bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Innoversity in Communities of Practice
Authors: Justesen Susanne
Published: May 2011

This chapter is about innovation in Communities of Practice and introduces the term innoversity, which describes the role of diversity in fostering innovation. The chapter sets out to discuss when and under what circumstances of innovative practice diversity should be encouraged, as opposed to similarity. The chapter furthermore explores the following questions: 1) What actually is innovation? 2) How does innovation take place in Communities of Practice—and when does it not? 3) Why is diversity in CoPs important in fostering innovative practice? and finally 4) What can be done to foster innovation within and among Communities of Practice? This chapter therefore sets out to describe innovation in Communities of Practice, and what can be done to foster such innovation.
Best Practices
Authors: Vestal Wesley C. , Lopez Kimberly
Published: May 2011

Organizations continually look for ways to do more with less. One of the most important methods today for helping improve the company bottom line involves linking experts in Communities of Practice to find, share and validate best practices, ideas and solutions. This chapter examines how several best-practice organizations select Communities of Practice, provide support for their ongoing work, develop specialized roles to sustain their efforts, and use technology to bolster the rich tacit knowledge exchange offered by these entities. APQC has also developed a list of critical success factors for Communities of Practice and questions to help organizations develop those factors from its research on Knowledge Management over the last eight years.
Building a Community of Practice
Authors: Bradshaw Pete , Powell Stephen , Terrell Ian
Published: May 2011

This chapter looks at the work of a team of remote workers and how they have developed into a Community of Practice (CoP). It explores the roles that technology and communication methods have in the formation and development of the community. In telling the story of the progression from a team of individuals to a CoP, the chapter provides a practical guide to others wishing to do the same. Two aspects of the work of the team are considered in depth: • Building communication systems across a Distributed CoP • Building commitment, ownership, engagement and focus in a Distributed CoP The team and community on which the chapter is based is one of some 20 people working remotely for Ultralab, a learning, technology and research centre in Chelmsford, UK. The work of the team is online facilitation for the National College of School Leadership (NCSL). The team meet together approximately four times a year, using an online community space, the Facilitators’ Forum, as their day-to-day working space.
Facilitator Toolkit for Building and Sustaining Virtual Communities of Practice
Authors: Kimball Lisa , Ladd Amy
Published: May 2011

The boundaries of a Community of Practice (CoP) have changed significantly because of changes in organizations and the nature of the work they do. Organizations have become more distributed across geography and across industries. Relationships between people inside an organization and those previously considered outside (customers, suppliers, managers of collaborating organizations, other stakeholders) are becoming more important. In addition, organizations have discovered the value of collaborative work due to the new emphasis on Knowledge Management—harvesting the learning and the experience of members of the organization so that it is available to the whole organization. This chapter offers a practical toolkit of best practices, tips and examples from the authors’ work training leaders to launch and sustain a virtual CoP, including tips for chartering the community, defining roles, and creating the culture that will sustain the community over time.
Cultivating a Public Sector Knowledge Management Community of Practice
Authors: Callahan Shawn
Published: May 2011

ActKM is a Community of Practice for people interested in public sector Knowledge Management. Having begun in 1998, the community now numbers more than 550 members and is nurtured and maintained predominantly, but not exclusively, online. Utilising the Cynefin sense-making framework (Snowden, 2002a), this chapter analyses the ActKM community and provides a practical account of its history, purpose, guiding principles, goals, characteristics and dynamics. The chapter concludes with a summary of the lessons learned from the ActKM experience that others might find useful in cultivating a vibrant Community of Practice of this type.
Obstacles to SMEs for E-Adoption in the Asia Pacific Region
Authors: Sharma Sushil K. , Wickramasinghe Nilmini
Published: May 2011

As electronic commerce (e-commerce) is becoming the way to trade, it is the large corporations that are exploiting their finances and technical expertise to jump into this abyss. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are finding too many obstacles to participate in e-commerce. SMEs in Asia Pacific in particular, face many obstacles and thus are still not comfortable with the concept of putting their business online, conducting transactions online or revamping entire business processes. This chapter describes the key factors that are hindering SMEs’ participation in e-commerce and the obstacles to SMEs for e-adoption in Asia Pacific. Although this study is limited to the Asia Pacific region many of the findings do contribute significantly to the factors hindering all SMEs’ e-adoption efforts.
The Strategic Use of "Distance" Among Virtual Team Members
Authors: Leonardi Paul M. , Jackson Michele , Marsh Natalie
Published: May 2011

Distance, in the context of virtual teams, has traditionally been treated as an unproblematic, in fact positive, by-product of work practices mediated by information and communication technologies. Research has largely overlooked the notion of distance and its relationship to virtual team work practices and digital telecommunications technologies. Explored in this chapter is the nature of distance by investigating perceptions of “distance” among teleworkers and addressing how virtual team members strategically use the distance enabled by telecommunications technologies to manage a variety of organizational practices. Interviews with 46 distance workers across 10 industries, making up 17 virtual teams, found that members conceptualize distance across three important dimensions: distance and emotion, distance and identity, and distance and communication strategies. We discuss each of these dimensions and propose moving from a notion of distance as a mere outcome of the use of information and communication technologies, to a reconceptualization of it as a multidimensional construct created and maintained through communication practices.
How Hard Can It Be to Communicate? Communication Mode and Performance in Collaborative R&D Projects
Authors: Johnson William H.A.
Published: May 2011

Survey data and case studies of collaborative R&D projects are used to analyze the relative usage of communication modes [e.g., face-to-face (F2F), categorized as soft modes, versus written, categorized as hard modes]. Incremental (versus radical) innovation projects tended to use more written communication, as did those in which project managers defined the significant problems. Those with high ambiguity or equivocality did not rely more on F2F, but predictably, conflict and goal changes negatively impacted communication and performance. Despite managers’ insistence that F2F communication is critical, only the use of written communication was associated with project success. Soft communication modes (F2F) may be needed to set direction in projects involving radical innovation, or any other project in which goals are unclear and not well agreed upon. However, when the innovation is incremental, and goals are understood and accepted, the use of hard communication modes (written) is no deterrent to success.
A Model for the Analysis of Virtual Teams
Authors: Andriessen J. H. Erik , Verburg Robert M.
Published: May 2011

Presented in this chapter is a model for the analysis of virtual teams. The model is a helpful tool for mapping the different aspects of effective virtual teams and will be explained through several examples from practice. Before the model is introduced, an overview of the main challenges of virtual teams in performing their tasks is presented. There are hardly any technical obstacles for communication and collaboration across geographic boundaries, as these processes are being supported by high-tech collaboration solutions, such as groupware and other collaborative applications. However, these new types of groups create major organizational challenges for both managers and employees. It is the aim of this chapter to give insight into the design and performance of effective (global) virtual teams.
An Intelligent Knowledge-Based Multi-Agent Architecture for Collaboration (IKMAC) in B2B e-Marketplaces
Authors: Singh Rahul , Iyer Lakshmi , Salam Al
Published: May 2011

This chapter presents an Intelligent Knowledge-Based Multi-Agent Architecture for Collaboration (IKMAC) in B2B e-Marketplaces. IKMAC is built upon existing bodies of knowledge in intelligent agents, knowledge management, e-business, XML, and web service standards. This chapter focuses on the translation of data, information, and knowledge into XML documents by software agents, thereby creating the foundation for knowledge representation and exchange by intelligent agents that support collaborative work between business partners. The realization of the proposed architecture is explained through an infomediary-based e-Marketplace prototype in which agents facilitate collaboration by exchanging their knowledge using XML and related sets of standards. Use of such systems will provide collaborating partners with intelligent knowledge management (KM) capabilities for seamless and transparent exchange of dynamic supply and demand information.
Web Information Extraction via Web Views
Authors: Ng Wee Keong , Liu Zehua , Li Zhao , Lim Ee Peng
Published: May 2011

With the explosion of information on the Web, traditional ways of browsing and keyword searching of information over web pages no longer satisfy the demanding needs of web surfers. Web information extraction has emerged as an important research area that aims to automatically extract information from target web pages and convert them into a structured format for further processing. The main issues involved in the extraction process include: (1) the definition of a suitable extraction language; (2) the definition of a data model representing the web information source; (3) the generation of the data model, given a target source; and (4) the extraction and presentation of information according to a given data model. In this chapter, we discuss the challenges of these issues and the approaches that current research activities have taken to revolve these issues. We propose several classification schemes to classify existing approaches of information extraction from different perspectives. Among the existing works, we focus on the Wiccap system — a software system that enables ordinary end-users to obtain information of interest in a simple and efficient manner by constructing personalized web views of information sources.
Personal Information Privacy and EC
Authors: Szewczak Edward J.
Published: May 2011

The issue of personal information privacy (PIP) and e-commerce (EC) continues to be debated within the community of Internet users. The concerns of privacy advocates conflict with the concerns of technology growth advocates. The challenges to PIP posed by various forms of EC technology are not the result of the technology itself. Rather it is the uses of the technology that pose the threat to the integrity of PIP. In particular, the surreptitious monitoring of user behavior without the user’s consent and the possible misuse of the collected information are the biggest threats to the growth of EC.
Impact of E-Learning During SARS Outbreak in Hong Kong
Authors: Wong Eric T.T.
Published: May 2011

The potential benefits of e-commerce have been reported widely in the literature, and e-learning has been gradually accepted as a social tool for e-commerce at tertiary institutions (Parker, 2003). In this chapter the impact of e-commerce on the local community during a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Hong Kong will be briefly described, with an emphasis on the use of E-learning technology as a contingency measure in tertiary institutions. At the height of the SARS epidemic in April 2003, Hong Kong had 60 to 80 new cases of the disease each day. Hundreds of thousands of residents wore surgical masks in an attempt to avoid catching the virus. All schools and universities were ordered closed and governments invoked quarantine laws not used for decades to isolate those who might be carriers. Explained Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa in announcing tougher measures to curb the spread of the disease: “Hong Kong is currently facing its most serious contagious disease threat in 50 years.” As a contingency measure e-learning technology was employed in the local higher education. This chapter aims to identify some of the practical difficulties involved in an evaluation of the academic performance of two groups of engineering students taking an introductory course - one group studied via e-learning and the other studied through the traditional classroom approach. Preliminary findings showed that with limited time available for the course design and delivery, the examination result of the e-learning class was slightly better than the traditional class. With positive student feedback on the e-learning approach, this would imply that e-learning shows a potential for substituting some of the traditional course elements, especially for topics relating to higher-order thinking skills. To generalize these findings more studies with properly controlled experimental design would need to be carried out. Directions for future work are also suggested.
Promoting Organizational Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Cook Jack S. , Cook Laura
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines knowledge sharing and management within an organization. More importantly, it addresses what organizations can do to promote knowledge sharing in order to gain a competitive edge. Included are the results of a survey that explores employees’ willingness to share knowledge. Today, more than ever, organizations must efficiently manage their knowledge assets in order to remain competitive. Some knowledge management (KM) initiatives have failed, while others have succeeded. A key factor associated with successfully managing knowledge is creating an environment that encourages individuals to share their knowledge.
Information Security Policies in Large Organizations
Authors: Doherty Neil F. , Fulford Heather
Published: May 2011

While the importance of the information security policy (ISP) is widely acknowledged in the academic literature, there has, to date, been little empirical analysis of its impact. To help fill this gap a study was initiated that sought to explore the relationship between the uptake, scope and dissemination of information security policies and the accompanying levels of security breaches. To this end, a questionnaire was designed, validated and then targeted at IT managers within large organisations in the United Kingdom. The aim of this chapter is to provide a progress report on this study by describing the objectives of the research and the design of the conceptual framework.
Lyric Recognition and Christian Music
Authors: George Susan E.
Published: May 2011

The chapter is about lyric recognition in Optical Music Recognition (OMR). Discussion is made in the context of Christian music where the lyric is definitive of the genre. Lyrics are obviously found in other music contexts, but they are of primary importance in Christian music — where the words are as integral as the notation. This chapter (i) identifies the inseparability of notation and word in Christian music, (ii) isolates the challenges of lyric recognition in OMR providing some examples of lyric recognition achieved by current scanning software and (iii) considers some solutions outlining page segmentation and character/word recognition approaches, particularly focusing upon the target of recognition, as a high level representation language, that integrates the music with lyrics. The motivation for this chapter includes the observation that high quality lyric recognition is largely omitted by OMR research, but in the context of a music genre inseparable from the word, it is vital. Theoretical, practical (typesetting arrangements/singing synthesis) and philosophical reasons motivate a better examination of lyric recognition.
Towards Constructing Emotional Landscapes with Music
Authors: Billinge Dave , Addis Tom
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes how the authors arrived at a new paradigm for human-computer interaction that they call tropic mediation. They describe the origins of the research in a wish to provide a concert planner with an expert system. Some consideration is given to how music might have arisen within human culture and, in particular, why it presents unique problems of verbal description. An initial investigation into a discrete, stable lexicon of musical effect is summarized and the authors explain how and why they reached their current work on a computable model of word connotation rather than reference. It is concluded that machines, in order to communicate with people, will need to work with a model of emotional implication to approach the “human” sense of words.
Towards Knowledge Intensive Inter-Organizational Systems in Healthcare
Authors: Paavola Teemu , Turunen Pekka , Vuori Jari
Published: May 2011

The aim of this chapter is to share recent findings and understanding on how information systems can be better adopted to support new ways of work and improve productivity in public funded healthcare. The limits of transferring explicit and tacit knowledge are discussed and moreover, the chapter elaborates barriers to the widespread use of knowledge management tools among clinicians. The impacts of an inter-organizational system used for remote consultation between secondary and primary care providers are examined. Furthermore, the authors suggest that issues related to clinical knowledge management such as the varying information and knowledge processing needs of clinicians from various medical expertise domains should be examined carefully when developing new clinical information systems.
Multi-Stage Efficiency Tools for Goal Setting and Monitoring in Supply Chains
Authors: Troutt Marvin D. , Ambrose Paul J. , Chan Chi Kin
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the extension and potential application of some recent theoretical results on efficiency monitoring and throughput rate optimization for serial processes. In particular, we consider the relevance and adaptation of these results for use in monitoring and continuous improvement uses in supply chains or networks, with particular emphasis on the importance to e-business. Linear programming models based on ideas from Data Envelopment Analysis have been developed for maximizing the throughput of serial input-output processes in which one or more outputs of an upstream process become inputs to a successor process. We consider their adaptation to supply chain monitoring. We also propose some additional research needs in this area.
Studies on Interaction and Coordination in Supply Chains with Perishable Products
Authors: Song Xiping , Cai Xiaoqiang , Chen Jian
Published: May 2011

We review the recent literature on supply chain management of perishable products. Our emphasis is placed on the interaction and coordination between inventory and marketing, financing, distribution, and production. We survey the recent research progress in this area, by discussing the motivations, features and extensions of various models.
Transforming Organizational Culture to the Ideal Inquiring Organization
Authors: Warne Leoni , Hasan Helen , Ali Irena
Published: May 2011

This chapter reports on the finding of the research into social learning at the Australian Defence Organization (ADO). The research aim was to identify factors that enable knowledge generation and transfer in organizations and contribute to creation of organizational culture that supports continuous learning. These factors are described in this chapter and include common identity, morale, problem solving, team building, performance management, workplace design, organizational culture, records keeping, information exchange, IT infrastructure, professional training, and induction and enculturation. The chapter concludes with description and suggested application of the Cynefin model which offers a pragmatic and conceptual alternative to the orthodoxy of scientific management.
From Biologically Inspired Computing to Natural Computing
Authors: de Castro Leandro Nunes , Von Zuben Fernando J.
Published: May 2011

Biologically inspired computing is just one of the branches of natural computing, which also encompasses artificial life, fractal geometry and computing with natural means (molecular, membrane and quantum computing). This chapter provides a brief and general overview of natural computing, focusing on bio-inspired algorithms. Some relevant literature is cited for guidance purposes and the main objective and scope of the book is described.
Gene Expression Programming and the Evolution of Computer Programs
Authors: Ferreira Cândida
Published: May 2011

In this chapter an artificial problem solver inspired in natural genotype/phenotype systems — gene expression programming — is presented. As an introduction, the fundamental differences between gene expression programming and its predecessors, genetic algorithms and genetic programming, are briefly summarized so that the evolutionary advantages of gene expression programming are better understood. The work proceeds with a detailed description of the architecture of the main players of this new algorithm (chromosomes and expression trees), focusing mainly on the interactions between them and how the simple yet revolutionary structure of the chromosomes allows the efficient, unconstrained exploration of the search space. And finally, the chapter closes with an advanced application in which gene expression programming is used to evolve computer programs for diagnosing breast cancer.
Continuous Attractor Neural Networks
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P.
Published: May 2011

In this chapter a brief review is given of computational systems that are motivated by information processing in the brain, an area that is often called neurocomputing or artificial neural networks. While this is now a well studied and documented area, specific emphasis is given to a subclass of such models, called continuous attractor neural networks, which are beginning to emerge in a wide context of biologically inspired computing. The frequent appearance of such models in biologically motivated studies of brain functions gives some indication that this model might capture important information processing mechanisms used in the brain, either directly or indirectly. Most of this chapter is dedicated to an introduction to this basic model and some extensions that might be important for their application, either as a model of brain processing, or in technical applications. Direct technical applications are only emerging slowly, but some examples of promising directions are highlighted in this chapter.
New Zealand
Authors: Maneesoonthorn Chadinee , Fortin David
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides a review of the emerging patterns of m-commerce in New Zealand. We apply the four core CLIP functionalities: communications (C), locatability (L), information (I) exchange and payment (P) facilitation — on which m-commerce systems and services are based and provide key cases and applications in a New Zealand context. The New Zealand mobile market is fairly unique due to its s relatively small size and its duopoly market system with Telecom and Vodafone. It is therefore critical for operators in New Zealand to be more creative and innovative in their delivery of increasingly sophisticated mobile services. The challenges lie in stimulating demand for add-on services while differentiating offerings from the competition and controlling costs.
United States of America
Authors: Samuelsson Mats , Dholakia Nikhilesh , Sardana Sanjeev
Published: May 2011

Somewhat behind in the mobile telephony adoption than leading European and Asian markets, the U.S. market caught up in the 2000s. While simple types of mobile data services — such as messaging and downloads — had made some headway, the preexisting popularity of PC-based Internet made the U.S. users somewhat resistant to m-commerce offerings that did not match the richness of PC e-commerce. By the mid-2000s, however, network and technological capabilities were in place to usher in rich, new m-commerce offerings in U.S. markets. By taking advantage of new technologies, the U.S. mobile industry had the opportunity to become an innovator in m-commerce offerings.
Evolution of DSS from Single User DSS to Inter-Organizational DSS
Authors: Eom Sean B.
Published: May 2011

Extranets are triggering a revolution in the structure and operations of many organizations in the new Internet-driven global economy. Extranets along with other technologies and business drivers are changing the way we view the firm from discrete firm-based to industry-based perspectives of cooperation. This paper discusses the evolution of decision support systems (DSSs) from single-user decision support systems to inter-organizational decision support systems (IODSSs). To better understand the IODSS, we briefly discuss two predecessors, organizational DSS and global DSS, followed by presenting the IODSS definition, architecture, and applications.
Product Catalog Shopping Cart Effective Design
Authors: Markellou Penelope , Rigou Maria , Sirmakessis Spiros
Published: May 2011

The increasing integration of the Web into our trivial daily activities has become one of the prevailing trends in our days. Buying online is considered significantly more convenient than other modes of shopping, at least for some product categories. An online shop practices its potential for convenience and time efficiency when it becomes easily familiar. In many studies, consumers have indicated that their least favorite sites are those that fail to support a quick and easy shopping experience. Typically, these sites have repeatedly demonstrated significant design problems. This chapter is about identifying the design features that assure the effectiveness of two of the most crucial e-Shop components: the product catalog and the shopping cart.
Networks of Evolutionary Processors
Authors: Martin-Vide Carlos , Mitrana Victor
Published: May 2011

The goal of this chapter is to survey, in a systematic and uniform way, the main results regarding different computational aspects of hybrid networks of evolutionary processors viewed both as generating and accepting devices, as well as solving problems with these mechanisms. We first show that generating hybrid networks of evolutionary processors are computationally complete. The same computational power is reached by accepting hybrid networks of evolutionary processors. Then, we define a computational complexity class of accepting these networks and prove that this class equals the traditional class NP. In another section, we present a few NP-complete problems and recall how they can be solved in linear time by accepting networks of evolutionary processors with linearly bounded resources (nodes, rules, symbols). Finally, we discuss some possible directions for further research.
Methodological Issues in the Evaluation of System Analysis and Design Techniques
Authors: Gemino Andrew
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines methodological issues arising in the comparison of systems analysis and design techniques. An argument is made to establish a foundation of research and more broadly consider the management of scope in analysis and design research. A discussion of why and how we evaluate techniques is provided. A generalized approach combining both deductive and inductive reasoning is presented and a combined grammar-based and cognitive-based approach to comparison is discussed. In addition, concepts from Friedman’s economic methodology are applied in the choice between alternative ontologies that underlie grammar-based comparisons. The chapter concludes with a set of nine questions that researchers should consider when designing and developing research in the evaluation of systems analysis and design techniques.
Life Cycle Assessment Databases as Part of Sustainable Development Strategies
Authors: Hischier Roland , Gilgen Paul W.
Published: May 2011

This article describes the importance of standardized, comprehensive and up-to-date life cycle inventory (LCI) databases for implementing policies that point towards sustainable development (SD). Taking present-day Swiss politics as an example, this article shows the interrelations among SD, an integrated product-policy (IPP) and a comprehensive LCI database. For this reason, the Swiss government states in its report on SD that IPP is one of the measures that will be put into practice as new instruments for fiscal policy. As it is essential to be able to calculate real existing value-added chains to arrive at a real application of the IPP concept, the creation of a Swiss competence centre for LCI data is one of the different measures foreseen for the application of IPP. Therefore several LCA institutes within the ETH domain of engineering institutions along with the Swiss Federal Research Station of Agroecology and Agriculture and several Swiss offices/agencies founded the Swiss Centre for Life-Cycle Inventories called ecoinvent.
E-Organization and the Sustainable Information Society
Authors: Schneidewing Uwe
Published: May 2011

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have direct and indirect effects on sustainability. The direct effects are linked to the material and energy flows caused by the application of ICT. Indirect effects are caused by organizational and institutional changes driven by the new technologies. These latter changes can be summarized using the term “e-organization”. E-organization describes organizational and institutional patterns enabled by ICT. Important examples are new forms of network coordination between firms (also between NGOs), virtual factories or virtual communities. This chapter proposes a normative framework for judging the sustainability effects of these organizational designs and makes suggestions on how to create e-organizations capable of offering a sustainability contribution.
Corporate Sustainability Reporting
Authors: Isenmann Ralf
Published: May 2011

Corporate environmental reporting using the Internet – especially the WWW – is a rapidly emerging and increasingly popular method. Today, online environmental reporting has become part of business practices and daily affairs for a number of companies, and thus many of the environmental communication vehicles provided for companies’ target groups and other stakeholders (users) are available on the WWW: reports, brochures, leaflets, newsletters, press releases, slides, presentations, audio sequences, video clips and so forth are accessible via download and/or online, prepared for being pulled or automatically disseminated via e-mail or other current push technologies. Despite the considerable progress companies have made in recent years, however, it is not yet clear just how environmental reporting will advance to the next stage. In particular, the role of the Internet as an emerging computer-based medium and its unique capabilities in form and content need to be understood better. This chapter describes how to develop from early environmental reporting stages towards the more advanced sustainability reporting, while exploiting the Internet’s specific capabilities properly. This path is illustrated as a progression in environmental reporting along three dimensions: integration of financial and social issues into environmental reporting, provision of reporting instruments on various media and fine tuning communication vehicles according to users’ needs and preferences. These trends in terms of a more balanced reporting approach, cross media availability and customization seem to be converging to push the field towards sustainability reporting based on the Internet as a backbone for companies’ underlying ICT infrastructure. Without support from ICT, progress in the field toward sustainability reporting is seen as quite difficult, as moving away from orthodox environmental reporting is a complex task. Hence, a framework on how to use the Internet and its associated technologies is proposed, including four conceptual components: stakeholder analysis, information requirement analysis, XML-based document engineering and ICT architecture of an Internet-based reporting system. When employing such an Internet-based approach, it is argued here, the company will be in a position to carry out its tasks of information management well, using its human and organizational resources more efficiently, and communicating on environmental and sustainability issues in a meaningful way; that is, facilitating stakeholder dialogue, interactivity, feedback possibilities and tailor-made reports that respond precisely to the requirements of certain reporting standards and guidelines, or exactly to the information needs of the target groups.
A Strategic Framework for a G2G E-Government Excellence Center
Authors: Evaristo Roberto , Kim Beomsoo
Published: May 2011

The business of government can be streamlined by offering interactive services for the public and placing procurement mechanisms and relationships with contractors online. However, traditional government has not maximized its ability to benefit from these initiatives. We propose that the creation of an e-government Excellence Center can help with this transition of traditional to digitalized government. Such an e-government Excellence Center would be beneficial to different stakeholders: traditional governments, by making them aware of the alternatives or potential options available to them; experienced government structures, by increasing their visibility and by offering consulting services to a host of potential clients; and even to IT solution providers, by making their products and services more visible.
E-Government
Authors: Hin Leo Tan Wee , Subramaniam R.
Published: May 2011

The insertion of an e-government in the public administration infrastructure of Singapore has spawned a bureaucratic renaissance with wide-ranging ramifications in various facets of society. A single entry portal on the Web links citizens to all the government agencies as well as opens a gateway to a plethora of services needed by citizens and businesses. The process of democratic governance has been significantly strengthened with the entrenching of the e-government. This chapter elaborates on some of the important implementation policies and best practices of the Singapore experience with e-government.
Know-CoM
Authors: Bayer Florian , Enparantza Rafael , Maier Ronald , Obermair Franz , Schmiedinger Bernhard
Published: May 2011

The die- and mold-making industry can be characterized by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), sophisticated technologies, and highly skilled employees who have to cooperate in order to fulfill orders of customers with which they are engaged in an intensive process of knowledge exchange. The knowledge-intensive production process of die and mold makers consequently requires an integrated organizational and technical solution to support the sharing of documented knowledge as well as collaboration. Standard knowledge management systems (KMS) primarily target the organization-internal processes and documented knowledge of large organizations. Know-CoM intends to overcome the limitations of these solutions and explicitly targets SMEs as well as knowledge processes that cross organizational boundaries. Know-CoM is a European Commission-funded CRAFT project that provides an advanced concept of decentralized management of access privileges to personal, protected, and public knowledge spaces. An easy-to-use solution supports the capturing of experiences. A joint knowledge structure brokers context across organizational boundaries and eases discovery of knowledge and experts. Finally, a knowledge management certification technique allows for a coordinated reuse of knowledge that is integrated with the daily work practices of die and mold makers.
Productivity Impacts from Using Knowledge
Authors: Jennex Murray E.
Published: May 2011

This is a longitudinal case study that explored the relationship between use of organizational memory and knowledge, knowledge management, and knowledge worker productivity within the engineering group at a nuclear power plant. Three data points were taken over five years. The group used a knowledge management system (KMS) and it was found that the system improved effectiveness/productivity of the organization. The organization had not identified measures for determining productivity improvements, so the key results of the case study are models showing the impact of knowledge use on productivity.
Adoption and Implementation Obstacles of E-Banking Services
Authors: Khalfan Abdulwahed Mohammed , Akbar Abdullah
Published: May 2011

All forms of business organizations are being drawn into e-commerce and e-business. Electronic commerce is a powerful new way of conducting business and one that has presented many opportunities for enterprises and consumers. Yet, despite its many advantages there is evidence that it has not been adopted in full and has not reached its full potential. The global nature of e-Business provides developing countries with a unique opportunity in market places that were beyond their reach. It has the potential to reduce physical trade obstacles, increase market access and trade efficiency that can provide a competitive stimulus for local entrepreneurs and organizations in developingcountries. Interests in e-commerce and electronic markets have been largely been focused on North America and Europe, and yet there are many interesting developments happening in some of the developing countries which have received little attention. This study aims to address these issues. This research chapter explored the potential impeding factors that could inhibit the wide adoption and use of electronic commerce applications in the Omani banking industry. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire complemented with using semi-structured interviews, and review of internal banking documents. The participants in the study were IS executives and managers. The results provide a pragmatic picture on the adoption and use of e-commerce applications in this country’s core sector. One of the major inhibiting factors in this study is the lack of top management support. Top management perspectives and attitudes toward e-commerce adoption and use play an important role in developing internal IS/IT competencies and success. Information privacy and security issues were identified as serious inhibiting factors on the successful adoption and use of electronic banking applications in the financial sector. Other factors such as power relationships (e.g., conflict between managers that arise during the process of IS/IT adoption), and lack of investment in e-commerce applications were found less significant as inhibiting factors. Although this is a context specific research, the findings should be relevant to other businesses in Arab countries in particular and developing countries in general when contemplating their e-commerce strategies.
Successful Business Process Improvement through E-Collaboration
Authors: Kock Ned
Published: May 2011

The idea of business process-focused improvement has been with us for many years. Many speculate that it is as old as the total quality management movement, which began in Japan in the 1950s. Some think the idea is much older, dating back to the time of the Pharaohs of Egypt.
Statistics for Those Who Hate Statistics
Authors: Kock Ned
Published: May 2011

When we analyze quantitative evidence (e.g., numbers) that describe a particular situation or phenomenon, we often need to generate coefficients based on specific statistical tests to reach reasonable conclusions. Visually inspecting a table full of numbers, for example, can be quite confusing, and the related conclusions may be deceiving. This is one of the reasons why statistical tests are important. The more quantitative evidence we have to analyze, the more difficult it is to inspect it visually, and so the more important those statistical tests become.
On the Maturity of Software Maintenance and Other IT Services
Authors: Niessink Frank
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, we examine the differences between software maintenance and software development from a service point of view, and the consequences thereof for the maturity of software maintenance organizations. We argue that software maintenance can be seen as providing a service, whereas software development is primarily concerned with the development of products. Differences between products and services affect the way in which customers assess their respective quality. In particular, service quality is assessed in two dimensions: the technical quality — what the result of the service is — and the functional quality — how the service is delivered. Consequently, customers will judge the quality of software maintenance differently from that of software development. This in turn means that to deliver high quality results in software maintenance, both the functional quality and the technical quality dimension are important.
Analyzing the Anatomy of GNU/Linux Distributions
Authors: Gonzalez-Barahona Jesús M. , Robles Gregorio , Ortuno-Perez Miguel , Rodero-Merino Luis , Centeno-Gonzalez José , Matellan-Olivera Vicente , Castro-Barbero Eva , de-las-Heras-Quirós Pedro
Published: May 2011

GNU/Linux distributions are probably the largest coordinated pieces of software ever put together. Each one is in some sense a snapshot of a large fraction of the libre software development landscape at the time of the release and, therefore, its study is important to understand the appearance of that landscape. They are also the working proof of the possibility of releasing reliable software systems in the range of 50-100 millions of lines of code, even when the components of such systems are built by hundreds of independent groups of developers, with no formal connection to the group releasing the whole system. In this chapter, we provide some quantitative information about the software included in two such distributions: Red Hat and Debian. Differences in policy and organization of both distributions will show up in the results, but some common patterns will also arise. For instance, both are doubling their size every two years, and both present similar patterns in programming language usage and package size distributions. All in all, this study pretends to show how GNU/Linux distributions are with respect to their source code, and how they evolve over time. A methodology of how to make comparable and automated studies on this kind of distributions is also presented.
Experiencing Quality
Authors: Murray Kyle B.
Published: May 2011

As customers gain Web site-specific skills they come to perceive the Web site differently and more favourably than inexperienced customers. This is not only due to familiarity, emotional attachment, liking, trust, etc. Often, it is the result of an objective change in the utility of the interface as a result of skill acquisition. This chapter reviews recent work on the link between skill acquisition and loyalty in electronic environments, and extends this work by investigating the impact that learning has on consumers’ perceptions of electronic interfaces. I report the results of an experiment, which demonstrates that with increasing task experience the probability that participants will choose an incumbent Web site, over an objectively equivalent competitor, increases. In addition the data indicate that with increasing experience participants’ perceptions of product quality also increase. Although the two interfaces (i.e., incumbent and competitor) are not perceived to be any different when each has been used only one time, there is a significant difference in quality perceptions between the interfaces when the incumbent has been used six times and the competitor has only been used once. These findings are important, because perceptions of quality have an impact on the choices that customers make when shopping online. Therefore, changes in perception that occur with increasing exposure to the incumbent are meaningful and can have an impact on a Web site’s market share. The data presented in this chapter provide strong evidence that perceptions of interface quality are affected by experience with an interface in a way that gives an incumbent an advantage over competitors.
Viral Experiences
Authors: van der Graaf Shenja
Published: May 2011

This chapter signals the implications of a shift in production and distribution practices of online advertising in an age of computer network-facilitated participation. It explores online entertainment forms such as games and films that are increasingly being used as an integral part of online advertising strategies to promote goods and services to potential consumers. These “advertainments,” as they are often referred to, exemplify the linkage of commercial goals with cultural texts through creating engaging experiences, initiated by commercial corporations for solid reasons of promotion and profit, enabled by computer networks, and given form by various members of the public.
Public Opinions of Online Privacy
Authors: Sheehan Kim
Published: May 2011

Past research has indicated that public opinion polls can have a strong effect on public policy decisions. Since the advent of a commercialized Internet, numerous polls have assessed American’s views on privacy in both the online and off-line context. Privacy is arguable a highly salient issue among Americans today, with one poll showing that online Americans are more concerned about privacy than health care, crime, and taxes (National Consumer League, 2000). Privacy, though, is a complex concept that may be difficult to measure using simple polling questions. A five-dimension framework of privacy (awareness, usage, type of information, relationship, and compensation) is used to examine how well current privacy polls measure the privacy construct. Taken as a whole, the poll questions do an adequate job of addressing four of the five dimensions of the privacy framework. However, many polls ask about privacy concern using only one question. Few polls offer a range of questions that can help best understand this complex construct.
A Taxonomic Class Modeling Methodology for Object-Oriented Analysis
Authors: Song Il-Yeol , Yano Kurt , Trujillo Juan , Lujan-Mora Sergio
Published: May 2011

Discovering a set of domain classes during object-oriented analysis is intellectually challenging and time consuming for novice analyzers. This chapter presents a taxonomic class modeling (TCM) methodology that can be used for object-oriented analysis in business applications. Our methodology helps us discover the three types of classes: (1) classes represented by nouns in the requirement specification, (2) classes whose concepts were represented by verb phrases, and (3) hidden classes that were not explicitly stated in the requirement specification. Our approach synthesizes several different class modeling techniques under one framework. Our framework integrates the noun analysis method, class categories, English sentence structures, checklists, and other heuristic rules for modeling. We illustrate our approach using a detailed case study and summarize the results of several other case studies. Our teaching experience shows that our method is effective in identifying classes for many business applications.