BlogForever D3.2: Interoperability Prospects

This report evaluates the interoperability prospects of the BlogForever platform. Therefore, existing interoperability models are reviewed, a Delphi study to identify crucial aspects for the interoperability of web archives and digital libraries is conducted, technical interoperability standards and protocols are reviewed regarding their relevance for BlogForever, a simple approach to consider interoperability in specific usage scenarios is proposed, and a tangible approach to develop a succession plan that would allow a reliable transfer of content from the current digital archive to other digital repositories is presented

Sustaining the Momentum: Archival Analysis of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (2006–2012)

The domain of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is an enduring paradigm for Information Systems (IS) researchers. The Enterprise System paradigm provides a rich environment to test fundamental concepts like system adoption, system use and system success, while acknowledging changes derived through longer system lifecycles and multiple user cohorts. On the other hand, ERP systems are in the centre of new contemporary radical changes in technologies on cloud computing, mobile platforms and big data. Moreover, ERP Systems provide the context for cross disciplinary research such as change management, knowledge management, project management and business process management research. This article provides a critique of 219 papers published on ERP Systems from 2006–2012, making observations of ERP research and make recommendations for future research directions

Financial Management Strategies Used to Market Investment Services to Retiring Military Personnel

Marketing strategies relies on marketing campaigns that target a variety of clients based on demographics to increase profitability through financial planning services. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the marketing strategies financial managers of financial management branch offices used to market their investment services to retiring military personnel. The targeted population comprised 5 financial managers of financial management branch offices in the northeastern region of the United States and surrounding geographical areas who used successful strategies to market investment services to retiring military personnel. Blue ocean theory, which refers to untouched markets, provided the conceptual foundation for the study. The data collection process involved semistructured face-to-face-interviews and document analysis. Data were thematically coded; using data analysis software, 2 themes emerged: the importance of marketing strategies and financial literacy. The findings of the study may contribute to positive social change by providing financial managers with a marketing strategy that may help prospective clients and owners of existing small businesses identify their investment needs, as well as increase the viability of their local communities through cause-related marketing efforts

Chandra News

The Chandra Newsletter contains articles about the CXC and the Chandra mission. The Chandra Newsletter appears once a year and is edited by Paul J. Green, with editorial assistance and layout by Evan Tingle. We welcome contributions from readers. Comments on the newsletter, or corrections and additions to the hardcopy mailing list should be sent to: [email protected]

The Politics of Pensions in Ireland

Where power lies in the politics of pensions in Ireland is the central research question guiding this research. Working within a power orientated theoretical framework that links actors and ideas with an institutional analysis, an evaluation of half a century of pension policy is conducted. The hypothesis locates a knowledge elite within the institutional structures of pension policy-making, giving them privileged influence over policy. Analysis of data from process tracing and elite interviews supports the hypothesis, establishing that a network of professionals formed a pensions epistemic community. The research is presented as a narrative of the community gaining power in the 1970s, and consolidating it over the remainder of the century. They successfully countered a policy trajectory of a stronger role for the state within the pension system with their own policy enterprise, constructed around the idea of the pension system as a partnership. The state’s function within the partnership was to provide a basic pension, rather than involve itself in income-related pensions that could better be provided privately. Through the exercise of power, and manipulating the path dependent tendency of pension systems they normalised their policy enterprise as the only logical and viable reform trajectory, so that policy-making was only thought possible within its confines. In an extension to the epistemic community concept, the thesis separates the policy enterprise from the epistemic community and accords it structural weight in its own right, allowing the concept to account for a phase of declining epistemic power. The findings from this research matter for the pension debate in Ireland, as they draw out the lack of gender as an analytical category in pension reform. By understanding how the confines of what is considered possible in pension policy are constructed, this thesis can unlock conventional thinking on reform. In doing so, it challenges policy-makers to think innovatively about the Irish pension system, to place Ireland on a path of sustainable adequate and equitable pension provision for future generations

The Politics of Pensions in Ireland

Where power lies in the politics of pensions in Ireland is the central research question guiding this research. Working within a power orientated theoretical framework that links actors and ideas with an institutional analysis, an evaluation of half a century of pension policy is conducted. The hypothesis locates a knowledge elite within the institutional structures of pension policy-making, giving them privileged influence over policy. Analysis of data from process tracing and elite interviews supports the hypothesis, establishing that a network of professionals formed a pensions epistemic community. The research is presented as a narrative of the community gaining power in the 1970s, and consolidating it over the remainder of the century. They successfully countered a policy trajectory of a stronger role for the state within the pension system with their own policy enterprise, constructed around the idea of the pension system as a partnership. The state’s function within the partnership was to provide a basic pension, rather than involve itself in income-related pensions that could better be provided privately. Through the exercise of power, and manipulating the path dependent tendency of pension systems they normalised their policy enterprise as the only logical and viable reform trajectory, so that policy-making was only thought possible within its confines. In an extension to the epistemic community concept, the thesis separates the policy enterprise from the epistemic community and accords it structural weight in its own right, allowing the concept to account for a phase of declining epistemic power. The findings from this research matter for the pension debate in Ireland, as they draw out the lack of gender as an analytical category in pension reform. By understanding how the confines of what is considered possible in pension policy are constructed, this thesis can unlock conventional thinking on reform. In doing so, it challenges policy-makers to think innovatively about the Irish pension system, to place Ireland on a path of sustainable adequate and equitable pension provision for future generations