bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Grounding CSCW in Social Psychology
Authors: Farooq Umer , Fairweather Peter G. , Singley Mark K.
Published: May 2011

Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is largely an applied discipline, technologically supporting multiple individuals, their group processes, their dynamics, and so on. CSCW is a research endeavor that studies the use of, designs, and evaluates computer technologies to support groups, organizations, communities, and societies. It is interdisciplinary, marshalling research from different disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, organizational psychology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and information and computer sciences. Some examples of CSCW systems are group decision support systems (e.g., Nunamaker, Dennis, Valacich, Vogel, & George, 1991), group authoring systems (e.g., Guzdial, Rick, & Kerimbaev, 2000), and computer-mediated communication systems (e.g., Sproull & Kiesler, 1991). Behavioral and social sciences provide a rich body of research and theory about principles of human behavior. However, researchers and developers have rarely taken advantage of this trove of empirical phenomena and theory (Kraut, 2003). Recently, at the 2004 Conference on CSCW, there was a panel discussion chaired by Sara Kiesler (Barley, Kiesler, Kraut, Dutton, Resnick, & Yates, 2004) on the topic of incorporating group and organization theory in CSCW. Broadly speaking, the panel discussed some theories applicable to CSCW and debated their usefulness. In this article, we use the theory of small groups as complex systems from social psychology in a brief example to allude to how it can be used to inform CSCW methodologically and conceptually.
Moral Mediators in HCI
Authors: Magnani Lorenzo , Bardone Emanuele , Bocchiola Michele
Published: May 2011

Our contention is that interactions between humans and computers have a moral dimension. That is to say, a computer cannot be taken as a neutral tool or a kind of neutral technology (Norman, 1993).1 This conclusion seems a bit puzzling and surely paradoxical. How can a computer be moral? All computational apparatuses can be generally considered as moral mediators, but for our considerations, computers are the best representative tools. First of all, they are the most widespread technological devices, they are relatively cheap in comparison to other technological utilities, and, very importantly, they can be easily interconnected all over the word through the Internet. This last feature allows people to keep in contact with each other and, consequently, to improve their relations. Computers require interactions with humans, but also allow interactions between humans. Since morality relates to how to treat other people within interactive behaviors, computers can help us to act morally in several ways. For instance, as the concept of moral mediators suggests, computers can help us to acquire new information useful to treat in a more satisfactory moral way other human beings.
Site Maps for Hypertext
Authors: Shapiro A. M.
Published: May 2011

Hypertexts are electronic presentations of information comprised of any number of documents connected by electronic links that allow users to move between them with a mouse click. In addition to text, the documents also may contain pictures, videos, demonstrations, or sound resources. With the addition of such media, hypertext often is referred to as hypermedia. A hypertext can present information contained in a college course or the products offered by a cleaning supply company. A hypertext can contain as little as two documents or as much as the holdings of an entire library. Because hypertexts can be quite large, site maps often are used to provide users with an overview of a site’s content and structure. While they may appear as simple tables of content, they also can provide a graphical representation of the site’s documents and even the network of links connecting them. Regardless of the form a site map takes, it may appear as a simple overview or, more commonly, as an interactive tool in which each entry serves as a link to the page it represents. Site maps may appear on a hypertext homepage or on a separate page, often as a help menu option.
Supporting Navigation and Learning in Educational Hypermedia
Authors: Boechler Patricia M.
Published: May 2011

Computers have become commonplace tools in educational environments and are used to provide both basic and supplemental instruction to students on a variety of topics. Searching for information in hypermedia documents, whether on the Web or through individual educational sites, is a common task in learning activities. Previous research has identified a number of variables that impact how students use electronic documents. Individual differences such as learning style or cognitive style (Andris, 1996; Fitzgerald & Semrau, 1998), prior topic knowledge (Ford & Chen, 2000), level of interest (Lawless & Kulikowich, 1998), and gender (Beasley & Vila, 1992) all influence performance. Additionally, characteristics of the document such as the inherent structure of the material, the linking structure (Korthauer & Koubek, 1994), and the types of navigation tools that accompany the document can affect student performance and behaviour (Boechler & Dawson, 2002; McDonald & Stevenson, 1998, 1999). In short, the effective use of hypermedia documents in educational settings depends on complex interactions between individual skills (e.g., spatial and reading skills) and the features of the document itself.
Ubiquitous Internet Environments
Authors: Roibás Anxo Cereijo
Published: May 2011

Let’s remember the first films that started to show the broad public futuristic communication scenarios, where users were able to exchange almost any kind of information to communicate with anyone at any place and at any time, like Marc Daniels’ “Star Trek” in the 1960s and James Cameron’s “Terminator” in the 1970s, for example. The consequence of this was that impersonalized spaces (e.g., airports) (Auge, 1992) could easily become a personalized environment for working or leisure, according to the specific needs of each user. These kinds of scenarios recently have been defined as ubiquitous communication environments. These environments are characterized by a system of interfaces that can be or fixed in allocated positions or portable (and/or wearable) devices. According to our experience with 2G technologies, we can foresee that the incoming 3G communication technologies will make sure, however, that the second typology of interfaces will become more and more protagonist in our daily lives. The reason is that portable and wearable devices represent a sort of prosthesis, and therefore, they reflect more than ever the definition of interface as an extension of the human body. When in 1973 Martin Cooper from Motorola patented an interface called Radio Telephone System (which can be defined as the first mobile phone), he probably didn’t suspect the substantial repercussion of his invention in the human microenvironment and in its social sphere. The mobile phone, enabling an interpersonal communication that is time- and place-independent, has changed humans’ habits and their way of making relationships (Rheingold, 1993). This system made possible a permanent and ubiquitous connection among users. At the same time, it has made users free to decide whether to be available or not in any moment and in any place they might be (Hunter, 2002). This article is based on empirical work in the field with network operators (Vodafone) and handset manufacturers (Nokia) and research at the Politecnico di Milano University, the University of Lapland, and the University of Brighton. The intention is to give a practical approach to the design of interfaces in ubiquitous communication scenarios.
Visual and Physical Interfaces for Computer and Video Games
Authors: Ip Barry , Jacobs Gabriel
Published: May 2011

Over the last three decades and, above all, during the last few years, advances in areas that have been crucial for the success of the now multi-billion-dollar computer and video game industry (in particular, those of graphics and gameplay complexity) have been nothing short of breathtaking. Present-day console games run on machines offering quite remarkable possibilities to game developers. Their stylish presentation and compelling interactivity continue to set exceedingly high standards to which many serious applications running on desktop computers can only aspire. In spite of their adolescent image, games (particularly, console games) have continually raised general computer-user expectations.
WAP Applications in Ubiquitous Scenarios of Work
Authors: Roibás Anxo Cereijo
Published: May 2011

European users have eagerly adopted novel forms of digital media and related information and communications technologies (Stanton, 2001), making them a part of their increasingly varied and segmented cultures (Brown, Green, & Harper, 2001). For example, the young are active consumers of music, videos, movies, and games; businessmen on the other hand need more and more working tools and applications that enable connectivity when they are on the move. A not very dissimilar scenario is envisaged on troops in action where work on tactical and strategic information and mission management, command, and control, including real-time mission replanning, are essential. All these users rely on the Internet, i-TV, and mobile phones, and they have adapted all of these into the fabric of their lifestyles, or in short, their mobile life. But, functionality cannot be the main driver for design as mobile life is also deeply founded upon shared values and worldviews of the users, pleasure, enjoyment, culture, safety, trust, desire, and so forth (Rheingold, 1993). For example, WAP (wireless application protocol) technologies seemed to provide a powerful tool to the mobile worker. However, it is well known the fraud of WAP mainly due to the scarce usability, high usage cost, and inadequate range of the services provided together with intrinsic limitations of the device itself (insufficient memory storage, low battery autonomy, poor screen resolution, etc. [Cereijo Roibás, 2001]). However, some WAP applications have been widely used by Italian users. The success of this system of applications is due to its efficiency, effectiveness, and relevance for some specific work purposes. Each of the services will be analysed, describing the expected use of each service and the actual use of it by Italian users.
Cancer Patient-to-Patient Online Discussion Groups
Authors: Rada Roy
Published: May 2011

Three high-level observations set the stage: • Cancer is a major cause of death • Health-related concerns drive the greatest use of the Internet (Eysenbach, 2003) • Cancer patients may find support from online discussion groups. Actually, these discussion groups are for more than patients. Definitions of the users of the discussion systems and the types of systems are presented next. Care givers are those people who help a patient as friends or family of the patient (this is in contrast to care providers, who are healthcare professionals). The discussion systems to be addressed here serve both care givers and patients, and sometimes a more extended group of people who want to help or otherwise be involved in cancer support. This extended group of people will be denoted by the term ‘patient’ throughout the remainder of this article. The first patient online discussion system benefited from early technology to exploit e-mail connections known as e-mail list servers (listservs). A listserv allows a group of people to communicate by e-mail through a common email address. The listserv stores the messages received and participants can either receive e-mails one by one as they are sent, or in digests at daily, weekly or monthly intervals. Moderators are typically assigned to listservs and may determine conditions for membership in the listserv. The listserv itself has features for people to request enrollment and search the archives. Following the popularity of the World Wide Web (Web), technologists implemented Web discussion systems that allow people to register on the Web and gain access to Web-based archives of messages. These Web discussion systems typically also incorporate all the features of a listserv. Cancer patients participating in various online discussion systems will next be studied according to: • Patient patterns of use • Impact of the discussion systems on the patients • The extent to which patients might make scientific discoveries • The role of different healthcare industry entities in the management of these discussion systems The reader will see the opportunities for extended use of these discussion systems.
Codes of Ethics in Virtual Communities
Authors: Gurau Cãlin
Published: May 2011

The development of the World Wide Web has created new opportunities for interpersonal interaction. The Internet allows one-to-one (e-mail), one-to-many (Web sites, e-mail lists) or many-to-many (online discussion forums) interaction, which represent a unique feature in comparison with traditional communication channels (Armstrong & Hagel, 1996). On the other hand, the Internet has specific characteristics, such as: • Interactivity: The Internet offers multiple possibilities of interactive communication, acting not only as an interface, but also as a communication agent (allowing a direct interaction between individuals and software applications) • Transparency: The information published online can be accessed and viewed by any Internet user, unless this information is specifically protected • Memory: The Web is a channel not only for transmitting information, but also for storing information¾in other words, the information published on the Web remains in the memory of the network until it is erased. These characteristics permit the development of online or virtual communities¾groups of people with similar interests who communicate on the Web in a regular manner (Armstrong & Hagel, 1996; Goldsborough, 1999a, 1999b; Gordon, 2000). Many studies deal with the ethics of research in Cyberspace and Virtual Communities (Bakardjieva, Feenberg, & Goldie, 2004), but very few publications relate with the Codes of Ethics used in Public Discussion Forums (Belilos, 1998; Johnson, 1997). Other specialists have analyzed specific categories or uses of online discussion forums, such as online learning (Blignaut & Trollip, 2003; DeSanctis, Fayard, Roach, & Jiang, 2003) or the creation of professional communities of practice (Bickart & Schindler, 2001; Kling, McKim & King, 2003; Millen, Fontaine, & Muller, 2002), and in this context, have also discussed briefly the importance of netiquette and forum monitoring (Fauske & Wade, 2003, 2004). The difference between these online communities and public discussion forums is the degree of control exercised on the functioning and purpose of the forum by a specific individual or organization. This article attempts to investigate, analyze and present the main patterns of the codes/rules of ethics used in the public discussion forums, otherwise known as Newsgroups, and their influence on the profile and functioning of the community.
Collaborative Information Management System for Science Domains
Authors: Unal Ozgul , Kaletas Ersin C. , Afsarmanesh Hamideh , Yakali H. Hakan , Hertzberger Louis O.
Published: May 2011

With the increasing need for collaboration in different science domains, a lot of research activities are now focused on the mechanisms and infrastructures supporting advanced collaborations among pre-existing, distributed, heterogeneous, and autonomous organizations. Collaborating organizations typically share some common objectives and in order to achieve them they need to share their information and resources. One prominent requirement is to access each other’s data or databases through a secure infrastructure. Biodiversity is one such science domain. Challenges in biodiversity information management are being addressed in the project ENBI (European Network for Biodiversity Information) (ENBI, n.d.). A summary of the information management challenges in different science domains is given in the second section, Information Management Challenges in Science Domains. In this context, the CIMS introduces promising solutions to cope with these challenges. In general terms, CIMS refers to the set of components and mechanisms that together constitute a generic information manipulation framework to support the interoperation and data sharing among collaborating members (Guevara-Masis, Unal, Kaletas, Afsarmanesh, & Hertzberger, 2004). The proposed CIMS involves three main paradigms and technologies, consisting of: (1) federated database architecture, (2) virtual organizations paradigm, and (3) grid technology. Introductory information about these technologies and paradigms and their major benefits are covered in the third section, paradigms and technologies.
Distance Learning Applications Using Virtual Communities
Authors: Baim Susan A.
Published: May 2011

On many college and university campuses, the use of distance learning continues to grow with academic courses and programs that have all, or at least part, of an online component(s). Most colleges or universities have some form of Intranet where instructors can make course materials available online to their students and/or they may have an online location where students can converse with others on course-related topics. A review of the literature indicates that while the use of campus-based Intranets and the Internet on college and university campuses is widely discussed from a variety of theoretical and practical bases, the body of published knowledge on developing and implementing virtual communities is less robust. However, numerous papers on this topic do exist and their findings indicate that the use of a virtual community can be essential in today’s distance learning environment.
Effective Virtual Working though Communities of Practice
Authors: Kimble Chris , Li Feng
Published: May 2011

Globalization is an issue currently affecting many organizations and is one that has profound consequences for the nature of work (Karimi & Konsynski, 1991; Ives & Jarvenpaa, 1992; Sachs, 1995). In order to work effectively in an international setting, companies are increasingly turning to trans-national teams (Castells, 1996; Lipnack & Stamps, 1997). In the new, networked economy, knowledge is seen as an asset that needs to be managed and is central to the success of organizations (Boersma & Stegwee, 1996). Since the 1980s, many organizations have taken steps to outsource and downsize in an effort to remain competitive (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; O’Dell, 1998). More recently, international outsourcing, often known as off-shoring, has been happening at a rapid pace in a growing range of activities and sectors. Outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing and programs of planned redundancy all mean that, as people leave, they take with them a valuable stock of corporate knowledge. This can be knowledge of how the work is done in practice and domain knowledge (Sachs, 1995). Some knowledge is easy to replace, but the knowledge of how a company operates is built over years and is irreplaceable in the short term. In addition, many organizations now have to cope with the increasing internationalization of business that forces collaboration and knowledge-sharing across geographical boundaries. Working in a more internationalized setting places strains on the way a team operates, as they have to cope not only with geographical distance, but also time, culture and possibly language barriers. For such organizations, there is an urgent need to identify ways to work effectively in such groups.
Ethics of Deception in Virtual Communities
Authors: Rowe Neil C.
Published: May 2011

Deception is an infrequent but inevitable part of human social interaction. Deception fulfills important human social needs despite its disadvantages. An obvious question is to what extent deception can be justified in virtual communities, and whether the justification could be different than that for deception in traditional societies. While animals and plants blithely use deception (Mitchell & Thompson, 1986), humans are subject to many social constraints that affect the feasibility and suitability of deception.
Grey Market Informatics
Authors: St. Amand Kirk
Published: May 2011

International outsourcing often involves virtual communities in which globally dispersed co-workers use online media to collaborate on projects. Such virtual work communities are associated with reduced production costs and quicker times to market. These work relationships, however, also bring with them certain detriments. While critics have focused on job losses related to international outsourcing, few individuals have examined outsourcing’s other great drawback: diminished control over information. This reduced control creates an opening for the misuse of personal data through a series of processes collectively referred to as grey market informatics. This article overviews how grey market informatics works and examines the effects it can have on organizations that use international outsourcing. The article then concludes with strategies for avoiding such misuses of data. By realizing and addressing grey market informatics, organizations can enhance the success of their future outsourcing activities.
Modelling Stages of Behaviour in Social Virtual Communities
Authors: Roberts Lynne D. , Smith Leigh M. , Pollock Clare M.
Published: May 2011

Once connected to the Internet, there is a myriad of virtual communities that an individual can connect to, interact within and become a member of. However, little is known about the processes individuals employ in identifying, selecting, and interacting within these virtual communities. How does an individual decide which type of virtual environment they will use? What are the stages that individuals go through in their use of virtual communities? Do the stages of use vary across types of virtual communities? In this article, we examine these questions, focusing on stages of use of individual virtual communities within the larger context of patterns of Internet use over time. First, we examine predictors of the type of virtual environments that an individual might use, highlighting the impact of demographic factors, personality, history, and location of Internet use. Then we draw on our own research to examine stages of use of two types of synchronous text-based virtual environments. Finally, we develop a generic model of stages of use of virtual environments.
Online Social Networking for New Researched Opportunities
Authors: Mew Lionel
Published: May 2011

Online Social Networking Web sites are Internet sites that facilitate building of personal social networks online. Young people throughout the United States (U.S.) and around the world are flocking to these sites in droves. Venture capitalists are funding social networking companies at rates not seen since the great technology bust of the late 1990s. Anecdotal evidence suggests that social networking software is one of the next big trends in information technology. Leonard (2004) notes that, “like e-mail, like using a search engine, social networking is a part of the Internet way of life. And [sic] it’s barely getting started.” There are many potential opportunities for research into these virtual communities.
Technology-Based Models
Authors: Brown Linda A.
Published: May 2011

Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs) are based upon communication between people that does not occur simultaneously. The most familiar examples of ALNs are self-paced classes offered by colleges and universities through distance learning programs, e-mail messages exchanged with a mentor and posted messages sent to a discussion group concerning a course topic. The advantages of an ALN are those of convenience, accessibility and self-paced instruction for the student. The disadvantages are that students may feel isolated or are unmotivated due to the lack of human interaction, immediate responses on a student’s performance are not provided, and training adjustments must wait until an evaluation is completed by the instructor (Patron, 2004). To design, implement and maintain an effective ALN, consideration must be given to various tools that must be included as part of the overall system. Some elements that must be considered are the use of authoring and collaborative tools, weblogs, Knowledge Management Systems (KMS), Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), and Really Simple Syndication (RSS feeds).
Virtual Communities and Local Youth E-Democracy
Authors: Miia Kosonen , Outi Cavén-Pöysä , Blomqvist Kirsimarja
Published: May 2011

E-democracy, digital democracy, and e-government are all phenomena that are developing together with ICT sector growth and rapid public-service development processes. Governments, at least in the Nordic countries, have strongly supported change in the Information Society and in electronic services. From a broad perspective the change is not only about transferring the services onto the Internet and making them reachable via different network infrastructures: it is more a question of profound strategic change in public-sector services overall, and a new kind of “virtual” citizenship. Support for traditional political participation will come from technology, online information, 24 hour discussion groups, and local virtual arenas such as municipality web sites. (Grönlund, 2003; Hacker & van Dijk, 2000). Participation, voting, and especially, youth empowerment are important activities for building up the Information Society. Voting rates have declined during the last few years in both local and government elections in Finland. Similar results have also been reported from other European countries (Macintosh et al., 2003). Surprisingly, large groups of young people have totally rejected participation in political elections. This has been seen as a strong sign of the possible destruction of the welfare state, and also a major threat to Western democracy. Participation in elections of people from all social groups, from different geographical areas, and from all age groups has been seen as the most powerful way of committing citizens to the costs and delivery ideology of Nordic welfare-state services. The traditional decision making in the public sector has been strongly in the domain of the professionals, and it has been implemented in top-down official hierarchies. Elements such as formal politics, administration, and civil society are all in the process of transformation. At the same time, emerging technology enables citizens to obtain and actively use all kinds of public information. Information Society rules and regulations have to be rewritten quickly, especially as young people start using the participation channels actively. Today’s youth is familiar with virtual realities in the form of avatars or different kinds of virtual features, and knows how to remain unidentified if necessary.
Virtual Organizing Online Communities in Support of Knowledge Synthesis
Authors: Vat Kam Hou
Published: May 2011

A central issue in the practice of organizational learning concerns the relation between knowledge of individuals and knowledge on the level of an organization (Cohen, 1991; Cook & Yanow, 1993; Weick & Westley, 1996). The cultivation of various communities—formal or informal—throughout an organization, seems to fill an intermediate level of learning between the organization as a whole and individual organizational members (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002). There, knowledge links among individuals are established and communal organizational knowledge is collectively contributed and made available to the rest of the organization. In their study of “communities of practice,” Brown and Duguid (1996, p. 60) described learning as a bridge between working and innovation through their activity theory of knowledge, which could be explained by the notion of exploitation and exploration (Cohen & Bacdayan, 1996; Holland, 1975; March, 1991). Exploitation entails the efficient use of existing competencies in terms of decontextualized, codified, and formalized rules of operation. Inevitably, such rules cannot cover the richness and the variability of practical contexts. It is by context-dependent changes from the existing rules (exploration), with the ensuing need for improvisation and experimentation that learning arises, in interaction between members of the community. Oftentimes, exploration is based on storytelling, to capture and share context-bound experience, and to guide experimentation. In the process of learning, exploitation is based on exploration, and vice versa: we exploit what we have explored, and it is on the basis of exploitation that we explore. The extent to which exploitation and exploration can be combined in time and place depends on our ideas of community development, especially for online communities in today’s Internet age, and the deliberation of information technology through the design of suitable information systems (IS) support. To pursue the goal of organizational knowledge synthesis, there is a strong need to leverage the knowledge embedded in the people of the organization. This need of knowledge sharing among potential communities within and beyond the organization has been well exemplified in the notion of a learning organization (LO) (Garvin, 1993; King, 1996; Levine, 2001; Senge, 1990), which could be considered as an organization, which helps transfer learning from individuals to a group (and vice versa), provide for organizational renewal, keep an open attitude to the outside world, and support a commitment to knowledge. The theme of this article is, then, to examine the knowledge processes required of the learning organization viewed from the online communities’ standpoint, to develop and sustain the communal knowledge base (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Hackbarth & Groven, 1999; King, 1999; Levine, 2001; O’Leary, 1998) through the elaboration of appropriate IS (or LOIS) (Williamson & Lliopoulos, 2001) support so as to expand an organization’s capacity to adapt to future challenges.
Online Multimedia Educational Application for Teaching Multimedia Contents
Authors: Prata Alcina , Lopes Pedro F.
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes an experiment undertaken with higher education level students, which consists of utilizing an online multimedia educational application as an aid in teaching organizational multimedia. This course is taught to fourth year students at the Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais (Higher School of Management Sciences, Setúbal, Portugal), where the first author teaches. This chapter also describes the educational software model used for the planning, development and evaluation of the above-mentioned application. This model is the result of the integration of the model presented in the first author’s Master’s thesis with methods, methodologies and guidelines proposed by others. As for the resulting application, the manner in which it was applied and its evaluation are also presented in this document. The results obtained are then interpreted and future developments proposed.
Semi-Adaptive Testing Strategies in a Web-based Generic Tutoring System
Authors: Brust Matthias R.
Published: May 2011

Adaptive testing is an important component of most tutoring systems. This component normally interacts with the student model to determine students’ abilities and students’ knowledge. For this, fully adaptive testing strategies are used. However, this kind of strategy needs training for estimating specific values before they can be applied. Furthermore, the human tutor does not have any influence on the testing process. In this chapter, semi-adaptive testing strategies are introduced to deal with these problems. It is shown how a generic tutoring system can be designed to apply semi-adaptive testing strategies. The meta-language XML is used as approach for implementing these results in a Web-based application.
Mobile Cache Management
Authors: Xu Jianliang , Hu Haibo , Tang Xueyan , Zheng Baihua
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces advanced client-side data-caching techniques to enhance the performance of mobile data access. The authors address three mobile caching issues. The first is the necessity of a cache replacement policy for realistic wireless data-broadcasting services. The authors present the Min-SAUD policy, which takes into account the cost of ensuring cache consistency before each cached item is used. Next, the authors discuss the caching issues for an emerging mobile data application, that is, location-dependent information services (LDISs). In particular, they consider data inconsistency caused by client movements and describe several location-dependent cache invalidation schemes. Then, as the spatial property of LDISs also brings new challenges for cache replacement policies, the authors present two novel cache replacement policies, called PA and PAID, for location-dependent data.
Data Broadcasting in a Mobile Environment
Authors: Hurson A.R. , Jiao Y.
Published: May 2011

The advances in mobile devices and wireless communication techniques have enabled anywhere, anytime data access. Data being accessed can be categorized into three classes: private data, shared data, and public data. Private and shared data are usually accessed through on-demand-based approaches, while public data can be most effectively disseminated using broadcasting. In the mobile computing environment, the characteristics of mobile devices and limitations of wireless communication technology pose challenges on broadcasting strategy as well as data-retrieval method designs. Major research issues include indexing scheme, broadcasting over single and parallel channels, data distribution and replication strategy, conflict resolution, and data retrieval method. In this chapter, we investigate solutions proposed for these issues. High performance and low power consumption are the two main objectives of the proposed schemes. Comprehensive simulation results are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of each solution and compare different approaches.
Indexing Mobile Objects
Authors: Bozanis Panayiotis
Published: May 2011

Mobile computing emerged as a new application area due to recent advances in communication and positioning technology. As David Lomet (2002) notices, a substantial part of the conducted work refers to keeping track of the position of moving objects (automobiles, people, etc.) at any point in time. This information is very critical for decision making, and, since objects’ locations may change with relatively high frequency, this calls for providing fast access to object location information, thus rendering the indexing of moving objects a very interesting as well as crucial part of the area. In this chapter we present an overview on advances made in databases during the last few years in the area of mobile object indexing, and discuss issues that remain open or, probably, are interesting for related applications.
Semantically Driven Multimedia Querying and Presentation
Authors: Cruz Isabel F. , Sayenko Olga
Published: May 2011

Semantics can play an important role in multimedia content retrieval and presentation. Although a complete semantic description of a multimedia object may be difficult to generate, we show that even a limited description can be explored so as to provide significant added functionality in the retrieval and presentation of multimedia. In this chapter we describe the DelaunayView that supports distributed and heterogeneous multimedia sources and proposes a flexible semantically driven approach to the selection and display of multimedia content.
3G Wireless Market Attractiveness
Authors: Pagani Margherita
Published: May 2011

Nearly every incumbent operator in the wireless market has experienced business problems in recent years. The reason for this is the opening of the market for competitive operators and the following drop in prices as well as attractive services in the mobile telephony market. This chapter describes changes in competitive advantages deriving from the development of Third Generation services. The remainder of this chapter is organized into the following three sections. The first section provides the theoretical framework of competitive analysis. Next the chapter focuses on value chain strategy framework giving an analysis of wireless market attractiveness and changes in competitive advantages. Finally the chapter analyzes competitive dynamics and describes five competitive strategies that differ in their aggressiveness in launching new services and deploying new technology.
Ubiquitous Commerce
Authors: Galanxhi-Janaqi Holtjona , Nah Fiona F.H.
Published: May 2011

Ubiquitous commerce, also referred to as “u-commerce” or “über-commerce”, is the combination of electronic, wireless/mobile, television, voice, and silent commerce. It extends traditional commerce (geographic, electronic, and mobile) to a world of ubiquitous networks and universal devices. This chapter introduces the basic ideas and characteristics underlying the concept of u-commerce. It discusses market drivers and applications of u-commerce as well as the underlying technology of u-commerce. It highlights the benefits and challenges of u-commerce and provides specific research directions for future research.
Knowledge Sharing Barriers
Authors: Lindsey Keith L.
Published: May 2011

To ensure continued existence, an organization must develop ways to share the knowledge that is possessed within that organization with the people who need, or who will need, that knowledge. This critical organizational task transcends departmental boundaries and is a necessary element for the maintenance of every organizational function. Improving the efficiency of knowledge sharing is a highly desirable goal because it offers a promise of compounded returns as the organization works harder and smarter. As business practices have developed over the last few decades, knowledge workers have developed a variety of mechanisms and routines to share knowledge, but these have not yet been well studied. Specifically, the barriers to knowledge sharing remain somewhat elusive.
Measuring Knowledge Management Capabilities
Authors: Kulkarni Uday , Freeze Ronald
Published: May 2011

As business professionals know, creating awareness of a problem and its impact is a critical first step toward the resolution of the problem. That which does not get measured, does not get managed (Redman, 1998). In fact, measurement is a precursor to improvement. This is true for knowledge management (KM) capabilities of an organization. “In today’s knowledge-based economy,” Alan Greenspan recently said, “70% of organizational assets are knowledge assets.” Knowledge assets are intangible capabilities, and there is a recognized need to “make a greater effort to quantify the value of such intangible assets” (Teece, 1998b). How does one measure the worth of an organization’s knowledge assets? What does one mean by knowledge assets anyway?
Musical Metadata and Knowledge Management
Authors: Pachet François
Published: May 2011

Is music a form of knowledge? Probably not, even if music is undoubtedly an important part of our cultural heritage. Music is not a type of knowledge, at least in first approximation, because music has no consensual, shared meaning. One of the main reasons why music has no meaning, as opposed to text or even pictures, is that music is not referential: music is made of elements (notes, chords, sounds) which do not refer to any objects or concepts outside the musical world (Meyer, 1956). Being without meaning, music is not a type of knowledge.
Organizational Communication
Authors: Te’eni Dov
Published: May 2011

All organizations depend on communication. Communication is the exchange of information between two or more people with the intent that the sender’s message be understood and considered by the receivers in their cognition, affect, and behavior. As organizations are designed for action, most organizational communication eventually leads to action and to working relationships between actors. Indeed, communication plays a pivotal role in organizations and may even be seen as the foundation for most organizational action (Galbraith, 1977; Weick, 1979).
Representation Languages for Narrative Documents
Authors: Zarri Gian Piero
Published: May 2011

A big amount of important, “economically relevant” information, is buried into unstructured “narrative” information resources: This is true, for example, for most of the corporate knowledge documents (memos, policy statements, reports, minutes, etc.), for the news stories, the normative and legal texts, the medical records, many intelligence messages as well as for a huge fraction of the information stored on the Web. In these “narrative documents,” or “narratives,” the main part of the information content consists in the description of “events” that relate the real or intended behavior of some “actors” (characters, personages, etc.)—the term “event” is taken here in its more general meaning, also covering strictly related notions like fact, action, state, and situation. These actors try to attain a specific result, experience particular situations, manipulate some (concrete or abstract) materials, send or receive messages, buy, sell, deliver, and so forth. Note that in these narratives, the actors or personages are not necessarily human beings; we can have narrative documents concerning, for example, the vicissitudes in the journey of a nuclear submarine (the “actor,” “subject,” or “personage”) or the various avatars in the life of a commercial product. Note also that even if a large amount of narrative documents concerns natural language (NL) texts, this is not necessarily true. A photo representing a situation that verbalized could be expressed as “Three nice girls are lying on the beach” is not of course an NL text, yet it is still a narrative document.
Secure Knowledge Discovery in Databases
Authors: Wilson Rick L. , Rosen Peter A. , Al-Ahmadi Mohammad Saad
Published: May 2011

Knowledge management (KM) systems are quite diverse, but all provide increased access to organizational knowledge, which helps the enterprise to be more connected, agile, and effective. The dilemma faced when using a KM system is to balance the goal of being knowledge-enabled while being knowledge-secure (Cohen, 2003; Lee & Rosenbaum, 2003).
Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management
Authors: Land Frank , Nolas Sevasti-Melissa , Amjad Urooj
Published: May 2011

The last decade of the 20th century saw the emergence of a new discipline within the realm of information systems, which became known as knowledge management (KM). As such, it has become one of the most discussed issues amongst academics and practitioners working in the information systems and human resource management arenas (Prusack, 2001). Amongst academics it has become an area of specialisation with research projects, journals, conferences, books, encyclopaedias, and numerous papers devoted to the topic. Businesses are investing heavily in buying or developing KM supportive systems. However, predominately researchers and practitioners in this area have tended to see (see for example, Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Baskerville, 1998): 1. consider the context in which knowledge management takes place as teams of knowledge workers in communities of practice, whose performance and the performance of their organisation, can be enhanced by knowledge sharing; 2. focus on the process—the creation and application of knowledge management programmes and systems as an organisational resource—neglecting, with some exceptions (Alvesson & Karreman, 2001; Swan & Scarborough, 2001; Schultze, 1999), the wider context in which knowledge management takes place and the fact that resources can be used in ways that can be both creative and destructive, facilitating and manipulative; and 3. stress the role of technology as the enabling agent for KM.
Virtue-Nets
Authors: Croasdell David , Wang Y. Ken
Published: May 2011

David Skyrme (1999) has observed that knowledge workers exploit knowledge generated from business activities and turn it into business opportunities. Technical infrastructures enable knowledge workers and improve knowledge processes (Von Krogh, Ichijo, & Nonaka, 2000). Improving knowledge awareness requires creating a dynamic and generative environment for organizational workers (Senge, 1990). Organizations are faced with developing communication strategies that maintain centralized and fully accessible knowledge bases while at the same time trying to compete in a highly decentralized marketplace. Technological solutions for enabling and enhancing communication among knowledge workers are used for activities such as scheduling, negotiating, checking e-mail, revising documents, making reservations, connecting laptops remotely to the Net, problem solving, and decision making. There are numerous electronic devices for communicating between knowledge workers. These networked devices serve the purpose of connecting human-knowledge capital. For many companies, human-knowledge capital is a significant source of competitive advantage, and the dispersion of this capital without effective communication networks can greatly hinder the decision makers and the overall corporate decision-making process. One place to start examining the practices of knowledge workers is to study the networks in which they work.
Action Research Methods
Authors: Braun Patrice
Published: May 2011

To date, most research into the implications of the Internet for SMEs has focused on individual business barriers to ICT and e-commerce adoption. Such research has shown that SMEs tend to be time- and resource-poor, with their size being their main disadvantage vis-à-vis ICT adoption (OECD, 2000; Van Beveren & Thompson, 2002). Perhaps the question is not whether small firms have adopted ICT, but rather where are small firms in terms of their ICT adoption. ICT encompasses a series of separate yet interrelated components; for example, electronic mail (e-mail), the Internet, the Web, and e-commerce, which can be adopted in a variety of social and business settings. Hence, it is suggested that ICT cannot be considered as a single technological innovation but rather as a series of (process) innovations, potentially resulting in variable ICT adoption patterns (Walczuch, Van Braven, & Lundgren, 2000).
Assessing Universal Access to ICT in Ghana
Authors: Frempong Godfred , Braimah Imoro
Published: May 2011

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)1 have become part of the key factors driving social and economic advancement. They have not only altered the way people live, work, communicate and entertain themselves but also created a new infrastructure for business, scientific advancement and social interaction.
Distance Learning, Telematics and Rural Social Exclusion
Authors: David Matthew
Published: May 2011

ADAPTthroughRATIO (AtR) was established to address social exclusion in the South West of the United Kingdom (Devon, Cornwall and Somerset) which has relatively weak employment opportunities. In this area, average earnings and disposable income are low, and the number of firms going out of business is high (ADAPTthroughRATIO, 1998). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head in Cornwall is 71.2% of the UK average (and is the lowest in the UK), while 36% of employees are in part-time employment. Part-time work, geographical dislocation and low wages/job security are major problems throughout the rest of the South West region. The region has been affected by the decline of all its traditional industries (mining, farming, fishing and marine-related industries), as well as the reduction of the defence industries and services.