Design Knowledge for the Lifecycle Management of Conversational Agents

Organizations spend extensive resources on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in customer service in order to remain customer-focused and competitive. A rising language-based application of AI emerges in the context of conversational agents (CAs), such as chatbots, which represent increasingly intelligent, autonomous, scalable, and cost-effective service platforms. However, AI-based CAs bring new organizational challenges. They are underrepresented in current research, leading to many unanswered questions and research potential regarding the management of their introduction, operation, and improvement. To address this issue, we provide design knowledge that considers the organizational perspective of CAs. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) and qualitative interview study to reveal and analyze individual issues and challenges, develop meta-requirements, and finally, use them to create design principles. We contribute to the emerging field of CAs that has previously focused mainly on the individual, behavioral, interactional, or technical design

Grundwasser - Altlasten - Boden aktuell

Neun Fachbeiträge dokumentieren die Ergebnisse der aktuellen Projekt- und Forschungsarbeit des Landesamtes in den Themenbereichen Grundwasser, Altlasten und Boden

(Semi-)automatische Segmentierung in historischen Wappensammlungen

Ein neuer Ansatz zur Suche in stetig wachsenden multimedialen Datenbeständen ist die bildinhaltliche Datenbankrecherche. Diese verwendet anstatt der klassischen textuellen Erschließung graphische Merkmale, um Bilder anzufragen. Im Rahmen des interdisziplinären Forschungsprojektes HERON wird ein solches System zur Recherche in einer historischer Wappensammlung realisiert. Dabei ist es wichtig, Wappenbildern mit Methoden der digitalen Bildverarbeitung Informationen über auftretende Formelemente zu entnehmen, die das wesentlichste Merkmal für die Recherche in heraldische Datenbanken darstellen. Mit Hilfe des Bildanalysepakets MVTec Halcon wurde ein automatisches Verfahren zur Farbbestimmung von monochromen heraldischen Bildvorlagen, sowie ein semiautomatisches Verfahren zur Segmentierung heraldischer Figuren realisiert

Designing Tool Support for Crowd-Sourced Community Initiatives on Online Neighborhood Social Networks

The social connectedness of a community, characterized by aspects such as social support, social trust and civic engagement, plays an important role in determining the well-being of its inhabitants. Neighborhood activism and volunteering through community initiatives can improve this social connectedness. Online neighborhood social networks (ONSNs) afford users functionality for social interaction, information sharing as well as peer-support and aim to improve community connectedness with platforms such as Nextdoor exhibiting rapid growth in recent years. However, as of yet, ONSNs do not provide specific tool support for implementing community initiatives beyond generic communication capabilities. We propose crowdsourcing as a suitable approach for mobilizing neighbors to ideate, participate in and collaboratively implement community initiatives on ONSNs. Using a design science research approach, we develop design goals and design principles for crowd-sourced community initiatives based on literature and empirical data from two case neighborhoods. We instantiate these design principles into a proof-of-concept artifact in the context of an existing ONSN. Based on our evaluation, we derive implications for establishing crowd-sourced community initiatives on ONSNs. We contribute to research on crowdsourcing and ONSNs with nascent design knowledge which guides researchers and practitioners in designing crowd-based artifacts in the context of local communities

Fostering Social Resilience via Online Neighborhood Social Networks During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Status Quo, Design Dilemmas and Research Opportunities

Public health measures are curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic’s spread but also impact individual and societal well-being. Altogether, they test the social resilience of communities, their collective ability to cope with crises. The pandemic highlights the significance of the immediate local community or neighborhood, be it for providing assistance to individuals in need, the sensible sharing of public spaces or a renewed conscience for supporting local businesses. We argue that online neighborhood social networks (ONSNs) represent a viable solution for improving social resilience as they enhance a community’s resistance to disruptions, quicken recovery to a normal level of functioning and can become a platform for creative solutions to strengthening social resilience. We conduct a multiple case study to demonstrate how ONSNs foster social resilience in the focal crisis and beyond. Furthermore, we identify design dilemmas and highlight avenues for IS research with a high impact on local communities and their well-being

(Semi-) Automatic Segmentation in Historic Collections of Heraldic Images

A modern approach to manage multimedia databases is content-based retrieval. Especially in image databases graphical features like color, texture or shape can be used efficiently instead of expensive manual annotations. Due to the large number of image archives and the enormous costs of annotations it is most important to extract adequate features automatically by means of digital image processing. Using the image processing tool MVTec Halcon we propose a preprocessing for heraldic image segmentation that can automatically derive color information from monochrome images as well as semiautomatically segment heraldic bearings. We claim that exploiting application semantics leads to successful image segmentation in digital libraries

Design Goals for Consent at Scale in Digital Service Ecosystems

Digital services have undergone a shift to multi-actor constellations characterised by the utilisation of personal data. By involving external actors, service capability and variety increase but so does the number of actors that gain access to personal data. Here, privacy policies are legal documents that serve two primary functions: specifying the purpose and details of data processing in a binding manner and informing users about it. Privacy policiestherefore have special importance in which the processing is based on user consent. In a case study of the platform eBay, we identified 18 problems that point out difficulties in achieving consent in a meaningful way in today’s large-scale and massively interconnected digital service ecosystems. Based on these problems, the design goals are determined which help to find meaningful consent in digital service ecosystems. These goals include notifications for changed purposes of data processing in ecosystems or the reasonability of time needed for consent in relation to the usage time of the service. Thus far, no legal limits govern the reasonability of efforts for consent to privacy policies. This requires a fundamental rethinking of the concept of consent or far-reaching automation of privacy-related legal acts

Older Adults' Use of Online Neighborhood Social Networks: Perceptions, Challenges and Effects

Online social networks (OSNs) have demonstrated potential for enabling older adults to remain socially connected and for counteracting social isolation and loneliness. With older adults preferring to age in place, their local community and neighborhood gain in importance. Online neighborhood social networks (ONSNs) are a novel type of OSN aimed at connecting local communities by facilitating social interaction, information sharing and peer support among neighbors. With a focus on trust and privacy, local relevance and integration with local organizations and institutions, they might be particularly well suited for the needs of older adults. We investigate the relationship between older adults and ONSNs by analyzing usage data, an online survey and interviews with users of an ONSN active in two urban neighborhoods in Germany. Our findings show that the case ONSN was successful in facilitating communication between neighbors and in promoting participation in community life for older adults

Design and Evaluation of an Online Neighborhood Social Network for Fostering Social Connectedness and Participation: Lessons from Two Urban Neighborhoods

Increasing urbanization and population aging, as well as associated adverse outcomes such as social isolation or exclusion, imperil the well-being of local communities. Online neighborhood social networks (ONSNs) represent a novel type of online social network that exhibits promising effects on the social connectedness and social participation of inhabitants of urban neighborhoods. Following a design science research approach, we draw on empirical data from two case neighborhoods as well as extant literature and develop design principles for an ONSN for fostering social connectedness and participation. We instantiate this design knowledge into the MyNeighbors ONSN and conduct a long-term naturalistic evaluation. Based on platform usage, an online survey and qualitative interviews, we determine that ONSNs harbor the potential to improve the social connectedness and participation of neighbors. Our validated design knowledge contributes to research on ONSNs as well as technology-mediated social connectedness and participation