Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology

Use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the development of tools to enablecommunication, can change the ways in which students in higher education learn, includingonline learning, both as individuals and through collaboration with other learners. This paper is a review of two cases of online peer evaluation of web sites or multimedia presentations, between students from several countries. Examining the research feedback from these collaborative activities has contributed to our understanding of online learning tasks, and led to the development of a dedicated online portal for carrying out collaborative activities. We have found that there is a clear benefit to be derived from incorporating activities of this type within the learning of students in higher education. The CAB portal we have developed helps tutors, wishing to set up a collaborative activity, to address issues of reciprocity of learning outcomes and guidelines for students’ participation.

The widespread use of computers and the Internet has provided many advantages to everyday life, but also created new opportunities for unethical and illegal acts such as software piracy. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) and International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that worldwide software piracy rate went up to 41 percent in 2008 and worldwide losses to software vendors due to software piracy totaled more than $50 billion in 2008 (BSA and IDC, 2009). Besides being an economic problem, software piracy is also an ethical issue, especially in academic settings. The evidences from numerous studies suggest that many undergraduate students consider software piracy and other unethical use of information technologies as an acceptable behavior. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationships between the demographic characteristics of freshman students and their attitudes towards software piracy. Data were obtained from a survey sample of 125 students in the Department of Business Administration at a public university in Turkey. The study found that overall attitudes of freshman students towards software piracy are close to neutral position on the Likert scale. The results of the regression analysis showed that monthly family income and duration of Internet usage in a week affected attitudes of freshman students towards software piracy, but to a lower extent.

This paper was published in the Journal of Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, Vol. 4(2007) The main focus of this paper is to evaluate the provision of ICT in three rural communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) in South Africa to determine how the needs of these communities can be addressed. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were applied to address this focus. Results are compared and recommendations are presented that may best meet the needs of the rural communities

The rapid development and diffusion of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) have fundamentally changed many aspects of life and societies around the world. ICTs, especially the Internet, have affected the way we all live, communicate, work, study, and socialize in many ways. Today, ICTs have become an integral part of the developed countries. ICTs have the potential to support economic growth, to provide opportunities, and to increase democracy in developing countries. Yet, many developing countries have not been able to take advantages of the opportunities offered by ICTs. There are significant differences between developed and developing countries in terms of accessing and using the ICTs. That is defined as global digital divide. There are also different types of digital divide within a country, such as the gender divide, the age divide and the income divide. The main aim of this paper is to explore the digital divide in a developing country, Turkey, and to highlight some approaches to bridge it.

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This paper is based on an ongoing study that looks at farm management practices by Australian women cotton growers using farm management software, most particularly an agricultural decision support system, CottonLOGIC. The study is informed through a theoretical framework of structu-ration theory as a metatheory for probing the recursiveness of farm management and technology usage, and diffusion of innovations theory as a lower-level theory for analysing software adoption characteristics. Empirical research indicates that effective information exchange flows from ho-mophilous communication. In this paper, the principles of homophily and heterophily in commu-nication networks were initially drawn from diffusion theory. The findings suggest that despite apparent gender disparities, the presence of empathy and shared goals between farming partners overrides gender heterophily' to become gender homophily. Therefore cotton growers are in-formed of scientific research through homophilous communication, influencing the construction and reconstruction of innovative software usage and existing farm management practices. Yes Yes

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Research is currently being undertaken to compare attitudes and behaviour towards ethics in information technology between students at an Australian and a South African university. This work provides a background to ethics from the literature from which a behavioural model for micro-level ethical standards is proposed. Using a theoretical underpinning of Fishbein & Azjen’s Theory of Reasoned Action, a survey document has been developed to identify and compare what constructs most affect an individual's intention to behave in situations requiring ethical considerations.

Blogs are a new and intriguing form of communication and personal expression. Researchers are only just beginning to realise the value that these media present as sources of data for research. This paper begins to unveil the untapped potential that the blogosphere provides for research. The paper begins by introducing blogs, explaining their evolution and the important role they play in society. A major contribution to knowledge comes from the paper's analysis of the motivation behind blogging - providing a framework of seven different motivational schemes. Building on this, the paper explores why blogs are a valuable and reliable source of data for analysis. The paper illustrates how blogs can be used for analysis, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of their use. The paper concludes with a brief note on some of the ethical considerations of using blogs for research.

Many organizations grapple with uncertainty and vagaries of economic and political climate. A number of companies attained dramatic competitive advantages in their fields by creating com- prehensive, complex communication and information networks. These companies, facilitated by the increasing efficiencies and speed of information technology, remained flexible and adaptable to change by working in a network centric way. Much of the network centric (NC) related work done to date has been mainly in the technological domain. This paper focuses on the human and organizational factors that need to be considered to make the most of the future network centric warfare (NCW) and enable future warfighters to deal with war, peace, terrorism and overall un- certainty. Particular focus is placed on the issues that individuals and groups face in the NC envi- ronment. Such issues include: organizational culture, cognitive demands, and knowledge mobili- zation and learning.

Collaborative Learning in group settings currently occurs across a substantial portion of the UK Higher Education curriculum. This style of learning has many roots including: Enterprise in Higher Education, Action Learning and Action Research, Problem Based Learning, and Practice Based Learning. As such our focus on Collaborative Learning development can be viewed as an evolutionary. This collaborative and active group learning provides the foundation for what can be collectively called connectivist ‘Learning Communities’. In this setting a primary feature of a ‘Learning Community’ is one that carries a responsibility to promote one another’s learning. This paper will outline a developmental collaborative learning approach and describe a supporting software environment, known as the Salford Personal Development Environment (SPDE), that has been developed and implemented to assist in delivering collaborative learning for post graduate and other provision. This is done against a background of much research evidence that group based activity can enhance learning. These findings cover many approaches to group based learning and over a significant period of time. This paper reports on work-in-progress and the features of the environment that are designed to help promote individual and group or community learning that have been influenced by the broad base of research findings in this area.

This paper reports on the findings from a qualitative research study into the use of a technologyfacilitated part-complete solution method (PCSM) that was used to support the learning of computer programming. The use of part-complete solutions to programming problems is one way in which the cognitive load that students experience during learning can be reduced. A code restructuring tool, CORT, was built to support the PCSM and an inquiry into its effectiveness took place over a period of 14 weeks at an Australian university. Results suggest that: the system provided strong scaffolding for student learning; students engaged well with the system and generally used a thoughtful and considered cognitive strategy; and the highest level of support was for student semantic difficulties, although there was also strong support for algorithmic and structural difficulties.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Information Resources and Learning)--University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, 2004. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-55). Vita. Microfiche copy: University Microfilms No. 31-25423.

The completion of a high quality comprehensive sequence of the human genome has lead to the discovery of genetic links to complex diseases and the development of target drugs. Population genetic databases (PGDs) are a powerful resource to the systematic study of the genetic component of disease; in the quest to understand the impact of genetic factors on drug response data from laboratory experiments, computational methods and clinical studies must be integrated. The establishment of a pharmacogenomics knowledge base entails complex information management balanced with the appropriate legal and ethical standards. This article reviews some of the ontology development challenges and examines the need to establish a legal structure which creates the proper intellectual property incentives to develop PGDs and the ethical standards that must be upheld so that the terms of informed consent are legitimate.

With our ever-changing society there seems to be more pressures on young people. Recent epidemiological studies in Australia have found that adolescent mental health is an important public health problem (Sawyer et al., 2001). As many as one in five Australian children aged from 4 to 17 have significant mental health concerns (Zubrick, Silburn, Burton & Blair, 2000). However, only one in four young people receive professional help (Sawyer, et al., 2001). Schools in Australia provide school counselors to assist students, yet many young people do not avail themselves of this service. However, young people do seek help from telephone help-lines (in 2002 almost 1.1 million phone calls were made to Kids Help Line) and from the Internet (Kids Help Line, 2003a). Perhaps more anonymous forms of counseling, such as cybercounseling, could deliver a more effective service within a school setting. The difficulties and benefits of school based webcounseling are discussed in terms of the ethical, legal and therapeutic issues, as well as technical problems and recent research outcomes.

With the increasing levels of multiculturalism in today's business and the proliferation and essentiality of information systems, development and management of IS needs to be considered in light of the cultural factors which impact upon its utility. Hofstede's work on culture is the most widely cited in existence. His observations and analysis provide scholars and practitioners a valuable insight into the dynamics of cross-cultural relationships. However, such a groundbreaking body of work does not escape criticism. Hofstede has been dogged by academics discrediting his work in part or whole. Nonetheless, far more scholars exist who support Hofstede than those that don't. Most quote Hofstede's work with unabashed confidence, many including his findings as absolute assumptions. This paper takes a critical look at Hofstede's work and applies his findings to the practical needs of information systems. The paper finds support for the dimensions promoted by Hofstede in regard to information systems, but recommends continued research to provide greater clarity and continued applicability of his espoused dimensions.

Although there are many teaching styles in higher education, they can usually be reduced to two: the traditional, on campus attendance, lecturing, student-passive style and the newer, distance education, self-paced, student-active style. It is the contention of this paper, illustrated by two case studies of one Spanish and one Australian university, that the differences in technology seem to have evolved due to these different teaching styles. On the other hand, both institutions seem to be in the same stage of technological implementation, although the technological product appears different. A discussion is provided to consider the interaction effects in practice, teaching styles and institutional adoption stage on web based technologies in these two universities.

Discipline formation in information management is investigated through a case study of the origi-nation and development of information services for scientific and technical information in Australia. Particular reference is made to a case of AESIS, a national geoscience, minerals and petroleum reference database coordinated by the Australian Mineral Foundation. This study pro-vided a model for consideration of similar services and their contribution to the discipline. The perspective adopted is to consider information management at operational, analytical and strate-gic levels. Political and financial influences are considered along with analysis of scope, perform-ance and quality control. Factors that influenced the creation, transitions, and abeyance of the service are examined, and some conclusions are drawn about an information management disci-pline being exemplified by such services.

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The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is committed to providing outstanding learning environments and programs that lead to excellent outcomes for students. This paper will discuss how the Faculty of Information Technology is helping to meet this commitment by using information and communication technology to transform teaching and learning in ways in which engage and challenge students. The paper will provide a case study explore how e-learning is being implemented within the Bachelor of Information Technology. The paper will discuss the practical implications of incorporating e-learning into the teaching curriculum and how it impacts on the teaching and learning process. Student attitudes and expectations towards e-learning will be explored. The paper concludes that e-learning should be a part of a 'whole of learning' approach in which technology is not just an add on to traditional teaching, nor is it the central focus of teaching, but rather, it is one of many tools that is integrated into the curriculum to foster learning. The current project suggests that students appreciate and prefer a mix of e-learning and face-to-face classes and that e-learning is most successful when a holistic approach to teaching and learning is taken.

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Table of Contents for IISIT Volume 14, 2017

Table of Contents for IISIT Volume 16, 2019