Ned Kock

Last updated
Ned Kock
Nationality Brazilian-American
Alma mater University of Waikato
Occupation(s)Professor
Writer
Employer Texas A&M International University

Nereu Florencio "Ned" Kock is a Brazilian-American philosopher. He is a Texas A&M Regents Professor of Information Systems at Texas A&M International University. [1]

Contents

Background

Kock holds a B.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from the Federal Technological University of Parana at Curitiba, Brazil, a M.Sc. in computer science from the Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Brazil, and a Ph.D. in management with a concentration in information systems from the School of Management Studies, University of Waikato, New Zealand.

Work

Kock is best known for employing biological evolution ideas to the understanding of human behavior toward technologies, particularly information technologies. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] He developed media naturalness theory, an evolutionary communication media theory. [7] Kock is the writer of a popular blog on the intersection of evolution, statistics, and health. [8]

He developed WarpPLS, a nonlinear variance-based structural equation modeling software tool. The underlying mathematics employed in WarpPLS builds on the method of path analysis, developed by the evolutionary biologist Sewall Wright. WarpPLS has been used to study a variety of topics, including nursing education, password security risks, software testing, customer satisfaction, accounting education, and web-based homework. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

He has conducted research and written on the topic of academic plagiarism. His research and writings in this area have been discussed in The Chronicle of Higher Education, and contributed to considerable debate on the topic within the Association for Computing Machinery, and to the establishment of an ethics committee within the Association for Information Systems. [14] He was Founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of e-Collaboration from 2004 to 2017.

Kock has also been a proponent of the use of action research in the study of human behavior toward technologies, [15] arguing that it can be used in investigations aimed at testing hypotheses in a postpositivist fashion. [16] As a result of his action research investigations, he developed a method for systems analysis and business process redesign that places emphasis on the optimization of communication interactions in business processes. [17]

Selected publications

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remote work</span> Employees working from any location

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Sociotechnical systems (STS) in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to coherent systems of human relations, technical objects, and cybernetic processes that inhere to large, complex infrastructures. Social society, and its constituent substructures, qualify as complex sociotechnical systems.

An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people, structure, and technology. Information systems can be defined as an integration of components for collection, storage and processing of data of which the data is used to provide information, contribute to knowledge as well as digital products that facilitate decision making.

A virtual team usually refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology such as email, instant messaging, and video or voice conferencing services in order to collaborate. The term can also refer to groups or teams that work together asynchronously or across organizational levels. Powell, Piccoli and Ives (2004) define virtual teams as "groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers brought together by information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more organizational tasks." As documented by Gibson (2020), virtual teams grew in importance and number during 2000-2020, particularly in light of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic which forced many workers to collaborate remotely with each other as they worked from home.

A learning management system (LMS) or virtual learning environment (VLE) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, materials or learning and development programs. The learning management system concept emerged directly from e-Learning. Learning management systems make up the largest segment of the learning system market. The first introduction of the LMS was in the late 1990s. LMSs have been adopted by almost all higher education institutions in the English-speaking world. Learning management systems have faced a massive growth in usage due to the emphasis on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Media richness theory (MRT), sometimes referred to as information richness theory, is a framework used to describe a communication medium's ability to reproduce the information sent over it. It was introduced by Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel in 1986 as an extension of information processing theory. MRT is used to rank and evaluate the richness of certain communication media, such as phone calls, video conferencing, and email. For example, a phone call cannot reproduce visual social cues such as gestures which makes it a less rich communication media than video conferencing, which affords the transmission of gestures and body language. Based on contingency theory and information processing theory, MRT theorizes that richer, personal communication media are generally more effective for communicating equivocal issues in contrast with leaner, less rich media.

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The hyperpersonal model is a model of interpersonal communication that suggests computer-mediated communication (CMC) can become hyperpersonal because it "exceeds [face-to-face] interaction", thus affording message senders a host of communicative advantages over traditional face-to-face (FtF) interaction. The hyperpersonal model demonstrates how individuals communicate uniquely, while representing themselves to others, how others interpret them, and how the interactions create a reciprocal spiral of FtF communication. Compared to ordinary FtF situations, a hyperpersonal message sender has a greater ability to strategically develop and edit self-presentation, enabling a selective and optimized presentation of one's self to others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plagiarism</span> Using another authors work as if it was ones own original work

Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work. Although precise definitions vary depending on the institution, in many countries and cultures plagiarism is considered a violation of academic integrity and journalistic ethics, as well as social norms around learning, teaching, research, fairness, respect, and responsibility. As such, a person or entity that is determined to have committed plagiarism is often subject to various punishments or sanctions, such as suspension, expulsion from school or work, fines, imprisonment, and other penalties.

Media naturalness theory is also known as the psychobiological model. The theory was developed by Ned Kock and attempts to apply Darwinian evolutionary principles to suggest which types of computer-mediated communication will best fit innate human communication capabilities. Media naturalness theory argues that natural selection has resulted in face-to-face communication becoming the most effective way for two people to exchange information.

Social presence theory explores how the "sense of being with another" is influenced by digital interfaces in human-computer interactions. Developed from the foundations of interpersonal communication and symbolic interactionism, social presence theory was first formally introduced by John Short, Ederyn Williams, and Bruce Christie in The Social Psychology of Telecommunications. Research on social presence theory has recently developed to examine the efficacy of telecommunications media, including SNS communications. The theory notes that computer-based communication is lower in social presence than face-to-face communication, but different computer-based communications can affect the levels of social presence between communicators and receivers.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human–computer interaction</span> Academic discipline studying the relationship between computer systems and their users

Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design technologies that allow humans to interact with computers in novel ways. A device that allows interaction between human being and a computer is known as a "Human-computer Interface (HCI)".

Channel expansion theory (CET) states that individual experience serves as an important role in determining the level of richness perception and development towards certain media tools. It is a theory of communication media perception that incorporates experiential factors to explain and predict user perceptions of a given media channel. The theory suggests that the more knowledge and experience users gain from using a channel, the richer they perceive the medium to be. The more experience, the more stable the knowledge base the person builds, the more knowledge he gains from the given media channel, thus the richer communication he would have using that channel, and ultimately the richer he would perceive the channel. There are four experiential factors that shapes individual's perceived media richness: experience with the channel, experience with the message topic, experience with the organizational context, and experience with a communication partner.

Emotions in virtual communication are expressed and understood in a variety of different ways from those in face-to-face interactions. Virtual communication continues to evolve as technological advances emerge that give way to new possibilities in computer-mediated communication (CMC). The lack of typical auditory and visual cues associated with human emotion gives rise to alternative forms of emotional expression that are cohesive with many different virtual environments. Some environments provide only space for text based communication, where emotions can only be expressed using words. More newly developed forms of expression provide users the opportunity to portray their emotions using images.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WarpPLS</span>

WarpPLS is a software with graphical user interface for variance-based and factor-based structural equation modeling (SEM) using the partial least squares and factor-based methods. The software can be used in empirical research to analyse collected data and test hypothesized relationships. Since it runs on the MATLAB Compiler Runtime, it does not require the MATLAB software development application to be installed; and can be installed and used on various operating systems in addition to Windows, with virtual installations.

References

  1. "Ned Kock's Web page at Texas A&M International University". Tamiu.edu. November 21, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  2. "article on e-mail use". New York Times. July 5, 2001. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  3. "Science Daily news article on evolution and behavior toward technology". Sciencedaily.com. July 30, 2001. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  4. "TRN Magazine news article on e-mail and mental effort". Trnmag.com. October 17, 2001. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  5. "Managers Online Magazine article on face-to-face versus e-mail communication (in Dutch)". Managersonline.nl. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  6. "Prometeu Magazine article on evolution and e-communication (in Portuguese)". Prometeu.com.br. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  7. "Simon, A.F. (2006). Computer-mediated communication: Task performance and satisfaction. Journal of Social Psychology, 146(3), 349–379" (PDF). Heldref-publications.metapress.com. January 1, 1970. Retrieved January 6, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. "Health Correlator blog". Healthcorrelator.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  9. "Kim, M.J., Park, C.G., Kim, M., Lee, H., Ahn, Y.-H., Kim, E., Yun, S.-N., & Lee, K.-J. (2012). Quality of nursing doctoral education in Korea: Towards policy development. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 68(7), 1494-1503" (PDF). Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  10. "Gebauer, J., Kline, D., & He, L. (2011). Password security risk versus effort: An exploratory study on user-perceived risk and the intention to use online applications. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research, 4(2), 52–62" (PDF). Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  11. "Zhang, X., Dhaliwal, J., & Gillenson, M.L. (2010). Organizing software testing for improved quality and satisfaction. Journal of Information Technology Management, 21(4), 1–12" (PDF). Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  12. "Garza, V. (2011). Online learning in accounting education: A study of compensatory adaptation. Laredo, TX: Texas A&M International University" (PDF). Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  13. "Khanlarian, C. (2010). A longitudinal study of web-based homework. Greensboro, NC: University of North Carolina at Greensboro" (PDF). Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  14. Glenn, David (December 17, 2004). "Special report of The Chronicle of Higher Education on plagiarism by academics". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Chronicle.com. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  15. Kock, Ned (2006-10-31). Kock, N. (Ed) (2006). Information systems action research: An applied view of emerging concepts and methods. New York, NY: Springer. Springer. ISBN   978-0387360591.
  16. Special Issue: Action Research in Information Systems, Journal of Management Information Systems.
  17. Colquitt, Jason (2006-07-12). Kock, N. (2006). Systems analysis and design fundamentals: A business process redesign approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. SAGE Publications. ISBN   978-1412905855.