Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyzes prior studies in the context of Internet applications to Tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing

WHAT IS SMART ABOUT SERVICES? BREAKING THE BOND BETWEEN THE SMART PRODUCT AND THE SERVICE

While the conceptual delineation between conventional and smart products is rather conspicuous, the distinction between conventional services and their smart counterparts remains elusive. This study develops a conceptual framework for understanding the distinctive attributes of smart services and their relationship to smart products. In a systematic literature review of publications from top information systems outlets, 30 contributions holding relevant information on smart services are identified and subjected to content analysis. The analysis reveals a variety of different definitions and characterizations of smart services and relations to concepts like data-driven services and services associated to smart products and smart objects. These findings are used to examine artifacts developed in rather design-oriented papers to derive five dimensions that impact the level of smartness of services: richness of the data, the knowledge intensiveness of the engine for decision support, the level of sophistication of the outcome delivered to the service user(s), the architecture of the stakeholders, and the automation level of the service processes. Within this scope, the product can have four roles: sensor, computer, interface, or integrator. The paper concludes by identifying some gaps in the overall research landscape and provides directions for future research

From Sensor to Observation Web with Environmental Enablers in the Future Internet

This paper outlines the grand challenges in global sustainability research and the objectives of the FP7 Future Internet PPP program within the Digital Agenda for Europe. Large user communities are generating significant amounts of valuable environmental observations at local and regional scales using the devices and services of the Future Internet. These communities’ environmental observations represent a wealth of information which is currently hardly used or used only in isolation and therefore in need of integration with other information sources. Indeed, this very integration will lead to a paradigm shift from a mere Sensor Web to an Observation Web with semantically enriched content emanating from sensors, environmental simulations and citizens. The paper also describes the research challenges to realize the Observation Web and the associated environmental enablers for the Future Internet. Such an environmental enabler could for instance be an electronic sensing device, a web-service application, or even a social networking group affording or facilitating the capability of the Future Internet applications to consume, produce, and use environmental observations in cross-domain applications. The term ?envirofied? Future Internet is coined to describe this overall target that forms a cornerstone of work in the Environmental Usage Area within the Future Internet PPP program. Relevant trends described in the paper are the usage of ubiquitous sensors (anywhere), the provision and generation of information by citizens, and the convergence of real and virtual realities to convey understanding of environmental observations. The paper addresses the technical challenges in the Environmental Usage Area and the need for designing multi-style service oriented architecture. Key topics are the mapping of requirements to capabilities, providing scalability and robustness with implementing context aware information retrieval. Another essential research topic is handling data fusion and model based computation, and the related propagation of information uncertainty. Approaches to security, standardization and harmonization, all essential for sustainable solutions, are summarized from the perspective of the Environmental Usage Area. The paper concludes with an overview of emerging, high impact applications in the environmental areas concerning land ecosystems (biodiversity), air quality (atmospheric conditions) and water ecosystems (marine asset management)

Conceptualizing Individualization in Information Systems – A Literature Review

Driven by advances in information and communication technology, end users nowadays operate extensive information systems to support all kinds of private and professional activities. Previous IS research has coined various terms to refer to this rather new phenomenon. Some scholars call it individualization in IS; others refer to it as consumerization of IT. While scholars still struggle to agree on a common conceptualization and terminology, it is clear that particular aspects of this new phenomenon have already been addressed by previous work on technology acceptance, satisfaction, or technology diffusion. However, these previous findings do not form a distinct and integrated body of knowledge because no one has yet associated them with the phenomenon of individualization. To address this gap, we suggest an integrated, yet generic, conceptualization of individualization in form of a meta-theory. Based on the key entities and relations of the meta-theory, we conduct a structured literature review to identify pre-existing IS contributions to the individualization phenomenon, which help explain the phenomenon of individualization in IS. Furthermore, we analyze the identified literature for gaps in understanding the phenomenon and outline future research opportunities

Effectiveness of Corporate Social Media Activities to Increase Relational Outcomes

This study applies social media analytics to investigate the impact of different corporate social media activities on user word of mouth and attitudinal loyalty. We conduct a multilevel analysis of approximately 5 million tweets regarding the main Twitter accounts of 28 large global companies. We empirically identify different social media activities in terms of social media management strategies (using social media management tools or the web-frontend client), account types (broadcasting or receiving information), and communicative approaches (conversational or disseminative). We find positive effects of social media management tools, broadcasting accounts, and conversational communication on public perception

An Open Platform for Modeling Method Conceptualization: The OMiLAB Digital Ecosystem

This paper motivates, describes, demonstrates in use, and evaluates the Open Models Laboratory (OMiLAB)—an open digital ecosystem designed to help one conceptualize and operationalize conceptual modeling methods. The OMiLAB ecosystem, which a generalized understanding of “model value” motivates, targets research and education stakeholders who fulfill various roles in a modeling method\u27s lifecycle. While we have many reports on novel modeling methods and tools for various domains, we lack knowledge on conceptualizing such methods via a full-fledged dedicated open ecosystem and a methodology that facilitates entry points for novices and an open innovation space for experienced stakeholders. This gap continues due to the lack of an open process and platform for 1) conducting research in the field of modeling method design, 2) developing agile modeling tools and model-driven digital products, and 3) experimenting with and disseminating such methods and related prototypes. OMiLAB incorporates principles, practices, procedures, tools, and services required to address the issues above since it focuses on being the operational deployment for a conceptualization and operationalization process built on several pillars: 1) a granularly defined “modeling method” concept whose building blocks one can customize for the domain of choice, 2) an “agile modeling method engineering” framework that helps one quickly prototype modeling tools, 3) a model-aware “digital product design lab”, and 4) dissemination channels for reaching a global community. In this paper, we demonstrate and evaluate the OMiLAB in research with two selected application cases for domain- and case-specific requirements. Besides these exemplary cases, OMiLAB has proven to effectively satisfy requirements that almost 50 modeling methods raise and, thus, to support researchers in designing novel modeling methods, developing tools, and disseminating outcomes. We also measured OMiLAB’s educational impact

An Integrative framework of the factors affecting process model understanding : a learning perspective

Process models are used by information professionals to convey semantics about the business operations in a real world domain intended to be supported by an information system. The understandability of these models is vital to them actually being used. After all, what is not understood cannot be acted upon. Yet until now, understandability has primarily been defined as an intrinsic quality of the models themselves. Moreover, those studies that looked at understandability from a user perspective have mainly conceptualized users through rather arbitrary sets of variables. In this paper we advance an integrative framework to understand the role of the user in the process of understanding process models. Building on cognitive psychology, goal-setting theory and multimedia learning theory, we identify three stages of learning required to realize model understanding, these being Presage, Process, and Product. We define eight relevant user characteristics in the Presage stage of learning, three knowledge construction variables in the Process stage and three potential learning outcomes in the Product stage. To illustrate the benefits of the framework, we review existing process modeling work to identify where our framework can complement and extend existing studies

Sustainability’s Coming Home: Preliminary Design Principles for the Sustainable Smart District

Consumer trends like local consumption, sharing of property, and environmental awareness change our habits and thereby our surroundings. These trends have their origin in our direct environment, in the districts of our city or community, where we live and socialize. Cities and districts are changing to “smart cities” and “smart districts” as a part of the ongoing digitalization. These changes offer the possibility to entrench the idea of sustainability and build a platform-based ecosystem for a sustainable smart district. This research aims to identify guidelines in form of preliminary design principles for sustainable smart districts. To achieve this, we conduct a structured literature review. On this basis, we derive and develop preliminary design principles with the help of semistructured interviews and a non-representative sample of the German population. The resulting nine preliminary design principles describe a first insight into the design of sustainable smart districts

An Integrative Framework of the Factors Affecting Process Model Understanding: A Learning Perspective

Process models are used by information professionals to convey semantics about the business operations in a real world domain intended to be supported by an information system. The understandability of these models is vital to them actually being used. After all, what is not understood cannot be acted upon. Yet until now, understandability has primarily been defined as an intrinsic quality of the models themselves. Moreover, those studies that looked at understandability from a user perspective have mainly conceptualized users through rather arbitrary sets of variables. In this paper we advance an integrative framework to understand the role of the user in the process of understanding process models. Building on cognitive psychology, goal-setting theory and multimedia learning theory, we identify three stages of learning required to realize model understanding, these being Presage, Process, and Product. We define eight relevant user characteristics in the Presage stage of learning, three knowledge construction variables in the Process stage and three potential learning outcomes in the Product stage. To illustrate the benefits of the framework, we review existing process modeling work to identify where our framework can complement and extend existing studies