bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evautation of an Online Community
Authors: Hartnell-Young Elizabeth , McGuinness Keryn , Cuttance Peter
Published: May 2011

This chapter considers the development and implementation of Australia’s National Quality Schooling Framework (NQSF: www.nqsf.edu.au), created particularly for teachers and others involved in improving school education. This large-scale, highly-structured and outcome-focused community space, funded by the Australian Government, was developed as a means of building and testing knowledge. Using Wenger’s infrastructure for communities of practice, the chapter evaluates the NQSF in light of its capacity for engagement, imagination and alignment. Although these three are often intertwined, we conclude that firstly, users value the space for engagement, and that this needs to be supported by a national telecommunications infrastructure. Secondly, in terms of imagination, a community of this scope and purpose benefits from management that shares the same purpose in order to develop the profession. Finally, alignment is achieved through visionary leadership and a rigorous process to maintain the quality of the resources introduced to and generated within the community.
Exploring the Influence of Instructor Actions on Community Development in Online Settings
Authors: Brook Christopher , Oliver Ron
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents an exploration of the community experience in online settings where the development of a learning community was a key instructional aim. The inquiry used the Learning Community Development Model (Brook & Oliver, 2003) to guide the study and measured the individuals’ community experience using the Sense of Community Index (Chavis et al., 1986) supported by observations and open ended questions. The chapter reports the findings of a multi-case study that explored instructor actions in the process of community development in online settings.
Analysis and Development of an MHP Application for Live Event Broadcasting and Video Conferencing
Authors: Demeyere Kristof , Deryckere Tom , Ide Mickiel , Martens Luc
Published: May 2011

This chapter will introduce a technology framework that can be used to add video conferencing services and live video events on the multimedia home platform (MHP). The solution is based on a bridge between Internet protocol (IP)-networks and digital video broadcasting (DVB) channels in order to stream video that originates from an IP network into the broadcast. The introduction of (iDTV) is completely changing the user experience of television in the living room. In our opinion, the iTV infrastructure lends itself perfectly to support live event broadcasting and video conferencing, both enriched with interactive applications. These services have a vast application domain which includes plain video conferencing but also video surveillance, t-learning, t-health, and user-centric content services. The objective of the framework is to provide basic functionality to the service provider to create these and other innovate services.
Mining Profiles and Definitions with Natural Language Processing
Authors: Saggion Horacio
Published: May 2011

Free text is a main repository of human knowledge, therefore methods and techniques to access this unstructured source of knowledge are of paramount importance. In this chapter we describe natural language processing technology for the development of question answering and text summarization systems. We focus on applications aiming at mining textual resources to extract knowledge for the automatic creation of definitions and person profiles.
Contextualized Clustering in Exploratory Web Search
Authors: Gulla Jon Atle , Borch Hans Olaf , Ingvaldsen Jon Espen
Published: May 2011

Due to the large amount of information on the web and the difficulties of relating user’s expressed information needs to document content, large-scale web search engines tend to return thousands of ranked documents. This chapter discusses the use of clustering to help users navigate through the result sets and explore the domain. A newly developed system, HOBSearch, makes use of suffix tree clustering to overcome many of the weaknesses of traditional clustering approaches. Using result snippets rather than full documents, HOBSearch both speeds up clustering substantially and manages to tailor the clustering to the topics indicated in user’s query. An inherent problem with clustering, though, is the choice of cluster labels. Our experiments with HOBSearch show that cluster labels of an acceptable quality can be generated with no upervision or predefined structures and within the constraints given by large-scale web search.
Interactive E-Learning
Authors: Ghaoui Claude , Janvier W. A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the concept of improving student memory retention using a distance learning tool by establishing the student’s communication preference and learning style before the student uses the module contents. It argues that incorporating a distance learning tool with an intelligent/interactive tutoring system using various components (psychometric tests, communication preference, learning styles, mapping learning/teaching styles, neurolinguistic programming language patterns, subliminal text messaging, motivational factors, novice/expert factor, student model, and the way we learn) combined in WISDeM to create a human-computer interactive interface distance learning tool does indeed enhance memory retention. The authors show that WISDeM’s initial evaluation indicates that a student’s retained knowledge has been improved from a mean average of 63.57% to 71.09% — moving the student from a B to an A.
A SCORM-Compliant U-Learning Grid by Emplying CC/PP
Authors: Liao Ching-Jung , Yang Jin-Tan
Published: May 2011

In this study, a SCORM-compliant ubiquitous learning grid was constructed by using the grid services technologies combined with CC/PP. The purpose was to let anyone access any information at anyplace, anytime, by any device to learn. Several SCORM-compliant learning management systems collaborated by Globus Toolkit 3.2 grid engine and CC/PP were implemented to provide a content adaptive environment. In the experiment, English learning objects were produced with access to learn and made accessible using PC, Laptop, Tablet PC, PDA, and mobile phones. Results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed framework.
Building Trust in the Information Infrastructure
Authors: Kizza Joseph , Migga Kizza Florence
Published: May 2011

The rapid advances in computer technology, the plummeting prices of information processing and indexing devices, and the development of sprawling global networks have all made the generation, collection, processing, indexing, and storage of and access to information easy and have made the information infrastructure an enjoyable environment. The information. infrastructure consists of computer or computer-related hardware, software to run on the hardware, and humanware to run both. The human component in the information infrastructure is essential because humans create the life and dynamism in the infrastructure that has made it what it is. However, humans also create all the problems facing the infrastructure as we will see throughout the book. Note that the infrastructure we have just defined is actually cyberspace. So throughout the book, we will use cyberspace and information infrastructure interchangeably. Cyberspace technology has brought more excitement to humanity than ever before. Communication has become almost instantaneous. The speed of data access is chasing the speed of light. Humanity could not have gotten a better technology. However, with the excitement and “bewilderness,” there has come a realization, after rough experiences, that the new technology has a serious downside. Based on individual experiences, the fear of the new technology on which we have come to depend is on the rise. But because there are more benefits of the new technology to humanity, trust of the technology must be cultivated among the users of the technology. Webster’s Dictionary (1989) defines trust, as a noun as confidence or faith in a person or a thing and as a verb as having confidence or faith in someone or something. For us, we want users of the information infrastructure to have confidence in it.
Need for Morality and Ethics
Authors: Kizza Joseph , Migga Kizza Florence
Published: May 2011

In Chapter I we discussed the rising rate of computer-related crimes and, in particular, information-related crimes. We pointed out that the information infrastructure is made up of two components; the manmade component, consisting of hardware and software, and the humanware component, consisting of users. Surely a good solution to the information infrastructure problem must address problems in both of these components. We begin our survey and discussion of an array of solutions and best practices that address and try to build trust in the information infrastructure, starting with the humanware. Our discussion will focus on morality and ethics.
Security in Wireless Systems
Authors: Kizza Joseph , Migga Kizza Florence
Published: May 2011

Seeing wireless technology in action around us today, it is difficult to image that just about 20 years ago, the technology and the industry were still in their infancy. Wireless technology has grown in leaps and bounds in the last few years. It is also mind bogging to imagine what will happen to the technology in the next 10 years, if it keeps the current pace. Wireless technology is a new technology that started in the early 1970s. The rapid technological developments of the last 20 years have seen wireless technology as one of the fastest developing technologies of the communication industry. Because of its ability and potential to make us perform tasks while on the go and bring communication to areas where it would be impossible with traditional wired communication, wireless technology has been embraced by millions. There are varying predictions all pointing to a phenomenal growth of wireless technology and the industry. To meet these demands and expectations, comprehensive communication infrastructure based on wireless networking, technology based on wireless local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) and Web, and industry based on wireless communication devices are being developed.
Digital Evidence and Computer Crime
Authors: Kizza Joseph , Migga Kizza Florence
Published: May 2011

Throughout Section II of the book, we presented a variety of security mechanisms, technologies, tools, and best practices being used in order to harden up and secure computer networks and the information communication infrastructure. In this chapter and the next, we are shifting from discussing moral and ethical education in order to form an ethical framework in decision making and from implementation of security technologies, tools, and best practices to focus on the legal and law enforcement approaches. We believe, despite the fact that the technology has outpaced the legal system and the technology criminals use is sometimes years ahead of that of law enforcement, the legal system can play a very positive and effective role in the security of networks and the communication infrastructure.
Early Works in Spatio-Temporal Mining
Authors: Hsu Wynne , Lee Mong Li , Wang Junmei
Published: May 2011

Spatio-temporal data mining is an emerging area with increasing importance in a variety of applications, such as homeland security, mobile services, surveillance systems, and health monitoring applications. However, mining in spatio-temporal databases is still in its infancy. Existing work on spatio-temporal data mining has mainly focused on three types of patterns: evolution patterns of natural phenomena, frequent movements of objects over time, and space-time clusters. While there has been much research on association rule mining on transactional, spatial, and temporal data, there is little literature on finding interesting associations in spatio-temporal data. In this chapter, we introduce the early attempts at spatio-temporal data mining and review the techniques to discover various interesting spatio-temporal patterns. This is followed by a review of the traditional association rules mining algorithms and their variants on transactional data, temporal data, and spatial data.
Mining Topological Patterns in Spatio-Temporal Databases
Authors: Hsu Wynne , Lee Mong Li , Wang Junmei
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we study the problem of mining topological patterns by imposing temporal constraints into the process of mining collocation patterns. We first introduce a summary structure that summarizes the database with the instances’ count information of a feature in a region within a time window. Next, based on the summary structure, we design an algorithm, called TopologyMiner, to find the interesting topological patterns in a depth-first manner. The algorithm follows the pattern growth methodology. We also investigate an efficient way to incorporate geographical features in TopologyMiner.
Mining Spatio-Temporal Graph Patterns
Authors: Hsu Wynne , Lee Mong Li , Wang Junmei
Published: May 2011

Data mining in graph databases has received much attention. We have witnessed many algorithms proposed for mining frequent graphs. Inokuchi, Washio, and Nishimura (2002) and Karpis and Kumar (1998) introduce the Apriori-like algorithms, AGM and FSG, to mine the complete set of frequent graphs. However, both algorithms are not scalable as they require multiple scans of databases and tend to generate many candidates during the mining process. Subsequently, Yan and Han (2002) and Nijssen and Kok (2004) propose depth-first graph mining approaches called gSpan and Gaston, respectively. These approaches are essentially memory-based and their efficiencies decrease dramatically if the graph database is too large to fit into the main memory.
Design Principles for Social Software in E-Learning
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.
Featuring Technology in Studies of E-Collaboration Technology Effects
Authors: Markus M. Lynne
Published: May 2011

For the 2005 launch of the International Journal of e-Collaboration I wrote an essay in response to Orlikowski and Iacono’s (2001) call for enhanced theorization of the IT artifact. Specifically, I set out to develop a “tool view” of IT, arguing that this perspective was deeply engrained in the IS worldview, but poorly conceptualized. In what I called “the technology-shaping1 perspective”, I hypothesized that, although IT does not determine outcomes, the use of IT might be associated probabilistically with patterns of consequences that can be attributed to the material features of IT. Technologies pose problems for users who want to use them for particular goals; the solutions users arrive at for those problems during recurrent IT use may exhibit certain regularities across different contexts. Consequently, small differences in the features of apparently similar tools could be associated with variations in usage patterns and social outcomes. I gave examples to illustrate the argument and explained that, despite hundreds of studies of group support systems, the technology- shaping hypothesis has not yet been tested.Since the article was written, I have received comments from a number of colleagues. I have continued to explore the ideas proposed in the article, concluding that the development task is bigger than I thought at that time—but still worth pursuing. Because I have not yet resolved the issues to my satisfaction, this chapter does not represent a comprehensive revision. Instead, the chapter contains a few updates, many annotations, and a postscript in response to some of the readers’ comments.
LIBNET
Authors: Hooper A. S.C.
Published: May 2011

In any cooperative database the participants contribute their data for their own as well as the benefit of the other members, usually with incentives from the database administrators. A South African library network company (LIBNET) provided a networked service to participating libraries. Member benefits included conversion of their catalogues into machine-readable form, significantly reduced costs through cooperative cataloguing and more efficient interlibrary loans through a union catalogue of the holdings of the participant libraries. This case study explores some of the issues In any cooperative database the participants contribute their data for their own as well as the benefit of the other members, usually with incentives from the database administrators. A South African library network company (LIBNET) provided a networked service to participating libraries. Member benefits included conversion of their catalogues into machine-readable form, significantly reduced costs through cooperative cataloguing and more efficient interlibrary loans through a union catalogue of the holdings of the participant libraries. This case study explores some of the issues.
Evolution of an Executive Information System
Authors: Nemati Hamid , Smith Keith
Published: May 2011

This case highlights factors that provided the impetus for changing a successful EIS into a data warehouse at the VF Corporation. The data warehouse was developed to aid JeansWear, a division of VF, with its point-of-sale/replenishment activities. The data warehouse provides greater reporting and OLAP capabilities, giving replenishment analysts a detailed and synthetic view of the marketplace. It is estimated that about $100 million in 1998 alone might be attributed to the improved replenishment decision making due to the data warehouse. The case discusses the basic concepts and architecture of this data warehouse and outlines the development process and the problems that the development team had to overcome. It also examines the essential role that this data warehouse is currently playing in the success of VF Corporation. Finally, the case outlines and discusses a number of factors that should be considered and questions that should be asked prior to initiation of a data warehouse project in order to assure a successful outcome.
Public Sector Data Management in a Developing Economy
Authors: Law Wai K.
Published: May 2011

An island state government agency responsible for publishing monthly import/export data had problems meeting the monthly publication schedule. It took the group more than three months to process data from a single month. A new director for the unit was under pressure to publish the import/export data at least quarterly. An initial investigation reviewed problems of inefficiency, poor technical support, downsizing under budget reduction, and confusing data standards. The data processing staffs had minimal technical skill with some approaching retirement. There were increasing expectations for the unit to provide enriched and customized data, which could strain the capability and resources of the unit. A general deficiency in computer and information literacy gave little hope for internal information resource development. On the other hand, concerns for information privacy, shrinking budget, and control over data resources limited potential assistance from outside groups.
Developing a Homegrown Course Management System
Authors: Mackie Brian G. , Ziemer Norbert L. , Russo Nancy L. , Mackie Wayne E.
Published: May 2011

This case describes the development of a unique, student-centered, online course management systems (OCMS). The system grew from a fairly straightforward grade reporting system into a full-blown collaborative system within a short — in traditional information systems development terms — timeframe of approximately one year. The Community/course Action/interaction Management System, known as CAMS©, was developed iteratively with specifications derived from faculty and students working together to address the limitations of existing OCMS and to identify new functions and features that would contribute to the value of the educational experience. To address the most critical issue identified — limited interactive functionality — the participant became the focus of the development process. This case describes the evolution of CAMS© from both a product and a process perspective. Changes made to the system and the factors motivating the changes are discussed, as are challenges faced before, during, and after the development process.
Designing a First-Iteration Data Warehouse for a Financial Application Service Provider
Authors: Jukic Nenad , Neild Tania
Published: May 2011

This case study will describe the efforts behind designing a first iteration of an evolutionary, iterative enterprise-wide data warehouse for AIIA Corp., a financial application service provider. The study demonstrates the importance of the following steps during a data warehousing project: a well-defined mission, effective requirement collection, detailed logical definitions, and an efficient methodology for source systems and infrastructure development. AIIA is a financial distributor that offers separately managed account and investment products with practice management services to financial advisors through a Web-based portal that can also be configured and private-labeled for the advisors to use with their clients. Unlike most companies, AIIA offers the advisors a hybrid of investment information and technology solutions, both designed with an open architecture.
Prudential Chamberlain Stiehl
Authors: Borchers Andy , Mills Bob
Published: May 2011

This case describes the evolution of an IT architecture for Prudential Chamberlain Stiehl Realtors (PCSR), a 14-office, 250-sales-agent real estate firm located in Southeast Michigan. Initially, the CIO of the firm concentrated on providing basic connectivity to sales agents and a simple World Wide Web (WWW) presence. Although this was accepted by users and moved the firm forward technically, management questioned the value of this technology. In the next phase of development, PCSR worked to build a “rich” set of applications that enhance the firm’s relationships with clients and agents. At the end of the case, the CIO ponders future moves in technology and their impact on the firm’s strategy.
World Trade Point Federation
Authors: Dholakia Nikhilesh , Kshetri Nir
Published: May 2011

This case provides an overview of the roles of the Global Trade Point Network (GTPNet) in facilitating small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) adoption of the Internet and e-commerce technologies. The GTPNet puts potential and actual traders in the position of suppliers and users of strategic information. Using the services provided by a Trade Point, traders can identify markets for their products, complete export formalities and procedures, and meet other international trade related requirements on the spot. The functioning of the Trade Points program is also discussed in terms of three core aspects of the program: Market Point, Knowledge Point, and Info Point.
Bringing E-Business to the World's Largest Flower Auction
Authors: van Dantzig Tim , Boonstra Albert
Published: May 2011

This case history takes place at the biggest flower auction of the world, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. Directors of the Aalsmeer Flower Auction felt that the Internet might play an important role in the future of their business. They believed that an active and leading position in applying electronic networks could secure and even strengthen their dominant position and that a policy of restraint could be a threat if other parties should enter this market with electronic auctions. At the end of the 1990s, they started various e-business initiatives. The case study describes the different e-business initiatives and the responses from suppliers, customers, managers and other stakeholders on each of these initiatives. Readers will be challenged to analyze this material and offer advice to the management of the auction about future directions with respect to e-business.
Management & Delivery of Digital Print via the Web
Authors: Papagiannidis Savvas , Li Feng
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we use the experience of Gaia Fulfillment to demonstrate the challenges of developing and deploying collateral fulfillment, that is, short-run print on demand via the Web. By discussing the technological innovations that Gaia achieved we will outline their product development steps and the solutions the technology enabled. We also show the benefits of collateral fulfillment by presenting two examples of customers that use Gaia’s technology. The chapter concludes with the challenges that Gaia faced and ways they attempted to resolve them.
How to Successfully Manage an IT Department Under Turbulent Conditions
Authors: Leonard A. C.
Published: May 2011

The case study describes the history of the IT department of a South African bank and how it started to introduce information technology to gain competitive advantage. Apart from explaining how the IT department made progress through the years, the case study explains the problems and frustrations end users and IT professionals experienced with regard to wrong decisions made by management. Furthermore, the case study describes how a new management team was appointed to solve the serious situation in the IT department and as such in the bank as a whole. It also describes the strategies followed, and the policies and actions introduced to overcome the problems. Special management models for problem management and project management that were used by the management team to organize and direct the actions of IT specialists are introduced.
Toy or Useful Technology?
Authors: Tanriverdi Hüseyin , Iacono C. Suzanne
Published: May 2011

The authors present case studies of telemedicine programs at three healthcare institutions in Boston, Massachusetts to better understand why telemedicine has not spread as quickly or as far as one would expect, given its promise.
Problems, Their Causes and Effects in the Use of Information Systems
Authors: Jalonen Katariina , Kirveennummi Mika , Torvinen Vesa
Published: May 2011

This case describes the problems observed in the use of a library CBIS in a Finnish scientific library and how Information technology (IT) has radically improved many aspects of organizational activities.
An Expectation of Privacy
Authors: Urbaczewski Andrew , Rikala Juho
Published: May 2011

This case presents the ethical dilemma of an IT staff member at an academic university. E-mail is an extensively used tool at this university, and the dean suspected that the associate dean was sending personal messages on the university’s server.
A Three-Tiered Approach to Global E-Commerce
Authors: Paper David , Tingey Ken
Published: May 2011

This case study uses a three-tier networked enterprise model developed to facilitate better understanding and management of global business requirements in E-commerce and describes how one organization, Nu Skin deals with management of people and resources in the context of a global, networked enterprise.
Systems Requirements and Prototyping
Authors: Yen Vincent C
Published: May 2011

This case study is based on a multi-year information systems plan for a marketing firm. Initially, the investigation was enterprise-wide. We describe the critical components of the enterprise system, including the software and hardware architectures. For the application systems, the accounting system and the job scheduling system receive top priority. Since the accounting system was a commercial off-the-shelf product, our focus was on the development of the job scheduling system. We explain the manual job scheduling process and how the automated system might be developed. The justification for adopting Microsoft’s Access, SQL server, Exchange, and Project as the development tools is presented. Microsoft Access was used just for the prototyping. Eventually, the job scheduling system will be implemented on the Project software with some rewriting of Visual Basic codes. To date, a prototype using Access had been developed and demonstrated. It received favorable comments and has been approved for the next development phase. The case study concludes with remarks on the advantages, issues and lessons learned from the project.
ERP Implementation for Production Planning at EA Cakes Ltd.
Authors: Portougal Victor
Published: May 2011

This case details the implementation of the Systems Applications & Products (SAP) Production Planning module at EA Cakes Ltd. The market forced the company to change its sales and production strategy from “make-to-order” to “make-to-stock.”
AMERIREAL Corporation
Authors: Mahmood Mo Adam , Mann Gary J. , Dubrow Mark
Published: May 2011

This instructional case, based on an actual firm’s experience (name changed), is intended to challenge student thinking with regard to the extent to which information technology (IT) can demonstrably contribute to organizational performance and productivity and to which users of IT can relate their investment decisions to measurable outcomes. Relationships between an organization’s investment in IT and the effect of such investments on the organization’s performance and productivity have long been the subject of discussion and research. Managers, interested in knowing the “payoff” of such investments, are continually seeking answers to this question. A failure to understand the benefits of IT investment, or an over- or under-estimation of the benefits of a planned investment in IT relative to the costs, will likely result in less than optimal investment decisions.
Call to Action
Authors: Lightfoot William S.
Published: May 2011

The CEO of a large United States-based manufacturer was angry. A service and support plan was not in place for a new line of electronic controls that was a critical part of the company’s growth plans. This product was also the first jointly developed product since a French competitor acquired the CEO’s firm three years earlier. The executive team was looking for 500% sales growth over the next five years, and had made it clear that everybody’s job was on the line if the team failed to produce. The product management and marketing team was given the specific challenge to develop a plan for service, support, and training. They had less than 90 days to review the current situation, and to then develop and begin to implement a new plan that centered on managing the flow of information between a number of key stakeholders.
Corporate Collapse and IT Governance within the Australian Airlines Industry
Authors: Poon Simpson , Hardy Catherine , Adams Peter
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this case study is to highlight IS/IT governance arrangements in multi-layered organisations for the purpose of advancing knowledge about the effectiveness of such arrangements when, as in this case, the holding company collapses. The Kendell case is an example of a smaller entity with its own IS/IT governance embedded in a larger holding company with separate governance practices. Such arrangements raise questions relating to issues such as what most appropriate style and form of governance is required, whether benefits may be derived from multi-tiered governance systems for corporate groups, and if synergies can be created. The insistence of the Kendell IT manager and management team on autonomy in Kendell’s IS/IT governance proved to be an integral element in its corporate resilience during the collapse of the holding company.
Ford Mondeo
Authors: Mol Michael J.
Published: May 2011

This case weighs the advantages and disadvantages of going global. Ford presented its 1993 Mondeo model, sold as Mystique and Contour in North America, as a “worldcar”. It tried to build a single model for all markets globally to optimize scale of production. This required strong involvement from suppliers and heavy usage of new information technology. The case discusses the difficulties that needed to be overcome as well as the gains that Ford expected from the project. New technology allowed Ford to overcome most of the difficulties it had faced in earlier attempts to produce a worldcar. IT was flanked by major organization changes within Ford. Globalization did not spell obvious success though. While Ford may in the end have succeeded in building an almost global car, it did not necessarily build a car that was competitive in various markets. The Mondeo project resulted in an overhaul of the entire organization under the header of Ford 2000. This program put a heavy emphasis on globalization although it perhaps focused too little on international cooperation and too much on centralization. In terms of Ford’s own history, the Mondeo experience may not be called a new Model T, but does represent an important step in Ford’s transformation as a global firm.
An Innovative Adaptation of General Purpose Accounting Software for a Municipal Social Services Agency
Authors: Schiff A.
Published: May 2011

This case describes an alternative to developing expensive systems, which is to acquire general-purpose software that has been developed for a wide range of organizations, and to adapt it for the agency in which it will be installed.
Up in Smoke
Authors: Ross Steven C. , Tyran Craig K. , Auer David J. , Junell Jon M. , Williams Terrell G.
Published: May 2011

On July 3, 2002, fire destroyed a facility that served as both office and computer server room for a College of Business located in the United States. The fire also caused significant smoke damage to the office building where the computer facility was located. The monetary costs of the disaster were over $4 million. This case, written from the point of view of the chairperson of the College Technology Committee, discusses the issues faced by the college as they resumed operations and planned for rebuilding their information technology operations. The almost-total destruction of the college’s server assets offered a unique opportunity to rethink the IT architecture for the college. The reader is challenged to learn from the experiences discussed in the case to develop an IT architecture for the college that will meet operational requirements and take into account the potential threats to the system.
Policy Processes for Technological Change
Authors: Smith Richard , Lewis Brian , Massey Christine
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines policy processes for the introduction of technology-mediated learning at universities and colleges. It is based on the results of a two-year research project to investigate policy issues that arise with the implementation of telelearning technology in universities and colleges. The focus was on Canadian institutions of higher learning, but the issues raised are common to higher educational institutions in other countries. The study scanned a large number of institutions, reviewed documents, and interviewed key actors including government and institutional administrators, faculty, and students, to discover the range of issues raised by the implementation of telelearning technologies. This chapter discusses these issues and findings. •What policies or processes are in place to guide change in colleges and universities? Who knows about these policies and participates in them? •What are the forces behind technological change in higher education organizations? Are they external or internal? •Can technology be used as a tool for achieving meaningful and positive change or is it an end to itself? •In what ways can technology be used to increase access to education?
Implementing Software Metrics at a Telecommunications Company
Authors: Heimann David I.
Published: May 2011

Establishing and using fundamental measures of software development progress is an essential part of being able to predictably produce high-quality customer-satisfying software within a reasonable agreed-to timeframe. However, in many organizations such measurement is done incompletely or not at all. While various forces encourage measurement programs, others form barriers to such implementation. This case study explores a formal Metrics Program established to track and analyze the development of a new version for the major voicemail product of a mid-sized telecommunications company. The study addresses the evolution of the company’s organizational structure and culture that led to the adoption of the program, the components and structure of the program, the implementation of the program, its effects on product quality and timeliness, and what happened thereafter. The study also raises questions with respect to facilitating an organizational atmosphere where a Metrics Program can flourish.
Design and Implementation of a Wide Area Network
Authors: Rampal Rohit
Published: May 2011

This case deals with the experience of a school district in the design and implementation of a wide area network. The problems faced by the school district that made the WAN a necessity are enumerated. The choice of hardware and the software is explained within the context of the needs of the school district. Finally the benefits accruing to the school district are identified, and the cost of the overall system is determined.
Galaxy's Data Quality Program
Authors: Infield Eric , Sebastian-Coleman Laura
Published: May 2011

This paper is a case study of the data quality program implemented for Galaxy, a large health care data warehouse owned by UnitedHealth Group and operated by Ingenix. The paper presents an overview of the program’s goals and components. It focuses on the program’s metrics and includes examples of the practical application of statistical process control (SPC) for measuring and reporting on data quality. These measurements pertain directly to the quality of the data and have implications for the wider question of information quality. The paper provides examples of specific measures, the benefits gained in applying them in a data warehouse setting, and lessons learned in the process of implementing and evolving the program.
Assessing Mass Consumer Information Quality Requirements Using Conjoint Analysis
Authors: Pierce Elizabeth M.
Published: May 2011

This chapter demonstrates how conjoint analysis can be used to improve the design and delivery of mass consumer information products. Conjoint analysis is a technique that market researchers have used since the 1960’s to better understand how buyers make complex purchase decisions, to estimate preferences and importance ratings for product features, and to predict buyer behavior. This chapter describes the steps for performing a conjoint analysis to assess information quality preferences of potential home buyers interested in using a real estate website to help them locate properties for sale. The author hopes that this tutorial will convince information systems professionals of the usefulness of conjoint analysis as a tool for discerning how to prioritize information quality requirements so that the resulting systems produce information products that better serve the needs of their customers.
The Chief Executive Officer
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

The chief executive officer (CEO) is the only executive at level 1 in the hierarchy of an organization (Carpenter & Wade, 2002). All other executives in the organization are at lower levels. At level 2, we find the most senior executives. Level 3 includes the next tier of executives. In our perspective of promoting the chief information officer (CIO) to be the next CEO, we first have to understand the role of the CEO. Therefore, the first chapter of this book is dedicated to the topic of CEO successions (Zhang & Rajagopalan, 2004).
The CIO Developing E-Business
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

As companies expand their use of the Internet from electronic commerce to elec-tronic business, the CIO emerges as the most important executive for performance improvements when selecting business models.
The CIO Enabling IT Governance
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

The chief executive officer (CEO) is the only executive at level 1 in the hierarchy of an organization (Carpenter & Wade, 2002). All other executives in the organization are at lower levels. At level 2, we find the most senior executives. Level 3 includes the next tier of executives. In our perspective of promoting the chief information officer (CIO) to be the next CEO, we first have to understand the role of the CEO. Therefore, the first chapter of this book is dedicated to the topic of CEO successions (Zhang & Rajagopalan, 2004).
The CIO as Chief Knowledge Officer
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

The centrality of knowledge in organizations is reflected in the emergence of the knowledge-based view as an important theoretical stance in contemporary orga-nizational research. Theoretical proposals indicate that advantages for a firm arise from cooperative social contexts that are conducive to the creation, coordination, transfer, and integration of knowledge distributed among its employees, depart-ments, and cooperating agencies.
A Distributed Patient Identification Protocol Based onControl Numbers with Semantic Annotation
Authors: Eichelberg Marco , Aden Thomas , Thoben Wilfried
Published: May 2011

One important problem of information systems in health care is the localization and access to electronic patient records across health care institute boundaries, especially in an international setting. The complexity of the problem is increased by the absence of a globally accepted standard for electronic health care records, the absence of unique patient identifiers in most countries, and the strict data protection requirements that apply to clinical documents. This article describes a protocol that allows the identification of locations of patient records for a given patient and provides access to these records, if granted, under consideration of the legal and technical requirements. The protocol combines cryptographic techniques with semantic annotation and mediation and presents a simple Web-service-based access to clinical documents.
Identity Theft and E-Fraud Driving CRM Information Exchanges
Authors: Smith Alan D. , Lias Allen R.
Published: May 2011

Fraud and identity theft have been increasing with the use of e-commerce. In the U.S. alone, it has been estimated that victims may spend on average $1,500 in out-of-pocket expenses and an average of 175 hours in order to resolve the many problems caused by such identity thieves. Organizations that engage in e-commerce as a large part of their business need to protect their customers against these crimes. An empirical study of 75 managerial employees and/or knowledge workers in five large organizations in Pittsburgh, PA, revealed a number of interesting concepts of find out how much information they share with others, what the likelihood is that they will conduct business online, and whether or not they take steps to protect their personal identity and credit. Model construction and implications were generated concerning steps that employees and customers may take to avoid identity theft.
Unleashing the Potential of SCM
Authors: Møller Charles
Published: May 2011

This chapter argues that with the present state of enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption by the companies, the potential benefits of supply chain management (SCM) and integration is about to be unleashed. This chapter presents the results and the implications of a survey on ERP adoption in the 500 largest Danish enterprises. The study is based on telephone interviews with ERP managers in 88.4% of the “top 500” enterprises in Denmark. Based on the survey, the chapter suggests the following four propositions: (1) ERP has become the pervasive infra-structure; (2) ERP has become a contemporary technology; (3) ERP adoption has matured; and (4) ERP adoption is converging towards a dominant design. Finally, the chapter discusses the general implications of the surveyed state of practice on the SCM research challenges. Consequently, we argue that research needs to adjust its conceptions of the ERP concept towards ERP II in order to accommodate to the emerging practices.
Vertical Application Service Provision
Authors: Lockett Nigel J. , Brown David H.
Published: May 2011

Against a background of the low engagement of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in e-business, this chapter investigates the impact of e-aggregation applications, provided by emerging vertical application service providers (VSP), and defined as “an e-business application, promoted by a trusted third party, which engages a significant number of SMEs by addressing an important shared business concern within an aggregation”. By conducting quantitative surveys of four aggregations of SMEs using these applications (users) and comparing these results with similar enterprises who are not (non-users) the research takes a deliberate SME perspective.
Distance Learning in the Business Aviation Industry
Authors: Raisinghani Mahesh S. , Colquitt Chris , Chowdhury Mohammed
Published: May 2011

The objective of this chapter is to understand the expectations and behaviors of business aviation pilots towards online learning. The authors believe that the company that is able to offer an integrated, individualized, and useful online training experience will gain a significant competitive advantage. To that end, the authors have researched and synthesized studies that are currently available and relate to this important future product. In addition, an exploratory survey of business aviation pilots and interviews with key aviation industry players are used to determine current attitudes and expectations towards online learning. The scope of this chapter will be limited to exploring the niche market of business aviation pilots using the aviation training company CAE SimuFlite and their new SimfinityTM .technology. However, the authors consider the concepts discussed to be applicable to all business aviation pilots.
Information Retrieval in Virtual Universities
Authors: Puustjärvi Juha , Pöyry Päivi
Published: May 2011

Information retrieval in the context of virtual universities deals with the representation, organization, and access to learning objects. The representation and organization of learning objects should provide the learner with an easy access to the learning objects. In this chapter, we give an overview of the ONES system, and analyze the relevance of two information retrieval models for virtual universities. We argue that keywords based search (i.e., the Boolean model), though well suited for Web searches, is overly coarse for virtual universities. Instead, the vector model, on which our implemented search engine is also based on, seems to be more appropriate as it provides similarity measure (i.e., the learning object having the best match is presented first). We also compare the performance of four algorithms for computing the similarities (matching).
A Choreographed Approach to Ubiquitous and Pervasive Learning
Authors: Arroyo Sinuhé , Krummenacher Reto
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces a conceptual choreography framework and shows its tremendous interest for ubiquitous and pervasive applications. Choreography is the concept of describing the externally visible behavior of systems in the form of message exchanges. As information of various sensors, services, and user applications have to be integrated in ubiquitous and pervasive environments to provide seamless assistance to users, it is indispensable that means to map heterogeneous message exchange patterns and vocabularies are provided. The authors aim at giving the reader an understanding of the principles and technologies underlying the choreography framework of SOPHIE. Semantic descriptions of message exchange patterns are used to overcome heterogeneity in communication, regardless of the concrete application domain.