Coping with Poorly Understood Domains: the Example of Internet Trust

The notion of trust, as required for secure operations over the Internet, is important for ascertaining the source of received messages. How can we measure the degree of trust in authenticating the source? Knowledge in the domain is not established, so knowledge engineering becomes knowledge generation rather than mere acquisition. Special techniques are required, and special features of KBS software become more important than in conventional domains. This paper generalizes from experience with Internet trust to discuss some techniques and software features that are important for poorly understood domains

Scoping study of the feasibility of developing a software tool to assist designers of pedestrian crossing places

This report is the outcome of a scoping study of how guidance can be provided for practising highway engineers in designing informal pedestrian crossing facilities. The main component of this report is an analysis by an IT consultant of a range of mechanisms for delivery of this. The study was informed by the opinions of a group of practitioners who have a direct interest in the provision of pedestrian facilities. These results are placed in context and their consequences are explored in the first part of the report

The Feasibility of Using Expert Systems in the Management of Human Resources

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a decision aid that is being used increasingly in the business world, the expert system, and to begin to examine its potential for human resource management. First, the expert system technology is reviewed, with a special emphasis on the players, those involved in developing and using the system, and the parts, the three main components of a system. This is followed by an analysis of the costs and benefits and the advantages and disadvantages that have been ascribed to expert systems. We conclude this initial research endeavor by presenting some preliminary findings which suggest that employees are willing to cooperate with expert systems, even those that require personal information, and that they see some benefits to using expert systems as decision aids

A teaching and support tool for building formal models of graphical user-interfaces

In this paper we propose the design of a tool that will allow the construction of a formal, textual description of a software system even if it has a graphical user-interface as a component. An important aspect of this design is that it can be used for two purposes-the teaching of first-order logic and the formal specification of graphical user-interfaces. The design has been suggested by considering a system that has already been very successful for teaching first-order logic, namely Tarski's World

Social engineering and crime prevention in cyberspace

This paper highlights methods of syntactic and semantic social engineering attacks (human-based and computer-based) that are currently prevalent in the cyber community. It will also present the emerging trends in high-tech crime; and, the likely future direction cyber-crime will take with respect to social engineering

Applications of computer communications in education.

Applications of computer communications can be used in many ways in education. An overview is given of a number of categories of computer communications applications in learning-related activities. Particular attention is given to a new type of system called a course-support environment. In this type of system a database is integrated with Web-based tools and applications, and used to generate a course-support environment accessed via a standard Web browser. Some examples are given. The article moves on to an overview of various issues confronting the acceptance of computer communication systems in educational settings, and indicates some of the ways in which computer communications engineers will have to deal with those issue

Pedagogy Embedded in Educational Software Design: Report of a Case Study

Most educational software is designed to foster students' learning outcomes but with little consideration of the teaching framework in which it will be used. This paper presents a significantly different model of educational software that was derived from a case study of two teachers participating in a software design process. It shows the relationship between particular elements of the teachers' pedagogy and the characteristics of the software design. In this model the 'classroom atmosphere' is embedded in the human-computer interface scenarios and elements, the 'teaching strategy' in the design of the browsing strategies of the software, and the 'learning strategy' in the particular forms of interaction with the software. The model demonstrates significant links between the study of Pedagogy and the study of Information Technology in Education and has implications for the relationship between these two areas of research and consequently for teacher training. The model proposes a perspective on educational software design that takes into consideration not only learning theories, but also teaching theories and practice

Some Findings Concerning Requirements in Agile Methodologies

gile methods have appeared as an attractive alternative to conventional methodologies. These methods try to reduce the time to market and, indirectly, the cost of the product through flexible development and deep customer involvement. The processes related to requirements have been extensively studied in literature, in most cases in the frame of conventional methods. However, conclusions of conventional methodologies could not be necessarily valid for Agile; in some issues, conventional and Agile processes are radically different. As recent surveys report, inadequate project requirements is one of the most conflictive issues in agile approaches and better understanding about this is needed. This paper describes some findings concerning requirements activities in a project developed under an agile methodology. The project intended to evolve an existing product and, therefore, some background information was available. The major difficulties encountered were related to non-functional needs and management of requirements dependencies