106,751 research outputs found

    Descriptive Research in End User Computing: Embracing the “D Word” to Understand End User Innovation

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    Although end user computing appears to be enormously widespread and important, we do not have a detailed, data-grounded understanding of who end users are or how they use computers to innovate. To develop that understanding, we need to do detailed descriptive research. We need to understand the ways in which corporations are structured and ways to segment the end user community into groups that are likely to have different needs and different paths to innovation. In marketing, we say that the customer is “the familiar unknown.” Although businesses think about customers all the time, marketers know that they cannot understand customers unless they do broad research on them. The same need exists in end user computing research. This paper discusses statistical data on occupational employment to give a broad picture of the diversity that exists among end users. It then discusses why we must reconceptualize organizational structure before we can understand the diversity of end users. Finally, the paper discusses a research project design to develop an understanding of organizational structure and of end user issues and innovations in a professional services organization

    Securing Fog Federation from Behavior of Rogue Nodes

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    As the technological revolution advanced information security evolved with an increased need for confidential data protection on the internet. Individuals and organizations typically prefer outsourcing their confidential data to the cloud for processing and storage. As promising as the cloud computing paradigm is, it creates challenges; everything from data security to time latency issues with data computation and delivery to end-users. In response to these challenges CISCO introduced the fog computing paradigm in 2012. The intent was to overcome issues such as time latency and communication overhead and to bring computing and storage resources close to the ground and the end-users. Fog computing was, however, considered an extension of cloud computing and as such, inherited the same security and privacy challenges encountered by traditional cloud computing. These challenges accelerated the research community\u27s efforts to find practical solutions. In this dissertation, we present three approaches for individual and organizational data security and protection while that data is in storage in fog nodes or in the cloud. We also consider the protection of these data while in transit between fog nodes and the cloud, and against rogue fog nodes, man-in-the-middle attacks, and curious cloud service providers. The techniques described successfully satisfy each of the main security objectives of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Further we study the impact of rogue fog nodes on end-user devices. These approaches include a new concept, the Fog-Federation (FF): its purpose to minimize communication overhead and time latency between the Fog Nodes (FNs) and the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) during the time the system is unavailable as a rogue Fog Node (FN) is being ousted. Further, we considered the minimization of data in danger of breach by rogue fog nodes. We demonstrate the efficiency and feasibility of each approach by implementing simulations and analyzing security and performance

    The reality of user-centered design

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    Journal of End User Computing, 11 (4): pp. 3-13.It has been suggested that user-centered design approaches may be the key to matching the development of organizational information systems to a firm's business and work requirements. The information systems literature on this topic centers upon methods to support user-centered system development: such approaches assume that the participation of relevant stakeholders will ensure an appropriate design outcome. The reality of this assumption is examined through an interpretive case study. The project team and system development approach were structured around the use of user-centered design methods, yet the initiative failed because of the poor integration of users' interests. It is concluded that the failure mechanisms observed may be general to most information systems projects: issues more fundamental than the employment of a particular methodology need to be addressed, to achieve user-centered organizational information systems

    The institutional character of computerized information systems

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    We examine how important social and technical choices become part of the history of a computer-based information system (CB/SJ and embedded in the social structure which supports its development and use. These elements of a CBIS can be organized in specific ways to enhance its usability and performance. Paradoxically, they can also constrain future implementations and post-implementations.We argue that CBIS developed from complex, interdependent social and technical choices should be conceptualized in terms of their institutional characteristics, as well as their information-processing characteristics. The social system which supports the development and operation of a CBIS is one major element whose institutional characteristics can effectively support routine activities while impeding substantial innovation. Characterizing CBIS as institutions is important for several reasons: (1) the usability of CBIS is more critical than the abstract information-processing capabilities of the underlying technology; (2) CBIS that are well-used and have stable social structures are more difficult to replace than those with less developed social structures and fewer participants; (3) CBIS vary from one social setting to another according to the ways in which they are organized and embedded in organized social systems. These ideas are illustrated with the case study of a failed attempt to convert a complex inventory control system in a medium-sized manufacturing firm

    A Study of Senior Information Systems Managers\u27 Decision Models in Adopting New Computing Architectures

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    There has been considerable interest recently in the promise of new computing architectures such as the diskless computing architecture, which runs applications off a network. In previous theoretical work on Information Systems (IS) adoption, the question of whether classical diffusion variables determine the organizational adoption of IS with low knowledge barriers and low user interdependencies is still unresolved. In the practitioner literature, the discussion on new architectures has focused mainly on the costs of ownership of the architectures. This work proposes a novel methodology for IS adoption studies, using conjoint analysis. Issues such as data collection, data analysis, selecting scales and levels of predictor variables, construct validity, formulating testable hypotheses, and selecting an appropriate sample size are all discussed. As an example study, factors important to senior IS managers when deciding to adopt a computing architecture for their organization are identified and operationalized. Using conjoint analysis, the relative importance of these factors is measured as well as whether or not the effect of levels of these factors on decision-making is linear. The findings show that technology factors, which are a subset of classical diffusion variables, are sufficient to explain the adoption of computing architectures, which are a type of IS innovation with low impact on organizational processes and low knowledge barriers for end-users. The software quality associated with an architecture is the most important factor considered by IS managers and its effect is linear. The effect of the cost factor is less important, non-linear, and in some cases, unexpected. The effects of centralization, backward compatibility with the organization, and acceptance by third parties are all linear, but less important than software quality

    Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

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    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    Web development evolution: the assimilation of web engineering security

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    In today’s e-commerce environment, information is an incredibly valuable asset. Surveys indicate that companies are suffering staggering financial losses due to web security issues. Analyzing the underlying causes of these security breaches shows that a significant proportion of them are caused by straightforward design errors in systems and not by failures in security mechanisms. There is significant research into security mechanisms but there is little research into the integration of these into software design processes, even those processes specifically designed for Web Engineering. Security should be designed into the application development process upfront through an independent flexible methodology that contains customizable components

    Web development evolution: the assimilation of web engineering security

    Get PDF
    In today’s e-commerce environment, information is an incredibly valuable asset. Surveys indicate that companies are suffering staggering financial losses due to web security issues. Analyzing the underlying causes of these security breaches shows that a significant proportion of them are caused by straightforward design errors in systems and not by failures in security mechanisms. There is significant research into security mechanisms but there is little research into the integration of these into software design processes, even those processes specifically designed for Web Engineering. Security should be designed into the application development process upfront through an independent flexible methodology that contains customizable components
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