bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Online-Questionaire Design Guidelines
Authors: Lumsden J.
Published: May 2011

As a new medium for questionnaire delivery, the internet has the potential to revolutionize the survey process. Online (web-based) questionnaires provide several advantages over traditional survey methods in terms of cost, speed, appearance, flexibility, functionality, and usability. Designers of online-questionnaires are faced with a plethora of design tools to assist in the development of their electronic questionnaires. Little, if any, support is incorporated, however, within these tools to guide online-questionnaire designers according to best practice. In essence, an online-questionnaire combines questionnaire-based survey functionality with that of a webpage/site. As such, the design of an online-questionnaire should incorporate principles from both contributing fields. Drawing on existing guidelines for paper-based questionnaire design, website design (paying particular attention to issues of accessibility and usability), and existing but scarce guidelines for electronic surveys, we have derived a comprehensive set of guidelines for the design of online-questionnaires. This article introduces this comprehensive set of guidelines – as a practical reference guide – for the design of online-questionnaires.
Measurements in E-Business
Authors: Aiken D.
Published: May 2011

This chapter is designed to answer two fundamental questions related to research on electronic surveys and measures. First, what are some of the major measures specifically related to ebusiness? Second, what makes Internet research methods different from offline research methods? The chapter partly delineates what makes Internet research methods distinctive through its discussion and separation of the most common measures. This separation not only provides the framework for the chapter, but it distinguishes research for understanding the evolving econsumer from measures related to the new paradigm for ebusiness strategy. In total, seventeen different measures are discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of emerging issues in ebusiness metrics and possibilities for future research.
Personal Report of Communication Apprhension
Authors: Woods R.
Published: May 2011

The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) (McCroskey, 1982) measures communication apprehension. Communication apprehension (CA) first appeared in James McCroskey’s 1970 research note in Communication Monographs. Communication apprehension is defined as the level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated (oral) communication encounters. McCroskey was interested in a person’s trait or dispositional anxieties across all or most communication situations. Recent investigations have expanded CA to include state-like communication apprehension, or anxiety associated with particular communication contexts and events. The 24-item, Likert-type PRCA instrument is the most popular and valid measure of trait-like CA. It assesses a person’s CA in four separate communication contexts: public, small group, meeting, and interpersonal. Each of these contexts is represented by six items. In filling out the form, an individual indicates the level of anxiety he or she feels about participating in various oral communication situations in one of these four contexts.
Internet Motives Questionnaire
Authors: Sargent S
Published: May 2011

In the past decade, the growth of the Internet has been undeniable, affecting the way people communicate, interact, and gather information. According to a Nielsen survey conducted in 2002, more than 400 million people use the Internet demonstrating the swiftness with which this network of computers has changed the way we live and will continue to live. Communication researchers have recognized the importance of studying the Internet as a communication medium (Newhagen & Rafaeli, 1996), but the study of motivations and behaviors associated with Internet use has been limited. Much of the recent research looking at the motivations associated with Internet use has focused on the relationship between personality types and Internet use and usage. Researchers, for example, have found that those who are more satisfied with their outward, social life preferred to use the Internet for more instrumental purposes (i.e., information seeking) whereas those less satisfied with life, especially those who felt less valued in face-to-face interactions, used the Internet as a substitute for social interactions and to pass time (Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000). Similar interactions were found when externally oriented people (who believe their environment controls them, feel powerless) used the Internet for inclusion more than internally oriented people (Flaherty, Pearce, & Rubin, 1998). Several studies have demonstrated negative correlations between a leisure services factor (instant messaging and games) and neuroticism (Swickert, Hittner, Harris, & Herring, 2002) and neuroticism and “gathering product and brand information” and “learning, reference, and education” (Tuten & Bosnjak, 2001). Hamburger and Ben-Artzi’s (2000) study found that those scoring high on extraversion tended to prefer leisure services (sex websites, random surfing) and that those scoring high on neuroticism had a negative association with information services (work-related information, studies-related information.
Big Trumpet.com
Authors: Sethi Neerja , Sethi Vijay
Published: May 2011

This article presents a case study on the world’s first nationwide portal, BigTrumpet (BT), which showcases an early adoption of the evolving Web-services technology. BT is intended as a community portal that will touch the lives of Singaporeans through the concept of multiagency participation. BT is unique due to the technology behind it, the connectivity enabled by BT’s applications, and the collaborative partnerships in its implementation.
Building Government-to-Government Enterprises
Authors: Joia L. A.
Published: May 2011

Electronic government has proven a watershed in the domain of public administration, despite being difficult to pin down precisely. Indeed, the government-to-government (G2G) arena is one of the least studied aspects of this newly established field of knowledge, despite its importance in fostering cooperation and collaboration between government agencies, mainly with respect to the management of their knowledge, in order to increase the effectiveness of public administration. The main scope of this article is to present some key success factors for building G2G enterprises successfully. It also aims to show how public agencies themselves can benefit when they are electronically linked to others, thereby innovating and streamlining their working processes, in order to achieve greater agility and efficacy at reduced cost. In order to pinpoint the key G2G success factors, a single explanatory and successful case study approach was used, namely one involving the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) and the Brazilian Justice Department (BJD). The BacenJud system developed by the Brazilian Central Bank was analyzed in a more detailed manner. This case—considered a success—shows how this G2G project made it possible for both the Brazilian Central Bank and the Brazilian Justice Department to achieve greater agility and effectiveness regarding the processing of legal demands made by the Brazilian Justice Department, thereby handing down its sentences at reduced cost. Furthermore, this study examined the factors that had a clear nationwide impact on the success of this endeavor in the realm of the Justice Department. Therefore, this article intends to answer the following research question: From the case study analyzed, what are the key success factors in the implementation of government-to-government processes between public agencies in Brazil?
Challenges and Policy Imperatives for E-Government in Africa
Authors: Olatokun Wole Michael
Published: May 2011

Government is a system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in a particular group in society. Organizationally, governments may be classified into parliamentary or presidential systems, depending on the relationship between executive and legislature. Government may also be classified according to the distribution of power at different levels. It may be unitary—that is, with the central government controlling local affairs—or it may be federated or confederated, according to the degree of autonomy of local government. When this system of social control is being implemented to a large extent on the platform of information and communication technology (ICT), then we have an electronic government (e-government). E-government refers to the provision of online public services to citizens and businesses. Services for citizens include registration to government services, such as health care, education or employment benefits. For businesses, e-government services can take the form of online alerts for public procurements or funding opportunities as well as information and support on applicable legislation in a given sector. E-government is widely viewed as an extraordinary opportunity for administrations to cut down their costs, speed up procedures and, therefore, increase their efficiency and reactivity. No doubt, e-government has grown in the past decade worldwide. Its efforts can vary from Web portals to online license renewals to experimentation with online voting. E-government is generally recognized as a means of making government more efficient while allowing it to be more responsive to customer needs (Jeffery, 2005). The growth in e-government has been rapid. For example, in the United States, the percentage of local governments with Web sites increased from 8.7% in 1995 to more than 80.0% in 2000 (Holden, Norris, & Fletcher, 2003). Advances in ICT are helping to make the growth in e-government a global phenomenon. A United Nations report shows that governments around the world are moving towards higher levels of e-government to better serve their citizens (UN-ASPA, 2002). In Africa, e-government is not yet widespread. However, some African countries have embarked on e-government initiatives and have recorded varying degrees of success. This article aims at reviewing some of these initiatives and ultimately recommends the way forward in terms of policy issues and strategies that African governments must put in place for their e-government projects and initiatives to be worthwhile.
Context and Concept of Web Services
Authors: Kasi Vijay , Young Brett
Published: May 2011

The term Web services has as many definitions as there are people who have worked on it. The different definitions, in general, stress various aspects of Web services. The diverse nature of these definitions confirms the diverse interpretations of Web services (“Evolution of Integration Functionality,” 2001; Freger, 2001; Infravio, 2002; Ogbuji, 2002; Stal, 2002; Wilkes, 2002). The big computer giants such as Microsoft and IBM promote Web services, and the definitions offered by them are as follows. • IBM: “A Web Service is a collection of functions that are packaged as a single entity and published to the network for use by other programs...[They are] self-describing, self-contained, modular applications...” (Glass, 2000). • Microsoft: “Web Services are a very general model for building applications and can be implemented for any operating system that supports communication over the Internet and represent black-box functionality that can be reused without worrying about how the service is implemented...[They use] building blocks for constructing distributed Web applications...” (Kirtland, 2001). • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): “A software system identified by a URI [uniform resource indicator], whose public interfaces and bindings are defined and described using XML [extensible markup language]. Its definition can be discovered by other software systems. These systems may then interact in a manner prescribed by its definition, using XML based messages conveyed by internet protocols” (W3C, 2002). This article attempts to clarify these generic definitions into language that is tangible and meaningful to the reader. To do so, background is given on the systems, applications, and architecture that led to the need and development of Web services.
Designing Service-Based Coorperative Systems
Authors: Rolland Colette , Kaabi Rim Samia
Published: May 2011

The connectivity generated by the Internet is opening opportunities for services composition. As a consequence, organizations are forming online alliances in order to deliver integrated value-added services. However, due to the lack of methodologies and tools, the development of such composite services across organizations is usually ad hoc and raises a number of issues, especially in the identification, composition, and orchestration of services. The objective of this article is to propose a goal-driven approach to understand the needs of different organizations for a new added-value composite service, and to model the cooperative process supporting this service provision in a declarative, goal-driven manner. The goal model called a map is then used for service elicitation, composition, and orchestration. The article presents the approach and illustrates it with a distance learning cooperative service.
Developing a Viable Product for Emerging Market
Authors: Craig Ron
Published: May 2011

Launching an e-comm, dot-com, or Internet-based venture carries significant risk, and unfortunately failure is often the result. Yet, given the possibilities of large profits, entrepreneurial teams continue to come forward with new venture proposals, and venture capitalists continue to fund them. This case example illustrates the challenge and risk of developing a new product for a potentially emerging market. In this instance, the market did not evolve as expected and there were no profitable customers. An attempt to redefine the product/market focus was also unsuccessful. In the period of some two years, the company went from concept to start-up to closure. This article starts with a brief review of venture creation and business model literature, considers an unsuccessful start-up, and concludes with lessons learned. References and a glossary follow.
Dot Net and J2EE for Web Services
Authors: Chen Andrew
Published: May 2011

The capabilities of Internet technologies continue to evolve as businesses learn and implement more sophisticated e-business applications in order to adapt to dynamic environments. Web services are an industry-wide response to the need for a more flexible and efficient business collaboration environment. Supported by major institutions and industry leaders, Web services have become the promising method for making e-business information and applications programmatically available via the Internet. Web services are self-contained, modular business applications that have open, Internet-oriented, and standards-based interfaces. Chen, Chen, and Shao (2003) provide a good review of the implications and impacts of Web services to electronic-commerce research and practices. In order for the Web-services idea to become a working reality, there must be a common agreement on how they will work. Web services rely on a set of standards to support interoperability among applications developed in different languages and running on different platforms or operating systems. Core Web-services standards include SOAP (simple object access protocol), WSDL (Web services description language), and UDDI (universal description, discovery, and integration). The basic idea of Web services is the use of the SOAP messaging protocol to invoke software methods in remote systems. A WSDL file contains service definitions for distributed systems to support the automatic creation of client-side links and the binding to the Web services. UDDI is a registry standard for Web-services providers to publish their Web services. It then can be used by a Web-services consumer to discover (search) Web services developed by Web-services providers. The grand vision of Web-services-oriented architecture is that Web services can be composed and invoked dynamically to support business processes within and across enterprises. A number of new standards have been introduced to address this Web-services composition issue, including BPEL4WS (business process execution language for Web services), WSCI (Web services choreography interface), and BPML (business process modeling language; Arkin, 2002; Arkin et al., 2002). Semantic matching and Semantic Web are other developments that enable greater access to services on the Web (Berners-Lee, Hendler, & Lassila, 2001; McIlraith, Son, & Zeng, 2001). The purposes for the development of an ontology of services, DAML-S (DAML Services Coalition, 2003) under the DARPA agent markup language (DAML) program, are closely related to various Web-services standards. There are very limited interactions between Web-services standards and semantic-Web research. Adding ontology support to UDDI to facilitate Web-services search is a promising direction for future research.
E-Government and the Digital Divide
Authors: Yigitcanlar Tan , Baum Scott
Published: May 2011

Many governments world wide are attempting to increase accountability, transparency, and the quality of services by adopting information and communications technologies (ICTs) to modernize and change the way their administrations work. Meanwhile e-government is becoming a significant decision-making and service tool at local, regional and national government levels. The vast majority of users of these government online services see significant benefits from being able to access services online. The rapid pace of technological development has created increasingly more powerful ICTs that are capable of radically transforming public institutions and private organizations alike. These technologies have proven to be extraordinarily useful instruments in enabling governments to enhance the quality, speed of delivery and reliability of services to citizens and to business (VanderMeer & VanWinden, 2003). However, just because the technology is available does not mean it is accessible to all. The term digital divide has been used since the 1990s to describe patterns of unequal access to ICTs—primarily computers and the Internet—based on income, ethnicity, geography, age, and other factors. Over time it has evolved to more broadly define disparities in technology usage, resulting from a lack of access, skills, or interest in using technology. This article provides an overview of recent literature on e-government and the digital divide, and includes a discussion on the potential of e-government in addressing the digital divide.
E-Government Development and Implementation
Authors: Huang Wayne , Chen Yining , Wang K. L.
Published: May 2011

This article intends to review important research issues in e-government and aims to shed light on future studies on e-government in a global setting. Specifically, this article: (1) reviews the background and development of e-government in developed and developing countries; and (2) identifies and discusses key issues and future trends/challenges in e-government research, which provides some insights and directions for future studies in e-government.
EU SMEs and E-Business Innovation
Authors: Wiggins Anne
Published: May 2011

Although motivating electronic business (e-business) adoption and implemention by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is endorsed by policies and initiatives introduced by the European Union (EU), a number of challenges arise as the result of a limited conceptual understanding of the relationship between SMEs and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Relatively little is known about how SMEs respond to the opportunities provided by ICTs, and even less is known about why and how small businesses use ICTs (Dixon, Thompson, & McAllister, 2002). In the first section of this critical review of the academic and government bodies of literature related to EU SMEs, e-business and policy initiatives and definitions of SMEs are explained, the unique characteristics of SMEs and entrepreneurial characteristics are outlined, and the case is made that there is a clear need for more comprehensive research on SMEs in the European Union. The second section concentrates on e-business. Many of the factors that compel organisations to adopt and implement innovation are pertinent to the adoption and implementation of e-business. These have hitherto largely been treated as separate bodies of literature, however. In this section, the benefits of e-business are explored, the factors that motivate or act as barriers to e-business adoption and implemention are outlined, and the organisational and management attributes that would seem to ensure the success of the innovation of adopting and implementing e-business are discussed. The third and penultimate section explores EU policy initiatives relevant to SMEs and to the promotion of e-business. The most wide-ranging and prominent initiatives directed at SMEs are examined here. The final section of the paper concludes with suggestions for further research.
Evolution of Computer-Based Distance Learning
Authors: Reisman Sorel
Published: May 2011

Distance learning (DL), distance education, remote education, online learning, e-learning, learning at a distance, and distributed learning are all synonyms for electronic learning, a phenomenon that over 80 years has evolved into the delivery of instruction via the Internet. The legacy of those years has provided a theoretical foundation and a history of best practices that can offer today’s distance learning practitioners a sound basis for exploring new instructional models utilizing technologies of the 21st century. This article describes some of the major milestones and accomplishments upon which today’s computer-based distance learning tools and practices are based.
Implementing CRM Systems in Online Enterprises
Authors: Gurau Cãlin
Published: May 2011

Companies are increasingly embracing customer relationship management (CRM) as a major element of corporate strategy, for two important reasons: new technologies now enable companies to target chosen market segments, microsegments, or individual customers more precisely; and new marketing thinking has recognised the limitations of traditional marketing and the potential of more customer-focused, process-oriented perspectives (Payne, 2002; Ragins, & Greco, 2003). The first CRM procedures were implemented to provide more efficient customer transactions. The gradual shift from transaction to interaction, as a long-term process, required the implementation of analytical marketing procedures, based on databases and data processing technology. Brobst and Rareyk (2004) outlined the evolution of analytical CRM, identifying five distinct stages (see Table 1). The interactive marketing stage is possible only using the Internet as a CRM strategic channel—which allows real-time, continuous collection, analysis, and use of data to adapt the company’s offer and communication to the individual profile and behaviour of the customer. The introduction and use of CRM in the online environment requires a complex process of planning, analysis, strategy design and implementation. This article presents a model for the implementation of a customer-centric strategy in online businesses, discussing the advantages and the challenges of this new system.
Indexing Mobile Objects
Authors: Bozanis Panayiotis
Published: May 2011

The past few years have shown a significant increase in the volume and diversity of data stored in database management systems. Among these are spatiotemporal data, one of the faster developing categories of data. This phenomenon can be attributed to the flurry of application development concerning continuously evolving spatial objects in several areas: mobile communication systems, military equipment in battlefields, air traffic, truck fleets, and others. In standard database applications, data remain unchanged unless an update is explicitly stated. Applying this mode of operation to constantly moving objects would require frequent updates to be performed; otherwise, the database would be inaccurate and unreliable. In order to capture continuous movement and to avoid unnecessary updates, object positions are stored as time-dependent functions, requiring updates only when a function parameter changes. The moving objects are considered responsible for updating the database about alterations in their movement. In the following article is a short review on basic indexing schemes for accommodating moving objects in database systems so that complex queries about their location in the past, present, and future can be served.
Information Privacy and E-Technologies
Authors: Szewczak Edward J.
Published: May 2011

The use of various e-technologies for e-commerce, e-government, and mobile commerce is characterized by the collection of personal information—both routinely as well as surreptitiously—and the possibility of misuse of that information. Various uses of e-technologies that collect or disseminate personal information include corporate and government databases, e-mail, and wireless communications. (For a discussion of clickstream tracking and spyware, hardware and software watermarks, and biometric devices, see Szewczak, 2005) The main challenge to personal information privacy is the surreptitious monitoring of user behavior without the user’s consent and the possible misuse of the collected information resulting in financial and personal harm to the user. In light of this reality, people limit their use of e-technologies, even to the point of limiting the success of e-commerce (Szewczak, 2004). Our focus is primarily on e-technology use in the United States of America, though clearly e-technology is global in nature and poses challenges and issues for societies around the world. Also, in light of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the U.S. government’s response to them, the issue of information privacy takes on a new urgency (for more information, see www.privacyinternational.org).
Inherent E-Commerce Barriers for SMEs
Authors: Sharma Sushil K.
Published: May 2011

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the fastest growing industry the world over and it impacts business, international trade, and national economies. The number of nations who are offering e-commerce solutions is increasing every year. Despite the downturn in the Internet economy represented by the crash of many “dot-com” companies, several forecasts continue to predict huge potential in global e-commerce over the next several years (Deschoolmeester & Van, 2000). For example, global business-to-business (B2B) commerce over the Internet is expected to reach between U.S. $2 trillion to about U.S. $10 trillion by 2004 (http://www.emarketer.com/ereports/ecommerce_b2b/welcome.html). Large businesses have found e-commerce a tool for exponential economic growth but small businesses are still far from the e-commerce revolution because of inherent problems in generally acquiring the basic e-commerce infrastructure and expertise. Governments of many nations are providing support and incentives for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to use e-commerce platforms to expand globally to sell their products or trade online with other businesses, but the e-adoption campaign for SMEs to invest in online services has not been encouraging (A Study Report on Thailand, 2001; Sharma & Wickramasinghe, 2004; Sharma, Wickramasinghe, & Gupta, 2004). E-commerce certainly has been streamlining supply-chain activities, speeding inventory turnover, and reducing cycle times, yet SMEs don’t appear to be in the forefront of the e-commerce movement. SMEs have modernized and automated the way they do business and have been exploiting Internet technology to expand their reach and communication with their partners, suppliers, and customers, however, their use of such ICT tools is limited to mostly administrative matters (Beal, 2000; Ihlström & Nilsson, 2000). Many of the medium scale enterprises are using the Internet and ICT only for office automation such as word-processing, spreadsheets, accounting, and payroll (Poon & Swatman, 1997). SMEs in Asia have yet to take the actual plunge into e-commerce, are still skeptical of the e-commerce hype, and are reluctant to embrace much of the required technology (Haynes, Becherer, & Helms, 1998; Mehrtens, Cragg, & Mills, 2001). E-commerce is still relatively a new playing field for SMEs (Chau & Turner, 2002; Sugasawa & Liyanage, 1999).
Mobile Banking Systems and Technologies
Authors: Lee Cheon-Pyo , Warkentin Merrill
Published: May 2011

The last decade has witnessed the rapid growth of mobile communication devices and wireless technologies across the globe. The convergence of mobile devices and wireless technologies has not only changed the way many activities are conducted, but has also provided a foundation for a new type of technology-aided commerce called mobile commerce (m-commerce). As e-commerce’s next evolutionary stage, m-commerce opens up new business opportunities in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets in addition to extending current operations in e-commerce and traditional brick-and-mortar businesses (Varshney & Vetter, 2002). The significant power of m-commerce is primarily a result of the anytime-anywhere connectivity of wireless devices, which provides unique experiences and services (Figge, 2004; Zwass, 2003). One of the most promising and value-added m-commerce services is mobile banking (Lee, McGoldrick, Keeling, & Doherty, 2003; Mallat, Rossi, & Tuunainen, 2004). Mobile banking is the newest electronic delivery channel to be offered by banks in which technology has become an increasingly vital element, and it provides convenience and enhanced value to both banks and customers. With its clear benefits, mobile banking is now gaining rapid popularity in European and Asian countries with the significant market penetration of mobile handsets and the optimally designed marketing tactics of service providers (Suoranta & Mattila, 2004). However, mobile banking is still marginally adopted across the globe, and especially in the U.S., the growth appears much slower than anticipated (Mallat et al., 2004). In the United States, there are only a small number of banks that have actually introduced mobile banking services, and most other mobile banking efforts are in small-scale trials (Charny, 2001). Therefore, the technology which will be employed in the United States market has been of interest not only to financial institutions, but also to mobile technology developers and future users.
Mobile Commerce in South Africa
Authors: Singh Anesh Maniraj
Published: May 2011

The last decade has seen a rush among businesses to get onto the Internet. Since its introduction, e-commerce has grown in leaps and bounds. The frenzy to get online and be a part of the “new economy” was spurred on by media hype describing the Internet as the greatest technology this century. Organisations embarked on initiatives to change their business models, looking for e-strategies as a means of revolutionising their business. By mid 2000, many of the dot.coms were “dot.gones.” The primary reason for this sudden death was that businesses forgot the basic rule of business: creating economic value. Economic value as defined by Porter (1985) is the gap between price and cost—the larger the gap, the greater the economic value. According to Porter (2001), gaining a competitive advantage does not require a radical approach to business; it requires building on the principles of effective strategy. Businesses that went online should not have looked for e-strategies, but should have improved on their existing strategy to include an e-strategy. GPRS, wireless Web, handhelds, m-commerce, 2nd coming of the Internet, m-management, killer apps, 2G or 3G, always-on, have been the buzzwords in the media. Is this new hype really worth the fuss? M-commerce has failed in the United States and has made a brief appearance in South Africa. Therefore, this article asks the question “Is there potential to revive m-commerce in South Africa?” In attempting to answer this question, this article will examine issues such as uses of m-commerce, the benefits and challenges of m-commerce, trends in the wireless industry, and the technology underlying m-commerce. This article will also attempt to provide suggestions for harnessing the power of the wireless Web. Most of the discussions are based on universal experience supported with what the current situation is in South Africa; therefore, this article will not be separated into a universal section with a smaller subset focussing on South Africa.
Mobile Information Filtering
Authors: Abramowicz Witold , Banaskiewicz Krzysztof , Wieloch Karol , Zebrowski Pawel
Published: May 2011

Information filtering techniques have been continuously developed to meet challenges arisen from new requirements of Information Society. These techniques gain even much more on importance in the facet of grater mobility of people. One of the most dynamic and compelling areas is the environment of wireless and mobile devices. Just recently, information filtering and retrieval have begun to take into consideration circumstances in which they are being used. As information needs of mobile users are highly dynamic, this points out the necessity of considering additional set of attributes describing user situation—context. This article presents an information filtering system for mobile users (mobileIF) being developed in the Department of Management Information Systems at The Pozna University of Economics. Architecture of the mobileIF is a result of research done in the field of contexts, their taxonomies and influence on information relevance in dynamic user’s environment. The paper shows our approach to contexts, discusses time perspective on filtering systems and finally, describes mobileIF architecture and basic data flow within it. At last, we present our current research in fields related to the mobileIF system.
Ontology Development Tools for Ontology-Based Knowledge Management
Authors: Youn Seongwook , McLeod Dennis
Published: May 2011

Ontologies play a key role in realizing the full power of e-technology. Ontologies allow for machine-understandable semantics of data, and facilitate the search, exchange, and integration of knowledge for B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce. Ontology is defined as the specification of shared knowledge (Waterson & Preece, 1999). By using semantic data, the usability of e-technology can be facilitated. There are several languages like XML (extensible markup language), RDF (resource description framework), RDFS (RDF schema), DAML+OIL (DARPA Markup Language+Web Ontology Language), and OWL. Many tools have been developed for implementing metadata of ontologies using these languages. However, current tools have problems with interoperation and collaboration. The primary goal of this survey is to introduce and understand several tools through their use. Therefore, we can develop a new generation of tools that not only support more capabilities, but also solve the problems of current tools.
Ontology-Based Query Formation and Information Retrieval
Authors: Guan Sheng-Uei
Published: May 2011

M-commerce is largely unrealized to date because there still does not exist a single killer application that can attract wireless users to use wireless services. According to a recent survey by the Gartner, Inc. (Wong, 2005), besides the importance of coverage of wireless network and pricing issues, the wireless Internet and data services is the next crucial factor that attracts users to wireless service. As such, there is a need to improve the data services over the wireless network. One of these services is the information retrieval service. This article discusses the usage of ontology to create an efficient environment for m-commerce users to form queries. The establishment of a method that combines keyword searches with using ontology to perform query formation tasks further allows a more flexible m-commerce environment for users. Also, with the use of genetic algorithm, it is hoped that query effectiveness can be achieved, at the same time saving computational time.
Spreading Use of Digital Cash
Authors: Kurihara Yutakai
Published: May 2011

Approximately 10 years have passed since the words such as digital cash, digital money, electronic money, and e-cash have been introduced. Progress has increased rapidly in the fields of communication and information technology (IT) and in the field of digital cash; its use and transaction volume have been increasing. However, little analysis has been done about this phenomenon especially from the academic field. The continued increase in its use is inevitable, and it is important to investigate its influence and problems from both practical and theoretical perspectives. The spread of the use of digital cash impacts economic activity and social structure. This article considers both the merits and the problems of digital cash in the modern economy. This article analyzes characteristics of relationships between digital money, financial institutions, and financial authorities; considers the relation between digital cash and financial institutions; and analyzes the relation between digital cash and monetary policy authorities.
Using Hospital Web Sites to Enhance Communication
Authors: Cannoy Sherrie D. , Iyer Lakshmi
Published: May 2011

A large number of patients currently utilize the Internet to access healthcare-related information (Tobin, 2002). Many physician and health-related Web sites have been information portals lacking interactive services that could benefit healthcare partners through decreased costs, increased convenience, and communication. Patients typically visit Web portals to learn more about medical topics, often discussing this information with physicians. Emerging Internet technologies can be a strategic asset for hospitals to impact physician bonding, patient self-service, and overall enterprise performance efforts. We conducted an investigation of Web sites of 10 hospitals listed in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospitals of 2004 Honor Roll, as well as a random selection of seven other hospital sites. An examination of each hospital’s site was performed to determine what features were provided to enhance communication between the partners in healthcare. Partners are defined as patients and their families, referring physicians, insurance companies, vendors, pharmacies, job seekers, and the media. Communication-enhancing features are any features that have the potential to increase communication between the hospital and its partners. We focused on patient communication-enhancing features, since patients are the primary partners of healthcare entities.
Virtual Agency as a New Force in the Promotions Industry, The
Authors: Finney R. Zachary , Close Angeline Grace
Published: May 2011

The virtual agency (VA) is a new form of advertising/promotions organization. By using technology to create ad hoc teams of promotions professionals, the virtual agency is changing the nature of the advertising business. In the following paragraphs, we (a) distinguish the virtual agency from traditional agencies and (b) explain why this is an important development for e-commerce and the advertising/promotion field. Virtual agencies use the Internet as a means to redistribute the tasks traditionally performed at a single promotions firm. The completed work that the agencies perform for their clients is often similar to the work produced by traditional agencies. Virtual agencies, however, typically perform such work for a fraction of the traditional full-service agency’s price These new organizations are revolutionizing the promotions industry by the manner in which they distribute the tasks associated with creating a promotions campaign. To date, the agencies have not used the Internet to produce wholly new types of promotions. The virtual agencies instead use the Internet for simple communication; the Internet allows VAs to collaborate in a manner that was much more difficult prior to the widespread adoption of the Web.
Wireless LAN Access Technology
Authors: Louvros Spiros , Pylarinos Gerasimos , Kotsopoulos Stavros
Published: May 2011

During the last decade mobile communication networks follow the evolution of fixed networks in order to provide moving subscribers with all the services and applications of fixed subscribers. This however is unfeasible due to restrictions and limitations imposed by the hostile radio channel. The global system mobile (GSM) network, known as 2G technology (Mouly & Pautet, 1992), is adequate in meeting voice communication speeds of a typical subscriber since it offers limited communication capabilities (< 9.6 kb/s). The ideal mobile network would be able to provide moving subscribers with continuous access to every possible voice or data network, leading to the realization of a “mobile office.” The result of this effort (although somewhat restrictive in terms of realizable bit rates) was another evolution in mobile networks, the general packet radio service (GPRS) network (usually referred to as 2.5G), with available data rates of approximately 40 kb/s up to 100 kb/s. The universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) (usually referred to as the third-generation cellular network or 3G), with competitive rates of 300 kb/s and a future possible upgrade up to 2 Mb/s, is the realization of a new generation of telecommunications technology for a world in which personal services will be based on a combination of fixed and mobile services to form a seamless end-to-end service for the subscriber. Its realization at least requires provision of a unified presentation of services to the end user, mobile technology that supports a very broad mix of communication services and applications, and finally on-demand flexible bandwidth allocation reaching 2Mb/s per subscriber. Moreover the exploitation of pure (not tunneled) Internet protocol (IP) interconnection of network elements between each other for data exchange and operation and maintenance purposes should be available, along with the provision of flexible end-to-end all-IP connectivity in terms of user information. 3.5G and 4G (Esmailzadeh, Nakagawa, & Jones, 2003) systems are already under investigation. Aiming to “context-aware personalized ubiquitous multimedia services” (Houssos et al., 2003), 3.5G systems promise rates of up to 10Mb/s (3GPP Release 5), while with the use of greater bandwidth, these rates may raise even more in 4G (Esmailzadeh et al., 2003). On the other hand, the last five years a standardization effort has started for the integration of Wireless local area network (WLAN) in order to support higher bit rates in hotspots or business and factory environments, with a cell radius on the order of 100m. In any case, 4G and WLAN technology are going to be based on an IP backbone between access points (APs) and access controllers or routers and the Internet. Mobile IPv4 and IPv6 are already under investigation (Lach, Janneteau, & Petrescu, 2003) to provide user mobility support for context-type services.
The Convergence Conversation - We're Finally Ready
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

If you don’t want to read this whole chapter, here’s the essence of the following conversation. But if I’m going to practice what I preach, I have to give you an overview of the conversation we’re about to have. I guess this is what we’d call an Executive Conversation Summary.
The Business Conversation- Where We're Going
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

So what do we have here? This conversation will focus on: Collaboration and all of its flavors, including supply chain management, personalization, customization, optimization, automation and trust – and how if you’re not thinking about collaborative business models you’re toast. Continuous versus discrete transactions – the big change from the 20th century which, among other things, has obliterated the distinction between business and e-business and forced us to think about “whole customer/supplier/employee/partner management.” Real-time analytics – your next best friend. • The collaboration and integration investment filters as uber-filters: if business technology investments don’t pass, you don’t do them. Business scenarios and how to build them, because you have to model your collaborative future before you can make the right business technology investments.
The Impact of IT Investment in South African E-Commerce SME Organizations
Authors: Lubbe Sam
Published: May 2011

This chapter considers the possibility of a link between organisational performance and information technology (IT) investment intensity in SME organisations practising e-commerce for the period 2001/2002. The answers to the research questions note that in top performing organisations; (1) IT costs as proportions of operating costs were higher; (2) IT costs as a proportion of turnover was lower, than in weak performing organisations; and (3) that a positive correlation exists between the computerisation index (CI) and the operating costs ratio. The investigation also reveals that chief executive officers (CEO)’s expect additional output while planning e-commerce operations and keeping IT budgets constant. Evidence is presented that company performance is linked to the level of IT investment intensity in the sample of organisations investigated, even though more output was expected from the IT department.
Examining the Approach Used for Information Technology Investment Decisions by Practitioners Responsible for IT Planning in Namibia
Authors: Naidoo Karna
Published: May 2011

Despite the technological progress made by organisations in Namibia, the impact of IT has not been studied. The existing definition of IT is not comprehensive enough to include all relevant IT expenditures. No return calculations are made, though managers are showing growing concern at the increasing IT costs. The purpose of this article is to determine what organisations in Namibia use as basis for investing in IT. In interviews with six organisations in Namibia, it was determined how they define and manage their investment in IT. Some conclusions can be drawn, the first being that organisations need to look at their definition of IT to include all aspects of IT like communication systems, maintenance, etc. the second implication is that somebody must be appointed to take responsibility for managing the IT investment.
An Implementation View of Value
Authors: LeClair Craig
Published: May 2011

Enterprise-level information systems are the information technologies (IT) that firms use to support their core business processes, such as sales, finance and operations. Well-known examples of these include enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence (BI) and supply chain management (SCM). There are also thousands of more specialized applications.
A Customer-Focused Value Discovery Process
Authors: LeClair Craig
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses the inability of current methods to factor in human and organizational issues, the high number of “one-off” solutions produced in the industry, and the inflexibility of current systems development methods. Several case studies are included that point to the value of using prototypes and having rapid customer feedback.
XHTML Basic
Authors: Chen Lei-da , Skelton Gordon W.
Published: May 2011

XHTML is a derivative of XML and HTML. HTML has long been the standard for development of Web sites. With the creation of XML and its use as a foundation for portable documents, language definitions began to appear. XHMTL is one of those important document types. XHMTL documents can be used to create WML documents and is becoming a standard replacement for HTML.