Teaching Sustainability Concepts: Information and Communications Technologies and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Pace University teaches an Issues in Information Systems course in the final year of its Master of Science in Information Systems program. Currently, the class explores the potentials for using Information Systems and Technology to achieve sustainable progress with the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In September 2000 these international development goals were formally accepted by all 192 UN member states and many other international organizations under the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These 192 parties agreed to achieve the goals by 2015. In our course, sustainable development is broadly interpreted using Brundtland\u27s 1987 concept of development that meets present needs without compromising the abilities of future generations to meet their own needs. We designed an Applied Sustainability Learning Model with three layers of learning to attain educational competency in the area of Applied Sustainability. These are the Domain Layer, the Sustainability Layer and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Layer. This brief abstract describes the current assignment structure the students are asked to complete during this course. The Hopefully, these and other assignments may help in an attempt to codify curriculum requirements necessary to apply Information Systems and Technology trans-globally to foster economic, societal and environmental sustainability

Creating With Web 2.0: A Course Designed To Build Interdisciplinary Alliances

This paper reports on a new interdisciplinary undergraduate course aimed at providing students with the ability to create interactive multimedia content using Web 2.0. The course is named Creating with Web 2.0. It is part of a larger project whose goal is to explore and articulate the strategic alignments among Information Systems and other fields of study. The original focus of the course was on Web 2.0 and Performing Arts. ‘Creating with Web 2.0’ closely conforms to the ‘IS Innovations and New Technologies’ elective course specified in the IS 2010 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs. We expect the course may lead to increased interest in integrating computing into other disciplines. We describe the philosophies leading to ‘Creating with Web 2.0’ within the context of today’s enrollment challenges and employment opportunities. We then present some course specifics including assignments, the set of free tools that were used in class, and some of the student work. The objective is to provide a set of materials that will allow others to create and deploy a similar course

DESIGNING INTERACTIVE USER INTERFACES: DIALOG CHARTS AND AN ASSESSMENT OF THEIR USE IN SPECIFYING CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF DIALOGS

The conceptual design of user interfaces focuses on arriving at a specification of the structure of the dialog, independent of any particular implementation approach. There is common agreement as to the importance of this activity to both IS professionals and end-users, but few -- if any -- modeling methods were developed to specifically support the process of conceptual design, and the usefulness of such methods has not been adequately addressed. This paper introduces the Dialog Charts (DCs), and documents a preliminary examination of their perceived usefulness by designers of user/system interaction who actually used them. The DCs yield high level dialog schemas that are abstract enough to support the conceptual design of dialog control structures. In a uniform diagramming framework they combine the concept of dialog independence, distinguish between the dialog parties, provide for hierarchical decomposition and enforce a structured control flow. The usefulness of the DCs has been studied empirically in a qualitative inquiry. Recalled experiences of designers were captured and analyzed to ascertain the concept of usability, as well as assess the usability of the DCs. Usability has emerged from this study as a set of 38 concerns that operationalizes the broader aspects of purpose of use, design stage, impact on product structure, impact on design process, and attitudinal patterns. In general, the Dialog Charts were found by these dialog designers to be a useful, exhibiting the essential attributes of tools for conceptual modeling.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

AN EXAMINATION OF THE USE OF DIALOG CHARTS IN SPECIFYING CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF DIALOGS

The conceptual design of user interfaces focuses on the specification of the structure of the dialog, independent of any particular implementation approach. While there is common agreement with respect to the importance of this activity, adequate methods and tools to support it are generally unavailable. The Dialog Charts (DCs) yield high level dialog schemas that are abstract enough to support the conceptual design of dialog control structures. They combine dialog concepts with widely accepted design principles, in a uniform diagramming framework. Specifically, the DCs distinguish between the dialog parties, provide for hierarchical decomposition and enforce a structured control flow. A clear set of guiding principles for the conceptual design of dialogs has yet to emerge. In this paper we have elected to focus on the notions of descriptive power and usable power, as they apply to conceptual dialog modeling tools. The conceptual descriptive power of the DCs is informally examined by applying them in a varied set of examples and relating them to their lower level counterparts, namely implementation dialog models like augmented transition networks or context-free grammars. The usable power of the DCs has been examined empirically through a qualitative study of their actual use by system designers. The Dialog Chart models were found by dialog designers to be a useful conceptual design tool, which exhibit the essential attributes identified for conceptual models.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Exploring the Strategic Alignment of Performing Arts and Computing: Creating and Delivering Multimedia Performing Arts Content, Part II

Our Exploring the Strategic Alignment of Performing Arts and Computing initiative aims to develop an interdisciplinary Seidenberg-Performing arts curriculum that will integrate into the performing arts program an expansion of exposure to information technology skills and expertise relevant to creating and delivering computer mediated content. During spring and fall terms 2010 we successfully launched the interdisciplinary course Creating with Web 2.0. The fall 2010 offering includes majors from Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Computer Science, Information Systems and Performing Arts. The first offering enrolled 13 students from Marketing, Finance, Information Systems, Computer Science, Communications and Film. During spring and fall 2011 we will further develop the initial course by creating and including more sophisticated Performing to create content and to focus more attention towards recruiting Performing Arts majors. The concept of creating interactive content as an interdisciplinary curriculum offering has been shown to succeed through our first two offerings of the course. In this segment of the project we will focus much more on Performing Arts individuals and creating more sophisticated content during the Performing Arts classes, and then integrating this content into a living web presence for the Performing Artists and for students from other majors who may also enter the class

DESIGNING CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF DIALOGS: A CASE FOR DIALOG CHARTS

The conceptual design of user interfaces focuses on the specification of the structure of the dialog, independent of any particular implementation approach. While there is common agreement with respect to the importance of this activity, adequate methods and tools to support it are generally unavailable. The Dialog Charts (DCs) presented in this paper address this problem -- they support the conceptual design of dialog control structures. The DCs combine visual modeling (i.e., diagraming) with widely accepted design principles and an explicit model of dialog structures. As no clear evaluation criteria exist in this evolving area of dialog design, the preliminary assessment of the DCs takes the form of contrasting them with representative alternative design tools based on Augmented Transition Networks or Backus-Naur Form grammars. The DCs overcome some of the problems that seem to limit the usefulness of comparable approaches. An empirical investigation of the usable power of the DCs is currently underway at New York University, and a summary of this research activity concludes the paper.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Chinas ICT: Progressing Toward Maturity From A Global Perspective

This paper assesses the information and communications technology (ICT) factors governing Chinas economic expansion and its ability to sustain this expansion in the context of competing nations with similar infrastructures. This assessment utilizes a variety of selected metrics that capture the status of ICT capability of China. It provides a glimpse into the countrys ability to become a significant force in the global knowledge economy by highlighting the nations overall competitiveness rankings, juxtaposed to the standings of other nations. The timeliness of this work is noteworthy, since the success of Chinas transition towards economic and societal advancement is underpinned, to a large extent, by its total ICT investment. If a positive outcome is achieved, Chinese manufacturers will be able to adroitly weave themselves into the global supply chain by leveraging the countrys burgeoning ICT infrastructure

China In The 21st Century: Will ICT Sustain Economic Growth?

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate critical thinking about China’s ability to consistently grow its economy by leveraging its information and communication (ICT) infrastructure in such as way as to prolong the competitive advantage it now enjoys from its ability to attract multinational corporations (MNCs) attention. The success of China’s transition towards economic and societal advancement is underpinned, to a large extent, by its total ICT investment.  A competitive ICT profile is an antecedent to innovation, making China’s intention to become a significant force in the global knowledge economy more viable. This paper interprets current evaluations of China’s innovation circumstances in light of factual and perceptual data that represents the nation’s ICT capabilities in the context of its standings with other nations

China In the 21st Century: Will ICT Sustain Economic Growth?

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate critical thinking about China’s ability to consistently grow its economy by leveraging its information and communication (ICT) infrastructure in such as way as to prolong the competitive advantage it now enjoys from its ability to attract multinational corporations (MNCs) attention. The success of China’s transition towards economic and societal advancement is underpinned, to a large extent, by its total ICT investment. A competitive ICT profile is an antecedent to innovation, making China’s intention to become a significant force in the global knowledge economy more viable. This paper interprets current evaluations of China’s innovation circumstances in light of factual and perceptual data that represents the nation’s ICT capabilities in the context of its standings with other nations

AN EXAMINATION OF THE USE OF DIALOG CHARTS IN SPECIFYING CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF DIALOGS

The conceptual design of user interfaces focuses on the specification of the structure of the dialog, independent of any particular implementation approach. While there is common agreement with respect to the importance of this activity, adequate methods and tools to support it are generally unavailable. The Dialog Charts (DCs) yield high level dialog schemas that are abstract enough to support the conceptual design of dialog control structures. They combine dialog concepts with widely accepted design principles, in a uniform diagramming framework. Specifically, the DCs distinguish between the dialog parties, provide for hierarchical decomposition and enforce a structured control flow. A clear set of guiding principles for the conceptual design of dialogs has yet to emerge. In this paper we have elected to focus on the notions of descriptive power and usable power, as they apply to conceptual dialog modeling tools. The conceptual descriptive power of the DCs is informally examined by applying them in a varied set of examples and relating them to their lower level counterparts, namely implementation dialog models like augmented transition networks or context-free grammars. The usable power of the DCs has been examined empirically through a qualitative study of their actual use by system designers. The Dialog Chart models were found by dialog designers to be a useful conceptual design tool, which exhibit the essential attributes identified for conceptual models.Information Systems Working Papers Serie