Mid Sweden University

A common problem with implementation of new communications hardware is that it is difficult to predict their effects on the information flow in an organisation. This leads to hardware investments, which are at best based on qualified guesses that they will improve the situation, and at worst based on half-pronounced promises from the local computer salesman. To help this problem it would be desirable to be able to simulate the information flow in an organisation in such a way that the effects of new hardware implementations could be studied. As the information flow in an organisation can be said to be a complex system, a Cellular Automata (CA) approach is appropriate to build such a simulation. CA approaches have been used for several simulations of complex situations before, as an example, models of combat (Dockery, and Woodcock, 1993) and models of traffic flow (Wahle, et al, 1999). In order to create a simulation, behaviour and information flows must be analysed and formalised using a computer-parsable notation language.

When designing information systems, it would be good to be able to compare alternatives. However, information systems are complex phenomena as they encompass the humans involved in distributing the information. One possible way of making comparisons would be through simulation. Having constructed a prototype for such a simulation we have seen that the traditional approaches, such as Cellular Automata, utilized within the social simulations field are usable but not sufficient. However, the newer agent-based approaches show more promise. We conclude that in order to make simulations of our kind possible, the new technologies, such as multi-agent systems, need be adapted and extended. One of the pieces missing is an agent-based infrastructure building on anticipatory principles for agent information behavior.

The design of organisational information systems is a study of the complex. An organisational information system in the Human Activity System sense, is the sum total of all that contributes to distributing information within an organisation. This includes the human actors participating in the system. Managing information about such a system is a difficult task. Technical support for measuring organisational information systems and comparing different ideas about organisational information systems would thus be useful. A high-level simulation of information systems could be such a technical support. There are a number of issues making such a simulation infeasible today. These mainly arise from the complexity of the simulation model, and in consequence of the data input problem. However, by introducing isomorphism and object templates, it is possible to solve some of these problems. In order to utilise these approaches, a framework for isomorphic simulations need to be developed.

One way of studying social processes is through the use of simulations. The use of simulations for this purpose has been established as its own field, social simulations, and has been used for studying a variety of phenomena. A simulation of a social setting can serve as an aid for thinking about that social setting, and for experimenting with different parameters and studying the outcomes caused by them. When using the simulation as an aid for thinking and experimenting, the chosen simulation approach will implicitly steer the simulationist towards thinking in a certain fashion in order to fit the model. To study the implications of model choice on the understanding of a setting where human anticipation comes into play, a simulation scenario of a coffee room was constructed using three different simulation approaches: Cellular Automata, Systems Dynamics and Agent-based modeling. The practical implementations of the models were done in three different simulation packages: Stella for Systems Dynamic, CaFun for Cellular Automata and SesAM for Agent-based modeling. The models were evaluated both using Randers' criteria for model evaluation, and through introspection where the authors reflected upon how their understanding of the scenario was steered through the model choice. Further the software used for implementing the simulation models was evaluated, and practical considerations for the choice of software package are listed. It is concluded that the models have very different strengths. The Agent-based modeling approach offers the most intuitive support for thinking about and modeling a social setting where the behavior of the individual is in focus. The Systems Dynamics model would be preferable in situations where populations and large groups would be studied as wholes, but where individual behavior is of less concern. The Cellular Automata models would be preferable where processes need to be studied from the basis of a small set of very simple rules. It is further concluded that in most social simulation settings the Agent-based modeling approach would be the probable choice. This since the other models does not offer much in the way of supporting the modeling of the anticipatory behavior of humans acting in an organization.

In order to construct a quantitative model of an information system, an operational definition of "information" is needed. This operational definition needs to mold the concept into a quantitative entity. There are many differend definitions of information already, but they have been formulated with other purposes. In this article the concept of operation is operationally defined with the long-term purpose of building simulation model of an information system where the human actors are considered part of the system. The concept is discussed from the viewpoint of earlier definitions, related concepts, things that happen to it and its various aspects. The curriculum of information is reformulated into quantitative terms, in order to finally arrive in a new definition of information within the current context: Information is an explicitly constructed message, always ultimately constructed by a sentient being. Along with describing the properties assigned to this entity, it is believed that it would be possible to construct a quantitative model of a complete information system.

Today, most journal articles written concerning information systemsdevelopment and/or evaluation of information systems fall into two categories: normativestatements before or early in the development process, and evaluational statementstaking place after the development process. It would seem that few articles are publishedconcerning pre-hoc model evaluation. In this article a mapping of all articles from 2002-2007 in five journals are made along two axes; one temporal and one from normative toevaluational. It is shown that very few articles had an evaluational focus with a timeperspective ranging from before to during the development process, within the ISjournals, while the software engineering journals provided some input here.

Whether designing a new system or evaluating an old one it could be useful tobe able to compare the system with another system, intended or existing. One way toevaluate and compare information systems would be through a set of criteriaencompassing factors thought important. For such criteria to be useful they need to beoperational and measurable. This article presents a list of criteria found in literature,combined with a few criteria not found, and a categorization. The criteria are presented ina collected hierarchical model organizing them into the categories of Organization,Individual, Information, Technology and Systemics. It is concluded that the criteria modelmay be useful, for example as a checklist during design, but that it needs to beoperationalized, and be exposed to practice and empirics.