A Sense of Control A Sense of Control: Virtual communities for people with mobility impairments C M. T HRISTINE ILLEY Chandos Publishing Oxford · England Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Limited TBAC Business Centre Avenue 4 Station Lane Witney Oxford OX28 4BN UK Tel: +44 (0) 1993 848726 Fax: +44 (0) 1865 884448 E-mail: [email protected] www.chandospublishing.com First published in Great Britain in 2009 ISBN: 978 1 84334 521 3 (paperback) 978 1 84334 522 0 (hardback) 1 84334 521 8 (paperback) 1 84334 522 6 (hardback) © Christine Tilley, 2009. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the Publishers. 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For my dear Margaret with thanks for your love and nurture, and for all that you are and all that you do. List of figures and tables Figures 7.1 The framework of the virtual community well-being model 185 Tables 4.1 The seven faces of information literacy 55 5.1 Grounded theory relationships 84 8.1 Outline of recommendations for the various stakeholders 213 A.1 Coding details of interview from which conceptual categories/properties/dimensions were generated 238 xi About the author Dr Christine M. Tilley is an associate of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. She has lectured at QUT and other tertiary institutions for some two decades, and served as an adviser and board member for numerous library and informational technology committees. Additionally, she was the manager of the QUT Faculty of Information Technology Computer Managed Learning facility; a member of the Preservation Sub-committee, Australian Council of Libraries & Information Services (Queensland branch); a member of the State Committee, Australian Council of Libraries & Information Services (previously Australian Advisory Council of Bibliographic Services); and coordinator of the Early Imprints Project Queensland (EIPQ). She has extensive experience in disability issues, has been active in disability and other community organisations and continues to publish widely in this area. Her research work has included information and communications technology and disability, information literacy, community information use and the EIPQ. Furthermore, she has been an approved Commonwealth valuer (antiquarian and second-hand books, especially early printing, fine printing and illustrated books, Australiana) for the Cultural Gifts Program (Insurance, Family Division and Probate), Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra, for the past 25 years. xiii Acknowledgements Firstly, I acknowledge and thank Professor Christine Bruce, my mentor in academic matters, for sharing her inspiration, wisdom and knowledge over the years. She is an intellectual mentor of the finest kind as well as a friend, and to her go my genuine thanks. Christine is also an excellent role model and her wise counsel and expert guidance in all phases of the planning, research, analysis and writing stages have made this work a reality. To my other academic mentors, Professor Andrew Hills, Associate Professor Gillian Hallam, Dr Neville Meyers, Professor Donald Schauder and Professor Nicholas Bellamy, director of CONROD, I give my sincere thanks for their encouragement, and also for their practical assistance. I also wish to acknowledge all the members of the QUILT research group who met regularly and offered collegial advice and support throughout the process of the original study – particularly Associate Professor Sylvia Edwards, Michael Middleton and Hilary Hughes. My friend and ex-colleague Dr Gerard Finn was a source of practical help and inspiration, as were Louise Campbell, Kylie Downs, Gunela Astbrink, my cousin Jan Kiek, Anne Maguire and Drs Faye Thompson, Mary Ditton and Glenice Watson, whose assistance, example and encouragement were essential. In addition to the above persons, my thanks go to other colleagues and friends in the academic, library and support staff of the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, who gave freely their advice as well as their assistance. I also would like to mention Wendy Dent and Judith Anderson, Ray Duplock, High Performance Computing and Research Support Group, Information Technology Services and Laura Venn, assistant to the assistant dean, Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Information Technology. Besides the assistance from the above, many individuals gave advice, help and encouragement in the progress of the work and the xv A Sense of Control School of Information Systems was particularly helpful with facilities and resources. I am grateful to Cherry Ekins, a talented editor, who generously read drafts and offered many helpful suggestions for improvement, and to Dr Glyn Jones for publishing this book. Any errors or omissions are mine alone! However, the whole project could not have been undertaken without the tireless contributions from those knowledgeable people with physical disabilities. I am also indebted to the allied health, information and policy adviser professionals who participated in the interviews and contributed so willingly. I would like to acknowledge my mother, Margaret Doig Tilley (1911–1992), who contributed in so many ways to my whole being and had a deep appreciation of education, especially for women and persons with disabilities. Without her support, my education would not have occurred. Would that she had lived to see this outcome of her vision and efforts. xvi List of acronyms ACA Australian Communications Authority ACIF Australian Communication Industry Forum ACM-CHI Association of Computing Machinery-Computer Human Interaction ADA Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 ADD access digital divide ADD attention deficit disorder ADSL asymmetrical digital subscriber lines AGIO Australian Government Information Office AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome AIIA Australian Information Industry Association ALA American Library Association ALIA Australian Library and Information Association AMTA Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association ANTA Australian National Training Authority ASLA Australian School Library Association AT assistive technology ATAC Australian Telework Advisory Committee ATAP Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs xvii A Sense of Control ATIA Australian Telecommunications Industry Association BCC Brisbane City Council BITES basic IT enabling skills BSL British sign language BT British Telecom CAUL Council of Australian University Librarians CDS Commonwealth Disability Strategy (Australia) CHI computer-human interaction CMC computer-mediated communication CN community network CONROD Centre of National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine (Australia) CORDE National Coordination Office for the Integration of People with Disabilities (Brazil) CPSR Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility CRE Commission for Racial Equality (UK) CSG customer service guarantee DAB ACIF Disability Advisory Board DCITA Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (Australia) DD digital divide DDA Disability Discrimination Act (Australia and UK) DEFIE Disabled and Elderly People Flexible Integrated Environment system DEH disability enquiry helpline (Australia) DEP disability equipment programme (Australia) DIEL Oftel Advisory Committee on Telecommunications for Disabled and Elderly People xviii