A Case Study on the Selection and Evaluation of Software for an Internet Organisation

Pieter van Staaden1 and Sam Lubbe2
1 Faculty of Informatics, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa
2 School of Information Systems and Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

The authors conducted research to determine whether IT-managers, IT auditors, Users, management, etc. (all decision-makers) use a certain evaluation and selection process to acquire software to meet business objectives and the requirement of users. An argument was used that the more thorough the software evaluation and selection process, the more likely it would be that the organisation will chose software that meets these targets.

The main objective of the research was therefore to determine whether Media24 use evaluation methods and obtain the desired results. Media24 is Africa's biggest publishing group and offers entertainment, information and education 24 hours a day and served as a good example of an Internet Service organisation that made their employees available for this research project. The results confirmed that Media24 uses suggested protocol as noted in the theory for software acquisition correctly during most stages.

Keywords: Black Box testing, business process, commercial software system, document, evaluation, request for Proposal (RFP), requirements, selection, software, vendors.

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Flickr: a first look at user behaviour in the context of photography as serious leisure

A.M.Cox, P.D. Clough and J. Marlow
Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211 Portobello Street, Sheffield S1 4DP United Kingdom

Abstract
Introduction. The use of Flickr, a photo sharing Website, is examined in the context of amateur photography as a 'serious leisure' pursuit.
Method. Eleven telephone interviews were carried out with users of Flickr, using an open-ended interview schedule to explore use of the system within the context of the interviewees' photographic practices.
Analysis. Practices described are set against theoretical considerations from the literature, specifically the alternate paradigms of the photographic club and the photo magazine. Sontag's cultural critique of photography is an important, challenging reference point.

Results. The affordances of the system affect the satisfactions of hobby photography. Flickr creates moral dilemmas, such as whether to reciprocate comments or tag the photos of others. The system's appeal lies in its moral qualities as much as whether it is easy to use or performs functions efficiently. Flickr draws users into the hobby and so, like the camera club or the magazine, can be linked to the interests of industry. Yet it is too pessimistic to see it as simply a vehicle of consumerist culture; users expressed almost unqualified satisfaction with the system for its direct pleasures and learning opportunities.
Conclusions. The fluid social relations of Flickr potentially free the hobby from the rather restrictive codes and ordering of the photographic club.

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Millennial Students and Technology Choices for Information Searching

Martin Rich
Cass Business School, London, UK

This paper draws together ideas about different generations of students, notably the 'millennial generation' (born from around 1982 to 2000) which encompasses a high proportion of current students in higher education, and ideas about the different types of technology available when searching for information.

In the context of higher education, this is particularly relevant when students are encouraged to find out information for themselves, typically to relate this to taught material. This is connected with information literacy, as it reflects students' abilities to carry out simple or complex research. This paper focuses on why students choose particular technologies to support their research and the effect of these choices on their learning and on their written work.

A particular current issue is the emergence of the generation of Internet resources collectively known as 'web 2.0' - notably Blogs and Wikis - and the relationship of these to the way that students presently in universities favour structuring their work. These resources also introduce issues of authoritativeness. It is tempting to dismiss Wikipedia as the work of amateurs, but where a blog has been created by a notable expert, author, or journalist, questions arise as to whether the blog should be regarded as of different value from the same person's written work. Therefore some consideration will be given to how students can be encouraged to recognise and draw on intelligent exploitation of these new resources.

Keywords: millennial students, Web 2.0, information literacy

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Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies in Education for Health Professionals in the UK: Where are we and why?

Rod Ward, Pam Moule and Lesley Lockyer
University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

This paper describes the findings about the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the education of health professionals in the United Kingdom (UK). The work is part of a wider study scoping the use of e-learning.
Its objectives were to:

* Explore issues influencing implementation and use by both early and late adopters
* Identify barriers to implementation and good practice
* Review the employment of e-learning within curricula representing a range of teaching models

In phase one, a postal survey obtained data from 25 higher education institutions relating to their uptake and development in this field. A second phase identified four case studies, two from early and two late adopters, reflecting the features identified from phase one. In the case studies, interviews and focus groups with students and staff were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the issues which were significant to them.
The main findings suggested e-learning development and use varies, with a spectrum of employment across the sector. The predominant engagement is with instructivist learning approaches managed through a Virtual Learning Environment with only limited experimentation in interactive learning online.
This paper will discuss the findings from the study where they relate to the limited use of Web 2.0 technologies. It will include a discussion on the moral, legal and ethical implications of current and future developments.

Keywords: web 2.0, survey, case study, e-learning, web based learning

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Strategies for Teaching Research Ethics in Business, Management and Organizational Studies

Strategies for Teaching Research Ethics in Business, Management and Organizational Studies
Linda Naimi
Organizational Leadership, Purdue University, USA

Ethics education has become increasingly important in the wake of corporate scandals and scientific misconduct. The pressure to achieve at all costs has created what Callahan (2005) called our Cheating culture. We recognize that our students need preparation, mentoring and positive role models to help them in recognizing ethical issues, analyzing and reasoning carefully about them, and making responsible decisions in the face of difficult dilemmas.

Nowhere is this more critical than in the area of research, particularly human subject research. To ensure integrity in research, students and faculty must demonstrate that they understand the ethical and legal ramifications of their work prior to initiating any research. In addition to legal requirements, universities have employed a variety of creative approaches designed to promote integrity in personal and professional conduct.

This paper discusses learning theories and offers a number of effective strategies for teaching research ethics to undergraduate and graduate students in business, management and organizational studies. Successful strategies include online interactive training modules, case studies, role playing, action research, critical inquiry, simulations and online interactive tutorials, such as that offered by LANGURE. LANGURE (Land Grant University Research Ethics) is a national network of more than one hundred faculty and graduate students at eight land grant and historically black universities in the United States, engaged in developing a model curriculum in research ethics for doctoral candidates in the physical, social, and life sciences and engineering. The author teaches and conducts research in undergraduate and graduate courses in Research Ethics, Ethics, Law and Public Policy and Leading with Integrity. These courses examine the ethical, legal, and global challenges facing business leaders today.

Keywords: Research, ethics, business, management, organization, case studies

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Business Benefits of Non-Managed Knowledge

Sinead Devane1 and Julian Wilson2 1Business School, Bournemouth University, UK
2James Wilson (Engravers) Ltd, Poole, UK

Getting individuals to use knowledge is vital for business to thrive, especially in small businesses where each individual’s impact (good and bad) upon the organisation has an amplified effect. This paper presents the effects of one small business’ effort to make the most of its employees’ knowledge.

Here we introduce the thinking behind the organisation’s different approach; non-managed knowledge, or the indirect management of knowledge. The paper addresses a philosophical argument about the nature of knowledge and the way we use it and this argument is supported by a case study of the organisation and quantitative results from the company’s own records.

We argue that the management of knowledge itself is not a cost effective exercise, as knowledge is such a complex phenomenon, inextricably bound with individual biographies and circumstances of the moment. Rather, a new focus for knowledge management is presented, through which the effects of an individual’s use of knowledge is demonstrated. Knowledge itself cannot be seen, but the effects of its use can. Just as a shadow is cast when the sun shines on an object, so what a person achieves in their work takes a form that belies the knowledge that was used in the achievement.

Thus in this organisation individuals are encouraged to maximise their own agency, and work to their own potential. What they achieve above and beyond the minimum standards of the organisation will demonstrate their own competence. Such working conditions encourage individual development, the application of knowledge and effective knowledge management through indirect means.

Keywords: knowledge management, outcomes and application, reification, cultural memes, agency, innovation

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Comparison of Web and Telephone Survey Response Rates in Saudi Arabia

Ali A. Al-Subaihi
Taibah University, Madinah, Monawwarh, Saudi Arabia

A study was conducted to compare the response rate of telephone interview and Web Survey in Saudi Arabia utilizing Internet usage statistics, as well as experimental design. Official data shows that the reason that led the majority of Saudi people to choose not to interact with Web Survey similarly to the telephone interview is not technical due to the lack of Internet coverage, but rather cultural. Furthermore, the experimental part demonstrates three main findings. First, the response rate to the Web Survey is significantly lower than to the telephone interview.

Second, Saudi males participated significantly more than females especially with the Web Survey though both had the same level of Internet access. Third, the average response rate of telephone interview is significantly above 95% for both genders, whereas the average response rate of the Web Survey is about 30%.

Keywords: web survey; telephone survey; response rate; Saudi Arabia.

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HURRICANE! - A SIMULATION-BASED PROGRAM FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION

Jia Luo
Alpesh P. Makwana
Dezhi Liao
J. Peter Kincaid

Institute for Simulation and Training
3100 Technology Parkway
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL 32826 USA

ABSTRACT
We describe the development, testing and fielding of a PC-based instructional program, Hurricane!. This program educates students about the effects of hurricane winds on different kinds of residential structures.The effects on the residential structures are physics-based. The program has been developed both for schools and science museums. The format is game-based with realistic graphics and sounds and students see different degrees of damage depending
on choices that make. For example, a one story masonry house built to current Florida building code standards, is much less vulnerable than a two story wood structure built before 1985. Therefore, students who make the first choice see less damage. Several tests in middle school science classes have demonstrated that the game is highly interesting and effectively teaches concepts central to understanding how to prepare for a hurricane.

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Distortion-Free Steganography for Polygonal Meshes

Alexander Bogomjakov Craig Gotsman Martin Isenburg

Center for Graphics and Geometric Computing - Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Center for Applied Scientific Computing - Lawrence Livermore National Labs

Abstract

We present a technique for steganography in polygonal meshes. Our method hides a message in the indexed representation of a mesh by permuting the order in which faces and vertices are stored. The permutation is relative to a reference ordering that encoder and decoder derive from the mesh connectivity in a consistent manner. Our method is distortion-free because it does not modify the geometry of the mesh. Compared to previous steganographic methods for polygonal meshes our capacity is up to an order of magnitude better. Our steganography algorithm is universal and can be used instead of the standard permutation steganography algorithm on arbitrary datasets. The standard algorithm runs in O(n2 log2 n loglog n) time and achieves optimal O(nlogn) bit capacity on datasets with n elements. In contrast, our algorithm runs in O(n) time, achieves a capacity that is only one bit per element less than optimal, and is extremely simple to implement.

Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.m [Computer Graphics]: Miscellaneous

1. Introduction
Steganography (or, more simply, data-hiding) is the science of hiding messages in media in such a way that even the existence of the message remains undetected to all but the recipient. This is in contrast with cryptography, where the fact that a message is hidden in the data is not disguised, but it may be retrieved only by the use of a secret key, typically known only to the recipient. Thus, steganographic messages do not attract attention to themselves, to messengers, or to recipients. A classic example is invisible ink that turns brown when the paper is heated. An inconspicuous cover message is important as a blank sheet of paper can arouse suspicion.

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Evolution of the Internet AS-Level Ecosystem

Srinivas Shakkottai
Texas A&M University
College Station, USA

Marina Fomenkov
Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis - CAIDA
San Diego Supercomputer Center,
University of California, San Diego

Ryan Koga
Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis - CAIDA
San Diego Supercomputer Center,
University of California, San Diego

Dmitri Krioukov
Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis - CAIDA
San Diego Supercomputer Center,
University of California, San Diego

kc claffy
Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis - CAIDA
San Diego Supercomputer Center,
University of California, San Diego

Abstract. We present an analytically tractable model of Internet evolution at the level of Autonomous Systems (ASs). We call our model the multiclass preferential attachment (MPA) model. As its name suggests, it is based on preferential attachment. All of its parameters are measurable from available Internet topology data. Given the estimated values of these parameters, our analytic results predict a defnitive set of statistics characterizing the AS topology structure. These statistics are not part of model formulation. The MPA model thus closes the \measure-modelvalidate-predict" loop, and provides further evidence that preferential attachment is the main driving force behind Internet evolution.

Key words: Preferential attachment, Internet evolution, AS-level topology, Internet measurement

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