bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anti-Foundational Knowledge Management
Authors: Butler Tom
Published: May 2011

Under the influence of Enlightenment epistemological thought, the social sciences have exhibited a distinct tendency to prefer deterministic1 explanations of social phenomena. In the sociology of knowledge, for example, “foundational” researchers seek to arrive at objective knowledge of social phenomena through the application of “social scientific methodolog[ies] based on the eternal truths of human nature, purged of historical and cultural prejudices” and which also ignore the subjective intrusions of social actors (Hekman, 1986, p. 5). This article argues that “foundationalist” perspectives heavily influence theory and praxis in knowledge management. “Foundationalist” thinking is particularly evident in the posited role of IT in creating, capturing, and diffusing knowledge in social and organisational contexts. In order to address what many would consider to be a deficiency in such thinking, a constructivist “antifoundationalist” perspective is presented that considers socially constructed knowledge as being simultaneously “situated” and “distributed” and which recognizes its role in shaping social action within “communities-of-practice.” In ontological terms, the constructivist “antifoundational” paradigm posits that realities are constructed from multiple, intangible mental constructions that are socially and experientially based, local and specific in nature, and which are dependent on their form and content on the individual persons or groups holding the constructions (see Guba & Lincoln, 1994; Bruner, 1990). One of the central assumptions of this paradigm is that there exist multiple realities with differences among them that cannot be resolved through rational processes or increased data. Insights drawn from this short article are addressed to academics and practitioners in order to illustrate the considerable difficulties inherent in representing individual knowledge and of the viability of isolating, capturing, and managing knowledge in organisational contexts with or without the use of IT.
Customer Knowledge Management
Authors: Paquette Scott
Published: May 2011

As companies begin to develop competence in managing internal knowledge and applying it towards achieving organizational goals, they are setting their sights on new sources of knowledge that are not necessarily found within the boundaries of the firm. Customer knowledge management comprises the processes that are concerned with the identification, acquisition, and utilization of knowledge from beyond a firm’s external boundary in order to create value for an organization. Companies can utilize this knowledge in many different forms of organizational improvement and change, but it is especially valuable for innovation and the new product development function.
Evidence-Based Best Practices Collections
Authors: Shull Forrest , Feldmann Raimund , Shaw Michelle , Lambert Michelle
Published: May 2011

For capturing and transferring knowledge between different projects and organizations, the concept of a Best Practice is commonly used. A similar but more general concept for knowledge capturing is often referred to as a Lesson Learned. Both best practices and lessons learned are frequently organized in the form of knowledge collections. Such collections exist in many forms and flavours: From simple notes on a white board, to paper file collections on a shelf, to electronic versions filed in a common folder or shared drive, to systematically archived and standardized versions in experience and databases, or even specific knowledge management systems. In the past few decades, many organizations have invested much time and effort in such specific knowledge collections (e.g., databases, experience repositories) for best practices and/ or lessons learned. The driving force behind all these activities is to disseminate knowledge about proven solutions to their workforce. Ultimately, the goal is to avoid mistakes and improve the overall workflow and processes to possibly save money and gain a competitive advantage.
External Knowledge Integration
Authors: Kraaijenbrink Jeroen , Wijnhoven Fons
Published: May 2011

As an academic field, knowledge management has concentrated on the creation, storage, retrieval, transfer, and application of knowledge within organizations, while underexposing external knowledge (e.g., Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Although the importance of external knowledge is well recognized (e.g., Cohen & Levinthal, 1990), there remains a need for a better understanding of the organizational processes through which external knowledge is integrated (Grant, 1996; Ranft & Lord, 2002). In particular, we believe that a holistic view on knowledge integration (KI) is both important and lacking. In this article, we address this lacuna in the literature by proposing a process model of KI consisting of three stages¾identification, acquisition, and utilization of external knowledge. Our objective is to propose a model consisting of modular subprocesses that parsimoniously reflect the variety of KI concepts in the literature. This model is useful to scholars and practitioners because it provides a better understanding of the various KI subprocesses by putting them together in a coherent way. Such understanding serves as bedrock for solving KI problems and for designing KI solutions (cf. Markus, Majchrzak, & Gasser, 2002).
A Hierarchical Model for Knowledge Management
Authors: Prat Nicolas
Published: May 2011

Knowledge management (KM) is a multidisciplinary subject, with contributions from such disciplines as information systems (IS) and information technology (IT), strategic management, organizational theory, human-resource management, education science, psychology, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. In order to take full advantage of these various contributions, the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to KM is currently widely acknowledged, particularly in the IS and IT, management, and artificial-intelligence communities (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Dieng-Kuntz et al., 2001; Grover & Davenport, 2001; Nonaka & Konno, 1998; O’Leary & Studer, 2001; Zacklad & Grundstein, 2001).
Integrating Knowledge Management with the Systems Analysis Process
Authors: Tauber Doron , Schwartz David G.
Published: May 2011

Information systems research has clearly recognized that knowledge management systems (KMSs) have different characteristics and requirements than those of a classic management information system (MIS). Beginning with the relationship drawn between data, information, and knowledge (Alavi & Leidner, 1999, 2001; Bhatt, 2001; Ulrich, 2001; Spiegler, 2000, 2003; Tuomi, 2000), through to the essential nature of unstructured and semi-structured information vs. structured information (Wu, Ling, Lee, & Dobbie, 2001; Lai, Carlsen, Christiansson, & Svidt, 2003; Fensel et al., 2002; Chou & Chow, 2000), there are many elements and areas in which the two diverge.
Knowledge Flow
Authors: Ribière Vincent M. , Román Juan A.
Published: May 2011

Various models and frameworks have been used to represent the flows of knowledge in an organization. The first and most popular of these remains the spiraling SECI (socialization, externalization, combination, internalization) model presented by Nonaka and Konno (1998), Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), and Nonaka and Toyama (2003), which presents the various knowledge interactions and creations between tacit and explicit knowledge. Knowledge flows can also be represented and assessed through the knowledge life cycle.
Knowledge Management Strategy Formation
Authors: Holsapple Clyde W. , Jones Kiku
Published: May 2011

Knowledge-based organizations (Holsapple & Whinston, 1987; Paradice & Courtney, 1989; Bennet & Bennet, 2003) are intentionally concerned with making the best use of their knowledge resources and knowledge-processing skills in the interest of enhancing their productivity, agility, reputation, and innovation (Holsapple & Singh, 2001). A key question that confronts every knowledge-based organization is concerned with how to approach the task of forming a KM strategy. Beyond aligning KM strategy with an organization’s vision and overall strategy for achieving its mission, how does the creator of a KM strategy proceed? How is the created (or adopted) KM strategy communicated and evaluated? What can be done to avoid blind spots, gaps, and flaws in the strategy?
Building Trust in Virtual Communities
Authors: Mezgar István
Published: May 2011

Information processing and communication technologies are developing so rapidly today that it can said that there is a communication technology explosion. The new technologies widen the world for the individuals to reach other human beings regardless of where they are on the globe. Various groups of people can come together according to their private or business interests, forming a virtual community. In the generation and operation of these communities, cooperation and collaboration have significant role. On the other hand, these technologies deeply modify traditional forms of social connections, communication, and cultural habits as well. These modifications can be observed in particular in hierarchies, social rules, norms, conventions, familiarity, and reputation. A very important element of human contacts is trust. In a networked society, trust is the atmosphere, the medium in which actors are moving (Castelfranchi & Tan, 2001). Trust can bridge cultural, geographical, and organizational distances of members. Trust is the basis of cooperation, the normal behavior of the human being in the society. As the rate of cooperation is increasing in all fields of life, the importance of trust is evolving even faster. In this new communication environment new methods and techniques of trust building have to be developed, as the conventional rules of face-to-face approach cannot be applied. According to different experiments, the level of trust is highly influenced by the way/mode of communication and by the duration of contact.
Best Practices for Effective Virtual Teams
Authors: Staples D. Sandy , Wong Ian K. , Cameron Ann Frances
Published: May 2011

The use of teams as fundamental building blocks in organizations is growing (Furst, Blackburn & Rosen, 1999), as is the frequency of teams to be distributed geographically (which we call virtual teams). Virtual teams are now being used by many organizations to enhance the productivity of their employees and to reach a diversity of skills and resources (Majchrzak, Malhotra, Stamps & Lipnack, 2004). Virtual teams are groups of individuals who work on interdependent tasks, who share responsibility for outcomes, and who work together from different locations. While the use of virtual teams is more common in today’s organization, the practices that make virtual teams most effective are not fully understood and challenges remain (Markus, 2004).
A Virtual Environment to Support the Distributed Design of Large Made-to-Order Products
Authors: Whitfield Robert Ian , Duffy Alex H.B. , Conway Alastair , Wu Zhichao , Meehan Joanne
Published: May 2011

An overview of a virtual design environment (virtual platform) developed as part of the European Commission funded VRShips-ROPAX (VRS) project is presented. The main objectives for the development of the virtual platform are described, followed by the discussion of the techniques chosen to address the objectives, and finally a description of a use-case for the platform. Whilst the focus of the VRS virtual platform was to facilitate the design of ROPAX (roll-on passengers and cargo) vessels, the components within the platform are entirely generic and may be applied to the distributed design of any type of vessel, or other complex made-to-order products.
Reflective Designing for Actors and Avatars in Virtual Worlds
Authors: Jensen Sisse Siggaard
Published: May 2011

This chapter proposes a designing strategy referred to as “virtual 3D exploratories”. It is a strategy by which to facilitate knowledge sharing and social innovation, activities important to many postmodern organizations and work groups—be they educational or commercial. The strategy will allow us to build virtual worlds, and universes, aimed at exploration—virtual worlds, where actors interact and communicate with each other by the means of avatars. To substantiate the designing strategy, this chapter calls attention to virtual phenomena such as: avatar-based interaction, communication, and scenarios designed for re?ective practices. Taking a ?rst step, the chapter presents narratives and video-based self-observations from 12 experiential sessions undertaken by the “Virtual 3D Agora-world” SIG as part of the EQUEL EU research project (2002-2004). Based on ?ndings and re?ections from these sessions, the designing strategy of virtual “exploratories” is outlined with reference to the “sense-making” theory (Dervin & Foreman-Wernet, 2003) and summarized in a “designing triangle”.
An Exploratory Study of the Design Preferences of U.S. and Chinese Virtual Communities
Authors: Tan Felix B. , Lin Helen J. , Urquhart Cathy
Published: May 2011

With the increasing popularity of electronic commerce, businesses are starting to recognise that developing a good virtual community can help to generate more profits. Virtual communities can be an instrument for building relationships with customers, and retaining customers’ loyalty. Of interest are the similarities and differences in the design preferences of virtual communities across cultural groups. This paper, therefore, examined the design preferences of virtual communities in two cultural groups. The design preferences studied are Web design, tools used, and types of virtual communities preferred. Content analysis was employed to study 20 of the most popular Chinese and U.S. virtual communities. The study found that there are differences in the preference for the type of virtual communities and the tools used by Chinese and U.S. communities. The findings challenge aspects of Web site design across these cultural groups thought to be dissimilar based on prior research, indicating that designers of virtual communities must treat cultural differences with caution. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
Information Retrieval in Virtual Universities
Authors: Puustjarvi Juha , Poyry Pa¨ivi
Published: May 2011

Information retrieval in the context of virtual universities deals with the representation, organization and access to learning objects. The representation and organization of learning objects should provide the learner with an easy access to the learning objects. In this paper, we give an overview of the ONES system and analyze the relevance of two information retrieval models for virtual universities. We argue that keywords-based search (i.e., the Boolean model), though well suited for Web searches, is overly coarse for virtual universities. Instead, the vector model, on which our implemented search engine also is based, seems to be more appropriate, as it provides similarity measure (i.e., the learning object having the best match is presented first). We also compare the performance of four algorithms for computing the similarities (matching).
A Practical Software Architecture for Virtual Universities
Authors: Xiang Peifeng , Shi Yuanchun , Qin Weijun
Published: May 2011

This article introduces a practical software architecture called CUBES, which focuses on system integration and evolvement for online virtual universities. The key of CUBES is a supporting platform that helps to integrate and evolve heterogeneous educational applications developed by different organizations. Both standardized educational applications that follow popular e-learning standards, such as SCORM and CELTS, and unstandardized ones can be integrated into CUBES with ease. A regularly used virtual university based on CUBES that includes educational applications covering the entire spectrum of the learning and management process is introduced to examine the usability of CUBES. The authors hope that new architectures, tools, and methods are explored to reduce the effort in building and evolving virtual universities.
Virtual Reality Mapping Revisited
Authors: Cooper Malcolm , MacNeil Neil
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides a brief overview of the available technologies and opportunities for the use of virtual reality in tourism marketing. It acknowledges that in almost all formulations of the tourism marketing model to date however, much has been made of the notion that tourism is unique because production and consumption occur not only at the same time but in the same place, and therefore that location or proximity is often a critical determinant of the take-up of tourism opportunities. The chapter then goes on to posit the question: what if the place variable could be removed from this equation through the further development of virtual reality techniques? The impacts of this might include: less requirement for travel per se (perhaps); better and more real information about the physical actuality of a destination for the potential consumer (likely); price and service quality information very much simplified and improved (definitely), and changed tourism promotion strategies would change (undoubtedly). At the barest minimum, the uncertainties involved in relying on unverified initial information for tourism travel decision-making could be considerably reduced.
When Is a Duck Not a Duck? When It Is a Euro! Trust-Based Marketing Communications in Virtual Communities
Authors: Guido Gianluigi , Prete M. Irene , D’Ettorre Rosa
Published: May 2011

This chapter tries to evaluate the effects of the propagation of a trust-based marketing message through selected below-the-web technologies, which are those particular types of information technologies different from websites – such as e-mails, discussion lists, BBSs, Newsgroups, Forums, Peer-to-Peer, IRCs, MUDs and MOOs – that allow for the creation of virtual communities. A preliminary experiment on informal marketing communications, carried out over 12,000 accesses to below-the-web communities and regarding the proposal to use the term “Ducks” for “Euros”, in view of its similarity with the term “Bucks” for Dollars, showed that below-the-web technologies can be an appropriate tool for building trust amongst participants when four conditions for the existence of virtual communities are met: 1) a minimum level of interactivity; 2) a variety of communicators; 3) a virtual-common-public space; and 4) a minimum level of sustained membership.
Virtual Integration
Authors: Tai Jeffrey C.F. , Wang Eric T.G. , Wang Kai
Published: May 2011

The integration and coordination of strategic suppliers becomes increasingly important as the manufacturer relies on external transactions to build up collaborative advantages. By conceptualizing virtual integration as an efficient and effective vertical coordination mechanism, the study discussed in this chapter developed a model to examine the role virtual integration plays in improving manufacturing performance and the antecedent factors that can lead supply chain members to rely on virtual integration to govern supply chain integration. Based on the resource-based view and transaction costs theory, the suppliers’ specific investments and environmental uncertainty are identified as critical antecedents to virtual integration. The results show that the suppliers’ specific investments can significantly improve the manufacturers’ achievement of manufacturing goals, thereby motivating the manufacturer to rely on virtual integration to better coordinate with the suppliers who made significant idiosyncratic investments for enhancing transaction value while controlling the potential hazards.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Applied to Simulation Visualization
Authors: Kirner Claudio , Kirner Tereza G.
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces virtual reality and augmented reality as a basis for simulation visualization. It shows how these technologies can support simulation visualization and gives important considerations about the use of simulation in virtual and augmented reality environments. Hardware and software features, as well as user interface and examples related to simulation, using and supporting virtual reality and augmented reality, are discussed, stressing their benefits and disadvantages. The chapter intends to discuss virtual and augmented reality in the context of simulation, emphasizing the visualization of data and behavior of systems. The importance of simulation to give dynamic and realistic behaviors to virtual and augmented reality is also pointed out. The work indicates that understanding the integrated use of virtual reality and simulation should create better conditions to the development of innovative simulation environments as well as to the improvement of virtual and augmented reality environments.
Teaching Shakespeare Online in a Virtual Classroom
Authors: Judkins David , Liu Youmei
Published: May 2011

This chapter shares the experiences from a faculty member who teaches an online course-Shakespeare’s Major Plays, and from an instructional designer who helps the faculty design the course. It also relates the effective use of Course Management Tool-WebCT, to facilitate teaching activities and to engage student learning. This chapter concludes that a successful online course depends on two important factors, learner-engaged teaching and effective use of technology. The balance between the two enhances the efficacy of education and technology.
Online Classroom Simulation
Authors: Ferry Brian , Kervin Lisa , Puglisi Sarah , Cambourne Brian , Turbill Jan , Jonassen David , Hedberg John
Published: May 2011

Research consistently shows that traditional preservice teacher preparation programs are not adequately preparing beginning teachers for the reality of classrooms. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the development and implementation of an online classroom simulation designed to develop pre-service teachers’ decision-making skills within the context of young children’s literacy education. The classroom simulation allows the user to take on the role of the teacher of a virtual kindergarten classroom (ages five to six years). During the simulation the user makes decisions about the organisation of teaching and learning experiences, classroom management, and responses to individual students. The user is able to monitor and track the progress of three targeted students throughout the course of the simulation. An embedded tool, what we refer to as the “thinking space,” has been developed to enable the user to plan and justify new decisions and reflect upon the consequences of previous decisions.
Culture in Virtual Communities
Authors: Xiao Li
Published: May 2011

With exponential growth of virtual communities, more and more studies are carried out to examine how they change people’s life (Bieber et al., 2002; Blanchard & Markus, 2004; Bruckman, 2002; Burnett, 2002; Burnett, Dickey, Kazmer, & Chudoba, 2003). Among those studies, many researchers focus on the architectures and infrastructures to enable knowledge sharing, such as Bieber et al. (2002), Bruckman (2002) and Marshall (2000). The human behavioral side of virtual communities, however, still remains mysterious. While virtual communities are inconceivable without the technological infrastructure and protocols that support them, they are equally inconceivable without human users. It is the users or the sense of community rather than the technologies that give virtual communities their significance (Burnett, 2002). The interactions of users in electronically mediated environments bring up new challenges and questions for researchers. For example, how do we understand culture in virtual communities? What kind of cultural issues are involved in virtual communities? Interacting with people from all over the world, how does one’s national and ethnic culture background influence his or her activities in the virtual communities (Burnett et al., 2003)? The list of questions can go on. This article proposes one possible way to answer the first question of how to understand culture in virtual communities. We argue that the culture model by Schein (1992) can be applied to obtain an understanding of culture in virtual communities. In this article, we first review relevant research on cultural issues in virtual communities. Then we propose that Schein’s model can be applied to understand culture in virtual communities. Next, we analyze the trends for research on the topic and discuss our conclusion.
Virtual Ethnography and Discourse Analysis
Authors: Mann Bruce L.
Published: May 2011

This chapter will discuss “virtual ethnography” and how it is supported and shaped by Internet technology.
Cross-Disciplinary Virtual Design Teams
Authors: Schaffer Scott P. , Price Melissa Lee , Schmidt Therese M.
Published: May 2011

Software development teams that work together well, particularly those that can operate virtually, are an enormous competitive advantage for organizations (Cohen & Gibson, 2003). One challenge for software development or new product development teams in a global marketplace is managing and developing individuals from different disciplines who are remotely located. Such teams often encounter communication, environmental and philosophical barriers related to completing design tasks that threaten the success of projects (Warkenton, Sayeed & Hightower, 1997). For students at the university level, virtual cross-disciplinary learning experiences are key to their success in the competitive marketplace. The authors are currently in the second phase of an ongoing project designed to explore pedagogical, communications and logistical issues related to development of a sense of community between graduate students in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (U.S.) (Schaffer et.al., 2005). One of the main goals of the current phase is to learn more about how virtual cross-disciplinary teams communicate and learn the concepts, models and discipline-specific language used by one another, as well as to identify key barriers and supports to such learning.
Facilitating Social Learning in Virtual Communities of Practice
Authors: Tarsiero Rosanna
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces communities of practice as a means to explore human computer interaction in online collaborative environments. Through a wide review of the literature on communities of practice and their virtual counterparts, it argues that the focus for successful interaction design in these communities lies on those sociability and usability aspects that allow greater participation in social learning. It also argues that the facilitator assumes a fundamental role in guiding a virtual community of practice to accomplish work-related informal learning activities in a climate of trust and collaboration. The author hopes that understanding the special opportunities provided by virtual communities of practice will advocate for their widespread routine use.
Environments for Virtual Enterprise Integration
Authors: Cunha Maria Manuela , Putnik Goran D. , Ávila Paulo Silva
Published: May 2011

The virtual enterprise model is an emerging approach in answer to the new requirements of the business environment, relying on dynamically-reconfigurable partnerships, with extremely high performances, strongly time-oriented while being highly focused on cost and quality, in permanent alignment with the market, and strongly supported by information and communication technology, dictating a paradigm face shift to the traditional organizational models. Networking and reconfiguration dynamics are the main characteristics of this model,requiring enabling and supporting environments, at bearable costs. Some existing technologies and Internet-based environments can partially support this organizational model, but the reconfiguration dynamics can only be assured by environments able to manage, control, and enable networking and dynamics in virtual enterprise creation/reconfiguration. Several environments are introduced in the chapter, and particular focus is given to the market of resources, an environment coping with the requirements of the virtual enterprise model.
Trust in Virtual Multicultural Teams
Authors: Fischlmayr Iris C. , Auer-Rizzi Werner
Published: May 2011

This chapter analyses the phenomenon of trust with regard to its significance for virtual teams. Guided by the existing literature on trust, this chapter presents different kinds of trust and the development of trust over time. The challenges inherent to virtual multicultural teams, thus to working teams, which are geographically dispersed and communicate with the help of electronic media, raise the questions of their consequences on trust. As virtual teams are mostly used in companies operating in different countries all over the world, the different cultural backgrounds of the team members are taken into account as well. To give an example for the relevance of this issue in practice, an illustrative case study on experiences international business students have made during virtual team projects is presented.
Quality of Knowledge in Virtual Entities
Authors: Analide Cesar , Novais Paulo , Machado José , Neves José
Published: May 2011

The work done by some authors in the fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems foresees an approximation of these disciplines and those of the social sciences, namely, in the areas of anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Much of this work has been done in terms of the humanization of the behavior of virtual entities by expressing human-like feelings and emotions. Some authors (e.g., Ortony, Clore & Collins, 1988; Picard, 1997) suggest lines of action considering ways to assign emotions to machines. Attitudes like cooperation, competition, socialization, and trust are explored in many different areas (Arthur, 1994; Challet & Zhang, 1998; Novais et al., 2004). Other authors (e.g., Bazzan et al., 2000; Castelfranchi, Rosis & Falcone, 1997) recognize the importance of modeling virtual entity mental states in an anthropopathic way. Indeed, an important motivation to the development of this project comes from the author’s work with artificial intelligence in the area of knowledge representation and reasoning, in terms of an extension to the language of logic programming, that is, the Extended Logic Programming (Alferes, Pereira & Przymusinski, 1998; Neves, 1984). On the other hand, the use of null values to deal with imperfect knowledge (Gelfond, 1994; Traylor & Gelfond, 1993) and the enforcement of exceptions to characterize the behavior of intelligent systems (Analide, 2004) is another justification for the adoption of these formalisms in this knowledge arena. Knowledge representation, as a way to describe the real world based on mechanical, logical, or other means, will always be a function of the systems ability to describe the existent knowledge and their associated reasoning mechanisms. Indeed, in the conception of a knowledge representation system, it must be taken into attention different instances of knowledge.
Critical Virtual Ethnography
Authors: Grenfall Mike
Published: May 2011

Critical virtual ethnography considers the use of ethnography in researching virtual communities operating in cyberspace. The chapter begins with an examination of critical theory following the postmodernist turn and considers the difficulties faced by ethnographers as a result. It then looks at the way that critical ethnography can be undertaken through an examination of research into knowledge construction online with particular reference to the criteria adopted for analyzing the interactions. The chapter concludes with an examination of the possibilities that this style of research affords researchers.
Community and Gender in the Virtual Classroom
Authors: Rovai Alred P. , Baker Jason D.
Published: May 2011

Numerous studies have demonstrated that alternative educational experiences, such as online learning, produce outcomes similar to face-to-face instruction provided the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, there is student-to-student interaction, and there is timely teacher-to-student feedback (Verduin & Clark, 1991). However, a meta-analysis of 232 comparative studies conducted by Bernard et al. (2004) concludes that while there is no average difference in achievement between distance and classroom courses, the results demonstrate wide variability. In other words, “a substantial number of DE applications provide better achievement results, are viewed more positively, and have higher retention rates than their classroom counterparts. On the other hand, a substantial number of DE applications are far worse than classroom instruction” (p. 406). These findings suggest that appropriate instructional design and good pedagogical practices, rather than the computer mediating technology itself, is at the center of effective online education. The growing demand for online learning only increases the challenges associated with designing and delivering effective instruction. O’Donoghue, Jentz, Singh, and Molyneux (2000) note that “The diversity of demand from these client groups therefore has to be matched by a diversity of supply. ... Meeting those requirements means putting the student at the centre of the system, which in itself represents a substantial change” (Section III, para. 6). When considering such a student-centered approach to online learning, the instructor needs to become increasingly aware of the differences among students and how those differences influence the educational experience. One area of student differences that warrants further consideration in the online classroom is gender, especially since distance education has been extensively marketed to women since early correspondence programs (Kramarae, 2003). “Distance education is ... yet another institution where gender and power differences are constructed, and to ignore the ways that gender is under construction online is to ignore many difficult experiences of real people” (p. 269). von Prümmer and Rossié (2001) go further and declare that, “If gender is not seen as relevant, the system will not be equally accessible to women and men and will offer men more chances to succeed” (p. 137).
The Desire for Cohesion in Virtual Teams
Authors: McAvoy John , Butler Tom
Published: May 2011

Cohesion is regarded as something to strive for in virtual teams yet difficult to attain. What happens, though, when cohesion is achieved; does cohesion, as assumed, enhance the virtual team? During a longitudinal participant observation study of a virtual software development team, a strange paradox was noted. A new software development methodology was introduced to the project, and the developers were initially committed to its use. Over time, the commitment gradually decreased to the stage where aspects of the new methodology were practically ignored. As the team was a virtual team, with group members rarely congregating as a whole for any length of time, it was hard to explain why this diminishing of commitment occurred. The remoteness and part-time participation of group members meant that the team deciding themselves to ignore aspects of the methodology was not a likely possibility. A review of existing research suggested that the concepts behind the diffusion of innovations (specifically software process innovations) may have a bearing. Although pertinent to the area of introducing new software development methodologies, diffusion theories did not provide a complete explanation for the decrease in commitment that was observed. The theory of competing commitments was applied, and it was discovered that one cause of the decreased commitment among team members was groupthink. Groupthink should not be a problem with virtual teams as there should be less cohesion: a lack of contact between members dictating the low level of cohesion. Further analysis showed that traditional peer groupthink was not the issue, but hierarchical groupthink influenced by the project manager had a large influence. These findings are in contrast to most expectations concerning cohesion and virtual teams, including the project management of virtual teams.
Mathematics in Virtual Knowledge Spaces
Authors: Jeschke Sabina , Richter Thomas
Published: May 2011

The workplace of scientists and engineers is about to change: even though numerical software and computer algebra systems remove the burden of routine calculation, it becomes more important than ever to get familiar with new concepts and methods quickly. Given the rapid growth of knowledge in today’s sciences, traditional “learning on supply” (i.e., defining the learning goal as the accumulation of knowledge) is no longer applicable; instead, adequate learning and teaching methods have to be established to guide learners towards efficient self-controlled learning.
Virtual Organization
Authors: Lee Jinyoul , Eom Mike ("Tae-In") , Kim Bonn-Oh , Katerattanakul Pairin
Published: May 2011

Virtual organization incorporates all the revolutionary practices in the global network and provides a unique opportunity for society. This study provides a new vision of the future organization with the revolution of communication technologies. Virtual organization is analyzed with the premises of time and space. The findings of this chapter show the strategic implication of virtual organization in terms of its life cycle through various stages and interactions based on structuration. A resource-based view is employed to identify more effective and strategic ways to operate virtual organization.
A Look on Engineering Non-Functional Properties in Service Oriented Architectures
Authors: Perino Nicolò , Massarelli Marco , Cammareri Daniele , Raibulet Claudia , Arcelli Francesca
Published: May 2011

The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview on non-functional issues in service oriented architectures. First, it introduces the non-functional requirements which should be addressed in service-oriented architectures and the challenging issues they raise (i.e., specification, conflicts, run-time management). Second, it presents the available approaches related to the engineering of non-functional issues. Third, it discusses the possible future trends regarding this topic.
Model-Driven Engineering of Non-Functional Properties for Pervasive Service Creation
Authors: Achilleos Achilleas , Yang Kun , Georgalas Nektarios
Published: May 2011

Pervasive services are highly customizable and personalized services that must have the capability to run anytime, anywhere, and on any device with minimal user attention. The creation of these dynamic services using application level approaches becomes a daunting task for the software engineering community. This necessitates changes to the way services are designed and implemented, in order to simplify and increase the agility of the service creation process. In this chapter, a model-driven development process and an environment that facilitates pervasive service creation using an abstract platform independent approach are described. Using this approach, a context modelling language is defined in the form of a metamodel and a context modelling framework is generated. The framework facilitates the definition of platform independent context models that describe the non-functional requirements of pervasive services. Subsequently, context models are mapped and transformed via the use of the generic environment’s capabilities to implementation specific service code. Finally, a pervasive museum case study is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach for the definition of a context model and the generation of the service implementation.
Model-Driven Development of Non-Functional Properties in Web Services
Authors: Ortiz Guadalupe , Hernández Juan
Published: May 2011

For the last few years, model-driven architecture, aspect-oriented software development and Web service engineering have become widely accepted alternatives for tackling the design and building of complex distributed applications; however, each of them addresses the principle of separation of concerns from their own perspective. When combined appropriately, both model-driven and aspect-oriented software development complement each other to develop high-quality Web service-based systems, maintaining non-functional properties separate from models to code. This chapter provides a methodology that integrates non-functional properties into Web service model-driven development, increasing the systems’ modularity and thus reducing implementation and maintenance costs.
Model-Driven Approach for End-to-End SOA Security Configurations
Authors: Satoh Fumiko , Nakamura Yuichi , Mukhi Nirmal K. , Tatsubori Michiaki , Ono Kouichi
Published: May 2011

The configuration of non-functional requirements, such as security, has become important for SOA applications, but the configuration process has not been discussed comprehensively. In current development processes, the security requirements are not considered in upstream phases and a developer at a downstream phase is responsible for writing the security configuration. However, configuring security requirements properly is quite difficult for developers because the SOA security is cross-domain and all required information is not available in the downstream phase. To resolve this problem, this chapter clarifies how to configure security in the SOA application development process and defines the developer’s roles in each phase. Additionally, it proposes a supporting technology to generate security configurations: Model-Driven Security. The authors propose a methodology for end-to-end security configuration for SOA applications and tools for generating detailed security configurations from the requirements specified in upstream phases model transformations, making it possible to configure security properly without increasing developers’ workloads.
Functional and QoS Semantics-Driven SOA-Based Biomedical Multimedia Processing
Authors: Liu Shih-Hsi , Cao Yu , Li Ming , Smith Thell , Harris John , Bao Jie , Bryant Barrett R. , Gray Jeff
Published: May 2011

Although there have existed a wide range of techniques of biomedical multimedia processing, none of them could be generally satisfied by various domains. The main reason for such deficiency is due to the correlative nature between biomedical multimedia data and the techniques applied to them. This book chapter introduces an SOA-based biomedical multimedia infrastructure with a pre-processing component. Such an infrastructure adapts the concepts of requirements elicitation of Software Engineering as well as a training set of Machine Learning to analyze functional and QoS properties of biomedical multimedia data in advance. Such properties will be constructed as ontology and used for selecting the most appropriate services to perform data analysis, transmission, or retrieval. Two medical education projects are introduced as case studies to illustrate the usage of functional and QoS semantics extracted from a feature extraction service to improve the performance of subsequent classification service and searching service, respectively.
Communities of Practice Based Business Performance Evaluation
Authors: Chu Mei-Tai , Khosla Rajiv
Published: May 2011

Knowledge Management (KM) is known to enhance an organization’s performance and innovation via the knowledge sharing both explicitly and tacitly. Moreover, Communities of Practice (CoPs) has been accepted as an effective way to retrieve and facilitate tacit knowledge particularly. Performance Evaluation of CoPs will significantly impact an organization’s strategic focus, knowledge transfer, resource allocation, and management performance. Meanwhile, proper measurement and decision making processes are critical for KM and CoPs success. However, the ultimate performance of CoPs implementation is uneasy to measure correctly. This chapter attempts to analyze how to establish a feasible framework to assess CoPs performance to meet organizational demands. This framework contains four dimensions and sixteen criteria built from review of existing literature and experts’ interviews in a large R &D organization. Therefore, this chapter tends to discuss the CoPs and its performance evaluation from a theoretical and practical perspective.
Cross-Organization Virtual CoP
Authors: Akoumianakis Demosthenes
Published: May 2011

The chapter motivates and presents an approach for assembling innovative information-based products and services by virtual cross-organization communities of practice. Using a case study on assembling vacation packages, we describe the cross-organizational virtual partnership, the mechanics allowing it to operate as a virtual community of practice and how collective intelligence of the members is appropriated to ensemble innovative information-based products for tourists. The results provide useful insights into innovating through virtual networking as well as the ICT tools that may be used to foster value-creating networks of practice in boundary spanning domains.
Future Tools for Sharing Knowledge
Authors: Oyarzun David , Ortiz Amalia , Carretero María del Puy
Published: May 2011

This chapter also suggests what ideal tools for knowledge sharing and learning on Future Internet could be like, the advantages that their use could provide and the factors the authors believe should be improved to turn this ideal tool into a reality.
The Roles of Peripheral Participants and Brokers
Authors: Grima François , Josserand Emmanuel
Published: May 2011

The objective of our chapter is to gain a better understanding of learning trajectories connecting external and internal communities of practices. To do so we studied four internal communities of practice by actors belonging to a same external community. We realized semi-directive interviews in these communities supplemented by direct observation of meetings. Our results give a new perspective on participation to communities of practice. We describe how young members act as boundary spanners between the communities and the practice in their organization while more senior members act as unique facilitators with a balance between boundary spanning and buffering. We describe in detail the personal characteristics of these senior members.
A CoP for Research Activities in Universities
Authors: Bernhard Willi , Bettoni Marco , Schiller Gabriele
Published: May 2011

We will explain how we faced the challenge of answering the question of how to improve overall performance in all research activities of our university, and then illustrate our findings by telling the story of how we have been answering it by means of a new kind of knowledge network called CoRe. We will explain the tools we have been developing in order to address the needs of such a CoP and finally reflect on lessons learned while establishing a CoP in a research environment.
Growing the eLIDA CAMEL Community of Practice Case Study
Authors: Jameson Jill
Published: May 2011

This chapter outlines key design features that may be necessary to ‘grow’ a successful intentionally designed community of practice (CoP) in education. Prior research on communities of practice (CoPs) has emphasised their benefits for knowledge management and the relative difficulties involved in ‘managing’ CoPs, given that such communities are frequently conceptualised as self-organizing entities. The chapter reports on reflections from the JISC-funded (2006-08) eLIDA CAMEL project, which created a community of practice in education based on the CAMEL CoP model imported from a Uruguayan self-help farming group and adapted by JISC infoNet and ALT (2005-06). The chapter provides a case study of a successful inter-institutional CoP and recommends that certain indispensable design features may be necessary to ‘grow’ CoPs, including sufficiency of duration of the community, limitations in shared focus, collaborative planning, expert leadership/ facilitation, an emphasis on building trust, explicating tacit knowledge and social networking in a framework fostering practitioner expertise.