Owen Eriksson

Action-oriented conceptual modelling

The aim of this paper is to show how speech act theory can be used in systems development as a theoretical foundation for conceptual modelling. With the traditional notion of the conceptual model as an image of reality, the predominant modelling problem is to analyse how the external reality should be mapped into, and represented in, the system in a ‘true’ way. In contrast to this, we maintain that the main modelling problem should be to analyse the communication acts performed by use of the system within its business context. This implies an integration of traditional conceptual modelling with action-oriented business modelling based on speech act theory. With such an approach, it is possible to reconcile traditional conceptual modelling and the pragmatic aspects of language and computer use. It is argued that such reconciliation is essential to arrive at systems that provide relevant information to users and in which users can trace responsibilities for information, actions and commitments made.

Socio-instrumental usability: IT is all about social action

Usability is an important concept that seems to receive less attention than it deserves outside of the core Human–Computer Interaction community. The reason for this apparent lack of interest may stem from an overly instrumental orientation towards usability that does not appeal to more socially oriented researchers. Three central criteria for usability, as reflected in the contemporary literature, are the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users can achieve specified goals. These criteria are often expressed in terms of achieving goals, which, at least tacitly, seem to be restricted to goals related to an instrumental view on the use of IT. To broaden this view, the paper elaborates on how the concept of usability can be understood and used within a social action context. How social goals are related to the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction criteria is addressed specifically. It is argued that in order truly to understand usability, we must consider both instrumental and social goals since their combination constitute a fundamental part of the social action context in which systems are used. Both instrumental and social goals affect the way systems and use-situations are designed and conceived. Interpreting usability from this broad social action perspective may be a way to make the concept more accepted throughout the wide variety of areas dealing with the design of IT systems.

Challenges in the Adoption of Medical Information Systems

This paper highlights some managerial challenges encountered during the adoption of a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) at Turku University Central Hospital (TUCH). The results are based on a five-year survey consisting of statistical data, cost analysis, modelling, customer satisfaction inquiries, time and motion studies, observation and staff interviews. The PACS is a medical information system, the goal of which is to allow filmless activity and improve patient care; this paper presents the curriculum of the project. As there was a lack of insight of the project being a hospital-wide socio-technical information infrastructure process, with both costs and benefits falling to all departments requiring both vertical and horizontal management at hospital level, hospital staff were unprepared for the change. Further, the technology providers did not have sufficient information or knowledge of clinical requirements. Consequently, inexperience regarding informatics, system behavior, and lack of designated expert personnel slowed down the implementation process.

Towards a Socio-Institutional Ontology for Conceptual Modelling of Information Systems

Most work on ontologies for conceptual modelling is based on the assumption that conceptual models represent a pre-existing reality, which they should faithfully reflect. This paper suggests an ontology for conceptual modelling of institutional domains taking into account also the prescriptive role of conceptual models, thereby supporting the design of information systems. The paper draws on the current ontological discourse in information systems engineering; descriptive vs prescriptive conceptual modelling; socio-materiality in terms of clarifying the relationships between physical and social domains; and ontological differences between (physical) properties and rights. The results of the paper can be used to support conceptual modelling in business analysis, in particular requirements elicitation of regulative aspects.

Managing Identity Tensions During Mobile Ecosystem Evolution

The idea of an ecosystem suggests a holistic framing of how heterogeneous actors relate to one another and of the dynamics of their relationships. Because of the dynamics some relationships will become uncertain, posing significant challenge to the identity of participating organizations. Unfortunately, the Information Systems (IS) literature has not examined how organizations develop and negotiate their identities during ecosystem evolution. We fill this void by exploring identity challenges that Swedish Road Administration (SRA) faced while implementing the Radio Data System – Traffic Message Channel (RDS – TMC) traffic information service. Through a longitudinal case study we follow how SRA’s inherited expectations, guiding norms, and standards of sense-giving about its identity prevented it from becoming a flexible service provider within an emerging mobile ecosystem. We record a constant clash – the identity tension – between the old inherited identity of a public road administrator and the aspiring new identity of a digital service provider. To enact a successful identity change, SRA had to engage in a series of change episodes whereby it deliberately implemented new routines that forged novel relationships with actors within the ecosystem. This permitted SRA to gradually align its identity to the evolving needs of the RDS-TMC service ecosystem. Our findings suggest that deliberate attempts to implement innovative mobile services – especially those involving public-private partnerships – trigger intriguing identity ambiguities and role dilemmas, and future research should therefore focus on effective strategies to identify, manage, and resolve inherent identity tensions.

Towards a Sociomaterial Ontology

The management of social phenomena in conceptual modelling requires a novel understanding of the notion of representation. In particular, the principles for the existence and identification of objects need to be reconsidered. To do this, the paper draws on the current ontological discourse in information systems engineering and proposes a sociomaterial ontology for supporting conceptual modeling. The ontology shows how organisational entities are grounded in physical ones and how they can be understood in terms of deontic notions like privileges, duties and powers. The sociomaterial ontology is able to assist designers in creating understandable and robust conceptual models.

Preconditions for public sector e-infrastructure development

Interoperability in e-government has been recognized as a key factor in the quest of administrations at national, local and international level to achieve the provision of one-stop services to citizens and businesses. Interoperability in e-government should enable efficient information exchange between applications from different agencies with the help of IT-services. Interoperability in networked IT-service delivery is accomplished by e-infrastructures. However, knowledge of how to develop e-infrastructures in the public sector is still limited. In this paper we report a design science case study of the initial stage of the design of a public sector e-infrastructure in the social welfare sector, especially addressing the bootstrap problem, i.e. the initial problem of starting-up the development of an e-infrastructure. Six types of preconditions for the development of the e-infrastructure are examined and explained: legal, economical, organizational and the installed base of the as-is e-infrastructure consisting of technical, informational and contractual preconditions. From a design and action oriented perspective we claim that a basic understanding of the design context, within which the six types of preconditions have to be analyzed and understood, are essential for e-infrastructure development in an e-government context. The paper highlights the fundamental role of regulations as a precondition for the design, and the fundamental role of lawyers as designers of e-infrastructures in the public sector.

The User Interface as a Supplier of Intertwined e-Services

Today, much of the world economy is focused on the service sector (Stafford and Saunders 2004). One of the changes driving service economic growth has been the rapid development in computer technology, mobile technology and the Internet (ibid.). There are e.g. mobile positioning services, traffic information services and intermediary services such as banking services on the Internet. With the help of channels such as the Internet and mobile telecommunications, information and functionalities are delivered by service providers, and are used by customers with the help of information technology (IT) systems. Many of these services have a characteristic where customers can meet and communicate with each other.

Institutional ontology for conceptual modeling

Conceptual models are intended to capture knowledge about the world. Hence, the design of conceptual models could be informed by theories about what entities exist in the world and how they are constituted. Further, a common assumption within the field of conceptual modeling is that conceptual models and information systems describe entities in the real world, outside the systems. An alternative view is provided by an ontological commitment that recognizes that the institutional world is constructed through language use and the creation of institutional facts. Such an ontological commitment implies that there is an institutional reality, which, to a great extent, is constructed using information infrastructures. Accordingly, conceptual models have not only a descriptive role but also a prescriptive one, meaning that modelers set up a framework of rules that restrict and enable people to construct institutional reality using information infrastructures. Understanding the prescriptive role of conceptual models may revive the area of conceptual modeling in the information systems research community. Reviving conceptual modeling through institutional modeling is motivated by the effect that implemented conceptual models have on information infrastructures and institutions. The purpose of this article is to propose an institutional ontology that can support the design of information infrastructures. The ontology is theoretically informed by institutional theory and a communicative perspective on information systems design, as well as being empirically based on several case studies. It is illustrated using a case study in the welfare sector. A number of guidelines for modeling institutional reality are also proposed.

CreatingWorlds with Words: Ontology-guided Conceptual Modeling for Institutional Domains

Conceptual modeling is often viewed as an activity of representing a preexisting world that should be faithfully mirrored in an information system. This view is adequate for modeling physical domains but needs to be revised and extended for social and institutional domains, as these are continuously produced and reproduced through communicative processes. Thereby, conceptual modeling moves beyond analysis and representation in order to cater also for design and creation. Following such a view on conceptual modeling, this paper proposes an ontology for modeling institutional domains. The ontology emphasizes the role of institutional entities in regulating and governing these domains through rules and rights that define allowed and required interactions. Furthermore, the ontology shows how these institutional entities are dependent on and grounded in material entities. Conceptual modelers can benefit from the ontology when modeling institutional domains, as it highlights fundamental notions and distinctions in these domains, e.g., the role of rights, the role of processes in creating institutional facts, and the difference between documents and institutional information. The ontology is illustrated using a case on public consultation management.