She was proud of me despite finding the obsession with sex rather embarrassing

Dedication

I dedicate this thesis to my father, Dr Jack Martin Kirkman, MB, BS (1918-1994). He was an adventurer and autodidact who learnt to drive in a T-Model Ford and to fly in a Tiger Moth, later flying Spitfires as a fighter pilot. He enrolled in medicine as a mature age student and was valued and respected as a general practitioner. With his adventurous spirit, interest in technology, support for social justice, and pursuit of lifelong learning Jack has been an inspiration and role model.

Acknowledgements

Relationships are complicated and I have some complicated relationships with the people acknowledged here. I first met Christopher Fox when I visited him in his office to ask if he was interested in supervising my candidature. Supervision has been complicated over the five years of candidature yet Chris has been a constant source of support and influence, even during the middle period when he was not an official supervisor. When I needed someone Chris came back on board as an honorary associate supervisor demonstrating dedication and belief in the topic—and me. Thank you; you rock. Thank you to Virginia Dickson-Swift who took on the role of principal supervisor and cheerfully assisted in steering me through to the end with prompt feedback, practical working structures and useful conversations. I appreciate that Amanda Kenny accepted me as a candidate and later connected me with Cindy Masaro, which led to a visit to Canada. Rob Townsend briefly stepped in as supervisor. I am very grateful for the participants who gave their time, stories and insights; and without whom this research would not exist.

Actual and virtual communities have made a huge contribution to my learning and ultimate success in the PhD process. The Health Sciences post-grad lab at La Trobe Bendigo has gone through a few locations and different populations. My initial companion in the dungeon lab was Karen Marshall whose friendship and intelligence was vital for a number of reasons. One of her excellent skills was to listen intently and have useful contributions to make when my ideas were unfocussed, managing to find the point I was struggling to express. In the latest iteration of the post-grad lab (not a dungeon; it has great views of sky) the collegiality and sense of community has been an example of how such things should be. Charon Freebody, Elena Wilson and Diana Guzys gave friendship and willingness to participate in discussions. Twitter has been like an associate supervisor and through the discussions, links to resources, and community culture of #phdchat I have had access to a 24/7 source of support and up-to-date ideas. The #sexgeekdom community, online and in person, has been a source of friendship, current research and fun times. Daniel Reeders has been a great sounding board and source of up-to-date information on matters HIV and STI, theory, and health promotion. Mark Tolley kept me functioning with therapeutic massage and simultaneous thoughtful insights. Caitlin Whiteman tested her new editing skills and did a brilliant and speedy job of editing the manuscript, teaching me new things as she went.

Cindy Masaro generously invited a complete stranger to stay for a month, and shared ideas, support and encouragement, in Canada and via Skype. Joy Johnson gave time, wisdom and generosity in allowing me to visit the Institute for Gender and Health at the University of British Columbia and provided supervision while I was there in August 2012.

My family has been encouraging, supportive and shown belief in me and my work. I am sad that my mother, Yvonne Kirkman, died before the thesis was finished; she was proud of me despite finding the obsession with sex rather embarrassing.

Huge thanks, love and appreciation go to Jim Ettles who manages a very complicated relationship with grace and generosity.

Contributor: Linda Kirkman

Source: Kirkman, L (2015) Doing relationships differently: rural baby boomers negotiate friends-with-benefits relationships, PhD, La Trobe University Melbourne

I am thankful to my loving wife Esther for her patience and encouragement

First of all, I’d like to thank my friends and family for their support throughout this writing process and my studies as a whole. Most notably, I am thankful to my loving wife Esther for her patience and encouragement. Also, my thanks go out to my supervisor and colleagues. To professor O’Callaghan, for finding the time to supervise me, for his support and his valuable feedback. I’d like to thank Jeroen de Jong of Erasmus University for proof-reading early versions of this work, for his contributions to the survey, for frequently providing advice and for being a great mentor in general. I’d like to thank Eric von Hippel for his friendly encouragement and inspirational guidance. Moreover, his seminal work in user innovation and open source communities provides a critical foundation for this thesis.

During my research, many people have provided important insights, put me into contact with the right people, or otherwise have enabled me to do this work. I whole-heartedly thank the whole RepRap and related communities, of which many have taken the time to provide information through the survey and in many other ways. I’d like to thank the many people that have provided encouragement and welcomed me to their homes, hackerspaces and labs. In particular I’d like to thank Benjamin “Mako” Hill, Zach “Hoeken” Smith, Bre Pettis, Chris Palmer, Rhys Jones, Adrian Bowyer.

Several conferences where I had the privilege to speak were the fertile soil for discussions and development of ideas that are now incorporated in this work. Many thanks to the organizers for making that happen, thanks to Hay Kranen, Thomas Madsen-Mygdal, Bas van Abel, Phoebe Moore, Michel Bauwens, George Kuk, Pedro Custodio, Carla Koen, Xander van Mechelen, Neil Gershenfeld and many others. To Siert Wijnia, for being a good friend and companion to the several conferences. To Martijn Elserman, for involving me in yet another adventure in open source 3D printing.

Finally, I’d like to thank the interviewees and others who have likewise contributed to this work, in no particular order, Marius Karthaus, Pieter de Bruijn, Aike de Jongste, Serge Broekhuizen, Gerald Barnett, Krista Polle, Kees Seldenrijk, George Kuk, Pia Weiss, Kerstin Balka, Marcin Jakubowski and Eric Hunting.

Additional thanks go out to Eric von Hippel and the MIT Sloan School of Management for subsidizing trips to New York City and MIT, Cambridge allowing me to conduct key interviews for my research and to EIM Business and Policy Research for providing additional funding that allowed me to do this work.

Contributor: @ErikDeBruijn Erik’s blog is here
Source: de Bruijn, E (2010) On the viability of the open source development model for the design of physical objects: Lessons learned from the RepRap project, MSc, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands

Friends and family for being there when needed and forgiving my absence at other times

I have been able to undertake this Masters in Public Health because of the Welsh Assembly Government’s support for deprived communities in South Wales through the Department of General Practice, Cardiff University. I hope that the experience I have gained from this study will help me to contribute to the reduction of inequalities in health in these areas. I am very appreciative of the opportunities available to develop academic skills afforded by the foresight of those who have sought funding for the programmes I and others are working within.

Shortly after I began working in Wales, Dr. John Watkins introduced me to the Caerphilly Health and Social Needs Survey. I am grateful for our initial discussions and his encouragement to study this area in greater depth.

My supervisor, Dr. David Fone, has been very patient and I am thankful for his guidance whilst I worked on this topic.

I would like to thank friends and family for being there when needed and forgiving my absence at other times. And last but not least, my warmest thanks to Chris for his continual caring and kindness.

Contributor: @amcunningham
Source: Cunningham, A.M. (2004) Social Capital and Smoking. MA in Public Health, Cardiff University