Distance education in information security has unique requirements in comparison to on-campus education. For instance, an online InfoSec lab is required to provide hands-on education to distance students while development and operation of a lab is a non-trivial problem. There is a need to understand the nature of the online InfoSec labs as ensemble artifacts, and just a black-box tool’s view is not enough. This article suggests a conceptual model to explain the ensemble view of the online InfoSec lab. In doing so, the paper makes two specific contributions: First, it conceptualizes the online Information Security (InfoSec) lab as an ensemble artifact so that we can unfold the black-box view of an InfoSec lab and understand the important building blocks (entities of the lab) and their interrelationships. Second, it suggests design principles to implement the conceptual model of an InfoSec lab.

The aim of participatory development (PD) in the context of ICT for development (ICT4D) is to empower the underprivileged communities and the disadvantaged segment of the stakeholders. The literature in ICT4D is replete with empirical evidence that shows how ICT interventions often fail because they are initiated from outside with no involvement from the affected (Heeks, 2002). Clearly, principles and concepts from PD are relevant in ICT4D arena. However, we should not consider PD as a panacea, but need to understand the caveats and the process by which PD happens. Questions such as; what are the various challenges in PD, who are the relevant stakeholders, why and how do the actors enroll in the project, and how do we create sustainable ICT4D projects through PD need attention. To understand this research quest, we present a case analysis of a project in Nepal called Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP). Drawing on our findings and the specific initiatives that it enabled – telemedicine, education and jobs – we propose that the key participants are activist actors and the affected, and that the activists draw upon existing social capital to enroll the affected through a process explained by ANT. In the process, they build other forms of social capital, which in turn extend the benefits of PD to several mountain villages.

There is one aspect of globalization of IT work that appears only in fleeting glimpses in the mainstream IS literature and is sidelined in the discourse in general. If global IT work is painted mainly as outsourcing IT-infused work from developed countries to poorer countries (euphemistically referred to as “low income countries”), shouldn’t the development of capabilities in these very same less-developed countries be a vital cog? Simply put, if these countries do not have a capable workforce, IT work, or any other work for that matter, cannot be outsourced to these countries. The question then is how can capabilities be developed in developing countries? In this research-in-progress paper, we address this question by examining a case of an activist-led initiative in Nepal called “Open Learning Exchange” (OLE in short) that used the capabilities of ICTs to deliver quality education to remote mountainous regions of Nepal. We collected data through interviews and group sessions as well as observations and document analyses. We are currently analyzing the data at both the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, we are using models from the IS training literature to gain an understanding of how training concepts developed in the West can explain the success of the initiative. Then we move to the macro level by shifting our interpretive gaze to the concept of “eco-system” in order to understand the role of the society and the surroundings in the implementation of capability building initiatives in developing countries and sustaining them.

In this paper, we reported an online InfoSec Lab based on initial design principles derived from kernel theories such as Conversational Framework (CF), Constructive Alignment (CA), and Personalized System of Instruction (PSI). The overall research was conducted using the action design research approach. In doing so, the iterative cycles and critical reflections during the process helped to refine a set of existing design principles. The study contributes to the IS community by providing design principles for an online InfoSec Lab that utilizes state-of-the art technology for mixed classrooms.

The article contributes to the ongoing discussion on relating information and communication technology (ICT) to development (D). The quest to relate ICT to D is a topic of open deliberation and critical scrutiny in ICT4D research communities. To enhance the understanding in this regard, we conducted a literature review. The review examines 80 articles to identify various development theories and the role of technologies in the development process. While scanning the articles, Sen’s capability approach (CA) emerged as a suitable framework with which to explore the link between ICT and D. To show the relevance of the link, we used the CA as a guiding framework, and reanalyzed ten empirical case studies focusing on projects in remote and rural areas. Furthermore, the article suggests six gaps in the current research, and, accordingly, six areas for future research.

Living Lab (LL) has been used as a milieu as well as methodology for open innovation. However, the impression of living lab as a research methodology among academia is still blurring. The living lab carries many elements of design science re-search paradigm such as innovation, artifact, evaluation, design principles, etc. how-ever it still needs conceptual underpinning to proclaim it as a valid DSR methodology. The peculiarity of the living lab approach compare to existing DSR methodologies is its openness, co-creation, and evaluation of IT artifacts beyond organizational context. With the continual growth of open innovation platforms, the living lab as a DSR methodologies can play a supplementary role along with its other companion such as DS, AR, and ADR. In this regard, this paper will provide a conceptual clarity in estab-lishing the living lab as a DSR methodology in the context of open innovation and co-creation of IT artifact that goes beyond organizational setup.

Overcoming shortages of teachers or teachers with required skills and experience is a major challenge in rural schools in the global south. We investigate a classroom video conference multi-casting project under development by the Nepal Wireless Networking Project. Our case study draws on one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions from three areas and 10 village research sites in Nepal. An analytical framework which combines the capability approach, institutions theory and ICTs is used. We found that multi-casting projects in the health domain (eHealth projects) focus on capacity building for rural health workers. Despite concerns about the quality of health outreach workers, they were central to eHealth project design. In contrast, teachers were not afforded such a central role in the classroom multi-casting project. Teachers were being sidelined or replaced, rather than being seen as an essential asset to the project. The main contribution of this paper is to enhance understanding of how multi-casting projects can enable or inhibit educational capabilities with regard to health and education in mountainous regions of developing countries.

Teaching cases can be instrumental in developing skills of critical analysis, problem solving and strategic thinking in students, especially in specific contexts such as Information Systems (IS). While cases are widely used in the curricula of graduate and undergraduate programs in developed countries, there is a lack of teaching cases set in developing countries, particularly in the area of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). In this paper, we address this gap by telling the story of the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and its effort to connect villages in remote areas of Nepal to the outside world. Despite lack of access to proper equipment, lack of technical competence and the difficult terrain in the Himalayan mountains, Mahabir Pun, the initiator of NWNP, succeeded in bringing Internet access to these villages, contributing to improvements in education, health services and income generating activities. The case describes the development of NWNP from inception until today, the stakeholders involved, services provided, current challenges and ideas for future improvements. Furthermore the case illustrates the importance of the champion, the process of committing important stakeholders, the importance of contextual understanding, and the challenges while scaling up from pilot projects to wider implementations in the context of developing countries.

There is a lack of theoretical understanding of information security risk practices. For example, the information security risks related literatures are dominated by instrumental approach to protect the information assets. This approach, however, often fails to acknowledge the ideologies and consequences of risks practices. In this paper, through critical analysis, we suggest various perspectives to advance the understanding in this regard. In doing so, we present our argument by reviewing the security risk literature using Habermas’s concept of four orientations: instrumental, strategic, communicative and discursive. The contribution of this paper is to develop conceptual clarity of the risk related ideologies and its consequences on emancipation.

Design Science Research (DSR) methods are much debated by the IS community with regard to outcome and research process. This debate creates ambiguity for the novice researchers in terms of selecting appropriate DSR methods. To address this ambiguity, this essay proposes a framework for classifying the DSR methods by providing conceptual clarity about DSR outcome and DSR research process. The proposed framework creates a taxonomy differentiating between outcomes as a priori formulated or emergent through contextual interaction, likewise, viewing the research process as deductive or abductive. The taxonomy provides guidance to the researchers before embarking any DSR projects. The essay contributes to the on-going discussion on utilization of the DSR methods in DSR projects.