Using Coevolutionary and Complexity Theories to Improve IS Alignment: A multi–Level Approach

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 284-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hind Benbya ◽  
Bill McKelvey
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Unsolved Problem ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Emergent Behaviour ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Complexity Theories

The misalignment of information systems (IS) components with the rest of an organization remains a critical and chronic unsolved problem in today's complex and turbulent world. This paper argues that the coevolutionary and emergent nature of alignment has rarely been taken into consideration in IS research and that this is the reason behind why IS alignment is so difficult. A view of IS alignment is presented about organizations that draws and builds on complexity theory and especially its focus on coevolution-based self-organized emergent behaviour and structure, which provides important insights for dealing with the emergent nature of IS alignment. This view considers Business/IS alignment as a series of adjustments at three levels of analysis: individual, operational, and strategic, and suggests several enabling conditions – principles of adaptation and scale-free dynamics – aimed at speeding up the adaptive coevolutionary dynamics among the three levels.

The Central Role of Cognitive Computations in Human-Information Interaction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wai-Tat Fu ◽  
Jessie Chin ◽  
Q. Vera Liao
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
Intelligent System ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Intelligent Information Systems ◽  
Emergent Behaviour ◽  
Information Interaction ◽  
Intelligent Information

Cognitive science is a science of intelligent systems. This chapter proposes that cognitive science can provide useful perspectives for research on technology-mediated human-information interaction (HII) when HII is cast as emergent behaviour of a coupled intelligent system. It starts with a review of a few foundational concepts related to cognitive computations and how they can be applied to understand the nature of HII. It discusses several important properties of a coupled cognitive system and their implication to designs of information systems. Finally, it covers how levels of abstraction have been useful for cognitive science, and how these levels can inform design of intelligent information systems that are more compatible with human cognitive computations.

scholarly journals The Next Normal for Marketing — The Dynamics of a Pandemic, Provisioning Systems, and the Changing Patterns of Daily Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-14
Author(s):  
Roger A. Layton ◽  
Christine Domegan
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Supply Networks ◽  
Edge Of Chaos ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
And Control

Pandemics, climate warming, growing inequality, and much more bring crises that change the patterns of daily life in human communities, directly impacting the provisioning systems that form in a community to meet the needs and wants of individuals, groups, and entities for goods, services, experiences, ideas. Provisioning systems sometimes begin as leadership initiated top-down, authoritarian prescriptive supply networks, public and private. Sometimes, they originate as bottom-up, self-organized, innovative, open choice, often informal, exchange based networks, and mostly, over time, they emerge as untidy self-organized multi-level diverse assemblages of both. The diversity of provisioning systems in a community enables crisis resilience, but limits efficiency and control. The provisioning systems that form in these ways are complex, multi-level, non-linear evolutionary systems, often unpredictable, and lacking direction. Balancing a desire for stability and an appetite for diversity, innovation, and change in shaping a provisioning system is like walking a narrow corridor on the edge of chaos. Achieving balance, avoiding slipping into chaos, rests on the management of a set of complex social mechanisms. These embrace delivery mechanisms where value is produced and consumed through complex infrastructures; stakeholder action fields where trust, collaboration, cooperation, compromise, competition, or conflict are in play; technology evolution mechanisms where innovation and the recombination of existing technologies occur at all levels; and value exchange fields where community and individual values shift in response to crisis and change. Recovery from crisis is not an event, it is a complex, continuing process, often unpredictable, often unequal in outcomes, but walking a narrow corridor is episodic, uncertain and in the end possible. This is the next normal for marketing.

scholarly journals Observational evidence in favor of scale-free evolution of sunspot groups

2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A183
Author(s):  
A. Shapoval ◽  
J.-L. Le Mouël ◽  
M. Shnirman ◽  
V. Courtillot
Keyword(s):  
Weibull Distribution ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Large Range ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Self Organized Criticality ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Computational Procedures ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Sunspot Groups

Context. The hypothesis stating that the distribution of sunspot groups versus their size (φ) follows a power law in the domain of small groups was recently highlighted but rejected in favor of a Weibull distribution. Aims. In this paper we reconsider this question, and are led to the opposite conclusion. Methods. We have suggested a new definition of group size, namely the spatio-temporal “volume” (V) obtained as the sum of the observed daily areas instead of a single area associated with each group. Results. With this new definition of “size”, the width of the power-law part of the distribution φ ∼ 1/Vβ increases from 1.5 to 2.5 orders of magnitude. The exponent β is close to 1. The width of the power-law part and its exponent are stable with respect to the different catalogs and computational procedures used to reduce errors in the data. The observed distribution is not fit adequately by a Weibull distribution. Conclusions. The existence of a wide 1/V part of the distribution φ suggests that self-organized criticality underlies the generation and evolution of sunspot groups and that the mechanism responsible for it is scale-free over a large range of sizes.

scholarly journals Multi-level Governance and Energy Specifics of the V4 Countries within the Context of European Integration

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-546
Author(s):  
Helena Bauerová ◽  
Milan Vošta
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
State Level ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Energy Mix ◽  
Strategic Plans ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe topic of energy is still one of the most sensitive policy areas. The aim of this article is to examine the multi-level governance and energy specifics of the V4 countries within the context of European integration by analyzing selected the specifics of the energy mix of the V4 group countries. This will be carried out within the context of applying the theory of multilevel governance. The paper shows how energy policy is formed at state, and/or non-state level, as well as how these levels are influenced by the EU. The article also looks at the efforts taken to shape a common energy policy. A closer examination of the individual countries‘ levels lies outside the scope of this article. Therefore, the framework was chosen with regard to the particular features within the context of the functioning of the V4 group of countries. Using multi-level governance as a theoretical concept, the authors considered the limits arising from the determination of levels and the subjects of the survey, as well as having distinguished three levels of analysis. The first is the supranational level. This is represented by the EU. The second level is represented by the V4 states. The third level is the state as the actor that formulates energy policy, sets the energy mix and subsequently manifests itself in relation to the EU and the V4 group. Energy policy is significantly influenced by states, especially in the area of energy security of fuel supplies, or that of setting the energy mix. With the gradual communitarization of energy policy, the EU’s influence is growing and it is debatable how the evaluation of existing strategic plans, presented by individual states, will be done. The role of the V4 group is the weakest of the three levels of analysis which were examined. However, its increasing influence can be predicted mainly in the case of coal depletion and the perception of nuclear energy as a renewable source.

scholarly journals The Delphi Method in Information Systems Research (2004-2017)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Alarabiat ◽  
Isabel Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Delphi Method ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Information Systems Research ◽  
Innovative Techniques ◽  
Delphi Studies ◽  
Procedural Recommendations ◽  
Do So

After almost 30 years of being used in the information system (IS) discipline, only a few studies have focused on how IS scholars apply the method's guidelines to design Delphi studies. Thus, this paper focuses on the use of the Delphi method in IS research. To do so, articles published between 2004 and 2017 in the Senior IS Scholars' collection of journals of the Association of Information Systems (AIS), describing Delphi studies, were analised. Based on analysis of sixteen (16) retrieved IS studies, we concluded that IS researchers have applied the method’s most important phases and the procedural recommendations to promote rigor were considered in the majority of the analised studies. Nonetheless, IS researchers still need to include detailed information about (1) the steps taken to ensure the validity of the achieved results, (2) better describe the process of selecting and recruiting the experts, and (3) experiment with innovative techniques to keep participants involved in the Delphi process.

scholarly journals Towards an interdisciplinary science of the subjective experience of remembering

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Simons ◽  
Kaja Julia Mitrenga ◽  
Charles Fernyhough
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Interdisciplinary Science ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors ◽  
Different Levels

Some of the most interesting advances in the study of episodic memory have come from considering different levels of analysis. In this article, we focus on how insights from multiple disciplines can inform understanding of the subjective experience of remembering. For example, we highlight how inspiration from the arts and humanities can generate novel research questions that can elucidate the cognitive and brain mechanisms responsible for what it feels like to remember a previous experience. We also consider how a multi-level perspective can help to address some confusions in the literature, such as between reconsolidation and reconstruction, and how a full understanding of memory requires appreciation of social and cultural factors.

MONOFRACTAL AND MULTIFRACTAL SCALING ANALYSIS OF pH TIME SERIES FROM DONGTING LAKE INLET AND OUTLET

Fractals ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (03) ◽  
pp. 309-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZHENG-WEN HUANG ◽  
CHUN-QIONG LIU ◽  
KAI SHI ◽  
BIN ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
Dongting Lake ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Fluctuation Analysis ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Lake Water Quality ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Multifractal Scaling

The water pH series from Dongting Lake Inlet and Outlet in China are analyzed by detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), spectral analysis and multifractal methods. The results show that these pH series are characterized by long-term memory, 1/f noise and multifractal scaling, and these characteristics have obvious difference between the Lake Inlet and Outlet. The comparison results show that monofractal (DFA exponent) and multifractal (Δα, Δf, B) parameters can be quantitative dynamical indexes reflecting the capability of anti-acidification of Dongting Lake. Furthermore, we investigate the frequency-size distribution of pH series from Dongting Lake Inlet and Outlet. Our findings suggest that water pH is an example of a self-organized criticality (SOC) process. Based on concept of self-organized ctiticality, we analysis the cause that different scale-free power-law behavior between pH series from Dongting Lake Inlet and Outlet. This work can be helpful to improvement of modeling of lake water quality.

Social Drivers for ICT Diffusion among Agrarian Business Enterprises in Nigeria

2013 ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Bartholomew Aleke ◽  
Udechukwu Ojiako ◽  
David Wainwright
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Social Network Theory ◽  
Conceptual Basis ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation Theory ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Business Enterprises ◽  
Successful Innovation

In this paper, the authors examine the process of diffusion of innovation ICT within agrarian business enterprises operating in developing countries. There is substantial research in the area of Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DoI) and its application to Information Systems (IS) research within organisations. However, in recognition of the conceptual limitations of DoI, researchers have called for the incorporation of aspects of Social Network Theory (SNT) into DoI frameworks. The findings of this research suggest that an understanding of the conceptual basis of innovation is a major driver of successful innovation adoption.

Information Systems Evaluation

2013 ◽  
pp. 333-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si Chen ◽  
Nor Mardziah Osman ◽  
Guo Chao Alex Peng
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Current System ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Evaluation Methodologies ◽  
Is Implementation ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Is Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Approaches ◽  
Goals And Objectives

Due to the prevalent use of Information Systems (IS) in modern organisations, evaluation research in this field is becoming more and more important. In light of this, a set of rigorous methodologies were developed and used by IS researchers and practitioners to evaluate the increasingly complex IS implementation used. Moreover, different types of IS and different focusing perspectives of the evaluation require the selection and use of different evaluation approaches and methodologies. This chapter aims to identify, explore, investigate, and discuss the various key methodologies that can be used in IS evaluation from different perspectives, namely in nature (e.g. summative vs. formative evaluation) and in strategy (e.g. goal-based, goal-free, and criteria-based evaluation). Six case studies are also presented and discussed in this chapter to illustrate how the different IS evaluation methodologies can be applied in practices. The chapter concludes that evaluation methodologies should be selected depending on the nature of the IS and the specific goals and objectives of the evaluation. Nonetheless, it is also proposed that formative criteria-based evaluation and summative criteria-based evaluation are currently among the more widely used in IS research. The authors suggest that the combined used of one or more of these approaches can be applied at different stages of the IS life cycle in order to generate more rigorous and reliable evaluation outcomes. Moreover, results and outcomes of IS evaluation research will not just be useful in practically guiding actions to improve the current system, but can also be used to generate new knowledge and theory to be adopted by future IS research.

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