Abstract
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Research into computer support for collocated, synchronous, small team meetings had had almost no impact on organisations in spite of significant investment in time and money. (The only collaborative support applications with any profile "in practice" are email programs and Lotus Notes and these are more suited to asynchronous work, which is beyond the scope of this thesis.) When we look within organisations, there are no pervasive applications that support face to face teams. We need to ask why.
Traditional approaches for gathering data - often through post hoc evaluation or an embedded observer - building applications based, on an observation of the mechanics of tasks in a past meeting, have not been effective. Each time an arbitrary task is enacted in small group work it will be performed differently, even if only slightly differently, due to factors such as situational context, the people involved and the nature of the task. Therefore the process for supporting the task should also be different each time. The flexibility of creating a variable approach for "declared" support does not exist in computer applications to the level that matches the variability in the task execution in practice. In other words, current applications are too prescriptive with their support for declared processes when humans are so variable in the way they carry out their duties or their enacted processes.
We propose, as an alternative, that the low level actions and activities in the tasks must be exposed, identified and supported dynamically. This takes the prescriptive element out of the application as far as possible. One of the first steps in this approach is to understand and articulate at a fine grained level exactly what people are doing when performing their tasks so that supportive computer interventions can be provided in real time, if required, and in a similar manner to what a human assistant might do in the same circumstances.
The main contribution of this thesis is an extensible framework for helping researchers to understand the problem before considering a solution. The (top down) framework is created from established theories of human behaviour, drawn mainly from Social Psychology and a number of relation domains. Concepts within the theories are matched with observed actions - or instances of behaviour - from within the team interactions and the sequences of theoretical concepts and observed evidence are used to tell small stories. To put it another way, we use existing theories of behaviour to add semantic meaning to the human actions that can be observed by a computer.
Validation was carried out by independent evaluators who observed three short video sequences. They used a set of codes derived from the theories as a basis for their analysis. The codes represent the actions that might be observed in constrained small group meetings. The evaluators analysed the videos and recorded which codes they observed in the same way that an application using cameras and microphones would also undertake the task. The aggregated results from the evaluators identified a large percentage of the codes and supported the methodological approach. This validated our framework and provided the basis for further research in interpreting human actions and considering support interventions.
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This Thesis contributes by reporting on the current state of diffusion of collaboration information technology (CIT). The investigation concludes, with a high degree of certainty, that today we have a ‘satisfactory’ diffusion level of some level-A CITs (mostly e-Mail, distantly followed by Audio Conferencing), and a ‘dissatisfactory’ diffusion level of higher-level CITs (i.e. those requiring significant collaboration and cooperation among users, like Meeting Support Systems, Group Decision Support Systems, etc.). The potential benefits of the latter seem to be far from fully realised due to lack of user acceptance. This conclusion has gradually developed along the research cycle – it was suggested by Empirical Study I, and tested through Empirical Studies II and III. An additional, unplanned and rather interesting, finding from this study has been the recognition of large [mostly business] reporting on numerous Web 2.0 user-community produced collaboration technologies (most of them belonging to the category of ‘social software’) and their metamorphosis from autonomous, ‘bottom-up’ solutions into enterprise-supported infrastructures.
Another contribution of this Thesis – again suggested by Empirical Study I, and tested through Empirical Studies II and III – pertains to the ‘process structure’ of CIT diffusion. I have found that collaboration technology has historically diffused following two distinct (interdependent but orthogonal) diffusion paths – top-down (authority-based) and bottom-up. The authority-based diffusion path seems to be characterised by efforts aimed at ‘imposing’ technologies on employees, the primary concern being to make sure that technology seamlessly and easily integrates into the organisational IT infrastructure. On the other hand, the bottom-up diffusion trail seems to be successful.
The contribution of this investigation may be summarised as threefold:
1. This investigation consolidates most of the findings to date, pertaining to CIT adoption and diffusion, which have been produced by the CIT research community. Thus, it tells a coherent story of the dynamics of the community focus and the collective wisdom gathered over a period of (at least) one decade.
2. This work offers a meaningful framework within which to analyse existing knowledge – and indeed extends that knowledge base by identifying persistent problems of collaboration technology acceptance, adoption and diffusion. These problems have been repeatedly observed in practice, though the pattern does not seem to have been recognised and internalised by the community. Many of these problems have been observed in cases of CIT use one decade ago, five years ago, three years ago, and continue to be observed today in structurally the same form despite what is unarguably ‘rapid technological development’. This gives me reason to believe that, at least some of the persistent problems of CIT diffusion can be hypothesised as ‘determining factors’. My contribution here is to identify these factors, discuss them in detail, and thus tackle the theme of CIT diffusion through a structured historical narrative.
3. Through my contribution (2) above, I characterise a ‘knowledge-action gap’ in the field of CIT and illuminate a potential path through which the research community might hope to bridge this gap. The gap may be operationalised as cognitive distance between CIT ‘knowledge’ and CIT ‘action’.
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Research in the multi-disciplinary domain of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Development indicates there is potential for ICT to contribute to a nation's socio-economic, socio-technical and socio-cultural development. Because of this developing countries have been rushing to implement ambitious ICT for Development (ICT4D) projects, in rural areas, through the direct/indirect supervision of institutions such as the World Bank, the United Nations (UN) and other local and international donor agencies. These interventions aim to provide positive development impacts on people's lives at an individual, group or community level. However, debate is continuing regarding how and to what extent teh ICT4D projects further the achievement of development.
Though there are attempts to comprehend the potential benefits of ICT4D in developing countries, the research generally does not examine the nature of ICT projects beyond the simple perspective of a 'development intervention'. This means that many initiatives suffer because there is an inability to distinguish between appropriate theories and guidelines - 'ICT' on the one hand and 'development' on the other.
Moreover, existing Information Systems (IS) theories and frameworks are mostly based on homogeneous entities, leading to a one-size-fits-all view of developmental interventions. This means insufficient priority is given to the local context and socio-economic factors in developing countries. We contend that there is a need for extending existing IS or ICT theoretical paradigms by the creation of frameworks set in the local context that will either analyse individual ICT applications or understand/measure ICT impacts on socio-economic development, especially in developing countries.
Our research constructs and applies a conceptual framework in order to understand the developmental impact at micro or community level in rural areas of one developing country, Bangladesh. We achieve this through an interpretive case study of one type of ICT4D project or intervention in three village areas in Bangladesh.
A major outcome of this thesis is a conceptual model grounded both in theory and in practice. The model was developed in an interpretive study of a particular ICT4D project, Gonokendra (multi purpose community access centre), undertaken in three different villages in rural Bangladesh; the study involved extensive face-to-face interviews, focus groups and observations for the identification of the areas of ICT-led developmental impact and understanding of development from the participants' perspective.
Our research not only identifies the areas of ICT-led socio-economic developmental impacts - access to technology/information, employment opportunity, income, social status, migration, education, social awareness and other practices in most of the world - but goes beyond them to understanding their influences and complexities. Its results were analysed using Heeks'(2005a) 'information chain model' and Sen's (2000b) notion of development as freedom: and we argue that previous studies, whilst addressing various ICT-led economic and social development aspects, have failed to encapsulate aspects of ICT or ICT4D impact like social constraints that produce negative attitudes towards e.g. education, mobility restrictions on participants and religious perceptions especially at the micro level in rural areas of developing countries. We argue that both means and ends of developmental ICT can be achieved by the expansion of human freedom; and thus is refined our conceptual framework demonstrating that ICT can influence the ultimate development of participants at micro level - illustrated, in this case, in rural areas of Bangladesh.
Our proposed model may be used as a normative tool for academicians, development agencies and international donor agencies who wish to understand the impact(s) of ICT4D projects. When using our framework, reserachers will follow a systematic and iterative process, where conceptual framework guides the collection and analysis of field data, which in turn shapes the framework.
We are concerned that the developmental impact of ICT in local context is not fully understood unless the social constraints are fully addressed. Our research makes a contribution to expanding the scope for impact assessment and to identifying social constraints (religious issues, perceptions held of female community members, and so on), and we believe that these constraints demand further investigation.
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In the information era, e-learning is considered as one of the means to increase the global competitiveness of a nation. Before e-learning is largely implemented in education system, it is important to assess the e-learning readiness of a society. However, previous research always focus on measuring the e-learning readiness of commercial organisations and tertiary institutions, leaving a huge research gap on the use and readiness of e-learning in primary and secondary schools. The aim of this research is to find out the e-learning readiness of teachers in Hong Kong schools, hoping that the experience gained could be transferred to other countries which are less developed than Hong Kong, yet which all share common Asian cultures. This is a multi-stage research project, incorporating model building and empirical testing of a model based on the existing academic literature, through questionnaire surverys to both in-service and pre-service teachers triangulated by series of in-depth interviews. Nine factors affecting the e-learning readiness of teachers are identified by statistical analysis -- Government and Public Support, ICT Infrastructure, Individual Preparedness/ICT Competency, e-Learning Materials, Training Opportunity, Student Preparedness, Attitude towards e-Learning, Leadership/e-Leadership, and Competency of Peers, which are different from the set of influential factors affecting the e-learning readiness of commercial organizations and higher institutions. In addition, this study also finds that gender and age are still critical to the e-learning readiness of in-service teachers and their effects are fading in the group of younger, pre-service teachers.
Abstract
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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has facilitated significant change in the provision and management of acute healthcare services. There is, however, considerable reluctance to completely commit to the digital world - most notably by moving from the Paper Medical Record (PMR) to reliance on an Electronic Clinical Record (ECR). The outcome of this reserch project is a formal process which includes both radical and incremental stages for the PMR to ECR transition, involving Strategic, Work Flow and ICT elements extending beyond the immediate clinical environment. This study was conducted as a positivist case study using qualitative data collection and analysis techniques within an overall Design Research (DR) framework. DR was selected as the appropriate paradigmatic approach for th study primarily for its ability to address 'wicked problems': somethign which is particularly true of the transition from the PMR to an ECR. Acute healthcare service delivery operates in a dynamic environmnet, giving rise to: unstable and ill definde contexts, complex interaction between the problem and potential solutions; and dependence upon human abilities to agree, aconeptualise and implement effective solutions. Data were analysed from two Diffusion of Innovation theoretical perspectives: Classical Diffusion of Innovation (CDoI) based on Rogers (2003); and Evolutionary Diffusion of Innovation (EDoI) basesd on Nelson & Winter (Nelson & Winter 1982) EDoI theoretical constructs of 'chance, path dependence, bounded rationality and routines' were particularly useful in exploring the specific innovation adoption: the use of electronic clinical summary forms as the basis for a systematic transition process from the traditional PMR to an ECR. The Greenhalgh et al (2004a) "Conceptual Model for Considering the Determinants of Diffusion, Dissemination, and Implemetnation of Innovations in the Health Service Delivery and Organisation" was evaluated in relation to the specific innovation; and enhanced and specifically relevant version produced as a further outcome of the thesis. A number of emergent themes guided the design of the PMR-to-ECR transition process: 'The Paper Medical Record - the Tension for Change'; 'Risk Management - Business and Clinical'; 'Professional Groups - Optimising the Culture'; 'The Transition - Just Do It'.
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Motivation for the project: Virtual team work and decision-making in face of a flood of information is increasingly the log of today's graduates. Moreover, learning is not limited to just one phase in life, but is increasingly considered to be a lifelong endeavour for all knowledge workers. These two sets of demands create an increasing need for flexible and versatile forms of education, such as e-learning. Consequently, an important objective of higher education, both off- and online, is the development of skills related to critical thinking, collaboration and team facilitation. From a pedagogical point of view, a suitable method for promoting these skills is the provision of case-based learning. Objectives: When implementing case-based learning in an online environment it is important to enable both an interactive and social learning experience, two qualities fundamental to learning but difficult to achieve in a virtual setting. This thesis explores the extent to which case-based learning can be implemented electronically and the associated efforts and benefits this might bring. The project also aims to formulate instructional guidelines that compensate students' efforts with an increasingly efficient and enjoyable learning process. Overall, this thesis argues that an important part of electronic case-based learning is the encouragement of debate within, as well as between, the various individual student groups studying an online course. In fact, this research project is predicated on the belief that it is through critical discussions that students develop the skills this research is targeting. It therefore follows that the quality of a learning design can be evaluated in terms of its ability to support student interaction during the different stages of case-based learning. Methodology: To analyse learning events in their natural settings, this research project combines design research principles with a process of data interpretation based on Ricoeur's 'hermeneutic arc'. The former gives the research its interventionist and iterative structure, while the latter attempts to present qualitative findings as objectively as possible. The hermeneutic arc approach suggests that interpretation is based on a systematic thress-staged process: (1) describing frist impressions, (2) analysing the structural elements oa a learning event; and (3) applying different angles of interpretation. At a data level, the three stages are supported by descriptive statistics, thematic schemes and learner comments respectively. Findings and Contributions: While synchronous events are not yet common features of all online courses, with few exceptions students had no difficulty committing to synchronous collaboration - although questions did emerge at a later stage, when meetings needed to be prepared and facilitated and meeting outcomes integrated into the group's report. The general concept, already provided in the form of the Harvard case method, was clearly insufficient to support online learning in and of itself: what was needed was a design that supported the decisions and activities of e-CBL teams more closely. Based on a pilot study and three research iterations, involving more than 180 students, the e-CBL design was continuously refined and extended. Findings comprise: a) an e-CBL development matrix structuring learners' progress in terms of method and media competencies, b)a collaboration process using application sharing and Voice over IP which is recommended to get groups started. c) an e-CBL meeting model explaining the differences between groups usage of online meetings; d) a set of design patterns for those areas where the instructional design needed to balance competing educational effects. At a theoretical level the research identifies a conceptual framework for the design of fruitful case discussions in an online environment and at a practical level, the conceptual framework has been used to implement and evaluate several versions of a case-based online course.
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In the last few years the demand for organic products has increased rapidly resulting in a strong growth of the organic industry worldwide. Organic certification is globally used to guarantee that ‘organic’ labelled produce follow the principles and standards of organic agriculture set by international and national organic certification bodies. Currently the lengthy and complex process of organic certification is entirely paper based and requires multiple access by organic primary producers to the certifying body involving precise data capture and transfer over a long period of time. The paper based organic certification has some significant disadvantages such as being time-consuming, error-prone (in particular transcription errors) and complex. Any improvement of the paper based organic certification process can lead to higher efficiency, lower costs and time savings for primary producers and certifying bodies.
Australia is a major supplier of organic produce holding almost half of the organic farmland worldwide. However, Australia’s unique geography provides challenges by means of huge distances and poor rural telecommunication coverage for the sustainable agriculture sector. The disadvantages of the paper based organic certification are this kind of environment more severe. Up until now, there has not been a software solution supporting organic primary producers in their certification process, let alone a mobile software solution. In any case there are many farm management software solutions available but they do not take into account the specific issues in organic agriculture such as soil management, pest control, or fertilisation of land/animals.
The Mobile Organic Certification (MobiCert) project was created to overcome these disadvantages focussing on the development of a mobile information portal which can be accessed through mobile Internet using GPRS or 3G technology enabling primary producers
access and provision to organic certification related information in field using their mobile phones. The MobiCert project investigates the effectiveness of mobile devices (mobile phones/PDAs) for (some of) the stages of the computerised organic certification, in particular in terms of information access and provision. Designed as a proof-of-concept project the investigation takes place in South Australia targeting the NASAA organic certified primary producers there. The MobiCert project is a pilot project within the SAmCom (Sustainable Agriculture m-Commerce) project framework, which aims to enhance the information access and provision for primary producers through m-Commerce. It is a joint project of the University
of South Australia, m.Net, NASAA, e-Cert and the Fraunhofer Institute
Using a qualitative approach in a rapid appraisal case study the goals of the MobiCert project are:
· to create a theoretical model (RuTADIM) for the mobile technology acceptance and diffusion of innovation in remote and rural areas
· to develop and test a prototype mobile information community for organic certification which provides access to data and information related to organic certification, (online and offline) record keeping functionalities, as well as community functionalities for
communication and experience exchange of primary producers.
The results of the proof-of-concept MobiCert project suggest that organic primary producers can benefit from a mobile information platform to access and provide information in rural and remote areas. The high acceptance of organic primary producer to use the mobile information community indicates the willingness to embrace new technology and solutions in the existing organic certification process. The benefits and acceptance of the MobiCert solution have to
bee affirmed in follow on field studies incorporating other issues such as the underlying business models.
The contributions of the MobiCert project are two-fold: firstly, it provides a theoretical model(RuTADIM) which gives insights of key influence factors for the acceptance of mobile technology and the diffusion of innovation in rural and remote areas. The RuTADIM model
can be foundation for future research projects involving mobile technology rural and remote areas. Secondly, the MobiCert information community displayed the potential of mobile solutions for primary producers in remote and rural areas. The MobiCert platform is a stepping stone for future mobile solution which can build upon this platform.
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Medication is vital in treating chronic disease. Increasing use of medication, however, can lead to (potentially preventable) medication-related adverse events. Medication management offers a means of addressing such adverse events and pharmacists have an important role in this solution, especially in terms of reviews of patient medication.
Improved availability and sharing of patient-related information are critical factors in medication management, so that providing access to this information becomes a major factor in effective medication reviews. Although clinical decision support tools can significantly assist doctors in accessing relevant point-of-care information for greater patient safety, it has proven difficult to ensure the availability and appropriate structure of patient-related information for such support tools. These information access and input problems are further exacerbated by a lack of existing research into suitable decision support solutions for pharmacists.
This research project explored the suitability of an ‘essential’ information model to support an electronic document solution to support clinical documentation and allow effective communication between pharmacists and doctors for medication reviews. The project
investigated whether this approach could improve safety, quality and efficiency in the medication review process; as well as more generally identifying factors influencing development and uptake of document-based support tools in the Health sector.
The project used a qualitative Design Research approach and iterated through three scenarios:
• The first, information-rich, hospital scenario developed an information model of essential medication management components, which underpinned the development of a digital document prototype – implemented using XForms technology
• in the second scenario, accredited pharmacists evaluated the digital document to enable refinement of the information model and its associated digital document for the broader ‘community’ context
• The third scenario involved field studies which evaluated the digital document (and thus the underlying information model) within the community, assessing its contribution to quality, safety and efficiency throughout the medication review process.
The investigation identified a number of themes which guided design and development of the prototype; and which appeared likely to have a broader impact on successful uptake of decision support tools.
Missing information proved to be a constant and serious problem for health professionals – although, in this project, it also became a way of determining the value of an information element and thus its inclusion in the information model. Conversation played a significant role in the hospital environment to help supply pharmacists' information needs. Information granularity, the ‘language’ of health professionals; and their time constraints were major factors influencing design. Health professionals’ extensive use of their personal knowledge also suggested decision support tools in this sector should be ‘systems for experts’ rather than expert systems, i.e. the decision support tool and its user’s
personal knowledge should complement one another.
The results of this proof-of-concept project suggest practice improvement in medication management is possible, with perceived improvements in safety, quality and efficiency of the medication management process. These benefits, however, now need to be affirmed in larger field studies.
The contributions of this research are two-fold: firstly, it is possible to develop a model of essential medication-related information which is succinct, relevant and can be understood
and shared by health professionals – in conjunction with the individual’s personal knowledge. Secondly, a document metaphor is a natural fit with health professionals for representing and
communicating information. Expressing this metaphor as digital document overcomes the main problems of paper-based documents – sharing and communication; and the dynamic properties of digital documents assist in decision-making.
Abstract
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It is acknowledged within the systems development literature, and by practitioners, that Requirements Engineering/Analysis is fundamental to the delivery of high quality software.
It is also widely agreed that many of the problems identified in software-intensive systems can be traced back to this component of the project. Practitioner studies suggest that some of these problems can be traced to formal education – skills and knowledge needed in daily work are not being well developed through their formal IT education. The implications for graduates entering the discipline of Requirements Engineering include:
• their conceptualisation does not match the reality of the profession: the educationthey have received does not prepare them for the real-world – the discipline is seen as needing conceptual knowledge in several overlapping domains at a competency level that approaches expertise, while the approach advocated in much of the literature hampers practice
• the appropriate soft skills valued by practitioners are not well developed through formal education. These include affective and cognitive skills as well as understanding of the ‘context’ in which the task being addressed exists
• generic attributes, such as life-long learning, which addresses the adaptability and flexibility required by practitioners, are also not well developed through formal education.
The purpose of this research is to address the issue of education for Requirements Engineers. This thesis argues that a framework can be developed that more closely models the experiences of practitioners, and addresses their expectations of novice Requirements Engineers.
By examining the gap between the competency expectations of practitioners and traditional formal education for the discipline, and then matching these gaps with strategies drawn from the literature of learning theory and models that purport to focus on these, this study shows that non-traditional approaches provide leverage for a graduate entering the profession of Requirements Engineering. The research acknowledges the social nature not only of education, but also the domain into which the students expect to enter, so that the action of the research can only be understood
by an ongoing act of interpretation and reflection. Guided by the concept of complimentarity, this Action Research project adopts a mixed method approach to data collection and analysis:
qualitative data are predominantly those provided by the participants – the students enrolled
in the Requirements Engineering unit over the duration of the study, and the practitioners
surveyed in the lead up; quantitative data focus on the assessment elements of the unit, and
on the responses to diagnostic instruments undertaken by students. Thematic analysis and
descriptive statistics provide the broad perspectives most appropriate for the development of
the multiple interpretations required to negotiate understanding.
Evaluation of three Action Research cycles shows that a shift in focus from technical competency
to the soft and metacognitive skills enables the competent practice of Requirements
Engineering. However, an incorrect learning environment can still exist between professional
practice and non-traditional education - what is needed is tuning at a finer granularity so that
the characteristics of professional practice are mapped to and reflected in the learning model
that is applied. The research also shows that, as well as alignment between discipline and
learning model, a relationship exists between learner and learning model, and suggests that
this relationship should be exploited in the development of competent discipline practitioners.
Abstract
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Over the past few years Internet technology has changed many industries externally and
internally. The digital content industries, especially the online music and news markets, have
evolved significantly and fundamentally, with Internet innovation as one of the most
important drivers of change. Internet technology has enabled more and more new players and
stakeholders – many of them originally from other sectors – to enter the market-space of the
original media companies. Consumers of content have also discovered the advantages the use
of Internet technology offers and started to use the World Wide Web as a preferred medium
for checking news or downloading music. Yet the Internet innovation not only caused
changes in the market but also allowed the traditional media companies to make their
processes leaner and to modify their existing business models. This PhD thesis focuses on the
impact that the Internet – as a new technological innovation – has had on companies in the
content industry, especially in the online news and online music sectors in Europe from 2002
to 2004.
Consumers of news and music have embraced the Internet and its application very quickly;
whereas companies in news and music have been rather more reluctant to integrate the
Internet into their processes and their products and services. Only step by step – in a gradual
adoption process – are they taking advantage of the new technology, generally in terms of
products and services, or process and cost optimisation.
An initial literature review of the field of diffusion of innovation reveals that a dynamic and
cross-disciplinary approach to the adoption of innovation is becoming increasingly common.
Research into the diffusion of innovation has itself evolved from Rogers’ view of diffusion as
a linear process to the more complex network and evolutionary perspectives. These later
views appear more applicable to the diffusion of the Internet innovation through the news and
music markets. The existing literature on Internet business models has not so far taken into
account the fact that business models responding to Internet (and more recently mobile)
technology innovation are confronted with the issues described in innovation theory such as
heterogeneous resources, imperfect information and knowledge; or great uncertainty. A
conceptual framework derived from evolutionary Diffusion of Innovation theory, Internet
business model concepts; and Porter’s five forces model adds considerably to the existing
understanding of how Internet innovation influences the evolution of business models.
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The results of my empirical work, where I combine quantitative and qualitative research
approaches – the preliminary case studies, the survey and the detailed case studies – carried
out between 2002 and 2004, describe the business models of the responding companies in the
online news and music sectors: their business strategy, their actual products and services and
how they sell them, the cooperation and competition among the stakeholders, their customers,
and their plans for the future. This in-depth analysis of the online news and music sectors
shows that Internet technology is not integrated into every part of the business to its fullest
extent; and that companies intend to integrate Internet technology only gradually.
Business-to-business processes and the organisation of the companies were based on the new
technology very early and to a large extent, mainly in order to save time and money, whereas
product and marketing innovation were introduced rather slowly, in the music sector even
more slowly than in news. The main reason for this reluctance lies in the accompanying threat
which the Internet poses to the traditional business. Newspapers fear that their print versions
will be substituted by free online information; and record companies face the fact that they
cannot sell music online for the same price as in traditional stores – in both sectors resulting
in an immense loss of revenue.
One of the main contributions of my thesis is how companies in the content sector can react to
a constantly changing technological and competitive environment. Content providers in news
and music do modify their business model in response to the Internet innovation and the
consequences it (and the more recent mobile technologies) has for important market forces.
The ‘Six forces model for Internet business models’ I developed shows how constant changes
in market and company-based forces like Internet (and mobile) technology, end device
development, financial constraints, customer behaviour, business structures, the competitive
environment and institutional conditions constrain content providers to respond to new
innovation through modification of their business model. The outcome of the business model
modification itself, such as new products and services, new revenue sources, new structures
for the company’s organisation and new cooperation, in turn has an impact on the market and
company-based forces. To support companies’ strategic decision making I developed the ‘C+
model for content providers’ which describes a flexible, adaptable business model – not only
designed for online and mobile distribution of content, but equally applicable to any business
model in an increasingly competitive market environment.
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The decline of regional communities in Australia as in the rest of the world has motivated
both research and political inquiry into methods of arresting it. A popular and persuasive
philosophy is New Regionalism which envisions regions as potential economic powerhouses
given a degree of self governance and the necessary resources. In a world where efficient
telecommunications is a prerequisite to participation in the global economy a modern and
effective telecommunications system is a crucial resource. Australia has adopted a position of
partial privatisation of the telecommunication industry which poses questions of updating
telecommunications in regions where the density of population does not justify commercial
operations. In 1997 the Australian Federal Government devoted in excess of $A460 million to
a grant award scheme called the Regional Telecommunication Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) or
Networking the Nation (NTN) in which communities identified local telecommunication
problems and applied for funds to correct them.
No formal analysis has been conducted of this scheme until recently and no evaluation has
been undertaken to assess the ‘fit’ or alignment of Federal Government policy and community
goals. The primary purpose of this thesis is to develop and test a conceptual framework
designed to assess the effectiveness of the mechanism of this and similar schemes. Indeed the
motivation for this research is the lack of a suitable framework. The conceptual framework
which we have developed for this purpose is informed by Strategic Information Systems
Planning (SISP) which has competitive advantage through the use of Information Technology
(IT) as its basic premise. From the community perspective, community “thrivingness” is the
equivalent of competitive advantage and our objective is to investigate its feasibility in this
novel context.
The conceptual framework was first tested on King Island which had gained an NTN grant to
update its telecommunications system. Thereafter we conducted three case studies in Ballarat,
Shepparton and Tasmania. Each of these was viewed through the lens afforded by the SISP
based conceptual framework and a cross case analysis compared and contrasted the shifting
status of alignment between Federal Government and community before and during the NTN
projects. We conclude that the perceptions of large grant award schemes are assisted by a
suitable framework or lens and that the set of SISP principles that comprise the conceptual
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framework, is useful in community preparation in applying for awards and in managing the
projects when the award is made.
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This thesis contributes to the existing body of knowledge on innovation studies and proposes a methodology for representing dynamic contextual changes in longitudinal studies. The foundation for this methodology is the "Price of Convenience" (PoC) Model. The PoC is a way of looking at the entire adoption system from product introduction to consumer and market response through balancing price, in terms of loss of individual privacy, against the conveniences and enhanced collective security resulting from its adoption. As a theory development thesis, it is based on iterative grounded theory approach.
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One of the most persistently challenging topics in the Information Systems (IS) field continues to be
how to improve understanding and gain a useful perspective on technology adoption and
implementation. Researchers attempting to make progress in this field have had to grapple with the
limited explanatory power of recognised diffusion theories and the fragmentation of research on
uptake of innovative technology across a number of disciplines.
This research project addresses the fundamental question of how to improve technology adoption and
implementation – referred to in this thesis as the innovative technology uptake (ITU) problem.
Tackling the ITU problem required development of a coherent explanatory theoretical framework,
which needed to be appropriate for the investigation of diffusion processes in the more complex
environment of a market. Evolutionary Diffusion Theory (EDT) offered this project an appropriate
basis as well as a broader investigative approach for reviewing technological change. Originally
formulated in the field of Evolutionary Economics, EDT describes economic phenomena with a
particular focus on situations of change, open systems and innovation processes. Although EDT - and
the set of axioms derived from the theory - can be applied to many fields, in this project it was
restricted to exploring the ITU problem in Government to Business (G2B) implementations of ebusiness
technologies in the Australian food industry.
This study of uptake of innovative technology in the Australian food industry between 2000 and 2003
produced a significant body of empirical data. The major case study applies the conceptual framework
to a review of an online system for facilitating access to export documentation (known as EXDOC)
and its phased implementation by a government agency, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection
Service (AQIS). The EXDOC case study provides the basis for an exploratory analysis of current
Australian practices in the uptake of innovative G2B technology as well as a review of the ITU
problem in relation to policy and sustainable technology issues.
The thesis produced the following deliverables:
· A conceptual framework derived from axioms based on Evolutionary Diffusion Theory which
adds considerably to understanding of influences on uptake of innovative G2B technology in an
IS research context
· A simple integrated framework for understanding not only why technology innovations fail but
also the conditions under which they can form durable communities
· A set of holistic guidelines proposed to assist other Australian government agencies currently
implementing innovative online technology for G2B service delivery
This research project suggests that Evolutionary Diffusion provides a unified theory best suited to
understanding the principle influences on the speed and specific course of uptake of G2B innovative
technology in the Australian food industry.