Seng Wai Loke, Leon Sterling and Liz Sonenberg
Finding specific information on the Web can be difficult and time‐consuming due to the Web’s tremendous size and the current speed of network connections. Information agents that…
Abstract
Finding specific information on the Web can be difficult and time‐consuming due to the Web’s tremendous size and the current speed of network connections. Information agents that search the Web on behalf of users are invaluable. Since information needs are diverse, there should be tools for users to build their own agents that specialize in finding the information they want. These tools should be usable by non‐programmers. This paper describes ARIS, a shell for constructing information agents without coding. Our approach is akin to expert system shells, where the user supplies the knowledge for each specialist agent, and a common engine utilizes the agents’ knowledge. An agent’s search is guided by knowledge about how Web sites in a given domain are typically structured. We also report on our experiences with two agents built using ARIS.
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Jenny Waycott, Rens Scheepers, Hilary Davis, Steve Howard and Liz Sonenberg
The purpose of this paper is to examine how pregnant women with type 1 diabetes integrate new information technology (IT) into their health management activities, using activity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how pregnant women with type 1 diabetes integrate new information technology (IT) into their health management activities, using activity theory as an analytical framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is a multiple case design, based on interviews with 15 women with type 1 diabetes who were pregnant, considering pregnancy, or had recently given birth. A thematic analysis, sensitised by activity theory, was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Health management in this setting involves negotiations and contradictions across boundaries of interacting activities. Participants play an active role in managing their health and using new IT tools in particular ways to support their health management. Using new technologies creates both opportunities and challenges. IT-enabled healthcare devices and other information systems open up new treatment possibilities, but also generate new contradictions between interacting activity systems.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted with a small sample in a specific context of health management. Further research is needed to extend the findings to other contexts.
Practical implications
Healthcare providers need to accommodate a bottom-up approach to the adoption and use of new technologies in settings where empowered patients play an active role in managing their health.
Originality/value
The findings highlight opportunities to further develop activity theory to accommodate the central role that individuals play in resolving inherent contradictions and achieving alignment between multiple interacting activity systems when incorporating new IT tools into health management activities.