The innovation of Multiview3 for development professionals

The Multiview Methodology for Information Systems Development has never been a widely used or mass-market approach. It has always had a small user base, a localised approach to a global issue: coherent IS development. This paper concerns the underreported innovation of the Multiview3 methodology for Information systems analysis, design and development – specifically designed for non-specialists working in developing countries. The innovation emerged from the identification of a methodological ‘gap’ in support for non-specialists struggling with Information Systems problem structuring challenges. The Multiview3 story tells us how IS methodology can be innovated to address the needs of users. This version of Multiview is argued to be theoretically distinct from previous versions in terms of its focus (developing countries) and application (problem solving and co-learning in practice)

PlaceRaider: Virtual Theft in Physical Spaces with Smartphones

As smartphones become more pervasive, they are increasingly targeted by malware. At the same time, each new generation of smartphone features increasingly powerful onboard sensor suites. A new strain of sensor malware has been developing that leverages these sensors to steal information from the physical environment (e.g., researchers have recently demonstrated how malware can listen for spoken credit card numbers through the microphone, or feel keystroke vibrations using the accelerometer). Yet the possibilities of what malware can see through a camera have been understudied. This paper introduces a novel visual malware called PlaceRaider, which allows remote attackers to engage in remote reconnaissance and what we call virtual theft. Through completely opportunistic use of the camera on the phone and other sensors, PlaceRaider constructs rich, three dimensional models of indoor environments. Remote burglars can thus download the physical space, study the environment carefully, and steal virtual objects from the environment (such as financial documents, information on computer monitors, and personally identifiable information). Through two human subject studies we demonstrate the effectiveness of using mobile devices as powerful surveillance and virtual theft platforms, and we suggest several possible defenses against visual malware

Method Emergence in Practice - Influences and Consequences

This paper explores the relationship between what influences and shapes the unique and locally situated method-in-action and how it consequently emerges. Based on a synthesis of prominent Information Systems (Development) literature, an analytical framework is developed. The framework is organised into three perspectives: 1) the structuralist, 2) the individualist and 3) the interactive process perspective. Each perspective supplies a set of key concepts for conceptual understanding and empirical exploration. The analytical framework is used to structure and analyse a two-year longitudinal case study of method emergence in a web-based ISD project. The paper concludes with a summary of the research and its implications. We propose that this research and future theoretical and empirical contributions that address the relationship between the whats and hows of method emergence will support and improve ISD researchers’ and practitioners’ ability to pay attention to and act in accordance with the myriad characteristics, actors and events that shape the method-inaction in practice. Such contributions we argue will build up a vigilance and capacity for problem spotting as well as problem solving

What\u27s So Different about Developing Web Based Information Systems?

This paper considers the suitability of traditional IS development methods to Web-based information systems. A two year e-commerce development project is used to explore Web-based IS development using action research. To distinguish the project from consultancy a framework of ideas – Multiview - is declared and tested in the research process. Multiview was defined in 1985 and has been since refined to become an influential approach to information systems development. It has soft and hard aspects and, as a contingency approach, is not prescriptive but adapted to the particular situation in the organization and the application. The differences and similarities of traditional IS development projects and Web-based projects are reported and found to be more about concrete differences of methodology content than abstract concepts. The project also provided an opportunity to reflect more generally about the role of methodology in IS development