Research on Global Information Technology Teams and Project Success - Research in Progress

The objective of this project is to determine how the composition of cross-cultural information technology (IT) development teams contributes to project success. Increasingly, IT projects are conducted across cultural boundaries, and this research will address the issues relevant to project success in this context. A cross-cultural IT team is defined as a project team responsible for an IT project. Part of the team is responsible for one phase of the project, and another part of the team is responsible for another phase of the project. For example, the requirements definition of the project may be handled by the U.S., and the implementation may be handled by Indian developers. The composition of cross-cultural teams will be defined by the cultural difference factors identified by Hofstede (2001). These factors include: Power Distance Index (PDI): society’s endorsement of inequality, hierarchy; Individualism Index (IDV): individuals look after themselves, not the overall good; Masculinity (MAS): assertive, competitive orientation; and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI): feeling of discomfort in an unstructured situation

Concept and prototype design of massive open online network for innovation and knowledge sharing

Small businesses in high-tech industries can be at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing research to compete within their own industries. Using a Design Science Research approach, we develop the concept of a Massive Open Online Network and implement a prototype that aims to support knowledge sharing among formal and informal persons, groups and organisations. We contribute novel knowledge in design principles and prototype that can be applied to support co-creation and innovation.publishedVersio

Transitioning from Transmedia to Transreality Storyboarding to Improve the Co-Creation of the Experience Space

Transmedia storytelling is a digital based marketing approach in present day consumer markets. Typically applied to spanning or segueing stories or experiences across media such as film, books, comics and video-games to reach broader target audiences, often triggering a narrative, into which customers can participate and co-create the narrative. Common aims at customer engagement have been through shared stories on present day social media. However, for the creative-consumer, sharing on social media falls short of fully immersive storytelling ecology. Creatives (traditional designers and consumers) would benefit through tools and processes for incrementally expanding dimensions, mediums, fidelity, and shared interactions and senses across multiple media and interactive realities. This paper presents use cases of Transreality Storyboarding Framework (TSF), a design framework that affords creation of experience spaces for consumer-product engagement. Further, we propose a TSF app, to allow non-expert designers/everyday-consumers to contribute to storytelling, participation and production of product experience spaces

The role of information exchange in supply chain collaboration : a case study of a Vietnam ship parts supplier

This research paper examines collaborative supply chain strategies of an anonymized company in a developing region, hereafter called Ship Parts (SP) Vietnam, a pipes and valves supplier for the shipbuilding industry. Our research applies descriptive analysis approach to examine the question; what is the role of information exchange in customer collaboration practices in management of the supply chain. We examine the practice of Vendor Managed Inventory in these relationships. The units of analysis are different types of relationships that SP Vietnam has with its key customer stakeholders in its network. The names of all key stakeholders are all anonymized. In this paper we investigate SP Vietnam’s relationship only with its customers. These include longtime international partner WAKE, the newly acquired Japanese customer Chūbu Shipyard (Chūbu), and the growing potential customer VESSELS Group in Vietnam.publishedVersio

Pandemic-induced constraints on rapid transformation to digital education

Once the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, many countries abruptly established a lock down requiring their populations to stay home to avoid any contact with others to stop the spread of the disease. Consequently, most schools and higher education institutions closed access to campuses and face-to-face class meetings were suspended. Students were sent home and temporarily left without access to traditional educational resources. The migratory solution for this situation is moving toward extensive use of distance learning tools and techniques. However, many teachers were not prepared for this transition. There remains a gap in knowledge about how to quickly transform educational content and manage e-teaching. In this paper, we describe the process of transforming a face-to-face course in Augmented Reality to the online format in a rapid way. We wish to establish case evidence for educators regarding how to convert traditional course content to online content, in the face of incidents, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we present an approach including examples and highlighting opportunities for educators in higher education to support the transformation of courses for distance learning. Keywords: distance learning, disruptive education, COVID-19 pandemicpublishedVersio

Virtual worlds and people with lifelong disability : exploring the relationship with virtual self and others

An increasing number of people with lifelong disability are active members of virtual worlds. Through their avatars, people with disability are able to participate in social, work related and educational activities in the virtual world. The aim for this paper was to explore how people with lifelong disability experienced the relationship with their virtual self and others, applying the lens of Embodied Social Presence Theory. Based on data collected through participant observation and interviews with novice and experienced users of Second Life, our findings indicate that the relationship between humans and their avatar is strong. Further, the findings indicate that the relationship with a person?s own avatar and others in the virtual world requires time to develop and be meaningful for people with lifelong disability. The ability to create an avatar with no visible disability and to choose what to disclose about a disability, is important affordances offered by the virtual world to people with disability. This study contributes to an understanding of the potential for virtual worlds to support people with lifelong disability in engaging in leisure activities and social interactions

Reflections on design of active learning module for training emergency management professionals in virtual reality

Experiences gained through learning design projects can be used as the basis to build systematic knowledge of digitization and active leaning in higher education. One such project funded by the Norwegian Agency for Digital Learning in Higher Educations (Norgesuniversitetet) has explored the design and trialling of a new resource for Emergency Management education that is based on theories of Active Learning and applies an innovative use of virtual reality technologies (VR). The project de-velops an active learning module (ALM) in a specialized VR simulation. The ALM has the learning objective to aid Emergency Management and Health professional students in the training of communi-cations in management during a crisis situation. The student interactions in the virtual reality simulat-ed ALM are active learning, because they are required to make real-time decisions while (1) interact-ing with the simulated environment and (2) they are communicating with colleagues within profession and across professions. This paper is based on observed and collected data from two days of trials using the ALM, with non-professional students in April 2016 and with Emergency Management and Health professional students in March 2017. The purpose of this paper is not to report on the learning outcomes for the students participating in these particular trials. Rather, based on the experiences of the trial-runs, the educational module (ALM) designers will reflect on the educational challenges within the thematic area. We will describe and discuss the elements of the active learning design such as the learning activities, the assessment forms, and the organizational implementation within the thematic educational programs. We will discuss how technology plays a role in achieving or hindering active learning objectives. Finally, we will reflect on how future designs of ALM can be further devel-oped to better meet the learning needs of the primary target learning group. Keywords: active learning, virtual reality, emergency management trainingpublishedVersio

Foreword - Designing Human Technologies

The Information Systems Research Seminar in Scandinavia (IRIS) is of an annual meeting of Information Systems (IS) researchers. The IRIS seminar distinguishes itself as the oldest IS seminar in the world, as it has been established in 1978. IRIS is organised by the IRIS Association, the Scandinavian Chapter of the Association for Information Systems (AIS). The articles of this fifth issue of the IRIS Selected Papers of the Information Systems Research Seminar in Scandinavia were originally proposed by the working group chairs (senior IS researchers). The selected papers have an acceptance rate of 25% of the original submissions. All of the papers of the IRIS seminar have gone through a peer review process