or over. the parents of most subjects (74.5%) were currently married or had been before their deaths. Divorced parents were in the minority 20%. Subjects were anonymous and were influenced by a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. Similarly they listed a ranged of significant religious influences in their lives. Reports of Hendricks satisfaction scale. Most or 52.6% saw that their conflict style resembled their mothers' style and 47.4% saw that they followed their father's style. Discussion centres on measures which will highlight a metacognitive awareness (Power, 1992) of the interpersonal communication skills required to resolve conflict successfully and highlights key areas where subjects need further training.

The 'crisis' frame in Australian newspaper reports in 2005

Mary Power et al. — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:49:08 PST

This paper examines how the 'crisis' frame was used to report actual events such as areas of government mismanagement of health, water supply, and energy in Australian newspaper headlines and lead paragraphs in 2005. The crisis frame was also linked to predicted crises such as shortages of skilled workers and infrastructure. A search of the Factiva database of Australian newspapers located 3,745 articles that contained the word 'crisis' in the headline and/or lead paragraph. The crisis label was more frequently applied to government than to corporate and business areas of responsibility. The paper includes discussion of the benefits of the press as an early warning system for crisis, while urging caution because of the ability of the press to use frames selectively to create particular constructions of news events.

What video games teach about conflict

Mary Power — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:36:30 PDT

Currently, we face the problem of teaching children to be peacemakers in a world where popular video games available to children frequently model violent patterns of conflict resolution. Although video games can provide intense enjoyment for players, criticism of the long-term effects of exposure to models of violent reaction to conflict needs to be addressed and efforts made to provide alternative models which demonstrate that solving conflict involves learning how to see a situation from someone else's viewpoint, clear articulation of one's own position and the ability to perceive another's, together with the mental flexibility to imagine proposals that might meet the needs of everyone involved. This article analyses plot summaries and genres of current popular video games to discern those in which explicit violence towards others in conflict situations is modelled and those in which efforts are made to teach peaceful ways to solve conflict.

Trans-Tasman migration: New Zealanders' explanations for their move

Alison E. Green et al. — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:36:29 PDT

This study investigates why New Zealanders move to Australia. A survey of New Zealanders living in Australia found 'pull' factors, notably greater opportunities and better climate, were the most common reasons. While desire for change or sense of adventure was important, dissatisfaction with life in New Zealand was also a factor. Results indicated a form of transnationalism as migrants felt at home in both countries. They maintained links with New Zealand evident in support for New Zealand sporting teams, expressions of New Zealand nationality, emotional connection and regular contact with New Zealand.

Use of the crisis frame in UK, USA and Australian newspapers in 2006

Mary Power et al. — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:08:54 PDT

This paper compares how newspapers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America used the word “crisis” in headlines during 2006. The press has an acknowledged role in reporting news, but its role as described in agenda setting (McCombs & Shaw, 1993) and framing (Scheufele, 2000; Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007) goes beyond that. Through headlines the press captures our attention, and through the process of framing it links events and situations with other concepts and events. Attaching the word “Crisis” to an event adds to its news value, creates attention and can be a call to action. Investigating situations which the media predicts will lead to future crises increases the role of the press in influencing future action, and it demonstrates the benefits of the press as an early warning system of the inadequate systems of governance and management and control over preventable crises to which it draws attention. The very word “crisis” is an ideal framing word because it implies that whatever is tied to it becomes something that should be acted upon. Results showed inter-country differences in the use of the label “crisis” with both British and Australian headlines using it more frequently than American newspapers.

Communication and culture: signing deaf people online in Europe

Mary Power et al. — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:08:53 PDT

Having been shut out of use of the telephone, the major means of communication for personal, social and vocational purposes for over one hundred years, deaf people have enthusiastically welcomed the advent of text and other visual modes of communication via the Internet.

Deaf people are using the Internet for the usual purposes hearing people do: socialising, entertainment, learning, business, etc. Evidence is emerging that they too are using the Internet to forge new links and alliances both nationally and internationally. From these links may be emerging a new sense of "Deafhood" (Ladd, 2003), with common experiences of being Deaf in a hearing-speaking world uniting signing Deaf people from all around the world into a "Deaf-World" (Lane, Hoffmeister & Bahan, 1996) which transcends national and geographic barriers.

A theoretical analysis of such activities in the Deaf-World will be informed by an extension of Granovetter's (1983) notion of "the strength of weak ties" which posits that in social networks "weak ties" among acquaintances and more distant contacts will provide more new knowledge and information (in this case about innovative communication technologies) than "strong ties" like family and close friends will do. It is considered that the contacts made on the Internet are examples of weak ties which will help expedite the development of new ideas and wider contacts among Deaf people and the development of a more outward looking Deaf World that incorporates broader international perspectives.

Following up on previous research in Australia, Germany and Norway (Power, Power & Horstmanshof, 2007; Power, Power & Rehling, 2007; Bakken, 2005) this paper reports a study of the online links and activities of Deaf sites and individuals on the Internet in Europe. It examines Deaf-related blogs, vlogs, Second Life and other social networking sites to determine themes of Deafhood and evidence of the development of more contacts that are weakly tied to the Internet user that emerge in the online communications and activities of Deaf people.

Frontismatter

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:17:08 PST

[Contents]: Contents, Rationale, Experiential choice based learning in groups,To the student - rationale for tasks in broad content areas

Chapter 13 : Working in teams and groups

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:17:07 PST

[Contents]: Introduction - can groups make better decisions than individuals, Key issues in the area, Discussion exercise, Journal, Individual tasks, Groups

Chapter 2 : Persuasion, structure and language devices

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:17:06 PST

[Contents]: Introduction, Key strategies in persuasive speaking, Introduction to the field, Key issues in the area, Discussion exercise, Writing task, Speech opportunities, Language to keep attention, Individual tasks - speech plan

Chapter 5 : Analysing speech examples

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:17:06 PST

[Contents]: Discussion exercise, weddings, parties and funerals, Neville Wran, Carmen Lawrence

Chapter 7 : Writing reports and business writing in groups

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:17:06 PST

[Contents]: Introduction, Good writing is, Working with groups, Group report writing, planning a report, Needs analysis for problem solving report, Stages in report writing with a group

Chapter 15: Men and women communicating

Mary R. Power — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:17:05 PST

[Contents]: A brief introduction to the field, Issues for discussion, Individual task, Group task, Discussion exercises, Writing tasks