bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investing in Knowledge-Based User-Computer Interaction
Authors: Andriole Stephen J.
Published: May 2011

This is an example of investing in a product and service by a company—Tech- VestCo—that planned to increase its offerings to the larger business technology community. In this example, TechVestCo developed an “intelligent” aid for those who design and field easy-to-use computer-based applications. The idea is simple enough: support the design and development of software applications that are easy to use, which do not frustrate their users and lead to increased human-computer productivity. TechVestCo undertook the design and development of an interactive “workbench” that was intended to help software engineers with the design and development of “friendly” user-computer interfaces.1
Ethics Review on Externally- Sponsored Research in Developing Countries
Authors: Bagheri Alireza
Published: May 2011

This chapter elaborates on some of the existing concerns and ethical issues that may arise when biomedical research protocols are proposed or funded by research institutes (private or public) in developed countries but human subjects are recruited from resource-poor countries. Over the last two decades, clinical research conducted by sponsors and researchers from developed countries to be carried out in developing countries has increased dramatically. The article examines the situations in which vulnerable populations in developing countries are likely to be exploited and/or there is no guarantee of any benefit from the research product, if proven successful, to the local community. By examining the structure and functions of ethics committees in developing countries, the article focuses on the issues which a local ethics committee should take into account when reviewing externally-sponsored research. In conclusion, by emphasizing capacity building for local research ethics committees, the article suggests that assigning the national ethics committee (if one exists) or an ethics committee specifically charged with the task of reviewing externally-sponsored proposals would bring better results in protecting human subjects as well as ensuring benefit-sharing with the local community.
Nanoscale Research, Ethics, and the Military
Authors: Murphy Timothy F.
Published: May 2011

Military researchers are working to exploit advances in nanoscale research for military uniforms, medical diagnosis and treatment, enhanced soldier performance, information and surveillance systems, and weaponry and guidance systems. These domains of research pose ethical questions in regard to the motives for this research, the way in which it is carried out, and its social effects, especially in regard to its medical aspects. Much of this research can be defended in the name of soldier protection and national defense, but close attention to the practice of research involving human subjects and nanoscale devices is nevertheless warranted because the military is governed in ways that sometimes put its overarching goals ahead of protecting the rights and welfare of individual soldiers. Moreover, the contribution of nanoscale interventions to a new kind of arms race should not be underestimated.
Ethical Controversy over Information and Communication Technology
Authors: Cortés Pascual Pilar Alejandra
Published: May 2011

‘What positive and negative aspects are perceived of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)?’ and ‘What dilemmas arise regarding these technologies?’ are the two questions addressed in this chapter. First of all, we have conducted a theoretical analysis comparing various ICT characteristic from two different perspectives: the positive and the negative ones of ICT. Secondly, we present the results in two work modules conducted in the Observation Laboratory of Technoethics for Adults (LOTA) project, already explained in the previous chapter, with an inference towards intervention.
Computing and Information Ethics Education Research
Authors: Robbins Russell W. , Fleischmann Kenneth R. , Wallace William A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter explains and integrates new approaches to teaching computing and information ethics (CIE) and researching CIE education. We first familiarize the reader with CIE by explaining three domains where information ethics may be applied: Information Ownership; Information Privacy; and Information Quality. We then outline past and current approaches to CIE education and indicate where research is necessary. Research suggestions for CIE education focus upon developing a deep understanding of the relationships between students, teachers, pedagogical materials, learning processes, teaching techniques, outcomes and assessment methods. CIE education exists to enhance individual and group ethical problem solving processes; however these are not yet fully understood, making research necessary. We then discuss CIE education research results to date and suggest new directions, including applying insights from the field of learning science as well as developing dynamic computing and information tools. Since these tools are dynamic and interactive, they will support collaboration, iteration, reflection, and revision that can help students learn CIE.
The Ethical Dilemma over Money in Special Education
Authors: Candor Jennifer
Published: May 2011

The allocation of resources for assistive technology does not have to result in a gap between general and special education. This case study illustrates how a school district can respond to this ethical dilemma with the philosophy that special education technology is money well spent for all education, general as well as special needs. This chapter will discuss the ethical dilemma of funding assistive technology for general education and special education. It will explore the issues of ethnicity, social attitudes and the socio-economic factors regarding technology and special education. It will also examine the tools of technology that provides a bridge to close the learning gap in special education and finally, the benefits that the bridge provides to the special education population and general education.
Which Rights for Which Subjects? Genetic Confidentiality and Privacy in the Post-Genomic Era
Authors: Rouvroy Antoinette
Published: May 2011

The aim of the present chapter is to elucidate the paradoxical position of the individual legal subject in the context of human genetics. It first discusses the assumed individual “right to know” and “right not to know” about genetic susceptibilities, predispositions and risks when genetic tests exist, and assess the usual assumption according to which more information necessarily increases liberty and enhances autonomy. A second section is dedicated to the issues of confidentiality, intra-familial disclosure and familial management of genetic information. The idea is suggested that those issues challenge the fundamental liberal unit of the individual traditionally understood as a stable, unitary, embodied entity.
Accessibility of Online Library Information for People with Disabilities
Authors: Schmetzke Axel
Published: May 2011

After 20 years of digitization efforts, hardly a single type of library information resource remains that has not shifted, at least to some extent, to an electronic, Web-based format: information about the library itself, catalogs, indexes, dictionaries and encyclopedias, books and journals, tutorials, reserve materials, and reference services. The online migration of these resources has opened unprecedented opportunities to people with “print disabilities” who cannot independently access printed works because of lack of sight, dyslexia, or insufficient motor control (Coombs, 2000), but who are able to access electronic text with the help of assistive input and output technology such as modified computer keyboards and screen readers with speech or Braille output (Lazzaro, 2001;Mates, 2000). The extent to which these new opportunities become realized depends on the design of the Web environment. From the perspective of accessibility, design in the online world matters as much as it does in the physical world. This article seeks to determine the extent to which the library profession addresses the need of people with disabilities for accessibly designed online resources—by reviewing the professional library literature for coverage of this issue, by summarizing empirical accessibility studies, and by analyzing pertinent policies adapted by libraries and their professional organizations.
Adaptive Playout Buffering Schemes for IP Voice Communication
Authors: Ferretti Stefano , Roccetti Marco , Palazzi Claudio E.
Published: May 2011

Audio communication over IP-based networks represents one of the most interesting research areas in the field of distributed multimedia systems. Today, routing the voice over Internet enables cheaper communication services than those deployed over traditional circuit-switched networks. BoAT (Roccetti, Ghini, Pau, Salomoni, & Bonfigli, 2001a), Ekiga, FreePhone (Bolot & Vega Garcia, 1996), iCall, Kiax, NeVot (Schulzrinne, 1992), rat (Hardman, Sasse, & Kouvelas, 1998), Skype, Tapioca, vat (Jacobson & McCanne, n.d.), WengoPhone, and YATE, are just few examples of free VoIP software available to Internet users. Without any doubts, new (wired and wireless) highspeed, broadband networks facilitate the transmission of the voice over the Internet and have determined the success of these applications. However, the best effort service offered by the Internet architecture does not provide any guarantee on the delivery of (voice) data packets. Thus, to maintain a correct time consistency of the transmitted audio stream, these voice communication systems must be equipped with schemes able to deal with the unpredictability of network latency, delay jitter, and possible packet loss.
Adoption of E-Commerce in SMEs
Authors: Tatnall Arthur , Burgess Stephen
Published: May 2011

Just because e-commerce technologies seem like useful tools that may assist a small to medium enterprise (SME) do its business better, it does not necessarily follow that these technologies will be adopted by this business. The implementation of an e-commerce system in an SME necessitates change in the way the business operates, and so it should be considered as an innovation and studied using innovation theory. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is concerned with how computers, information systems and communications technologies can be used by people to improve the ways in which they do business. As e-commerce necessarily involves interactions of people and technology, any study of how it is used by a small business must be considered in a socio-technical context. Although there is no universal consensus on what constitutes e-commerce, it must be considered to contain elements of information systems, computer hardware technology, business processes, communications technologies, and people. The complexity of studies in e-commerce is due, to a considerable degree, to the interconnected parts played by human actors and by the multitude of non-human entities involved. Small business managers, sales people, staff involved in procurement and warehouse operations, computers, software, Web browsers, Internet service providers (ISP), modems, and Web portals are only some of the many heterogeneous components of an e-commerce system.
African-Americans and the Digital Divide
Authors: Kvasny Lynette , Cobb Payton Fay
Published: May 2011

The Internet has become an integral part of America’s entertainment, communication, and information culture. Since the mid 1990s, the Internet has become prevalent in middle and upper-class American households. Companies and government agencies are increasingly offering products, services, and information online. Educational institutions are integrating technology into their curriculum and are offering courses from a distance. However, while some are advantaged by the efficiencies and convenience that result from these innovations, others may unwittingly become further marginalized by these same innovations since Internet access is not spreading to them as quickly. The ‘digital divide’ is the term used to describe this emerging disparity. Government analysts argue that historically underserved groups such as racial and ethnic minorities, rural and low-income communities, and older Americans are at a distinct disadvantage if this divide is not closed because American economic and social life is increasingly becoming networked through the Internet (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1995). Over the last decade access to the Internet has increased significantly. A 2006 Pew Internet and American Life survey shows that 73% of U.S. adults (about 147 million adults) are Internet users, up from 66% (about 133 million adults) in 2005. And the share of Americans who have broadband connections at home reached 42% (about 84 million), up from 29% (about 59 million) in 2005 (Madden, 2006). African- Americans are increasingly accessing the Internet via home broadband connections, with a 121% adoption rate in 2005 (Horrigan, 2006). But does this mean that the problem of the digital divide has been solved? Is further research in this area warranted or has the digital divide become passé? In this article, we take on these questions by first reviewing major issues and trends in digital divide research. We do so by reviewing the digital divide literature as it relates to one historically underserved group, namely African-Americans. Next, we present a conceptual framework that contrasts 1) social and technological access perspectives, and 2) assetbased/ resource and behavioral/use perspectives. The article concludes with our recommendations for future research opportunities for examining digital divide issues.
Agents and Payment Systems in E-Commerce
Authors: Guan Sheng-Uei
Published: May 2011

An emerging outcome of the popularization of the Internet are electronic commerce and payment systems, which present great opportunities for businesses, reduce transaction costs, and provide faster transaction times. More research has been conducted with new technologies like mobile Internet used by business models (Baek & Hong, 2003). However, before using the Internet, it is essential to provide security in transferring monetary value over the Internet. A number of protocols have been proposed for these secure payment systems, including NetBill, NetCheque, Open Market, iKP, Millicent, SET (Sherift, 1998), E-Cash (Brands, 1995), NetCash, CAFÉ (Mjolsnes, 1997), EMV cards (Khu-Smith & Mitchell, 2002), etc. These systems are designed to meet diverse requirements, each with particular attributes. Automation and intelligence is another issue that poses challenges in the development of e-commerce. Agent technology has been incorporated into the area of e-commerce to provide automation and intelligence for the e-trade process. An agent is a software program capable of accomplishing tasks autonomously on behalf of its user. Agents must provide trustworthy consistency and fault tolerance to avoid eavesdropping and fraud. Also, agents should have roaming capability so as to extend their capability well beyond the limitations of owners’ computers. To meet these requirements, this chapter will discuss some related components under the SAFER (Secure Agent Fabrication, Evolution, and Roaming) architecture (Zhu & Guan, 2000) and propose an agent-based payment scheme for SAFER. Different types of electronic payment systems have been developed to meet its diverse requirements, which generally include integrity, authorization, confidentiality, availability, and reliability for security requirements (Asokan, 1997). Payment systems can be classified in a variety of ways according to their characteristics (Dahab & Ferreira, 1998), such as the exchange model (cash-like, check-like, or hybrid), central authority contact (online or offline), hardware requirements (specific or general), payment amounts (micropayment), etc. Among the available payment schemes in the market, E-Cash is one of the best in terms of security, flexibility, and full anonymity. E-Cash is a cash-like online system that uses electronic coins as tokens. E-Cash has unique advantages, such as flexibility, integrity, and full anonymity that cannot be found in electronic check and credit card based systems. It uses cryptographic techniques to provide full anonymity. The agent-based payment scheme for SAFER adopts some similar principles and concepts of E-Cash.
Applications for Data Mining Techniques in Customer Relationship Management
Authors: Clewley Natalie , Chen Sherry Y. , Liu Xiaohui
Published: May 2011

With the explosion in the amount of data produced in commercial environments, organizations are faced with the challenge of how to collect, analyze, and manage such large volumes of data. As a consequence, they have to rely upon new technologies to efficiently and automatically manage this process. Data mining is an example of one such technology, which can help to discover hidden knowledge from an organization’s databases with a view to making better business decisions (Changchien & Lu, 2001). Data mining, or knowledge discovery from databases (KDD), is the search for valuable information within large volumes of data (Hand, Mannila & Smyth, 2001), which can then be used to predict, model or identify interrelationships within the data (Urtubia, Perez-Correa, Soto & Pszczolkowski, 2007). By utilizing data mining techniques, organizations can gain the ability to predict future trends in both the markets and customer behaviors. By providing detailed analyses of current markets and customers, data mining gives organizations the opportunity to better meet the needs of its customers. With such significance in mind, this chapter aims to investigate how data mining techniques can be applied in customer relationship management (CRM). This chapter is organized as follows. Firstly, an overview of the main functionalities data mining technologies can provide is given. The following section presents application examples where data mining is commonly applied within the domain, with supporting evidence as to how each enhances CRM processes. Finally, current issues and future research trends are discussed before the main conclusions are presented.
Applying Evaluation to Information Science and Technology
Authors: Williams David Dwayne
Published: May 2011

As indicated by the wide range of topics addressed by this Encyclopedia, the fields of information science and technology have grown exponentially. Likewise, the field of evaluation has evolved and become increasingly integral to learning and improving upon principles and practices associated with all fields the Encyclopedia explores. The field of evaluation is the formal transdiscipline of gathering information about the performance or nature of objects of evaluation and comparing the objects’ performance to criteria to help participants make evaluative judgments (Scriven, 2004). Evaluation includes several elements: negotiation with multiple participants regarding their values and criteria, using many different kinds of processes to document and judge the performance of various objects of evaluation, formative and summative purposes, measurement and assessment techniques, and use of quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis processes. This chapter documents the development of evaluation as a field; presents a framework for thinking about evaluation that is theoretically sound and practical to use; and explores ways to apply the framework to facilitate learning, improvement, decision-making, and judgment in all sub-fields of information science and technology.
Architectures for Rich Internet Real-Time Games
Authors: Häsel Matthias
Published: May 2011

Many researchers regard multiplayer online games as the future of the interactive entertainment industry (Brun, Safaei, & Boustead, 2006; El Rhalibi & Merabti, 2005; Sharp & Rowe, 2006). In particular, due to advances in game design and the availability of broadband Internet access to the enduser, multiplayer online games with real-time interaction have come into wide use (Aggarwal, Banavar, Mukherjee, & Rangarajan, 2005; Claypool & Claypool, 2006; Yasui, Yutaka, & Ikedo, 2005). The majority of these games are made up by classic software titles that need to be installed on the players’ machines (El Rhalibi & Merabti, 2005). Browserbased multiplayer games, on the contrary, can be run instantly from a Web site, but have, due to technical limitations, long been round-based, strategy-focused games. However, with the ongoing evolvement of Rich Internet Application (RIA) technology (Allaire, 2002) such as Adobe Flash and Java, browser-based online game development has reached a point where also real-time games can be produced and distributed to a large audience quickly and easily. Browserbased games can be utilized in conjunction with e-business offers in a very simple way and hold a number of exciting possibilities for new online business models, new markets, and new growth (Kollmann & Häsel, 2006; Sharp & Rowe, 2006). However, as the browser is a very different operating environment and interactive experience from that of classical game software, browser-based multiplayer real-time games involve gaming architectures that are distinct from their classical counterparts. A major challenge when designing and implementing such architectures is that multiplayer online games are highly vulnerable to propagation delays resulting from redundant communication, bottlenecks, single points of failure and poor reactivity to changing network conditions (Ramakrishna, Robinson, Eustice, & Reiher, 2006). As latency from input of information to its output determines gameplay and fairness (Brun et al., 2006), the game architecture has to be designed in a way that it mitigates latency effects and meets the expectations of the players (Claypool & Claypool, 2006). Elaborating on the example of an online tabletop soccer game with two remote players, this article discusses two architectural models that can be applied to implement browser-based multiplayer real-time games using RIA technology.
Association Rules Mining for Retail Organizations
Authors: Kouris Ioannis N. , Makris Christos , Theodoridis Evangelos , Tsakalidis Athanasios
Published: May 2011

In recent years, we have witnessed an explosive growth in the amount of data generated and stored from practically all possible fields (e.g., science, business, medicine, military just to name a few). However, the ability to store more and more data has not been followed by the same rate of growth in the processing power, and, therefore, much of the data accumulated remains today still unanalyzed. Data mining, which could be defined as the process concerned with applying computational techniques (i.e., algorithms implemented as computer programs) to actually find patterns in the data, tries to bridge this gap. Among others, data mining technologies include association rule discovery, classification, clustering, summarization, regression and sequential pattern discovery (Adrians & Zantige, 1996; Chen, Han, & Yu, 1996; Fayyad, Piatetsky-Shapiro, & Smyth, 1996). This problem has been motivated by applications known as market basket analysis which find items purchased by customers; that is, what kinds of products tend to be purchased together (Agrawal, Imielinski, & Swami, 1993).
Best Practices for IS&T Supervisors
Authors: Major Debra A. , Morganson Valerie L.
Published: May 2011

Researchers over the last decade have generated a body of literature which is informed by management research and theory and tailored to the unique demands that characterize IS&T work. At the industry level, IS&T fluctuates with the supply and demand asymmetry caused by technological advances (Agarwal & Ferratt, 2002a). The changing nature of the industry trickles down to affect IS&T professionals who must continually update their skills in order to prevent obsolescence (Rajeswari & Anantharaman, 2003). IS&T work demands flexibility in responding to customer demands, emerging issues, spontaneously hectic workloads, and frequently unplanned requests. The nature of the work is continuous (frequently 24/7) and often requires the coordination of multiple experts. IT is typically a service function upon which other organizational functions depend. Yet, it is common for IT to be undervalued and unrecognized, unless there is an IT failure. IS&T work may be performed by individuals or teams that may be colocated or virtually connected. Although there has been some debate in defining the parameters of the so-called “IS&T workforce,” considerable overlap in skills, educational backgrounds and other domains persist (Kaarst- Brown & Guzman, 2005). The current article defines IS&T professionals as individuals whose primary job function is the development, installation, and implementation of computer systems or communication technology. Research and best practices literature are reviewed to provide IT managers with an overview and a starting point for workforce intervention and improvement.
Business Informatization Level
Authors: Zwicker Ronaldo
Published: May 2011

IT diffusion is central to the new economy and is reflected in a process of informatization of society and businesses. Although initially coined to represent the diffusion and adoption of information technology (IT) in all levels of society, the term informatization is also employed to represent the use of information technology resources in organizations. Weissbach (2003), for instance, defines informatization as being the process of gradual and increasing application of “planned and systematic use of IT penetrating the organization’s functions”. As pointed out by Lim (2001), the evaluation of an organization’s Informatization Level (IL) is an important managerial concern. The author also points out the difficulties associated with this evaluation, stating that “this is not a simple problem because informatization includes many intangible factors such as the quality of information and the organization’s culture”. The purpose of evaluating a company’s IL is to provide information for the organization to improve precisely its informatization level. It is also a means of benchmarking the efficacy and efficiency of IT investments in order to set up the baseline for improvement. This topic depicts a measurement method for the IL of companies and shows results of its application in 830 Brazilian industries (Zwicker, Vidal, & Souza, 2005). The development of this method was based on the principle that IT results in companies are not obtained merely through investments and the implementation of systems but rather through its proper use in business processes. The proposed method extends the informatization dimensions proposed by Lim (2001), using the process-based view of the IT business value creation model proposed by Soh and Markus (1995) and the concept of “information systems coverage” proposed by Ravarini, Tagliavini, Buonanno, and Sciuto (2002).
Business Model Application of UML Stereotypes
Authors: Brandon Jr. Daniel
Published: May 2011

The UML (Unified Modeling Language) has become a standard in design of object oriented computer systems (Schach, 2004). UML provides for the use of stereotypes to extend the utility of its base capabilities. In the design and construction of business systems, the use of stereotypes is particularly useful stereotypes, and this article defines and illustrates these.
Business Models for Municipal Broadband Networks
Authors: Bouras Christos , Gkamas Apostolos , Theophilopoulos George , Tsiatsos Thrasyvoulos
Published: May 2011

This article examines the most effective business model for the optimal exploitation of the currently developing broadband metropolitan area networks in various municipals around the globe. The proper exploitation strategy of the municipal broadband networks to be deployed could boost the demand for broadband connections and applications. The article describes the relevant, available business models in detail, including ways for broadband infrastructures’ expansion, and deals with viability issues, regarding the managing authority which is responsible for the broadband metropolitan networks. A business model, specifically in the current article, determines the way in which the exploitation of a metropolitan, community-owned, optical network will be effectuated. Municipalities may play a critical role in enabling the deployment of broadband infrastructures by the private sector (Government of Sweden, 2007): • Placing open conduit under all freeways, overpasses, railway crossings, canals and bridges. • Allowing over lashing of fiber on existing aerial fiber structures. • Forcing existing owners of conduit, such as electrical companies, telephone companies, and so forth, to make 100% of their conduit accessible to third parties. • Coordinate construction of all new conduits, especially by building entrances to minimize the “serial rippers” and make all such conduit open to third parties. However, the development of such broadband infrastructures raises several questions regarding the business model that shall be used for their exploitation (e.g., what will be the role of the municipality, what will be the degree of government interventionism, how healthy competition is going to be promoted, how the network’s viability is going to be ensured, etc.). Therefore, this article intends to: • Record international experience with respect to broadband business models for the exploitation of broadband infrastructures. • Summarize the available business models and present, through comparative analysis, the advantages and disadvantages of each business model. The remaining of this article is structured as follows: The next section presents the international experience in developing broadband metropolitan area networks in various municipalities around the globe. Next, the aticle presents and compares the available business models for the optimal exploitation of the broadband municipal networks, and presents the future trends in the area. Finally, the article is concluded.
Cluster Analysis Using Rough Clustering and k-Means Clustering
Authors: Voges Kevin E.
Published: May 2011

Cluster analysis is a fundamental data reduction technique used in the physical and social sciences. It is of potential interest to managers in Information Science, as it can be used to identify user needs though segmenting users such as Web site visitors. In addition, the theory of Rough sets is the subject of intense interest in computational intelligence research. The extension of this theory into rough clustering provides an important and potentially useful addition to the range of cluster analysis techniques available to the manager. Cluster analysis is defined as the grouping of “individuals or objects into clusters so that objects in the same cluster are more similar to one another than they are to objects in other clusters” (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2006). There are a number of comprehensive introductions to cluster analysis (Abonyi & Feil, 2007; Arabie, Hubert, & De Soete, 1994; Cramer, 2003; Everitt, Landau, & Leese, 2001; Gan, Ma, & Wu, 2007; Härdle & Hlávka, 2007). Techniques are often classified as hierarchical or nonhierarchical (Hair et al., 2006), and the most commonly used nonhierarchical technique is the k-means approach developed by MacQueen (1967). Recently, techniques based on developments in computational intelligence have also been used as clustering algorithms. For example, the theory of fuzzy sets developed by Zadeh (1965), which introduced the concept of partial set membership, has been applied to clustering (Abonyi & Feil, 2007; Dumitrescu, Lazzerini, & Jain, 2000). Another technique receiving considerable attention is the theory of rough sets (Pawlak, 1982), which has led to clustering algorithms referred to as rough clustering (do Prado, Engel, & Filho, 2002; Kumar, Krishna, Bapi, & De, 2007; Parmar, Wu, & Blackhurst, 2007; Voges, Pope, & Brown, 2002). This article provides brief introductions to k-means cluster analysis, rough sets theory, and rough clustering, and compares k-means clustering and rough clustering. It shows that rough clustering provides a more flexible solution to the clustering problem, and can be conceptualized as extracting concepts from the data, rather than strictly delineated subgroupings (Pawlak, 1991). Traditional clustering methods generate extensional descriptions of groups (i.e., which objects are members of each cluster), whereas clustering techniques based on rough sets theory generate intentional descriptions (i.e., what are the main characteristics of each cluster) (do Prado et al., 2002). These different goals suggest that both k-means clustering and rough clustering have their place in the data analyst’s and the information manager’s toolbox.
A Cognitively-Based Framework for Evaluating Multimedia Systems
Authors: Alkhalifa Eshaa M.
Published: May 2011

Multimedia systems waltzed into the lives of students and educators without allowing anyone the time required for the development of suitable evaluation techniques. Although everyone in the field is aware that judging this type of teaching software can only come through evaluations, the work done in this regard is scarce and ill-organized. Unfortunately, in many of the cases the evaluation forms were just filled in by instructors who pretended to be students when they went through the tutorial systems (Reiser & Kegelmann, 1994). Nowadays, however, awareness of the impact of evaluation results on the credibility of the claims made is rising.
Communicability of Natural Language in Software Representations
Authors: Kamthan Pankaj
Published: May 2011

In software engineering, separating problem and solutionlevel concerns and analyzing each of them in an abstract manner are established principles (Ghezzi, Jazayeri, & Mandrioli, 2003). A software representation, for instance, a model or a specification, is a product of such an analysis. These software representations can vary across a formality spectrum: informal (natural language), semi-formal (mathematics- based syntax), or formal (mathematics-based syntax and semantics). As software representations become pervasive in software process environments, the issue of their communicative efficacy arises. Our interest here is in software representations that make use of natural language and their communicability to their stakeholders in doing so. In this article, we take the position that if one cannot communicate well in a natural language, then one cannot communicate via other, more formal, means. The rest of the article is organized as follows. We first outline the background necessary for later discussion. This is followed by the proposal for a framework for communicability software representations that are created early in the software process and the role of natural language in them. We then illustrate that in software representations expressed in certain specific nonnatural languages. Next, challenges and directions for future research are outlined and, finally, concluding remarks are given.
Computational Biology
Authors: LaBrunda Andrew , LaBrunda Michelle
Published: May 2011

It is impossible to pinpoint the exact moment at which computational biology became a discipline of its own, but one could say that it was in 1997 when the society of computational biology was formed. Regardless of its exact birthday, the research community has rapidly adopted computational biology and its applications are being vigorously explored. The study and application of medicine is a dynamic challenge. Changes in medicine usually take place as a result of new knowledge acquired through observation and experimentation. When a tamping rod 1-inch thick went through Phineas Gage’s head in 1848, his survival gave the medical field an unusual opportunity to observe behavior of a person missing their prefrontal cortex. This observation lead to the short-lived psychosurgical procedure known as a lobotomy, which attempted to change a person’s behavior by separating two portions of a person’s brain (Pols, 2001). Countless observations, experiments and mistakes represent how almost all medical knowledge has been acquired. The relatively new field of computational biology offers a nontraditional approach to contribute to the medical body of knowledge. Computational biology is a new field combining biology, computer science, and mathematics to solve problems that are unworkable with traditional biological techniques. It includes traditional areas such as systems biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, statistics, and computer science, as well as recently developed disciplines including bioinformatics and computational genomics. Algorithms, which are able to closely model biological behavior, validate the medical understanding of the observed processes and can be used to model scenarios that might not be able to be physically reproduced. The goal of computational biology is to use mathematics and computer science to model biological systems on the molecular level. Instead of taking on large complex systems, computational biology is starting small, literally. Modeling problems in molecular biology and biochemistry is a far less daunting task. At a microscopic level, patient’s characteristics drop out of the equation and all information behavior affecting is known. This creates a deterministic model which, given the same input, will always produce the same output. Some of the major subdisciplines of computational biology are computational genomics, systems biology, protein structure prediction, and evolutionary biology, all of which model microscopic structures.
Constructionist Organizational Data Mining
Authors: Ramos Isabel , Álvaro Carvalho João
Published: May 2011

Scientific or organizational knowledge creation has been addressed from different perspectives along the history of science and, in particular, of social sciences. The process is guided by the set of values, beliefs, and norms shared by the members of the community to which the creator of this knowledge belongs, that is, it is guided by the adopted paradigm (Lincoln & Guba, 2000). The adopted paradigm determines how the nature of the studied reality is understood, the criteria that will be used to assess the validity of the created knowledge, and the construction and selection of methods, techniques, and tools to structure and support the creation of knowledge. This set of ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions that characterize the paradigm one implicitly or explicitly uses to make sense of the surrounding reality is the cultural root of the intellectual enterprises. Those assumptions constrain the accomplishment of activities such as construction of theories, definition of inquiry strategies, interpretation of perceived phenomena, and dissemination of knowledge (Schwandt, 2000). Traditionally, social realities such as organizations have been assumed to have an objective nature. Assuming this viewpoint, the knowledge we possess about things, processes, or events that occur regularly under definite circumstances, should be an adequate representation of them. Knowledge is the result of a meticulous, quantitative, and objective study of the phenomenon of interest. Its aim is to understand the phenomenon in order to be able to anticipate its occurrence and to control it. Organizations can instead be understood as socially constructed realities. As such, they are subjective in nature since they do not exist apart from the organizational actors and other stakeholders. The stable patterns of action and interaction occurring internally and with the exterior of the organization are responsible for the impression of an objective existence. The adoption of information technology applications can reinforce or disrupt those patterns of action and interaction, thus becoming key elements in the social construction of organizational realities (Lilley, Lightfoot, & Amaral, 2004; Vaast & Walsham, 2005).
Constructivist Apprenticeship through Antagonistic Programming Activities
Authors: Gaspar Alessio , Langevin Sarah , Boyer Naomi
Published: May 2011

Computer programming involves more than thinking of a design and typing the code to implement it. While coding, professional programmers are actively on the lookout for syntactical glitches, logic flaws, and potential interactions of their code with the rest of the project. Debugging and programming are therefore not to be seen (and taught) as two distinct skills, but rather as two intimately entwined cognitive processes. From this perspective, teaching programming requires instructors to also teach students how to read code rigorously and critically, how to reflect on its correctness appropriately, and how to identify errors and fix them. Recent studies indicate that those students who have difficulties in programming courses often end up coding without intention (Gaspar & Langevin, 2007). They search for solved exercises whose descriptions are similar to that of the new problem at hand, cut and paste their solutions, and randomly modify the code until it compiles and passes the instructor’s test harness. This behavior is further exacerbated by textbooks, which only require students to modify existing code, thus ignoring the creative side of programming. Breaking this cognitive pattern means engaging students in activities that develop their critical thinking along with their understanding of code and its meaning. This article discusses constructivist programming activities that can be used in undergraduate programming courses at both the introductory and intermediate levels in order to help students acquire the necessary skills to read, write, debug, and evaluate code for correctness. Our constructivist apprenticeship approach builds on earlier field-tested apprenticeship models of programming instruction that successfully address the learning barriers of the new generations of novice programmers. We go one step further by realigning such approaches to the genuine difficulty encountered by students in a given course, while also addressing some pedagogical shortcomings of the traditional apprenticeship instructional practice. This is achieved by introducing a strong pedagogical constructivist component at the instructional level through so called antagonistic programming activities (APA). We conclude with a manifesto for a new multidisciplinary research agenda that merges the perspectives on learning found in both the computing education and evolutionary computation research communities.
Contingency Theory, Agent-Based Systems, and a Virtual Advisor
Authors: Durrett John R. , Burnell Lisa , Priest John W.
Published: May 2011

In this article, we investigate the potential of using a synthesis of organizational research, traditional systems analysis techniques, and agent-based computing in the creation and teaching of a Contingency Theoretic Systems Design (CTSD) model. To facilitate understanding of the new design model, we briefly provide the necessary background of these diverse fields, describe the conceptualization used in the integration process, and give a non-technical overview of an example implementation in a very complex design environment. The example utilized in this article is a Smart Agent Resource for Advising (SARA), an intelligent multi-agent advising system for college students. To test all of the potential of our CTSD model, we created SARA utilizing a distributed instructional model in a multi-university, multi-disciplinary cooperative design process. Just as a dynamic task environment forces an organization to compress its management structure and to outsource non-core activities in order to become flexible, a dynamic software development environment forces designers to create modular software. Until now, cooperative development paradigms were too complex to facilitate inter-organizational cooperative development efforts. With the increasing popularity of standards-based Web services, the development of pervasive computing technologies, and the advent of more powerful rapid application development languages and IDEs, this limitation has been removed. Our purpose in this research is twofold: first, to test the viability of using Contingency Theory (CT), a sub-discipline of Management Organizational Theory (OT), in an agent-based system; and second, to use these new technologies in creating a distributed instructional model that will allow students to interact with others in diverse educational environments. As an example implementation, we create a virtual advisor that will facilitate student advising in distributed environments. In the following sections, we outline the background theories involved in the conceptualization of our design model. We start with the shifts in systems design techniques and how CT can be applied to them and to various Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) to allow Contingency Theoretic Systems Design (CTSD). Once the necessary background is in place, we briefly discuss our new eLearning approach to cooperative distributed education. Finally, the structure of the SARA is discussed.
Critical Realist Information Systems Research
Authors: Carlsson Sven A.
Published: May 2011

The information systems (IS) field is dominated by positivistic research approaches and theories (Chen & Hirschheim, 2004). IS scholars have pointed out weaknesses in these approaches and theories and in response different strands of post-modern theories and constructivism have gained popularity— see, Lee, Liebenau, and DeGross (1997) and Trauth (2001). The approaches argued for include ethnography, constructivism, grounded theory, and theories like Giddens’ structuration theory and Latour’s actor-network theory. (We refer to these different research approaches and theories as “post-approaches” and “post-theories” when distinction is not required).
Cultural Motives in Information Systems Acceptance and Use
Authors: Sanchez-Franco Manuel J. , Martínez López Francisco José
Published: May 2011

In view of academic and theoretical perspective, the effects of culture on IS acceptance have been studied by researchers mostly based on Hofstede’s (1980) cultural construct. It has also been shown to be stable and useful for numerous studies across many disciplines. First, Hofstede’s dimensions assume culture falls along national boundaries and that the cultures are viewed as static over time. Second, Hofstede (1980) asserts that central tendencies in a nation are replicated in their institutions through the behaviour or practices of individuals. And, third, Hofstede’s framework explicitly links national cultural values to communication practices; i.e., communication practices using ICT are central to our study (see Merchant, 2002; Samovar, Porter, & Jain, 1981; Stohl, 2001). Furthermore, Hofstede’s model was important because it (a) organised cultural differences into overarching patterns, and (b) conducted the most comprehensive study of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture, which (c) facilitated comparative research and launched a rapidly-expanding body of cultural and cross-cultural research in the ensuing 20 years. Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimensions serve as the most influential culture theory among social science research, and has received strong empirical support. Hofstede, therefore, contributed the influential work in cross-cultural research. Hofstede (1984, p. 51) defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”; and (b) proposes a series of four dimensions (a fifth was added later; that is, Confucian dynamism) that distinguishes between work-related values. The cultural dimensions are individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity-femininity. Hofstede and Bond (1988) found an additional dimension, which is particularly relevant to Asian culture, Confucian dynamism (i.e., often referred to as long/short term orientation). These value dimensions, which distinguish national value systems, also affect individuals and organizations.