John Grant Gammack

The impact of organisational culture innovation on the adoption of IS/IT: the case of Libya

Purpose – This study sets out to explore the impact of organisational culture innovation on the adoption of information systems (IS) in Libyas oil and banking sectors.Design/methodology/approach – Using a structured survey questionnaire based on Cameron and Quinns Organisational Culture Assessments Instrument (OCAI), 400 questionnaires were administered to middle and top management employees in more than 15 government and public organisations in Libyas oil and banking sectors.Findings – The findings showed that there is a relationship between organisational culture innovations and the adoption of IS. The findings also showed that there are no differences in the organisational culture type between the two sectors covered in this study.Originality/value – The findings imply that organisational culture innovations are influenced by other factors, which are worthy of investigation. The future implications of this research are also discussed.

Different Techniques and Different Aspects on Declarative Knowledge

In this chapter we describe techniques for discovering organization in an expert’s domain knowledge. These techniques are illustrated in the domain of “domestic gas-fired hot water and central heating systems,” which possesses technical properties seen as relevant to larger-scale domains. The informant was not a recognized expert on central heating but a scientist with an interest in the domain.

Promise and perils of electronic public engagement

There is currently a trend in democratic societies towards greater involvement of the public in the policy setting of official bodies. Numerous mechanisms have been developed to enable such involvement, ranging from traditional forms, such as the public meeting, to more novel forms, such as the consensus conference. This paper considers the use of modern technologies, particularly computer, or internet-based, as the structural basis of novel engagement mechanisms. To many sponsors of engagement exercises, such technologies appear to provide solutions to specific public engagement problems. In this paper, however, we argue that a number of potential perils also await those who would use these technologies. We conclude with a call for more research into the effectiveness of technology-based engagement mechanisms. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

A methodology to allow rural extension professionals to build target-specific expert systems for Australian rural business operators

Expert systems (ES) development technology has been used to build rural business applications in the past but these have usually been developed using traditional expert systems shells. This paper introduces a new architecture for the development of a design environment where the domain experts can build a knowledge base for target-specific ES for rural business operators. The system allows rural business operators to use their own knowledge in building their own, target-specific ES for tailored development to their own specific requirements. At this stage, this reusable design environment caters for the Australian dairy industry but in the long run we claim it will be useful for the other livestock based rural industries such as beef cattle and sheep. This approach of developing target-specific ES contributes new knowledge in that it provides a new way of developing decision support by allowing human domain experts to develop relevant ES for different livestock farming business. An evolutionary prototyping approach was employed for initial development of a proof of concept example and as a method of outlining the solution environment. Multiple qualitative data collection methods were engaged to facilitate knowledge acquisition in the domain of milk protein enhancement for dairy operations. This paper also describes the generic development procedure used in this project.

Virtual Reality, Involvement and the Consumer Interface

Emerging technologies promise new types of relationships between businesses and consumers. In particular, interactive multimedia and virtual technologies promise greater degrees of consumer engagement with online products and services, potentially leading to increased product exploration, and more hedonic purchases (Jeandrain, 2001). Even though the technologies involved are now largely affordable, widespread and stable, to date e-tailing has had a mixed acceptance, with significant shopping cart abandonment statistics reported of up to 75% (Gordon, 2000). Other figures cited in Hurst and Gellady (2000) indicate that 42% of shopping carts are abandoned, losing a potential US

Searching databases using parallel genetic algorithms on a transputer computing surface

3 bn in lost sales. While figures vary, and may include customers who later return to complete a purchase, the phenomenon remains ABSTRACT

Human-centred decision support: The IDIOMS system

Abstract Although many organisations have large databases containing useful information, few believe they are using these to maximum effect. When databases are very large, such as those provided by satellite observations or in highly computerised industries such as banking, searching them to discover the inherent information becomes a problem in itself. The volume of data involved is often simply too large to be tractable in real time using single processor technology. In this paper we describe the use of a parallel architecture, the Meiko computing surface, in conjunction with techniques from artificial intelligence in finding optimised information inherent in such databases, and give results which show the value of our approach.

A Mashup architecture for web end-user application designs

The requirement for anthropocentric, or human-centred decision support is outlined, and the IDIOMS management information tool, which implements several human-centred principles, is described. IDIOMS provides a flexible decision support environment in which applications can be modelled using both ‘objective’ database information, and user-centred ‘subjective’ and contextual information. The system has been tested on several real applications, demonstrating its power and flexibility.

A knowledge acquisition and representation scheme for constraint based and parallel systems

Application design driven by user needs is an increasing trend: such applications may not be anticipatable using traditional requirement and build approaches. Mashup refers to an integrated application programming interface (API) that combines data from different data destination or third party sources for Web services. This Web service provides a combined API that is technologically valid and compatible with other Web applications. In recent years, Web mashups have been tested for solving many issues in existing Web applications, such as e-science. In this paper, we analyzed a real service problem in a current virtual organization to show current limitations of using a distributed architecture, and to describe a Web service orientated architecture using the mashup concept. We provide a schematic solution for a paradigmatic user application problem, illustrated by a specific map usage need based on geographical information system data. Specifically, our illustrative application is finding the closest hotel within walking range of a meeting venue. Based on the case issues, we outline a generic architecture that offers a dynamic solution for Web portals providing services for dynamic user needs.

An Infrastructure for implementing e-Participation services in developing countries

A knowledge acquisition and representation scheme is introduced which is suited both to serial processing in production systems and to a constraint-based representation evaluated in parallel. Two applications are described: a rule-based system for financial risk assessment in life insurance underwriting, and a decision-support aid for energy management in a steel plant. These have been programmed both in conventional serial languages and in Occam on a transputer.<<ETX>>