Gaining social values of wireless technology:an interpretive case study in the healthcare institutional context

The existing literature has given little consideration to social values of information technology in general or of wireless technology in particular. The purpose of this paper is thus to shed new light on this issue. Based on an interpretive case study, we examine two healthcare organisations and discover that social values are often manifested beyond, as well as within, organisations. A matrix of social values in relation to technology changes and their interactions with various stakeholders is further discussed. The matrix helps understand how various social values emerge from and revolve around organisations’ strategic management of information technology. The implications of the findings about social values are discussed and future research directions are suggested.

Tracking the trends in manufacturing technology management

Purpose – This Editorial Viewpoint explores the practical developments in manufacturing technology management (MTM) over the last 22 years and links these to some of the subject trends of previous articles in JMTM. Design/methodology/approach – Themes and relevant articles have been identified from the Emerald advanced search facility and linked with developments in hard technologies, information technology and production organisation. Findings – There are numerous examples of where trends in the real world of MTM are reflected in changes to the orientation of JMTM articles, but there are still many articles following more well-worn paths of previous academic research. Research limitations/implications – Evidence for the findings is only from a small sample of articles identified in one journal. Practical implications – Over time, practitioners can find useful connections between published research and their own emerging areas of concern. Originality/value – The paper is based on original bibliographic research, supplemented by extensive editorial and practical experience.

Viable Model of the Enterprise – a Cybernetic Approach for Implementing the Information Technologies in Management

The purpose of the current paper is to present the developed methodology of viable model based enterprise management, which is needed for modern enterprises to survive and growth in the information age century. The approach is based on Beer’s viable system model and uses it as a basis of the information technology implementation and development. The enterprise is viewed as a cybernetic system which functioning is controlled from the same rules as for every living system.

Dissidents with an innovation cause? Non-institutionalized actors’ online social knowledge sharing, solution-finding tensions and technology management innovation

Purpose – Traditionally, most studies focus on institutionalized management-driven actors to understand technology management innovation. The purpose of this paper is to argue that there is a need for research to study the nature and role of dissident non-institutionalized actors’ (i.e. outsourced web designers and rapid application software developers). The authors propose that through online social knowledge sharing, non-institutionalized actors’ solution-finding tensions enable technology management innovation. Design/methodology/approach – A synthesis of the literature and an analysis of the data (21 interviews) provided insights in three areas of solution-finding tensions enabling management innovation. The authors frame the analysis on the peripherally deviant work and the nature of the ways that dissident non-institutionalized actors deviate from their clients (understood as the firm) original contracted objectives. Findings – The findings provide insights into the productive role of solution-finding tensions in enabling opportunities for management service innovation. Furthermore, deviant practices that leverage non-institutionalized actors’ online social knowledge to fulfill customers’ requirements are not interpreted negatively, but as a positive willingness to proactively explore alternative paths. Research limitations/implications – The findings demonstrate the importance of dissident non-institutionalized actors in technology management innovation. However, this work is based on a single country (USA) and additional research is needed to validate and generalize the findings in other cultural and institutional settings. Originality/value – This paper provides new insights into the perceptions of dissident non-institutionalized actors in the practice of IT managerial decision making. The work departs from, but also extends, the previous literature, demonstrating that peripherally deviant work in solution-finding practice creates tensions, enabling management innovation between IT providers and users.

Social construction of Geographic Information Systems. (Volumes I and II)

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an emerging information technology (IT) which promises to have large scale influences in how spatially distributed resources are managed. It has had applications in the management of issues as diverse as recovering from the disaster of Hurricane Andrew to aiding military operations in Desert Storm. Implementation of GIS systems is an important issue because there are high cost and time involvement in setting them up. An important component of the implementation problem is the "meaning" different groups of people who are influencing the implementation give to the technology. The research was based on the theory of (theoretical stance to the problem was based on the) "Social Construction of Knowledge" systems which assumes knowledge systems are subject to sociological analysis both in usage and in content. An interpretive research approach was adopted to inductively derive a model which explains how the "meanings" of a GIS are socially constructed. The research design entailed a comparative case analysis over two county sites which were using the same GIS for a variety of purposes. A total of 75 in-depth interviews were conducted to elicit interpretations of GIS. Results indicate that differences in how geographers and data-processors view the technology lead to different implementation patterns in the two sites.

Consequences of interorganizational information systems: An empirical investigation of the effects of EDI use on interorganizational relationships in the retail industry

This dissertation examines the consequences of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) use on interorganizational relations (IR) in the retail industry. EDI is a type of interorganizational information system that facilitates the exchange of business documents in structured, machine processable form. The research model links EDI use and three IR dimensions--structural, behavioral, and outcome. Based on relevant literature from organizational theory and marketing channels, fourteen hypotheses were proposed for the relationships among EDI use and the three IR dimensions.^ Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires from key informants in 97 retail companies (19% response rate). The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. The analysis supports the following hypothesis: (a) EDI use is positively related to information intensity and formalization, (b) formalization is positively related to cooperation, (c) information intensity is positively related to cooperation, (d) conflict is negatively related to performance and satisfaction, (e) cooperation is positively related to performance, and (f) performance is positively related to satisfaction. The results support the general premise of the model that the relationship between EDI use and satisfaction among channel members has to be viewed within an interorganizational context.^ Research on EDI is still in a nascent stage. By identifying and testing relevant interorganizational variables, this study offers insights for practitioners managing boundary-spanning activities in organizations using or planning to use EDI. Further, the thesis provides avenues for future research aimed at understanding the consequences of this interorganizational information technology. ^

Is Your Hotel MISsing Technology?

In order to become more effective and efficient in providing guest services, hotels must avail themselves of information technology. A firm's competitive edge and quality can be the result of the successful implementation of an information sys- tem. The authors present in this article the why, who, what, when, where, and how of implementing information systems.

Information Discovery on Electronic Health Records Using Authority Flow Techniques

Background As the use of electronic health records (EHRs) becomes more widespread, so does the need to search and provide effective information discovery within them. Querying by keyword has emerged as one of the most effective paradigms for searching. Most work in this area is based on traditional Information Retrieval (IR) techniques, where each document is compared individually against the query. We compare the effectiveness of two fundamentally different techniques for keyword search of EHRs. Methods We built two ranking systems. The traditional BM25 system exploits the EHRs' content without regard to association among entities within. The Clinical ObjectRank (CO) system exploits the entities' associations in EHRs using an authority-flow algorithm to discover the most relevant entities. BM25 and CO were deployed on an EHR dataset of the cardiovascular division of Miami Children's Hospital. Using sequences of keywords as queries, sensitivity and specificity were measured by two physicians for a set of 11 queries related to congenital cardiac disease. Results Our pilot evaluation showed that CO outperforms BM25 in terms of sensitivity (65% vs. 38%) by 71% on average, while maintaining the specificity (64% vs. 61%). The evaluation was done by two physicians. Conclusions Authority-flow techniques can greatly improve the detection of relevant information in EHRs and hence deserve further study.

The social values of wireless technology in the institutional context

Despite growing attention, social values, compared to economic aspects, of information technology (IT) capture substantially less attention in the mainstream IT literature. In the context of mobile technology, social values might be as critical to help justify technology investment as the predominant economics perspective in the existing IT literature. As wireless networks and relevant mobile technologies continue to penetrate the global society and business world, an emerging social phenomenon rapidly reshapes how organizations interact with the technology and reposition themselves in their specific institutional context where organizations often develop networked alliance to compete against one another. This study thus seeks to shed light on how organizations make sense of the social aspects of wireless network implementation. Preliminary understanding derived from two higher education organizations' experiences is summarized. Implications for future research endeavor are suggested.

Research in information systems: A study of diversity and inter-disciplinary discourse in the AIS basket journals between 1995 and 2011

The paper investigates how Information Systems (IS) has emerged as the product of inter-disciplinary discourses. The research aim in this study is to better understand diversity in IS research, and the extent to which the diversity of discourse expanded and contracted from 1995 to 2011. Methodologically, we apply a combined citations/co-citations analysis based on the eight Association for Information Systems basket journals and the 22 subject-field classification framework provided by the Association of Business Schools. Our findings suggest that IS is in a state of continuous interaction and competition with other disciplines. General Management was reduced from a dominant position as a reference discipline in IS at the expense of a growing variety of other discourses including Business Strategy, Marketing, and Ethics and Governance, among others. Over time, IS as a field moved from the periphery to a central position during its discursive formation. This supports the notion of IS as a fluid discipline dynamically embracing a diverse range of adjacent reference disciplines, while keeping a degree of continuing interaction with them. Understanding where IS is currently at allows us to better understand and propose fruitful avenues for its development in both academia and practice. © 2013 JIT Palgrave Macmillan All rights reserved.

Information literacy: uma análise nas bibliotecas escolares da rede privada em Natal / RN

GUEDES, Clediane de Araújo; FARIAS, Gabriela Belmont de. Information literacy: uma análise nas bibliotecas escolares da rede privada em Natal / RN. Revista Digital de Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, Campinas, v. 4, n. 2, p. 110-133, jan./jun. 2007

Iowa State Government Technology Assessment Project, 1995

The State of Iowa is conducting an as5essment of Information Technology (IT) in the Executive Branch. The purpose of this assessment is to gather data on costs, applications, systems, utilization, operations, hardware assets, administration and activities associated with the provision of IT services. To accomplish this, two leading technology vendors conducted an intense assessment. These vendors, Integrated System Solutions Corporation (ISSC), and Electronic Data Systems (EDS) analyzed extensive data provided by the various ·agencies and conducted on-site interviews during the week of November 13, 1995. Additionally, in the first week of December, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Iowa Council 61 sponsored an assessment. These assessments are included as appendices B, C, and D to this report.

Information Pertaining to the Public Hearing, 1986

On August 12, 1986, a public hearing was held in the Henry A. Wallace Building Auditorium, 900 East Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa, for the purpose of receiving comments and statements from individuals, groups, and associations that have an interest in the limits of financial responsibility for intrastate passenger motor carriers.

Records Management System: Indexing Standard, Document Standard, Technology Standard, Laboratory Configuration, 1997

Purpose of Records Management Sysytem indexing standards document is to develop indexing standards that will best support Iowa DOT's effort to build an agency-wide Records Management System

Automated Collection of Sign Inventory Information by Integrating Global Positioning System (GPS) with Videologging Data Collection Activities, 1995

Advances in communication, navigation and imaging technologies are expected to fundamentally change methods currently used to collect data. Electronic data interchange strategies will also minimize data handling and automatically update files at the point of capture. This report summarizes the outcome of using a multi-camera platform as a method to collect roadway inventory data. It defines basic system requirements as expressed by users, who applied these techniques and examines how the application of the technology met those needs. A sign inventory case study was used to determine the advantages of creating and maintaining the database and provides the capability to monitor performance criteria for a Safety Management System. The project identified at least 75 percent of the data elements needed for a sign inventory can be gathered by viewing a high resolution image.