Specifying Business Rules: A Fact-Based Approach
Adrian Hargreaves

Industry surveys suggest that most IT projects still end in failure. Incomplete, ambiguous and inaccurate specifications are cited as a major causal factor. Traditional techniques for specifying requirements most often lack the expressiveness with which to model subtle but common features within organisations. As a consequence, many of the business rules that determines the structure and behaviour of organisations are simply not captured until the latter stages of the development lifecycle. This review will examine the evolution of the techniques employed by analysts for defining requirements. It investigates their ability to capture these details, the limitations they have overcome and their capacity for communication with the end-user community. The review highlights the fact that although many important advances have been made over the last 30 years, the techniques commonly used by analysts are still beset by significant problems. Finally, this review proposes alternative approaches that could provide a single conceptual framework meaningful to both business people and analysts.

The Impact of Computer Games on Children's Aggressive Behaviour and Learning Abilities
Paul Kearney

The majority of academic research leans towards the view that many of today's computer games elicit unwanted negative behaviour from children, specifically short term aggression. This paper discusses some of these concerning results that stem from research into action video games. It then goes on to highlight the cognitive effects of games such as Tetris. The paper concludes by questioning whether the negative effects of one can be attributed to the other and whether or not children can in fact benefit from playing a first person shooter game such as Doom in terms of improved cognitive abilities.

A Review of Managing IT Research on the Internet in New Zealand
Claudius Benedikt Hildebrand, Sebastian Simmer & Kay Fielden

A literature review of research in the field of managing information technology in New Zealand and Australia since 1998. Research is categorised by research method and by domain area within the field of managing information technology. Conference papers, journal articles and online publications are used and 57% were peer-reviewed.

Five Years of Online Learning Research in New Zealand: A Review
Sue Baker, Bruce Ferguson, Malcolm Roberts & Kay Fielden

This review paper explores research trends in online learning research in New Zealand over the period 1998-2003. Most online learning research in New Zealand is dominated by qualitative research conducted in familiar domains. Forty research papers were sourced from electronic databases, conference papers, and other academic publications. The research is also strongly influenced by a constructivist approach and a predominance of case studies and discussion papers were identified. The research tends to lack focus and is dominated by small research samples in many of the reports. As online learning is relatively new and there are few comparative studies within New Zealand, further research is needed in New Zealand to build a broad research database.