bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Disaggregating the Journey to Homicide
Authors: Groff Elizabeth , McEwen J. Thomas
Published: May 2011

This research examines the distance traveled by offenders and victims to their involvement in homicide. Key research topics include (1) the differences in distance traveled by offenders and victims by homicide motive, (2) the differences in distance traveled by offenders and victims by sex and age, and (3) the relationship between street distance and Euclidean distances by type of homicide. Findings indicate that there are clear differences in travel behavior between victims and offenders. In addition, travel distance to event location varies according to the demographic characteristics of the offender and victim. Related to the method of measurement, street distance is always longer than Euclidean distance and there is a strong and consistent linear relationship, making it possible to predict street distance from Euclidean distance. A Pareto-exponential function was determined to be a good model for representing the distances that offenders travel to their crimes. This research will assist police practitioners with respect to investigations (for example, aid in refining suspect lists) and homicide prevention (for example, by developing richer information about activity spaces of offenders and victims).
Application of Tracking Signals to Detect Time Series Pattern Changes in Crime Mapping Systems
Authors: Gorr Wilpen L. , McKay Shannon A.
Published: May 2011

Tracking signals are widely used in industry to monitor inventory and sales demand. These signals automatically and quickly detect departures in product demand, such as step jumps and outliers, from “business-as-usual”. This chapter explores the application of tracking signals for use in crime mapping to automatically identify areas that are experiencing changes in crime patterns and thus may need police intervention. Detecting such changes through visual examination of time series plots, while effective, creates too large a workload for crime analysts, easily on the order of 1,000 time series per month for medium-sized cities. We demonstrate the so-called smoothed-error-term tracking signal and carry out an exploratory validation on 10 grid cells for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Underlying the tracking signal is an extrapolative forecast that serves as the counterfactual basis of comparison. The approach to validation is based on the assumption that we wish tracking signal behavior to match decisions made by crime analysts on identifying crime pattern changes. We present tracking signals in the context of crime early warning systems that provide wide-area scanning for crime pattern changes and detailed drill-down maps for crime analysis. Based on preliminary results, the tracking signal is a promising tool for crime analysts.
Loaded Metaphors
Authors: Casacuberta David
Published: May 2011

The main aim of this chapter is to analyse the contradictions among several verdicts in Spain about the legality of digital monitoring in the workplace, more specifically, the legal viability of reading workers’ e-mails. These contradictions arise mostly because of the use of two incompatible metaphors: e-mail as a company instrument and e-mail as a system to deliver letters. Nevertheless, the existence of these two metaphors is not mostly due to the judges’ lack of knowledge about digital media, but to political interests towards completely informating the workplace. If my analysis is correct, Spanish legal background does not allow the company instrument reading of the situation. E-mail as a letter is the only interpretation that should prevail.
Personal Autonomy and Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace
Authors: Rooksby Emma , Cica Natasha
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we suggest a significant cause for concern about electronic surveillance in the workplace, namely the moral and political value of personal autonomy and the threat to personal autonomy posed by the use of electronic surveillance. We explore the significance of psychological aspects of personal autonomy (psychological autonomy, for short) and argue that individuals may be conceived of as having rights to psychological autonomy that extend to the workplace. We then argue that, in certain circumstances, electronic surveillance in the workplace may undermine psychological autonomy, thereby infringing upon workers’ rights to psychological autonomy.
Guarding the Guards
Authors: Miller Seumas
Published: May 2011

This chapter is concerned with the use of communication and computer technology to surveil and monitor the performance and activity of police officers. First, while I argue that there is an in-principle difference between police officers and most other occupations in relation to workplace monitoring and surveillance, there is also a sameness, viz. police officers retain their individual right to privacy in the workplace. Second, combating crime and corruption in the workplace depends on the desire to do good and avoid evil on the part of those monitored and surveilled. Unjustified, covert, and intrusive monitoring and surveillance will undermine trust and ultimately undermine the attempt to combat crime and corruption. Third, notwithstanding the development of a variety of useful methods of monitoring and surveillance to deal with the problem of policing the police, an in-principle problem of guarding the guards remains.
Knowledge Management in Healthcare
Authors: Sharma Sushil K. , Wickramasinghe Nilmini , Gupta Jatinder N.D.
Published: May 2011

Healthcare organizations are facing many challenges in the 21st Century due to changes taking place in global healthcare systems. Spiraling costs, financial constraints, increased emphasis on accountability and transparency, changes in education, growing complexities of biomedical research, new partnerships in healthcare and great advances in IT suggest that a predominant paradigm shift is occurring. This shift is necessitating a focus on interaction, collaboration and increased sharing of information and knowledge which is in turn leading healthcare organizations to embrace the techniques of Knowledge Management (KM) in order to create and sustain optimal healthcare outcomes. This chapter describes the importance of knowledge management systems for healthcare organizations and provides an overview of knowledge management technologies and tools that may be used by healthcare organizations.
Moving Toward an e-Hospital
Authors: Gargeya Vidyaranya B. , Sorrell Deborah I.
Published: May 2011

Healthcare organizations, like other information intensive organizations, cannot ignore the rapid progression to a digital network economy. While some aspects of patient care must continue to be delivered locally, Internet technologies and “e-healthcare experiences” are likely to play an increasing role in the pre-delivery and post-delivery arenas. Creating the infrastructure to quickly take advantage of this paradigm shift, while adding value to the local delivery system is paramount to the long-term success of healthcare organizations. To achieve the level of data integration necessary to move to an e-hospital, the complicated web of patient data must flow automatically and instantaneously between information systems within and external to the organization. This chapter presents an overview of infrastructure issues and technologies that will enable hospitals to “plug into” the evolving e-health continuum.
Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery in Healthcare Organizations
Authors: Testik Murat Caner , Runger George C. , Kirkman-Liff Bradford , Smith Edward A.
Published: May 2011

Health care organizations are struggling to find new ways to cut healthcare utilization and costs while improving quality and outcomes. Predictive models that have been developed to predict global utilization for a healthcare organization cannot be used to predict the behavior of individuals. On the other hand, massive amounts of healthcare data are available in databases that can be used for exploring patterns and therefore knowledge discovery. Diversity and complexity of the healthcare data requires attention to the use of statistical methods. By nature, healthcare data are multivariate, making the analysis difficult as well as interesting. In this chapter, our intention is to classify individuals that are future high-utilizers of healthcare. In particular, we answer the question of whether a mathematical model can be generated utilizing a large claims database that will predict which individuals who are not using a service in a yet untested database will be high utilizers of that health service in the future. For this purpose, an integrated dataset from enrollment, medical claims, and pharmacy databases containing more than 150 million medical and pharmacy claim line items and for over four million patients is analyzed for knowledge discovery. A modern data-mining tool, namely decision trees, which may have a broad range of applications in healthcare organizations, was used in our analyses and a discussion of this valuable tool is provided. The results and managerial aspects are discussed. Several approaches are proposed for the use of this technique depending on the health plan.
Organizational Control Mode, Cognitive Activity & Performance Reliability
Authors: Saito M. , Seki H.
Published: May 2011

Objectives: Improvement of service quality and security is required in any business area in society. The purposes of this chapter are to identify and to verify our study hypotheses that cognitive activities, work environment and organizational climate/culture are highly related with human performance reliability and that human performance reliability was predicted by organizational control mode. This chapter will also emphasize that it is important to focus on the implication of latent variables perceived for tacit knowledge as well as articulate knowledge in knowledge management. Methods: The subjects surveyed in the case study are 356 clinical nurses and healthcare providers working in a national hospital in Japan. The questionnaires used were prepared by referring to the methodologies developed by Hollnagel et al. for assessing human reliability. Results: The score of improved reliability in strategic organizational control mode was the highest, while the one in scrambled mode was the lowest among four control modes of organization. Performance reliability was significantly influenced by organizational climate and work environment as well as cognitive activities of the participants. This was the similar trend observed in industry. In concluding, the latent factors, i.e., the variables in the genotype embedded deep in a complex organization, were the determinants for predicting human performance reliability in this case study. These results suggested that the variables in the genotype representing cognitive activities, nursing work environment and organizational safety climate were important factors as well as the variables in the phenotype which were observable.
Software Evolution with XVCL
Authors: Zhang Weishan , Jarzabek Stan , Zhang Hongyu , Loughran Neil , Rashid Awais
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces software evolution with XVCL (XML-based Variant Configuration Language), which is an XML-based metaprogramming technique. As the software evolves, a large number of variants may arise, especially when such kinds of evolutions are related to multiple platforms as shown in our case study. Handling variants and tracing the impact of variants across the development lifecycle is a challenge. This chapter shows how we apply XVCL to handle variants that arise during software evolution. It also shows how we can maintain different versions of software in a reuse-based way.
Support for Architectural Design and Re-Design of Embedded Systems
Authors: Bechini Alessio , Prete Cosimo A.
Published: May 2011

The market pushes the continuous evolution of embedded appliances (cellular phones, hand-held games, medical machinery, automotive systems, etc.). The assistance of appropriate methodologies and tools for supporting system-level design of embedded systems has become necessary for the development of appliances with tight constraints on performance, cost, and safety. Moreover, it is crucial to be able to rapidly and effectively modify appliances in order to meet new possible requirements. This chapter addresses the architectural design and redesign of embedded systems from a methodological viewpoint, taking into account both the hardware and software aspects; the final goal is to figure out the most convenient structure for the investigated system. In this context, the employment of both UML and XML can be regarded as an important step to substantially improve the overall design process.
Implementing CRM Systems
Authors: Bygstad Bendik
Published: May 2011

Many companies have large expectations of the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, expecting to harvest benefits from dialogue marketing and internal knowledge synergies. How should these systems be implemented? And how easy do the benefits come? The research approach is a longitudinal, six-year case study of a company implementing CRM both as a marketing principle and as an information system. The implementation was, from the outset, regarded as an organizational experiment, and the case is laid out in some detail to provide a somewhat “thick description” of the social setting and actors’ behavior. The high failure rate of CRM projects illustrates the gap between our intentions and outcomes. Interpreting a longitudinal case study and the research literature, we find two options to improve our practice. From a managerial view, we should treat CRM projects as complex challenges, needing tight project control and the application of change management techniques, focusing on the marketing process and data quality. In contrast, we could accept that the mechanisms at work at the micro level are only partly controllable by management techniques, and we should let the infrastructure grow organically.
The Pillars of Instructional Technology
Authors: Tomei Lawrence A.
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides an overview of the foundational components of teaching and learning with technology. The pillars of instructional technology include the philosophy of technology (What are we teaching about IT?), the psychology of technology (How are we teaching with IT?), the sociology of technology (Who are we teaching with IT?), the history of technology, and technology leadership. Each “pillar” offers a venue for creating a program of instructional technology at the higher education level. In addition, a new model for implementing an instructional technology program is introduced: the K-A-RPE Model of Instructional Technology provides the infrastructure for any institution of higher learning to infuse technology into its undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate teacher curriculum.
Computer and Information Systems in Latin Paleography Between Research and Didactic Application
Authors: Cartelli Antonio , Palma Marco
Published: May 2011

In this chapter the authors describe how ICT changed the way of approaching research and teaching for today’s paleographers. First of all they report how new technologies changed the cataloging, the studying, and the spreading of information concerning ancient manuscripts all over the world. Next, the results of the experiences they carried out at the Faculty of Humanities are described: the first one concerns the creation of Web resources for teaching paleography; the second one is a database collecting data on women copyists in the Middle Ages; the third one is the practical application of a more general project called by the authors “Open Catalog”; the fourth and last one is an information system concerning the bibliography of ancient manuscripts. Finally, the authors describe how ICT introduced new research methods in paleography and especially how they made possible the creation of learning communities (i.e., learning, studying, and research communities).
Developing Technology Applications
Authors: Chrysler Earl
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses the difficulties organizations have experienced when attempting to develop a new information technology application. The reasons for these difficulties are examined. A methodology for teaching a Software Project Management course that prepares students for conducting a successful project is presented in detail. The author hopes that educators will find the concepts and techniques presented useful and incorporate some of them in their courses.
Enabling Electronic Teaching and Learning Communities with MERLOT
Authors: Hanley Gerard L. , Reisman Sorel
Published: May 2011

Educational institutions have made significant progress in enabling student success in distance learning by delivering academic programs utilizing course management systems, accessing electronic library resources, and through a wealth of student services that use help desks and campus portals. Enabling instructor success in researching and designing curricula for teaching in distance learning programs is an area where institutions still face significant challenges. This chapter presents a number of these challenges and describes how MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching), an international consortium, can facilitate successful teaching and learning with technology.
A "Consciousness"-Based Architecture for a Functioning Mind
Authors: Franklin Stan
Published: May 2011

Here we describe an architecture for an autonomous software agent designed to model a broad spectrum of human cognitive and affective functioning. In addition to featuring “consciousness,” the architecture accommodates perception, several forms of memory, emotions, action-selection, deliberation, ersatz language generation, several forms of learning, and metacognition. One such software agent, IDA, embodying much of this architecture, is up and running. IDA’s “consciousness” module is based on global workspace theory, allowing it to select relevant resources with which to deal flexibly with both exogenous and endogenous stimuli. Within this architecture, emotions implement IDA’s drives, its1 primary motivations. Offering one possible architecture for a fully functioning artificial mind, IDA constitutes an early attempt at the exploration of design space and niche space. The design of the IDA architecture spawns hypotheses concerning human cognition and affect that can serve to guide the research of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists. One such hypothesis is that consciousness is discrete.
The Integration and Control of Behaviour
Authors: Glasspool David W.
Published: May 2011

Clues to the way behaviour is integrated and controlled in the human mind have emerged from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. The picture that is emerging mirrors solutions (driven primarily by engineering concerns) to similar problems in the rather different domains of mobile robotics and intelligent agents in artificial intelligence (AI). This chapter looks in detail at the relationship between a psychological theory of willed and automatic control of behaviour, the Norman and Shallice framework, and three types of engineering-based theory in AI. As well as being a promising basis for a large-scale model of cognition, the Norman and Shallice framework presents an interesting example both of apparent theoretical convergence between AI and empirical psychology, and of the way in which theoretical work in both fields can benefit from interaction between them.
The CHREST Architecture for a Functioning Mind
Authors: Gobet Fernand , Logan Peter C.R.
Published: May 2011

This chapter provides an introduction to the CHREST architecture of cognition and shows how this architecture can help develop a full theory of mind. After describing the main components and mechanisms of the architecture, we discuss several domains where it has already been successfully applied, such as in the psychology of expert behaviour, the acquisition of language by children, and the learning of multiple representations in physics. We highlight the characteristics of CHREST that enable it to account for empirical data, including self-organisation, an emphasis on cognitive limitations, the presence of a perception-learning cycle, and the use of naturalistic data as input for learning. We argue that some of these characteristics can help shed light on the hard questions facing theorists developing a full theory of mind, such as intuition, the acquisition and use of concepts, the link between cognition and emotions, and the role of embodiment.
An Architecture for Cognitive Diversity
Authors: Singh Push
Published: May 2011

To build systems as resourceful and adaptive as people, we must develop cognitive architectures that support great procedural and representational diversity. No single technique is by itself powerful enough to deal with the broad range of domains every ordinary person can understand—even as children, we can effortlessly think about complex problems involving temporal, spatial, physical, bodily, psychological, and social dimensions. In this chapter, we describe a multiagent cognitive architecture that aims for such flexibility. Rather than seeking a best way to organize agents, our architecture supports multiple “ways to think,” each a different architectural configuration of agents. Each agent may use a different way to represent and reason with knowledge, and there are special “panalogy” mechanisms that link agents that represent similar ideas in different ways. At the highest level, the architecture is arranged as a matrix of agents: Vertically, the architecture divides into a tower of reflection, including the reactive, deliberative, reflective, self-reflective, and self-conscious levels; horizontally, the architecture divides along “mental realms,” including the temporal, spatial, physical, bodily, social, and psychological realms. Our goal is to build an artificial intelligence (AI) system resourceful enough to combine the advantages of many different ways to think about things, by making use of many types of mechanisms for reasoning, representation, and reflection.
Virrtual Settings
Authors: Duchastel Philip , Molz Markus
Published: May 2011

Afourfold model of the main contextual factors to be taken into account in learn-ing is presented, with the view to examining how they interrelate and how theyimpinge on learning. We further consider the traditionally central factor of infor-mation (content) to help us see how it should be positioned within the more opencontext of e-learning. It is the advent of e-learning, and technology more generally,that is enabling a shift in the interaction, away from the delivery of information toaccess to information and away from interaction limited to the classroom setting tovarious virtual communities. The point of the shift is to reengage the learner inmore personalized learning that can be more interesting and meaningful. It thusovercomes the receptive learner stance encouraged by the impersonal delivery ofinformation and encourages instead an active interactive stance in which thelearner accesses information as per the current learning needs.
Space as a Learning Context
Authors: Chistiansen Ellen
Published: May 2011

The concept of “dwelling” is offered as a foundation for learning and for under-standing the role of space in educational settings. This chapter is a first attemptto connect the concept of dwelling, perceived as power over space in the phe-nomenological sense, with the concept of meta-learning as researched in exper-imental psychology, in distributed cognition, and in experiential learning, allfields sharing the idea that for learning to become self-regulated individualexperiences should be acknowledged, some freedom of choice should be offered,and change should be stimulated. Examples of learning environments with adwelling quality are presented together with a list of behavioral patternstrating the role of space. In this way the chapter shows education managers howto take the quality of dwelling into account in evaluating and designing contextsof learning.
The Voice of the Online Learner
Authors: Milhauser Kathy L.
Published: May 2011

This chapter examines the role of context in online settings from the perspectiveof the online learner. The chapter attempts to situate the reader within the contextof the online environment studied, using biographical stories of four learners whoparticipated in a cohort graduate program that was held primarily online. Thereader will experience the process that all the learners went through as they grap-pled with their current beliefs, were challenged and stretched technically as wellas intellectually, and learned to rely on the context of their shared experience, aswell as their local communities, for support and encouragement. The reader willalso recognize the transformation these individuals experienced as they let go ofsome of the pieces of their previous identities in a search for a preferred future.The author suggests that the design of the online program studied was critical tothe transformative learning experienced by the individuals studied and hopes toencourage individuals involved in the design of similar programs and environ-ments to think carefully about the powerful potential of socially constructivistdesign.
Learning Agency in New Learning Environments
Authors: Pillay Hitendra , Clarke John A. , Taylor Peter G.
Published: May 2011

The Bandurian concept of learner agency was originally embedded in a para-digm where behavior, self and environment influenced each other significantly.However, evolution of the concept has focused almost exclusively on individualsas the locus of agency ignoring the potential contribution of context. It is arguedthat learning environments should be considered truly reciprocal with individualsthrough mutual and iterative influence by contextual elements and by individuallearners. It is postulated that learner agency be broadened to a more inclusiveconcept of learning agency. This concept is explored empirically with data col-lected on an e-learning university campus from 125 students about theirapproaches to learning, perceptions of their learning environments, and episte-mological reflections on themselves as learners. Results indicate that students’behavior cannot be explained by individual characteristics but by the influencesof the technology-rich learning environment and peers, suggesting that individu-als’approach to learning arises from mutual interactions between individual andcontextual agency.
Counterterrorism and Privacy
Authors: Freeman Michael
Published: May 2011

This chapter addresses how new surveillance technologies and programs aimed at fighting terrorism affect privacy. Some of the new programs and technologies considered include the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism), biometrics, national ID cards, video surveillance, and the Total Information Awareness program. This chapter first evaluates the pre-9/11 status quo in terms of what techniques were used, and then examines how the new technologies and programs that have recently been implemented affect privacy constitutionally, legally, and normatively. This chapter argues that many of the recent changes do not, in fact, undermine privacy at a constitutional or legal level, but do run counter to what Americans want and expect in terms of privacy.
Tapping into Digital Literacy
Authors: van ‘t Hooft Mark
Published: May 2011

This chapter describes the integration of handheld computers in K-12 classrooms and its impact on digital literacy. Following a brief description of this new technology for education, teacher stories are used to illustrate what types of educational activities are possible above and beyond what is possible with available technology, what pedagogical changes need to be made to effectively integrate handheld technology in K-12 classrooms, how handheld devices can be adapted to harness their full potential as ubiquitous devices for teaching and learning, and how digital literacy skills influence and are being influenced by this technology. The ultimate goal of the author is to show that handheld computers have the potential to have a tremendous impact on teaching and learning, given the right context.
Knowledge Management, Communities of Practice, and the Role of Technology
Authors: Hin Lee Tan Wee , Koh Thiam-Seng , Hung Wei-Loong David
Published: May 2011

This chapter reviews the current work in knowledge management (KM) and attempts to draw lessons from research work in situated cognition about the nature of knowledge which can be useful to the field of KM. The role of technologies and the issues of literacy in technology are discussed in the context of communities of practice (CoPs) and the KM framework with some examples described for K-12 settings. Implications are drawn in terms of how teachers and students can be a community of learners-practitioners through technologies which support their work and learning processes.
Coordinating Distance Learning Software Rollout with the Needs and Visions of a Mature Test Organization
Authors: Fernandez Luke
Published: May 2011

As online education programs expand across the country, many universities are adopting course management software (CMS) such as Blackboard or WebCT. Although these out-of-the-box solutions may simplify the administration of online classes, they do not comprehensively meet the needs of mature testing organizations. This chapter describes the process that has led Weber State University to reconsider whether an out-of-the-box implementation of WebCT actually is a sensible strategy.
The Seven C's of Comprehensive Online Assessment
Authors: Behrens John T. , Collison Tara A. , DeMark Sarah
Published: May 2011

During the last 6 years, the Cisco Networking Academy™Program has delivered online curricula and over 36 million online assessments to support instructors and schools teaching computer networking skills to students. This chapter describes the context of this work and lessons learned from this endeavor. Through discussions with stakeholders concerning the central aspects of the Cisco Networking Academy Program assessment activities, seven themes have evolved, each starting with the letter C: claims, collaboration, complexity, contextualization, computation, communication, and coordination. These themes address many aspects of assessment, including design, development, delivery, and the management of assessment resources, which are all necessary to ensure a quality assessment program.
Knowledge Management for Agent-Based Tutoring Systems
Authors: Chen Ping , Ding Wei
Published: May 2011

As the education field is becoming increasingly technology heavy, more educational systems involve line or interactive training and tutoring techniques, and lots of educational information becomes available via the intranet and World Wide Web. Managing large volumes of learning information and knowledge is one of the crucial issues for these educational systems, as appropriate knowledge management is the key to more effective and efficient learning. The chapter first discusses that an intelligent agent system could be successfully applied to the education field and then focuses on how knowledge management techniques play an important role in agent-based tutoring systems.
The Corporate Learning Environment
Authors: Klein Jerry , Eseryel Deniz
Published: May 2011

Emerging technology has changed the focus of corporate learning systems from task-based, procedural training to knowledge-intensive problem-solving with deep conceptual learning. In addition, the deployment of open systems and distributing processing are adding new stresses to learning systems that can barely keep pace with the current rate of change. Learning environments to address these challenges a reviewed within a framework of the conventional learning curve, in which different learning elements are required to support different levels of expertise. An adaptive development model for creating and sustaining a learning environment is proposed that consists of the iterative application of three phases: (1) analysis and reflection, (2) architecture inception and revision, and (3) alignment. The model relies on the notion that analysis deals as much with synthesis and learning as it does with decomposition. We conclude that the concept of a “learning environment” provides a viable construct for making sense of the array of systems designed to support knowledge management, document management, e-learning, and performance support. A learning environment with a well-defined architecture can guide the convergence of multiple systems into a seamless environment providing access to content, multimedia learning modules, collaborative workspaces, and other forms of learning support. Finally, we see future learning environments consisting of networks of databases housing content objects, elegant access to the content, ubiquitous virtual spaces, and authoring tools that enable content vendors, guilds, and universities to rapidly develop and deliver a wide range of learning artifacts.
Classroom for the Semantic Web
Authors: Shimic Goran , Gasevic Dragan , Devedzic Vladan
Published: May 2011

This chapter emphasizes integration of Semantic Web technologies in intelligent learning systems by giving a proposal for an intelligent learning management system (ILMS) architecture we named Multitutor. This system is a Web-based environment forth development of e-learning courses and for the use of them by the students. Multitutor is designed as a Web-classroom client-server system, ontologically founded, and is built using modern intelligent and Web-related technologies. This system enables the teachers to develop tutoring systems for any course. The teacher has to define the metadata of the course: chapters, the lessons and the tests, the references of the learning materials. We also show how the Multitutor system can be employed to develop learning systems that use ontologically created learning materials as well as Web services. As an illustration we describe a simple Petri net teaching system that is based on the Petrinet infrastructure for the Semantic Web.
Toward an Integrated E-Collaboration Framework for Learning Purposes
Authors: Karacapilidis Nikos
Published: May 2011

This chapter discusses issues to be considered in the development of a framework with advanced e-collaboration features for learning purposes. Having first identified the underlying requirements, we review enabling technologies and propose an approach that seamlessly integrates knowledge management, decision-making, argumentative discourse, and simulation issues. In addition, we comment on the extent to which our approach satisfies the needs of virtual learning communities and supports various learning methods such as learning by doing, conversational learning, and constructive criticism of an issue or an abstract idea. The proposed framework acts as a medium on which diverse knowledge and information sources can be attached, thus aiding people involved in a learning process to widen their perspectives and learn from past experience.
A Case Study in Supporting Distributed, Loosely-Controlled and Evolving Engineering iconologies
Authors: Sure York , Tempich Christoph , Pinto Sofia , Staab Steffen
Published: May 2011

Knowledge management solutions relying on central repositories sometimes have not met expectations, since users often create knowledge ad-hoc using their individual vocabulary and using their own decentral IT infrastructure (e.g., their laptops). To improve knowledge management for such decentralized and individualized knowledge work, it is necessary to, first, provide a corresponding IT infrastructure and, second, deal with the harmonization of different vocabularies/ontologies. In this chapter, we briefly sketch the technical peer-to-peer platform that we have built, but then we focus on the harmonization of the participating ontologies. Thereby, the objective of this harmonization is to avoid the worst incongruence by having users share a core ontology that they can expand for local use at their will and individual needs. The task that then needs to be solved is one of distributed, loosely-controlled, and evolving engineering of ontologies. In this chapter, we present a corresponding process template and a case study.
Requirements Engineering in Cooperative Systems
Authors: Garrido J. L. , Gea M. , Rodríguez M. L.
Published: May 2011

Technology is increasing the possibilities for working in groups and even changing the way in which traditionally this has been performed. This chapter reviews models and techniques for obtaining and describing requirements in cooperative systems. Features and diversity of this kind of system imply an inherent complexity in studying and developing. Therefore methodologies and techniques aimed at enhancing requirements and software engineering processes should be applied. The chapter also presents a new methodology (called AMENITIES) based on behaviour and task models, specifically intended to study and develop these systems. The focus is on the part of the methodology that is concerned with the requirements engineering discipline. Several models are assembled under new conceptual and methodological frameworks in order to allow a more complete requirements elicitation, description, and negotiation.
Problem Frames for Sociotechnical Systems
Authors: Hall Jon G. , Rapanotti Lucia
Published: May 2011

This chapter introduces Problem Frames as a framework for the analysis of sociotechnical problems. It summarizes the Problem Frames approach, its techniques and foundations, and demonstrates, through theory and examples, how it can be applied to simple sociotechnical systems. The chapter continues with the description of an extended Problem Frame framework that allows the treatment of more general sociotechnical problems. This extension covers social components of a system — individuals, groups or organisations — bringing them within the remit of the design activity. The aim of the chapter is to make the Problem Frames framework more accessible to the software practitioner, especially those involved in the analysis of sociotechnical problems, as these problems have so far received only scant coverage in the Problem Frames literature.
Communication Analysis as Perspective and Method for Requirements Engineering
Authors: Cronholm Stefan , Goldkuhl Göran
Published: May 2011

In this chapter we challenge the view of perceiving information systems as systems for storing, retrieving, and organizing large amounts of data. We claim that the main purpose of information systems is to support the communication that takes place between different actors in a work practice. We describe a communication perspective on information systems and its consequences for performing requirements engineering. In this perspective business documents play a prominent role. The perspective is operationalized into a method and an example from a case study is used in order to describe the method.
Challenges of Complex Information Technology Projects
Authors: Stamati Teta , Kanellis Panagiotis , Martakos Drakoulis
Published: May 2011

Although painstaking planning usually precedes all large IT development efforts, 80% of new systems are delivered late (if ever) and over budget, frequently with functionality falling short of contract. This case study provides a detailed account of an ill-fated initiative to centrally plan and procure, with the aim to homogenize requirements, an integrated applications suite for a number of British higher education institutions. It is argued that because systems are so deeply embedded in operations and organization and, as you cannot possibly foresee and therefore plan for environmental discontinuities, high-risk, ‘big-bang’ approaches to information systems planning and development must be avoided. In this context the case illustrates the level of complexity that unpredictable change can bring to an information technology project that aims to establish the ‘organizationally generic’ and the destabilizing effects it has on the network of the project’s stakeholders.
Libraries, Information, and Course Management Systems
Authors: Lippincott Joan K.
Published: May 2011

Content owned or licensed by academic libraries, such as electronic journals, art image databases, and digital videos, provides a means to enhance curricula and allow for deeper learning by students. Lack of interoperability between library systems and course management systems (CMS) limits the use of library content within CMS. Learning environments, CMS, and institutional repositories must all interoperate since content can be used in many ways in both research and learning. Librarians can also add value to CMS if their virtual services — such as reference and information literacy — are integrated into the CMS. The content of CMS raises many policy issues which must be addressed by institutions.
The Interplay of Teaching Conceptions and Course Management System Design
Authors: Apedoe Xornam S.
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the relationship between instructors’ conceptions of teaching and the design and use of course management systems in instruction. Understanding this relationship helps us to understand why instructors are using course management systems in the ways they do. Subsequently, we can use our understanding to help define what future generations of course management systems look like and how we as instructors might use them.
Virtual Classroom Facilities Embedded in a Course Management System
Authors: Kaltenbaek Jesko
Published: May 2011

A basic condition for efficient computer-supported cooperative learning in higher education is the direct support of computer-mediated communication and computer-supported cooperative work. In this chapter, it will be reasoned why a combination of these features in one system is essential for well-functioning learning management systems (LMS). In addition to theoretical considerations about the link between learning objects, cognition, motivation, social processes, and practice, different e-learning and blended learning projects at the Freie University of Berlin are outlined. Finally, desirable cooperation and collaboration tools for an LMS are presented and related to psychological learning theories.
CMS Portfolios for Learning and Evaluation
Authors: Lanestedt Jon , Stokke Mona
Published: May 2011

In the chapter we discuss how higher education can support learning and evaluation by use of portfolios as an integrated functionality in course management systems (CMS). A theoretical rationale for a portfolio approach in support of deeper learning is provided by a brief outline of relevant aspects of constructivist theory of learning and its process-oriented focus on formative evaluation in a group context, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on summative evaluation in terms of final exams. The use of portfolios as a method to realize such a focus is explained, along with visualisations of an instantiation of the associated CMS functionality.
Putting Course Management Systems Behind Us
Authors: Robson Robby
Published: May 2011

The course management systems developed in the mid-to-late 90s helped get instructors online and partially automated course administration services in ways that saved time and effort. But the course administration function is not central to the deeper problems of providing more universal access to learning and making learning more effective. Furthermore, service-oriented architectures are starting to dominate the information technology infrastructure landscape. This chapter discusses the author’s personal history with developing a course management system and speculates how the functionality needed to support online learning is being taken apart and might be put back together.
From Course Management Systems to Open Frameworks and Sustainable Ecology of Educational Systems
Authors: Kumar Vijay , Merriman Jeff
Published: May 2011

We propose a trajectory for learning technology systems that represent a departure from closed, monolithic approaches, typically inherent in the design of these systems, to open, standards-based frameworks that can support diverse pedagogy and accommodate heterogeneous technology. Central to this vision is an architectural approach, illustrated by the Open Knowledge Initiative, which supports the development of sustainable educational tools and technology through enabling commoditization and community.
Next Generation
Authors: Alexander Bryan
Published: May 2011

Next-generation course management systems (CMS) are likely to take advantage of today’s applications’ structural and pedagogical limitations, supporting student and inter-collegiate collaboration. They should also be influenced by developments in social software and pre-existing information-sharing projects. CMS will reach out to the larger world to integrate with global informatics initiatives.
Challenges for Managing IT Skills Portfolio for E-Business
Authors: Mirza Abdulrahman A. , Chan Susy S.
Published: May 2011

Organizations are under increasing pressure to adopt Internet-based e-business solutions for improving internal efficiency and collaboration with partners, suppliers, and customer firms within the environment of e-business webs. To realize these benefits, companies must transition towards an e-business organization. Such transformation demands IT knowledge and expertise at different levels. Each level requires special IT skills introduced as a result of the complex and dynamic nature of an e-business environment. In this chapter we examine the e-business environment and its implications for firm-level IT skills portfolio management. We then present five levels of challenges related to an e-business firm’s IT skills requirement. We further present: (1) future trends relating to the changing landscape for e-business IT skills; (2) activities that support acquisition, development, and maintenance of these skills; and (3) the gap between academic programs and e-business needs. In conclusion, we propose a research agenda.
A New Public-Key Algorithm for Watermarking of Digital Images
Authors: Stickel Eberhard
Published: May 2011

Conventional photographs may easily be used in court as evidence. The complete negative may be inspected. Subsequent numbers are a reliable proof that sequences of pictures have been generated. Modifications are usually quickly detected without major technical efforts. This is not true anymore for digital images, since they may easily be manipulated. This poses a problem, for example, for surveillance cameras of automatic teller machines in financial institutions. Digital watermarking techniques have been proposed to address this problem. In this chapter, a new public-key watermarking system will be presented. In contrast to digital signatures and other public-key watermarking techniques, it is two-dimensional and, hence, especially well-suited for applications involving digital images.
An Open Source Primer
Authors: Still Brian
Published: May 2011

This chapter serves as an introductory overview of Open Source Software (OSS) and the Open Source movement. It is geared primarily for technical communicators. To provide a thorough overview, this chapter defines OSS, explains how OSS works in comparison to proprietary software, looks at the history of OSS, and examines OSS licensing types, applications in business, and overall strengths and weaknesses when compared to proprietary software. Lastly, it evaluates the practical potential of OSS as well as emerging and future trends relating to it. From this general but thorough overview the intended audience of technical communicators will gain the solid understanding needed to work successfully in an academic or professional environment where OSS continues to grow in popularity, spurring more organizations to rely on it or the Open Source ideas that have inspired and continue to drive its creation and growth.