Australian Computer Society Research Articles

Teaching Simulations Supported by Artificial Intelligence in the Real World

Video conferencing has enabled synchronous communication in a classroom and created multi-sensory content to stimulate learners. Artificial intelligence involves complex equations that are better taught using a constructive pedagogy where students experiment with alternative ways of solving the same problem. Multiple-choice questions have high reliability and can easily reveal student skill levels in a quick way. The Australian Computer Society accreditation exercise ensures that the content for each subject serves as a flexible template for teaching. The geographical extent of the country requires the presence of multiple subordinate campuses affiliated to a main campus. Following the concept of strands, it was also necessary to show continuity in learning and assessments between the first- and second-year subjects. Student feedback for subjects with artificial intelligence-based simulations showed that several students found it difficult to understand lectures and assignments. Hence, to measure student learning, we introduced a Kahoot quiz during the recess of each lecture that students could join through their mobile phones from different campuses. Software project management is challenging for students with vision or attention-related disorders. We taught them how to use charts to visually observe variables and narrow down possible relationships before performing in-depth analysis. One of the main purposes of education is employability. Hence, greater context to real world industry examples was introduced into lectures.

Bullying in the Australian ICT workplace: the views of Australian ICT professionals

The aim of this study is to examine bullying in the workplace from the perspective of Australian Information Communication Technology (ICT) professionals. The data collection for this project included conducting a quantitative survey with 2,315 participants and 43 qualitative interviews with members of Australian Computer Society (ACS). We found that 630 ICT professionals, or 27.23% of all survey respondents, identified workplace bullying as an ethical problem. The majority of survey respondents who selected bullying as an ethical issue were permanent full time employees (N= 413, 65.6%). A significant relationship was found between respondents identifying bullying as an ethical issue in the survey and their job classification (Deviance = 25.55, Df = 11, p=0.0076), suggesting that job classification, among other things, does predict respondents’ selection of bullying. Furthermore, our survey and interview findings indicate that the more mature respondents, as well as those in the managerial roles, have a greater concern about bullying.

The wired city [1973

This paper was originally published in Telecommunication Journal of Australia, Volume 23, No 3, 1973. It was presented as the opening paper at the UNESCO Seminar on the 'Communication Revolution' held in Melbourne on 20-24 August, 1973.The Australian Post Office has just commenced a complex operation to plan the course of telecommunications in Australia beyond the year 2000 A.D. This article indicates the national significance of the undertaking and the complexities of the issues involved. The potential facilities which may be offered to subscribers are outlined, some of which call for a network of markedly different capabilities to the existing telephone networks. There are conceptual attractions in providing all facilities in a single wideband distribution network but there are also offsetting difficulties which must be examined. Even if a single distribution network is adopted there may well be several switching networks.Facilities of the type envisaged will have far reaching impacts on major facets of society such as town planning, transport patterns, education, structure of the economy and behaviour patterns.The telecommunications planner is entering new and little-charted fields which will call for close relationships with other professional disciplines and extensive consultation with relevant groups in society. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

The Business Intelligence Based Business Process Management Challenge

1 IntroductionOne of the main topics of this study is Business Intelligence (BI) considered by Gartner [1] as an umbrella term that includes the applications, infrastructure and tools, and best practices that enable access to and analysis of information to improve and optimize decisions and performance. Based on the Latin word intellegere meaning collection and preparation of information and acquired findings [2] or to come to know, see into, perceive, understand, discern, comprehend, gather [3], the term is coupled with meaning [4] an organization or economic system where goods and services are exchanged for one another or for money, dealing with concepts as investment, employees, customers and profit. In fact this Latin verb interconnects all the categories of the human mind's content, as identified by Russel Ackof [5] (data to information, knowledge and wisdom by understanding relations, patterns and principles) and this is why we must consider another term intensively used by Peter Drucker [6], namely that of knowledge worker, in order to fully understand what BI is all about [7].Another major topic of this paper is Business Process Management which is abbreviated as BPM. According to Dan Power (guru in Decision Support Systems and Business Intelligence) [8], BPM means using a specialized information system to improve business processes such as planning and forecasting to help managers define, measure and manage performance against strategic goals. Management translates goals into key performance indicators (KPI's) that are monitored using computerized systems. A computer-based dashboard is a BPM or Corporate Performance Management (CPM) tool.According to Gartner [9], BPM is a discipline that treats business processes as assets that directly contribute to enterprise performance by driving operational excellence and business agility. A simple definition of a business process [10] is that of a set of activities performed by an organization to achieve a certain goal. And this recalls two different concepts: that of effectiveness as ratio between the amount of the actual result and the amount of the proposed one and the concept of efficiency usually defined as ratio between expenses and revenue [11].Both concepts (fig.1) are widely used in management and know as difficult to optimize in the same time, a good compromise often being recommended [13].2 MethodologyThe starting point of this paper was a research of the topic Business Intelligence and the topic Business Process Management separately. After getting a basic understanding for both fundamental terms we were searching for books, journals and papers considering the relation of both topics. The next step was to find the historical process related to the topic, the current status, some examples and the future expectations.3 Definitions, Requirements, Benefits And Progresses in DSS and BIDSS represents an older term than BI. It was firstly used in 1971 by Gorry and Scott-Morton [14]. They argued that Management Information Systems primarily focused on structured decisions and suggested that the supporting information systems for semi structured and unstructured decisions should be termed Decision Support Systems [15].In 1992, the ACS (Australian Computer Society) suggestively presented the location of DSS, at the intersection of Computer Science, Information Systems and Commerce and Business Administration (Figure 2).Techtarget.COM defines a Decision Support System [17] as a computer program application that analyzes business data and presents it so that users can make business decisions more easily. It is an informational application (in distinction to an operational application that collects the data in the course of normal business operation). A Decision Support System may present information graphically and may include an expert system or artificial intelligence (AI). It may be aimed at business executives or some other group of knowledge workers. …

Identifying the Education Needs of the Business Analyst: An Australian Study

The Business Analyst (BA) plays a key role in ensuring that technology is appropriately used to achieve the organisation’s goals. This important mediating role is currently in high (unmet) demand in many English-speaking countries and thus more people need to be trained for this role. To determine the educational and/or training needs of a BA we conducted a survey in the Information and Communication Technology industry in Australia. The survey items are based on prior studies of information systems educational requirements and the internationally-developed Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) that has been endorsed by the Australian Computer Society. From the literature we identified three types of skills: soft, business and technical. With the increasing importance of GreenIT and the pivotal role that the BA could play in green decision making, we added a fourth type of skill: green. The survey considers 85 skills, their importance, the level of attainment of that skill, skill gaps and types of skills. Results show that all soft skills were considered to be important with the smallest knowledge gaps. Selected business skills and green skills were seen to be important. Technical skills were considered less important, but also where the largest knowledge gaps existed. Further we asked respondents whether each skill should be acquired via an undergraduate or postgraduate degree and/or industry training and experience. We found that the workplace was considered the most appropriate place to acquire and/or develop all skills, except the ability to innovate. While we found that softskills should be taught almost equally at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, business and green skills were more appropriate in a postgraduate degree. In contrast, technical skills were best acquired in an undergraduate program of study.

The Research of Pore Water Pressure Effect on the Slope Safety Factor Based on Flac

On the basis of the Australian Computer Society(ACADS)`s typical questions1(a),first, regardless of the slope in the case of pore water pressure, used FLAC procedure calculate the safety factor, the result was very close to the reference answer given by ACADS, we can see the accuracy of FLAC. Then, applied to the slope of different pore water pressure, obtained safety factor under corresponding conditions, then, we found that the pore water pressure had effect on the slope safety factor, but the influence are not same, when the pore water pressure less than a certain value, the influence are very small, but, when the pore water pressure exceeded this value, the influence became very large.

Editorial: In Memoriam of Associate Professor Dr Elaine Lawrence

Despite being a graduate of the rigorous Bachelor of Information Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in 1996, I was unfortunate in that I missed being taught by Associate Professor Elaine Lawrence who began working at UTS in 1990 as a Lecturer in Computing Science. Dr Lawrence became a senior lecturer in 2000, and subsequently an associate professor in 2006. Our paths crossed in 2002 when I was tasked deliver a new course entitled eBusiness Principles in my first year of lecturing at the University of Wollongong, and after an initial scurry find an adequate textbook, I came across Dr Lawrence's groundbreaking text Internet Commerce: Digital Models for Business. Lawrence's book was a best-seller for Wiley, adopted by almost every course coordinator teaching e-business/e-commerce in Australia, at a time when information technology had burgeoning undergraduate numbers. When my PhD supervisors, Professor Joan Cooper and Associate Professor Carole Alcock, suggested me that Dr Lawrence would be a good choice for an examiner in 2003, I must say I was more than a little nervous. After doing some background research on the web see the fit, I was in even greater awe noting the impact Dr Lawrence was having on the teaching of industry certifications, and the creation of new courses. Elaine was the Program Leader of the popular Masters of Internetworking degree at UTS and as a qualified Cisco Certified Academic instructor (CAI) she began the CISCO certification courses delivered at UTS, in addition contributing a plethora of materials the CISCO Academy that were used by an estimated one million persons globally. Lawrence also tested international teaching materials for CISCO in Ireland and the United States and was the NSW representative for the Educational Council for CISCO. I had spent five years at Nortel Networks, a CISCO competitor, and immediately felt an affinity with her background Dr Lawrence was the first student complete the Doctor of Technology at Deakin University in 2001. In addition this, Dr Lawrence had a Masters of Business Information Technology, a Graduate Diploma in Commercial Computing and a Bachelor of Arts (awarded the university prize for Journalism). She was a very active senior member of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for more than 20 years and also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 1994 she began her own company called CyberConsult who had among its customers, Sydney Water, the Australian Institute of Management, Unilink and the Australian Computer Society. I do remember being taken by the fact that her slogan for her consulting business was The Human Side of Technology. Given my thesis was all about emerging technologies and their implications, I found peace in the fact that Dr Lawrence was a potential marker. After receiving my PhD I corresponded with Dr Lawrence, appreciative of her genuine feedback on my thesis and ways improve it. She was the perfect academic role model for me, and a wonderful mentor from the outset, although our relationship just developed naturally and we enjoyed corresponding with one another without the labels of mentor and mentee. I remember distinctly that Dr Lawrence had a way with words and she was always armoured with a graceful and tactful way of providing advice. She was reassuring at first, then encouraging, and then quite direct using sentences like why don't consider submitting research to or you know this audience would be quite accepting of this perspective. Amazingly Elaine never seemed in a rush, and yet somehow she did so much! She always made feel important in her presence and that she had all the time in the world for you. In 2003, I had the opportunity contribute Dr Lawrence's best seller, and began work on a number of fresh case studies for the latest edition of Internet Commerce which was in fact Elaine's second book. …

The Melbourne telephone network plan [1944

This paper was originally published in Telecommunication Journal of Australia, Volume 5, No. 1, 1944.This paper describes the evolution and planning for the future of the Melbourne telephone network. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

Revisiting the structural separation of Telstra [2004

This paper, originally published in Telecommunications Journal of Australia Volume 54 No 3, 2004, reviews the arguments for and against the 'vertical' structural separation of Telstra, following the apparent failure of nominal 'accounting separation' as a regulatory means for ensuring fair and equitable provision of Telstra's wholesale pricing to itself and to its competitors.The paper argues the several national benefits of a government buy-back of Telstra's fixed wholesale network business, and suggests a new solution as to how this might be achieved at affordable cost and without excessive political risk.The paper also spells out the implications of the opposite eventuality, the complete privatisation of Telstra, and why this would not be in the national interest. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

Telecommunications in Australia [1982

This paper, completed in 1981, and originally titled 'Telecommunications Down Under' was published in IEEE Communications Magazine, March 1982. IEEE 1982. It was then published in Telecommunication Journal of Australia, Volume 32. No 2, 1982.This paper presents a broadly descriptive review of the Australian National Telecommunications Network in the 1980s and an examination of the interaction between technology and service in some of the new services which Telecom intends to offer. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

The Melbourne telephone network plan [1944

This paper was originally published in Telecommunication Journal of Australia, Volume 5, No. 1, 1944.This paper describes the evolution and planning for the future of the Melbourne telephone network. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

Revisiting the structural separation of Telstra [2004

This paper, originally published in Telecommunications Journal of Australia Volume 54 No 3, 2004, reviews the arguments for and against the 'vertical' structural separation of Telstra, following the apparent failure of nominal 'accounting separation' as a regulatory means for ensuring fair and equitable provision of Telstra's wholesale pricing to itself and to its competitors.The paper argues the several national benefits of a government buy-back of Telstra's fixed wholesale network business, and suggests a new solution as to how this might be achieved at affordable cost and without excessive political risk.The paper also spells out the implications of the opposite eventuality, the complete privatisation of Telstra, and why this would not be in the national interest. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

The national telephone plan - numbering [1959

This article was originally published in the Telecommunication Journal of Australia Volume 12 No 1, 1959. It describes one of the basic elements in the design of the system for the long-term development of the Australian telephone service the national numbering plan. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

The national telephone plan - numbering [1959

This article was originally published in the Telecommunication Journal of Australia Volume 12 No 1, 1959. It describes one of the basic elements in the design of the system for the long-term development of the Australian telephone service the national numbering plan. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

Telecommunications in Australia [1982

This paper, completed in 1981, and originally titled 'Telecommunications Down Under' was published in IEEE Communications Magazine, March 1982. IEEE 1982. It was then published in Telecommunication Journal of Australia, Volume 32. No 2, 1982.This paper presents a broadly descriptive review of the Australian National Telecommunications Network in the 1980s and an examination of the interaction between technology and service in some of the new services which Telecom intends to offer. Copyright 2010 Australian Computer Society. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.

The Decision Disconnect

If the practice of ethics amongst the members of an enterprise and their ideal identity conflict with those of the governing membership in structure, assumptions, dynamic or learning, then we have a decision disconnect that will constrain the success of that enterprise: a governance issue. Understanding the pervasive role of ethics in leading ICT in the enterprise is vital for effective practice of enterprise ICT governance. Hitherto there has been comparatively little critical attention paid to the problem of understanding how the value systems that shape decision-making comprehensively impact the appropriate practice of governance and management in ICT. In this paper, I argue that the value systems at play within the enterprise are central and intrinsic drivers for shaping control and influence. I conclude with a framework for making sense of the complex relationship between ethics, governance and the enterprise, to assist the practitioner in focusing on those planning factors that may be moderated for effective governance. I draw on the findings from the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics’ (in partnership with the Australian Computer Society) examination of ethics and regulation in the ICT industry (Lucas and Weckert, 2008) to highlight the particular problem of ethics and governance of ICT people. This paper is significant as the unambiguous establishment of the criticality of value systems in the practice of governance in the enterprise, and particularly the ICT enterprise. The proposed framework provides a systems-thinking basis for practitioners to explicitly plan and design for the dynamic interrelationship of values, people, process, and purpose in enterprise governance. The framework advocates recognition, planning and design for requisite diversity for all system components.

The Governance of Information and Communication Technology

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are ubiquitous but governance in the industry is piecemeal at best. Government regulations and various standards apply to parts of the industry, and professional bodies, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for example, have some influence on individuals, on professional education and on policies.

Aspects of Professionalism, Ethics and Lifelong Learning for Australian ICT Professionals

In a change from 20 years ago, the majority of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals in Australia now have some form of initial tertiary qualification and also understand the need for keeping up-to-date with new technologies, processes and concepts. They thus typically engage in some form of on-going professional development or Lifelong Learning. Not all, however, fully realise the need to keep up with other issues such as ethics and professionalism. In this article we look at what is meant by ICT professionalism, particularly from an Australian perspective, and consider its importance. Professionalism in ICT should be seen as a way of maximising quality and reducing risks. The ICT industry itself is changing and the Australian Computer Society is in the process of developing a new ICT Body of Knowledge, based on specific Technical and also Professional Knowledge. This article examines how the issue of professionalism is handled in Australia in both undergraduate education and lifelong learning of ICT professionals. It gives examples of how ICT professionalism in undergraduate courses is handled, and looks at examples of why and how ICT professionals undertake further education and lifelong learning.

On-line construction of compact suffix vectors and maximal repeats

A suffix vector of a string is an index data structure equivalent to a suffix tree. It was first introduced by Monostori et al. in 2001 [K. Monostori, Efficient computational approach to identifying overlapping documents in large digital collections, Ph.D. Thesis, Monash University, 2002; K. Monostori, A. Zaslavsky, H. Schmidt, Suffix vector: Space-and-time-efficient alternative to suffix trees, in: CRPITS’02: Proceedings of the 25th Australasian Computer Science Conference, vol. 4, Darlinghurst, Australia, 2002, Australian Computer Society, Inc. pp 157–166; K. Monostori, A. Zaslavsky, I. Vajk, Suffix vector: A space-efficient suffix tree representation, in: P. Eades, T. Takaoka (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation, in: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 2223, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2001, pp. 707–718. Christchurch, New Zealand]. They proposed a linear construction algorithm of an extended suffix vector, then another linear algorithm to transform an extended suffix vector into a more space-economical compact suffix vector. We propose an on-line linear algorithm for directly constructing a compact suffix vector. Not only do we show that it is possible to directly build a compact suffix vector but we will also show that this on-line construction can be faster than the construction of the extended suffix vector. Then we formalize the relation between suffix vectors and compact suffix automata which leads to an efficient method for computing maximal repeats using suffix vectors.

ICT Integrity: bringing the ACS code of ethics up to date

Over the last 20 years the ICT industry has seen many developments and changes, such as faster and smaller computers, many new digital devices, the convergence of this digital technology, the internet, and operational aspects such as outsourcing. Governments and professional societies have discussed the issues related to these changes in the media, yet the Australian Computer Society’s Code of Ethics has not changed. This paper discusses the need to change the ACS Code, the issues to be addressed, and procedures to be followed, if changes are to be made. These issues include, amongst others, the lack of specificity of the Code, and the absence of a way to decide between ethical principles which may conflict in some situations, and how to resolve such conflicts. With the focus on the Australian context, the ACS Code’s relationship with international standards and codification of ethics are considered, and the paper discusses what lessons can be learned from overseas experience in modifying codes. The paper concludes by outlining the next steps to bring the ACS Code up to date.