New learning network paradigms: Communities of objectives, crowdsourcing, wikis and open source

Expected Health Benefits as the Ultimate Outcome of Information Available on Stroke Engine, a Knowledge Translation Stroke Rehabilitation Website: Web-Based Survey

BACKGROUND

Electronic knowledge resources are readily available and typically target different audiences, including health professionals and the public, that is, those with lived experience and their relatives. The knowledge-to-action framework, in combination with the information assessment method (IAM), considering both the value-of-information construct and the conceptual model of acquisition-cognition-application, can be used to support the evaluation process of such resources. As an example, Stroke Engine is an evidence-based knowledge translation resource in stroke rehabilitation (assessments and interventions) for health professionals and students as well as individuals who have sustained a stroke and their relatives. According to Google Analytics, the website is perused >10,000 times per week.

OBJECTIVE

With the overall aim to improve the content available on Stroke Engine, we documented Stroke Engine users' perceptions of situational relevance, cognitive impact, intention to use, and expected patient and health benefits regarding the information consulted.

METHODS

A web-based survey anchored in the IAM was made available via an invitation tab. The IAM is a validated questionnaire that is designed to assess the value of information. Sociodemographic characteristics were also collected, and a space for free-text comments was provided. Descriptive statistics were used, and thematic analysis was used for the free-text comments.

RESULTS

The sample consisted of 6634 respondents. Health professionals (3663/6634, 55.22%) and students (2784/6634, 41.97%) represented 97.18% (6447/6634) of the total responses. The remaining 2.82% (187/6634) of the responses were from individuals who had sustained a stroke (87/6634, 1.31%) and their relatives (100/6634, 1.51%). Regarding situational relevance, assessments (including selecting, obtaining, and interpreting results from a test) was the main topic searched by health professionals (1838/3364, 54.64%) and students (1228/2437, 50.39%), whereas general information on stroke rehabilitation was the top-ranked topic for nearly two-thirds of the individuals with stroke (45/76, 59%) and their relatives (57/91, 63%). Cognitive impact was characterized by learning something new. Intention to use was high (4572/6379, 71.67%) among the respondents and varied in context (eg, refine a topic, research, class assignments, teaching, and education). Respondents commented on ways to improve content. Expected patient and health benefits such as improvement in health and well-being was the top-ranked category for all 4 subgroups, followed by the avoidance of unnecessary or inappropriate treatment for health professionals (183/623, 29.4%) and a feeling of being reassured for individuals with stroke (26/75, 35%) and their relatives (28/97, 29%).

CONCLUSIONS

Valuable feedback on Stroke Engine was obtained in terms of its accessibility, relevance for informational needs and retrieval, accuracy, and applicability; however, of utmost importance is the potential implementation of its evidence-based content in clinical practice and the perceived expected impact on patients, their relatives, and their health professionals. The feedback received allowed for corrections and the identification of key topics for further development.

Verbal vs. Nonverbal Cues in Static and Dynamic Contexts of Fraud Detection in Crowdsourcing

As an important mode of open innovation, crowdsourcing can effectively integrate external resources, enabling enterprises to obtain stronger competitiveness and more benefits at a faster speed and lower cost. However, this mode has inevitable intellectual property protection challenges, especially on contest-based crowdsourcing platforms. Previous studies mostly focused on the protection of the rights of sponsors while ignoring the rights of workers, rarely paying attention to sponsor fraud, which may reduce the enthusiasm of participants and eventually turn crowdsourcing;' into a lemon market. This study proposes several fraud detection models to address this problem on contest-based crowdsourcing platforms. Furthermore, this paper explores and compares the value of four types of information as deception cues in crowdsourcing contexts via data mining technology and machine learning methods. The results benefit participants in crowdsourcing markets and contribute to fraud detection research and open innovation in the knowledge economy.

Crowdsourcing and open innovation: a systematic literature review, an integrated framework and a research agenda

In recent years, Open Innovation (OI) and crowdsourcing have been very popular topics in the innovation management literature, attracting significant interest and attention, and inspiring a rich production of publications. Although these two topics share common themes and address similar managerial challenges, to the best of our knowledge, there is no systematic literature review that digs deep into the intersection of both fields. To fill in this gap a joint review of crowdsourcing and OI topics is both timely and of interest. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to carry out a comprehensive, systematic, and objective review of academic research to help shed light on the relationship between OI and crowdsourcing. For this purpose, we reviewed the literature published on these two topics between 2008 and 2019, applying two bibliometric techniques, co-citation and co-word analysis. We obtained the following results: (i) we provide a qualitative analysis of the emerging and trending themes, (ii) we discuss a characterization of the intersection between OI and crowdsourcing, identifying four dimensions (strategic, managerial, behavioral, and technological), (iii) we present a schematic reconceptualization of the thematic clusters, proposing an integrated view. We conclude by suggesting promising opportunities for future research.

How Open Innovation Practices Deliver Societal Benefits

Open innovation practices have the potential to benefit society greatly. Bridging the research on open innovation, diffusion of innovation and responsible innovation, this study investigates how open innovation practices can foster societal benefits. Elaborating on potential benefit gaps and detrimental effects of innovation, the study proposes six distinct innovation attributes to deliver societal benefits: (I) adequate information and communication channels, (II) affordability, (III) appropriateness and availability, (IV) anticipation in terms of appropriate and reflexive risk assessment, (V) accountability in terms of adequate cost allocation of detrimental side effects, and (VI) sustainable path creation for transitions towards societal and environmental sustainability. Ten different open innovation practices are assessed drawing on our own and other published empirical insights. This assessment provides insights into which features of the practices support social benefits. Based on this assessment, we propose a typology of three different practices in relation to societal benefits and discuss how they address the six innovation attributes. Providing rich insights into which practices deliver societal benefits through which features, this study makes a significant contribution to existing research on open innovation, responsible innovation, inclusive and social innovation. Some practical implications and directions for further research are provided.

Analysis of Enterprise Sustainable Crowdsourcing Incentive Mechanism Based on Principal-Agent Model

The utilization of crowdsourcing to acquire distant knowledge is increasing. In the new product development process, sustainable crowdsourcing is an effective way to exploit both external and internal resources to boost enterprise innovation quality and the efficiency of the competitive edge of macro tasks in a relatively long cycle. The challenge of sustainable crowdsourcing is how to design a proper incentive mechanism to achieve the maximum initiator profit and, at the same time, satisfy the solver’s motivation so that they can continuously participate in the innovation process. In two situations, including a single motivation and multiple motivations of the solver, this paper analyzed the impact of a few factors on the initiator’s profit and the incentive coefficient for the solver based on the Principal–Agent Model. From the model and simulation results, the solver’s incentive coefficient is positively correlated to the solver’s work quality and negatively correlated to the uncertainty of the enterprise operation, the solver’s Effort Cost, the solver’s degree of risk aversion, etc. If the initiator is more sensitive to the benefits of the solver’s intrinsic motivation, the monetary incentive will be higher. The research results provide a theoretical basis to quantify the initiator’s expected profit and design a proper incentive plan for the solver. Finally, the conclusions offer practical guidance for enterprise to execute incentive plans for sustainable crowdsourcing from the perspective of the solver’s motivation.

A Web-Based Platform for Competence Development in PBL Supervision

In this article, the authors describe the development of, and ongoing experiences with, PBL Exchange, a web-platform whose goal is to facilitate the transfer and development of knowledge and skills within the field of PBL project supervision by means of a web-based crowdsourcing approach that makes it easy to exchange and discuss one's specific problems and experience with project supervision. PBL Exchange is a closed expert crowdsourcing forum where experts are guiding other experts towards solving the problems that they have: The users of the system are project supervisors at Aalborg University. A major conclusion is the community building has been a challenge, and this article describes ongoing efforts to address this.

Success of Social Media Marketing Efforts in Retaining Sustainable Online Consumers: An Empirical Analysis on the Online Fashion Retail Market

This research examines the overall performance achievement of social media marketing (SMM) in Bangladesh by determining whether social media is successful in creating brand consciousness (i.e., brand preference, brand attachment, brand association, and brand loyalty) toward online consumers, which in turn may lead to buying commitment. In total, 564 Bangladeshi consumers were surveyed to monitor their responsiveness toward social media-aided motivations. We selected the online buying environment in Bangladesh, which is an emerging market established less than one decade ago. We specifically choose the entire local fashion industry as our target market, excluding the websites of international fashion brands operated overseas. We used the holistic concept of the five aspects of SMM, namely, interaction, entertainment, customization, electronic word of mouth (eWOM), and trendiness. Moreover, we statistically calculated the performance of social media through the consequences of five measures, namely, brand loyalty, brand preference, brand attachment, brand association, and buying commitment. We used regular linear multiple regression, correlation, and descriptive statistics to obtain statistical results. The study found strong evidence that SMM efforts (SMMEs) of the local Bangladeshi fashion industry are successful in establishing consumer attachment and preference. However, they fail to secure committed buyers when the measurement scale is below 50%. In line with the results of previous studies on consumer loyalty, our results demonstrate that SMMEs fail to create committed buyers. Lack of loyalty and association drive consumers to become uncommitted buyers.

Workplace democracy and psychological capital: a paradigm shift in workplace

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the role of workplace democracy in generating psychological capital, which is an inevitable paradigm for the contemporary organizations. The study also provides a conceptual framework which connotes the nexus between the two constructs.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is qualitative in nature and uses content analysis to identify the determinants of workplace democracy and psychological capital. Furthermore, the study used SPSS macro, i.e. PROCESS, a computational tool for calculating inter-coder reliability by using KALPHA, i.e. Krippendorff’s alpha reliability estimate (Hayes, 2013; Krippendorff, 2011).

Findings

The present study adds to the literature by signaling the dire need for building democratic workplaces and offers significant insights for the management and human resource practitioners to cultivate workplace democracy to build their employees’ psychological strengths, which in turn will result in enhanced organizational outcomes.

Originality/value

The present study brings attention toward the necessity for a shift in the generic organizational strategies and instigate organizations to nurture a democratic setup for developing employees’ psychological capital.

The open source guild: creating more sustainable enterprise?

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on an action research project with two emergent micro-businesses that explored how their business model connected with the principles of open source.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first gained initial qualitative data to establish the core values of each micro-business, which the authors then explored in the context of open source and business models in two design workshops with each organisation.

Findings

The authors developed the open source guild business model, which has the elements of: building a focal micro-business with resources secured through the guild, promoting learning and development through apprenticeship, promoting shared values through a commons of experience and capturing value by protecting key intellectual property.

Research limitations/implications

This research was undertaken with two emergent micro-businesses in the North West of England. Further research will be needed to establish the wider applicability of the open source guild model.

Practical implications

The open source guild model can be a mechanism for an emergent micro-business to create a community around their values and grow their business without conventional external investment of resources.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the literature on business models based on open source and how these models can be sustainable in terms of the quadruple bottom line, which extends the triple bottom line to include personal values and meaning.

Safecast: successful citizen-science for radiation measurement and communication after Fukushima

The Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, which began on 11 March 2011, provided a crucial opportunity to evaluate the state of preparation on the part the powerplant operator (TEPCO), relevant Japanese government agencies, and international oversight bodies, to gather necessary information on radiation risks quickly and to share it with those tasked with emergency response as well as with the general public. The inadequacy of this preparation and the chaotic nature of inter-agency and inter-governmental communication has been well noted in several official reports on the disaster. In response, Safecast, an international, volunteer-based organization devoted to monitoring and openly sharing information on environmental radiation and other pollutants, was initiated on 12 March 2011, one day following the start of the accident. Since then the group has implemented participatory, open-source, citizen-science-centered radiation mapping solutions developed through a process of collaborative open innovation. The information Safecast provided has proven useful to experts, to policy makers, and to the public. This paper briefly describes the methodology and toolsets Safecast has developed and deployed, as well as organizational and social aspects, and summarizes key results obtained to date. In addition, it discusses appropriate criteria for evaluating the success of citizen-science efforts like Safecast, and places it in context with other non-governmental radiation monitoring efforts.

Actional Intelligence, a Key Element for Actioning Knowledge. A Field Study Analysis

This paper develops a framework based on a new construct, actional intelligence, and highlights the key elements involved: individual and organisational value alignment and open learning attitudes. It analyses the relationships between them and the individual performance in the organisation. The model is tested using Smart partial least squares (PLS) with a sample of 175 employees in a large organisation belonging to the cosmetics sector. This research also analyses whether these constructs contribute to the organisational performance of individuals. This paper contributes to developing the seminal ideas of actionable knowledge proposed by Argyris and other academics. It concludes with practical implications that justify the use of knowledge management (KM) by managers in organisations. On the other hand, it provides a better understanding of the KM process and its systematisation. It covers the research gap related to actioning of knowledge of previous methods and signifies a more practical and understandable approach to KM and a closer perspective to business.

Citizen Sensors for SHM: Towards a Crowdsourcing Platform

This paper presents an innovative structural health monitoring (SHM) platform in terms of how it integrates smartphone sensors, the web, and crowdsourcing. The ubiquity of smartphones has provided an opportunity to create low-cost sensor networks for SHM. Crowdsourcing has given rise to citizen initiatives becoming a vast source of inexpensive, valuable but heterogeneous data. Previously, the authors have investigated the reliability of smartphone accelerometers for vibration-based SHM. This paper takes a step further to integrate mobile sensing and web-based computing for a prospective crowdsourcing-based SHM platform. An iOS application was developed to enable citizens to measure structural vibration and upload the data to a server with smartphones. A web-based platform was developed to collect and process the data automatically and store the processed data, such as modal properties of the structure, for long-term SHM purposes. Finally, the integrated mobile and web-based platforms were tested to collect the low-amplitude ambient vibration data of a bridge structure. Possible sources of uncertainties related to citizens were investigated, including the phone location, coupling conditions, and sampling duration. The field test results showed that the vibration data acquired by smartphones operated by citizens without expertise are useful for identifying structural modal properties with high accuracy. This platform can be further developed into an automated, smart, sustainable, cost-free system for long-term monitoring of structural integrity of spatially distributed urban infrastructure. Citizen Sensors for SHM will be a novel participatory sensing platform in the way that it offers hybrid solutions to transitional crowdsourcing parameters.

“Problem‐sourcing”: a re‐framing of open innovation for R&D organisations

Purpose

While the benefits of open innovation (OI) and crowdsourcing (CS) for solutions to R&D problems have been widely promoted in the last ten years, their appropriateness for organisations specialising in providing R&D services has not been explicitly considered. This paper aims to examine an R&D organisation's response to increased adoption of OI and CS, highlight their drawbacks in this context, and analyse how and why the alternative of problem‐sourcing (PS) proved more effective.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides an in‐depth documentation and analysis of an initiative called: The “What's Your Problem New Zealand?” (WYPNZ) challenge. The use of a single case and qualitative approach allows the development of an illustrative, rich description and is suited to studying unique and novel events.

Findings

In the context of professional R&D organisations, a range of benefits of CS for R&D problems rather than solutions were identified, including generating a potential pipeline of projects and clients as well as avoiding the challenge to the professional status of the organisation's research capability. An unexpected side‐effect was that the reputation of the research organisation as open, accessible and helpful was greatly enhanced. The success of the PS approach to CS for R&D provides insight into how some of the pitfalls of OI/CS can be better understood and potentially managed.

Originality/value

The PS model provided by the “WYPNZ” initiative represents a new strategic possibility for R&D organisations that complements their traditional competencies by drawing on the openness that OI and CS seek to leverage. As such, it can provide insights for other organisations wishing to make use of the connectivity afforded by OI/CS in an alternative mode to that typically in use and reported in the literature.

Comparison of crowdsourcing translation with Machine Translation

In this paper we examine the model of crowdsourcing for translation and compare it with Machine Translation (MT). The large volume of material to be translated, the translation of this material into many languages combined with tight deadlines lead enterprises today to follow either crowdsourcing and/or MT. Crowdsourcing translation shares many characteristics with MT, as both can cope with high volume, perform at high speed, and reduce the translation cost. MT is an older technology, whereas crowdsourcing is a new phenomenon gaining much ground over time, mainly through Web 2.0. Examples and challenges of both models will be discussed and the paper is closed with future prospects regarding the combination of crowdsourcing and MT, so that they are not regarded as opponents. These prospects are partially based on the results of a survey we conducted. Based on our background, experience, and research, this paper covers aspects both from the point of view of translation studies and computational linguistics applications as well as of information sciences, and particularly the development of the Web regarding user-generated content.

Designing and deploying a ‘compact’ crowdsourcing infrastructure: A case study

The Web 2.0 phenomenon of ‘crowdsourcing’ is now an accepted means of enabling ‘democratic’ content creation and the validation and authorization of content online. However, the technical implementation of crowdsourcing systems is not without its challenges. Systems designed to accommodate extremely large crowds are easier to equip with techniques that exploit the signal to noise ratio to derive useful output. For smaller groups it is often less a matter of filtering out noise and more a matter of filtering out single voices clamouring to dominate discussion through barnstorming tactics or system circumvention. This article discusses and analyses a case study focused on the design and deployment of a ‘compact’ crowdsourcing infrastructure, a design specifically intended to subvert and overcome the shortcomings of applying well-proven large-scale collaborative methods to a recognizably smaller group.