Information and communication technology solutions for outdoor navigation in dementia

INTRODUCTION: Information and communication technology (ICT) is potentially mature enough to empower outdoor and social activities in dementia. However, actual ICT-based devices have limited functionality and impact, mainly limited to safety. What is an ideal operational framework to enhance this field to support outdoor and social activities? METHODS: Review of literature and cross-disciplinary expert discussion. RESULTS: A situation-aware ICT requires a flexible fine-tuning by stakeholders of system usability and complexity of function, and of user safety and autonomy. It should operate by artificial intelligence/machine learning and should reflect harmonized stakeholder values, social context, and user residual cognitive functions. ICT services should be proposed at the prodromal stage of dementia and should be carefully validated within the life space of users in terms of quality of life, social activities, and costs. DISCUSSION: The operational framework has the potential to produce ICT and services with high clinical impact but requires substantial investment

The national cloud computing strategy

Executive summary On 5 October 2012 the Prime Minister announced that the Australian Government would develop a National Cloud Computing Strategy. This announcement recognised the synergies between the National Broadband Network (NBN) and cloud computing, but also the important role for government in providing the tools that small business, individuals and government agencies need to realise the promise of cloud computing. This strategy has been developed in a partnership between government, industry and consumer groups and outlines a vision for cloud computing in Australia: Australians will create and use world-class cloud services to boost innovation and productivity across the digital economy. When organisations adopt cloud services, they are generally more productive, innovate better and operate with greater agility. As a nation, Australia is well placed to take advantage of cloud computing for a range of reasons—including a stable socio-economic system, a strong rule of law, and a highly diverse and skilled Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. At the individual level there are many organisations across the economy that have implemented innovative cloud computing services that have transformed the way they operate. However, as a group, Australian small business and not-for-profit organisations lag behind their counterparts in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the use of online technology. This places these organisations at a competitive disadvantage, which could be overcome through the use of cloud computing services. One reason for this has been insufficient access to the necessary infrastructure to support sophisticated cloud services—the relatively slow download or upload speeds in many parts of Australia have limited the adoption of cloud services. The NBN is changing this and is a key enabler of the digital economy more broadly. There are other reasons that cloud computing has not been adopted more generally in Australia, including a lack of awareness of how to make best use of cloud computing and a lack of confidence that some organisations and individuals have in adopting cloud computing services. This strategy has identified three core goals and a set of actions to achieve the government’s vision. However, as the cloud services market continues to evolve, users and providers of cloud services must remain responsive to change. Likewise, the government will continue to adapt its strategy in response to market and technological changes

East–West Perspectives on Privacy, Ethical Pluralism and Global Information Ethics

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are both primary drivers and facilitating technologies of globalization—and thereby, of exponentially expanding possibilities of cross-cultural encounters. Currently, over one billion persons throughout the planet have access to the Web: of these, Asian users constitute 35.8% of the Web population, while Europeans make up 28.3 % of world users—and North Americans only 20.9% (Internet World Stats, 2007). Our histories teach us all too well that such encounters—especially concerning potentially global ethical norms—always run the risk of devolving into more destructive rather than emancipatory events. Speci?cally, these encounters risk pulling us into one of two contradictory positions. First of all, naïve ethnocentrisms too easily issue in imperialisms that remake “the Other” in one’s own image—precisely by eliminating the irreducible differences in norms and practices that de?ne distinctive cultures. Second, these imperialisms thereby inspire a relativistic turn to the sheerly local—precisely for the sake of preserving local identities and cultures. Hence the general problem: how we might foster a cross-cultural communication for a global ICE that steers between the two Manichean polarities of ethnocentric imperialism and fragmenting relativism

Developing front-end Web 2.0 technologies to access services, content and things in the future Internet

The future Internet is expected to be composed of a mesh of interoperable web services accessible from all over the web. This approach has not yet caught on since global user?service interaction is still an open issue. This paper states one vision with regard to next-generation front-end Web 2.0 technology that will enable integrated access to services, contents and things in the future Internet. In this paper, we illustrate how front-ends that wrap traditional services and resources can be tailored to the needs of end users, converting end users into prosumers (creators and consumers of service-based applications). To do this, we propose an architecture that end users without programming skills can use to create front-ends, consult catalogues of resources tailored to their needs, easily integrate and coordinate front-ends and create composite applications to orchestrate services in their back-end. The paper includes a case study illustrating that current user-centred web development tools are at a very early stage of evolution. We provide statistical data on how the proposed architecture improves these tools. This paper is based on research conducted by the Service Front End (SFE) Open Alliance initiative

Adoption of Information and Communications Technology in Rural Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) : Case of MSEs in South Indian State of Kerala, India

ICT plays a significant role in the life of enterprises. Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) have to be familiar and in tune with ICT applications, within the context of fast evolving global market dynamics. However, how far MSEs of rural India could address this challenge of adoption of ICT within their enterprise level? What are the challenges and opportunities that rural MSEs could accrue from ICT adoption?Micro and Small Enterprises; Rural Enterprises; India; ICT adoption

A manifesto for energy-aware software

According to recent estimates, computing and communications could account for 20% of energy usage globally by 2025.1 This trend shows no sign of slowing. The annual growth in power consumption of Internet-connected devices is 20%. Data centers alone are now accounting for more than 3% of global emissions. Even if you are not worried about this trend on the mega scale, you are likely concerned with the power consumption of the devices in your pocket, on your wrist, and in your ears. Software, hardware, and network attributes all contribute to power usage, but little attention has been given to this topic by the information and communications technology (ICT) community