Adoption of WWWPages Among New Zealand Wineries

This paper uses diffusion of innovations theory to explain the adoption of WWW pages amongst wineries and includes the criticisms of diffusion of innovations theory such as pro-innovation bias, individual bias, recall problems and equity issues .The findings from two polls of WWW sites for NZ wineries undertaken six months apart are reported. The information collected indicates the trends in the adoption of WWW pages amongst small businesses over the 1999 – 2000 year. Trends in WWW page currency, design, content and administration are reported

Capturing user requirements in medical device development: the role of ergonomics

Czerniak, L. / SS. Cyril & Methodius Grad. Clas

Development of a community e-portal constellation: Queensland Smart Region Initiative

A community e-portal facilitates dynamic (developing), value (financial and non-financial), constellation (collaborative networks), which supports community integration and economic growth. The OECD has identified that social cohesion rather than narrow economic gain is the most significant outcome for societies where all citizens, through learning and the transfer of knowledge, skills and attitudes, leads to becoming more effective and proactive participants in civil and economic processes. In this work, action research facilitated design, development, and implementation of a community-portal dynamic-value constellation to support networked value chains, community, and local government connectivity. The research gives insights through working closely with stakeholders. The research domain represents a novel value creation model, incorporating technologies and solutions in the context of virtual enterprises, partnerships and joint ventures and other market-driven value constellations, where partners dynamically come together in response to or in anticipation of new market opportunities. Such constellations, however, bring with them significant operational and logistical challenges, about which there has been very little prior knowledge

Capturing User Requirements in Medical Device Development: The Role of Ergonomics

Measuring and fulfilling user requirements during medical device development will result in successful products that improve patient safety, improve device effectiveness and reduce product recalls and modifications. Medical device users are an extremely heterogeneous group and for any one device the users may include patients, their carers as well as various healthcare professionals. There are a number of factors that make capturing user requirements for medical device development challenging including the ethical and research governance involved with studying users as well as the inevitable time and financial constraints. Most ergonomics research methods have been developed in response to such practical constraints and a number of these have potential for medical device development. Some are suitable for specific points in the device cycle such as contextual inquiry and ethnography, others, such as usability tests and focus groups may be used throughout development. When designing user research there are a number of factors that may affect the quality of data collected including the sample of users studied, the use of proxies instead of real end-users and the context in which the research is performed. As different methods are effective in identifying different types of data, ideally more than one method should be used at each point in development, however financial and time factors may often constrain this

Understanding the adoption of solar power technologies in the UK domestic sector

The aim of this thesis was to provide new insights into the adoption of solar power technologies. Policy has identified solar technologies capable of providing domestic carbon reductions but limitations such as high capital costs and poor productivity are preventing widespread adoption. The research problem was that neither the attitudes of householders to the technology, nor their adoption decision processes had previously been investigated. If these could be understood, policy interventions might be more effective. This research presents previously unseen adoption curves for solar power systems, which by volume are less significant than conventional energy efficiency technologies, but the ‘S’ curve shows a rate of adoption similar to insulation and boiler systems. In addition, this research presents a comprehensive set of constructs that householders use as heuristics in their decision making process. These constructs were used in a survey of householders that showed both innovative and pragmatic tendencies in order to gain insight to their attitudes towards the systems. The results of this survey highlighted that adopters are mostly positive to solar power systems, especially the environmental aspects. However, on aesthetic, operational and financial issues, the responses indicated less positive attitudes by the ‘pragmatic’ majority. The survey confirmed the presence of a previously theorised ‘chasm’ that demonstrated significant differences between earlier and later adopters. This highlighted seven aspects of the technology that developers should consider, and also a difference in the decision making process followed by the two sets of adopters. Policy insights are discussed in relation to this

Telematics for community portal development.

Community portals emanate from information and communication technology (ICT) applied to community networking, enabling citizens to access information and services on-line. These telematic portal systems are now deployed globally, facilitating information services to geographic and virtual communities. The context of this research study is one of community portals deployed by UK government local authorities for citizen service interactions. To date there have been few studies that holistically and longitudinally examine the subject of community portals. The 5 year research exercise has been undertaken as a qualitative study using an interpretivist approach and methodology derived > from context-process analysis. The approach was influenced by Mumford’s writings on ‘people and technology' and Schuler’s early work on community network development in the USA. Data collection was undertaken using a national survey questionnaire and qualitative techniques including interviews and mini-case studies. Findings of the research include a new categorisation of community portals into two distinctive types of Civic and Civil portal. Theoretical outcomes include an improved understanding of the methodological, technical, and social dimensions of portal development and deployment. The implications for management include an exposition of the issues involved in community portal development and the important need for citizen engagement in the process. A case study of Blackpool, (and mini case studies of five civic / civil portals), point to lack of collaboration between central and local government portal architects and developers