Retail financial services is a sector in which technological change--and particularly information technology (IT)--has become critically important. This collection looks at how firms develop a strategic approach to IT in this sector. The contributors present seven case studies from Scottish industry while focusing on key strategic projects within these case companies.

'User-designer relations' concerns the sorts of working relationships that arise between developers and end users of IT products - the different ways designers of IT products seek to engage with users, and the ways users seek to influence product design. It is through the shifting patterns of these relations that IT products are realised. Although it has generally been accepted that achieving better user-designer relations will improve the quality of IT products, there has been little consensus on how this might be achieved.

This book aims to deepen our understanding of the...

Vast amounts of digital data are now generated daily by people as they go about their lives, yet social researchers are struggling to exploit it. At the same time, the challenges faced by society in the 21^st century are growing ever more complex, and demands research that is bigger in scale, more collaborative and multi-disciplinary than ever before.

This cutting-edge volume provides an accessible introduction to innovative digital social research tools and methods that harness this 'data deluge' and successfully tackle key research challenges. Contributions from leading...