Collaborative tagging as a knowledge organisation and resource discovery tool

The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the collaborative tagging phenomenon and explore some of the reasons for its emergence. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reviews the related literature and discusses some of the problems associated with, and the potential of, collaborative tagging approaches for knowledge organisation and general resource discovery. A definition of controlled vocabularies is proposed and used to assess the efficacy of collaborative tagging. An exposition of the collaborative tagging model is provided and a review of the major contributions to the tagging literature is presented. Findings - There are numerous difficulties with collaborative tagging systems (e.g. low precision, lack of collocation, etc.) that originate from the absence of properties that characterise controlled vocabularies. However, such systems can not be dismissed. Librarians and information professionals have lessons to learn from the interactive and social aspects exemplified by collaborative tagging systems, as well as their success in engaging users with information management. The future co-existence of controlled vocabularies and collaborative tagging is predicted, with each appropriate for use within distinct information contexts: formal and informal. Research limitations/implications - Librarians and information professional researchers should be playing a leading role in research aimed at assessing the efficacy of collaborative tagging in relation to information storage, organisation, and retrieval, and to influence the future development of collaborative tagging systems. Practical implications - The paper indicates clear areas where digital libraries and repositories could innovate in order to better engage users with information. Originality/value - At time of writing there were no literature reviews summarising the main contributions to the collaborative tagging research or debate

A review of current European research on organic farming (OF0171)

This is the final report of Defra project 0F0171. This text has been extracted from the Executive Summary at the start of the attached report. In support of its policy to expand organic farming, MAFF sponsors a programme of research and extension (through Organic Conversion Information Service) to provide information to producers on organic systems of production. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive framework which sets out clearly the content and key results of current European research programmes. The overall objective was to increase the body of knowledge and information available to UK producers and extension workers, and to help direct UK research effort. The priority was to examine northern and western European research programmes i.e. those likely to have the greatest relevance for the UK. Key research institutions, major projects and individual researchers were identified. The data collected were compiled into two research directories. The first was a list of research organisations containing 137 entries. The second was a project list, containing information on 724 individual research projects, including 88 in the UK. The results enabled an overview of the range, content and organisation of organic research programmes. Of the European projects listed (excluding the UK), 40% were related to crop production or soil fertility. A further 14% were on fruit or vegetable production, while 19% were related to livestock or grassland. Results from these studies will be relevant to UK researchers planning new work. Valuable insight was also provided into research methodologies and analytical tools used by European researchers, as well as approaches to dissemination and participatory research. From priorities identified during the compilation of the research directories, three specific study tours were made, focusing on aspects of organic horticulture, arable, and fruit production: - Weed Control in Organic Horticultural and Arable systems - Sustainable Nutrient Management in Organic Field Vegetable Production - Organic Fruit Production. Two technical workshops were also attended and reported: - Designing and Testing Crop Rotations for Organic Farming - Alternatives to the Use of Copper-Based Fungicides in Organic Systems Study tour reports provide detailed information on issues relevant to the UK, results and direction of each research programme. In addition, technical information was collected for technology transfer to UK producers. The research directory and study tour reports are now widely accessible, including on the Web at http://www.adas.co.uk/organic. UK producers, processors, retailers, others in the supply chain, and ultimately the consumer will be the main beneficiaries. Key messages and findings have been provided, some for immediate incorporation into existing production systems. The results will be very valuable to MAFF, research institutes, scientists and research workers when considering current and future UK research needs. Contact with European programmes will help improve the efficiency of UK research programmes, avoid unnecessary duplication and refine research methodology. The work will facilitate further contact between European research workers, to formulate collaborative bids and develop additional sources of funding. It is proposed that the research directories produced by this review are refined and formally updated, on an annual or biennial basis

Designing for Incentives: Better Information Sharing for Better Software Engineering

Software-reliant systems permeate all aspects of modern society. The resulting interconnectedness and associated com- plexity has resulted in a proliferation of diverse stakeholders with conflicting goals. Thus, contemporary software engi- neering is plagued by incentive conflicts, in settling on design features, allocating resources during the development of products, and allocating computational resources at run- time. In this position paper, we describe some of these problems and outline a research agenda in bridging to the economic theory of mechanism design, which seeks to align incentives in multi-agent systems with private information and conflicting goals. The ultimate goal is to advance a principled methodology for the design of incentive-compatible approaches to manage the dynamic processes of software engineering.Engineering and Applied Science

Прийоми стимулювання позитивних емоцій студентів в дистанційному навчанні

Subject approach of the report – methodology and practise of Distance Education. Author – a psycologist of Research Laboratory of Distance Education, National Technical Institute "Kharkov Polytechnical Institute". The article contains information about influence of emotions on the information learning process of students in distance learning. The accent is made on using verbal activation of emotions, such as problem questions, searching for idea of disagreements "take-off" that appear, checking the truth of obtained results and so on. The activity of tutor and student is carried out mainly using intellectual and emotional interaction between them, and the result of learning is connected with the learning process objective. To provide the highest activity of students the next forms are given: working with information processing, dialogue, learning discussions, teleconferences and so on. Some methods of interest stimulating are given, one of them is the situation of success. One of the pedagogical systems, transformed in distance education, is presented. Some aspects that differ distance education from traditional are marked out

Representing a conceptual model for integrating Project Management Information Systems in project-based organizations

Purpose: This paper aimed to introduce a comprehensive model for integrating project management information systems in project-based organizations. Research methodology: The proposed model is presented hierarchically through a comprehensive literature review and a review of several national projects in Iran. Validation of this model was done in two ways. On the one hand, expert opinions were asked about it through several interviews. On the other hand, the model was used in some national projects and its deficiencies were identified. Finally, the necessary modifications were made to the model. Results: In this study, it became clear that a comprehensive, integrated project management information system at its macro level should consist of three subsystems, including project warden, project administrator and project employer that mutual exchange of information should be done well between them. It was also found that this mutual information exchange should also exist among the components of each of these subsystems. Limitation: This research only described in project based organizations. Contribution: The Project Management Information System (PMIS) model provided in this research is the most comprehensive models in this scope for project-based organizations that have considered all aspects of project management. Keywords: Project management, PMIS, Project-based organizations, Integrated mode

Production and production over-supply in construction: estimating unsold stock in Italy

PurposeThe aim of the article is to identify the limitations and critical issues in the way information in the real estate sector in Italy is currently managed, and propose the principles of a method that would provide information and comparison of the phenomenon of over-supply and non-rational land use. This study is based on a series of assumptions, the first of which is a definition of ???unsold???, deemed to mean ???the amount of new housing units neither occupied nor sold nor rented???. In effect, unsold stock can be considered as over-supply of construction. Design/methodology/approachThe article identifies the critical aspects in the determination of unsold real estate in Italy, starting from the available data and research already carried out; the results are often contradictory. The comparison with programming systems of building production adopted in other countries allows identification of the guidelines can be used to better understand and combat the phenomenon. FindingsThe assessment of the state of the art provides a clear picture of the shortcomings and potential of the tools used to date to meet the need of studying a complex phenomenon with many obscure points. Following the empirical analysis comes out a picture of inefficiencies due to the poor quality of 'information as well as the reluctance of data sharing and integration procedures by the institutional and market players. Research limitations/implicationsThe research produces solutions addressed to the Italian situation, but it identifies systems and methods used in other countries. Practical implicationsThe article suggests the collection systems and management information that can be used for a more accurate knowledge of unsold real estate. Originality/valueThe article seeks to provide the necessary answers to those who must understand the reasons of harmful effects for the market, such as overproduction; besides some models focused on three areas - the procedures, the organization, the market - are also proposed

A survey of UK university web management: staffing, systems and issues

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to summarize the findings of a survey of UK universities about how their web site is managed and resourced, which technologies are in use and what are seen as the main issues and priorities. Methodology/approach: The paper is based on a web based questionnaire distributed in summer 2006, and which received 104 usable responses from 87 insitutions. Findings: The survey showed that some web teams were based in IT and some in external relations, yet in both cases the site typically served internal and external audiences. The role of web manager is partly management of resources, time and people, partly about marketing and liaison and partly also concerned with more technical aspects including interface design and HTML. But it is a diverse role with a wide spread of responsibilities. On the whole web teams were relatively small. Three quarters of responding institutions had a CMS, but specific systems in use were diverse. 60% had a portal. There was evidence of increasing use of blogs and wikis. The key driver for the web site is student recruitment, with instituitional reputation and information to stakeholders also being important. The biggest perceived weaknesses were maintaining consistency with devolved content creation and currency of content; lack of resourcing a key threat while comprehensiveness was a key strength. Current and wished for projects pointed again to the diversity of the sector. Research implications/limitations: The lack of comparative data and difficulties of interpreting responses to closed questions where respondents could have quite different status (partly reflecting divergent patterns of governance of the web across the sector) create issues with the reliability of the research. Practical implications: Data about resourcing of web management, technology in use etc at comparable institutions is invaluable for practitioners in their efforts to gain resource in their own context. Originality/value of paper: The paper adds more systematic, current data to our limited knowledge about how university web sites are managed

Towards a Design-Based Analysis of Emotional Episodes

he design-based approach is a methodology for investigating mechanisms capable of generating mental phenomena, whether introspectively or externally observed, and whether they occur in humans, other animals or robots. The study of designs satisfying requirements for autonomous agency can provide new deep theoretical insights at the information processing level of description of mental mechanisms. Designs for working systems (whether on paper or implemented on computers) can systematically explicate old explanatory concepts and generate new concepts that allow new and richer interpretations of human phenomena. To illustrate this, some aspects of human grief are analysed in terms of a particular information processing architecture being explored in our research group. We do not claim that this architecture is part of the causal structure of the human mind; rather, it represents an early stage in the iterative search for a deeper and more general architecture, capable of explaining more phenomena. However even the current early design provides an interpretative ground for some familiar phenomena, including characteristic features of certain emotional episodes, particularly the phenomenon of perturbance (a partial or total loss of control of attention). The paper attempts to expound and illustrate the design-based approach to cognitive science and philosophy, to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of the approach in generating interpretative possibilities, and to provide first steps towards an information processing account of `perturbant', emotional episodes

A General Theory of Emergence in Engineered Systems

Engineered systems are designed to satisfy specific needs and produce explainable/predictable results. But despite this intent, engineered systems don’t always do what they are designed to do once they are implemented. Some engineered systems produce properties and behaviors that are not clearly explainable or predictable by the properties of their components. This is a problem recognized in government and private sectors as having broad ranging financial and security consequences. It is also the essence of the emergence phenomena. A review of the literature reveals two significant gaps in the current body of knowledge on emergence as it pertains to engineered systems: 1) no conceptual model that reconciles conflicting aspects of emergence; and 2) no explanation of system factors and their relationships that affect the occurrence of emergence. The gaps are addressed in this dissertation through research using a methodology that incorporates rationalist inductive methods with modeling & simulation frameworks. Where other research and models of emergence focus on entity or agent behavior; the research in this dissertation takes place from a systems perspective. The focus is on system level behaviors and system factors as they pertain to the occurrence of emergent effects. Generally accepted thermodynamic principles and axioms for chemical reactions are used to develop scientific analogies for factors in engineered systems. A theory is derived consisting of six factors that are determinants in a mathematical model of a tipping point at which emergent effects will occur in engineered systems: 1) interoperability; 2) concentration of components; 3) component degrees of freedom; 4) variety of system regulators; 5) rate of information received vs transmitted by the system; and 6) relative amount of information received by the system vs a threshold for change in the system configuration. The theory and its implications are explored in simulation experiments. Other products and contributions of the research include: a) an ontology of emergence concepts; b) a unifying definition of emergence; and c) a system dynamics model of emergence in engineered systems

A Review of Critical Factors Impacting the Implementation of E-government in Developing Countries

A key challenge facing developing countries is the high failure rate of electronic government (e-government) programmes. Since its inception, e-government has been implemented globally with the aim that it will enhance the quality-of-service delivery, transform government's internal and external processes and make the public sector more effective and efficient. However, the majority of e-government initiatives have failed to meet their objectives, particularly in developing countries. Therefore, this research considers the factors facilitating and inhibiting the successful implementation of e-government in developing countries. The methodology adopted for the thesis was a qualitative research approach. Secondary data was collected through a literature review of various sources, namely government publications, annual reports compiled by international development agencies and relevant books. To address the research question, I identified literature from journal articles with expertise in information systems such as the Electronic Journal for E-government. The research findings indicate that e-government in developing countries is impacted by various infrastructural, financial, political, socio-economic, organisational and human related aspects. Some of these include the digital divide, resistance to change, limited ICT skills and a lack of robust regulatory frameworks. The study concludes that successful e-government does not solely rest on technology. Instead, developing countries need to understand the impact of the various local contextual factors. These are the fundamental aspects that must be considered during the strategic design of e-government initiatives to ensure they are appropriate for and relevant to local conditions