Organizational challenges of the semantic web in digital libraries

The Semantic Web initiative holds large promises for the future. There is, however, a considerable gap in Semantic Web research between the contributions in the technological field and the research done in the organizational field. This paper examines, from a socio-technical point of view the impact of Semantic Web technology on the strategic, organizational and technological levels. Building on a comprehensive case study at the National Library in Norway our findings indicate that the highest impact will be at the organizational level. The reason is mainly because inter-organizational and cross-organizational 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

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

Information Infastructure as Organization: A Critical Realist View

The notion of information infrastructures, introduced in the 1990s and refined during the past ten years, has proven quite fruitful to the IS field. It changed the perspective from organizations to networks and from systems to infrastructures, allowing for a global and emergent perspective on information systems. However, something is missing in this theory. What is an information infrastructure, ontologically? Is it a technical structure, an organizational form, an analytical perspective or a semantic network? This paper reviews the socio-technical origins of information infrastructures. Two propositions are described and discussed. First, that it is fruitful to regard information infrastructure as an ICT-based organizational form. Second, a critical realist view allows us to conceptualise the object of study in a simpler and more intuitive way. A case study of an airline company and a reinterpretation of Star and Ruhleder’s classic paper were used to illustrate the claims

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

Rick Riordan's Myth-Based Novels as a Gateway to Legitimizing Fan Fiction

Denne oppgaven utforsker det engelske konseptet "fan fiction" som innebærer litteratur skrevet av fans. Målet er å utfordre folks generelle negative holdning til begrepet, litteraturen det produserer og felleskap det bygger. Denne oppgaven regner Rick Riordans Percy Jackson: Lyntyven (2005) og Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods (2014) regnes som en del av fan fictions voksende arkiv. Blant annet, bruker oppgaven Hans Robert Jauss sin teori 'horizon of expectations' og Joseph Campbells historiestruktur "monomyten." Ved hjelp av disse påpeker jeg at adapsjon er normalt og har eksistert siden myter først ble fortalt. Kapitelene gjør reder for forskjellige synsvinkler på fan fiction historier for å øke verdien til begrepet som en helhet med Riordans bøker som eksempler.Engelsk mastergradsoppgaveMPENGLMAHF-LÆFRZMPHFFAKMAHF-ENGENG35

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

Digital Ecosystems as a Unit of Scientific Analysis. A Sociological Investigation

The growth of digital ecosystems such as Google, Apple and Uber has led to radical changes in economic activity, work and consumption. It has also challenged established economic, social and organization theory, which has clear limitations in understanding these phenomena. The discourses on these topics are conducted in various arenas, which are not linked, and conceptualise digital ecosystems differently. What kind of theoretical object is this? The purpose of this study is to present an institutional and comparative analysis of the research on platforms and digital ecosystems. We identify four research streams; political, economic, technological and individual. We analyse each stream regarding the key insights, and identify the most important knowledge sources. Then we assess the relevance of classical and modern sociology for understanding digital ecosystems

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