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Syracuse University

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

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Full-Text Articles in Business

Assessing Topical Homogeneity With Word Embedding And Distance Matrices, Jeffrey M. Stanton, Yisi Sang Oct 2020

Assessing Topical Homogeneity With Word Embedding And Distance Matrices, Jeffrey M. Stanton, Yisi Sang

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Researchers from many fields have used statistical tools to make sense of large bodies of text. Many tools support quantitative analysis of documents within a corpus, but relatively few studies have examined statistical characteristics of whole corpora. Statistical summaries of whole corpora and comparisons between corpora have potential application in the analysis of topically organized applications such social media platforms. In this study, we created matrix representations of several corpora and examined several statistical tests to make comparisons between pairs of corpora with respect to the topical homogeneity of documents within each corpus. Results of three experiments suggested that a …

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Introduction To Data Science, Jeffrey M. Stanton Jan 2013

Introduction To Data Science, Jeffrey M. Stanton

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

In this Introduction to Data Science eBook, a series of data problems of increasing complexity is used to illustrate the skills and capabilities needed by data scientists. The open source data analysis program known as "R" and its graphical user interface companion "R-Studio" are used to work with real data examples to illustrate both the challenges of data science and some of the techniques used to address those challenges. To the greatest extent possible, real datasets reflecting important contemporary issues are used as the basis of the discussions.

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Virtual Worlds In Asia: Business Models And Legal Issues. Paper Presented At Digra, Ian Macinnes Jan 2005

Virtual Worlds In Asia: Business Models And Legal Issues. Paper Presented At Digra, Ian Macinnes

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This paper uses two Asian case studies to illustrate the issues that developers of virtual worlds should address as they mature. The Korean case emphasizes the phenomenon of item trading. This involves emergent markets linking real world currency to items existing on company servers. The practice has resulted in controversial and unresolved legal issues. Companies such as ItemBay have grown to take advantage of these opportunities. The Chinese case emphasizes the transformation of business models over time as well as community control. The paper discusses feedback effects between broadband adoption and online games as well as issues such as Waigua, …

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Electronic Commerce Fraud: Towards An Understanding Of The Phenomenon, Ian Macinnes, Damani Musgrave, Jason Laska Jan 2005

Electronic Commerce Fraud: Towards An Understanding Of The Phenomenon, Ian Macinnes, Damani Musgrave, Jason Laska

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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The Implications Of Property Rights In Virtual World Business Models, Ian Macinnes Jan 2005

The Implications Of Property Rights In Virtual World Business Models, Ian Macinnes

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The financial success of online communities based on multiplayer game environments has been a bright spot among the many failures in electronic commerce initiatives. While this form of business has existed for less than a decade, it is growing rapidly and has become a mainstream form of entertainment in some areas of the world, such as Korea. Game environments are becoming more immersive and compelling and if this rate of improvement continues, such as through growing broadband penetration, they are likely to become as common as other forms of entertainment. This paper analyzes the issues facing developers of game communities …

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Effective Work Practices For Software Engineering: Free/Libre Open Source Software Development, Kevin Crowston, Hala Annabi, James Howison, Chengetai Masango Jan 2004

Effective Work Practices For Software Engineering: Free/Libre Open Source Software Development, Kevin Crowston, Hala Annabi, James Howison, Chengetai Masango

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

We review the literature on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and on software development, distributed work and teams more generally to develop a theoretical model to explain the performance of FLOSS teams. The proposed model is based on Hackman's [34] model of effectiveness of work teams, with coordination theory [52] and collective mind [79] to extend Hackman's model by elaborating team practices relevant to effectiveness in software development. We propose a set of propositions to guide further research.

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Organizational Cultures Of Libraries As A Strategic Resource, Michelle L. Kaarst-Brown, Scott Nicholson, Gisela M. Von Dran, Jeffrey M. Stanton Jan 2004

Organizational Cultures Of Libraries As A Strategic Resource, Michelle L. Kaarst-Brown, Scott Nicholson, Gisela M. Von Dran, Jeffrey M. Stanton

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Theorists have suggested that organizational culture is a strategic resource that has value in ensuring the continuing existence and success of organizations (Michalisin, Smith, & Kline, 1997; Barney, 1986, 1991; Hult, Ketchen, & Nichols, 2002; Gordon, 1985). This assertion is supported by various studies that have linked organizational culture to broad strategic outcomes such as an organization’s ability to manage knowledge (Davenport, Long, & Beers, 1998; Storck & Hill, 2000), innovation capability (Hauser, 1998), and strategic management of information technology (Kaarst-Brown & Robey, 1999; Reich & Benbasat, 2000; Schein, 1985). Based on this research, we suggest that there are characteristics …

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The Social Embeddedness Of Transactions: Evidence From The Residential Real Estate Industry, Steve Sawyer, Kevin Crowston, Rolf T. Wigand, Marcel Allbritton Jan 2001

The Social Embeddedness Of Transactions: Evidence From The Residential Real Estate Industry, Steve Sawyer, Kevin Crowston, Rolf T. Wigand, Marcel Allbritton

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Information and communications technologies (ICT) are becoming pervasive in the residential real estate industry and affecting the work lives of real estate agents. Drawing on data from a regional study of the residential real-estate industry in the United States, we focus on the disintermediation or, more accurately, the re-intermediation of real estate agents in the sales process. We examine how real estate agents are (1) taking advantage of new ICT in their work, and (2) protecting themselves from others wishing to displace their position in the real estate value chain. Our analysis draws on two contrasting theoretical approaches to better …

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Information And Communication Technologies In The Real Estate Industry: Results Of A Pilot Survey, Rolf T. Wigand, Kevin Crowston, Steve Sawyer, Marcel Allbritton Jan 2001

Information And Communication Technologies In The Real Estate Industry: Results Of A Pilot Survey, Rolf T. Wigand, Kevin Crowston, Steve Sawyer, Marcel Allbritton

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

We have been studying the growing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the residential real estate industry and the effects of this use on how realtors work. Earlier stages of our project involved qualitative research to develop a better understanding of the industry, the work of realtors and their use of ICT. In this paper we report on the results of qualitative research and a pilot of a survey intended to gather large-scale data on realtors and ICT use.

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How Do Information And Communication Technologies Reshape Work? Evidence Form The Residential Real Estate Industry, Kevin Crowston, Steve Sawyer, Rolf Wigand, Marcel Allbritton Jan 2000

How Do Information And Communication Technologies Reshape Work? Evidence Form The Residential Real Estate Industry, Kevin Crowston, Steve Sawyer, Rolf Wigand, Marcel Allbritton

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

We are exploring how ICT use affects the work lives of real estate agents, the process of selling/buying houses and the overall structure of the residential real estate industry. Earlier stages of our work involved intensive field research on how real estate agents use ICT. In this paper, we report on the design and analysis of a pilot survey of 868 agents intended to investigate their ICT use more generally. Analysis of the 153 responses to this survey sheds light on how ICT use supports information control, enables process support, and helps agents to extend and maintain their social capital.

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Real Estate War In Cyberspace: An Emerging Electronic Market?, Kevin Crowston, Rolf T. Wigand Jan 1999

Real Estate War In Cyberspace: An Emerging Electronic Market?, Kevin Crowston, Rolf T. Wigand

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we explore how electronic commerce, the World-Wide Web in particular, is affecting the real estate industry. Real estate is a promising setting for studying electronic commerce because it is an information-intensive and information-driven industry; transaction based, with high value and asset-specificity; with many market-intermediaries (agents and brokers who connect buyers and sellers rather than buying or selling themselves); and experiencing on-going information technology (IT) related changes. We analyze a real estate transaction to suggest where IT might change the process of buying or selling a house and discuss several current ventures in this area. This analysis suggests …

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Tools For Inventing Organizations: Toward A Handbook Of Organizational Processes, Thomas W. Malone, Kevin Crowston, Jintae Lee, Brian Pentland, Chrysanthos Dellarocas Jan 1999

Tools For Inventing Organizations: Toward A Handbook Of Organizational Processes, Thomas W. Malone, Kevin Crowston, Jintae Lee, Brian Pentland, Chrysanthos Dellarocas

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This paper reports on the first five years of work in a project to address these problems by (1) developing methodologies and software tools for representing and codifying organizational processes at varying levels of abstraction, and (2) collecting, organizing, and analyzing numerous examples of how different groups and companies perform similar functions. The result of this work is an on-line "process handbook" which can be used to help people: (1) redesign existing business processes, (2) invent new processes (especially those that take advantage of information technology), and (3) organize and share knowledge about organizational practices. We also expect this process …

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A Coordination Theory Approach To Process Description And Redesign, Kevin Crowston, Charles S. Osborn Jan 1998

A Coordination Theory Approach To Process Description And Redesign, Kevin Crowston, Charles S. Osborn

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Managers must understand, influence, and redesign organizational processes to improve business performance. In this paper we present a technique for documenting a business process. The technique has six steps: defining process boundaries, collecting data, determining actors and resources, determining activities, determining dependencies and model verification. While similar to other process mapping techniques, our approach is novel in incorporating ideas from coordination theory, thus the attention to dependencies. As a result, the technique is useful both for documenting a process and suggesting ways in which the process could be redesigned. We present an extended illustration with the hope that the technique …

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