IoT in Agriculture: Preserving Tradition While Adapting To Change
How does tradition blend with innovation in century-old agricultural practices? In this final blog of my research series, I share insights from my visit to a family farm in Muggia, Italy, where Bruno Lenardon continues his family’s generations-old cultivation traditions while embracing IoT solutions. Bruno’s thoughtful integration of weather station technology enables informed decisions about…
Beyond AI Fear: How Students are Finding Joy and Success in the Digital Age
In a creative ‘studio’ space at our university (Royal Holloway, University of London), something fascinating is happening. Digital Marketing Masters students are crafting brand stories using AI tools, but not in the way you might expect. Rather than replacing human creativity, artificial intelligence is acting as what Vygotsky would call a “mediating tool” – a…
IoT in Agriculture: Building the Chain of Trust
How to address the unique challenges of smallholders while fostering innovation and sustainability in agriculture? In this blog, I share insights from interviews with Primo Principio, exploring their approach to building trust and promoting technology adoption in Italian agriculture, where farms are often small, fragmented, and managed by ageing farmers.
IoT in Agriculture: Why It Is Different This Time
As recent heatwaves sweep across the world, Future Intelligence is using their IoT solution to help farmers in Greece and Cyprus optimise water use and adapt to evolving conditions. Read how this Greek company is transforming farming practices to meet the demands of a changing landscape.
IoT in Agriculture: Navigating an Emerging Ecosystem
Explore Türkiye’s evolving agricultural landscape in the IoT era in the latest blog by PhD candidate Cevdet Bulut. With a backdrop of socio-economic intricacies and an emerging innovation ecosystem, this narrative unveils insights from local experts and startups, with a spotlight on TARSENS and Doktar Technologies based in Istanbul.
Meeting net-zero: zero-sum or win-win for SMEs? A novel approach to marketing a brand’s purpose through immersive digital storytelling
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the UK economy, comprising over 99% of private businesses and contributing to over 50% of GDP (FSB, 2022). However, many SMEs face barriers to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, including lack of knowledge, funding, and measuring return on investment (BritishChambers, 2022).
Education should look to the way artists are embracing AI, instead of turning its back on the technology
Lucy Gill-Simmen, Royal Holloway University of London Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to make a major impact on many sectors of society over the coming decades. Some of these effects may be positive, others less so. When ChatGPT was released, education, a profession that prides itself on integrity and high ethical standards, was rocked…
IoT in Agriculture: Trust Matters
Author’s his next leg of research trip to Sicily, where he interviewed Maria Luisa Cinquerrui, Founder and CEO of Smartisland Group and her colleagues. Read to learn about the challenges faced and strategies developed by this startup company for SmartAgriculture in Italy.
IoT in Agriculture: Why Technology Is Not Enough for Success
Read the first part of author’s blog series where he shares some snippets of his field trip to Novi Sad telling the DunavNET story based on first-hand experiences from the field to inform the development and adoption of smart agriculture in Serbia.
Emotions in the Digitalised Workplace
Niki Panteli, Royal Holloway University of London & NTNU, Norway, niki.panteli@rhul.ac.uk Fay Giaver, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, Fay.Giaver@ntnu.no Jostein Engesmo, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway, Jostein.engesmo@ntnu.no Emotions, defined as a transient state constructed on the spot based on bodily sensations, events and situations in the environment (Barrett, 2016) with an…
Women proposing: Gender equality in wedding rituals
Vera Hoelscher, Royal Holloway, University of LondonDaniela Pirani, University of LiverpoolRatna Khanijou, Goldsmiths, University of London When Carl and Juliet left their wooden cabin to go on a hike of the Norwegian summer scenery, little did Carl know that his girlfriend was about to propose. As they headed through the woodlands to a nearby lake,…
How do Remote Workers Perform during COVID-19 Lockdowns?
*This blog is based on our paper published in the Information Technology and People journal. Dr Xinying Yu | Senior Lecturer | School of Business Management, Royal Holloway, University of LondonProf Yuwen Liu | Professor | Institute of Technology Management, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan With the advancement of technology in recent years, researchers have…
Cevdet Bulut Receives Best Conference Paper Award
PhD student Cevdet Bulut, along his co-author and supervisor Dr. Philip Wu of Royal Holloway, University of London were recently awarded the Best Complete Paper Award at the annual conference of the Association for Information Systems, AMCIS 2022, held in Minneapolis, MN, United States on August 10-14, 2022. They were honoured for their paper titled…
Fostering Social Value in Digital Transformation Initiatives
By Niki Panteli DOS Co-Director & Professor of Digital Business, Royal Holloway University of London School of Business and Management (niki.panteli@rhul.ac.uk) My contribution centres around the argument that digital transformation can create a better world by taking a broader perspective on the value that could be created though digital initiatives. The study I present here…
It’s all part of the customer journey: The impact of augmented reality, chatbots, and social media on the body image and self-esteem of Generation Z female consumers
By Nisreen Ameen In a recently published study (Ameen, Cheah and Kumar, 2022) in Psychology and Marketing, we investigate how experiences of using augmented reality, artificial intelligence-enabled chatbots, and social media when interacting with beauty brands affect body image, self-esteem, and purchase behaviour among female consumers in Generation Z. Through three studies, we propose and…
The growth of rental proptech: hybridisation and data risk
By Thomas Wainwright What’s the issue? UK homeownership rates peaked in 2003 at 70.9%, before falling to 63.9% in 20181. A combination of precarious work, stagnant pay and increasing property prices have seen more households find themselves within the private rental sector (PRS). In contrast to other countries, the UK’s rental market is fragmented, consisting…
Crafting IT jobs through the Flexibility of Contracting: Opportunities for Female IT Professionals
By Niki Panteli In a recently published study (Panteli and Urquhart, 2022), we explore the job crafting experiences of women who left permanent employment for contracting positions in Information Technology (IT), a sector widely considered male-dominated with limited career opportunities for women. This qualitative study is based on interviews with 24 female IT contractors. Findings…
Consumer interactions with artificial intelligence – enabled chatbots in retail shopping experiences
By Xiaoxia Cao Supervisors: Dr Nisreen Ameen and Professor Chris HackleyRoyal Holloway, University of London Companies are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to automate marketing tasks. For example, chatbots are frequently mentioned to be beneficial for the retail industry regarding customer service (about 95%), sales/marketing (about 55%), and order processing (about 48%) (Rese, Ganster and…
Developing a Multi-focal Perspective for the study of Digital Transformation
As researchers within the field of Information Systems, we may bring the individual, organisations and/or societal perspectives to examine specific ICT-related phenomena. In this article, I focus on the emerging phenomenon of Digital Transformation and argue that this can and should be studied from different perspectives. I come into this debate with my research interest…
Narratives of IT project failure in Government
Christopher Hall | PhD Student | School of Business Management, Royal Holloway, University of London. One thing most readers will know about large Government IT projects is that many end up being labelled ‘failures’, leading to delays in the implementation of policy and write-offs of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. Much previous academic work has…
Inequality of What?: Digital Inequality under Covid-19
Dr Yingqin Zheng | Senior Lecturer | School of Business Management, Royal Holloway, University of London.Prof Geoff Walsham | Emeritus Professor | Judge Business School, University of Cambridge *This blog is based on our short paper to be published in the journal Information and Organization. The covid-19 pandemic has thrown a spotlight on deep seated inequalities across…
Virtual Spiritual Agency in Times of Covid
Dr Chloe Preece | Senior Lecturer | School of Business Management, Royal Holloway, University of London.Dr Victoria Rodner | Lecturer | University of Edinburgh Business School, University of Edinburgh “Zoom made my life much easier,” explains Mãe (mother) Fernanda, an Afro-Brazilian priestess from the coastal city of Santos (Brazil). Like many of us, facing an indefinite lockdown, Mãe…
The new DOS interdisciplinary research cluster on Cybersecurity, Design and Human Behaviour
Dr. Nisreen Ameen and Dr. Elizabeth Quaglia | Cluster co-leaders On 6th November 2020, a new research cluster within RHUL’s DOS Research Centre was launched. The new research cluster on ‘Cybersecurity, Design and Human Behaviour’ aims to offer a welcoming environment for idea exchange, a platform for researchers from different research areas at RHUL and…
Gig-work and spatiotemporal (in)justice: Auto-ethnographic study of food delivery platforms
Shyam Krishna| PhD Candidate| School of Business and Management at Royal Holloway, University of London. In recent months amidst the uncertainty of COVID-19, food delivery workers in India have faced a tightening of their working conditions. The main contention voiced by the workers in strikes and protests is that digital platforms have lowered effective wages by changing…
Why Amazon Reviewers Review (and How to Deal with Fake Reviews)
Dr Philip Wu | Senior Lecturer | Department of Digital Innovation and Management at Royal Holloway, University of London. Online reviews have become an important phenomenon in this so-called reputation economy. Headlines such as “online reviews impact purchasing decisions for over 93% of consumers” seem exaggerated but not entirely surprising. On the surface, online reviews are simply…
COVID-19 driven digital transformation in retail business
Xiangming Tao|PhD Student (4th Year)| Royal Holloway School of Business and Management The virtues of digital transformation have been promoted by the popular business press and academic articles, particularly in the pursuit of strategic renewal (Warner and Wäger, 2019). The massive scale of Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown policy have further demonstrated the significance of digital…
Notes on Digital Activism
Dr Vera Hoelscher|Lecturer in Marketing| Royal Holloway School of Business and Management On 19 February 2020, the DOS Research Centre organised a half-day event on Digital Activism. The purpose of the day was to learn about the nature and impact of digitally enabled and enhanced mobilisation for political, economic and social change, and how research…
Leading Effectively Online
Niki Panteli | Professor of Digital Business|Royal Holloway University of London In the current unprecedented times caused by the Covid-19 outbreak where many of us have been forced to stay at home and work virtually, the role of the organisational leader is critical. In this new context, leaders willingly or not need to become e-leaders and…
Call for Track Proposals IFIP9.4 2021 – Conference Theme: Freedom and Social Inclusion in a Connected World
Deadline 30 May 2020 | The 16th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries |Lima, Peru, 26-28 May 2021 We send out this call for tracks at this unusual time amid the coronavirus global pandemic. A lot of us are currently in more or less a lockdown situation. Some may be experiencing…
Remote working: Keeping your distance but also your well-being
DOS research scholars give some tips on remote working Digital technologies in this moment are crucial to our working arrangements as we maintain social distance and work from home but how can we manage our remote digital work and maintain a sense of well-being? DOS scholars reflect on what we have learnt from our own…
The digital transformation of social movements: is it good to be “seen”?
Evronia Azer | Assistant Professor | Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University It is argued that the rise of social media has given rise to new forms of protest action, where the digital space has empowered activists and given lots of opportunities for activism to be successful. Lately, more researchers and media outlets are starting to…
AI and the Transformation of Jobs and Workplaces in Banks and Radiology.
Fabienne Perez| PhD Student | Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Gestion d’Aix-Marseille (CERGAM) Image © Maurizio Pesce from Milan, Italia [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)] I am a PhD student at the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Gestion d’Aix-Marseille (CERGAM), a research laboratory in IAE Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management, where I am supervised by…
“How many steps have you done today?”
Researching fitness trackers in everyday life. Amalina Zakariah | PhD Student (3rd Year) | Royal Holloway School of Business and Management As the title suggests, my PhD research looks into the consumption of self-tracking technologies (i.e. wearables, fitness trackers) in everyday lives. Some popular examples include, smart wristbands like the Apple Watch, Fitbit and Garmin,…