bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Overall Satisfaction Prediction
Authors: Shih Ya-Yueh , Fang Kwoting
Published: May 2011

Strides in information technology and improvements in networking technology have set the pace for rapid growth in new applications of electronic commerce in a variety of settings. Business to business (B2B), business to customer (B2C), customer to business (C2B), and customer to customer (C2C) have become prevalent business channels and have reshaped the ways that business transactions are conducted in the marketplace. According to Internet Data Corporation (IDC), the number of Internet users worldwide will exeed 1 billion Internet users by 2007 (IDC, 2004). Given recent trends and forecasting, it is clear that no business enterprise can afford to ignore the tremendous potential of these emerging technologies in terms of the rate of creating, processing, and distributing the volume of business. The proliferation of the Web potential for business, together with its profuse customer information, have offered an alternative sales channel for a growing number of firms and have prompted extensive research on the effect of negative critical incidents on customer satisfaction with Internet shopping. The increase in business-to-customer (B2C) channels has made several firms look for new strategies to understand online shopping behavior in order to attract, retain and satisfy customers’ needs (Ranganathan & Ganapathy, 2002). In fact, many researchers have considered that customer satisfaction leading to higher levels of customer retention would depend on the success of critical factors, such as quality design (Huizingh, 2000; Liu & Arnett, 2000; Stefani & Xenos, 2001), security concerns (Belanger, Hiller, & Smith, 2002; La & Kandampully, 2002), and other factors for electronic commerce (Loiacono, Watson, & Goodhue, 2002; Yang, Cai, Zhou, & Zhou, 2005). However, Waterhouse and Morgan (1994) reported an interesting finding that just one factor of dissatisfaction and defection would be enough to cause customers to become disenchanted with Internet shopping. Thus, the call for the managers to find and discriminate the dissatisfaction or defection in the velocity and dynamic nature of the Internet environment becomes loud. According to Fang, Shih, and Liu (2004), the slow response affected overall satisfaction indirectly by quality attributes satisfaction (QASAT) seems to be more important to customers who have less purchase frequency or purchase amount than high one. Furthermore, online bookstores with incomplete content and have untrustworthy transaction would affect overall satisfaction indirectly to customers with high loyalty by QASAT. The main purpose of this study was threefold. First, it designed a set of quality attributes satisfaction, in term of the negative critical incidents concept, to measure individual satisfaction, an online shopping bookstore served as empirical cases. Second, from predictive model standpoint, a method, call multiple discriminant analysis (MDS), was used to analyze customers’ satisfaction based on QASAT and estimated data. Finally, it adopted holdout samples to confirm the ability of generalization with a predictive model.
Service-Oriented Architecture
Authors: Wan Kwan-Ming , Lei Pouwan , Chatwin Chris , Young Rupert
Published: May 2011

The established global business environment is under intense pressure from Asian countries such as Korea, China, and India. This forces businesses to concentrate on their core competencies and adopt leaner management structures. The coordination of activities both within companies and with suppliers and customers has become a crucial competitive advantage. At the same time, the Internet has transformed the way in which businesses run. As the Internet becomes a cheap and effective communication channel, businesses are quick to adopt the Web for integrating their systems together and linking them with their suppliers and customers. Current enterprise computing using J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) has yielded systems in which the coupling between various components in them are too tight to be effective for ubiquitous B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) e-business over the Internet. This approach requires too much agreement and shared context between business systems from different organizations. There is a need to move away from tightly coupled, monolithic systems and toward systems of loosely coupled, dynamically bound components. The emerging technology, Web services, provides the tools to accomplish this integration, but this approach presents many new challenges and problems that must be overcome. In this article, we will discuss the current approaches in enterprise application integration (EAI) and the limitations. There is also a need for service-oriented applications, that is, Web services. Finally, the challenges in implementing Web services are outlined.
Trust as an Enabler of E-Commerce
Authors: Paravastu Narasimha , Gefen David
Published: May 2011

E-commerce is a viable mode of shopping. Forrester Research Inc. estimates that the U.S. online sales will reach $316 billion by 2010, which accounts for 12% of total U.S. retail sales. However, security, privacy, and delivery concerns remain issues of concern to both buyers and sellers. Since trust alleviates these concerns, while the lack of trust prevents buyers from buying online, managing buyer trust is crucial. This article discusses how institutional and interpersonal mechanisms can increase trust by reducing social uncertainty. An illustrative example based on eBay is included.
Using Collaborative Transportation Management in Global Supply Chain
Authors: Tyan Jonah C.
Published: May 2011

Due to escalating global competition and a decline in profit margins, most multinational corporations pursue global sourcing through a global supply chain (GSC) in order to secure market share and improve profits. The practice of e-commerce and the business trend of mass customization force both manufacturers and retailers to shorten cycle time by managing GSCs more effectively. Successful applications of GSCs, such as that by Dell Computer, have been widely discussed and publicized in the supply chain literature. However, the physical distribution of GSC execution is recognized as its weakest link and can result in inefficient and unreliable product delivery. The collaborative integration with global third party logistics (3PL) to execute physical distribution dictates the success of any GSC application. This article introduces an application of logistic collaboration, namely collaborative transportation management (CTM), which is a new business model that includes the carrier as a strategic partner for information sharing and collaboration in a supply chain.
Vehicular Telematics Systems
Authors: Costagliola Gennaro , Di Martino Sergio , Ferrucci Filomena
Published: May 2011

In the last 15 years, connectivity and communications have increased dramatically. As a matter of fact, from 1990 to 2Q of 2004, the number of mobile phone subscribers has growth from a few million to over 1.5 billion. In the same period, the number of Internet users worldwide raised from 2 million to 810 million (IWS, 2004; Juliussen, 2003). This means that today a large section of the population is dependent on communications and content, and wants to be connected any time and any place, even in their cars (Comunicar, 2002; Microsoft, 2005). To answer this requirement, telematics are being fitted into cars, giving rise to vehicular telematics systems (VTS). Indeed these systems represent the in-vehicle convergence of mobile communications and information processing, allowing drivers and passengers to stay in communication with the world outside their automobile. Vehicular telematics market is projected to be about $17 billion by 2006, equaling a growth by 280% since 2000 (Juliussen, 2003). From a technological point of view, a VTS is composed of three basic components: 1. A two-way wireless communication (voice/data) system; 2. Some location technologies able to identify current geographic position; 3. Some computing technologies, to handle data and manage information flows from/to the user. By fully exploiting the features offered by these systems, exciting new usage scenarios, opportunities, and markets are being available for both end-users and automotive manufacturers. As an example, drivers can receive contextual services, such as updated route calculations, basing on traffic alerts for the selected route, or can perform remote diagnosis of electronic car components, while passengers can access to e-mail and Web sites. In the meantime, new business opportunities are being available for automotive manufacturers, since VTSs allow them to sell “services” and after-market upgrades, to have an open communication channel with buyers during the whole car life-cycle, and to understand their customers’ individual needs, thus providing an exceptional marketing link. This obviously is requiring deep changes in the business model for vehicular original equipment manufacturers (OEM). However, telematics is also affecting their design model, posing challenging technological issues, ranging from embedded real-time aspects, to context-aware ones, to the definition of innovative and safer human-machine interfaces. In this article, we will provide an insight on the new mobile-commerce opportunities offered by telematics, together with the posed technological challenges. In particular, after a brief outline on the evolution of VTSs, we will analyze the services, the business challenges, and the opportunities that next-generation systems will offer. Subsequently, we will describe the technological difficulties posed by VTSs, with particular interest on human-machine interaction (HMI) and the safety issues. Finally, we will depict the future trends on this fascinating scenario.
Veteran Service Management and E-Government Service Delivery Performance
Authors: Lawson-Body Assion , Miller Glenn , Saddler Jr. Thomas M.
Published: May 2011

The importance of electronic service delivery was recognized at the beginning of the emergence of the Internet (Huang & Hu, 2004); thereafter much attention has been devoted to it as a solution to the issue of the traditional service delivery system (Cetiner & Ryan, 2004; Gassan, De Boer, Mourshed, & Rea, 2001). Too often there is little or no congruence between the image of the service communicated by the service firm and the service actually delivered. This leads to unmet customer expectations and probably to non-satisfied customers, who have lost their faith in the firm and its ability to keep its promises. Governments also invest in veteran service management (VSM) and e-government to increase their service delivery performance. Veterans are the nation’s population who have been discharged or retired after serving on active duty with the United States Armed Forces. E-government refers to efforts in the public sector to use information and communication technologies to deliver government services and information to the public (Gant & Gant, 2002; Gefen, 2002). Government agencies face challenges in making veterans aware of the benefits of online services they are receiving. Anecdotal evidence shows the Internet’s Web portal can enable governments to increase their e-service delivery performance. However, there is little existing research that has tested how the use of Web portals to strengthen existing VSM can increase e-government service delivery performance. The primary objective of this study is to examine how VSM, using Web portal aggregation, may impact electronic service delivery performance. Specifically, the study examines: • the theoretical foundation of VSM, • the theoretical impact of VSM on government service delivery performance, • theoretically and empirically how VSM, supported by Web portal aggregation, may impact e-government service delivery performance. This research focuses on government Web portals that deliver electronic services to veterans. The Web portal of the North Dakota Government Rural Outreach (GRO) Initiative has been selected as the sample U.S. government Web portal for this research. That Web portal has been chosen because it has a component dedicated to veterans and county veteran service officers (CVSOs). Data were collected through open-ended interviews with CVSOs. A total sample consists of 10 CVSOs. The study used content analysis to analyze data obtained from a sample of CVSOs, using the GRO Web portal, to test the hypotheses. The CVSOs assist all veterans and their dependents in obtaining all benefits to which they are entitled, both federal and state. The CVSOs are chosen because they play the role of intermediary between veterans, veteran service and benefits providers, and government agencies. CVSOs interact on G2G (government to government) and G2C (government to citizen) basis in order to serve veterans.
Implementation Difficulty
Authors: LeClair Craig
Published: May 2011

To be successful a customers must be able to install and implement the enterprise solution within a reasonable time and without too much effort. Many potentially strong solutions require too much effort by the customer. This chapter has four parts to address the implementation issue. We look first at where we are today and try to understand customer’s disillusionment with the speed, flexibility, ROI and interoperability of enterprise software installations. These are circumstances we cannot control. We are where we are.
Customer Core Competency
Authors: LeClair Craig
Published: May 2011

Corporations that need technology must make a decision. They can solve the problem themselves or purchase an outside product or service. Their core capabilities influence this decision and affect the value of the supplier’s product. It is probably difficult to sell ice to Eskimos. It is always hard to sell anything to someone who already has what you have, or can make it inexpensively. Despite this, many enterprise software companies depend on being successful in this manner.
Assessing Your Effect on the Customer
Authors: LeClair Craig
Published: May 2011

Renes Descartes (1596-1650) was a man of many talents. He was a mathematician, scholar, traveler, physicist, philosopher and thinker. In his spare time he was a primary contributor to modern philosophy as well as analytic geometry. According to Descartes, the guide to truth is to doubt everything systematically until you arrive at a clear idea that is beyond all doubt (Flexner, 1995). This is sound advise for any enterprise software product. Every day believers surround us. We are passionate about our product and company and we can all benefit from taking a step back and forcing a harder look. Using Descartes philosophy, the preceding five chapters are brought together to form a systematic method to challenge a company’s product from the customer’s viewpoint.
Product Development Background
Authors: LeClair Craig
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses issues in systems development and design of software products. The goal is to describe three problems in the industry. First, is the inability of current methodologies and practice to factor in human and organizational issues. Second, is the high number of “one off” or custom solutions that we see in practice. And third is the inflexibility of current systems development methodologies. Chapter Nine will introduce a method that addresses these observed industry issues.
Object-Related Approaches
Authors: Rahayu Johanna Wenny , Tanier David , Pardede Eric
Published: May 2011

This book focuses on the implementation of an object-oriented model into object-relational DBMS using Oracle™. All aspects of the object-oriented model, particularly those that play a significant role in database implementation, will be discussed in this book. The object-oriented modeling technique is an important issue in this book because it is the underlying notion behind the development of the object-relational approaches. Therefore, in this chapter we will start with an outline of the object-oriented conceptual model (OOCM).
Using Object-Oriented Features
Authors: Rahayu Johanna Wenny , Tanier David , Pardede Eric
Published: May 2011

In Chapter II, we discussed the different features available in Oracle™ that can be used to implement an object-oriented model. We will use those features in this chapter. The discussion in this chapter will be categorized based on the relationship types. There are three distinct relationship types that we have to consider in object-oriented modeling for implementation in object-relational databases: inheritance, association, and aggregation. Some manipulations will be needed in order to accommodate the features of these relationships.
User-Defined Queries
Authors: Rahayu Johanna Wenny , Tanier David , Pardede Eric
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes object-based user-defined queries in Oracle™. The queries will vary based on the hierarchy of the object model. We will show different categories of queries along the object-oriented relationships of inheritance, association, and aggregation. These queries can be performed as ad hoc queries or implemented as methods. User-defined methods are methods whereby users define algorithms or the processes to be carried out by the methods. Since these methods involve operations specified by the users, they are called user-defined methods. As an example, we will use the case study of the authorship of the course manual in Chapter III as a working example for this chapter. Some queries discussed here are based on the DDL specified in Figure 3.36.
Management
Authors: Khan Badrul
Published: May 2011

The purpose of the E-Learning Quick Checklist book is to walk you through the various factors (encompassing these eight dimensions) important to developing, evaluating, and implementing open, flexible and distributed learning environments. This book is designed as a Quick Checklist for e-learning. It contains many practical items that you can use as review criteria to check if e-learning modules, courses and programs provide the level of services that learners (or consumers) should expect. Items in the checklist encompass the critical dimensions of an e-learning environment, including pedagogical, technological, interface design, evaluation, management, resource support, ethical, and institutional. Throughout this book, various critical e-learning and blended-learning factors are presented as questions or items that you can ask yourself when planning, designing, evaluating, and implementing e-learning and/or blended-learning modules, courses, and programs.
Bridging th Entrepreneurial and Technology Gap for Women
Authors: Hynes Briga , Richardson Ita
Published: May 2011

In the early 21st century, there continues to be an unbalanced ratio of males to females both studying for and in technological positions in Ireland. For example, computer science is a relatively new discipline. It was hoped that in such disciplines women could establish themselves and would “break new ground in professional access and equity for women” (Pearl, 1995, p. 26). This has not been the case. It is generally accepted that about 20% or less of places in engineering and technology (E&T) courses in Irish third-level colleges are filled by women (Richardson, O’Brien, & Moore, 2002). Furthermore, as a result of low levels of female participation in E&T jobs, there are corresponding low levels of female participation in technical self-employment. Women in Ireland are 2.6 times less likely to start a business than their male colleagues; females in Ireland are more averse to risk taking and are cautious (Fitzsimons, O’Gorman, & Roche, 2003). This can be attributed to gender-generic factors (Hynes, 1996). These factors include personal profiles, situational and personality characteristics, and self-belief that manifest as barriers to female participation in enterprising activity (GEM, 2004). To overcome this scarcity of technological knowledgeable females in self-employment, it is necessary to determine the source of this problem. This is achieved by interlinking research in these two topics, which are generally researched independently, but when researched together, they add value to and inform the debate in the Irish context. The research involves the identification of the sources of these barriers with a view of devising corrective interventions. It is suggested that the role of education is instrumental in overcoming these barriers. Consequently, in this article, we propose a framework that can be modified to suit the needs of female students.
A Complex View of Technological Change in the UK
Authors: Simon Anoush
Published: May 2011

This article seeks to discuss women’s ambivalent but potentially positive attitude to and relationship with new technologies, as exemplified by Internet and mobile technologies, using as an illustration the results of a UK-based qualitative study into women’s perceptions of technological change. The research sought to investigate how individuals understand recent technological developments, analysing the data in the light of theoretical discussions of new technologies and the information society, as well as feminist analyses of gender and technology. The spread of information and communication technologies has been rapid and significant. For instance, the number of UK households that are connected to the Internet has increased steeply from 9% in 1998 to 52% in 2004, while also in 2004, 37% of UK adults had not yet used the Internet. Meanwhile, individual ownership of cellular phones has increased swiftly to over 70% (Office for National Statistics, 2004). This implies a considerable range of experience and inexperience of new technologies amongst the general public currently. Government policy has also impacted the diffusion of ICT in the United Kingdom, as elsewhere. In particular, the development of the People’s Network of Internet access points in public libraries throughout the United Kingdom has been a prominent strand in the government’s information policy (Library and Information Commission [LIC], 1997), aiming to make new technologies widely available to the citizenry and requiring people working in this field to become Internet literate, with implications for library staff at all levels of employment. Indications are that the People’s Network may be altering the library-user demographic, and that many people are experiencing the Internet for the first time via the public library (“Beardy-Weirdies’ Rule,” 2003). These developments led to an interest in perceptions of technological change, particularly among those working in the library sector, as a site of government information policy. The focus of the research was women working in this field, but it was complemented by a further sample of women with little or no experience of new technologies. The intention behind this was to provide a rich variety of data whilst maintaining a focus on individuals who are less often the subject of research on new technologies. The study took an interpretive perspective, utilising in-depth, semistructured interviews with 50 women as described above during the period of 2001 to 2002, and using grounded theory to analyse the resulting data. This approach favours the development of concepts that are rooted in the data, useful for an exploratory project, which can be subsequently compared to and placed in the context of existing literature and theory. An overview of the central theoretical contexts of the project is presented below followed by a discussion of the results and their wider relevance.
Empowering Homemakers to Become E-Homepreneurs
Authors: Ching Chong Sheau
Published: May 2011

A number of factors explain why homemakers would want to transform themselves into home workers. Among these are the desire to rebuild confidence in one’s own abilities by earning money after years of being a homemaker, the formation of a new network of mother friends who are also business partners, and the learning of skills needed for a home-based business (Ping, 2000). One of the skills that are increasingly being developed among groups engaged in business enterprises is the utilization of ICTs for work. For example, an ICT project in South India involves the setting up of telecenters that enable rural families to access ICT. The training of educated youth, especially women, in operating information shops has resulted in groups of women with small business enterprises and savings cooperatives (Balaji, Kumaran, & Rajasekarapandy, 2002). An important feature of the groups’ use of ICTs for work is the strong sense of ownership that the communities develop for the telecenters, as well as the participation of women in the management and use of the telecenters. Close consultation between the project staff and users, gender sensitivity, and the use of local language in the computer programs are the important features of the project. To specifically address the needs of disadvantaged women in Malaysia, the eHomemakers (http://www.ehomemakers.net) network started a pilot project in 2002 known as Salaam Wanita. The Salaam Wanita community consists of aspiring home workers and homepreneurs from the Klang Valley and Ipoh. Members are urban-based, low-income, and unemployed homemakers (single mothers, disabled persons, caregivers for disabled or aged dependents, and those who are chronically ill like SLE [systemic lupus erythematosus] patients who cannot work or go outside to work due to sensitivity to light and susceptibility to injuries). They are mostly homebound because of physical disabilities or home situations. Some are plagued by depression and suicidal tendencies. Consequently, they are economically constrained due to their inability to find work or business opportunities outside their homes. The Salaam Wanita project is designed to empower these women to network, and to gain ICT and microentrepreneurial skills for socioeconomic self-reliance.
Female Retention in Post-Secondary IT Education
Authors: Quesenberry Jeria L.
Published: May 2011

The historical gender stratification in technical disciplines has been an area of study for many years and researchers have concluded that women are alarmingly under-enrolled in post-secondary information technology (IT) education (e.g., Camp, 1997; Teague, 2002; von Hellens, Nielsen, Greenhill, & Pringle, 1997). One challenge facing the IT gender gap discourse is the application of theories that focus on a variety of levels of analysis (Korpela, Mursu, & Soriyan, 2001; Walsham, 2000). Recently, the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT has been proposed by Trauth (Trauth, 2002; Trauth, Huang, Morgan, Quesenberry, & Yeo, 2006; Trauth & Quesenberry, 2006, 2005; Trauth, Quesenberry, & Morgan, 2004) to explain the underrepresentation of women in the IT workforce at both the societal and individual levels of analysis. To date, the majority of the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT research has focused on improving our understanding of the underrepresentation of women in the IT workforce.1 Hence, in an attempt to build on the theoretical foundation, this article reports on a literature survey of the influences on American women’s retention in post-secondary IT education.
Gender and ICTs in Zamibia
Authors: Wakunuma Kutoma Jacqueline
Published: May 2011

This article looks at gender equality combined with social and economic empowerment within the context of information communication technologies (ICTs). It discusses rhetoric surrounding the promotion of ICTs as tools for social and economic empowerment and subsequently challenges whether such rhetoric does mirror the real situation on the ground, especially as it relates to developing countries like Zambia. The main focus is underprivileged women, especially those in rural areas, and how access, or indeed the lack of it, to ICTs like the Internet and mobile phones does actually affect their daily existence.
Gender Differences in Adolescents' Attitudes about IT Careers
Authors: Bleeker Martha M.
Published: May 2011

Adolescents are the fastest growing segment of computer and Internet users, reporting heavier use than their parents (Lenhart, Madden & Hitlin, 2005). Though the popularity of technology continues to flourish and drive the American economy, recent studies suggest that the revolution may be leaving females behind at later ages (Cooper & Weaver, 2003; McDonald, 2004). Employment data from the United States (U.S.) Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the U.S. high-tech computer industry employs nearly 5 million workers, making it one of the nation’s largest and most lucrative industries. Yet the number of women earning computer science degrees in the U.S. has plummeted over the past two decades, causing women to be vastly underrepre-sented in the information technology (IT) workforce (McDonald, 2004; National Science Foundation, 2004).
Gender Differences in Internet Usage and Task Preferences
Authors: Zheng Kai , Bajaj Akhilesh , Daponte Beth Osborne , Engberg John B.
Published: May 2011

How people use the Internet is an intriguing question to researchers, computer educators, Internet content providers (ICPs), and marketing practitioners. With the expansion of online information resources and the improvement of connection bandwidth, Internet users have been offered more and more choices, at the same time, faced with more and more dilemmas on how to allocate their time and energy online. How much time do people spend on surfing the Internet? What do they do? Are there any traceable patterns to interpret the Internet behavior and to predict future use based on people’s demographic, social, or psychological characteristics? These are all interesting questions that researchers attempt to answer. In 1995, the HomeNet project conducted at the Human Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, launched a series of field studies to examine the residential Internet behavior. It has found that social demographics—generation, race and gender, rather than socioeconomic factors—income, education—and psychological factors—like social extraversion and attitude toward computing—were major influences on use (Kraut, Scherlis, Mukhopadhyay, Manning, & Kiesler, 1996). Following the HomeNet project’s initial attempt, many empirical studies have been conducted globally to study the Internet behavior and its driving factors. Among these efforts, a noticeable focus is to resolve the long-lasting controversy, inherited from the similar debate of computer behavior studies, on how gender differences influence the way people use the Internet. Many researchers believe that females are less technology-inclined, less motivated, and therefore less competent in the masculine computer and Internet culture; on the other hand, some other researchers argue females have the ability to be proficient in use of the Internet. The present study is thereby conducted to provide more empirical evidence of gender effects on Internet usage and task preferences. In particular, we are interested in examining gender influences when users’ computer proficiency is controlled for. We believe that the results of this study can provide valuable insights into effective online content delivery, targeted marketing strategies, and customized computer education to encourage use. The close examination of people’s actual surfing data can also contribute to a better understanding of how the Internet is actually utilized. The next section describes the debate about how women and men respond in different ways to computers and the Internet. This is followed by a presentation of our study design: the monitoring software, the content classification schema and method, and the user population that we studied. The findings are presented next, followed by concluding remarks.
Gender in Computer Science
Authors: Wanless-Sobel Colette
Published: May 2011

Computer science (CS) is defined in wikipedia as a branch of human knowledge “relating to computation, ranging from abstract analysis of algorithms and formal grammars, to subjects like programming languages, software, and computer hardware” (Computer Science, 2005). Computer science emerged as a distinct field in the 1940s and 1950s with the development of the first electronic digital computers. To limit computer science to just computer use or its knowledge bodies, however, is reductive; CS is embedded in a complex, unquantifiable cultural context, including socio-economic and gendering practice. Computer hardware and software are designed to complement and supplement human activity and processes such as warfare, industrial applications, information management, including education, the Internet, a knowledge commons, and most recently biotechnology. Although CS is typically considered neutral and scientific, its episteme and practice is androcentric or male centered, often to the exclusion of females (Herbst, 2002). Female attributes have not typically been associated with computer science or computers. Although there is general agreement that women are as intellectually capable as men in CS, the fact remains that women today do not have equal participation in CS majors, CS engineering, programming, software design, Web site construction, or computer repair. (Jepson & Perl, 2002). In the technetronic 21st century, when computers are becoming standard for education and in symbolic analytic jobs, women’s enrollment in CS has declined, and many women do not feel confident using computers for more than e-mail transmissions, e-commerce, and social interaction in forums or newsgroups. Women who do not have knowledge or confidence in their abilities to work in CS not only have unrealized potentials in CS but also are left out of employment activities. Reasons for gendering in CS are complex and debated. Socialization, overt and tacit discrimination, and epistemological plurality are three dominant explanations. CS industries, educators, cognitive scientists, parents, and women professionals in CS are some of the groups currently working to attain gender equity in CS.
Gender, IT, and Educational Choice in East and West Europe
Authors: Durndell Alan , Miller Jane
Published: May 2011

This article aims to examine the development of aspects of research on gender and IT by means of considering the mainly psychological research carried out by the authors in Europe. Some issues of continuity or change are considered. Broadly speaking, the point of view is taken that gender neutrality in the field of computing and IT would be a desirable goal. However, it is recognized that this point of view is not without its problems. The discussion below about the old communist system in East Europe illustrates this. Nevertheless, the orientation taken is closest to a liberal view of equality. Adam, Howcroft, and Richardson (2004) offer a useful recent account of some of the twists and turns of the debate about the goal of gender neutrality.
Gender, Place and Information Technology
Authors: Greenhill Anita
Published: May 2011

The individual sense of gendered identity and location are embedded within information technology (IT) usage (Meyrowitz, 1985). Exploring gender in relation to place and IT assists to reveal the impact that cultural knowledge has upon IT usage. This article illustrates the intertwined complex of issues that associate gender and place with IT by examining the currently dominant approaches to research conducted around this topic. The article begins with a presentation of the founding concepts regarding location and the construction of the gendered self, and then discusses investigations of gender, place and IT usage that utilize geographical and bounded constructs and, alternatively the concept of socially occupied space.
Online Life and Gender Dynamics
Authors: Marshall Jonathan
Published: May 2011

The study of gendered interaction online grows out of studies of gendered interaction off-line and will probably be found to be a cultural variable changing with off-line gender behaviour in different social groupings. However, this does not dispose of the issues of gender’s influences on online behaviour, or of whether gender behaviour online is transformed in relation to behaviour off-line. The relevance of gender may vary in different contexts: with class, religion, place, proportions, type of online forum, topic of discussion, and so on. These contexts could overwhelm gender identities existing outside them and their effects need to be investigated. Power ratios between people of various genders may also vary within different contexts and cannot be assumed in advance. Gender both enables and restricts behaviour; it is neither merely positive nor merely negative. In the West (at least), gender seems to be constantly in flux and interrogation, and it is not surprising if such interrogations and uncertainties occur online. Despite this interrogation, gender in off-line life seems to be treated as an essential part of a person’s being or identity, and it guides reaction to others.
Retaining Women in Undergraduate Information Technology Programs
Authors: Henderson Tona
Published: May 2011

While the experiences of women in computer science (CS) are well documented (Cohoon, 2001, 2002; Computing Research Association, 2002; Margolis & Fisher, 2001), information technology is a relatively new discipline (Denning, 2001; Mitchell, 2002) and does not enjoy the same level or scope of inquiry. This study focuses on women in undergraduate IT programs and attempts to identify the factors involved in the attrition of women from these programs. In Phase 1 of this study, all freshman IT and CS women as well as a random sample of IT men at an eastern university (15,000 students) were interviewed and asked about their experiences in the IT program. These interviews were qualitatively analyzed, and the results are currently being used to develop a national survey of women in undergraduate IT programs. The primary research question of this study is, What factors are most influential in the decision of female students in IT undergraduate programs to enter these programs, and, where applicable, what factors most influence their decision to leave the programs during their first year of study?
Schema Disjunction Among Computer Science Students
Authors: Crane Rebecca L. , Pedersen-Gallegos Liane , Laursen Sandra , Seymour Elaine , Donohue Richard
Published: May 2011

In her book Why So Slow?: The Advancement of Women, Virginia Valian describes a schema as “a set of implicit, or nonconscious, hypotheses about … differences.” (Valian, 1998). Individuals use schemas about particular social groups to guide their interpretations of and behavior toward members of those groups. However, problems can arise when multiple conflicting schemas are applied to the same person. This phenomenon, schema disjunction, is particularly well illustrated by the situation of female undergraduate computer science majors. Extensive interviews with introductory computer science students of both genders reveal a significant discontinuity between their schema of women and their schema of successful computer scientists. Despite professing conscious egalitarian beliefs about the ability of women to do computer science, many students unconsciously hold disjunct schemas that help facilitate an environment hostile to novice women and may deter them from pursuing computer science careers (Pedersen-Gallegos, Laursen, Seymour, Donahue, Crane, DeAntoni, et al., 2004). Valian argues that, starting in childhood, we acquire schemas through observation of adult behavior toward others. Schemas are generally more inclusive than stereotypes and carry fewer negative connotations: They are not necessarily unfair or pejorative. In fact, schemas are a normal way that humans use categorization to negotiate our environments. However, Valian also explains that schemas can become unjustly misrepresentative of individuals due to errors that creep in during their development. These errors are then reinforced during maintenance and application of those erroneous schemas. These generalized beliefs about certain types of people are often unarticulated, and may be even consciously disavowed by those who hold them. Yet people can still operate unconsciously on the basis of ingrained schemas while remaining unaware of them. Because schemas color our interpretations of people we interact with, they also shape how we behave towards those people. We treat each other, and ourselves, in accordance with our schematic expectations. When these expectations are unfairly pejorative, they can have a damaging impact on the self-concepts and lives of the people to whom they are applied, often resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Echoing Cooley’s (1902) classic notion of the “looking-glass self,” Valian describes this phenomenon with a focus on gender schemas: All of us—boys and girls, men and women—become in part what others expect us to become, thereby confirming hypotheses about the different nature of males and females. While no one is infinitely malleable, no one is completely indifferent to others. One way we learn who we are is through others’ responses to us. As men and women, we also develop expectations for our own behavior, based on characteristics we believe we possess. We then explain our successes and failures in terms of those abilities and traits. (Valian, 1998)
Skills of Women Technologists
Authors: Jacob Maria Elisa R.
Published: May 2011

Women technologists practice careers in various fields of information technology. They traditionally are educated and trained to acquire primarily technical skills. However, in response to organizational change and industry shifts, today’s women technologists are acquiring a multitude of diverse skill sets—on top of their conventional technical skills—to excel and succeed in the workplace. This article delves into various skill sets in today’s IT workplace and how women technologists have adopted and updated their skill sets to redefine their role to align with today’s industries.
Vulnerability to Internet Crime and Gender Issues
Authors: Herath Tejaswini , Bagchi-Sen S. , Rao H. R.
Published: May 2011

A tremendous growth in the use of the Internet has been observed in the past two decades. More than 75% of Americans participate in online activities (University of Southern California Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, 2004) such as e-mail, Web browsing, working from home, accessing news stories, seeking information, instant messaging, using the Internet in lieu of the library for school work, playing games, and managing personal finance. For professionals, the Internet is an important medium for networking and building social capital. However, along with all positive impacts, there are also negative outcomes. One such negative outcome includes Internet crimes. Dowland, Furnell, Illingworth, and Reynolds (1999) state that “with society’s widespread use of and, in some cases, reliance upon technology, significant opportunities now exist for both mischievous and malicious abuse via IT systems” (p. 715). Internet crimes (cyber crimes) consist of specific crimes dealing with computers and networks (such as hacking, spreading of viruses, and worms) and the facilitation of traditional crime through the use of computers on the Internet (such as child pornography, hate crimes, telemarketing/Internet fraud). This article focuses on Internet crimes, especially those affecting individual users, and offers a discussion of issues regarding Internet crimes and gender.
The Woman Problem in Computer Science
Authors: Lagesen Vivian A.
Published: May 2011

The longstanding concern about the absence of women in science and engineering in most Western countries has led to much research (see, e.g., Etzkowitz, Kemelgor, & Uzzi, 2000; Zuckerman, Cole, & Bruer, 1991). Today, this is all the more striking since women constitute the majority among students at most Western universities (Quinn, 2003). This article will briefly review research that analyses the lack of women in computer science, with a focus on higher education.
Load Balancing as a Key to Enable Different Services in Cellular Network
Authors: Das S.
Published: May 2011

This chapter develops the concept of load balancing that plays a key role in providing various advanced application in cellular mobile environment. Load balancing means the efficient distribution of channels among cells in accordance with their requirements to minimise call blocking. As the channels for these services are scarce, load balancing has emerged as a primary issue in today’s scenario. Two different prominent schemes of load balancing are elaborated. This chapter is aimed at the researchers and the policy makers making them aware of the different means of efficient load balancing as well as underscoring the problem areas that need further vigorous research.
Policy-Based Mobile Computing
Authors: Rajeev S. , Sivanandam S. N. , Sreenaath K. V.
Published: May 2011

Mobile computing is associated with mobility of hardware, data and software in computer applications. With growing mobile users, dynamicity in catering of mobile services becomes and important issue. Polices define the overall behavior of the system. Policy based approaches are very dynamic in nature because the events are triggered dynamically through policies, thereby suiting mobile applications. Much of the existing architectures fail to address important issues such as dynamicity in providing service, Service Level provisioning, policy based QoS and security aspects in mobile systems. In this chapter we propose policy based architectures and test results catering to different needs of mobile computing
Overview and Understanding of Mobile Business in the Age of Communication
Authors: Barjis Joseph.
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides an introduction, review and study of mobile businesses with emphasis on its supporting mobile technologies and wireless networking. The chapter first discusses the concept of mobile business where opportunities, motivations and needs for this type of business are studied. Following this discussion, the chapter studies the current status of mobiles business, key hardware and software solutions (business applications) available on the market. The chapter also discusses different mobile devices, communication infrastructure, supporting networks and other crucial components that make businesses mobile and able to be conducted anytime and anywhere. Finally, an extended discussion is focused on issues and future developments of mobile businesses along with some recommendations, and suggestions regarding mobile business.
Mobile Technologies and Tourism
Authors: Sharma Pramod , Nugent Devon
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the potential of mobile technologies for the tourism industry. Mobile technologies have the capacity to address not only the pre- and post- tour requirements of the tourist, but also to support the tourist on the move. It is this phase of the tourist activity upon which mobile technologies can be expected to have the greatest impact. The development of applications for the mobile tourist will allow for the creation of a new range of personalised, location and time specific, value added services that were not previously possible. Before such applications can be widely deployed, however, some fundamental technical and business challenges need to be addressed. Despite these challenges, mobile technologies have the potential to revolutionise the tourist experience, delivering context specific services to tourists on the move.