Web-based systems design: a study of contemporary practices and an explanatory framework based on “method-in-action”

This paper reports the findings of a detailed study of Web-based systems design (WBSD) practices in Ireland based on data collected over a 3-year period (2002–2005), the objectives of which were to (1) contribute towards a richer understanding of the current “real-world” context of WBSD by characterising the profile of a typical project (team size, timeframe, nature of requirements, etc.) and identifying the key challenges, constraints, and imperatives (i.e. “mediating factors”) faced by Web-based system designers, and (2) understand how those contextual parameters and mediating factors influence the activity of WBSD as regards the selection and enactment of whatever design practices are therefore engaged (i.e. the use of methods, procedures, etc.). Data was gathered through a survey which yielded 165 usable responses, and later through a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews. Using grounded theory, an explanatory conceptual framework is derived, based on an extension of the “method-in-action” model, the application of which to WBSD has not been previously investigated in depth. It is proposed that this framework of WBSD issues is valuable in a number of ways to educators, researchers, practitioners, and method engineers.     

Chromaticity contour map of the RGB cube: A simple algorithm

A simple algorithm (amenable to spreadsheets) is described for plotting a luminance contour map of the color gamut of an additive‐primary display given the chromaticities of its primaries and screen white. Each contour of the plot represents (in either r,g or x,y coordinates) the polygon of intersection of the RGB cube with a plane of constant Y. Each vertex on a contour is an intersection of 1 of the 12 edges of the RGB cube with the constant‐Y plane. Feasibility of an edge as a vertex of the polygon is tested through comparison of the computed r,g coordinates with functions of the luminosity coefficients of the primaries. By ordering the RGB‐cube edges in a particular way prior to scanning them for feasibility, one is guaranteed to retrieve the vertices of any constant‐Y polygon in convex order. This fact facilitates plotting of the polygons.     

Terrorism in the 1990s

Terrorism: A Reference Handbook, Stephen Atkins, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO (1992), 199 pp. Terrorism: Roots, Impact, Responses, Lawrence Howard (Ed.), Prager, New York (1992), 193 pp. Hostage-Taking Terrorism: Incident Response Strategy, Alastair MacWillson, St Martins, New York (1992), 263 pp.