Phenomenography in the Centre for Information Technology Innovation (CITI)

Phenomenography has its roots in educational research (Marton and Booth, 1997), but has since been adopted in other domains including business (Sandberg, 1994), health (Barnard, McCosker and Gerber, 1999), information science (Bruce, 1999a,b) and information technology (Bruce and Pham, 2001) as well as information systems. Emerging phenomenographic research in areas other than education, has been interdisciplinary, often bringing together technology, education and a host discipline such as health or business. In Australia, phenomenography has been used in information technology (IT) related research primarily in Victoria and Queensland. These studies have pursued the latter two of three established lines of phenomenographic research: 1) the study of conceptions of learning; 2) the study of conceptions in specific disciplines of study and 3) the study of how people conceive of various aspects of their everyday world that have not, for them, been the object of formal studies (Marton 1988, p.189). Information Technology researchers have predominantly pursued the latter two lines of research.

A conceptual framework for aligning business and information systems from organisational learning perspective

The three decades of on-going executives’ concerns of how to achieve successful alignment between business and information technology shows the complexity of such a vital process. Most of the challenges of alignment are related to knowledge and organisational change and several researchers have introduced a number of mechanisms to address some of these challenges. However, these mechanisms pay less attention to multi-level effects, which results in a limited un-derstanding of alignment across levels. Therefore, we reviewed these challenges from a multi-level learning perspective and found that business and IT alignment is related to the balance of exploitation and exploration strategies with the intellec-tual content of individual, group and organisational levels.

eBusiness and information systems : academic programs in Australia and New Zealand in the e-Age

Universities are increasingly turning to ‘fashionable’ education programs to attract bright, high-quality students to both under-graduate and post-graduate degree programs. Traditional offerings in technology areas, such as Information Systems and Information Technology are being augmented by newer, more marketable degrees in areas such as eCommerce/eBusiness. This paper analyses the eCommerce/eBusiness and Information Systems (IS) / Information Technology (IT) academic programs in Australian and New Zealand universities on the basis of Kotler and Fox's service offering model of educational institutions; and considers what differences exist between these two apparently similar areas of academic endeavour. Finally we look at the trends of academic program delivery in the e-age and question whether universities need to take a more consumer-product approach to the issue of attracting appropriate students.

Designing a safety management support system using open architecture databases: the requirements of information representation in the support of managers' risk-related decision-making

This research was conducted at the Space Research and Technology Centre o the European Space Agency at Noordvijk in the Netherlands. ESA is an international organisation that brings together a range of scientists, engineers and managers from 14 European member states. The motivation for the work was to enable decision-makers, in a culturally and technologically diverse organisation, to share information for the purpose of making decisions that are well informed about the risk-related aspects of the situations they seek to address. The research examined the use of decision support system DSS) technology to facilitate decision-making of this type. This involved identifying the technology available and its application to risk management. Decision-making is a complex activity that does not lend itself to exact measurement or precise understanding at a detailed level. In view of this, a prototype DSS was developed through which to understand the practical issues to be accommodated and to evaluate alternative approaches to supporting decision-making of this type. The problem of measuring the effect upon the quality of decisions has been approached through expert evaluation of the software developed. The practical orientation of this work was informed by a review of the relevant literature in decision-making, risk management, decision support and information technology. Communication and information technology unite the major the,es of this work. This allows correlation of the interests of the research with European public policy. The principles of communication were also considered in the topic of information visualisation - this emerging technology exploits flexible modes of human computer interaction (HCI) to improve the cognition of complex data. Risk management is itself an area characterised by complexity and risk visualisation is advocated for application in this field of endeavour. The thesis provides recommendations for future work in the fields of decision=making, DSS technology and risk management.

The Use of Conceptual Business Model in Managing Information Technology Projects

The business model of an organization is an important strategic tool for its success, and should therefore be understood by business professionals and information technology professionals. By this context and considering the importance of information technology in contemporary business models, this article aims to verify the use of the business model components in the information technology (IT) projects management process in enterprises. To achieve this goal, this exploratory research has investigated the use of the Business Model concept in the information technology projects management, by a survey applied to 327 professionals from February to April 2012. It was observed that the business model concept, as well as its practices or its blocks, are not so well explored in its whole potential, possibly because it is relatively new. One of the benefits of this conceptual tool is to provide an understanding in terms of the core business for different areas, enabling a higher level of knowledge in terms of the essential activities of the enterprise IT professionals and the business area.

Landscape landscapism

Clearly the world is a different place to what it was 40 years ago, and much of that difference can be characterised as disturbances to the local on the basis of globalism, particularly due to changes in communication and information technology. Like it did to modernism before it, this societal change calls for, or more aptly calls to, designers to reformulate their practices to reflect this significant new paradigm. This is a rationale that has driven much avant-garde activity in the 20th century, and in this case, 'landscape urbanism' in the 21st. In the case of this discussion, it is important to recognise the avant-garde cycle at work in the development of the discipline, not only to contextualise its production, but so that its greatest values can be welcomed: despite the propaganda and arrogance, important revisions occurred to the canons after all the -isms. That said, I do find myself asking: do we need another -ism?

Common Ground Method of Current Injection in Electrical Impedance Tomography

Surface electrodes are essentially required to be switched for boundary data collection in electrical impedance tomography (Ell). Parallel digital data bits are required to operate the multiplexers used, generally, for electrode switching in ELT. More the electrodes in an EIT system more the digital data bits are needed. For a sixteen electrode system. 16 parallel digital data bits are required to operate the multiplexers in opposite or neighbouring current injection method. In this paper a common ground current injection is proposed for EIT and the resistivity imaging is studied. Common ground method needs only two analog multiplexers each of which need only 4 digital data bits and hence only 8 digital bits are required to switch the 16 surface electrodes. Results show that the USB based data acquisition system sequentially generate digital data required for multiplexers operating in common ground current injection method. The profile of the boundary data collected from practical phantom show that the multiplexers are operating in the required sequence in common ground current injection protocol. The voltage peaks obtained for all the inhomogeneity configurations are found at the accurate positions in the boundary data matrix which proved the sequential operation of multiplexers. Resistivity images reconstructed from the boundary data collected from the practical phantom with different configurations also show that the entire digital data generation module is functioning properly. Reconstructed images and their image parameters proved that the boundary data are successfully acquired by the DAQ system which in turn indicates a sequential and proper operation of multiplexers.

Switching of a Sixteen Electrode Array for Wireless EIT System Using a RF-Based 8-Bit Digital Data Transmission Technique

Surface electrode switching of 16-electrode wireless EIT is studied using a Radio Frequency (RF) based digital data transmission technique operating with 8 channel encoder/decoder ICs. An electrode switching module is developed the analog multiplexers and switched with 8-bit parallel digital data transferred by transmitter/receiver module developed with radio frequency technology. 8-bit parallel digital data collected from the receiver module are converted to 16-bit digital data by using binary adder circuits and then used for switching the electrodes in opposite current injection protocol. 8-bit parallel digital data are generated using NI USB 6251 DAQ card in LabVIEW software and sent to the transmission module which transmits the digital data bits to the receiver end. Receiver module supplies the parallel digital bits to the binary adder circuits and adder circuit outputs are fed to the multiplexers of the electrode switching module for surface electrode switching. 1 mA, 50 kHz sinusoidal constant current is injected at the phantom boundary using opposite current injection protocol. The boundary potentials developed at the voltage electrodes are measured and studied to assess the wireless data transmission.

Jogos casuais: comunicação, entretenimento e desenvolvimento sustentável em EcoCity

A complexidade do fenômeno comunicacional desafia estudiosos do campo na atualidade, principalmente no âmbito dos ambientes sociais. O processo de interação mediada, por exemplo, ganhou grandes proporções na virada do século XXI com o advento das Tecnologias de Informação e de Comunicação (TIC). Os suportes tecnológicos eletrônicos ou computacionais passaram a nortear grande parte do entretenimento e da comunicação. Nesse caminho esta pesquisa analisa novas práticas de comunicação na atualidade e aponta como os jogos eletrônicos, ou também chamados games, vêm se conjugando nos processos de mediação nessas práticas. O trabalho envolve os jogos para computador, mais especificamente os chamados jogos casuais. O objeto de estudo são os tipos de interação social em jogos casuais online e o corpus de análise é o EcoCity, um jogo de simulação com final aberto que funciona nos sites de serviço de rede social. A abordagem da construção de cidades sustentáveis no game traz fatores ambientais à cena. A hipótese é que a socialização em torno desses fatores podem de alguma forma agregar valor nos usos e apropriações que os indivíduos fazem dos jogos casuais durante os processos comunicativos e interativos.

What's happening in European supply-chains?

Many multinational companies are supposedly viewing Europe as one region and re-shaping their approach to the supply of products to customers. Several factors are thought to be driving this trend, notably the degree of merger and acquisitions activity; the need for improved financial performance; the pressure to reduce inventories and costs, facilitated by improvements in communication and information technology systems. All of this is in the context of European market and monetary harmonisation. This paper investigates the extent and effect of the amanegement of supply chains on a pan-European baisis by multinational business. A survey was used to examine changes, both made and anticipated. to operational strategies, processes, organisational structures and physical infrastructure across a range of businesses and industry sectors. Cost reducation, driven by the need for profit and shreholder return, was found to be the priority for developments in supply chains.Many businesses reported consolidation of manufacturing and distribution activities whilst retaining discrete country-by-country organisational structures for managing customers and markets.Logistics Service Providers were seen in a traditional role as suppliers of commodity warehousing and transport services and lacked true pan-European capability. Despite the often-vaunted concept of a pan-European business model, individual businesses wwere seen to be negotiating their own path to balancing economies of scale with customers' service needs and expectations.

The use of ICT in the course “Photography” in university education. First results of a teaching innovation project at the University of Murcia

The new pedagogical framework arisen since the Bologna Declaration,the Prague Communiquéand the introduction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), encourages, significantly, the use of new Communication and Information Technology to evolve teaching methodologies. The different ways teachers relate to learners have undergone a staggering change from which educational initiatives have emerged. Many of them are based on contents’ democratization through the use of ICT. The current article is intended to show the results obtained until the 2012/2013 academic course, since the implementation of the teaching innovation project entitled “The use of ICT for the students’ autonomous learning in the university education of the course Photography. Elaboration of a virtual classroom and results’ analysis related to the acquisition of skills and competencies” that has been developed in the course called Draw with light: Photography, belonging to the Fine Arts Degree at the University of Murcia.

Jornalismo pós-televisivo: o caso do jornal Bom dia Bauru

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Mensuração da disponibilização de informações e do nível de interação dos ambientes informacionais digitais da administração municipal com a sociedade

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

A atualização do PROUCA nas escolas estaduais do Estado de São Paulo

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Formação inicial do professor de matemática com uso de tecnologias da informação e comunicação no contexto da escola pública

This paper intends to analyze which contribution for teachers formative training the participation on extension projects can bring to the bachelors in Mathematics teaching. The research was conducted during the developing of a Project from the Program of Extension - Programa de Extensão UFU/Comunidade (PEIC) in a municipal school located in a country zone from Uberlândia-MG. The research was constituted by a series of activities with students from the ninth year of the Fundamental Education, Middle School. The main focus is the work developed by two bachelors of Mathemactics teaching from the Federal University from Uberlândia who were part of the PEIC team. This present research intends to answer the following question: How the extension project “Information technology and communication on Mathematics problem resolution in country zone schools” has contribited to reinforce and to (re)criate the fomative experiences of students from the Mathematics teaching course who have developed such project? The presente study is from a qualitative nature and has made use of the partaker searching methodology. The presente paper was organized in three chapters. On chapter I evidence is given to theoretical discussion made, having as main references the works of Larrosa, Ponte e Shön. Chapter II brings the description of the three activities that were developed and aplied during the PEIC Project, which are: Problems in the Park, Inaccessible Hight and Lili Game. On chapter III, the data analysis is presented. The data was obtained through instruments of registration such as: camera recording, photografic material, meetings reports, field notes, surveys and semi-structured interviews. The initial hypothesis aim is on the fact that the participation on extention projects during the graduation course can bring rich contribution for the teachers to be, since it’s going to provide the knowledge and chalenge close to the one from the future profession. With the analysis of the obtained results from the colected data, it was possible to conclude that the PEIC has provided the bachelors in Mathematics teching the opportunity of recreate and potenciate their formative experiences. Such opportunity happened in situations that involved, for example, planning makings, development of colective work, softwares usage, different school spaces and the direct interaction with school bureaucracy. Beyond that, it was possible to work with the cocepts of reflection in action in a way to contribute to the professional development of the future Mathematics teachers. Thereby, in our final considerations, is possible to conclude that extension projects performed during the graduation course can bring great contributions to the professional formation of the bachelors in Mathematics teaching, among them we highlight the potentiation of the previous formative experiences and the development of colective work and behavior related to a reflexive teacher.