Here is a list of the on-going and past projects of the IS group:
How can a model-driven, multi-channel prototype process support system for mobile work developed on top of existing components and evaluated?
Model-Supported Multi-Channel Mobile Work (M3W) is a project financed by The Norwegian Research Council (NFR) under the VERDIKT program from January 2006 to December 2009. It supports 3 Ph D students who started in 2006. Project manager is Professor John Krogstie at IDI, NTNU. Other people involved are Professor Guttorm Sindre at IDI, NTNU and Professor Andreas Opdahl at Infomedia, UiB. (more)
Why and how do organisations use models when changing their processes?
Despite the importance of process modelling for business process management and related tasks, there are few empirical studies of process-modelling practice available and few theories that can guide and organise such empirical studies. The PMP project aims to contribute towards a theory of process-modelling practice that can inform both practitioners and researchers. The project so far has focussed on Norwegian enterprises, centering around a model of process-modelling practice that focusses on the relations between process-modelling purpose, process-modelling process, model artefact, process-modelling outcome as well as initial and eventual modelling and process maturity.
Project participants are Jon Iden and Andreas L. Opdahl from the University of Bergen and Tom R. Eikebrokk and Dag H. Olsen from Agder University College. (more)
The Unified Enterprise Modelling Language (UEML) is an ongoing effort to develop an intermediate language for modelling enterprises and related domains, such as information systems. The aim is to support integrated use of enterprise and information systems (IS) models expressed using different languages. Whereas an initial version of UEML was established in the UEML-TN Thematic Network (2002-2003), a revision and extension was carried out as part of the Interop-NoE Network of Excellence (2003-2007). This revision an extension is now continuing outside Interop-NoE. (more)
''Interoperability Research for Networked Enterprises Applications and Software"
INTEROP (2003-2007) was a Network of Excellence supported by the European Commission for a three-year-period. INTEROP aimed to create the conditions of an innovative and competitive research in the domain of Interoperability for Enterprise Applications and Software. (more)
The Unified Enterprise Modelling Language (UEML) is an ongoing effort to develop an intermediate language for modelling enterprises and related domains, such as information systems. The aim is to support integrated use of enterprise and information systems (IS) models expressed using different languages. An initial version of UEML was established in the UEML-TN Thematic Network (2002-2003). (more)
How can security-related threats and requirements to information systems be captured at the early stages of development?
Misuse case analysis was proposed for early elicitation and specification of security threats and requirements. The technique contains diagrams and textual specifications that are variants of the better known use cases, except that misuse cases specify behaviour that is not wanted in the proposed system, such as malicious attacks. The main idea is to capture security issues early in the project and to make it easier for participants to think clearly and openly about security threats by taking the perspective of the attacker and visualising how (positive) use cases and (negative) misuse cases are related. (more)
How can collaborative tools for structured, distributed argumentation be developed and evaluated?
A series of Master theses at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies have implemented and evaluated prototype collaborative tools for distributed discussions. The tools have been based on existing theory on the structure of and norms for good argumentation. The most recent tools have been implemented in Java, one of them using web services. The tools have been evaluated experimentally using a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures. (more)
How can theories from philosophical ontology aid formation and evaluation of theories and tools for integrated model management?
A series of papers have used Bunge's ontological model and the Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) model of information systems (and a few other comparable theories, Chisholm's common-sense ontology and the FRISCO framework) to analyse enterprise and IS modelling languages. The ultimate purpose was to prepare those languages for being incorporated into the facet-modelling framework. (More recently, however, the goal has shifted to instead incorporating the analysed languages into UEML.)
Exploring the future of interactive television
Several Master theses at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies have studied interactive TV applications, such as personalisation portals and augmented sports and weather services. The studies were conducted in relation to national broadcaster TV2.
Can IS development models be used to generate context-rich documentation for final systems?
A pair of Master theses have investigated how enterprise models originally established during information systems development can be used to generate hypertext documentation for the final system. The hypertext documentation differs from regular documentation in that it emphasises the context of the system - including the organisational goals and strategies it supports, the work processes it supports, the organisation units and roles that uses it, the structure of the information it contains etc. - depending on the available enterprise models.
How can models of enterprises and their information systems developed for multiple purposes and covering multiple perspectives be managed in an integrated way?
Facet modelling is an approach to multi-perspective multi-usage enterprise modelling, which supports tightly integrated representation of problem domains from multiple perspectives. In the last years, many of the main ideas behind facet modelling have been adapted by the UEML2 work.
How can a structured approach for IS-architecture work be developed and evaluated?
RAISA ("Representation, Assessment and Improvement of Information Systems (IS) Architectures") comprises a position, a method, a representation framework, a modelling tool and an alignment model for managing how an enterprise organises its information processes and information resources. For example, the RAISA methodology addresses to what extent and according to which principles an enterprise should centralise or decentralise its applications, databases etc. along with the associated responsibilities for development, maintenance and such. The project was a cooperation with BI in Oslo and ran from 1994 to 1998. (more)
European Network of Excellence on requirements determination
RENOIR was a Network of Excellence, established within the Fourth Framework Programme (FP4) of the European Union, from 1997 to 2000. It was a network of research groups, each with established excellence in the area of requirements engineering, funded through the FP4 provisions for research and technology development in information technology, collectively known as ESPRIT. (more)