Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/139946
Designing Next-Gen 911 BUSINESS RESEARCH AIMS to impact business prac- tice, but East Carolina University's College of Business in Greenville, North Carolina, also wants to shape public policy—in ways that could save lives. A research group at ECU is working with U.S. policymakers to upgrade a 911 public safety communications system that is far behind the technological times. ECU's 911 Technology, Policy, and Information Management Group (which ECU abbreviates as "the Group") was established in 2008 as part of the college's Bureau of Business Research. It has partnered with the North Carolina 911 Board to create a Next Generation 911 (NG911) system for the state. The Group studies federal legislation, analyzes state policies, evaluates plans under review, recommends new 911 funding models, and develops new standards for 911 call centers. A recent Group report includes "Next Generation 911: When Technology Drives Public Policy." Written by James Holloway, professor of business law, and Elaine Seeman, professor of information management technology, it appeared earlier this year in the International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management. The authors note that there is an urgent need for state and federal governments to update the current system to more Entrepreneurship has recognized John Pearce with its Exemplary Scholar award at its January conference in San Francisco. Pearce holds the Endowed Chair of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at Villanova School of Business in Pennsylvania. Raymond Burke, the E.W. Kelley Professor of Business Administration at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, has been named editor-in-chief of the Journal of Shopper Research, formerly known as the Journal of Marketing at Retail. The peer-reviewed journal publishes academic research in the areas of shopper behavior, shopper insights, and in-store marketing. A paper by three Canadian researchers has been named the "most cited paper" by the International Journal of accurately pinpoint the location of cell phone 911 calls. Even more important, the 911 system must be upgraded to accommodate text, video, and photos, as well as transmissions sent via voice-over internet protocol, or VOIP. In 2010, the Group completed a funding study for the state of North Carolina, which showed that its 911 public safety answering points (PSAPs) spend approximately US$40 million each year, while the state distributes approximately $60 million to these centers. The Group recommended that PSAPs be divided into five groups identified by the types and sizes of the populations they serve—rural versus urban, for instance—and that funds be allocated on a per capita basis. This system would allow the state to better allocate funds and identify surpluses to be used to pay for infrastructure upgrades. This work shows the impact that the College of Business can have on state and federal policymaking, state and national security, and the telecommunications industry, says Holloway. "We can help generate policies that better weigh public safety against business interests." The industry has been slow to change due to constrained resources, lack of infrastructure, and resistance to new technologies. But given today's climate, the authors believe an IP-based 911 network will receive greater support. "If Virginia Tech students had been able to silently text for 911 help, lives could have been saved," they write in their report. "If a cell phone user could send pictures of [an] individual abducting a child, lives could be changed." Human-Computer Studies. The award recognizes the paper with the highest number of citations between 2010 and 2012. Dianne Cyr of Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business and Milena Head of McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business, along with Hector Larios of SFU's School of Interactive Arts and Technology, received the award for "Colour Appeal in Website Design Within and Across Cultures: A MultiMethod Evaluation." The trio used three types of data collection—surveys, eye tracking, and interviews—to analyze visitors' responses to different website color schemes. They found that cultural color preferences influence user trust in, satisfaction with, and loyalty to a website—for example, they found that for Japanese, yellow inspires the most trust and satisfaction; for Germans, blue; and for Canadians, gray. BizEd July/August 2013 51