Successful Broadband Projects in the Public Sector - a Service Innovation Perspective

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Organisational challenges of the semantic web in digital libraries: A Norwegian case study

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2009 Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine from a socio-technical point of view the impact of semantic web technology on the strategic, organisational and technological levels. The semantic web initiative holds great promise for the future for digital libraries. There is, however, a considerable gap in semantic web research between the contributions in the technological field and research in the organisational field. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive case study of the National Library of Norway (NL) is conducted, building on two major sources of information: the documentation of the digitising project of the NL; and interviews with nine different stakeholders at three levels of NL's organisation during June to August 2007. Top managers are interviewed on strategy, middle managers and librarians are interviewed regarding organisational issues and ICT professionals are interviewed on technology issues. Findings – The findings indicate that the highest impact will be at the organisational level. This is mainly because inter-organisational and cross-organisational structures have to be established to address the problems of ontology engineering, and a development framework for ontology engineering in digital libraries must be examined. Originality/value – ICT professionals and library practitioners should be more mindful of organisational issues when planning and executing semantic web projects in digital libraries. In particular, practitioners should be aware that the ontology engineering process and the semantic meta-data production will affect the entire organisation. For public digital libraries this probably will also call for a more open policy towards user groups to properly manage the process of ontology engineering

Software development methods and usability: Perspectives from a survey in the software industry in Norway

This paper investigates the relationship between traditional software development methodologies and usability. The point of departure is the assumption that two important disciplines in software development, one of software development methods (SDMs) and one of usability work, are not integrated in industrial software projects. Building on previous research we investigate two questions; (1) Will software companies generally acknowledge the importance of usability, but not prioritise it in industrial projects? and (2) To what degree are software development methods and usability perceived by practitioners as being integrated? To this end a survey in the Norwegian IT industry was conducted. From a sample of 259 companies we received responses from 78 companies. In response to our first research question, our findings show that although there is a positive bias towards usability, the importance of usability testing is perceived to be much less than that of usability requirements. Given the strong time and cost pressures associated with the software industry, we believe that these results highlight that there is a gap between intention and reality. Regarding our second research question our survey revealed that companies perceive usability and software development methods to be integrated. This is in contrast to earlier research, which, somewhat pessimistically, has argued for the existence of two different cultures, one of software development and one of usability. The findings give hope for the future, in particular because the general use of system development methods are pragmatic and adaptable

IOS project motivation as a determinant of project activities and business capabilities

This paper investigates how innovation of ICT based services takes place within existing infrastructures, including the whole network of technology, vendors and customers. Our research question is, how can an information infrastructure provide generative mechanisms for innovation of ICT based services? Building on a critical realist approach, our empirical evidence was a case study within an international airline, aiming to diversify its services. From our analysis we propose that there are two self-reinforcement mechanisms in information infrastructures. First, we identified the innovation reinforcement mechanism, resulting in new services. Second, there is the service reinforcement mechanism, resulting in more users and profits. The practical implication of our framework is to show that although ICT-based innovation cannot be planned and managed in detail, the innovation mechanism may help organisations to facilitate the innovation process in a structured way

ICT ARCHITECTURE AND PROJECT RISK IN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS

This paper investigates the relationship between ICT architectures and project risk, in the context of the development of large inter-organizational systems. Although previous research has identified ICT architecture as a project risk, the focus has been on technical issues. Expanding this perspective, we investigate how technical architectures have bearings on the organization of projects, which may, to a large extent, determine the outcome of large information infrastructure initiatives. Our empirical evidence is ten cases from the health sector, collected over a period of 20 years. Due to space limitations only two cases are presented in this paper. A multi-level analysis allowed us to identify two main architectures; the institutional interface architecture (INA) and the service provider architecture (SPA). Through the careful study of ten cases over a period of 20 years, we present evidence for the high project risk of the INA and the viability of the SPA strategy. We find that the SPA has significant impact not only on the complexity of the technological solutions, but ? more importantly ? also on the complexity of the projects developing the solutions. The organizational complexity of the SPA based projects, and hence the necessary co-ordination activities, were dramatically reduced, and the success rate of the projects and the benefits for the users similarly increased. Our empirical evidence is ten cases from the health sector, collected over a period of 20 years. A multi-level analysis allowed us to identify two main approaches; the institutional interface architecture (INA) and the service provider architecture (SPA). Through the careful study of ten cases over a period of 20 years, we present evidence for the high project risk of the INA and the viability of the SPA strategy. We find that the SPA has significant impact not only on the complexity of the technological solutions, but - more importantly - also on the complexity of the projects developing the solutions. The organizational complexity of the SPA based projects, and hence the necessary co-ordination activities, were dramatically reduced, and the success rate of the projects and the benefits for the users similarly increased

Exploring loose coupling in system interaction

The concept of loose coupling is used in various disciplines, such as organisation science, computer science, information systems and geography, but its definition and application is elusive. In this paper we investigate the roots and meanings of the concept, and ask two research questions: (i) How is the concept of loose coupling used within streams of IS research? And (ii) how can we apply the concept to design the system interaction within the field of IS? Our method is a systematic review of the literature, where we identify the definitions and uses, conduct a cross-disciplinary meta-analysis, and deduct a framework for analysing and using the principle of loose coupling. We then discuss implications for the dynamics of information infrastructures. We offer two contributions. First, we provide a comprehensive overview of the loose coupling research, and gives rich insight into uses of the concept. Second, we propose a framework where we synthesize the insights

PATTERNS OF INTERACTION: MAKING SENSE OF DIGITALIZATION IN INCUMBENT FIRMS

Current research on digitalization often takes a strategic or change management perspective. More recently, research has pointed to continuous development as essential in digitally enabled change. However, less is known about how continuous development evolves, and how organizational actors interact during continuous development. Our research questions are: (i) which patterns of interaction can we identify in the continuous development of digitalization, and (ii) how can incumbent firms suc- ceed in digitalization through continuous development? We conduct a longitudinal case study of a large grid company, and explore their approach to digitali- zation through continuous development. Applying a sense-making and sense-giving lens, we identify a generic pattern of interaction in continuous digitalization in incumbent firms. Key actors in the pat- tern are the middle management. We identify two interlinked cycles, one for the top management and one for the operational level. Our model highlights new and surprising insight on sense-making and sense-giving in relation to change and digitalization in incumbent firms

In Search of Mechanisms. Conducting a Critical Realist Data Analysis

Critical realism has emerged as an alternative to positivist and interpretive research during the past decade. Yet, the number of empirical studies based on this perspective has so far been limited. This indicates a need for a more explicit method for critical realist data analysis. To address this, we extend former research on critical realist methodology by presenting a framework for identifying and understanding causal structures in critical realist studies, termed mechanisms. The framework consists of steps involved in identifying structural components of a mechanism, how these components interact to produce to an outcome, and contextual influences on this outcome. We illustrate the application of the framework through an example of the identification of IS innovation mechanisms in a case study in the airline industry. Overall, we argue that the mechanism approach can improve empirical studies in the IS field, by providing ontological depth, creative thinking and more precise explanations

Responding to Enterprise Architecture Initiatives: Loyalty, Voice and Exit

Many large organizations have on-going Enterprise Architecture initiatives. Key aims include achieving more organizational agility, and to tidy up a messy portfolio of IT silo systems. A holistic approach to IT architecture has been an accepted strategy, but the results of these initiatives have been variable. An under-researched aspect is how different organizational units respond to the call for a holistic approach. In this study, we investigate how different stakeholders connected to three ongoing projects responded to the call for EA. With a qualitative approach, we identify three options of response to EA initiatives: (i) compliance with the EA strategy, (ii) loyal but isolated response, and (iii) rebel solutions. We argue for the need of a more nuanced repertoire of actions for dealing with EA, and show how these responses are useful for understanding and managing successful EA