Evaluating E-Learning from an End User Perspective

Evaluating e-learning is an important measure for quality control, which aims to improve the whole e-learning environment through taking into consideration users’ perceptions and needs, as well as participants, stakeholders, and institutions. However, literature does indicate that institutions are only using e-learning as a repository for uploading academic materials, instead of taking into consideration of features and the learner. This chapter examines a variety of evaluation techniques adopted from e-learning, personalised learning, and User Modelling to suggest improvements within the industry to challenge the end users’ perceptions of on-line education.

User-Driven Documentation Building for the ERP System

Contemporary enterprises use IT tools to support almost every type of business activity. The vast majority use very large business applications called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Such applications can be of great help, both for managers and regular staff members. The downside is that such systems are very complicated and they are a subject of frequent changes. Thus, they can be a source of many problems due to the necessity to continuous learning how to properly use them. The authors propose the usage of the Enterprise Social Software (ESS) in order to help users in their efforts toward finding good source of information. Applications such as wiki, RSS, blogs, tags, and discussion forums can be very effective in collaborative knowledge creation and in knowledge sharing. The authors discuss the possibilities of using such tools in building user-driven documentation for an ERP system.

Users as Prosumers of PETs

Frequent contact with online businesses requires Internet users to distribute large amounts of personal information. This spreading of users’ information through different Websites can eventually lead to increased probabilities for identity theft, profiling and linkability attacks, as well as other harmful consequences. Methods and tools for securing people’s online activities and protecting their privacy on the Internet, called Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), are being designed and developed. However, these technologies are often perceived as complicated and obtrusive by users who are not privacy aware or are not computer or technology savvy. This chapter explores the way in which users’ involvement has been considered during the development process of PETs and argues that more democratic approaches of user involvement and data handling practices are needed. It advocates towards an approach in which people are not only seen as consumers of privacy and security technologies, but where they can play a role as the producers of ideas and sources of inspiration for the development of usable PETs that meet their actual privacy needs and concerns.

Web 2.0 and its Implications on Globally Competitive Business Model

Considering the impact of using social media, both internal and external implications for company operations are required to be explored. The chapter explores how social media is used to enable innovation practices in company internal operations as well as external stakeholders. In addition, the objective of the study is to evaluate the need and scope of Web 2.0 behind the restructuring of the business model, with major emphasis on implementing a user-centric business model. The research questions include: (a) What are the Critical Success Factors (CSF) responsible for attracting and engaging users in Web 2.0-oriented business processes and practices?; (b) Identifying the scope of effective Web 2.0-based strategies to overcome internal resistance at operational as well firm level during deployment of new business model. The chapter also discusses the influence of Web 2.0 concepts in the Web-strategy formulation for organizations with differing requirements, characteristics, and objectives. Considering four types of Web-based business models (Wirtz, 2010), namely (a) content-oriented business model, (b) commerce-oriented business model, (c) context-oriented business model, and (d) connection-oriented business model. The chapter defines the implementation of Web 2.0-based technological strategies in evolving the business model of the firm.

Improving IT Market Development through IT Solutions for Prosumers

With the IT markets rapidly changing, organisations are looking at alternative ways of improving their economic status through using the prosumer to improve IT solutions. This whole concept of using the prosumer involves organisations coming away from the traditional way of thinking about the producers and consumers as individual entities. IT companies frequently face product development challenges from industrial or societal innovations pressure. Organisations are responding to these trends within the IT sector by developing new products and improving existing products. This chapter looks at what key factors are associated with prosumers’ and how organisations can harness this power through personalisation. Personalisation through prosumers’ can improve the software development cycles and innovations through incorporating individual expert skills.

Social Networks and Internet Communities in the Field of Geographic Information and Their Role in Open Data Government Initiatives

Users are playing an increasingly relevant role in geospatial data production. The traditional procedure for creating cartography, mainly by experts in official mapping agencies, has evolved into a more participative process for generating data: neogeography. Technology and the Internet are now user-friendly for a wide range of people who have become active users of global networks, such as GEOSS, INSPIRE, Eye On Earth, and EarthCube, and official producers need to adapt to the new era of openness, collaboration, and hybrid maps by adopting open standards. Although the creation of geospatial information is notably growing worldwide, and is enhanced by user-generated content, we may wonder whether this is a feasible alternative to official cartography. This chapter reviews the main geospatial networks based on both bottom-up and top-down data creation approaches, as well as the potentialities and limitations of user-generated content in the scientific field and in decision-making organisms.

Information Technology Prosumption Acceptance by Business Information System Consultants

The goal of human-computer interaction evolves from just making Internet systems easy to use to making them easy to develop. By now, most people are familiar with the basic functionalities of business applications. However, one fundamental challenge for the coming future is to develop Information Technology (IT) environments that allow users who do not have background in programming to develop or modify their own applications. In this chapter, the end-user computing is defined as an IT environment supported by methods, techniques, and tools that allow users of business information systems, who are acting as non-professional software developers, to create, modify, and extend a software system. The purpose of the research is to bridge the gap in the management science by investigating customer participation in information system development and its effect on users' future cooperation behavior. Beyond that, the theoretical framework linking information system development to customer satisfaction and intention toward future collaboration is proposed. In conclusion, the chapter reveals the huge potential of users' capabilities for the improvement of business information system design and development process.

Harvesting Deep Web Data through Produser Involvement

Acquiring the data from the deep Web is a complex process, which requires understanding of Website navigation issues, data extraction, and integration techniques. Currently existing solutions to automate it are not ready to cover the whole deep Web and require skills and knowledge to be applied in practice. However, several systems were created, which approach the problem by involving end users who are able to bring the data from the deep Web to the surface while creating solutions for their own information needs. The authors study these systems in the chapter from the end user perspective, investigating their interfaces, languages that they expose to end users, and the platforms that accompany the systems to involve end users and allow them to share the results of their work.

Prosumer’s Responsibilities?

This chapter addresses issues relating the clarification of responsibilities associated to business services. The definition of the constraints is part of the definition of the services. The main objective is to describe the influence of the constraints in the service elaboration mechanisms. The authors propose an approach for the specification of the constraints associated to services and for the management of access rights needed to use and exploit services. The usage of services is strongly coupled with the stakeholder’s responsibilities. Finally, the authors discuss a usage scenario implementing this approach in the context of sensitive data exchange between stakeholders from the healthcare domain. Furthermore, they describe how the constraints are defined.

Enabling IT Innovation through Soft Systems Engineering

In any Software Development process, and especially in innovation processes, the team responsible for software implementation needs to acquire the necessary knowledge to implement the project and to sustain innovation. However, the implementation team does not always convert innovative ideas into the expected value. The Software Development Process has a complexity that is process-inherent. Soft System Engineering is a response to address this complexity and to support the application of user-driven methods in an open innovation environment. This approach allows the development of a systematic interaction with users to generate new offerings and to improve previous products and services in order to create value and differentiation.