Won the SIG-Computer and Internet Application in Education Best Paper Award at the 2019 AERA Conference

The paper titled "Block-Based Versus Text-Based Programming Environments on Novice Student Learning: A Meta-Analysis Study" won the best SIG-Computer and Internet Application in Education paper award at 2019 American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference. The paper was presented by Zhen Xu and Albert Ritzhaupt

Paper Title
Block-Based Versus Text-Based Programming Environments on Novice Student Learning: A Meta-Analysis Study

Abstract
The use of block-based programming environments is purported to be a good way to gently introduce computer programming to novice learners. This study examined the overall effect of block-based versus text-based programming environments on cognitive and affective student learning outcomes. Five academic databases were searched to identify literature meeting our inclusion criteria and resulted in 13 publications with 52 effect size comparisons on both cognitive and affective student learning outcomes. We found both effect size calculations were statistically insignificant using random effects models with a small effect size in favor of block-based programming environments on cognitive student learning outcomes, and a trivial effect size on affective student learning outcomes. Discussion of the findings and implications for further research are provided.

Authors
Zhen Xu, University of Florida
Albert D. Ritzhaupt, University of Florida
Fengchun Tian, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University
Karthikeyan Umapathy, University of North Florida

Conference & Location:
2019 American Educational Research Association (AERA), Toronto, Canada

Link to the conference program:
https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aera/aera19/index.php?cmd=Online+Program+View+Paper&selected_paper_id=1436081&PHPSESSID=stln16gon24j8nbcuugc8ajtp1

Won the Best Student and Faculty Research Paper award in the 2019 Southern Association of Information Systems (SAIS) Conference

The paper coauthored with Hibah Khalil and titled "An Exploratory Study on the Influences of Website Quality on Actual Purchase and Moderation Effects" won the best student and faculty research paper award at the 2019 Southern Association of Information Systems (SAIS) Conference. The paper was presented by Hibah Khalil.

Abstract:
In the context of e-tailing, website quality serves as a portal that affords informational cues of the product and services offered. Many scholars proved that more than a satisfactory website quality is one of the critical aspects for the success of the e-tailer as well as achieving customer’s purchase intention. However, the moderating effects of perceived risk and price tolerance on the relationship between website quality and purchase intention have not been examined. Furthermore, relationships between actual purchase and purchase intention have been relatively uncovered. Drawing from literature, we propose a research model to investigate interrelationships among website quality, purchase intention, actual purchase, perceived risk, and price tolerance. Conducting this research would contribute to our understanding of the moderator influence on the relation between website quality and purchase intention in the e-tailing environment and how this relationship leads to actual purchase behaviors.

Authors:
Hibah Khalil, and Karthikeyan Umapathy

Conference & Location:
2019 Southern Association for Information Systems (SAIS), St. Simons Island, GA, USA

Date:
March 22, 2019

Link to presentation:
https://prezi.com/vdxrtrikmjmr/sais-2019/

Presented a paper on Security and User Experience: A Holistic Model for CAPTCHA Usability Issues at the 2018 SAIS Conference

Paper Title:
Security and User Experience: A Holistic Model for CAPTCHA Usability Issues

Abstract:
CAPTCHA is a widely adopted security measure on the Web and is designed to effectively distinguish humans and bots by exploiting human’s ability to recognize patterns that an automated bot is incapable of. To counter this, bots are being designed to recognize patterns in CAPTCHAs. As a result, CAPTCHAs are now being designed to maximize the difficulty for bots to pass human interaction proof tests, while making it quite an arduous task even for humans as well. The approachability of CAPTCHA is increasingly being questioned because of the inconvenience it causes to legitimate users. Irrespective of the popularity, CAPTCHA is indispensable if one wants to avoid potential security threats. We investigated the usability issues associated with CAPTCHA. We built a holistic model by identifying the important concepts associated with CAPTCHAs and its usability. This model can be used as a guide for the design and evaluation of CAPTCHAs.

Authors:
Jayalakshmi Raman, Karthikeyan Umapathy, and Haiyan Huang

Conference:
2018 Southern Association for Information Systems (SAIS), Atlanta, GA, USA

Date:
March 23, 2018

Link to presentation:
https://es.slideshare.net/kumapathy/security-and-user-experience-a-holistic-model-for-captcha-usability-issues

Presented a paper on Meta-analysis on Pair vs Solo Programming at the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Symposium

Paper Title:
A Meta-Analysis of Pair-Programming in Computer Programming Courses: Implications for Educational Practice.

Abstract:
Several experiments on the effects of pair programming versus solo programming in the context of education have been reported in the research literature. We present a meta-analysis of these studies that accounted for 18 manuscripts with 49 separate effect sizes in the domains of programming assignments, exams, retention, and affective measures. In total, our sample accounts for N=3308 students either using pair programming as a treatment variable or using traditional solo programming in the context of a computing course. Our findings suggest positive results in favor of pair programming across all four of the domains. We provide a comprehensive review of our results, and discuss our findings.

Authors:
Karthikeyan Umapathy and Albert D. Ritzhaupt

Conference:
2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium, Seattle, WA, USA

Date:
March 9, 2017

Link to Presentation:
https://prezi.com/xm3fn3ctzm1k/a-meta-analysis-of-pair-programming-in-computer-programming/

Presented a position paper on Data Analytics for Nonprofits at the 2017 SAIS Conference

Paper Title:
Data Analytics as a Conduit for Progressing Information Systems Research in Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract:

This position paper reviews the existing information systems (IS) research literature related to the nonprofit context and recommends how to significantly progress this research. The conducted literature review shows that very few studies have focused on nonprofit organizations (NPO). Our analysis indicates that IS researchers have investigated a limited number of issues in NPO contexts including potential research frameworks, strategic use of websites, the role of IS leadership, data management, IS adoption, IS use, and information security policies. Non-IS researchers have examined IS adoption, accountability, and social media usage. Studies that address IS use in the nonprofit context lack theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence; thus they cannot explain why and how effective and efficient use of IS can help NPOs achieve their mission goals. In order to motivate and advance our knowledge of the nonprofit context, we present data analytics as an area in which IS researchers could focus as a future path. We suggest ways that IS researchers can apply their expertise in non-NPO contexts to the NPO context.

Authors:
Karthikeyan Umapathy and Amy J. Connolly

Conference:
2017 Southern Association for Information Systems (SAIS), St. Simons Island, GA, USA

Date:
March 25, 2017

DOI for the paper:
http://works.bepress.com/karthikeyan_umapathy/10/

Link to presentation:
https://prezi.com/bpvjpf50wk_4/data-analytics-as-a-conduit-for-progressing-information-syst/

Presented a paper on Collaborative Information Seeking at the 2016 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS)

Paper Title:
A Research Plan to Study Impact of a Collaborative Web Search Tool on Novice's Query Behavior

Abstract:
In the past decade, research efforts dedicated to studying the process of collaborative web search have been on the rise. Yet, limited number of studies have examined the impact of collaborative information search process on novice’s query behaviors. Studying and analyzing factors that influence web search behaviors, specifically users’ patterns of queries when using collaborative search systems can help with making query suggestions for group users. Improvements in user query behaviors and system query suggestions help in reducing search time and increasing query success rates for novices. In this paper, we present an empirical study plan designed to investigate the influence of collaboration between experts and novices as well as use of a collaborative web search tool on novice’s query behavior. In this research-in-progress study, we intend to use SearchTeam as our collaborative search tool. The results of this study are expected to provide information that could help collaborative web search tool designers to find ways to improve the query suggestions feature for group users. Additionally, this study will test the hypothesis that – having domain experts working with non-experts using collaborative search systems would immensely increase the query success rates for non-expert users, and help them learn querying strategies over the course of time. If the above hypothesis is proven, then use of collaborative web search tools during training of interns would be highly recommended.

Authors:
Mareh Al-Sammarraie, and Karthikeyan Umapathy.

Conference:
2016 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS)

Date:
November 3rd, 2016

DOI for the paper:
https://doi.org/10.1109/CTS.2016.0100

Link to the presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/kumapathy/a-research-plan-to-study-impact-of-a-collaborative-web-search-tool-on-novices-query-behavior

Co-Moderated Data Ecosystem for Nonprofits Panel

Dan Richard and I co-moderated a panel on Nonprofits Data Ecosystem in the Northeast Florida region. Panel discussions was held as a part of the Data and Technology Experience (D.A.T.E) summit, October 25, 2016, Jacksonville, FL. D.A.T.E summit was organized by the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida.

Data Ecosystem Panel aims to inspire collaboration among nonprofits to achieve greater societal impact through data science. The Data Ecosystem Panel brings together program and technology professionals in the Northeast Florida region.

Panel Members:

Michael Blessing
Housing Systems Coordinator,
LSF Health Systems,
http://samh.lsfnet.org/

Lauren D’Amico
Data & HMIS, HMIS Systems Administrator,
Changing Homelessness,
http://www.changinghomelessness.org 

Mark Walker
Knowledge Management and Technology Officer,
Jessie Ball duPont Fund,
http://www.dupontfund.org   

Jason Rose, Ph. D.
Vice President of Data & Research,
Jacksonville Public Education Fund,
http://www.jaxpef.org/  

Moderators:

Dr. Dan Richard
Director Faculty Enhancement
Associate Professor of Psychology, UNF

Dr. Karthikeyan Umapathy
Associate Professor
School of Computing, UNF

Link to the Prezi used for panel discussions:
https://prezi.com/kcb6k-wx8otb/data-ecosystem-panel/

Link to the Data and Technology Experience for Nonprofits event:
http://www.nonprofitctr.org/events-calendar/data-and-technology-experience/

Presented a Paper on IT Standards and Participated in Panel Discussions on Big Data Analytics and Service Computing at the 2015 Workshop on e-Business (WeB)

Paper Title:
Investigating IT Standardization Process through the lens of Theory of Communicative Action

Abstract:
Developing standards is a social practice wherein experts engage in discussions to evaluate design solutions. In this paper, we analyze processes followed to develop SOAP standard from the theory of communicative action
perspective, which argues that individuals engaged in social discourse would exhibit five possible actions: instrumental, strategic, normatively regulated, dramaturgical, and communicative. Our findings reveal that participants in standardization processes engage in communicative action most frequently with aim of reaching mutual understanding and consensus, engage in strategic action when influencing others towards their intended goals, engage in instrumental action when taking responsibility for solving technical issues, engage in dramaturgical action when expressing their opinions, and engage in normatively regulated action when performing roles they assumed. Our analysis indicates that 60% of activities performed are consensus oriented whereas the rest are success oriented. This paper provides empirical evidence for Habermasian view of social actions occurring in the standardization process setting.

Authors:
Karthikeyan Umapathy, Sandeep Purao, and John W. Bagby

Conference:
2015 Workshop on e-Business, Fort Worth, TX, USA

Dates:
December 12, 2015

DOI for the paper:
http://web2015.isy.vcu.edu/pdf/RIP/WeB2015_CameraReady_6.pdf

Link to the presentation:
https://prezi.com/p4vlpejt_twt/investigating-it-standardization-process-through-the-lens-of/


I was also invited to participate in a panel discussions.

Panel Discussion:
Leveraging Service Computing and Big Data Analytics for E-Commerce

Panelists:
Kathikeyan Umapathy, University of North Florida
Hsing K. (Kenny) Cheng , University of Florida
Mohan Tanniru, Oakland University
Wynne Chin, University of Houston

Workshop Program Schedule:
http://web2015.isy.vcu.edu/pdf/WeB2015%20Program%2012-9-15.pdf

Link to the presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/kumapathy/leveraging-service-computing-and-big-data-analytics-for-ecommerce

News article on LSV senior project mentoring

Software engineers from Life and Specialty Ventures (LSV) mentor UNF Computing senior project students on web application systems development projects. Below news article provides a window into their work.

http://www.clomedia.com/articles/6406-internships-help-build-talent-pipelines

Article published on August 4, 2015 at Chief Learning Officer online magazine, http://www.clomedia.com/

Presented a paper on Nonprofit Organization IT adoption and usage at AMCIS 2015

Paper Title:
A Preliminary Study of Information Technologies Usage in Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract:

In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary survey study to examine the ways in which regional nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in the U.S. adopted and utilized information technologies. The majority of the survey respondents (72.5%) consists of small to medium sized NPOs. The survey findings reveal that most responding organizations don’t have a technology plan even though they consider information technology as an important driving force to achieve organizational missions. A pragmatic approach that adopts mature, proven technologies is the most common approach followed by the respondents. Our findings also provide some empirical insights on how NPOs perform different technological tasks, manage data, and exploit web capabilities.

Authors:
Karthikeyan Umapathy and Haiyan Huang

Conference:
2015 Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Puerto Rico

Dates:
August 13-15, 2015

DOI for the paper:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1156&context=amcis2015

Link to the presentation:
https://prezi.com/yavdkeg5wb0l/a-preliminary-study-of-information-technologies-usage-in-non/

Paper on Conceptual Model of Website Design Elements that Influences Credibility and Trustworthiness accepted at the 2015 SAIS Conference

Paper title: Conceptual Model of Website Design Elements that Influences Credibility and Trustworthiness

Abstract:
In today’s competitive environment, it is important for web designers to understand what design elements are essential for attracting visitors, making the visitor trust the website, and perform intended actions like placing an order and revisiting the site.  Trustworthiness of a website heavily relies on a good first impression and visitor’s visual perception of the user interface. Therefore, the focus of this research is to investigate the effects of visual design elements on trustworthiness of a site. In this research-in-progress paper, we develop a conceptual model to depict the relationships among website design elements and trustworthiness. This conceptual model aids website designers understand what elements are appealing to the visual senses, and conjures credibility and trust.

Authors: Chris LaValley and Karthikeyan Umapathy

Conference:
2015 Southern Association for Information Systems (SAIS) Conference
Hilton Head, SC, USA, March 20-21, 2015

Link to the presentation:
https://prezi.com/qojhcmuut8oq/website-trustworthiness-conceptual-model/

Paper on Review of Web Service Specifications for Long-running Conversations accepted at the CONISAR 2014

Paper title: Review of Web Service Specifications for Long-running Conversations

Abstract:
Despite the growing number of standards and interest in web services, support for implementation of long-running conversations is inadequate. Most real world business transactions typically consists of series of business activities. Such transactions originate from different sources which have multiple web services running to achieve a specific result. In this paper, we provide an overview of long-running conversation properties, and a review of relevant web service specifications. Our analysis indicates that WS-Coordination and WS-BusinessActivity specifications are the best option for implementing long-running conversations using web services.

Authors: Chirag N. Rana and Karthikeyan Umapathy

Conference:
2014 Conference on Information Systems Applied Research (CONISAR)
Baltimore, Maryland, November 6-9, 2014

Link to the article:
http://proc.conisar.org/2014/pdf/3318.pdf

Link to the presentation:
https://prezi.com/lk1dthiwoh6v/review-of-web-service-specifications-for-long-running-conver/

UNF Computing User Group Expo and CTO Panel

UNF School of Computing is organizing User Group Expo and CTO Panel event on Saturday, October 25^th from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM at the Adam W. Herbert University Center. The user group expo is being organized with the intention of having different local user groups set up a table/booth and provide information about their activities and encourage students to become members. The CTO Panel event is being organized with the intention of having CTOs discuss information technology advances, challenges and opportunities and their impact on educating future technology professionals. 

Registration is required to attend the event. Please register at below link:

http://unfugcto.eventbrite.com/?aff=unfpage

You can find more information about the event at http://tiny.cc/ugcto.

Link to the Prezi used for CTO panel discussions: 

https://prezi.com/bjbzhhc252j_/2014-unf-user-group-expo-and-cto-panel/

BROKEN LINK - Your company’s website may be doing more harm than good

Jacksonville 904 magazine August 2013 issue provides some good best practices to follow when building business websites. Well, I have admit my bias about the article as I was interviewed by the author. Article is written by Jocelyn Tolbert.

Article link: http://trendmag2.trendoffset.com/publication/?i=169064&p=18

Mobile-friendly: http://trendmag.trendoffset.com/article/Media/1467848/169064/article.html

Won CONISAR 2012 Conference Best Paper Award

 Paper titled "Comparing Performance of Web Service Interaction Styles: SOAP vs. REST" won the best conference paper award at CONISAR 2012 conference, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Abstract:
This paper presents a comparative performance evaluation of two Web service implementations: one is based on SOAP and the other on Representational State Transfer (REST). Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and REST-based development approaches handle service interactions quite differently. SOAP is a standardized framework for constructing and processing messages independent of the technological capabilities of the receiver and can work on top of a variety of application layer protocols such as RPC, HTTP, or SMTP, whereas, REST is a set of principles for designing Web applications (HTTP as the underlying protocol). We built SOAP and REST-based Web services that perform Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations on a database and retrieve local files. We utilized response time and throughput metrics to compare the performance of these Web services. We found that, on average, REST has better performance compared to SOAP, though not all results were statistically conclusive. As an ancillary outcome, we found that developing Web services using SOAP was easier, due to considerable tool support. However, developing Web services using REST was time consuming and difficult due to the necessity of in-depth knowledge of HTTP and rudimentary tool support.

Authors:
Pavan Kumar Potti
Sanjay Ahuja
Karthikeyan Umapathy
Zornitza Prodanoff

This paper was written based on Pavan Kumar's master thesis. I presented this paper at the CONISAR 2012 on November 2, 2012.

Here is the link for the presentation: 

http://prezi.com/1envmwefahzt/comparing-performance-of-web-service-interaction-styles-soap-vs-rest/?auth_key=c7748dd182ba1ebdb8bd3160d9b230d581ebb035

Here is the link for the article:

http://proc.conisar.org/2012/pdf/2208.pdf

Here is the list of papers that won awards at CONISAR 2012:

http://proc.conisar.org/2012/bestpapers.html

Digging into Human Rights Violations Talk at the Western University

I was invited by Western University, Canada to give talk on the system architecture developed for the Digging into Human Rights Violation Software. Talk was part of the panel discussion titled "Digging into Human Rights Violation: What We Know and What We Don't." Panel members were Ben Miller from Georgia State University, Lu Xiao from Western University, and Karthikeyan Umapathy from University of North Florida. Panel discussion was held on June 19, 2012 from 10 AM to 11:30 AM at the Faculty of Information & Media Studies, Western University, London, Canada.

For more information on the panel:

http://www.fims.uwo.ca/about/news/news_items/12-06-15/Lecture_Digging_into_Human_Rights_Violation_What_We_Know_and_What_We_Don_t.aspx

Web of Web Things Talk at the Joe Berg Seminar

On February 21, 2012, I gave a talk on Web technologies at the Joe Berg Seminar held at the Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville, FL.

Title of talk: "Web of Web Things"

Talk provided an overview of value of the Web, growth of the Web, and a discussion on past, present, and future Web technologies. Talk provided examples of global projects (such as Ushahidi, PatientsLikeMe, and Kiva) that use Web technologies to make a difference in the global society. The talk also provided examples of UNF student projects that are making a difference in the Jacksonville community.

Mission of Joe Berg Seminar:

“The Joe Berg Seminars of Jacksonville presents challenging evening seminars and programs for outstanding public and independent high school students led by experts in various fields of the sciences and humanities. Participation in the society promotes independent thinking and a love of learning while enlarging the students' awareness of career options and current societal issues and allowing association with many of the other best students in Jacksonville.”

For more information about Joe Berg Seminar:

http://www.unf.edu/coas/sci/Joe_Berg_Seminar_HOME.aspx

Won 2011 Digging into Data Grant Challenge

Project Title:
Digging into Human Rights Violations: Anaphora Resolution and Emergent Witnesses

Project description:
Unidentified victims, perpetrators, and details of human rights violations are camouflaged by the scale of archival records of witness reports; keyword based search is insufficient to extract them. Digging into Human Rights Violations will develop an automated reader for large text archives of human rights abuses that will reconstruct stories from fragments scattered across a collection, and an interface for navigating those stories. By improving on anaphora resolution techniques in Natural Language Processing for the connection of pronouns to specific nouns, this system will help researchers and courts reveal witnesses and patterns contained in their own collections. This project will read reports of historic disappearances and systemic violence in Guatemala, of abuse against women and children in Burma, and of violent incidents and rights violations in Chechnya, and provide new methods and free tools for human rights advocates.

Principal Investigators:
Ben Miller (Georgia State University), Karthikeyan Umapathy (University of North Florida), Lu Xiao (University of Western Ontario), George Pullman (Georgia State University), and Saurav Karmakar (Georgia State University).

Grant competition link: http://www.diggingintodata.org/
Grant winners listing:
http://www.diggingintodata.org/Home/AwardRecipients2011/tabid/185/Default.aspx
NSF award link: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1209172

Jacksonville Startup Weekend

This message is for those interested in starting a business or cultivating your entrepreneurial skills. Jacksonville Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event that aims to provide foundations for formulating a startup business that focuses on Web and mobile application development. This event will be held on January 20th, 21st, and 22nd at the Student Union Building, University of North Florida. This event is an excellent opportunity to network with local business leaders and investors.

Registration cost for students is $50 (use discount code "STUDENT"). Students must produce a valid student ID at the event.

For more information about the event, see below link:
http://jacksonville.startupweekend.org/

Fall 2011 School of Computing Student Symposium

The School of Computing Student Symposium was held on December 2nd, from 3 PM to 7 PM at the Student Union Building. We had invited community partners, professionals, and industry leaders nearby Jacksonville area. More than 200 people attended the symposium. About 90 students participated with the symposium as presenters.

The symposium had three parallel sessions. Individual project and Team project presentation sessions were held from 3 PM to 5:30 PM. Poster presentations were held from 3 PM to 7 PM. There were 10 project presentations and 25 poster presentations.

Winners of presentation sessions were recognized with cash prizes and certification awards. All student participants were recognized with a certification award. Please visit below link for the details of project works that were recognized by panels of judges as well as based on UNF dollars invested by attendees:


http://www.unf.edu/ccec/computing/news/School_of_Computing_Student_Symposium.aspx