A Market-Based Approach to Facilitate the Organizational Adoption of Software Component Reuse Strategies

Despite the theoretical benefits of software component reuse (and the abundance of component-based software development on the vendor side), the adoption of component reuse strategies at the organizational level (on the client side) remains low in practice. According to research, the main barrier to advancing component-based reuse strategies into a robust industrial process is coordination failures between software producers and their customers, which result in high acquisition costs for customers. We introduce a component reuse licensing model and combine it with a dynamic price discovery mechanism to better coordinate producers’ capabilities and customer needs. Using an economic experiment with 28 IT professionals, we investigate the extent to which organizations may be able to leverage component reuse for performance improvements. Our findings suggest that implementing component reuse can assist organizations in addressing the issue of coordination failure with software producers while also lowering acquisition costs. We argue that similar designs can be deployed in practice and deliver benefits to software development in organizations and the software industry

Barcelona City Council Digital Plan

Presentada per la Comissionada de Tecnologia i innovació Digital a la la Comissió d’Economia i Hisenda de 19-10-2017Podeu consultar la versió en català a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/106226Podeu consultar la versió en castellà a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/115019Es basa en la mesura de govern Transició cap a la Sobirania Tecnològica : Pla "Barcelona Ciutat Digital" [http://hdl.handle.net/11703/98713]Podeu consultar la part de Els nostres estàndards de serveis digitals a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/106281Podeu consultar la part de Codi de pràctiques tecnològiques de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/106292Podeu consultar la part de Metodologies Agile a l'Ajuntament de Barcelona a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/106296Podeu consultar la part de Guia sobre sobirania tecnològica a l'Ajuntament de Barcelona a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/106302Referenciat per la Mesura de govern de gestió ètica i responsable de dades : Barcelona Data Commons [http://hdl.handle.net/11703/108253

Open educational resources : conversations in cyberspace

172 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.Libro ElectrónicoEducation systems today face two major challenges: expanding the reach of education and improving its quality. Traditional solutions will not suffice, especially in the context of today's knowledge-intensive societies. The Open Educational Resources movement offers one solution for extending the reach of education and expanding learning opportunities. The goal of the movement is to equalize access to knowledge worldwide through openly and freely available online high-quality content. Over the course of two years, the international community came together in a series of online discussion forums to discuss the concept of Open Educational Resources and its potential. This publication makes the background papers and reports from those discussions available in print.--Publisher's description.A first forum : presenting the open educational resources (OER) movement. Open educational resources : an introductory note / Sally Johnstone -- Providing OER and related issues : an introductory note / Anne Margulies, ... [et al.] -- Using OER and related issues : in introductory note / Mohammed-Nabil Sabry, ... [et al.] -- Discussion highlights / Paul Albright -- Ongoing discussion. A research agenda for OER : discussion highlights / Kim Tucker and Peter Bateman -- A 'do-it-yourself' resource for OER : discussion highlights / Boris Vukovic -- Free and open source software (FOSS) and OER -- A second forum : discussing the OECD study of OER. Mapping procedures and users / Jan Hylén -- Why individuals and institutions share and use OER / Jan Hylén -- Discussion highlights / Alexa Joyce -- Priorities for action. Open educational resources : the way forward / Susan D'Antoni

Building Digital Foundations: A Course of Action Towards a Circular Construction Industry : An Exploratory Case Study

This thesis aims to explore the potential for digital platform ecosystems to support the development of the circular economy in the Norwegian construction industry. While there is a general understanding among scholars and industry professionals that digitalization can enable circularity, the existing literature on the intersection of these two concepts is limited. Existing literature does not adequately address the potential for using digital platforms to promote circularity across industry value chains and achieve the goals of a circular economy. To gain a holistic perspective on this potential, the thesis is based on an exploratory case study involving clients, consultants, architects, and contractors in the construction industry. The study aims to contribute to existing literature by developing a conceptual framework linking the concept of a circular economy to digital platform ecosystems, as well as by exploring why and how such a platform ecosystem can support the transition to circularity in the construction industry. The study's findings are twofold. Firstly, the study suggests the need for an improved organization of the value chain actors on digital platforms to facilitate iterative collaboration on project-level. Particularly, we identified that the implementation of circularity in the industry depend on frequent involvement of contractors and consultants. Moreover, in order to succeed in the transition towards circularity, we argue that the industry needs an industrywide platform to create a market for reused materials. Therefore, our study suggests that the industry requires a multidimensional platform with both project-specific and industry-wide components. Secondly, we identified three fundamental attributes that need to be present on a digital platform ecosystem for circularity: flexibility, data accumulation, and interaction. Based on these findings, we reassess our preliminary framework linking the circular economy to digital platform ecosystems and describe how the fundamental attributes can support this relationship. Overall, our thesis contributes to a better understanding of how industry actors can be organized on digital platform ecosystems to support circularity. In addition, the thesis provides the fundamental attributes necessary to configure a digital platform ecosystem for circularity in the construction industry.nhhma

Knowledge Management and Collaboration Strategies for Technology-Based Firms in Baja California

Knowledge Management (KM) and Collaboration are viewed as a key strategy for achieving competitive advantage in companies around the world. Knowledge by itself is considered one of the most valuable assets owned by an organization. In technology-based firms, it is perceived as being of the upmost value. In Baja California, Mexico, several companies exist which develop products and services using knowledge creation as a core value. In this paper, we summarize the results of 14 interviews with general managers and directors of knowledge-oriented firms to further understand which KM strategies are employed in seeking to gain competitive advantage. Results indicate that all firms adopt different approaches to KM. A common opinion amongst those interviewed was that knowledge provides greater value to businesses, improving corporate performance. All confirmed a significant relationship exists between KM, collaboration and competitive advantage

Crowdsourcing user interface adaptations for minimizing the bloat in enterprise applications

Bloated software systems encompass a large number of features resulting in an increase in visual complexity. Enterprise applications are a common example of such types of systems. Since many users only use a distinct subset of the available features, providing a mechanism to tailor user interfaces according to each user’s needs helps in decreasing the bloat thereby reducing the visual complexity. Crowdsourcing can be a means for speeding up the adaptation process by engaging and leveraging the enterprise application communities. This paper presents a tool supported model-driven mechanism for crowdsourcing user interface adaptations. We evaluate our proposed mechanism and tool through a basic preliminary user study

Software Agents for Electronic Marketplaces: Current and Future Research Directions

The premise of software agents to define the structural and operational models of the virtual marketplace of the future can account for the increased interest regarding their application in areas where they can add substantial value in terms of automation and functionality. At the heart of such a marketplace rests an ontology modeling the domain upon which a nucleus of agent-based services can be constructed. Negotiation services hold the dominant position in terms of the attention they have received in research. Complementary to them, but no less important, are the advising services representing support functionality that is required throughout the cycle of a deal; from the expressed intention of the two parties to eventual maturity and closure. In this paper we focus on research trends and on their possible future development for ontologies and the above service categories emphasizing on the role of software agents in this context. A review and analysis of past and present works helps to formulate sets of questions that future research will seek to address

Challenges of digital waste marketplace - the upvalue platform

Waste management is a major challenge for contemporary societies, requiring urgent attention since population growth combined with widespread consumerism and industrialization has led to an alarming increase in waste production. To avoid harmful environmental impacts and the misuse of resources, it is urgent to combat this scourge. A potential solution involves the creation of industrial symbioses, characterized by the practical application of circular economy principles. The use of collaborative platforms is a possible way to promote industrial symbiosis. Addressing these pressing concerns and responding to these challenges, the Upcycle4Biz project envisions establishing a digital platform called Upvalue, conceived as a marketplace where companies can exchange waste and by-products. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges and benefits associated with the development of this innovative platform, as well as a presentation of the platform itself.This work has been co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the Norte 2020 North Portugal Regional Operational Program, Portugal 2020, as part of the project UpCycle4Biz—Upcycling Materials Towards a Circular Economy (NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-113562)

The American Assembly: Art, Technology, and Intellectual Property

Examines intellectual property issues as the arts sector joins other sectors in the race to deal with an increasingly information-driven economy