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what is ‘evaluation’ anyway? THEORY IS HEAVILY PUNCTUATED BY DEFINITIONS, WHICH contribute to the impression of dreariness which generally surrounds theoretical writings. Undeniably, definitions have a useful function. They are tools which can help refine and clarify concepts; they provide a negotiable basis of understanding, an exchange rate between those people for whom concepts are currency. But tools can be misused. On the negative side, definitions provide a wonderful excuse for retreating comfortably into semantic argument and avoiding the messy business of doing any real work in the field.

This article explores the applicability of participatory action research (PAR) on two levels: on the one hand, as a participatory evaluation method for community engagement and community development; on the other hand, as a tool to link ex ante and ex-post evaluation that situated at various stages of the policy cycle.

Through a practice-based case study of the community engagement process of Valletta Design Cluster, this paper aims to illustrate how PAR can offer collaborative and continuous evaluation by facilitating social action through a practical, situative, context-bounded, responsive and transformative framework.

The study explores how PAR can contribute to cultural sustainability by linking community development with participatory evaluation, and it offers new perspectives on the applicability of PAR as a tool to link ex ante and ex-post evaluation, situated at various stages of the policy cycle.

Although based on a single case, the paper demonstrates that the method has the potential to be applied in various contexts, as it helps to foster local ownership and to develop future cultural strategies, thus providing a base for cultural sustainability.

The novelty of this study is to link evaluation – a majorly top-down and ex ante approach – with participatory planning. PAR-E offers a continuous participatory framework for the whole European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) cycle, as well as serving as a tool for empowerment and community development.

Numerous information system evaluation methodologies have been proposed in the literature. However, most of them suffer from a number of inherited disabilities originating in the nature of their fundamental principles as well as the nature of information systems evaluation. Uses evidence from the evaluation literature and two case studies to address the multiple dimensions for evaluation practices. We focus on the context, content and process of information systems evaluation as a source of organisational change. We found a noticeable gap between the recent theoretical work on IS evaluation and the practices within the case study organisations. This was not due to any lack of knowledge but was attributed to contextual variables such as the organisational culture and the power of important stakeholder groups.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a performance evaluation framework designed exclusively to look at startups' reality.

This paper is exclusively theoretical, however, with the application of the Delphi method. For the application of this method, the framework was transformed in a questionnaire with closed- and open-ended questions, which is applied to 12 experts in this theme. A pre-test of the instrument was carried out, and the analysis was developed by sum.

As a result, the framework presents a cyclic format, encompassing the strategy, goal, modules, indicators, actions and evaluation of the performance assessment method, using a spiral format, and assigning the time variable.

This research contributes for the advance of performance assessment methods that consider organizations' life cycle and for the assessment of startups, for presenting an exclusive tool in this context.

The results can contribute as a potential management tool with an integrative, recursive and continuous character. It has the potential to imply the behavior and capabilities of managers, given their difficulties in managing their business.

As originality of the work, the use of the organization life cycle stands out to compose a performance evaluation process, which has not yet been addressed in the performance literature.

In this paper, we consider the synergy between two areas of information system (IS) literature: that concerned with the evaluation of IS and that concerned with explaining the phenomenon of IS failure. On the basis of an analysis of both areas, a model is presented which attempts to integrate IS evaluation into the life cycle of IS development. The model links the issue of failure assessment with the evaluation process and constitutes a strategy for stimulating organisational learning in relation to IS development. The paper concludes with a description of our attempts to validate aspects of the model and plans for further empirical work in this area.

This study aims to develop a synthetic knowledge repository consisted of interrelated Web Ontology Language.

The ontology composes the main framework to categorize data of product life cycle with eco-design mode (PLC-EDM) and automatically infer specialists’ knowledge for data confirmation, eventually assisting the utilizations and generation of strategies toward decision-making

(i) utilization of a novel model with ontology mode for information reuse cross the different eco-design applications; (ii) generation of a sound platform toward life cycle evaluation; and (iii) implementation of the PLC-EDM model along the product generation process.

It cannot substitute an evaluation tool of life cycle. Certainly, this model does not predict the “target and range” and/or the depiction of the “utility module” that are basic activities in life cycle assessments as characterized through the international organization for standardization regulations.

As portion of this framework, a prototype Web application is presented which is applied to produce, reuse and verify knowledge of product life cycle.

By counting upon the ontology, the information conducted by the utilization is certainly semantically represented to promote the data sharing among various participants and tools. Besides, the data can be verified against possible faults by inferring over the ontology. Hence, a feasible way to a popular topic in the domain of eco-design applications extension in the industry.

The goals are: to lean on rigid modeling principles; and to promote the interoperability and diffusion of the ontology toward particular utilization demands.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the characteristic patterns of monographs in the humanities, social sciences and hard sciences published by Polish scholars. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the Polish book evaluation system to explain how monographs are assessed and illustrate how changes in the definitions of the types of scholarly book publications influence publication patterns.

This paper analyses bibliographic records of 42,307 monographs published by Polish scholars in the humanities and science fields from 2009 to 2016. Through a bibliometric analysis, the paper investigates the characteristic patterns of the monographs, including authorship, publication language and length, across three fields.

The present study demonstrates that changes in the definitions of scholarly book publications in Poland have significantly influenced the characteristic patterns of monographs. The analysis of the characteristic patterns across three fields reveals that the monographs are different in terms of all characteristics. In the entire period, 85.3 percent monographs were written in Polish, 10.1 percent in English, 1.4 percent in German, 1.1 percent in Russian and 2.1 percent in 39 other languages. The most significant changes are observed in authorship patterns.

This work offers empirical findings on the characteristic patterns of monographs in the humanities, social sciences and hard sciences from a non-English speaking country. It discusses a unique model of book assessment and shows certain consequences of various overly formalized procedures of evaluation. Thus, the study identifies the major challenges and implications of using highly formalized procedures for book evaluation.

The main purpose of this paper is the incorporation of life-cycle costs (LCC) and whole-life costing (WLC) method and the taxation environment into the investment appraisal procedure for commercial real property projects.

The paper initially presents the methodologies of LCC and WLC together with the NPV measure for the evaluation of real estate investments. These methods are incorporated into a decision-making model using mathematical approaches. The model is applied to a typical commercial property project (office building) in order to explore the significance of impacts from changes in structured variables and the taxation environment by introducing direct, indirect and property taxes in the evaluation of commercial real estate projects.

Testing of the methodology on the Greek economic environment revealed that time, cost, the tax regime, the financial variables of funding and the monetary and fiscal environment in a commercial real property project are the main variables of net present value (NPV) of the investment.

From the calibration of any impact from affected variables, decision-making aiding tools can be extracted for controlling the project throughout its entire life-cycle.

An integrated WLC mathematical model for the investment appraisal of commercial property projects is introduced. The herein proposed methodology contributes to taxation policy and real estate theory in general and assists industry professionals in effective commercial property management and decision-making.

This paper aims at presenting a cyclical evaluation model of information security (IS) maturity. The lack of a security evaluation method might expose organizations to several risky situations.

This model was developed through the definition of a set of steps to be followed to obtain periodical evaluation of maturity and continuous improvement of controls.

This model, based on controls present in ISO/IEC 27002, provides a means to measure the current situation of IS management through the use of a maturity model and provides a subsidy to take appropriate and feasible improvement actions, based on risks. A case study is performed, and the results indicate that the method is efficient for evaluating the current state of IS, to support IS management, risks identification and business and internal control processes.

It is possible that modifications to the process may be needed where there is less understanding of security requirements, such as in a less mature organization.

This paper presents a generic model applicable to all kinds of organizations. The main contribution of this paper is the use of a maturity scale allied to the cyclical process of evaluation, providing the generation of immediate indicators for the management of IS.

Proposes a continuous participative evaluation process built on the formative evaluation paradigm. The benefits of this approach are that all the primary or core stakeholders, i.e. the users, top management and the technical specialists involved in the task of delivering information systems benefits, participate in the evaluation and the subsequent decision making associated with the project. These stakeholders are consequently involved in moulding and realising an information system which is targeted to meet real business needs rather than just investment and project management criteria. This approach ensures that high quality information systems that deliver direct business benefits with which the user community can identify are implemented. It implies a new focus that encompasses concentrating on and understanding the business issues and how the information system will deliver real value to the organisation. It is the view of the authors that formative evaluation can help to maximise business value from information systems.