Information+Systems

=__**Information Systems**__=

This page has three main sections:

• Use this to find out which member of staff has the right expertise to supervise the type of project that you want to do. Carry out some research into your topic, and then arrange to meet the relevant member of staff to discuss further.
 * Staff Interests** shows a list of members of staff in the subject group, and some keywords that identify their areas of interest.

• If one of these interests you, read the requirements for a project in that area, carry out some background research and then arrange to meet the relevant member of staff to discuss further.
 * Broad Project Ideas** provides some outline ideas for projects that you can use to develop a more specific idea for your project

• These are detailed and well-defined, and you should know immediately whether any of these are of interest to you. If so, carry out some background research into the topic and then arrange to meet the relevant member of staff as soon as possible.
 * Specific Project Ideas**



**Staff Interests**

 * Jyoti Bhardwaj, C39, Technology-facilitated organisational change, Enterprise systems, Soft systems analysis and design
 * Pritam Chita, C60, Software Project Management, PM Methodologies, Agile Software Development, Maturity Models.
 * Peter Cruickshank, C46, Information security, risk management, online identity and privacy, social media, e-government, SNA
 * Brian Davison, C56, Application of IT to problems in smart energy use, Learning technologies, Open and linked data
 * Dr. Colin Smith, C59, Digital Business innovation and trends, developments in e-government and e-democracy
 * Professor Hazel Hall, C61, Information and knowledge sharing, library & information science research, gender issues in science and technology, online communities and collaboration. Web site: http://hazelhall.org; profile at http://hazelhall.org/about
 * Dr Tom Kane, C50, Business Intelligence, Dialogues between Natural and Artificial Persons, Managing Operational Change, E-Health, Project Management and Consultancy
 * Dr Laura Muir, C60, User-Centred Design, Visual information seeking behaviour (eye tracking), Evaluation of IT systems/services for meeting organisational objectives, Usability/accessibility of information systems, Enterprise search and discovery.
 * Debbie Meharg, C50, Enterprise Systems, student transitions, big data, business intelligence, analytics, information systems, data warehousing, app development
 * Dr Gemma Webster, C56, Inclusive/accessible system design, User-centered organisational systems, usability and human computer interaction of technology.



Jyoti Bhardwaj
__An Investigation into the Non-Technical Factors influencing the Implementation of //x// System in //y// Organisation__ Applicable Programmes: Information Systems, Business Information Systems, Information Technology __Style__: qualitative, organisational case-study type research which may require interviews, surveys, application of analytical tools and frameworks, observation or document analysis __Outline__: Empirical investigation into the role played by one or more organisational/systems analysis and design/project management/human factors in the recent implementation of an IS in an actual organisation. An extensive literature survey is expected. Would suit a student who has recently been involved in a project or systems implementation whilst on placement or during part-time work, who is interested in researching a beneficial, problematic or disruptive aspect of that implementation and how this contributed to its success or failure. S/he should maintain close contact with the case organisation. Which factors are investigated would depend on the student’s interest and the conditions that obtained during the implementation. This project outline allows for a great deal of individual variation, so may be undertaken by more than one student at the same time.

__An Investigation into the Enabling Role of Technology in the implementation of //x// Organisational Innovation in //y// Organisation__ Applicable Programmes: Information Systems, Business Information Systems, Information Technology __Style__: qualitative, organisational case-study type research which may require interviews, surveys, post implementation review, application of analytical tools and frameworks, observation or document analysis __Outline__: Investigation into the role played by ICT in the recent implementation of an organisational initiative or management technique in an actual organisation. An extensive literature survey is expected. Would suit a student who has recently been involved in the implementation of an organisational initiative (eg, restructuring, communications strategy, supply chain management, empowerment, etc) whilst on placement or during part-time work, who is interested in researching the role of IS/ICT in the strategy, operation, success, or failure of that initiative. Good contacts are required in the case organisation. Which initiative and which ICT are investigated would depend on the student’s interest and the organisation. It is also possible to undertake this investigation in a company about to implement an ICT-enabled innovation, depending on the timescale and deliverable involved. This project outline allows for a great deal of individual variation, so may be undertaken by more than one student at the same time.

Pritam Chita//.//
__Project Management Leadership skills__ Description: This project seeks to examine project management leadership skills within the software development environment

__Project Management of Outsourced Projects__ Description: This topic looks at the issues and difficulties that affect the management of outsourced software projects. For instance, managing a project where the development team is based in India and the client is in Scotland poses all sorts of cultural and logistical issues. This study will examine the nature of these issues through example case studies

__The Management of Risk in Software Projects__ Software development is particularly risky and this project looks at the use of risk management tools and techniques within the software development industry. The tools and techniques can vary from the use of elements of project management methods to specific risk management tools and specifically employ quantitative techniques

__Web-Site for structuring Invitations to Tender__ Many problems arise with projects due to poor estimating during the initial response to an Invitation to Tender. Suppliers are desperate to win business and submit bids without the use of proper estimating techniques and analysis. This project investigates the potential for a web-site to constrain bids to address different elements of the project and provide significant details of all elements and their subsequent costs.

__ITIL, Six Sigma & PRINCE2 – Understanding a focused process__ Intention is for the student to analyse how these three elements interrelate and correspond to each other in developing mature, robust processes. A short survey will be required to determine levels of understanding and organisational fit.

__IT Recruitment – the focus on technical vs project management skills__ Following on from a previous study this project will examine the views of recruitment agencies & employers as to the relative merits of project management skills compared with technical IT skills.

Peter Cruickshank
__ Federated online identity __ Facebook and Twitter seem to have a virtual duopoly of how people present themselves online. What are the alternatives? Are there any options for a federated social space, rather than the monolithic databases we have become used to? What does that mean in terms of validated identity online (OpenAuth etc)?

How do people actually use federated online identities? (eg Which e-identities do ther link up, and which do they keep separate) This probably would require access to a real-world system and its logs.

__The relationship between identity and expectations of privacy__ There is general confusion about what is allowed or not allowed under current Data Protection law. Another approach might be to start from a user's current online identity/persona and then use that to define their privacy expectations. Project could involve surveys of different types of users when they are in different roles.

__Security culture: What shapes attitudes to compliance with the rules__ Organisations such as Edinburgh Napier University use information security policies (ISPs) to set out what is and isn't permissible behaviour. In the end though, it is down to the individual user to decide to obey the rules: the question is, why do they? Is it fear or morality? Technology or culture?

__Information security is about protecting IT or information assets: but what is an asset?__ This project would compare the assumptions made about the nature of assets (eg in risk management) with what practitioners actually understand the term to mean. This could uncover some interesting gaps in understandings - and hence underlying causes of issues with risk management

__Issues affecting take up of technology to support students by University staff and departments__ There are increasing expectations of technology by staff and students at Universities but at the same time there are a number of barriers to their adoption - technology, information literacy (of staff and students) and (importantly) organisational factors. What makes it worthwhile for staff and students to invest time in creating and using new technologies when the existing system works OK?

__Discourse analysis of Facebook conversations.__ This project would involve extracting data on conversations on Facebook (eg in a public group) and then analysis it - for themes, sentiment, as well as number and range of participants. Strong programming skills probably needed.

__Combining social media and social network analysis (SNA) to understand a community / Understanding how a particular community uses social media__ Edinburgh has several IS-related communities which are active on social media such as Twitter. Projects could explore different aspects of how SNA can be used for understanding the existing and potential relationships relationships between the individuals and communities. How are relationships on twitter or Facebook reflected in 'real world' work and business? Another option could be to develop or adapt data-mining, analysis and visualisation tools to explore this area. **Please note I am not particularly interested in business social media policies or strategies**

Brian Davison
__Renewable energy instrumentation and control__ Projects in this area would involve the processing of energy data from measurement sensors. Sensors could include for example motion sensors on measurement buoys, or wind speed readings from anemometers. Work would either be based in a university lab or by arrangement with a partner organisation. Projects in this area would be highly technical.

__Energy usage modelling__ A great deal of energy is wasted in current buildings and the management of this type of resource is becoming more of a priority for organisations. A project in this area would consist of constructing a theoretical model of energy use for a particular environment such as a house, flat, office or other institutional building using tools such as Excel and Visual Basic, and comparing the model's predictions with actual use.

__Data sharing for energy network use__ One way to reduce demand for mains electricity is to give consumers more information about costs and more control over their own energy use. This could take the form of a purely transactional system for scheduling the use of energy-hungry appliances, or a more collaborative system based on the negotiation amongst the members of a community. A project would involve the specification and design of appropriate systems making use of collaborative technologies such as relational databases, traditional Internet environments and mobile devices.

__Innovative teaching and learning applications__ Projects in this area would involve the identification of a specific issue in teaching, learning or both for which IT could provide a solution. The characterisation of the problem would be crucial to a project in this area so that the outcome can be properly evaluated. Projects could include the re-purposing of an existing platform or application, or the development of something original to satisfy the specific need.

Dr Tom Kane
__Business Intelligence__ Organisations use intelligence and they operate intelligently. Businesses are "artificial persons" and have protections under the law. The area of interest here is in what "intelligence" businesses accumulate, and how their corporate intelligence is applied in the real-world.

__Dialogues between Natural and Artificial Persons__ In a world of many artificial persons, many of which operate with deep psychological knowledge and up-to-date information about natural persons, this investigation is into the kinds of dialogues that do take place between natural and artificial persons, and those that might be possible.

__Managing Operational Change__ New technologies often radically alter business practices in very short spaces of time. This investigation is into the way companies watch out for "a need to change", and the process of applying radical change across the organisation.

__E-Health__ This investigation is into the use of open-source tools for e-health. In particular, the tasks of proving their worth, costing their support, and costing all other professional requirements surrounding an operational installation.

__Project Management and Consultancy__ This investigation is in to the area of transformational consultancy work and methods of project management where innovations are involved.

Debbie Meharg
__Enterprise Systems__ Projects in this area would involve an analysis of providers such as SAP, Oracle, open source and online. Projects could focus on several areas and would require a specific research questions around the area of innovation of enterprise systems, management of enterprise systems, user adoption of enterprise systems etc.

__Student transitions__ Projects in this area would examine tools and techniques suitable for supporting students joining university from college as direct entrants. Again this is a broad area and a specific research question would need to be developed but this could involve development of a specific piece of software, online tool, app etc.

__Business intelligence__ Projects in this area would examine recent developments in business intelligence/analytics and draw on specific examples such as the banking industry which has experienced digital transformation and benefited from efficiency savings. Comparisons could be drawn with less developed industries and suggestions made for future developments. Projects would require the development of specific research questions. Topics aligned to data warehousing and developments around this area are also of interest.

__Information systems__ Information Systems are fundamental for organisations and are constantly changing to keep up with IT developments, this is a challenge for all organisations. Specific research questions would need to be developed but possibilities could be an examination of the consumerisation of IT on organisations, how IS departments add value particularly in light of cloud developments, how IS departments can deliver digital transformation.

__App development__ Projects in app development would likely look at the development of an application to support students in some way or for use within the university.


 * Dr Laura Muir**

I am interested in supervising any **user-centred design** project. The following are just 2 examples but do come and have a chat about your ideas.

__Makerspaces, Hackerspaces, and Fab Labs__ (Fabrication Laboratories) are dedicated to democratising creative technologies as part of a growing movement to promote hands-on interactive social learning and entrepreneurship. These are well established in the USA and are increasing in number in the UK. They present a number of opportunities for interesting research projects. Some suggestions are: user interaction with creative technologies (e.g. 3D laser scanning and printing) in makerspaces, information flows and skills development in makerspaces, evaluation of existing and potential new technologies for makerspaces, research which focuses on the value of makerspaces for specific user groups or on a particular technology. However, you may also have your own ideas in this topic area which I am happy to discuss with you if you are interested.

__** Academic e-books **__ ( academic textbooks and monographs in electronic format) offer access to content in a format that could potentially be customised for different learning styles and reading preferences. However, previous research has shown that e-books have not been designed with accessibility and usability in mind. Problems with complex interfaces, unintuitive tools, cumbersome navigation, screen-reading fatigue, unhelpful search results, restrictive digital rights and lack of awareness are frequently cited as reasons for preference for print. This is a well-researched topic and there is a lot of literature to draw on for an Honours project. Potential areas for primary research include focus on e-book use by/design for computing students; evaluation of e-books for students with disability/learning support needs, design and testing of a new (conceptual) interface for e-books (e.g. a digital ‘bookshelf’) or any other ideas you may have on this topic.

Dr Colin Smith
__Social Commerce__ Projects looking at how social media has enabled new forms of B2C commercial interactions

__'Search' ecosystems in digital business__ Projects looking at how technologies developed by search engines are being used to create online commercial environments. Perceptions of customer privacy and potential surveillance are particularly relevant.

__Mobile Commerce__ The emergence of mobile as a preferred access point to digital services has challenged many businesses' online business models and created scope for whole new ways of thinking about how online channels can be used between businesses and customers. The emergence of 'blended' patterns where customer use of digital devices in-store might change 'offline' shopping is one current trend worth investigating.


 * Dr Gemma Webster**

__Well-being & Health__ Projects looking at improving peoples well-being or health through interactions with technology

__Community & Cultural Heritage__ Projects looking at the use of technology in community sustainability, engagement and/or widening access to cultural heritage.

 **Specific Project Ideas**

Project This project examines the scope for the development of project management training on a distance learning basis. It first of all examines to what extent training already exisits and what the different variants of online training are. It then looks to examine whther project management presents issues that pose particular problems for online training i.e. are thir particular skills development practices that can't be delivered on a distance learning basis. Two particular professional qualifications are examined - namely PRINCE2 and APM.

__Benefits of an Agile Development Approach__ Description: This project adopts a case study approach and examines the use of an Agile Methods as adopted by the IT department at the Scottish Parliament. The IT department is proceeding through a period of best practice consolidation and has adopted An Agile approach for its latest project. This project will be complete around March/April 2009 and the benefits and lessons learned will be assessed. This project looks at how the Agile approach has been implemented and will examine the how the different method of software delivery is intended to produce substantial benefits.

__Second Life as a vehicle for Project Management Training__ This project evaluates the potential for Second Life to be used as a means of training individuals in project management skills. Student would be expected to undertake the following analysis 1. Examination of computer simulations in management training. This would involve an historical analysis as well as current views 2. Identification and analysis of the different elements of computer simulations / virtual worlds that are regarded as being beneficial/problematic in management training. 3. Identification of particular requirements of project management training – what elements are similar and what elements differ from conventional management training. 4. Analysis of existing computer simulations that address project management training e.g. SimProject. 5. Examination of discussions relating to the use of Second Life as a management training tool and especially identification of elements and capabilities that could relate to project management training. 6. Comparative analysis -benefits, limitations etc of Second Life compared to current offerings 7. Indication of potential research directions in this area.

__Effective Training for IS Project Management__ Description: An analysis of the effectiveness of project management training and education. Organisations spend large amounts of money on project management training and yet there is little published evidence of any sort of assessment return on investment. This project examines organisational and senior management views on whether organisations can point to significant returns achieved through investing in project management training. The focus of research will be on training undertaken by IS project managers

__Mix of Technical & Project Management Skills in the IT sector in Scotland__ Description: This research topic looks specifically at project management and technical skill levels within the IS sector. It considers the level of management skills such as leadership, negotiation, personnel skills etc which are present within the IS domain. The IS domain recruits many project managers. However adverts for project managers always state the requirement for specific technical skills i.e. Java, .Net etc. If project management is a generic skill that is applicable across all industries, why then does the IS sector consistently specify non-management, technical skills as absolute pre-requisites. Is it because IS project managers are multi-tasking and fulfilling technical roles in addition to their project management responsibilities? Or is it because the technical awareness is crucial to the performance of their duties. These and other questions are addressed within this research topic.

__Project Management skills in the Financial Services Industry__ Description: This research topic looks at the characteristics of project management (PM)skills that are utilised within the financial services industry in Scotland. The research aims to identify what are the major PM skill sets that are required to operate effectively within the financial services area and further research will compare this with the computer games industry

__People Skills in IS Project Management__ Description: This research examines the particular skill sets that project managers need. Study focuses on the problems in training project managers and the recruitment issues relating to project management. This is set within the typical behavioural framework of democratic vs. autocratic management styles and the identification of those styles that are predominant within the IS project management role

__Project Management skills in the Computer Games Industry__ Description: This research topic looks at the characteristics of project management (PM)skills that are utilised within the computer games industry in Scotland. The research aims to identify what are the major PM skill sets that are required to operate effectively within the computer games industry. Further research will compare these skill sets with the financial services industry

__The Management of Project Knowledge__ When a project completes an organisation, benefits are twofold. Firstly it benefits from the product or the deliverable that the project has produced. Secondly the organisation has also benefited from the experiences, skills and knowledge of the project team. At the end of the project, group and personal knowledge has been generated and this shared knowledge ought to be disseminated throughout the organisation. This project examines the level of formal structure, processes and procedures that organisations have in place in order to facilitate the capture and dissemination of ‘project knowledge’.

__Virtual Environments for Project Management Education & Training__ This project examines the contribution that virtual environments and simulation games could make in providing "practical" experiences for students learning project management. The project would examine selected environments and examine their role-playing parameters and capabilities and determine whether there is sufficient flexibility, variety, control and capability to provide a potential project management learning environment. The objective will be to compare these virtual environment capabilities with the current capabilities as displayed by online project management simulation games such as SimProject This project involves substantial exploratory activity and necessitates considerable self-reliance and discipline on the part of the student.

Peter Cruickshank
__ Federated online identity __ Facebook and Twitter seem to have a virtual duopoly of how people present themselves online. What are the alternatives? Are there any options for a federated social space, rather than the monolithic databases we have become used to? What does that mean in terms of validated identity online (OpenAuth etc)?

How do people actually use federated online identities? (eg Which e-identities do ther link up, and which do they keep separate) This probably would require access to a real-world system and its logs.

__The relationship between identity and expectations of privacy__ There is general confusion about what is allowed or not allowed under current Data Protection law. Another approach might be to start from a user's current online identity/persona and then use that to define their privacy expecations. Project could involve surveys of different types of users when they are in different roles.

__Issues affecting take up of technology to support students by University staff and departments__ There are increasing expectations of technology by staff and students at Universities but at the same time there are a number of barriers to their adoption - technology, information literacy (of staff and students) and (importantly) organisational factors. What makes it worthwhile for staff and students to invest time in creating and using new technologies when the existing system works OK?

__What shapes (students') attitudes to compliance with the rules__ Organisations such as Edinburgh Napier University use information security policies (ISPs) to set out what is and isn't permissible behaviour. In the end though, it is down to the individual user to decide to obey the rules.
 * A project could survey Napier students (or use focus groups) to find out what factors shape awareness of or compliance with the Information Security Project and make recommendations for improvements.

__Gamification, inclusion and political participation__ Gamification as epitomised by Foursquare is a hot area for increasing customer engagement and sales. It has been a frequent complaint that many people feel disengaged from the political system - projects could
 * Explore the potential for using gamification ideas to increase political participation (e-participation).
 * Find and research the impact of existing attempts at gamification in this area - and the possible downsides of creating game-like incentives for activity.
 * There may be potential for development of mobile Apps to test some of the ideas.

__Combining social media and social network analysis (SNA) to understand a community__ Edinburgh has several IS-related communities (in the public and private sectors) which are active on social media such as Twitter. Projects could explore different aspects of how SNA can be used for understanding the existing and potential relationships relationships between the individuals and communities. Example projects could:
 * Explore how are relationships on twitter or Facebook reflected in 'real world' work and business?
 * Develop or adapt data-mining, analysis and visualisation tools to explore this area.
 * Explore the issues around identity and privacy expectations that arise for this public online interaction.

An alternative might be to identify an existing community, and evaluate how it uses social media as part of its activities/knowledge sharing


 * Please note I am not particularly interested in business social media policies or strategies.**

__ICT governance issues raised by the cloud and BYOD/mobile devices__ There is considerable pressure on larger organisations to open up the use of mobile devices by their staff while at work. Projects could explore the responses of the organisation (IT departments in particular) in terms of information security, risk management, compensatory controls etc.

Brian Davison
__Exploiting local authority data__ Edinburgh City Council collects large amounts of data and is always keen to discuss new way that data can be used, presented or otherwise exploited. A project in this area would explore the challenges of using Open Data, select a particular area of interest based on Council data, and would create an experimental prototype that adds value to existing Council services, either for the public user or for the Council itself. Examples might include the combination of datasets to provide new insights or the visualisation of data in a novel way.

__Domestic energy modeller__ The student would create a model of domestic energy use based on the appliances in the house or flat using Excel and a compatible language for extensions such as Visual Basic. The purpose would be to deliver a configurable tool for predicting energy use and costs, and to identify possible savings through appliance replacement or behavioural change. The performance of the model would be evaluated through comparison with actual usage in a selected environment such as the student's own flat.

__ Improvisor __ Technologies such as PowerPoint are widely used in education, but are only suitable for planned, linear presentations. This limits the presenter's ability to adapt the material for a specific audience. This project would develop a system for managing a collection of smaller content items consisting of individual diagrams or slides which would be tagged with metadata. Using the standard voice recognition features in Windows, the system would constantly monitor the presenter's words and provide a dynamic list of assets which the presenter can choose from. This is a complex project that would involve the integration of several component systems, and would provide a challenge for a sufficiently motivated student.

Hazel Hall

 * Projects:**
 * Information and knowledge sharing
 * Knowledge Management
 * Online communities and collaboration
 * Library and information science research
 * Research impact
 * Gender issues in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM)

You can find Hazel's web site at [], and in particular her profile at []

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