Models of E-Democracy

Several theories of E-Democracy have been presented, and implementations of and experiments in E-Democracy emerged. However, existing literature on the subject appears rather non-comprehensive, lacking an integrated basis, for gathering knowledge in the future. After an analysis of theories of E-Democracy versus implementations reported in related literature, we address the need for a model generally absent from contemporary theoretical literature: the Partisan model of E-Democracy. We aim to simplify the current jungle of E-Democracy models into four idealised models: the Liberal, the Deliberative, the Partisan, and the Direct. We aim to illustrate how current theories of E-Democracy, in addition to reported implementations, may be covered by these models. The explanatory potential of these four models is illustrated by analysing implementations of a communication technology for E-Democracy, the web-based discussion forum. We argue that, instead of viewing technology, such as the Internet, as a black box, any implementation of E-Democracy should be adapted to the specific democracy model(s) pursued by a particular initiative. In addition, E-Democracy researchers could be more specific about their standard of democracy, in order to avoid artificial comparisons or criticisms of contemporary E-Democracy without an explicit framework of criteria. Finally, we discuss the possibilities of unifying the ideals from different models on E-Democracy. We suggest that any context of E-Democracy may in fact require elements from all four models to stay dynamic over time

INFORMATION QUALITY IN LARGE ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: A DELPHI CASE STUDY

This Delphi study identifies problems that have significant impacts on profits gained from large engineering and construction projects in a European company. Information quality gained remarkable weight among the identified problems. The problems were ranked in accordance to their estimated impact on the project profit margins. Within a consolidated list of 125 problems identified altogether, the final ranking of the top 18 problems was strongly agreed upon by an expert panel. The panel involved experienced engineering and management professionals throughout the construction project supply chain. Among the top 18, eight problems, including the top six, concerned information quality. The results address a need for increased focus on information quality challenges in the target organization and provide a detailed account of such challenges in comparison to the previous literature on information quality in engineering and construction

Introduction to Information Systems Success and Benefits Realization Minitrack

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Grounding Theory from Delphi Studies

The Delphi method is recommended for exploratory research in emerging research areas. Despite earlier suggestions for using the Delphi method for theory creation, few analytical tools are provided for this purpose. However, Grounded Theory is especially devoted to creating theories from qualitative data. This paper describes an enhanced Delphi method which integrates data analysis techniques from Grounded Theory. The resulting Grounded Delphi Method (GDM) improves Delphi studies by bringing in a data collection technique that focuses explicitly on the identification of the reasons and consequences for issues, ranked by experts. Moreover, the techniques of open and axial coding support the discovery of theoretical concepts from the initial Delphi issues. In turn, the ranking process of the Delphi method provides a rigorous means for selecting core categories for theory development, which decreases researcher interference on this issue

Data and Information Quality Dimensions in Engineering Construction Projects

Poor data and information quality (DQ/IQ) causes delays and cost overruns in engineering construction projects. However, only little DQ/IQ research has been performed in this context. This paper explores quality dimensions in the context of engineering construction projects. The most important dimensions identified by Ge, et al., (2011) is used as a basis and compared with dimensions used in 12 large engineering construction projects in one organization. The findings show that six of these dimensions are in use in those projects: accessibility, security, relevancy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness. In addition, the findings indicate another dimension also very important in this context; logical coherence. The logical coherence dimension compares different data values and determines if there is any illogicality between them. Three dimensions are monitored by rules provided by a DQ/IQ tool, and we discuss about the contributions which such a tool can provide for an engineering construction firm

A model for analyzing changes in systems development practices

This paper introduces an empirically grounded model for analyzing intended and unintended changes in the prevalence of information systems development practices. In the model, any development practice observable in a development organization can be analyzed according to two dimensions: the intended scope of defined practices versus the actual scope of enacted practices. Furthermore, the model identifies eight types of change paths in systems development practices based on the two dimensions: emergence, entropy, initiation, abandonment, formalization, informalization, implementation, and recalcitrance. The eight types of change paths provide an integrated theoretical model for understanding how systems development practices can change in organizations and projects and among individual developers in a given context. The paper concludes by discussing how the model complements and integrates concepts of the contemporary research on systems development practices and outlines its potential uses for future research

Facebook Users Attitudes towards Secondary Use of Personal Information

This paper reports on a study of how user attitudes to institutional privacy change after exposing users to potential inferences that can be made from information disclosed on Facebook. Two sets of focus group sessions with Facebook users were conducted. Three sessions were conducted by demonstrating to the users, on a general level, what can be inferred from posts using prototypical software called DataBait. Another set of three sessions let the users experience the potential inferences from their own actual Facebook profiles by using the DataBait tool. Findings suggest that the participants’ attitudes to secondary use of information changed from affective to cognitive when they were exposed to potential third-party inferences using their own actual personal information. This observation calls for more research into online tools that allow users to manage and educate themselves dynamically about their own disclosure practices

Perceived support in e-collaborative learning: An exploratory study which make use of synchronous and asynchronous online-teaching approaches

Published version of a chapter in the book: Advances in Web-Based Learning - ICWL 2012. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33642-3_2This study compares four different learning environments for e-collaborative learning in two European countries related to the dimension of student’s mutual support. The theoretical baseline is Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZOPD) and the socio-genetic approach of Piaget. The analyzed data are based on questionnaires collected over the time period of an entire semester including four different courses at the master’s level. These courses applied different e-collaborative approaches including a variety of tools for supporting communication. It is assumed that these courses including communication tools e.g. virtual face-to-face meetings enhance the chances for better communication, and finally, for mutual support of students themselves. The objective is to investigate how the different environments have affected the students’ perception related to different e-collaborative learning platforms in the dimensions of social support, information exchange, and task support