Shannon Faulkhead

WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES: Community partnership research in information technology, management and systems

From a research perspective, enhancing our understanding of interactions between people, the contexts in which they are situated, technologies, systems and information is seen as one of the keys to developing better information technologies, management and systems. When designing and doing research, there is a need to take into account the diversity, dynamics and complexity at play in designing, developing, managing and interacting with information systems, optimizing the use of information technologies and managing information. Undertaking community partnership research relating to information technologies, management and systems is centred on understanding and prioritizing how information and information technologies can empower communities, support their development, resilience, health and well-being, promote self-determination, social inclusion and social justice, and bridge divides. This community-centricity presents challenges, however, for research, researchers and research institutions. They are associated with equitable participation, engagement and co-production; respect and recognition of the rights, needs, values and motivation of all participants and stakeholders, as well as their expertise and ways of knowing; researcher stance; and control over and dissemination of knowledge outcomes. The papers in this special issue explore many of these challenges.

THIS IS NOT A GUIDE TO INDIGENOUS RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS

Development of research partnerships can cause confusion, as there is not and cannot be a step-by-step guidebook to community partnerships. Each one is different because each partnership is unique. The aim of this article is to unpack some of the workings of Indigenous research partnerships. In this article we use a mini-literature review of Australian research, and methods of self-reflection and ‘Yarning’ to draw on our research partnership experiences of having been community partners to researchers, as researchers ourselves partnering with community, and Indigenous knowledge shared with us through collaborative research, and community relationships. The literature review is a tool to show the tendency for research partnership methods to be viewed as hierarchical and/or lateral based on the descriptions within the literature, and illustrate some of the issues experienced from an Indigenous perspective when operating within a Western paradigm. Although research partnerships can be complex, the rewards of the collaboration are many, including benefits for all partners and research outcomes that can be adopted at the community level. Emerging issues include partnership methodologies, evaluation and quality assurance.

Bridging Communities Foundations For The Interchange Of Ideas

Research undertaken with ones own community can be complex and demanding. It can also be valuable and fulfilling. Those who take on this challenge must often straddle variant roles, values, and perspectives with the potential for the strictures and structures of the academic community to be at odds with those of the partner community in research endeavours. These ‘double insiders’ can be valued for their bridging capacity and insight. However, they are also likely to be called upon to negotiate or mediate expectations, tensions, and differences between the research partners. This paper takes a new approach to a complex issue that is being increasingly discussed inside the academy by employing an autoethnographical approach to examine, holistically, this kind of researcher positioning. This paper brings together researchers from three very different community contexts – women with breast cancer, Records Continuum researchers and practitioners, and Indigenous Australian communities – each pursuing diverse research projects related to information technology and recordkeeping. The recounting of each researchers story and the subsequent shared discussion of key issues that emerge from each story relating to research design, reflexivity, and reciprocity offer new insights and considerations for frameworks addressing community-based research.

Challenging the colonisation of birth: Koori women’s birthing knowledge and practice

BACKGROUND The 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination for social and cultural development. This fundamental right has been impeded worldwide through colonisation where many Indigenous peoples have had to adapt to ensure continuation of cultural knowledge and practice. In South East Australia colonisation was particularly brutal interrupting a 65,000 year-old oral culture and archives have increasing importance for cultural revival. AIM The aim of this research was to collate archival material on South East Australian Aboriginal womens birthing knowledge and practice. METHODS Archivist research methods were employed involving a search for artefacts and compiling materials from these into a new collection. This process involved understanding the context of the artefact creation. Collaborative yarning methods were used to reflect on materials and their meaning. FINDINGS Artefacts found included materials written by non-Aboriginal men and women, materials written by Aboriginal women, oral histories, media reports and culturally significant sites. Material described practices that connected birth to country and the community of the women and their babies. Practices included active labour techniques, pain management, labour supports, songs for labour, ceremony and the role of Aboriginal midwives. Case studies of continuing cultural practice and revival were identified. CONCLUSION Inclusion of Aboriginal womens birthing practices and knowledge is crucial for reconciliation and self-determination. Challenging the colonisation of birthing, through the inclusion of Aboriginal knowledge and practice is imperative, as health practices inclusive of cultural knowledge are known to be more effective.