RFCs, MOOs, LMSs: Assorted Educational Devices\ud

This paper discusses implicit social consequences of four basic internet protocols. The results are then related to the field of computer-assisted teaching. An educational on-line community is described and compared to the emerging standard of web-based learning management.\u

A formal theory of conceptual modeling universals

Conceptual Modeling is a discipline of great relevance to several areas in Computer Science. In a series of papers [1,2,3] we have been using the General Ontological Language (GOL) and its underlying upper level ontology, proposed in [4,5], to evaluate the ontological correctness of conceptual models and to develop guidelines for how the constructs of a modeling language (UML) should be used in conceptual modeling. In this paper, we focus on the modeling metaconcepts of classifiers and objects from an ontological point of view. We use a philosophically and psychologically well-founded theory of universals to propose a UML profile for Ontology Representation and Conceptual Modeling. The formal semantics of the proposed modeling elements is presented in a language of modal logics with quantification restricted to Sortal universals

Towards the design of a platform for abuse detection in OSNs using multimedial data analysis

Online social networks (OSNs) are becoming increasingly popular every day. The vast amount of data created by users and their actions yields interesting opportunities, both socially and economically. Unfortunately, these online communities are prone to abuse and inappropriate behaviour such as cyber bullying. For victims, this kind of behaviour can lead to depression and other severe problems. However, due to the huge amount of users and data it is impossible to manually check all content posted on the social network. We propose a pluggable architecture with reusable components, able to quickly detect harmful content. The platform uses text-, image-, audio- and video-based analysis modules to detect inappropriate content or high risk behaviour. Domain services aggregate this data and flag user profiles if necessary. Social network moderators need only check the validity of the flagged profiles. This paper reports upon key requirements of the platform, the architectural components and important challenges

Social Software, Groups, and Governance

Formal groups play an important role in the law. Informal groups largely lie outside it. Should the law be more attentive to informal groups? The paper argues that this and related questions are appearing more frequently as a number of computer technologies, which I collect under the heading social software, increase the salience of groups. In turn, that salience raises important questions about both the significance and the benefits of informal groups. The paper suggests that there may be important social benefits associated with informal groups, and that the law should move towards a framework for encouraging and recognizing them. Such a framework may be organized along three dimensions by which groups arise and sustain themselves: regulating places, things, and stories

Culinary resistance?

Can James C. Scott’s model of resistance be extended to the field of cuisine? To what extent can a group resist through food and cooking? This paper poses these two queries within the context of a Malaysian foodscape: the Kristangs, or Portuguese Eurasians, of polyethnic Malacca. A series of cultural 'worlds' has architectured this multicultural Creole group and includes Indian, Chinese, and Malay worlds in action prior to the arrival of Portuguese colonos in 1511, as well as the later Dutch and British colonial regimes. By simply persisting, or enduring, the group is also resisting; cuisine comprises a key element in this persistence. By sidestepping the dominant/dominated lens, we can focus more clearly on the group’s positive strategies of resistance through cooking. One major implication for Action Theory is that they have practiced the Art of Resisting via the Art of Persisting.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Agent-Based Models and Simulations in Economics and Social Sciences: from conceptual exploration to distinct ways of experimenting

Now that complex Agent-Based Models and computer simulations spread over economics and social sciences - as in most sciences of complex systems -, epistemological puzzles (re)emerge. We introduce new epistemological tools so as to show to what precise extent each author is right when he focuses on some empirical, instrumental or conceptual significance of his model or simulation. By distinguishing between models and simulations, between types of models, between types of computer simulations and between types of empiricity, section 2 gives conceptual tools to explain the rationale of the diverse epistemological positions presented in section 1. Finally, we claim that a careful attention to the real multiplicity of denotational powers of symbols at stake and then to the implicit routes of references operated by models and computer simulations is necessary to determine, in each case, the proper epistemic status and credibility of a given model and/or simulation