LEGAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

This study attempts to examine the perceptions of college students regarding online/hybrid education, the criteria used for decision making and the drawbacks that may keep students from enrolling in online education. Studies by Thomerson and Smith [15], and by Leonard and Guha [7] demonstrate that there are various characteristics that affect students’ perceptions which were the basis for this study. The main factors collected from previous studies that were analyzed included effectiveness, convenience, and social interaction, and level of difficulty. Data were collected by distributing surveys through the internet. 146 usable questionnaires were returned. Factor analysis was performed based on the surveys returned and significant factors were found. These results lead to the proposal of a research model.

The Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT, introduces Internet-enabled devices into industrial process systems operating in the energy, transportation, healthcare, utilities, cities, agriculture, and other critical infrastructure sectors, establishing linkages between previously-air gapped information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks. While the introduction of these Internet-enabled devices creates new efficiencies, improves performance, increases productivity, and increases profitability, it also introduces new security challenges and risks. IIoT is a system of systems; the architecture of a single IIoT system consists of different layers, with each layer performing a distinct function, having unique operational characteristics, and relying upon different devices and communication protocols than other layers of the system. Because of the unique characteristics of these various layers and functions, the vulnerabilities and threats associated with them also d...

In this paper, we expose the legal theories underlying two important classes of Legal Core Ontologies and show how these ontologies inherit both limitations and benefits (such as explanatory power) of their underlying theories. We do that with the help of a real case study in which we have normative omission and collision of principles. We use this case study to conduct an ontological analysis of the support for judicial decision-making in LKIF-Core (representing Kelsen’s Pure Theory of the Law) and UFO-L (representing Robert Alexy’s Theory of Constitutional Rights). We show that UFO-L is able to articulate the semantics of the content of judicial decisions by making explicit the individual’s legal positions that are raised in argumentation along a legal process. The same cannot be said of LKIF-Core that is based on the Kelsenian stance and focuses on the representation of general norms (norm types) and subsumption of facts to these norms.

This paper reports on the design and deployment of an online course which merges e-marketing theory and development of systems to facilitate e-marketing strategies. This course is taken by marketing majors at a mid-sized university. This course has the overall objective of delivering hands-on technology skills to the marketing major.

This paper describes a Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) methodology designed to be appropriate for the organizational requirements of Malaysian Public Institutes of Higher Learning (PIHLs or IPTA in Malay Language). A Ministry of Higher Education was created in June 2004 to enable greater control and coordination over the activities of the 17 PIHLs, including ICT planning and implementation. Until late nineties, SISP formulation was an uncommon activity among Malaysian PIHLs. Thus, a methodology to guide SISP in PIHLs is highly timely. An ISP-IPTA methodology provides a systematic description of the tasks, steps, techniques and tools that can empower the Malaysian PIHLs to produce an SISP document without engaging external consultants. A draft methodology was documented through an analysis synthesis of existing SISP methodologies and assessed by SISP experts based on the criteria of suitability, accuracy, understandability, usability and completeness. The final ISPIPTA ...

From an internal audit perspective, enterprise systems have created new opportunities and challenges in managing internal as well as external risks. In this work, we report results of a survey that examines internal auditors’ ability to identify and manage operational, financial, technological, compliance and other risks as the organization migrates to an ERP environment. Our findings show that the internal auditors perceive a reduction in financial and operational risk and an increase in technical risks. These effects are somewhat mitigated by their ability to assess and manage these risks. We also find that internal audit departments satisfied their needs for ERP skills not by outsourcing but by providing staff with in-house training.

Due to innovations in Information Technology (IT), we now have the tools to track all business processes both in demand and supply chains in real time. This real time economy presupposes movement of information without hindrance across corporate boundaries, time zones, and systems. Our information age is characterized by technology that accumulates large amounts of data and processes it into meaningful comprehensive information for management. The accounting function, however, still continues to provide the financial information. According to a recent study by Forrester Research, accounting professionals across the country process more than one billion invoices each week, and 97 percent of those invoices are still being processed manually. Automating all processes starting from when a purchase order is generated to when payment is ultimately received creates both new efficiencies and reduced costs by providing better visibility of all aspects of financial transaction processing. Thi...

This study employs the Norm Activation Model (NAM) to examine the factors that influence digital piracy (DP). NAM is a well-grounded, attitude-based model that proves to be an effective predictor of the motivation and the role of emotions, which drive behavioral intentions. With data from 231 participants and using PLS, the results show that all three independent constructs have a significant impact on personal norm, which in turn influences pirates’ intention to engage in DP. The role of social influence on the pirates’ intention to continue to practice DP is significant as well.

Cloud computing is similar to any new technology and can cause major challenges and opportunities for faculty in institutions of Higher Education. This study was undertaken to determine how Computer and Information Systems (CIS) faculty at two universities view the acceptance and use of cloud computing technology within their respective departments. One university is located in the United States and the other is located in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, this study sought to examine the commonalities and differences between these diverse universities as related to the advantages and disadvantages of using cloud computing, identify the key factors that influence adopting/using cloud computing, and determine each university’s overall perception of cloud computing. This study also sought to determine if there are differences between CIS faculty in a U.S.-based university and in a Saudi Arabian-based university regarding perceived knowledge of Cloud Computing and the status of adoption of C...

With the rapid growth of online programs, many higher educational institutions are considering offering online courses and programs to better serve students that have grown up in a technological era. Although many higher educational administrators recognize the value and flexibility of online education, research is needed concerning course design, assessment, and student's perceptions of online programs before allocating more resources for online programming. This study examines student's perceptions of online courses/programs and concludes that higher levels of experience with online learning lead to more favorable perceptions about online courses. Suggestions for higher education institutions considering the adoption of online courses/programs are provided.

Information Technology is fraught with evangelists preaching that one hardware platform, one O/S, one programming language or even one development methodology is the true and only path to computing salvation. In this paper, we investigate the case of a recent message submitted to a listserv by an ASIS SIGIA list subscriber that results in a forfeited job opportunity. The list subscriber had taken an ethical stance that he could not in good conscience retract his position on the appropriateness of Agile Methodologies for application development. The Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice is examined as it relates to the case. A series of relevant ethical questions are raised that would provide a basis for classroom discussion. Finally, Agile developers who participated in a panel discussion on the topic share their individual viewpoints.

Many brick and mortar companies have decided to enter e-commerce markets. However, the effects of e- commerce on individual business are varied based on several conditions. The ability to attract and retain customers is important to the success of online businesses. This study examines how consumers perceive online shopping and which factors are perceived differently between consumers who prefer online shopping and consumers who prefer offline (physical store) shopping. The better an online business understands the perceptions of these shoppers, the higher the chance that they can attract and retain customers.

In 2004, three universities piloted ABET general computing criteria guidelines for undergraduate degree programs in Information Technology (IT). Just three years earlier, in December 2001, ABET had approved criteria for accreditation of Information Systems (IS). For institutions with information-related programs that span IT, IS, and Information Management (IM), this has posed a challenge: Given limited resources, a political climate opposed to degree proliferation, and administrative mandates to secure specialized accreditation, which program guidelines should be adopted? This paper chronicles the curricular pains of a large public comprehensive four-year college as it struggles with the question of whether to “go IT or IS.” A variety of scenarios are examined that lead to a departmental vote on strategic direction. Lessons learned from the process are enumerated.

Studies of educational games (EG) have attracted researchers' attention especially in the last few years due to its promising potential as well as the factor of preferences of younger generations. Studies have found that EG can enhanced teaching and learning process. However, its acceptance rate is rather slow because of some reasons. Understanding students' acceptance factors can help designers design specific applications for intended users. This study investigated the factors that might affect student acceptance of EG. ...

Article is devoted to a method of automatic text summarization of the legal information provided in Chinese. The structure of the abstract and the model of its formation is considered. Two approaches are suggested. First one is determination of weight of separate hieroglyphs instead of words in the texts of documents and abstracts for sentences importance level determination process. Second approach is to consider a model of document as a network of sentences for detection of the most important sentences by parameters of this network. Various methods of automatic text summarization are performed and tested. A cosine measure and Jensen-Shannon divergence are applied as two estimates of quality of the paper abstracts without participation of experts. Compared to other summarizing methods, given one on the basis of the suggested network model of the document was the best by criteria of a cosine measure and Jensen-Shannon's distances for abstracts which volume exceeds 2 sentences. T...

According to Laurillard’s Conversational Framework, teaching and learning are a dialogic activity in which the student attempts to re-construct the teacher’s mental model of the material. An essential part of that dialog between teacher and student is the feedback teachers provide to help students adapt their understanding of the concepts presented. Providing this individualized feedback is time consuming and often beyond the resources available to faculty. To address the need for a more efficient and effective approach to offering feedback, textbook publishers, commercial vendors, and the open source community have developed web-based homework (WBH) systems that provide automated grading. This paper examines the use of a commercial web application (WileyPLUS) to automate grading of multi-part accounting exercises and problems in an introductory accounting course for business majors. A survey research methodology was used. Results indicate that web-based homework systems enhance lea...

A new measure is applied to the analysis of ordinal scales, specifically the Likert scale. Using this measure, sets of Likert scales can be hierarchically compared, and the measure is mathematically simple to apply. A set of rules for consensus is identified and an example of its use as a measure of the strength of consensus is illustrated. Using an existing Likert scale of responses, the strength of consensus measure is applied and the results are shown to provide greater insights into the importance of the various rows of data.

This paper talks about design, development, and application of a new Petri net simulator for modeling and simulation of discrete event system (eg information systems). The new tool is called GPenSIM (General purpose Petri Net Simulator). Firstly, this paper presents the ...

The need for additional cybersecurity experts is greater than ever before. Research has been conducted on how to increase the number of security specialists, improve cybersecurity curriculum, identify the needed skills of a cybersecurity professional, and overcome negative perceptions in organizations. It appears, however, there is limited research regarding perceptions of high school students that may prevent them from exploring this occupation. While there are undoubtedly many reasons students choose to pursue other occupations, this study examined 237 high school students at one of the highest performing secondary schools in the Mountain State Region of the United States in attempt to explain what perceptions influence a high school student’s choice to pursue a career in cybersecurity. The qualitative coding process produced seven unique categories. These key categories provide insight into the careermaking processes of secondary students regarding cybersecurity. Our findings als...

As technology has advanced, participation in the online society is common among technology users. It is very common that people use smartphones, tablets, digital watches, and computers for work, study, and personal purposes. However, researchers have recommended that students must be taught digital citizenship practices and skills since their early education. This quantitative study determined whether there were statistically significant differences between higher education students’ perception of digital citizenship and their age, gender, amount of time spent online, and computational skills. Based on the results, there were significant differences found and some recommendations for faculty to reinforce digital citizenship practices in higher education students are presented.

Information sharing has become an important phenomenon in Information Systems, as “Open Source” software continues to spread. College campuses in the United States and Developing Countries find this particularly attractive, since the cost of technology projects effectively has reduced. However, this implies a willingness to share one’s talents openly. Many software engineers are eager to do so, however, they thus lose their competitive edge. This paper examines the forces leading up to the Open Source era, and what one might expect in the future.

1. Introduzione Il rapporto fra tutela della vita privata, protezione dei dati personali e privacy-o, meglio, diritto al rispetto della privacy-è un tema ampiamente esplorato dalla letteratura scientifica che, però, non è sempre in grado di fornire una tassonomia di questi concetti, conside-randoli sinonimi o comunque sostanzialmente inter-cambiabili. In realtà, secondo la lettura che questo articolo intende proporre, non è così: la triade non è "una e trina" ma afferisce a istituti diversi e gerarchicamente non sullo stesso piano. Il che ha delle conseguenze non solo sul piano teorico, ma anche su quello dell'applicazione giu-risprudenziale. Come rileva Giampiero Di Plinio nella prefazione all'edizione italiana del saggio Privacy. A Very Short Introduction: "Lo stato dell'arte, con il relativo to-olkit, è incompleto, insufficiente, in larga misura ambi-guo, percheío stesso concetto di privacy, indubbiamente utile ai primordi dei lavori seminali di Frosini e Simitis, è stato fagocitato dalla frenesia del mutamento tecno-logico, ed è divenuto troppo 'impreciso', troppo poco 'maneggevole', in un certo senso 'ingombrante'" (1). (1) Così Di Plinio, in Prefazione all'edizione italiana di Wacks, Privacy. Una sintetica introduzione, Pescara, 2016, Traduzione e cura dall'originale inglese Privacy. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford (UK), 2015 di Monti. Percheíl concetto di privacy è diventato-nelle parole di Di Plinio-"troppo impreciso" e "troppo poco ma-neggevole"? Probabilmente percheíl concetto nasce già troppo vago. Una condizione, questa, che nel corso del tempo e per via dei mutamenti sociali e tecnologici ha consentito di attribuire a questo significante dei significati molto diversi fra loro-al punto di es-sere addirittura strutturalmente contraddittori. Così, senza voler ripercorrere analiticamente l'evolu-zione del concetto di privacy (2), l'originario concetto di privacy come right to be alone teorizzato da Warren e Brandeis nell'oramai celeberrimo articolo pubblicato nel 1890 dalla Harvard Law Review in reazione all'invasi-vità dei giornali scandalistici nelle loro vicende private, ha cambiato più volte forma fino a diventare irricono-scibile. Nel corso del tempo, infatti, il diritto alla privacy è stato invocato-e applicato-come strumento di tutela della libertà di scelta in materia di aborto (3), o di riconosci-mento della libertà di intrattenere-consensualmente (2) Per il che si rimanda a Wacks, cit. (3) Corte Suprema degli Stati Uniti, Roe v Wade 410 US 113 (1973). Tutela della vita privata, protezione dei dati personali e privacy. Ambiguità semantiche e problemi definitori di Andrea Monti Sommario: 1. Introduzione.-2. Esiste un "diritto alla privacy".-3. Privacy, tutela della vita privata e protezione dei dati personali.-4. Definire la privacy.-5. Privacy come diritto a controllo sulle informazioni personali. L'articolo analizza il rapporto fra tutela della vita privata, protezione dei dati personali e diritto alla privacy per evidenziare i problemi interpretativi derivanti da una non chiara definizione dei concetti e degli istituti giuridici coinvolti. Evidenzia come non sia possibile considerare come sinonimi il diritto alla protezione dei dati personali e quello alla tutela della privacy e come il diritto al rispetto della vita privata e familiare abbia un contenuto molto più ampio di quello che, normalmente, si ricomprende genericamente nella nozione di privacy. Analizza le conseguenze derivanti dal ridurre la nozione di privacy alla sue caratteristiche funzionali di segretezza, anonimato e diritto alla solitudine. Propone la positivizzazione del concetto di privacy come diritto al controllo sulle proprie informazioni perso-nali, in modo da fornire un'autonomia altrimenti inesistente a questo diritto fondamentale. This article analyses the relationship between right to respect of private life, personal data protection and the right to privacy to highlight the problems of interpretation arising from an unclear definition of the concepts and legal categories involved. It points out that it is not possible to consider as synonyms the right to the protection of personal data and the right to privacy and that the right to respect for private and family life has a much wider content than that which, normally, is generally included in the notion of privacy. It analyses the consequences of reducing the notion of privacy to its functional characteristics of secrecy, anonymity and the right to solitude. It proposes the creation of a specific provision that defines the right to privacy as a right to control over one's own personal information, so as to provide otherwise non-existent autonomy to this fundamental right.

Experts now predict that someday the number of wireless-enabled handheld computing devices will exceed desktop PCs. This paper explores the potential impact of this trend on education. Several examples of current and anticipated usage in learning, instruction, and classroom management are given. Finally, the challenges of adopting and deploying mobile education are considered.

The curriculum of a program in Information Technology must be current and competitive to remain relevant and valuable. The authors of this paper outline the evolution of an Information Technology networking lab that is used to support undergraduate courses in networking and information assurance. An explanation of the processes, opportunities, challenges, and outcomes are available in the Evolution of the Lab section. Finally the paper concludes with implications for students and recommendations for other higher education institutions that are considering implementing similar laboratory environments as a means of enhancing theory with practical hands-on learning opportunities for students.

The widespread use of the Internet for knowledge acquisition is commonplace in the developed world. However, in developing countries, where resources are limited, the infrastructure to support networking could be scarce. This pilot project is a design for implementing a program to train teachers to use laptops in their classroom instruction, and for students to have access to the laptops for assignments. Senegal is a peaceful country, but resources to introduce computers in elementary education are not available. This project will address teacher training, and wireless Internet access in one school, and will ensure the sustainability of the project by engaging trained teachers to train future teachers.

The field of educational technology has suffered from an identity crisis as it has struggled to define itself in the face of fast-paced historical, technological, and educational advancements. As online technologies have exploded into mainstream education and corporate training, the need for professionals who are highly qualified in designing, developing, implementing, and assessing instruction, as well as selecting appropriate technologies to support traditional and online programs, has increased. However, the roles and responsibilities of educational technologists have become as varied as the employers who hire them and the tools they use, causing confusion about what an educational technologist is and does. This paper provides: (1) a brief history of the educational technology field; (2) an overview of educational technology definitions; and (3) the results of a study conducted to ascertain what educational technology practitioners do, what skills they possess, and, in their own ...

This paper explores two common threads in IS education, constructivist approaches like active learning and the multidisciplinary educational objectives of Information Systems as a discipline, and demonstrates how these themes are well paired. The paper builds on prior research into effective applications of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary computing education (Fee, Holland-Minkley, & Lombardi, 2017) and presents a deep survey of the literature in IS education to identify the primary forms that multidisciplinary education takes within the classroom or curriculum. This survey demonstrates how the multidisciplinarity of IS is consistently enhanced by the application of constructivist techniques. The discussion addresses how the predicted benefits of both using constructivist approaches and including multidisciplinary content within a course are well aligned with the objectives of IS education. This will include considering how these two elements of IS education can be paired to ...

Information Technologies on the Polish legal services market: results of a survey.

The report is the results of the survey research carried out before the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Europe from September 25 to December 25, 2019 (general public online survey). The questionnaire was addressed to lawyers all over the country (Poland), thanks to the help and support of bar associations and legal advisers.

The main purpose of the research was to examine the current state of IT use and changes taking place in the legal services market in Poland. In the first questions (Q1 - Q3), I examined the level of usage of selected IT tools. In the part of the questionnaire (Q4 - Q7), I focused on the changes taking place in the legal services market in Poland, asking about prices and new phenomena (trends) and business models.

To obtain an up-to-date picture of the legal services market in Poland, I invited attorneys and legal advisers to take part in the research, which allowed me to gather 451 completed questionnaires.