Professor Antony Bryant

This Festschrift to honour Kathy Charmaz’s scholarship features fourteen chapters plus an editors’ introduction, exploring CGT extensively, examining topics including “Indigenization” of the method, its approaches to decolonizing ...

Recent articles on the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) have started to analyze its conceptual and philosophical foundations. In particular it has been argued that the early characterizations by GLASER and STRAUSS exhibit a scientistic and positivist orientation that is no longer tenable. In her recent contribution to the GTM literature, CHARMAZ distinguished between objectivist GTM and constructivist GTM. This drew a response from Barney GLASER. What follows is a rejoinder to GLASER, offering some clarification of developments in people's understanding of this important and widely-used qualitative approach.

The structured approaches to systems development are found wanting for a variety of reasons. They impose a severe bureaucratic cost on development but does not guarantee a more reliable and robust product. Formal specification can be developed as an enhancement to the existing methods. They can be used more widely in a CASE development environment. They offer a constrained but effective approach for harnessing the power of a formal notation.

The reverse engineering method of object oriented systems (ROMEO) takes the source code for an existing OO system and derives a no-loss representation of the system documented in object-oriented modeling technique (OMT) format. This representation of the system is derived through the use of a series of transformations. This paper describes in detail all the transformation steps needed for the extraction of the object design, discusses the experience gained from the application of the method to a case study and outlines the tools that can support the ROMEO methodology.

The term software engineering has had a problematic history since its appearance in the 1960s. At first seen as a euphemism for programming, it has now come to encompass a wide range of activities. At its core lies the desire of software developers to mimic 'real' engineers, and claim the status of an engineering discipline. Attempts to establish such a discipline, however, confront pressing commercial demands for cheap and timely software products. This paper briefly examines some of the claims for the engineering nature of software development, before moving to argue that the term 'engineering' itself carries with it some unwanted baggage. This contributes to the intellectual quandary in which software development finds itself, and this is exacerbated by many writers who rely upon and propagate a mythical view of 'engineering.' To complicate matters further, our understanding of software development is grounded in a series of metaphors that highlight some key aspects of the field, but push other important issues into the shadows. A rereading of Brooks' "No Silver Bullet" paper indicates that the metaphorical bases of software development have been recognized for some time. They cannot simply be jettisoned, but perhaps they need widening to incorporate others such as Brooks' concepts of growth and nurture of software. Two examples illustrate the role played by metaphor in software development, and the paper concludes with the idea that perhaps we need to adopt a more critical stance to the 'engineering' roots of our endeavours.

The main ideas underlying Bauman’s liquid modernity are explained and then extended to incorporate current ideas about complexity and turbulence. This combination is used to argue that although Bauman himself refuses to offer any resolution to the paradoxes of liquid modernity, complexity theory may be useful: in particular the argument that the seemingly chaotic may actually result in some sort of order. The section also points to the ways in which liquid modernity provides a constant reminder of the underside of contemporary existence; vagabonds and waste as well as tourists and flexibility.

The gig economy has become a hot topic. The term itself derives from the world of entertainment, particularly live music, where performers striving for recognition hope to get a few ‘gigs’ – i.e. short-term and sporadic opportunities for paid employment, with the understanding that such engagements are limited and without any future obligation on either party – employer or employee. This seemingly gives both parties significant autonomy, albeit not in equal measure. Indeed, the terms ‘employer’ and ‘employee’, with respective connotations of extended and enduring responsibility, and mutual (if unequal) obligation, are hotly disputed. Are they self-employed contractors or employees of the company? In what follows, I show how key aspects of Zygmunt Bauman’s work prepare us for an understanding and appreciation of the gig economy, and other more extensive ramifications; particularly those exemplified in the success of the Open Source model, and its potential – or not – to provide the basis for new institutional forms appropriate and acceptable for our current context.

The book is addressed to investigators with some knowledge of and familiarity with research methodswho are keen to learn more about the grounded theory method [GTM]. The method is located against general research issues, such as the nature of doctoral and other research, discussions on epistemology and ontology, and the initial motivations for undertaking a specific research project. The key features of GTM are discussed and exemplified using numerous examples taken from several of the author’s many successful PhD students. The focus is on distinguishing the core and essential features of the method, from those that can be regarded as “accidental.” The author’s concept of Methodological Sensitivity is introduced to explain how insightful research is often dependent on researchers’ adapting one or more methods to their specific project and context. The grounded theory method is illustrated through several examples taken from PhD theses supervised by the author; also the derivation of a grounded theory is drawn from more than 100 published GTM papers. The book includes chapters devoted to discussions of the concept of abduction and abductive logic, now seen as central to GTM, set against an overview of different forms of reasoning—i.e. induction and deduction. Other chapters include personal accounts of GTM-in-use by four successful PhD candidates and a guide that summarizes ways in which issues around GTM can be taken into account and addressed both by researchers (not only PhD students) and by assessors and evaluators (PhD examiners, journal editors, reviewers, and those refereeing research proposals).

This paper seeks to develop the motivations and aspirations underlying the primary theme for ICIS 2006 - 'IT for Underserved Communities'. In so doing the case is made that those keen to mobilize and harness the emancipatory and empowering potential of Information & Communications Technology for community-based projects should consider that the very existence of this technology opens up alternative models of co-operation and collaboration. These models themselves provide the basis for breaking away from 'traditional' command-and-control models of management and co-ordination; allowing participants, or potential participants, to coordinate their efforts along the lines exemplified by the open-source software movement and the contributors to Wikipedia: Models of co-ordination that ought not to work, but appear to do so.

BPR has become a popular topic for discussion among managers. After its initial enthusiastic reception in the early 1990s, severe doubts and concerns have begun to emerge. The article considers some of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach, and outlines a more inclusive framework within which BPR might be more critically and pragmatically assessed and applied.

In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that gained over 100 million users by February 2023. AI chatbots, which are based on large language models and machine learning, have the potential to revolutionize how we interact with computers and digital systems. Proponents of these developments claim that these applications can and will result in substantial benefits for everyone. Many others, including those at the forefront of the technology, are far more skeptical, with some now claiming that AI, in its current form, is toxic and dangerous, possibly representing a threat to humanity. Although this latter fear seems far-fetched and misplaced, the ramifications of these latest developments are serious and require wide-ranging analysis, attention, and action if we are to avoid an exponential increase in disinformation generating severe and irredeemable mistrust in these technologies.

The Wire has not only been identified as one of the greatest television studies of the destitution of the modern American city through the genre of the police procedural, but it has also been hailed as a modern work of tragedy. The strength and depth of its characters confer upon them the tragic status of brave and courageous individuals battling the vagaries of fate. For Simon and Burns, the contemporary gods are, however, the faceless forces of modern capitalism. While acknowledging the necessity for such a cultural reading of the dramaturgy and genuinely tragic pathos achieved by the collaborative writing and creative vision led by David Simon and Ed Burns, this paper challenges this reading since it risks reducing African Americans to passive, albeit tragic victims of all-powerful forces. It also inhibits the possibility of imagining agency and action. Tracking one character, Colonel Howard 'Bunny' Colvin, who has not been fêted or celebrated in the subsequent popular and academic debates about The Wire, the authors argue that Colvin represents a figure of exception in the overall scheme. In several key spheres-creative policing, the drug trade and in education-he is a figure of action. Thus the paper reads this character through the prism of the political theory of Judith Shklar who denounces 'passive injustice' and indifference to misfortune, calling for informal relations of everyday democracy and active citizenship in line with a series of diverse critics of contemporary American urban social relations (Lasch, Sennett). The question of action as itself a form of diagnosis and responsibility leads back to Gramscian concepts of the organic intellectual and to Hannah Arendt. Without losing sight of the fact that The Wire is a fictional drama, the paper argues that narratological analysis of one character can contribute imaginatively to the field of social and political theory while using its affective capacity to situate the viewer/reader in the dilemmas of social practice that the crisis portrayed in The Wire so forcefully represents. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

This Festschrift to honour Kathy Charmaz’s scholarship features fourteen chapters plus an editors’ introduction, exploring CGT extensively, examining topics including “Indigenization” of the method, its approaches to decolonizing ...

The Wire has not only been identified as one of the greatest television studies of the destitution of the modern American city through the genre of the police procedural, but it has also been hailed as a modern work of tragedy. The strength and depth of its characters confer upon them the tragic status of brave and courageous individuals battling the vagaries of fate. For Simon and Burns, the contemporary gods are, however, the faceless forces of modern capitalism. While acknowledging the necessity for such a cultural reading of the dramaturgy and genuinely tragic pathos achieved by the collaborative writing and creative vision led by David Simon and Ed Burns, this paper challenges this reading since it risks reducing African Americans to passive, albeit tragic victims of all‐powerful forces. It also inhibits the possibility of imagining agency and action. Tracking one character, Colonel Howard ‘Bunny’ Colvin, who has not been fêted or celebrated in the subsequent popular and academic debates about The Wire, the authors argue that Colvin represents a figure of exception in the overall scheme. In several key spheres—creative policing, the drug trade and in education—he is a figure of action. Thus the paper reads this character through the prism of the political theory of Judith Shklar who denounces ‘passive injustice’ and indifference to misfortune, calling for informal relations of everyday democracy and active citizenship in line with a series of diverse critics of contemporary American urban social relations (Lasch, Sennett). The question of action as itself a form of diagnosis and responsibility leads back to Gramscian concepts of the organic intellectual and to Hannah Arendt. Without losing sight of the fact that The Wire is a fictional drama, the paper argues that narratological analysis of one character can contribute imaginatively to the field of social and political theory while using its affective capacity to situate the viewer/reader in the dilemmas of social practice that the crisis portrayed in The Wire so forcefully represents.

In his landmark essay The Metropolis and Mental Life, Georg Simmel drew the distinction between two “different, yet corresponding” aspects of modernity, which become embodied in the metropolis “as one of those great historical formations in which opposing streams which enclose life unfold, as well as join one another with equal right.” Raymond Williams termed these individuality, which “stresses both a unique person and his (indivisible) membership of a group,” and individualism, “a theory not only of abstract individuals but of the primacy of individual states and interests,” the former being something that diminishes in the metropolis, while the latter is intensified. With the emergence of “digital life,” including new spheres of virtual interaction, these forces take on new forms and characteristics which need to be articulated and understood more widely if plans for the ‘digital city’ and ‘urban transformation’ are to be open, accessible, and generally beneficial. In what follows Simmel’s insights are developed with consideration of work by Williams, Zygmunt Bauman, Erving Goffman, and Richard Sennett, leading to an outline of the paradoxical, ambivalent, and complex nature of the digital metropolis.

Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, together with Jeanne Quint, collaborated on a research project in the 1960s that resulted in the highly innovative and now widely used Grounded Theory Method [GTM]. The pioneering characteristics of the method drew on the different backgrounds of Glaser and Strauss; respectively, the work of Lazarsfeld and Merton based at University of Columbia, New York, and Chicago School sociology. This latter influence encompassed Symbolic Interactionism and Pragmatism, although Glaser later sought to downplay or even deny the importance of this. In what follows we outline the trajectory leading through Strauss from the Chicago School to GTM, and the ways in which later developments in the method – e.g., Constructivist GTM and Situated Analysis – build specifically on these antecedents to the method itself.

The pervasive integration of digital technology into cities provides new opportunities for information systems scholars to participate in the efforts in transforming urban life. It requires (a) the creation of a large-scale digital infrastructure, (b) the design of new services and applications.applications, and (c) the re-examination of the meaning of social interactions in public and private spaces. In order to create an initial forum for multi-disciplinary dialogue to explore these issues, a research workshop was organized by the Irwin L. Gross Institute for Business and Information Technology, Temple University on November 11–3,-3,2007. This special section includes three papers from the workshop. These three papersarticles point out that the future socio-technical reality of digital urban environments must be deliberately designed in order to magnifies the strengths of the most daring human design endeavor ever—cities.--.

F International was a pioneering company set up by Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley in the 1960s specifically to provide flexible, free-lance opportunities for highly skilled women who needed to juggle childcare and other domestic or caring responsibilities with a desire to continue using and developing their programming and other computer-related skills and expertise. From the 1980s onwards it was lauded by many, with coverage in the media and in top management journals. Yet by the early years of this century, it had all but disappeared, having lost its distinctive features along the way. Was this an unavoidable outcome of its growth and strategy of mergers and acquisitions? Were opportunities lost or did key decisions unwittingly lead to this result? Or was there an inevitability to such a project?

In 2010 Jeff Baker proposed a panel for the 2010 ICIS Conference in St. Louis on the topic ” Technologies that Transform Business and Research: Lessons from the Past as we look into the Future? (Baker et al., 2011), He invited Frank Land to be a member of the panel. Frank sought to explore some topics that were receiving a great deal of attention from the media and in particular the computer press as well amongst IS practitioners, management and academia. The topic was the apparently rapidly growing threat coming from the misuse or criminal use of information and communications technology (ICT) as well as the use of the technology in warfare (Cyberwarfare). The issues were discussed under a variety of labels but usually included terms such as security, privacy, risk and piracy.

The twentieth century has been termed the Century of Women, an era marked by significant social and political changes that began around 1900. Although by no means universal and occurring in differing sequences and at different speeds throughout the twentieth century, there were noteworthy improvements in the position of women in society encompassing extensions of suffrage, greater educational opportunities, removal of many restrictions on employment, access to healthcare including contraception and abortion, and legislation against forms of sexual discrimination. These developments were neither straightforward nor universal, and in recent times there have been many examples of these advances being curtailed and even put into reverse with the position of women and young girls deteriorating significantly.

Renegotiating the Image Anthony Bryant, Griselda Pollock. needlessly reductive. For me, the more cutting-edge studies of digital media focus precisely on the vital role of embodiment in our experience of reality—manifested in its manifold ...

Dieses interdisziplinäre Nachschlagewerk bietet in über 1.350 Beiträgen einen umfassenden Überblick zur Theorie und Praxis von Bildung und Erziehung sowie zu den unterschiedlichen pädagogischen Fachrichtungen bzw.

Grounded theory is an analytic method for constructing theories from inductive qualitative data. Data collection and analysis inform each other in an iterative process as researchers successively make their ideas more abstract. This article: (1) discusses the history and contested development of grounded theory from its original statement by sociologists Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss to the present; (2) describes the epistemological implications of the recent constructivist revision of grounded theory; (3) compares constructivist and positivist forms of grounded theory; (4) outlines major grounded theory strategies of coding, memo-writing, and theoretical sampling; and (5) suggests future directions of the method. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This is a comprehensive and accessible first text on qualitative methods that boasts a who's who of leading qualitative methodologists and is a must-have book for any student involved in doing research.

In October 2009 the BBC aired a short series of radio programmes entitled Parting Shots. The programmes featured a series of final communications, called valedictory despatches, from British ambassadors leaving their posts to take up duties elsewhere or retire from the Diplomatic Service. As opposed to being merely vehicles for conveying reflective and summary knowledge about countries for the benefit of successors as well as the Foreign Office in London, some despatches contained discourteous and injudicious comments about ambassadors’ host countries and their people. The sensitive nature of these types of despatches, combined with their ease of dissemination electronically, made inevitable the severe circulation restrictions that were placed on them in 2006, leading to their effective demise. Our new knowledge of the past existence of the valedictory despatch immediately raises the question of the history of diplomatic communication, including issues related to the mediation of diplomacy by technologies and techniques conducive to knowledge sharing. This article synthesises evidence from secondary sources on the history of British diplomacy that highlights its information and communication aspects. Primary sources are also exploited in the form of valedictory despatches from British ambassadors abroad and publications on diplomacy contemporaneous with the time being studied. The traditional, stereotypical image of the diplomat is that of gentlemanly intellectual, ‘bon viveur’ and adventurer, socially adept and thus skilled in the art of negotiation. However, an investigation of the history of diplomatic information and communication practices — from the era of manuscript and messenger through to the ages of the telegraph and telephone, and now that of the Internet — reveals the diplomat less as gentlemanly negotiator than as knowledge manager, as a collector and conduit of information designed to enhance the knowledge of policy–makers. The historic knowledge–management role of the diplomat highlights the part technology has played in the world of diplomacy, including the relationship between the ambassador abroad and the political centre. It also offers a further perspective on the ways in which technologies open up new possibilities, intended and unintended, often fraught with ambiguity and potential for enhancement and disruption. In turn this offers lessons for further consideration of what can be termed the Dark Side of Knowledge Management, and for organizational communication in general.

Antony Bryant. Systematic (2004). Intellectual Capital Report 2004. Aarhus, Denmark: Systematic Software Engineering A/S. van der Meer-Kooistra, J. and Zijlstra, S. M. (2001). Reporting on intellectual capital. Accounting, Auditing ...

A recent trend in software engineering is the shift from a focus on laboratory-oriented software engineering to a more industry-oriented view of software engineering processes. This complements preceding ideas about software engineering in terms of organization and process-orientation. From the domain coverage point of view, many of the existing software engineering approaches have mainly concentrated on the technical aspects of software development. Important areas of software engineering, such as the technical and organizational infrastructures, have been left untouched. As software systems increase in scales, issues of complexity and professional practices become involved. Software development as an academic or laboratory activity, has to engage with software development as a key industrialized process. This expanded domain of software engineering exposes the limitations of existing methodologies that often address only individual subdomains. There is, therefore, a demand for an overarching approach that provide a basis for theoretical and practical infrastructures capable of accommodating the whole range of modern software engineering practices and requirements. One approach is provided by Process-Based Software Engineering (PBSE); part of the more general trend towards a focus on process. This paper provides a review of process techniques for software engineering and a high-level perspective on PBSE. Typical approaches and techniques for the establishment, assessment, improvement and bench-marking of software engineering process systems are introduced in this paper, and many are developed further in other contributions to this volume.

Recent articles on the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) have started to analyze its conceptual and philosophical foundations. In particular it has been argued that the early characterizations by GLASER and STRAUSS exhibit a scientistic and positivist orientation that is no longer tenable. In her recent contribution to the GTM literature, CHARMAZ distinguished between objectivist GTM and constructivist GTM. This drew a response from Barney GLASER in an earlier issue of FQS. What follows is a rejoinder to GLASER, offering some clarification of developments in people's understanding of this important and widely-used qualitative approach. © 2003 FQS.

This paper is a revised and extended version of a keynote contribution to a recent conference on Cognitive Informatics. It offers a brief summary of some of the core concerns of other contributions to the conference, highlighting the range of issues under discussion; and argues that many of the central concepts and preoccupations of cognitive informatics as understood by participants - and others in the general field of computation - rely on ill-founded realist assumptions, and what has been termed the functionalist view of representation. Even if such ideas - albeit in a revised form - can be defended, there must be a more extensive engagement with the literature and issues outside the confines of the computing and computational orthodoxy.

Knowledge management [KM] first appeared as a distinct phrase in the context of IS in the mid-1990s, since when it has grown to become the latest item in the IS pantheon. The term itself ought to promote more uneasiness than it appears to do so within the IS academy, and this paper outlines the reasons why the term should be viewed with less enthusiasm and more suspicion. © 2006 IEEE.

This article argues that those keen to characterise and harness the empowering potential of Information and Communications Technology [ICT] for development projects must understand that the very existence of this technology opens up alternative models of co-operation and collaboration. These models themselves necessitate breaking away from 'traditional' command-and-control models of management. One alternative is to persuade participants, or potential participants, to co-ordinate their efforts along the lines exemplified by the open-source software movement and the contributors to Wikipedia: models of co-ordination that ought not to work but appear to do so. The article offers a summary of this argument, and then suggests ways in which NGOs in particular might try to incorporate these insights into their strategies. This is particularly critical for organisations that rely on increasingly pressurised funding opportunities, and which also seek to develop and engender participation and determination from within and among specific target groupings.

E-government is far too often taken to mean 'government business as usual' plus the internet. This paper puts forward the basis for an alternative orientation, locating e-government against a background of profound social changes.

In what follows Bauman’s concept of liquid modernity will be extended to encompass a set of mixed and potentially contradictory metaphors around the themes of fluidity and changes of state, such as flow, flux, turbulence, and meltdown. This will be used as basis for characterizing what I term ‘Bauman’s challenge’, 1 as well as offering a response based on a re-envisioned concept of mutuality.

Recent articles on the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) have started to analyze its conceptual and philosophical foundations. In particular it has been argued that the early characterizations by GLASER and STRAUSS exhibit a scientistic and positivist orientation that is no longer tenable. In her recent contribution to the GTM literature, CHARMAZ distinguished between objectivist GTM and constructivist GTM. This drew a response from Barney GLASER. What follows is a rejoinder to GLASER, offering some clarification of developments in people's understanding of this important and widely-used qualitative approach.

In recent years, complexity theory has been shown to throw light on a number of issues related to the management of organizations. Examples include the use of complexity notions to help understand situations such as mergers and acquisitions and assist in the successful facilitation of these events by suggesting appropriate enabling infrastructures (Mitleton-Kelly 2004). Complexity theory has similarly helped in an understanding of information systems failures and perhaps goes some way to explaining perennial problems such as the alignment problem: a problem near the top of serious issues reported by researchers into concerns expressed by CIOs and business managers. © 2007 International Federation for Information Processing.

The Varieties of Grounded Theory explores the range and depth of grounded theory methodology, and the ways in which discussions in the field have developed and expanded in recent years. In this SAGE Swift, Anthony Bryant provides a jargon-free overview of grounded theory terminology, whilst examining the impact of recent technological and theoretical advances on how it is currently practiced. Increasingly popular outside of its original settings, grounded theory is now a core method for business & management, criminology, politics, geography and psychology.

This is a method-defining resource for advanced students and researchers across the social sciences.

The grounded theory method (GTM) was introduced to the social science research community by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss in the mid-1960s; specifically in their now classic text The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The rationale for their methodological innovation was to break with the traditional model of research in the social sciences, which largely focused on the derivation and testing of hypotheses developed from the work of the grand theorists of the time. Glaser and Strauss drew stark contrasts between their approach-‘grounded in the data’— and the more abstract, deductive ones promulgated in the social science academic communities, particularly those in the United States.

Recent articles on the Grounded Theory Method (GTM) have started to analyze its conceptual and philosophical foundations. In particular it has been argued that the early characterizations by GLASER and STRAUSS exhibit a scientistic and positivist orientation that is no longer tenable. In her recent contribution to the GTM literature, CHARMAZ distinguished between objectivist GTM and constructivist GTM. This drew a response from Barney GLASER. What follows is a rejoinder to GLASER, offering some clarification of developments in people's understanding of this important and widely-used qualitative approach.

In recent years the innovator has invariably been seen as an entrepreneur, wedded to a market philosophy that extends beyond any narrow confines of business or commerce, becoming all pervasive. With regard to the public and third sectors there was some justification for this as a useful corrective to an over‐centralized concept of government which almost by definition precluded genuine innovation and enterprise. On the other hand, there was always the concomitant danger that the balance sheet would gradually efface any concerns with issues such as social justice and inequality. Recent state interventions resulting from the credit crunch and general concerns with financial liquidity, have dramatically altered the focus on the relationship and balance between the private, public, and third sectors; which in turn requires a revised understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship across all sectors of society, as well as highlighting the role played by ICT.

In the field of information systems (IS) there has been a growing trend away from a technical view of systems (with the system literally seen primarily in terms of the physical devices), to one that seeks to account for nontangible aspects such as cognition, culture, motivation and so on. This is not to say that these latter orientations are dominant or predominant. But there is now an established, resilient and articulate counterposition exemplified by various IS journals. Research methods are developing in a similar fashion with an increasing use of qualitative methods. One method that is gaining increasing popularity in the systems area is the grounded theory method originated by B.G. Glaser and A.L. Strauss (1967). There are some profound problems with this approach, in particular the unproblematic conceptualization of data, and a level of methodological flexibility that can degenerate into methodological indifference and result in superficial and ambiguous conclusions. The paper argues that the method is not indelibly stamped with these failings and inconsistencies; it seeks to draw general lessons from the grounded theory method and other aspects of the discussion with regard to the study of systems and organizations in particular.

Many of those who are active within the academic field of information systems (IS) are constantly seeking a firm disciplinary basis for their endeavours. In many respects, such efforts are based upon a mistaken view of how disciplines are actually constituted, and the purposes that they serve. In many respects, it would be far more fruitful if those working within the field of IS were to accept a more fluid and contingent notion of a discipline; simultaneously recognizing the contested nature of many of the core concepts - particularly information, communication and technology. In so doing, we will be Thinking Informatically. © 2008 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved.

In recent years the innovator has invariably been seen as an entrepreneur, wedded to a market philosophy that extends beyond any narrow confines of business or commerce, becoming all pervasive. With regard to the public and third sectors, there was some justification for this as a useful corrective to an over-centralized concept of government which almost by definition precluded genuine innovation and enterprise. On the other hand, there was always the concomitant danger that the balance sheet would gradually efface any concerns with issues such as social justice and inequality. Recent state interventions resulting from the credit crunch and general concerns with financial liquidity, have dramatically altered the focus on the relationship and balance between the private, public, and third sectors. This in turn, requires a revised understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship across all sectors of society, as well as highlighting the role played by ICT.

Ideas about E-government sometimes amount to not a great deal more than 'Government-as-usual + ICT'; perhaps the 21st century version of the old Leninist slogan 'Communism = Soviet power + Electrification'. The more incisive commentators and researchers on E-Government - such as those planned for inclusion in this collection - understand that ideas about harnessing the power and potential of ICT are far more complex. To paraphrase the words of Stafford Beer, the question which asks how to use ICT in government is the wrong question; a better formulation is to ask how government should be run given the existence of ICT. The best version of all is the question asking, given ICT, what is the nature of government? Even this, however, fails to get to grips with the context against which all this is taking place. The very nature of government and the role of the state are altering. The current socio-political context has been variously labelled - the information age, the knowledge society, the digital economy, and the informational form of capitalism. Yet these all fail to encapsulate one of the key aspects of contemporary society: Constant and continuously unpredictable change on a global scale but with local and specific impacts. The recent work of Bauman, Beck, Giddens and Sennett amongst others offers a valuable resource against which issues such as E-Government can be understood. This chapter will outline the relevant aspects of what Bauman has termed liquid modernity and the ways in which strategies for E-Government need to take account of this ever-changing socio-political formation. © 2007 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

My paper offers a critique of some of the key assumptions that are prevalent in research and related work in informatics. Many of these have had a constraining effect on conceptual progress in the field, and particularly in areas that seek to include cognition. I deal with the rationalist and realist assumptions, and what has been termed the functionalist view of representation.

In 2008, Chris Anderson (2008), at that time the Editor–in–Chief of Wired, proposed that in the age of the petabyte, there was no longer any need for the scientific method, nor for models or theories. Although it might be contended that this was more provocation and journalistic hubris than formal or substantiated claim, the issue was taken up and has gathered momentum ever since. Indeed within a year or so of Anderson’s article, and a series of rejoinders published on the Edge Web site, ‘The Age of Big Data’ was being heralded, and the measure had increased from petabytes to exabytes, zettabytes, and yottabytes. Diebold (2012) usefully distinguishes between Big Data ‘the phenomenon’, ‘the term’, and ‘the discipline’; arguing that the phenomenon ‘continues unabated’, the term is ‘firmly entrenched’, and the discipline is ‘emerging’. In what follows we focus initially on the term and the phenomenon, but our main objective is to argue that it is critical that there is general understanding of the emerging discipline. In particular we aim to justify the assertion that in the age of Big Data the ability to be able to develop abstractions and concepts is at least as important as it was previously; perhaps even more so. Moreover that these skills and techniques need to be understood and available to all of us in an era where we are all analysts and researchers at least to the extent of our use of the internet and its potential for affording search and investigation of online resources. We seek to offer some critical insights into these activities — modeling, conceptualizing, and theorizing — by comparing and contrasting Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD) with the Grounded Theory Method (GTM). The former a technical orientation, that although predating Big Data, lies at the heart of the emerging tools and techniques. The latter a widely used approach to qualitative research aimed at developing conceptual models ‘grounded in the data’.

On being promoted to a personal chair in 1993 I chose the title of Professor of Informatics, specifically acknowledging Donna Haraway’s definition of the term as the “technologies of information [and communication] as well as the biological, social, linguistic and cultural changes that initiate, accompany and complicate their development” [1]. This neatly encapsulated the plethora of issues emanating from these new technologies, inviting contributions and analyses from a wide variety of disciplines and practices. (In my later work Thinking Informatically [2] I added the phrase “and communication”.) In the intervening time the word informatics itself has been appropriated by those more focused on computer science, although why an alternative term is needed for a well-understood area is not entirely clear. Indeed the term is used both as an alternative term and as an additional one—i.e. “computer science and informatics”.

Two of the main issues that have permeated management thought in the 1990s are Business Process Re-engineering and Knowledge Management. The former rapidly achieved dizzying heights in terms of citations, publications and sales, before equally rapidly falling into disrepute. The latter may be following the same course; and perhaps deservedly so. If this seems to be an injustice to knowledge management, then the precipitous fall of BPR is also undeserved. This paper seeks to stress the strengths and weaknesses of these two trends, offering ways in which they can and should influence our practices. Taking a slightly tangential perspective to each provides the basis for a corrective to any tendency to fall into the trap of a mechanistic or ITdetermined orientation; a potential inherent in both. The use of two slightly offbeat examples helps to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of both phenomena.

This article draws attention to the ways in which Grounded Theory Method (GTM) continues to be a target of criticism, misunderstanding, and ill-judgement more than 50 years after its first appearance. This disparagement originates in part from some key paradoxes in the method itself. Yet this is insignificant in contrast to the continuing antagonism emanating from outside the method, indicating critical limitations in the practices of the gatekeepers of the academic world. GTM seems to be the target of continual permutations of misunderstanding, and it is these that I wish to address, and I hope, dispel in what follows.

The ‘conversation’ offers an important contribution to the archaeology of information systems, both in practice as an academic domain or discipline, and a focus on the genealogy of the field, including some of the accidents and deviations that marked later developments. It is derived from a series of conversations and later exchanges that I arranged with Frank Land. The substantive aspects date from the late 2017 and were then developed in a series of exchanges in 2018; although in effect he and I have been developing this conversation over many years, during which he has been continually challenging, expansive and forthcoming. Comments forthcoming from readers of earlier drafts indicated some perplexity regarding the genre and the objectives of our contribution, so it is important to note that the term ‘conversation’ is something of a conceit. It is not an interview per se, nor is it a biographical account. The core of what follows developed from our verbatim exchanges both face-to-face, and later via email. Some sections, however, have been reworked and enhanced to clarify and augment the issues raised. In addition, we have sought to provide a good deal of background and narrative to guide readers through the text, offering pointers to further resources. The overall contribution is intended to provide an informed and, we hope, informative contribution to people’s understanding of key social and technical issues of our time.

Part 1 of the ‘conversation’ offered important insights into a groundbreaking era for computer development – adding further detail to existing writings by Frank Land, the work of the LEO group in general, and extended accounts such as those by Ferry, Hally and Harding. This should have whetted the appetite for readers keen to know more, also prompting others to offer their own accounts. Part 2 moves on to Frank Land’s subsequent activities as one of the founding figures of the Information Systems (IS) Academy, and his ‘Emeritus’ phase.

In 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee proposed the development of ‘a large hypertext database with typed links’, which eventually became The World Wide Web. It was rightly heralded at the time as a significant development and a boon for one-and-all as the digital age flourished both in terms of universal accessibility and affordability. The general anticipation was that this could herald an era of universal friendship and knowledge-sharing, ushering in global cooperation and mutual regard. In November 2019, marking 30 years of the Web, Berners-Lee lamented that its initial promise was being largely undermined, and that we were in danger of heading towards a ‘digital dystopia’: What happened?

This handbook gives a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of Grounded Theory, taking into account the many attempts to revise and refine Glaser and Strauss' original formulation and the debates that have followed.

In October 2009 the BBC aired a short series of radio programmes entitled Parting Shots. The programmes featured a series of final communications, called valedictory despatches, from British ambassadors leaving their posts to take up duties elsewhere or retire from the Diplomatic Service. As opposed to being merely vehicles for conveying reflective and summary knowledge about countries for the benefit of successors as well as the Foreign Office in London, some despatches contained discourteous and injudicious comments about ambassadors’ host countries and their people. The sensitive nature of these types of despatches, combined with their ease of dissemination electronically, made inevitable the severe circulation restrictions that were placed on them in 2006, leading to their effective demise. Our new knowledge of the past existence of the valedictory despatch immediately raises the question of the history of diplomatic communication, including issues related to the mediation of diplomacy by technologies and techniques conducive to knowledge sharing. This article synthesises evidence from secondary sources on the history of British diplomacy that highlights its information and communication aspects. Primary sources are also exploited in the form of valedictory despatches from British ambassadors abroad and publications on diplomacy contemporaneous with the time being studied. The traditional, stereotypical image of the diplomat is that of gentlemanly intellectual, ‘bon viveur’ and adventurer, socially adept and thus skilled in the art of negotiation. However, an investigation of the history of diplomatic information and communication practices — from the era of manuscript and messenger through to the ages of the telegraph and telephone, and now that of the Internet — reveals the diplomat less as gentlemanly negotiator than as knowledge manager, as a collector and conduit of information designed to enhance the knowledge of policy–makers. The historic knowledge–management role of the diplomat highlights the part technology has played in the world of diplomacy, including the relationship between the ambassador abroad and the political centre. It also offers a further perspective on the ways in which technologies open up new possibilities, intended and unintended, often fraught with ambiguity and potential for enhancement and disruption. In turn this offers lessons for further consideration of what can be termed the Dark Side of Knowledge Management, and for organizational communication in general.

Prologue and preamble The views of Collingwood can be summarized as follows. The philosophy of history is concerned neither with ‘the past by itself’ nor with ‘the historian's thought about it by itself’, but with ‘the two things in their mutual relations’. (This dictum reflects the two current meanings of the word ‘history’ – the inquiry conducted by the historian and the series of past events into which he inquires.)

Carr (1961: 1l)

The concept of trust in electronic commerce literature has emerged over recent years. Whilst trust has always been an aspect of business generally, in the digital economy it has taken on a more pivotal and visible role. When trading with someone, with whom you have no physical or visible contact it is imperative that the two parties have some basis for having confidence in the transaction. It is the governance of these commercial relationships in electronic commerce that will be explored in this paper. In particular, the basis of trust relationships will be considered and theoretical models of transactional structures and processes evaluated from a trust perspective.

Abstract The playwork sector has, since its development in the 1950’s, experienced periods of boom and bust. The 2000’s, saw significant investment and prioritisation of children’s right to play across the United Kingdom. This was followed by significant disinvestment during the 2010’s, as provision for children’s play became “a casualty of the austerity drive” (CRAE, 2015, p. 34). During the early 2010’s, in response to the increasingly marketised approach to funding for the third sector, many local authorities moved from direct play service delivery and grant allocation for children’s play, to commissioning services from the third sector. This study began as an exploration of the affects of commissioning on children’s play services. However, as a study adopting the Constructivist Grounded Theory Method, it soon became clear through early engagement with the field, that commissioning was not a route to sustainability for playwork provision. In the face of ever-decreasing funding for children’s play, the sector was looking to alternative ways to maintain their non-statutory but essential service for children, families and communities. Interviews with respondents representing 21 playwork projects from across England revealed that playwork provision was surviving not because of income generated through the process of commissioning, but through the deployment of skilled and knowledgable, committed and hard-working staff and volunteers. These individuals maintain a deep commitment to the underpinning professional and ethical framework for playwork, alongside the ethos of their very unique provision. The outcome of this study is a substantive theory, grounded in data, which provides a conceptual framework for how adventure playgrounds have survived a period of significant political and economic turbulence. This is underpinned by The Four Principles of Surviving, which provide a framework for practice for organisations not only in the playwork field, but across other third sector organisations.

Data visualisation development is inherently complex, involving uncertainty at various stages of the process leading to construction and use of the visualisations. Often, the literature provides empirical discussion on data visualisation processes and methods, and less so on the work context and social environment. This research study aims to explore the social and human aspects of data visualisation developers’ work practices using the Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology (CGTM). Four distinct, yet interrelated studies were conducted involving a research institute, a public services body, a charity-owned project and a university and achieve theoretical saturation. Data was collected from interviews and observations of 22 data visualisation developers, data visualisations and a founder’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) post. My thesis explored how and why developers construct data visualisations for their users and demonstrated the application of CGTM to data visualisation development. In doing so (a) I present comprehensive phases of CGTM applied throughout my research; (b) I discuss the challenges of investigating the sociocultural context of data visualisation use, which resulted in composing a novel visual data analysis framework; (c) I demonstrate how data triangulation can be conducted, combining the framework with more conventional GTM methods; and (d) I present my data that has earned its relevance in the studies, the systematic generation of results and the explication of a substantive theory. The overall study revealed critical multifaceted, yet interdependent organisational and cognitive constraints faced by the developers and how they manage the constraints, with a social purpose of developing data visualisations for their intended users. The constraints influence how and why developers render their intentions in the data visualisations they produce, indicating the primacy of constraints in advancing their analytical expertise. My research contributions are the novel visual data analysis framework and approach to developing a substantive theory triangulated from and grounded in a combination of empirical data. The resultant theory is specific to a particular area due to the unique combination of studies relating to human activity of data visualisation development and use. Effective data visualisations connect the developer with their users, bringing about transformative change to the organisation and generating impact for research.

This thesis reviews and discusses the creation of photorealistic virtual human faces and tests audience perception of a series of specifically developed visual assets. This provides a detailed look at the human perception of such visuals. In addition, specific techniques required to produce and render the photorealistic visuals are investigated. Viewer testing informs the development of a series of computer-generated (CG) animated assets, through which the thesis introduces a range of metrics that shape the viewers’ experience. Moreover, technical and creative recommendations to the artist are provided in relation to developing similar assets.  The literature review considers how visuals of a realistic, although non-real, nature can in certain circumstances elicit a negative response in the viewer. This response can manifest as a feeling of repulsion, rather than empathy, towards the CG subject. Mori’s (1970) theory of the “uncanny valley effect” is considered as a hypothesis for predicting this response. This negative response is problematic for an artist attempting to develop photorealistic visuals. The uncanny valley effect is looked at in detail and established work in the field is built upon to consider animated visuals in addition to static images. Previous research does not fully address the perception of animated characters. This thesis shows how the addition of motion may affect viewer perception of the visuals. Moreover, the impact of image composition is taken into account.  Optimal asset generation processes are determined, employing relevant technologies, artistry and techniques. This was steered by experience and perception of the visuals. The methodology employed saw appropriately targeted individuals complete questionnaires and self-report documents to identify their objective feelings towards sample visual media. Test data was gathered, analysed and used to identify key visual triggers in the imagery. Accrued data informed the approach to develop refined CG assets, which were again tested.  Test One, Real or CG, gauges the accuracy of human perception in determining real (photographic) imagery from (CG) imagery. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of how and why viewers’ decisions and opinions were made. The test also aids the development of future research in identifying the key elements that inform the test subject's decisions.  Test Two, Is it in The Detail?, establishes whether a viewer requires an entire image or a fragment of an image to determine whether an image is real or CG. Here an informed decision is reached about whether the whole picture or merely close-ups of the key features delivers greater accuracy. Additional emphasises is given to the rationale for these differences.  Test Three, Photorealistic Character, takes the earlier tests a stage further, with the addition of movement. Participants judged a digital human asset in terms of realism in its static form and then again while in motion. The results of each exposure to the visuals were then compared. An additional comparison between full frame and close-up sections of animation was also conducted. Masahiro Mori’s (1970) uncanny valley theory regarding differences between perceptions of static and moving virtual humans is discussed here in relation to the recorded data.  The thesis shows that movement and composition of visuals have an impact on viewer perception of CG humans. The test data also confirms that the accuracy of the motion impacts upon the perceived human-likeness of the visuals.

Currently there is an embarrassment of riches with regards to the range of research methods appropriate for library and information studies [LIS]; including qualitative and quantitative methods as well as ‘mixed methods’. All of this provides a rich body of resources for researchers, but this abundance also has a downside since it can also result in confusion and perplexity amongst researchers as they plan their investigative studies. Contributions such as this special issue are welcome opportunities to resolve and ameliorate this situation, and so in our contribution we seek to address some of these issues in the form of an interchange between two researchers with interests that include, but are not limited to, research in LIS. Between us we have a wide range of publications, as well as 80 plus PhD completions, many of which fall under the heading of LIS – broadly conceived. In particular we would claim specific expertise in Grounded Theory [Bryant] and Action Research [Abbott-Halpin]. Our aim is to seek clarification of some of the key methodological issues; although we realize that this is unlikely to provide any definitive outcome, it may assist those seeking guidance on these matters.

If virtuality is being celebrated as heralding a radically new era, rich with new possibilities and futures hitherto unimagined through cybernetics, networking and digitalizaton, such claims are also being viewed with deep scepticism and countered by renewed interest in the groundedness and referentiality of the concept of the index. In this transdisciplinary book, major artists, filmmakers, film theorists, philosophers, literary critics, information theorists and cultural analysts examine the twists and turns of the contesting terms of virtuality and indexicality in contemporary cultural theory in relation to history, trauma, sexuality, textuality, anxiety, simulated lives, code, digital cinema, science fiction, and contemporary art. Antony Bryant, Juli Carson, N. Katherine Hayles, Anna Johnson, Mary Kelly, Brian Massumi, Claire Pajaczkowska, Griselda Pollock, Adrian Rifkin, Martha Rosler, Alison Rowley, Trinh T. Minha, Samuel Weber, and Paul Willemen, draw on concrete practices, ranging from film, video and chatrooms to airport spaces, conceptual art and textiles, to offer critically engaged, sometimes sceptical, analyses of contemporary image worlds in the light of a continuing allegiance to grounded histories and critical practice.

Background/Context: Capital is sometimes broadly understood to be material wealth, whether liquid or otherwise, that can be used for further production. Thus, those who own capital, or the means of production, are in a position to increase their own wealth. This is the backbone of a Capitalist System, as described by theorists such as Karl Marx and Adam Smith. However, such understanding of capital in material or economic terms is inadequate. Although it explains the flow of wealth within a resource-based economy, it does not explain what is necessary to transition from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy. In a knowledge-based economy, where capital is no longer strictly associated with material wealth or ownership, there is more potential for benefits to circulate and for the entire society to be enriched. Yet, how this can occur and what its foundations should be remains unclear. In 2005, the KSA established the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP) to enrich the knowledge base of society. The programme funds Saudi citizens to attend foreign universities, mostly in western countries. Like many comparable programmes, the KASP aims to boost the educational level of the population, redistribute wealth and capital, and generate cultural and social capital. As opposed to monetary wealth these refer to a range of less tangible resources that make it more likely for individuals in society to be able to enrich the knowledge base of that society. Such programmes are arguably a crucial part of establishing a knowledge-based economy, which Saudi Arabia aims to do through its Saudi Vision 2030 reform programme. How KASP addresses this complex and imperfectly defined goal remains an unexplored topic.  Purpose/Research Question: This study examines how Saudi Arabia can transition from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based society by developing human and social capital. It is guided by a case study to: A) explore the role of scholarship programmes (KASP) in the country and B) identify, if any, challenges and skills needed during and after the programme which can impact on human and social capital.  Research Design: A qualitative method was adopted, and 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with A) students who graduated from the KASP programme and B) KASP administrators. The interviews explored the perceptions and perspectives of the participants relating to the programme itself, focusing on the issues around building human and social capital in the 21st Century. The translated transcripts were coded and analysed using Thematic Analysis (TA).  Conclusions/Recommendations: This study concludes that, in addition to acquiring a degree from a university abroad, Saudi nationals develop ‘moral capital’ that is accessed through authentic encounters with the local societies and networks in the foreign country of study. This outcome contributed to a greater understanding of moral capital, particularly as it relates to the unanticipated finding of Saudi students who returned from their studies abroad with altered perceptions of morality and new beliefs about right and wrong. Thus, it has been found that both moral and social capital is mobilised through the KASP. The transition to a knowledge-based society involves an evolution in how forms of capital are viewed. When comparing the findings of the present research with thinkers such as Bourdieu, Warsh, and Benkler, it can be seen that social and moral aspects of capital are more integrated than previously envisaged. Therefore, this thesis recommends that this mobilisation of moral and social capital be supported by developing better opportunities for the reintegration of KASP graduates in order that they can apply their knowledge and new perspectives, particularly through the education system and the job market.