bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Concepts Underlying an Academic ERP Curriculum
Authors: Martz Ben , Raghavan Vijay , Zhang Xiaoni , Corbitt Gail
Published: February 2011

The introduction of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in the “real world” has been studied in information system literature. Critical success factors like management commitment and process reengineering have been identified with the eventual success of the ERP’s implementation. As the implementation and use of ERPs has grown in the business world, so has the desire to include ERPs and the concepts surrounding them into business curricula. This paper takes a key critical success factor and decomposes it into a set of underlying concepts necessary to create a workable ERP curriculum. Ideas for including the concepts into a program are included. The factors and concepts operate as a starting point for those looking to start an ERP program.
An Integrative Framework for Strategic Intelligence
Authors: Xu Mark , Kaye G. Roland
Published: February 2011

This paper defines strategic intelligence as a distinct organisational resource that differs from competitive intelligence (CI) and business intelligence (BI). A literature review unfolds a number of deficiencies in intelligence practice and systems. The findings, based on a case study, suggest that there is a lack of systematic scanning, analysing and support for strategic intelligence. An integrative framework is proposed to guide and improve strategic intelligence activity, which comprises of Key External Intelligence (KEI) and internal Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Implementation issues are discussed. The paper develops novel insight into strategic intelligence, and the proposed solution has implications on enhancing managers’ and an organisations’ sensibility and capability by detecting and responding to emerging strategic signals.
Object Migration Tool for Data Warehouses
Authors: Rahman Nayem , Burkhardt Peter W. , Hibray Kevin W.
Published: February 2011

Data warehouses contain numerous software applications and thousands of objects that make those applications work. Many companies maintain multiple data warehouses depending on business requirements for example development, testing and production. Installing objects and keeping them synchronized across all environments can be a challenging task due to the sheer number of objects and complexity. Software objects stored in a Source Control system must be installed on target warehouse environments. Manual copy procedures are possible but very inefficient. Developers spend much time preparing installation and migration scripts that are prone to syntax errors. This paper proposes an Object Migration and Apply Tool (OMAT) that automates software installation across all warehouses for anyone using manual procedures. An automated tool can help eliminate error prone manual procedures, increase flawless object installation and reduce installation time. The OMAT tool is easy to use through a web browser and includes many useful features that support the development life cycle, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act requirements and enforce numerous business requirements. OMAT is designed to support the construction and maintenance of an enterprise-wide, strategic data warehouse faster and better.
A Meta-Analysis of the Direction and State of Sociotechnical Research in a Range of Disciplines
Authors: Coakes Elayne , Coakes Jim
Published: February 2011

This is the first in a series of articles providing a meta-analysis of journal articles using sociotechnical approaches as a dominant theme. In this article we look at the article repository Business Source Complete and two specific search terms: sociotechnology and sociotechnical, to extract relevant papers from 1968 onwards. We identify trends in publishing relevant articles which appear to show a revival of interest from the 1990s to date. It appears that this revival has been prompted by the expansion of large work systems and their frequent partial or complete failures which limit their usability in organisations. Using Content Analysis we have analysed 42 papers that discuss sociotechnical theory and its development and have found that the fields of application of the theory have shifted from human resources; to work design and operations management; to most recently, knowledge management and philosophy.
Before the Internet
Authors: Eason Ken
Published: February 2011

The widespread adoption of the internet means that, for many people, the computer is now a major means of communication with other people far and wide. As a result many forms of human organisation have an increasingly virtual character; the people who co-operate in the organisational endeavour are not necessarily in face-to-face contact. These developments can be classed as new forms of socio-technical systems in which emergent and virtual social systems are dependent upon and mediated by the internet and all the technical applications it has spawned.
Online Friction
Authors: Skågeby Jörgen
Published: February 2011

This article presents conflicts as a central unit of analysis in investigations of online social media sharing. Social media sharing services generate interesting sociotechnical problems as they often make social structures explicit, resulting in observable user experience conflicts. As such, they also present a genre of services where theories of social structure become highlighted and, at times, challenged. Three examples of conflicts, from three different types of networks, are presented. The conflicts were elicited through online, ethnography-inspired, methods. It is argued that the conceptual conflicts help researchers and designers to postulate, find and examine concerns and intentions of users who try to resolve the conflict or move from one end of the conflict to the other. The article also demonstrates three viable ways to communicate analytical conflict insights, intended to inform interaction design, namely use qualities, analytical dimensions and design patterns.
Socio-Technical Issues of Participatory Design in the Developing World
Authors: Dunckley Lynne , Camara Souleymane Boundaouda , Abdelnour-Nocera José , Waema Timothy Mwololo
Published: February 2011

This article describes how the VeSeL project which involves a distributed team of technologists and users from different cultural backgrounds is attempting to manage the process of user involvement and participation. In this case the developers are distributed but linked by a number of communication technologies while the users have very few technological means of communicating with the developers. It describes how the contrasting social and community issues of both the developers and the users can be understood and managed.
Free, Open, Online, Help Forums
Authors: van de Sande Carla
Published: February 2011

In contrast to course delivery, help seeking has not advanced with the technological capabilities and preferences of today’s students. Help seeking in higher education remains primarily an individual, private, face-to-face activity. Open, online, help forums have the potential to transform help seeking into a public, social endeavor. These forums connect students with volunteer helpers who have the time, knowledge, and willingness to provide assistance with specific problems from coursework. Although many such forums currently exist and are a popular source of help seeking, they have remained largely off the radar of educational research. In this paper, a calculus help forum is examined for manifestations of convenience, connection, and control, which are commonly used to describe student expectations regarding information technology use. Results indicate that students can receive efficient, accessible, and self-regulated help. Two additional themes for student experience, comfort and communication, are proposed.
The Diverging Effects of Social Network Sites on Receiving Job Information for Students and Professionals
Authors: Rienties Bart , Tempelaar Dirk , Pinckaers Miriam , Giesbers Bas , Lichel Linda
Published: February 2011

An increasing number of students, professionals, and job-recruiters are using Social Network Sites (SNSs) for sharing information. There has been limited research assessing the role of individuals seeking a job and receiving information about job openings in SNSs. In this regard, do students, non-managers, and managers benefit from job offers when they are a member of SNSs such as Facebook or LinkedIn? How can differences in receiving information about job openings be explained by the strength-of-weak-ties and structural holes theorems? Results of an online survey among 386 respondents indicate that users of SNSs with more contacts are more likely to receive information about job openings than others. Most information about job openings was transmitted via LinkedIn to professionals. Regression analyses indicate that LinkedIn professionals with more links are more likely to receive information about a job opening. In contrast, the structural holes theory is not supported in this setting. The authors argue that Higher education should actively encourage and train students to use LinkedIn to enhance their employability. Finally, new generation graduates’ use of technology for different tasks and with different people than professionals is considered.
On Abstract Intelligence
Authors: Wang Yingxu
Published: February 2011

Abstract intelligence is a human enquiry of both natural and artificial intelligence at the reductive embodying levels of neural, cognitive, functional, and logical from the bottom up. This paper describes the taxonomy and nature of intelligence. It analyzes roles of information in the evolution of human intelligence, and the needs for logical abstraction in modeling the brain and natural intelligence. A formal model of intelligence is developed known as the Generic Abstract Intelligence Mode (GAIM), which provides a foundation to explain the mechanisms of advanced natural intelligence such as thinking, learning, and inferences. A measurement framework of intelligent capability of humans and systems is comparatively studied in the forms of intelligent quotient, intelligent equivalence, and intelligent metrics. On the basis of the GAIM model and the abstract intelligence theories, the compatibility of natural and machine intelligence is revealed in order to investigate into a wide range of paradigms of abstract intelligence such as natural, artificial, machinable intelligence, and their engineering applications.
The Human Semantic Web Shifting from Knowledge Push to Knowledge Pull
Authors: Naeve Ambjörn
Published: February 2011

This paper introduces the Human Semantic Web (HSW) as a conceptual interface, providing human-understandable semantics in addition to the ordinary (machine) Semantic Web, which provides machine-processable semantics based on RDF. The HSW is structured in the form of a Knowledge Manifold and makes use of Unified Language Modeling (based on the Unified Modeling Language) combined with conceptual browsing to present its information to the user in a way that creates substantial benefits in terms of overview, clarity, and flexibility. The HSW browser Conzilla combines the semantics of RDF with the human-understandable semantics of UML in order to enable more powerful forms of human-computer interaction, such as querying the Semantic Web through Edutella and supporting the concept-in-context methodology. The Semantic Web is discussed in terms of three levels of semantic interoperability: isolation, coexistence, and collaboration. Collaboration, as the highest goal, can be achieved by conceptual calibration, which builds bridges between different ontologies in a bottom-up way, describing their similarities as well as their differences. An example is presented in Conzilla of conceptual calibration between systems for e-commerce. In the closing section, the Nonaka-Takeuchi theory of knowledge creation is discussed, and the HSW is described as a “space for interaction,” where the SECI spiral of knowledge creation can be elevated to the global level. Three possible scenarios are presented: open research, enriching the economy by expanding the value ontology, and negotiating a sustainable future for all.
Events in Multimedia Electronic Chronicles (E-Chronicles)
Authors: Westermann Utz , Jain Ramesh
Published: February 2011

The nature of information has changed significantly in the last two decades. Now information is multimedia, sensitive to its spatio-temporal roots, live, and dynamic. Current database and search technology is very limited in addressing organization, management, and access of emerging information systems. In this paper, we address some of the fundamental issues that must be addressed in general multimedia information management systems. We present multimedia electronic chronicles (e-chronicles) as an example of emerging systems that need such technology. We believe that to deal with dynamic information, events should be used as the fundamental basis in organizing and accessing information. Event models used in our approach capture the semantics involved in supporting e-chronicles. Our ideas are demonstrated in the context of an e-chronicle that is being implemented for a reconnaissance application using multiple disparate sensors.
OntoMedia— Semantic Multimedia Metadata Integration and Organization
Authors: Hüsemann Bodo , Vossen Gottfried
Published: February 2011

Digital multimedia devices for private usage have nowadays left their analogous counterparts behind. Our homes increasingly incorporate a digital communication infrastructure for interconnecting their various devices inside the house, and this infrastructure also gives access to external information via the Internet. Thus, we now store much of our personal information in digital form and information services like newspaper, radio, or TV are digitally available. The capacity of digital storage devices provides enormous space at affordable prices to save all this digital information into a giant personal multimedia archive; however, as is well known, the more data we store, the less information we have at our disposal. In this article, an approach to personal information management is described that is based on Semantic Web technology. In particular, the design decisions behind, and core features of OntoMedia, a software system based on a multimedia ontology that is intended for personal usage, are presented. OntoMedia supports users organizing personal multimedia archives using ontology powered metadata extraction and integration technology. The application includes a novel, easy to use graphical user interface to organize documents in categories and browse/query the semantic database.
S-IRAS
Authors: Yang Changbo , Dong Ming , Fotouhi Farshad
Published: February 2011

Relevance feedback and semantic retrieval have received extensive attention recently in the computer vision community. In this article, we present a semantic image query system with integrated feedback mechanism. Our system has two major components: the low-level feature space and the semantic space. In the low-level feature space, images are described by multidimensional vectors and are clustered based on the similarity of their contents. In the semantic space, the relationship among keywords is captured by a semantic hierarchy built by the aid of WordNet. Based on our system architecture, we propose a novel feedback solution for semantic retrieval called semantic feedback, which allows our system to interact with users directly at the semantic level. The short-term and long-term learning process of the semantic feedback substantially improves the image retrieval and annotation performance of our system. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with experiments using 5,000 images from Corel database. The significant contribution of this article is in the scenario of having a relatively small training data set compared to the testing data set. Some of the previous work in the same direction has chosen a very large training set and a very small testing set. Clearly, the problem that we try to solve is more realistic and challenging.
Experience in Aligning AnatomicalOntologies
Authors: Zhang Songmao , Bodenreider Olivier
Published: February 2011

The objective of this article is to recapitulate our experience in aligning large anatomical ontologies (Foundational Model of Anatomy, GALEN, Adult Mouse Anatomical Dictionary and NCI Thesaurus) having different representation formalisms. Our approach to aligning concepts (directly) is automatic, rule-based, and operates at the schema level, generating mostly point-to-point mappings. It uses a combination of lexical, structural and semantic techniques. It also takes advantage of domain-specific knowledge (lexical knowledge from external resources, such as the Unified Medical Language System, as well as knowledge augmentation and inference techniques). In addition to point-topoint mapping of concepts, we present the alignment of relationships and the mapping of concepts group-to-group. We have also successfully tested an indirect alignment through a reference ontology. We present an evaluation of our techniques, both against a gold standard and against a generic schema matching system. The advantages and limitations of our approach are analyzed and discussed throughout the article.
Dynamic, Automatic, First-Order Ontology repair by Diagnosis of Failed Plan Execution
Authors: McNeill Fiona , Bundy Alan
Published: February 2011

We describe ORS, an ontology repair system. In contrast to most ontology matching systems, ORS is designed to repair an ontology that does not accurately model its domain. ORS’s ontology repairs include belief revisions, but more often makes signature repairs. It does not require full access to the ontologies of other agents and works entirely automatically and dynamically. ORS is the first example of a new breed of dynamic, automatic ontology-repair mechanisms, which we believe will be essential to realise the vision of autonomous, interacting agents, such as envisaged in the emantic Web. Full access to another (potentially rival) agent’s ontology is unrealistic; static and interactive matching mechanisms are unrealistic in the context of huge, dynamic populations of agents and full ontological agreement is pragmatically unrealistic. We present encouraging experimental results, plus an analysis of current limitations to be addressed in future work.
Tightly Coupled Fuzzy Description Logic Programs under the Answer Set Semantics for the Semantic Web
Authors: Lukasiewicz Thomas , Straccia Umberto
Published: February 2011

We present a novel approach to fuzzy description logic programs (or simply fuzzy dl-programs) under the answer set semantics, which is a tight integration of fuzzy disjunctive logic programs under the answer set semantics with fuzzy description logics. From a different perspective, it is a generalization of tightly coupled disjunctive dl-programs by fuzzy vagueness in both the description logic and the logic program component. We show that the new formalism faithfully extends both fuzzy disjunctive logic programs and fuzzy description logics, and that under suitable assumptions, reasoning in the new formalism is decidable. We present a polynomial reduction of certain fuzzy dl-programs to tightly coupled disjunctive dl-programs, and we analyze the complexity of consistency checking and query processing for certain fuzzy dl-programs. Furthermore, we provide a special case of fuzzy dl-programs for which deciding consistency and query processing can both be done in polynomial time in the data complexity.
Extracting Concepts' Relations and Users' Preferences for Personalizing Query Disambiguation
Authors: Chen Yan , Zhang Yan-Qing
Published: February 2011

For most Web searching applications, queries are commonly ambiguous because words usually contain several meanings. Traditional Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) methods use statistic models or ontology-based knowledge models to find the most appropriate sense for the ambiguous word. Since queries are usually short, the contexts of the queries may not always provide enough information for disambiguating queries. Thus, more than one interpretation may be found for one ambiguous query. In this paper, we propose a cluster-based WSD method, which finds out all appropriate interpretations for the query. Because some senses of one ambiguous word usually have very close semantic relations, we group those similar senses together for explaining the ambiguous word in one interpretation. If the cluster-based WSD method generates several contradictory interpretations for one ambiguous query, we extract users’ preferences from clickthrough data, and determine suitable concepts or concepts’ clusters that meet users’ interests for explaining the ambiguous query.
The Impact of Technology Anxiety on the Use of Mobile Financial Applications
Authors: Lee Cheon-Pyo
Published: February 2011

Mobile Commerce activities will not expand without the proper support of mobile financial applications (MFA), including mobile banking, mobile brokerage service, mobile money transfer, and mobile micro-payments. MFA is expected to have a great impact on the future of mobile commerce industries and makes purchasing activities more flexible and convenient, also creating new markets. However, despite the advent of these MFA technologies and the availability of various mobile services, the adoption of mobile financial applications across the globe is still relatively low. In this regard, this study investigates the role of technology anxiety (TA) in the adoption of MFA and resolves the discrepancy between the apparent interest in and low adoption of MFA. The results of a broad survey of 595 mobile payment users in Korea indicate TA negatively moderates the influence of intention on actual usage in addition to the direct negative influence on intention to use MFA. Also, the author found that TA significantly differs depending on the frequency of use and gender. However, contrary to a common notion that older people are more anxious in context to new technologies, TA has been found to be higher among young people.
Transhumanism and Its Critics
Authors: Bauer Keith A.
Published: February 2011

Transhumanism is a social, technological, political, and philosophical movement that advocates the transformation of human nature by means of pharmacology, genetic manipulation, cybernetic modification, nanotechnology, and a host of other technologies. The aim of this movement is to increase physical and sensory abilities, augment intelligence and memory, and extend lifespan. After providing some background on transhumanism, its philosophical heritage, and its goals, the author looks at three arguments against transhumanism, arguing that they are unpersuasive and should be rejected. This paper presents two arguments against transhumanism that have merit. The first argument is an argument from justice that addresses the distribution of benefits and burdens for funding, developing, and employing enhancement technology. The second argument examines a significant assumption held by many transhumanists, namely, that there is an essential “human nature” that can be transcended.
The Specification of POS Tagging of the Hong Kong University Cantonese Corpus
Authors: Ping-Wai Wong
Published: February 2011

The Hong Kong University Cantonese Corpus was collected from transcribed spontaneous speech in conversations and radio programs that involved two to four people. It was word-segmented, annotated with Cantonese pronunciation, and recently tagged with word classes by adopting the parts-of-speech (POS) scheme of Yu et al. (2002). This scheme, which was designed for tagging written Mandarin texts, encountered some problems in tagging spoken Cantonese. However, it is flexible for further expansion of the 26 basic word classes by customizing some subclasses for annotating other Chinese dialects (e.g., Cantonese). Its robustness was proved by the annotation of approximately 230,000 words in the HKUCC. This article will describe the format of the corpus and provide the specification that helps annotators in POS tagging and will solve problems encountered in manual annotation. Guidelines of tagging some word classes will be introduced, followed by the discussion of easily confused tags, illustrated with examples from the corpus. Further work will aim at automatic annotation by computers in order to facilitate the work of POS tagging of Cantonese and other Chinese dialects. The corpora of Hong Kong Cantonese are quite lacking. Past work focused either on a POS-tagged corpus for child language or the phonetic transcription of an adult Cantonese corpus. HKUCC fills the gap by providing a POS-tagged corpus for adult Cantonese and is believed to be of great value to the data-driven linguistic analysis and natural language processing for Cantonese.
The Paleolithic Stone Age Effect?
Authors: Hubona Geoffrey S. , Shirah Gregory W.
Published: February 2011

Most computer applications feature visual user interfaces that assume that all users have equivalent propensities to perceive, interpret, and understand the multidimensional spatial properties and relationships of the objects presented. However, the hunter-gatherer theory (Silverman & Eals, 1992) suggests that there are modern-day differences between the genders in spatial and cognitive abilities that stem from differentiated prehistoric sex roles. If true, there may be discrepancies in how males and females differentially utilize particular spatial visual cues and interface features. We report three experiments in which participants engage in visual spatial tasks using 2D and 3D virtual worlds: (1) matching object shapes; (2) positioning objects; and (3) resizing objects. Female subjects under-perform male subjects in the matching and positioning experiments, but they outperform male subjects in the resizing experiment. Moreover, male subjects make more use of motion cues. Implications for the design of gender-effective user interfaces and virtual environments are considered.
Legal and Ethical Implications of Employee Location Monitoring
Authors: Kaupins Gundars , Minch Robert
Published: February 2011

This article summarizes the legal and ethical implications associated with employee location monitoring. It states that few international laws and no American laws directly address this location monitoring. International privacy laws and directives, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the USA Patriot Act and other laws and directives involving Internet and e-mail monitoring provide the pattern for future location monitoring laws. It also states that ethical considerations such as productivity, security, goodwill, privacy, accuracy, and discipline fairness affect future laws. Furthermore, the authors hope that the understanding of existing laws and ethical considerations associated with electronic monitoring can lead to practical and reasonable location monitoring policies. Employer and employee interests must be balanced. Location monitoring policies should include a legitimate business purpose, ensure that employees are notified that they are being monitored, provide for adequate storage and dissemination of monitoring data, and provide for consistent evaluation of monitoring effectiveness.
Exploring the Rhetoric on Representing the User
Authors: Iivari Netta
Published: February 2011

Users should be involved in information technology (IT) artifact development, but it is often difficult and rare, especially in the development of commercial IT artifacts for external use. This paper critically examines discursive construction of user involvement in academia and in the IT artifact product development industry. First, three academic discourses on user involvement are identified. Then, discursive construction of user involvement is explored in four IT artifact product development organizations, in which user involvement is indirect and labeled as usability work. Five discourses on usability work are identified. They are related to the academic discourses on user involvement, and some of them are criticized (Asaro, 2000) as“forms of technological colonialism,” merely “silencing the users” instead of “giving them a voice.” It is recommended that especially the human-computer interaction (HCI) community should carefully reflect on what kinds of discourses on user involvement it advocates and deems as legitimate.
Interpretive Flexibility Along the Innovation Decision Process of the UK NHS Care Records Service (NCRS)
Authors: Papazafeiropoulou Anastasia , Gandecha Reshma
Published: February 2011

Interpretive flexibility is a term used to describe the diverse perspectives on what a technology is and can or can not do during the process of technological development. In this article, we look at how interpretive flexibility manifests through the diverse perceptions of stakeholders involved in the diffusion and adoption of the NHS Care Records Service (NCRS). Our analysis shows that while the policy makers acting upon the application of details related to the implementation of the system, the potential users are far behind the innovation decision process, namely at the knowledge or persuasion stages. We use data from a local heath authority from a county close to London. The research explores, compares, and evaluates contrasting views on the systems implementation at the local as well as national level. We believe that our analysis is useful for NCRS implementation strategies, in particular, and technology diffusion in large organisations, in general.
The U.S. Video Game Industry
Authors: Dunlop Janet C.
Published: February 2011

Today’s media are vast in both form and influence; however, few cultural studies scholars ad-dress the video gaming industry’s role in domestic maintenance and global imposition of U.S. hegemonic ideologies. In this study, video games are analyzed by cover art, content, and origin of production. Whether it is earning more “powers” in games such as Star Wars, or earning points to purchase more powerful artillery in Grand Theft Auto, capitalist ideology is reinforced in a subtle, entertaining fashion. This study shows that oppressive hegemonic representations of gender and race are not only present, but permeate the majority of top-selling video games. Finally, the study traces the origins of best-selling games, to reveal a virtual U.S. monopoly in the content of this formative medium.
Anthropomorphic Feedback in User Interfaces
Authors: Murano Pietro , O’Brian Holt Patrik
Published: February 2011

Experimental work on anthropomorphic feedback in user interfaces has shown inconsistent results and researchers offer differing opinions as to the potential usefulness of this style of user interaction. A review of the literature shows that experimental work can be improved and enhanced by taking into account issues that characterise human-human communications. Results from three experiments are reported that exhibit the previously observed inconsistencies but this is arguably a function of task context. An alternative explanation is that the results are a reflection of the cognitive nature of tasks. Overall, the results point the way to further and future results in terms of refining procedures but also in terms of theoretical focus.
Supporting Implementation of Condition Based Maintenance
Authors: Bengtsson Marcus
Published: February 2011

This article presents two case studies and theory on the topic of implementing a condition based maintenance approach. It visualizes that condition based maintenance, within the Swedish industry, is utilized to a lesser degree than corrective and predetermined maintenance, and argues that one reason for this is the difficulty in implementation. It also argues that additional factors, beyond technical aspects within the condition based maintenance approach, are necessary to take into consideration if successful implementation is to be achieved. The purpose of the two case studies was to investigate the process of implementing a condition based maintenance approach. The result of the investigation was compiled into a checklist with important factors to take into consideration when attempting to implement condition based maintenance within an industrial setting.
Overcoming Remoteness
Authors: Lauche Kristina
Published: February 2011

Availability of real-time information from remote drilling operations means that onshore staff can provide more effective support and reduce non-productive time. This study focuses on the human factors implications of remote operations, which have been largely ignored so far. The job design in five onshore facilities was assessed in terms of (1) providing transparency and control over the system state, (2) supporting cooperation and learning, and (3) impact on worker wellbeing. Jobs were found to offer a high degree of transparency and good opportunities for cooperation and learning, albeit less control than comparable work offshore. Worker wellbeing was rated lower than anticipated. A comparison between centres found differences in the degree of innovation (socio-technical vs. pragmatic) and the type of integration (vertical across disciplines vs. horizontal across operations). Remote management of assets was shown to be feasible provided that job design and socio-economic implications are addressed properly.
Mental Contents in Interacting with a Multiobjective Optimization Program
Authors: Saariluoma Pertti , Kaario Katja , Miettinen Kaisa , Mäkelä Marko M.
Published: February 2011

User psychology aims at understanding human-machine interaction from a psychological point of view. Its ultimate goal is to provide knowledge about human psychological properties for interaction designers. In this article, we are particularly interested in applying the theoretical concepts of mental contents (i.e., the information contents of users’ mental representations), in studying interaction with professional software. The immediate motivation for adopting such an approach arises from problems met in designing interaction processes in multiobjective optimization software. These types of software are meant to support complex thought and decision-making processes and this is why interaction design has to meet a number of theoretical problems, which do seldom arise in simpler interaction types. In four experiments, we investigated the types of knowledge required when developing ones’ capability of working with such a thought tool. We observed that in interaction design it is essential to take into account domain, professional and software specific mental content structures.
Incorporating Simulated Animal Attacks in Human Technology Interaction Interfaces
Authors: Kock Ned
Published: February 2011

Enhanced cognition within the temporal vicinity of animal attacks arguably allowed our hominid ancestors to better build and associate memories related to the animals and their typical habitat markers, which in turn increased their survival chances. This may be at the source of an unusual phenomenon with limited but interesting practical uses in the design of humantechnology interaction interfaces for learning tasks; the phenomenon involves modern humans’ short-term memories being instantaneously turned into long-term memories through surprise in the form of simulated animal attacks. This study explores this phenomenon in the context of a computer-supported learning task, by testing the prediction that a simulated snake attack will lead to cognition enhancement within its temporal vicinity. In an experiment, those participants who were surprised by a Web-based snake screen did significantly better in the test questions for Web-based learning modules that were temporally adjacent to the snake screen.
A Motive Analysis as a First Step in Designing Technology for the use of Intuition in Criminal Investigation
Authors: Rodseth Ingerid
Published: February 2011

Investigators occasionally rely on intuitive feelings during crime solving, but have no technological tool targeting directly on mediating this investigation factor. Technology that encourages the sharing and alerting of hunches therefore seemed to be needed. A motive analysis of interviews with criminal investigators was performed as part of an investigation aiming at adding hunches to the criminal investigators’ visualization tools (the project management system to keep track of the investigation). Purpose of the study was to explore how a motive analysis (by revealing the criminal investigators’ motives and attitudes) could contribute in the first phase of the design. The assumption that designing for intuition could be useful, was confirmed by all of the informants. The study gave valuable input to how motive analysis could be used to identify suitable requirements, by resulting in a proposed technological concept supporting the use of intuitive feelings in criminal investigation.
Designing Ubiquitous Content for Daily Lifestyle
Authors: Inakage Masa , Ueki Atsuro , Tokuhisa Satoru , Katsumoto Yuichiro
Published: February 2011

This article presents a design theory for an emerging genre in digital content called Ubiquitous Contents. To design entertaining experience, the article introduces the design concept of the Experience Chain. Examples are shown to illustrate how people, artifacts, and environment can be seamlessly connected to design emotional and entertaining experiences through the interaction.
Involvement, Elaboration and the Sources of Online Trust
Authors: Williams Russell , Kitchen Philip J.
Published: February 2011

Establishing trust in online encounters has attracted significant recent research interest. A large part of this work focuses on those factors that can be manipulated on a website to influence consumers’ trusting beliefs. A notable part of this research concerns the influence of website infrastructure attributes [design and interaction elements] on consumers’ assessment of vendor trustworthiness in the absence of knowledge- based transactional experience. Developing this work further, we introduce the established marketing concepts of ‘involvement’ and ‘elaboration’. Consumer involvement describes the relevance of a situation or decision for an individual. In the marketing literature, the importance of this concept lies in the fact that it influences an individual’s information search and processing strategies. Noting this, propositions are advanced suggesting that the infrastructure attributes that individuals use as informational cues may in fact influence assessments of trusting beliefs differently according to whether individuals face high or low involvement situations.
Using OLAP Tools for e-HRM
Authors: Prado Alysson Bolognesi , Freitas Carmen , Sbrici Thiago Ricardo
Published: February 2011

In the growing challenge of managing people, Human Resources need effective artifacts to support decision making. On Line Analytical Processing is intended to make business information available for managers, and HR departments can now encompass this technology. This paper describes a project in which the authors built a Data Warehouse containing actual Human Resource data. This paper provides data models and shows their use through OLAP software and their presentation to end-users using a web portal. The authors also discuss the progress, and some obstacles of the project, from the IT staff’s viewpoint.
An Examination of Factors Associated with User Acceptance of Social Shopping Websites
Authors: Shen Jia , Eder Lauren B.
Published: February 2011

Social commerce is the latest development in e-commerce to combine the power of online social networking with shopping. While the adoption of information technology is well studied, new theoretical development is needed to account for the specific characteristics of social commerce applications and their interactions with the user. This study examines factors that are associated with user acceptance of social shopping websites, which are sites designed specifically to support social interactions while users shop. This paper augments the Technology Acceptance Model with constructs that enhance the specificity of the model to the social shopping application of social commerce, including social comparison, social engagement, enjoyment as well as perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The model was empirically tested, and the results provided strong support. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.
How Much Can Computers and Internet Help?
Authors: Tsai Chia-Wen
Published: February 2011

Computing education in Taiwan is ineffective. Most teaching efforts in private vocational schools have been devoted to helping students pass tests through a “spoon-feeding” teaching method. Under such constraints, students may lose their long-term competence in practical terms. In this study, the author conducted a series of quasi-experiments to examine the long-term effects of web-mediated problem-based learning (PBL), self-regulated learning (SRL), and their combinations on students’ computing skills over three years. The author re-examined students’ long-term computing skills three years after the start of the related course. Results reveal that effects of web-mediated PBL, SRL, and their combinations on students’ long-term computing skills are significant. The implications for scholars and teachers engaged in online learning were also discussed.
Developing REALSpace
Authors: Vat Kam Hou
Published: February 2011

This manuscript is to provide an action research report on the issues behind the prototyping of a student-centered creative knowledge environment (CKE), which focuses on developing student responsibility, making learning meaningful, promoting overt knowledge construction, performing learner assessment, and showcasing learner achievements. The primary idea is to create an electronic knowledge space where students are enabled to learn through constructing rich portfolios of knowledge work. The issue of learner responsibility lies in student’s willingness to identify learning deficits, setting goals, managing the learning process, and monitoring the learning strategies they use. The issue of meaningful learning lies in providing students with realistic problems, which are conducive to the development of capable problem solvers. The issue of active knowledge construction lies in providing students with opportunities to engage in high-level thinking, reflection, and articulation activities, with suitable support to scaffold students in their pursuit of active learning.
Enabling Organizational Learning to Contribute toward a Learning Organization
Authors: Shen Pei-Di , Lee Tsang-Hsiung , Tsai Chia-Wen , Chen Yi-Fen
Published: February 2011

How can practices of knowledge management (KM) enable organizational learning to occur and then lead toward a learning organization? We seek the answer to this question by exploring three cases, Winbond, Worldpeace, and TSMC, chosen respectively from upstream, midstream, and downstream firms in the IC industry in Taiwan. We studied KM practices focusing on aspects of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer and application. Results showed that KM may play different enabling roles among IC designer, distributor and manufacturer. In this study it was found that IC designers may focus more on knowledge storage, while IC distributors pay more attention to knowledge application, and IC manufacturers emphasize knowledge creation.
The Role of Interface Elements in Web-Mediated Interaction and Group Learning
Authors: Chang Klarissa Ting-Ting , Lim John
Published: February 2011

The Web has increasingly become an important avenue of the learning community; nonetheless, it is wanting in terms of effective interaction among learners. This paper posits that a well-designed user interface will capably address limitations of Web-based learning, and enhance team interactions and learning outcomes. It reports on an experiment that investigated the effect of interface elements on a set of interaction processes, attitudes, and learning outcomes. Availability of interface elements to engage and evaluate learning was found to promote participation, trust, and cooperation among learners. How these process variables impacted outcome variables, as intervened by attitudinal factors, was analyzed using structural modeling. Our analysis provided support to a theoretical model that causally links four sets of variables: input (interface elements), processes, attitudes, and learning outcomes. The paper expounds on the implications of the findings, which have significant importance with respect to the emerging issues in Web-based learning.
A Framework for Distance Education Effectiveness
Authors: Shanker Murali , Hu Michael Y.
Published: February 2011

Distance education is now an integral part of offering courses in many institutions. With increasing access to the Internet, the importance of distance education will only grow. But, to date, the specific benefits that distance education brings to student learning objectives remain unclear. We first propose a framework that links student performance and satisfaction to the learning environment and course delivery. Next, we empirically evaluate our framework using data from a Business Statistics course that we offer in the traditional classroom setting and as a distance-education course. Our results show that a well-designed distance education course can lead to a high level of student satisfaction, but classroom-based students can achieve even higher satisfaction, if they also are given access to learning material on the Internet. This indicates that material for an effective distance-education course also can be used to supplement in-class teaching in order to increase satisfaction with student learning objectives.
Strategic Design for Web-Based Teaching and Learning
Authors: Corbitt Brian , Holt Dale , Segrave Stephen
Published: February 2011

Deakin University has established and integrated a major, corporate technology infrastructure to unify and enhance its on-campus and distance education. This environment is called Deakin Online. Efforts to realize its potential for creating enduring teaching and learning benefits are understood in the context of the University’s commitment to “relevance, responsiveness and innovation.” How are these values and benefits realized in an evolving, educational enterprise using the new digital, corporate technologies and new concepts of organizational structure and function? We argue for the transforming influence of a new academic teacher role, new forms of academic development and open collegiality. Moreover, changes in role and process need to be grounded in systemic, organization-wide and program-wide approaches to designing and working within comprehensively conceived, contemporary learning environments. We argue for system-wide education design, situating e-learning within broader curricular and pedagogical concerns to create enduring benefits in the learning environments of higher education.
Academy-Industry Collaboration
Authors: Lessard Dany , Gaumond Jacques
Published: February 2011

Bridge-eLearning is a consortium aiming to bring together human resources professionals from large companies and experts from training organizations (internationally recognized business and engineering schools). The consortium provides a framework that enables its partners to share best practices in e-learning for management and technology, and to share e-learning content of a high technological and educational quality, innovative online learning experiences and approaches, and e-learning opportunities and needs. The basis of the project’s business model is the development of a shared catalog of e-learning courses enriched by partners over the years. Bridge-eLearning is administered by a steering committee, together with the e-learning committee at the operational and functional level. This paper presents the objectives and functioning of Bridge-e-learning, the achievements of the first year of existence and the perspectives for the next years.