Heads or Tails? Network Effects on Game Purchase Behavior in The Long Tail Market

This study aims to uncover the effects of network effects, namely the social influence and network externalities, on purchasing of digital goods. We are particularly interested in the differences in network effects in long tail versus the head of the market. We used a novel dataset from an online game distribution platform covering 1975 games and 8000 users in this study. The results reveal that network effects are more pronounced for the tail of the market in comparison to the head of the market. For the games that are in the head of the market the popularity may be more significantly influenced by factors unobserved in this study (such as advertising budget) yet the games in the tail benefited greatly from any change to the network effects. The exception was social games. The games that relied on user to user engagement did not fare well in the tail of the market. This study contributes to the literature on network effects and long tail market literature by highlighting the differential effects in different segments of the market

Enhancing Syndromic Surveillance through Autonomic Health Grids

The Centers for Disease Control defines syndromic surveillance as, “an investigational approach where health department staff, assisted by automated data acquisition and generation of statistical alerts, monitor disease indicators in real-time or near real-time to detect outbreaks of disease earlier than would otherwise be possible with traditional public health methods” (CDC, 2004). While syndromic surveillance has traditionally been used in the context of detecting natural outbreaks, it is increasingly being used to develop systems to detect bioterrorism outbreaks. Timely response to a bioterrorism event requires accurate information exchange between clinicians and public health officials. This entails building highly complex surveillance systems that provide access to heterogeneous/distributed medical data, computational resources and collaborative services, for real-time decision making in a highly reliable and secure environment. In this paper we propose enhancing syndromic surveillance through grid and autonomic computing augmentations, and present our approach to a proof of concept modeling and simulation environment

A KNOWLEDGE BASED APPROACH FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

This paper discusses the applicability of a knowledge based system to resource management in the context of information centers. The Information Center Expert (ICE) system has been developed in the MIS Department of the University of Arizona to support the consultation process of information center personnel. The system determines the (software) resource requirements of the end-users and makes appropriate recommendations. ICE further aids the management of the IC software resources by keeping track of user consultations and the recommendations made. Issues of knowledge requirements, acquisition, representation and implementation of ICE are discussed. ICE is currently being tested at IBM/Endicott (New York), IBM/Tucson (Arizona) and the Center for the Management of Information at the University of Arizona. Preliminary feedback from users has confirmed the applicability of the knowledge based approach to resource management. The implications of this approach for future research are discussed

Abstract

1 We will use IS (the acronym) as a characterization of a discipline which includes knowledge systems and knowledge management, as well as traditional information systems; however, it should be noted that the characteristics of knowledge, as noted later in this paper, vary significantly from those of information

Event sequence modeling of IT adoption in healthcare

ABSTRACT Information systems research is replete with examples of the importance of business processes defining IT adoption. Business processes are influenced by both organizational and operational concerns. We evaluate the comparative importance of operational and organizational influences for complementary IT systems. In the context of acute-care hospitals the analysis shows that an organizational approach to automating a process is related to different financial outcomes than an operational approach. Six complementary systems supporting a three-stage medication management process are studied: prescribing, dispensing, and administration. The analysis uses firm-level, panel data extracted from the HIMSS Analytics database spanning ten years of IT adoption for 140 hospitals. We have augmented the HIMSS dataset with matching demographic and financial details from the American Hospital Association and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Using event sequence analysis we explore whether organizations are more likely to adopt organization boundary spanning systems and if the sequence of adoption follows the temporal ordering of the business process steps. The research also investigates if there is a relationship between the paths to IT adoption and financial performance. Comparison of the two measures suggests that the organizational model of adoption is observed more often in the data. Following the organizational model of adoption is associated with approximately $155 dollar increase in net income per patient day; whereas the operational model of adoption is associated with approximately$225 dollars decrease in net income per patient day. However, this effect diminishes with the adoption of each additional system thus demonstrating that the adoption path effects may only be relevant in the shortterm