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Frequently referred to as 'sexting' or 'amateur pornography', digital sexual images and videos form an increasingly common part of adult sexual relationships. However, the vocabulary available to speak about these practices is limited, with 'sexting' often associated with young people in negative terms. This study is based on 23 interviews with adults in Australia who are 25 years and older. It explores the language adults employ to discuss and comprehend the creation and sharing of sexualised images and videos. Findings show that negative or positive connotations associated with the terms used to discuss sexual images and videos influenced the ways participants drew on, or rejected, terms to align digital practices with their sexual subjectivity. Reticence to engage in active communication about digital sexual practices, and participant's distancing of their own practices from the terms commonly understood to refer to such practices, made it difficult to engage in conversations about consent or desire in the context of digitally mediated sex. Findings provide insight into the ways that -digital sexual subjectivities are discursively framed and extend these implications for sexual health promotion with respect to how to frame messages of digital sexual safety in a sex-positive and open way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper explores Australian military families' use of social media and digital communication to maintain and strengthen parent–child relationships during military deployments. Background: The physical and emotional well‐being of children and partners of military serving members is affected by service. Maintaining positive family relationships between military members and their children during periods of absence (including deployment) is important for parental relationships as well as the well‐being of the child. Method: A qualitative meta‐analysis is used to collate data from two previous studies of Australian Defence Force (ADF) families with children, in order to generate a new data set from which novel insights were drawn. Results: Families show a preference for social media and digital communication methods, and digital technologies affordances and practicalities are well suited for Defence families with children. There are a range of benefits; digital technologies are used to strengthen relationships between children and their deployed parent. The study highlights a range of challenges for deployed parents as well as points to the work required from the at‐home parent in facilitating these connections. Conclusion: Maintaining positive family relationships between military members and their children during times of absences is important for both relationships. This paper explores how ADF families use social and digital communication during military absences and outlines the role these technologies play as a medium for strengthening familial relationship. Implications. The findings of this paper highlight the importance of digital and social communication technologies for supporting families during absences. This has implications for the ADF, who might look to reduce members' access to such communication for security concerns. Reduced family well‐being may also have impacts on retention, a key issue for military organizations. Accordingly, the findings of this paper may be used to inform decisions about restricting internet and social media access for deployed military members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies and mobile apps provide migrants connectivity that helps alleviate the distressing experience of being separated from their families, as they endeavour to integrate socially and culturally into a new nation. In this article, we highlight the role played by communications technologies in maintaining family ties and emotional support transnationally among middle-class individuals. Building on the notions of transnational families, social media research and emotions, we examine the particularities with which migrant family members stay in touch across borders. In this context, emotions arise from the heartache experienced due to the separation from family. Drawing from qualitative data collected in 2010–2011 and in 2021 among middle-class Mexicans living in Australia, we show how digital communications are used to connect with the homeland and analyse the emotions associated with being separated from family. Given the middle-class status and aspirations of these migrants, it is noteworthy to highlight the relevance they attribute to kin in the homeland and contact with them. Existing research about Mexican im/migrants in Australia is limited. This study contributes to the growing body of research on the intersection of transnational family life, emotions arising from mobility, and digital media use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New forms of digital information and communication technologies have the potential to provide a "next generation" of agricultural technologies, which can drive improvements in productivity and efficiency while reducing risks and negative impacts. However, such digital transformation brings with it significant socio-ethical challenges. Responsible innovation provides insights and approaches to help guide digital transformation in socially beneficial and equitable directions. Drawing on the authors' involvement in digital agriculture programmes in two public research organisations in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, we reflect on our collective experiences and consider who is responsible for being responsible and how public research organisations can enable more responsible digital agriculture research and innovation programmes. This short communication is informed by a synthesis of: (i) insights from our research on socio-technical dimensions of digital agriculture programmes; (ii) critical reflections as social scientists participating in these programmes; and (iii) workshop synthesis that draws out reflections from wider programme participants about responsible innovation, developed through four collaborative workshops held virtually between May and August 2020. Our experiences show that responsible innovation in Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand public digital agriculture research and development so far tends to be only partially operationalised, with a mismatch between aspirations, rhetoric, and practice. Successful responsible innovation requires systemic and organisational changes to research and development practices across multiple levels to enable and enhance the 'response-ability' of project teams, including changes to the performance measures and reward mechanisms that encourage more responsible research and development outcomes. Our synthesis and reflections raise broader questions about the productively disruptive potential of responsible innovation. By challenging techno-centric framings of digital agriculture and encouraging more socially responsible processes and outcomes, this 'disruption' by responsible innovation can ultimately add value to digital agriculture research and development programmes and innovation systems. [Display omitted] • We reflect on who is responsible and how research organisations can enable more responsible digital agriculture programmes. • We share insights from our experiences as social scientists in digital agriculture research projects and programmes. • Responsible innovation encourages more inclusive approaches, challenging techno-centric framings of digital agriculture. • Responsible innovation can improve digital transformation by encouraging more responsible research and development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]