Realizing the business benefits of enterprise IT

The development and implementation of IT/IS systems inherently requires a deep understanding of user requirements. However, experience shows that a key barrier to the success of an IT/IS system, is the manner by which it is adopted by end users. As such, this viewpoint article presents an overview of those typical enterprise IT user traits as experience by the author. These traits are placed in the context of the steps that need to be taken in terms of a lifecycle approach to business systems implementation. Thus, the paper describes those drivers which inhibit the adoption of enterprise IT/IS projects from a user expectation point of view. By outlining key benefits of such systems, the author presents a 6-stage approach to benefits realisation, known as the acronym, ASSIST. By applying such an approach, the management of business process change and delivery of IT/IS should be more achievable, by addressing the specific needs and expectations of different types of users, as identified in the text of the article. In doing so, the definition of those key IT/IS benefits as outlined in the ASSIST phase approach described is therefore a useful addition to existing project management and business analysis tools and techniques, that can be utilised by enterprise IT system delivery managers as well as Senior IT/IS managemen

Political trials and the suppression of popular radicalism in England, 1799-1820

This chapter examines the decision-making process between the Home Office and the government’s law officers in prosecuting individuals for sedition and treason in the period 1799–1820. The term state trial suggests a more centralised and government-led repression of popular radicalism than the process was in practice. Provincial reformers also faced the complex layers of their local justice system, which was more loyalist, committed to stamping out political radicalism. The trial of the “Thirty Eight” Manchester radicals in June 1812 demonstrates the mutable definitions of treason, sedition and processes of justice in the theatre of the court.Peer reviewe

Technological nightmares: Frederick S. Pardee distinguished lecture, October 2003

A version of this essay was delivered in October 2003 as the Frederick S. Pardee Distinguished Lecture at Boston University.Paul Streeten, 2003–2004 Pardee Visiting Professor of Future Studies at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, discusses the topic of technological progress—namely, the negative consequences often attributed to such progress. Advancements in technology are unfairly tied to things like pollution and environmental degradation, he says, and for decades, doomsayers have wrongly predicted that the world is coming to an end. Streeten insists that economic progress doesn’t have to have negative results. For starters, it’s important to remember that there are benefits to technological advancements, he says, such as the production of new goods, prolonged life, better health, and more. These advancements improve society. There are also other ways to accomplish economic growth, Streenten says. Our society can opt to produce different kinds of goods, such as hydrogen-fueled cars that don’t pollute the air. Or, quality of goods aside, perhaps we can promote faster production of goods to compensate for negative production effects. Streeten offers several growth options, discussing the merit and practicality of each

Humanization in the Digital Age: A Critique of Technophilia in Education

Despite ongoing claims that education is trapped in a bygone era resistant to innovation, educational practitioners, scholars, and policy makers have been enthusiastic about infusing technology into the everyday lives of children in schools. In the face of this dramatic uptick in the presence of technology in schools, little attention has been devoted to understanding how this constant exposure to technology is impacting the way students learn and experience the world. Overall, educational scholars and practitioners debate how, not whether, to incorporate the latest technology into schools. The centrality of technology in education rises to the level of technophilia, a world-view that sees all new technology as inherently positive and beneficial to human life. I will argue that the current landscape of educational policy and practice is characterized by a problematic relationship with technology that rises to the level of technophilia, and call for a reassessment of the relationship between education and technology in order to fulfill the demands of a robust, democratic educational program

Mediated Happiness and Digital Well-Being

<p The king sat on one end of the scale and the other end was filled with gold until a balance was reached. The king’s worth was measured by his weight in gold. Presumably, this made him happy.p>The king sat on one end of the scale and the other end was filled with gold until a balance was reached. The king’s worth was measured by his weight in gold. Presumably, this made him happy. He said that the gold on the opposite end of the scale made him happy, but we only have his word and monarchs are famously devious. In any case, whether the king said he was happy and even truly believed that he was happy when he said he was happy is beside the point. The point is: Was he really happy

Embracing Change with All Four Arms: Post-Humanist Defense of Genetic Engineering

This paper sets out to defend human genetic engineering with a new bioethical approach, post-humanism, combined with a radical democratic political framework. Arguments for the restriction of human genetic engineering, and specifically germ-line enhancement, are reviewed. Arguments are divided into those which are fundamental matters of faith, or "bio-Luddite" arguments, and those which can be addressed through public policy, or "gene-angst" arguments.The four bio-Luddite concerns addressed are: Medicine Makes People Sick; There are Sacred Limits of the Natural Order; Technologies Always Serve Ruling Interests; The Genome is Too Complicated to Engineer. I argue that these are matters of faith that one either accepts or rejects, and that I reject.The non-fundamentalist or pragmatic concerns I discuss are: Fascist Applications; The Value of Genetic Diversity; The Geneticization of Life; Genetic Discrimination and Confidentiality; Systematically Bad Decisions by Parents; Discrimination Against the Disabled; Unequal Access; The Decline of Social Solidarity. I conclude that all these concerns can be adequately addressed through a proactive regulative framework administered by a liberal democratic state. Therefore, even germ-line genetic enhancement should eventually made available since the potential benefits greatly outweigh the potential risk

Neuroenhancement, Coercion, and Neo-Luddism

This chapter addresses the claim that, as new types of neurointervention get developed allowing us to enhance various aspects of our mental functioning, we should work to prevent the use of such interventions from ever becoming the “new normal,” that is, a practice expected—even if not directly required—by employers. The author’s response to that claim is that, unlike compulsion or most cases of direct coercion, indirect coercion to use such neurointerventions is, per se, no more problematic than the pressure people all find themselves under to use modern technological devices like computers or mobile phones. Few people seem to believe that special protections should be introduced to protect contemporary Neo-Luddites from such pressures. That being said, the author acknowledges that separate factors, when present, can indeed render indirect coercion to enhance problematic. The factors in question include lack of safety, fostering adaptation to oppressive circumstances, and having negative side effects that go beyond health. Nonetheless, the chapter stresses that these factors do not seem to be necessary correlates of neuroenhancement

What is Sound?

(Abstract to follow