Multiple objectives relating to Connection, Personal Development and Information were the stated outcomes of establishing a suite of computing facilities in a New Zealand city youth centre named Secret Level. The youth centre offered a wide range of both structured and unstructured activities and events. The computing suite included a wireless local area network with Internet access, six moveable, thin client terminals located in the café area and three high‑specification multimedia computers with printer and scanner in a separate room. The project was financed from the government’s Community Digital Strategy Partnership Fund that aimed to support local, regional and national initiatives to develop and achieve capability, confidence, relevant content and connection to realise community aspirations through information and communication technology (ICT). This paper presents the evaluation of the ICT youth project after just four months of operation. The mixed‑method study, framed by the overlapping constructs of self‑efficacy, social and human capital and third place, involved a survey, semi‑structured interviews and observations. The findings revealed that most of the measures of success defined for the project were met but evaluation of many of the Personal Development objectives relating to an increase in the work, study, ICT and literacy skills of youth was not possible, due to the short evaluation period.

Abstract: As more technology changes the learning environment for educators, this has caused a greater need for instructors need to focus on the syllabus, subject content, administrative tasks, and students with varying learning styles, they may also nee d to address various learning style of students with disabilities. As more universities provide teacher training, the training may not be detailed enough to help instructors be prepared to work with classroom accommodations for students with disabilities . In particular, online instructors have another factor to work with in this situation, they have to work with students with disabilities virtually and offer similar or comparable accommodations. More educational institutions are seeing that more studen ts are enrolling in online programs and courses, and they realize that there may be some additional barriers to learning in terms of this learning environment⠒s technical process and structure. In particular, students with disabilities are enrolling ev en more with online courses with the hopes of a barrier‑free environment. Thus, there are still some barriers still present in the learning environment in terms of technical/software application or interaction/communication problems. The purpose of this paper will be to look at how a university can address such problems and develop/create virtual solutions to these barriers by incorporating the help of others in the online community to brainstorm methods of inquiry and build virtual strategies. In part icular, there needs to be a special emphasis given to online instructors to become better prepared and trained with technology in terms of structure and how to motivate all types of students, especially students with disabilities, to become more interacti ve online. While there is a growing need for more human computer interaction, rather than just selecting and clicking single choices, students with disabilities are finding technology to be more enabling than disabling at times. Consequently, universiti es need to design and develop training progr

Abstract: Cloud computing in many ways can be viewed as both a technology offering and a business alternative. But its adoption today is driven more by economic rationale than by technology justifications. Cloud, being a new offering, is bound to run into a lot of inertia in terms of its initial market acceptance. This inertia is driven by the dissatisfiers … some real and some perceptional … that inhibit a widespread adoption. The four key adoption inhibitors identified in the context of cloud adoption a re vendor related risk, security related risk, no‑gain risk and efficiency related risk. These inhibitors are examined, in terms of their relative impact, across four industry sectors ‑ SME, BFS, Education and Hospitals. This study mainly aims at equippin g the cloud vendors with information regarding the relative risk perceptions of the four mentioned inhibitors on a sector by sector basis. The paper posits that this understanding will facilitate the cloud computing vendors to improve product conceptualiz ation at the production level and fine‑tune product positioning at the sales and marketing level to enhance market penetration.

Abstract: Cloud Computing adoption has experienced a considerable rate of growth since its emergence in 2006. By 2011, it had become the top technology priority for organizations worldwide and according to some leading industry reports the cloud computing market is estimated to reach $241 billion by 2020. Reasons for adoption are multi‑fold, including for example the expected realisation of benefits pertaining to cost reduction, improved scalability, improved resource utilization, worker mobility and coll aboration, and business continuity, among others. Research into cloud computing adoption has to date primarily focused on the larger, multinational enterprises. However, one key area where cloud computing is expected to hold considerable promise is for th e Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME). SMEs are recognized as being inherently different from their large firm counterparts, not least from a resource constraint perspective and for this reason, cloud computing is reported to offer significant benef its for SMEs through, for example, facilitating a reduction in the financial burden associated with new technology adoption. This paper reports findings from a recent exploratory study into Cloud Computing adoption among Irish SMEs. Despite its purported importance, this study found that almost half of the respondents had not migrated any services or processes to the cloud environment. Further, with respect to those who had transitioned to the cloud, the data suggests that many of these SMEs did not rigor ously assess their readiness for adopting cloud computing technology or did not adopt in‑depth approaches for managing their engagement with cloud. While the study is of an exploratory nature, nevertheless the findings have important implications for the development/ improvement of national strategies or policies to support the successful adoption of Cloud Computing technology among the SME market. This research has implications for academic research in this area as well as proposing a number of practical recommendations to support the SME cloud adop

Abstract: The current economic climate of funding stringency has intensified the need for non‑profit organisations (NPOs) to find new delivery models of their services as a way of creating greater efficiencies and reducing costs. Consideration of improv ement to their back‑office operations is one way of addressing overheads associated with delivery functions of NPOs so that they can continue to focus on their core business activities. The overheads for back‑office functions are much larger for smaller N POs (by about 10‑15 percent) than the larger ones and interest in sharing services could appeal to that sector. One approach to reduce overhead costs is for two or more NPOs to collaborate in sharing office space and office equipment and, in some instan ces, outsourcing some functions, for example, human resources and information technology. Currently, in New Zealand, there is very little engagement by NPOs in sharing services, particularly back office computing services. It was against this background t hat meetings with representatives of eight NPOs in Wellington, New Zealand, identified the challenges they were facing. These included funding, client management, compliance with reporting (financial and non‑financial), financial management and control , governance, marketing and promotion and retention and management of staff and volunteers. Wellington City Council, as a significant funding agent of some local NPOs, commissioned a national online survey with the aim of understanding the interest and re adiness of NPOs in adopting shared computing services. The survey was developed collaboratively with the council, a computing charitable trust and a local university. The objectives of the survey were: to provide a snapshot of computing usage within the o rganisations, identify significant issues challenging the sector and understand their perceptions of shared computing services. The perceptions of the NPO representatives from across New Zealand (431 valid surveys) regarding shared services are reported in this paper. Results reveal the factors that driv

Abstract: This paper deals with the issues of Russian and international researches in the field of design of sustainable information architecture of management systems in the context of spatial economics. It is theoretical and empirical research in equal measure. Research methodology is methods and procedures of modeling. The main purpose of this paper is consideration the features of application of contemporary intelligent information technologies and systems for spatiotemporal analysis. The paper is dev oted to the study of issues of stability of architecture of spatial information system. Now modern intelligent methods and technologies are essential components for developing management decision process that will enable companies to succeed in a rapidly changing environment. The latest achievements in the field of intelligent technologies in economy and management, including the methods and tools of agent‑based modeling and soft computing are the key factors in improving organizational performance and in creasing its competitiveness. Fuzzy technologies as technologies of artificial intelligence are having a significant influence on information systems (IS) design and analysis. At the same time IS sustainability is now one of the key drivers of business success. Original contribution of the work is based on the applying of intelligent information technologies and modern modeling methods for creating scoring model of IS sustainability. The paper also contains theoretical foundations of information systems architecture and the brief overview of spatial sciences development in Russia.

Abstract: The issue of businesses understanding cloud adoptionŽ exists, despite the diverse academic research on cloud adoption. The various approaches (business and technical), theories (Technology‑Organization‑Environment, Transaction cost theory, R esource based view) have resulted in a fragmented and piece‑meal approach to understanding cloud adoption. The purpose of this article is to review and consolidate the diverse literature on cloud adoption. This can help organizations decide their cloud r eadiness and understand the business implications from multiple perspectives. The paper begins with a focused review of existing literature on cloud adoption. The articles in the literature are then systematically classified on various parameters such as the perspective used (business versus technical), the dominant theory used and the adoption factors that are identified. Two existing frameworks are also critiqued to highlight their strengths and limitations. Finally, a short check list based on the c umulative findings is prepared. The review reveals common themes in terms of examining cloud adoption. It shows that cloud adoption has been primarily examined from the innovative technology perspective using the Technology‑Organization‑Environment framew ork. The two other dominant approaches that come up include the economic/cost perspective driven by transaction cost theory and the use of multi‑criteria decision framework. The article contributes by reviewing and consolidating the diverse literature on the topic of cloud adoption. The study organizes the recurrent themes in the reviewed articles in terms four important areas. Within each area, the study also provides some commonly asked questions that could help organizations understand their readiness to adopt cloud. This way, the article integrates different perspectives and provides organizations with a simple, holistic check list to examine business implications of moving to cloud.

Abstract: The issue of businesses understanding cloud adoptionŽ exists, despite the diverse academic research on cloud adoption. The various approaches (business and technical), theories (Technology‑Organization‑Environment, Transaction cost theory, R esource based view) have resulted in a fragmented and piece‑meal approach to understanding cloud adoption. The purpose of this article is to review and consolidate the diverse literature on cloud adoption. This can help organizations decide their cloud r eadiness and understand the business implications from multiple perspectives. The paper begins with a focused review of existing literature on cloud adoption. The articles in the literature are then systematically classified on various parameters such as the perspective used (business versus technical), the dominant theory used and the adoption factors that are identified. Two existing frameworks are also critiqued to highlight their strengths and limitations. Finally, a short check list based on the c umulative findings is prepared. The review reveals common themes in terms of examining cloud adoption. It shows that cloud adoption has been primarily examined from the innovative technology perspective using the Technology‑Organization‑Environment framew ork. The two other dominant approaches that come up include the economic/cost perspective driven by transaction cost theory and the use of multi‑criteria decision framework. The article contributes by reviewing and consolidating the diverse literature on the topic of cloud adoption. The study organizes the recurrent themes in the reviewed articles in terms four important areas. Within each area, the study also provides some commonly asked questions that could help organizations understand their readiness to adopt cloud. This way, the article integrates different perspectives and provides organizations with a simple, holistic check list to examine business implications of moving to cloud.