Social informatics is the body of research that examines the design, uses and consequences of information and communication technologies in ways that take into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. This article draws upon some 25 years of systematic, analytical and...

Online gambling utilises advanced telecommunications technology to provide access to gambling across national borders, presenting unprecedented opportunities for industry and new challenges for government regulation and national sovereignty. It also promises to revolutionise the way people...

Virtually everywhere, there is governmental interest in developing and using science and technology as a tool for economic development and other public purposes. States within the United States look to advance vis-a-vis other states, just as nations seek to rise in competitiveness. What...

The management of our households and the way we spend our leisure time has been greatly influenced by the introduction of various household technologies in the 1980s and 1990s. This paper compares the extent and rate of adoption of selected household products in Australian households. The...

This paper is part of a research programme into corporate annual reports. Reports do provide the information on the past performance, present state and future prospects which investors in listed companies require for the rational choices attributed to them. They also reveal the companies'...

The New Zealand economy has undergone tremendous change since 1984, being transformed from one of the most regulated OECD economies to one of the most deregulated. Recently, the concept of a 'knowledge economy' has received attention in New Zealand, and policies are now aimed at creating such an...

This paper draws attention to the 1998 legislation in Australia which introduced a drug - specific patent term restoration procedure called a supplementary protection certificate. After investigating effective patent life data the results suggest that there is a case for such a measure in New...

This paper explores the complexity of public/private identities in the emerging global economies of gene sequence mapping and analysis. In so doing we seek to offer a less over-determined acccount of what it means to describe institutional actors as either 'public' or 'private'. Instead, these...

The patented McArthur-Forrest gold extraction process played a significant role in facilitating gold recovery in Western Australia after 1897. The patent-holders failed, however, both to obtain income commensurate with their efforts and to extend their patent rights in Western Australia. This...

Current UK policy on the knowledge-driven economy places a heavy weight of expectation on the fostering of entrepreneurial attitudes amongst university scientists. Interviews with the owner-managers of innovative companies in liquid crystal technology suggest that scientist-entrepreneurs are not...