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Published: 10/28/2009
What social processes allow teams to collaborate on ambiguous, emergent problems? When payphones, princesses and beekeeping collide in an alternate reality game, players are forced to make sense of data scattered across the nation and the Internet. To understand how players collectively solve problems, the Institute for National Security Education & Research (INSER) has received a National Science Foundation award for a three year project on "Voluntary Virtual Organizations: Problem Solving through Collective Storytelling in MMOGs."
MMOGs are massively multiplayer online games. Working with co-Principal Investigator Wayne Lutters at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UW iSchool Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Kim will investigate and create case studies of collective problem solving in digital, massively multiplayer games. This study provides a deep understanding of collective problem solving in voluntary virtual organizations, a critical step for technology developers, decision-makers, and individuals to succeed in a world increasingly dependent on networked volunteers solving real problems together.
INSER develops educational and research programs to understand complex public safety and national security issues in the area of management of information, technology and organizations. The Institute is one of the nation’s ten Intelligence Community Centers of Academic Excellence (IC CAE) established by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. INSER hosts the Intelligence Community Colloquium each year to raise awareness about academic and practical issues related to national security. As part of similar efforts, INSER works with many departments at UW to help course development, host relevant lecture series and advance research activities.
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Published: 10/12/2009
Graduates of the MSIM program appear as coauthors with Assistant Professor Kevin Desouza on four recently published and
forthcoming papers.
Nina Yuttapongsontorn (MSIM 2007), along with collaborators Dr. Desouza and Prof. Ashley Braganza (formerly of Cranfield
School of Management and now with Brunel Business School in the UK), co-wrote a case study entitled "Complexities of Large
-Scale Technology Project Failure: A Forensic Analysis of the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority." Published in the March
2008 issue of Public Performance and Management Review, the paper critically analyzes the Seattle Monorail Project
"through the lens of stakeholder theory." The authors develop several propositions concerning stakeholders that pertain to
large-scale technology projects. They propose that organizations in charge of such projects are more likely to implement
them successfully if they understand, monitor and work to influence stakeholder dynamics.
The Winter 2007 issue of Business Strategy Review, published by the London Business School, carries an article
by Bryce Smart (MSIM 2008) and Dr. Desouza: "Overcoming Technology Resistance." Information technology managers in small-
to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), say Smart and Desouza, should apply specific techniques to get employees to embrace
innovation. Their "ten lessons" for the SME manager encompass defining success at both the strategic and the operational
levels, understanding how to motivate employees, and using reinforcement appropriate to the employee’s behavior.
Two other articles by Dr. Desouza and recent iSchool graduates will appear in upcoming issues of Business
Information Review. Peter Ellis (MSIM 2009) coauthored "On Information Management, Environmental Sustainability and
Cradle to Cradle Mentalities," which aims at integrating environmental sustainability and information management so that
they reinforce each other, an approach Desouza calls "Green IT" in his blog. Jongmin Moon (MSIM 2009) shares authorship
with Desouza on another forthcoming article in the same journal, "Customer-Managed Knowledge Factories." Moon and Desouza
note that customers are now managing knowledge from external sources in a way that benefits organizations. The best
organizations, the authors argue, will find ways to promote such customer-driven "knowledge factories" rather than trying
to impose control from the top down.
Full citations for the articles:
Yuttapongsontorn, N., Desouza, K.C., and Braganza, A. "Complexities of Large-Scale Technology Project Failure: A
Forensic Analysis of the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority," Public Performance & Management Review, 31 (3),
2008, 443-478.
Smart, B.A., and Desouza, K.C. "Overcoming Technology Resistance," Business Strategy Review, 18(4), 2007, 25-
28.
Moon, J., and Desouza, K.C. "Customer-Managed Knowledge Factories," Business Information Review,
Forthcoming.
Ellis, P.C., and Desouza, K.C. "On Information Management, Environmental Sustainability and Cradle to Cradle
Mentalities," Business Information Review, Forthcoming.
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Published: 10/12/2009
The iSchool’s Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (CIAC) is featured in a recent article in The New New Internet, a newsblog that reports on cybersecurity policy and technology. Under the title, "Top 10 Universities Preparing Future Cyber Security Professionals," the article notes that the CIAC "helps to teach and develop some of the future leaders in cyber security" and maintains "partnerships with industry leaders like Boeing and Microsoft as well as the Armed Forces." Graduates, it says, can be found in the Department of Homeland Security and firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton, a major government contractor.
"It’s gratifying that the University of Washington’s Center has been recognized as a significant player in this emerging field," said CIAC Director Barbara Endicott-Popovsky in response to the recognition from The New New Internet. "We’ve gained recognition for a number of reasons: 1) our interdisciplinary research, under the umbrella of information science, integrates computer science, electrical engineering, law and mathematics; 2) our reaching across domains brings together practitioners from industry and government with academia; 3) our collaboration with major partners—Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Microsoft, Boeing and small entrepreneurial startups provides opportunities to explore solutions to real-world problems. Watching our graduates assume responsible roles in academia, government and industry is a huge source of satisfaction."
As home to the CIAC, the UW is one of three institutions on the West Coast that are distinguished as both a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education and a National Center of Academic Excellence in Research. These designations are made jointly by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security if applicants meet stringent criteria that measure the depth and maturity of their programs. The goal of these programs, according to the NSA/Central Security Service, "is to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in IA [information assurance] and producing a growing number of professionals with IA expertise in various disciplines."
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Published: 10/4/2009
Join top strategists from companies like Boeing, JPMorgan Chase and IBM and learn how to turn changes to organizational structure, processes, and strategies into solutions like those behind some of the greatest success stories in the field of information management. Hear hard-won lessons learned by industry leaders in the trenches.
What: Agility in Times of Transition – the Fall Symposium of the UW Institute for Innovation in Information Management
Where: University of Washington main campus, Kane Hall, Walker Ames Room
Date: November 11, 2009
Time: 8:30 am - 6 pm
The major research presentation examines key success factors for globally distributed technology teams (GDTTs). GDTTs have become a critical vehicle for organizations to leverage resources — with job cuts announced by U.S. employers jumping 31 percent in July 2009 to over 97,000, manpower resources continue to be held at a premium. Assistant Professors Kevin C. Desouza and Hazel Taylor and Ph.D. student Jill Woelfer, all of the UW Information School, will present their research on GDTTs, research that builds on I3M’s strength in the areas of innovation, collaboration and human capital management.
James Knight, Executive Vice President and Global CIO at Chubb & Son, will present the keynote, "Driving Agility through Leadership Development." In addition, Madeline Weiss and June E. Drewry from the Advanced Practices Council (APC) of the Society for Information Management (SIM) will present on "The CIO’s Role in Enabling Organizational Agility." SIM is a global association of senior IT executives, prominent academicians, selected consultants, and other IT thought leaders. APC is SIM's research-based program for CIOs.
"Being agile is not a luxury, it is a must for operating in today's environments," said Desouza, director of I3M. "Organizations need to be able to make changes in a time-sensitive and cost-effective manner. The key to organizational agility is sound information management. An organization that can’t leverage its information assets in an agile manner will likely underperform and eventually fail."
Richard T. Watson, the J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy at the University of Georgia and research director of the APC, will explain how the emerging area of Energy Informatics is re-defining information management in leading organizations. Energy Informatics represents a huge potential cost-savings to businesses — in one estimate, inefficient energy practices like the lack of server consolidation costs U.S. businesses more than $140 billion, with an equally negative effect on CO2 emissions.
The Institute for Innovation in Information Management (I3M) at the UW Information School helps organizations harness the power of information management as a competitive tool. I3M partners with regional and international industry leaders to develop systems and practices that move partners forward: partners set the research agenda, and I3M staff develop highly-customized recommendations and solutions to challenges raised, usually in three to four months.
Registration for the I3M Fall Symposium is open to the public and potential partners of the Institute. To register, visit the I3M Symposium registration site.
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Published: 9/25/2009
The September-October issue of interactions magazine, published by the Association for Computing Machinery, features an article by assistant professors Jacob Wobbrock, Andrew Ko, and Julie Kientz, "Reflections on the Future of iSchools from Inspired Junior Faculty."
Most academic units, the authors say, either describe things or invent things. Information schools emerging worldwide define themselves by doing both. Working where people and technology intersect means bringing together "deep social science with deep technology innovation" as no other academic unit can.
Some iSchool researchers focus on studying people, others on inventing new technologies. That sets iSchools apart from departments of sociology and communications on one hand and departments of computer science and engineering on the other. Information schools, the authors argue, must combine science and invention, "activities of discovery" and "activities of innovation."
Bringing together the cultures of social scientists, of designers and engineers, and of faculty from the humanities is a special challenge for iSchools. Drs. Wobbrock, Ko, and Kientz call not for a convergence of diverse disciplines, but for a "big tent" that can accommodate all of them. The authors suggest the success of this approach will be reflected not in rules and policies, but in discovery and invention.
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