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This paper presents results from a survey of teachers describing their two most useful Facebook groups (n=108 teachers). It addresses a gap in the literature, in that many studies investigate teachers within certain Facebook groups, but little is known about the types of groups that teachers-who-use-Facebook find to be most useful. Analysis of the survey results looks at the privacy, thematic focus, and regional focus of groups that teachers report to be useful. The study also addresses the question of “what kinds of peer support do teachers find within these useful Facebook groups?” The results show that useful Facebook groups tend to be private, positioned at a state/jurisdiction/national level, and have a clear thematic focus. Results also show that within these useful Facebook groups teachers report high levels of pragmatic support, with lower levels of modelling of practice, reflection and feedback, meaningful connections, and emotional support (in that order). The paper discusses the significance of these findings with respect to issues of policy, design, and facilitation of Social Network Sites (SNSs) as well as teacher preparation for competencies to thrive within SNSs.

A collaboration with conservation scientists at UQ to create a data-driven web application for Australians to find the threatened species near them and learn how to take meaningful action. Threatened Australians is a collaboration between conservation scientists from University of Queensland Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science (CBCS), interaction design academics from Queensland University of Technology Design Lab and web developers from Wando Labs. It was born out of a recognition that Australian species are in a disastrous state and without better support, they will continue to decline. Australians and their elected representatives can provide that support by talking about it. If we talk about it, we can start to encourage those in power to do what they can to provide the necessary solutions. We felt the lack of a conversation around the Australian threatened species crisis was, in part, due to a lack of basic information at the fingertips of all Australians. This project is an attempt at providing an accessible and engaging resource that helps to communicate the ongoing crisis. How many people know about which species are endangered in their backyards? And why are they endangered? And if locals don’t know these facts, how can they possibly alert elected representatives when issues which affect the future of these species arise? This project is guided by two overarching principles: - Education. If people are aware of the size of the challenge and can articulate that which matters most to them, meaningful change is more likely to occur. The conservation community has developed impressive data about threatened species in Australia. Yet not enough people know about this important work. Through interaction design these data can become meaningful for all Australians. - Communication. There are many Australians who are concerned with the state of the environment. It should be easy for constituents

Australia—like much of the world—is facing a biodiversity crisis. Hundreds of species are in danger of extinction due to the destruction and degradation of their habitats. Populations of threatened species have more than halved since 1985. To have a chance at survival, these species require federal government recovery plans for funding and habitat protection. The site Threatened Australians began as a discussion between a conservation scientist and an interaction designer who distilled the problem: We, as a scientific community, know so much about threatened species, yet there is no simple way for laypeople to connect with them. The problem became a brief: There are so many government and scientific datasets about these species available. How might they be used to promote democratic action to save threatened species? A small budget was obtained through internal university funding based on a commitment to produce a website that took users through entering their postcode, to connecting in a meaningful way with local threatened species, to taking actions to help save them.