bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Critical Issues in Global Navigation Satellite Systems
Authors: Freeman Ina , Auld Jonathan M.
Published: May 2011

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is a concept that relays accurate information of a position or location anywhere on the globe using a minimum of four satellites, a control station, and a user receiver. GNSS owes its origins to Rabi’s work in the early 1940s with the concept of an atomic clock (Nobel Museum, http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1944/rabi-bio.html). In October 1940, the National Defense Research Council in the U.S. recommended implementing a new navigation system that combined radio signals with this new technology of time interval measurements. From this, MIT developed Long Range Radio Aid to Navigation (LORAN), which was refined by scientists at John Hopkins University and utilized during World War II through the late 1950s.
E-Learning and Multimedia Databases
Authors: Vitolo Theresa M. , Panjala Shashidhar , Cannell Jeremy C.
Published: May 2011

E-learning covers the variety of teaching and learning approaches, methodologies and technologies supporting synchronous or asynchronous distance education. While distance education is a concept typically used by conventional institutions of education to mean remote access and delivery of instruction, the concept of e-learning broadens the scope to all instances of learning using Web-mediated learning. The scope includes realizing learning organizations (Garvin, 1993), achieving knowledge management (Beccerra-Fernandez; Gonzalez & Sabherwal, 2004; Aussenhofer, 2002) and implementing organizational training.
The Future of M-Interaction
Authors: Lumsden Joanna
Published: May 2011

Many experts predicted that this, the first decade of the 21st century, will be the decade of mobile computing; although in recent years mobile technology has been one of the major growth areas in computing, the hype has thus far exceeded the reality (Urbaczewski, Valacich, & Jessup, 2003). Why is this? A recent international study of users of handheld devices suggests that there is a predominant perception that quality of service is low and that mobile applications are difficult to use; additionally, although users recognise the potential of emerging mobile technology, the study highlighted a general feeling that the technology is currently dominating rather than supporting users (Jarvenpaa, Lang, Takeda, & Tuunainen, 2003). Users are generally forgiving of physical limitations of mobile devices imposed by technological constraints; they are not, however, so forgiving of the interface to these devices (Sarker & Wells, 2003). Users can excuse restrictions on their use of mobile technology on the basis of level of technological advancement, but find it hard to accept impractical, illogical, or inconvenient interaction design.
HyperReality
Authors: Terashima Nobuyoshi
Published: May 2011

On the Internet, a cyberspace is created where people communicate together usually by using textual messages. Therefore, they cannot see together in the cyberspace. Whenever they communicate, it is desirable for them to see together as if they were gathered at the same place. To achieve this, various kinds of concepts have been proposed such as a collaborative environment, tele-immersion, and telepresence (Sherman & Craig, 2003).
Improving Student Interaction with Internet and Peer Review
Authors: de Abreu Moreira Dilvan , Quintino da Silva Elaine
Published: May 2011

In the last few years, education has gone through an important change—the introduction of information technology in the educational process. Many efforts have been conducted to realize the benefits of technologies like the Internet in education. As a result of these efforts, there are many tools available today to produce multimedia educational material for the Web, such as WebCT (WebCT, 2004). However, teachers are not sure how to use these tools to create effective models for teaching over the Internet. After a teacher puts classroom slides, schedules, and other static information in his or her Web pages, what more can this technology offer? A possible response to this question is to use Internet technologies to promote collaborative learning.
Interoperable Learning Objects Management
Authors: Ishaya Tanko
Published: May 2011

The sharing and reuse of digital information has been an important computing concern since the early 1960s. With the advent of the World Wide Web (from now on referred to as the Web), these concerns have become even more central to the effective use of distributed information resources. From its initial roots as an information-sharing tool, the Web has seen exponential growth in a myriad of applications, ranging from very serious e-business to pure leisure environments. Likewise, research into technology support for education has quickly recognised the potential and possibilities for using the Web as a learning tool (Ishaya, Jenkins, & Goussios, 2002). Thus, Web technology is now an established medium for promoting student learning, and today there are a great many online learning materials, tutorials, and courses supported by different learning tools with varying levels of complexity. It can be observed that there are many colleges and universities, each of which teaches certain concepts based on defined principles that remain constant from institution to institution. This results in thousands of similar descriptions of the same concept. This means that institutions spend a lot of resources producing multiple versions of the same learning objects that could be shared at a much lower cost. The Internet is a ubiquitous supporting environment for the sharing of learning materials. As a consequence, many institutions take advantage of the Internet to provide online courses (Ishaya et al.; Jack, Bonk, & Jacobs, 2002; Manouselis, Panagiotu, Psichidou, & Sampson, 2002). Many other agencies have started offering smaller and more portable learning materials defined as learning objects (Harris, 1999; PROMETEUS, 2002). While there are many initiatives for standardising learning technologies (Anido, Fernandez, Caeiro, Santos, Rodriguez, & Llamas, 2002) that will enable reuse and interoperability, there is still a need for the effective management, extraction, and assembling of relevant learning objects for end-user satisfaction.
Local Loop Unbundling Measures and Policies in the European Union
Authors: Chochliouros Ioannis P. , Spiliopoulou-Chochliourou Anastasia S. , Lalopoulos George K.
Published: May 2011

Recent European policies have very early identified (European Commission, 1999) the great challenge for the European Union (EU) to promote various liberalisation and harmonisation measures in the relevant electronic communications markets to support initiatives for competition, innovation, development, and growth (Chochliouros & Spiliopoulou-Chochliourou, 2003). In order to fully seize the growth and job potential of the digital, knowledge-based economy, it has been decided that businesses and citizens should have access to an inexpensive, world-class communications infrastructure and a wide range of modern services, especially to support “broadband” evolution and multimedia penetration. Moreover, different means of access must prevent information exclusion, while information technologies should be used to renew urban and regional development and to promote environmentally sound technologies. A fundamental policy was to introduce greater competition in local access networks and support local loop unbundling (LLU) in order to help bring about a substantial reduction in the costs of using the Internet and to promote high-speed and “always-on” access.
Mobile Commerce Security and Payment
Authors: Lee Chung-wei , Kou Weidong , Hu Wen-Chen
Published: May 2011

With the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic commerce has revolutionized traditional commerce and boosted sales and exchanges of merchandise and information. Recently, the emergence of wireless and mobile networks has made possible the extension of electronic commerce to a new application and research area: mobile commerce, which is defined as the exchange or buying and selling of commodities, services or information on the Internet through the use of mobile handheld devices. In just a few years, mobile commerce has emerged from nowhere to become the hottest new trend in business transactions. Mobile commerce is an effective and convenient way of delivering electronic commerce to consumers from anywhere and at any time. Realizing the advantages to be gained from mobile commerce, companies have begun to offer mobile commerce options for their customers in addition to the electronic commerce they already provide (The Yankee Group, 2002).
Mobility over Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
Authors: Ngoh Lek Heng , Shankar P. Jaya
Published: May 2011

Accessing wireless services and application on the move has become a norm among casual or business users these days. Due to societal needs, technological innovation, and networks operators’ business strategies, there has been a rapid proliferation of many different wireless technologies. In many parts of the world, we are witnessing a wireless ecosystem consisting of wide-area, low-to-medium-bandwidth network based on access technologies such as GSM, GPRS, and WCDMA, overlaid by faster local area networks such as IEEE 802.11-based Wireless LANs and Bluetooth pico-networks. One notable advantage of wide-area networks such as GPRS and 3G networks is their ability to provide access in a larger service area. However, a wide-area network has limited bandwidth and higher latency. 3G systems promise a speed of up to 2Mbps per cell for a non-roaming user. On the other hand, alternative wireless technologies like WLAN 802.11and Personal area network (PAN) using Bluetooth technology have limited range but can provide much higher bandwidth. Thus, technologies like WWAN and WLAN provide complementary features with respect to operating range and available bandwidth. Consequently, the natural trend will be toward utilizing high bandwidth data networks such as WLAN, whenever they are available, and to switch to an overlay service such as GPRS or 3G networks with low bandwidth, when coverage of WLAN is not available. Adding to the existing public networks, some private institutions (i.e., universities) have joined the fray to adopt wireless infrastructure to support mobility within their premises, thus adding to the plethora of wireless networks. With such pervasiveness, solutions are required to guarantee end-user terminal mobility and maintain always-on session connections to the Internet. To achieve this objective, an end device with several radio interfaces and intelligent software that would enable the automatic selection of networks and resources is necessary (Einsiedler, 2001; Moby Dick, 2003).
Peer-to-Peer Filesharing Systems for Digital Media
Authors: Hughes Jerald , Lang Karl Reiner
Published: May 2011

In 1999, exchanges of digital media objects, especially files of music, came to constitute a significant portion of Internet traffic thanks to a new set of technologies known as peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems. The networks created by software applications such as Napster and Kazaa have made it possible for millions of users to gain access to an extraordinary range of multimedia files, which, by virtue of their purely digital form, have the desirable characteristics of portability and replicability, which pose great challenges for businesses that have in the past controlled images and sound recordings.
Virtual Communities
Authors: Kontolemakis George , Kanellis Panagiotis , Martakos Drakoulis
Published: May 2011

In recent years, computer mediated communication has been the enabling factor for connecting people to one another and establishing “virtual relationships” (Igbaria, 1999; Johnston, Raizada, & Cronin, 1996). Virtual communities evolved as users of the early networks utilized them mainly for informal rather than business-related communication. These communities were not planned development in the sphere of computer networking. As this form of interaction increased, the users began to demand better and improved technology and functionality which would assist them in their interactions. “Virtual Communities describe the union between individuals or organizations who share common values and interests using electronic media to communicate within a shared semantic space on a regular basis” (Schubert, 1999).
WLAN Security Management
Authors: Pulkkis Göran , Grahn Kay J. , Karlsson Jonny
Published: May 2011

In a wired local-area network (LAN), the network ports and cables are mostly contained inside a building. Therefore, a hacker must defeat physical security measures, such as security personnel, identity cards, and door locks, to be able to physically access the LAN. However, the penetration capability of electromagnetic waves exposes the data-transmission medium of a wireless LAN (WLAN) to potential intruders (Potter & Fleck, 2003).
Cognitive Graphical Walkthrough Interface Evaluation
Authors: Karoulis Athanasis , Demetriadis Stavros , Pombortsis Andreas
Published: May 2011

Interface evaluation of a software system is a procedure intended to identify and propose solutions for usability problems caused by the specific software design. The term evaluation generally refers to the process of “gathering data about the usability of a design or product by a specified group of users for a particular activity within a specified environment or work context” (Preece et al., 1994, p. 602). As already stated, the main goal of an interface evaluation is to discover usability problems. A usability problem may be defined as anything that interferes with a user’s ability to efficiently and effectively complete tasks (Karat et al., 1992). The most applied interface evaluation methodologies are the expert-based and the empirical (user-based) evaluations. Expert evaluation is a relatively cheap and efficient formative evaluation method applied even on system prototypes or design specifications up to the almost-ready-to-ship product. The main idea is to present the tasks supported by the interface to an interdisciplinary group of experts, who will take the part of would-be users and try to identify possible deficiencies in the interface design. According to Reeves (1993), expert-based evaluations are perhaps the most applied evaluation strategy. They provide a crucial advantage that makes them more affordable compared to the empirical ones; in general, it is easier and cheaper to find experts rather than users who are eager to perform the evaluation. The main idea is that experts from different cognitive domains (at least one from the domain of HCI and one from the cognitive domain under evaluation) are asked to judge the interface, everyone from his or her own point of view. It is important that they all are experienced, so they can see the interface through the eyes of the user and reveal problems and deficiencies of the interface. One strong advantage of the methods is that they can be applied very early in the design cycle, even on paper mock-ups. The expert’s expertise allows the expert to understand the functionality of the system under construction, even if the expert lacks the whole picture of the product. A first look at the basic characteristics would be sufficient for an expert. On the other hand, user-based evaluations can be applied only after the product has reached a certain level of completion.
Elastic Interfaces for Visual Data Browsing
Authors: Hürst Wolfgang
Published: May 2011

In this article, we discuss the concept of elastic interfaces, which was originally introduced by Masui, Kashiwagi, and Borden (1995) a decade ago for the manipulation of discrete, time-independent data. It gained recent attraction again by our own work in which we adapted and extended it in order to use it in a couple of other applications, most importantly in the context of continuous, time-dependent documents (Hürst & Götz, 2004; Hürst, Götz, & Lauer, 2004). The basic idea of an elastic interface is illustrated in Figure 1. Normally, objects are moved by dragging them directly to the target position (direct positioning). With elastic interfaces, the object follows the cursor or mouse pointer on its way to the target position with a speed s that is a function of the distance d between the cursor and the object. They are called elastic because the behavior can be explained by the rubber-band metaphor, in which the connection between the cursor and the object is seen as a rubber band: The more the band is stretched, the stronger the force between the object and the cursor gets, which makes the object move faster. Once the object and cursor come closer to each other, the pressure on the rubber band decreases, thus slowing down the object’s movement. In the next section we describe when and why elastic interfaces are commonly used and review related approaches. Afterward, we illustrate different scenarios and applications in which elastic interfaces have been used successfully for visual data browsing, that is, for skimming and navigating through visual data. First, we review the work done by Masui (1998) and Masui et al. (1995) in the context of discrete, time-independent data. Then we describe our own work, which applies the concept of elastic interfaces to continuous, time-dependent media streams. In addition, we discuss specific aspects considering the integration of such an elastic behavior into common GUIs (graphical user interfaces) and introduce a new interface design that is especially useful in context with multimedia-document skimming.
A GIS-Based Interactive Database System for Planning Purposes
Authors: Al-Hanbali Nedal , Sadoun Balqies
Published: May 2011

Decision making in planning should consider state-of-the-art techniques in order to minimize the risk and time involved. Proper planning in developing countries is crucial for their economical recovery and prosperity. Proper database systems, such as the ones based on GIS, are a must for developing countries so that they can catch up and build effective and interactive systems in order to modernize their infrastructures and to help improve the standard of living of their citizens. The huge and fast advancement in computing and information technology make it easy for the developing countries to build their database infrastructures. GIS-technology is one of the best and fastest tools to build such systems, manage resources, encourage businesses, and help to make efficient and cost-effective decisions. For the purpose of a better informed decision making in planning the improvement of the Bank of Jordan in the city of Amman, Jordan, we had to build a database system and a digital map for the city of Amman, the Bank of Jordan, its branches in Amman, and all other banks and their branches in Amman. We used the popular Geomedia software to allow an interactive time-saving data management; to offer the ability to perform different analysis, including statistical ones; and to provide graphical geospatial results on maps. By using Geomedia software, we built many layers needed for the planning processes and mainly for the region of Amman due to the lack of available digital data in the area. Some layers concern the project and relate to the bank, such as the geographic distribution of the Bank of Jordan branches and its ATMs; and others for the comparison, such as the geographic distribution of all other banks, their branches, and ATMs in Amman. This is to allow the decision makers to compare with all competitive banks in Amman. Besides the geographic location of all existing banks, important attribute data are provided for the Bank of Jordan in specific and all the other banks in general (Batty et al., 1994a, 1994b; Burrough et al., 1980; Doucette et al., 2000; Elmasri & Navathe, 2004; Goodchild, 2003; Longley et al., 1999a, 1999b).
HCI in South Africa
Authors: Singh Shawren
Published: May 2011

South Africa is a multi-lingual country with a population of about 40.5 million people. South Africa has more official languages at a national level than any other country in the world. Over and above English and Afrikaans, the eleven official languages include the indigenous languages: Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele, Tsonga, and Venda (Pretorius & Bosch, 2003). Figure 1 depicts the breakdown of the South African official languages as mother tongues for South African citizens. Although English ranks fifth (9%) as a mother tongue, there is a tendency among national leaders, politicians, business people, and officials to use English more frequently than any of the other languages. In a national survey on language use and language interaction conducted by the Pan South African Language Board (Language Use and Board Interaction in South Africa, 2000), only 22% of the respondents indicated that they fully understand speeches and statements made in English, while 19% indicated that they seldom understand information conveyed in English. The rate of electrification in South African is 66.1%. The total number of people with access to electricity is 28.3 million, and the total number of people without access to electricity is 14.5 million (International Energy Agency, 2002). Although the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” is narrowing, a significant portion of the South African population is still without the basic amenities of life. This unique environment sets the tone for a creative research agenda for HCI researchers and practitioners in South Africa.
Human-Computer Interaction and Security
Authors: Richter Kai , Roth Volker
Published: May 2011

Historically, computer security has its roots in the military domain with its hierarchical structures and clear and normative rules that are expected to be obeyed (Adams & Sasse, 1999). The technical expertise necessary to administer most security tools stems back to the time where security was the matter of trained system administrators and expert users. A considerable amount of money and expertise is invested by companies and institutions to set up and maintain powerful security infrastructures. However, in many cases, it is the user’s behavior that enables security breaches rather than shortcomings of the technology. This has led to the notion of the user as the weakest link in the chain (Schneier, 2000), implying that the user was to blame instead of technology. The engineer’s attitude toward the fallible human and the ignorance of the fact that technology’s primary goal was to serve human turned out to be hard to overcome (Sasse, Brostoff, & Weirich, 2001).
Improving Dynamic Decision Making through HCI Principles
Authors: Qudrat-Ullah Hassan
Published: May 2011

CSBILEs allow the compression of time and space and provide an opportunity for practicing managerial decision making in a non-threatening way (Issacs & Senge, 1994). In a computer simulation-based interactive learning environments (CSBILEs), decision makers can test their assumptions, practice exerting control over a business situation, and learn from the immediate feedback of their decisions. CSBILE’s effectiveness is associated directly with decision-making effectiveness; that is, if one CSBILE improves decision-making effectiveness more than other CSBILEs, it is more effective than others. Despite an increasing interest in CSBILEs, empirical evidence to their effectiveness is inconclusive (Bakken, 1993; Diehl & Sterman, 1995; Moxnes, 1998). The aim of this article is to present a case for HCI design principles as a viable potential way to improve the design of CSBILEs and, hence, their effectiveness in improving decision makers’ performance in dynamic tasks. This article is organized as follows: some background concepts are presented first; next, we present an assessment of the prior research on (i) DDM and CSBILE and (ii) HCI and dynamic decision making (DDM); the section on future trends presents some suggestion for future research. This article concludes with some conclusions.
Internet-Mediated Communication at the Cultural Interface
Authors: Macfadyen Leah P.
Published: May 2011

As individuals launch themselves into cyberspace via networked technologies, they must navigate more than just the human-computer interface. The rhetoric of the “global village”—a utopian vision of a harmonious multicultural virtual world—has tended to overlook the messier and potentially much more problematic social interfaces of cyberspace: the interface of the individual with cyberculture (Macfadyen, 2004), and the interface of culture with culture. To date, intercultural communications research has focused primarily on instances of physical (face-to-face) encounters between cultural groups, for example, in the classroom or in the workplace. However, virtual environments are increasingly common sites of encounter and communication for individuals and groups from multiple cultural backgrounds. This underscores the need for a better understanding of Internet-mediated intercultural communication.
An Overview of an Evaluation Framework for E-Learning
Authors: Rentroia-Bonito Maria Alexandra , Jorge Joaquim A. , Ghaoui Claude
Published: May 2011

Technology-based education is taken as an effective tool to support structured learning content dissemination within pre-defined learning environments. However, effectiveness and efficacy of this paradigm relate to how well designers and developers address the specificities of users’ learning needs, preferences, goals, and priorities taking into account their immediate work, social, and personal context. This is required in order to focus development efforts on the design of e-learning experiences that would satisfy identified needs. Thus, studying and assessing the human computer interaction side of such projects is a critical factor to designing holistic and productive e-learning experiences. Literature does not show consistent and integrated findings to support the effectiveness of e-learning as a strategic tool to develop knowledge and skill acquisition (Rosenberg, 2001; Shih & Gamon, 2001). The objective of this article is to develop on one hand, main identified issues of an integrated evaluation framework, focusing on key variables from people and technology standpoint within context of use, and, on the other hand, to summarize the relevant tasks involved in designing e-learning experiences. Main identified issues of an integrated evaluation framework include: (i) some relevant context-specific factors, and (ii) other issues that are identified when people interact with technology. Context-specifics factors such as culture, organization of work, management practices, technology, and working processes may influence the quality of interaction (Laudon & Laudon, 2002) and may also help define the organizational readiness to sustain the acceptance and evolution of e-learning within organizational dynamics. Thus we propose an e-learning evaluation framework to be used as a diagnostic and managerial tool that can be based on: (a) an observed individual vari able, as a visible sign of implicit intentions, to support development effort during instructional design and initial users’ engagement, and/or (b) usability and accessibility as key identified technology variables addressing acceptance and usage. The Background section presents our proposed theoretical evaluation framework to guide our analysis based upon the reviewed li es arising from the proposed framework. Last, we elaborate on some future work and general conclusion.
Pen-Based Digital Screen Interaction
Authors: Mohamed Khaireel A. , Ottman Thomas
Published: May 2011

Through a transducer device and the movements effected from a digital pen, we have a pen-based interface that captures digital ink. This information can be relayed on to domain-specific application software that interpret the pen input as appropriate computer actions or archive them as ink documents, notes, or messages for later retrieval and exchanges through telecommunications means. Pen-based interfaces have rapidly advanced since the commercial popularity of personal digital assistants (PDAs) not only because they are conveniently portable, but more so for their easy-to-use freehand input modal that appeals to a wide range of users. Research efforts aimed at the latter reason led to modern products such as the personal tablet PCs (personal computers; Microsoft Corporation, 2003), corporate wall-sized interactive boards (SMART Technologies, 2003), and the communal tabletop displays (Shen, Everitt, & Ryall, 2003). Classical interaction methodologies adopted for the desktop, which essentially utilize the conventional pull-down menu systems by means of a keyboard and a mouse, may no longer seem appropriate; screens are getting bigger, the interactivity dimension is increasing, and users tend to insist on a one-to-one relation with the hardware whenever the pen is used (Anderson, Anderson, Simon, Wolfman, VanDeGrift, & Yasuhara, 2004; Chong & Sakauchi, 2000). So, instead of combining the keyboard, mouse, and pen inputs to conform to the classical interaction methodologies for these modern products, our ultimate goal is then to do away with the conventional GUIs (graphical user interfaces) and concentrate on perceptual starting points in the design space for pen-based user interfaces (Turk & Robertson, 2000).
Supporting Culture in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
Authors: Xiao Lu , Convertino Gregorio , Trauth Eileen , Carroll John M. , Rosson Mary Beth
Published: May 2011

Information Technology (IT) has a significant impact on our lives beyond mere information access and distribution. IT shapes access to services, technology, and people. The design and use of IT can change people’s communication styles and the way they work, either individually or in a group. The recent introduction of groupware and Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) systems enables people to collaborate with fewer time and space constraints and affects people’s lives and their cultures in the long term. CSCW is a new and fast developing research field. The terms groupware and CSCW were coined in the mid-1980s. The study of CSCW and groupware could be defined as a middle field of research between the study of single user applications (e.g., human-computer interaction [HCI] research) and applications for organizations (e.g., information systems [IS] or management information system [MIS] research) (Grudin, 1994). CSCW studies the way people work in groups as well as technological solutions that pertain to computer networking with associated hardware, software, services, and techniques (Wilson, 1991). There are several alternative labels used to denominate CSCW applications: groupware, group support systems (GSS), collaborative computing, workgroup computing, and multiuse applications. Some of the key issues studied in CSCW include commuter-mediated communication, awareness and coordination, and multi-user interfaces. However, there has been very limited research to account for culture in CSCW. In this article, we discuss the role of culture in the design and implementation of CSCW systems that support work in cross-cultural contexts. We first present two different perspectives on culture in the literature. We then review prior research in both HCI and IS fields and follow with a summary of preliminary research work in CSCW about cross-cultural group work. We conclude by discussing alternative approaches to design and by suggesting a theoretical tool that may inform future research on the cultural factors in CSCW.
Task Ontology-Based Human-Computer Interaction
Authors: Seta Kazuhisa
Published: May 2011

In ontological engineering research field, the concept of “task ontology” is well-known as a useful technology to systemize and accumulate the knowledge to perform problem-solving tasks (e.g., diagnosis, design, scheduling, and so on). A task ontology refers to a system of a vocabulary/concepts used as building blocks to perform a problem-solving task in a machine readable manner, so that the system and humans can collaboratively solve a problem based on it. The concept of task ontology was proposed by Mizoguchi (Mizoguchi, Tijerino, & Ikeda, 1992, 1995) and its validity is substantiated by development of many practical knowledge-based systems (Hori & Yoshida, 1998; Ikeda, Seta, & Mizoguchi, 1997; Izumi &Yamaguchi, 2002; Schreiber et al., 2000; Seta, Ikeda, Kakusho, & Mizoguchi, 1997). He stated: …task ontology characterizes the computational architecture of a knowledge-based system which performs a task. The idea of task ontology which serves as a system of the vocabulary/concepts used as building blocks for knowledge-based systems might provide an effective methodology and vocabulary for both analyzing and synthesizing knowledge-based systems. It is useful for describing inherent problem-solving structure of the existing tasks domain-independently. It is obtained by analyzing task structures of real world problem. ... The ultimate goal of task ontology research is to provide a theory of all the vocabulary/concepts necessary for building a model of human problem solving processes. (Mizoguchi, 2003) We can also recognize task ontology as a static user model (Seta et al., 1997), which captures the meaning of problem-solving processes, that is, the input/output relation of each activity in a problem-solving task and its effects on the real world as well as on the humans’ mind.
Usability Data Quality
Authors: Danielson David R.
Published: May 2011

A substantial portion of usability work involves the coordinated collection of data by a team of specialists with varied backgrounds, employing multiple collection methods, and observing users with a wide range of skills, work contexts, goals, and responsibilities. The desired result is an improved system design, and the means to that end are the successful detection of, and reaction to, real deficiencies in system usability that severely impact the quality of experience for a range of users. In the context of user-centered design processes, valid and reliable data from a representative user sample is simply not enough. High-quality usability data is not just representative of reality. It is useful. It is persuasive in the eyes of the right stakeholders. It results in verifiable improvements to the system for which it is intended to represent a deficiency. The data must be efficiently and effectively translated into development action items with appropriate priority levels, and it must result in effective work products downstream, leading to cost-effective design changes. The remainder of this article (a) briefly reviews basic usability data collection concepts, (b) examines the dimensions that make up high-quality usability data, and (c) suggests future trends in usability data quality research.
Web-Based Instructional Systems
Authors: Magoulas George D.
Published: May 2011

Information and communication technologies have played a fundamental role in teaching and learning for many years. Technologies, such as radio and TV, were used during the 50s and 60s for delivering instructional material in audio and/or video format. More recently, the spread of computer-based educational systems has transformed the processes of teaching and learning (Squires, Conole, & Jacobs, 2000). Potential benefits to learners include richer and more effective learning resources using multimedia and a more flexible pace of learning. In the last few years, the emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) have offered users a new instructional delivery system that connects learners with educational resources and has led to a tremendous growth in Web-based instruction. Web-based instruction (WBI) can be defined as using the WWW as the medium to deliver course material, manage a course (registrations, supervision, etc.), and communicate with learners. A more elaborate definition is due to Khan (1997), who defines a Web-based instructional system (WIS) as “...a hypermedia-based instructional program which utilises the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web to create a meaningful learning environment where learning is fostered and supported.” Relan and Gillani (1997) have also provided an alternative definition that incorporates pedagogical elements by considering WBI as “...the application of a repertoire of cognitively oriented instructional strategies within a constructivist and collaborative learning environment, utilising the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web.” Nowadays, WISs can take various forms depending on the aim they serve: • Distance-learning (DL) systems’ goal is providing remote access to learning resources at a reduced cost. The concept of DL (Rowntree, 1993) is based on: (i) learning alone, or in small groups, at the learner’s pace and in their own time and place, and (ii) providing active learning rather than passive with less frequent help from a teacher. • Web-based systems, such as intelligent tutoring systems (Wenger, 1987), educational hypermedia, games and simulators (Granlund, Berglund, & Eriksson, 2000), aim at improving the learning experience by offering a high level of interactivity and exploratory activities, but require a significant amount of time for development. The inherent interactivity of this approach leads learners to analyse material at a deeper conceptual level than would normally follow from just studying the theory and generates frequently cognitive conflicts that help learners to discover their possible misunderstandings and reconstruct their own cognitive models of the task under consideration. • Electronic books provide a convenient way to structure learning materials and reach a large market (Eklund & Brusilovsky, 1999). • Providers of training aim to offer innovative educational services to organisations for workplace training and learning, such as to supplement and support training in advance of live training, update employee skills, develop new skills.
Detecting and Responding to Online Deception
Authors: Rowe Neil C.
Published: May 2011

An important problem in online communities is detection of deception by their members. Deception is a form of manipulation, and can have many varied negative consequences in a virtual community, especially once discovered (Joinson & Dietz-Uhler, 2002) and even if undiscovered. Virtual communities need to be aware of the problems and need to agree on policies for detecting deception and responding to it.
E-Learning Models
Authors: Rhoten Eulace Scott
Published: May 2011

As global e-learning grows, all types of organizations are getting involved. - Kaplan Although distance learning is not for everyone, many have benefited from some form of distance education. E-learning is a form or subset of distance learning. Although distance learning is briefly discussed, e-learning (the use of computer-integrated electronic information systems) is the central focus of this article. Examples of the three major forms of e-learning—academia, business, and government—are given as well as examples of reputable accrediting agencies.
How an Association Evolved Using Communities of Practice
Authors: Zender Anne
Published: May 2011

Communities of practice have always existed in some form. However, it was not until the late 20th century that they entered the lexicon of business. Experts such as Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder (2002) point to companies such as Shell, World Bank, and Xerox that have successfully used communities to encourage innovation or the development of best practices. But the concept was rarely extended to other kinds of organizations, such as nonprofit organizations and associations. In creating and launching its online Communities of Practice (CoP), the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) blazed new trails as it set out to redefine the way it worked as an association. The drive toward communities emerged from a number of factors. The 76-year-old association is at the epicenter of a healthcare world where information and knowledge are key assets in the ongoing effort to advance health and patient care. AHIMA now serves a membership of 50,000 professionals who work in increasingly varied roles. Like many associations, AHIMA strives to demonstrate and improve the value of its services to members at the same time that member needs are growing more and more diverse. Members seek ways to better leverage information to achieve greater levels of personal efficiency and effectiveness and contribute to better performance for their healthcare organization’s business operations. By the late 1990s, members were looking for more efficient forms of knowledge exchange with other members. Many of the breakthrough professional practice improvements were happening in the field. Members could not wait for these best practices to “trickle up” to the national level, be packaged, and trickle back down. New ways of disseminating information had to be devised to complement the tried-and-true ways. AHIMA members said that one of their primary reasons for belonging to the association was the interaction it provides with their peers. However, with decreasing travel and conference budgets and severe time constraints, members were less able to extract themselves from their workplace to attend meetings. The association offered membership in specialty groups as a means of networking, but this structure was costly for members and for AHIMA and not flexible enough to meet member needs for networking and knowledge exchange. In 1998, AHIMA’s Board of Directors charged an organizational structure task force with leading an organizational design process. This design process was not about rearranging the boxes on an organizational chart, but about creating a new model that would allow the association to be more member centered and facilitate interactions between members. The task force released its recommendations in 1999. One of these called for instituting “practice communities.” It defined “practice community” as a way of enabling AHIMA members with common interests to network across geographic boundaries. The task force went on to recommend a new association-wide model, a key component of which is CoP.
Human Resources and Knowledge Management Based on E-Democracy
Authors: Lambropoulos Niki
Published: May 2011

Correspondence between everyday and scientific life is a blessing (Warren & Jahoda, 1966). Although virtual communities are nowadays widely expanded, research online is not fully developed yet, as methodological approaches are not designed specifically for online research. In addition, the results from the evaluation and the reports do not find an immediate space of use. As such, the researchers use methodologies that deal with online situations borrowing methods and techniques from the “real” ones. Although the adaptations have the same principles, there are limitations due to the virtual nature of the research. In addition, multi-disciplinary approaches characterize virtual communities as different fields interact, such as learning approaches, psychology of the individual and the masses, sociology, linguistics, communication studies, management, human computer interaction and information systems. As a result, there is no methodology that, solely used, could bring results for adequate evaluation and implementation of the results in the community. Due to this complexity, we suggest Real Time Research Methodology based on Time-Series Design to study process-based activities; Focus Groups Methodology and Forum Messages Discourse Analysis as two of the most vital parts in the use of a multi-method. The other parts will depend on the nature and culture of the selected virtual community. Both focus groups (FG) and Forum Messages Discourse Analysis are referred as Extraction Group Research Methodology, or X-Groups. The reason for using X-Groups is the actual implementation of members’ suggestions into their environment as an interaction into an immediate space of use.
Influence on Knowledge Construction
Authors: Cartelli Antonio
Published: May 2011

It is well known that computers, information technology (IT), and information and communication technology (ICT) strongly influenced individuals and communities in their ways of knowing and transmitting knowledge. The impact the above instruments had on human activities has been often compared to other historical revolutions such as alphabet and printing inventions for the effects they produced and are still producing. In what follows, the ICT intervention on the interpretation of knowledge construction/transmission processes for individuals, communities, and society will be shown. Furthermore, possible scenarios for ICT impact on knowledge/learning processes will be drawn.
Intellectual Property Rights in Open Source Software Communities
Authors: Okoli Chitu , Carillo Kevin
Published: May 2011

Intellectual property is an old concept, with the first recorded instances of patents (1449) and copyrights (1662) both occurring in England (“Intellectual property”, Wikipedia, 2004). The first piece of software was submitted for copyright to the United States Copyright Office in 1961, and was accepted as copyrightable under existing copyright law (Hollaar, 2002). The open source movement has relied upon controversial intellectual property rights that are rooted in the overall history of software development (Lerner & Tirole, 2002; von Hippel & von Krogh, 2003). By defining specific legal mechanisms and designing various software licenses, the open source phenomenon has successfully proposed an alternative software development model whose approach to the concept of intellectual property is quite different from that taken by traditional proprietary software. A separate article in this encyclopedia treats open source software communities in general as a type of virtual community. This article takes a historical approach to examining how the intellectual property rights that have protected free/open source software have contributed towards the formation and evolution of virtual communities whose central focus is software projects based on the open source model.
Mobile Internet and Handheld Devices for Virtual Communities
Authors: Hu Wen-Chen , Yang Hung-Jen , Yeh Jyh-haw
Published: May 2011

With the introduction of the Internet, virtual communities have revolutionized traditional communities and boosted sharing and exchanges of information, and common interests, ideas, and feelings. Recently, the emergence of wireless and mobile networks has made possible the admission of the Internet accessed by desktop or notebook computers to the mobile Internet accessed by handheld devices, which has brought great impact on virtual communities. Figure 1 shows the growth in demand for handheld computing devices (not including smart cellular phones) through 2007, as predicted by the research firm In-Stat/MDR (PalmInfocenter.com, 2003). The mobile Internet has introduced new virtual communities and has the existing communities reach new members or topics because it allows the community members to communicate with each other from anywhere and at anytime. This article discusses the mobile technologies, especially the mobile Internet and handheld devices, for virtual communities and their influence on the communities. Three themes of this discussion are as follows:
Online Group Facilitation Skills
Authors: White Nancy
Published: May 2011

Traditional face-to-face (F2F) group facilitation is a well-evolved practice. Roger Schwarz defined it as “a process in which a person who is acceptable to all members of the group, substantively neutral and has no decision-making authority intervenes to help a group improve the way it identifies and solves problems and makes decisions, in order to increase the group’s effectiveness” (Schwarz, 1994, p 4). Like most practices, facilitation includes a wide range of techniques and philosophical underpinning. For example, while Schwarz notes that group members can’t formally fill the role of facilitator, or do not have decision-making power, there are other models that include both these conditions.