Hungarian IT: Coping with Economic Transition and Globalization

This paper examines the impact of economic transition on the information technology industry in Hungary. It highlights some of the challenges faced by policy makers and businesses in their efforts to ensure that Hungarian technology capabilities survive the onslaught of fierce competition from abroad, and that the industry continues to grow and innovate in the context of a rapidly globalising economy. The paper is based on extensive field research conducted by the author in Hungary during 1998-2002

Nonperturbative Description of Deep Inelastic Structure Functions in Light-Front QCD

We explore the deep inelastic structure functions of hadrons nonperturbatively in an inverse power expansion of the light-front energy of the probe in the framework of light-front QCD. We arrive at the general expressions for various structure functions as the Fourier transform of matrix elements of different components of bilocal vector and axial vector currents on the light-front in a straightforward manner. The complexities of the structure functions are mainly carried by the multi-parton wave functions of the hadrons, while, the bilocal currents have a dynamically dependent yet simple structure on the light-front in this description. We also present a novel analysis of the power corrections based on light-front power counting which resolves some ambiguities of the conventional twist analysis in deep inelastic processes. Further, the factorization theorem and the scale evolution of the structure functions are presented in this formalism by using old-fashioned light-front time-ordered perturbation theory with multi-parton wave functions. Nonperturbative QCD dynamics underlying the structure functions can be explored in the same framework. Once the nonperturbative multi-parton wave functions are known from low-energy light-front QCD, a complete description of deep inelastic structure functions can be realized.Comment: Revtex, 30 pages and no figur

Public sector ICT management strategy and its impact on e-government: a case study

This paper explores the relationship between public sector information and communications technology (ICT) management strategies and electronic government (e-Gov) initiatives. We use an adaptation of the technology enactment framework to explore various technological, organisational, and institutional factors that play a role in the development of ICT management strategies in a public agency. Using the case study of a city (anonymised and referred to in this paper as the ‘City’) in the U.S. state of Connecticut, we examine how these factors in turn help determine the city’s e-Gov initiatives. Our findings show that the bureaucratic structure and culture of the public agency play a key role in the type of ICT strategy adopted in the city and that this has important repercussions for the outcome of its e-Gov programme

An Examination of the Impacts of a Learning Management System:A Case from Jamaica

Using a mixed methods approach, this paper examines the pedagogical and organizational impacts of a new Learning Management System (LMS) in a Jamaican university. Overall results show positive impacts on learning and teaching, and engagement across stakeholder groups. However the LMS seems to have a dual impact in relation to access to resources and pedagogical practice. While the LMS offers flexible access to resources and creates new opportunities for learning and delivery across the University’s urban and rural locations, it also allows for new forms of control of previously ‘free’ and flexible academic practices. The study highlights an inherent tension between institutional requirements and taken-for-granted freedoms associated with academic practice. This study adds to the nascent research on LMS usage that moves away from the typical technical and financial aspects of such systems to identify usage patterns and implications for all the main stakeholders

Web 2.0 and micro-businesses: An exploratory investigation

This is the author's final version of the article. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This article was chosen as a Highly Commended Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013.Purpose – The paper aims to report on an exploratory study into how small businesses use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies (ICT) to work collaboratively with other small businesses. The study had two aims: to investigate the benefits available from the use of Web 2.0 in small business collaborations, and to characterize the different types of such online collaborations. Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a qualitative case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of 12 UK-based small companies in the business services sector who are early adopters of Web 2.0 technologies. Findings – Benefits from the use of Web 2.0 are categorized as lifestyle benefits, internal operational efficiency, enhanced capability, external communications and enhanced service offerings. A 2×2 framework is developed to categorize small business collaborations using the dimensions of the basis for inter-organizational collaboration (control vs cooperation) and the level of Web 2.0 ICT use (simple vs sophisticated). Research limitations/implications – A small number of firms of similar size, sector and location were studied, which limits generalizability. Nonetheless, the results offer a pointer to the likely future use of Web 2.0 tools by other small businesses. Practical implications – The research provides evidence of the attraction and potential of Web 2.0 for collaborations between small businesses. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to report on use of Web 2.0 ICT in collaborative working between small businesses. It will be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of the potential of Web 2.0 in the small business community.WestFocu

Paradoxes of Visibility in Activism: The Inter-play of Online Power Dynamics Between Activists and the State in the Egyptian Revolution

Social Media has allowed activists to make their causes visible and network locally and transnationally with supporters, but posed equal threats to activists, as authoritarian states employ repressive sur-veillance measures. This paper explores the struggle between the state and activists for visibility on social media platforms, and conceptualises the paradoxes of visibility in daily practices in both sides. This is done by researching grassroots human rights groups from the Egyptian revolution, and there-fore contributing to the narrative that social media has presented as many challenges as opportunities to activism, because the same tools that are used to leverage activism are also used strategically by the state to suppress activism

Security Verification and Validation by Software SMEs: Theory versus Practice

To improve software engineering practice it is essential to observe the socio-technical realities that surround software development within an industrial context. There is a lack of empirical knowledge of security verification and validation practice within an SME context. When coupled with the recognised importance, and inherent complexities, of such practice, it appears fundamentally sound to understand the faced socio-technical realities to ensure continued process improvement and improved technology adoption and research guidance. Within this research-in-progress paper we highlight the importance of obtaining such an understanding

Revisiting IT readiness:an approach for small firms

Drawing from the literature, this paper offers an empirically validated framework for examining IT readiness in small firms. A conceptual framework of IT readiness for small firms is developed and validated empirically using a quantitative survey of 117 UK manufacturing small firms to identify distinct clusters of firms according to their states of IT readiness. The survey responses are grouped according to three distinct profiles that display varying degrees of IT readiness depending upon their strategic motivation, IT processes, project management and technology complexity. The novelty of the conceptual model differs from the prior literature on IT readiness by explicitly recognising the potential effect of IT maturity on the capability of the firm to respond to opportunities in its external environment. The paper also distinguishes between internal IT processes and project management skills

Social Media and Social Transformation Movements: The Role of Affordances and Platforms

Social media (SM) have played a critical role in recent social transformation movements and yet information systems (IS) literature has only sparsely examined the role of particular SM platforms and their affordances that facilitate such collective action, and how such affordances are appropriated for decentralised forms of collaboration and cooperation. We draw on theories of affordances and collective action to identify a range of functional SM affordances, and related SM platforms, impacting online activism in the recent social transformation movements in Egypt, based on field interviews with a variety of movement participants. We identify nine perceived affordances of SM that were instrumental during the social transformation movements. When these affordances are appropriated by movement participants, they interact with and complement each other, thereby significantly impacting mobilization for social change. Our findings provide a more nuanced perspective on the role of SM in social transformation movements and have implications for both IS and collective action theories