Complex Information Technology Research Articles

Exploring the Feasibility of Deploying Technology Enhanced School-Based Teacher Continuous Professional Development in Internet-Limited Environments in Tanzania

In low-income countries, the use of technology to enhance teacher continuous professional development (TCPD) activities has been increasing significantly. However, most technology initiatives related to TCPD require the installation of complex information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure in schools or availability of reliable Internet connectivity. While installation of ICT infrastructure is costly, the cost of the Internet is unaffordable to most teachers in low-income countries. This study explored the feasibility of deploying Raspberry Pi computers and tablets as micro-servers to facilitate school-based TCPD activities via a learning management system (LMS) without Internet connectivity. Teachers in eight schools in Dar es Salaam and Lindi accessed a TCPD sample module with Raspberry Pi and tablets providing hotspotting and treated as offline local servers hosting a LMS. After the trial, data was collected through focus group discussion, observation, and LMS logs involving 69 teachers. The findings showed that both Raspberry Pi and tablets could be used as micro-servers to provide access to learning resources in offline environments, but Raspberry Pi fared more favorably. Raspberry Pi was easy to set up and connected more devices than did the tablet. However, Raspberry Pi required careful handling as it is a delicate device. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in terms of the performance and cost of the two micro-servers. This study provided further evidence that both Raspberry Pi and tablets could be cost-effective approaches to deliver TCPD activities without installing complex ICT infrastructure or in areas with limited Internet connectivity.

Trust as a key object of control in cognitive wars

The article is aimed at developing a systematic understanding of trust as an object of management when waging cognitive wars. The study is based on the hypothesis that with the growing complexity of identifying the truth of information against the backdrop of exponential growth in its volume, as well as the complexity of information technology, the most adequate countermeasure may be the trust of subjects of information interaction. The presence of such a hypothesis dictates the need to consider the phenomenon of trust as an object of management, as well as existing and promising mechanisms of influence on trust. The article structures the main factors influencing the formation of social trust and systematizes the idea of the types of objects of influence when waging a hybrid war. Based on the analysis of the results of research into the phenomenon of trust and the factors influencing it, a structural diagram of information management of trust is presented, where social trust is shown as the object of management, and informational and cultural aspects of the formation of trust are selected as regulating elements. The article also identifies groups of goals, objects and groups of indicators of negative information impact on trust factors, and proposes approaches to identifying the presence of such impact. The example shows that modern information technologies are an effective tool for influencing the level of trust between people, due to the intensive impact on the cognitive sphere of a person.

Программное обеспечение в лесном хозяйстве и при лесозаготовках

The paper considers the impact of informatization on improving the efficiency of forestry enterprises. It is established that the enterprises of forestry complex use information technology based on modern standards of enterprise management. It has been determined that forestry enterprises are diverse, which does not allow to create a simple and effective solution for all types of activity. Forestry is the most computerized in terms of resource accounting with a wide implementation of geoinformation technology, which applies quite a lot of both proprietary and commercial software products, much attention is paid to filling electronic databases with cartographic and taxation information about forestry fund. The research of this class of programs showed that they can operate both in local and networked modes, including the use of the Internet. It was found that there is less developed area related to forest management modeling for enhancement of forest stand growth, commercial software products are absent, but there are author's developments. It has been revealed that in the area of logging there is software used by the leading manufacturers of logging equipment (Jonh Deere, Komatsu, Ponsse) and a number of author’s non-commercial solutions. It has been determined that there are a sufficiently large number of information sites as well as author's databases containing information on particular areas in the field of logging information supply. Our research has shown that the software used in the Russian Federation does not provide complex informatization of forestry and logging enterprises, which reduces their efficiency.

Server virtualization in higher educational institutions: a case study

Virtualization is a concept in which multiple guest operating systems share a single piece of hardware. Server virtualization is the widely used type of virtualization in which each operating system believes that it has sole control of the underlying hardware. Server virtualization has already got its place in companies. Higher education institutes have also started to migrate to virtualized servers. The motivation for higher education institutes to adopt server virtualization is to reduce the maintenance of the complex information technology (IT) infrastructure. Data security is also one of the parameters considered by higher education institutes to move to virtualization. Virtualization enables organizations to reduce expenditure by avoiding building out more data center space. Server consolidation benefits the educational institutes by reducing energy costs, easing maintenance, optimizing the use of hardware, provisioning the resources for research. As the hybrid mode of learning is gaining momentum, the online mode of teaching and working from home options can be enabled with a strengthened infrastructure. The paper presents activities conducted during server virtualization implementation at RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru, one of the reputed engineering institutes in India. The activities carried out include study of the current scenario, evaluation of new proposals and post-implementation review.

Уголовно-процессуальное право на этапе современной цивилизации: методологические и технологические подходы

The relevance of research. The editor’s paper highlights the key issues of the feature of the journal “Legal Concept” = “Pravovaya Paradigma” under the title “Civilizational transformations in criminal procedural legal approaches”. The relevance of the feature is determined by the civilizational transformations that determine the vector of procedural law development, its methodological and technological approaches. The influence of criminal procedural legal approaches in the process of forming a new state, public and personal consciousness is investigated. The scientific novelty of the project prepared by the editorial board is determined by the fact that in any civilizational transformation, many circumstances should be taken into account to cope with solving not only the problems that have already accumulated, but also to understand the problems that are arising in connection with the introduction of the most complex information and telecommunications technologies, various gadgets and high-tech devices that are changing the daily lifestyle of a person. The criminal procedure sphere of law is no exception, whose methodological and technological approaches could not but undergo serious changes. The role of criminal procedural legal approaches cannot be underestimated, since the regulation of modern technologies in the relevant field of law, the management and control over them to ensure the normal, uninterrupted functioning of the state legal system as a whole depend on them to an equally important extent. This means that the scientific research presented in the heading “The main topic of the issue” is relevant and timely, and the conclusions, suggestions and recommendations formulated based on their results have both scientific and practical significance. The methodological framework for the collective research is made up of the general scientific methods of cognition used in the social sciences in general, including in law. They form a system of general, special and private methods of scientific research. Among the most significant general methods of cognition is the formal-logical method. The special and private methods are presented in the scientific papers of the heading mainly by the methods of consistency, analysis, statistical and comparative law. The results of the study. It is noted that law, along with other social regulators, is a necessary mechanism for implementing the foundations of modern civilization. It is rather difficult to determine the genesis of civilizational transformations in criminal procedural legal approaches, since every century is famous for its socio-economic transformations, which, as well as scientific and technological progress, always have to be taken into account by the legislator and modernize the legal system in a timely manner. In the era of the sixth way of technological development, information society, digitalization of all spheres of life, an instant response from the legislative, executive and judicial authorities is necessary. Otherwise, social development may suffer significant damage, measured not only in economic equivalents, but also in moral and ethical ones. This fact gives special importance to the scientific research presented in the heading “The main topic of the issue”. Conclusions. It is concluded that the authors of the papers presented in the heading “The main topic of the issue” have made a number of recommendations, suggestions and attempts to resolve the existing legal conflicts of substantive and procedural criminal law norms to improve modern legislation in the conditions of civilizational transformations. The study of criminal procedural legal approaches allows us to better understand the trends in the development of Russian and foreign civilizations at the turn of the information age and digital law. It is argued that as the significant results of the project, both theoretical and practical, it is possible to state the increment of knowledge in such branches of modern legal science as criminal law, criminal procedure and criminalistics.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ УПРАВЛІННЯ КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНІСТЮ ПІДПРИЄМСТВА НА РИНКУ РЕСТОРАННИХ ПОСЛУГ

The article defines the peculiarities of managing the competitiveness of the enterprise in the field of restaurant services. It was determined that the modern economy of Ukraine determines specific requirements for increasing the level of competitiveness of these enterprises. The peculiarities of competition in the field of restaurant business are defined in detail, taking into account its rapid development dynamics. All specific factors affecting the field of hospitality have been analyzed. The essence and significance of increasing competitiveness, programs for its improvement, as well as managing the competitiveness of a restaurant enterprise are determined. The principles underlying the management of the competitiveness of restaurant business establishments are analyzed and characterized. A program for increasing competitiveness in restaurants has been schematically developed, which includes price and non-price methods of struggle. The method of evaluating the marketing potential of competitors by enterprises of the restaurant business is given. The stages of development of the restaurant competitiveness improvement program are defined in detail and schematically shown. It has been established that the restaurant business has a fairly high level of dependence on all changes in environmental factors, as well as on the conditions for the development of consumers' culture, their level of income and the formation of habits. That is why it is necessary to constantly make changes to the implemented strategy under the influence of factors of the external and internal environment. According to the results of the research, it was determined that the state of competition in the restaurant market is characterized mainly by the development of price competition between individual restaurants of the same price niche. The reason for this is the relatively low level of income of the majority of Ukrainians, as well as the undemanding quality of restaurant service. Therefore, it was determined that modern business conditions are related to the high dynamism of the external environment of restaurant business enterprises, the complexity of information technologies, the globalization of business, which actualize the issue of managing the competitiveness of the enterprise.

FORENSIC INVESTIGATION AS ANOTHER PROCEDURAL ACTION IN THE SYSTEM OF MEANS OF EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract: the article deals with the issues of optimization and rationalization of criminal procedure and forensic activities. The need for changes is caused by the technological equipment of crime, the growth of crimes in the field of computer information and crimes using information and telecommunication technologies, which generates an increasing number of digital traces. The current criminal procedure legislation and technical and forensic activities must be adapted to work with complex information technology devices and digital traces. For these purposes, it is necessary to introduce the concept of forensic examination of documents, objects and electronic media. The right to conduct forensic research should be vested in the investigator (inquirer), and based on its results, draw up a report. If necessary, the investigator may invite a specialist in accordance with applicable law. A specialist on the results of a forensic investigation should draw up a specialist opinion. Optimization of criminal procedural activity will be ensured due to a more harmonious, from the point of view of legal technique, legal basis for conducting any research within the framework of criminal proceedings.

Socio-Technical and Political Complexities: Findings from Two Case Studies of Large IT Project-Based Organizations

Information technology (IT) projects are becoming more complex due to technological advancements, increased sociopolitical demand, and competition. In recent years, the project complexity field has attracted increasing attention with diverse strategies and methods proposed to identify, evaluate, and respond to various complexities. This study aims to identify and prioritize factors contributing to complexity in IT projects by reporting two case studies conducted on large IT organizations. The literature on project complexity informed and guided this exploratory research. The data were collected through 21 semi-structured interviews and analyzed by applying open and axial coding content analysis. Underpinned by complexity theories, 19 factors contributing to the complexity of IT projects were identified, and their importance was highlighted using the Friedman test. The top five factors contributing to IT project complexity were identified as follows: the diversity of stakeholders; technological newness of the project; conflicting goals of stakeholders; variety of product sub-systems and components; and uncertainty of project objectives. This study’s findings contribute to the project management literature and inform practitioners about how to achieve more effective management of complex IT projects.

Project Manager Competencies for Dealing with Socio-Technical Complexity: A Grounded Theory Construction

An ongoing question is what constitutes the characteristics of a project manager. This is the subject of many studies. The characteristics, skills, abilities and knowledge of project managers—essential factors in a project’s success—describe their level of competency. This study aims to assess the relationship between project manager competencies and project complexity in the information technology (IT) sector. In total, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior practitioners associated with complex IT projects in the private and public sectors. All transcripts were analysed through grounded theory and content analysis, with experts approving the results. Our study identified 41 competencies within project complexity, with these grouped under the following 10 dimensions: project management (PM) knowledge; management skills; interpersonal skills and attributes; professionalism; expertise; emotional skills; contextual skills; influencing skills; team working; and cognitive skills. According to this research, leadership is the core competency of a project manager, while project management knowledge is the most essential of these competency dimensions. This study’s findings can assist both academics and practitioners in simplifying the complexity of projects and helping to achieve a project’s objectives.

IT Service management system for EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute’s IT department

EMBL-EBI, Europe's biomolecular data hub, is a world leader in managing and analysing big data in biology and making it freely available to scientists worldwide. Research infrastructures (RI) like EMBL-EBI rely extensively on information technology (IT) services to conduct research and support the delivery of scientific services. These IT services are complex and diverse and IT service management (ITSM) has been shown in other domains to help to improve efficiency and productivity. ITSM is a collection of standards that help organisations develop a process-based approach for managing the full lifecycle of IT services, while keeping their users' needs at the forefront and promoting continuous improvement. However, many organisations struggle with the design and implementation of an ITSM system as it involves the need for organisational change, and because the process approach can seem rigid and bureaucratic on the surface. This article aims to share the experience of the EMBL-EBI IT department in designing and implementing an ITSM system. ITSM implementation steps, benefits, challenges, opportunities, and practices are highlighted, critically analysed, and discussed.

The Impact of Age on User Performance: A Field Experiment

ABSTRACT This study investigates whether there are performance and self-efficacy differences between users based on their age when performing complex information technology tasks. This experimental study seeks to validate some research from cognitive science, which indicates that individuals exhibit a significant decrease in cognitive function in their late 20s and early 30s. A field experiment was created to compare how business professionals perform a series of related BI tasks of varying difficulty on laptops and tablet computers while working at their company sites. Results showed that subjects under 30 had statistically significant higher accuracy as measured by total correct, spent significantly less time in completing all tasks and had significantly higher levels of self-efficacy as measured by confidence. This is the first study to investigate whether there is an age performance gap in completing complex IT tasks on different computing devices using a controlled experiment with actual workers as the subjects.

Evaluating the safety and patient impacts of an artificial intelligence command centre in acute hospital care: a mixed-methods protocol

IntroductionThis paper presents a mixed-methods study protocol that will be used to evaluate a recent implementation of a real-time, centralised hospital command centre in the UK. The command centre represents a complex intervention within a complex adaptive system. It could support better operational decision-making and facilitate identification and mitigation of threats to patient safety. There is, however, limited research on the impact of such complex health information technology on patient safety, reliability and operational efficiency of healthcare delivery and this study aims to help address that gap.Methods and analysisWe will conduct a longitudinal mixed-method evaluation that will be informed by public-and-patient involvement and engagement. Interviews and ethnographic observations will inform iterations with quantitative analysis that will sensitise further qualitative work. Quantitative work will take an iterative approach to identify relevant outcome measures from both the literature and pragmatically from datasets of routinely collected electronic health records.Ethics and disseminationThis protocol has been approved by the University of Leeds Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Ethics Committee (#MEEC 20-016) and the National Health Service Health Research Authority (IRAS No.: 285933). Our results will be communicated through peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conferences. We will provide ongoing feedback as part of our engagement work with local trust stakeholders.

Challenges of adopting agile methods in a public organization

Agile development methods are widely used among business enterprises. Since the introduction of the Agile Manifesto in 2001, several agile methods have been implemented, first in single-team set-ups and later in larger multi-team set-ups for complex Information Technology (IT) system development. However, the adoption of agile methods has been slow in the public sector. This is also reflected in the academic literature, as there are only a few studies discussing agile adoption in public organizations. This paper contributes to research on the use of agile practices specifically in the context of public organizations, and sheds light on the challenges a public organization may face while adopting these practices. The aim of this paper is to identify and categorize the challenges that may hinder efficient adoption and use of agile methods in public IT projects that include private software vendors. This research is based on a case study of a large governmental office. As a result, this paper presents several categories of identified challenges, the root causes of these challenges, and a discussion of the characteristics of these challenges for the public sector.

Enhanced digital transformation supporting capabilities through enterprise architecture management: A fsQCA perspective

The rapid development of novel, innovative digital technologies significantly impact organizations and their business ecosystem. Organizations must stay abreast of the latest developments and respond to them continuously to remain competitive. Many organizations make significant investments in enterprise architecture management (EAM) to manage the transformation of their complex information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) landscape and to guide their digital transformation. However, empirical research on EAM benefit realization is limited. This research conceptualized EAM as a particular type of dynamic managerial capability. Survey data (N = 110) was used in a set-theoretic approach (fsQCA) to identify EAM configurations that lead to a presence of technical IT capabilities and strategic IT alignment. The results indicate the importance of system changes induced by the EAM function itself to improve technical IT capabilities. Furthermore, setting up clear standards and rules, and developing and planning the migration to target architectures is particularly important to align business and IT in larger organizations. This research contributes to the academic knowledge base on EAM benefit realization and supports the needed reconceptualization and evolution of EA and EAM to better support organizations' digital transformations. Furthermore, the outcomes can help decision-makers justify and guide their EA investments while implementing a digital strategy.

An Experiment Assessing the Sequential Difficulty Effect on IT Tasks

ABSTRACT This paper determines whether the “sequential difficulty effect” or SDE holds for complex information technology tasks. The SDE hypothesizes that users will perform worse on an easy task when given a difficult task first, as compared to when subjects are given an easy task first followed a difficult one. The experiment compares how business professionals perform a series of related BI tasks of varying difficulty. The task sequence was controlled in the experiment. The results did not support the SDE and indicate that the SDE might not be generalizable to more complex tasks. One significant difference in overall user performance was found for those who were presented with the most difficult task first and who successfully completed it. This finding supports the concept of “resource engagement” whereby the cognitive resources employed for the difficult task carry over into the following tasks for certain individuals.

‘Good to know’: An Exploration of the role and Influence of Professional Ethics in ICT Bodies of Knowledge (BoKs)

As our dependency on ever-more complex, opaque, and ubiquitous information and communication technologies (ICTs) increases, ethical concerns about the development of those technologies are also rising. One approach to mitigate these concerns is to improve the maturity of the ICT profession through codification of its knowledge base and professional ethics. In this paper, some key theoretical approaches to ethics with a long-established tradition within Philosophy are explored and how these approaches may manifest in the codification of knowledge within ICT Bodies of Knowledge (BoKs) is discussed. BoKs provide a common vocabulary and knowledge inventory to aid communication and encourage shared values and practices, particularly in emerging professional areas such as the ICT profession. Thus, identifying and understanding how ethics are codified in ICT BoKs is important for maturing ICT professional practice in general, and more specifically, for the resolution of ethical concerns. This paper 1) explores considerations and approaches to how ethics are incorporated within ICT BoKs, and 2) conducts content analysis on how ethics are codified within the content structure of ICT Boks. It is found that theoretical ethical approaches are rarely explicated cited in BoKS though, in the more mature BoKs, the discussion of ethics does include consideration of most of the major philosophical approaches. The implications of how knowledge about ethics is described and integrated into the wider knowledge infrastructure of the ICT profession including curriculum guidelines and accreditation processes is discussed. In a wider contribution to the Knowledge Management discipline, potential lessons to increase maturity for other emerging professions through the development of BoKs are also outlined.

Effects of boards of directors' external ties on firms' IT success

PurposeGiven the huge investment and complexity of information technology, it is imperative that boards of directors fully play their important role in promoting firms' IT success. This study aims to investigate the effects of boards of directors' external ties on firms' IT success from the perspective of resource dependence theory.Design/methodology/approachAccording to the method of the matched sample comparison group, a total of 576 samples of listed enterprises in three periods were obtained.FindingsResults show that both boards' political ties and boards' business ties have a positive impact on firms' IT success. Environmental uncertainty and the institutional environment play different roles in the relationships between two types of external ties and firms' IT success. Specifically, the results show that the institutional environment can regulate the influence of the political association of directors on firms' IT success negatively. In addition, environmental uncertainty regulates the influence of directors' political association on firms' IT success negatively, as well as the influence of directors' commercial association with firms' IT success.Research limitations/implicationsThe external ties were measured by cross-sectional data. And the current study focused on two fundamental types of external ties.Originality/valueBoards' external ties are studied from both political and business perspectives, and the effects of these two types of external ties on firms' IT success are compared. Additionally, the moderating effects of the institutional environment (macro level) and environmental uncertainty (micro level) in these relationships are investigated.

Relational sensibilities and women's participation in computer science and information technology degrees: A cultural-historical approach

There is extensive literature concerning women's low participation in the technology industry. However, little is known about the relational aspect of women's participation in information technology–related degrees. This study focused mainly on relational sensibility and women's experience of the situation as it is, and how they imagine it could be and should be, as potential life projects are formulated in relation to, and with, others as they engage in 4-year undergraduate degrees in computer science (CS) or information technology (IT). Data were generated from five semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with seven women ( n = 12 participants). The women in this study enrolled in an undergraduate degree as they were able to solve complex IT problems by themselves and then help others. Further, the self-positioning and the positioning by others created emotional tension and effected the women's relational sensibilities. Most of the women were undecided about their future career in IT because of the lack of transparency and information about what is involved in employment in the field. We argue that moral imagination provides a different perspective to understand women's underrepresentation in the CS and IT fields.

GST Calculation for Invoice Generation in IT Filing

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Accounting and Billing System is arguably one of the most complex Information Technology (IT) Systems in the world – in terms of scale, size, and complexity. Under Goods and Services Tax, the returns of the buyer’s will be auto filled by data from the returns done by sellers and invoices uploaded by him/her. The software will have to match the data automatically from the returns and uploaded invoices and accept/deny/modify these invoices. The uploading of duplicate invoice is not allowed by the Goods and Services Tax system. All payments, uploading of invoices and filing of returns will have to be done electronically by all taxpayers only through the Goods and Services Tax portal. Access to and use of technology is therefore crucial for all taxpayers registered with the Goods and Services Tax Network, without which they cannot conduct business. This paper intents a proper invoice generation through the software and application that will be uploaded on the Goods and Services Tax Portal for filing Income Tax Returns.

Challenges to implementing electronic trial data collection in primary care: a qualitative study

BackgroundWithin-consultation recruitment to primary care trials is challenging. Ensuring procedures are efficient and self-explanatory is the key to optimising recruitment. Trial recruitment software that integrates with the electronic health record to support and partially automate procedures is becoming more common. If it works well, such software can support greater participation and more efficient trial designs. An innovative electronic trial recruitment and outcomes software was designed to support recruitment to the Runny Ear randomised controlled trial, comparing topical, oral and delayed antibiotic treatment for acute otitis media with discharge in children. A qualitative evaluation investigated the views and experiences of primary care staff using this trial software.MethodsStaff were purposively sampled in relation to site, role and whether the practice successfully recruited patients. In-depth interviews were conducted using a flexible topic guide, audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed thematically.ResultsSixteen staff were interviewed, including GPs, practice managers, information technology (IT) leads and research staff. GPs wanted trial software that automatically captures patient data. However, the experience of getting the software to work within the limited and complex IT infrastructure of primary care was frustrating and time consuming. Installation was reliant on practice level IT expertise, which varied between practices. Although most had external IT support, this rarely included supported for research IT. Arrangements for approving new software varied across practices and often, but not always, required authorisation from Clinical Commissioning Groups.ConclusionsPrimary care IT systems are not solely under the control of individual practices or CCGs or the National Health Service. Rather they are part of a complex system that spans all three and is influenced by semi-autonomous stakeholders operating at different levels. This led to time consuming and sometimes insurmountable barriers to installation at the practice level. These need to be addressed if software supporting efficient research in primary care is to become a reality.