Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society
The Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) is a cross-disciplinary research institute dedicated to maximising the benefit of new broadband technologies to Australian society.
The Institute’s activities complement the Department of Information Systems research areas. Several DIS staff have been involved with IBES seed-funded projects. These include:
Broadband Enabled Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing
Dr Shanton Chang, Dr Reeva Lederman, Dr Martin Gibbs, Mr Greg Wadley, Assoc. Prof. Mary Ainley, Dr Mario Alvarez-Jimenez, Assoc. Prof. John Gleeson, Dr Sarah Hetrick, Assoc. Prof Eoin Killackey, Ms Magenta Simmons.
This project will bring together a number of groups interested in the issue of youth mental health and the applications to support young people, their families and clinicians using broadband enabled technologies.
Mobile and Broadband Technologies for Ameliorating Social Isolation in Older People
Frank Vetere, Elizabeth Ozanne, Lars Kulik, Sonja Pedell
This project aims to investigate the use mobile and broadband technologies that can ameliorate the social isolation of older people.
Creating a presence in classrooms for children absent due to health conditions
Dr Frank Vetere with Dr Amy Niselle (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
This project investigates the impact of creating a ‘presence’ in the classroom for children who are absent from school due to hospitalisation.
Assessing the Potential Barriers to the Adoption of High-Speed Broadband by Australian Business
Rens Scheepers, P. Auger, H. Islam, C. Middleton
For broadband adoption to thrive in the Australian environment, it is important to understand how businesses perceive its benefits, and potential barriers to the development of applications and services. Insights into these potential barriers (as perceive by business), as well as effective approaches to mitigate perceived barriers (from the perspective of business, technology providers and government/policy makers) is pertinent in terms of the current early stage of broadband rollout in the country.
The project will investigate adoption barriers across a spectrum of small and large business in Australia in both the business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) context.
Gardens of tomorrow in broadband-enabled neighbourhoods
J. Pearce, A. Pearce, N. Stork, W. Smith
This project will demonstrate the potential benefits of integrating social networks with environmental sensor networks via broadband-enabled neighbourhoods, and explore the role of social networking within interconnected neighbourhoods for the overall benefit of community and neighbourhood members.
Broadband for First Episode Psychosis Patients
Dr Reeva Lederman, Assoc. Prof. John Gleeson, Dr Mario Alvarez-Jimenez, Assoc. Prof Eoin Killackey,Mr Greg Wadlley.
Psychosis is a distressing condition which often occurs for the first time during adolescence. While most recover from a first episode psychosis and are discharged from treatment, up to 80% relapse within five years. Treatment is often inaccessible because of cost, inconvenience or stigma.
This project seeks to design and test an inexpensive, convenient online therapy.