R��glementation des technologies de l'information au Qu��bec : la philosophie du projet de loi 161 en regard du droit canadien

��change automatis�� de messages pr��programm��s, communication par courrier ��lectronique, gestion ��lectronique de documents (GED), Data warehouse, EDI��� Le monde des affaires vibre depuis quelques ann��es au rythme des nouvelles technologies de l���information. Le droit commercial lui, a du mal �� embo��ter le pas. Pourtant, les probl��mes juridiques soulev��s par ce r��gne de l���immat��riel sont majeurs et les incertitudes, grandissantes. La mobilit�� accrue que permettent ces techniques modernes de transmission et de gestion des informations sugg��re une solution concert��e, qui plus est, tiendra compte de l�����volution h��t��e dans ce domaine. Le fondement en a ��t�� donn�� �� travers la Loi type des Nations unies sur le commerce ��lectronique en 1996. Plusieurs l��gislations l���ont choisi comme mod��le. La l��gislation canadienne est de celles-ci, avec notamment sa Loi uniforme sur le commerce ��lectronique adopt��e par la Conf��rence pour l���harmonisation des lois au Canada en 1999. La l��gislation qu��b��coise aussi a suivi le mouvement. Le 16 juin 2000, un avant-projet de loi portant sur la normalisation juridique des technologies de l���information fut d��pos�� devant l���Assembl��e nationale. Cet avant-projet de loi est devenu projet de loi 161, Loi concernant le cadre juridique des technologies de l���information. Mais au-del�� des apparences, le l��gislateur qu��b��cois semble s�����tre ��cart�� de la philosophie qui a influenc�� la Loi type et, cons��quemment, la Loi uniforme. Si cette remarque est v��rifi��e, il faudra craindre l���isolement du Qu��bec et, par ricochet, un positionnement peu concurrentiel dans le commerce international.

James W. Carey as critical theorist of the information age

This paper suggests that the thought of the North-American critical theorist James W. Carey provides a relevant perspective on communication and technology. Having as background American social pragmatism and progressive thinkers of the beginning of the 20th century (as Dewey, Mead, Cooley, and Park), Carey built a perspective that brought together the political economy of Harold A. Innis, the social criticism of David Riesman and Charles W. Mills and incorporated Marxist topics such as commodification and sociocultural domination. The main goal of this paper is to explore the connection established by Carey between modern technological communication and what he called the ���transmissive model���, a model which not only reduces the symbolic process of communication to instrumentalization and to information delivery, but also politically converges with capitalism as well as power, control and expansionist goals. Conceiving communication as a process that creates symbolic and cultural systems, in which and through which social life takes place, Carey gives equal emphasis to the incorporation processes of communication.If symbolic forms and culture are ways of conditioning action, they are also influenced by technological and economic materializations of symbolic systems, and by other conditioning structures. In Carey���s view, communication is never a disembodied force; rather, it is a set of practices in which co-exist conceptions, techniques and social relations. These practices configure reality or, alternatively, can refute, transform and celebrate it. Exhibiting sensitiveness favourable to the historical understanding of communication, media and information technologies, one of the issues Carey explored most was the history of the telegraph as an harbinger of the Internet, of its problems and contradictions. For Carey, Internet was seen as the contemporary heir of the communications revolution triggered by the prototype of transmission technologies, namely the telegraph in the 19th century. In the telegraph Carey saw the prototype of many subsequent commercial empires based on science and technology, a pioneer model for complex business management; an example of conflict of interest for the control over patents; an inducer of changes both in language and in structures of knowledge; and a promoter of a futurist and utopian thought of information technologies. After a brief approach to Carey���s communication theory, this paper focuses on his seminal essay "Technology and ideology. The case of the telegraph", bearing in mind the prospect of the communication revolution introduced by Internet. We maintain that this essay has seminal relevance for critically studying the information society. Our reading of it highlights the reach, as well as the problems, of an approach which conceives the innovation of the telegraph as a metaphor for all innovations, announcing the modern stage of history and determining to this day the major lines of development in modern communication systems.

Geography of the Information Society

All every day activities take place in space. And it is upon this that all information and knowledge revolve. The latter are the key elements in the organisation of territories. Their creation, use and distribution should therefore occur in a balanced way throughout the whole territory in order to allow all individuals to participate in an egalitarian society, in which the flow of knowledge can take precedence over the flow of interests. The information society depends, to a large extent, on the technological capacity to disseminate information and, consequently, the knowledge throughout territory, thereby creating conditions which allow a more balanced development, from the both the social and economic points of view thus avoiding the existence of info-exclusion territories. Internet should therefore be considered more than a mere technology, given that its importance goes well beyond the frontiers of culture and society. It is already a part of daily life and of the new forms of thinking and transmitting information, thus making it a basic necessity essential, for a full socio-economic development. Its role as a platform of creation and distribution of content is regarded as an indispensable element for education in today���s society, since it makes information a much more easily acquired benefit.������in the same way that the new technologies of generation and distribution of energy allowed factories and large companies to establish themselves as the organisational bases of industrial society, so the internet today constitutes the technological base of the organisational form that characterises the Information Era: the network��� (CASTELLS, 2004:15). The changes taking place today in regional and urban structures are increasingly more evident due to a combination of factors such as faster means of transport, more efficient telecommunications and other cheaper and more advanced technologies of information and knowledge. Although their impact on society is obvious, society itself also has a strong influence on the evolution of these technologies. And although physical distance has lost much of the responsibility it had towards explaining particular phenomena of the economy and of society, other aspects such as telecommunications, new forms of mobility, the networks of innovation, the internet, cyberspace, etc., have become more important, and are the subject of study and profound analysis. The science of geographical information, allows, in a much more rigorous way, the analysis of problems thus integrating in a much more balanced way, the concepts of place, of space and of time. Among the traditional disciplines that have already found their place in this process of research and analysis, we can give special attention to a geography of new spaces, which, while not being a geography of ���innovation���, nor of the ���Internet���, nor even ���virtual���, which can be defined as one of the ���Information Society���, encompassing not only the technological aspects but also including a socio-economic approach. According to the last European statistical data, Portugal shows a deficit in terms of information and knowledge dissemination among its European partners. Some of the causes are very well identified - low levels of scholarship, weak investments on innovation and R&D (both private and public sector) - but others seem to be hidden behind socio-economical and technological factors. So, the justification of Portugal as the case study appeared naturally, on a difficult quest to find the major causes to territorial asymmetries. The substantial amount of data needed for this work was very difficult to obtain and for the islands of Madeira and Azores was insufficient, so only Continental Portugal was considered for this study. In an effort to understand the various aspects of the Geography of the Information Society and bearing in mind the increasing generalised use of information technologies together with the range of technologies available for the dissemination of information, it is important to: (i) Reflect on the geography of the new socio-technological spaces. (ii) Evaluate the potential for the dissemination of information and knowledge through the selection of variables that allow us to determine the dynamic of a given territory or region; (iii) Define a Geography of the Information Society in Continental Portugal.

Finding a school technological partner: a multicriteria method for school information system producer selection

The choice of an information systems is a critical factor of success in an organization's performance, since, by involving multiple decision-makers, with often conflicting objectives, several alternatives with aggressive marketing, makes it particularly complex by the scope of a consensus. The main objective of this work is to make the analysis and selection of a information system to support the school management, pedagogical and administrative components, using a multicriteria decision aid system ��� MMASSITI ��� Multicriteria Method- ology to Support the Selection of Information Systems/Information Technologies ��� integrates a multicriteria model that seeks to provide a systematic approach in the process of choice of Information Systems, able to produce sustained recommendations concerning the decision scope. Its application to a case study has identi- fied the relevant factors in the selection process of school educational and management information system and get a solution that allows the decision maker��� to compare the quality of the various alternatives.

Georeferencing Road Accidents with Google Earth: Transforming Information into Knowledge for Decision Support

Over the last fifty years mobility practices have changed dramatically, improving the way travel takes place, the time it takes but also on matters like road safety and prevention. High mortality caused by high accident levels has reached untenable levels. But the research into road mortality stayed limited to comparative statistical exercises which go no further than defining accident types. In terms of sharing information and mapping accidents, little progress has been mad, aside from the normal publication of figures, either through simplistic tables or web pages. With considerable technological advances on geographical information technologies, research and development stayed rather static with only a few good examples on dynamic mapping. The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices as normal equipments on automobile industry resulted in a more dynamic mobility patterns but also with higher degrees of uncertainty on road traffic. This paper describes a road accident georeferencing project for the Lisbon District involving fatalities and serious injuries during 2007. In the initial phase, individual information summaries were compiled giving information on accidents and its majour characteristics, collected by the security forces: the Public Safety Police Force (Pol��cia de Seguran��a P��blica - PSP) and the National Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana - GNR). The Google Earth platform was used to georeference the information in order to inform the public and the authorities of the accident locations, the nature of the location, and the causes and consequences of the accidents. This paper also gives future insights about augmented reality technologies, considered crucial to advances to road safety and prevention studies. At the end, this exercise could be considered a success because of numerous consequences, as for stakeholders who decide what to do but also for the public awareness to the problem of road mortality.

Information systems assessment in pathologic anatomy service

Information technologies changed the way of how the health organizations work, contributing to their effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability. Hospital Information Systems (HIS) are emerging on all of health institutions, helping health professionals and patients. However, HIS are not always implemented and used in the best way, leading to low levels of benefits and acceptance by users of these systems. In order to mitigate this problem, it is essential to take measures able to ensure if the HIS and their interfaces are designed in a simple and interactive way. With this in mind, a study to measure the user satisfaction and their opinion was made. It was applied the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) on a HIS implemented on various hospital centers (AIDA), being used the Pathologic Anatomy Service. The study identified weakness and strengths features of AIDA and it pointed some solutions to improve the medical record.

Information integration and its impacts on logistics performance - Using information technology and systems to facilitate information integration

Fast changing environment sets pressure on firms to share large amount of information with their customers and suppliers. The terms information integration and information sharing are essential for facilitating a smooth flow of information throughout the supply chain, and the terms are used interchangeably in research literature. By integrating and sharing information, firms want to improve their logistics performance. Firms share information with their suppliers and customers by using traditional communication methods (telephone, fax, Email, written and face-to-face contacts) and by using advanced or modern communication methods such as electronic data interchange (EDI), enterprise resource planning (ERP), web-based procurement systems, electronic trading systems and web portals. Adopting new ways of using IT is one important resource for staying competitive on the rapidly changing market (Saeed et al. 2005, 387), and an information system that provides people the information they need for performing their work, will support company performance (Boddy et al. 2005, 26). The purpose of this research has been to test and understand the relationship between information integration with key suppliers and/or customers and a firm���s logistics performance, especially when information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) are used for integrating information. Quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used to perform the research. Special attention has been paid to the scope, level and direction of information integration (Van Donk & van der Vaart 2005a). In addition, the four elements of integration (Jahre & Fabbe-Costes 2008) are closely tied to the frame of reference. The elements are integration of flows, integration of processes and activities, integration of information technologies and systems and integration of actors. The study found that information integration has a low positive relationship to operational performance and a medium positive relationship to strategic performance. The potential performance improvements found in this study vary from efficiency, delivery and quality improvements (operational) to profit, profitability or customer satisfaction improvements (strategic). The results indicate that although information integration has an impact on a firm���s logistics performance, all performance improvements have not been achieved. This study also found that the use of IT and IS have a mediocre positive relationship to information integration. Almost all case companies agreed on that the use of IT and IS could facilitate information integration and improve their logistics performance. The case companies felt that an implementation of a web portal or a data bank would benefit them - enhance their performance and increase information integration.

Balises pour l���intervention avec les technologies aupr��s des ��l��ves qui ont des incapacit��s intellectuelles

Consid��r��es comme des moyens incontournables de participation �� la soci��t��, les technologies de l���information et de la communication (TIC) constituent une piste de solution prometteuse pour l���enseignement et l���apprentissage aupr��s des ��l��ves qui ont des incapacit��s intellectuelles. Toutefois, plusieurs auteurs d��noncent la faible utilisation des TIC en ��ducation de ces ��l��ves. Pire encore, les recherches sur le sujet g��n��rent des r��sultats int��ressants, mais d���une contribution limit��e pour l���avancement des connaissances dans le domaine. Guid��es par l���intuition et par un enthousiasme empirique ��vident, ces recherches s���appuient rarement sur des cadres de r��f��rence. Certes la documentation scientifique foisonne de champs de savoirs qui peuvent contribuer �� ce domaine, mais ces contributions sont parcellaires et peu adapt��es aux sp��cificit��s de ce dernier. L���intervention avec les TIC aupr��s des ��l��ves qui ont des incapacit��s intellectuelles demeure donc un champ conceptuel mal d��fini qui n'est l��gitim�� par aucun cadre de r��f��rence en particulier. Cette recherche doctorale se situe en phase de pr��conception d���un mod��le de l���intervention avec les TIC aupr��s des ��l��ves qui ont des incapacit��s intellectuelles. Elle vise �� mettre en place des balises solides pouvant servir de cadre �� l�����laboration d���un mod��le de cette intervention. Dans cette phase de pr��conception, nous poursuivons deux objectifs, �� savoir : 1) la mise au point d���un r��f��rentiel qui constitue un cadre int��grateur des connaissances existantes en la mati��re, qui servira avant tout �� structurer et �� organiser les informations disponibles �� l���int��rieur d���une synth��se valid��e par des experts et des intervenants oeuvrant aupr��s de ce type d�����l��ves et 2) l�����laboration d���un cahier des charges fonctionnel qui s���appuie sur le r��f��rentiel d��velopp�� et qui pr��cise les fonctions qu���un mod��le id��al de l���intervention avec les TIC aupr��s des ��l��ves qui ont des incapacit��s intellectuelles devrait remplir pour r��pondre pleinement aux besoins de ses diff��rents utilisateurs. Ces balises (le r��f��rentiel et le cahier des charges fonctionnel) sont destin��es, principalement, �� des chercheurs, des concepteurs de technologies, des formateurs d���enseignants, etc. Les ��l��ves, les enseignants et autres agents de l'��ducation pourront en b��n��ficier indirectement �� travers les applications d��riv��es de ces balises (programmes de formation, technologies, recherches, sc��narios p��dagogiques, etc.).

Les technologies de l���information et de la communication, la justice et le droit : contribution �� la r��flexion sur l���incidence de la technique sur le droit

"Les juristes partout dans le monde peuvent maintenant, de leur poste informatique personnel, acc��der aux donn��es �� publiques �� (la part des r��gles juridiques y est majeure) que les ��tats mettent �� la disposition de chacun. En plus de modifier les m��thodes de travail des praticiens du droit, l���usage des technologies de l���information influera sur l�����volution du droit et de la justice. D���une part, les ��tats ne pourront renoncer �� se doter des moyens technologiques requis pour diffuser l���information et, d���autre part, l���institution judiciaire devra r��pondre �� cette nouvelle forme d���exigence de d��mocratisation. Les technologies de l���information feront surgir un nouveau rapport entre le citoyen et le droit. Dans le domaine judiciaire, il faudra consentir �� une r��flexion en profondeur sur la mani��re dont les juridictions sont saisies. Le �� dialogue par formulaire �� est un exercice de la pens��e diff��rent de ceux que les juristes pratiquent habituellement ; dans le domaine judiciaire ou parajudiciaire, la pratique des t��l��proc��dures est, en France, balbutiante. L���utilisation des technologies de l���information et de la communication dans les proc��dures assurera une meilleure efficacit�� (effectivit�� et c��l��rit��) de la r��ponse judiciaire et fera appara��tre de nouvelles exigences, en particulier quant �� la communication des d��cisions de justice. Le droit ��voluera��: la communaut�� des juristes devient mondiale, les droits internes sont quotidiennement �� l�����preuve des autres droits, toutes sortes de comparaisons sont possibles entre les diff��rentes juridictions, entre les l��gislations existantes et entre les solutions th��oriquement possibles pour r��gler tel ou tel cas. On ne peut imaginer que le l��gislateur, que les juridictions supr��mes, que les chercheurs et les th��oriciens du droit, que l���ensemble des praticiens se d��sint��ressent des pistes ouvertes par les technologies de l���information."

Apport des technologies mobiles �� l'am��lioration des soins en canc��rologie

R��alis�� en cotutelle avec Claude Sicotte PhD Universit�� de Montr��al et le Pr. ��tienne Minvielle ��cole des Hautes ��tudes en Sant�� Publique �� Paris.

Century-of-Information Research (CIR): a strategy for research and innovation in the century of information

More data will be produced in the next five years than in the entire history of human kind, a digital deluge that marks the beginning of the Century of Information. Through a year-long consultation with UK researchers, a coherent strategy has been developed, which will nurture Century-of-Information Research (CIR); it crystallises the ideas developed by the e-Science Directors' Forum Strategy Working Group. This paper is an abridged version of their latest report which can be found at: http://wikis.nesc.ac.uk/escienvoy/Century_of_Information_Research_Strategy which also records the consultation process and the affiliations of the authors. This document is derived from a paper presented at the Oxford e-Research Conference 2008 and takes into account suggestions made in the ensuing panel discussion. The goals of the CIR Strategy are to facilitate the growth of UK research and innovation that is data and computationally intensive and to develop a new culture of 'digital-systems judgement' that will equip research communities, businesses, government and society as a whole, with the skills essential to compete and prosper in the Century of Information. The CIR Strategy identifies a national requirement for a balanced programme of coordination, research, infrastructure, translational investment and education to empower UK researchers, industry, government and society. The Strategy is designed to deliver an environment which meets the needs of UK researchers so that they can respond agilely to challenges, can create knowledge and skills, and can lead new kinds of research. It is a call to action for those engaged in research, those providing data and computational facilities, those governing research and those shaping education policies. The ultimate aim is to help researchers strengthen the international competitiveness of the UK research base and increase its contribution to the economy. The objectives of the Strategy are to better enable UK researchers across all disciplines to contribute world-leading fundamental research; to accelerate the translation of research into practice; and to develop improved capabilities, facilities and context for research and innovation. It envisages a culture that is better able to grasp the opportunities provided by the growing wealth of digital information. Computing has, of course, already become a fundamental tool in all research disciplines. The UK e-Science programme (2001-06)���since emulated internationally���pioneered the invention and use of new research methods, and a new wave of innovations in digital-information technologies which have enabled them. The Strategy argues that the UK must now harness and leverage its own, plus the now global, investment in digital-information technology in order to spread the benefits as widely as possible in research, education, industry and government. Implementing the Strategy would deliver the computational infrastructure and its benefits as envisaged in the Science & Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014 (July 2004), and in the reports developing those proposals. To achieve this, the Strategy proposes the following actions: support the continuous innovation of digital-information research methods; provide easily used, pervasive and sustained e-Infrastructure for all research; enlarge the productive research community which exploits the new methods efficiently; generate capacity, propagate knowledge and develop skills via new curricula; and develop coordination mechanisms to improve the opportunities for interdisciplinary research and to make digital-infrastructure provision more cost effective. To gain the best value for money strategic coordination is required across a broad spectrum of stakeholders. A coherent strategy is essential in order to establish and sustain the UK as an international leader of well-curated national data assets and computational infrastructure, which is expertly used to shape policy, support decisions, empower researchers and to roll out the results to the wider benefit of society. The value of data as a foundation for wellbeing and a sustainable society must be appreciated; national resources must be more wisely directed to the collection, curation, discovery, widening access, analysis and exploitation of these data. Every researcher must be able to draw on skills, tools and computational resources to develop insights, test hypotheses and translate inventions into productive use, or to extract knowledge in support of governmental decision making. This foundation plus the skills developed will launch significant advances in research, in business, in professional practice and in government with many consequent benefits for UK citizens. The Strategy presented here addresses these complex and interlocking requirements.

Knowledge and information evaluation practice: an exploratory study in a construction firm

There are a number of challenges associated with managing knowledge and information in construction organizations delivering major capital assets. These include the ever-increasing volumes of information, losing people because of retirement or competitors, the continuously changing nature of information, lack of methods on eliciting useful knowledge, development of new information technologies and changes in management and innovation practices. Existing tools and methodologies for valuing intangible assets in fields such as engineering, project management and financial, accounting, do not address fully the issues associated with the valuation of information and knowledge. Information is rarely recorded in a way that a document can be valued, when either produced or subsequently retrieved and re-used. In addition there is a wealth of tacit personal knowledge which, if codified into documentary information, may prove to be very valuable to operators of the finished asset or future designers. This paper addresses the problem of information overload and identifies the differences between data, information and knowledge. An exploratory study was conducted with a leading construction consultant examining three perspectives (business, project management and document management) by structured interviews and specifically how to value information in practical terms. Major challenges in information management are identified. An through-life Information Evaluation methodology (IEM) is presented to reduce information overload and to make the information more valuable in the future.

Information strategies and the theory of the Firm

Information costs play a key role in determining the relative efficiency of alternative organisational structures. The choice of locations at which information is stored in a firm is an important determinant of its information costs. A specific example of information use is modelled in order to explore what factors determine whether information should be stored centrally or locally and if it should be replicated at different sites. This provides insights into why firms are structured hierarchically, with some decisions and tasks being performed centrally and others at different levels of decentralisation. The effects of new information technologies are also discussed. These can radically alter the patterns and levels of information costs within a firm and so can cause substantial changes in organisational structure.

Assessing the maturity levei of an organization in its adoption of collaboration technologies

Nowadays there are many information technologies that can make a significant difference to support collaborative efforts in the workspace. The role of IT is to support group collaboration by empowering team members with the right capabilities. One way to assess capabilities is through a maturity model. This paper proposes a first version of the Collaboration-Technology Maturity model (CTMM), aiming to serve as a strategic instrument for IT managers to control and manage the adoption of Collaboration Technologies (CITs) among their organizations. Our contribution is both theoretical and practical as we propose a descriptive maturity model. Nevertheless, it is also an application method and assessment instruments. We also completed an empirical evaluation by conducting 89 assessments at Latin American companies of all sizes and industries. This extensive field exercise allowed us to not only evaluate the usefulness of the model and instruments but also investigate CIT adoption patterns in Latin America in an attempt to collect historical data to further evolve CTMM into a comparative model. Responses were used to provide conclusions on CIT adoption in Latin America with respect to three specific backgrounds: the country of origin (region), size (in number of employees) and industry type. The implications of our findings are discussed for practitioners and researchers.