The ingenuity of common workmen: and the invention of the computer

Since World War II, state support for scientific research has been assumed crucial to technological and economic progress. Governments accordingly spent tremendous sums to that end. Nothing epitomizes the alleged fruits of that involvement better than the electronic digital computer. The first such computer has been widely reputed to be the ENIAC, financed by the U.S. Army for the war but finished afterwards. Vastly improved computers followed, initially paid for in good share by the Federal Government of the United States, but with the private sector then dominating, both in development and use, and computers are of major significance.;Despite the supposed success of public-supported science, evidence is that computers would have evolved much the same without it but at less expense. Indeed, the foundations of modern computer theory and technology were articulated before World War II, both as a tool of applied mathematics and for information processing, and the computer was itself on the cusp of reality. Contrary to popular understanding, the ENIAC actually represented a movement backwards and a dead end.;Rather, modern computation derived more directly, for example, from the prewar work of John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry, a physics professor and graduate student, respectively, at Iowa State College (now University) in Ames, Iowa. They built the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC), which, although special purpose and inexpensive, heralded the efficient and elegant design of modern computers. Moreover, while no one foresaw commercialization of computers based on the ungainly and costly ENIAC, the commercial possibilities of the ABC were immediately evident, although unrealized due to war. Evidence indicates, furthermore, that the private sector was willing and able to develop computers beyond the ABC and could have done so more effectively than government, to the most sophisticated machines.;A full and inclusive history of computers suggests that Adam Smith, the eighteenth century Scottish philosopher, had it right. He believed that minimal and aloof government best served society, and that the inherent genius of citizens was itself enough to ensure the general prosperity

Unraveling the process of creative construction and its impact on corporate strategy and the industry structure in turbulent ecosystems

Créée dans les années 50 par l'économiste autrichien Joseph Schumpeter, le terme "Destruction créatrice" suggère que la compétition émergente des nouvelles technologies ferait perdre aux compagnies déjà bien établies, leur position sur le marché ainsi que leur avantage compétitif. Depuis, ce terme et son concept ont évolué. Certains chercheurs avancèrent que les technologies disruptives remplaceraient celles existantes, représentant ainsi un inconvénient aux entreprises historiques et leurs fournisseurs. Cette recherche empirique explore le processus par lequel la construction créatrice (ou la destruction), telle que suggérée par Schumpeter, a eu un effet sur l'industrie des télécommunications et la façon dont cela a changé la stratégie corporative des entreprises et la structure de l'industrie dans le domaine des télécommunications. La relation à l'étude est celle entre les activités intensives de fusions et d'acquisitions, celles des entreprises guidées par les entrepreneurs et managers en matière de technologies. En outre, cette recherche explique tout en le soulignant, le lien entre les acquisitions et l'entrepreneuriat innovateur, la création de nouvelles technologies et le capital-risque, le tout dans un système national d'innovation servant d'écosystème. De plus, elle explore le processus d'intégration de ces technologies acquises afin de créer de nouveaux services, applications et modèles d'affaire convergents. Dans le cadre de cette recherche qualitative, une méthodologie mixte a été employée. Celle-ci est composée principalement de la théorie ancrée (grounded theory) qui permettra de construire puis proposer un modèle théorique et ses propositions, en se basant sur les informations existantes de l'industrie de la télécommunication. Les résultats pourront être appliqués à d'autres industries de haute technologie telles que la biotechnologie, l'aérospatial et la nano technologie. Il s'agit d'une recherche multidisciplinaire suivant les traditions de la stratégie, l'entrepreneuriat et la gestion de la technologie et de l'innovation, qui aura des répercussions sur les chercheurs de même que les professionnels de l'industrie.\ud _____________________________________________________________________________

Technology responsiveness for digital preservation: a model

Digital preservation may be defined as the cumulative actions undertaken by an organisation or individual to ensure that digital content is usable across generations of information technology. As technological change occurs, the digital preservation community must detect relevant technology developments, determine their implications for preserving digital content, and develop timely and appropriate responses to take full advantage of progress and minimize obsolescence. This thesis discusses the results of an investigation of technology responsiveness for digital preservation. The research produced a technology response model that defines the roles, functions, and content component for technology responsiveness. The model built on the results of an exploration of the nature and meaning of technological change and an evaluation of existing technology responses that might be adapted for digital preservation. The development of the model followed the six-step process defined by constructive research methodology, an approach that is most commonly used in information technology research and that is extensible to digital preservation research. This thesis defines the term technology responsiveness as the ability to develop continually effective responses to ongoing technological change through iterative monitoring, assessment, and response using the technology response model for digital preservation

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Organisational maturity and information systems and technology projects in healthcare: the mediation of project management.

Doutoramento em GestãoThe challenges that health organisations face today is to get better organisational performance, reliable information, faster quality services at prices that should be affordable to the entire population. To fulfil this important goal, health organisations require more comprehensive and integrated approaches such as, but not limited to, optimise their available resources, eliminate inefficiencies and achieve the planned benefits from investments in Information Systems and Technology (IS/IT). Healthcare organisations must improve their management practices and internal procedures to answer the increasing demand of managers, health professionals and the public in general, for more and better information. Health organisations adopt a patient-centred care approach and invest massively in IS/IT, hoping that these investments will improve medical care and patient needs. The main objective of our research is to analyse how the Organisational Maturity affect IS/IT Project Success in Healthcare and if that success is enhanced by using Project Management practices. There is evidence that there is a direct relationship between these variables and that Project Management practices can mediate it, helping to increase the effectiveness of IS/IT projects. Furthermore, the application of the Project Management practices can also improve confidence that the results of these investments meet stakeholders’ expectations, both by the benefits accomplishment and by adding a perceived value to organisations. This study develops and validates an instrument to analyse the data collected from a survey to professionals’ perceptions about the IS/IT Project Success in Healthcare organisations. The results confirm that Project Management has a mediating effect on the relationship between Organizational Maturity and success of IS/IT projects and higher levels of Organisational Maturity will generate more successfully IS/IT projects, although the presence of the mediator Project Management can, in specific situations, affect negatively the correlation between Organisational Maturity and IS/IT Project Success.Os desafios que enfrentam atualmente as organizações de saúde estão diretamente relacionados com o fato de ambicionarem um melhor desempenho, mais e melhor informação de saúde, serviços de qualidade mais céleres. a custos acesíveis à maioria da população. Para o total cumprimento deste desiderato as organizações de saúde têm investido em soluções tecnológicas mais abrangentes e integradas de forma a otimizar os recursos disponíveis, eliminar ineficiências e atingir os benefícios plenos dos investimentos em Sistemas e Tecnologias da Informação (SI/TI). As organizações de saúde procuram melhorar as suas práticas de gestão para dar resposta a uma crescente procura de informação de saúde por parte de gestores, profissionais e público em geral. As organizações de saúde adotaram uma abordagem centrada no paciente e realizaram significativos investimentos em SI/TI na expetativa de que estes trouxessem melhorias ao nível assistencial e na satisfação das expetativas dos seus utilizadores. O principal objetivo deste trabalho é analisar como a Maturidade Organizacional afeta o sucesso do projeto em SI/TI em saúde e se esse sucesso é potenciado pela utilização de práticas de gestão de projetos. Há evidências da existência de uma relação direta entre esstas duas variáveis e que as práticas de Gestão de Projetos a podem mediar, ajudando a aumentar a eficácia dos projetos de SI/TI. Além disso, a aplicação das práticas de Gestão de Projetos podem melhorar a confiança nos resultados dos investimentos e atender às expectativas das diferentes partes interessadas, tanto pela realização de benefícios quanto pela criação de valor percebido para as organizações. Este estudo analisa os dados recolhidos de um questionário à perceção dos profissionais sobre o sucesso dos projetos IS/IT nas organizações de saúde. Os resultados obtidos confirmam. Os resultados confirmam que o Gestão de Projetos tem um efeito mediador na relação entre Maturidade Organizacional e Sucesso de Projetos de SI/TI e níveis mais elevados de Maturidade Organizacional gerarão projetos SI/TI mais bem-sucedidos, embora a presença do mediador Gestão de Projetos, possa, em circunstâncias específicas situações, afetar negativamente a correlação entre as duas variáveis.N/