Generating and Justifying Design Theory

This paper applies Simon’s (1996) sciences of the artificial to elaborate a set of structures and processes for developing design theory. Goals, kernel theory, and artifacts inform an inter-related prototyping cycle of design, evaluation, and appropriation / generation to produce strategic design theory. The paper identifies DSR project types to provide signposts for starting and ending the cycle, artifact and evaluation iteration to facilitate the process and provide a chain of evidence, a simplified format for representing design theory iterations, and stopping rules to end the cycle. We use a detailed example to illustrate the ideas, discuss related work, and identify limitations and future research opportunities

Integrating the Supply Chain with RFID: A Technical and Business Analysis

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the technical and business implications of adopting Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in organizational settings. The year 2004 marked a significant shift toward adopting RFID because of mandates by large retailers and government organizations. The use of RFID technology is expected to increase rapidly in the next few years. At present, however, initial barriers against widespread adoption include standards, interoperability, costs, forward compatibility, and lack of familiarity. This paper describes basic components of an RFID system including tags, readers, and antennas and how they work together using an integrated supply chain model. Our analysis suggests that business needs to overcome human resource scarcity, security, legal and financial challenges and make informed decision regarding standards and process reengineering. The technology is not fully mature and suffers from issues of attenuation and interference. A laboratory experiment conducted by the authors\u27 shows that the middleware is not yet at a plug-and-play stage, which means that initial adopters need to spend considerable effort to integrate RFID into their existing business processes. Appendices contain a glossary of common RFID terms, a list of RFID vendors and detailed findings of the laboratory experiment. NOTE: BECAUSE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS USED, THIS ARTICLE IS LONG; APPROXIMATELY 850KB IN BOTH JOURNAL AND ARTICLE VERSIO

Web Based Development Using n-tier Technologies

This report from the Comparison and Evaluation Laboratory (CEL) of the Computer and Information Science department at Temple University compares web-oriented n-tier systems development architectures. The focus is on comparing the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) with Java + Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) approach. The comparison is grounded on the experience of a team solving a benchmark task using both approaches. The benchmark task focuses on creating a browser accessible contact management system that keeps track of the relationships that a large company has with customers, brokers, and individuals. The benchmark task includes elements of transaction processing and workflow that are applicable to many other organizational tasks

Matching Process Support Technologies to Learning Requirements:VLab -Virtual Laboratories for Distributed Team Software Development

Organizational work increasingly demands the completion of complex tasks by distributed teams. Traditional college instruction emphasizes measurable, individual learning. In this environment students do not learn the skills needed to perform complex, distributed, team tasks. Current learning approaches must change to meet the needs of the work force of the future. Obstacles to changing traditional learning approaches include: 1.There are few reference models that provide guidance on how to integrate complex team-oriented tasks into the learning process. 2.The physical arrangement of learning is based on scheduled and formal, once-a-week, or twice-a-week interaction among students and instructor. Such an arrangement cannot address the needs of students who must interact on a more frequent, irregular basis, ask the instructor for help when they reach a learning boundary on a complex task, and share project-related information with each other. 3.The usual problems that student teams encounter in finding opportunities to meet are exacerbated for the physically challenged and the growing number of non traditional, urban city students who commute and must work to pay educational expense

Can Digital Engagement Transform the Performing Arts?

From changing consumer relationships to demands for new experiences, performing arts institutions are under increasing pressure to embrace digital transformation. Technology is altering how audiences engage with the arts. Strategies to sustain existing formats, customers, and revenue models are unlikely to succeed. Cultural institutions in general and performing arts such as orchestras, ballets, and operas are rapidly adopting technology – with millions of social media followers, streaming, and online ticketing. Yet, these initiatives are fragmented, hard to assess. This research asks: What are the mechanisms driving digital innovation in performing arts institutions? The research approach includes field interviews with fifty performing arts organizations. The results show that engagement is an important construct for digital transformation. The components, development, instantiation, and impact of digital engagement are elaborated in a set of propositions that summarize the role of digital transformation in the performing arts

What Does Universal Access Mean?

Universal access (UA) to the Internet and the associated information infrastructure has become an important economic and societal goal. Yet, a comprehensive and systematicunderstanding of the UA concept is still lacking. In this paper, we apply naturalistic techniques of inquiry to analyze the Philadelphia Wireless initiative, and develop a series of propositions that constitute a proposed new model of UA. The analysis reveals that UA is a multi-dimensional construct that is influenced by different stakeholders with varied and conflicting interests. UA, in the modern era, represents a human-technology alliance that exhibits great diversity across individuals, technologies, and associated social contexts. This departs from the traditional top-down notion of universal access that focused mainly on physical connectivity. The human and technological elements aredeeply embedded within institutional dependencies that are essential, yet also alternatively enable or constrain meaningful underlying use of the information infrastructure. The implications of this complexity for achieving universal access and policy making are discussed

SME Digitization: How do Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Firms Digitize

Information technology (IT) and digitization have profoundly transformed the economy. However, research on the IT implementation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a key component of the economy, is limited or treats all SMEs as homogeneous. This paper studies how SMEs are differentially digitizing by analyzing their digitization architecture. We apply clustering to find interesting observations on the digitization architecture of over 60,000 micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in the United States. The preliminary results shed light on the digital architecture of SMEs, the differences in digitization among SMEs, and inform the digital technology suppliers that cater to SMEs

Extended Enterprise Applications and Sustained Competitive Advantage

In this study we extend the resource-based view of the firm to include inter-organizational complementary resources. We use web services as an example of a technology that extends firm resources beyond organizational boundaries. The modular design of web services enables the integration of monolithic applications within and across enterprises, creating the vision of an extended enterprise that is more adaptable and responsive to market changes. As the technology continues to mature, web services will create a dynamic capability that will sustain organizational competitive advantage

IS IT THE GREAT EQUALIZER? A SOCIAL CLASS BASED LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION

Technology in general and the Internet in particular have often been seen as the ―great equalizer‖ in that it provides a level playing field for all individuals in the society in terms of competing for social and economic opportunities. However, technology philosophers such as Andrew Feenberg have argued that technology diffusion mirrors the existing social order. Which of these worldviews actually holds is an open question, and in this research, we try to answer it using data on adoption of multiple technologies by individuals in the US over different time periods. Our results suggest that technology diffusion largely takes place along existing social class lines, and that the arrival of newer technologies ensures that the digital divide perpetuates