Conceptualization of Digital Twins in an Education Services Environment: A Straw Man Proposal

Digital twins have been used in manufacturing to describe, predict, and prescribe responses to complex problems. The digital twin is a constellation of technologies that mirror physical objects in the virtual world, including what has happened, is happening and could or should happen in the future for the mirrored object. What is common in previous conceptualizations of digital twins is that there is a physical boundary to the extent that digital twins can mirror real objects (sometimes including the objects’ environments). We propose a blended approach, using McKinsey’s straw man and Parmar et al.’s. (2020) framework, to offer a more rigorously structured process for arriving at a refined conceptualization of digital twins in the educational service environment

Critical Mass in Inter-Organizational Platforms

This paper examines how the critical mass challenge manifests itself during inter-organizational platform development. In previous research, critical mass is treated as an issue that occurs after platform launch. Strategies proposed, such as tactful pricing, opening the platform, user onboarding, and side-switching assume the platform to have already been launched. They may not work well in conditions where the platform is still under development. Over a two-and-a-half-year time period, this study traced the development of a data platform in a revelatory case within the New Zealand tourism sector. It revealed five critical mass issues faced by the platform sponsor in phases of development that occur before platform launch: (i) attracting initial interest, (ii) aligning heterogenous goals, (iii) sustaining commitment to the project (iv), negotiating architecture design, and (v) sustaining commitment to implementation. These findings provide a foundation for problematizing critical mass theory and its boundary conditions in inter-organizational platform development

Infopreneurial Behaviour among University Graduates in the Information Science Faculty of a University in Zimbabwe

Infopreneurial behaviour amongst University graduates has the potential to guarantee employment and bridge the gap between job-security and the perceived insecurity of an information business. At present, the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe offers infopreneurship and entrepreneurship courses to students in the faculty of Communication and Information Science. The course content and presentation are similar in nature as they all relate to the selling, marketing and promotion of information products and services. However, little research has been done to find out the impact of this course in creating an infopreneurial behaviour among graduating students. The researchers conducted a questionnaire-based survey to find out the infopreneurial behaviour among students who graduated from 2008 to 2012 in the faculty. The exploratory investigation reported by this paper presents the status of these graduates in utilizing their acquired knowledge in infopreneurship and entrepreneurship with regards to the selling and marketing of information products and services, especially through small physical or online/internet-based businesses. The major finding of this study was that the students between 2011 and 2012 have been making initiatives to establish internet-based information businesses but lack further business and technical skills necessary to translate these initiatives into ‘real’ businesses. These business and technical skills are lacking in the course content. The researchers conclude by making recommendations on possible adaptations that can be introduced to the courses to improve infopreneurial behaviour among graduating students in information science

Are the Terms and Conditions Offered by Cloud-Servers Safe for Personal Health Record-Keeping?

Presented at the 8th Health Informatics in Africa Conference (HELINA 2013). Peer-reviewed and selected under the responsibility of the Scientific Programme Committee.,This exploratory paper investigates the terms and conditions offered by cloud service providers, questioning whether these are a safe environment for personal health record-keeping with regards to privacy, security and intellectual property control among other factors. We focus on evaluating the extent to which the privacy of sensitive information is protected in these systems as well as the extent to which terms provided comply with relevant regulations. Whilst many people may be excited about the introduction of cloud solutions to managing their personal health information, there are questions that we urge the public to ask before entrusting their sensitive health records to any cloud-service system

Infopreneurial Behaviour among University Graduates in the Information Science Faculty of a University in Zimbabwe

Conference paper presented at the ICEE ICIT 2013 Conference.,Infopreneurial behaviour amongst University graduates has the potential to guarantee employment and bridge the gap between job-security and the perceived insecurity of an own information business. At present, the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe offers infopreneurship and entrepreneurship courses to students in the faculty of Communication and Information Science. The course content and presentation are similar in nature as they all relate to the selling, marketing and promotion of information products and services. However distant and limited research has been done to find out the impact of this course in creating an infopreneurial behaviour among graduating students. The researchers conducted a questionnaire-based survey to find out the infopreneurial behaviour among students who graduated from 2008 to 2012 in the faculty. The exploratory investigation reported by this paper brings out the status of these graduates in utilising their acquired knowledge in infopreneurship and entrepreneurship with regards to the selling and marketing of information products and services, especially through small physical or online/internet-based businesses. The major finding of this study was that the later crop of students between 2011 and 2012 have been making initiatives to establish internet-based information businesses but lack further business and technical skills necessary to translate these initiatives into ?real. businesses. These business and technical skills are lacking in the course contents. The researchers conclude by making recommendations on possible adaptations that can be introduced to the courses to improve infopreneurial behaviour among graduating students in information science

An Assessment of Health Information Management Infrastructures for Communication in the Matabeleland South Region Border-line Health Institutions in Zimbabwe.

Presented at the 8th Health Informatics in Africa Conference (HELINA 2013). Peer-reviewed and selected under the responsibility of the Scientific Programme Committee,Developing countries face the challenge of providing quality healthcare to rapidly increasing populations without adequate infrastructure. Health information management infrastructures are important for the smooth flow of important health information required for efficient service delivery. They form the essential physical, logical and intellectual link that facilitates the provision of health care services for a country. This study was carried out to assess the health information management infrastructures for communication in the Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe, particularly focusing on border line health facilities that stretch from Southern boarders with Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana

A cost-benefit analysis of document management strategies used at a financial institution in Zimbabwe: A case study

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,Background: Choosing a cost-effective document management approach has become a priority to many organisations, especially in view of the rapidly changing technological environment in which information is being created and managed. A literature survey indicated that document management strategies have the potential to provide some substantial cost-saving benefits if they are used judiciously. Objectives: This study investigated a commercial bank?s document management approaches in a bid to ascertain the costs and benefits of each strategy and related issues. Method: A quantitative research approach was employed through a case study which was used to gather data from a sampled population in the bank. Results: The document management approaches used were not coordinated to improve operational efficiency. There were regulations governing documents management. The skills and competences of staff on both document management and cost analysis are limited. That is partly due to limited training opportunities availed to them. That means that economies are not achieved in the management of records. That has a negative impact on the overall efficiency, effectiveness and legal compliance of the banking institution. Conclusion: The financial institutions should create regulations enabling periodical cost-benefit analysis of document management regimes used by the bank at least at quarterly intervals as recommended by the National Archives of Australia. A hybrid approach in managing records is recommended for adoption by the financial institution. There should be on-the-job staff training complimented by attendance at relevant workshops and seminars to improve the staff?s understanding of both the cost-benefit analysis concept and document management

An Assessment of the Records Keeping Status in Some Selected Health Institutions of Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe

This is an Open Access article published online by JHIA and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License presented at the 8th Health Informatics in Africa Conference (HELINA 2013).,Records keeping is important for a functional health delivery system in the management of important information. It forms the indispensable informational and logical link between the different levels of health care both in terms of the referral of patients, supervision, outreach services, the supply of health commodities and disease management. It is an important component of the health care delivery system. The purpose of the study was to find out the range and types of records kept by the health centres, clinics and hospitals; to find out if there are electronic records keeping systems used by the health institutions; to determine the records management and records keeping systems used by the health centres, clinics and hospitals and comparing them to internationally recommended standards; to find out the skills and experience of staff who manage records at different levels

Investigating inter-organisational platform development through the lens of collective action

This thesis examines inter-organisational platform development occurring though collective action. Despite much hype about the benefits of platforms, and burgeoning stream of work on the subject in IS literature, IOP development processes and practices that lead to success or failure remain obscure. Some scholars suggest that this is perhaps because of the secrecy associated with such projects. IS literature shows that the development of inter-organisational platforms is plagued by collective action challenges, such as the conflicting interests, heterogenous goals, and coopetition between members. This is mostly encountered in designing important aspects of the platform such as architecture, governance models, and value systems. These challenges make critical mass difficult to achieve, often derailing platform development projects. Thus, it has become crucial to understand how such platforms are developed through collective efforts by multiple organisations. This study addresses the gaps mentioned using a longitudinal case study. There was an opportunity for unusual research access to real time observations of the development processes from inception. This led to collection of a rich dataset from multiple sources. Over two-and-half years, observations were made as 46 organisations such as airlines, airports, visitor experience providers (e.g., canyon swings, ziptreks), private corporates, hotel chains, and government agencies worked together to develop a platform for sharing data resources and services in the tourism sector in New Zealand. Findings indicate that IOP development processes vary in specific areas of development such as the designing of architecture, governance, value systems, and standards. Whilst some processes can be managed through leadership, coordination, and collective organising by a leading organisation in the collective, others require self-organisation to align complementary resources and interests. Apart from processes of activities and actions, we also found that socio-cognitive processes and joint actions between members co-influence each other during design phases. These co-influences can explain how cognitive distances and incongruencies in technology frames of references are resolved. The primary contribution of this study is to have created theoretical building blocks towards a nascent theory of IOP development processes occurring through collective action. These building blocks include specifications of concepts, process models of design & cognitive processes, propositions of process activities & their observed outcomes, and problematisations of key constructs that extend the theoretical boundaries of such concepts as critical mass (the outcome variable in collective action). The research also contributes to platforms and collective action theories by integrating the two areas in investigating the development of inter-organisational platforms. Practical knowledge can be drawn on how IOPs are constructed in conditions of heterogeneity and coopetition requiring collective organising.</p