The nature of communication structures of university students in an international web-based computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) course

Communication, the flow of ideas and information between individuals in a social context, is the heart of educational experience. Constructivism and constructivist theories form the foundation for the collaborative learning processes of creating and sharing meaning in online educational contexts. The Learning and Collaboration in Technology-enhanced Contexts (LeCoTec) course comprised of 66 participants drawn from four European universities (Oulu, Turku, Ghent and Ramon Llull). These participants were split into 15 groups with the express aim of learning about computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The Community of Inquiry model (social, cognitive and teaching presences) provided the content and tools for learning and researching the collaborative interactions in this environment. The sampled comments from the collaborative phase were collected and analyzed at chain-level and group-level, with the aim of identifying the various message types that sustained high learning outcomes. Furthermore, the Social Network Analysis helped to view the density of whole group interactions, as well as the popular and active members within the highly collaborating groups. It was observed that long chains occur in groups having high quality outcomes. These chains were also characterized by Social, Interactivity, Administrative and Content comment-types. In addition, high outcomes were realized from the high interactive cases and high-density groups. In low interactive groups, commenting patterned around the one or two central group members. In conclusion, future online environments should support high-order learning and develop greater metacognition and self-regulation. Moreover, such an environment, with a wide variety of problem solving tools, would enhance interactivity.

Designing gamification for collaborative learning in group work

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a teaching and learning approach which is widely adopted. However there are still some problems can be found when CSCL takes place. Studies show that using game-like mechanics can increase motivation, engagement, as well as modelling behaviors of players. Gamification is a rapid growing trend by applying the same mechanics. It refers to use game design elements in non-game contexts. This thesis is about combining gamification concept and computer supported collaborative learning together in software engineering education field. And finally a gamified prototype system is designed.

Playing to Learn: Business Simulation Games as Leadership Learning Environments

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate if participation in business simulation gaming sessions can make different leadership styles visible and provide students with experiences beneficial for the development of leadership skills. Particularly, the focus is to describe the development of leadership styles when leading virtual teams in computer-­supported collaborative game settings and to identify the outcomes of using computer simulation games as leadership training tools. To answer to the objectives of the study, three empirical experiments were conducted to explore if participation in business simulation gaming sessions (Study I and II), which integrate face-­to-­face and virtual communication (Study III and IV), can make different leadership styles visible and provide students with experiences beneficial for the development of leadership skills. In the first experiment, a group of multicultural graduate business students (N=41) participated in gaming sessions with a computerized business simulation game (Study III). In the second experiment, a group of graduate students (N=9) participated in the training with a ‘real estate’ computer game (Study I and II). In the third experiment, a business simulation gaming session was organized for graduate students group (N=26) and the participants played the simulation game in virtual teams, which were organizationally and geographically dispersed but connected via technology (Study IV). Each team in all experiments had three to four students and students were between 22 and 25 years old. The business computer games used for the empirical experiments presented an enormous number of complex operations in which a team leader needed to make the final decisions involved in leading the team to win the game. These gaming environments were interactive;; participants interacted by solving the given tasks in the game. Thus, strategy and appropriate leadership were needed to be successful. The training was competition-­based and required implementation of leadership skills. The data of these studies consist of observations, participants’ reflective essays written after the gaming sessions, pre-­ and post-­tests questionnaires and participants’ answers to open-­ ended questions. Participants’ interactions and collaboration were observed when they played the computer games. The transcripts of notes from observations and students dialogs were coded in terms of transactional, transformational, heroic and post-­heroic leadership styles. For the data analysis of the transcribed notes from observations, content analysis and discourse analysis was implemented. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was also utilized in the study to measure transformational and transactional leadership styles;; in addition, quantitative (one-­way repeated measures ANOVA) and qualitative data analyses have been performed. The results of this study indicate that in the business simulation gaming environment, certain leadership characteristics emerged spontaneously. Experiences about leadership varied between the teams and were dependent on the role individual students had in their team. These four studies showed that simulation gaming environment has the potential to be used in higher education to exercise the leadership styles relevant in real-­world work contexts. Further, the study indicated that given debriefing sessions, the simulation game context has much potential to benefit learning. The participants who showed interest in leadership roles were given the opportunity of developing leadership skills in practice. The study also provides evidence of unpredictable situations that participants can experience and learn from during the gaming sessions. The study illustrates the complex nature of experiences from the gaming environments and the need for the team leader and role divisions during the gaming sessions. It could be concluded that the experience of simulation game training illustrated the complexity of real life situations and provided participants with the challenges of virtual leadership experiences and the difficulties of using leadership styles in practice. As a result, the study offers playing computer simulation games in small teams as one way to exercise leadership styles in practice.

Socially shared metacognitive regulation during collaborative learning processes in student dyads and small groups

Traditionally metacognition has been theorised, methodologically studied and empirically tested from the standpoint mainly of individuals and their learning contexts. In this dissertation the emergence of metacognition is analysed more broadly. The aim of the dissertation was to explore socially shared metacognitive regulation (SSMR) as part of collaborative learning processes taking place in student dyads and small learning groups. The specific aims were to extend the concept of individual metacognition to SSMR, to develop methods to capture and analyse SSMR and to validate the usefulness of the concept of SSMR in two different learning contexts; in face-to-face student dyads solving mathematical word problems and also in small groups taking part in inquiry-based science learning in an asynchronous computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. This dissertation is comprised of four studies. In Study I, the main aim was to explore if and how metacognition emerges during problem solving in student dyads and then to develop a method for analysing the social level of awareness, monitoring, and regulatory processes emerging during the problem solving. Two dyads comprised of 10-year-old students who were high-achieving especially in mathematical word problem solving and reading comprehension were involved in the study. An in-depth case analysis was conducted. Data consisted of over 16 (30–45 minutes) videotaped and transcribed face-to-face sessions. The dyads solved altogether 151 mathematical word problems of different difficulty levels in a game-format learning environment. The interaction flowchart was used in the analysis to uncover socially shared metacognition. Interviews (also stimulated recall interviews) were conducted in order to obtain further information about socially shared metacognition. The findings showed the emergence of metacognition in a collaborative learning context in a way that cannot solely be explained by individual conception. The concept of socially-shared metacognition (SSMR) was proposed. The results highlighted the emergence of socially shared metacognition specifically in problems where dyads encountered challenges. Small verbal and nonverbal signals between students also triggered the emergence of socially shared metacognition. Additionally, one dyad implemented a system whereby they shared metacognitive regulation based on their strengths in learning. Overall, the findings suggested that in order to discover patterns of socially shared metacognition, it is important to investigate metacognition over time. However, it was concluded that more research on socially shared metacognition, from larger data sets, is needed. These findings formed the basis of the second study. In Study II, the specific aim was to investigate whether socially shared metacognition can be reliably identified from a large dataset of collaborative face-to-face mathematical word problem solving sessions by student dyads. We specifically examined different difficulty levels of tasks as well as the function and focus of socially shared metacognition. Furthermore, the presence of observable metacognitive experiences at the beginning of socially shared metacognition was explored. Four dyads participated in the study. Each dyad was comprised of high-achieving 10-year-old students, ranked in the top 11% of their fourth grade peers (n=393). Dyads were from the same data set as in Study I. The dyads worked face-to-face in a computer-supported, game-format learning environment. Problem-solving processes for 251 tasks at three difficulty levels taking place during 56 (30–45 minutes) lessons were video-taped and analysed. Baseline data for this study were 14 675 turns of transcribed verbal and nonverbal behaviours observed in four study dyads. The micro-level analysis illustrated how participants moved between different channels of communication (individual and interpersonal). The unit of analysis was a set of turns, referred to as an ‘episode’. The results indicated that socially shared metacognition and its function and focus, as well as the appearance of metacognitive experiences can be defined in a reliable way from a larger data set by independent coders. A comparison of the different difficulty levels of the problems suggested that in order to trigger socially shared metacognition in small groups, the problems should be more difficult, as opposed to moderately difficult or easy. Although socially shared metacognition was found in collaborative face-to-face problem solving among high-achieving student dyads, more research is needed in different contexts. This consideration created the basis of the research on socially shared metacognition in Studies III and IV. In Study III, the aim was to expand the research on SSMR from face-to-face mathematical problem solving in student dyads to inquiry-based science learning among small groups in an asynchronous computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The specific aims were to investigate SSMR’s evolvement and functions in a CSCL environment and to explore how SSMR emerges at different phases of the inquiry process. Finally, individual student participation in SSMR during the process was studied. An in-depth explanatory case study of one small group of four girls aged 12 years was carried out. The girls attended a class that has an entrance examination and conducts a language-enriched curriculum. The small group solved complex science problems in an asynchronous CSCL environment, participating in research-like processes of inquiry during 22 lessons (á 45–minute). Students’ network discussion were recorded in written notes (N=640) which were used as study data. A set of notes, referred to here as a ‘thread’, was used as the unit of analysis. The inter-coder agreement was regarded as substantial. The results indicated that SSMR emerges in a small group’s asynchronous CSCL inquiry process in the science domain. Hence, the results of Study III were in line with the previous Study I and Study II and revealed that metacognition cannot be reduced to the individual level alone. The findings also confirm that SSMR should be examined as a process, since SSMR can evolve during different phases and that different SSMR threads overlapped and intertwined. Although the classification of SSMR’s functions was applicable in the context of CSCL in a small group, the dominant function was different in the asynchronous CSCL inquiry in the small group in a science activity than in mathematical word problem solving among student dyads (Study II). Further, the use of different analytical methods provided complementary findings about students’ participation in SSMR. The findings suggest that it is not enough to code just a single written note or simply to examine who has the largest number of notes in the SSMR thread but also to examine the connections between the notes. As the findings of the present study are based on an in-depth analysis of a single small group, further cases were examined in Study IV, as well as looking at the SSMR’s focus, which was also studied in a face-to-face context. In Study IV, the general aim was to investigate the emergence of SSMR with a larger data set from an asynchronous CSCL inquiry process in small student groups carrying out science activities. The specific aims were to study the emergence of SSMR in the different phases of the process, students’ participation in SSMR, and the relation of SSMR’s focus to the quality of outcomes, which was not explored in previous studies. The participants were 12-year-old students from the same class as in Study III. Five small groups consisting of four students and one of five students (N=25) were involved in the study. The small groups solved ill-defined science problems in an asynchronous CSCL environment, participating in research-like processes of inquiry over a total period of 22 hours. Written notes (N=4088) detailed the network discussions of the small groups and these constituted the study data. With these notes, SSMR threads were explored. As in Study III, the thread was used as the unit of analysis. In total, 332 notes were classified as forming 41 SSMR threads. Inter-coder agreement was assessed by three coders in the different phases of the analysis and found to be reliable. Multiple methods of analysis were used. Results showed that SSMR emerged in all the asynchronous CSCL inquiry processes in the small groups. However, the findings did not reveal any significantly changing trend in the emergence of SSMR during the process. As a main trend, the number of notes included in SSMR threads differed significantly in different phases of the process and small groups differed from each other. Although student participation was seen as highly dispersed between the students, there were differences between students and small groups. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the amount of SSMR during the process or participation structure did not explain the differences in the quality of outcomes for the groups. Rather, when SSMRs were focused on understanding and procedural matters, it was associated with achieving high quality learning outcomes. In turn, when SSMRs were focused on incidental and procedural matters, it was associated with low level learning outcomes. Hence, the findings imply that the focus of any emerging SSMR is crucial to the quality of the learning outcomes. Moreover, the findings encourage the use of multiple research methods for studying SSMR. In total, the four studies convincingly indicate that a phenomenon of socially shared metacognitive regulation also exists. This means that it was possible to define the concept of SSMR theoretically, to investigate it methodologically and to validate it empirically in two different learning contexts across dyads and small groups. In-depth micro-level case analysis in Studies I and III showed the possibility to capture and analyse in detail SSMR during the collaborative process, while in Studies II and IV, the analysis validated the emergence of SSMR in larger data sets. Hence, validation was tested both between two environments and within the same environments with further cases. As a part of this dissertation, SSMR’s detailed functions and foci were revealed. Moreover, the findings showed the important role of observable metacognitive experiences as the starting point of SSMRs. It was apparent that problems dealt with by the groups should be rather difficult if SSMR is to be made clearly visible. Further, individual students’ participation was found to differ between students and groups. The multiple research methods employed revealed supplementary findings regarding SSMR. Finally, when SSMR was focused on understanding and procedural matters, this was seen to lead to higher quality learning outcomes. Socially shared metacognition regulation should therefore be taken into consideration in students’ collaborative learning at school similarly to how an individual’s metacognition is taken into account in individual learning.

Työryhmäohjelmiston käyttö verkostoituneessa yrityksessä

Verkostoituminen on nimitys toimintatavalle, jossa työ, työn tekijöiden tuottamat palvelut ja asiakkaiden palvelutarpeet kohtaavat uudella, organisoidulla tavalla. Verkoston jäsenten tiivis yhteistyö, yhteistyön aikaansaama kiinteiden kustannusten aleneminen ja keskitetty markkinointi edistävät yksittäisten jäsenyritysten kilpailukykyä. Verkoston jäsenyritys on muiden verkostoon kuuluvien yritysten kumppani, jolle jaetaan vastuuta ja johon luotetaan. Näin ollen verkostoituminen aiheuttaa yritysten toimintatapoihin usein muutoksia, joihin niiden on kyettävä mukautumaan. Työn tarkoituksena oli selvittää case-tapauksen pohjalta, millaisiin seikkoihin yrityksen verkostoituessa on kiinnitettävä huomiota ja mitä asioita on otettava huomioon luotaessa tietojärjestelmää verkostoituneen yrityksen käyttöön. Verkostoitumista tukeva tietojärjestelmä kehitettiin työryhmäohjelmiston pohjalle. Koska työryhmäohjelmistot on tarkoitettu erityisesti informaation hallinnan työkaluiksi, soveltuvat ne hyvin verkostoituneen yrityksen tietojärjestelmän alustaksi. Yritysten välisen yhteistyön lisääntyessä myös tiedon jakamisen ja hallinnan merkitys korostuu.

Hyvää yhteisöllistä verkko-oppimista jäljittämässä. Neljän virtuaalisen kirjallisuuskeskustelun sisällönanalyysi

Tutkimuksessa etsittiin hyvää yhteisöllistä verkko-oppimista (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, CSCL) lukiolaisten kirjallisuuskeskusteluista. Tavoitteena oli hankkia tietoa virtuaalisista kirjallisuuskeskusteluista yhteisöllisenä, vuorovaikutuksellisena oppimisen muotona. Tutkimus sijoittuu osaksi kansainvälistä Tutkivan yhteisön (Community of Inquiry, CoI) tutkimusperinnettä ja se käyttää Neil Mercerin kielen ja ajattelun yhdistävää ajatteluyhteisön (thinking community) perinnettä. Uutta oli kaikkien CoI-malliin liittyvien kolmen oppimiseen liittyvän näkökulman, kognitiivisen, sosiaalisen ja ohjauksellisen arvioiminen kaunokirjallisuusaiheisessa verkkokeskustelussa ja kielellisen tarkastelun yhdistäminen siihen. Lähestymistapa oli sosiokulttuurinen ja sosiokonstruktivistinen. Tutkimusaineistona oli vuosina 2003 ja 2004 keskisuuren kaupungin kolmen lukion 16 oppilaan, yhden opettajan ja yhden kirjastonhoitajan käymät neljä keskimäärin 5 hengen kirjallisuuspiirikeskustelua. Tutkimusmenetelminä käytettiin sekä laadullista että määrällistä sisällönanalyysia. Tuloksena oli, että osallistujat kirjoittivat keskimäärin 5,2 dialogivuoroa. Yhteen keskusteluun otti aktiivisesti osaa kolme osallistujaa. Sosiaalinen läsnäolo oli vahvaa kaikissa keskusteluissa. Tunnepitoisia ilmauksia käytettiin keskustelun kohteesta, kirjasta. Keskusteluille oli tyypillistä viestinnän avoimuus, ja keskinäistä tietoisuutta ilmennettiin paljon. Erityisen runsasta sosiaalinen läsnäolo oli toisensa tuntevien tyttöjen vertaiskeskustelussa. Pojat toimivat keskusteluissa keskustelun kyseenalaistajina, mutta samalla terävöittivät keskustelua tehtävän suuntaisesti. Sosiaalista läsnäolon osatekijöistä erityisesti itsekunnioitus ja ryhmäyhtenäisyys yhdistyivät kognitiivisen läsnäolon näkymiseen. Kognitiivinen läsnäolo oli vahvempaa niissä keskusteluissa, joissa ohjaaja oli mukana, kuin oppilaiden vertaiskeskusteluissa. Kirjallisuustieteen näkökulmasta tietoa rakennettiin parhaiten keskustelussa, jossa ohjauksellista läsnäoloa loi äidinkielenopettaja ja jossa luettu kaunokirjallinen teos oli sopivan arvoituksellinen. Tuloksena oli myös, että ohjaajan kannattaa välttää liian aikaista keskusteluun mukaan tuloa. Silloin oppilasryhmä pyrkii mahdollisimman kauan itse älyllisiin päättelyihin. Tutkimuksessa käytettyjen keskustelun arvioimisen tapojen avulla voidaan tulevaisuudessa kouluissa arvioida, miten hyvä ja yhteisöllinen oma verkkokeskustelu on ollut.

Tool-supported invariant-based programming

The development of correct programs is a core problem in computer science. Although formal verification methods for establishing correctness with mathematical rigor are available, programmers often find these difficult to put into practice. One hurdle is deriving the loop invariants and proving that the code maintains them. So called correct-by-construction methods aim to alleviate this issue by integrating verification into the programming workflow. Invariant-based programming is a practical correct-by-construction method in which the programmer first establishes the invariant structure, and then incrementally extends the program in steps of adding code and proving after each addition that the code is consistent with the invariants. In this way, the program is kept internally consistent throughout its development, and the construction of the correctness arguments (proofs) becomes an integral part of the programming workflow. A characteristic of the approach is that programs are described as invariant diagrams, a graphical notation similar to the state charts familiar to programmers. Invariant-based programming is a new method that has not been evaluated in large scale studies yet. The most important prerequisite for feasibility on a larger scale is a high degree of automation. The goal of the Socos project has been to build tools to assist the construction and verification of programs using the method. This thesis describes the implementation and evaluation of a prototype tool in the context of the Socos project. The tool supports the drawing of the diagrams, automatic derivation and discharging of verification conditions, and interactive proofs. It is used to develop programs that are correct by construction. The tool consists of a diagrammatic environment connected to a verification condition generator and an existing state-of-the-art theorem prover. Its core is a semantics for translating diagrams into verification conditions, which are sent to the underlying theorem prover. We describe a concrete method for 1) deriving sufficient conditions for total correctness of an invariant diagram; 2) sending the conditions to the theorem prover for simplification; and 3) reporting the results of the simplification to the programmer in a way that is consistent with the invariantbased programming workflow and that allows errors in the program specification to be efficiently detected. The tool uses an efficient automatic proof strategy to prove as many conditions as possible automatically and lets the remaining conditions be proved interactively. The tool is based on the verification system PVS and i uses the SMT (Satisfiability Modulo Theories) solver Yices as a catch-all decision procedure. Conditions that were not discharged automatically may be proved interactively using the PVS proof assistant. The programming workflow is very similar to the process by which a mathematical theory is developed inside a computer supported theorem prover environment such as PVS. The programmer reduces a large verification problem with the aid of the tool into a set of smaller problems (lemmas), and he can substantially improve the degree of proof automation by developing specialized background theories and proof strategies to support the specification and verification of a specific class of programs. We demonstrate this workflow by describing in detail the construction of a verified sorting algorithm. Tool-supported verification often has little to no presence in computer science (CS) curricula. Furthermore, program verification is frequently introduced as an advanced and purely theoretical topic that is not connected to the workflow taught in the early and practically oriented programming courses. Our hypothesis is that verification could be introduced early in the CS education, and that verification tools could be used in the classroom to support the teaching of formal methods. A prototype of Socos has been used in a course at Åbo Akademi University targeted at first and second year undergraduate students. We evaluate the use of Socos in the course as part of a case study carried out in 2007.

Virtuaaliorganisaation toiminta innovaationäkökulmasta: kommunikaatio, tietojärjestelmät ja työkalut

Tutkimuksessa perehdytään virtuaaliorganisaatioiden ja virtuaalitiimien toimintaan sekä etsitään työkaluja, joilla maantieteellisesti hajallaan olevat ryhmät pystyvät kommunikoimaan ja jakamaan tietoa keskenään. Työssä käsitellään myös ympäristöjä, jotka tukevat virtuaaliyhteistyön syntyä. Lisäksi työssä etsitään keinoja, joilla yhteistyötä tekevät yritykset pystyvät yhdistämään tietojärjestelmiään ja luomaan niistä läpinäkyviä koko yhteistyöverkostossa. Tavoitteena on luoda laaja-alainen johdatuspaketti yhteistyötä aloittaville yrityksille ja esitellä keskeisiä virtuaalityöskentelyyn liittyviä elementtejä, kutenryhmädynamiikkaa, kollektiivista muistia, tiedon läpinäkyvyyttä, yhteistyöohjelmistoja ja yhteistyön syntyyn vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Työ on suurelta osin teoriapohjaista, mutta sen tukemiseksi on liitetty työtä varten hankittua empiiristä aineistoa. Empiria on koottu haastattelemalla yrityksiä ja asiantuntijoita. Työn tuloksena saatiin seuraavanlaisia johtopäätöksiä: virtuaalityöskentely eroaa perinteisestä tiimitoiminnasta siten, että suurin osa kommunikoinnista tapahtuu sähköisesti. Tähän tarvitaan työkaluja, joissa kuitenkin on vielä kehitettävää esimerkiksi standardoinnin suhteen. Yhteistyöohjelmistojen kehityksessä ja tietojärjestelmien yhdistämisessä on keskitytty vain sähköiseen tietoon, eikä olla kiinnitetty huomiota ihmisten osaamisen ja tietämyksen jakamiseen. Tätä varten viimeaikoina onkin alettu kehittämään erilaisia innovaatioympäristöjä, joista yksi on esitelty työssä. Virtuaalisesti toteutettavan yhteistyön keskeisenä elementtinä on luottamus kumppaneiden välillä ja tähän tulee kiinnittää erityistä huomiota. Innovaatioprosessin ja virtuaaliorganisaation tehokkuuden kannalta on tärkeää, että osapuolet ovat halukkaita jakamaan tietoa ja osaamista yhteisen päämäärän saavuttamiseksi. Tutkimus antaa viitteitä siitä, että pienet yritykset ovat halukkaampia jakamaan osaamistaan kuin suuret.

Interfacing Health Care Information Systems Design and Implementation

Terveydenhuollossa käytetään nykyisin informaatioteknologian (IT) mahdollisuuksia parantamaan hoidon laatua, vähentämään hoitoon liittyviä kuluja sekä yksinkertaistamaan ja selkeyttämään laakareiden työnkulkua. Tietojärjestelmät, jotka edustavat jokaisen IT-ratkaisun ydintä, täytyy kehittää täyttämään lukuisia vaatimuksia, ja yksi niistä on kyky integroitua saumattomasti toisten tietojärjestelmien kanssa. Järjestelmäintegraatio on kuitenkin yhä haastava tehtävä, vaikka sita varten on kehitetty useita standardeja. Tässä työssä kuvataan vastakehitetyn lääketieteellisen tietojärjestelmän liittymäratkaisu. Työssä pohditaan vaatimuksia, jotka tällaiselle sovellukselle asetetaan, ja myös tapa, jolla vaatimukset toteutuvat on esitetty. Liittymaratkaisu on jaettu kahteen osaan, tietojärjestelmaliittymään ja "liittymakoneeseen" (interfacing engine). Edellinen on käsittää perustoiminnallisuuden, jota tarvitaan vastaanottamaan ja lähettämään tietoa toisiin järjestelmiin, kun taas jälkimmäinen tarjoaa tuen tuotantoympäristössa käytettäville standardeille. Molempien osien suunnitelu on esitelty perusteellisesti tässä työssä. Ongelma ratkaistiin modulaarisen ja geneerisen suunnittelun avulla. Tämä lähestymistapa osoitetaan työssä kestäväksi ja joustavaksi ratkaisuksi, jota voidaan käyttää tarkastelemaan laajaa valikoimaa liittymäratkaisulle asetettuja vaatimuksia. Lisaksi osoitetaan kuinka tehty ratkaisu voidaan joustavuutensa ansiosta helposti mukauttaa vaatimuksiin, joita ei ole etukäteen tunnistettu, ja siten saavutetaan perusta myös tulevaisuuden tarpeille

Sanomayhdyskäytävän tuotetietoturva

Ohjelmistojen tietoturva on noussut viime aikoina entistä tärkeämpään rooliin. Ohjelmistojen suunnittelu pitää alusta alkaen hoitaa siten, että tietoturva tulee huomioitua. Ohjelman helppokäyttöisyys ei saisi ajaa tietoturvan edelle, eikä myöskään ohjeiden lukematta jättäminen saa tarkoittaa tietoturvan menetystä. Tärkeä osa ohjelmistojen tietoturvaa on myös ohjelmiston laillinen käyttö. Se miten laiton käyttö estetään sen sijaan on erittäin vaikeaa toteuttaa nykyjärjestelmissä. Työn tarkoituksena oli tutkia Intellitel Communications Oy:n sanomayhdyskäytävää, Intellitel Messaging Gateway, tuotetietoturvan näkökulmasta, löytää sieltä mahdolliset virheet ja myös korjata ne.

Drivers and Barriers of Collaboration in the Value Chain of Paperboard-Packed Consumer Goods

Value chain collaboration has been a prevailing topic for research, and there is a constantly growing interest in developing collaborative models for improved efficiency in logistics. One area of collaboration is demand information management, which enables improved visibility and decrease of inventories in the value chain. Outsourcing of non-core competencies has changed the nature of collaboration from intra-enterprise to cross-enterprise activity, and this together with increasing competition in the globalizing markets have created a need for methods and tools for collaborative work. The retailer part in the value chain of consumer packaged goods (CPG) has been studied relatively widely, proven models have been defined, and there exist several best practice collaboration cases. The information and communications technology has developed rapidly, offering efficient solutions and applications to exchange information between value chain partners. However, the majority of CPG industry still works with traditional business models and practices. This concerns especially companies operating in the upstream of the CPG value chain. Demand information for consumer packaged goods originates at retailers' counters, based on consumers' buying decisions. As this information does not get transferred along the value chain towards the upstream parties, each player needs to optimize their part, causing safety margins for inventories and speculation in purchasing decisions. The safety margins increase with each player, resulting in a phenomenon known as the bullwhip effect. The further the company is from the original demand information source, the more distorted the information is. This thesis concentrates on the upstream parts of the value chain of consumer packaged goods, and more precisely the packaging value chain. Packaging is becoming a part of the product with informative and interactive features, and therefore is not just a cost item needed to protect the product. The upstream part of the CPG value chain is distinctive, as the product changes after each involved party, and therefore the original demand information from the retailers cannot be utilized as such – even if it were transferred seamlessly. The objective of this thesis is to examine the main drivers for collaboration, and barriers causing the moderate adaptation level of collaborative models. Another objective is to define a collaborative demand information management model and test it in a pilot business situation in order to see if the barriers can be eliminated. The empirical part of this thesis contains three parts, all related to the research objective, but involving different target groups, viewpoints and research approaches. The study shows evidence that the main barriers for collaboration are very similar to the barriers in the lower part of the same value chain; lack of trust, lack of business case and lack of senior management commitment. Eliminating one of them – the lack of business case – is not enough to eliminate the two other barriers, as the operational model in this thesis shows. The uncertainty of the future, fear of losing an independent position in purchasing decision making and lack of commitment remain strong enough barriers to prevent the implementation of the proposed collaborative business model. The study proposes a new way of defining the value chain processes: it divides the contracting and planning process into two processes, one managing the commercial parts and the other managing the quantity and specification related issues. This model can reduce the resistance to collaboration, as the commercial part of the contracting process would remain the same as in the traditional model. The quantity/specification-related issues would be managed by the parties with the best capabilities and resources, as well as access to the original demand information. The parties in between would be involved in the planning process as well, as their impact for the next party upstream is significant. The study also highlights the future challenges for companies operating in the CPG value chain. The markets are becoming global, with toughening competition. Also, the technology development will most likely continue with a speed exceeding the adaptation capabilities of the industry. Value chains are also becoming increasingly dynamic, which means shorter and more agile business relationships, and at the same time the predictability of consumer demand is getting more difficult due to shorter product life cycles and trends. These changes will certainly have an effect on companies' operational models, but it is very difficult to estimate when and how the proven methods will gain wide enough adaptation to become standards.

Making the impact on research and society : a case study: crowdsourcing solutions developed for the linguistic research and citizen science

Can crowdsourcing solutions serve many masters? Can they be beneficial for both, for the layman or native speakers of minority languages on the one hand and serious linguistic research on the other? How did an infrastructure that was designed to support linguistics turn out to be a solution for raising awareness of native languages? Since 2012 the National Library of Finland has been developing the Digitisation Project for Kindred Languages, in which the key objective is to support a culture of openness and interaction in linguistic research, but also to promote crowdsourcing as a tool for participation of the language community in research. In the course of the project, over 1,200 monographs and nearly 111,000 pages of newspapers in Finno-Ugric languages will be digitised and made available in the Fenno-Ugrica digital collection. This material was published in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, and users have had only sporadic access to the material. The publication of open-access and searchable materials from this period is a goldmine for researchers. Historians, social scientists and laymen with an interest in specific local publications can now find text materials pertinent to their studies. The linguistically-oriented population can also find writings to delight them: (1) lexical items specific to a given publication, and (2) orthographically-documented specifics of phonetics. In addition to the open access collection, we developed an open source code OCR editor that enables the editing of machine-encoded text for the benefit of linguistic research. This tool was necessary since these rare and peripheral prints often include already archaic characters, which are neglected by modern OCR software developers but belong to the historical context of kindred languages, and are thus an essential part of the linguistic heritage. When modelling the OCR editor, it was essential to consider both the needs of researchers and the capabilities of lay citizens, and to have them participate in the planning and execution of the project from the very beginning. By implementing the feedback iteratively from both groups, it was possible to transform the requested changes as tools for research that not only supported the work of linguistics but also encouraged the citizen scientists to face the challenge and work with the crowdsourcing tools for the benefit of research. This presentation will not only deal with the technical aspects, developments and achievements of the infrastructure but will highlight the way in which user groups, researchers and lay citizens were engaged in a process as an active and communicative group of users and how their contributions were made to mutual benefit.

How computer programmers work : understanding software development in practise

Hur arbetar en framgångsrik programmerare? Uppgifterna att programmera datorspel och att programmera industriella, säkerhetskritiska system verkar tämligen olika. Genom en noggrann empirisk undersökning jämför och kontrasterar avhandlingen dessa två former av programmering och visar att programmering innefattar mer än teknisk förmåga. Med utgångspunkt i hermeneutisk och retorisk teori och med hjälp av både kulturvetenskap och datavetenskap visar avhandlingen att programmerarnas tradition och värderingar är grundläggande för deras arbete, och att båda sorter av programmering kan uppfattas och analyseras genom klassisk texttolkningstradition. Dessutom kan datorprogram betraktas och analyseras med hjälp av klassiska teorier om talproduktion i praktiken - program ses då i detta sammanhang som ett slags yttranden. Allt som allt förespråkar avhandlingen en återkomst till vetenskapens grunder, vilka innebär en ständig och oupphörlig cyklisk rörelse mellan att erfara och att förstå. Detta står i kontrast till en reduktionistisk syn på vetenskapen, som skiljer skarpt mellan subjektivt och objektivt, och på så sätt utgår från möjligheten att uppnå fullständigt vetande. Ofullständigt vetande är tolkandets och hermeneutikens domän. Syftet med avhandlingen är att med hjälp av exempel demonstrera programmeringens kulturella, hermeneutiska och retoriska natur.