Domino: exploring mobile collaborative software adaptation

Social Proximity Applications (SPAs) are a promising new area for ubicomp software that exploits the everyday changes in the proximity of mobile users. While a number of applications facilitate simple file sharing between co–present users, this paper explores opportunities for recommending and sharing software between users. We describe an architecture that allows the recommendation of new system components from systems with similar histories of use. Software components and usage histories are exchanged between mobile users who are in proximity with each other. We apply this architecture in a mobile strategy game in which players adapt and upgrade their game using components from other players, progressing through the game through sharing tools and history. More broadly, we discuss the general application of this technique as well as the security and privacy challenges to such an approach

Features for Killer Apps from a Semantic Web Perspective

There are certain features that that distinguish killer apps from other ordinary applications. This chapter examines those features in the context of the semantic web, in the hope that a better understanding of the characteristics of killer apps might encourage their consideration when developing semantic web applications. Killer apps are highly tranformative technologies that create new e-commerce venues and widespread patterns of behaviour. Information technology, generally, and the Web, in particular, have benefited from killer apps to create new networks of users and increase its value. The semantic web community on the other hand is still awaiting a killer app that proves the superiority of its technologies. The authors hope that this chapter will help to highlight some of the common ingredients of killer apps in e-commerce, and discuss how such applications might emerge in the semantic web

Technology, autonomy, and manipulation

Since 2016, when the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal began to emerge, public concern has grown around the threat of “online manipulation”. While these worries are familiar to privacy researchers, this paper aims to make them more salient to policymakers — first, by defining “online manipulation”, thus enabling identification of manipulative practices; and second, by drawing attention to the specific harms online manipulation threatens. We argue that online manipulation is the use of information technology to covertly influence another person’s decision-making, by targeting and exploiting their decision-making vulnerabilities. Engaging in such practices can harm individuals by diminishing their economic interests, but its deeper, more insidious harm is its challenge to individual autonomy. We explore this autonomy harm, emphasising its implications for both individuals and society, and we briefly outline some strategies for combating online manipulation and strengthening autonomy in an increasingly digital world

Technology-enhanced Personalised Learning: Untangling the Evidence

Technology-enhanced personalised learning is not yet common in Germany, which is why we have tasked scientists with summarising the current status of international research on the matter. This study demonstrates the great potential of technology in implementing effective personalised learning. Nevertheless, it has not been assessed yet whether the practical implementation actually works: Even in countries such as the U.S., which lead the way in using techology in classroom settings, hardly any evaluation studies have been done to prove the effectiveness of technology-enhanced personalised learning. In the light of the above, the authors make recommendations for actions to be taken in Germany to make best use of the potential of technology in providing individual support and guidance to students

Integrative advertising : the marketing 'dark side' or merely the emperor's new clothes?

This paper assesses the move towards more 'integrative advertising' methods which rely on the mixing of commercial and non-commercial content, and the suitability of the current EU legislative framework to deal with such developments. In essence, the paper examines the 'identification' and 'transparency' principles in the context of online advertising. This analysis allows for the drawing of conclusions vis-à-vis future policy initiatives and enforcement challenges. The paper states that for true advertising literacy mere identification of commercial communications is insufficient and that efforts need to be made in order to educate consumers (especially children) to allow for the continuing relevance and reliance on the notion of the average consumer

Algorithmic Price Discrimination and Consumer Protection. A Digital Arms Race?

none4siOnline market players are gradually gaining the capacity to adapt prices dynamically based on knowledge generated through vast amounts of data, so that, theoretically, every individual consumer can be charged the maximum price he or she is willing to pay. This has downsides for markets and society. European Union law insufficiently addresses these issues. Consumer-empowering technologies may help counter algortihmic price discruimination. We advocate for regulation to make the arms race between conumers and sellers more balanced by strengthening the digital tools available to consumer protection actors and to limit the battlefield by clarifying and refining the applica- ble rules and defining clearer categories of impermissible behaviours.openMateusz Grochowski; Agnieszka Jabłonowska; Francesca Lagioia; Giovanni SartorMateusz Grochowski; Agnieszka Jabłonowska; Francesca Lagioia; Giovanni Sarto

O contexto da investigação em inteligência artificial e gamificação para melhorar o envolvimento e a assiduidade dos estudantes no ensino superior

A significant concern that is widely discussed in the field of Higher Education is declining student participation. In several institutions, attendance is optional, allowing students to attend lectures at their convenience. This study proposes the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Gamification to improve student engagement and attendance rates. The initiative combines advanced technological strategies with conventional educational methodologies to enhance the lecture experience. The initiative is significant as formal lectures often witness dwindling student interest and frequent absenteeism, undermining the educational process and student's future career prospects. This combination has the potential to revolutionise Higher Education by providing a more interactive and engaging learning experience. While gamification has positively impacted learning in various contexts, integration with Artificial Intelligence is a game-changer, paving the way for a modernised educational experience. This innovative exploration of the AI-gamification blend sets the stage for future research and the implementation of updated academic strategies, ultimately addressing student engagement and attendance. This position paper presents the bases and foundations for understanding the problem of student attendance and engagement and the role of AI and gamification in Higher Education in alleviating it.Uma inquietação relevante e extensamente discutida no domínio do Ensino Superior é a diminuição da participação dos estudantes. Em diversas instituições, a assiduidade é facultativa, permitindo aos estudantes a frequência às aulas segundo a sua disponibilidade. Este estudo propõe a integração da Inteligência Artificial e da Gamification como meios para melhorar o envolvimento e as taxas de assiduidade dos estudantes. A iniciativa em causa articula estratégias tecnologicamente avançadas com metodologias educativas convencionais no intuito de enriquecer a experiência de ensino. Tal iniciativa assume importância dada à constante diminuição do interesse dos estudantes e a assiduidade irregular nas aulas formais, fatores que afetam negativamente o processo de ensino e as perspetivas de carreira dos estudantes. Esta combinação ostenta o potencial de revolucionar o Ensino Superior, proporcionando uma experiência de aprendizagem mais interativa e envolvente. Embora a Gamification já tenha impactado positivamente o processo de aprendizagem em diversos contextos, a sua integração com a Inteligência Artificial surge como um elemento transformador, abrindo caminho para uma experiência educacional modernizada. Esta investigação inovadora que combina a IA e Gamification prepara as bases para investigações futuras e a implementação de estratégias académicas aprimoradas, concentrando-se principalmente no envolvimento e na assiduidade dos estudantes. Este artigo de posicionamento apresenta as bases e os fundamentos necessários para a compreensão do problema da frequência e envolvimento dos estudantes no Ensino Superior, assim como o papel da IA e da Gamification na sua mitigação.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Publicidade personalizada e privacidade dos dados no Facebook: o caso de Portugal

The evolution of the technological world has allowed companies and consumers to be increasingly connected, especially due to social networks. Along with the development of social networks, personalised advertising has grown exponentially, becoming the most effective advertising strategy as it allows companies to interact with consumers in a customised way and offer products and services that are in accordance with their profiles. However, although personalised advertising offers benefits to both companies and consumers, in recent years the concern about data privacy has increased. Thus, this research aims to understand the gap existing between personalised advertising and data privacy concerns, since users want to receive ads with high predictive ability of their needs, however the collection and use of their data causes insecurity in relation to their privacy. As a way to achieve this objective, a mixed-methods approach was used by creating a questionnaire based on the existing literature. A total of 583 valid responses were collected and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 28 software for quantitative data analysis and NVivo Software version 12 for qualitative data analysis The results allowed the support of three research hypotheses and the rejection of four hypotheses. The conclusions obtained indicate that personalised advertising causes data privacy concerns and through the thematic analysis performed to one of the qualitative questions it was possible to determine 17 situations in which respondents stated that this type of advertising threatened their privacy. Furthermore, the statistically significant result of the chi-square test suggests that consumers seek to protect their data on Facebook, not supporting the privacy paradox. Furthermore, this research suggests the existence of a relationship between personalised advertising and cyber-paranoia, as consumers believe they are constantly being ‘listened to’ through their mobile phone’s microphone and that their conversations are used for delivering personalised advertisements, while also believing that everything they do on the Internet is monitored and used for advertising purposes. Finally, since no literature was found on cyber-paranoia and personalised advertising, it can be considered that this study presents an innovative contribution. However, since this investigation is an exploratory study, there is a need for further literature on this subject.A evolução do mundo tecnológico permitiu que as empresas e os consumidores estivessem cada vez mais conectados, especialmente devido às redes sociais. A par do desenvolvimento das redes sociais, a publicidade personalizada cresceu exponencialmente, tornando-se na estratégia de publicidade mais eficaz pois permite às empresas interagir com os consumidores de uma forma customizada e oferecer produtos e serviços que estejam de acordo com os seus perfis. No entanto, apesar de a publicidade personalizada oferecer benefícios tanto para as empresas como para os consumidores, nos últimos anos verificou-se o aumento da preocupação com a privacidade dos dados. Assim, esta investigação tem como objetivo compreender a lacuna que existe entre a publicidade personalizada e a preocupação com a privacidade dos dados, pois os utilizadores querem receber anúncios com elevada capacidade de previsão das suas necessidades, no entanto a recolha e a utilização dos seus dados causa insegurança em relação à sua privacidade. Como forma a atingir este objetivo, foi utilizado um método de investigação misto através da criação de um questionário baseado na literatura existente. Um total de 583 respostas válidas foram recolhidas e analisadas utilizando o software IBM SPSS Statistics versão 28 para a análise dos dados quantitativos e o Software NVivo versão 12 para a análise dos dados qualitativos. Os resultados permitiram o suporte de três hipóteses de investigação e a rejeição de quatro hipóteses. As conclusões obtidas indicam que a publicidade personalizada causa preocupação com a privacidade dos dados, sendo que através da análise temática realizada a uma das perguntas qualitativas foi possível determinar 17 situações em que os inquiridos afirmaram que este tipo de publicidade ameaçava a sua privacidade. Além disso, o resultado estatisticamente significativo do teste qui-quadrado sugere que os consumidores têm comportamentos que visam proteger os seus dados no Facebook, não suportando o paradoxo da privacidade. Ademais, esta investigação sugere a existência de uma relação entre a publicidade personalizada e a ciberparanoia visto que os consumidores acreditam que estão constantemente a ser ‘ouvidos’ através do microfone do seu telemóvel e que as suas conversas são utilizadas para a criação de anúncios personalizados, considerando também que tudo o que fazem na Internet é monitorizado e usado para fins publicitários. Por fim, uma vez que não foi encontrada literatura sobre a publicidade personalizada e a ciberparanoia, pode-se considerar que este estudo apresenta um contributo inovador. Contudo, sendo esta investigação um estudo exploratório, é necessário haver mais literatura sobre este tema.Mestrado em Gestã

Generating citizen trust in e-government using a trust verification agent: A research note

Generating Citizen Trust in e-Government using a Trust Verification AgentThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern about the extent to which trust issues inhibit a citizen’s take-up of online public sector services or engagement with public decision and policy making. A citizen’s decision to use online systems is influenced by their willingness to trust the environment and agency involved. This project addresses one aspect of individual “trust” decisions by providing support for citizens trying to evaluate the implications of the security infrastructure provided by the agency. Based on studies of the way both groups (citizens and agencies) express their concerns and concepts in the security area, the project will develop a software tool – a trust verification agent (TVA) - that can take an agency’s security statements (or security audit) and infer how effectively this meets the security concerns of a particular citizen. This will enable citizens to state their concerns and obtain an evaluation of the agency’s provision in appropriate “citizen friendly” language. Further, by employing rule-based expert systems techniques the TVA will also be able to explain its evaluation.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (grant GR/T27020/01