bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Collective Process and Memory of Strategic Management
Authors: Kettunen Juha
Published: May 2010

This study analyses how strategic management is integrated with budgeting in the cities using the Balanced Scorecard approach, which provides a general framework to communicate and implement strategies. The approach is useful in accomplishing the strategic objectives, measures, and targets decided by city councils. It is important to align the strategic plans of various units at the different organizational levels of the city and link them together in the budgeting process, which is the main management system in most public sector organizations. The study shows how the electronic collaborative technologies can support strategic planning, implementation, and preservation of organizational knowledge. The management information system provides a platform to integrate organizational knowledge and development to facilitate strategic management.
Associative Patterning
Authors: Bennet David , Bennet Alex
Published: May 2010

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the basic concepts related to the unconscious life of an organization, and then addresses specific aspects of knowledge, learning, and memory, developing a language and framework for comprehending their application to organizations. Knowledge is addressed in terms of an information part and a proceeding part. Tacit knowledge is divided into embodied, intuitive, affective, and spiritual parts, with each of these aspects carried over to corresponding descriptions of memory. Organizational memory is then considered in light of a rapidly changing, uncertain environment. It is forwarded that organizational sustainability in an uncertain world requires a dynamic and responsive organizational memory. This highlights the challenge of keeping tacit memory updated as experienced personnel retire. Ideas and actions are briefly suggested to enhance and sustain organizational memory.
An Organizational Memory Tool for E-Learning
Authors: Abel Marie-Hélène
Published: May 2010

Learning can be considered an outcome associated with acquiring new competencies (Sicilia, 2005) and adding new knowledge. A competence is a way to put into practice some knowledge in a specific context. The process of competency acquisition starts from a need in this specific context. It may induce the search and the selection of relevant resources. Numerous resources may be used during e-learning, their access is a real problem. Different approaches may be adopted to exploit them. This chapter describes the tool E-MEMORAe, which supports an organizational goal-driven approach based on the concept of learning organizational memory. In such a memory, ontologies are used to define knowledge that indexes resources; the capitalization and the organization of knowledge, information, and resources relating to a specific context can be realized. End-users have a direct access to the memory. The organizational environment E-MEMORAe was evaluated in the context of two courses taught at the university (algorithms, mathematics).
Managing Knowledge in Organizational Memory Using Topic Maps
Authors: Miller Les , Nilakanta Sree , Song Yunan , Zhu Lei , Hua Ming
Published: May 2010

Organizational memories play a significant role in knowledge management, but several challenges confront their use. Artifacts of OM are many and varied. Access and use of the stored artifact are influenced by the user’s understanding of these information objects as well as their context. Theories of distributed cognition and the notion of community of practice are used to develop a model of the knowledge management system. In the present work we look at a model for managing organizational memory knowledge. Topic maps are used in the model to represent user cognition of contextualized information. A visual approach to topic maps proposed in the model also allows for access and analysis of stored memory artifacts. The design and implementation of a prototype to test the feasibility of the model is briefly examined.
The Field of Project Management
Authors: Guah Matthew
Published: May 2010

By examining the history of what was earlier considered project management, this chapter not only points out lessons from past practices but also justifies the selected definition of VLITP. It also explains the role of project management in a fast business environment. The author has demonstrated such importance by representing VLITP in the form of a major initiative that contains a series of relevant processes in the host organization.
Human Resource Issues in VLITP
Authors: Guah Matthew
Published: May 2010

The study of diffusion, adoption, and IT project implementation in popular literature relies on theories which do not address the question of why VLITP projects continue to experience delays and go over budget simply due to problems with human resources. This chapter considers that such situation is only bound to continue unless specific research work are dedicated to investigating human resource management issues involved when implementing VLITPs. It details that VLITP are likely to miss the schedule date as a result of underestimating the length of time or the amount of resources required for various tasks, but omitting a task by an incompetent member of the VLITP team could lead to an incomplete or unaccomplished outcome. Avoiding mistakes in the sequencing of project tasks can ensure VLITP meet schedule. It suggests that VLITP managers build the project schedule by orderly listing major tasks and dedicating adequate human resources that considers several different kinds of eventualities.
VLITP Management Framework
Authors: Guah Matthew
Published: May 2010

The traditional way to achieve the automatic execution of project management processes is to develop or purchase an application that executes the steps required. However, in practice, these applications only execute a small part of the overall process. Execution of a complete VLITP management process can also be achieved by using a framework of software with human interfaces, where needed when applications are not able to execute the management process automatically. Certain aspects of VLITP management process can only be accomplished with human interventions. Due to the complexity of managing VLITP, changing the scope is costly and an overview of the VLITP and their state is difficult to obtain. In order to effectively deliver its objectives, VLITP often requires that the underlying activities be constructed according to the principles of a framework. Thus, it is often difficult to make a suite of existing legacy systems fit with a VLITP. The commercial project management market has focused on specific process models to reduce the complexity of VLITP management This chapter presents a framework that provides the basis for identifying and describing generally accepted principles and practices of VLITP. The purpose is to guide the project management team of VLITP in the execution of one of the most challenging jobs in business today.
A Framework for Collecting Experiences
Authors: Russo Barbara , Scotto Marco , Sillitti Alberto , Succi Giancarlo
Published: May 2010

An informed introduction to AMs requires the ability to determine whether and when AMs are better than traditional software development methodologies. The risk is that AMs are considered just like another tool. Altogether to accredit AMs we need to show the qualified evidence of their effectiveness, performance, productivity, in the different contexts where they can be introduced. This analysis is difficult as such effectiveness varies with the development environment, depending on several aspects, such as skills, resources and culture. However, this analysis is a key ingredient for the creation of a comprehensive body of knowledge on AMs.
The Technological Basis of Networking
Authors: Albert Sylvie , Flournoy Don , LeBrasseur Rolland
Published: May 2010

This chapter pursues the following themes: • The extent to which telecommunications technology can serve as a platform for economic and social change; • The role that broadband communication can play in community collaboration and networking; • The specific technologies (networks and terminal devices) and their relative advantages and limitations; • The community applications that offer greater user access and user control; • The adverse and dysfunctional effects that can accompany technological change; • Some ideas about measuring and evaluating outcomes.
Gendered Philosophy of Science
Authors: Kirk Mary
Published: May 2010

This chapter explores the ways in which the dualistic notion of gender is at the core of many fundamental ideas in the philosophy of science. The ways in which we have learned to perceive, think about, teach/learn, and conduct research in science and IT are deeply informed by a dualistic, gendered framework: science is associated with maleness, and nature with femaleness. This primary split supports a philosophy of science that envisions “good science” as purely rational and objective (male), devoid of emotion and subjectivity (female). These core values of a dominator society contribute to a climate that is not likely to be hospitable to those who are gender-socialized as women. In the end, I call for a new perspective on our philosophy of science and technology that embodies partnership values and ask: How might we proceed to reexamine our assumptions about science and technology to make the shift from a dominator to a partnership perspective? These ideas are explored in the following sections: (1) science is male; nature is female; (2) the myth of objectivity; (3) there’s no crying in science; and (4) envisioning a partnership philosophy of science (democratizing science and technology, redefining what makes good science, and examples of partnership science and IT).
A Concluding Pledge
Authors: Kirk Mary
Published: May 2010

This book has offered one feminist’s perspective on how a deeper understanding of our dominator social system might clarify why women are underrepresented as developers, users, and beneficiaries of technology. I have suggested that we move beyond the attitude of simply providing access to the more encompassing goal of co-creating a partnership social system. This approach will increase the participation of women, as well as other currently underrepresented populations, in information technology. In the end, co-creating a partnership global IT industry is about building relationships founded in an attitude of empathy and caring that informs all of our human relations. Although I have attempted to offer a vision of what partnership in IT might look like in relation to media, language, education, and business, the best efforts to increase the participation of women as developers, users, and beneficiaries of technology will be broad-based, multifaceted, include many more perspectives than mine, and involve all of our social institutions. In earlier chapters, I have suggested some places to begin. Breaking through false assumptions about the purpose and relevance of women’s studies and feminist science studies, along with perspectives from many other disciplines, is a key to exploring a rich mine of ideas about how our current social system operates and how we might work together to co-create a more hospitable social climate for all. Undoing the damage done by dualistic thinking and stereotypes will take us a long way towards a richer understanding of our shared human experience. Reframing some of the core assumptions of the philosophy of science—primarily the founding assumption that science is male and nature is female—will offer new perspec tives from which to understand our increasingly complex scientific and technical knowledge tradition. Citizens of the United States of America have learned to think of themselves as members of the world’s greatest democracy. We call our nation the “land of opportunity” and we rely on the “myth of meritocracy” (the idea that anyone can achieve anything by their own efforts) without any acknowledgement of the institutionalized barriers that make it much harder for some. However, we have yet to live up to a true democratic ideal as a nation, and one of the reasons for this is the power of unnamed stereotypes. Learning more about the power of media as a social institution to shape our views about ourselves and one another is a critical component of any lasting social change. Henderson (1996) describes the global mass information system as a new kind of “government” that she calls a “mediocracy” run by large businesses and financial interests (p. 112). At the same time, Henderson also shares my hope for what the media could do if we all participated in information technology: “Mass media could become a national feedback mechanism by providing a random-access conduit for all the wisdom, creativity, and diversity of our citizens” (Henderson, 1996, p. 117). That is the potential that a partnership approach to information technology can help us manifest.
Comparison-Shopping Services and Agent Design
Authors: Wan Yun
Published: May 2010

This chapter provides an overview of comparison-shopping services. Four research topics are covered: How to design a good shopbot? How Shoppers using the comparison-shopping services? What is the strategic use of comparison-shopping as a new channel by online vendors? And what is the impact of comparison-shopping on existing price equilibrium and electronic market structures? Emerging research topics like mobile comparison as well as comparison in health information are also discussed.
Comparison Shopping Behaviour in Online Environments
Authors: Mafé Carla Ruiz , Blas Silvia Sanz
Published: May 2010

The aim of this chapter is to analyse antecedents of search engines use as prepurchase information tools. Firstly, there is a literature review of the factors influencing search engines use in online purchases. Then, there is an empirical analysis of a sample of 650 Spanish E-shoppers. Logistical regression is used to analyse the influence of demographics, surfing behaviour and purchase motivations on willingness to use search engines for E-shopping. Data analysis shows that experience as Internet user and as Internet shopper are negative key drivers of search engine use. Most of the utilitarian shopping motivations analyzed predict comparison shopping behaviour. Demographics are not determinant variables in the use of search engines in online purchases. This research enables companies to know the factors that potentially affect search engine use in E-shopping decisions and the importance of using search engines in their communication campaigns.
Service Features, Customer Convenience, and Shopping Intention in the Context of Mobile Commerce
Authors: Jih Wen-Jang (Kenny)
Published: May 2010

Technological advancements in Wireless communication and Internet capabilities are rapidly converging to provide an unprecedented level of convenience for online shopping. Despite much discussion regarding the unique capabilities of mobile commerce in supporting online shopping via unprecedented convenience, the relationship between mobile commerce service features and convenience perception remains an unanswered issue from both the vendor and customer points of view. Although the concept of consumer-perceived convenience has been extensively discussed in marketing and consumer behavior literature, in the context of mobile commerce, however, these discussions are subject to systematic validation with empirical data to be convincing. This study conducted a field survey to investigate how mobile commerce service features and customer perception of convenience are correlated. It also examined the effect of convenience on customers’ intention of shopping via their mobile communication devices. The primary data collected in Taiwan were used in the analysis. It was found the service features and customer convenience perceptions are significantly correlated. It also showed a significant relationship between the convenience perception and shopping intention. Further, there was a positive effect of convenience perception on shopping intention. The findings may have practical implications for mobile commerce strategists by providing more understanding of the mobile commerce success factors from a consumer behavior point of view.
Exogenous and Endogenous Antecedents of Online Shopping in a Multichannel Environment
Authors: Madlberger Maria
Published: May 2010

Multichannel retailing can offer a wide range of synergies for retailers when their distribution channels accommodate consumers’ preferences and buying behaviors. Among the large number of retail types, mail-order companies are well-suited to benefit from electronic commerce. Not only can they use their infrastructure and experience with direct selling, but they also seek to use the Internet to attract new target groups in order to increase their typically small, narrow customer bases. Currently, we do not know enough about the antecedents of channel choices, especially in the mail-order sector. This article addresses this issue and draws special attention to exogenous (i.e., independent of the retailer) factors that influence online shopping behavior. These variables include perceived convenience and perceived security of online shopping in general and consumers’ attitudes toward the catalog as the existing distribution channel. One endogenous factor—attitude toward the online shop—is assumed to influence buying behavior at the online shop. In order to examine relationships between the catalog and the online shop, 2,363 consumers who were familiar with both distribution channels of a mail-order company were surveyed online. The structural equation model developed reveals that attitudes toward the printed catalog most strongly influence attitudes toward the online shop. Further, the analysis showed that antecedents of buying behavior at the online shop are moderated by gender. Shopping behaviors of men are influenced by their attitudes toward the catalog, while shopping behaviors of women are determined by their attitudes toward the online shop.
A Toolkit to Guide the Design of Effective Learning Activities
Authors: Fill Karen , Conole Gráinne , Bailey Chris
Published: May 2010

The DialogPLUS Toolkit is a web-based application that guides the design of learning activities. Developed to support the project’s geographers, it incorporates well-researched pedagogic taxonomies that are presented as drop-down lists with associated ‘help’ pages. Toolkit users are encouraged to consider and specify factors including learning and teaching approach, environment, aims and outcomes, assessment methods, learner and tutor roles and requisite skills as they design any number of tasks within a learning activity and select the tools and resources needed to undertake them. The output from the toolkit is a design template that can then be used to guide the instantiation and implementation of online learning activities. The designs are saved within the toolkit, forming a database of designs, which other toolkit users can view. This chapter will present the rationale for the toolkit and the detailed taxonomies. It will describe and illustrate the software design, development and implementation, including the approach to contextual ‘help’, provide examples of learning activity designs created using the toolkit; and present and discuss feedback from users.
Concept Mapping to Design, Organize, and Explore Digital Learning Objects
Authors: DiBiase David , Gahegan Mark
Published: May 2010

This chapter investigates the problem of connecting advanced domain knowledge (from geography educators in this instance) with the strong pedagogic descriptions provided by colleagues from the University of Southampton, as described in Chapter IX, and then adding to this the learning materials that together comprise a learning object. Specifically, the chapter describes our efforts to enhance our open-source concept mapping tool (ConceptVista) with a variety of tools and methods that support the visualization, integration, packaging, and publishing of learning objects. We give examples of learning objects created from existing course materials, but enhanced with formal descriptions of both domain content and pedagogy. We then show how such descriptions can offer significant advantages in terms of making domain and pedagogic knowledge explicit, browsing such knowledge to better communicate educational aims and processes, tracking the development of ideas amongst the learning community, providing richer indices into learning material, and packaging these learning materials together with their descriptive knowledge. We explain how the resulting learning objects might be deployed within next-generation digital libraries that provide rich search languages to help educators locate useful learning objects from vast collections of learning materials.
Online Learning Activities in Second Year Environmental Geography
Authors: Priest Sally
Published: May 2010

This chapter discusses the design, technical development, delivery, and evaluation of two online learning activities in environmental geography. A “blended” approach was adopted in order to best integrate the new materials within the existing unit. The primary aim of these online activities was to provide students with opportunities to develop and demonstrate valuable practical skills, while increasing their understanding of environmental management. A purpose-built system was created in order to overcome initial technological challenges. The online activities have already been delivered successfully to a large number of students over two academic years. Evaluation and staff reflection highlight the benefits and limitations of the new activities, and the chapter concludes with recommendations for others wishing to adopt a similar approach.
Robust Adaptive Beamforming
Authors: Liang Yu Zhu , Hwa Er Meng , Ser Wee , Huawei Chen
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, we first review the background, basic principle and structure of adaptive beamformers. Since there are many robust adaptive beamforming methods proposed in literature, for easy understanding, we organize them into two categories from the mathematical point of view: one is based on quadratic optimization with linear and nonlinear constraints; the another one is max-min optimization with linear and nonlinear constraints. With the max-min optimization technique, the state-of-the-art robust adaptive beamformers are derived. Theoretical analysis and numerical results are presented to show their superior performance.
Transmission in MIMO OFDM Point to Multipoint Networks
Authors: Utschick Wolfgang , Tejera Pedro , Guthy Christian , Bauch Gerhard
Published: May 2010

This chapter discusses four different optimization problems of practical importance for transmission in point to multipoint networks with a multiple input transmitter and multiple output receivers. Existing solutions to each of the problems are adapted to a multi-carrier transmission scheme by considering the special structure of the resulting space-frequency channels. Furthermore, for each of the problems, suboptimum approaches are presented that almost achieve optimum performance and, at the same time, do not have the iterative character of optimum algorithms, i.e., they deliver a solution in a fixed number of steps. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview on optimum design of point to multipoint networks from an information theoretic perspective and to introduce non-iterative algorithms that are a good practical alternative to the sometimes costly iterative algorithms that achieve optimality.
Collaborative Learning by Developing (LbD) Using Concept Maps and Vee Diagrams
Authors: Immonen-Orpana Päivi , Åhlberg Mauri
Published: May 2010

Collaborative Learning by Developing (LbD) was researched in a University course. The focus was reflective metacognitive competence development (Appendix 1.) of Physiotherapy students. The authors used both individual and collaborative concept mapping and improved Vee heuristics in learning process evaluation. The content of the design experiment was ‘Coping at Home’. As educational research it was a design experiment, a multi-case, multi-method study. The core concept of the study unit and development project was ‘successful aging’. Both Cmap Recorder and videotaping of discussions during group concept mapping were used. The main result was that plenty of face-to-face dialogue was needed before the shared understanding and group concept maps were created. First the main concepts were fixed and then other concepts and their relationships were elaborated. Differences between individuals and two groups are analysed. In the collaborative learning process, the feeling in both groups was as if they had a unified and shared thinking process. Students continued each others talking and thinking very fluently like they had had “common brains”.
Concept Maps and Conceptual Change in Physics
Authors: Pérez Rodríguez Angel Luis , Suero López Maria Isabel , Montanero-Fernández Manuel , Pardo Fernández Pedro J. , Montanero-Morán Manuel
Published: May 2010

The authors describe and discuss some recent applications of concept maps to physics teaching. They begin by reviewing the literature on applications of concept maps to science teaching, and argue for the usefulness of this resource in facilitating processes of conceptual change. They then describe two experiments on the collaborative use of concept maps to this end. The first was a study of how a team of teachers designed learning sequences using three-dimensional maps. In the second, concept maps were constructed and then collaboratively re-constructed by various groups of students. Finally, they discuss the preliminary results of these experiments on the processes of conceptual change, and suggest lines for further research.
Using Concept Maps to Assess Individuals and Teams in Collaborative Learning Environments
Authors: Johnson Tristan E. , Ifenthanler Dirk , Pirnay-Dummer Pablo N. , Spector J. Michael
Published: May 2010

The main focus of this chapter is the use of concept mapping, broadly defined to include both graphical and textual representations, for assessment in collaborative learning contexts. Several tools developed by the authors integrate concept mapping as the primary means of assessing progress of learning in complex and problem-solving domains. This chapter presents an overview of the theoretical and empirical foundation for these assessment tools, and discusses their applicability to collaborative learning environments (CLE).
Consensual Concept Maps in Early Childhood Education
Authors: Serrano Rosario Mérida
Published: May 2010

The study described here was designed to demonstrate the sociocognitive benefits experienced by preschool children, specifically 5 year-olds, when they participated in a collaborative activity whose central task was the production of consensual preconcept maps. This task required oral interaction throughout the process of meaning negotiation and the selection of the preconcepts required by such a task. Therefore, the objective of the author’s research was twofold: (1) on one hand, to investigate the educational relevance of collaborative work to an early childhood classroom (with 5 year-old pupils), and (2) to explore the possibility of using consensual preconcept maps at this level, analysing the implications for the development of children’s competence.
E-Justice and Policies for Risk Management
Authors: Carnevali Davide
Published: May 2010

In spite of the technological, economic, and normative efforts, all democratic countries are developing electronic filing (e-filing) in the justice sector, but only a few of them have operational systems. This chapter tries to give a solution to this situation in light of risk management theories. Different strategic approaches to policies for risk management have been adopted by institutions governing ICT technologies in the development of the judicial electronic data interchange (JEDI). As the author shows with the support of the information provided by several case studies, such approaches are correlated to the (positive and negative) results achieved by the different countries in terms of successful implementation and diffusion of e-justice. In the concluding remarks and future trends sections, the author will provide indications to support the development of ICT strategies in this area.
Judges as IT Users
Authors: Poblet Marta , Vallbé Joan-Josep , Casellas Núria , Casanovas Pompeu
Published: May 2010

Judicial culture generally refers to the set of values, cognitive skills, and practical knowledge of members of the judiciary. In this chapter, we present a research project whose main object is to identify, organize, model, and use practical knowledge produced by judges in judicial settings. To do so, we describe the steps followed to develop Iuriservice, a Web-based system intended to provide the Spanish judiciary with a tool to facilitate knowledge management in daily judicial practice. Iuriservice is a Web-based application that retrieves answers to questions raised by incoming judges in the Spanish judicial domain. This system provides these newly recruited judges with access to frequently asked questions (FAQ) through a natural language interface. The impact and limits of the implementation of Iuriservice in the larger context of the court system will also be considered. Finally, we will conclude by situating the Iuriservice example in the context of recent trends in judicial reform.
The Potential of Computerized Court Case Management to Battle Judicial Corruption
Authors: McMillan James E.
Published: May 2010

Automated court case management systems present opportunities to develop processes and procedures that can battle corruption. This chapter provides information on the development of such a system for the nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and looks toward future potential developments in this area. Computerized court case management systems (CCMS) can be used to help the judiciary manage complete their daily work. These systems can also be used to prevent data corruption and allow data “mining,” that identifies potential corruption activities. This chapter briefly discusses the issue of judicial corruption and describes automated system functions that can be used to eliminate and potentially indicate corrupt practices.
Online Dispute Resolution
Authors: Conley Tyler Melissa H.
Published: May 2010

Every community—whether physical or virtual will inevitably experience conflict. New ways of interacting through information and communication technology has led to new conflicts, such as domain name or e-commerce disputes. At the same time, governments need to deal with the entire range of disputes in society, whether crimes, neighborhood disputes, ethnic conflict, or disputes with its own employees. A key role for government and for e-governance is providing mechanisms to help resolve these disputes. The emerging area of online dispute resolution (ODR) potentially offers a useful set of tools and techniques for resolving disputes. Capable of being used for both online and offline disputes, ODR has already proved that it can provide effective resolution for at least some disputes: more than 1.5 million cases had been successfully resolved online to July 2004 (Conley Tyler, 2005). Governments and e-governance institutions around the world are adopting or considering the applicability of ODR as a tool for digital government.
Towards Patient-Centered Care
Authors: Dawson Juanita , Tulu Bengisu , Horan Thomas A.
Published: May 2010

This chapter provides a conceptual foundation by exploring the existing literature on traditional healthcare, patient-centered healthcare, and the progression of e-health in enabling the movement towards patient-centered care. This chapter also discusses enhancing the relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider through e-health. We conclude with a discussion of the future of patient-centered e-health and future research opportunities in this area.
Connecting with Ourselves and Others Online
Authors: Johnsen Jan-Are K.
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, we look at some fundamental aspects of communicating about ourselves and our health through technology. In particular, we examine how the social psychological theories of self-presentation and self-regulation might be applied to online health-communication. It is argued that the specific qualities of text-based communication might have unique benefits for health-communication through the interplay between the writing process and the concerns posed by health-issues. An understanding of how psychological processes are connected with online health communication is believed to be fundamental in understanding trends within self-help and user-driven health communication, and to predict possible outcomes of such behavior. Also, this knowledge might inform the design and development of patient-centered solutions for health-communication and heath-service delivery.
Personal Health Records
Authors: Randeree Ebrahim
Published: May 2010

An increasing focus on e-health and a governmental push to improve healthcare quality while giving patients more control of their health data have combined to promote the emergence of the personal health record (PHR). The PHR addresses timeliness, patient safety, and equity, goals that the Institute of Medicine has identified as integral to improving healthcare. The PHR is vital to the National Health Information Network (NHIN) that is being developed to give all Americans access to electronic health records by 2014. Despite increasing public access to PHRs via employers, insurance companies, healthcare providers, and independent entities, it is unclear whether the PHR will be successfully implemented and adopted by the public. This chapter looks at how PHRs address the needs, desires, and expectations of patients, explores the data quality concerns regarding patient-generated information (data capture, sharing and integration with other systems), discusses social implications of adoption, and concludes with a discussion of the evolving role that PHRs play in the growth of patient-centered e-health.
Trust in Patient-Centered E-Health
Authors: Klein Richard
Published: May 2010

Patient-centered e-health (PCEH) offerings see the emergence of divergent, new third parties, through initiatives, including (a) medical content aggregation, (b) health-based online communities, and (c) patient-physician Internet-based portals. Here, the product is digital and heterogeneous for medical content aggregators; virtual and heterogeneous for online communities; and digital, context-specific, and asynchronous for patient-physician portals. With patients expressing privacy and confidentiality concerns in communicating personal health information electronically, growing numbers of PCEH initiatives give rise to many unique issues with respect to patient trust. Existing electronic commerce research focuses on trust in online vendors, potentially providing an incomplete picture with respect to patient trust in PCEH. An accurate and holistic understanding of patient trust encompasses different combinations of cognitive processes, disposition to trust, and institution-based trust, all shaping trusting
Involving Patients and the Public in E-Health Research
Authors: Powell John , Armstrong Natalie
Published: May 2010

This chapter deals with the principles and practice of patient and public involvement in e-health research, and discusses some of the issues raised. In the first part of this chapter, we discuss the problems of defining an “e-health consumer,” and discuss why, how and when to involve consumers in e-health research. We also set out principles to guide effective consumer involvement, and the benefits that this can bring in the e-health arena. In the second part of this chapter, we describe how consumers were successfully involved, through a variety of methods, in the development and evaluation of an Internet-based intervention to aid diabetes self-management. Patient and public involvement in research is not the same as undertaking research on patients or the public. It is about understanding, incorporating and benefiting from the relevant consumer perspective, at various levels, throughout the stages of a project.
Healthcare Quality and Cost Transparency Using Web-Based Tools
Authors: Ma Jiao
Published: May 2010

This chapter explores the use of Web sites to provide patients with understandable information about the quality and price of healthcare (healthcare transparency). Our first objective is to discuss patients’ perceptions of empowerment and need for quality and cost information when choosing medical providers and facilities for healthcare procedures. To meet this objective, we address issues of patient awareness of sources of healthcare quality and cost information, perceived responsibility for managing healthcare costs, and knowledge of appropriate actions to exercise choice of providers. Our second objective is to investigate the potential of Web-based tools, which provide healthcare quality and cost information, to facilitate patients’ decision-making processes regarding choice of provider for healthcare services, particularly common outpatient procedures. To meet this second objective, we use insights from usercentered design procedures (e.g., focus groups and in-depth interviews) associated with the development of a healthcare transparency Web-based tool.
Assessing a Patient-Centered E-Health Approach to Chronic Disease Self-Management
Authors: Cummings Elizabeth , Chau Stephen , Turner Paul
Published: May 2010

This chapter explores how in developing patient-centred e-health systems it is possible to accommodate heterogeneous characteristics of end-users and their diverse health and care contexts. It concurs with conventional sociotechnical design paradigms that argue systems must be easy to use, fulfill a perceived need, and present a clear value proposition to ensure successful adoption and utilisation by patients. The chapter also highlights the need for awareness of a number of key challenges relating to emerging discourses on ‘empowering patients’ and ‘e-health’. The implications of these challenges for the development of a truly patient-centred e-health approach are explored in a detailed case study. This chapter contributes to research focused on supporting patients to become genuine co-participants in their own care, health and well-being. However, it also acknowledges that part of the challenge of achieving this goal requires a focus on assisting clinicians to learn to respond to this shift in the autonomy of decision- making
Incompatible Images
Authors: Sassene Michel J.
Published: May 2010

This chapter investigates asthmatics’ reasons for not adopting an e-health system for asthma selfmanagement. An understanding of these reasons is particularly relevant, because clinical evidence indicates that, if used, such systems lead to better asthma management. The investigated asthma system is, however, based on a taken-for-granted image of asthmatics as, per se, striving to be symptom-free. This image is incompatible with interviewed asthmatics’ day-to-day performances of their asthma, and renders invisible (a) that their asthma performances emphasize an economy of good passages and of feeling capable, (b) that they achieve the objective of feeling capable in quite different ways, and (c) that feeling capable does not per se equal being symptom-free all the time. To attain long-term use of self-management systems and other patient-centred e-health systems, such systems must acknowledge and link into the manifold performances that comprise users’ ways of living with their disease.
Reconfiguring the Rose
Authors: Hall Lynne
Published: May 2010

This chapter discusses artists’ use of virtual space to collaboratively create a digital stained-glass rose window. It explores the use of virtual space to provide a working environment for artists, the Wombrose workspace, using the design metaphor provided by the rose window to create a collaborative space. This space focused at supporting practice-based artists in a democratic and effective negotiation process with the aim of developing a potentially monumental artwork to be installed as a digital projection in a real architectural space.
Context, Boundedness, and Structure
Authors: Jacob Elin K.
Published: May 2010

In distinguishing between space and place, one approach is to contrast the physicality of space with the sociality of place: space directs attention to the material configuration of the physical environment while place indicates an individual’s understanding of the social behaviors that are appropriate within that environment. However, such a distinction juxtaposing the physical configuration of space to the social orientation of place is, on consideration, too limiting in its applicability. A more effective and generalizable distinction between space and place must also consider perceptions of context, implications of boundedness, and the influence of organizational structure. This broader approach to analysis of space and place can lead to the identification of meaningful differences that influence the functional activities of an information system and contribute to a greater understanding of what it is that constitutes an information environment.
Listening, Corporeality, Place and Presence
Authors: Turner Susan
Published: May 2010

This chapter considers the role of sound, and more specifically, listening, in creating a sense of presence (of “being there”) in “places” recreated by virtual reality technologies. We first briefly review the treatment of sound in place and presence research. Here we give particular attention to the role of sound in inducing a sense of presence in virtual environments that immerse their users in representations of particular places. We then consider the phenomenology of listening, the nature of different types of listening, and their application: listening is active, directed, intentional hearing, and is not merely egocentric, it is body-centric. A classification of modes of listening that draws on work in film studies, virtual reality, and audiology is then proposed as a means of supporting the design of place-centric virtual environments in providing an effective aural experience. Finally, we apply this to a case study of listening in real and simulated soundscapes, and suggest directions for further applications of this work
R&D Process Models
Authors: Friedman Robert S. , Roberts Desiree M. , Linton Jonathan D.
Published: May 2010

This chapter on research and development processes and models begins with a section concerning the economics and finance of R&D. Liberatore and Titus (1983) address the level and effectiveness that R&D managers have over the budgeting activities related to their projects and how best to improve these activities. Guerard, Bean, and Andrews’ (1987) focus is on the financial decisions hypothesis and development of an econometric model to examine the relationships of R&D with financing decision making. Hill and Snell (1988) discuss the different stresses and influences that investors and consumers place upon the R&D process, while Hokisson and Hitt (1988) examine management structure and diversification to understand their effect on investment by external capital markets in R&D firms. Baysinger and Hoskisson (1989) are also concerned with diversification strategies that affect R&D, reporting on their empirical research findings that suggest a positive relationship between the level of R&D intensity and the level of business dominance. The section concludes with Pisano (1990) and his discussion of sources of transaction costs, particularly small-numbers-bargaining hazards and appropriability concerns, and their effect on the selection of internal or external R&D sources when technological changes affect the locus of R&D expertise.
Technology Development and Innovative Practice
Authors: Friedman Robert S. , Roberts Desiree M. , Linton Jonathan D.
Published: May 2010

This chapter on innovative practice supporting technological development has several thematic overlays that show some consistency in terms of patterns, but also some diversity in terms of strategies that researchers have employed in this area. Beginning with Hage and Aiken’s (1969) seminal work on routinization and how the social structures of organizations affect technological development and innovation, readers will see two general trends in terms of approach: the statistical and the sociological. Whether it is Aldrich’s (1972) use of path analysis to study the nature and effects of organizational variables on innovative practice, or Rothwell et al.’s (1974) identification of innovation success factors, or Downs and Mohr’s (1976) defining of innovation through factors of variability, quantitative methods are shown to be increasingly powerful tools in identifying the nature of innovation and technology development. Nelson and Winter (1977) continue in this vein by establishing an inclusive theoretical structure for innovation, Dewar and Hage (1978) identify variables of structural differentiation and complexity that affect this domain, and Kimberly and Evanisko (1981) suggest variables to follow that come from both within individual organization units and their wider contexts. Pavitt (1984) uses sectoral pattern analysis to describe how a combination of technology sources, user requirements, and potential technology appropriation affect how we understand technical change and the structural relationships between technology and industry. Fisher and Fry (1971) end the quantitatively based section with a discussion of their substitution forecasting model.
Evaluation of Cognitive Load
Authors: Kalyuga Slava
Published: May 2010

Availability of valid and usable measures of cognitive load involved in learning is essential for providing support for cognitive load-based explanations of the effects predicted and described in cognitive load theory as well as for general evaluation of learning conditions. Besides, the evaluation of cognitive load may provide another indicator of levels of learner expertise in addition to performance scores. As mentioned before, due to the available schematic knowledge base, more knowledgeable learners are expected to perform their tasks with lower mental effort than novices. Even though simple subjective rating scales remain the most often used measures of cognitive load imposed by instructional materials, new more sophisticated techniques are being developed, especially in multimodal environments associated with performance of complex cognitive tasks. This chapter provides a brief overview of traditional, as well as some novel methods for measuring and evaluating cognitive load. Some recently developed approaches to using these measures in estimating instructional efficiency of learning environments are also discussed.
Managing Cognitive Load in Interactive Multimedia
Authors: Kalyuga Slava
Published: May 2010

Most sophisticated multimedia learning environments include various interactivity features. Interactive multimedia learning environments respond dynamically to learner specific actions. Such environments support active, learner-engaged forms of learning that are expected to promote deep cognitive processes and result in active construction and acquisition of new knowledge. Spector, Christensen, Sioutine, and McCormack (2001) noted that interactivity is the most critical feature of technology-enhanced learning environments. They summarized the relevant conclusions addressed in the research literature in this area as follows: 1. “Doing goes hand-in-hand with learning: learners learn what they do. 2. As learning environments provide more and more opportunities for active learner participation, they tend to promote learning; too many opportunities for interaction, however, can lead to confusion and disorientation. 3. Cognitive engagement with the subject material is vital for learning. 4. Opportunities for reflection generally improve learning. 5. Informative feedback is a necessary part of meaningful cognitive engagement; advanced learners may be able to generate their own feedback (a metacognitive skill)” (p. 522).