Strategic IT Experiments and Organizational Renewal: Getting There Faster By Taking Smaller Steps

The purpose of this paper is to develop practical theory for predicting whether different categories of strategic IT experiments – trials of innovative information technologies within established organizations – lead to varying degrees of organizational renewal. A new framework of categories of strategic IT experiments is developed. We propose that the most innovative strategic IT experiments may have theleast influence on organizational renewal while less innovative experiments have a greater influence. Longitudinal case studies of three organizations illustrate the framework

Linking objective and subjective modeling in engineering design through arc-elastic dominance

Engineering design in mechanics is a complex activity taking into account both objective modeling processes derived from physical analysis and designers’ subjective reasoning. This paper introduces arc-elastic dominance as a suitable concept for ranking design solutions according to a combination of objective and subjective models. Objective models lead to the aggregation of information derived from physics, economics or eco-environmental analysis into a performance indicator. Subjective models result in a confidence indicator for the solutions’ feasibility. Arc-elastic dominant design solutions achieve an optimal compromise between gain in performance and degradation in confidence. Due to the definition of arc-elasticity, this compromise value is expressive and easy for designers to interpret despite the difference in the nature of the objective and subjective models. From the investigation of arc-elasticity mathematical properties, a filtering algorithm of Pareto-efficient solutions is proposed and illustrated through a design knowledge modeling framework. This framework notably takes into account Harrington’s desirability functions and Derringer’s aggregation method. It is carried out through the re-design of a geothermal air conditioning system

Governance and the Processes of Inclusion/Exclusion: A Review of the Theory and Practice.

Governance identifies a discursive domain(Newman, 2002) in which both the policy and academic debate about new institutional configurations emerging from the proliferation of new forms of governing outside and beyond the state, is taking place My concern here is to highlight what I think is an under-theorised dimension in most of the perspectives from which the new forms of governance beyond the state are analysed. Specifically, I embrace Newman’s (2001) suggestion that most of the literature on Governance suffers from an under-theorisation of a “social†dimension of the analysis or, of what she terms the “politics of the wider public realm and the patterns of inclusion and exclusion on which it is based.†Using the above reflection as analytical starting point, this paper aims at showing how an important challenge for the field of Governance studies resides in the attempt to connect administrative and managerial issues with a broader set of issues concerning the nature of political participation in complex societes where not only the borders of the national states are blurred but the character of individual and collective identities is also relational and fluid. We will proceed first by critically reviewing from this perspective some of the current debates taking place in the Governance literature. Secondly by highlighting the concepts I consider fruitful to problematise the social dimension of the state-citizen relationship and to raise important questions with respect to the inclusionary and exclusionary practices on which it is based. And finally I will address the themes of inclusion and composition of consensus amidst diversity and complexity in the light of New Labour’s approach to Governance and, specifically, of its discourses of social inclusion, democratic renewal, networks and partnership governing.

Pervasive Gaming: Testing Future Context Aware Applications

More and more technical research projects take place that weave together elements of real and virtual life to provide a new experience defined as pervasive. They bank on the development of mobile services to drive the expansion of pervasive applications and in particular pervasive games. Using geolocalisation, local networks and short range radio frequencies technologies like RFID or other tagging technologies, pervasive games rely on a close relationship to the environment and thus explore the space between fiction and reality. This is their main quality but possibly their main weakness as the development relies on the production of specific contents in relation to the context of use. In this article, we propose to explore what this entirely new paradigm for game design implies in terms of production and how to overcome the limitations due to this dependency of contents and context. Based on our experience of three pervasive games developed within research projects on adhoc wifi (ANR-Safari and ANRTranshumance) and RFID networks (ANR-PLUG), this paper presents different options to reducing the cost of content production relying on either traditional editors or grass root contributions.pervasive games, content production, game design, geolocalised technologies.

National Authority for Health: France

Provides an overview of France's National Authority for Health, which defines best-care standards and assesses the benefit and effectiveness of new technologies for inclusion on benefits lists. Examines its use of comparative effectiveness research

Professional doctorates and DBAs in Australia: dilemmas and opportunities to innovate

The aims of this paper are to a) share information about the focus, aims, structure and examination criteria of the Doctor of Business Education (DBA) programs in Australian universities, b) clarify current dilemmas in terms of program delivery when instituting and managing such programs and c) identify opportunities to collaborate between Australian and American universities to share insights about best practices in the management of DBA program

Prospects for local co-governance

British local authorities and their partners are increasingly developing new ways of working together with local communities. The nature of this co-working, however, is complex, multi-faceted and little understood. This article argues for greater clarity of thinking on the topic, by analysing this co-working as a form of political co-governance, and drawing attention in particular to issues of scale and democracy. Using evidence from a study of 43 local authority areas, 16 authorities are identified where co-governance is practised, following three main types of approach: service-influencing, service-delivering and parish council developing. It is concluded that strengthening political co-governance is essential for a healthy democracy

Building Resilience through Farmers’ Experiments in Organic Agriculture: Examples from Eastern Austria

Farmers have always lived in changing environments where uncertainty and disturbances are inevitable. Therefore, farmers need the ability to adapt to change in order to be able to maintain their farms. Experimentation is one way for farmers to learn and adapt, and may be a tool to build farm resilience. Farmers’ experiments, as defined in this paper, are activities where something totally or partially new is introduced at the farm and the feasibility of this introduction is evaluated. The theoretical framework applied to study farmers’ experiments is the concept of resilience. Resilience is the capacity of social-ecological systems to cope with change, and is a framework used to assess complex systems of interactions between humans and ecosystems. This paper explores to which extent farmers’ experimentation can help build farm resilience. In addition to arguments found in the literature, five organic farms in Eastern Austria are used to illustrate this potential. The farmers were interviewed in 2007 and 2008. The respective farmers all worked fulltime on their farms, were between 34 and 55 years old, and owned farms between 15 and 76 ha. These farmers experimented in ways that enhance resilience – at the farm and in the region. The outcome of experiments can be management changes, new insights, or technology that can be passed on and potentially be built into education and advisory institutions. To encourage farmers’ experiments, it is important to develop conditions that support farmers in their experimenting role