DSS Access on the WWW: An Intelligent Agent Prototype

This paper describes a prototype DSS Discovery Agent, an intelligent agent designed to facilitate access to DSS deployed using an Open DSS protocol. The agent utilizes a set of specialized HTML metainformation headers to determine whether a given Web site contains a Decision Support System (DSS) and whether that DSS meets user defined requirements

Using Distributed Meta-information Systems to Maintain Web Data Quality

Maintaining the quality of data resources has been a continuing concern for information systems professionals. Over time techniques have been developed for maintaining the appropriate level of quality for individual databases, for data warehouses and for transaction processing systems. However, web-based systems lack the tools and procedures for data quality to be properly maintained. My dissertation seeks to develop methods that can be used to improve web-based data quality. It maps data quality dimensions, as identified in prior research [Wand et. al., 1996, and Wang et. al., 1995], to the web domain and then proposes methods that can help maintain each of these data quality dimensions

Intention to Collaborate: Investigating Online Collaboration in Virtual Teams

The emergence of online tools supporting collaboration has allowed more people to work together online. Virtual team members are expected to collaborate in order to solve predefined problems. Several factors influence a virtual team member intention to collaborate. In this paper, a conceptual model and a measurement scale are derived from previous literature on online collaboration and virtual teams and have been pretested to refine the derived scale items. The scale under development makes important contributions to both research and practice. For research, it will provide a validated scale to measure intention to collaborate, which will support further research in this field. For practice, it will help identify what contributes to a team member\u27s intention to collaborate; this can assist practitioners in establishing virtual teams within their organizations

Engagement in Online Communities: the Impact of Self-Disclosure and Humor

This study extends the IT acceptance research by proposing an engagement model that supports acceptance and use of online social network systems. Using the proposed model, this research demonstrates that sponsors of online communities created through online social networks can increase the member engagement in these online communities. The primary contribution of this research is deepening insights into the information systems and communication artifact by conceptualizing a model that helps researchers understand the reasons why some communication types, such as appropriate humor messages, can improve the relationships between online communities members, and increase their engagement perceptions in these online communities, while other communication types may negatively affect participation and engagement within these communities

Utilizing Volunteered Geographic Information to Develop a Real-Time Disaster Mapping Tool: A Prototype and Research Framework

The global proliferation of personal mobile devices has provided the capability of electronic data collection to billions of people. Furthermore, recent innovations in technologies and implementation methodologies have allowed groups of people to collect and analyze large quantities of data. Examples of such systems include Wikipedia, a community-sourced digital encyclopedia, and Yelp, a directory and review tool of local businesses. The occurrence of important events or the establishment of new restaurants has motivated individuals to provide timely and accurate contributions to Wikipedia or Yelp, respectively. Considering the benefits of widespread data collection capabilities and the motivations to contribute to public knowledge, this design-science paper proposes and prototypes components of a publically driven, real-time disaster-response mapping system

The Effects of Geospatial Website Attributes on eImage: An Exploratory Study

This research-in-progress analyzes the impacts of geospatial website attributes on eImage, or the online image of an organization. Specifically, geospatial attributes on websites of service-oriented businesses that must convince consumers to visit their physical locations are addressed. Limited existing research regarding geospatial website attributes provided the motivation to conduct this study. Additionally, the moderating impact of geospatial reasoning ability on eImage is explored. The results of this study will further electronic commerce and human-computer interaction research, expand the understanding of website attributes and their effects on eImage, as well as provide practical guidance for web designers

Understanding and Managing Website Information Content: The WICS Method

This study describes and demonstrates the Website Information Content Survey (WICS), which is intended to provide practitioners and researchers with a means of systematically describing website information content. In an exploratory survey of twenty business-to-consumer websites across five e-commerce domains, we demonstrate how the survey can be used to make cross-website comparisons that can identify potential gaps in a website’s information content. The results of this study offer actionable guidance to practitioners seeking to match their website’s information mix to customers’ demands for product, company, and channel information. We also enable future investigations of hypothesized relationships between website information content and user-website interaction outcomes

Impact of Geospatial Reasoning Ability and Perceived Task-Technology Fit on Decision-Performance: The Moderating Role of Task Characteristics

Consumer, business and governmental entities increasingly rely on spatial decision support systems (SDSS) for decision-making involving geospatial data. Understanding user- and task-characteristics that impact decision performance will allow developers of such systems to maximize geospatial decision-making performance. Furthermore, scholars will benefit from a more comprehensive understanding of what specific characteristics influence decision-making as such knowledge can guide future research in the decision sciences domain. This paper provides a synthesis of geospatial reasoning ability, task-complexity, geovisualization and decision-performance research. A two-factor experiment designed to measure the impact of geospatial reasoning ability on decision-performance is performed. Two treatments, problem-complexity and map-complexity, are investigated for their moderating role on decision-performance. A partial least squares analysis is performed to assess the experiment results. Cognitive Fit Theory is used as the theoretical framework of this study and is extended, along with research in decision-performance and geospatial reasoning ability