Ubiquitous Information Systems Research Articles

Generational differences in handling technology interruptions: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Digital native and digital immigrant user types characterise the differences between those who grew up in a world of ubiquitous information systems and those who pre-date it. The rise in computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies such as emails, text messages, and social media creates more opportunities for interruptions. Researchers have explored the impact of growing up in a world of technology. However, little research has explored the potential differences between digital natives and digital immigrants handling technology interruptions. This paper uses a qualitative approach to examine the extent to which individuals handle CMC interruptions differently based on the role of technology and its level of pervasiveness in the environment in which they grew up. Thirty-three interviews were conducted with individuals from different population groups based on age and gender to understand how technology interruptions are handled in work and social life. The findings support existing pre- and post-technology interruption frameworks and explain how and why generational differences exist in the process of CMC interruption handling. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Reasoning with smart objects’ affordance for personalized behavior monitoring in pervasive information systems

The miniaturization of sensors and their integration in everyday appliances have opened the way for ecologically monitoring people’s behavior based on their interaction with smart objects. Thanks to behavior monitoring, mobile, and ubiquitous information systems in the areas of e-health, home automation, and smart cities are becoming more and more “smart,” being able to dynamically adapt themselves to the current users’ context and situation. However, human behavior is characterized by large variability due to individual habits, physical disabilities or cognitive impairment. This aspect makes behavior monitoring a challenging task. On the one side, execution variability makes it hard to acquire sufficiently large activity datasets needed by supervised learning methods. On the other side, being based on a strict definition of activities in terms of constituting simpler actions, existing knowledge-based frameworks fall short in adapting to the specific characteristics of the subject. Hence, the variability of activity execution by different subjects calls for personalized methods to capture human activities and interaction in smart spaces at a fine-grained level. In this paper, we address this challenge by proposing a novel hybrid reasoning framework to capture fine-grained interaction with smart objects considering the specific features of individuals. Our model has its roots in the well-founded psychological theory of affordances, i.e., those features of an object that naturally explain its possible uses and how it should be used. The core of the framework is the ontological model of smart objects affordance, expressed through the OWL 2 Web Ontology Language. Through a use case in pervasive healthcare, we show how our framework can be applied to personalized recognition of abnormal behaviors. In particular, we tackle a particularly challenging issue: how to recognize early behavioral symptoms of mild cognitive impairment in subjects with physical disabilities. Moreover, an extensive experimental evaluation with real-world datasets acquired from 24 subjects shows the effectiveness of our framework in recognizing human activities and fine-grained manipulative gestures in different pervasive computing environments.

Toward the Responsible Development and Commercialization of Sensor Nanotechnologies.

Nanotechnology-enabled sensors (or nanosensors) will play an important role in enabling the progression toward ubiquitous information systems as the Internet of Things (IoT) emerges. Nanosensors offer new, miniaturized solutions in physiochemical and biological sensing that enable increased sensitivity, specificity, and multiplexing capability, all with the compelling economic drivers of low cost and high-energy efficiency. In the United States, Federal agencies participating in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) "Nanotechnology for Sensors and Sensors for Nanotechnology: Improving and Protecting Health, Safety, and the Environment" Nanotechnology Signature Initiative (the Sensors NSI), address both the opportunity of using nanotechnology to advance sensor development and the challenges of developing sensors to keep pace with the increasingly widespread use of engineered nanomaterials. This perspective article will introduce and provide background on the NNI signature initiative on sensors. Recent efforts by the Sensors NSI aimed at promoting the successful development and commercialization of nanosensors will be reviewed and examples of sensor nanotechnologies will be highlighted. Future directions and critical challenges for sensor development will also be discussed.

Personal ICT Ensembles and Ubiquitous Information Systems Environments: Key Issues and Research Implications

Personal information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become commonplace. Today many people own, or have access to, a range of different computing and communication devices, information technologies, and services, which they incorporate into their everyday routines. Increasingly, these technologies impact the way that individuals work, socialize, and play. Workers are bringing their personal ICTs to the office, and organizations are tailoring their computing environments toward ubiquitous integration with personal ICTs. These developments are opening up new ways of working, but they also create new challenges for organizations in accommodating this “nonaffiliated” use as part of their information systems environments. In this article we propose a framework for analyzing the composition and impact of personal ICT ensembles. The framework is positioned as pre-theory that invites further development and empirical testing. We illustrate how the proposed framework could be applied to consider personal ICT use across the work/home context. Several implications stemming from the notion of a personal ICT ensemble are highlighted, including practical considerations for nonaffiliated use in organizations. We conclude with suggestions for further development of the proposed framework.

Design and evaluation of Ubiquitous Information Systems and use in healthcare

Designing Ubiquitous Information Systems (UIS) for supporting complex everyday situations requires extended design methods and models. To address this, we introduce design models as a special class of conceptual models that support design processes for IS in general and UIS in particular. Design models for UIS are concise abstract conceptual models of key situations that conceive social, informational, physical, and service properties as requirements for targeted Information Systems. In this paper, we show how design models can be derived from narratives of key situations, guided by information systems ontologies, and domain specific input theories. This conceptual level offers an innovative approach for designing Ubiquitous Information Systems (UIS) in general and Healthcare Ubiquitous Information Systems (H-UIS) in particular. The proposed design approach is applied for developing H-UIS for reducing Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) by improving the communications between patients and healthcare professionals. Using the domain specific input theory of Health Promotion Model (HPM), the modeling guidelines for design models are generated and utilized in the development of a H-UIS to avoid ADEs. The H-UIS improves several processes involving information technologies for healthcare professionals. The system is empirically evaluated and results show high level of interest among users and initial positive adoption effects. Open issues and future research opportunities are also presented at the end.

Le système d’information est-il toujours reconnu comme un avantage concurrentiel permanent et autonome pour le PSL ?

The logistical concerns of the agrifood industries underline the central role played by Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) in the coordination of logistics chains. Therefore to differentiate itself and perpetuate a competitive advantage, the PSL builds, maintains and develops logistics services backed by ubiquitous information systems and mainly geared towards covering shippers' requirements. Also, the article aims to study the positioning of the information system and more particularly that of traceability within the service formula proposed by the PSL. The analysis is based on two empirical studies carried out in 2010 and 2011 on a specific territory, Brittany. The results obtained highlight the positioning of the information system in the service formula proposed by the service provider and they make it possible to reconsider the operational function of the information system from the point of view of the managerial implications of the PSLs.

Designing ubiquitous information systems for a community of homeless young people: precaution and a way forward

Designing ubiquitous information systems for a community of homeless young people: precaution and a way forward

Research Commentary—Digital Natives and Ubiquitous Information Systems

Most information systems research until now has focused on information systems in organizations and their use by digital immigrants. Digital immigrants are those who were not born into the digital world—they learnt to use information systems at some stage in their adult lives. An underlying assumption of much of this research is that users “resist” technology or at least have some difficulty in accepting it. Digital natives, conversely, are those who have grown up in a world where the use of information and communications technology is pervasive and ubiquitous. These ubiquitous technologies, networks, and associated systems have proliferated and have woven themselves into the very fabric of everyday life. This article suggests that the rise of the digital native, along with the growth of ubiquitous information systems (UIS), potentially represents a fundamental shift in our “paradigm” for IS research. We propose a research agenda that focuses on digital natives and UIS.

A Cross-Layer Approach for an Efficient Delivery of TCP/RTP-Based Multimedia Applications in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Recent trends in the telecommunication industry have been moving toward the development of ubiquitous information systems, where the provision of a plethora of advanced multimedia services should be possible, regardless of time and space limitations. An efficient and seamless delivery of multimedia services over various types of wireless networks is still a challenging task. The underlying difficulty consists of the disparity in the bandwidth availability over each network type. Indeed, the fundamental challenge upon a handoff phenomenon in a heterogeneous wireless network consists of an efficient probing of the bandwidth availability of the new network, followed by a prompt adjustment of the data delivery rate. This paper presents a cross-layer approach that involves five layers, namely, physical, data link, application, network, and transport layers. The three former layers are used to anticipate the handoff occurrence and to locate the new point of attachment to the network. Based on their feedback, the transport layer is used then to probe the resources of the new network using low-priority dummy packets. Being the most widely used protocol for multimedia delivery, this paper addresses multimedia applications based on the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). The design of the whole cross-layer architecture is discussed, and enhancements to the two protocols are proposed. The performance of the enhanced TCP and the RTP are evaluated and compared against existing schemes through extensive simulations. The obtained results are encouraging and promising for the delivery of multimedia services in heterogeneous wireless networks.

Special issue on ubiquitous mobile information and collaboration systems (UMICS)

Over the last few years, most business processes have changed on various dimensions (e.g., flexibility, interconnectivity, coordination style, autonomy) due to market conditions, organizational models, and usage scenarios of information systems. Frequently, information is relocated within a geographically distributed system according to rules that are only seldom defined as a well codified business process. This creates need for a software infrastructure that enables ubiquitous mobile information and collaboration systems (UMICS). The anywhere/any time/any means paradigm is becoming the major challenge in conceiving, designing, and releasing the next-generation information systems. New technologies, such as wireless local area networks (WLAN) and third-generation (3G) mobile phones, are offering the infrastructure to conceive information systems as ubiquitous information systems, that is, systems that are accessible from anywhere, at any time, and with any device. Ubiquity is not yet another buzzword pushed by emerging technologies, but is mainly a means to support new business models and encourage new ways of working. This new wave of UMICS will exploit the knowledge developed and deployed for conventional information systems, but will also need new concepts, models, methodologies, and supporting technologies to fully exploit the potentials of the enabling infrastructure and to be ready for the challenge. Moreover, people need to move across organizational boundaries and collaborate with others within an organization, as well as between organizations. The ability to query the company’s distributed knowledge base and to cooperate with co-workers is still a requirement, but mobility brings new access scenarios and higher complexity. Therefore, some issues also arise about how to enable users to retain their ability to cooperate while displaced in different points of the enterprise, the role of context and location in determining cooperation, and the support for ad hoc cooperation in situations where the fixed network infrastructure is absent or cannot be used. The eight papers presented in this special issue represent an overview of the 2nd International Workshop on Ubiquitous Mobile Information and Collaboration Systems 2004 (UMICS), co-located with the 16th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), 7–8 June 2004 in Riga, Latvia. The contributions cover four areas: data and context management, coordination and control, application frameworks, and process modeling. Each of the papers offers valuable lessons on various aspects of UMICS. Furthermore, they provide insights into an emerging community of research topics, with scientists from various backgrounds working on them. We believe that the authors have succeeded in this pioneering work and we would like to thank them for submitting their work to UMICS 2004 and the extended versions to this special issue. We also would like to thank all reviewers who helped select and refine the papers and the editorial team at Springer for being an excellent partner. We hope to see you at future UMICS workshops! L. Baresi (&) AE M. Matera Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy E-mail: baresi@elet.polimi.it E-mail: matera@elet.polimi.it

The Digital Library on Campus: A Perspective from a UK Academic Environment

Whichever definition you wish to employ, the age of the digital library is upon us. There is much theoretical discussion about the nature of the digital library, but whatever form it comes to assume in the future, its foundations are surely being laid now. It is often remarked that there will be no place in it for librarians who will be displaced from the world of information to become merely curators of book museums. But this is not the experience of this librarian who i s hearing more loudly now than ever before, demands from our users for information in digital form and an insistence that libraries should be exploiting IT on their behalf. To the academic community, we have been traditionally the gatekeepers to the world of information. They now see us as being effectively the purse-holders for information, and they are looking first to us to provide the information services they need for teaching and research.The Follett Report published in 1993, has had a tremendous influence in the UK in this respect. Its recommendations have led directly to the release of funds specifically for libraries which has provided a window of opportunity for institutions wishing to collaborate in digitization projects. The author discusses briefly some of those in which Oxford is closely involved.Many forces have contributed to the new expectations of the library profession, but of perhaps most significance has been the accelerating growth of high bandwidth networks and internet connectivity. At last it is becoming feasible for libraries to consider tackling the problems of the information explosion and shrinking budgets, by moving truly from 'holdings to 'access' policies. There is also the demand that our information services should reach beyond library buildings to the users' desktops on campus and at home. As a practicing digital librarian who has had to grapple with the technicalities of providing integrated and ubiquitous information systems in the real virtual world, certain difficulties have become apparent which are common to most UK academic establishments and, I suspect, to those in Europe, the US and India too.With respect to accessing quality CD-ROM and magnetic databases, mounted logicaly or remotely, the SilverPlatter ERL system has provided us with a powerful mechanism, especially with the development of WebSPIRS, which allows access to databases from standard WWW browsers, and provides support for Z39.50, which will allow access from Z39.50 clients.The WWW has achieved a high integration of internet sources and we are using it for many applications. But it has inherent limitations, in particular, the 'stateless' nature of the http protocol and the semantic poverty of HTML. We shall examine these issues in the light of new ,standards and technologies that are emerging, in particular, the IETF's work on Uniform Resource Identifiers, the Text Encoding Initiative and Sun's JAVA programming language. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dbit.17.6.3241