Reflections on 25 Years of Ethnography in CSCW

In this article we focus attention on ethnography’s place in CSCW by reflecting on how ethnography in the context of CSCW has contributed to our understanding of the sociality and materiality of work and by exploring how the notion of the ‘field site’ as a construct in ethnography provides new ways of conceptualizing ‘work’ that extends beyond the workplace. We argue that the well known challenges of drawing design implications from ethnographic research have led to useful strategies for tightly coupling ethnography and design. We also offer some thoughts on recent controversies over what constitutes useful and proper ethnographic research in the context of CSCW. Finally, we argue that as the temporal and spatial horizons of inquiry have expanded, along with new domains of collaborative activity, ethnography continues to provide invaluable perspectives.     

The Concept of ��Work�� in CSCW

The scope of CSCW, its focus on work, has been a topic of sporadic debate for many years ?? indeed, from the very beginning in the late 1980s. But in recent years the issue has become one of general concern. Most of this debate has been taking place in closed fora such as program committees, editorial boards, and email discussion groups, but over the last few years the debate has been brought out in the open in a few publications, in particular in a programmatic article from 2005 by three esteemed CSCW researchers: Andy Crabtree, Tom Rodden, and Steve Benford. They argue that CSCW should ??move its focus away from work??. Other researchers argue along the same lines. Taking this open challenge as a welcome cue, the present article addresses CSCW??s scope: the rationale for its focus on ordinary work. After an initial discussion of the arguments put forward by Crabtree et al. and by others, the article focuses on an analysis of the concept of ??work??, drawing on the methods and insights of ??ordinary language philosophy??, and, flowing from this, a critique of the notion of ??work?? in conversation analysis. After a critical appraisal of prevailing myths about the realities of work in the contemporary world, the article ends in an attempt to position CSCW in the context of technological development more broadly. The underlying premise of the article is that it is time to reconsider CSCW: to rethink what it is and why it might be important.     

The Realization and Discussion of the Credit Risk Evaluation System

This paper introduces a credit risk evaluation system of financial organization based on CBR （Case-Based Reasoning） and RBR （Rule-Based Reasoning）, which combines the advantages of the two reasoning approaches. It focuses on the realization and improvement of CBR in this system, and introduces the algorithm of case matching similarity and the improvement of the case base maintenance approach, Meanwhile, it points out some questions of this system and brings forward the further study directions.     

The Key Implementation Technology of Client／Server‘s Asyncgrnous Communication Programs

is paper introduces the implementation method,ke technology and flowchart of Client/Server‘s asynchronous communication programs on Linux or Unix,and further explains a few problems to which should pay attention for improving CPU‘s efficiency in implementing asynchronous communication programs.     

A Standard Model—Theoretic Approach to Operational Semmantics of Recursiv Programs

In this paper we try to introduce a new approach to operational semantics of recursive programs by using ideas in the“priority method”which is a fundamental tool in Recursion Theory.In lieu of modelling partial functions by introducing undefined values in a traditional approach,we shall define a priority derivation tree for every term,and by respecting thr rule“attacking the subtem of the highest priority first”we define transition relations,computation sequences etc.directly based on a standard interpretation whic includes no undefined value in its domain,Finally,we prove that our new approach generates the same opeational semantics as the traditional one.It is also pointed out that we can use our strategy oto refute a claim of Loeckx and Sieber that the opperational semantics of recursive programs cannot be built based on predicate logic.     

A Controlled Experiment Comparing the Maintainability of Programs Designed with and without Design Patterns—A Replication in a Real Programming Environment

Software design patterns seek to package proven solutions to design problems in a form that makes it possible to find, adapt and reuse them. To support the industrial use of design patterns, this research investigates when, and how, using patterns is beneficial, and whether some patterns are more difficult to use than others. This paper describes a replication of an earlier controlled experiment on design patterns in maintenance, with major extensions. Experimental realism was increased by using a real programming environment instead of pen and paper, and paid professionals from multiple major consultancy companies as subjects. Measurements of elapsed time and correctness were analyzed using regression models and an estimation method that took into account the correlations present in the raw data. Together with on-line logging of the subjects work, this made possible a better qualitative understanding of the results. The results indicate quite strongly that some patterns are much easier to understand and use than others. In particular, the Visitor pattern caused much confusion. Conversely, the patterns Observer and, to a certain extent, Decorator were grasped and used intuitively, even by subjects with little or no knowledge of patterns. The implication is that design patterns are not universally good or bad, but must be used in a way that matches the problem and the people. When approaching a program with documented design patterns, even basic training can improve both the speed and quality of maintenance activities.     

The role of IT in organizational innovation – A systematic literature review

Information technology (IT) is broadly recognized as an important element in organizational innovation, however there has been relatively little integration of Information Systems (IS) research on the role of IT in organizational innovation. Such integration is particularly important in view of recent calls to examine the evolving ontological nature of IT, wherein IT artifacts are now shaping physical reality. We systematically examine innovation-related literature published in the leading IS journals in the period between 2009 and 2020 and we identify and summarize the core theoretical discourses in this domain. We find that extant literature largely examines the role of IT in innovation at a high level of abstraction, focusing on IT investments and IT capabilities, and consequently precluding granular insights on who, what, when, where, how, and why in relation to organizational innovation. To address this limitation and to provide a structuring lens for future research, we develop the organizational innovation system framework which posits that actors, IT artifacts, actions and organizational context are the key elements in organizational innovation systems that require more granular examination to yield deeper insights on how information technology contributes to organizational innovation. We re-examine the literature through the organizational innovation system lens and we identify gaps in extant research. We also outline potential directions for expanding the scope of future research.     

The current state of control loop performance monitoring – A survey of application in industry

Control loop performance monitoring (CPM) in industrial production processes is an established area of research for which many methods to detect malfunctioning loops have been developed. However, it is unclear which methods are successful in an industrial environment. Often, there are additional aspects such as organizational issues, data availability and access that can compromise the use of CPM. In this paper, we are reporting on the results of a survey amongst CPM users. The survey takes stock of existing methods and their use in industry as well as which faults are most frequent and can be detected. Organizational as well as implementation issues are investigated and discussed. This paper aims to identify open research topics and the direction of development of CPM in industrial production processes.     

Spontaneous Emergence of Programs from “Primordial Soup” of Functions in Distributed Computer Systems

This article considers a problem of possible spontaneous emergence of high level of abstraction programs from the set of independent parallel processes, which are performing different functions and using shared variables. The model proposed in the article is based on the principles of artificial chemistry and describes the distributed computing. As the results of simulations, unstable cyclic computational structures of different kinds spontaneously arose in the model. These structures are considered as implicit programs.     

The positive outcomes of information security awareness training in companies – A case study

One of the key factors in successful information security management is the effective compliance of security policies and proper integration of “people”, “process” and “technology”. When it comes to the issue of “people”, this effectiveness can be achieved through several mechanisms, one of which is the security awareness training of employees. However, the outcomes should also be measured to see how successful and effective this training has been for the employees.In this study, an information security awareness project is implemented in a company both by training and by subsequent auditing of the effectiveness and success of this training (which focussed on password usage, password quality and compliance of employees with the password policies of the company). The project was conducted in a Turkish company with 2900 white-collar employees. Each employee took information security training including password usage. Also, there were several supporting awareness campaigns such as educational posters, animations and e-messages on the company Intranet, surveys and simple online quizzes. The project was carried out over a 12 month period and three password security strength audits were made during this period. The results were comparatively and statistically analysed. The results show us the effectiveness of the project and the impact of human awareness on the success of information security management programmes in companies. This study gives us some crucial results, facts and methods that can also be used as a guideline for further similar projects.     

The Pathology of Cryptology—A Current Survey

Abstract

“The Pathology of Cryptology” is the title of a chapter in David Kahn's book The Codebreakers. This chapter mainly deals with hidden messages, which amateur scientists claim to have discovered in the works of William Shakespeare and in other literary works. The present article picks up this subject and provides it with a theoretic framework under the name of “para-steganography.” Moreover, further case studies are added to those given by Kahn, including many examples that only became known after the publication of The Codebreakers. These considerations show that a hidden code can be found almost anywhere, provided that one looks for it in a suitable manner.     

A Janus-faced matter—The role of user anonymity for communication persuasiveness in online discussions

Employees are increasingly involved in internal corporate discussion processes, often via online platforms. On such platforms, diverse opinions converge and controversial discussions may unfold. Anonymity is assumed to encourage reticent users to speak their mind and to allow for the expression of divergent views, but it has also been found to affect how arguments are received, including perceptions of credibility and, thus, persuasiveness. This paper considers how user anonymity affects communication persuasiveness in online discussions with both identified and anonymous treatment conditions. Drawing upon the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion, we find that anonymity affects persuasiveness via the opposing paths of credibility and involvement     

The Alexander Method — A technique for the processing of recursive axioms in deductive databases

We propose a technique for handling recursive axioms in deductive databases. More precisely, we solve the following problem: Given a relational query including virtual relations defined from axioms (Horn clauses, with variables in the conclusion predefined in the hypotheses), which can be recursive, how to translate this query into arelational program, i. e. a set of relational operations concerning only real relations (not virtual). Our solution has the following properties:

? the program to evaluate the query always terminates,

? the relational program is produced by a pure compilation of a source query and of the axioms, and is independent of the data values (there is no run-time),

? the relational operations are optimized: theyfocus towards the computation of the query, without needless computations.

As far as we know, the Alexander Method is the first solution exhibiting all these properties. This work is partly funded by Esprit Project 112 (KIMS).     

The Strategy of Application Integration in Implementing PDM

Combining with real project three levels of application integration in implementing PDM are introduced in this paper. Based on the research on the integration ability between major PDM systems and CAD systems, this paper discusses the strategy of realizing the application integration in three levels.