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1 – 10 of 66This paper presents an exploratory case study on the impact of user-oriented digitalization on records management in the Norwegian public sector. The purpose of this study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents an exploratory case study on the impact of user-oriented digitalization on records management in the Norwegian public sector. The purpose of this study is to identify some of the opportunities and issues that may arise for records management professionals, case workers and citizens.
Design/methodology/approach
The concept of administrative burdens and how user-oriented design can reduce or increase them is the main theoretical focus. A series of five interviews with records management professionals from five municipalities and three with IT staff members from two larger state institutions served as the primary source for this qualitative case study in conjunction with a literature review. The interviews were conducted in a semistructured format with a general interview guide.
Findings
Smaller municipalities lack the resources of larger state institutions, and they do not involve users in the same extent, even though their records management professionals strive for user-orientation. The work with directly involving users appears to vary in larger institutions, where resources must still be properly prioritized. Reducing administrative burdens is vital for user-oriented design, but digitizing services often increases them, so service delivery must consider the benefits of local, in-person guidance in relation to wholly digital services.
Originality/value
While much research has been conducted in Norway on digitalization, little has been done to examine the implications for records management work or the public’s use of records. By identifying some key concerns, this paper hopes to serve as a springboard for further research in these areas.
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Fathima Sabrina Nazeer, Imriyas Kamardeen and Abid Hasan
Many buildings fail to meet user expectations, causing a performance gap. Pre-occupancy evaluation (PrOE) is believed to have the potential to close the gap. It enables designers…
Abstract
Purpose
Many buildings fail to meet user expectations, causing a performance gap. Pre-occupancy evaluation (PrOE) is believed to have the potential to close the gap. It enables designers to obtain end-user feedback in the design phase and improve the design for better performance. However, PrOE implementation faces challenges due to still maturing knowledgebase. This study aims to understand the state-of-the-art knowledge of PrOE, thereby identifying future research needs to advance the domain.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework was conducted. A thorough search in five databases and Google Scholar retrieved 90 articles, with 30 selected for systematic review after eliminating duplicates and irrelevant articles. Bibliometric analyses were performed using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny on the article metadata, and thematic analyses were conducted on their contents.
Findings
PrOE is a vehicle for engaging building end-users in the design phase to address the credibility gap caused by the discrepancies between the expected and actual performance of buildings. PrOE has gained limited applications in healthcare, residential, office and educational building design for two broad purposes: design management and marketing. Using virtual reality technologies for PrOE has demonstrated significant benefits. Yet, the PrOE domain needs to mature in multiple perspectives to serve its intended purpose effectively.
Originality/value
This study identifies four knowledge gaps for future research to advance the PrOE domain: (1) developing a holistic PrOE framework, integrating comprehensive performance evaluation criteria, useable at different stages of the design phase and multi-criteria decision algorithms, (2) developing a mixed reality tool, embodying the holistic PrOE framework, (3) formulating a PrOE framework for adaptive reuse of buildings and (4) managing uncertainties in user requirements during the lifecycle in PrOE decisions.
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Thi Kim Thoa Ninh, Thi Huyen Ngo and Hong Sinh Nguyen
The aim of this paper is to investigate the needs of lecturers and learners for digital scholarship services (DSS) and to suggest recommendations for the development of DSS at…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate the needs of lecturers and learners for digital scholarship services (DSS) and to suggest recommendations for the development of DSS at Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM).
Design/methodology/approach
The research employed a mixed method approach, comprising a paper questionnaire with 360 respondents to collect quantitative data and in-depth interviews with 18 participants, including lecturers (L), postgraduate students (P), and undergraduate students (U), to gather qualitative data.
Findings
The findings indicate that lecturers and students have diverse needs for various DSS services, with digital information resources and institutional repositories being the most common, followed by new and workable digital technology infrastructure, training courses in using digital tools and methods, and ongoing advice and support at different stages of the research process.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study indicate that further research is necessary to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the DSS needs in higher education institutions in Vietnam of various sizes and characteristics.
Practical implications
This research provides a practical basis for the development and provision of appropriate support to the development of DSS at VNU-HCM.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper and its value lies in the contribution to the understanding of the needs of DSS in a context of the digital transformation and the improvement of the quality of education and research in the higher education sector in Vietnam.
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Ying Gao, Qiang Zhang, Xiaoran Wang, Yanmei Huang, Fanshuang Meng and Wan Tao
Currently, the Tang tomb mural cultural relic resources are presented in a multi-source and heterogeneous manner, with a lack of effective organization and sharing between…
Abstract
Purpose
Currently, the Tang tomb mural cultural relic resources are presented in a multi-source and heterogeneous manner, with a lack of effective organization and sharing between resources. Therefore, this study aims to propose a multidimensional knowledge discovery solution for Tang tomb mural cultural relic resources.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking the Tang tomb murals collected by the Shaanxi History Museum as an example, based on clarifying the relevant concepts of Tang tomb mural resources and considering both dynamic and static dimensions, a top-down approach was adopted to first construct an ontology model of Tang tomb mural type cultural relics resources. Then, the actual case data was imported into the Neo4J graph database according to the defined pattern hierarchy to complete the static organization of knowledge, and presented in a multimodal form in knowledge reasoning and retrieval. In addition, geographic information system (GIS) technology is used to dynamically display the spatiotemporal distribution of Tang tomb mural resources, and the distribution trend is analysed from a digital humanistic perspective.
Findings
The multi-dimensional knowledge discovery of Tang tomb mural cultural relics resources can help establish the correlation and spatiotemporal relationship between resources, providing support for semantic retrieval and navigation, knowledge discovery and visualization and so on.
Originality/value
This study takes the murals in the collection of the Shaanxi History Museum as an example, revealing potential knowledge associations in a static and intelligent way, achieving knowledge discovery and management of Tang tomb murals, and dynamically presents the spatial distribution of Tang tomb murals through GIS technology, meeting the knowledge presentation needs of different users and opening up new ideas for the study of Tang tomb murals.
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Audrey Mertens, Yaprak Hamarat and Catherine Elsen
This research focuses on the interactions between architects and end-users during the design process of housing projects, both experiencing challenges and friction points when…
Abstract
Purpose
This research focuses on the interactions between architects and end-users during the design process of housing projects, both experiencing challenges and friction points when meeting.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a systematic literature review (SLR), based on and adapted from Kitchenham and Charters' work (2007). The thematic analysis of N = 104 identified articles reveals 13 main themes and 30 subthemes specific to architects, end-users and the interactions of architects and end-users, and 3 main groups of other actors intervening in these dynamics. The authors organize the data by actors and the actors' social encounters, themes and subthemes. The authors focus on some aspects, given possible evolution of practices.
Findings
The authors question the role of architects and the ways both parties share respective knowledge. The authors also discuss the various scales of social encounters depicted through literature, from traditional discursive meetings to participatory practices, and raise the lack of convincing tools genuinely used in current housing architecture practices. Finally, the authors point out the need for further field research in order to practically bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners.
Originality/value
The authors present an overview of the most relevant papers, organized in a table and grouped by themes. This represents a major output of this SLR, and gives the concerned readers the opportunity to get a grasp on readers' sub/theme of interest.
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Edmond Wai-Ming Lam, Albert P.C. Chan, Timothy O. Olawumi, Irene Wong and Kayode Olatunji Kazeem
Sustainability has been the subject of several scientific investigations. Many researchers in the construction industry have also examined a range of sustainability-related…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability has been the subject of several scientific investigations. Many researchers in the construction industry have also examined a range of sustainability-related studies. However, few studies have thoroughly reviewed implementing sustainability concepts in high-rise residential buildings (HRRBs).
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting scientometrics and systematic review (SR), this study seeks to map out recent sustainability trends and concepts in the design, development and operation of HRRBs worldwide and in Hong Kong. With a focus on bibliographic records from the Web of Science (WoS) database, 1,395 journal articles from 2013 to 2022 were analysed. Furthermore, thirteen studies were systematically reviewed.
Findings
The SR indicated that sustainable practices in developing Hong Kong's HRRBs emphasised zero-carbon buildings, reduced energy usage and energy-efficient retrofitting. Likewise, terms such as BIM, urban density, life cycle assessment and system dynamics are strongly connected with clusters that include “residential buildings”, “high-rise buildings” and “high-rise residential buildings”. The study identified significant themes in establishing HRRBs by combining sustainable practices, emphasising urban governance and policy management, building performance and thermal comfort, energy and design optimisation, occupant behaviour and sensitivity analysis. Core sustainability ideas have improved resource management, air quality management and knowledge of user behaviour in HRRBs.
Originality/value
The study allows researchers and practitioners to explore future research directions in the built environment per the application of sustainable concepts in the development of HRRBs from design, construction and post-construction phases.
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This study demonstrates how individual paradigms implicate the questions asked, methods used and results drawn in association with a common object of study in human information…
Abstract
Purpose
This study demonstrates how individual paradigms implicate the questions asked, methods used and results drawn in association with a common object of study in human information behavior (HIB) research – the relationship between uncertainty and decision-making.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses textual case studies to examine uncertainty and decision-making through the framework of four paradigms used in HIB research: positivism, cognitivism, collectivism and constructionism and suggests deconstructionism as a paradigm which raises new questions around this topic.
Findings
Positivistic approaches to uncertainty are often systems oriented; cognitive approaches are often user-oriented; collectivist approaches are intersubjective; and constructionist approaches blend a subjective and intersubjective research orientation. Deconstructionism raises new questions around ethics and responsibility in relation to decision-making, and the author therefore situates it as a new paradigmatic approach for this topic in HIB research.
Originality/value
Despite the presence of research aimed at recognizing and defining paradigms in HIB research, a comparative micro-examination of how individual paradigms implicate a specific research topic has yet to be conducted. Each paradigm uniquely shapes the ways in which uncertainty and decision-making are characterized, but the four central ones examined here have thus far left out questions of ethics and responsibility as being core elements of decision-making as tied to uncertainty. Therefore, this paper introduces deconstructionism as a paradigm new to HIB uncertainty research, arguing that it provides an important and novel complication of existent research questions and approaches.
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This study aims to fill the research gap regarding the usability of group reporting information in the central government. It answers the question of how the consolidated…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to fill the research gap regarding the usability of group reporting information in the central government. It answers the question of how the consolidated information should be formed to benefit the real needs of governmental information users.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical research is based on a survey and interviews among key internal preparers and users in the central government sector in the case country, Finland.
Findings
Results show that the private sector approach regarding consolidation is not appropriately transferable to the central government sector. The key stakeholders identified several economic and financial reporting needs that exceed what formal Consolidated Financial Statement (CFS) can offer. Consolidation is needed but not according to the extensive full control approach, but rather following the budgetary approach consolidating units of the legal person of the government, and further using the partial control approach for consolidating by discretion essential special purpose SOEs.
Research limitations/implications
Respondents and interviewees represented governmental internal organisations, free experts, auditors and financial managers from the group entities. Politicians and citizens were not directly represented.
Practical implications
Research gives applicable insights into central governments planning and developing group reporting for information needs in a favourable cost-benefit ratio. Findings benefit the development of EU's EPSAS (European Public Sector Accounting Standards) project which is still incomplete.
Social implications
Research recommends governments to make a thorough analysis before deciding on a new financial reporting system. A critical analysis prevents governments to waste money and resources on a reporting system not fulfilling the real needs of information users.
Originality/value
The value of this research is that the private sector approach in consolidation was not taken as granted. This study investigated critically and empirically the real need for consolidated information serving steering and overseeing purposes of the government's group entities.
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Fahriye Hilal Halicioglu and Kubra Gurel
Most of the emphasis in the green building literature on the green performance of buildings has been on optimizing energy and resource efficiency. Admittedly, from the perspective…
Abstract
Purpose
Most of the emphasis in the green building literature on the green performance of buildings has been on optimizing energy and resource efficiency. Admittedly, from the perspective of the sustainable construction industry, making optimally energy and resource efficiency, often seen as a technical challenge, has a premise role in green building projects. However, green buildings need to optimally meet the health, well-being and comfort requirements of their occupants and their environmental quality targets. In that context, perceived quality is a crucial determinant of occupant satisfaction and can play a critical role in the user-oriented improvement of the green performance of buildings. While previous research has highlighted issues related to occupant satisfaction, none of them examines green buildings from a perceived quality perspective. Therefore, the study attempts to fill this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, to reveal the positive and negative satisfaction of the building occupants according to the green building features, the review of previous research in the related literature is supplemented by an exploratory study of case studies evaluating occupant satisfaction in green buildings. Then, a conceptual framework is proposed to link perceived quality and green building features towards occupant satisfaction.
Findings
A review of the case studies in 49 research articles has shown deficiencies in a comprehensive understanding and approach to the perceived quality of green buildings. In response, the development of a framework for conceptual interrelationships may provide a pathway for more detailed quality assessments for future research. In this study, the proposed conceptual framework has the potential to provide a conceptual basis for future models in determining the relationship between quality expectations and quality experiences in green buildings. It can also serve as a constructive approach for assessing occupant satisfaction in the quality-driven improvements of green buildings and further investigation of the importance of various quality cues, quality attributes and their interactions.
Originality/value
This study aims to incorporate green building features and perceived quality concepts into a framework that can form the basis for assessing occupant satisfaction in green buildings. The ultimate goal of the proposed conceptual framework is to generate an insight that can contribute to rethinking the perceived quality of green buildings and developing more occupant-driven solutions for future green buildings.
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