Understanding virtual world usage: A multipurpose model and empirical testing

This paper investigates the role of boundary objects in the interdisciplinary collaborative processes found in computer games development. It draws on data from an in-depth case study in a computer games studio that explores boundary objects in relation to the compelling, sensory and entertainmentcentred game-playing practices that inform computer games design and development. Sensory user experience and aesthetic considerations – of primary importance in computer games development – are becoming increasingly significant in the design and development of many other kinds of software and information systems. For this reason developments in the design and production of computer games have wider implications for other software and information systems settings and provide valuable insights into processes of collaboration that bridge cultural and aesthetic as well as technical forms of expertise. The paper seeks to provide insights into how objects contribute to such collaboration, with attention focusing especially on how game developers devise objects that span boundaries and draw on these in their collaboration. Through its focus on the material production and practices of computer games development, the research presented also seeks to contribute to the theoretical treatment of interdisciplinary collaborative working in software design and development via a critical assessment of the concept of boundary objects in the setting being studied

Communities of practice and situated learning in healthcare

In this chapter we examine the origins, nature and practical implications of the idea of ‘community of practice’. We argue that the concept has been used both to illuminate the challenges of creating a ‘learning culture’ in healthcare and to establish initiatives promote knowledge transfer and sharing. After clarifying some of the key concepts under discussion, in the chapter we illustrate the general features of this broad family of interventions, discuss their characteristics and summarise their key success factors. We also show how the ideas of community of practice and situated learning have been applied in diverse ways by healthcare organizations and funders, how theses ways of knowing and learning have been inserted into the established institutional order, and the mixed, but sometimes promising, outcomes which have flowed from them

Critical Failure Factors in ERP Implementation

Conference Theme: I.T. and Value CreationThis study firstly examines the current literature concerning ERP implementation problems during implementation phases and causes of ERP implementation failure. A multiple case study research methodology was adopted to understand "why" and "how" these ERP systems could not be implemented successfully. Different stakeholders (including top management, project manager, project team members and ERP consultants) from these case studies were interviewed, and ERP implementation documents were reviewed for triangulation. An ERP life cycle framework was applied to study the ERP implementation process and the associated problems in each phase of ERP implementation. Fourteen critical failure factors were identified and analyzed, and three common critical failure factors (poor consultant effectiveness, project management effectiveness and poo555îr quality of business process re-engineering) were examined and discussed. Future research on ERP implementation and critical failure factors is discussed. It is hoped that this research will help to bridge the current literature gap and provide practical advice for both academics and practitioners.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Evidence-based commissioning in the English NHS : who uses which sources of evidence? A survey 2010/2011

Objectives: To investigate types of evidence used by healthcare commissioners when making decisions and whether decisions were influenced by commissioners’ experience, personal characteristics or role at work. Design: Cross-sectional survey of 345 National Health Service (NHS) staff members. Setting: The study was conducted across 11 English Primary Care Trusts between 2010 and 2011. Participants: A total of 440 staff involved in commissioning decisions and employed at NHS band 7 or above were invited to participate in the study. Of those, 345 (78%) completed all or a part of the survey. Main outcome measures: Participants were asked to rate how important different sources of evidence (empirical or practical) were in a recent decision that had been made. Backwards stepwise logistic regression analyses were undertaken to assess the contributions of age, gender and professional background, as well as the years of experience in NHS commissioning, pay grade and work role. Results: The extent to which empirical evidence was used for commissioning decisions in the NHS varied according to the professional background. Only 50% of respondents stated that clinical guidelines and cost-effectiveness evidence were important for healthcare decisions. Respondents were more likely to report use of empirical evidence if they worked in Public Health in comparison to other departments (p<0.0005, commissioning and contracts OR 0.32, 95%CI 0.18 to 0.57, finance OR 0.19, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.78, other departments OR 0.35, 95%CI 0.17 to 0.71) or if they were female (OR 1.8 95% CI 1.01 to 3.1) rather than male. Respondents were more likely to report use of practical evidence if they were more senior within the organisation (pay grade 8b or higher OR 2.7, 95%CI 1.4 to 5.3, p=0.004 in comparison to lower pay grades). Conclusions: Those trained in Public Health appeared more likely to use external empirical evidence while those at higher pay scales were more likely to use practical evidence when making commissioning decisions. Clearly, National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance and government publications (eg, National Service Frameworks) are important for decision-making, but practical sources of evidence such as local intelligence, benchmarking data and expert advice are also influential

Recombination in the Open-Ended Value Landscape of Digital Innovation

Digital innovation introduces a new open-ended value landscape to anyone seeking to generate or capture new value. To understand this landscape, we distinguish between design recombination and use recombination, explore how they play out together, and redirect the attention from products and services toward digital resources. Digital resources serve as building-blocks in digital innovation, and they hold the potential to simultaneously be part of multiple value paths, offered through design recombination and assembled through use recombination. Building on this perspective, we offer the value spaces framework as a tool for better understanding value creation and capture in digital innovation. We illustrate the framework and offer the early contours of a research agenda for information systems researchers

Developing a Relational View of the Organizing Role of Objects: A study of the innovation process in computer games

Innovation processes create distinctive challenges for coordination. Objects are seen as supporting coordination in such settings by enabling the emergent action needed to deal with a dynamic and uncertain process. Thus, previous work has highlighted the role of different types of objects in coordinating the collaborative tasks undertaken by expert groups, either by motivating the creation of new knowledge or through the translation of understanding. Through an empirical study of innovation processes in the computer games sector, our paper adds to this previous work by finding that the relations between objects, and not the objects alone, help to orchestrate multiple collaborative tasks towards a final outcome within temporal and resource constraints. The relational view which emerges from this study shows how such a ‘system of objects’ is able to stabilize coordination of the process while preserving the emergence and autonomy of games developer practices needed to achieve innovation

Entanglements of creative agency and digital technology : a sociomaterial study of computer game development

Digital technology, with its distinctive characteristics that result from the fundamental process of digitalization that underpins it, is seen as fundamentally altering processes of creativity. However, we currently have limited understanding of creativity in relation to the development of digital technology. Computer game development, with its combination of esthetic, affective and cultural use features and highly sophisticated digital technologies, is a valuable setting for investigating these issues. In this paper, we explore how computer games are shaped through the interplay between the creative intentions of developers and the digital technologies involved in their production and playing. Drawing on in-depth studies conducted at three leading computer game development studios and a leading producer of the software system used in game development, this paper shows how the game developers' creative ideas for imagined novel game-playing experiences relate to a) the development of relevant digital technologies, and b) the emergence of new game development practices. The article goes on to propose a view of creativity as an on-going flow that, following an initial ‘creative impulse’, ripples through the sociomaterial entanglements of a particular setting, reconfiguring them in the process and spreading out in time and space in often unexpected ways

Supporting knowledge translation through collaborative translational research initiatives: 'bridging' versus 'blurring' boundary-spanning approaches in the UK CLAHRC initiative

Recent policy initiatives in the UK and internationally have sought to promote knowledge translation between the 'producers' and 'users' of research. Within this paper we explore how boundary-spanning interventions used within such initiatives can support knowledge translation between diverse groups. Using qualitative data from a 3-year research study conducted from January 2010 to December 2012 of two case-sites drawn from the CLAHRC initiative in the UK, we distinguish two different approaches to supporting knowledge translation; a 'bridging' approach that involves designated roles, discrete events and activities to span the boundaries between communities, and a 'blurring' approach that de-emphasises the boundaries between groups, enabling a more continuous process of knowledge translation as part of day-to-day work-practices. In this paper, we identify and differentiate these boundary-spanning approaches and describe how they emerged from the context defined by the wider CLAHRC networks. This highlights the need to develop a more contextualised analysis of the boundary-spanning that underpins knowledge translation processes, relating this to the distinctive features of a particular case

Managing software engineers and their knowledge

This chapter begins by reviewing the history of software engineering as a profession, especially the so-called software crisis and responses to it, to help focus on what it is that software engineers do. This leads into a discussion of the areas in software engineering that are problematic as a basis for considering knowledge management issues. Some of the previous work on knowledge management in software engineering is then examined, much of it not actually going under a knowledge management title, but rather “learning” or “expertise”. The chapter goes on to consider the potential for knowledge management in software engineering and the different types of knowledge management solutions and strategies that might be adopted, and it touches on the crucial importance of cultural issues. It concludes with a list of challenges that knowledge management in software engineering needs to address