LIST of ALL ABSTRACTS

Information Science & Library
in Room W7                  on Thursday, 20 June 15:45-17:15 

Training: The Way to Retain
Valuable IT Employees?

Thomas Acton and Willie Golden
National University of Ireland
Galway, Ireland

Thomas.acton@nuigalway.ie    
Willie.golden@nuigalway.ie

The IT workforce of a company is an important strategic asset, an asset that needs to be managed.  This paper details the results of a survey administered to 200 employees across 39 software companies in Ireland between July and August 2001, with a response rate of 102 (51%).  It presents a descriptive study, which assesses the impact that training practices have on employee retention. It also gathers data on the effects of training initiatives, the types of training in use, and the influence of training on knowledge retention.  IT staff were chosen for this study as they embody the new “knowledge worker” operating in the information economy. The study finds that training helps in retaining knowledge within the organization, but may not help in retaining employees.  The predominant method of training delivery is by instructor-led formal sessions, followed by self-training and workshops. Findings show that more modern methods such as web-based and computer-based training are not pervasive. 

Keywords: IT employees, training, employee retention, knowledge transfer

 
Other
in Room W6                     on Friday, 21 June 11:00-12:30 

Markov Chain-based Test Data Adequacy Criteria:  a Complete Family

Mohammed Al-Ghafees and James A. Whittaker
Florida Institute of Technology, FL, USA

malghafees@hotmail.com  jw@cs.fit.edu

The idea of using white box data flow information to select test cases is well established and has proven an effective testing strategy. This paper extends the concept of data flow testing to the case in which the source code is unavailable and only black box information can be used to make test selection decisions. In such cases, data flow testing is performed by constructing a behavior model of the software under test to act as a surrogate for the program flow graph upon which white box data flow testing is based. The behavior model is a graph representation of externally-visible software state and input-induced state transitions. We first summarize the modeling technique and then define the new data flow selection rules and describe how they are used to generate test cases. Theoretical proof of concept is provided based on a characteristic we call transition variation. Finally, we present results from a laboratory experiments in which we compare the fault detection capability of black box data flow tests to other common techniques of test generation from graphs, including simple random sampling, operational profile sampling and state transition coverage.

Keywords: Behavior model, operational profile, random testing, software testing, test data adequacy criteria, transition variation.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

Flexibility in Assessment -
An Evaluation of Student Performance

Louise Allsopp
Adelaide University, Adelaide, Australia

louise.allsopp@adelaide.edu.au

The purpose of this paper is to highlight an often-neglected area of teaching, namely assessment of student performance. Many courses now incorporate some form of continual assessment to establish the overall student grade. While the percentage weighting given to continual assessment and the final exam may vary, it is usual that all assessment components are compulsory. This paper reports the results for a course in which a flexible assessment technique is used. The student performance in a mid-term test and weekly seminars is potentially worth 30% of the overall grade with a weight of 70% given to the final exam. However, the final exam is then considered in isolation as potentially worth 100% of the assessment. The student is then awarded the higher grade from the two methods of calculation. This approach proved successful for a university course thus highlighting the importance of assessment technique in the education sector.

Keywords: Student Assessment, Flexibility, Education.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

Introducing Information Technology
to Palestinian Schools

Dr. Labib Arafeh
Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine

larafeh@eng.alquds.edu

The paper presents the two perspectives of IT in the Palestinian schools. The basic IT literacy – based courses have been introduced in most of private schools since 1985, and formally started in all public as well private schools in 1999. This covers eight grades from the fifth up to the twelfth. An additional two classes per week have been introduced to the weekly school program. The main objective is to create a new technological-mentality generation that understand, use, explore, and involve in the highly demanded field. Students will be facilitated with the basic IT skills to understand, use, and promote their studies in effectively understanding, searching, reporting, and documenting. Teachers badly need IT paradigms to boost their instructional materials and teaching aids. In addition to the workshops, an Arabic language-based web site will be constructed to assist schoolteachers, administrators, and students etc. in learning technology online an offline. Further more, a collaborative Palestinian School Teachers Network (PSNET), dedicated to support teachers in developing, and enhancing computer-based instructional materials and educational aids.

Using the IT techniques in presenting instructional materials is still in its infant stage. To meet the highly demand in IT profession, higher educational institutions are badly required to update their curriculum and provide their graduates with advanced IT skills.

Keywords: IT, IT Skills, Instructional Material, K-12, Schoolteachers.

 
Technology
in Room W5                     on Friday, 21 June 13:45-15:15 

Interaction Support System for
Unlocking Computational
and Informational Resources

Youcef Baghdadi
United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE

y.baghdadi@uaeu.ac.ae

Due to business innovation and IT, information systems (IS) are made up of distributed autonomous subsystems running on heterogeneous IT platforms. These subsystems implement differently same business objects and processes. Thus pieces of data and processes are overlapping and replicated. Moreover, informational and computational resources are locked i.e. they do exist, but they are not accessible.

This paper specifies an interaction-dedicated subsystem of the IS called interaction support system (ISS). It is a support for interactions. It aims to: (1) provide subsystems of IS with a unified and consistent representation of business objects, (2) coordinate processes, and (3) lock data and processes.

An implementation of a web-based business object-oriented ISS, a specialization of the ISS, is made up of four elements: 1) browser used by subsystems to browse and query business objects over the Internet/Intranet, 2) a web server on which run the logic of the ISS, 3) a metadata representing distribution of business objects and processes, and 4) business objects implementations over the subsystems willing to interact.

Keywords: Information System Distribution, Interactions, Cooperation, Coordination, Unlocking Data, Interaction Support System, Web-Based Business Object ISS.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                  on Thursday, 20 June 13:45-15:15 

Structured Inquiry for Masters Students:
A ‘Philosophical’ Approach

David A Banks
University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

david.banks@unisa.edu.au

Feedback from three Masters courses in which students were required to produce assessments in the form of a ‘balanced argument’ suggested that a significant number of students found this to be an extremely difficult task. It would appear that they had not previously developed the ability to present a balanced and critical view of a topic, instead being more used to presenting a single, uncritical view that typically supported their own view of the issue at hand. Given the rapid growth and availability of information in general the ability to critically reflect on the value of data, information or argument is a skill that increasingly needs to be developed in order that sensible interpretations are applied to that information. This paper outlines an approach based upon the work of two philosophers that will be tested in future versions of the courses to help students explore and develop these skills.

Keywords:  teaching, philosophy, information systems, critical reflection, inquiry

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                   on Thursday, 20 June 9:00-10:30 

Using the Web to Serve Students
as Information Clients

Thomas J. Beirne, H. David Brecht, and Eugene H. Sauls
California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA

beirne@csus.edu   brecht@csus.edu   sauls@csus.edu

This paper presents an information-client strategy for an academic department’s use of the web. The goals of this strategy are to maintain the department’s range of course offerings in the face of low enrollments and budget constraints, serve different student constituencies, and engage faculty who have diverse web-capabilities and interests in web-sites and web courses. The paper illustrates web-delivery technology that is currently available rather than develop advances in web course or web site methods. Our discussion is based on our experience as accounting educators at a state-supported, commuter campus. We explain the intent of our academic department’s web pages and assess their effectiveness. The paper is developed from the perspective of a Business School’s Accounting Department that primarily teaches Accounting students. It deals with issues and IT capabilities representative of a non-information-technology faculty and non-IT-focused students.

Keywords: faculty, web-pages, academic, cost-effective, web-courses

 
Communications
in Room W7                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

Secure Socket Layer

M S.Bhiogade
Patni Computer Services, Mumbai, India

mittal.bhiogade@patni.com or mittalb@hotmail.com

This paper tells about the need for security on the Internet, SSL Protocol, and how a Certificate is used to meet the demand for safe interaction over the Internet.

Keywords: SSL, Certificate, and Certificate Authority.

 
Working Together
in Room W6                  on Thursday, 20 June 13:45-15:15 

Information Systems in Virtual Corporations: Issues for ERP Based E-business Systems

Samo Bobek, Vojko Potocan,
Simona Sternad, and Heri Spicka
University of Maribor, Slovenia

samo.bobek@uni-mb.si,  vojko.potocan@uni-mb.si,
simona.sternad@uni-mb.si,  heri.spicka@uni-mb.si.

Virtual corporations can be viewed as a network of creative people, resources and ideas connected by inter-organizational information systems and/or by on-line services. Information systems makes virtual corporations more successful, because the communication and collaboration among dispersed business partners are key to making it happen. Virtual corporations can use different information systems on different technological platforms. In the paper we will discuss the possibilities for informational support of the Cupertino between partners within virtual corporations with focus on enterprise resource planning solutions, which became more and more important.

Keywords: virtual corporations, business networking, e-business, enterprise resource planning, workflow systems, computer supported co-operative work

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

Applying Educational Research to Improve Teaching and Learning in Information Systems

Ilona Box
University of Western Sydney, Quakers Hill, Australia

i.box@uws.edu.au

Universities need to respond to a change in student profile from the traditional academically committed student to a student who seeks a qualification for a job. This study reports on the application of educational research to the redesign of a single subject (or course). The aims were to engage students in deep learning; increase a learner's responsibility for learning; and encourage better study practices; improve teaching and subject objectives, and authenticate and validate the assessment method. Statistical results presented indicate that the aims were to some extent achieved. Several further improvements and research are identified.

Keywords: Information systems teaching and education, formative, summative and continuous assessment, assessment validity and reliability, course objectives.

 
Community and Society
in Room W6                  on Thursday, 20 June 15:45-17:15 

Beyond Privacy: The Ethics of
Customer Information Systems

Gordon Boyce
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Email: gboyce@efs.mq.edu.au

The rise of an ostensibly customer-centred corporate culture in the 1980s recogised the importance of “knowing the customer”.  As a result, customer information systems and associated practices of marketing, customer segmentation, and customer accounting have become significant elements in corporate customer-focus strategies.  This paper discusses a range of ethical considerations that flow from the use of customer information systems and critically examines these systems in their organisational and social context.  It is well-recognised that customer information systems give rise to concerns of privacy, but this paper raises perhaps more important ethical issues that relate to organisational transformation and significant links to issues of access, equity, alienation, and social exclusion. 

Keywords: Databases, Customer Focus, Accounting, Marketing, Social Exclusion

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

A Template-based Approach to Online Content Delivery: An Alternative to Blackboard

Gerald F. Braun and Elaine A. Crable
Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Braun@xu.edu   Crable@xu.edu

As student access to computers and the Internet becomes more commonplace, professors have come to rely on a variety of tools to deliver course materials for both classroom-based and distance learning courses.  Software products such as WebCT, Learning Space, and Blackboard are among the most popular.  They all provide the instructor with an easy-to-use environment for delivering content and communicating with students.  This paper gives a brief overview of these three products along with a detailed description of an HTML template approach as an alternative to the more costly software tools.  Comparisons are made to Blackboard as a representative product based on seven criteria – general design, setup, delivery of materials, interaction, assessment, support and security, and site maintenance.  Advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Keywords: Content Delivery, Blackboard, e-Learning

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                on Wednesday, 19 June 10:30-12:00 

The Joint Accounting/e-Business Technology Major: An Interdisciplinary Approach
to Curriculum Development

Vince Brenner, Ted Surynt,
Fred Augustine, Judson Stryker 
Stetson University, DeLand, FL, USA

vbrenner@stetson.edu tsurynt@stetson.edu
faugusti@stetson.edu jstryker@stetson.edu

The promise and potential of the new business paradigm labeled “e-business” is the driving force behind the tremendous demand for accounting professionals with both a technology background and a traditional accounting background. Where will these professionals come from? This paper lays out in detail the foundation for a new undergraduate academic program which is designed to both attract students and to provide them with the skill set necessary to succeed in this new e-business universe – the Joint Accounting/e-Business Technology major. Course content for this undergraduate major is based on a set of courses designed to integrate concepts and technologies necessary for an understanding of the infrastructure that supports e-business. Students, recruiters, and faculty will appreciate the distinct competitive advantages offered by this unique program.

Keywords: Accounting, Electronic-Business, Technology, Undergraduate, Curriculum

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 11:00-12:30 

Moving and Growing Together – Delivering Education in the New Millennium

Renay Buchanan
Central Queensland University,
Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

r.buchanan@cqu.edu.au 

This paper describes the challenges experienced by Academics and Instructional Designers when creating quality, innovative and accessible educational materials for the University sector in 2001 and beyond. 

These two roles, which play a crucial part in the development and delivery of the new educational experience, are vital to the success of the student and ultimately, the University.  Are we exploiting these roles to their full potential? It is currently the trend to place the burden of the instructional design, along with the plethora of other tasks, on the academic due to the lack of investment in instructional design and teamwork. 

Is the demand to create fast, easy and inexpensive courses now resting predominantly on academics when their main role should be as a content expert and not instructional designer?  Are we getting it right?   Can we do it better?

Keywords: Instructional design, Education, Innovation, Delivering education, Academic, Workloads.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                      on Friday, 21 June 9:00-10:30 

Student Attitudes to MIS Content in an MBA: A Comparison across Countries

Stephen Burgess
Victoria University,  Australia

Golam M Chowdhury
Victoria University  International, Bangladesh

Arthur Tatnall
Victoria University,  Australia

Stephen.Burgess@vu.edu.au   gmc@accesstel.net   
Arthur.Tatnall@vu.edu.au

Export education forms a major part of the Australian economy. Australian universities are now not only accepting overseas students into Australian campuses; they are setting up overseas-based campuses. This is often through an arrangement with a local educational institution or organisation. Subjects in these institutions are delivered by a combination of Victoria University Australian-based staff and local faculty. One of the primary programs being delivered overseas by many Australian institutions is the Master of Business Administration (MBA). This paper examines the delivery of the core information technology units, Management Information Systems (MIS), by Victoria University in Australia and overseas (in Bangladesh). The structure of the MBA at Victoria University in Australia and overseas is examined and the MIS subject explained. Results of a survey of MBA students’ views of the content of MIS, conducted in Australia (1997-2000) and Bangladesh (2001) are reported. There is little difference in the attitudes of students of both countries in relation to the topics covered in the subject, nor on the breakdown of the subject between ‘hands-on’ applications and more formal instruction. There are some differences in relation to the level of Internet and e-mail usage, with Australian students tending to use these technologies on a greater basis as a proportion of their overall computer usage.

Keywords: Computers, information technology, management information systems, MBA programs, management education, developing countries

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W8                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

One Size Does Not Fit All:
Critical and Timely Issues in Computer Centered Curriculum Development
a Panel Discussion

Wm. H. Burkett
Palm Beach College, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
burkettw@pbac.edu

Linda V. Knight, DePaul University, USA lknight@cti.depaul.edu

Gail Griswold Burkett, Palm Beach Community College, USA griswolg@pbcc.cc.fl.us

Thorne Donnelley Jr., Palm Beach Atlantic College, USA thorned@bellsouth.net

Ian Newman, Loughborough University, United Kingdom I.A.Newman@lboro.ac.uk

The rapidly changing environment of the information age and the need to provide a well-rounded education, often times, are diametrically opposed.   Local, regional, national, and international industry needs and pressures interact with school and discipline tradition.  The basic requirements of a school’s degree often account for over half of the courses required for graduation.  Administrations often do not know the difference between the parallel degrees of Computer Information and Information Technology or the complexities of Computer Science as opposed to Informing Science, thus complicating the process.  The key question is “does one size fit all” when it comes to determining what a computer centered curriculum should be for a given school of higher education and to what extent do outside influences affect curriculum decisions.

 
Philosophical Issues
in Room W6                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

A Case Study of Social and Corporate Responsibility in Bridging the Digital Divide

Tom Butler
University College Cork, Ireland.

tbutler@afis.ucc.ie

Being on the wrong side of the digital divide limits the life chances of the socially excluded, who have had neither the wherewithal nor the opportunity to obtain highly paid, skilled positions in IT. Irish policy makers see education as the solution to this problem. However, providing institutional support for third level education in IT for the socially disadvantaged poses significant challenges. This paper describes these problems and explains how they were overcome in implementing an undergraduate university course. This diploma course has been an unqualified success has achieved its objectives and those of the policy makers who instituted it. However, what made it so was the commitment of concerned stakeholders, from members of the executive steering committee who developed and implemented the course, to the lecturers who delivered it, and the students who participated in it.

Keywords: Digital Divide, Commitment, Education, IT

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                  on Thursday, 20 June 15:45-17:15 

International Internet Based Video Conferencing in Distance Education: A Low-Cost Option

Graeme Byrne and Lorraine Staehr
La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia                     

g.byrne@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au  l.staehr@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au

Higher education institutions in Australia are increasingly embracing the Internet as a tool to support academic programs offered in the Asian region. The purpose of this study is to describe a low cost internet-based international video conferencing system and to assess staff attitudes toward its use to deliver lectures and tutorials to Hong Kong. The students are enrolled in undergraduate business programs at a regional campus of an Australian university.  The video conferencing system is used to deliver around 50% of the course content with the remainder delivered in “face-to-face” mode requiring the lecturer concerned to travel to Hong Kong. To evaluate the use of the videoconferencing system, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff involved in the program. The results revealed an overall positive attitude toward the technology itself, but revealed some shortcomings in its effectiveness as a teaching tool.

Keywords: Internet, desktop videoconferencing, distance education, staff perceptions.

 
Community and Society
in Room W5                on Wednesday, 19 June 10:30-12:00 

Information Privacy Issues in the Information Age

Netiva Caftori
Northeastern Illinois University,
Chicago, IL, USA

Steve Teicher
University of Central Florida,
Orlando, Fl, USA

N-Caftori@neiu.edu     Steve-Teicher@att.net

Information privacy is the primary issue discussed in the majority of papers about e-commerce security. We observed and confirmed from literature that while privacy is a voiced concern of consumers, it is not the insurmountable barrier to doing business. There are other information accuracy and operational issues that add or detract from consumer experience. We will discuss these using real-life anecdotes.

Keywords: information privacy, security, trust, convenience, continuous observation, real-life anecdotes

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                on Wednesday, 19 June 13:30-15:00 

Developing a Model of Student Learning in a Studio-Based Teaching Environment

Angela Carbone and Judy Sheard
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Angela.Carbone@infotech.monash.edu.au  Judy.Sheard@infotech.monash.edu.au

This paper evaluates a studio based teaching model in a core first year subject of a traditionally delivered IT degree. It reports on first year students’ reactions to four aspects of the studio-based teaching and learning environment; the physical learning space, IT tools and infrastructure, teaching philosophy and portfolio assessment.  Data was obtained through online Web-based surveys, issued mid-year and at the end of the year.  The surveys were used to construct a model of students' satisfaction, including what influences the students’ use of the new environment and their perceptions of its value to their learning.  Results revealed various factors that influence the students' satisfaction of studio-based teaching.  Students found the studio precinct an inviting and comfortable place to learn; however, although students appreciated the working environment they were continuously frustrated with endless IT-related problems.  Students' comments indicate the teaching environment facilitated collaboration, and by the end of the year they began to see the course as being better integrated.  An unexpected finding was the evidence of students developing metacognitive skills via portfolio assessment.

Keywords: evaluation, studio-based teaching and learning model, portfolio assessment

 
Other
in Room W6                     on Friday, 21 June 11:00-12:30 

Towards the Project of an
Open Catalogue of Manuscripts

Antonio Cartelli and Marco Palma
University of Cassino, Italy

cartan@officine.it
mpalma@unicas.it

After an introduction and a short description of the research methods usually adopted in scientific disciplines and particularly in palaeography, some hypotheses on the influence of new technologies on human learning and some examples of the use of Web technologies in manuscript cataloguing are proposed. The reasons for the project of an information system adopting Web technologies for manuscripts cataloguing are then reported and the meaning of an open catalogue strictly related to the above information system is presented. The project is applied to a concrete example to show one of the possible ways the information system can be used by the palaeographers' community and, more in general, by scientific community. The paper ends with the proposal of long term publishing hypotheses for materials collected within the database of the open catalogue.

Keywords: manuscript, palaeography, catalogue, Web, database, information system.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 15:45-17:15 

Web Technologies and Sciences Epistemologies

Antonio Cartelli
University of Cassino, Cassino (FR), Italy

cartan@officine.it

The paper reports first of all the results of several studies on misconceptions and mental schemes many researchers carried out in different disciplines and several countries. At the end of this section an overview of open questions and unresolved problems concerning knowledge construction is reported. The paper continues describing the different ways computers entered in education and how they were used to help students in overcoming their difficulties. At last a snapshot of the influence of the Internet phenomenon on the educational processes follows. The last sections propose the analysis of two experiences the author made up with the use of Web technologies and suggest the adoption of an Information system to hit the following target: to improve the everyday work of teachers, to help students in overcoming their wrong ideas, to deepen the analysis of students' ideas and attitudes when they approach scientific disciplines and to redefine the relations existing among the disciplines involved in the study of teaching/learning processes.

Keywords: misconceptions, mental schemes, meaningful learning, Web technologies, database, knowledge monitoring

 
Philosophical Issues
in Room W6                     on Friday, 21 June 15:45-17:15 

The Digital Divide in Western Europe:
Problems and Prospects

Rod Carveth
Texas Tech University, Lubbock,
TX, USA

docrod99@hotmail.com

Susan B. Kretchmer
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

susankretchmer@yahoo.com

This paper reviews the digital divide in Western Europe, as well as policy options for combating that divide.  While age, income and gender are significant predictors of the digital divide in Western Europe, geography plays a crucial role.  The countries in Southern Europe have less computer and Internet penetration than their Northern European counterparts.  The paper then discusses four policy options for combating the divide, suggesting that the most effective solution would be private/public partnerships.

Keywords: digital divide, diffusion, Internet, policy

 
Philosophical Issues
in Room W6                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

Epistemology of Science, Science Literacy, and the Demarcation Criterion: The Nature of Science (NOS) and Informing Science (IS) in Context

Teresa Castelão-Lawless
Grand Valley State University

castelat@gvsu.edu

The result of misunderstanding science by students is their inability as future citizens to impact science public policies. The solution argued last year included creating courses in science studies serving two purposes: destroy students’ stereotypical certainties about science and help them become “historical realists” in regard to scientific practices. But we also speculated that dismissing the myth of scientific objectivity and teaching the historical and sociological underpinnings of science might lead to turning students into epistemological relativists. We now have a solution to the social-constructivist trap stemming from studies of science. This paper inquires into American contexts such as scientific illiteracy, post-modernism in high schools and colleges, and the media, all of which help produce a generalized inability to demarcate science from pseudoscience. Science studies courses guide students into both making epistemological distinctions and understanding the nature of science. Informing methodologies, course format, and bibliography follow.

Key words: demarcation science/pseudoscience; epistemology of science; nature of scientific practice; scientific illiteracy; pedagogical methods

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 15:45-17:15 

Integrating Intelligent Methodological
and Tutoring Assistance in a CASE Platform:
The PANDORA Experience

Elena Castro, Dolores Cuadra,
Paloma Martinez, and Ana Iglesias
University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain

ecastro@inf.uc3m.es   dcuadra@inf.uc3m.es   pmf@inf.uc3m.es  aiglesia@inf.uc3m.es

Database Design discipline involves so different aspects as conceptual and logical modelling knowledge or domain understanding. That implies a great effort to carry out the real world abstraction task and represent it through a data model. CASE tools emerge in order to automating the database development process. These platforms try to help to the database designer in different database design phases. Nevertheless, this tools are frequently mere diagrammers and do not carry completely out the design methodology that they are supposed to support; furthermore, they do not offer intelligent methodological advice to novice designers.

This paper introduces the PANDORA tool (acronym of Platform for Database Development and Learning via Internet) that is being developed in a research project which tries to mitigate some of the deficiencies observed in several CASE tools, defining methods and techniques for database development which are useful for students and practitioners. Specifically, this work is focused on two PANDORA components: Conceptual Modelling and Learning Support subsystems.

Keywords: CASE tools, Database Design Methodologies, Intelligent Tutoring systems.

 
Journalism
in Room W5                on Wednesday, 19 June 13:30-15:00 

Pop-Science on the Internet:
How ULISSE Makes the Ends Meet

Simona Cerrato
International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA),
Trieste, Italy

simona@medialab.sissa.it

There is an increasing demand for what we can call pop-science that is pertinent scientific information dedicated to the non-specialists. This demand comes both from professional categories and the general public. Simultaneously in the scientific community there is an increasing consciousness that diffusion of the scientific information is an asset the scientific community cannot afford to overlook.

The Internet is a perfect tool to meet this demand. It reaches a large and ever-increasing number of people and permits an interactive and detailed exchange of information. As an experiment of how to combine high quality services and the information technology, we have set up Ulisse - In the net of science (http://ulisse.sissa.it), an innovative Italian project for the popularisation of science via the Internet. Its main purpose is to establish a connection between scientists and the general public. Ulisse is based on three major characteristics: a) high technology to create an efficient and friendly system, b) customisation of the services, c) a network of scientists, which guaranteed the quality of the materials.

Keywords: communication of science, science education, e-learning, web and database interface

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                     on Friday, 21 June 13:45-15:15 

The Changing Ecology of IT Management: Cross-Disciplinary Explorations of Context and Content

Elia V. Chepaitis
Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, USA

echepaitis@mail.fairfield.edu

In the past decade, the context of Information Technology (IT) management changed in seminal areas:  the circle of players, the tools, the emergence of Internet technologies, the evolution of information societies and digital economies, and critical questions of ethics and equity. 

These seismic changes can be captured if corresponding shifts occur in the content and context of IT education. A shift in context alters courses, methods, and materials but also the curriculum itself.  The author identifies a variety of projects that immerse students in the altered ecologies of IT management and of IT education. The paper describes one of these projects--a student-authored proposal for a textbook on international information systems.  

Keywords:  international, student-authored, ecology, soft factors, infrastructure, cross-disciplinary, socio-economic, textbook proposal

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                   on Thursday, 20 June 9:00-10:30 

Reusable and Usable Environment
for the Digital Courseware Domain

Elsabé Cloete & Paula Kotzé
University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa

cloete@unisa.ac.za      kotzep@unisa.ac.za

This paper considers a functional framework that creates a usable authoring support environment (ASE) for digital course design, and outputs reusable components.  Within the context of considering the courseware domain as a domain of interactive software systems, we developed an ASE prototype.  The objectives of this prototype include the provision of a usable authoring tool to develop interactive courseware, as well as the creation of domain products that are based on open standards to foster large-scale reuse of these products.  In this paper we describe the software architecture of the prototype, based on usability requirements.

Keywords: domain modelling, e-learning, reuse, usability

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                on Wednesday, 19 June 13:30-15:00 

Seeking Meaning: The Educationally Critical
Aspect of Learning about Information Systems

Chris Cope
La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia

c.cope@latrobe.edu.au

The research reported in this paper investigated and compared the experience of learning about the concept of an information system (IS) at a scholarly, and an undergraduate level. A scholarly level learning experience was developed from the literature and represented a benchmark against which students’ learning experiences could be compared. A group of undergraduate students’ learning experiences were investigated in an empirical, phenomenographic study. An awareness and understanding of the process of seeking meaning was found to be an educationally critical aspect of a deep approach to learning about IS and a deep understanding of the concept of an IS. The finding has important implications for teaching and learning about IS. Learning tasks can be designed which aim to enhance learning through focussing students’ awareness simultaneously on the IS conceptual and learning aspects of seeking meaning. An example of the use of rich pictures to achieve this aim is given.

Keywords: IS education, student perspectives, phenomenographic research, information systems, learning approaches

 
Other
in Room W7                on Wednesday, 19 June 13:30-15:00 

Priorities Assignment for Information Systems
Based on TODIM Multicriteria Method

The paper presents how to select modules of an information system, applying a multicriteria decision approach, using the interactive multicriteria decision making method - TODIM. The problem is to assign priorities for information modules in the planning stage of information systems. These priorities should be attributed in agreement with the decision makers’ preferences, considering the impact on strategic factors and operational aspects of processes, as examples of criteria.

The TODIM method is based on the prospect theory and has the technical resources to minimise the possibility of occurrence of the reversion order. It also allows the multicriteria decision approach a group of interdependent actions; this method uses the additive difference model to determine the ranking of an alternative over another one.

An analytical structure is proposed to incorporate the multicriteria TODIM method, integrated with the information system planning methodology. Strategic factors and operational aspects of processes are integrated.

Keywords: Information systems priorities, TODIM method, Multicriteria decision

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                on Wednesday, 19 June 10:30-12:00 

Language Trends in
Introductory Programming Courses

Michael de Raadt, Richard Watson and Mark Toleman
University of Southern Queensland, Australia

deraadt@usq.edu.au    rwatson@usq.edu.au   markt@usq.edu.au

Deciding what to teach novice programmers about programming and, in particular, which programming language to teach to novice programmers, and how to teach it, is a common topic for debate within universities.  Should an industry relevant programming language be taught, or should a language designed for teaching novices be used? In order to design tools and methodologies for the teaching of novice programmers it is important to uncover what is being taught, and in turn, what will be taught in the future.  A census of introductory programming courses administered within all Australian universities has been undertaken.  The census aimed to reveal not only what computer programming languages are being taught, but also how they are being taught.  From the results of this census two key factors emerged: perceived industry pressure for graduates with certain language skills versus academic training for generic programming skills.

Keywords: novice programming, teaching programming languages

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

Benefit, Monitoring & Evaluation System:
A Case Study of Malaysian Technical Education System

Aziz Deraman 
Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia

Syahrul Fahmy 
Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia

M. Naim Yaakub
Ministry of Education, Malaysia

A. Aziz Jemain 
Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia

a.d@pkrisc.cc.ukm.my  sfahmy@taninet.com.my  naim@jptek.moe.gov.my   azizj@pkrisc.cc.ukm.my

This paper presents a case study of the Malaysian technical education system. The Technical and Vocational Department (TVED) is designated to prepare skilled technical and intelligent workforce to Malaysia in order to meet the goals of Vision 2020. For that reason, a web-based management support system is proposed to TVED for its planning, management and decision-making activities. e-BME is a system for education monitoring and evaluation by means of establishing internal and external efficiency indicators. e-BME would receive input mainly from Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) schools and graduates. There are four types of reports that are generated by the system: Management, Financial, Research and Planning. TVED could use these reports in its policy and decision-making activities. This system promotes faster data collection, higher integrity of generated information and a systematic channel for distribution of reports.

Keywords: Education Monitoring, Education Evaluation, Internal Efficiency, External Efficiency,  Management Support System

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

Using OPNET to Enhance Student Learning
in a Data Communications Course

Michael W Dixon and Terry W Koziniec
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

m.dixon@murdoch.edu.au    t.koziniec@murdoch.edu.au

It is difficult to teach data communications because it involves complex, dynamic processes which are not visible to students and are hard for them to conceptualise. This paper describes a project to improve the learning of students enrolled in the data communications courses. In this project the traditional mode of teaching data communications was supplemented by a problem solving approach using OPNETÒ a software environment for modelling, simulating, and analyzing the performance of communications networks. This mode of teaching enabled students to gain experience solving real world data communications problems without requiring the University to invest heavily in communications hardware and software which would quickly become obsolete.

Keywords:  Data communications, discrete network simulation

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                   on Thursday, 20 June 9:00-10:30 

A Multi-Agent Architecture and Protocol
for Knowledge Production: A Case Study for Participative Development of Learning Objects

Juan Manuel Dodero, Ignacio Aedo,
and Paloma Díaz-Pérez
Laboratorio DEI, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

dodero@inf.uc3m.es  aedo@ia.uc3m.es  pdp@inf.uc3m.es

In a distributed eLearning environment, the development of learning objects is a participative task. We consider learning objects as knowledge pieces, which are subject to the management processes of acquisition, delivery, creation and production. A multiple-tier architecture for participative knowledge production tasks is introduced, where knowledge-producing agents are arranged into knowledge domains or marts, and a distributed interaction protocol is used to consolidate knowledge that is produced in a mart. Knowledge consolidated in a given mart can be in turn negotiated in higher-level foreign marts. The proposed architecture and protocol are applied to coordinate the development of learning objects by a distributed group of authors. 

Keywords: multi-agent systems, knowledge management, learning objects.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                      on Friday, 21 June 9:00-10:30 

Into the New Millennium:
Why do Students Decide to Study IT?

Sandra Downes
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

s.downes@murdoch.edu.au

The shortage of Information Technology (IT) professionals is a recognised world wide problem.  During the last ten to fifteen years we have seen the introduction of computers into high school and also primary school.  These computers are now being used, not only as an adjunct to school subjects, but for the study of IT as a subject in its own right.  As we begin this new millennium, this study aims to discover if these changes in curriculum are affecting students’ decisions to become IT professionals.  A survey was administered to a group of students, undertaking an IT programme of study, to examine the IT subjects they completed in high school and the effect these subjects had on their decision to study IT.  The literature suggests that gender is an important constructs in students’ decision to study IT and so this variables were examined also.

Keywords: curriculum, gender, high school, IT career.

 
Information Science & Library
in Room W6                on Wednesday, 19 June 10:30-12:00 

Using Keywords
to Improve the Display of a Search Results List

Offer Drori
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

offerd@cc.huji.ac.il

This article presents the results of a comparative study of various user interfaces used to obtain search results from textual databases. This study is one of a series carried out at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It focuses on the display of text elements in search results and their impact on user behavior. The findings indicate several distinct benefits in the interface developed for the experiment, in which the search results display consists of the document title, keywords, and several lines from the text that fulfill the search criteria. These user benefits include ease of use, increased confidence that the parameters defined for the search query will yield the correct results and allow successful completion of the task, and satisfaction with the relevance of the information displayed.

Keywords: search results, using keywords, displaying list, information retrieval

 
Communications
in Room W7                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

Global Information Technology Management

Sudesh M. Duggal
Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, USA

Duggals@nku.edu

Globalization is the perception of the world as one big market place.  The notion of the boundariless world is expected to produce dramatic changes in key markets, major competitors, and Information Technology products. As a result, organizations are encouraged to rise above the national boundaries and change their orientation to global corporations.  Further, the increased spending in Global Information Technology, which is anticipated to grow several folds within the next five years, is adding fuel to this shift.  Events such as economic integration of Europe, merging of the companies across national borders, stock exchanges, outsourcing of Information Technology services to the third world countries, and the use of World Wide Web are forcing companies to re-evaluate their Global Information Technology management and to develop Global Information Strategy so as to get the most out of their business in the world economy.

As the scope of Global Information Technology spans the global market, it is going to present mangers with a host of thorny issues.  This paper suggests the key issues to be used as a guide for the Global Information Technology Managers to be successful in this fast changing technology oriented market, and also recommends Global Managers Evaluation Wheel which can be used for the appraisal of managers, subordinates, peer managers, on-site supervisors and clients working in the global Information Technology environment.

Keywords: Global Information Technology, Global Information Strategy, And Global Managers Evaluation Wheel

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 13:45-15:15 

Impact of Taking Information
Technology Exams Using Open Notes

Doris Duncan
California State University, Hayward, CA, USA

dduncan@csuhayward.edu

This paper summarizes findings of teaching four sections of the same college course in the same style with one exception.  Section 1, 3, and 4 had notes available for reference during the final exam whereas Section 2 did not.  The author’s hypothesis that students in the 3 sections using notes would perform significantly better than Section 2 on the exam was disproved.

Keywords:  IT Education, CIS Education, IS Education, IRM Education

 
Working Together
in Room W6                  on Thursday, 20 June 13:45-15:15 

Reflections on Communication Processes and Virtual Teams by Lecturer and Student Cohort: a Case Study

This paper explores processes and outcomes from virtual teamwork in a university course in Human-Computer Interaction. The course has students both on- and off-campus, with a very wide geographic distribution. The novel approach adopted in the course organized students into both small teams (three students) and into larger units (a group of six teams). Teams worked collaboratively, using a variety of communication channels: email, chat groups, face-to-face, and phone. Each team was responsible for preparing a power-point presentation that incorporated human-computer interaction design principles, that was then critiqued by other teams in their ‘group’.  Overall, students’ experiences were extremely positive and recognized learning that contributed to course goals and effective virtual teamwork. Reflections on the processes involved in successful teamwork indicated that important factors included clear goals for the team, good task organization, similar personal achievement goals among team member, reliability and efficiency, open communication styles, and respect and understanding for others in the team.

Keywords: virtual teams, communication, assessment, distance learning, human-computer interaction.

 
Working Together
in Room W7                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

Information for Decision Support,
Information for Performance Evaluation
– But Don’t Mix Your Drinks

J. E. Everett, M. Kamperman, T. J. Howard
The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

jeverett@ecel.uwa.edu.au

When the same information is used to support decisions and to evaluate performance, a falsely optimistic view of performance may result. An example occurs in quality control during ship loading for iron ore export. Ore quality depends upon consistent composition. Ore is sampled periodically during reclamation from stockpiles. The ship loader was moved from between source stockpiles when the sample assays differed from target composition. Each ship loader move incurred costly delays.

We found the apparent variations in composition could be largely ascribed to measurement error, and that intended correction during ship loading might even be harming quality.

The policy was changed, to load ships from a single stockpile without interruption. Sample assays were used to evaluate performance, not to drive decisions. Data are analyzed from 466 shiploads, spanning the years before and after the change of policy, to compare quality performance, as measured by the exporter and by the customer.

Keywords: MIS, DSS, Mining, Quality Control, Performance Evaluation

 
Philosophical Issues
in Room W7                  on Thursday, 20 June 13:45-15:15 

IT in Education Organization:
A Strategic Planning Approach

Syahrul Fahmy, Abdul Razak Hamdan & Aziz Deraman
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

sfahmy@taninet.com.my, arh@sun1.ftsm.ukm.my, ad@sun1.ftsm.ukm.my

Information Technology (IT) has significant impacts to modern organizations especially in assisting daily operations and meeting business targets. Main contributions of IT to organizations are increased efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness. Non-profit organizations can also benefit as much as for-profit organizations from IT. Education Organizations (EOs) for example, would benefit in terms of effective management of assets, improved communication channels, management of education system changes and systematic dissemination of academic materials. This paper proposes an IT Strategic Planning (ITSP) framework for EOs in order to plan and manage IT-related resources. The framework comprises of five phases namely Strategic Direction, Analysis, Strategy, Implementation and Evaluation. End result of this process would be the ITSP Manual, a detailed documentation of the organization’s strategic direction, its environment and specific action plans to achieve business targets. This manual can be used in policy and decision-making activities.

Keywords: IT Strategic Planning, Education Organization, Framework, Decision-Making, Competitive Advantage.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                   on Thursday, 20 June 9:00-10:30 

Use of Applet and Servlet Communication
Technique to Administer Online Examinations

Daniel J. Farkas and Narayan Murthy
Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, USA

dfarkas@pace.edu  nmurthy@pace.edu

Internet and Java technology have developed enormously in recent years.  These dramatic developments have provided opportunities and challenges in all fields, particularly in the field of education.  What we could not imagine doing just a couple years back has been made possible by these technologies.  This short paper illustrates one such example.  The example we will discuss is an examination system that a student takes online.  When done, the system displays his/her score, and stores the name of the student and his/her score in a file on the server.  By clicking another button the students can see answers to all the questions.  The way we have done, all the processing is done on the client side and then the result and the name are sent to the server.  The server stores the name and score of the student in a file on the server.

A Java applet does the client side computation and a Java Servlet does the processing on the server side.  The paper illustrates the power of applet servlet communication.

Keywords: Java Applets, Java Servlets, Ecommerce, CGI Scripts, Perl, HTML, Web, Online assessment

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                     on Friday, 21 June 15:45-17:15 

Implementing an Interdisciplinary Masters
Program in Internet Technology and E-Commerce

Daniel J. Farkas and Narayan Murthy
Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, USA

dfarkas@pace.edu  nmurthy@pace.edu

The explosion of the Internet has lead to a revolutionary way of doing business. Electronic commerce is currently estimated at $30 billion, but analysts predict that figure to grow to $400 billion by the year 2002.  This leads to a tremendous need for skilled personnel who can handle both the technical and business aspects of e-commerce.  One magazine article heading reads: "Looking for a New Job?  Head for the Web."  A recent announcement by U.S. Small Business Administration states that lack of technical expertise and lack of qualified IT employees are two of the major E-Commerce obstacles facing small firms.

Working with the existing administrative infrastructure, Pace University's School of Computer Science and Information Systems has designed an interdisciplinary program, Master of Science in Information Technologies for Electronic Commerce.  This short paper is an overview of the M.S. program.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W5                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

A Formal Approach to the
Teaching of Abstract Data Types

Laura Felice, Liliana Martinez, and Claudia Pereira 
Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil, Argentina

Lfelice@exa.unicen.edu.ar   lmartine@exa.unicen.edu.ar  cpereira@exa.unicen.edu.ar

In this paper we present a methodology for the teaching of programming applied to an elementary course of the System Engineering career at the Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. This methodology starts with the formal specifications of abstract data types and concludes with an implementation of an efficient algorithm in C++ language.  We describe the methodology, and a case of study showing the proposed methodology.

Keywords: algorithm design techniques; formal specifications; programming teaching.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                   on Thursday, 20 June 9:00-10:30 

An Instructional Model for
Teaching Troubleshooting Skills

Peter Fenrich
British Columbia Institute of Technology,
Burnaby, Canada

peter_fenrich@bcit.ca

It is typically difficult or impractical to teach troubleshooting skills in a classroom or lab setting. A computer-based training software package was designed and developed to teach students the problematic skill of how to troubleshoot malfunctions in hydronic heating systems. A summative evaluation was needed to ascertain whether the skills learned on the computer would transfer to the real world. The results of this study show that the instructional model used in teaching learners how to troubleshoot hydronic heating systems was effective (p < 0.001). Learners were able to transfer what they learned on the computer to real systems. Students can effectively learn these troubleshooting skills through CD-ROM delivery without instructor intervention. It is hypothesized that this unique instructional model can be used to teach other troubleshooting skills. This paper describes the initial project and discusses the summative evaluation results.

Keywords: instructional design, computer-based training, multimedia, troubleshooting, CD-ROM

 
Philosophical Issues
in Room W6                on Wednesday, 19 June 13:30-15:00 

Mid-Career Employees Embracing
Technology (MEET):  A Case Study

The importance of information technology (IT) for modern business and, indeed, research in general cannot be questioned, as its sheer pervasiveness adequately attests. However, simplistic views of technological utopianism are now being offset by accounts of technological dystopianism. Clearly organizational management have wholeheartedly subscribed to an IT future as a staggering 41 percent of total capital expenditure in US organizations currently goes on IT. However, organizations face enormous difficulty in trying to achieve successful training programmes in the use of IT.  This research study involved the construction and implementation of an IT training programme for mid-career employees in a large multinational organization. Davis (1989) identified two constructs as relevant to user acceptance of technology, namely ease of use (EOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). These constructs were operationalised into a set of principles to underpin the training programme which was delivered in two phases, each specifically addressing one of Davis’ constructs.

Keywords: Information Technology, IT Training Constructs, Web-based Training.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                      on Friday, 21 June 9:00-10:30 

Informing Potential Computing Students

Marilyn Ford and Jenny Morice
Griffith University, Nathan, Australia

M.Ford@cit.gu.edu.au   J.Morice@cit.gu.edu.au

Two studies were conducted to examine the expectations computing students had held before they commenced their degree.  We examined whether reality matched their expectations, how and whether they had tried to obtain information before enrolling in their degree, and how they were coping with their studies.  Results showed that, for many students, reality did not match their expectations even when they had obtained information about their proposed degree.  This often led to resentment and frustration.  Solutions to this complex problem are proposed.

Keywords: information technology, multimedia, student expectations

 
Technology
in Room W7                      on Friday, 21 June 9:00-10:30 

Issues and Opportunities in
Digital Rights Management

Abbas Foroughi, Marvin Albin, and Sharlett Gillard
University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, USA

aforoughi@usi.edu  malbin@usi.edu  sgillard@usi.edu

In the wake of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, of 1998, Digital Rights Management systems are beginning to provide copyright protection for digital content which magazine and book publishers, music  companies, software and game producers, and business-to-business participants place online. Creators and providers of digital content are now increasingly able to control end users’ use of, and accessibility to, their products and stand to gain huge profits from this capability. However, as DRM technologies evolve and develop, so does end user concern about restrictions to their access to, and use of, information. The DRM industry will have to provide a balance between fair compensation for the creators of digital content and the rights of end-users to access and use the information they need.

Keywords: Digital Rights Management, e-Business, copyright protection

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                on Wednesday, 19 June 10:30-12:00 

Education of Overall IT System Design:
Locally Situated E-business

Yoshinori Fujio
Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan

fujio@pu-kumamoto.ac.jp

The paper presents an overall, practicing educational model for designing IT systems for undergraduates. Students are awaked to the target consideration to learn IT in familiar cases, and they are motivated to design IT systems. A unifying theme is established, students execute investigation, research, and designing to achieve that theme. [Locally situated E-business] is taken up in this paper. In order to investigate, to research, and to design the theme, four groups are organized. Each group has its own sub-theme; investigation of business model, designing of client/server system, designing of mobile system, and designing of human interface. As the result of these practices, they are able to obtain a total IT image and an individual designing method. Students can approach the essence of IT through these processes.

Keywords: IT system design, E-business, information systems, undergraduate, education

 
Communications
in Room W5                  on Thursday, 20 June 13:45-15:15 

The Lack of Communication and the Need of IT for Supply-Chain Management Strategies in SMEs

G. Fulantelli, M. Allegra, A.Z.P. Vitrano 
Italian National Research Council,
Institute for Educational Technologies
Palermo, Italy

fulantelli@itdf.pa.cnr.it   allegro@itdf.pa.cnr.it   avitrano@itdf.pa.cnr.it

The term “Supply Chain Management” (SCM) denotes the creation, integration, planning and control of all elements of universal added-value chains, from the procurement of raw materials to the final delivery to the customer. IT offer huge potentials for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to activate effective SCM mechanisms. Even though experts estimate the potential saving that can be achieved through the implementation of effective SCM strategies at 3-5 per cent of turnover, SMEs are experiencing a great deal of difficulty in coping with these strategies. Reasons for this, especially among small enterprises (50 employees and under), are to be found in the specific enterprise culture. The results presented in this paper are the outcome of an EU funded project named “Supply Chain Partnership”, a pilot project aimed at analysing the communication, social and technological obstacles to the implementation of effective SCM strategies in SMEs. The focus of this paper is on the Italian experience, and concerns an industrial district located in Sicily.

Keywords: Supply-Chain Management, Information Technologies, SMEs, Communication, Cooperation.

 
Other
in Room W5                on Wednesday, 19 June 10:30-12:00 

Evaluation of New Technology
Implementation via POC Analysis

Masaru Furukawa
Toyama University, Toyama City, Japan.

frukawa@eco.toyama-u.ac.jp

In recent years the evolution of highly developed and complicated computerization has boosted the importance to business of IT infrastructure. Enhancement of business agility is not possible unless greater flexibility is built into IT infrastructure. More often than not, MIS’s today are not flexible enough in this sense to agilely accommodate demands for system change incessantly confronting them.

We have been focusing our research on MIS flexibility, its evaluation and the development of methodology for its enhancement. This paper aims to present a comparative evaluation via POC (penalty of change) analysis of system alternatives involving a case of new technology implementation. To start with, we will define the concept of MIS flexibility. We will then describe an actual case of technology implementation and define the problem it involved and go on to illustrate the evaluation of MIS flexibility via POC analysis.

Keyword: Management information systems, MIS evaluation, MIS flexibility, IT infrastructure, penalty of change

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                  on Thursday, 20 June 11:00-12:30 

COLORS for Programming:
A System to Support the Learning of Programming

Stuart Garner
Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

s.garner@ecu.edu.au

Learning introductory software development is a difficult task and students often perceive programming subjects as requiring significantly more work than others. This paper describes a learning model for programming that has its basis in cognitive load theory. This theory suggests that there are three types of cognitive load that learners experience: intrinsic which is determined by the mental demands of the domain of knowledge; extraneous which is generated by the instructional format used in the teaching and learning process; and germane which can be utilised by learners to engage in conscious processing.

The learning model is used as a basis, together with a particular instructional design framework, for the development of “COLORS (Cognitive Load Reduction System) for Programming”. COLORS is described together with a software tool, CORT (Code Restructuring Tool), that has been developed by the author to support various aspects of COLORS.

Keywords: cognitive load theory; programming; instructional design; code restructuring.

 
Justice, Law and Public Policy
in Room W7                on Wednesday, 19 June 13:30-15:00 

Database Protection: Are Laws Threatening
To Destroy Our Building Blocks Of Knowledge?

Julia Alpert Gladstone
Bryant College, Smithfield, RI, USA

jgladsto@bryant.edu

This paper examines the various regimes that are used to protect databases to suggest that the continued progress of science and technology that has enabled economic prosperity will be fostered by less regulation. The diversity between and within each of these regimes reflects fundamentally different views of intellectual property. Technology, specifically digitalization that has facilitated the creation, replication and easy dissemination of information has changed the value of information and threatens to create a striated society of information "haves" and "have-nots" due to enclosure mechanisms. As technology advances, the laws which we implement to build upon the existing intellectual property infrastructure must be developed with care to preserve the careful balance of the public good and private interest that has maintained the past 200 years of "progress of science and useful arts." The author suggests ways to structure a database to encourage or reward database developers while simultaneously fostering the advancement of science.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                     on Friday, 21 June 11:00-12:30 

Masters in Information Systems:
A Web-Centric Model Curriculum

Web Technology has changed conventional Information Systems (IS) and conventional Information Technology (IT) as we know it.  There is no doubt that Web technology will provide the foundation for most future software systems. IS curriculum therefore needs to be brought up to date to reflect this reality.  In this paper we update our earlier research leading to the design of a graduate model curriculum for Information Systems and describe a generic web-centric Information Systems Masters curriculum model.  It is strong on web-technology and its goal is to produce students who are comfortable with both today's technology and technology of the future. Universities and colleges can adapt this curriculum model to design a new Masters in IS curriculum or simply to bring up to date any existing IS/IT curriculum. The model suggests new core concentration courses, and concentration electives.

Keywords: web technology, masters curriculum, Information Systems, IS, IT

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                      on Friday, 21 June 9:00-10:30 

The Emerging IS Global Profession: 
Accreditation - The Quality Assurance Dimension

As the global economy has expanded, the demand for quality information systems (IS) people increased globally.  Ascertaining the quality of education in IS programs at colleges located within and outside the boundaries of the USA has become increasingly important to employers, students and the public.  Accreditation is the quality assurance dimension of IS.  IS accreditation is a reality in the USA and “Substantial Equivalency” status is available to computing programs outside the United States now that CSAB has joined ABET.  What is the status of IS accreditation?  What is “Substantial Equivalency”?  How can “Substantial Equivalency” be available to programs outside the USA?  What constitutes an accredited program?  Who benefits from accreditation?  What are the criteria for accrediting information systems programs?  This paper addresses these and other accreditation issues and questions.

 
Philosophical Issues
in Room W5                   on Thursday, 20 June 9:00-10:30 

An Instrument to Classify
End-Users Based On the User Cube

Chittibabu Govindarajulu 
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

chitti@drexel.edu

End-user computing (EUC) has led to increased end-user productivity and satisfaction.  In order to reduce the risks inherent to EUC, organizations should better manage EUC. As a first step different groups of end-users must be identified. Existing classification schemes have weaknesses and fail to capture the different roles contemporary end users play. Cotterman and Kumar (1989) proposed a user cube based on the three main dimensions of EUC – development, operation, and control.  Even though this is rational approach to end user classification, it has been largely ignored by researchers.  This may be due to the lack of an instrument to implement the cube.  Hence, in this paper, a 10-item instrument is presented and data collected from 292 end users show that the instrument has strong construct validity.  Practitioners can find this instrument very useful in determining the characteristics of EUC in their firms which in turn would be beneficial to devise strategies for EUC management.

Keywords: End-user computing, EUC Support, End-user Types, Instrument for Classification

 
Communications
in Room W5                  on Thursday, 20 June 13:45-15:15 

The Status of End-User Computing Support:
An Exploratory Study

Chittibabu Govindarajulu and Susan K. Lippert
Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

chitti@drexel.edu    lippert@drexel.edu

End-User Computing (EUC) influences user productivity, information systems backlogs and user satisfaction.  An exploratory study of 192 Midwest end-users was undertaken to investigate support services and end-user types superimposed on support sources.  The results of this integrated review offer a richer understanding of end-user dynamics.  Data collection occurred through a three-part questionnaire.  End-user types were categorized using the Cotterman and Kumar (1989) classification scheme.  Support categories were assessed using the Mirani and King (1994) instrument.  The Govindarajulu and Reithel (1998) assessment instrument evaluated support services within information centers for local MIS staff and informal assistance.  Results are presented from instrument validation procedures and descriptive data analysis that permit conclusions about EUC dynamics.  Instrument validation was conducted using standard measures of internal consistency reliability and factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha and a Principle Components Factor Analysis (PCFA), to facilitate factor loading.  Descriptive data analysis employed conventional frequency distributions, scatterplots, descriptive data statistics, and other graphical data displays.

Keywords:  End-user computing, EUC Support, End-user Types, Measures of Classification

 
Technology
in Room W6                on Wednesday, 19 June 15:30-17:00 

Security of Mobile and Wireless Networks

Kaj J. Grahn
Arcada Polytechnic, Espoo, Finland

Göran Pulkkis
Arcada Polytechnic, Espoo, Finland

Jean-Sebastien Guillard
Ecole Nationale Superiéure d’Electronique, Bordeaux, France

kaj.grahn@arcada.fi      goran.pulkkis@arcada.fi  
jean-sebastien@guillard.as

This paper gives a topical overview of wireless network security aspects. Security measures taken depend on the different protocols, standards, techniques and systems available. A brief introduction to security protocols, standards and corresponding technologies is given. The essay will concentrate on 2G, 2.5G, 3G and wireless local area networks. Standards, like WAP, IEEE 802.11, HomeRF, HIPERLAN/2, IPSec and Bluetooth, are included. A local area network, MediaPoli, has been implemented to work as a testbed for new innovations, products and services. The development environment is based on this high-capacity wired/wireless broadband network. Key research areas, actual projects and offered services are discussed. All activities aim at the future information society.

Keywords: security, mobile, wireless, network, testbed

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 13:45-15:15 

Impact of Information Systems Implementations on Vertical Mergers and Acquisitions: A Framework

Nikhil S Gurjar
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, India
nikhil_gurjar_for_you@rediffmail.com

S. D. Jog
Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India
Sdjog@me.iitb.ac.in

Manoj K Jha
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, India
manojkjha@faculty.nitie.edu

S Amanullah
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, India
amanulla@faculty.nitie.edu

The present work is an attempt to develop a conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of information systems implementations on Mergers and Acquisitions (referred to as M&A). Although this work focuses on vertical M&A, the framework can easily be extended to horizontal and conglomerate mergers. We begin by attempting to understand what M&A really are. We then move on to understand information systems as we know them today. Thereafter, we classify the nature of businesses from an information perspective. Technology assessment is then carried out on the existing information systems that are implemented in a company. This gives us an understanding of the characterization of the merging entities. We then go about understanding what the strategic options for the companies post merger are. These options are then evaluated to study the impact on the merger. An analytical framework is then developed in two cases that have been considered.

Keywords: Merger and Acquisitions (M&A), Information Systems, Information Strategy.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W9                     on Friday, 21 June 15:45-17:15 

A Study of the Influences of
Application Interfaces on End User Training Outcomes

Effective and efficient training is a key factor in determining the success of end user computing (EUC) activities in organisations. This study examines the influences of two application interfaces, namely icons and menus, on training outcomes. Training outcomes were measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and perceived ease of use. Effectiveness included the keystrokes used to accomplish tasks, the accuracy of correct keystrokes, backtracks and errors committed. Efficiency included the time taken to accomplish the given tasks. Perceived ease of use rates the ease of the training environment including training materials, operating system, application software and associated resources provided to users. To measure training outcomes, an experiment was conducted with 159 users. The study found that icon interfaces were more efficient and effective for end user training and menu interfaces were more easy to use in the given training environment. The findings appear to indicate that when the tasks become complicated, icons are limited in representing this complexity and menus appear to be providing better solutions for tasks accomplishments. There is a need for training designers to consider application interfaces when designing EUC training programmes.

Keywords: End User Computing, Training, Application Interfaces

 
Communications
in Room W6                      on Friday, 21 June 9:00-10:30 

Access to Knowledge - Better Use of Internet

Volkmar H. Haase 
Technische Universität Graz, Austria
vhaase@ist.tugraz.at

Christian Steinmann
HM&S GmbH, Graz, Austria
cs@hms.org

Stephan Vejda,
HM&S GmbH, Graz, Austria
stv@hms.org

WIP-Austria is an internet portal developed by Austrian Research Centers and by HM&S GmbH Graz. It gives access to databases, electronic and printed documents as well as to consultancy and services. The WIP database is based on “knowledge objects”: the contents of a document or service are defined by a two dimensional matrix (knowledge map) based on a decimal classification scheme and a set of pragmatic attributes. WIP is accessed by posing questions; questions are interpreted as linguistic variables which can be used to build an “interrogation map”. Pattern matching together with a Fuzzy Logic reasoning process leads to best fits.

The WIP prototype is in pilot use by the Austrian Research Centers.

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 13:45-15:15 

Weaving a Web Development Curriculum

Wayne A Haga and Janos T Fustos
Metropolitan State College, Denver, CO, USA

haga@mscd.edu   fustos@mscd.edu

Faculty in the Computer Information Systems department at the authors’ institution is in the process of developing a new Computer Information Systems degree with several areas of emphasis.  One of the proposed areas of emphasis will be to prepare students for a career as a web developer.  As part of the curriculum development process, the authors collected data regarding the current demand for web developers, the education level requested, salaries, and the specific skills employers are demanding.  The research process included reading and recording the education level, experience, and specific skills employers are requesting for hundreds of jobs that have been posted on the Internet within the last few months.  Additionally, data was gathered from other sources including courses and programs offered at other institutions of higher education.  Using this data, a model curriculum for a degree leading to a career in the field of web development is proposed.

Keywords:  education, model, curriculum, web developer, job requirement

 
Education and IT Education
in Room W7                     on Friday, 21 June 11:00-12:30 

Shared Visions:
Professional Development
for Teacher Education Faculty

Leslie Hall, Clint Fisher, Sandra Musanti,
Don Halquist, Matt Magnuson, and Darcy Simmons-Klarer
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

ldhall@unm.edu, cfisher@unm.edu, smusanti@unm.edu,
donh@unm.edu, mmagnu@unm.edu, dsim@unm.edu

This paper discusses a professional development program in the area of technology integration for teacher education faculty. The program was funded by a Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers This initiative involved one assistant professor of educational technology and five doctoral students as Tech Guides as the professional development team. Twenty-five faculty members who teach methods courses for licensure participated in the program. Each graduate student mentored five faculty members. The design of the professional development relied on the faculty members as professional educators to co-design the program with the professional development team. We discuss some of our insights gained from this three-year initiati