Service Innovation Research in the Context of Business Ecosystems-A multidisciplinary Mapping Study

Advances in technology and digitalisation have changed the ways services are created and offered to users. Successful new innovative services and service value co-creation are done in collaboration with organisations and actors in contexts such as business ecosystems. The research relating to service design and open innovation in business ecosystems is cross-disciplinary, and relevant knowledge is scattered throughout different fields. In this research, we are focusing on the research that exists in the areas of service design and open innovation in the business ecosystems context. We aim to collect, analyse and synthesise this existing knowledge in order to increase the understanding of the companies’ service design and open innovation activities in business ecosystems. A mapping study method is utilised to identify the existing related research in the area and to create an overview. The final analysis included 38 papers. Our analysis revealed that the relevant research is focused mainly on two research areas: business research and information technology-related research. Most of the papers combine the open innovation and business ecosystem aspects, but service design is mostly present as a general view on services as means for value creation. We identified antecedents for service value co-creation, such as practices for ecosystem actor involvement. We also identified challenges, such as managing the business ecosystem in terms of finding the right actors. The results indicate that more focused research on the practical understanding of service design and open innovation practices, methods and tools as well as sound theory development are still needed as the research field matures. The results help inform future research in this cross-disciplinary phenomenon

Explaining Diversity and Conflicts in Privacy Behavior Models

Technological development and increasing personal data collection and utilization raise the importance of understanding individuals’ privacy behavior. Privacy behavior denotes the willingness to disclose personal data for services utilizing these data. The literature presents various privacy behavior models (PBMs). However, the research is incoherent, with inconsistencies among models. Therefore, the application and subsequent development of PBMs are challenging. Different background theories are used for model construction, and studies have been conducted in distinct application domains. We studied whether the models’ inconsistencies could be explained by these differences. Our in-depth analysis of PBMs was based on a systematic literature review of the most often cited key studies. Our findings indicate that the choice of theories and the application domains do not explain inconsistencies; instead, the models are often of an ad hoc type and constructed in an eclectic way. These results imply the need for more consistent research on privacy behavior.</p

Geographic personal data, its privacy protection and prospects in a location-based service environment

Jouni Markkula on väitöskirjatyössään tutkinut paikkaan liitettävien henkilöitä koskevien tietojen keräämisen ja hyödyntämisen mahdollisuuksia niin, että samalla otetaan huomioon henkilöiden yksityisyyden suojan turvaaminen. Tällaisia henkilöpaikkatietojen hyödyntämis-mahdollisuuksia syntyy esimerkiksi matkapuhelinteknologian kehittymisen myötä. Henkilöpaikkatiedot ovat hyödyllisiä ja yleisesti arvokkaita. Esimerkiksi SARS-keuhkokuumetartunnan saaneiden kotiosoitetietojen perusteella voitaisiin piirtää kartta sairauden levinneisyydestä vaikka koko maapallolla. Mutta jos yksittäisten SARS tartunnan saaneiden henkilöiden osoitteet julkaistaisiin kaikkien tietoon, se loukkaisi vahvasti henkilön perustuslaillista yksityisyyden suojaa, puhumattakaan muista mahdollisista seurauksista. Sekä viranomaiset että yritykset keräävät henkilöpaikkatietoja, ja näiden tietojen turvallisesta käytöstä hyötyvät sekä yksityiset henkilöt että koko yhteiskunta.During the last few decades the applications and utilisation of geographic data have widened and increased steadily. This expansion has followed on from the possibilities provided by the development in information technology. The advancement in telecommunications technology in the recent years has supported and accelerated the progress. The previously professional geographic applications area is now widening to the extent of services for the public at large. Geographic personal data forms a significant content in many geographic information applications and services. However, its collection and utilisation is restricted by the privacy protection requirement. This study tackles the questions of geographic personal data in current and future applications and services. The topics handled cover privacy protection and statistical disclosure control, geographic information systems and data utilisation in location-based services, new mobile service environments, collection and application of dynamic geographic personal data, and its possibilities and restrictions in future mobile environments. The contributions of the study include a specific analysis and solutions related the above mentioned research topics, involving constructive and methodological development as well as empirical testing. The statistical disclosure control problem of geographic population data is analysed and a method for solving it, called Local Restricted Imputation (LRI), is developed and tested. The new mobile Location-Based Services (LBS) environment and its geographic data handling possibilities is studied and tested in the form of a pilot system. The future prospects of dynamic geographic personal data are studied in the form of outlined Dynamic Geographic Data Service (DGDS). In handling the essential questions related to geographic personal data in various forms, the study presents a consistent view of its utilisation in present and future geographic data services and applications

Utilizing online serious games to facilitate distributed requirements elicitation

Requirements elicitation is one of the most important and challenging activities in software development projects. A variety of challenges related to requirements elicitation are reported in the literature, of which the lack of proper communication and knowledge transfer between software stakeholders are among the most important. Communication and knowledge transfer are becoming even bigger challenges with the current increase in globally distributed software development projects due to the temporal, geographic, and sociocultural diversity among software stakeholders. In this study, we propose a new approach to requirements elicitation, which employs online serious games for gathering requirements from distributed software stakeholders. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach were evaluated in an empirical study with encouraging results. These results especially reveal that our suggested approach enables less-experienced individuals to identify a higher number of requirements. Our results also reveal that for the majority of subjects, especially individuals with less technical experience, this approach was a pleasant and easy way of participating in requirements elicitation. Based on these results we suggest that using online serious games not only enhances innovation and creativity among end-users but also facilitates collaboration and communication among software stakeholders. Implications for both research and practice are considered.peerReviewe

Quality Evaluation Question Framework for Assessing the Quality of Architecture Documentation

First published in the Proceedings of the International BCS Conference on Software Quality Management, August 1-2, 2007, Tampere, FinlandThe present day demanding business environment and increasing complexity of ICT development have raised the significance architecture work. The architecture processes, practices and documents have become increasingly important for the companies. As the utilisation of the architectures are highly dependent on the quality of the documentation, there is an evident need for practical means for architecture documentation evaluation. This paper presents a study addressing the architecture documentation quality assessment. The research was carried out in co- operation with industry practitioners from a group of companies. The result of the study was a validated proposal of architecture documentation quality evaluation question framework. This framework can be used by organisations as a practical tool for developing the quality of the produced architecture documentation

On the road:listening to data subjects’ personal mobility data privacy concerns

Abstract Efficient utilisation of new mobility data-based services and promotion of acceptance of data collection from vehicles and people demand an understanding of mobility data privacy concerns, associated with increasing use of tracking technologies, diverse data usages and complex data collection environments. Understanding privacy concerns enables improved service and system development and identification of appropriate data management solutions that contribute to data subjects’ privacy protection, as well as efficient utilisation of the collected data. This study aimed to explore earlier research findings on privacy concerns evaluation and investigate their validity in mobility data collection. Explorative multimethod research was conducted in a mobility service pilot through data controller interviews, user interviews and a user survey. The study’s results indicated the need to revise and complement existing privacy concerns evaluation in mobility data collection contexts. The primary findings were as follows: (1) Privacy concerns specific to the mobility data collection context exist. (2) Privacy concerns may change during the service use. (3) Users are not necessarily personally worried about their privacy although they ponder on privacy issues. (4) In contrast to traditional ’privacy calculus’ thinking, users’ expected benefits from data disclosure may also be driven by altruistic motives

Communication skills requirements of junior software engineers:analysis of job ads

Abstract Software engineering (SE) profession requires various technical and non-technical skills. The skills required are influenced by the changes in the field, industry, and global trends. The changes are also reflected in the recruitment. To understand the current situation and expectations from jobseekers, this study investigates how language, intercultural, and communication skills are presented in the job ads applicable to junior software engineers. The study is based on job ads published in the Vacancies job seeking service maintained by Public Employment and Business Service in Finland. Data contained 166 job ads of which 60% were published in Finnish and 40% in English. Data analysis was based on content and thematic analysis. Based on the job ads, language, both Finnish and English, and communication skills were largely presented and required from junior software engineers, but intercultural skills and multiculturalism were almost missing. The job ads described a multifaceted, multidisciplinary communication environment where junior software engineers work. Moreover, Finnish SE labor markets have needs for fluent Finnish and English speakers; Finnish SE working environment is almost bilingual in practice. Intercultural aspects of communication were not generally visible. The peculiarities of intercultural communication are either not understood or not been aware of in designing the job ads. Moreover, the language of the ad indicates the needs and awareness. The job ads written in English highlight English skills, present Finnish skills mainly as an advantage, and emphasize communication and intercultural skills