A Sense of Control. Virtual Communities for People with Mobility Impairments

291 Pages·2008·1.362 MB·English

by  Christine Tilley (Auth.)

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
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Witney
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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
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The Publishers make no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the
information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability
for any errors or omissions.
The material contained in this publication constitutes general guidelines only and does not
represent to be advice on any particular matter. No reader or purchaser should act on the basis
of material contained in this publication without first taking professional advice appropriate to
their particular circumstances.
Typeset in the UKby Concerto.
Printed in the UK and USA.
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.
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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
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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
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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
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