Enterprise 2.0: Collaboration and Knowledge Emergence as a Business Web Strategy Enabler

The Web is becoming in many respects a powerful tool for supporting business strategy as companies are quickly becoming more and more reliant on new Web-based technologies to capitalize on new business opportunities. However, this introduces additional managerial problems and risks that have to be taken into consideration, if they are not to be left behind. In this chapter we explore the Web’s present and future potential in relation to information sharing, knowledge management, innovation management, and the automation of cross-organizational business transactions. The suggested approach will provide entrepreneurs, managers, and IT leaders with guidance on how to adopt the latest Web 2.0-based technologies in their everyday work with a view to setting up a business Web strategy. Specifically, Enterprise 2.0 is presented as a key enabler for businesses to expand their ecosystems and partnerships. Enterprise 2.0 also acts as a catalyst for improving innovation processes and knowledge work

The potential of implementing Enterprise Social Networks in Portuguese companies

The objective of this study is to understand what is the potential of successfully implementing enterprise social networks in the workplace of Portuguese companies. This dissertation aims to understand if employees and managers of Portuguese companies see the advantages of having access to enterprise social software, if they believe this technology fits their job requirements, and if they are likely to use and implement it in their companies. In order to answer the main questions of this dissertation, an online survey is conducted within companies from different sectors. This survey is built based on the literature review around enterprise social technology and enterprise 2.0, as well as the theoretical model of Dishaw and Strong (1999). To provide insights, a statistical analysis was made to the survey results, including descriptive statistics, mean comparisons and multivariate linear regressions. According to the results of this study, the majority of employees are not using enterprise social networks in the workplace. Also, although most of employees require management promotion to adopt the technology, the majority states that these tools are adequate to their job needs and acknowledge its advantages. Besides, the majority of managers state an intention to use the tool and implement it in the future, since they acknowledge advantages and fit to tasks. This dissertation thus shows that enterprise social networks have an opportunity to be present in the infrastructure of Portuguese organizations, especially in companies with significant co-­‐worker and partner volume of contact and with employees and managers who understand the value of accessing this technology

Global Diffusion of the Internet XV: Web 2.0 Technologies, Principles, and Applications: A Conceptual Framework from Technology Push and Demand Pull Perspective

Web 2.0, the current Internet evolution, can be described by several key features of an expanded Web that is more interactive; allows easy social interactions through participation and collaboration from a variety of human sectors; responds more immediately to users\u27 queries and needs; is easier to search; and provides a faster, smoother, realistic and engaging user search capability, often with automatic updates to users. The purpose of this study is three-fold. First, the primary goal is to propose a conceptual Web 2.0 framework that provides better understanding of the Web 2.0 concept by classifying current key components in a holistic manner. Second, using several selective key components from the conceptual framework, this study conducts case analyses of Web 2.0 applications to discuss how they have adopted the selective key features (i.e., participation, collaboration, rich user experience, social networking, semantics, and interactivity responsiveness) of the conceptual Web 2.0 framework. Finally, the study provides insightful discussion of some challenges and opportunities provided by Web 2.0 to education, business, and social life

A Service based Development Environment on Web 2.0 Platforms

Governments are investing on the IT adoption and promoting the socalled e-economies as a way to improve competitive advantages. One of the main government’s actions is to provide internet access to the most part of the population, people and organisations. Internet provides the required support for connecting organizations, people and geographically distributed developments teams. Software developments are tightly related to the availability of tools and platforms needed for products developments. Internet is becoming the most widely used platform. Software forges such as SourceForge provide an integrated tools environment gathering a set of tools that are suited for each development with a low cost. In this paper we propose an innovating approach based on Web2.0, services and a method engineering approach for software developments. This approach represents one of the possible usages of the internet of the future

The next generation of the web: an organisational perspective

The web has revolutionised information sharing, management, interoperability and knowledge discovery. The union of the two prominent web frameworks, Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web is often referred to as Web 3.0. This paper explores the basics behind the two paradigms, assesses their influence over organisational change and considers their effectiveness in supporting innovative solutions. It then outlines the challenges of combining the two web paradigms to form Web 3.0 and critically evaluates the impact that Web 3.0 will have on the social organisation. The research carried out follows action research principles and adopts an investigative and reviewing approach to the emerging trends and patterns that develop from the web's changing use, examining the underpinning enabling technologies that facilitate access, innovation and organisational change

Semantic technologies: from niche to the mainstream of Web 3? A comprehensive framework for web Information modelling and semantic annotation

Context: Web information technologies developed and applied in the last decade have considerably changed the way web applications operate and have revolutionised information management and knowledge discovery. Social technologies, user-generated classification schemes and formal semantics have a far-reaching sphere of influence. They promote collective intelligence, support interoperability, enhance sustainability and instigate innovation. Contribution: The research carried out and consequent publications follow the various paradigms of semantic technologies, assess each approach, evaluate its efficiency, identify the challenges involved and propose a comprehensive framework for web information modelling and semantic annotation, which is the thesis’ original contribution to knowledge. The proposed framework assists web information modelling, facilitates semantic annotation and information retrieval, enables system interoperability and enhances information quality. Implications: Semantic technologies coupled with social media and end-user involvement can instigate innovative influence with wide organisational implications that can benefit a considerable range of industries. The scalable and sustainable business models of social computing and the collective intelligence of organisational social media can be resourcefully paired with internal research and knowledge from interoperable information repositories, back-end databases and legacy systems. Semantified information assets can free human resources so that they can be used to better serve business development, support innovation and increase productivity

An investigation into adult learners' experiences of developing distributed learning networks with self-publishing technologies

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.Currently, higher education institutions and organisational learning contexts are experiencing significant change where educators are challenged by a reduction in available funding, a disconnect between offerings and learner expectations, and a rapidly shifting technology landscape where personal computing options are ubiquitous and frequently more engaging and flexible than options available through universities or workplaces. As organisations search for new business models and more cost effective methods to distribute content and reach a greater number of learners, the potential to implement strategies to improve learning and enhance experiences through self-publishing with social software and associated networked technologies is not being realised. This study was conducted in 2005, when the use of weblogs and related social software was increasing in ease of use and adoption rates, with a growing number of supporters claiming the weblog was going to be the most significant technological development in online learning since the introduction of enterprise level Learner Management Systems. The basis of the study was to investigate the variation in adult learners’ experiences of developed distributed learning networks (DLNs) that extended the learning beyond the physical boundaries and opinions of the classroom context through the use of self-publishing social software. The research used an original pedagogical approach, the 5-Stage pedagogical framework (5SPF), which was developed from five years of practice for the introduction and integration of social software into learning environments. This framework enabled the collection of data directly addressing the research questions that form the basis of this thesis. The systematic approach to understanding the learners’ collective experience of self-publishing provided by the 5SPF enabled a focus on the scaffolding and support required by students within this teaching and learning environment. This innovative methodological research framework was developed through a combination of phenomenographic and interpretive methods to determine the qualitatively different ways learners experience the use of self-publishing technologies, in particular weblogs. The range and depth of data sets obtained through the methodological framework has facilitated a rich set of findings that were complied over a relatively long period of time. This longer period of time enabled the research participants to reflect upon their responses in ways that are not possible using traditional qualitative methods. The results indicate the pedagogically significant variations represented in phenomenographic categories of description that highlight the critical differences in the ways learners experience the process of developing and learning in a DLN, while the expanding themes of awareness informed the DLN outcome space that demonstrated the value of the 5SPF to specifically provide strategies to enable new approaches to learning through self-publishing and highlighted the need for a new approach to teaching with social software, the Connected Educator. A retrospective review of literature and practice at the time of the study is made relevant through the analysis of results in comparison with contemporary perspectives and current research, demonstrating the validity of the 5SPF as an approach that has withstood enhancements in new technologies and increasingly signifies the need to ensure that a strategic pedagogical approach is present in the current changing learning landscape. The thesis describes major contributions from the study, highlighting that the emphasis on technology is less consequential to a learning impact than the value attributed to the act of learning through self-publishing and the importance of a pedagogical framework to successfully integrate new technologies into learning environments

Web collaboration for software engineering

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Developing front-end Web 2.0 technologies to access services, content and things in the future Internet

The future Internet is expected to be composed of a mesh of interoperable web services accessible from all over the web. This approach has not yet caught on since global user?service interaction is still an open issue. This paper states one vision with regard to next-generation front-end Web 2.0 technology that will enable integrated access to services, contents and things in the future Internet. In this paper, we illustrate how front-ends that wrap traditional services and resources can be tailored to the needs of end users, converting end users into prosumers (creators and consumers of service-based applications). To do this, we propose an architecture that end users without programming skills can use to create front-ends, consult catalogues of resources tailored to their needs, easily integrate and coordinate front-ends and create composite applications to orchestrate services in their back-end. The paper includes a case study illustrating that current user-centred web development tools are at a very early stage of evolution. We provide statistical data on how the proposed architecture improves these tools. This paper is based on research conducted by the Service Front End (SFE) Open Alliance initiative

UNDERSTANDING ADVANCES IN WEB TECHNOLOGIES: EVOLUTION FROM WEB 2.0 TO WEB 3.0

The current generation of Web applications (Web 2.0) have made them an outright phenomenon in today’s society helping to redefine the way organisations and individuals communicate and collaborate with each other. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise the evolution of Web technologies from a user perspective. Based on inference from existing studies, this paper attempts to identify the architectural direction that the next generation (Web 3.0) of Web applications would meld itself into. The paper emphasizes limitations of current Web technologies and how future trends may address these limitations by focusing on migration that has been witnessed in the scope of the applications presented and features delivered on the Web from a users’ perspective