Abstract-Public Safety (PS) organizations bring value to society by creating a stable and secure environment. The services they provide include protection of people, environment and property and they address a large number of threats both natural and man-made, acts of terrorism, technological, radiological or environmental accidents. The capability to exchange information (e.g., voice or data) is essential to improve the coordination of PS officers during an emergency crisis and improve response efforts. Wireless communications are particularly important in field operations to support the mobility of first responders. Recent disasters have increased the focus and emphasized the importance of the need to enhance interoperability, capacity and broadband connectivity of the wireless networks used by PS organizations. This paper surveys the outstanding challenges in this area, the status of wireless communication technologies in this particular domain and the current regulatory, standardization and research activities to address the identified challenges, with a particular focus on the USA and Europe.

Over the last 7 years, the AIMTech Research Group in the University of Leeds has used cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to inform a range of research activities in the fields of information behavior and information systems. In this article, we identify certain openings and theoretical challenges in the field of information behavior, which sparked our initial interest in CHAT: context, technology, and the link between practice and policy. We demonstrate the relevance of CHAT in studying information behavior and addressing the identified openings and argue that by providing a framework and hierarchy of activity-action-operation and semantic tools, CHAT is able to overcome many of the uncertainties concerning information behavior research. In particular, CHAT provides researchers a theoretical lens to account for context and activity mediation and, by doing so, can increase the significance of information behavior research to practice. In undertaking this endeavour, we have relied on literature from the fields of information science and others where CHAT is employed. We provide a detailed description of how CHAT may be applied to information behavior and account for the concepts we see as relevant to its study. Information BehaviorIn 2002, the AIMTech research group in University of Leeds was formed with the broad aims of focusing on the interaction among information behavior, technology, organizational adaptation, and change. Although projects were undertaken in a variety of contexts and environments (from offshore oil rigs to women's refuges), a common strand, which unified research and practice within the group, was the use of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical lens. In this article, we outline our motivation for using activity theory and the potential utility of the theory for understanding information behavior.The term "information behavior" was coined by Wilson to cover all aspects of information-related activity, which was originally referred to in the ARIST literature (1966)(1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980) as "user needs" or "information needs" research, until Wilson (1981) suggested the term "information-seeking behavior." Later, Wilson argued that "information behavior" would be more appropriate as a broader term. Wilson's (2000) widely accepted definition describes information behavior as "the totality of human behavior in relation to sources and channels of information, including both active and passive information seeking, and information use" (p. 46). Pettigrew, Fidel, and Bruce's (2001, p. 44) definition, "the study of how people need, seek, give and use information in different contexts, including the workplace and everyday living" is approximately consistent with this. These generalized definitions encompass the active seeking and purposeful retrieval of information, as well as the passive exposure or chance encountering of information. They include an array of interactions with formal sources of information su...

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Purpose This theory development paper argues that activity theory, as a theory of practice, can help overcome long-standing challenges in the field of information systems (IS) by better accounting for the material in work and social activity. It also suggests ways in which IS research can inform the development of activity theory. The purpose of this paper is to be forward looking as much as reflective to advance an enlarged understanding of activity theory, and argue for its development in IS studies. Design/methodology/approach The paper is conceptual and draws upon existing literature and research to propose and cultivate an updated understanding of activity theory as a theoretical lens capable of accounting for social and technical aspects in IS. Findings The paper has three aims. First, to cultivate the use of activity theory in IS. It elaborates on the use and contribution of activity theory in IS, charts it’s use over the last 20 years and discusses how it brings together a range of ideas that have been neglected in other social theories. Second, to explore the challenges surrounding the use of activity theory in understanding interaction between actors and technology. Third, to set an agenda for its advancement in IS, to ruminate upon future research concerning the extension of activity theory and develop a “fourth-generation” activity theory. Originality/value The paper presents the first attempt to juxtapose activity theory with other theoretical philosophical perspectives; to chart the use of activity theory in IS over the last 20 years; and, to discuss how activity theory brings together a range of ideas that have hitherto been excluded from – or inadequately formulated in – other contemporary social theories.

This paper provides a new perspective of the realities faced by small tourism enterprises in the developing world. Given the well-recognised value of the Internet in tourism, we sought to identify how entrepreneurs mitigate Internet adoption obstacles such as the inadequate and unreliable telecommunications infrastructure, the cost of the technology, and a lack of knowledge and skills that characterise developing nations. A qualitative study was performed on small tourism enterprises in rural and metropolitan areas of Malaysia and Ecuador. We found that entrepreneurs established ways to overcome obstacles, with some applying quite innovative solutions. This paper helps to understand the role of entrepreneurs in innovation adoption and improve knowledge of Internet appropriation among small tourism enterprises in developing nations. A number of transferable lessons are identified.

Mobile technology and the information and communication services supported by it have become increasingly embedded in, and in some cases transformed, work and social activity and created new challenges for studying information systems. This paper focuses on the experience with mobile technology in an inherently mobile and information intensive work activity -policing. Drawing upon data from this context this paper makes two key sets of contributions. Empirically, we illuminate the congruencies and contradictions between mobile technology and mobile working, and the relationship between the two, revealing a state of change based upon dialectic interaction. We highlight several ways in which mobile technology has changed the nature of mobile work activity. Theoretically we advance the use of activity theory to better understand the changes of mobile technology mediated work. We extend traditional use of activity theory by adopting congruencies as an analytical lens, in addition to the approach of examining contradictions. The findings are applicable to other areas of mobile work and contribute to the body of knowledge concerning mobile technology mediated work.

In this paper, we describe how changes in the availability of information artifactsin particular, information and communication technologies (ICTs)-among smallholder farmers in Ghana, led to a process of hybridization of information practices, and how this process could be linked to underlying institutional change. We use the notions of institutional carriers and activity systems to study the evolution of the prevailing "smallholder" institutional logic of Ghanaian agriculture toward an incoming "value-chain" institutional logic concerned with linking farmers to output markets, improving the knowledge base in agriculture, and increasing its information intensity. We draw on a mixed-methods approach, including in-depth qualitative interviews, focus groups, observations, and detailed secondary quantitative data. We cultivate activity theory as a practice-based lens for structuring inquiry into institutional change. We find that information artifacts served to link the activities of farmers that were embedded in the smallholder logic with those of agriculturaldevelopment actors that promoted the value-chain logic. Hybridization occurred through the use of artifacts with different interaction modalities. In terms of conceptualizing change, our findings suggest that hybridization of the two logics may be an intermediary point in the long transition from the smallholder toward the valuechain logic.