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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 May 2018

Jayden Khakurel, Helinä Melkas and Jari Porras

The purpose of this paper is to expand current knowledge about the recent trend of wearable technology to assess both its potential in the work environment and the challenges…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to expand current knowledge about the recent trend of wearable technology to assess both its potential in the work environment and the challenges concerning the utilisation of wearables in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

After establishing exclusion and inclusion criteria, an independent systematic search of the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases for relevant studies was performed. Out of a total of 359 articles, 34 met the selection criteria.

Findings

This review identifies 23 categories of wearable devices. Further categorisation of the devices based on their utilisation shows they can be used in the work environment for activities including monitoring, augmenting, assisting, delivering and tracking. The review reveals that wearable technology has the potential to increase work efficiency among employees, improve workers’ physical well-being and reduce work-related injuries. However, the review also reveals that technological, social, policy and economic challenges related to the use of wearable devices remain.

Research limitations/implications

Many studies have investigated the benefits of wearable devices for personal use, but information about the use of wearables in the work environment is limited. Further research is required in the fields of technology, social challenges, organisation strategies, policies and economics to enhance the adoption rate of wearable devices in work environments.

Originality/value

Previous studies indicate that occupational stress and injuries are detrimental to employees’ health; this paper analyses the use of wearable devices as an intervention method to monitor or prevent these problems. Introducing a categorisation framework during implementation may help identify which types of device categories are suitable and could be beneficial for specific utilisation purposes, facilitating the adoption of wearable devices in the workplace.

Article
Publication date: 22 June 2012

Jason B. Forsyth and Thomas L. Martin

To be successful, pervasive computing requires a balance of computing, design, and business requirements to be considered throughout the design process. Achieving this synthesis…

Abstract

Purpose

To be successful, pervasive computing requires a balance of computing, design, and business requirements to be considered throughout the design process. Achieving this synthesis requires a level of interdisciplinary design that is not present in current pervasive design tools. To understand the state of the art and provide insight to future tool designers, the purpose of this paper is to present a survey of design tools for pervasive computing and consider their ability to be used in interdisciplinary design.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have performed a survey of tools covering many areas within pervasive computing and have evaluated the abilities of each tool with established metrics for pervasive design tools.

Findings

While the paper has found many design tools are available for constructive pervasive applications, few are suitable through all phases of the design cycle or useful across all the intended application domains of pervasive computing.

Originality/value

This survey provides an understanding of the state of pervasive design tools, with regards to interdisciplinary design, which has not previously been performed. Additionally, the authors provide evaluations of the pervasive tools when used in an interdisciplinary setting. These evaluations provide insight to key metrics and allow tool designers to understand the needs of their intended audience.

Details

International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-7371

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Javad Soroor and Mohammad J. Tarokh

As the technology evolves, the ways in which supply chain is coordinated improve. During a careful study on the intelligent wireless web (IWW) and its services for future

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Abstract

Purpose

As the technology evolves, the ways in which supply chain is coordinated improve. During a careful study on the intelligent wireless web (IWW) and its services for future applications, its great potentials for the implementation of a mobile real‐time system for supply chain coordination were realized. This paper seeks to introduce a development process for the IWW. In addition, it aims to explain the concept of mobile real‐time supply chain coordination, and propose and describe a practical model for this subject matter based on the most recent technologies including the IWW and agents.

Design/methodology/approach

Objectives were achieved through a thorough study on the IWW, agent technology, and the ways of applying them for mobile real‐time coordination in supply processes. As a method to conduct the research, first, the paper made out what the IWW services are and how one may develop them. Since mobile real‐time coordination is an absolutely innovative concept, the study prepared a comprehensive understanding of it and then, a practical framework was sketched and explained to implement the suggested system. The approach to this topic was a realistic one and an attempt was made to include all the prerequisites and details for the intended system.

Findings

In the course of the work, it was found that the IWW and other corresponding technologies have the greatest potentials ever available for the realization of a mobile real‐time supply chain coordination system and most of the chapters illustrate the claim.

Originality/value

Mobile real‐time coordination and its use in supply chains is something new. The development process for IWW proposed here is totally practicable and no other implementation scenario for the application of the IWW in mobile real‐time coordination has been suggested yet.

Case study
Publication date: 4 August 2022

Sheela Bhargava and Parul Gupta

The case will help learners to analyse how effective handling of an extended marketing mix of 7Ps (product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, participants and processes…

Abstract

Learning outcomes

The case will help learners to analyse how effective handling of an extended marketing mix of 7Ps (product, price, place, promotion, physical evidence, participants and processes) makes a startup profitable in its initial years of inception; understand the significance of the online marketing strategies like digital marketing and social media marketing implemented by firms to attain a competitive edge amongst established local and global competitors; examine the strategic challenges faced by a business enterprise while entering an emerging market; analyse the growth strategies of a startup relative to various market constraints; and propose long-term strategies for sustainable growth for a startup operating in the wearables market.

Case overview/synopsis

Founded in 2016, Boat Lifestyle is a Delhi-based Indian startup in fashionable consumer electronics. In the past five years, Boat earned remarkable profits and emerged as one of the most promising startups through its innovative products offerings and promotion. Aiming at its target customer segment, the millennials, it promoted its products through social media marketing such as influencer marketing and brand tie-ins with sports teams and music events. The case focuses on the dynamics of the Indian wearables market that is facing tough competition from global and local players. To ensure continued growth prospects, while maintaining a tight focus on product differentiation, quality, and customer satisfaction, there is a greater need for Boat to rethink its market development and growth strategies regarding new innovations and adopting long-term orientation like diversification and global expansion.

Complexity academic level

The case aims for teaching business management students at the Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Executive education level. In addition, the case can be related to the Strategic Management course curriculum and Marketing course curriculum.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 January 2014

This chapter focuses on visualization. Seeing the humanities differently is one of the amazing benefits of working with tools mentioned within this category. Whether it be more…

Abstract

This chapter focuses on visualization. Seeing the humanities differently is one of the amazing benefits of working with tools mentioned within this category. Whether it be more traditional visualizations like images or video or that which is considered a bit more advanced like augmented or virtual reality, the enhanced perspective gained through the use of these tools offers digital humanities scholars unprecedented disciplinary perspectives while helping to shape new research areas, questions, and understanding of humanity and culture. In addition to visualization and issues related to it, this chapter also examines gaming and how games and play are impacting the digital humanities in exciting ways.

Details

Digital Humanities: Current Perspective, Practices, and Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-689-7

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

Jianhua Ma, Laurence T. Yang, Bernady O. Apduhan, Runhe Huang, Leonard Barolli and Mokoto Takizawa

A cyber world (CW) is a digitized world created on cyberspaces inside computers interconnected by networks including the Internet. Following ubiquitous computers, sensors, e‐tags…

Abstract

A cyber world (CW) is a digitized world created on cyberspaces inside computers interconnected by networks including the Internet. Following ubiquitous computers, sensors, e‐tags, networks, information, services, etc., is a road towards a smart world (SW) created on both cyberspaces and real spaces. It is mainly characterized by ubiquitous intelligence or computational intelligence pervasion in the physical world filled with smart things. In recent years, many novel and imaginative researches have been conducted to try and experiment a variety of smart things including characteristic smart objects and specific smart spaces or environments as well as smart systems. The next research phase to emerge, we believe, is to coordinate these diverse smart objects and integrate these isolated smart spaces together into a higher level of spaces known as smart hyperspace or hyper‐environments, and eventually create the smart world. In this paper, we discuss the potential trends and related challenges toward the smart world and ubiquitous intelligence from smart things to smart spaces and then to smart hyperspaces. Likewise, we show our efforts in developing a smart hyperspace of ubiquitous care for kids, called UbicKids.

Details

International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-7371

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2013

Younghee Noh

This study seeks to examine the concepts of context, context‐awareness, and context‐awareness technology needed for applying context‐awareness technology to the next‐generation of…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study seeks to examine the concepts of context, context‐awareness, and context‐awareness technology needed for applying context‐awareness technology to the next‐generation of digital libraries, and proposed context‐aware services that can be applied to any situation by illustrating some library contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper investigated both theoretical research and case analysis studies before suggesting a service model for context‐awareness‐based libraries by examining the context, context‐awareness, and context‐awareness technology in depth.

Findings

This paper derived possible library services which could be provided if context‐awareness services are implemented by examining and analyzing case studies and systems constructed in other fields. A library‐applied context‐aware system could recognize users entering the library and provide optimal services tailored to each situation for both new and existing users. In addition, the context‐awareness‐based library could provide context‐awareness‐based reference services, context‐awareness‐based loan services, and cater to other user needs in the stacks, research space, and a variety of other information spaces. The context‐awareness‐based library could also recognize users in need of emergency assistance by detecting the user's behavior, movement path, and temperature, etc. Comfort or climate‐control services could provide the user with control of the temperature, humidity, illumination and other environmental elements to fit the circumstances of users, books, and instruments through context‐aware technology.

Practical implications

Next‐generation digital libraries apply new concepts such as semantic retrieval, real‐time web, cloud computing, mobile web, linked data, and context‐awareness. Context‐awareness‐based libraries can provide applied context‐awareness access service, reactive space according to the user's access, applied context‐awareness lobbies, applied context‐awareness reference services, and applied context‐awareness safety services, context‐awareness‐based comfort services and so on.

Originality/value

Real instances of libraries applying context‐aware technology are few, according to the investigative results of this study. The study finds that the next‐generation digital library using context‐awareness technology can provide the best possible service for the convenience of its users.

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2023

Zhongyun Zhou, Zidie Chen and Xiao-Ling Jin

As a sociotechnical system, the metaverse has sparked heated discussion. However, concerns abound that the concept is “old wine in a new bottle” used for capital hype. The mixed…

Abstract

Purpose

As a sociotechnical system, the metaverse has sparked heated discussion. However, concerns abound that the concept is “old wine in a new bottle” used for capital hype. The mixed definitions of the metaverse and unclear relationships between its technical features and user behaviors have greatly impeded its design and application. Therefore, the authors aim to sort out the metaverse definition and properties, analyze its technical features in various contexts and unveil the mechanisms leading to user behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conduct a literature review on the definition, technical features and user behaviors of/in the metaverse.

Findings

First, the authors identify two main categories of the metaverse definition and find a mixed conceptualization. Second, the authors present technologies and technical features in the diverse contexts of the metaverse. Third, the authors summarize the effect of technical features on user behaviors from a sociotechnical perspective.

Originality/value

The authors analyze the definition, technical features, user behaviors of the metaverse and their theoretical foundations. Based on these findings, the authors propose a theoretical framework unveiling how social and technical elements affect user behaviors in the metaverse. In conclusion, the study offers a research agenda for future studies.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 34 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 August 2018

Andrew Iliadis and Isabel Pedersen

This paper aims to examine how metadata taxonomies in embodied computing databases indicate context (e.g. a marketing context or an ethical context) and describe ways to track the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how metadata taxonomies in embodied computing databases indicate context (e.g. a marketing context or an ethical context) and describe ways to track the evolution of the embodied computing industry over time through digital media archiving.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors compare the metadata taxonomies of two embodied computing databases by providing a narrative of their top-level categories. After identifying these categories, they describe how they structure the databases around specific themes.

Findings

The growing wearables market often hides complex sociotechnical tradeoffs. Marketing products like Vandrico Inc.’s Wearables Database frame wearables as business solutions without conveying information about the various concessions users make (about giving up their data, for example). Potential solutions to this problem include enhancing embodied computing literacy through the construction of databases that track media about embodied computing technologies using customized metadata categories. Databases such as FABRIC contain multimedia related to the emerging embodied computing market – including patents, interviews, promotional videos and news articles – and can be archived through user-curated collections and tagged according to specific themes (privacy, policing, labor, etc.). One of the benefits of this approach is that users can use the rich metadata fields to search for terms and create curated collections that focus on tradeoffs related to embodied computing technologies.

Originality/value

This paper describes the importance of metadata for framing the orientation of embodied computing databases and describes one of the first attempts to comprehensively track the evolution of embodied computing technologies, their developers and their diverse applications in various social contexts through media archiving.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2019

Magdalena Wójcik

The subject of this paper is wearable computing technology. The purpose of this paper is to determine its potential in libraries to meet the needs of both users and librarians…

Abstract

Purpose

The subject of this paper is wearable computing technology. The purpose of this paper is to determine its potential in libraries to meet the needs of both users and librarians. The specific goals include: description of the main features of wearable computing from the perspective of its potential usefulness in libraries; analysis of areas of wearable computing use in public institutions; discussion of the potential of wearable computing for library users; and discussion of the potential of wearable computing for librarians to determine its potential in libraries to meet the needs of users and librarians.

Design/methodology/approach

The method of subject literature overview was used. The state of research from the period 2008 to 2018 on the use of wearable computing in libraries was established based on a search of selected sources Web of Science, Scopus, Elsevier and Emerald databases and LISTA database.

Findings

Wearable computing can be used in many areas of library activities to serve the needs of users and librarians. In the context of services for users, wearable computing can be used, among others, to help users navigate the library, to provide resources in new and interesting forms, and in education and entertainment. For the needs of librarians, additional data provided via wearable devices can accelerate the process of cataloguing resources and increase motivation to work via gamification options and features that make it possible to measure personal work efficiency. Librarians can also use the data obtained wearable computing devices to more quickly track, identify, select and organize resources. As with users, librarians can also use wearable computing in their education.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is a viewpoint based on subject literature. It presents only a sketch of potential wearable computing applications in libraries. The aim of the paper is to initiate further discussion on the possibilities of using wearable devices to improve both services for users and internal library processes. The author’s hope is that the concepts presented here will be tested in practice by librarians, which will allow further development of research on this subject.

Practical implications

The results can be widely used in practice as a framework for the implementation of wearable computing solutions in libraries.

Social implications

The paper can help to facilitate the debate on the role of the implementation of new technologies in libraries.

Originality/value

The issue of the use of wearable computing has not yet been widely discussed in library and information science journals. In the very few publications on similar topics, only the perspective on the application of new solutions in services for users is presented. This paper also shows the potential for improving libraries’ internal processes with the use of wearable computing.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Keywords

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