Alexei Tretiakov

The Impact of Organizational Culture on Agile Method Use

Agile method proponents believe that organizational culture has an effect on the extent to which an agile method is used. Research into the relationship between organizational culture and information systems development methodology deployment has been explored by others using the Competing Values Framework (CVF). However this relationship has not been explored with respect to the agile development methodologies. Based on a multi-case study of nine projects we show that specific organizational culture factors correlate with effective use of an agile method. Our results contribute to the literature on organizational culture and system development methodology use.

Application of ontology to knowledge management in Web based learning

Systematic approach to managing knowledge is an essential pre-requisite to enabling learners and knowledge seekers to access relevant material as and when it is required. Standard information retrieval mechanisms applied in on-line learning environments do not offer access to semantic relationships between knowledge items, and thus are unable to put query results in context. While ontology and semantic Web, which provide for semantic links, are increasingly used in business and research, their acceptance in e-learning is still at the preliminary stages. In this background, this paper develops a framework for a knowledge management system which uses ontology to enable efficient reuse and sharing of knowledge in a Web based learning environment.

The use of information technologies for knowledge sharing by secondary healthcare organisations in New Zealand

PURPOSE To explore the extent of use of information technologies (ITs) for knowledge sharing by secondary healthcare organisations in New Zealand. METHODS We used a self-administered questionnaire to survey Chief Information Officers at all 21 of New Zealands District Health Boards regarding the extent to which their organisations use knowledge sharing activities involving ITs. The list of activities to include in the questionnaire was compiled by reviewing the literature. We analysed the extent of use of the knowledge sharing activities using descriptive statistics, repeated measures ANOVA, and correlation analysis. RESULTS The response rate was 76%. Although all the responding organisations reported using ITs to share knowledge, they used ITs to share documents significantly more than to support discussions or to connect employees to experts. Discussions via teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and email lists were significantly more common than discussions via social media technologies: electronic discussion forums, blogs, and on-line chatrooms. There were significant positive correlations between publishing and accessing documents, between using teleconferencing and using videoconferencing, and between publishing and finding contact details of experts. CONCLUSION New Zealands District Health Boards are using a range of ITs to share knowledge. Knowledge sharing activities emphasising the sharing of explicit knowledge (via exchanging documents in electronic form) are significantly more common than knowledge sharing activities emphasising the sharing of tacit knowledge (via technology-mediated discussions and via using technology to connect employees to experts). In view of the evidence in the literature that information technology may be highly effective in supporting tacit knowledge exchanges, our results suggest that health organisations should consider greater adoption of ITs for sharing tacit knowledge. The finding that several organisations are currently making extensive use of teleconferencing and videoconferencing facilities and expertise databases suggests that these technologies are useful and could be of benefit to other healthcare providers and that barriers to their adoption can be overcome. In order to facilitate the wider adoption of technologies, early adopters of both relatively established technologies and of the emerging technologies such as social media should be encouraged to publish accounts of their experiences of success and lessons learnt from any failures so that the knowledge gained is disseminated to the wider medical informatics community.

Creating a pervasive testing environment by using SMS messaging

We consider the requirements for a generic m-Learning system that would maximize the likelihood of its acceptance, and conclude that such a system should rely on the existing infrastructure and mobile device ownership, with SMS technology being the most appropriate technology under present conditions. We back this conclusion by conducting a survey on m-Learning acceptance targeted at educators, and demonstrate the feasibility and gauge acceptance by the learners by developing a system prototype and evaluating it in a simulated classroom environment. The results reported in this article speak in favor of introducing low cost, low maintenance SMS based m-Learning systems targeting average, budget conscious educational institutions.

Designing multimedia support for situated learning

Situated learning is known to be an effective didactic approach, yet, multimedia systems with built-in support for it are uncommon. We analyze the domain-independent requirements for such a system, formulate a high-level architecture, apply it for the domains strongly relying on the use of mathematical formulae involving dimensioned quantities, and implement a proof-of-concept prototype. The results of our work will be of benefit for the future development of multimedia systems supporting situated learning.

A unified approach to mobile adaptation of educational content

We formulate an approach to adaptively structuring content for access via mobile devices, accounting for variations in communication channels, end-user device capabilities and user profiles. We apply it to automatically enforce the MRA recommendations for educational content delivery.

Attacks on mobile networks: An overview of new security challenge

In this paper, the authors address issues regarding the attacks on mobile networks. Firstly, the mobile network security is described as well as the risk to be faced with mobile network. Then it follows with the some issues in mobile network security and attack. The authors then reviewed previous work in understanding mobile network attacks and the popular attacks on mobile network namely the bluetooth and mobile ad-hoc.

A multi-level architecture for distributed object bases

The work described in this article arises from two needs. First, there is still a need for providing more sophisticated database systems than just relational ones. Secondly, there is a growing need for distributed databases. These needs are addressed by fragmenting schemata of a generic object data model and providing an architecture for its implementation. Key features of the architecture are the use of abstract communicating agents to realise database transactions and queries, the use of a remote object call mechanism to enable remote agents to communicate with one another, and the use of multi-level transactions. Linguistic reflection is used to map database schemata to the level of the agents. Transparency for the users is achieved by using dialogue objects, which are extended views on the database.

Managing the data in electronic learning systems

Web-based electronic learning systems provide one of the most exciting areas in research with a huge practical impact. However, as these systems are also examples of data-intensive systems, it is astounding how little emphasis is put onto the management of data in these systems. In this article, we present a two-level approach to data modeling in e-learning systems. We suggest modeling a global database level, in which the collection of data of the whole system is modeled in a way that follows the guidelines of good database design. On top of this level we model learning units as extended views. The use of views allows a system modeler to separate course content from underlying database structures. The extension of the learning units by operations models system functionality. Further extensions permit adaptivity to various learner types and end-devices.

Knowledge management systems success in healthcare: Leadership matters

PURPOSE To deliver high-quality healthcare doctors need to access, interpret, and share appropriate and localised medical knowledge. Information technology is widely used to facilitate the management of this knowledge in healthcare organisations. The purpose of this study is to develop a knowledge management systems success model for healthcare organisations. METHOD A model was formulated by extending an existing generic knowledge management systems success model by including organisational and system factors relevant to healthcare. It was tested by using data obtained from 263 doctors working within two district health boards in New Zealand. RESULTS Of the system factors, knowledge content quality was found to be particularly important for knowledge management systems success. Of the organisational factors, leadership was the most important, and more important than incentives. CONCLUSION Leadership promoted knowledge management systems success primarily by positively affecting knowledge content quality. Leadership also promoted knowledge management use for retrieval, which should lead to the use of that better quality knowledge by the doctors, ultimately resulting in better outcomes for patients.