E- LEARNING IN BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS – NEW CONCEPTS, TECHNOLOGIES AND MODELS

E-learning systems (EL) have established themselves as a key management instrument in business strategies for human resource management, for the improvement of the efficiency of processes for professional staff development and for the development of corporate knowledge. The aim of this article is to present some of the new concepts for EL – an ecosystem for EL, collaborative learning, lifelong learning, ubiquitous learning, EL as a method for knowledge creation and the generation of collective intelligence.Furthermore, it aims to outline the potential of the key information technologies – mobile technologies, Web 2.0 and cloud services - for the development of efficient strategies and models for EL usage, its transition into an efficient and effective business practice and its establishment as a leading, electronically implemented activity (e-activity). To achieve the objective of the research article the following methods have been used – logical methods such as analysis, synthesis and comparison, and theoretical research methods such as abstracting and summarizing. The main empirical method applied is that of modelling

Transparent resource sharing framework for internet services on handheld devices

Handheld devices have limited processing power and a short battery lifetime. As a result, computationally intensive applications cannot run appropriately or cause the device to run out of battery too early. Additionally, Internet-based service providers targeting these mobile devices lack information to estimate the remaining battery autonomy and have no view on the availability of idle resources in the neighborhood of the handheld device. These battery-related issues create an opportunity for Internet providers to broaden their role and start managing energy aspects of battery-driven mobile devices inside the home. In this paper, we propose an energy-aware resource-sharing framework that enables Internet access providers to delegate (a part of) a client application from a handheld device to idle resources in the LAN, in a transparent way for the end-user. The key component is the resource sharing service, hosted on the LAN gateway, which can be remotely queried and managed by the Internet access provider. The service includes a battery model to predict the remaining battery lifetime. We describe the concept of resource-sharing-as-a-service that allows users of handheld devices to subscribe to the resource sharing service. In a proof-of-concept, we evaluate the delay to offload a client application to an idle computer and study the impact on battery autonomy as a function of the CPU cycles that can be offloaded

D-WISE: Diabetes Web-Centric Information and Support Environment: Conceptual Specification and Proposed Evaluation

AbstractObjectiveTo develop and evaluate Diabetes Web-Centric Information and Support Environment (D-WISE) that offers 1) a computerized decision-support system to assist physicians to A) use the Canadian Diabetes Association clinical practice guidelines (CDA CPGs) to recommend evidence-informed interventions; B) offer a computerized readiness assessment strategy to help physicians administer behaviour-change strategies to help patients adhere to disease self-management programs; and 2) a patient-specific diabetes self-management application, accessible through smart mobile devices, that offers behaviour-change interventions to engage patients in self-management.MethodsThe above-mentioned objectives were pursued through a knowledge management approach that involved 1) Translation of paper-based CDA CPGs and behaviour-change models as computerized decision-support tools that will assist physicians to offer evidence-informed and personalized diabetes management and behaviour-change strategies; 2) Engagement of patients in their diabetes care by generating a diabetes self-management program that takes into account their preferences, challenges and needs; 3) Empowering patients to self-manage their condition by providing them with personalized educational and motivational messages through a mobile self-management application. The theoretical foundation of our research is grounded in behaviour-change models and healthcare knowledge management.We used 1) knowledge modelling to computerize the paper-based CDA CPGs and behaviour-change models, in particular, the behaviour-change strategy elements of A) readiness-to-change assessments; B) motivation-enhancement interventions categorized along the lines of patients' being ready, ambivalent or not ready; and C) self-efficacy enhancement. The CDA CPGs and the behaviour-change models are modelled and computerized in terms of A) a diabetes management ontology that serves as the knowledge resource for all the services offered by D-WISE; B) decision support services that use logic-based reasoning algorithms to utilize the knowledge encoded within the diabetes management ontology to assist physicians by recommending patient-specific diabetes-management interventions and behaviour-change strategies; C) a mobile diabetes self-management application to engage and educate diabetes patients to self-manage their condition in a home-based setting while working in concert with their family physicians.ResultsWe have been successful in creating and conducting a usability assessment of the physician decision support tool. These results will be published once the patient self- management application has been evaluated.ConclusionsD-WISE will be evaluated through pilot studies measuring 1) the usability of the e-Health interventions; and 2) the impact of the interventions on patients' behaviour changes and diabetes control

Library Resources: Procurement, Innovation and Exploitation in a Digital World

The possibilities of the digital future require new models for procurement, innovation and exploitation. Emma Crowley and Chris Spencer describe the skills staff need to deliver resources in hybrid and digital environments. The chapter demonstrates the innovative ways that librarians use to procure and exploit the wealth of resources available in a digital world. They also describe the technological developments that can be adopted to improve workflow processes and they highlight the challenges faced on this fascinating journey

Integrating mobile and web health infrastructures in low resource contexts

Trustworthy and accessible health information is a key success factor for health management at all levels of the health system in any country. There is a rapid growth in mobile penetration in Less-developed countries (LDC). This has lead to many projects that want to exploit this new infrastructure to collect health data from remote and rural areas in LDC. This thesis addresses the dynamics of integrating mobile Short Message Service (SMS) infrastructures and web infrastructures in low resource contexts. The method chosen in this project is Action Design Research (ADR). Information infrastructure theory was utilized by strategies such as bootstrapping and cultivation of the existing installed base. These strategies were chosen to make the project sustainable. The project focuses on the use of existing mobile infrastructures, including private low-end phones of health workers, to collect health information in LDC. This ADR project consists of four phases, which includes two field trips to Uganda and Rwanda. Accordingly, background studies and analyzes of relevant installed bases in both countries have also been conducted. This ADR project has resulted in the development of a software artifact used to integrate the web-based system the District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) with the SMS infrastructure. This artifact has enabled remote data collection using SMS messages in the DHIS2. During this ADR project, we observed different kinds of dynamics when integrating the web and mobile infrastructures. We observed differences in flexibility in these two infrastructures. We also found that political and organizational processes increased the complexity involved in the process of integrating the two infrastructures. Further, we observed that some users have experienced difficulties using SMS messaging for remote data collection in rural Uganda. Most importantly, we found that creation of a generative software artifact stimulates innovation. We also looked at how the process of integrating the two infrastructures can be interpreted in the terms of digital convergence. Overall, this project has shown that it is possible to extend the boundaries of the web-based infrastructures by the integration with low resource mobile infrastructures. Hopefully, this project will contribute to the collection of more accurate health data from both remote and rural areas in low resource contexts