Design Ltd.: Renovated Myths for the Development of Socially Embedded Technologies

This paper argues that traditional and mainstream mythologies, which have been continually told within the Information Technology domain among designers and advocators of conceptual modelling since the 1960s in different fields of computing sciences, could now be renovated or substituted in the mould of more recent discourses about performativity, complexity and end-user creativity that have been constructed across different fields in the meanwhile. In the paper, it is submitted that these discourses could motivate IT professionals in undertaking alternative approaches toward the co-construction of socio-technical systems, i.e., social settings where humans cooperate to reach common goals by means of mediating computational tools. The authors advocate further discussion about and consolidation of some concepts in design research, design practice and more generally Information Technology (IT) development, like those of: task-artifact entanglement, universatility (sic) of End-User Development (EUD) environments, bricolant/bricoleur end-user, logic of bricolage, maieuta-designers (sic), and laissez-faire method to socio-technical construction. Points backing these and similar concepts are made to promote further discussion on the need to rethink the main assumptions underlying IT design and development some fifty years later the coming of age of software and modern IT in the organizational domain.Comment: This is the peer-unreviewed of a manuscript that is to appear in D. Randall, K. Schmidt, & V. Wulf (Eds.), Designing Socially Embedded Technologies: A European Challenge (2013, forthcoming) with the title "Building Socially Embedded Technologies: Implications on Design" within an EUSSET editorial initiative (www.eusset.eu/

Discourse-centric learning analytics: mapping the terrain

There is an increasing interest in developing learning analytic techniques for the analysis, and support of, high quality learning discourse. This paper maps the terrain of discourse-centric learning analytics (DCLA), outlining the distinctive contribution of DCLA and outlining a definition for the field moving forwards. It is our claim that DCLA provide the opportunity to explore the ways in which: discourse of various forms both resources and evidences learning; the ways in which small and large groups, and individuals make and share meaning together through their language use; and the particular types of language – from discipline specific, to argumentative and socio-emotional – associated with positive learning outcomes. DCLA is thus not merely a computational aid to help detect or evidence ‘good’ and ‘bad’ performance (the focus of many kinds of analytic), but a tool to help investigate questions of interest to researchers, practitioners, and ultimately learners. The paper ends with three core issues for DCLA researchers – the challenge of context in relation to DCLA; the various systems required for DCLA to be effective; and the means through which DCLA might be delivered for maximum impact at the micro (e.g. learner), meso (e.g. school), and macro (e.g. governmental) levels

Design and Implementation of Online Learning Environments

This thesis describes a systematic approach in the design and implementation of online learning environments. This approach incorporates the principles of human learning as well as the best practices in software engineering. This thesis implements a conceptual model for the design, and it describes how software elements can be developed to comply with the model. In the context of this research two online environments are developed and analyzed. The end product of this approach is a robust and reusable software architecture, a framework for design, and an effective and engaging model suited to online learning environments

Design and Implementation of Online Learning Environments

This thesis describes a systematic approach in the design and implementation of online learning environments. This approach incorporates the principles of human learning as well as the best practices in software engineering. This thesis implements a conceptual model for the design, and it describes how software elements can be developed to comply with the model. In the context of this research two online environments are developed and analyzed. The end product of this approach is a robust and reusable software architecture, a framework for design, and an effective and engaging model suited to online learning environments

Design and Implementation of Online Learning Environments

This thesis describes a systematic approach in the design and implementation of online learning environments. This approach incorporates the principles of human learning as well as the best practices in software engineering. This thesis implements a conceptual model for the design, and it describes how software elements can be developed to comply with the model. In the context of this research two online environments are developed and analyzed. The end product of this approach is a robust and reusable software architecture, a framework for design, and an effective and engaging model suited to online learning environments

The Role of Collegiality in Academic Work

Collegiality is at the heart of the academy’s collective endeavour. It is central to how we think about academic governance structures, academic cultures and values, as well as the norms guiding academic work. Yet collegiality tends to be misconstrued as a singular and unproblematic ‘good thing’. Situated in the field of critical university studies, in this thesis, I engage with poststructural and postfoundational theories to generate new readings of collegiality that challenge these simplistic conceptions. Through an ongoing iterative process of assembling theoretical concepts and putting them in conversation with collegiality as an empirical phenomenon, I examine collegiality as both a discursive category and a practice. To do this, I draw on a range of texts: academic and online texts, as well as interviews with academics situated in Australian and New Zealand/Aotearoa universities. I read collegiality, first, as a fantasy; second, as a tactically polyvalent element of discourse; third, as a constellation of practices; and finally, as affective attunement to academic contexts. These theoretical angles enable me to shed a different light on the role collegiality plays in academic work, and to examine a range of mechanisms through which the collective imaginary of collegiality is constructed, maintained, contested and negotiated. Taken together, these interpretations allow me to reinscribe collegiality as a relationally and dynamically constituted phenomenon that is enacted by a multiplicity of players in academic contexts. Through these new readings of collegiality, this thesis makes three main contributions to the higher education literature. First, it invites us to reflect on the effects that collegiality produces in academic contexts and to shift our analytical gaze away from viewing collegiality as a universalising concept. Second, this study offers a reconfigured picture of academic relations creating a more expansive view of collegiality and its role in academic work. Finally, by noticing and affirming fragmented and marginal collegial practices that are attentive to difference, this thesis opens up the possibility for new responses to challenges facing the contemporary academy. Through these types of practices, I contend that the (good) academy could be forged as a pluralistic, open and more socially just formation

Investigating Advances in the Acquisition of Secure Systems Based on Open Architecture, Open Source Software, and Software Product Lines

Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Un modèle pour la gestion et la capitalisation d'analyses de traces d'activités en interaction collaborative

We present our three main results in adressing the problem of assisting the socio-cognitive analysis of human interaction. First, we propose a description of the process of analysis of such data, as well as a generic artefact which covers a large number of the analytic artefacts we have observed and which we call a replayable. Second, we present a study and a modelling of replayables, and describe the four fundamental operations which can be applied to them: synchronisation, visualisation, transformation and enrichment. Finally, we describe the implementation of this model in an environment that assists analysis through the manipulation of replayables, which we evaluate in real-life research situations. Tatiana (http://code.google.com/p/tatiana), the resulting software environment, is based on these four operations and integrates numerous possibilities for extending these operations to adapt to new kinds of analysis while staying within the analytic framework afforded by replayables.Nous présentons nos trois résultats principaux face à la difficulté d'assister l'analyse socio-cognitive d'interactions humaines. D'une part, nous proposons une description du processus d'analyse de ce genre données ainsi qu'un artefact générique permettant de recouvrir un grand nombre d'artefacts analytiques que nous avons pu observer et que nous nommons rejouable. D'autre part, nous présentons une étude et modélisation informatique des rejouables, et décrivons quatre opérations fondamentales qui peuvent s'y appliquer : synchronisation, visualisation, transformation et enrichissement. Enfin, nous décrivons l'implémentation de cette modélisation dans un environnement d'aide à l'analyse par manipulation de rejouables que nous évaluons dans des situations de recherche réelles. Tatiana (http://code.google.com/p/tatiana), l'environnement logiciel résultant, est basé sur ces quatre opérations et permet l'extension de ces opérations pour s'adapter à de nouvelles formes d'analyse

BIG DATA AND ANALYTICS AS A NEW FRONTIER OF ENTERPRISE DATA MANAGEMENT

Big Data and Analytics (BDA) promises significant value generation opportunities across industries. Even though companies increase their investments, their BDA initiatives fall short of expectations and they struggle to guarantee a return on investments. In order to create business value from BDA, companies must build and extend their data-related capabilities. While BDA literature has emphasized the capabilities needed to analyze the increasing volumes of data from heterogeneous sources, EDM researchers have suggested organizational capabilities to improve data quality. However, to date, little is known how companies actually orchestrate the allocated resources, especially regarding the quality and use of data to create value from BDA. Considering these gaps, this thesis – through five interrelated essays – investigates how companies adapt their EDM capabilities to create additional business value from BDA. The first essay lays the foundation of the thesis by investigating how companies extend their Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) capabilities to build more comprehensive enterprise analytics platforms. The second and third essays contribute to fundamental reflections on how organizations are changing and designing data governance in the context of BDA. The fourth and fifth essays look at how companies provide high quality data to an increasing number of users with innovative EDM tools, that are, machine learning (ML) and enterprise data catalogs (EDC). The thesis outcomes show that BDA has profound implications on EDM practices. In the past, operational data processing and analytical data processing were two “worlds” that were managed separately from each other. With BDA, these "worlds" are becoming increasingly interdependent and organizations must manage the lifecycles of data and analytics products in close coordination. Also, with BDA, data have become the long-expected, strategically relevant resource. As such data must now be viewed as a distinct value driver separate from IT as it requires specific mechanisms to foster value creation from BDA. BDA thus extends data governance goals: in addition to data quality and regulatory compliance, governance should facilitate data use by broadening data availability and enabling data monetization. Accordingly, companies establish comprehensive data governance designs including structural, procedural, and relational mechanisms to enable a broad network of employees to work with data. Existing EDM practices therefore need to be rethought to meet the emerging BDA requirements. While ML is a promising solution to improve data quality in a scalable and adaptable way, EDCs help companies democratize data to a broader range of employees