Building Student Skills and Capabilities in Information Technology and eBusiness: A Moving Target

In discipline areas such as information technology and eBusiness, technology advances so rapidly that the issue of developing student skills and capabilities adequate to the demands of the industry becomes a moving target. Industryrelated learning models such as cooperative education can help academic programmes meet the challenge of keeping the IT and eBusiness curricula up-to-date. This paper presents the results of an investigation into student and employer perceptions of the relevance of the professional academic content and outcomes of an undergraduate programme with specializations in IT and in eBusiness. The research models used in the study are derived from a general framework, based on a nomological net of constructs representing three major stakeholder groups: academia, students, and industry. The study found that while both employers and students placed an increased emphasis on technical skills, the need for better understanding of the processes of convergence and integration within the business was also evidenced. Areas in need of specialized curriculum development are identified, as well as a possible misconstruction of the eBusiness discipline as perceived by employers and students

A Zero-Trust Federated Identity and Access Management Framework for Cloud and Cloud-based Computing Environments

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an important aspect of information security. The deployment of cloud computing (CC) and cloud-based computing (CbC) creates a complex information security scenario involving multiple global stakeholders and geographically dispersed infrastructures. Therefore, implementing IAM in CC/CbC requires the consideration and consolidation of multiple factors. A trust-based approach towards information security may not be a credible option for the CC/CbC environment as trust-based relationships among different architectural elements and including human beings may pose an additional security threat to the cloud space. In this paper, we propose a zero-trust framework for federated IAM in CC/CbC. The proposed framework incorporates a decentralised approach towards IAM that aims to minimise any single entity’s controlling power over the digital assets in the CC/CbC space. The critical component of the proposed framework is the decentralised audit log

Bridging the Research-Practice Gap in Requirements Engineering through Effective Teaching and Peer Learning

In this paper, we introduce the concept of the research practice gap as it is perceived in the field of software requirements engineering. An analysis of this gap has shown that two key causes for the research-practice gap are lack of effective communication and the relatively light coverage of requirements engineering material in University programmes. We discuss the design and delivery of a Masters course in Software Requirements Engineering (SRE) that is designed to overcome some of the issues that have caused the research-practice gap. By encouraging students to share their experiences in a peer learning environment, we aim to improve shared understanding between students (many of whom are current industry practitioners) and researchers (including academic staff members) to improve the potential for effective collaborations, whilst simultaneously developing the requirements engineering skill sets of the enrolled students. Feedback from students in the course is discussed and directions for the future development of the curriculum and learning strategies are given.Comment: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG 2009

Open Government Data Initiatives: Open by Default or Publishing with Purpose

Over the last decade, after a set of Open Government Data (OGD) principles were developed, governments around the world started to radically change their culture on data governance. However, at the implementation stage of OGD initiatives governments needed to consider whether publishing the massive quantities of open datasets did meet public needs for use and re-use, in view of the enormous investment and resources put into the production of publishable OGD. This research-in-progress adopts an exploratory case study approach combining it with a narrative literature review to investigate how the “Open by default” principle and the “Publishing with purpose” strategy were involved in facilitating OGD usage and public participation. The study’s goal is to overview the current implementation of OGD initiatives and to explore best practices when working with open data. We expect to present a new logic model or to show the modification of existing government organisational logic models by analysing the findings on the nature of the New Zealand government effort in opening data up relates with the possible advantage experienced by the government and the public at large

Responsiveness and agility in collaborative networks

This paper investigates the responsiveness of technology and network governance in the case of collaborative networks comprising multiple organizations and identifies factors affecting the structure and the sustainability of collaborative network governance models. More specifically, the study focuses on the effect of network configurations that combine integration and unbundling on the collaborative network’s agility. The inferences draw on the cross case analysis of four case studies, representing collaborative networks situated within different industry segments in one geopolitical location. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives from each collaborative network. The paper has identified effective communication among partners as an essential requirement for the success of any collaborative project. With regards to agility, a proposition may be advanced that for some type of collaborative services, a higher degree of vertical integration is a better approach compared to a higher degree of unbundling. However, the study findings also indicated that unbundling is a good approach in the case of collaborative services where a cloud based deployment and delivery approach is the priority, and the set of collaborators is diverse. Finally, the findings also showed that a participatory, and largely decentralized model of governance, is more effective in achieving responsiveness, in a collaborative network, than a centralized model

Value-creating Roles Played by the Actors in Open Government Data: A Systematic Literature Review

Government-held data are immensely valuable; as well as providing the information required to carry out tasks related to internal governance procedures, additional value may be generated by publishing and making accessible Open Government Data (OGD). The paper aims to identify the underlying factors that influence or are influenced by value creation, from the perspective of the OGD actors engaged in value-creating roles. A systematic literature review was conducted in order to study OGD value creation from the perspective of OGD actors engaged in value-creating roles. The findings of the metasynthesis approach indicate that the value-creating roles of the actors in the OGD ecosystem initiate the value co-creation necessary to turning data value into social and economic benefits for stakeholders, as the outcome of all actors’ efforts and government commitment to OGD initiatives

VALUE CO-CREATION AND OPPORTUNITIES IN HEALTH CARE AND WELLBEING: THE CASE OF THE GREEN PRESCRIPTION

The Green Prescription (GRx) is a health and wellbeing service that aims to manage the in-creasing obesity rates in the New Zealand population by providing free advice and support to at-risk patients. We evaluate the GRx service ecosystem using a qualitative approach and apply-ing a value co-creation framework. The resulting mapping allows us to identify new value co-creation opportunities and implications for practitioners. The research contributes a mapping of customer, supplier and encounter processes to a healthcare ecosystem and identifies existing and new value co-creation opportunities within the GRx ecosystem. We suggest that the GRx provider design a technological solution that allows the actors within the ecosystem to collabo-rate and create value. We also suggest that the service supplier could facilitate value co-creation by considering patients’ extrinsic motivators. The service supplier could improve the health-related intervention delivery by the use of Web 2.0 facilities, and enhance resource-sharing relationship experiences by making transparent a larger range of resources. Our study shows how the healthcare service provider may benefit from understanding active customer involvement in the relationship experience. We suggest that innovative research approaches such as the one applied may be useful when studying active customers and co-creation practices

THE BENEFITS OF OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA USE: A CROSSCOUNTRY COMPARISON

Data produced by government have enormous importance; in addition to providing the information needed to run governance tasks related to internal processes, they can be used to create new sources of value by combining public datasets with private organisations’ data. In this regard, many countries have implemented Open Government Data (OGD) to unlock the potential value of public data. This study study is concerned with how government agencies create regulations about adopting OGD. The research examined five studies which investigated OGD programs in five different countries, and in one political and economic union. Drawing on the results of the analysis of the selected studies, it presents a list of categorised benefits based on OGD actors’ perspectives. Three categories of benefits are identified, namely 1) technical and operational, 2) economic, and 3) political and societal. This study gives a practical insight into how government agencies can use innovation to create, deliver and benefit from sustainable OGD value