bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Case Study of One IT Regional Library Consortium
Authors: Taylor Virginia A. , Coughlin Caroline M.
Published: May 2011

Historic models of library management are being tested and modified in the digital age because of several interrelated factors. First, the importance of place or a home library space changes as electronic opportunities for dispersal of library collections increase with IT innovations and availability. Second, the high cost of IT has made library managers more sensitive to issues of cost in general while the ability of IT systems to provide easy access to managerial data, data previously difficult to capture, has allowed library managers to begin to differentiate costs for services based on use. As a result of these two factors, new, partially cost-focused models for delivering IT systems and information sources to library users are being developed. The new IT library regional models raise many questions about appropriate organizational and funding strategies. In this case, one strategy is examined in depth. Suggestions for alternative managerial strategies and economic models for IT regional library managers to pursue are given, based on the lessons to be gleaned from this experience and an examination of the literature describing other regional IT digital library ventures.
Hardwarezone
Authors: Chang Tan Chee , Woo Tan Gek
Published: May 2011

Hardwarezone.com is rated the top IT media Web site in Singapore by Hitwise, with more than 32 million page visits per month (Chellam, 2004). It provides 100% proprietary and localized content on IT news, product releases, and numerous member-centric services, such as hardware pricelists and forums. What started as a hobby for six undergraduates on an SGD $1,000 capital became a new-age media company with over SGD $200,000/month in advertising revenue and SGD $2 million in net assets within a short span of six years. Their success and continued growth today is exceptional, considering how most of its competitors and other dot-com ventures in Singapore have fallen by the wayside or stagnated after the dot-com crisis during mid-1999. This teaching case will chart the evolution of Hardwarezone’s business model and strategies through its humble beginnings and the challenges to the company as a result of the dot-com crisis and thereafter.
From Catalogs to the Web
Authors: Shearn Michael K. , Miller Chip E. , Strader Troy J.
Published: May 2011

Airgun Products, Inc. (API) is a small firm that sells airguns and related products directly to consumers. From their founding in 1989 through the mid-1990s, they sold their products through a catalog-based phone order sales channel, and in 1995, they introduced their first Web site. Since the introduction of the online channel, they have struggled with how to best utilize their complementary channels and produce a profit. API is in a common retail scenario—a small firm in a niche market with an off-line and online channel with limited monetary and human resources that wishes to effectively use both channels, minimize their costs, increase sales, and become profitable. Their current challenges are to identify which of their customers prefer which channel(market segmentation), identify and take advantage of the relative advantages of their two channels (paper vs. online catalogs), and identify opportunities for enhancing the value provided by their Web site.
Reorganizing Information Technology Services in an Academic Environment
Authors: Kittner Marcy , Van Slyke Craig
Published: May 2011

This case looks at ongoing changes in available technology and financial constraints at a four-year, private university, and how the Information Technology Department has gone through several iterations of organizational restructuring over the last 10 years.
Building a Paperless Service
Authors: Vitolo Theresa M. , Sparks Aaron J.
Published: May 2011

Central Ridge University1 (CRU) is a large, research-oriented university composed of 10 major colleges, connecting over 15 branch campuses, and offering various continuing, distance, outreach and executive programs. One of the major colleges of CRU is The College of Business Administration (CBA). CBA maintains an optional internship program for its undergraduate and MBA populations. CBA strongly recommends its students to experience the corporate world by doing an internship before their graduation. Also, CBA students seek the internship experience to complement their academic courses. The Internship Office of CBA is charged with the responsibility of facilitating students’ contacts with corporate clients. In order to do so, the office must gather, record, and disseminate information to students and to corporations. In addition, the information must be kept private, accurate, and comprehensive. Typical information processes existing in the Internship Office relied heavily on paper entries, paper duplication, and mailings. However, in the Internship Office, the use of technology was lagging. An end user within the Internship Office was enlisted to develop an information technology solution to the paper-intensive tasks of the office. Issues of the case study include (1) the organizational behavior issues to overcome when implementing information technology even in an enthusiastic and sympathetic organization, (2) the difficulties in defining a system by an end user even a sophisticated one, and (3) the obstacles of implementing a satisfactory system under tight time and security constraints even with the cooperation of a systems department.
Inca Foods
Authors: Santana J. Martín , Serida Jaime , Díaz Antonio
Published: May 2011

This case study is centered within the social, economic and cultural environment in which Inca Foods operates. Its main focus lies in the unexpected and enormous opportunity of doing business with the community of Peruvian expatriates residing in different parts of the world.
The Training Challenge
Authors: Moody Janette , Jordan David
Published: May 2011

This case chronicles the problems that can arise in outsourcing agreements due to factors such as poorly defined user requirements, passive resistance from technical support personnel, and lack of contract specificity and documentation detailing who performs what.
Fostering a Technology Cultural Change
Authors: Lim Dan
Published: May 2011

Many people in higher education wonder where the rapid changes in information technology are going to take them. Many more fear that the ongoing information technology explosion may eventually leave them behind. Due to entrenched mindsets and bureaucracy in higher education, fostering a technology cultural change requires paradigm shifts in all areas of administration, teaching, and research. A fundamental paradigm shift must happen in four areas before a technology cultural change can beset on a forward path. This chapter focuses on four essential components of a paradigm shift in technology and higher education at the University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC). This case describes how a paradigm shift model can help to promote a long-term technology cultural change in a higher education institution. The model consists of technology commitment, technology philosophy, investment priority, and development focus. It has been used at UMC to bring about a reengineering of the entire institution to support a ubiquitous laptop environment throughout the curriculum and campus. The model has helped UMC achieve an overwhelming success in utilizing laptop computing and other technology to enhance learning.
Implementation of Information Technology in a Job Shop Manufacturing Company
Authors: Mandal Purnendu
Published: May 2011

ABC Engineering is a Melbourne-based job shop manufacturing company. The company attempted a major improvement in the information technology area by implementing and enhancing the capability of a MIS software package called ‘ManuSoft’. The general manager of ABC Engineering felt that the implementation of this commercially available package would enhance the productivity and help managers in the planning process. The company carried out a detailed study on various IT tools and information systems softwares that are applicable to the job shop manufacturing situation. Considering the prevailing company situations, it was decided that ‘ManuSoft’ would satisfy the information requirements. A project team was set up to study the scope of IT improvements and implement the required IT/IS system.
The Columbia Disaster
Authors: Guthrie Ruth , Shayo Conrad
Published: May 2011

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a government organization, founded to explore space to better understand our own planet and the universe around us. Over NASA’s history, there have been unprecedented successes: Apollo missions that put people into space and walking on the moon, the remarkable findings of the Hubble space telescope and the Space Shuttle Program, allowing astronauts to perform scientific experiments in orbit from a reusable space vehicle. NASA continues to be a source of national wonder and pride for the United States and the world. However, NASA has failures too. In February of 2002, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it returned to earth. This event occurred 16 years after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during take-off. As information was collected, investigators found that many of the problems uncovered during the Challenger investigation were also factors for Columbia. Underlying both disasters was the problem of relaying complex engineering information to management, in an environment driven by schedule and budget pressure. Once again, NASA is looking at ways to better manage space programs in an environment of limited resources.
Network Implementation Project in the State Sector in Scotland
Authors: McCready Ann , Doswell Andrew
Published: May 2011

The case study highlights the links between technical and no technical aspects of implementation and the complicated process of project management in which a balance is continually being sought between technical and no technical issues. But although social processes may reduce technical as well as social problems, not all problems can be solved by attention to social factors. Organizational constraints may limit the success of the implementation process, and there are also dangers in including users who, if their views are disregarded, may become disillusioned and adversely affect future development of the network.
Implementation of a Network Print Management System
Authors: Kelley George , Regan Elizabeth A. , Hunt C. Steven
Published: May 2011

To manage the rapidly growing demands and costs of providing campus print services, a regional university of about 9,000 students turned to a well-known outsourcing vendor. The new Network Print Management System (NPMS) replaced 35 networked printers in the library, open-access computer labs, and computer classrooms in more than 10 different buildings. The initiative had several key objectives: to increase student access to printers, to improve the quality of print services, to decrease printing costs and environmental impact, and to avoid increasing student fees. The project also sought to reduce departmental printing costs, fund technology upgrades, and reduce the burden of printer maintenance on university technology staff. This case study tells the story of the planning, analysis, design, implementation, and realization of the new system, which proved more complex than anticipated. It offers an interesting mix of perspectives, sometimes conflicting, on outsourcing implementation of new technology in a complex end-user environment.
The Information Plan for Celerity Enterprises, Inc.
Authors: Schatzberg L.
Published: May 2011

The case describes information and business planning, realities of the volatile industry, outsourcing for IS planning leadership, and using a combination of top-down and bottom-up planning in Celerity Enterprises, which competes in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
The Planned and Materialized Implementation of an Information System
Authors: Reijonen P. , Heikkila J.
Published: May 2011

The object of this case study is a marketing and sales information system in two local offices of a regional telephone company. A unified, advanced client/server system was needed due to the merging of three companies into a bigger regional company, keener competition, and the growing complexity of the services provided. The system is tailormade to meet the needs of the industry and it was developed by a software vendor in close cooperation with the nationwide alliance of regional telephone companies. This study illustrates the difficulties in simultaneously aligning an organization and implementing a new information system. Views on the skills and competence needed in using the system vary, and lead to the negligence of education and training. The consequent lack of skills and knowledge of some users, especially of those not using the system regularly, create profound problems in the whole work process and in productivity as the first, obvious work practices become the dominant mode of operation bypassing the desired integrated workflow. The findings are discussed and reflected to concepts of institutionalization, positive reinforcement, and productivity paradox. This case emphasizes the importance of the organizational implementation and adaptation process which ought to begin after the implementation of the technical system.
Geochemia
Authors: Christozov D.
Published: May 2011

In Bulgaria, mineral resources are property of the State. The case specifies the functions of “Geochemia”, information systems and technologies used to support the execution of its activities in the time of transition to market economy.
Selecting and Implementing an ERP System at Alimentos Peru
Authors: Santana J. Martin , Serida-Nishimura Jamie , Morris-Abarca Eddie , Diaz-Baron Ricardo
Published: May 2011

The case describes the implementation process of an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system at Alimentos Peru, one of the largest foods manufacturing companies in Peru. It discusses the organization’s major concerns during the mid-1990s, including increasing competition, inefficiency of business processes, and lack of timely and accurate information. To address these concerns Alimentos Peru launched several projects, one of which involved the implementation of an ERP system. The case explains the criteria used to evaluate and select the system, as well as the main issues and problems that arose during the implementation process. More specifically, the case focuses upon a set of implementation factors, such as top management support, user participation, and project management. Finally, the case concludes with a discussion of the benefits obtained from the introduction of the system as well as the new organizational challenges.
iTalk
Authors: Robey Daniel , Jin Leigh
Published: May 2011

iTalk was founded in January 1999 and one year later successfully launched a free voicemail service across the entire U.S. The service was made possible by the development of proprietary software that interfaced iTalk’s Web and phone servers with the switched networks of the established U.S. telephone companies. iTalk immediately experienced phenomenal Web site traffic, rivaling established telecom providers such as AT&T. Although initially successful, iTalk later foundered in its efforts to generate revenues with services that customers would be willing to buy. Technical problems delayed deployment of new services, and relationships between iTalk’s engineers and operations personnel became strained. Facing these and other problems in the summer of 2001, iTalk was not in a strong position to go public or to raise additional funds from private investors. Worse, iTalk had become potential prey for takeover attempts.
Implementing a Wide-Area Network at a Naval Air Station
Authors: Hocevar Susan Page , Frew Barry A. , Callaghan Bayer Virginia
Published: May 2011

This is an action planning case. The case objective is to apply these methodologies and an understanding of organizational change to developing an action plan recommendation for implementation of a wide-area network.
Customer Investigation Process at Credit Suisse
Authors: Maier Daniel , Muegeli Thomas , Krejza Andrea
Published: May 2011

Customer investigations in the banking industry are carried out in connection with prosecutions, the administration of estates or other legal actions. The Investigation & Inquiries department of Credit Suisse has to handle approximately 5,000 client investigations per year. To date, the investigation process has been very complex, time consuming and expensive: several redundant query processes are needed to achieve satisfactory results. In the past few years, new regulatory requirements have led to a massive increase in the number of investigations to be performed. This case study describes how these requirements can be met by redesigning the process and building a data-warehouse-based application that automates most of the process. These two measures have significantly improved the customer investigation process, resulting in considerable cost and time savings for Credit Suisse
Applying Name Knowledge to Information Qualtiy Assessments
Authors: Hess Kimberly D. , Talburt John R.
Published: May 2011

An introduction to name knowledge and its application to information quality assessments through an expert system is discussed in this chapter. The quality of name information has become an increasingly important issue as companies strive to implement Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies in which the customer name plays an important role in the entity resolution process for data integration applications - ultimately impacting customer recognition systems. As many applications have been developed and refined for assessing and improving the quality of mailing address information, the potential exists to affect a similar success for customer name information. This chapter discusses both theoretical and practical considerations in the approach, design, and administration of systems for assessing the quality of name information.
Metadata Quality Problems in Federated Collections
Authors: Stvilia Besiki , Gasser Les , Twidale Michael B.
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents results from our empirical studies of metadata quality in large corpuses of metadata harvested under Open Archives Initiative (OAI) protocols. Along with a discussion of why and how metadata quality is important, an approach to conceptualizing, assessing metadata quality is presented. The approach is based on a more general model of information quality for many kinds of information beyond just metadata. A key feature of the general model is its ability to condition quality assessments by context of information use, such as the types of activities that use the information, and the typified norms and values of relevant information-using communities. The chapter presents a number of statistical characterizations of samples of metadata from a large corpus built as part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services Digital Collections and Contents project containing OAI-harvested metadata, interprets these statistical assessments and links to the quality measures. Finally the chapter discusses several approaches to quality improvement for metadata based on the study findings.
CIO Leadership Roles
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

One approach to understanding the CIO position is to study managerial roles. In this chapter, 10 roles by Mintzberg, six roles by Grover et al. derived from Mintz-berg, and six CSC roles are presented to shed light on the various leadership roles for CIOs.
Corporate Strategic Management
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

Over the last several decades, strategy researchers have devoted attention to the question of how corporate elites (i.e., corporate executives and directors) affect corporate strategy. The CEO as a person in position shapes the scope of the firm, while the CIO as a person in another position shapes the scope of IT in the firm. Jensen and Zajac (2004) proposed and tested the notion that while differences in individual characteristics of corporate elites may imply different preferences for particular corporate strategies such as diversification and acquisitions, these basic preferences, when situated in different agency contexts (e.g., CIO, CEO), generate very different strategic outcomes.
The CIO Sourcing IT Services
Authors: Gottschalk Petter
Published: May 2011

CEO compensation can influence outsourcing of information technology. Hall and Liedtka (2005) found a relationship between CEO self-interest and IT outsourcing decisions. Sourcing decisions such as IT outsourcing influences the position of the CIO and, hence, the CIO’s potential to become the next CEO.
An Ontology-Based Multimedia Annotator for the Semantic Web of Language Engineering
Authors: Chebotko Artem , Deng Yu , Lu Shiyong , Fotouhi Farshad , Aristar Anthony
Published: May 2011

The development of the Semantic Web, the next-generation Web, greatly relies on the availability of ontologies and powerful annotation tools. However, there is a lack of ontology-based annotation tools for linguistic multimedia data. Existing tools either lack ontology support or provide limited support for multimedia. To fill the gap, we present an ontology-based linguistic multimedia annotation tool, OntoELAN, which features: (1) the support for OWL ontologies; (2) the management of language profiles, which allow the user to choose a subset of ontological terms for annotation; (3) the management of ontological tiers, which can be annotated with language profile terms and, therefore, corresponding ontological terms; and (4) storing OntoELAN annotation documents in XML format based on multimedia and domain ontologies. To our best knowledge, OntoELAN is the first audio/video annotation tool in the linguistic domain that provides support for ontology-based annotation. It is expected that the availability of such a tool will greatly facilitate the creation of linguistic multimedia repositories as islands of the Semantic Web of language engineering.
Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
Authors: Subramanian Girish H. , Hoffer Christopher S.
Published: May 2011

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are a growing area of research in business information systems. The primary purpose of this research is to review the literature on ERP implementation and to present results of a case study on ERP implementation. An exploratory case study was conducted to study these research issues. The case study consisted of a survey and interview of 25 employees at one organization. The results provide data analysis findings from the survey and qualitative findings from the interview. Using this case study, the chapter indicates the presence of four phases in ERP implementation through the support from qualitative interviews. Using t-tests, the results confirm the presence of a positive feeling of users toward the four ERP implementation phases.
Planning and Designing an Enterprise-Wide Database System for E-Business
Authors: Yap Alexander Y.
Published: May 2011

The planning and development of an enterprise-wide electronic database system for e-business usually calls for the re-engineering of information processes coupled with a push toward data content standardization across the entire organization. In this chapter, the case study involves a multi-national conglomerate that is in the process of integrating and Web-enabling their enterprise database systems. The objective of the system was to help engineers sift through millions of components offered by various suppliers and component manufacturers, where the end-result was to improved the integration and efficiency of the product development, engineering design, e-sourcing, and e-procurement processes. This research is a qualitative action research study on how different organizational, social, political, and technical forces influenced the social construction of an enterprise-wide information system. Understanding the dynamics and power of these socio-technical forces in shaping the development environment and change process of enterprise systems is the focal point of this chapter’s discussion.
Online Synchronous Versus Asynchronous Software Training via Behavioral Modeling Approach
Authors: Chen Charlie C. , Shaw R. S.
Published: May 2011

The continued and increasing use of online training raises the question of whether the most effective training methods applied in live instruction will carry over to different online environments in the long run. Behavior modeling (BM) approach—teaching through demonstration—has been proven as the most effective approach in a face-to-face (F2F) environment. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 96 undergraduate students who were taking a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 course in a university in Taiwan. The BM approach was employed in three learning environments: F2F, online synchronous and online asynchronous classes. The results were compared to see which produced the best performance, as measured by knowledge near-transfer and knowledge far-transfer effectiveness. Overall satisfaction with training was also measured. The results of the experiment indicate that during a long duration of training no significant difference in learning outcomes could be detected across the three learning environments.
A Virtual Laboratory for Digital Signal Processing
Authors: Dow Chyi-Ren , Li Yi-Hsung , Bai Jin-Yu
Published: May 2011

This work designs and implements a virtual digital signal processing laboratory (VDSPL). VDSPL consists of four parts: mobile agent execution environments, mobile agents, DSP development software, and DSP experimental platforms. The network capability of VDSPL is created by using mobile agent and wrapper techniques without modifying the source code of the original programs. VDSPL provides human-human and human-computer interaction for students and teachers, and it also can lighten the teacher’s load, increase the learning result of students, and improve the usage of network bandwidth. A prototype of VDSPL has been implemented by using the IBM Aglet system and Java Native Interface for DSP experimental platforms. Also, experimental results demonstrate that our system has received many positive feedbacks from both students and teachers.
Knowledge Management
Authors: Bodhanya Shamin
Published: May 2011

This chapter demonstrates that despite a plurality of discourses related to knowledge, they are reduced to a single dominant discourse on knowledge management. It draws on systems thinking and complexity theory to reconceptualise organisations as complex adaptive systems within which knowledge ecologies may flourish. The focus thus shifts to knowing in situated action and on knowledge as a dynamic phenomenon. The chapter makes a contribution to strengthening the impact of the epistemology of action and that of a social-process perspective of knowledge. The approach presented has radical implications for knowledge management such that it becomes an enduring organisational intervention as opposed to a management fad. The implications for organisational practice and changes in managerial orientations are shown to be novel offering significant potential towards a second order knowledge management.
External Knowledge Search Strategy as an Essential Element of a Knowledge Management Strategy
Authors: McGrath Fergal , Purcell Rebecca
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces external knowledge search strategy as a central element of an organizations overall knowledge management strategy. The argument cites how knowledge management has developed around a myopic internal focus and has thus far failed to take full account of the many sources of knowledge external to the organization. The chapter offers external knowledge search strategy as a means of integrating this external focus into knowledge management understanding, by providing a conceptual framework for organizations involved in the external knowledge management activity of external knowledge search. The framework identifies 10 search paths organizations may follow into the search space, four of which relate exclusively to external knowledge search. The authors hope that establishing an external element within knowledge management strategy will inform knowledge management’s recognition of the value of the extended enterprise.
Socializing a Knowledge Strategy
Authors: Jones Peter H.
Published: May 2011

Proponents of the resource-based view of strategic management have argued for processes that align organizational knowledge resources to business strategy. In this view, a unique competitive advantage accrues from accelerating organizational learning and non-appropriable knowledge. An empirical approach known as socialization counters theories of both institutionalization and “strategic alignment.” Socialization diffuses an organization’s knowledge strategy through values leadership and practice-led process redesign. Consistent with structuration theory (interaction of agency and structure), socialization creates enduring, flexible process structures co-constructed by leaders and participants in a domain of practice. Socialization results in durable, accessible processes, uniquely configured to business strategy, and more resilient than acquired process structures. Values leadership orients participants toward the goals, meaning, and value of organizational knowledge inherent in indigenous processes. Socialized business processes are driven by strategic intent, are non-appropriable by competitors, and are oriented to enduring organizational values that protect process integrity. A socialization approach integrates practice-level internal knowledge networks to support business processes and strategy, leveraging and exchanging knowledge more effectively than authoritative (“top-down”) institutionalization.
Visual and Non-Visual Analysis in Archaeology
Authors: Barceló Juan A.
Published: May 2011

As we have discussed in previous chapters, an artificial neural network is an information-processing system that maps a descriptive feature vector into a class assignment vector. In so doing, a neural network is nothing more than a complex and intrinsically nonlinear statistical classifier. It extracts the statistical central tendency of a series of exemplars (the learning set) and thus comes to encode information not just about the specific exemplars, but about the stereotypical featureset displayed in the training data (Churchland, 1989; Clark, 1989, 1993; Franklin, 1995). That means, it will discover which sets of features are most commonly present in the exemplars, or commonly occurring groupings of features. In this way, semantic features statistically frequent in a set of learning exemplars come to be both highly marked and mutually associated. “Highly marked” means that the connection weights about such common features tend to be quite strong. “Mutually associated” means that co-occurring features are encoded in such a way that the activation of one of them will promote the activation of the other.
Beyond Science Fiction Tales
Authors: Barceló Juan A.
Published: May 2011

We have already argued that an automated archaeologist cannot understand past social actions by enumerating every possible outcome of every possible social action. The need to insert all the world within the automated archaeologist’s brain and then maintain every change about is impossible. However, if we cannot introduce the world inside the robot, we may introduce the robot inside the world. What the automated archaeologist would need then is to be situated in the past, and then using observation and attention to learn from human action, because of the complexities of the past, which resist modeling. It leads to a modification of the aphorism espoused by Rodney Brooks (1989): “the past itself should be its own best model.” Consequently, the automated archaeologist must travel to the past to be able to understand why it happened. Only by being situated directly in the past, the automated archaeologist would understand what someone did and why she did it there or elsewhere.
Evolving Web Application Architectures
Authors: Parsons David
Published: May 2011

This chapter explores how Web application software architecture has evolved from the simple beginnings of static content, through dynamic content, to adaptive content and the integrated client-server technologies of the Web 2.0. It reviews how various technologies and standards have developed in a repeating cycle of innovation, which tends to fragment the Web environment, followed by standardisation, which enables the wider reach of new technologies. It examines the impact of the Web 2.0, XML, Ajax and mobile Web clients on Web application architectures, and how server side processes can support increasingly rich, diverse and interactive clients. It provides an overview of a server-side Java-based architecture for contemporary Web applications that demonstrates some of the key concepts under discussion. By outlining the various forces that influence architectural decisions, this chapter should help developers to take advantage of the potential of innovative technologies without sacrificing the broad reach of standards based development.
Small Company (Y)
Authors: Busch Peter
Published: May 2011

In many ways, the dynamics of this smaller company is diametrically opposed to that of the previous one. Its mission one may recall was different, it was an IS management consultancy with a staff base that was senior (40s/50s) in age with relatively long years of IT experience. Although the sample population was very small (7), it was essentially a small firm with basically a mono-cultural (Anglo-Celtic) staff mix. Coupling these basic parameters with a physical layout that represents only one floor of a building, punctuated perhaps by a couple offices there is clearly a very different organisational structure. Organisation Y provides an opportunity to examine likely knowledge flows in a small entrepreneurial or professional firm.
Strategies for Developing Online Computer Labs
Authors: Chao Lee
Published: May 2011

In Chapter 3, we have discussed the issues of planning for an online computer lab. From the collected information, the online lab designer can get the users’ views about the project. The next task is to design a lab that will meet the design objectives. To accomplish this task, you need to first develop a model of the online computer lab. Then, use the model to verify if the objectives have been achieved. Modeling allows you to select appropriate architecture for the lab project. During the modeling process, you need to illustrate the flow of activities. We will discuss the modeling issues in this chapter. We will first investigate the types of lab architectures and analyze how lab architecture fits a specific design objective. For each of the architectures, we will discuss the strategies to select technologies to be used to construct the lab.
Client Development for Online Computer Labs
Authors: Chao Lee
Published: May 2011

This chapter starts with the discussion of the issues related to the configuration of client hardware and software. Next, this chapter will discuss the configuration of remote access. We will take a closer look at how to connect students’ computers to the server located on campus. Then, we will discuss the issues related to the installation and configuration of audio and video devices with which students can listen and watch live demonstrations on their client computers. We will also discuss the tools for collaboration. These collaboration tools will help students with group activities.
Online Computer Lab Security
Authors: Chao Lee
Published: May 2011

Before an online computer lab is ready for students to perform hands-on practice, security measures need to be enforced to protect the computer lab and even more importantly to protect the university’s network. Since the computer lab is online, it is exposed to hundreds of malicious viruses. Once a computer is infected by viruses, the viruses will damage files, multiply themselves to occupy the memory and hard disk space, or to take away the CPU process power and make the computer run very slowly.
Managing Online Computer Labs
Authors: Chao Lee
Published: May 2011

To keep an online computer lab fully operational is critical to the success of teaching online technology-based courses. Unlike a general purpose computer lab where heavy security measures are used to prevent users from damaging computer systems and network equipments, an online computer lab for teaching a technology-based course must release some of the security measures so that students can practice and perform an administrator’s duty. That is, students and faculty members must be given the administrator’s privilege to the computers and network equipments dedicated to them. For many students, this is the first time that they are the administrators of network servers. You can expect that there will be many unintentional mistakes while performing the administrator’s duty. Students will need help from the lab management team or the technical support personnel in the team to fix their problems and keep the hands-on process going. Some severe mistakes may cause a system to shut down and unable to be rebooted. In such a case, the lab management team will need to help the students to reinstall the entire system. Once upgrades to the operating system and application software are available, the lab management team will also need to install these upgrades in the lab. The content of a technology-based course will follow the change of technology on the market. Often, instructors will update the course content for each semester. These updates need to be done by the lab management team before a semester starts. Technical training is another task that will be carried out by the lab management team. Security related issues are also important matter should be dealt with by the lab management team. As we can see, the online computer lab maintenance tasks will keep the lab management team busy all year round. Since the security issues have been covered in a separate chapter, this chapter will focus on the maintenance tasks other than the security related tasks.
Exploring Information Management Problems in the Domain of Critical Incidents
Authors: Gonzalez Rafael A.
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, information management problems and some of the computer-based solutions offered to deal with them are presented. The claim is that exploring the information problem as a three-fold issue, composed of heterogeneity, overload, and dynamics, will contribute to an improved understanding of information management problems. On the other hand, it presents a set of computer-based solutions that are available to tackle these problems: information discovery and retrieval, information filtering, information fusion, and information personalization. In addition, this chapter argues that a rich and interesting domain for exploring information management problems is critical incident management, due to its complexity, requirements, and the nature of the information it deals with.
User and Context-Aware Quality Filters Based on Web Metadata Retrieval
Authors: Barros Ricardo , Xexéo Geraldo , Pinheiro Wallace A. , de Souza Jano
Published: May 2011

Due to the amount of information on the Web being so large and being of varying levels of quality, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find precisely what is required on the Web, particularly if the information consumer does not have precise knowledge of his or her information needs. On the Web, while searching for information, users can find data that is old, imprecise, invalid, intentionally wrong, or biased, due to this large amount of available data and comparative ease of access. In this environment users constantly receive useless, outdated, or false data, which they have no means to assess. This chapter addresses the issues regarding the large amount and low quality of Web information by proposing a methodology that adopts user and context-aware quality filters based on Web metadata retrieval. This starts with an initial evaluation and adjusts it to consider context characteristics and user perspectives to obtain aggregated evaluation values.
Towards a Context Definition for Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: Mena Tarek Ben , Saoud Narjès Bellamine-Ben , Ahmed Mohamed Ben , Pavard Bernard
Published: May 2011

This chapter aims to define context notion for multi-agent systems (MAS). Starting from the state of the art on context in different disciplines, we present context as a generic and abstract notion. We argue that context depends on three characteristics: domain, entity, and problem. By specifying this definition with MAS, we initially consider context from an extensional point of view as three components—actant, role, and situation—and then from an intensional one, which represents the context model for agents in MAS which consist of information on environment, other objects, agents, and relations between them. Therefore, we underline a new way of representing agent knowledge, building context on this knowledge, and using it. Furthermore, we prove the applicability of contextual agent solution for other research fields, particularly in personalized information retrieval by taking into account as agents: crawlers and as objects: documents.
Digital Audio Watermarking Techniques for MP3 Audio Files
Authors: Koukopoulos Dimitrios
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we will present a brief overview of audio watermarking with the focus on a novel audio watermarking scheme which is based on watermarks with a “semantic” meaning and offers a method for mpeg audio layer 3 files which does not need the original watermark for proving copyright ownership of an audio file. This scheme operates directly in the compressed data domain, while manipulating the time and subband/channel domains and was implemented with the mind on efficiency, both in time and space. The main feature of this scheme is that it offers users the enhanced capability of proving their ownership of the audio file not by simply detecting the bit pattern that comprises the watermark itself, but by showing that the legal owner knows a hard to compute property of the watermark bit sequence (“semantic” meaning). Our discussion on the scheme is accompanied by experimental results.
Robustness Against DA/AD Conversion
Authors: Steinebach Martin
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the robustness of digital audio watermarking algorithms against digital to analogue and analogue to digital conversions. This is an important challenge in many audio watermarking applications. We provide an overview on distortions caused by converting the signal in various scenarios. This includes environmental influences like background noise or room acoustics when taking microphone recordings as well as sound sampling effects like quantization noise. The aim is to show the complexity of influences that needto be taken into account. Additionally, we show test results of our own audio watermarking algorithm with respect to analogue recordings using a microphone which proves that a high robustness in this area can be achieved. To improve even the robustness of algorithms, we briefly introduce strategies against downmixing and playback speed changes of the audio signal.
Cooperation as the Outcome of a Social Differentiation Process in Metamimetic Games
Authors: Chavalarias David
Published: May 2011

What are the principles underlying social differentiation ? Socio-economic models generally consider agents that pursue some particular ends given prior to their social activity. In this paper we propose an alternative in the framework of metamimetic games. We claim that the distribution of ends in a popultation is the outcome of social interactions and not only what drives them. We take the example of the prisoner’s dilemma in spatial games to illustrate how cultural co-evolution can lead to a spontaneous differentiation of ends in a population with a high level of cooperation. From this perspective, the question is not the traditional "How can altruists ’survive’ in a selfish worlds?" but rather to understand how heterogeneous ends can reinforce or limit each other to collectively entail the emergence of a social cooperative order.
Regional Policy Hints from Heterogeneous Agents Simulation
Authors: Salzano M.
Published: May 2011

Following the traditional approach to decision theory there is a strong difficulty to obtain policy hints for complex systems. Vice versa, the study of complex systems supplies powerful instruments that capture useful information on the behaviour of economic systems. This difficulty is enhanced when we are interested in differential regional effects. In fact, for complex systems, even for aggregate analysis, results will differ deeply for each simulation. The literature has shown how we could obtain policy hints for this kind of systems. Here, we will extend this methodology to the case of differential regional effects. The analysis will be based on a New-Keynesian microfoundated model with Heterogeneous Agents proposed by Salzano (2005). It will be developed in two directions: a) obtaining better models of differential regional policy effect; b) obtaining policy suggestions for differential regional effects. We will compare the results of our scheme against the traditional results.
Exploring the Effects of Campaigning Strategies for the Organisation of Collective Action Using Empirical Data
Authors: Tobias Robert
Published: May 2011

In a collective action, people act together with the intention of producing public goods. Public, or collective, goods are states or objects that benefit the many but only emerge if a sufficient number of persons make contributions. The present study explains de dynamics of participation in collective action campaigns by considering the interaction of different processes. With the resulting model it is possible to determine the optimal combination of diffusion measures for such a campaign. Before using the model for experimenting, we calibrate its parameters using data from a real world collective action. We find this to be a most important step in order to demonstrate that the model can be grounded empirically and to demonstrate the practical usefulness of simulation for consulting and design of real world processes. Finally, some “what if” scenarios reveal the model’s power of explanation and prediction.
Modelling Knowledge Production and Integration in Working Environments
Authors: Morone Piergiuseppe , Taylor Richard
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces a formal model of a complex knowledge integration process named ‘thinking along’. Here the firm is modelled as a working environment consisting of agents arranged into work-practices, which provide the context for their interactions. The objective of the simulations reported here is to compare two different practice structures and test their effectiveness for solving problems by thinking along. To do so we will also introduce the notion of problem complexity as the basis for different experiments. From such comparison it emerged that complex problems are better tackled when practices group together agents with disparate skills (i.e. divisional practices) whereas simple problems can be more effectively addressed by organisational practices composed of agents with similar skills (i.e. functional practices). In either case, the simulated knowledge integration process played the dominant role.