bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ethical Dilemmas in Online Research
Authors: Melville Rose
Published: May 2011

Online research raises unique ethical concerns (Ess & AoIR, 2002), including the treatment and recruitment of participants, gaining consent, accessing electronic forms of data, privacy, and responsibility to the participants of online mediums (e.g., discussion lists and groups). Until the mid-1990s, very little attention was paid to ethical issues in online research for the following reasons: • This communication medium was a very recent phenomenon (Ess & AoIR, 2002; Mann & Steward, 2000) • Internet research posed different ethical challenges for researchers in comparison to conventional face-to-face settings • Existing ethical regulations and ethics review boards did not cover the new ethical issues raised by Internet research • It was too difficult to develop a uniform code of ethical conduct for Internet research given the diverse disciplines, countries, and cultural groups using the Internet (Ess & AoIR, 2002) • The complexity of Internet technology itself, which made adapting conventional ethical practices and processes problematic (Anders cited in Mann & Stewart, 2000; Mann & Stewart, 2000; Thomas, 1996; Whittaker, 2002)
Digital Watermarking for Protection of Intellectual Property
Authors: Suhail Mohamed Abdulla
Published: May 2011

Digital watermarking techniques have been developed to protect the copyright of media signals. This chapter aims to provide a universal review and background about the watermarking definition, concept and the main contributions in this field. The chapter starts with a general view of digital data, the Internet and the products of these two, namely, the multimedia and the e-commerce. Then, it provides the reader with some initial background and history of digital watermarking. The chapter presents an extensive and deep literature review of the field of digital watermarking and watermarking algorithms. It also highlights the future prospective of the digital watermarking.
A Proposed Framework for Making Decisions Dynamically in a Global Organisation
Authors: Chhai Sokkien Leeane , Lan Yi-chen
Published: May 2011

A proposed framework for making decisions dynamically in a global organisation has been developed. This framework enables data to be retrieved and analysed dynamically with the aid of technology. This chapter starts with the discussion of various types of global organisational and departments within a global organisation. It is followed by the investigation and identification of organisational data and decisions that make up the global organisation; it also examines the different enabling technologies that can be applied for information retrieval. The chapter concludes with a proposed framework for making decisions dynamically in a global organisation.
Enabling Technologies for Enterprise Globalizations
Authors: Lan Yi-Chen , Unhelkar B.
Published: May 2011

We have discussed, thus far, the vision of a global enterprise and the process of achieving that vision. However, it is the technologies available today that have made such globalization possible. In this chapter, we deepen our understanding of globalization by delving into the technologies that facilitate this globalization. In addition to the technically minded reader, this understanding will be helpful to the business reader in correlating the technologies that bring about these transitions. At the outset, it is crucial to understand that the fundamental basis of these technologies is their ability to facilitate communication electronically. Figure 5.1 shows these enabling technologies: Internet
Global IT Risk Management Strategies
Authors: Herrod Chrisan
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes why it is important for organizations to develop and implement an IT risk management function and use best practice risk assessment methodologies that provide a standard to measure and assess risk within organizations. Information technology risk management is a significant new function that can help companies achieve world class IT service. IT risk management includes regulatory compliance, information security, disaster recovery, and project risks. IT risk management should be part of a company’s risk management strategy on an equal footing with financial risk management and reputational risk management. As the complexity of IT infrastructures increases and as businesses continue to rely upon the Internet as the communication backbone for e-business, the associated risks increase. For these reasons, deciding upon and implementing a risk management process and a standard methodology will greatly reduce the risks associated with the introduction of new technologies that support the mission of the business.
Dynamical Simulation Models of the Open Source Development Process
Authors: Antoniades I. P. , Samoladas I. , Stamelos I. , Angelis L.
Published: May 2011

This chapter will discuss attempts to produce formal mathematical models for dynamical simulation of the development process of Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) projects. First, a brief overview for simulation methods of closed source software development is given. Then, based on empirical facts reported in F/OSS case studies, we describe a general framework for F/OSS dynamical simulation models and discuss its similarities and differences to closed source software simulation. A specific F/OSS simulation model is introduced. The model is applied to the Apache project and to the gtk+ module of the GNOME project, and simulation outputs are compared to real data. The potential of formal F/OSS simulation models to turn into practical tools used by F/OSS coordinators to predict key project factors is demonstrated. Finally, issues for further research and efforts for improvement of this first-attempt model are discussed.
Software Quality and Open Source Process
Authors: Verma Sameer
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces the open source software development process from a software quality perspective. It uses the attributes of software quality in a formal model and attempts to map them onto the principles of the open source process. Many stages of the open source process appear to have an ad-hoc approach. Although open source is not considered to be a formal methodology for software development, it has resulted in the development of very high quality software, both in the consumer and in the enterprise space. In this chapter, we hope to understand the open source process itself, and apply it to other methodologies in order to achieve better software quality. Additionally, this chapter will help in understanding the “Wild West” nature of open source and what it may hold for us in the future.
An Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model for Strategic Outsourcing for Effective Supply-Chain Linkages
Authors: Kwak N. K. , Lee Chang Won
Published: May 2011

An appropriate outsourcing and supply-chain planning strategy needs to be based on compromise and more objective decision-making procedures. Although factors affecting business performance in manufacturing firms have been explored in the past, focuses are on financial performance and measurement, neglecting intangible and nonfinancial factors in the decision-making planning process. This study presents development of an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model. This model aids in allocating outsourcing and supply-chain resources pertinent to strategic planning by providing a satisfying solution. The model was developed based on the data obtained from a business firm producing intelligent home system devices. This developed model will reinforce a firm’s ongoing outsourcing strategies to meet defined requirements while positioning the supply-chain system to respond to a new growth and innovation.
Web-Based Education Diffusion
Authors: Aggarwal A. K , Legon Ron
Published: May 2011

Web-based education is diffusing across universities, disciplines, globes and educational levels. Many institutions are at the crossroad whether or not to adopt web-based education (WBE). In many cases their survival may depend on how successfully they can adopt WBE. In this regard they can learn from the early adopters of WBE, and from their experiences both good and bad without reinventing the wheel. This paper has two specific purposes: Describe WBE diffusion at a upper level university in the US, and the second is to discuss its diffusion experiences so that other universities can benefit from it This paper relates diffusion of innovation theory and the 4P’s of marketing to discuss web education diffusion. We feel this is a first attempt in this direction. This paper should be useful worldwide for universities planning to start WBE and are looking for some guidance on “how”, “where” and “what” to follow to initiate the process.
Effects of Perceived Risks on Adoption of Internet Banking Services
Authors: Jih Wen-Jang , Wong Shu-Yeng , Chang Tsung-Bin
Published: May 2011

Banking services primarily involve the creation, processing, storage, and distribution of financial information. Most of these services can be conveniently handled via Internet-based information technologies. This convenience, however, may be offset to a certain degree by customers’ perception of the risks associated with transacting in the wide-open cyber-world. A key challenge for online bankers is to maintain a secure information infrastructure that effectively manages the perceived risk factors. This research examines usages of Internet banking services, investigates the nature and sources of customers’ perceived risks, and tests hypotheses with regard to impacts of perceived risks on Internet banking adoption. Using primary data collected in Taiwan, the study finds significant relationships among involvement, familiarity, perceived risks, perception of measures for reducing perceived risks, and customer willingness to adopt Internet banking services. The findings have significant implications for the practice and research in Internet banking.
Globalization and E-Commerce
Authors: Sagi John , Carayanis Elias , Dasgupta Subhasish , Thomas Gary
Published: May 2011

Many authors argue that information and communications technology (ICT) in this New Economy is causing a globalized, unified society. Others take the opposite stand, viewing local factors such as national culture as very important to the success of information technology (IT). Research indicates that related factors such as gender may also play important roles in the use and acceptance of IT. This chapter uniquely examined these by using electronic commerce as the common technology. Business students from the U.S., Greece, and England expressed opinions on the important issues of National Control, Privacy Cost, Property Rights, and Consumer Preferences. Using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), sufficient evidence was found to conclude that there are statistically significant differences in attitude about e-commerce among cultural groups, but not with gender groups. This research found support for several studies indicating the importance of culture on attitudes about technology, and postulated that common attitudes about Privacy Cost and Consumerism may be among indicators of a “technology veneer”.
Issues and Opportunities in E-Business Research
Authors: Chen Ye-Sho , Chen Guoqing , Wu Soushan
Published: May 2011

The third industrial revolution, combining Internet technology with globalization, produces an increasingly complicated e-business environment. There is no wonder that skew distributions, a striking empirical regularity in the hypercompetitive digital economy, have attracted the attention of many researchers recently. Little known by many, Herbert Simon had studied similar regularities in the industrial economy and developed empirically grounded, explanatory theories to help guide strategic decision making in the evolutionary processes of organizations. In this paper, we draw upon five seemingly unrelated research areas of Simon (skew distributions, near decomposability, causal reasoning, effectual reasoning, and attention management) and propose a holistic framework of attention-based information systems for firms to frame an enduring competitive strategy in the digital economy. As an ongoing project, the framework is applied to model Netchising, an emerging research topic in global e-business.
Mapping the Diffusion of the Internet Technology Cluster
Authors: Griffin James
Published: May 2011

This chapter adopts a ‘technology cluster’ perspective in examining Internet usage within SMEs, analyzing Internet usage in terms of three distinct Internet technology groupings. Specific attention is paid to identifying and categorizing the diffusion pattern of website development among the SME sector on the basis of the theory of mimetic IT adoption patterns. Two potential hybrid diffusion patterns are identified, and their implications for policy makers and development agencies in the SME sector are discussed.
A Comparative Study of Strategic Issues of Digital Government Implementations Between Developed and Developing Countries
Authors: Chen Yining , Huang Wayne , Li D. , Shen H. Z. , Zhang P.Z. , Klamo Lori
Published: May 2011

Over the last decade, the Internet has become one of the most important means of communication in all social areas. The success of Web technology adoption in the private sector has put pressures on the public sector to adopt the Internet to present information and service resources. The concept of creating more efficient and convenient interaction between government and the interacting parties using Internet technology is referred to as digital government (or e-government). Recent studies have shown an increase in the adoption of digital government by various countries. Nevertheless, the level of implementation diverges from country to country. This study compares strategic issues of digital government implementation between developed and developing countries. Critical success factors for digital government implementation are discussed. In addition, recommendations are made to developed and developing countries for their implementation of digital government.
E-Mail as a Teaching Supplement in Tunisia
Authors: El Louadi Mohamed El
Published: May 2011

Learning and knowledge dissemination using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is becoming increasingly prevalent in schools and universities around the world. Most institutions of higher learning now invest heavily in technologies such as the web and e-mail for students, staff, and faculty. ICT use is set to rise in emerging countries eager to move towards an “information society” where learning and knowledge are accessible to all.
E-Social Policy and E-Social Service Delivery
Authors: Melville Rose
Published: May 2011

E-social policy is an important aspect of the information society development and e-governance agenda (Fitzpatrick, 2000, 2003; Loader, 1998). To date, it has not received the same amount of critical scholarship and research activity as traditional areas of social policy, but this is changing as policy scholars focus on the whole gamut of e-governance concerns. E-social policy is concerned with the social implications of information technology communication (ITC) technology in its broadest sense. E-service delivery is a narrower term, encompassing the range of ITC used by governments, churches, charities, other non-government organisations (NGOs), and community groups to deliver social and community services online. Initially, most services provided online by governments were of a commercial and business nature (Curtin, Sommer, & Vis-Sommer, 2003), but e-service delivery has evolved quite rapidly in the fields of health, education, social security, and one-stop community information systems. It is better developed in OECD countries and in specific social policy fields (social security, housing, health, education, and community care) whereas in other countries it is very poorly developed and resourced, if it exists at all (Polikanov & Abramova, 2003). Despite this uneven development, there are many innovative examples of ITC use in farming production and trade, e-health services and promotion, education, environmental pollution management, and enhancement of development strategies in poorer nations. However, there is still a long way to go in bridging the digital divide–the unequal access to ITC of richer and poorer nations. This is a global social policy concern.
Factors Motivating the Acceptance of New Information and Communication Technologies in UK Healthcare
Authors: Osbourne Janice A. , Clarke Malcolm
Published: May 2011

This paper discusses the use of three published models, the Technology acceptance model (TAM), Rogers diffusion of Innovation theory (IDT), and the Triandis theory of interpersonal behaviour (TIB), and attempts to bring them together in an integrated model to better predict the adoption of new information and communication technologies by a cohort of health professionals within UK primary care in an attempt to aid implementers in bringing technology in at an organizational level.
Gigabit Ethernet Implementation
Authors: Sarkar Nurul I. , Byrne Catherine , Al-Qirim Nabeel A.Y.
Published: May 2011

Although Ethernet technology is still the most popular LAN technology in use today at the desktop, the throughput offered by the 10 and 100 Mbps Ethernet is inadequate for high bandwidth networking applications such as real-time visualisation, high-resolution graphics, multimedia and Web applications. Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) technology provides 1,000 megabits per second (i.e., one gigabit per second) at more reasonable cost than the other technologies of comparable speed and therefore it is a natural upgrade strategy for many legacy Ethernet networks. This paper reports on a case study of a large New Zealand organization focusing on the level of GigE deployment, design, planning and implementation, network performance testing, problems encountered and future plans. Our findings show the feasibility and practicability of deploying GigE technology in high-speed networking applications such as campus- and corporate-wide local area networks.
Online Communities, Democratic Ideals, and the Digital Divide
Authors: Grodzinsky Frances S. , Tavani Herman T.
Published: May 2011

We examine some pros and cons of online communities with respect to two main questions: (1) Do online communities promote democracy and democratic ideals? and (2) What are the implications of online communities for information justice and the digital divide? The first part of the chapter will examine online communities in general and will attempt to define what we mean by “community” and more precisely, “online communities.” It will then examine ways of building online communities, that is, what brings people together online. The second part of the chapter will look at the positive and negative contributions of online communities in light of democratic ideals and will address the issue of information justice and the digital divide. In examining these questions, we also consider the effects of the Internet for community life at both the local and global levels.
Project Management Issues in IT Offshore Outsourcing
Authors: Schwaig Kathy Stewart , Gillam Stephen H. , Leeds Elke
Published: May 2011

Global partnerships are forming to take advantage of the cost savings associated with offshoring as well as other strategic benefits. Not all information technology offshoring projects, however, are successful. Cost overruns, increased complexity and defective code cause organizations to rethink their offshoring strategy and their methods for managing these projects. In this paper, project management issues associated with offshore information technology outsourcing projects are identified and specific recommendations for addressing these issues are presented.
Cultural Diversity and Trust in IT Adoption
Authors: Gefen David , Rose Gregory M. , Warkentin Merrill , Pavlou Paul A.
Published: May 2011

To trust means to have expectations about others’ (the trustees’) socially acceptable behavior. One of the central effects of this trust in the context of IT adoption is to increase the perceived usefulness (PU) of Information Technology (IT) associated with the trustee’s agency. One way of increasing this trust is through greater sociocultural similarity. Taking previous research into the realm of electronic voting, this paper posits that because trust is culture-dependent, it should decrease considerably as cultural diversity and differentiation increases. To investigate the role of trust in IT adoption in different cultures where dissimilar concepts of socially acceptable behavior exist, this study compares trust-related perceptions of an emerging IT (i.e., electronic voting) between the United States of America (USA) and the Republic of South Africa (RSA). More specifically, the question was addressed by comparing the unique circumstances of the cultural changes in the RSA with the more socially integrated mainstream USA culture. In both cultures, a perceived sociocultural similarity between the individual and the agency in charge of the electronic voting IT contributed to both the establishment of trust and to an increase in the perceived usefulness of the IT, supporting and extending the extrapolations of past propositions to this new realm. However, only in the USA did trust contribute to the PU of the IT. The results suggest that when cultural diversity is large, trust becomes of lesser importance, perhaps because it can no longer reduce social uncertainty. Implications for researchers and governmental voting agencies are discussed, and future research directions are proposed.
Electronic Business in Developing Countries
Authors: Ferran Carlos
Published: May 2011

This chapter uses information theory to study the effect of the Internet and e-business over the digital divide. It develops a framework that defines four types of information technologies and Internets based on four dimensions of information: physical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. Technologies like e-mail that only make use of the first three hardly interact with the industrial infrastructure and superstructure. Nonetheless, technologies like e-commerce that require the pragmatic dimension, which is related to matter and energy (products and services) need such structures. For example, e-commerce requires a trustworthy transportation and payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, developing countries are lacking them. This differential capacity to use the pragmatic dimension of AdvIT/IS (pragmatic fragility) explains why developing countries are not able to skip industrialization and jump into the information era. This pragmatic fragility increases the existing digital divide since implementing e-business in developing countries ends up being the digitalization of bad business practices.
Risk and Investment in the Global Telecommunications Industry
Authors: Henriques Irene , Sadorsky Perry
Published: May 2011

In this chapter, quantitative modeling and simulation techniques are used to estimate various risk measures and the associated cost of equity for the global telecommunications industry. Our approach is to calculate several different cost-of-equity values and then use simulation techniques to build up a probability distribution for each company’s cost of equity. In this way, a clearer picture of where a company’s cost of equity lies is developed. Closing the Digital Divide could bring many benefits to developing countries but international investors and development planners must be able to make their own cost-of-equity calculations so that they can see first hand how their investment projects compare with other investment projects around the globe.
IT for Emancipation of Women in India
Authors: Shaligram Anil
Published: May 2011

At “One Village One Computer Campaign” (1V1C) in India we are resolved to tackle the gender question using information technology. The strategic slogan is “Age old problems, Youthful movement”. Gender equality is sought in the context of the fight against a digital divide that is expressed through the problems of underdevelopment and exclusion. The approach is based on introduction of organizational innovations to raise human capital and social capital in the rural communities and connect them with each other and the world over through a knowledge network. In the hands of women, this becomes a weapon to fight against gender inequality and discrimination. Through the use of information technology, a community centric approach can help rural India to combat social problems. In contemporary times where information, knowledge is the key to development and progress, IT can be used to combat the development concerns of rural India, while keeping local communities and their involvement and empowerment at the forefront of the process. As a technology IT is best suited for the “gendered” sex to empower themselves with education, information, knowledge, skills and so forth, and connect themselves with other rural communities and overcome physical isolation through IT network. For resolution of gender problem, individualized IT empowerment has extremely marginal relevance, whereas tele-center like models based on private proprietorship has also very little success. IT Enabled Women’s Social Network can be a solution in bridging the digital divide and gender problem. 1V1C campaign shows that it is possible to build such networks in remote villages and reach the most downtrodden and even illiterate women.
New Ethics for E-Business Offshore Outsourcing
Authors: Ruzic Fjodor
Published: May 2011

In today’s dynamic e-business environment where fast time to market is imperative, where information and telecommunications technology is costly and changing rapidly, and where skilled technical resources are scarce, e-businesses need reliable, high-end outsourcing infrastructure and resources. E-business companies should consider corporate social responsibility and they must work on reducing the pain and stress of disruption in home countries while increasing the socio-economic benefits of these jobs in the receiving country. E-business should develop offshore outsourcing ethics program. It presents the analysis of the nature and the social impact of information technology and the corresponding formulation and justification of policies for the ethical use of technology. These notions are considered in efforts to produce globally acceptable ethics program that would articulate both individual company and global interests in an appropriate way. This chapter examines e-business ethics development, and new standardization efforts toward unified, globally acceptable Code of Ethics. It covers the analysis and discussion on the needs for such instrument and findings on how to reach unified global solution.
A Tutorial on Hierarchical Classification with Applications in Bioinformatics
Authors: Freitas Alex , de Carvalho André C.P.L.F.
Published: May 2011

In machine learning and data mining, most of the works in classification problems deal with flat classification, where each instance is classified in one of a set of possible classes and there is no hierarchical relationship between the classes. There are, however, more complex classification problems where the classes to be predicted are hierarchically related. This chapter presents a tutorial on the hierarchical classification techniques found in the literature. We also discuss how hierarchical classification techniques have been applied to the area of bioinformatics (particularly the prediction of protein function), where hierarchical classification problems are often found.
Declarative Planning and Knowledge Representation in an Action Language
Authors: Eiter Thomas , Faber Wolfgang , Pfeifer Gerald
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces planning and knowledge representation in the declarative action language K. Rooted in the area of Knowledge Representation & Reasoning, action languages like K allow the formalization of complex planning problems involving non-determinism and incomplete knowledge in a very flexible manner. By giving an overview of existing planning languages and comparing these against our language, we aim on further promoting the applicability and usefulness of high-level action languages in the area of planning. As opposed to previously existing languages for modeling actions and change, K adopts a logic programming view where fluents representing the epistemic state of an agent might be true, false or undefined in each state. We will show that this view of knowledge states can be fruitfully applied to several well-known planning domains from the literature as well as novel planning domains. Remarkably, K often allows to model problems more concisely than previous action languages. All the examples given can be tested in an available implementation, the DLVK planning system.
Combining Requirements Engineering and Agents
Authors: de Antonio Angélica , Imbert Ricardo
Published: May 2011

The concept of Agent is being used with different meanings and purposes in two separate fields of software engineering, namely Requirements Engineering and Agent-Oriented Software Engineering. After an introduction to Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) and its evolution into Agent-Oriented Requirements Engineering (AORE), this chapter provides a review of some of the main Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) methodologies, focusing on their support for requirements modeling. Then the chapter analyzes how both approaches to Agents relate to each other, what the differences are among them, and how they could benefit from each other. Problems are identified and discussed that need to be addressed for a successful integration of both fields, and recommendations are provided to advance in this direction.
The Goose, The Fly, and the Submarine Navigator
Authors: Riegler Alexander
Published: May 2011

Interdisciplinary research provides in¬spirations and insights into how a variety of disciplines can contribute to the formulation of an alternative path to artificial cognition systems. It has been suggested that results from ethology, evolutionary theory and epistemology can be condensed into four boundary conditions. They lead to the outline of an architecture for genuine cognitive systems, which seeks to overcome traditional problems known from artificial intelligence research. Two major points are stressed: (a) The maintenance of explanatory power by favoring an advanced rule-based system rather than neuronal systems, and (b) the organizational closure of the cognitive apparatus, which has far-reaching implications for the creation of meaningful agents.
Modeling Malaria with Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: Rateb Fatima , Pavard Bernard , Bellamine-BenSaoud Narjes , Merelo J. J. , Arenas M. G.
Published: May 2011

Malaria is a vector-borne disease that greatly affects social and economic development. We adopt the complex system paradigm in our analysis of the problem. Our aim is to assess the impact of education on malaria healthcare. Multi-agent systems are employed to model the spread of malaria in Haiti, where we introduce malaria education as a possible way of regulating deaths due to the parasite. We launch three experiments, each with environment modifications: three hospitals; three hospitals and 20 schools; and five hospitals and 20 schools. The results of running 10 simulations for each experiment show that there is a reduction in malaria deaths not only when including schools, but in combination with increasing the number of hospitals.
Lessons Learned in Designing Ubiquitous Augmented Reality User Interfaces
Authors: Sandor Christian , Klinker Gudrun
Published: May 2011

Ubiquitous augmented reality (UAR) is an emerging human-computer interaction technology, arising from the convergence of augmented reality and ubiquitous computing. In UAR, visualizations can augment the real world with digital information. Interactions can follow a tangible metaphor. Both should adapt according to the user’s context and are distributed on a possibly changing set of devices. Current research problems for user interfaces in UAR are software infrastructures, authoring tools and a supporting design process. We present case studies of how we have used a systematic design space analysis to carefully narrow the amount of available design options. The next step in our approach is to use interactive, possibly immersive tools to support interdisciplinary brainstorming sessions. Several tools are presented. We conclude by summarizing the lessons we have learned while applying our method.
International E-Commerce
Authors: Kamel Magdi N.
Published: May 2011

The phenomenal worldwide growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web has made it an important vehicle for both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce. While the Web offers great opportunities for international electronic commerce by eliminating the barriers of time and space, language, cultural, legal, and infrastructure issues present major impediments to global Internet commerce. In this chapter we address language, cultural, legal, and infrastructure issues as barriers to international electronic commerce. Specifically the chapter presents a framework for identifying and addressing language, cultural, legal and infrastructure issues. The goal is to help organizations meet the challenge of providing online international visitors with a high quality experience, regardless of location, language, business practices, and culture, while complying with legal requirements.
Public Sector E-Commerce
Authors: Reddick Christopher G.
Published: May 2011

Electronic commerce or e-commerce has the potential to streamline existing functions and services in the public sector by reducing transaction costs or the cost of doing business. This article provides an overview of some of the critical e-commerce issues for the public sector focusing on its impact on reducing transaction costs.
Virtual Community Models in Relation to E-Business Models
Authors: Shan Lee Moh , Sutanto Juliana , Kankanhalli Atreyi , Tan Bernard C.Y.
Published: May 2011

Virtual communities were initially recognized as social phenomena. This is evident from the definition of virtual community as “a social aggregation that emerges from the Net when enough people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace” (Rheingold, 2000, p. 5). The idea of a virtual community as a profitable business model was subsequently raised by Hagel and Armstrong (1996, 1997) who claimed that the benefits of a virtual community would arise from two aspects: from the unique capabilities of the digital medium where the virtual community is located in and from the virtual community model itself. The latter aspect is what differentiates virtual communities from other online Web sites. Unlike other online Web sites, a virtual community is intended to create a “sense of community” that binds individuals to the Web site and serves as the “push” factor for repeat visits. Table 1 summarizes some of the proposed business benefits stemming from a virtual community (Bank & Daus, 2002; Hagel & Armstrong, 1996, 1997). Although the startup cost of a virtual community is comparatively low, the costs of maintaining it are significantly higher (Hagel & Armstrong, 1997; Kim, 2000). Therefore the decision of whether to create a virtual community in support of an e-commerce Web site is not to be taken lightly. Critics have also questioned the validity of the suggested benefits of a virtual community, particularly since there are no clear-cut measures to verify that these benefits can be attributed to the virtual community. Additionally, the fundamental premise which the virtual community relies on for its success, that is, its unique capacity for interaction amongst members and/or with the company (Balasubramanian & Mahajan, 2001; Lechner & Hummel, 2002; Mynatt, O’Day, Adler, & Ito, 1997), is subject to high risks of failure. This is because customers can always turn this capability to the company’s disadvantage by spreading adverse comments about the company’s products and services. Hence, a virtual community actually has the means to work both for as well as
Evaluating the Usability and Content Usefulness of Web Sites
Authors: Hassan Shahizan , Li Feng
Published: May 2011

Although benchmarking technique has been widely used in various aspects of organisations and businesses, there is no clear framework on how the technique can be applied for Web evaluation. This article presents a framework for evaluating the usability and content usefulness of Web sites by using the benchmarking approach. It describes the purpose of evaluation, metrics to be used, and processes through which Web benchmarking can be carried out. Several methods were used which include content analysis of literature and expert review. A total of 46 criteria were identified that can be used as the benchmarking metrics. The framework was tested for its applicability by evaluating four political Web sites in Malaysia. The results proved that the framework is easy to implement and would be particularly valuable for those who intend to benchmark the overall usability and content usefulness of their Web sites against those of their competitors.
Extending Apache Axis for Monitoring of Web Service Offerings
Authors: Tosic Vladimir , Ma Wei , Pagurek Babak , Pagurek Bernard , Lutfiyya Hanan
Published: May 2011

The Web Service Offerings Infrastructure (WSOI) is a monitoring and management infrastructure for the Web Service Offerings Language (WSOL). It extends Apache Axis, an open-source tool for hosting Web services. We present technical details of several WSOI solutions for monitoring Web Services. To pass management information among management parties, we built WSOI serializer and WSOI deserializer modules converting data between formats of Axis’ MessageContext properties and SOAP headers. To perform different monitoring activities for different WSOL service offerings, we implemented Web Service Offering Descriptor (WSOD) as a complement to Axis’ Web Service Deployment Descriptor (WSDD) component. To represent run-time values of WSOL-related management information, we developed WSOI management information model. All these solutions were verified with a prototype implementation of WSOI 2.0 and validated on case studies.
Multilingual Electronic Commerce in a Global Economy
Authors: Gangopadhyay Aryya , Huang Zhensen
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this research is to further the knowledge required for building electronic commerce systems that operate in multiple languages in global settings. The issues in multilingual electronic commerce are presented in two parts. First we describe a bilingual electronic catalog that can be used by online retailers for selling products and/or services to customers interacting in either English or Chinese that was developed to investigate into the nature of user interactions in multilingual electronic catalogs. Second, we discuss issues in developing multilingual electronic catalogs.
The Affective and Cognitive Impacts of Perceived Touch on Online Customers' Intention to Return in the Web-based eCRM Environment
Authors: Chen Hong-Mei , Chen Qimei , Kazman Rick
Published: May 2011

Electronic Customer Relationship Management (ECRM) systems focus on a website as the interaction channel for creating a one-to-one relationship with customers via various “touch” options. The intention of such technologies is to affectively and cognitively impact on online customers’ intention to return to the website. To capture the influence of eCRM systems, we define a construct, Perceived Touch, to differentiate the customer’s perception of the touch received from the actual level of touch deployed. We report the results of an empirical study that provides evidence that Perceived Touch positively influences customers’ Behavioral Intention to Return via both affective and cognitive routes. Our results show that Perceived Touch provides a theoretical underpinning for eCRM system design and suggests that e-business managers invest in the design and evaluation of the users’ perception of touch options and pay special attention to affective quality manipulation.
Leveraging What Your Company Really Knows
Authors: Marchand Donald , Hykes Amy
Published: May 2011

Strategic intelligence is about having the right information in the hands of the right people at the right time so that those people are able to make informed business decisions about the future of the business. Thus, in order to improve a company’s strategic intelligence process, management must take a critical look at how effectively they manage information. Effective information management requires specific information-processing practices, employee behaviors and values, and technology. The information orientation (IO) framework is a tool that managers can use to determine the company’s level of effective information management and to identify areas where they can make improvements. By achieving IO maturity—aligning processes, people behaviors, and technology practices with business strategies—a company can derive a competitive advantage and future leadership. IO mature companies are most successful at collecting and openly sharing the strategic intelligence that their employees need in order to successfully monitor and proactively react to future market trends or events.
An Interventionist Approach to E-Commerce Implementation in SMEs
Authors: Tucker David , Lafferty Anthony
Published: May 2011

SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) make a vital contribution to the economic and social well being of most European nations. Many SMEs have invested in an e-commerce presence on the Internet. They are motivated by the potential benefits, which include increased competitiveness and efficiency. In the U.K. there are many examples of entrepreneurial SMEs that have successfully embraced e-commerce. However, there are also many more SMEs that could benefit from Web-based e-commerce but have not yet done so. This chapter sets out the main factors that are inhibiting SMEs from adopting e-commerce. It then reports on a two-year teaching company scheme (TCS) between the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School (MMUBS) and Partwell Ltd., a U.K.-based manufacturing SME. This TCS was designed to improve the competitiveness of Partwell by establishing an e-commerce Web presence. The chapter highlights the philosophy and objectives of the TCS programme and describes the process of technology transfer between Partwell and MMUBS. One of the authors became immersed in the company for the two-year duration of the project, and the data presented here are based on his experience as an initiator of change. The action learning method by which e-commerce was introduced into the company is described and the results are evaluated against contemporary technology diffusion literature. It is shown that gaining the trust of key employees at Partwell, coupled with the adoption of a soft approach to e-commerce implementation, is a critical success factor. Finally, the chapter reports on the benefits that Partwell has gained through the TCS experience.
The Virtual Agency as a New Force in the Promotions Industry
Authors: Finney R. Zachary , Close Angeline Grace
Published: May 2011

The virtual agency (VA) is a new form of advertising/promotions organization. By using technology to create ad hoc teams of promotions professionals, the virtual agency is changing the nature of the advertising business. In the following paragraphs, we (a) distinguish the virtual agency from traditional agencies and (b) explain why this is an important development for e-commerce and the advertising/promotion field. Virtual agencies use the Internet as a means to redistribute the tasks traditionally performed at a single promotions firm. The completed work that the agencies perform for their clients is often similar to the work produced by traditional agencies. Virtual agencies, however, typically perform such work for a fraction of the traditional full-service agency’s price These new organizations are revolutionizing the promotions industry by the manner in which they distribute the tasks associated with creating a promotions campaign. To date, the agencies have not used the Internet to produce wholly new types of promotions. The virtual agencies instead use the Internet for simple communication; the Internet allows VAs to collaborate in a manner that was much more difficult prior to the widespread adoption of the Web.
User Modeling in Information Portals
Authors: Magoulas George D.
Published: May 2011

This article provides a background on existing approaches for developing user models. It identifies the basic types of information that need to be stored in a user model and discusses tools for automated user modeling. Lastly, it discusses future trends in user modeling for Web portals.
Building an Instructional Framework to Support Learner Control in Adaptive Educational Systems
Authors: Papanikolaou Kyparisia A. , Grigoriadou Maria
Published: May 2011

Recently there has been a growing appreciation concerning learner control over the learning/instructional process, leading to the development of mixed-initiative systems where learners are allowed to take varying levels of control. The design of Adaptive Educational Systems (AES) that provide such learner control opportunities through their adaptive and adaptable dimensions, is a challenging research goal that requires a certain understanding of the learning and instructional processes. To this aim, in this chapter we focus on the educational background that should underlie the design of adaptation and learner-system interaction in the context of AES used for Web-based education. We propose an instructional framework that supports a variety of instructional approaches and provides guidelines that unify several processes underlying adaptation such as structuring the domain knowledge, developing the content, and planning individualised support—assessment—learner control opportunities. This framework incorporates a variety of approaches over instruction and assessment, in order to accommodate the diversity of learners’ needs and preferences, and enable them to choose when, what, and how to learn. The theoretical background underlying the design of the framework and the implications for Web-based AES design are also discussed.
User Acceptance of Voice Recognition Technology
Authors: Simon Steven John , Paper David
Published: May 2011

Voice recognition technology-enabled devices possess extraordinary growth potential, yet some research indicates that organizations and consumers are resisting their adoption. This study investigates the implementation of a voice recognition device in the United States Navy. Grounded in the social psychology and information systems literature, the researchers adapted instruments and developed a tool to explain technology adoption in this environment. Using factor analysis and structural equation modeling, analysis of data from the 270 participants explained almost 90% of the variance in the model. This research adapts the technology acceptance model by adding elements of the theory of planned behavior, providing researchers and practitioners with a valuable instrument to predict technology adoption.
Mobile Users in Smart Spaces
Authors: Oliveira Loreno , Almeida Hyggo , Perkusich Angelo
Published: May 2011

In this article we define and present the basis of our work about dynamical services provisioning for mobile users in smart spaces. We present an overview about our envisioned service provision infrastructure, as well as the main research challenges related to it. Finally, we discuss issues related to the current state of our research and point out research directions in this field.