| 1. |
- Bednar, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Crisis! What Crisis?
- 2008
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Ingår i: [Host publication title missing]. ; , s. 1-8
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a crisis discussed in the discipline of Information Systems. Those who perceive such a crisis to exist are by no means agreed, as to its nature and origins. Our inquiry shows that there are a three distinct ‘crises’ being debated. The first of these relates to the substance and boundaries of the discipline itself and if it is even a discipline at all. Another ‘crisis’ relates to higher education and a fall in demand for IS courses from new students. Commentators perceive this to threaten the existence of IS departments in Universities, and to have potentially serious consequences for both research strategies and career paths of academics. Thirdly, there is perception of a crisis in the wider world, characterised by fewer vacancies in IS-relevant occupations whilst, at the same time, employers complain of a shortage of suitably skilled applicants for the vacancies available. This paper examines evidence for the three ‘crises’, real or imagined, suggested above, in the Information Systems field.
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| 2. |
- Bednar, Peter, et al.
(författare)
-
Digital forensic investigations: a new frontier for Informing Systems
- 2008
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Ingår i: [Host publication title missing]. ; , s. 1-11
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Digital forensic investigators experience a need for support in their everyday struggle to overcome boundary problems associated with cyber crime inves-tigations. Traditional methods are socio-culturally and physically localised and dependent on strict and historically prescriptive political management. The new internet-worked cyber-world creates unprecedented difficulties for digital forensic investigations. This is directly linked with the inherently complex uncertainties and ambiguities related to a constant need for framing and re-framing of problem spaces under investigation. As such, in this paper we propose the recruitment of the discipline of Informing Systems in the context of digital discovery. Early findings of such an exercise indicate that informing systems approaches can assist the investigation process by offering means for structuring uncertainty. As it is accepted that uncertainty is an inherent element in a crime scene, not least in a cyber crime scene, we consider the contribution of Informing Systems vital for the effectiveness of digital forensic investigation practices.
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| 3. |
- Bednar, Peter, et al.
(författare)
-
Professional desire, competence and engagement in IS context
- 2009
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Ingår i: Achieving Fusion in the Interconnected World: Exploring the connection between organizations and technology. - 9788861050600 ; , s. 1-8
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper attempts to address the failings of a predominant paradigm in IS research and practice that emphasises technological determinism. This paradigm makes use of a false belief in the power of rationality in organizational decision-making, and a mythology in which organizational actors can be viewed as passive ‘users’ of technology. We wish to create a discussion of the nature and role of professionalism as an expression of more than technical competence. Both system analysts and organizational stakeholders (e.g. ‘users’) are to be viewed as professionals. We discuss desire, exercise of will and their role in professional judgment in relation to transcendent values espoused within communities of practice. We go on to relate this to the environments of Information Systems research and practice. It is pointed out that many researchers, over a number of years, have dealt with these issues in relation to effective management of technological development and organizational change. The paper attempts to encourage renewed attention to interpretivist perspectives on IS development and organizational change, including recognition of the importance of contextual dependencies.
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| 4. |
- Bednar, Peter, et al.
(författare)
-
Professional desire, competence and engagement in IS context
- 2010
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Ingår i: Management of the Interconnected World. - Heidelberg : Physica-Verlag HD. - 9783790824032 ; , s. 359-366
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper attempts to address the failings of a predominant paradigm in IS research and practice that emphasises technological determinism. This paradigm makes use of a false belief in the power of rationality in organizational decision-making, and a mythology in which organizational actors can be viewed as passive ‘users’ of technology. We wish to create a discussion of the nature and role of professionalism as an expression of more than technical competence. Both system analysts and organizational stakeholders (e.g. ‘users’) are to be viewed as professionals. We discuss desire, exercise of will and their role in professional judgment in relation to transcendent values espoused within communities of practice. We go on to relate this to the environments of Information Systems research and practice. It is pointed out that many researchers, over a number of years, have dealt with these issues in relation to effective management of technological development and organizational change. The paper attempts to encourage renewed attention to interpretivist perspectives on IS development and organizational change, including recognition of the importance of contextual dependencies.
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| 5. |
- Bednar, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Recognising the Challenge: How to Realise the Potential Benefits of ICT Use in SMEs?
- 2011
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Ingår i: Information Technology and Innovation Trends in Organizations. - Heidelberg : Physica-Verlag HD. - 9783790826319 ; , s. 507-514
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is evidence to suggest that small businesses often start with innovative business ideas but fail within the first 3 years because the proprietors lack the expertise to make them thrive. In this context, it has been suggested that SMEs would benefit from support to select suitable ICTs that can help them to make the most of their business potential. Such suggestions tend to overlook a need to design a system for use of these ICTs within the context of a particular business. Technology alone solves no problems. Managers need to develop relevant expertise to exploit all the assembled resources available to them, and design of an Information System that will be experienced as useful is a prerequisite for successful development of business opportunities. While the technical aspects of e.g. data processing and storage can be consigned to a contractor, responsibility for a customer’s experience in interacting with the business cannot. It is necessary to design business processes and technologies in synergy, paying as much attention to design of effective use of ICTs as to the technologies themselves. The authors believe it is vital for the proprietors of small to medium-sized enterprises to consider what may be the unintended consequences of investment in ICTs and to devote due time and effort to development of effective systems for use.
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| 6. |
- Bednar, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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SSD: New Challenges for Digital Forensics
- 2011
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Ingår i: Information Systems: a crossroads for Organization, Management, Accounting and Engineering. - 9788861050631
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- ICT changes continuously and we are used to look at IT in a slightly dif-ferent way every year. Things are developed and manufactured to be smaller and faster but few changes are truly technologically revolutionary. Some changes creep up on us as they arrive under cover of previously known technology. Solid State Disks (SSD) is such a technology. The use of SSD is simple enough and for many purposes it can be used as if it was a normal hard disc but many times faster and with a very much lower power consumption. But, SSD is not an evolution of hard disc technology, it is a completely new technology which imitates the behav-iour of a hard disc. There are major underpinning differences which have serious consequences for security and for digital forensic. Due to how the SSDs work it is not always certain that deleted data are purged from the disc. On the other hand SSD‟s can sometimes purge data all by themselves even if they are not connected to any interface with only the power on. This means that normal guidelines aimed at hard discs for how to preserve digital forensic evidence are not just inappropri-ate but could if followed result in potential evidence being lost, destroyed or deemed unvalid as evidence. This paper gives an overview of some of the princi-pal and unexpected challenges that SSDs have brought with them for Digital Fo-rensics investigations.
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| 7. |
- Welch, Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Knowledge Management: an Open Systems Approach
- 2011
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Ingår i: Information Systems: a crossroads for Organization, Management, Accounting and Engineering. - 9788861050631
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nowadays, organizations pursue their aims in a context of distributed collaboration, creating a need not only for supporting ICT systems, but for a hu-man-centred focus in which individual and group sense-making and learning are supported by appropriate toolsets. We argue that development of such toolsets re-quires an open systems approach. This paper discusses one example: non-competitive benchmarking (NCB), as a vehicle for knowledge transfer, leading to process improvement and potential for enhanced organizational performance. We use this example to explore ways in which engaged actors may be supported to create and share their contextually-dependent tacit knowledge. The foundation of open systems approaches is discussed, showing how socio-technical approaches continue to have relevance today.
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