Toward a Parsimonious Architecture for Intelligent Organizational Information Systems

An architecture for intelligent organizational information systems is proposed which consists of three functions: processing, communicating, and memory--any or all of which may be performed by either humans or computers. Processing occurs on a set of communicating processors with access to memory, and is defined as having three sub-functions: sensing, interpreting, and acting. The communicating and memory functions are seen to have certain basic characteristics whether described in terms from human organization or computer organization literature. The architecture may prove a useful guide for future research which begins to consider intelligent organizational information systems with increasingly synergistic roles played by humans and computers

Location Privacy in the Era of the Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics

Location information is generated in large quantities in the Internet of Things and becomes a major component of the big data phenomenon. This results in privacy issues involving sensing, identification, storage, processing, sharing, and use of this information in technical, social, and legal contexts. These issues must be addressed if the IoT is to be widely adopted and accepted. Theory will need to be developed and tested, and new research questions will need to be investigated. This exploratory research begins to identify, classify, and describe these issues and questions

Hypermedia Knowledge Management for Intelligent Organizations

Using a simple model consisting of individual knowledge bases, organization knowledge bases, organization actions, and environment responses, hypermedia is investigated as a technology for knowledge management in intelligent organizations. Cognitive mapping, issue-based information systems, and generalized hypertext methods are reviewed before proposing desirable features of hypermedia organization knowledge management. These desirable features include a variety of typed hypertext nodes and links, process memory, learning support, and both automated and user-directed manipulation of knowledge bases. Interactions of the knowledge bases with organization actions and environmental responses are also discussed

Research Issues Involving Hypertext in Decision Support Systems

The term hypertext describes a computerized system which allows the user to browse through a network of nodes, each of which is commonly a collection of text but which may be quantitative models or other entities. A review o f DSS research and applications frameworks in the literature reveals several areas where further research may be valuable in identifying the usefulness and appropriate role of hypertext in DSS. These issues involve user characteristics, decision and problem characteristics, situational and organizational factors, and technological factors. Some areas which appear to be worthy of further investigation include hypertext\u27s support of the human brain\u27s hemispheric specialization, its isomorphism with generalized problem solving paradigms such as the state-space approach, and extensions of the basic model whereby nodes become executable decision models. In addition, hypertext may be self-applied by DSS researchers as a vehicle to simulate and study various user interface techniques and as a process tracing laboratory

Privacy Issues in Location-Aware Mobile Devices

Location awareness, the ability to determine geographical position, is an emerging technology with both significant benefits and important privacy implications for users of mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Location is determined either internally by a device or externally by systems and networks with which the device interacts, and the resultant location information may be stored, used, and disclosed under various conditions that are described. Thirteen specific privacy issues are enumerated and discussed as examples of the challenges we will face as these technologies and their associated products and services are deployed. Regulation by governments, standards organizations, industry groups, public interest groups, and marketplace forces are discussed as it may help address privacy issues

Decision Support Systems Process Tracing Using Hypermedia

Two main alternative approaches to analyzing decision processes--implicit input/output inference models and explicit tracing of observable decision process manifestations-are reviewed with emphasis on explicit tracing methods. An emerging technology, hypermedia, is then examined as to how it may facilitate the process tracing method of decision making analysis. Examples are presented of mappings between hypermedia computer/user interface functions (such as mouse movements and mouse clicks) and underlying decision process functions. Issues of data quality, breadth of application, and implementation cost are discussed. Hypermedia process tracing is compared with other process tracing methods, including monitoring of eye movements, verbal protocols, and non hypermedia computerized logging. Advantages and disadvantages of the hypermedia approach are identified. Further directions for the application of hypermedia process tracing include areas related to information retrieval, use of models, study of user interfaces, and the potential for using the techniques to identify and compare cognitive processes of decision makers

An Exploratory Study of Hypermedia Support for Problem Decomposition

Empirical hypermedia research has concentrated on usability rather than utility, and the research on utility has focused on information access as opposed to problem solving and decision making in organizations. This study, based on problem reduction theory, uses a hypermedia prototype system to support decision processes for solving a financial analysis problem. An exploratory laboratory experiment was conducted to study the feasibility of the prototype for hypermedia support of decision making. The process tracing techniques used suggest that a cognitive map of a decision maker\u27s thought process may be constructed. Results offer a great deal of promise in the use of hypermedia for organizational decision support. The implications of this study for further research are discussed

Measuring the Effectiveness of Hypertext In Decision Support

Hypertext is an emerging technology that has not been researched adequately, particularly in organizations that utilize decision support technologies. This paper suggests that developing a set of dependent variables to measure effectiveness of hypertext in decision support is an important first step in a program of research. A review of empirical hypertext research is presented followed by a discussion of research assessing effectiveness of decision support and related systems. The role of hypertext in organizations is conceptually linked to the three main phases of the decision making process: problem structuring, analysis, and problem resolution. A set of six classes of appropriate dependent variables for assessing effectiveness of hypertext is suggested within the context of the decision making phases: information content and function variables are associated with problem structuring; presentation and usage variables are associated with analysis; outcome and perception variables are associated with problem resolution

Flowering Time Diversification and Dispersal in Central Eurasian Wild Wheat Aegilops tauschii Coss.: Genealogical and Ecological Framework

Timing of flowering is a reproductive trait that has significant impact on fitness in plants. In contrast to recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of floral transition, few empirical studies have addressed questions concerning population processes of flowering time diversification within species. We analyzed chloroplast DNA genealogical structure of flowering time variation in central Eurasian wild wheat Aegilops tauschii Coss. using 200 accessions that represent the entire species range. Flowering time measured as days from germination to flowering varied from 144.0 to 190.0 days (average 161.3 days) among accessions in a common garden/greenhouse experiment. Subsequent genealogical and statistical analyses showed that (1) there exist significant longitudinal and latitudinal clines in flowering time at the species level, (2) the early-flowering phenotype evolved in two intraspecific lineages, (3) in Asia, winter temperature was an environmental factor that affected the longitudinal clinal pattern of flowering time variation, and (4) in Transcaucasus-Middle East, some latitudinal factors affected the geographic pattern of flowering time variation. On the basis of palaeoclimatic, biogeographic, and genetic evidence, the northern part of current species' range [which was within the temperate desert vegetation (TDV) zone at the Last Glacial Maximum] is hypothesized to have harbored species refugia. Postglacial southward dispersal from the TDV zone seems to have been driven by lineages that evolved short-flowering-time phenotypes through different genetic mechanisms in Transcaucasus-Middle East and Asia

Student Adoption & Development of Digital Learning Media: Action Research and Recommended Practices

Digital technologies offer many opportunities for creating engaging course content. In this study we captured student perceptions and adoption choices related to creating and using digital media as learning tools. Podcasts, video and other media were integrated in a variety of contexts and tasks in two undergraduate information technology (IT) courses in a college of business. During the fall semesters of 2009 and 2010, faculty members teaching a junior-level IT and networking concepts course and a senior-level information security course, produced video-captured lectures, recorded fine-grained conceptual tutorials and podcasts, developed software simulations, and provided media for ad-hoc learning assistance. Students produced video for several class assignments. They also had the option of replacing a typical written semester report with a video project. Student satisfaction with the various forms of digital learning media, perceptions of learning, and intention to adopt for future courses were measured in a series of surveys and compared to self-reported learning styles. Of particular interest was how students would perform and respond to the higher order learning activity of creating digital output. Outcomes were generally positive, and in some cases, students reported that access to digital media positively changed the way they prepared for class and studied for exams. While students reported that developing digital media was preferable to traditional projects and felt they learned more about their topics during the process of developing a video or simulation, they noted the time commitment was high. They are not yet ready to see digital media used exclusively for content delivery and expressed a preference for a mix of media and traditional classroom lectures. The paper concludes with suggestions for introducing digital learning media into an IT curriculum