bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Knowledge Management Systems Diffusion in Chinese Enterprises
Authors: Lee One-Ki ("Daniel") , Wang Mo ("Winnie") , Lim Kai H. , Peng Zeyu ("Jerry")
Published: October 2011

With the recognition of the importance of organizational knowledge management (KM), researchers have paid increasing attention to knowledge management systems (KMS). However, since most prior studies were conducted in the context of Western societies, we know little about KMS diffusion in other regional contexts. Moreover, even with the increasing recognition of the influence of social factors in KM practices, there is a dearth of studies that examine how unique social cultural factors affect KMS diffusion in specific countries. To fill in this gap, this study develops an integrated framework, with special consideration on the influence of social cultures, to understand KMS diffusion in Chinese enterprises. In our framework, we examine how specific technological, organizational, and social cultural factors can influence the three-stage KMS diffusion process, that is, initiation, adoption, and routinization. This study provides a holistic view of the KMS diffusion in Chinese enterprises with practical guidance for successful KMS implementation.
Knowledge Strategy and Its Role in the Organization
Authors: Kasten Joseph E.
Published: October 2011

Knowledge strategy is defined as the set of guidelines and philosophies that guide an organization’s knowledge-based activities, such as knowledge gathering, development, storage, and utilization. Much of the early literature describing knowledge strategy suggests that its role in the organization is to drive, and be driven by, organizational structure and the human resources and technology strategies. The present research utilizes semi-structured interview data to determine that knowledge strategy is less of a formal structure and more of a lens through which knowledge-based decisions are viewed and focused, resulting in organizational actions that align with the knowledge strategy of the organization.
The Effect of Level of Negotiation Support Systems and Cultural Diversity on Coalition Formation
Authors: Guo Xiaojia , Lim John , Wang Fei
Published: October 2011

This article is an attempt to investigate the role of negotiation support systems (NSSs) in supporting inter-team negotiations, which have become commonplace for today’s business negotiations. Inter-team negotiations differ from simple dyadic negotiations, and are associated with enormous complexity introduced by the negotiating team dynamics. When there are three or more members in a negotiating team, coalition formation by team members stands out as an intriguing phenomenon, of which cultural diversity is a primary antecedent. NSSs through altering coalition formation dynamics have important impacts on various negotiation outcomes. An experiment was conducted to test our research model and hypotheses. A content analysis was undertaken to measure the extent of coalition formation. Besides the quantitative approach, a qualitative analysis was also conducted to further enhance our exploratory efforts in examining the phenomenon. The results provide initial evidence of the usefulness of NSSs in supporting inter-team negotiations and have both theoretical and practical implications.
Teamworking for Security
Authors: Bye Rainer , Camtepe Ahmet , Albayrak Sahin
Published: October 2011

Collaborative methods are promising tools for solving complex security tasks. In this context, the authors present the security overlay framework CIMD (Collaborative Intrusion and Malware Detection), enabling participants to state objectives and interests for joint intrusion detection and find groups for the exchange of security-related data such as monitoring or detection results accordingly; to these groups the authors refer as detection groups. First, the authors present and discuss a tree-oriented taxonomy for the representation of nodes within the collaboration model. Second, they introduce and evaluate an algorithm for the formation of detection groups. After conducting a vulnerability analysis of the system, the authors demonstrate the validity of CIMD by examining two different scenarios inspired sociology where the collaboration is advantageous compared to the non-collaborative approach. They evaluate the benefit of CIMD by simulation in a novel packet-level simulation environment called NeSSi (Network Security Simulator) and give a probabilistic analysis for the scenarios.
The Influence of Attitude on the Acceptance and Use of Information Systems
Authors: Kacmar Charles J. , Fiorito Susan S. , Carey Jane M.
Published: October 2011

The nomological network of the technology acceptance model is expanded through the addition of affective and task-preparation variables as antecedents to traditional predictors of technology acceptance:output quality, result demonstrability, and ease of use. An empirical study involving a visual/simulation information system, set in the domain of retail merchandise planning, finds that negative affectivity (NA) is a consistent and strong negative antecedent to perceptions of output quality, result demonstrability, and ease of use. In contrast, positive affectivity (PA) is a significant and positive antecedent to ease of use, but not necessarily a significant antecedent to either output quality or result demonstrability. A new construct developed from the job characteristics literature—perceived task preparation—measured the subject’s perceptions of the pre-system usage training, which included task design and modeling instruction, scenarios of activities within the prospective information system, discussions and review of the system documentation, and highly structured, pre-task system use activities. Perceived task preparation was found to be a significant and strong positive indicator of computer self-efficacy.
How Do Virtual Teams Work Efficiently
Authors: Liu Ying Chieh , Burn Janice M.
Published: October 2011

Virtual teams are groups of members collaborating in the execution of a specific task from disperse locations. Increasing use of virtual teams has highlighted the need for organizations to focus on ways to improve their performance. The key issues of concern include both technical and social dimensions, and this research study addresses the latter. Hence, this study derives a social relationship model from a comprehensive literature review and conducts an experiment to validate this through SEM (structural equation modeling). The results reveal: (1) communication has a direct positive impact on relationship building, but indirect positive effects on performance and satisfaction; (2) relationship building impacts directly with strong and positive impacts on cohesion and trust, but indirectly with strong impacts on performance and satisfaction; (3) cohesion has a direct, strong, and positive impact on performance, but a strong indirect impact on satisfaction; (4) trust has a positive direct impact on performance, but an indirect positive impact on satisfaction; and (5) performance has a strong and positive impact on satisfaction. In addition, this study confirms that relationship building is a vital mediator in the social relationship model. Managerial implications and future research directions are identified.
Towards Dynamic Collaborations in Virtual Organization Alliances
Authors: Zhao Xiaohui , Liu Chengfei
Published: October 2011

This chapter introduces a service oriented relative workflow model as a means of helping organisations promptly create flexible and privacy-safe virtual organisation alliances. It argues that virtual organisation alliances are highly advocated to adapt to dynamic B2B collaborations, driven by the fast changing service demand-and-supply requirements. However, the temporary partnership and low trustiness between collaborating organisations put challenges to effectively manage collaborative business processes, and correspondingly an organisation centred design method and a visibility mechanism are discussed in this chapter to provide a finer granularity of authority control at contacting and collaboration design phases. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the establishment of a virtual organisation alliance through the use of relative workflows will not only inform researchers a better business process design methodology, but also assist in the understanding of the dynamic behaviours inside a virtual organisation alliance and the supporting approaches.
IT Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Suraweera Theekshana
Published: October 2011

Computer-based information systems have grown in importance to SMEs, and are now being used increasingly to help them compete. For example, many SMEs have turned to the Internet to support their endeavours. Although the technology that is being used is relatively well understood, its effective management is not so well understood. A good understanding of IT management is important, as the management of IT is an attribute that has the potential to deliver a sustainable competitive advantage to a firm (Mata, Fuerst, & Barney, 1995). This article shows that there is no one accepted view of the term “IT management” for either large or small firms. However, the term “management” is often considered to include the four functions of planning, organising, leading, and controlling. This framework has been applied to SMEs and specifically to their IT management. The article also shows that recent studies have shown significant links between IT management and both IT adoption and IT success. Resource-based theory is helping researchers gain a greater understanding of IT competences. These advances look likely to improve our understanding of the relationship between IT use and SME performance.
Innovative Work and Citizenship Behaviors from Information Technology Professionals
Authors: Newton Sandra K. , Blanton J. Ellis , Will Richard
Published: October 2011

Little is known about the effects of the level of fulfillment of the IT professional’s psychological contract on their innovative work and organizational citizenship behaviors. Using psychological contract and social information processing theories, this article proposes to answer the research question: How does the level of fulfillment of the IT professionals’ psychological contract affect their organizational citizenship and innovative work behaviors? Survey data were collected from 209 IT professionals using groupadministered paper and online surveys. Results show positive relationships with the level of fulfillment of the IT professional’s psychological contract and their innovative work behavior, as well as four of their organizational citizenship behaviors, specifically loyalty, advocacy participation, obedience, and functional participation. Extending the body of knowledge, the dimensional approach of the psychological contract was used resulting in the scope, focus, and tangibility dimensions being the most significant predictors of the organizational behaviors.
IT Governance and IT Risk Management Principles and Methods for Supporting ’Always-On’ Enterprise Information Systems
Authors: Spremic Mario
Published: October 2011

Most organizations in all sectors of industry, commerce, and government are fundamentally dependent on their information systems (IS) and would quickly cease to function should the technology (preferably information technology–IT) that underpins their activities ever come to halt. The development and governance of proper IT infrastructure may have enormous implications for the operation, structure, and strategy of organizations. IT and IS may contribute towards efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness improvements of both interorganizational and intraorganizational systems. On the other hand, successful organizations manage IT function in much the same way that they manage their other strategic functions and processes. This, in particular, means that they understand and manage risks associated with growing IT opportunities, as well as critical dependence of many business processes on IT and vice-versa. IT risk management issues are not only marginal or ‘technical’ problems but become more and more a ‘business problem.’ Therefore, in this chapter, a corporate IT risk management model is proposed and contemporary frameworks of IT governance and IT audit explained. Also, it is depicted how to model information systems and supporting IT procedures to meet ‘always-on’ requirements that comes from the business. In fact, a number of IT metrics proposed in the chapter support the alignment of IT Governance activities with business requirements towards IT.
Strategic Management, Evolutionary Economics, and Complex Adaptive Systems
Authors: Reschke Carl Henning , Kraus Sascha
Published: October 2011

This chapter sketches a strategic map of a selection of the relevant issues at the intersection of economics, psychology, sociology, and evolutionary theories applied to strategic management. It takes an evolutionary complexity perspective, based on a (manageable) selection of the relevant literature. The discussion focuses on evolutionary processes of change and their implications for strategic planning and related issues of organisation. The chapter concludes by discussing practical and research issues.
Making the Case for Critical Realism
Authors: Dobson Phillip , Myles John , Jackson Paul
Published: October 2011

This article seeks to address the dearth of practical examples of research in the area by proposing that critical realism be adopted as the underlying research philosophy for enterprise systems evaluation. We address some of the implications of adopting such an approach by discussing the evaluation and implementation of a number of automated performance measurement systems (APMS). Such systems are a recent evolution within the context of enterprise information systems. They collect operational data from integrated systems to generate values for key performance indicators, which are delivered directly to senior management. The creation and delivery of these data are fully automated, precluding manual intervention by middle or line management. Whilst these systems appear to be a logical progression in the exploitation of the available rich, real-time data, the statistics for APMS projects are disappointing. An understanding of the reasons is elusive and little researched. We describe how critical realism can provide a useful “underlabourer” for such research, by “clearing the ground a little ... removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way of knowledge” (Locke, 1894, p. 14). The implications of such an underlabouring role are investigated. Whilst the research is still underway, the article indicates how a critical realist foundation is assisting the research process.
EIS Systems and Quality Management
Authors: Gerritsen Bart H.M.
Published: October 2011

This chapter discusses the support of quality management by Enterprise Information Systems. After a brief introduction in ISO9001, one of the principle and widest-spread quality management frameworks, this chapter discusses the design and implementation of a typical QMS and in particular of key performance indicators, indicating the present state of performance in the organization. While analyzing design and implementation issues, requirements on the supporting EIS system will be derived. Finally, the chapter presents an outlook onto future developments, trends and research. This chapter reveals that key performance indicators can be well integrated in EIS systems, using either relational or objectoriented storage technology.
Free and Open Source Enterprise Resources Planning
Authors: de Carvalho Rogerio Atem
Published: October 2011

This chapter introduces the key aspects of Free/Open Source Enterprise Resources Planning systems (FOS-ERP). Starting by related work carried out by researchers and practitioners, it argues in favor of the growing acceptance of this category of enterprise systems while showing how this subject is not yet well explored, especially by researchers. The goals of this chapter are to highlight the differences between FOS-ERP and their proprietary equivalents (P-ERP) in terms of business models, selection, customization, and evolution; and showing the challenges and opportunities that they offer to adopters, vendors, researchers, and individual collaborators. Therefore, this chapter tries to broaden the discussion around the FOS-ERP subject, currently focused only in cost aspects, bringing more attention to other aspects and pointing out their innovative potential.
Intellectual Property Protection in Software Enterprises
Authors: Kettunen Juha
Published: October 2011

Enterprises are facing challenges in protecting their intellectual property (IP) due to the rapid technological changes, shortened lifecycles, and the intangibility of products. The IP protection granted by the national intellectual property rights (IPRs) legislation does not correspond very well with the needs of enterprises operating in a rapidly changing business environment (Andersen & Striukova, 2001; Bechina, 2006). The most valuable assets of knowledge intensive enterprises are the knowledge and skills embodied in human capital, which cannot be protected using the traditional and formal IP protection (Coleman & Fishlock, 1999; Kitching & Blackburn, 1998; Miles, Andersen, Boden, & Howells, 2000). The challenges for IP protection in the context of knowledge intensive small enterprises lie in creating business environments that support the knowledge sharing and creation, innovativeness, and IP protection. In particular, the challenges are related to the identification of such formal and informal protection methods which improve the business process. The aim of knowledge management is to stimulate innovation and create knowledge. Knowledge management allows knowledge with critical and strategic characteristics in an enterprise to be located, formalised, shared, enhanced, and developed. The purpose of this study on information security management is to explore how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) protect their IP in software business. This study investigates how strategic IP protection supports the knowledge sharing and innovation creation and explores the critical phases of IP protection in small software enterprises. This study also describes and develops management, using the approach of knowledge management and applying the spiral of knowledge creation in software development. The article is organised as follows. The IP protection of enterprises operating in software development is introduced in the background section. The main attention of the article concentrates on IP protection, which is analysed using the framework of knowledge management. IP protection is investigated in the various phases of knowledge creation in software development. Thereafter some future trends are described. Finally, the results of the study are summarised and discussed in the concluding section.
Digital Rights Management
Authors: Kostopoulos Ioannis
Published: October 2011

This chapter highlights the need for using copyright protection tools in our digital transactions. The main tools of copyright protection, such as cryptography, data hiding, and watermarking, along with the security framework where these tools can be used is also presented. However, all these tools and methods can be used only inside a specific technological and legal framework. This gap between technology and traditional human activities is bridged by developing the Digital Rights Management systems which is presented as a necessary mechanism to provide integrated e-services over the Internet. The legal framework and the current activities of organizations as WIPO (World Intellectual Property Rights Organization) is also provided in this chapter with the existing DRM technologies and the future research directions in this field
Security Implications for Management from the Onset of Information Terrorism
Authors: Webb Ken
Published: October 2011

This chapter results from a qualitative research study finding that a heightened risk for management has emerged from a new security environment that is increasingly spawning asymmetric forms of Information Warfare. In particular, there is evidence that after recent terrorist events there has been a lift in security across the world and identification of terrorists now able to conduct Information Warfare. Also concerning is that, over the years, there have been many interpretations of what constitutes this threat. Therefore, after extensively reviewing literature mainly on Information Warfare and Terrorism, this chapter defines for readers what the threat of Information Terrorism is and the new dynamic security environment that it has created. Security implications for management have subsequently evolved, as they are now required to think about the philosophical considerations emerging from this increasing threat, and these are outlined and form the basis for future thinking.
Emerging Trends in Outsourcing
Authors: Patki Tapasya , Patki A.B. , Kulkarni Mahesh
Published: October 2011

Outsourcing has been conventionally viewed as a solution to generate quick profits and provide business continuity. The previous decades have seen the emergence of the Information Age, where the key focus was on knowledge acquisition and application. We are now progressing towards the era that revolves around “concept” development from an era that was information-dependent. This age, referred to as the Conceptual Age, will be dominated by six new senses: Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning; and shall focus on the human resource development aspects. This creates a need to diverge from the current reliance on linear and sequential algorithmic practices in outsourcing and to adopt cognition based engineering and management approaches. This chapter lays the foundation for Offshore Engineering and Management (OEM) and discusses estimation issues in OEM that have their roots in software engineering. Also, this chapter identifies the limitations of the current methodologies from an outsourcing point of view, and delineates how they can be deployed effectively for an outsourced environment.
Challenges in Sharing Computer and Network Logs
Authors: Slagell Adam , Lakkaraju Kiran
Published: October 2011

It is desirable for many reasons to share information, particularly computer and network logs. Researchers need it for experiments, incident responders need it for collaborative security, and educators need this data for real world examples. However, the sensitive nature of this information often prevents its sharing. Anonymization techniques have been developed in recent years that help reduce risk and navigate the trade-offs between privacy, security and the need to openly share information. This chapter looks at the progress made in this area of research over the past several years, identifies the major problems left to solve and sets a roadmap for future research.
New Computer Network Paradigms and Virtual Organizations
Authors: Ibáñez Fernández Guillermo Agustín
Published: October 2011

A computer network consists of computers that communicate via any physical media through a network formed by links and nodes, the nodes being the computers. Computer networks have evolved along their short history. Computer networks have changed drastically in mission and implementation from the early projects supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and from other organizations, tracing back the origins to 1962. The ARPA network (ARPANET) consisted initially of a small set of nodes at research centres and universities, connected with links at 56 kbps across the United States. ARPANET was the core of the early Internet, a network for research centres and universities. Computer networks are based on the concept of packet switching within a shared communication medium, as opposite to circuit switching, the dominant paradigm for the precedent telegraph and telephone networks. In 1968 Paul Baran proposed a network system based on nodes that forward datagrams or packets from different users over a common line between computer systems from origin to destination. The packet switching paradigm provides resiliency of network against network node failures, the independent routing of datagrams per node makes possible that the datagrams reach their destination even in presence of multiple node failures.
A Forecasting Concept for Virtual Organisations Supporting SMEs
Authors: Eschenbächer Jens , Duin Heiko
Published: October 2011

Planning and management of Virtual Organisations (VOs) depends on accurate prognosis and forecasting of several organisational aspects. New and innovative business models such as the VO offer a variety of new options for SME to do business. This chapter presents a system-oriented view to understand planning and forecasting needs in VOs. The strategic issues in planning will be elaborated by using the cross-impact analysis. For the medium-term planning the focus lies on investigations based on the so-called collaborative network analysis. An industrial case study is introduced to demonstrate the application of the concept.
Ambient Intelligence as Cognitive Niche Enrichment
Authors: Magnani Lorenzo , Bardone Emanuele
Published: October 2011

We will introduce some cognitive and epistemological foundational aspects related to Ambient Intelligence (AmI). We will show how three concepts which derive from the tradition of cognitive science may be of help in deepening some of the main theoretical aspects concerning Ambient Intelligence: the notion of distributed cognition, the concept of cognitive niche, and the concept of affordance. We contend that this theoretical perspective will shed new light on some of the most promising and interesting developments recently brought about by Ambient Intelligence.
SensFloor® and NaviFloor®
Authors: Steinhage Axel , Lauterbach Christl
Published: October 2011

The second system serves for localizing moving objects such as robots, wheelchairs or hospital beds by means of RFID tags in the floor. In the following, we describe the technical details of the two systems and possible applications.
Image-Word Mapping
Authors: Cai Yang , Kaufer David
Published: October 2011

No Ambient Intelligence can survive without human-computer interactions. Over ninety percent of information in our communication is verbal and visual. The mapping between one-dimensional words and two-dimensional images is a challenge for visual information classification and reconstruction. In this Chapter, we present a model for the image-word two-way mapping process. The model applies specifically to facial identification and facial reconstruction. It accommodates through semantic differential descriptions, analogical and graph-based visual abstraction that allows humans and computers to categorize objects and to provide verbal annotations to the shapes that comprise faces. An image-word mapping interface is designed for efficient facial recognition in massive visual datasets. We demonstrate how a two-way mapping of words and facial shapes is feasible in facial information retrieval and reconstruction.
System Support for Smart Spaces
Authors: Ballestero Francisco J. , Soriano Enrique , Guardiola Gorka
Published: October 2011

There are some important requirements to build effective smart spaces, like human aspects, sensing, activity recognition, context awareness, etc. However, all of them require adequate system support to build systems that work in practice. In this chapter, we discuss system level support services that are necessary to build working smart spaces. We also include a full discussion of system abstractions for pervasive computing taking in account naming, protection, modularity, communication, and programmability issues.
MEDUSA
Authors: Davidyuk Oleg , Issarny Valérie , Riekki Jukka
Published: October 2011

Activity-oriented computing (AOC) is a paradigm promoting the run-time realization of applications by composing ubiquitous services in the user’s surroundings according to abstract specifications of user activities. The paradigm is particularly well-suited for enacting ubiquitous applications. However, there is still a need for end-users to create and control the ubiquitous applications because they are better aware of their own needs and activities than any existing context-aware system could ever be. In this chapter, we give an overview of state of the art ubiquitous application composition, present the architecture of the MEDUSA middleware and demonstrate its realization, which is based on existing open-source solutions. On the basis of our discussion on state of the art ubiquitous application composition, we argue that current implementations of the AOC paradigm are lacking in end-user support. Our solution, the MEDUSA middleware, allows end-users to explicitly compose applications from networked services, while building on an activity-oriented computing infrastructure to dynamically realize the composition.
Home Service Engineering for Sensor Networks
Authors: Meis Jochen , Wojciechowski Manfred
Published: October 2011

This Chapter deals with the important process related to smart environments engineering, with a specific emphasis on the software infrastructure. In particular, the Chapter focuses on the whole process, from the initial definition of functional requirements to the identification of possible implementation strategies. On the basis of this analysis, a context model as well as the possible choice of relevant sensor types is carried out.
Dynamic Ambient Networks with Middleware
Authors: Wang Baoying , Willard Rebecca L.
Published: October 2011

Ambient Intelligence is the concept that technology will become a part of everyday living and assist users in multiple tasks. It is a combination and further development of ubiquitous computation, pervasive computation, and multimedia.The technology is sensitive to the actions of humans and it can interact with the human or adjust the surroundings to suit the needs of the users dynamically. All of this is made possible by embedding sensors and computing components inconspicuously into human surroundings. This paper discusses the middleware needed for dynamic ambient intelligence networks and the ambient intelligence network architecture. The bottom-up middleware approach for ambient intelligence is important so the lower layers of all ambient intelligence networks are interchangeable and compatible with other ambient intelligence components. This approach also allows components to be programmed to be compatible with multiple ambient intelligence networks. The network architecture discussed in this paper allows for dynamic networking capabilities for minimal interruptions with changes in computer components.
An Ontology-Based Context-Aware Infrastructure for Smart Homes
Authors: Guo Bin , Zhang Daqing , Imai Michita
Published: October 2011

A general infrastructure that can facilitate the development of context-aware applications in smart homes is proposed. Unlike previous systems, our system builds on semantic web technologies, and it particularly concerns the contexts from human-artifact interaction. A multi-levels’ design of our ontology (called SS-ONT) makes it possible to realize context sharing and end-user-oriented customization. Using this infrastructure as a basis, we address some of the principles involved in performing context querying and context reasoning. The performance of our system is evaluated through a series of experiments.
Challenging Issues of Ambient Activity Recognition for Cognitive Assistance
Authors: Roy Patrice C. , Bouchard Bruno , Bouzouane Abdenour , Giroux Sylvain
Published: October 2011

In order to provide adequate assistance to cognitively impaired people when they carry out their activities of daily living (ADLs) at home, new technologies based on the emerging concept of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) must be developed. The main application of the AmI concept is the development of Smart Homes, which can provide advanced assistance services to its occupant when he performs his ADLs. The main difficulty inherent to this kind of assistance services is to be able to identify the on-going inhabitant ADL from the observed basic actions and from the sensors events produced by these actions. This chapter will investigate in details the challenging issues that emerge from activity recognition in order to provide cognitive assistance in Smart Homes, by identifying gaps in the capabilities of current approaches. This will allow to raise numerous research issues and challenges that need to be addressed for understanding this research field and enabling ambient recognition systems for cognitive assistance to operate effectively.
Ambient Intelligence for Eldercare – the Nuts and Bolts
Authors: Biswas Jit , Tolstikov Andrei , Aung Aung-Phyo-Wai , Foo Victor Siang-Fook , Huang Weimin
Published: October 2011

This chapter provides examples of sensor data acquisition, processing and activity recognition systems that are necessary for ambient intelligence specifically applied to home care for the elderly. We envision a future where software and algorithms will be tailored and personalized towards the recognition and assistance of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) of the elderly. In order to meet the needs of the elderly living alone, researchers all around the world are looking to the field of Ambient Intelligence or AmI (see http://www.ambientintelligence.org).
Recognising Human Behaviour in a Spatio-Temporal Context
Authors: Guesgen Hans W. , Marsland Stephen
Published: October 2011

Identifying human behaviours in smart homes from sensor observations is an important research problem. The addition of contextual information about environmental circumstances and prior activities, as well as spatial and temporal data, can assist in both recognising particular behaviours and detecting abnormalities in these behaviours. In this chapter, we describe a novel method of representing this data and discuss a wide variety of possible implementation strategies.
Toy or Useful Technology?
Authors: Tanriverdi Hüseyin , Iacono C. Suzanne
Published: October 2011

In response to increasing competition and cost pressures from managed-care practices, healthcare organizations are turning to information technology (IT) to increase efficiency of their operations and reach out to new patient markets. One promising IT application, telemedicine, enables remote delivery of medical services. Potentially, telemedicine could reduce costs and increase the quality and accessibility of medical services. However, the diffusion of telemedicine has remained low. We present case studies of telemedicine programs at three healthcare institutions in Boston, Massachusetts to better understand why telemedicine has not spread as quickly or as far as one would expect, given its promise. These case studies describe the environmental and organizational context of telemedicine applications, their champions, strategies and learning activities. Since the three cases represent varying levels of diffusion of telemedicine, they enable the reader to understand how and why some institutions, champions and approaches are more successful than others in diffusing a new technology like telemedicine.
Leveraging Objects for Privatizing Military Housing through Information Technology
Authors: Forgionne Guisseppi A.
Published: October 2011

The armed services must provide its personnel with acceptable housing at minimum cost within the vicinity of military installations. To achieve these housing objectives, the Department of Defense (DOD) has entered into experimental joint ventures with private developers to construct attractive housing projects on military installation property, with some of the projects reserved for military personnel. To support the analysis of the joint ventures, the DOD needed a methodology that would help officials evaluate the feasibility and cost implications of the housing projects. A decision support system, called the Housing Revitalization Support Office System (HRSOS), has been developed to provide the necessary support. The HRSOS architecture is based on a combination of database, econometric, simulation, and decision support techniques. Its deployment can help the Department of Defense to realize significant economic and management benefits. Future enhancements, motivated by the challenges from the current system, promise to increase the power of HRSOS and to further improve the DOD’s ability to manage its housing projects. To obtain the benefits, the HRSO experience suggests that system design, development, and implementation should be a team effort through an adaptive design strategy. It also indicates that an integrated suite of software development and implementation tools, offering rapid prototyping, computer assisted software engineering, and object-oriented analysis, can promote this strategy. The strategy is likely to work well in a hybrid project-technology virtual organizational form that is established and administered by the practicing top manager.
Building an Internet-Based Workflow System
Authors: Gebauer Judith , Schad Heike
Published: October 2011

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories’ Zephyr System demonstrates how emerging technologies can help streamline procurement processes and improve the coordination between participants in engineering projects by enabling new ways of collaboration. The project also shows the success of a highly pragmatic approach that intentionally covered only standard situations, rather than additionally automating the exceptions. Assigning purchasing responsibilities to the end user reduces the involvement of the purchasing department in operational activities. This streamlined the process, resulting in major time savings, cost reductions, and improved quality. Left with less dayto- day purchasing operations, the purchasing department has more time for strategic tasks such as selecting and pre-qualifying new suppliers, negotiating contracts, or implementing new procurement systems. The case reinforces the notion that the use of information technologies can result in major benefits when aligned with process re-organization efforts.
ENI Company
Authors: Lee Ook
Published: October 2011

ENI Company is an electronic commerce firm in South Korea. ENI Company provides English news items and English lessons to the subscribers through daily e-mail service that includes free English news-related question and answer sessions via e-mail. This case study deals with the struggle of this firm to establish and sustain its business in a less-developed national information infrastructure. Information on national information infrastructure and the Internet in South Korea is provided in order to facilitate understanding of the difficulty that ENI Company faces while conducting ecommerce in South Korea. The chronology of ENI Company evolution is described and the organizational structure of ENI Company is also presented. The marketing of ENI Company’s products that is the biggest challenge for the firm is also discussed. This case is a good example of how to conduct an e-commerce in a county where national IT infrastructure is not ready for it.
The Integration of Library, Telecommunications, and Computing Services in a University
Authors: Sherer Susan A.
Published: October 2011

Today many IS departments and individuals are attempting to transform from technical groups and specialists to user oriented functions and customer support personnel. The major responsibility of the traditional IS department has evolved from the development, operation, and support of technology to the management of information. In the university environment, managers of information have traditionally been librarians. Librarians have increasingly become users of electronic information resources. A merger of the library with computing and telecommunications brings together technical expertise with information management skills. This case study describes the process of integrating the library, computing and telecommunications services in a University. Within the last two years, a new manager in the newly created position of Chief Information Officer merged these diverse organizations. We will describe the techniques used during the first year to foster communication, develop new strategic direction, and create and implement a new organizational structure. We will focus on establishing leadership, the organizational change and operational planning process, and the initial implementation of the new organizational structure. We will describe some of the problems and obstacles that needed to be addressed, including new management’s establishment of trust and control, creating an environment for change, managing change amid strong time pressures, human resource issues, and resource constraints.
Human Capital Issues and Information Technology
Authors: Davis Byron L. , Kick Edward L.
Published: October 2011

Local technological applications and their implications for human welfare depend not only on the most proximal environment, but also upon successively larger embedded social structures. In a world with a complex international division of labor, events in distant countries now intimately affect our nation, just as the states and cities where we live shape the social institutions in which we work, which in turn determine our daily quality of life. The national output, our indebtedness as a nation, the shift from federal to local responsibilities, over-bureaucratization, and the fast-paced technology of the mega-institutions where our livelihoods are made essentially impact the quality of our lives. We elaborate these themes in ensuing pages, working from the most macroscopic or global level to the most microscopic, or local, level of social organization. We tie our discussion to data on international, national, and state-level trends, and we explore a single, but representative local case, which documents the impact of these mega-forces on an educational institution.
The Role of Information Technology in Quality Education
Authors: Garson G. David
Published: October 2011

Discusses the rise of information technology functions in higher education and the related advent of quality standards for on-line education. The limited nature of existing guidelines is emphasized, particularly in the dimension of establishing authentic relationships, empowerment of faculty and students, and the inculcation of critical thinking. The Borkian vision of the future of education is summarized and contrasted with the limits if not failure of the legacies of past large-scale educational investments in programmed learning and in computer simulation. The drift toward mandated standards in on-line/distance education is discussed as well as the tension of this with empowerment concepts. Further contrast is drawn between the competing models of the university as “community of scholars” and as “marketplace of consumers.” Cost-cutting motives for on-line course delivery are explored in some detail, raising issues about radical proposals to restructure university teaching functions. A hybrid model, involving both computer-mediated and face-to-face methods, is seen as the superior instructional strategy, but the cost of this model raises the danger that a two-tier educational system will emerge – a more expensive upper tier with sound traditional education supplemented with the benefits of electronic media, and a cheaper, inferior tier dispensing programmed training to meet objectives far narrower than the traditional goals of liberal education.
Networking for Sustainable Development
Authors: Funk Karina
Published: October 2011

This chapter reviews novel initiatives for improving the content of information on sustainable development and novel initiatives for increasing access to this information with an emphasis on outreach to rural areas in developing countries. Improving information content and improving the outreach of the network are the two key elements of any successful communications project. The combination of communications services and other development activities create an opportunity for co-capacity building in that the implementation of one builds capacity for more successful implementation of the other. Some of the incongruous objectives of a global communications network are explored, as well as the associated opportunities to encourage more informed decision-making for information technology investments and sustainable development endeavors.
Information In and On Africa
Authors: Pfister Roger
Published: October 2011

Talking about Africa’s right to information means talking about communication in Africa and in the Third World generally. In Africa the channels of communication were underdeveloped or inappropriate as a consequence of the continent’s colonial past. The resulting lack of information was, among other reasons, an impediment to national development in African states after their independence. Until the 1980s, the principal means of communication were newspapers, books, telephones, radio and TV. However, with the development of modern technology, the proliferation of satellites, the advance in the computer industry and, most recently, with the advent of Internet new forms of communication were added. This contribution outlines the initiatives and discussions from the 1960s to the 1980s on the relationship between economic development and access to information in the Third World generally and in Africa in particular. The second part deals with the new communication technologies, the areas of application in Africa and their possible impact on Africa’s development. The author takes a rather pessimistic attitude as far as the advancement of sustainable development in Africa through information technology is concerned, unless such technology is applied to local circumstances.
Reengineering the Healthcare Supply Chain in Australia
Authors: More Elizabeth , McGrath G. Mike
Published: October 2011

Reengineering is about fundamentally rethinking and dramatically redesigning business processes in order to lower costs and increase quality, service and speed. Such transformation is required in many industries today, perhaps none more so than the health sector. One enabling mechanism to allow for such large-scale change is found in information systems developments, most notably that of electronic commerce (e-commerce), offering a range of solutions for improving healthcare management. This paper addresses the way in which the Australian health industry has grasped such opportunities for transforming itself through e-commerce strategies, allowing for improving cost-effective services to key stakeholders. A major achievement among a range of recent activities as outlined in the federal government’s report, From Telehealth to E-Health: The Unstoppable Rise of E-Health (Mitchell, 1999), is that of Australia’s first Internet trading community, The Project Electronic Commerce and Communication for Healthcare, otherwise known as PeCC, a key platform in transforming Australia’s health sector.
Understanding Health Information Networks in Canada
Authors: Chan Yolande E. , Ramsden David J.
Published: October 2011

Findings from a preliminary survey of health information networks (HINs) established in various parts of Canada lead us to suggest that buy-in and participation in development of the alliance by physicians and other providers is critical. Also, most healthcare providers are not aware of the difficulties involved in establishing connectivity in the networks we examined. Nor should they be, perhaps. We found that networks that pursued a comprehensive set of applications closely linked to providing better care for patients were more likely to be considered successful by partner organizations and providers. Alliance partners who had a history of interaction prior to the formal establishment of the health information network in question seemed to get to application development quicker than when the alliance was created only because a network was needed. Many alliances reported the positive effect that external players had in terms of helping alliance partners overcome differences, sustain momentum, and provide funds and expertise as needed.