E-Markets as Meta-Enterprise Information e Systems

Electronic marketplaces are inter-organizational information sharing systems that enable virtual business transactions and allow the exchange of price and product information between buyers and sellers (Kollmann, 2000). For many decades, such information systems were solely utilized for buying and selling of goods under “market conditions.” With the emergence of advanced IT, academia, and also businesses have begun to use electronic marketplaces for information sharing system and it is no longer only a medium for electronic buying and selling processes. In addition, electronic marketplaces are predicted to be a key-stone for integrating the information flows within inter-organizational systems such as supply chains (Grieger, 2004) where borderless organizational structures occur (see Picot, Reichwald, R., Wigand, 2001).

The Digital Divide and the Emerging Virtual Therapeutic System

As the Internet becomes increasingly more and more ingrained in our society, the gap between those who have adequate Web access and those who do not will continue to widen. In the health, mental health, and disability sectors of society, technology helps provide access to previously unavailable information, communication, and services, allowing for greater independence, as well as 24/7 access to collaboration and support. The digital divide might prevent the people who will benefit the most from virtual services from accessing them. This chapter will explore systems of online health and mental healthcare, both formal and informal, the dependence on advanced networking technologies for these systems to be effective, and the impact of the digital divide on individuals’ access to online health and mental healthcare. We will discuss the implications for both policy and practice.

E-Therapy

Nowadays, information and communication technologies (ICT) are being used in the mental health field to improve the quality of the services provided. Several studies refer both advantages and disadvantages for these practices. E-therapy appears as a new way to help people in their life and existing relationships, and there is proven evidence that online therapy helps, for instance, to reduce depression symptoms. It is also seen as a complement of the technological and traditional techniques, to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the therapeutic process. As a matter of fact, some people tend to be more comfortable with the computer than in face-to-face therapy. Besides patients and physicians, other direct players could be found in this domain, namely, families and caregivers. All players will be directly affected by the use of existing services and thus, a correct assessment of the effectiveness of e-therapy solutions and studies is required. eSchi is a multimedia portal that enables an e-therapy setting for schizophrenia patients. Currently under development, the system is described and future trends in the area are depicted.

The Conundrum of Valuing a Company`s Intellectual Capital

Since the early 1990s, research has been conducted in an attempt to establish a viable and reliable manner of measuring the intangible assets, also referred to as the intellectual capital, of companies. Several models have been devised, most of them using indicators to evaluate the intangible assets of a given undertaking. In this chapter, exploratory field study methodology is used to analyse the behaviour of the “customer retention” indicator, which has been widely used to evaluate a company’s relationship capital. Two of the largest Brazilian e-retailing groups are analysed in order to obtain an in-depth insight into the behaviour of their frequent customers via their digital channel. Conclusions are presented, indicating that the role of frequent customers in e-retailing companies can sometimes be widely divergent from that presented in existing academic literature. Finally, recommendations are made in order to reach a clearer understanding of the conundrum of valuing a company’s intellectual capital via taken-for-granted indicators.

The Roles of Online Intermediaries in Collective Memory-Supported Electronic Negotiation

Following the emergence of the Internet, electronic negotiation has become an alternative to face-to-face negotiation. The rise of websites such as electronic marketplaces or electronic brokerages also fueled the popularity of electronic negotiation. The current forms of negotiation support systems (NSS) used to support many electronic negotiations offer very little support for historical negotiation data. In order to address this issue, the idea of a collective memory support in negotiations has been proposed in recent years. This paper highlights the use of an online intermediary as an effective location from which collective memory support can be offered. The paper proposes that an intermediary based collective memory support will increase confidence in negotiation, reduce overall negotiation time, and strengthen trust between negotiators.

Issues in Using Web-Based Course Resources

Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail usage look like a rounding error. John Chambers, Cisco Systems, New York Times, November 17, 1990 Web-based courses (Mesher, 1999) are defined as those where the entire course is taken on the Internet. In some courses, there may be an initial meeting for orientation. Proctored exams may also be given, either from the source of the Web-based course or off-site at a testing facility. The Internet-based course becomes a virtual classroom with a syllabus, course materials, chat space, discussion list, and e-mail services (Resmer, 1999). Navarro (2000) provides a further definition: a fully interactive, multimedia approach. Current figures indicate that 12% of Internet users in the United States use the Internet to take an online course for credit toward a degree of some kind (Horrigan, 2006). That number is indicative of the rapid proliferation of online courses over the past several years. The Web-enhanced course is a blend with the components of the traditional class while making some course materials available on a Web site, such as course syllabi, assignments, data files, and test reviews. Additional elements of a Web-enhanced course can include online testing, a course listserver, instructor-student e-mail, collaborative activities using RSS feeds and related technologies, and other activities on the Internet. One of the biggest concerns about Web-based courses is that users will become socially isolated. The Pew Internet and America Life Project found that online communities provide a vibrant social community (Horrigan, Rainie, & Fox, 2001). Clearly, students are not concerned or feel that other benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks. According to government research (Waits and Lewis, 2003), during the 2000-2001 academic year alone, an estimated 118,100 different credit courses were offered via distance education (with the bulk of that using Internet-based methods) by 2- and 4-year institutions in the United States. Over 3 million students were registered in these courses. Navarro (2000) suggests that faculty members are far more likely to start by incorporating Internet components into a traditional course rather than directly offering Web-based courses. These Web-enhanced courses might be considered the transition phase to the new paradigm of Internet-based courses. Rich learning environments are being created, with a shift from single tools to the use of multiple online tools, both to enhance traditional courses and to better facilitate online courses (Teles, 2002).

The Role of E-Services in the Library Virtualization Process

The networked ICT technologies (such as the Internet) are having a dramatic effect on how services and especially knowledge services are innovated, designed, produced and distributed. In addition ICT-networks such as the Internet have created the basis for the development of new types of services. E-services are defined here as services that are produced, provided and/or consumed through the use of ICT-networks such as for example Internet-based systems and mobile solutions. E-services can be used by both consumers and businesses, and can be accessed via a wide range of information appliances (Hoffman, 2003, p.53). E-services include also selling of physical goods on the Internet as for example an airline ticket that is purchased online, but delivered by surface mail to the buyers or government services offered on the Internet or e-government. There are three main characteristics of e-services: • The service is accessible across the Internet or other electronic networks • The service is consumed by a person across the Internet or other electronic networks • There might be a fee that the consumer pays the provider for using the e-service, but that might not always be the case as for example in some e-services offered by the government. Normally the production, provision or consumption of a service requires the interaction between the service provider and the user of the service. Traditionally this has been based on personal interactions, most often face-to-face interactions. In e-services, the production, consumption and/or provision of services takes place through the intermediation of an ICT-network such as Internet-based systems or mobile solutions. Examples of e-services are e-banking, e-library services, e-publishing, airline tickets, e-government, information and location services. The advent of e-commerce and e-services has raised a number of challenges for knowledge intensive service organizations such as consulting companies, libraries and publishers, as well as for companies selling physical goods. The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges that e-services are posing and will pose for research or academic libraries. The study has focused on the issues that Roskilde University Library (RUB) has had to deal with as a result of e-services adoption as well as the future challenges that e-services provide for RUB. The study is based on a number of interviews with RUB management, other secondary material provided by Roskilde University library and information provided on the Web page.

Tracing the Many Translations of a Web-Based IT Artefact

This chapter adopts an interpretive, case based research strategy to discuss the centrality of meaning in implementing an Internet-based self-service technology. Actor-Network theory (ANT) is used to describe the complex evolution of a Web-based service at a healthcare insurance firm. Using processes of inscribing, translating and framing, this chapter explores the emergence of the technology from 1999 – 2005 using three technological frames, ‘channel of choice’, ‘dazzle the customer’, and ‘complementary channel’ as episodes of translation. ANT demonstrates that the Internet-based self-service technology at this particular healthcare context emerged out of many unplanned negotiations and mediations with both human and non human actors. Finally, this chapter argues that ANT’s socio-technical lens provides a richer understanding of the meaning of Internet-based self-service technology within a multi-channel context.

Personalization Services for Online Collaboration and Learning

Collaboration tools can be exploited as virtual spaces that satisfy the community members’ needs to construct and refine their ideas, opinions, and thoughts in meaningful ways, in order to suc-cessfully assist individual and community learning. More specifically, collaboration tools when properly personalized can aid individuals to articulate their personal standpoints in such a way that can be proven useful for the rest of the community where they belong. Personalization services, when properly integrated to collaboration tools, can be an aide to the development of learning skills, to the interaction with other actors, as well as to the growth of the learners’ autonomy and self-direction. This work pre-sents a framework of personalization services that has been developed to address the requirements for efficient and effective collaboration between online communities’ members that can act as catalysts for individual and community learning.

Student Support Services

Success secret number one for a successful online learning program, according to Jeffrey Feldberg, chairman and CEO of Embanet Corp. and who has launched several successful online programs, is “live technical support” (Feldberg, 2001, p. 1). Many student support services, like technical support, are critical to the successful learning experience of all students, but especially for students who are engaged in online learning at a distance. One director of student support services for an online learning program said it this way: “If they’re having trouble with the technology, it’s like showing up at class and the door’s locked and they can’t get in” (Kelly, 2001, p.5). And, just as trouble with technology may keep the class door locked for one student, so can any other unmet student need for another student.