Mediaflux at the University of Melbourne
by Andy Tseng
Mediaflux is a Data Operating System that has been developed by Arcitecta to meet the specific needs of researchers. Through Mediaflux’s web-based Desktop application, a flexible user interface is provided for accessing and managing a variety of files including documents, images, audio files, video files, web content and specialised datasets.
The University of Melbourne and Arcitecta are collaborating to deliver Mediaflux-based data management solutions to the University’s research community. Arcitecta is supplying a managed service to underpin these systems to ensure the very diverse capabilities of Mediaflux are delivered to users in a way that makes sense for their research and helps them achieve excellent research outcomes.
Here is one story describing how Mediaflux is being used by researchers at the university.
Ten to Men (The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health)
Ten to Men is an Australia-wide study of the health and lifestyles of a large group of Australian males aged between 10 and 55 years. The first of its kind, the study will follow participants over time and provide an important resource for improving the health of Australian men and boys. Funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health, this study, commissioned under the Federal Government’s 2010 National Male Health Policy, is being undertaken by The Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, at the University of Melbourne.
Arcitecta worked with the University of Melbourne to develop a respondent management system (using Mediaflux) for the study, accommodating data from over 16,000 participants, with the capability to manage a range of future study activities. With Mediaflux, the Ten to Men study team can now log participants’ contact details and contact events, as well as link individuals with other individuals and to households, and retrieve PDF scan files of documents associated with participants and households described in the system.
The processes utilise Mediaflux’s robust security and auditing capabilities, allowing the history of data changes, particularly to participant status and address changes, to be readily identified.
If you’d like to learn more about the Mediaflux capability and how it can help with your research, please contact the data management team at Research Platform Services, the University of Melbourne by emailing me at <andy.tseng@unimelb.edu.au
