The Extended Mind and Network-Enabled Cognition

In thinking about the transformative potential of network technologies with respect to human cognition, it is common to see network resources as playing a largely assistive or augmentative role. In this paper we propose a somewhat more radical vision. We suggest that the informational and technological elements of a network system can, at times, constitute part of the material supervenience base for a human agent’s mental states and processes. This thesis (called the thesis of network-enabled cognition) draws its inspiration from the notion of the extended mind that has been propounded in the philosophical and cognitive science literature. Our basic claim is that network systems can do more than just augment cognition; they can also constitute part of the physical machinery that makes mind and cognition mechanistically possible. In evaluating this hypothesis, we identify a number of issues that seem to undermine the extent to which contemporary network systems, most notably the World Wide Web, can legitimately feature as part of an environmentally-extended cognitive system. Specific problems include the reliability and resilience of network-enabled devices, the accessibility of online information content, and the extent to which network-derived information is treated in the same way as information retrieved from biological memory. We argue that these apparent shortfalls do not necessarily merit the wholesale rejection of the network-enabled cognition thesis; rather, they point to the limits of the current state-of-the-art and identify the targets of many ongoing research initiatives in the network and information sciences. In addition to highlighting the importance of current research and technology development efforts, the thesis of network-enabled cognition also suggests a number of areas for future research. These include the formation and maintenance of online trust relationships, the subjective assessment of information credibility and the long-term impact of network access on human psychological and cognitive functioning. The nascent discipline of web science is, we suggest, suitably placed to begin an exploration of these issues

Using Provenance to support Good Laboratory Practice in Grid Environments

Conducting experiments and documenting results is daily business of scientists. Good and traceable documentation enables other scientists to confirm procedures and results for increased credibility. Documentation and scientific conduct are regulated and termed as "good laboratory practice." Laboratory notebooks are used to record each step in conducting an experiment and processing data. Originally, these notebooks were paper based. Due to computerised research systems, acquired data became more elaborate, thus increasing the need for electronic notebooks with data storage, computational features and reliable electronic documentation. As a new approach to this, a scientific data management system (DataFinder) is enhanced with features for traceable documentation. Provenance recording is used to meet requirements of traceability, and this information can later be queried for further analysis. DataFinder has further important features for scientific documentation: It employs a heterogeneous and distributed data storage concept. This enables access to different types of data storage systems (e. g. Grid data infrastructure, file servers). In this chapter we describe a number of building blocks that are available or close to finished development. These components are intended for assembling an electronic laboratory notebook for use in Grid environments, while retaining maximal flexibility on usage scenarios as well as maximal compatibility overlap towards each other. Through the usage of such a system, provenance can successfully be used to trace the scientific workflow of preparation, execution, evaluation, interpretation and archiving of research data. The reliability of research results increases and the research process remains transparent to remote research partners.Comment: Book Chapter for "Data Provenance and Data Management for eScience," of Studies in Computational Intelligence series, Springer. 25 pages, 8 figure

A Framework for M-Commerce Implementation in Nigeria

The Internet has brought about the concept of grobalilation, which has revolutionized the way business is transacted all over the world. The E-comnterce is of particular interest, though widely used but still has some security challenges in terms of transparency and confidentiality of transactiorts. This papei focuses on M-contnrcrce as an extensiott to E-commerce hnplementatiott with the Bankiltg industry proposed as core implementation consideration in ortler to guarantee high level security. We have reviewed some cqses of onlilrc frauds and eliscussed tlte emerging critical issues afficting software development of M-cornmerce applicatiotts. Afranrcworkfor M-commerce implementationis therefore,proposed for countries such as Nigeria, Romania and Indonesia where cases of online scam are alanning

From computer assisted language learning (CALL) to mobile assisted language use

This article begins by critiquing the long-established acronym CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning). We then go on to report on a small-scale study which examines how student non-native speakers of English use a range of digital devices beyond the classroom in both their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. We look also at the extent to which they believe that their L2-based activity helps consciously and/or unconsciously with their language learning, practice, and acquisition. We argue that these data, combined with other recent trends in the field, suggest a need to move from CALL towards a more accurate acronym: mobile assisted language use (MALU). We conclude with a definition of MALU together with a brief discussion of a potential alignment of MALU with the notion of the digital resident and a newly emerging educational theory of connectivism

TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2009

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

An Empirical Analysis of Malaysian Pre-university Students' ICT Competency Gender Differences

Network and Mobile technologies industries have been the fastest growing industries in the World including Malaysia. The Malaysian government has given due emphasis on network and mobile technologies with the conceptualization of the MSC and other ICT initiatives in order to steer our country towards a high-income and knowledge-based society as well as achieving the status of a developed nation as stated in the Vision 2020. Nevertheless, the lack of competent ICT personnel has been the main obstacle that needs to be addressed immediately in order to alleviate the problem of providing the necessary human capital required by the network and mobile industries. The most effective way to uplift the number of ICT savvy personnel would be through ICT education in order to upgrade their ICT competencies. The issues of gender differences in terms of ICT competencies have been widely studied especially in the Western countries. This paper attempts to provide a different perspective in that it fills in the gap of lack of information pertaining to the Malaysian pre university students’ ICT competencies. The findings from this study may lead to implications to the teaching and learning of ICT subjects as well as their evaluation and assessment in Malaysia. The utmost end result would be the emergence of more ICT savvy personnel who may contribute to the development of the network and mobile technologies sector in Malaysia. (Abstract by authors

Determining the Readiness for Mobile Learning

The following presents the outcomes from the questionnaire given to Italian and Bulgarian university students and stuff in order to determine some parameters, like availability of devices; the ways of devices usage; attitude to technology; opinion about prices of hardware and telephone and internet services and etc. These parameters seem to be important in order to study students’ readiness for Mobile Learning

Challenges for critical raw material recovery from WEEE : the case study of gallium

Gallium and gallium compounds are more frequently used in future oriented technologies such as photovoltaics, light diodes and semiconductor technology. In the long term the supply risk is estimated to be critical. Germany is one of the major primary gallium producer, recycler of gallium from new scrap and GaAs wafer producer. Therefore, new concepts for a resource saving handling of gallium and appropriate recycling strategies have to be designed.This study focus on options for a possible recycling of gallium from waste electric and electronic equipment. To identify first starting points, a substance flow analysis was carried out for gallium applied in integrated circuits on printed circuit boards and LED used for background lighting in Germany in 2012. Moreover, radio amplifier chips (integrated circuits) were investigated in detail to deduct first approaches for a recycling of such components. An analysis of recycling barriers was carried out in order to investigate general opportunities and risks for the recycling of gallium from chips and LED. Results show, that significant gallium losses arose during the production and the waste management. 93 ± 11 %, equivalent to 43,000 ± 4,700 kg of the total gallium potential were lost over the whole process until applied in electronic goods. The largest share of 14,000 ± 2,300 kg gallium was lost in the primary production process. The refining process was connected to additional 6,900 ± 3,700 kg and the chip and wafer production to 21,700 ± 3,200 kg lost gallium. Due to low collection rates, further 400 ± 200 kg of gallium were not recycled. Due to the fact, that no recycling of gallium from WEEE exists, all gallium is lost in the current waste management system. A thermal pre-treatment of the chips, followed by a manual separation allowed an isolation of gallium rich fractions, with mass fractions up to 35 %. Here, gallium loads per Chip were between 0.9 and 1.3 mg. Copper, gold and arsenic were determined as well. The pyrometallurgical copper route might be an option for gallium recycling. A recovery of gold and gallium in combination with copper is possible due to a compatibility with this base-metal. But, a selective separation prior to this process is necessary. Diluted with other materials, the gallium content would be too low and the recovery not feasible any more. The recycling of gallium from chips applied on printed circuit boards and LED used for background lighting is technically complex. Recycling barriers exist over the whole recycling chain. A forthcoming commercial implementation is not expected in nearer future. This applies in particular for gallium bearing chips