Realizing an Applied Gaming Ecosystem: Towards Supporting Service-based Innovation Knowledge Management and Transfer

The EU-based industry for non-leisure games is an emerging business. As such it is still fragmented and needs to achieve critical mass to compete globally. Nevertheless its growth potential is widely recognized. To become competitive the relevant applied gaming communities and SMEs require support by fostering the generation of innovation potential. The European project Realizing an Applied Gaming Ecosystem (RAGE) is aiming at supporting this challenge. RAGE will help by making available an interoperable set of advanced technology assets, tuned to applied gaming, as well as proven practices of using asset-based applied games in various real-world contexts, and finally a centralized access to a wide range of applied gaming software modules, services and related document, media, and educational resources within an online community portal called the RAGE Ecosystem. It is based on an integrational, user-centered approach of Knowledge Management and Innovation Processes in the shape of a service-based implementation.

Public Service Broadcasting, Creative Industries and Innovation Infrastructure: The Case of ABC's Pool

The proliferation of media services enabled by digital technologies poses a serious challenge to public service broadcasting rationales based on media scarcity. Looking to the past and future, we articulate an important role that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) might play in the digital age. We argue that historically the ABC has acted beyond its institutional broadcasting remit to facilitate cultural development and, drawing on the example of Pool (an online community of creative practitioners established and maintained by the ABC), point to a key role it might play in fostering network innovation in what are now conceptualised as the creative industries.

When innovation fails: An institutional perspective of the (non)adoption of boundary spanning IT innovation

We combine the concepts of legitimacy, institutional (mis)alignments, strategic responses and organizing visions to develop a conceptual framework to analyse the adoption of innovations that span organisational fields. We apply the framework to examine a telehealth innovation connecting a public sector hospital-based eye clinic with private sector optometry practices. We find that while compromise strategies were successful in encouraging adoption within each field, the innovation ultimately failed as fields developed different organising visions which could not be reconciled. The findings suggest that institutional misalignments within and between fields interact to amplify their overall effect on the adoption of hybrid innovations.

Service composition for biomedical applications

A exigente inovação na área das aplicações biomédicas tem guiado a evolução das tecnologias de informação nas últimas décadas. Os desafios associados a uma gestão, integração, análise e interpretação eficientes dos dados provenientes das mais modernas tecnologias de hardware e software requerem um esforço concertado. Desde hardware para sequenciação de genes a registos electrónicos de paciente, passando por pesquisa de fármacos, a possibilidade de explorar com precisão os dados destes ambientes é vital para a compreensão da saúde humana. Esta tese engloba a discussão e o desenvolvimento de melhores estratégias informáticas para ultrapassar estes desafios, principalmente no contexto da composição de serviços, incluindo técnicas flexíveis de integração de dados, como warehousing ou federação, e técnicas avançadas de interoperabilidade, como serviços web ou LinkedData. A composição de serviços é apresentada como um ideal genérico, direcionado para a integração de dados e para a interoperabilidade de software. Relativamente a esta última, esta investigação debruçou-se sobre o campo da farmacovigilância, no contexto do projeto Europeu EU-ADR. As contribuições para este projeto, um novo standard de interoperabilidade e um motor de execução de workflows, sustentam a sucesso da EU-ADR Web Platform, uma plataforma para realizar estudos avançados de farmacovigilância. No contexto do projeto Europeu GEN2PHEN, esta investigação visou ultrapassar os desafios associados à integração de dados distribuídos e heterogéneos no campo do varíoma humano. Foi criada uma nova solução, WAVe - Web Analyses of the Variome, que fornece uma coleção rica de dados de variação genética através de uma interface Web inovadora e de uma API avançada. O desenvolvimento destas estratégias evidenciou duas oportunidades claras na área de software biomédico: melhorar o processo de implementação de software através do recurso a técnicas de desenvolvimento rápidas e aperfeiçoar a qualidade e disponibilidade dos dados através da adopção do paradigma de web semântica. A plataforma COEUS atravessa as fronteiras de integração e interoperabilidade, fornecendo metodologias para a aquisição e tradução flexíveis de dados, bem como uma camada de serviços interoperáveis para explorar semanticamente os dados agregados. Combinando as técnicas de desenvolvimento rápidas com a riqueza da perspectiva "Semantic Web in a box", a plataforma COEUS é uma aproximação pioneira, permitindo o desenvolvimento da próxima geração de aplicações biomédicas.

L'adoption d'une innovation technopédagogique par une communauté enseignante universitaire

Résumé: L'adoption d'une innovation technopédagogique par une communauté enseignante universitaire La thèse traite de l'adoption d'une innovation technopédagogique par une communauté enseignante universitaire. Cette étude longitudinale, réalisée dans le cadre d'une recherche-action, vise à comprendre la dynamique globale du processus d'adoption d'une innovation. Le cadre de réflexion théorique de l'étude provient de la recherche en management, en systèmes d'information et en éducation. Il tient à la fois compte des motivations et des besoins des individus (dimension individuelle), de la compatibilité des technologies de l'information selon les théories usuelles de l'apprentissage (dimension pédagogique) et du type de soutien à offrir aux utilisatrices-utilisateurs (dimension organisationnelle). Le modèle d'accompagnement émergeant de cette recherche se compose de cycles itératifs au cours desquels un groupe définit et résout un problème, puis réfléchit successivement aux enjeux émergents d'un cycle à l'autre. Le modèle tient explicitement compte des trois éléments clés suivants: l'individu, la pédagogie et l'organisation qui forment une dynamique systémique indissociable et en interaction les unes les autres pendant toute la durée du processus d'adoption de l'innovation. Il met aussi en lumière la nécessité de stimuler une réflexion critique grâce au concours de ressources externes crédibles pour déterminer la compatibilité des technologies à partir d'expériences concrètes. Une telle démarche participative systématique permet d'accroître la cohésion des idées du groupe par le dialogue et les débats d'opinions_ Par ailleurs, la proximité avec notre milieu de recherche sur une période de deux ans offre la possibilité de saisir plusieurs facettes de la dynamique organisationnelle. Lorsque l'on réalise une étude longitudinale qui met en évidence l'incidence d'événements concomitants, on constate la fragilité du processus et la réversibilité de la décision d'adoption. L'intention d'adoption évolue constamment au gré des expériences des individus et du contexte qui évolue lui-même. L'établissement de relations partenariales avec les groupes intéressés représente une activité essentielle pour pallier ou neutraliser les effets indésirables d'événements concomitants.||Abstract: This thesis deals with a university teaching community adopting a technological/pedagogical innovation. This longitudinal study--part of an action-research study--aims at gaining understanding of the overall dynamics involved in adopting an innovation. The study's conceptual framework derives from management, information-systems, and teaching research. It takes into account the motivations and needs of individuals (individual dimension), the compatibility of information technologies according to current learning theories (pedagogical dimension), and the type of support to be offered to users (organizational dimension). The companion model issuing from this research work comprises iterative cycles during which a group defines and solves a problem and then successively reflects on the issues emerging from one cycle to the next. The model takes explicit account of three key elements: the individual, pedagogical approach, and organization form an indissociable system dynamic in which all dimensions interact during the entire process of adopting innovation. It also sheds light on the need to stimulate critical reflection about the combination of credible external resources so that tangible experiences can be used to determine technology compatibility. This kind of systematic participative process yields greater cohesiveness of group ideas through dialogue and discussion. Moreover, the proximity to our research setting over two years provides the opportunity to seize the many facets of organizational dynamics. During the course of a longitudinal study that highlights the incidence of concomitant events, the fragility of the process and reversibility of the adoption decision become apparent. The adoption intention constantly fluctuates through the experiences of individuals and the context, which also changes. Establishing partnership relations with interested groups stands out as an essential activity in attenuating or counteracting the undesirable effects produced by concomitant events.

Inégalités sociales dans la diffusion d'une innovation en transport actif : le cas des vélos en libre-service à Montréal

Introduction. Les programmes de vélos en libre-service (PVLS) représentent une innovation en transport actif. À ce jour, la sensibilisation à cette innovation en tant que prérequis à l’accessibilité n’a jamais été étudiée. Objectif. Identifier les facteurs liés à l’absence de sensibilisation à l’existence du PVLS à Montréal. Méthode. 7011 Montréalais âgés de 18 ans et plus ont été interrogés au cours de 3 sondages téléphoniques sur une période couvrant deux saisons : avant la première saison (n=2000), après la première saison (n=2502) et après la deuxième saison (n=2509). Des analyses de régression logistique ont été réalisées sur 93,6 % (n=6562) de l’échantillon pour examiner l’effet du temps, de la proximité des stations de vélos et du niveau d’éducation sur l’absence de sensibilisation à l’existence du PVLS. Résultats. Nous constatons que, après la première saison d’implantation du PVLS, la probabilité d’absence de sensibilisation au PVLS est plus élevée chez les individus dont le niveau d’éducation est faible que chez ceux dont le niveau d’éducation est élevé (RC = 1,60; 95 % IC : 1,18; 2,19). Aussi, nous observons que, après la deuxième saison d’implantation, la probabilité d’absence de sensibilisation au PVLS est plus élevée chez les individus dont le niveau d’éducation est faible et qui vivent dans un voisinage pourvu d’un PVLS, que chez ceux dont le niveau d’éducation est élevé et qui vivent dans un voisinage dépourvu d’un PVLS (RC = 1,63, 95 % IC : 1,01; 2,64). Conclusion. Malgré l’accessibilité au PVLS dans un voisinage, des inégalités sociales persistent.

Livestock vaccine adoption among poor farmers in Bolivia: Remembering innovation diffusion theory

The paper explores the low uptake of livestock vaccination among poor farming communities in Bolivia utilising core elements of the original innovation diffusion theory. Contrary to the recent literature, we found that vaccination behaviour was strongly Linked to social and cultural, rather than economic, drivers. While membership in a group increased uptake, the 'hot' and 'cold' distinctions which dictate health versus illness within Andean cosmology also played a role, with vaccination viewed as a means of addressing underlying imbalances. We concluded that uptake of livestock vaccination was unlikely to improve without knowledge transfer that acknowledges local. epistemologies for Livestock disease. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.