Charakterystyka demokracji i humanizmu w spuściznie Janusza Korczaka

In this article the author discusses the revolutionary and unique democratic-humanistic educational approach of Janusz Korczak (1878-1942), which emphasized the fundamental values of the human being concentrated on children and concerning their rights. The author presents democracy as a societal way of life, as practiced by Korczak, Wilczyńska and Falska. They administered their orphanages democratically, as expressed in Korczak’s writings. Social and moral education is presented through a social lifestyle based on fundamental principles of democratic education in the spirit of Korczak. The article also examines the characteristics of democracy itself in the historical perspective and in relation to Korczak’s democratic and humanistic approach. Humanism and democracy as regulators of social life can be greatly inspiring for teachers, educators and parents involved in the process of child education

Secular Understanding and Shattering the Myth of the American Dream: A Chronological Analysis of Changing Attitudes and Depictions of Murder within the Twentieth-Century American Literary Canon

Extreme violence, which often results in murder, is a prominent theme in the American literary canon; therefore, it deserves a wider and more focused lens in the study of Twentieth-Century American literature. Murder and entertainment seldom coexist in canonical literature, but the very nature of the murder, foreign to many readers, consequently piques one’s curiosity, and demands special attention. The literary texts I have chosen to discuss are four novels and three plays. They all belong to the genre known in literature as ‘a crime novel or play.’ The murderers are easily identified, and their criminal acts have been carried out successfully, often with much forethought and detail. My focus has been to conduct a psychological study to highlight the impetus for the crime. Three basic themes have captured my attention: 1- Is the murder a sin or a crime? What is the role of religion in the lives of the accused? 2- Is it right to blame society for such horrendous acts? 3- How is the American Dream portrayed in these works? The closer we get to the end of the Twentieth-Century, the harder it is to detect an affirmative ending in the works of literature I have explored. The insatiable appetite for material consumption overshadows the pursuit of happiness, or, maybe happiness is defined by material wealth. The critical question is: can American society read the warning written on the wall

Making Academic IS Research More Relevant to Industry Via Open-Architecture Models for Career Paths in Academia

Until the debate regarding relevance of IS research to practice is resolved, it is instructive to learn from more established disciplines where previous practical experience is accounted for and valued. In teaching hospitals, academia and practice are interrelated and co-exist. Retired high-ranked military officers, are sought for top positions, in business, politics, and academia. Promotion and tenure committees for academic IS departments, wishing to encourage interaction with IS practice, ought not only to recognize practical experience and publications in trade magazines, but also to design open-architecture career paths for smooth transition of IS personnel between industry and academia

Is eCommerce of IT Application Services (ASP) Alive and Well?

Given the great importance of outsourcing to the Information Technology (IT) profession, this paper is devoted to E-Commerce of IT application services between Application Service Providers (ASPs) and customer organizations. Instead of dealing with the more general “Is E-Commerce Dead?” question, we address the question of whether “E-Commerce for IT application services is (and will be) alive and well?” Reviewing the history of the ASP industry, shedding light on the factors inhibiting and driving ASPs, and discussing prospective customer profiles and business models leads to the conclusion that, much like E-Commerce, ASPs are alive but not very well yet

USING FACET THEORY TO REVIEW THE IS SUCCESS LITERATURE

This literature review study aimed at examining papers covering the IS Success research domain employing Facet Theory and its mapping tools. Facet Theory uses mapping sentences composed of facets that together represent all the plausible values of a universe or construct content. Forty three papers chosen by eight researchers were analyzed for similarity based on constructs included in their research models. In addition, constructs were coded for their relevance to the IS implementation timeline: before, during, after, and at maturity. In addition each paper was assigned a code calculated as the average position of its model constructs in the IS timeline. A simple exemplary mapping sentence was employed, based on the papers timeline index, and it was hypothesized that the IS timeline facet will demonstrate the axial topology. The results supported the hypothesis, showing that when ordered by their position in the IS timeline, papers are mapped employing an axial topology. It also showed that more papers focus on earlier stages of IS implementation rather than on the more mature stages. Furthermore, the SSA map obtained by the construct similarity index Sab allowed identification of primary IS Success research areas and lacunas. Being a Research in Progress, more work is under way, yet this work in progress has already demonstrated that Facet Theory can serve as an adequate yet not commonly use literature review and literature meta-analysis tool

Validating Formative Partial Least Squares (PLS) Models: Methodological Review and Empirical Illustration

The issue of formative constructs, as opposed to the more frequently used reflective ones, has recently gained momentum among IS and Management researchers. Most researchers maintain that formative constructs have been understudied, and that there is paucity in methodological literature to guide researchers on how such constructs should be developed and estimated. A survey of IS research has revealed that about 29% of constructs were misspecified as reflective rather than formative constructs. Furthermore, guidelines about how models containing formative constructs should be indentified and estimated are fragmented and inconsistent. Thus, this paper aims to present a methodological review of formative model identification and evaluation. We bring a brief theoretical overview of formative constructs, and put together a guideline for estimating formative measurement and structural models. We then present a simplified model composed of three formative constructs and illustrate how it is assessed and estimated using SmartPLS