Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2008), "Awards for Excellence", Information Technology & People, Vol. 21 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/itp.2008.16121daa.003

Awards for Excellence

Article Type: Editorial From: Information Technology & People, Volume 21, Issue 4

The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award forInformation Technology & People"IT-based knowledge management to support organizational learning: visa application screening at the INS"Susab GassonThe iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science & Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USAKatherine M. ShelferBaruch College, New York, New York, USA

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how to reconcile the contradiction between two paradigms employed in analyzing IT-related change requirements: knowledge-as-thing versus knowledge-as-process.Design/methodology/approach - These tensions are explored in the high-risk decision-making environment of an Immigration and Naturalization Service agency. The study combines competitive intelligence risk-analysis methods with an ethnographic analysis of knowledge-flows, to determine how the roles of human decision-makers may be supported effectively by ICT-based knowledge support.Findings - The findings demonstrate how high-risk decision-making may be analyzed as a integrated hybrid human/ICT intelligence system. The study exposes detailed mechanisms by which knowledge of different forms is transferred, exposing failures in training, interpersonal communications, ICT system support, and reward structures. Four roles for ICT support are identified, to supplement human intelligence effectively.Research limitations/implications - This research is based on an investigation across knowledgeable experts in various geographical locations, functional contexts, and organizational roles in a single government agency. Future research could seek to explore whether our distinctions between knowledge types and ICT-roles are transferable across different organizations.Practical implications -- Four stages of analysis for a hybrid intelligence framework are suggested: risk-category identification; the application of risk-categories to decision-cases; testing and adapting categorizations against global conditions; and transfer of locally-meaningful categorizations of risk across communities of practice.Originality/value - The contributions of this paper are: to provide a taxonomy for the analysis of organizational knowledge-flows; and to suggest a framework for the analysis of roles for human vs. ICT knowledge management in distributed, high-risk decision-making environments.

Keywords Communication technologies, Competitive strategy, Decision support systems,Immigration, Knowledge management, Risk assessment

www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/09593840710839806This article originally appeared in Volume 20 Number 4, 2007, pp. 376-99,Information Technology & PeopleThe following articles were selected for this year's Highly Commended Award"Internet and the lifeworld: updating Schutz's theory of mutual knowledge"Shanyang ZhaoThis article originally appeared in Volume 20 Number 2, 2007, Information Technology & People"Playing with masks: fragmentation and continuity in the presentation of self in an occupational online forum''Emmanuelle VaastThis article originally appeared in Volume 20 Number 4, 2005, Information Technology & People"Do the ends justify the means? A Gramscian critique of the processes of consent during an ERP implementation''R. WillisM. ChiassonThis article originally appeared in Volume 20 Number 3, 2007, Information Technology & People

Outstanding ReviewerFor the second year running, Emerald has decided to name and reward the outstanding reviewers who contribute to the success of the journals. The Editor has selected:Catherine MiddletonRyerson University, Toronto, CanadaEditors: Edgar A. Whitley and Eleanor Wynn