Clustering projects for eLearning interoperability

Since the beginning of the discipline, eLearning has been about innovation. New software, systems, contents and tools are being created and experimented with and in constant evolution. But when systems, contents and tools become successful and part of the regular infrastructure of educational institutions, interoperability becomes an issue. Systems that are consolidated and regularly used need to be able to interoperate with new ones. And the new tendencies need to fit within the current infrastructure. This paper states how several research and development projects with heterogeneous funding sources and locations worldwide, gathered together to find a solution to this common problem, providing open specifications and standards, plus Free/Libre, Open Source reference implementations.This work has been funded by the “Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation” (http://micinn.es) in project LearningApps in the program INNPACTO 2010, the project MiPLE code TIN2010-21695-C02-02.8 and Google Research Award.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Clustering Projects for eLearning Interoperability

[ES]Desde el principio de la disciplina, el eLearning ha sido un campo novedoso que ha generado nuevo software, sistemas, contenidos y herramientas con los que se está experimentando. la interoperabilidad se convierte, en este contexto, en un problema. Los sistemas consolidados y empleados regularmente tienen que ser capaces de interoperar con otros nuevos. Este artículo trata sobre cómo varias investigaciones y lproyectos de desarrollo se reunieron para encontrar una solución a este problema, proporcionando especificaciones abiertas y normas, además de ibre, implementaciones de referencia de código abierto.[EN] Since the beginning of the discipline, eLearning has been about innovation. New software, systems, contents and tools are being created and experimented with and in constant evolution. But when systems, contents and tools become successful and part of the regular infrastructure of educational institutions, interoperability becomes an issue. Systems that are consolidated and regularly used need to be able to interoperate with new ones. And the new tendencies need to fit within the current infrastructure. This paper states how several research and development projects with heterogeneous funding sources and locations worldwide, gathered together to find a solution to this common problem, providing open specifications and standards, plus Free/Libre, Open Source reference implementations

Exploring the Interplay between Floss Adoption and Organisational Innovation

Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focussing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organisational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this paper is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving 16 Italian public administrations.Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focussing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organisational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this paper is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving 16 Italian public administrations.Articles published in or submitted to a Journal without IF refereed / of international relevanc

Exploring the Interplay Between FLOSS Adoption and Organizational Innovation

Growing research on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has addressed a variety of questions focusing on aspects ranging from open source development processes and developer motivation, to economic and policy-making implications. Nevertheless, a few authors have examined the adoption of FLOSS and its impact on organizational change and innovation. Adoption studies represent a particularly promising area for information system researchers to investigate the relationship between the specific properties of FLOSS and the processes of implementation and use. The goal of this article is to contribute to this field of research by discussing a former multi-targeted research agenda and by defining an empirically grounded framework for studying FLOSS adoption, drawing on the outcomes of an exploratory multiple case study involving sixteen Italian public administrations

Saxony - Land of Culture

This brochure seeks to give you an insight into Saxony’s rich cultural landscape, and showcases Saxony as a Land of Culture by taking you on a journey to explore its cultural treasures, traditions and artists. Redaktionsschluss: 31.10.201

Social networks and connectivity among the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic foragers of the Balkans and Italy

Major environmental perturbations over the last glacial period, with considerable changes in sea levels, have significantly affected the spatial organization of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic huntergatherer communities between the Balkans and Italy. For this reason, these regions are an ideal case for studying how different environmental factors could affect connectivity among human groups and rates of innovation. Italy and the Balkans are also key transitory regions for various dispersal events in the evolutionary history of the European continent that brought different hominin taxa into Europe from the areas of Africa and South-western Asia. Yet, compared to various well-researched regional hot-spots in central and western Europe, the picture of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic adaptations remains coarse-grained in particular in the Balkans as a result of a historical research bias followed by unsettled recent history preventing the application of new research methodologies. In this paper, we aim to highlight particular examples of connectivity across large tracks of land during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic and to point out the potential that social network thinking has in the study of the Balkans and Italy

Strategic Analysis for the Open Source Institute at Simon Fraser University

Over the last decades, Open Source Software (OSS) has become increasingly popular and moved into the mainstream software industry. Our project\u27s goal is to investigate the need for an Open Source Institute (OSI) within Simon Fraser University (SFU). We performed a literature review and interviewed IT specialists from various local companies. We identified some barriers to the adoption of OSS, including lack of working knowledge of OSS, lack of multi-tier technical support, and legal concerns. Our analysis confirmed the need for this institute to promote OSS. We recommend that the SFU-OSI should broker technical support for OSS, to increase the level of awareness by organizing events and incubator-type initiatives, to offer various levels of training, to create standards and frameworks for user-friendly and well-documented OSS, to mine the undocumented innovations embedded in mature OSS, and to work with governments to leverage OSS for the betterment of society

Intellectual property in a knowledge-based economy : Patents to include vs. patents to exclude.

The traditional perception of patents puts the emphasis on their importance to exclude imitators and to restore incentives to invent. This view is far too restrictive and at variance with many empirical and theoretical works. We show that these contradictions can be overcome by shifting from a traditional economic framework to a knowledge-based one. Such a move allows a renewed economic perception of patents, making them into essential instruments which serve not only to exclude potential infringers but also to “include” all the different stakeholders in the innovation process. Within this new approach the main role of the patent system is therefore to ensure the coordination among heterogeneous actors and to structure innovation activities. We illustrate our view by presenting the four polar cases of pharmaceuticals, electronics, software and biotechnologies.Intellectual property rights, incentives, coordination, R&D collaboration, collective invention.