Associate Professor Linda Dawson

Active exploration of emerging themes in a study of object-oriented requirements engineering: the 'Evolutionary Case' approach

Linda L. Dawson — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:05:45 PST

A means to an end: A Web-based client management system in palliative care

Linda L. Dawson et al. — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:05:44 PST

Building a System for managing clinical pathways using digital pens

Robert M Ribbons et al. — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:05:43 PST

A Social-Creative-Cognitive (SCC) Model for Requirements Engineering

Linda Dawson — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:28:04 PDT

This paper describes a research project and the findings from a set of six cases which examine professional requirements engineering (RE) practice from the perspective of how analysts reach agreement on system requirements for Information Systems Development (ISD). In these studies, it was found that the analysts reached agreement on requirements with clients through communication and negotiation based on both analysts’ cognitive skills in problem-solving and creative skills in developing informal models that could be used in the negotiation of agreement and sign-off on requirements specifications. A theoretical model of Social-Creative-Cognitive (SCC) aspects of Requirements Engineering is proposed encompassing the empirical findings.

Laptops on Trolleys: Lessons from a Mobile-Wireless Hospital Ward

Stephen Weeding et al. — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 23:31:18 PDT

Most hospital-based staff can be considered to be mobile but many hospital information systems (HIS) are based on fixed desk top computers. Wireless networks allow HIS to be brought to the point of care using mobile devices such as laptops on trolleys thus providing data which can aid in clinical decision-making. The research objective of this project focusses on the collaborative design of a laptop solution for providing data at the point of care. The research approach was based on a combination of action research and design science. Action research techniques including participant observation and informal oneto- one discussions were used to obtain information that was used to evolve the trolley design as a design artefact while addressing usability limitations. This paper presents three versions of the trolley design and how they evolved based on the feedback provided to the researchers from clinical use. Also these results show that using iterative action research techniques (planning, action, evaluation and reflection) in collaborative research can provide productive outcomes addressing a specific design objective within an acute care setting.

Clinician assessments of workplace security training - an informatics perspective

Juanita Fernando et al. — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:07:41 PDT

This paper describes and analyses clinicians’ assessments of workplace privacy and security (PaS) training in the context of contemporary health information system (HIS) practice. The PaS training underpins national e-health frameworks. The paper draws on findings from a forthcoming dissertation. The ‘questerview’ technique was applied to this case study of 26 clinicians in three Victorian (Australia) public hospitals. The technique relies on data collection that applies standardised questions and questionnaires during interviews. Respondents were recorded while they completed the standardised questions and questionnaires and were encouraged to discuss their responses to items in detail. Data analysis involved the scrutiny of ‘questerview’ transcripts to identify emergent themes. Responses to the standardised items led to rich sources of qualitative data. The majority of clinicians had attended workplace PaS training sessions. The sessions took a variety of forms including written handouts, system training and induction programs. Some clinicians were unaware of the training sessions or found them poorly implemented. Scheduling problems meant many clinicians found the sessions difficult to attend. Clinician feedback indicates that workplace PaS training sessions for HIS were poor. The sessions were not ongoing or related to clinical practice concerns and can best be summed up as ‘irrelevant’ to HIS practice. Irrelevant PaS training sessions hamper clinical confidence in HIS practice and the introduction of unified e-health records at national levels. The clinicians’ feedback suggests a pressing need for further research and contextual reviews of HIS PaS training protocols nationally and across the globe.

A Means To An End – A Web-Based Client Management System In Palliative Care

Margaret O'Connor et al. — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:01:28 PDT

Home-based palliative care (hospice) services require comprehensive and fully integrated information systems to develop and manage the various aspects of their business, incorporating client data and management information. These systems assist in maintaining the quality of client care as well as improved management effi ciencies. This article reports on a large not-for-profi t home-based palliative care service in Australia, which embarked on a project to develop an electronic data management system specifi cally designed to meet the needs of the palliative care sector. This web-based client information management system represents a joint venture between the organization and a commercial company and has been a very successful project.

Implementation Issues For Mobile-Wireless Infrastructure And Mobile Health Care Computing Devices For A Hospital Ward Setting

Liza Heslop et al. — Wed, 23 May 2012 00:56:58 PDT

mWard is a project whose purpose is to enhance existing clinical and administrative decision support and to consider mobile computers, connected via wireless network, for bringing clinical information to the point of care. The mWard project allowed a limited number of users to test and evaluate a selected range of mobile-wireless infrastructure and mobile health care computing devices at the neuroscience ward at Southern Health’s Monash Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia. Before the project commenced, the ward had two PC’s which were used as terminals by all ward-based staff and numerous multidisciplinary staff who visited the ward each day. The first stage of the research, outlined in this paper, evaluates a selected range of mobile-wireless infrastructure.

Cognitive Processes in Object-Oriented Requirements Engineering Practice: Analogical Reasoning and Mental Modelling

Linda Dawson — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:57:40 PDT

This paper presents a background in cognitive processes such as problem solving and analogical reasoning for considering modeling from an object-oriented perspective within the domain of requirements engineering. The paper then describes a research project and the findings from a set of four cases which examine professional practice from perspective of cognitive modeling for object-oriented requirements engineering. In these studies, it was found that the analysts routinely built models in their minds and refined them before committing them to paper or communicating these models to others. The studies also showed that objectoriented analysts depend on analogical reasoning where they use past experience and abstraction to address problems in requirements specification.

Action Research in Emerging Technologies in Health Information Systems: Creating a Mobile Information Environment in a Hospital Ward

Linda Dawson et al. — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:34:55 PDT

Wireless networks, mobile devices and associated applications are key emerging technologies ideal for nomadic workers such as clinicians in hospital ward settings. These mobile information environments can potentially enhance clinicians’ use of patient management and clinical systems by providing decision support and clinical information at the bedside or point of care. Such technologies need to be critically assessed in a hospital environment for their wider potential and application for delivery of information at the point of care. This paper describes the use of action research methods in a project which analysed an existing clinical Information Communication Technology (ICT) environment in a typical hospital ward setting and the implementation of a mobile infrastructure to support patient management. The research found that although many of the clinicians acknowledged the usefulness of the devices there is a high level of scepticism, concern and “resistive compliance”. There were also concerns over change management and training. From the findings, we propose a holistic approach to the introduction of mobile wireless technologies in hospital ward settings based on a variety of activities that need to be undertaken in the implementation environment for successful adoption of these technologies. The action research approach used in this project was found to be a useful approach for understanding the implementation of emerging technologies in a hospital environment provided stakeholder analysis takes place early in the project.

Understanding IT adoption and consumption within the social structure of a consumer's economy

Sherman Ting et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:17 PDT

Research into adoption, acceptance and consumption of Information Technology (IT) within its diffusion cycle has been extensively studied in Information Systems (IS) and marketing. However, research often focused too narrowly on technology adoption rates and drivers leading to technology adoption and acceptance. This paper discusses how understanding the social structure of a consumer’s economy, a consumer’s portfolio of capital resources, can reveal the individual’s approach and experiences towards technology adoption and consumption present and future. It provides a novel multi-disciplinary and practical approach into understanding the technology consumer by looking at how economic, cultural, social, educational, technological and political capital resources differentiates consumer coping with complex technology consumption experiences. The cultural capital of three technology consumers is specifically compared in this paper. Outcomes from this research will assist designers and marketers in enhancing the future design and promotion of personal technologies.

E-government services in the local government context: an Australian case study

Peter Shackleton et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:16 PDT

Purpose - To examine the progress local governments in Victoria. Australia have made utilizing the internet to deliver traditional services, and examine models that attempt to define the maturity of local government electronic service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach - The research approach comprised two components. The first was to examination and assess local government web sites in Victoria, and the second part involved an in-depth case study with one local government.

Findings - The findings suggest that conventional linear e-commerce and e-Government maturity models are not applicable in the case of local government as this level of government traditionally focuses more on active community participation and interaction.

Research limitations/ implications - The research examines a wide sample of council web sites but the case study is limited to one council. It suggests that the implementation and uptake of e-commerce and e-Government across the local government sector have been mixed and more detailed models of electronic service are needed.

Practical implications - In Australia, there has been significant Federal government emphasis on initiatives to promote internet use for local government service provision, yet the move to electronic service delivery (ESD) in the sector has been varied. For the local government sector, the internet offers significant potential for the delivery of government services and this research identifies some significant issues.

Originality/value - The report on the research outlines the similarities and differences between the various levels of government and suggests that the purpose and needs of ESD are different for municipal councils.

Doing it Tough: Factors Impacting on Local e-Government Maturity

Peter Shackleton et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:15 PDT

As growing numbers of citizens seek to use the Internet to do business, governments across the world have moved into the area of electronic service delivery. For the last decade significant advancements have been made in the area of e-Government. Today, e-Government is often assumed to be well-established. However, ongoing support is often missing, particularly at the local government level. The multi-level nature of government often means that citizens are frustrated when accessing services that span many levels of bureaucracy. This paper describes an empirical study which explores the factors influencing local e-government maturity and identifies the barriers, enablers, priorities and objectives that impact on local e-government maturity in Australia. It concludes by presenting a model that describes both the internal and external factors that impact on local government maturity.

An Examination of Information Systems Development Methodologies Research in Australia

Linda Dawson et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:13 PDT

This paper assesses the current state of Information Systems Development Methodologies (ISDM) research in Australia, in what Avison and Fitzgerald (2003) refer to as ‘the post methodology era’. In doing so, it revisits the seminal work of Wynekoop and Russo (1997) by identifying and classifying a sample of Australian-based ISDM research, according to their research purpose and research method. It also proposes extensions to these classifications to include an examination of ontological domains and knowledge areas. This sample, drawing from a number of high-quality journals, conferences, and electronic sources, highlights a number of key issues of interest to ISDM researchers. A discussion of these issues, along with an outline for future research efforts, is provided.

The health information system security threat lifecycle: an informatics theory

Juanita Fernando et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:11 PDT

Purpose: This manuscript describes the health information system security threat lifecycle (HISSTL) theory. The theory is grounded in case study data analyzing clinicians' health information system (HIS) privacy and security (P&S) experiences in the practice context. Methods: The 'questerview' technique was applied to this study of 26 clinicians situated in 3 large Australian (across Victoria) teaching hospitals. Questerviews rely on data collection that apply standardized questions and questionnaires during recorded interviews. Analysis (using Nvivo) involved the iterative scrutiny of interview transcripts to identify emergent themes. Results: Issues including poor training, ambiguous legal frameworks containing punitive threats, productivity challenges, usability errors and the limitations of the natural hospital environment emerged from empirical data about the clinicians' HIS P&S practices. The natural hospital environment is defined by the permanence of electronic HISs (e-HISs), shared workspaces, outdated HIT infrastructure, constant interruption, a P&S regulatory environment that is not conducive to optimal training outcomes and budgetary constraints. The evidence also indicated the obtrusiveness, timeliness, and reliability of P&:S implementations for clinical work affected participant attitudes to, and use of, e-HISs. Conclusion: The HISSTL emerged from the analysis of study evidence. The theory embodies elements such as the fiscal, regulatory and natural hospital environments which impede P&S implementations in practice settings. These elements conflict with improved patient care outcomes. Efforts by clinicians to avoid conflict and emphasize patient care above P&S tended to manifest as security breaches. These breaches entrench factors beyond clinician control and perpetuate those within clinician control. Security breaches of health information can progress through the HISSTI.. Some preliminary suggestions for addressing these issues are proposed. Study limita.tions: Legislative frameworks that are not related to direct patient care were excluded from this study. Other limitations included an exclusive focus on patient care tasks post-admission and pre-discharge from public hospital wards. Finally, the number of cases was limited by the number of participants who volunteered to participate in the study. It is reasonable to assume these participants were more interested in the P&S of patient care work than their counterparts, though the study was not intended to provide quantitative or statistical data. Nonetheless, additional case studies would strengthen the HISSTL theory if confirmatory, practice-based evidence were found.

From Dog Licenses to Democracy: Local Government Approcahes to eService Delivery in Australia

Peter Shackleton et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:10 PDT

Municipal councils worldwide are recognizing the need and value of the Internet to deliver information and services. The move to e-Government in Australia and across the world has been prompted by factors such as government reform and the need to reduce cost, and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Only recently, however, have there been more significant moves towards local e-Government in many countries. This research paper reports on the progress local governments in Victoria, Australia have made towards e-Government implementation. The paper provides a background to types of electronic information and services provided by local government and the stages of electronic maturity. The research identifies many of the internal and external pressures on local governments which are often different from those at higher levels of government. The result for local government is often a varied and at times confused approach to e- Government and electronic information and services which have a heavy focus on governance related issues.

RQF Publication Quality Measures: Methodological Issues

John W. Lamp et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:08 PDT

The Research Quality Framework uses Thomson-ISI citation benchmarks as its main set of objective measures of research quality. The Thomson-ISI measures rely on identifying a core set of journals in which the major publications for a discipline are to be found. The core for a discipline is determined by applying a nontransparent process that is partly based on Bradford’s Law (1934). Yet Bradford was not seeking measures about quality of publications or journals. How valid then is it to base measures of publication quality on Bradford’s Law? We explore this by returning to Bradford’s Law and subsequent related research asking ‘what is Bradford’s Law really about?’ We go further, and ask ‘does Bradford’s Law apply in Information Systems?’ We use data from John Lamp’s internationally respected Index of Information Systems Journals to explore the latter question. We have found that Information Systems may have a core of journals only a subset of which is also in the list of Thomson-ISI journals. There remain many unanswered questions about the RQF metrics based on Thomson-ISI and their applicability to information systems.

Factors influencing paradoxes of technology adoption and consumption

Sherman Ting et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:06 PDT

With the rise of the internet and mobile telephony, many agree that Mobile-Business is the logical next step in the Electronic-Business revolution. Investigation of mobile electronic marketing is essential to ensure both consumers and organisations gain true value from the adoption and consumption of M-Business into their personal and working lives. Marketing to date has primarily focused on understanding the diffusion of M/E-Business technologies, adopter categories and adoption rates, whereas research in Information Systems (IS) often focuses on quantitatively predicting its adoption and usage by individuals and organisations. Few theories focus on investigating how a user’s perception, expectation and experience of the technology change post adoption. This paper brings together research interests from a range of disciplines from marketing and consumer behaviour to IS to sociology. Using MBusiness as a technology medium, it investigates a unique aspect of electronic marketing: Understanding how an individual’s cultural, educational, social, economic, political and technological characteristics can influence how they adopt, consume and experience technology’s vast array of psychological and behavioural experiences.

Active exploration of emerging themes in a study of object-oriented requirements engineering: the "Evolutionary Case" approach

Linda L. Dawson — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:05 PDT

The evolutionary case approach provides a framework for qualitative case study research in information systems (IS). It uses revelation, reinforcement, reflection and re-examination to explicitly explore emerging themes in interpretive case study research. The method is based on the progressive development of a theoretical model grounded initially in the literature and then refined using sequential case studies grounded in practice. The method addresses the gap which often separates data from conclusions in qualitative case study research by documenting the “revealed” and “reinforced” changes in the theoretical model as it evolves from the empirical data. The paper provides an illustrative study of the use of models in object-oriented requirements engineering to demonstrate the use of the evolutionary case approach.

Understanding IT adoption and consumption within the social structure of a consumer’s economy

Sherman Ting et al. — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:05:04 PDT