bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Point-To-Point Videoconferencing
Authors: Barbanell Patricia
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines evidence that there is significant value-added to K-12 educational outcomes that emerges as a result of provider use of interactive videoconferencing and supporting resources in their content delivery. It includes discussion of the outcomes of several presentation approaches that have been analyzed with regard to effectiveness and impact on student understanding. The aim of the chapter is to offer a solid foundation for understanding the impact of interactive videoconferencing on student learning, and to present an overview of approaches to structuring interactive programs to enable comprehensive, systemic change in student encounters with and understanding of curriculum content.
Transitioning to E-Learning
Authors: Gonzales Carmen , Bussmann Susan , Bovard Bethany , Parra Julia
Published: May 2011

This case study explores the ongoing development of an online instructor training program, initiated in Spring 2002. Involvement of the learner-instructors (professional development instructors learning to teach online) in the design and development of this online instructor training program was key to its overall success. Significant outcomes of the program include a core group of experienced and highly dedicated online instructors, a new model for continuous professional development and support, and the formation of an active and dynamic learning community.
Learning Computer Science over the Web
Authors: Suhonen Jarkko , Sutinen Erkki
Published: May 2011

Most of Finland’s landmass consists of vast, sparsely populated rural areas. Even though there are high school students in these areas who are interested in Computer Science (CS), and especially in programming, the educational institutions that they attend in these rural areas cannot offer them more advanced levels of CS studies. To meet this need, the Department of Computer Science of the University of Joensuu, Finland, has devised for such students an e-learning program called ViSCoS (Virtual Studies of Computer Science). This program enables ViSCoS students to study first-year university-level Computer Science courses through the medium of the Web. A total of 109 students completed the ViSCoS program between the years 2000-2005. The designers of the program concomitantly created a number of digital learning environments that supports ViSCoS learning and teaching activities. The FOrmative DEvelopment Method (FODEM), an action research-oriented design method used in the ViSCoS program, has enabled gradual development in the program.
Competency Management using the Competence Performance Approach
Authors: Ley Tobias , Albert Dietrich , Lindstaedt Stefanie
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces a new approach in organizational Competency Management which is based on Korossy’s competence performance approach and which rests on the central idea of connecting competencies to actual job performance. Such an approach has several important benefits when compared to more traditional approaches. First, it brings competency modeling and assessment more closely to the actual work processes and tasks. Secondly, it makes possible validation of the models and the assessment within the modeling and assessment procedure. Finally, it is better able to cope with more dynamic and knowledge based settings. Three case studies in Engineering, Human Resource Management and Research and Development illustrate how the approach is introduced, evaluated and applied. The purpose of the chapter is to inform researchers in eLearning and Knowledge Management of how competencies can be used to support work integrated assessment and learning.
Ontology-Based Approach to Formalization of Competencies
Authors: Ng April , Hatala Marek
Published: May 2011

Competency-based learning has been used in training employees to acquire the necessary skills for an organization to be successful in dynamic and ever-changing environment. One of the core activities in competency-based training is learning material acquisition. Standardization efforts have made the retrieval of educational materials, also called learning objects, easier by describing them in pre-defined metadata schema. However, the existing standardized metadata schema and practices of learning object metadata annotation do not support automatic selection of resources by specific competency requirements in the competency-based learning. We propose an ontology-based competency formalization approach as a way of representing competency-related information together with other metadata in ontology in order to enhance machine automation in resources retrieval. The approach represents competency with properties of definition, knowledge reference, evidence of proficiency, and level of proficiency. The effectiveness of resource selection from each of the property is evaluated.
Ontology-Based Competency Management for Corporate E-Learning
Authors: Draganidis Fotis , Mentzas Gregoris
Published: May 2011

The synergies between ontology management, competency management and e-learning have been explored during the last years both in theoretical and practical level. This chapter describes the architecture, design and deployment of a system which integrates ontologies, with competency management and e-learning, as well as with other human resources functions. Moreover, a detailed description of the supportive methodology and the main lessons learned in technical and organisational areas are presented. This system is being currently deployed for research purposes in a national subsidiary of Microsoft, the IT services multinational firm. The objective of this chapter is to provide the reader with an overview of the key concepts in competency based management, a non-technical methodology for supporting the effective deployment of an ontology-based competency management system and an analysis of the lessons learned during the first deployment phase.
Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Information Architecture
Authors: Lin Frank , Liu Leo
Published: May 2011

Companies around the world are using enterprise systems. Universities are following the trend by integrating enterprise systems into their curricula. The main role of enterprise systems is to support business operations ef?ciently and effectively and to create competi-tive advantage. Nevertheless, to reap the bene?ts of using enterprise systems, it is essential to align the information technology goals with business goals and to establish appropriate enterprise architecture (EA) and enterprise information architecture (EIA) support. For students to understand the linkage between the EA and EIA and to learn the subject, a hybrid academic and industrial approach to teach EA and EIA is proposed. This proposed hybrid approach covers theory, framework, principles, and best practices of the EA and EIA in the beginning, evolving to a practical and comprehensive approach in delivering the subject matter–EA and EIA. A real world EA and EIA project is used to illustrate the ef?cacy of these architectures.
Learning Managemnt Systems
Authors: Watson William R. , Lee Sunnie , Reigeluth Charles M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses learning management systems (LMS) as a technology necessary for supporting the educational needs of the information age. It defines LMS and argues that the move from the mechanistic, sorting-oriented paradigm of the industrial age to the customized, learning-oriented paradigm of the information age requires the application of LMSs to succeed. The history of LMS is presented and the definition further clarified by comparing and contrasting LMS with course management systems (CMS), learning content management systems (LCMS) and learning objects. Several major K-12 LMSs are presented, evaluated, and their features compared. Finally, the current trends of LMS are discussed, and goals for further development are offered. A better understanding of LMS, its role in the new paradigm, and the areas where it needs to improve and continue to grow are essential to improving the effectiveness of education in the information age.
Awareness Design in Online Collaborative Learning
Authors: Bonk Curtis J. , Lee Seung-hee , Lin Xiaojing , Su Bude
Published: May 2011

Collaboration in online learning environments is intended to foster harmonious interactions and mutual engagement among group members. To make group performance effective, it is essential to understand the dynamic mechanisms of online groupwork and the role of awareness supporting dynamic online collaboration. This chapter reviews the nature of online collaboration from the standpoint of task, social, and technological dimensions and reconceptualizes the importance of awareness support into these three dimensions of online collaboration. Further, this chapter suggests key knowledge elements in each type of awareness. Detailed pedagogical examples and technological features for awareness support for online collaboration are proposed.
Evaluation
Authors: Bell Frances , Zaitseva Elena , Zakrzewska Danuta
Published: May 2011

Our emphasis in this chapter is on the sustainability of online educational communities, particularly the role that evaluation has to play in promoting sustainability. From the literature on online communities and evaluation of technology, we select and extend models of online community and technology acceptance that inform and enable the design and evaluation of sustainable online educational communities. Sustainability is a key issue that highlights the sociotechnical nature of these communities. Collaboration Across Borders is an online learning community that has received EU Socrates-Minerva funding to establish international collaboration between tutors and students and investigate sustainability of online learning communities. We present a case study of the development of the CAB community and its associated portal http://moodle.cabweb.net as a chronology of significant events. We then chart the evaluation process, using examples of tools and data to highlight the role of evaluation in the development of CABWEB and the sustainability of the CAB Community. Finally, we offer practical advice to those who wish to develop online learning communities, either small-scale collaborations between two groups of students or international networks of students and tutors.
The Use of ‘Stalking Horse' Evaluation Prototypes for Probing DTV Accessibility Requirements
Authors: Springett Mark , Griffiths Richard
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes a technique that utilises established usability evaluation techniques to discover a range of accessibility requirements for digital TV (DTV) viewers with low vision. A study was reported in which two “stalking horse” prototype conditions were tried by subjects performing interactive tasks. These prototypes were not developed technologies but Wizard-of-Oz style conditions. In one condition subjects were asked to use gestures to interact with DTV services, with the screen responding to their hand movements. The other condition used a static keyboard display placed on the table in front of them. Their role was both to probe the efficacy of these approaches and to prompt rich information relating to the subjects abilities, lifestyles, and strategies for interaction. The reported study analyses four viewers with differing types of sight impairment. .The reported study was successful in yielding both general concerns about current approaches to DTV display and interactivity design as well as giving significant insights into the possible potential of and difficulties with alternative input methods. The sessions yielded numerous critical incidents, examples of which are reported and analysed. The format also yielded key insights into the way in which individual viewers compensate for diminished vision by using alternative skills such as touch-typing and alternative sensory signals, inductive reasoning and heuristics. The significance of these insights for DTV design and accessibility support is then discussed.
Proven Interaction Design Solutions for Accessing and Viewing Interactive TV Content Items
Authors: Kunert Tibor , Krömker Heidi
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes interaction design solutions for interactive television (iTV) applications. A user task-based approach to interaction design guidance for iTV applications is suggested to easily integrate with a user-centred application development process. Based on the analysis of existing applications, several generic, iTV-specific user tasks are presented. For these user tasks, proven interaction design solutions were empirically identified by usability testing eight broadcasted applications. Specific design solutions to support the user tasks accessing content item and viewing content item are described. Usability test results and design guidance on the design of menus, video multi-screens, indexes, content presentation areas, paging, and scrolling are presented. Target audiences of this chapter are the iTV user interface designers and usability researchers.
Time and Timing in Cross-Media Production
Authors: Puijk Roel
Published: May 2011

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two production units of the Norwegian Broad-casting Corporation (NRK) this chapter looks at the relation between the production for television and the Internet. Different organizational models can be used in cross-media production: separated production, the recycling, added value, and integrated model can be identified. The two production units under consideration are organized in different ways. This is not only caused by differences in timing of publication on television and on the Web, but also related to differences in production cycles. The Web pages have different functions for the television programs they support—depending on genre. Although officially cross-media production units, television turns out to be the main interest for the units.
Automatic and Semi-Automatic Techniques for Image Annotation
Authors: Shah Biren , Benton Ryan , Wu Zonghuan , Raghavan Vijay
Published: May 2011

When retrieving images, users may find it easier to express the desired semantic content with keywords than visual features. Accurate keyword retrieval can only occur when images are completely and accurately described. This can be achieved either through laborious manual effort or automated approaches. Current methods for automatically extracting semantic information from images can be classified into (a) text-based methods, which use metadata such as ontological descriptions and/or text associated with images, to assign and/or refine annotations, and (b) image-based methods, which focus on extracting semantic information directly from image content. The focus of this chapter is to create an awareness and understanding of research and advances in this field, by introducing them to basic concepts and theories and then by classifying, summarizing, and describing works from the published literature. It will also identify unsolved problems and offer suggestions for future research directions.
An Ontology-Based Frameowrk for Semantic Image Analysis and Retrieval
Authors: Dasiopoulou Stamatia , Mezaris Vasileios , Kompatsiaris Ioannis , Strintzis Michael G.
Published: May 2011

To overcome the limitations of keyword- and content-based visual information access, an ontology-driven framework is developed. Under the proposed framework, an appropriately defined ontology infrastructure is used to drive the generation of manual and automatic image annotations and to enable semantic retrieval by exploiting the formal semantics of ontologies. In this way, the descriptions considered in the tedious task of manual annotation are constrained to named entities (e.g. location names, person names, etc.), since the ontology-driven analysis module automatically generates annotations concerning common domain objects of interest (e.g. sunset, trees, sea, etc.). Experiments in the domain of outdoor images show that such an ontology-based scheme realizes efficient visual information access with respect to its semantics.
Neural Networks for Content-Based Image Retrieval
Authors: Verma Brijesh , Kulkarni Siddhivinayak
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces neural networks for Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems. It presents a critical literature review of both the traditional and neural network based techniques that are used in retrieving the images based on their content. It shows how neural networks and fuzzy logic can be used in interpretation of queries, feature extraction and classification of features by describing a detailed research methodology. It investigates a neural network based technique in conjunction with fuzzy logic to improve the overall performance of the CBIR systems. The results of the investigation on a benchmark database with a comparative analysis are presented in this chapter. The methodologies and results presented in this chapter will allow researchers to improve and compare their methods and it will also allow system developers to understand and implement the neural network and fuzzy logic based techniques for content based image retrieval.
A Survey of Distance Education Challenges and Technologies
Authors: Shih Timothy K. , Hung Jason C. , Ma Jianhua , Jin Qun
Published: May 2011

Distance education, e-learning, and virtual university are similar terms for a trend of modern education. It is an integration of information technologies, computer hardware systems, and communication tools to support educational professionals in remote teaching. This chapter presents an overview of distance education from the perspective of policy, people, and technology. A number of questions frequently asked in distance learning panel discussions are presented, with the suggested answers from the authors. The survey presented in this chapter includes communication, intelligent, and educational technologies of distance education. Readers of this chapter are academic researchers and engineers who are interested in new research issues of distance education, as well as educators and general participants who are seeking for new solutions.
The Next Generation of E-Learning
Authors: Tan Daniel Tiong Hok , Lee Chye Seng , Goh Wee Sen
Published: May 2011

In a short span of three years, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore witnessed significant growth in the adoption of e-learning. With the use of professors-friendly e-learning applications, NTU has been able to achieve critical mass buy-in by the academic staff when the e-learning take-up rate achieved 85% of the existing NTU course curriculum. As NTU moves on to celebrate the third year of e-learning, measures were taken with the careful design considerations that aimed to “humanize” e-learning, (i.e., make e-learning interactive and engaging with active collaborations and student learning involvement). This includes the proliferation in the use of the video talking head format synchronized with the lecture presentation, live audio-video delivery, text chat and document annotations of a lecture presentation and delivery. This chapter reviews the processes NTU adopted in adding the human touch to traditional e-learning projects and serves as a good case study for other institutions with a similar aim to achieve interactive and engaged online learning.
Biometrics for Access Control
Authors: Kizza Joseph , Migga Kizza Florence
Published: May 2011

In today’s highly wired, mobile, and multitasking information society, the problems of verifying, identifying, and authenticating an individual continue to pose a great challenge. To see how complex this problem is we will take a look at all current technologies used in personal identification and authentication. All these technologies need you to present something that you have that uniquely identifies you or something you know that nobody else knows. Something you have can be a key or a token, like a card or drivers license, and something you know could be your password, your Social Security number, or personal identification number (PIN). The danger with all these approaches and the technology associated with them is that they all can be spoofed easily. For example, something you know can be forgotten and access then will be denied. Something you know can be given away to somebody hostile to you under duress; and something you have may be taken away under similar circumstances or it can be lost. Because we naturally forget, we lose things we are not supposed to lose; we can be forced to surrender things we hold dear. In other words, we are human. The current technologies for personal identification, verification, and authentication, as we discussed them in Chapter 10, cannot be relied on anymore in this new information society.
Mining Flow Patterns in Spatio-Temporal Data
Authors: Hsu Wynne , Lee Mong Li , Wang Junmei
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we describe flow patterns and the design of the algorithm called FlowMiner to find such flow patterns. FlowMiner incorporates a new candidate generation algorithm and employs various optimization techniques for better efficiency. The discovery of generalized spatio-temporal patterns will be described in the next chapter.
Mining Generalized Flow Patterns
Authors: Hsu Wynne , Lee Mong Li , Wang Junmei
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we investigate an efficient method to discover this class of relative-location sensitive flow patterns. These generalized flow patterns aim to summarize the sequential relationships between events that are prevalent in sharing the same topological structures. We adopt the pattern growth approach and develop an algorithm called GenSTMiner to discover these patterns. In order to increase the efficiency of the mining process, we also present two optimization techniques. The first is the use of conditional projected databases to prune infeasible events and sequences, and the second is pseudo projection to reduce memory requirement.
Conclusions and Future Work
Authors: Hsu Wynne , Lee Mong Li , Wang Junmei
Published: May 2011

Association rule mining in spatial databases and temporal databases have been studied extensively in data mining research. Most of the research studies have found interesting patterns in either spatial information or temporal information, however, few studies have handled both efficiently. Meanwhile, developments in spatio-temporal databases and spatio-temporal applications have prompted data analysts to turn their focus to spatio-temporal patterns that explore both spatial and temporal information.
Making Choices
Authors: Dron Jon
Published: May 2011

This book offers an exploration of the ways that a learning trajectory is determined, and, in particular, how an online learning environment can affect that trajectory. It provides suggestions about how, primarily through technologies that underlie what is vulgarly known as “Web 2.0,” networked learning environments should be constructed to give control to learners if they need it, as they need it, and when they need it.
Research Challenges for Integration of E-Collaboration Technologies
Authors: Munkvold Bjørn Erik , Zigurs Ilze
Published: May 2011

Integrated technology support for collaborative work is a topic of great interest to academics and practitioners alike. E-collaboration has become a vibrant and fruitful area of research and application from many perspectives. Integration remains a major challenge, however, and a significant opportunity exists to advance the state of practice as well as research. We provide an overview of different forms of integrated e-collaboration technologies, along with examples of key application areas. Based on these examples, we analyze the research opportunities and challenges and provide a set of recommendations for advancing our understanding of integrated e-collaboration technologies. The focus throughout is on behavioral and organizational issues related to these technologies and their underlying theoretical perspectives. The overarching goal of the chapter is to identify important needs for research, based on a clear understanding of the key concepts, issues, and existing knowledge.
Developing Inter-Organizational Trust in Business-to-Business E-Commerce Participation
Authors: Ratnasingam Pauline
Published: May 2011

Inter-organizational-systems such as EDI have been the main form of business-to business e-commerce participation in the automotive industry for the last two decades. Previous studies in EDI adoption mostly examined environmental, organizational and technological factors. This study draws insights developed within the sociology of technology, in which innovation is not simply a technical-rational process of solving problems, but involves economic, behavioral and political processes required for building inter-organizational trust. The transition to cooperative relationships between buyers and suppliers may be more difficult for automotive companies because of complexity, compatibility, long lead times and ingrained adversarial supplier relationships (Langfield-Smith & Greenwood, 1998). Therefore, trust is important as organizations need to cooperate, collaborate and communicate timely and relevant information, in order to facilitate EDI that entails not only technological proficiencies, but also trust between trading parties, so that business transactions are sent and received in an orderly fashion.
Implementation Management of an E-Commerce- Enabled Enterprise Information System
Authors: Sundarraj R. P. , Sarkis Joseph
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents a case study of an overview of the efforts of Texas Instrument’s (TI’s) internal and external ERP implementation, with a focus on linking its ERP system in a global e-commerce setting. This linkage is especially important since it had been stated in TI’s strategic plan as an objective of this project to provide visibility of the ERP system to external constituents via Web linkages along with the objective of standardizing internal processes and important information technology systems to support market needs. Thus, its ERP system is central to managing its supply chain and B2B e-commerce linkages from both a customer and supplier perspective. Issues faced by TI are clearly outlined with future questions also posed in the final section.
Implementing and Managing a Large-Scale E-Service
Authors: Clark Theodore H.K. , Reiner Lang Karl , Ma Will W.K.
Published: May 2011

This case concerns a recently launched retirement protection scheme, the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), in Hong Kong. Service providers, employers, employees and the government are the four main parties involved in the MPF. The service has been implemented in two versions, that is, a bricks model and a clicks model. The former is based on conventional paper-based transactions and face-to-face meetings. The focus of this case, however, is on the latter, which introduces MPF as a service in an e-environment that connects all parties electronically and conducts all transactions via the Internet or other computer networks. The case discusses the MPF e-business model, and its implementation. We analyze the differences between the old and the new model and highlight the chief characteristics and benefits of the e-business model as they arise from the emerging digital economy. We also discuss some major problems, from both managerial and technical perspectives, that have occurred during the phases of implementing and launching the new service.
The Impact of E-Commerce Technology on the Air Travel Industry
Authors: Gasson Susan
Published: May 2011

This case study examines the impact of online reservation systems and e-commerce on the travel industry. Two questions are examined: 1. How can competitive advantage be obtained from the exploitation of new information technologies—in particular, e-commerce technologies? 2. How has the role of travel agents changed because of the new information technologies being used to achieve competitive advantage in the air travel industry? Initial discussion concerns the impact of the American Airlines SABRE system, as this has often been touted as giving American Airlines first-mover advantage in the industry. The wider impact of remote-access, computerized reservation systems, or Global Distribution Systems, and e-commerce access to online reservations in the travel industry is analyzed, using Porter’s five-force model of industry competitive forces, to understand how the travel industry has shaped and has been shaped by information systems. The case study concludes with a comparison of the impact of information technologies between the U.S. and European travel industries. It concludes that technology alone does not affect the roles of industry players, but the development of winning technologies exploits structural factors in the environment. Constant evolution of strategic information systems is critical to producing competitive advantage, but opportunism also plays a strong role.
Enterprise System Development in Higher Education
Authors: Chae Bongsug , Poole Marshall Scott
Published: May 2011

“One system for everyone” has been an ideal goal for information technology (IT) management in many large organizations, and the deployment of such systems has been a major trend in corporate world under the name of enterprise systems (ES) (Brown & Vessey, 2003; Davenport, 2000; Markus, Petrie, & Axline, 2000). Benefits from ES use are claimed to be significant and multidimensional, ranging from operational improvements through decision-making enhancement to support for strategic goals (Shang & Seddon, 2002). However, studies (Hanseth & Braa, 2001; Rao, 2000; Robey, Ross, & Boudreau, 2002) of the deployment of ES in private sector organizations show that the ideal is difficult to accomplish. This paper reports a case in which a major university system in the US attempted to develop an in-house enterprise system. The system is currently used by more than 4,000 individual users in almost 20 universities and state agencies. This case offers a historical analysis of the design, implementation and use of the system from its inception in the mid 1980s to the present. This case indicates that ES design and implementation in higher education are quite challenging and complex due to unique factors in the public sector — including state mandates/requirements, IT leadership/resources, value systems, and decentralized organizational structure among other things — that must be taken into account in planning, designing and implementing ES (Ernst, Katz, & Sack, 1994; Lerner, 1999; McCredie, 2000). This case highlights (1) the challenges and issues in the rationale behind “one system for everyone” and (2) some differences as well as similarities in IT management between the private and public sectors. It offers some unique opportunities to discuss issues, challenges and potential solutions for the deployment of ES in the public arena, particularly in higher education.
Humanware Issues in a Government Management Information Systems Implementation
Authors: Lippert Susan K.
Published: May 2011

A United States Government Defense Agency charged with the acquisition and procurement of weapons systems required a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS). The Integrated Product and Process Management Information System (IPPMIS) was expected to integrate standard procurement functions through a hardware and software application. A defense contractor was ‘hired’ to design, develop, build, test and deploy an integrated acquisition project MIS, including career development and the management of personnel for program managers. The information system was designed and implemented without due consideration or management of the human side of systems development. The lack of human factors generated cost overruns, time delays and ultimately a partial failure of the system. This case addresses the behavioral, managerial and organizational shortcomings of the MIS process, which ultimately led to a less than effective implementation.
Technological Modernization of Peru's Public Registries
Authors: Diaz-Andrade Antonio , Santana-Ormeño Martín
Published: May 2011

This study describes the strategy and information technology adopted by Peru’s National Superintendent of Public Registries (SUNARP) to meet its organizational goals. SUNARP was created in 1994 to become the ruling entity of all public registry offices in Peru, which to that time had been working in an isolated fashion. The case describes the projects already completed, their respective success and their deployment across the organization’s bureaus across the nation. The Registry Information System (SIR, in Spanish) and the consequent online registry publicity service are worthy of noting. It takes account of the fact that many of these projects were originally initiated in the largest Registry Zone, the former Lima and Callao Registry Office. Moreover, the paper mentions the future challenges faced by SUNARP in its efforts to provide online registration services.
Software Vendor's Business Model Dynamics Case
Authors: Rajala Risto , Rossi Matti , Tuunainen Virpi Kristiina
Published: May 2011

This case describes evolution of a small software company through three major phases of its life cycle. During the first phase, the business was founded within a subsidiary of a large multinational information technology (IT) company. In the second phase, the business evolved as a spin-off from the initial organization through a MBO (management buy-out) into an independent software vendor. Finally, in the third phase, the business has established itself as a vertically-focused business unit within a publicly-quoted company operating in software and consulting businesses. These three phases are termed introduction, growth and maturity as defined by Cravens (1987, 376).1 The company described in this case, called TradeSys, Inc. (pseudonym), develops and sells software for trade unions and unemployment fund organizations. The business model of TradeSys, Inc. (later TradeSys) has evolved through a typical life cycle of product-oriented software companies in Finland. First, it was comprised of business information systems consultation and a proposition of systems solution to a few major customer organizations. This led to customer-initiated product development. Consequently, the deliverable of the very first project was developed as a solution to the needs of a single customer, which was later worked into a universal software product along with several customer projects. During all three major phases, the company had to rethink its business model and value propositions. At each stage, the ownership of the business has also changed. This case highlights the challenges of a business in the three major turning points in its life cycle and the major changes in the business model accordingly.
The Foreign Banks' Influence in InformationTechnology Adoption in the Chinese Banking System
Authors: Fong Michelle
Published: May 2011

Foreign direct investment has been a common conduit of technology transfer for the locally funded enterprises in the host country to adopt foreign technology. In addition, it could be a powerful agent in affecting technology adoption within a technologically backward host country. By contrast, foreign direct investment has not been a significant source of information technology transfer into the Chinese banking system. Neither has it been an effective agent in affecting technology adoption in this system. The priority and concern of the Chinese government in protecting, and retaining control of, its domestic banks and financial market have kept foreign direct investment in the banking industry at a relatively modest level. The controlled industry, the long wait for full market competition, and the inadequate infrastructure and operating framework have inhibited the foreign banks from adopting highly sophisticated information technology for their restricted business operations and from being an effective conduit in technology transfer.
USCInfo
Authors: Klempa Mathew J. , Wegner Lucy Siefert
Published: May 2011

This case sets forth automation philosophies and systems development processes associated with the University of Southern California’s “USCInfo”, an integrated retrieval software for accessing both the USC Library catalog and periodical indexes.
Library Networking of the Universidad de Oriente
Authors: Bashirullah Abul K.
Published: May 2011

The Universidad de Oriente was founded in 1958 and structured in five campuses, located in five different states in the south northeastern region of Venezuela, with a current total enrollment of 43,000 students and 200 teachers. A total of 20 libraries of different kinds manually served these students and professors until 1999. To introduce new information technologies to the libraries and all laboratories of the university, the intranet of the university — with 32 networking systems — was introduced for all campuses with the technology of Main Frame Relay. Automation services of libraries were introduced with Alejandria, a locally produced software in effect since 2001. The challenging job is to create consciousness about information literacy. Creation of university digital databases and digitalization of valuable documents are in progress.
Implementing an Integrated Software Product at Northern Steel
Authors: Guenette A.
Published: May 2011

This case describes the implementation of the payroll and human resources modules of an integrated software product in a large manufacturing organization. The firm is located in a large metropolitan city and system implementation took place following a major organizational restructuring (from a public to a private enterprise) and downsizing (from 10,000 to 2,000 employees) effort. The extensive maintenance required by the existing legacy systems and the high cost of modifying them to address the year 2000 problem motivated the company to acquire an integrated software product from a vendor, and adapt it to the organization. Implementing the software took longer than scheduled and was 35% over budget. Some of the problems encountered include conflicts between the Accounting and Human Resources departments, technical difficulties in building interfaces to existing systems, inadequate staffing of the project team, the IT director who left during the project, and a poorly functioning steering committee.
Managerial Issues for Telecommuting
Authors: Hendrickson Anthony R. , Strader Troy J.
Published: May 2011

In this paper the issues faced by firms in today’s telecommunications environment are compared and contrasted with an actual telecommuting case study of Trade Reporting and Data Exchange, Inc. (T.R.A.D.E.), a software engineering company located in San Mateo, CA. Initial results indicate that telecommuting was successful for T.R.A.D.E because the required technology was widely available (the candidate initiated the idea and had the necessary industry and company experience) the organization could provide the flexible work arrangement while retaining a valuable employee, the employees were able to live in a geographic area of their choice, overall costs could be shared by the company and employees, the job category was an ideal fit, and existing procedures were in place for communicating and managing the geographically detached worker. As telecommunications technology evolves this arrangement will continue to challenge the firm and their employees.
Moving Up the Mobile Commerce Value Chain
Authors: Fahy Martin , Feller JJoseph , Finnegan Pat , Murphy Ciaran
Published: May 2011

In the spring of 2002, a team within Digifone, in the Republic of Ireland, deliberated on how they would generate revenues from a Third Generation (3G) mobile license. Their plan was to facilitate third-party mobile commerce services, and receive a percentage of the resulting revenue. A key challenge would be differentiating the value of content based on transaction context. Mediation technology, based on open standards, was seen as the solution. The case describes Digifone’s evaluation of an XML vocabulary as the basis for a mediation and billing solution. The Digifone experience suggests that the key to exploiting 3G technology is inter-industry agreement on measurement standards to effectively manage the value of the associated services — a “bar code” for measuring value and distributing revenue amongst value Web participants.
The Integration of Library, Telecommunications, and Computing Services in a University
Authors: Sherer Susan A.
Published: May 2011

This case study describes the process of integrating the library, computing and telecommunications services in a university. Within the last two years, a new manager in the newly created position of Chief Information Officer merged these diverse organizations. We will describe the techniques used during the first year to foster communication, develop new strategic direction, and create and implement a new organizational structure. We will focus on establishing leadership, the organizational change and operational planning process, and the initial implementation of the new organizational structure. We will describe some of the problems and obstacles that needed to be addressed, including new management’s establishment of trust and control, creating an environment for change, managing change amid strong time pressures, human resource issues, and resource constraints. It is expected that many of the issues that arose during this merger will be addressed by organizations in other industries as they attempt to evolve from technical IS groups to more customer oriented organizations.
The Telecommuting Life
Authors: Kelly Gigi G. , Locke Karen
Published: May 2011

As the 21st century approaches, the work environment is transforming, driven in large part by technology. For example, technology is challenging ideas about where and when work needs to take place. Technology allows employees to work from home. However, this new distributed work arrangement brings with it many new challenges for both the employee and employer. In this case, we introduce one company that has decided to experiment with the telecommuting arrangement. Through the eyes of one teleworker, many of the benefits and challenges of telecommuting are explored.
Integration of Third-Party Applications and Web Clients by Means of an Enterprise Layer
Authors: Lemahieu Wilfried , Snoeck Monique , Michiels Cindy
Published: May 2011

This case study presents an experience report on an enterprise modelling and application integration project for a young company, starting in the telecommunications business area. The company positions itself as a broadband application provider for the SME market. Whereas its original information infrastructure consisted of a number of stand-alone business and operational support system (BSS/OSS) applications, the project’s aim was to define and implement an enterprise layer, serving as an integration layer on top of which these existing BSS/OSSs would function independently and in parallel. This integration approach was to be non intrusive and was to use the business applications as-is. The scope of the case entails the conception of a unifying enterprise model and the formulation of an implementation architecture for the enterprise layer, based on the enterprise JavaBeans framework.
Added Value Benefits of Application of Internet Technologies to Subject Delivery
Authors: Burgess Stephen , Darbyshire Paul
Published: May 2011

The application of Internet technologies towards distance education is widely discussed in the literature. This case applies Porter’s “added value” theory relating to the use of IT to the application of Internet technologies used as a supplement to traditional classroom subject delivery. Most of the reported advantages of this type from online course and subject delivery relate to cost savings in terms of efficiency, flexibility and/or convenience for the students. The case study examines a range of subjects taught in the School of Information Systems at Victoria University, Australia. Each subject uses Internet technologies for different “added value” benefits. Subject coordinators comment upon the use of the Internet technologies for both academic and administrative aspects. Students are surveyed to determine the value of Internet technologies from their perspective. Student responses indicated the applications were perceived to beat least “useful,” and findings supported Porter’s theory. The challenge for the faculty is to demonstrate the “business” benefits to faculty staff of adopting Internet technology for teaching. The case studies have shown that the use of Internet technologies by students seems to be higher where the coordinator actively encourages it.
Information Quality Function Deployment
Authors: Al-Hakim Latif
Published: May 2011

This research maps the information quality (IQ) process and finds that the control constituent of the process comprises two types of factors: IQ dimensions and IQ indicators. The latter forms an information performance measure known as ‘information orientation’ that measures the capability of an organisation to effectively manage and use information. This research stresses that the consistency between the two types of factors will improve the IQ function. Based on a case study from the healthcare industry, the research employs a modified quality function deployment (QFD) procedure referred to as information function development (IFD) in an attempt to match IQ dimensions with the IQ indicators in order to identify the most important factors affecting the IQ function deployment. The research is in its initial stage and may include subjective results. However, the methodology used could be further enhanced for more impartial outcomes.
The Human Semantic Web
Authors: Naeve Ambjörn
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the human Semantic Web (HSW) as a conceptual interface, providing human-understandable semantics in addition to the ordinary (machine) Semantic Web, which provides machine-processable semantics based on RDF. The HSW is structured in the form of a knowledge manifold and makes use of uni-fied language modeling (based on the unified modeling language) combined with conceptual browsing to present its information to the user in a way that creates substantial benefits in terms of overview, clarity, and flexibility. The HSW browser Conzilla combines the semantics of RDF with the human-understandable semantics of UML in order to enable more powerful forms of human-computer interaction, such as querying the Semantic Web through Edutella and supporting the conceptin-context methodology. The Semantic Web is discussed in terms of three levels of semantic interoperability: isolation, coexistence, and collaboration. Collaboration, as the highest goal, can be achieved by conceptual calibration, which builds bridges between different ontologies in a bottom-up way, describing their similarities as well as their differences. An example is presented in Conzilla of conceptual calibration between systems for e-commerce. In the closing section, the Nonaka-Takeuchi theory of knowledge creation is discussed, and the HSW is described as a “space for interaction,” where the SECI spiral of knowledge creation can be elevated to the global level. Three possible scenarios are presented: open research, enriching the economy by expanding the value ontology, and negotiating a sustainable future for all.