1.
Critical perspectives on information systems: an impression of the research landscape - Brooke, Carole
This article complements a paper in an earlier special issue of this volume of the Journal of Information Technology which was entitled 'What Does it Mean to be "Critical" in IS Research?' That paper conducted a preliminary review of the state of critical thinking in the fields of information systems (IS) and organization. In addressing the question 'what is critical research?' it showed how its definition has changed and broadened over time. This paper follows on by opening up some key questions relating to why researchers in IS should view critical research as having a valuable contribution to make. It...
2.
What does it mean to be 'critical' in IS research? - Brooke, Carole
This paper undertakes a preliminary review of the state of critical thinking in the fields of information systems and organizational analysis. It begins by addressing the question 'what is critical research?' showing how the definition has changed and broadened over time. Two key themes emerge from this discussion: our understanding of emancipation and the nature of unequal power relations in the workplace. The paper then goes on to identify a recent emerging tendency towards the use of Habermas in the specific area of critical IS inquiry. It considers some of the reasons for this apparent trend and warns against becoming...
3.
Organisational scenarios and legacy systems - Brooke, Carole; Ramage, Magnus
A legacy system is made up of technical components and social factors (such as software, people, skills, business processes) which no longer meet the needs of the business environment. The study of legacy systems has tended to be biased towards a software engineering perspective and to concentrate on technical properties. This paper suggests that the evaluation of potential change options for legacy systems can only be carried out as part of an holistic organisational analysis. That is, the evaluation of legacy systems must take place within a framework that combines business and technical considerations. In particular, we believe that the...
4.
Information systems at a call centre - Brooke, Carole
This paper presents the latest empirical material to emerge from a recently completed research project using the organisational scenario tool (OST). The project was part of a large-scale activity conducted over a 3-year period and was funded by the EPSRC under their Software Engineering for Business Process Change programme. The project has been looking at legacy systems and evaluating their potential for change. The methods adopted here are based on scenario generation and include an iterative process that attempts to ‘future proof’ organisational options for change.
The empirical research presented in this paper took place within a large UK-based company that...
6.
New ways of working in acute inpatient care: a case for change - Baguley, Ian; Alexander, Jane; Middleton, Hugh; Hope, Roslyn
This position paper focuses on the current tensions
and challenges of aligning inpatient care with
innovations in mental health services. It argues that a
cultural shift is required within inpatient services.
Obstacles to change including traditional perceptions
of the role and responsibilities of the psychiatrist are
discussed. The paper urges all staff working in acute
care to reflect on the service that they provide, and
to consider how the adoption of new ways of
working might revolutionise the organisational
culture. This cultural shift offers inpatient staff the
opportunity to fully utilise their expertise. New ways
of working may be perceived as a threat to existing
roles and responsibilities or as an exciting opportunity
for...
8.
Picturing China 1870-1950: photographs from British collections - Foo, Yee-Wah
This book accompanies the exhibition 'Picturing China 1870-1950’, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, 16 October- 15 December 2007. The exhibition showcases artifacts, documents and photographs from the Fu Bingchang collection. These, and all the documentary and historical references concerning Fu Bingchang were provided by Foo. The project is a collaboration with SOAS, Bristol University, and the Institut d’Asie Orientale, Lyon. The exhibition is co-sponsored by the AHRC (‘China Now’ project). A reduced version of the exhibition moves to the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, December 2007, the Oriental Museum, Durham, April 2008 and Queen’s University, Belfast, thereafter.
10.
Analysis of historic lime and gypsum plaster floors - part one - Watt, David; Colston, Belinda
The survival and continued use of historic lime and gypsum plaster flooring is commonplace in certain parts of the United Kingdom, and yet it remains almost unknown in other parts of the country. The potential for loss and damage to such floors, whether through ignorance or indifference, is great and has prompted a study of this traditional form of construction in order to engender a greater interest and promote more appropriate forms of repair or reinstatement. The first part of this paper describes both the history and use of lime and gypsum plaster flooring, together with a brief commentary on...
11.
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Open Source Systems
This volume contains the proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Open Source Systems, OSS 2005, held between 11th and 15th of July 2005 in Genova, Italy, organised by the Free University of Bolzano/Bozen and the Università degli Studi di Genova.
12.
A Self-Organising Awareness System for Distributed Software Engineering - Nutter, David
Software engineers and other collaborative disciplines rely on informal "out-of-band" communication for ef-
fective coordination of their activities, especially in agile methods. This type of communication is lost when devel-
opment is distributed, with consequent deleterious effects on engineer effectiveness. In order to effectively support
distributed software engineering, a replacement for this informal communication must be found.
Much previous research focussed on either synchronous awareness such as radar views and shared editors,
where participants were distributed in space not time, or asynchronous awareness such as change notification, which
did not explicitly support concurrent activities. A unified approach is necessary to support software engineering.
Furthermore, requiring co-location...
13.
Integration: dirty word or golden key - Kerry, Trevor
The article examines the notion of integrated studies as a way of organising curriculum in schools. Drawing on insights of educational philosophy, curriculum theory and learning theory it establishes the soundness of the theoretical case for integration. It examines what this view means for the art and scienc of teaching, and notes examples of successful integration in schools. The paper identifies the roots of integrated studies in the thinking of the Plowden Report and suggests that the approach is equally valid today.
14.
Managing the learning of able pupils - Kerry, Trevor
This paper looks at the pedagogy of teaching able children from the perspective of leadership for learning. It suggets eight strategies for effective leadership in this context.
15.
The Celtic Park challenge of excellence - Kerry, Trevor; Kerry, Carolle
This paper tells the story of a day spent stretching the abilities of able Year 5 pupils. The learning outcomes and the nature of the tasks set are discussed.
17.
Middle managers as followers and leaders: some cross-professional perspectives - Kerry, Trevor
This small-scale but unusual research compares middle managers in three very different settings: heads of department in schools, warrant officers in the armed services, and managers of hotel facilities. It sets out templates for comparing and contrasting their functions in the middle management role. It deals with middle managers' abilities to relate to followers in order to maximise institutional effectiveness
18.
Gifted and talented: working inside out or outside in? - Campbell, Andrew; Kerry, Trevor
This paper is located in the work of a truly comprehensive school: Brooke Weston CTC. It examines strategies used by the College to promote learning, strategies that maximise the performance of pupils so that value added means that an unexpected proportion might be considered 'gifted and talented'. Comparisons with other schools' strategies are drawn; and messages extracted for more effective practice.
19.
Using Inactivity to Detect Unusual behavi - Dickinson, Patrick; Hunter, Andrew
We present a novel method for detecting unusual modes
of behavior in video surveillance data, suitable for supporting home-based care of elderly patients. Our approach is based on detecting unusual patterns of inactivity.
We first learn a spatial map of normal inactivity for an observedscene, expressed as a two-dimensional mixture of Gaus-sians. The map components are used to construct a HiddenMarkov Model representing normal patterns of behavior. Athreshold model is also inferred, and unusual behavior de-tected by comparing the model likelihoods. Our learning procedures are unsupervised, and yield a highly transparent model of scene activity. We present an evaluation of our...
20.
Beyond the cutting edge - Kerry, Trevor; Campbell, Andrew
Looks at how an outstanding school remains at the cutting edge of educational innovation
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