What makes a good process model?

There seems to be a never ending stream of new process modeling notations. Some of these notations are foundational and have been around for decades (e.g., Petri nets). Other notations are vendor specific, incremental, or are only popular for a short while. Discussions on the various competing notations concealed the more important question “What makes a good process model?”. Fortunately, large scale experiences with process mining allow us to address this question. Process mining techniques can be used to extract knowledge from event data, discover models, align logs and models, measure conformance, diagnose bottlenecks, and predict future events. Today’s processes leave many trails in data bases, audit trails, message logs, transaction logs, etc. Therefore, it makes sense to relate these event data to process models independent of their particular notation. Process models discovered based on the actual behavior tend to be very different from the process models made by humans. Moreover, conformance checking techniques often reveal important deviations between models and reality. The lessons that can be learned from process mining shed a new light on process model quality. This paper discusses the role of process models and lists seven problems related to process modeling. Based on our experiences in over 100 process mining projects, we discuss these problems. Moreover, we show that these problems can be addressed by exposing process models and modelers to event data.     

What makes you continuously use chatbot services? Evidence from chinese online travel agencies

Electronic Markets - Thanks to artificial intelligence, chatbots have been applied to many consumer-facing applications, especially to online travel agencies (OTAs). This study aims to identify...     

What makes a charismatic speaker? A computer-based acoustic-prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs tone of voice

The former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was one of the most charismatic speakers of the past decades. However, there is, as yet, no detailed quantitative profile of his way of speaking. We used state-of-the-art computer techniques to acoustically analyze his speech behavior and relate it to reference samples. Our paper provides the first-ever acoustic profile of Steve Jobs, based on about 4000 syllables and 12,000 individual speech sounds from his two most outstanding and well-known product presentations: the introductions of the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2. Our results show that Steve Jobs stands out against our reference samples in almost all key features of charisma, including melody, loudness, tempo and fluency, and he produced significant quantitative differences when addressing customers and investors in his speeches. Against this background, we provide specific advice on how to improve a speaker’s charismatic impact. We conclude with describing how further technological advances will move computers and behavioral characteristics like human speech even closer together.     

Board’s IQ: What makes a board smart?

The amount of investment that has been made in interactive whiteboards (IWB) in the Turkish educational system during the past several years is quite striking. This investment is part of a plan to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) into the Turkish educational system, with the goal of increasing the qualitative and quantitative aspects of schooling. Prior to IWB investments, hundreds of thousands of computers, projectors, and printers were distributed to schools in efforts to raise a generation able to respond to the demands of the 21st century. In addition, 98% of secondary school students and 93% of primary school students were provided with Internet access via ADSL. The aim of this study is to analyze the emerging trend of smart board investment in Turkish primary and secondary schools, with consideration of problems that hinder the effective use of IWBs in classrooms as compared to previous ICT integration efforts by the Ministry of National Education. The research is designed as an evaluative case study. The required data are collected through online questionnaires, teacher and pupil interviews, and document searches from teachers and students from various Turkish primary and secondary schools. It is not surprising that the factors hindering the use of IWBs in education are similar to the inhibiting factors in previous ICT integration projects. The findings show that when the needs for in-service training, digital education materials, support, maintenance, and administration are not addressed, educational ICT is unlikely to deliver the expected results.     

What holds in a context?

In order to establish that [A] = [B] follows from a set of assumptions often one provesA =B and then invokes the principle of substitution of equals for equals. It has been observed that in the ancillary proof ofA =B one is allowed to use, in addition to those assumptions of which are free for , certain (open) sentencesP which may not be part of and may not follow from , but are related to the context . We show that in an appropriate formal system there is a closed form solution to the problem of determining precisely what sentencesP can be used. We say that those sentenceshold in the context under the set of assumptions . We suggest how the solution could be exploited in an interactive theorem prover.     

What makes teachers use technology in the classroom? Exploring the factors affecting facilitation of technology with a Korean sample

The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing teachers’ decisions about using technology in the classroom setting and examine the degree to which teaching experience affects these decisions. Specifically, the items employed in this study were derived from the teachers’ perceptions of technology use. We discovered six factors which influenced teachers use technology in their classroom: adapting to external requests and others’ expectations, deriving attention, using the basic functions of technology, relieving physical fatigue, class preparation and management, and using the enhanced functions of technology. Interestingly, these factors do not correspond to the common sense theory of instructional technology. Additionally, we analyzed the patterns of factors’ scores by teachers’ level of teaching experience. From this study we deduced that although the majority of teachers intend to use technology to support teaching and leaning, experienced teachers generally decide to use technology involuntarily in response to external forces while teachers with little experience are more likely to use it on their own will.     

What can possibly go wrong? Anticipatory work in space operations

This paper explores how different forms of anticipatory work contribute to reliability in high-risk space operations. It is based on ethnographic field work, participant observation and interviews supplemented with video recordings from a control room responsible for operating a microgravity greenhouse at the International Space Station (ISS). Drawing on examples from different stages of a biological experiment on the ISS, we demonstrate how engineers, researchers and technicians work to anticipate and proactively mitigate possible problems. Space research is expensive and risky. The experiments are planned over the course of many years by a globally distributed network of organizations. Owing to the inaccessibility of the ISS, every trivial detail that could possibly cause a problem is subject to scrutiny. We discuss what we label anticipatory work: practices constituted of an entanglement of cognitive, social and technical elements involved in anticipating and proactively mitigating everything that might go wrong. We show how the nature of anticipatory work changes between planning and the operational phases of an experiment. In the planning phase, operators inscribe their anticipation into technology and procedures. In the operational phase, we show how troubleshooting involves the ability to look ahead in the evolving temporal trajectory of the ISS operations and to juggle pre-planned fixes along these trajectories. A key objective of this paper is to illustrate how anticipation is shared between humans and different forms of technology. Moreover, it illustrates the importance of including considerations of temporality in safety and reliability research.     

What makes mobile computer supported cooperative work mobile? Towards a better understanding of cooperative mobile interactions

Despite the high availability of mobile phones and personal digital assistants with online capabilities, mobile computer supported cooperative work is still in its infancy. So far, only little is known about the distinct attributes of mobile cooperative work in comparison to its stationary counterpart. Across which dimensions does cooperation via mobile devices differ from traditional hard-wired settings and what implications have to be drawn for future research? To bring more light to this question, we conducted an experimental business-case at Frankfurt University with 16 graduate students and analysed their collaborative behaviour across mobile and non-mobile channels of communication over a 5 week period. We find that mobile messages differed from stationary messages in terms of size and that the use of mobile emails prevailed over stationary emails under conditions of stress. Finally, we found that the social structure of mobile communication corresponded with the structure of stationary communication. This indicates that mobile communication technologies support existing communication relations rather than creating new relations. From the perspective of system designers, these results may serve as practical insights into the user behaviour of mobile technologies and might support the future development of mobile computer supported cooperative work environments.     

What makes segmentation good? A case study in boreal forest habitat mapping

Segmentation goodness evaluation is a set of approaches meant for deciding which segmentation is good. In this study, we tested different supervised segmentation evaluation measures and visual interpretation in the case of boreal forest habitat mapping in Southern Finland. The data used were WorldView-2 satellite imagery, a lidar digital elevation model (DEM), and a canopy height model (CHM) in 2 m resolution. The segmentation methods tested were the fractal net evolution approach (FNEA) and IDRISI watershed segmentation. Overall, 252 different segmentation methods, layers, and parameter combinations were tested. We also used eight different habitat delineations as reference polygons against which 252 different segmentations were tested. The ranking order of segmentations depended on the chosen supervised evaluation measure; hence, no single segmentation could be ranked as the best. In visual interpretation among the several different segmentations that we found rather good, we selected only one as the best. In the literature, it has been noted that better segmentation leads to higher classification accuracy. We tested this argument by classifying 12 of our segmentations with the random forest classifier. It was found out that there is no straightforward answer to the argument, since the definition of good segmentation is inconsistent. The highest classification accuracy (0.72) was obtained with segmentation that was regarded as one of the best in visual interpretation. However, almost similarly high classification accuracies were obtained with other segmentations. We conclude that one has to decide what one wants from segmentation and use segmentation evaluation measures with care.     

Does a government web presence reduce perceptions of corruption?

Researchers have found that corruption severely affects a country's development because it takes resources away from the economy, leads to uncertainty and impairs investment. The purpose of this study is, thus, to determine if a government's web presence can help to reduce perceptions of corruption. There is some empirical evidence that it helps, but there is also skepticism from some scholars who argue that technology is simply another tool that can be exploited for purposes of corruption. The statistical model we use in this article looks at governance factors, specifically government effectiveness and accountability, as well as the focus variable of government web portals. Using data from a six-year panel (2002–2005 and 2008) for 208 countries, our analysis finds that governments' web presence has reduced perceptions of corruption around the world. We also provide case evidence from governments that have used Internet portals that have reduced perceptions of corruption. The author recommends that international agencies support and promote the use of the Internet by governments to supplement other anti-corruption measures that rely on improvements in governance alone.     

What makes you a digital native? Is it enough to be born after 1980?

The purpose of this study is to determine levels of technological proficiency among university students to see if they should be characterized as “digital natives.” For this purpose, rather than using types and frequency of technology use to characterize a digital native, the Digital Native Assessment Scale (DNAS) developed by Teo (2013) was employed. This scale has an established reliability and validity measure. It measures several factors (e.g., grew up with technology, comfortable with multi-tasking, reliant on graphics for communication, thrive on instant gratifications and rewards, etc.) relating to accepted characteristics of a digital native. The participants in the study were 560 university students, 278 of whom were from Turkey and 282 from Kyrgyzstan. The findings indicate that these university students actively used computers and the Internet. The statistical results show that digital natives can be characterized by including their academic year (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.), national culture, and experiences with technology (computers, tablet PCs, and the Internet). The results also indicate that there are no significant differences in the participants' perceptions of themselves as digital natives due to their gender or academic disciplines.     

What is a process model composed of?

Software and Systems Modeling - Business process modelling languages typically enable the representation of business process models by employing (graphical) symbols. These symbols can vary...     

What drives consumer knowledge sharing in online travel communities?: Personal attributes or e-service factors?

Consumer voluntary sharing of e-service knowledge in an online community is of great value to both business and consumers. This study develops and tests a research model integrating two personal attributes (consumer innovativeness and subjective knowledge) and two e-service factors (perceived ease of use and usefulness) in predicting consumer voluntary knowledge sharing in an online community. Data were collected using a web-based survey of 364 airline travelers recruited through an online travel community in China. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to analyze the data. The results reveal that personal factors are stronger drivers of knowledge sharing than e-service factors. This study advances consumer knowledge sharing in online communities, and has implications for enhancing a firm’s e-service strategies.     

Post-agility: What follows a decade of agility?

Context

Agile information systems development (ISD) has received much attention from both the practitioner and researcher community over the last 10-15 years. However, it is still unclear what precisely constitutes agile ISD.

Objective

Based on four empirical studies conducted over a 10-year time period from 1999 to 2008 the objective of this paper is to show how the meaning and practice of agile ISD has evolved over time and on this basis to speculate about what comes next.

Method

Four phases of research has been conducted, using a grounded theory approach. For each research phase qualitative interviews were held in American and/or Danish companies and a grounded theory was inductively discovered by careful data analysis. Subsequently, the four unique theories have been analyzed for common themes, and a global theory was identified across the empirical data.

Results

In 1999 companies were developing software at high-speed in a desperate rush to be first-to-market. In 2001 a new high-speed/quick results development process had become established practice. In 2003 changes in the market created the need for a more balanced view on speed and quality, and in 2008 companies were successfully combining agile and plan-driven approaches to achieve the benefits of both. The studies reveal a two-stage pattern in which dramatic changes in the market causes disruption of established practices and process adaptations followed by consolidation of lessons learnt into a once again stable software development process.

Conclusion

The cyclical history of punctuated process evolution makes it possible to distinguish pre-agility from current practices (agility), and on this basis, to speculate about post-agility: a possible next cycle of software process evolution concerned with proactively pursuing the dual goal of agility and alignment through a diversity of means.     

Online buying perceptions in Spain: can gender make a difference?

Internet has led to radical changes in commercial relations and especially in consumer buying habits. Considering the peculiar characteristics of Internet shopping, it is difficult to engender consumer online trust and consumer face an adverse selection problem when having to choose the best web site to buy from. This problem may be mitigated by signaling the high-quality and good behavior of the e-vendor or by consumer satisfactory experiences. As gender can make differences in the decision-making processes of individuals, the purpose of this study is to find out if there are gender differences regarding the effect of three specific signals of quality—service quality, warranty, and security and privacy policies– on e-satisfaction and e-trust, and on the relation between satisfaction and trust. The research questions were tested using information gathered from Spanish online buyers and using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that suitable gender-based signaling strategies could conceivably be prepared in accordance with the target population, which holds interesting implications for both the academic and the professional world.     

What makes the difference? An empirical comparison of fusion strategies for multimodal language analysis

Multimodal video sentiment analysis is a rapidly growing area. It combines verbal (i.e., linguistic) and non-verbal modalities (i.e., visual, acoustic) to predict the sentiment of utterances. A recent trend has been geared towards different modality fusion models utilizing various attention, memory and recurrent components. However, there lacks a systematic investigation on how these different components contribute to solving the problem as well as their limitations. This paper aims to fill the gap, marking the following key innovations. We present the first large-scale and comprehensive empirical comparison of eleven state-of-the-art (SOTA) modality fusion approaches in two video sentiment analysis tasks, with three SOTA benchmark corpora. An in-depth analysis of the results shows that the attention mechanisms are the most effective for modelling crossmodal interactions, yet they are computationally expensive. Second, additional levels of crossmodal interaction decrease performance. Third, positive sentiment utterances are the most challenging cases for all approaches. Finally, integrating context and utilizing the linguistic modality as a pivot for non-verbal modalities improve performance. We expect that the findings would provide helpful insights and guidance to the development of more effective modality fusion models.     

Theory and practice of protection of personal names in the domain space or “renewed” cybersquatting (in terms of the states of Eastern Europe)

With the development of the Internet, more people are creating personal websites and blogs, and they expect to be able to use their own name or surname in the domain name. The aim of this article is to identify and analyse the existing problems in the use and protection of personal names in the domain space, as well as the development of legal approaches that can be used to resolve disputes that arise. In the course of the analysis, the authors conclude that the existing legal regulations at both the international and national levels are not sufficient to protect personal names effectively. Current approaches in this area are scattered and not systematic. The conclusions and suggestions made in this paper can be used to form a specialised procedure to resolve domain name disputes relating to personal names, as well as in the course of organising and updating the national legislations of the states of Eastern Europe.     

What Is Common in Accounts of Common Ground?

Tenenberg, Roth, and Socha’s paper “From I-awareness to we-awareness in CSCW” is, or should be, of special significance to those in the CSCW and HCI communities with more than a passing interest in the theoretical issues that underpin our work. It can be argued, and I would be a proponent of this view, that fundamental intellectual disagreements too seldom get an airing in our community, perhaps because it is in large part conference driven. Because of this, underlying perspectival disagreements can appear rather arcane. One of the great merits of the contributions to this special issue, I hope and believe, is that they will appear less so after careful reading.     

Can the United States provide a higher standard of personal data protection than the EU?

The view established in EU Member States assumes that the level of personal data protection in EU Member States (and the EU as such) is much higher than that provided by the US legal system. This assumption will (presumably) find its validation in relation to the US federal law. However, many of the solutions found at the state level in the US are only now being introduced into the EU system (and that of the EU Member States). The article highlights that such established views (or stereotypes) can be unfounded (and may lead to even more unsubstantiated conclusions).