Keng Siau

MOBILE COMMERCE: PROMISES, CHALLENGES, AND RESEARCH AGENDA

Advances in wireless technology increase the number of mobile device users and give pace to the rapid development of e-commerce using these devices. The new type of e-commerce, conducting transactions via mobile terminals, is called mobile commerce. Due to its inherent characteristics such as ubiquity, personalization, flexibility, and dissemination, mobile commerce promises businesses unprecedented market potential, great productivity, and high profitability. This paper presents an overview of mobile commerce development by examining the enabling technologies, the impact of mobile commerce on the business world, and the implications to mobile commerce providers. The paper also provides an agenda for future research in the area.

Agile Modeling, Agile Software Development, and Extreme Programming: The State of Research

While there are many claims for the successful use of extreme programming (XP) and agile modeling (AM), and the proponents can often be vocal in the extreme regarding their supposed benefits, research evidence supporting proponents‘ claims is somewhat lacking. Currently, the only research appearing to investigate the phenomena consists of two prominent streams. A small number of case studies and experience reports that generally promote the success of XP in various development environments, and a well-established stream of research into pair programming has generated results that in part support the idea of XP. Research into AM appears to be even more sparse than that for XP. Case studies, comparative analyses, and experience reports comprise the majority of the research in the area, while very few empirical research efforts have been conducted. This article reviews the state of research in XP and AM, and recommends areas that could benefit from further study. Since nearly all empirical XP research relates to pair programming, a closer look into the unstudied XP core practices would be beneficial, although interaction between related core practice areas could confound such efforts. It might also be possible to group related core XP concepts and study the groups individually. Finally, there are those who claim that XP and AM, or even agility in general, are really nothing more than a repackaging of old concepts. This claim needs to be investigated.

3-D Virtual Worlds in Education: Applications, Benefits, Issues, and Opportunities

Three-dimensional virtual world environments are providing new opportunities to develop engaging, interactive experiences in education. These virtual worlds are unique in that they allow individuals to interact with others through their avatars and with objects in the environment, and can create experiences that are not necessarily possible in the real world. To assess the impact that these virtual worlds are currently having on education, a literature review is conducted to identify current applications, benefits being realized, as well as issues faced. Based on this review, virtual world capabilities, experiences, and factors associated with educational opportunities are presented as well as gaps in meeting pedagogical objectives. Practical and research implications are then addressed. Virtual worlds are proving to provide unique educational experiences, with its potential only at the cusp of being explored.

Informational and Computational Equivalence in Comparing Information Modeling Methods

Information modeling methods are key to the success of IS development projects. The problem in the software engineering field is not the lack of modeling methods, but the proliferation of modeling methods with little theoretical foundation and empirical evidence to support their usefulness. Evaluation techniques are, therefore, necessary to compare and contrast these modeling methods. In this paper, we suggest an evaluation approach based on the human information processing paradigm and the theory of equivalence of representations. This evaluation approach proposes that modeling methods can be evaluated and compared using two criteria: informational and computational equivalence.

Unified Modeling Language: A Complexity Analysis

Unified Modeling Language (UML) has emerged as the software industry’s dominant modeling language. It is the de facto modeling language standard for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the components of software systems. Despite its prominence and status as the standard modeling language, UML has its critics. Opponents argue that it is complex and difficult to learn. Some question the rationale of having nine diagramming techniques in UML and the raison d’Aatre of those nine techniques in UML. Others point out that UML lacks a comprehensive methodology to guide its users, which makes the language even more convoluted. A few studies on UML can be found in the literature. However, no study exists to provide a quantitative measure of UML complexity or to compare UML with other object oriented techniques. In this research, we evaluate the complexity of UML using complexity metrics. The objective is to provide a reliable and accurate quantitative measure of UML complexity. A comparison of the complexity metrical values of UML with other object-oriented techniques was also carried out. Our findings suggest that each diagram in UML is not distinctly more complex than techniques in other OO methods. But as a whole, UML is very complex - 2-11 times more complex than other OO methods.

Evaluation of information modeling methods-a review

Hundreds of modeling methods are in existence today, yet practitioners and researchers are zealously producing new modeling methods. The blooming of modeling methods is not the problem; the lack of standardized techniques for evaluating them is. To further complicate the matter, most of the modeling methods are introduced based on common sense and intuition. Theoretical foundations and empirical evidence are severely lacking. With the current state of affairs, evaluation of modeling methods has become necessary. Comparing modeling methods provides us with the necessary knowledge and understanding on the strengths and weaknesses of each method. This knowledge can also guide us in our quest for new modeling methods. This paper reviews the various evaluation techniques used by researchers and practitioners. The evaluation techniques are categorized into non-empirical and empirical techniques.

Web Services, Service-Oriented Computing, and Service-Oriented Architecture: Separating Hype from Reality

Service-oriented architecture (SOA), Web services, and service-oriented computing (SOC) have become the buzz words of the day for many in the business world. It seems that virtually every company has implemented, is in the midst of implementing, or is seriously considering SOA projects, Web services projects, or service-oriented computing. A problem many organizations face when entering the SOA world is that there are nearly as many definitions of SOA as there are organizations adopting it. Further complicating the issue is an unclear picture of the value added from adopting the SOA or Web services paradigm. This article attempts to shed some light on the definition of SOA and the difficulties of assessing the value of SOA or Web services via return on investment (ROI) or nontraditional approaches, examines the scant body of evidence empirical that exists on the topic of SOA, and highlights potential research directions in the area.

Social Network Structures in Open Source Software Development Teams

Drawing on social network theories and previous studies, this research examines the dynamics of social network structures in open source software (OSS) teams. Three projects were selected from SourceForge.net in terms of their similarities as well as their differences. Monthly data were extracted from the bug tracking systems in order to achieve a longitudinal view of the interaction pattern of each project. Social network analysis was used to generate the indices of social structure. The finding suggests that the interaction pattern of OSS projects evolves from a single hub at the beginning to a core/periphery model as the projects move forward.

Unified modeling language : systems analysis, design and development issues

An edited collection of contributions from industry and academia, forming an examination of the Unified Modelling Language (UML). It illustrates how UML can be used successfully in practice, and identifies various problematic aspects of UML, suggesting possible solutions.

Developing an instrument to measure the adoption of mobile services

Currently, there is no standard instrument for measuring user adoption of mobile services. Based on the mobile service acceptance model, this paper reports on the development of a survey instrument designed to measure user perception on mobile services acceptance. A survey instrument was developed by using some existing scales from prior instruments and by creating additional items which might appear to fit the construct definitions. In addition, a pilot study was conducted by distributing the survey to 25 users of a mobile service called Mobile Student Information Systems. As a result, a survey instrument containing 22 items were retained. Furthermore, the results showed that the reliabilities of all the scales in the survey instrument were above the target acceptance level.