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In March, 2020, the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected the information systems (IS) higher education community (along with the rest of the world) profoundly. Higher education institutes across the world had to quickly shift to online courses. In some cases, faculty had to transition their courses in only days. In response, the Communications of the Association for Information Systems launched a special issue on COVID-19, learning, pedagogy, and educational systems to provide a forum for IS faculty around the world to share effective practices and opinions regarding the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on IS education. This paper serves as the editorial for the special issue.

In this paper, we explore how the combination of Informa-tion and Communication Technologies (ICT) and self-organised study circles improves rural communities' abilityto enhance their economic oppo ...

The benefits of using social media data as a source of information are recognized by both practice and research in crisis management. However, the existing understanding on the matter is fragmented, it oscillates between techno-determinisms and socio-determinisms, which does not provide a holistic picture. In this paper we argue that to better adapt social media data use practices, an ecosystem perspective is needed. In doing so, we conducted a systematic literature review and identified the various entities and their interrelationships that configure the practices of social media listening for crisis management. Then, we summarize our findings by proposing a conceptual ecosystem of practice. Finally, we suggest its implications for future research and practice.

Although Affordance Theory has become increasingly influential in the Information Systems (IS) literature, the exact process through which the affordances of IT are actualised is less studied. In t ...

Existing literature argues that taking a holistic approach to disaster management is important for organizations in building resilience. Theoretical underpinnings to achieve a holistic understanding, however, is lacking. This article applies the notion of an ecosystem as a holistic lens to understand complex disaster management. The paper reports two case studies from Japan and Nepal to illustrate how an ecosystem works during a disaster. The theoretical framework of information ecology is used in analyzing the cases. Based on the findings, the study shows three interconnected mechanisms that can build resilience of an ecosystem in a disaster management context, namely (1) coevolution, (2) collaboration, and (3) embeddedness of local knowledge. The authors argue that coevolution is a key to respond to constantly changing situations during a disaster. To accomplish ecosystem coevolution, creating a collaboration system with governments and local communities and embedding local knowledge into the system are essential. Furthermore, digital tools can play a critical role in the coevolution process.

The aim of participatory development (PD) in the context of using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for development (ICT4D) is to empower underprivileged communities and disadvantaged segments of the stakeholders. The literature on ICT4D is replete with empirical evidence showing that ICT interventions often fail since they are often externally initiated, with very limited involvement from the affected (Heeks, 2002). Clearly, the principles and concepts of PD are relevant to ICT4D. However, we should not consider PD a panacea but need to understand the caveats and processes by which PD happens. Questions to ask include: What are the various challenges in PD? Who are the relevant stakeholders? Why and how do actors enrol in the project? How do we create sustainable ICT4D projects through PD? To understand these research questions, we present a case analysis of a project in Nepal called the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP). Investigating the specific initiatives that they enabled, telemedicine, education and jobs, we propose that the key participants in the NWNP were activist actors and the affected and that activists drew upon existing Social Capital to enrol the affected through a process explained by Actor Network Theory (ANT). In the process, they built other forms of Social Capital, which in turn extended the benefits of PD to several mountain villages.

Part 1: Pushing the Boundaries - New Research Methods, Theory and Philosophy in ICT4D; International audience; In this paper, we suggest a framework to better explain the relation between ICT and development. The framework combines two theories: The Capability Approach and Affordances. The capability approach defines development as freedom of choice; and the affordances explains the relational aspects of people and technology. These two theories complement each other by connecting the means (technology) to the ends (development). A case study of ICT and study-circle education in rural areas of Kenya is used to illustrate the framework. Using the framework, the study revealed how actualization of affordances of internet-cafe enhanced income capabilities of marginalized people; however, at the same time, shows perception and actualization of affordances were contingent on the availability of resources, skills, socio-cultural norms, and infrastructure.

This chapter explores the current state of information systems security (ISS) in developing countries and suggests a way forward. A systematic literature review is conducted applying the approach suggested in reference [1]. In total, 41 articles were evaluated, 17 of which were analysed as part of the review. The review shows that the proliferation of technology in developing countries is increasing; however, ISS risk is also increasing in tandem. The reasons are lack of robust infrastructure, security education and skilled manpower. The review also revealed that while most of the technologies created are for the organizations in the developed world, developing countries are blindly implementing the same technology without considering their own limitations resulting from lack of resources combined with unique cultural and social set-ups.

Understanding the role of ICT for development is at the core of ICT4D research. However, prevailing research in this field most often focuses on access or readiness of a technology, or on the outcomes of the technology use. Less attention has been paid to understand the mechanism of the technology use that leads to the outcomes. The question of why ICT in a development context sometimes work and sometimes does not work still remains a subject of enquiry. To enhance our understanding in this regard, we propose to use the concept of affordances to unfold the “black boxed” nature of ICT. We revisited a case from Kenya to illustrate the application of affordances in a ICT4D context. The findings show that the benefits of ICT can be harnessed only if the users in the underprivileged communities can perceive and actualize the affordances of the ICT. However, what is ICT affordances, and how people perceive and actualize the affordances in the context of developing countries are the issues that we delve in this paper

Techno-centric initiatives to bridge the digital divide, such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been criticized for not taking a holistic approach. This has led to limited success in areas such as providing quality education in developing countries. In this paper, we offer a premise for a holistic understanding by borrowing from the field of information ecology. To illustrate our premise, we applied the theoretical lens of information ecology to analyze a case study of Open Learning Exchange (OLE) which has been described as one of the few successes in implementing OLPC. Based on our analysis, we posit that information ecology is a suitable and appropriate lens to interpret and understand how IT interventions can be successfully deployed in developing countries.

In this paper, we explore how ICT can lead to development specifically human development in Sen's capability approach. In answering to the critique that Sen views capabilities as the individual, we incorporate the societal level by adding collective capabilities. We propose that ICT helps to create or enhance SC of communities which in turn can lead to development by building collective capabilities through collective action. To illustrate, we conducted a qualitative case study of an ICT initiative in a remote mountain region of Nepal. We found support for our proposition and further that developing collective capabilities also simultaneously enhanced individual capabilities. We contribute to theory building by showing that not just the characteristics of SC, but also its form can promote collective action. We further illustrate that the SC and the capability perspectives are compatible and it is possible to read the two streams both simultaneously and complementarily.

The role of ICT actors in the formation and extension of ICT4D projects is important. The actors through their extended network and aligned interest can enhance the effectiveness of the project which in turn enables socioeconomic development opportunities. However, few studies have been conducted to understand the role of these central players. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to address this knowledge gap by conducting a qualitative case study in the Myagdi district in the mountain region of Nepal. In this study we explored the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and examined how an activist started it from one mountain village and gradually extended across more than 150 villages. The formation and extension of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) projects goes through different phases of identification of relevant ICT actors, roles, negotiations, and their interest alignment. To understand the various phases, we employed Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and explored how a social activist, in the midst of challenges, initiates the wireless project to facilitate educational and healthcare services to the mountain regions. In continuum, the study found how the activist identified relevant actors and enrolled them to form a network of aligned interest. The study also identified several challenges such as high illiteracy rate, over dependency on focal actor, and poor physical infrastructure that may impede the network building process. Furthermore, we identify some implications for research and practice based on insights from the case study.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can play a crucial role in meeting multifaceted developmental challenges such as providing access to quality health care in developing countries. Init ...

The affordance concept has penetrated the Information Systems (IS) scholarship as a lens for theorizing the relationship between technology and its users. However, what exactly is it that the researchers are trying to capture when they use this concept? For this essay, we carefully read IS literature to reveal underlying assumptions behind this lens and how it has been adopted. This article reveals three assumptions: 1) whether affordances are identified as intended prior use or emerging in action, 2) whether affordances are functional or non-functional, and 3) whether affordances are potential or actual. We dig into these assumptions and suggest alternatives for further enquiry.

The objective of this paper is to detect speech forgery using digital audio watermarking and pattern recovery techniques. A digital watermark pattern has been attached with the speech signal to detect three kinds of alterations or forgeries such as substitution, insertion, and removal. The watermark pattern will be modified if some changes have been made to the speech contents. Modification and forgery can be measured and detected by pattern recovery. The proposed method uses the cyclic pattern embedding to overcome synchronizing problems of previous detection techniques. In addition, pattern recovery enhances the robustness to compression. This method has been tested and verified using six recording devices, which was used for collecting verbal data. The speech signals were sampled at the rate of 8kHz and digitized at 16bits resolution. Randomly chosen regions were substituted, removed, and compressed in MP3 at the rate of 16kbps as well as in CELP at the rate of 11.5kbps. The experiment shows the perfect detection for three kinds of forgeries and it proved the validity of the proposed method.

Capability approach is hard to operationalize and capabilities are sometimes difficult to reduce into the individual level. We describe our approach to solve these problems paired with an adequate ICT infrastructure and believe that the impact of concrete eGovernment services will become more visible and available. Citizens can inspect it, professionals can target their re-engineering on failure cases, learn from best cases, and researchers can compare different types of eGovernment. The solving of operationalisation will also strengthen the capability approach, by extending its scope from macro theory towards more easy application on the institutional and organizational levels. Validerad; 2016; Nivå 1; 20150813 (karand)

There is one aspect of globalization of IT work that appears only in fleeting glimpses in the mainstream IS literature and is sidelined in the discourse in general. If global IT work is painted mainly as outsourcing IT-infused work from developed countries to poorer countries (euphemistically referred to as "low income countries"), shouldn't the development of capabilities in these very same less-developed countries be a vital cog? Simply put, if these countries do not have a capable workforce, IT work, or any other work for that matter, cannot be outsourced to these countries. The question then is how can capabilities be developed in developing countries? In this research-in-progress paper, we address this question by examining a case of an activist-led initiative in Nepal called "Open Learning Exchange" (OLE in short) that used the capabilities of ICTs to deliver quality education to remote mountainous regions of Nepal. We collected data through interviews and group sessions as well as observations and document analyses. We are currently analyzing the data at both the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, we are using models from the IS training literature to gain an understanding of how training concepts developed in the West can explain the success of the initiative. Then we move to the macro level by shifting our interpretive gaze to the concept of "eco-system" in order to understand the role of the society and the surroundings in the implementation of capability building initiatives in developing countries and sustaining them.

Published version of an article in the journal: Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. Also available from the publisher at: http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs2/index.php/ejisdc/article/view/1332. Open Access The article contributes to the ongoing discussion on relating information and communication technology (ICT) to development (D). The quest to relate ICT to D is a topic of open deliberation and critical scrutiny in ICT4D research communities. To enhance the understanding in this regard, we conducted a literature review. The review examines 80 articles to identify various development theories and the role of technologies in the development process. While scanning the articles, Sen's capability approach (CA) emerged as a suitable framework with which to explore the link between ICT and D. To show the relevance of the link, we used the CA as a guiding framework, and reanalyzed ten empirical case studies focusing on projects in remote and rural areas. Furthermore, the article suggests six gaps in the current research, and, accordingly, six areas for future research.

Teaching cases can be instrumental in developing skills of critical analysis, problem solving and strategic thinking in students, especially in specific contexts such as Information Systems (IS). While cases are widely used in the curricula of graduate and undergraduate programs in developed countries, there is a lack of teaching cases set in developing countries, particularly in the area of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). In this paper, we address this gap by telling the story of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and its effort to connect villages in remote areas of Nepal to the outside world. Despite lack of access to proper equipment, lack of technical competence and the difficult terrain in the Himalayan mountains, Mahabir Pun, the initiator of NWNP, succeeded in bringing Internet access to these villages, contributing to improvements in education, health services and income generating activities. The case describes the development of NWNP from inception until today, the stakeholders involved, services provided, current challenges and ideas for future improvements. Furthermore the case illustrates the importance of the champion, the process of committing important stakeholders, the importance of contextual understanding, and the challenges while scaling up from pilot projects to wider implementations in the context of developing countries. Validerad; 2014; 20131231 (devtha)

There is a lack of theoretical understanding of information security risk practices. For example, the information security risks related literatures are dominated by instrumental approach to protect the information assets. This approach, however, often fails to acknowledge the ideologies and consequences of risks practices. In this paper, through critical analysis, we suggest various perspectives to advance the understanding in this regard. In doing so, we present our argument by reviewing the security risk literature using Habermas’s concept of four orientations: instrumental, strategic, communicative and discursive. The contribution of this paper is to develop conceptual clarity of the risk related ideologies and its consequences on emancipation. Godkänd; 2014; 20130912 (devtha); Konferensartikel i tidskrift

Design Science Research (DSR) methods are much debated by the IS community with regard to outcome and research process. This debate creates ambiguity for the novice researchers in terms of selecting appropriate DSR methods. To address this ambiguity, this essay proposes a framework for classifying the DSR methods by providing conceptual clarity about DSR outcome and DSR research process. The proposed framework creates a taxonomy differentiating between outcomes as a priori formulated or emergent through contextual interaction, likewise, viewing the research process as deductive or abductive. The taxonomy provides guidance to the researchers before embarking any DSR projects. The essay contributes to the on-going discussion on utilization of the DSR methods in DSR projects.

E-Learning systems should be based on systematic pedagogical approaches and well-designed procedures and techniques. However, current literature on several areas of technology-enhanced learning environments, such as online information security InfoSec laboratories still lack well-specified pedagogical approaches and concrete design principles. In information security education, hands-on lab exercises play a major role in learning. Distance education brings in new challenges as the hands-on exercises require now virtual labs, which need to be accessible anywhere and often also anytime. This creates technological and pedagogical challenges, which are not fully understood in terms of explicit design principles that would enhance implementation and use of on-line educational labs. To contribute to this knowledge gap the paper describes five initial design principles: contextualization, collaboration, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. The principles are based on a literature review, contextual interviews and observations at a European University. The initial concretization of the principles adopts the pedagogical approach of Personalized System of Instruction PSI, which is deemed to represent a good fit to the contextual goals for developing on-line security labs in the context of the target university. Further research for actual design of virtual InfoSec labs, adopting the action design-based research tradition to develop learning environments, is needed in order to concretize, to test and to elaborate these design principles.

Publisher's version of an article published in the journal: Communications of the Association for Information Systems. Also available from the publisher at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol29/iss1/7 The relationship between Information Systems (IS) scholars and IS practitioners has been debated since the birth of the IS discipline. How are academics interacting with practice, and how should we? In this article we propose that academia-practice collaboration, namely “mutual informing,” is an existential aspect of the Information Systems field. This article is based on presentations, discussions, group work, and a debate that took place during the Fifth Kristiansand International Workshop on Information Systems Research (KIWISR), held at University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. The theme of KIWISR-5 was “For Whom Do We Toil? Mutual Informing Between Academia and Practice.” As a synthesis of the workshop, we propose that mutual informing consists of, at least, topics such as choice of publication outlets, facilitation of collaboration, roles in research process, and delivery of teaching. Further, we suggest that mutual informing is concerned with transferring and transforming knowledge between the realms of design and development, use, and management of Information Systems. The biggest challenges to mutual informing are the different knowledge interests and timeframes between the realms of academia and practice.

Author's version of a chapter in the book: Proceedings of the 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2011.142 Despite the substantial investments in ICT4D projects in developing countries, the benefits are yet to be realised by the majority of remote communities. Inaccessibility to ICT has widened educational, healthcare, information, and communication gaps between urban and remote communities. This paper focuses on an interpretive case study in Nepal to widen our understanding of how locally-initiated ICT4D projects may help to narrow these gaps. The study utilises the Assets Pentagon Model to identify the strengths and challenges of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project in the mountain areas, and to identify implications for research and practice based on insights from the case.

This paper reviews monitoring and error prediction of PLC-program using Neural Network. In the PLC-device controlled manufacturing line, PLC-program holds place of underlying component. It becomes controlling mechanism. The level of automation in the production line relies on control mechanism practiced. In the modern manufacturing, PLC devices can handle whole production line given that structured and smart PLC-program is executed. In other words, PLC-program can manage whole process structure consisting set of procedures. We present a method to monitor PLC-program and PLC error prediction it using neural network. The neural network method being predictive in nature, it rigorously can monitor process signals from sensors, sensed during operation of PLC devices or execution of PLC-program. Subsequently, a neural network algorithm practiced for the analysis of signals. In this way, thorough monitoring of PLC-program can find possible errors from temporal parameters (e.g. Voltage, bias etc). In addition, possible alterations in program and irregularities can be minimized. That can result, easily to use in fault detection, maintenance, and decision support in manufacturing organization. Similarly, it can lessen down-time of machines and prevent possible risks.

We can imagine a haywire situation with no healthcare centres nearby. In this situation, a high risk patient, away from the medical healthcare center, may get major heart attack or unpredictable sudden stroke, or some other noxious symptoms. Lack of on-time information, proper diagnosis, and decision making system, may sometimes cause the life of the patient. In order to access the timely information and to employ correct diagnosis at anytime and anywhere, use of ubiquitous technologies is becoming ideal test-beds for u-Healthcare environments. However, using ubiquitous device, it would be one of the most crucial requisites to accumulate accurate signals timely and appropriate processing of those signals during such critical circumstances. Furthermore, lack of proper decision support system may delay the treatment, and it may cost a life of the patient. The effort to rectify any of these issues will minimize the time lag between observation and treatment during the emergency circumstances, and helps to reduce the diagnosis time, that can be better utilize for caring the patient. The objective of this chapter is to combine the agent based decision support system with ubiquitous artefacts and make it more intelligent, so that it can help the doctors to acquire correct and timely diagnosis information and select appropriate treatment choices. Also, designed is a novel interpretation of Markov decision process, providing clear mathematical formulation to connect reinforcement learning agent system. An attempt is given to supervise the dynamic situation by using agent based ubiquitous artefacts and to find out the appropriate solution for emergency circumstances, providing correct diagnosis and proper treatment in time. The well known reinforcement learning can be utilized to model u-healthcare decision support system. The reason for using the RL (Reinforcement Learning) agent based on MDP (Markov Decision Process) model is because it needs less number of parameters compare to other decision trees it also gives approximation method to make trade off between accuracy and speed, in turn, solve the complex number of cases in less time compare to other decision support system (Milos H., Fraser H., 2000). Organization of this chapter is as follows. Section 2 is a review of the related works, RL agent, and Markov decision model is also explained. Section 3 describes the details scenario of the proposed approach. Similarly, section 4 discusses the formulation of the model and optimal policy finding algorithm of the RL based decision support system. Finally section 5 & 6 concludes the chapter and contains references.

Agile and flexible manufacturing system makes it mandatory that a control program should have features such as agility, flexibility, and reusability in order to meet fast changing customer demands. Proper modeling and fast formation of the control logics using graphical and mathematical tools is one of the most peculiar ways to make the control logic more feasible for rapid product prototyping, concurrent engineering, flexible, and agile manufacturing. This paper illustrates efficient conversion of Petri nets model into programmable logic controller like LLD (ladder logic diagram) in a very convenient way using one-to-one mapping technique. Furthermore, property analysis has been briefly explained to generate flawless control code for better operational performance. An example of painting robots has been demonstrated to prove the proposed method

The objective of this paper is to define an integrated approach for offline verification and validation of the control logics to provide absolute solution by implementing the III-Phase V&V method in a manufacturing industry. The control logic plays vital role in an agile manufacturing system for proper functioning of the FMS. The effort to integrate the formal verification techniques with virtual commissioning is emerging, which is still not in a full fledged industrial usage, due to the isolated thinking of the user about formal verification techniques. Existing techniques like simulation has not been able to detect the hidden errors, which may propagate from one workcell to another workcell in a long run and create a complete breakdown in the manufacturing unit. These errors required to be carefully tested before the real time implementation. Control logics play a vital role to reduce the down-time and ramp-up time in a manufacturing industry. We need an integrated approach and techniques to support the consistent running of the production cycle. This paper explained about the positive aspects of manual and software based automated and virtual commissioning techniques to provide an applicable solution to the fast paced manufacturing industries.

The main objective of this paper is to use the auto segmentation with morphological technique to find out predictable region of interest (ROI), especially the center and margin area of the tumor. The proposed method has employed moving average method for detecting edge of tumor after estimating the corresponding center using the aid of medical domain knowledge. In our re-search, after computing distance between center and edge of tumor we get factual and numerical data of tumor to calculate multi-deviation and circularity test. It is useful to construct tumor profiling by splitting up the lesion into 4 divisions with the mean of multi-standard deviation (benign: 13.7, malignancies: 38.32) and 8 divisions with the mean of multi-standard deviation (benign: 3.36, malignancies: 15.29) with equal segments. We used K-means algorithm to make classification between benign and malignance tumor. This technique has been fully validated by using more than 100 ultrasound images of the patients and found to be accurate with 90% degree of confidence. This study will help the physicians and radiologist to improve the efficiency in accurate detection of the image and appropriate diagnosis of the cancer tumor.