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Background: The Global Specialist Digital Health Workforce Census is the largest workforce survey of the specialist roles that support the development, use, management, and governance of health data, health information, health knowledge, and health technology., Objective: This paper aims to present an analysis of the roles and functions reported by respondents in the 2023 census., Methods: The 2023 census was deployed using Qualtrics and was open from July 1 to August 13, 2023. A broad definition was provided to guide respondents about who is in the specialist digital health workforce. Anyone who self-identifies as being part of this workforce could undertake the survey. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis and thematic analysis of the functions respondents reported in their roles., Results: A total of 1103 respondents completed the census, with data reported about their demographic information and their roles. The majority of respondents lived in Australia (n=870, 78.9%) or New Zealand (n=130, 11.8%), with most (n=620, 56.3%) aged 35-54 years and identifying as female (n=720, 65.3%). The top four occupational specialties were health informatics (n=179, 20.2%), health information management (n=175, 19.8%), health information technology (n=128, 14.4%), and health librarianship (n=104, 11.7%). Nearly all (n=797, 90%) participants identified as a manager or professional. Less than half (430/1019, 42.2%) had a formal qualification in a specialist digital health area, and only one-quarter (244/938, 26%) held a credential in a digital health area. While two-thirds (502/763, 65.7%) reported undertaking professional development in the last year, most were self-directed activities, such as seeking information or consuming online content. Work undertaken by specialist digital health workers could be classified as either leadership, functional, occupational, or technological., Conclusions: Future specialist digital health workforce capability frameworks should include the aspects of leadership, function, occupation, and technology. This largely unqualified workforce is undertaking little formal professional development to upskill them to continue to support the safe delivery and management of health and care through the use of digital data and technology., (© Kerryn Butler-Henderson, Kathleen Gray, Salma Arabi. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (https://mededu.jmir.org).)

In 1989, New Zealand started to follow an international trend of reforming education policy according to the neoliberal principles of competition, choice and self-managing schools. Since then, the increasing availability of digital data in schools has corresponded with the development of student achievement measurement tools and benchmarking of standards that enable comparison of schools and cohorts of students. More recently, national policy targets for student achievement have been introduced and form the basis of accountability measures. The article uses Hargreaves and Shirley's 'Four Ways' characterisation of education policy change as a framework to examine the influence that national policy has had on the use of data, on power relations between schools and the national policymakers, and on the challenges faced by school leaders. Interviews in 16 schools explored the types of data available in each school, how they are used and how principals, as leaders in these self-managing schools, would like to be able to use the data. Two systemic influences explain the patterns found in the research. The first is the tension principals face between data required for accountability reporting and data needed for school-based decision-making. The second is the issue with regard to economies of scale and marketisation of education that affects equitable access to the knowledge, tools and expertise that enable effective data usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1994 the QMAP 1:250 000 Geological Map of New Zealand project began with compilation of the Dunedin sheet. Nearly 18 years later, publication of the Hawke's Bay sheet marks the completion of all 21 maps. The adoption of geographic information systems (GIS) software for data capture, data management and map production has not only produced high cartographic quality maps, but also built the attribute-rich, nationally consistent QMAP GIS spatial database. The project cost about NZD $24M, and the results are now being used by government, industry and research organisations across infrastructure, geological hazard, resource and environmental areas. QMAP has added significantly to general knowledge of New Zealand's geological composition and history due to new discoveries and validation of concepts. Notable advances include work on the allochthons of Northland and East Coast; rationalisation of the Taupo Volcanic Zone and East Coast stratigraphic successions; differentiation of the Torlesse basement terranes; clarification of the transition from Otago Schist to Alpine Schist; determining the complex spatial and temporal history of igneous intrusions in Fiordland and Stewart Island; and mapping Quaternary sediments by oxygen isotope stage and depositional processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]