Role Distance in Question: When it is No Longer Participating But Winning Which is Important

The purpose of this study, which follows on from previous work, is to show in what ways sport has surreptitiously changed and become more complex, to the extent that its functioning only imperfectly responds to one of the basics of sport as envisaged by Elias: role distance. That is the propensity of the participants to avoid being caught in the game, which is only a game, defining in this way the social distance which classes sports performers and the relationship of their practice to the contingencies and material necessities of life. The choice of this focal point is another attempt to understand what happens when sport, by transforming itself, becomes more than sport or even another type of sport. In other words, here we wish to discover what makes Elias' model incomplete. Although sport is supposed to contribute to the pacification of social relations, there are still a large number of elements, which in sporting practice, and in its most recent developments, cannot be explained by the theory of the ‘civilising process’.     

Missing in Action? New Perspectives on the Origins and Diffusion of Women's Football in Australia during the Great War

Previous work on female participation in Australian Rules football has highlighted the seemingly discontinuous character of the women's game as it spread from Western Australia to Victoria during the period of the Great War. In this paper, an overview of the current literature on the topic is provided, and there is a focus on hitherto ‘missing links’ in the existing sequence of events – the knowledge of which has the potential to create a more integrated narrative of the code. In particular, the photographic, filmic and textual evidence for matches of women's football played in South Australia during the Great War is discussed. These games, with proceeds directed to such charities as the ‘Workers' Memorial Fund’ as well as ‘comforts for the Anzacs’, attracted sizeable crowds and were sometimes played under the patronage of the governor of the state, the mayor of Adelaide and senior military officers. The paper concludes with a reflection on how the availability (or unavailability) of particular digitised sources, and the serendipitous nature of research itself, can have a problematic influence on investigations associated with marginalised sports such as women's football.     

Purpose and preference in educational podcasting

The application of podcasting for educational purposes is growing fast in universities. There are several benefits of this asynchronous, direct communication and interaction between teacher and student. Nonetheless, the benefits, the pedagogical value of podcasting the traditional lecture format, have come into question. Furthermore, issues have been raised regarding lengthy and costly download times, and the fact that students need to make time to listen to them. For these reasons, using short 3–5‐minute podcasts that summarise the lecture have been suggested. This paper explores how students interact with different types of podcasts. The study compares download and course evaluation data of a series of short‐summary podcasts with full‐lecture podcasts produced for the same university course. The findings show that students value full‐lecture podcasts as highly as the short‐summary podcasts, despite the fact that full‐lecture podcasts are downloaded to a markedly lesser degree. The cause of this anomaly appears to lie in the different purposes that dictate podcast use. The paper concludes by noting that both full‐lecture and short‐summary podcasts serve as useful tools for student learning in university contexts.     

Identifying Best Practices in Financing Next Generation Networks

Governments throughout the world have determined that next generation network (NGN) development serves the national interest. The strategies used to achieve progress vary greatly, as does the extent to which governments perceive the need to get actively involved through direct ownership or subsidization of carriers. No government has unlimited funds to invest in new networks, or to subsidize private ventures promising to improve access to essential services at affordable rates. Accordingly, nations must determine whether and how to use limited taxpayer funds to expedite the access to inexpensive and ubiquitous wired and wireless broadband networks. Baseline factors such as geography, income, demographics, and market penetration of existing networks have a significant impact on what works best. However, nations with similar physical and economic characteristics have pursued significantly different strategies. This article identifies best practices in NGN development using both case studies and a review of the current literature assessing government strategies. While it cannot confirm a theoretical basis for achieving success in NGN development, the article provides a toolkit of confirmed best practices.     

New directions for lifelong learning using network technologies

The requirements placed on learning technologies to support lifelong learning differ considerably from those placed on technologies to support particular fragments of a learning lifetime. The time scales involved in lifelong learning, together with its multi‐institutional and episodic nature are not reflected in today’s mainstream learning technologies and their associated architectures. The article presents an integrated model and architecture to serve as the basis for the realisation of networked learning technologies serving the specific needs and characteristics of lifelong learners. The integrative model is called a ‘Learning Network’ (LN) and its requirements and architecture are explored, together with the ways in which its application can help in reducing barriers to lifelong learning.