Mobile Process Landscaping by Example of Residential Trade and Industry

This case study describes the method of process landscaping by example of a project in which the business processes of a company from the residential trade and industry were analyzed regarding their mobile potential. This analysis was conducted with the aim to organize these processes more efficiently in order to realize cost savings. Therefore a verification was required, whether the use of mobility supporting technology is suitable to obtain this goal and which professional requirements such a solution needs to fulfil. For that purpose, it is shown how the initial situation was analyzed, which alternative solutions on the basis of mobility supporting technology were developed and how these alternatives were economically evaluated. Furthermore, it is shown how first restrictions for the software and system design were made on the basis of one alternative. The method of Mobile Process Landscaping refers to the stage of requirements engineering in the software process

Mobile Process Landscaping by Example of Residential Trade and Industry

This case study describes the method of process landscaping by example of a project in which the business processes of a company from the residential trade and industry were analyzed regarding their mobile potential. This analysis was conducted with the aim to organize these processes more efficiently in order to realize cost savings. Therefore a verification was required, whether the use of mobility supporting technology is suitable to obtain this goal and which professional requirements such a solution needs to fulfil. For that purpose, it is shown how the initial situation was analyzed, which alternative solutions on the basis of mobility supporting technology were developed and how these alternatives were economically evaluated. Furthermore, it is shown how first restrictions for the software and system design were made on the basis of one alternative. The method of Mobile Process Landscaping refers to the stage of requirements engineering in the software process

SPEIR: Scottish Portals for Education, Information and Research. Final Project Report: Elements and Future Development Requirements of a Common Information Environment for Scotland

The SPEIR (Scottish Portals for Education, Information and Research) project was funded by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC). It ran from February 2003 to September 2004, slightly longer than the 18 months originally scheduled and was managed by the Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR). With SLIC's agreement, community stakeholders were represented in the project by the Confederation of Scottish Mini-Cooperatives (CoSMiC), an organisation whose members include SLIC, the National Library of Scotland (NLS), the Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU), the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL), regional cooperatives such as the Ayrshire Libraries Forum (ALF)1, and representatives from the Museums and Archives communities in Scotland. Aims; A Common Information Environment For Scotland The aims of the project were to: o Conduct basic research into the distributed information infrastructure requirements of the Scottish Cultural Portal pilot and the public library CAIRNS integration proposal; o Develop associated pilot facilities by enhancing existing facilities or developing new ones; o Ensure that both infrastructure proposals and pilot facilities were sufficiently generic to be utilised in support of other portals developed by the Scottish information community; o Ensure the interoperability of infrastructural elements beyond Scotland through adherence to established or developing national and international standards. Since the Scottish information landscape is taken by CoSMiC members to encompass relevant activities in Archives, Libraries, Museums, and related domains, the project was, in essence, concerned with identifying, researching, and developing the elements of an internationally interoperable common information environment for Scotland, and of determining the best path for future progress

The implications of alternative developer decision-making strategies on land-use and land-cover in an agent-based land market model

Land developers play a key role in land-use and land cover change, as\ud they directly make land development decisions and bridge the land and housing\ud markets. Developers choose and purchase land from rural land owners, develop\ud and subdivide land into parcel lots, build structures on lots, and sell houses to residential households. Developers determine the initial landscaping states of developed parcels, affecting the state and future trajectories of residential land cover, as well as land market activity. Despite their importance, developers are underrepresented in land use change models due to paucity of data and knowledge regarding their decision-making. Drawing on economic theories and empirical literature, we have developed a generalized model of land development decision-making within a broader agent-based model of land-use change via land markets. Developer’s strategies combine their specialty in developing of particular subdivision types, their perception of and attitude towards market uncertainty, and their learning and adaptation strategies based on the dynamics of the simulated land and housing markets. We present a new agent-based land market model that includes these elements. The model will be used to experiment with these different development decision-making methods and compare their impacts on model outputs, particularly on the quantity and spatial pattern of resultant land use changes. Coupling between the land market and a carbon sequestration model, developed for the larger SLUCE2 project, will allow us, in future work, to examine how different developer’s strategies will affect the carbon balance in residential\ud landscape

Computer game technology, collaborative software environments and participatory design

This paper presents a project that explores the possibilities for the use of computer game technologies in the participatory design process. Interactive 3D environments designed with the Virtools development environment were used in a Home Zone consultation process, which allowed participants to navigate, explore and contribute to proposed developments to their residential environment. These technologies were observed to benefit the participatory design process in some areas, namely the visualization and contextualizing of the developments, but also presented traditional technological barriers in others. While these barriers did not completely remove the participants from the process, they reduced the apparent level of engagement of these participants with the process. This paper concludes that the technology overall, is a positive addition to the participatory design process, and while there is still much research to be undertaken, it has many more potential applications in related areas

CC-interop : COPAC/Clumps Continuing Technical Cooperation. Final Project Report

As far as is known, CC-interop was the first project of its kind anywhere in the world and still is. Its basic aim was to test the feasibility of cross-searching between physical and virtual union catalogues, using COPAC and the three functioning "clumps" or virtual union catalogues (CAIRNS, InforM25, and RIDING), all funded or part-funded by JISC in recent years. The key issues investigated were technical interoperability of catalogues, use of collection level descriptions to search union catalogues dynamically, quality of standards in cataloguing and indexing practices, and usability of union catalogues for real users. The conclusions of the project were expected to, and indeed do, contribute to the development of the JISC Information Environment and to the ongoing debate as to the feasibility and desirability of creating a national UK catalogue. They also inhabit the territory of collection level descriptions (CLDs) and the wider services of JISC's Information Environment Services Registry (IESR). The results of this project will also have applicability for the common information environment, particularly through the landscaping work done via SCONE/CAIRNS. This work is relevant not just to HE and not just to digital materials, but encompasses other sectors and domains and caters for print resources as well. Key findings are thematically grouped as follows: System performance when inter-linking COPAC and the Z39.50 clumps. The various individual Z39.50 configurations permit technical interoperability relatively easily but only limited semantic interoperability is possible. Disparate cataloguing and indexing practices are an impairment to semantic interoperability, not just for catalogues but also for CLDs and descriptions of services (like those constituting JISC's IESR). Creating dynamic landscaping through CLDs: routines can be written to allow collection description databases to be output in formats that other UK users of CLDs, including developers of the JISC information environment. Searching a distributed (virtual) catalogue or clump via Z39.50: use of Z39.50 to Z39.50 middleware permits a distributed catalogue to be searched via Z39.50 from such disparate user services as another virtual union catalogue or clump, a physical union catalogue like COPAC, an individual Z client and other IE services. The breakthrough in this Z39.50 to Z39.50 conundrum came with the discovery that the JISC-funded JAFER software (a result of the 5/99 programme) meets many of the requirements and can be used by the current clumps services. It is technically possible for the user to select all or a sub-set of available end destination Z39.50 servers (we call this "landscaping") within this middleware. Comparing results processing between COPAC and clumps. Most distributed services (clumps) do not bring back complete results sets from associated Z servers (in order to save time for users). COPAC on-the-fly routines could feasibly be applied to the clumps services. An automated search set up to repeat its query of 17 catalogues in a clump (InforM25) hourly over nearly 3 months returned surprisingly good results; for example, over 90% of responses were received in less than one second, and no servers showed slower response times in periods of traditionally heavy OPAC use (mid-morning to early evening). User behaviour when cross-searching catalogues: the importance to users of a number of on-screen features, including the ability to refine a search and clear indication that a search is processing. The importance to users of information about the availability of an item as well as the holdings data. The impact of search tools such as Google and Amazon on user behaviour and the expectations of more information than is normally available from a library catalogue. The distrust of some librarians interviewed of the data sources in virtual union catalogues, thinking that there was not true interoperability

Future information environments: deserts, jungles or parks?

This paper discusses the basic functions of a common information environment and how they are supported by metadata. Several distinct categories of information landscapes are described, characterised by the availability and quality of metadata at the item and collection level. The paper suggests elements of professional practice which can improve the functionality of landscapes, and presents an illustrative scenario of how a common information environment might be effective

Social Enterprise Businesses: A Strategy for Creating Good Jobs for People with Disabilities

Over the past 10 years, there has been a tremendous growth in entities known as social enterprise businesses. This approach has been particularly promising in creating new opportunities for individuals with disabilities in emerging and growth industries. Over the past five years, the Kessler Foundation's "Transition to Work" grants program has invested $18 million toward the goal of creating job opportunities for people with disabilities. This investment has included support for several social enterprise businesses in New Jersey, stemming from the Foundation's believe that these businesses have potential for increasing employment of people with disabilities

Conspectus and the Scottish Collections Network : landscaping the Scottish common information environment

The article briefly gives the background to the concept of a common information environment, followed by a history of the development of two major components of a common information environment for Scotland in the form of the Scottish Collections Network, a collections description service, and the Cooperative Information Retrieval Network for Scotland, a distributed union catalogue for meta-searching. The article discusses the application in Scotland of the Conspectus methodol-ogy for the subject mapping of general library collections, and describes how Conspectus data has been integrat-ed in the information environment to allow the identifi cation and selection of collections and associated catalogues with strength in specifi c subjects

Landscaping and House Values: An Empirical Investigation

This article is the winner of the Real Estate Valuation manuscript prize (sponsored by The Appraisal Institute) presented at the 2001 American Real Estate Society Annual Meeting. This hedonic study investigates the effect of landscaping on house values, based on a detailed field survey of 760 single-family homes sold between 1993 and 2000 on the territory of the Quebec Urban Community. Environmental information includes thirty-one landscaping attributes of both houses and their immediate environment. By and large, a positive tree cover differential between the property and its immediate neighborhood, provided it is not excessive, translates into a higher house value. Findings also suggest that the positive price impact of a good tree cover in the visible surroundings is all the more enhanced in areas with a high proportion of retired persons. Finally, a high percentage of lawn cover as well as features such as flower arrangements, rock plants, the presence of a hedge, etc. all command a substantial market premium.