Human Computation and Convergence

Humans are the most effective integrators and producers of information, directly and through the use of information-processing inventions. As these inventions become increasingly sophisticated, the substantive role of humans in processing information will tend toward capabilities that derive from our most complex cognitive processes, e.g., abstraction, creativity, and applied world knowledge. Through the advancement of human computation - methods that leverage the respective strengths of humans and machines in distributed information-processing systems - formerly discrete processes will combine synergistically into increasingly integrated and complex information processing systems. These new, collective systems will exhibit an unprecedented degree of predictive accuracy in modeling physical and techno-social processes, and may ultimately coalesce into a single unified predictive organism, with the capacity to address societies most wicked problems and achieve planetary homeostasis.Comment: Pre-publication draft of chapter. 24 pages, 3 figures; added references to page 1 and 3, and corrected typ

Usability and Trust in Information Systems

The need for people to protect themselves and their assets is as old as humankind. People's physical safety and their possessions have always been at risk from deliberate attack or accidental damage. The advance of information technology means that many individuals, as well as corporations, have an additional range of physical (equipment) and electronic (data) assets that are at risk. Furthermore, the increased number and types of interactions in cyberspace has enabled new forms of attack on people and their possessions. Consider grooming of minors in chat-rooms, or Nigerian email cons: minors were targeted by paedophiles before the creation of chat-rooms, and Nigerian criminals sent the same letters by physical mail or fax before there was email. But the technology has decreased the cost of many types of attacks, or the degree of risk for the attackers. At the same time, cyberspace is still new to many people, which means they do not understand risks, or recognise the signs of an attack, as readily as they might in the physical world. The IT industry has developed a plethora of security mechanisms, which could be used to mitigate risks or make attacks significantly more difficult. Currently, many people are either not aware of these mechanisms, or are unable or unwilling or to use them. Security experts have taken to portraying people as "the weakest link" in their efforts to deploy effective security [e.g. Schneier, 2000]. However, recent research has revealed at least some of the problem may be that security mechanisms are hard to use, or be ineffective. The review summarises current research on the usability of security mechanisms, and discusses options for increasing their usability and effectiveness

Theory of the Avatar

The internet has given birth to an expanding number of shared virtual reality spaces, with a collective population well into the millions. These virtual worlds exhibit most of the traits we associate with the Earth world: economic transactions, interpersonal relationships, organic political institutions, and so on. A human being experiences these worlds through an avatar, which is the representation of the self in a given physical medium. Most worlds allow an agent to choose what kind of avatar she or he will inhabit, allowing a person with any kind of Earth body to inhabit a completely different body in the virtual world. The emergence of avatar-mediated living raises both positive and normative questions. This paper explores several choice models involving avatars. Analysis of these models suggests that the emergence of avatar-mediated life may increase aggregate human well-being, while decreasing its cross-sectional variance. These efficiency and equity effects are contingent on the maintenance and protection of certain rights, however, including the right of agents to free movement, unbiased information, and political participation.information and internet services, computer software, equity, justice, inequality, synthetic worlds

THE ROLE OF RISK ASSESSMENT IN MANAGING RISK

Risk and Uncertainty,

A knowledge hub to enhance the learning processes of an industrial cluster

Industrial clusters have been defined as ?networks of production of strongly interdependent firms (including specialised suppliers), knowledge producing agents (universities, research institutes, engineering companies), institutions (brokers, consultants), linked to each other in a value adding production chain? (OECD Focus Group, 1999). The industrial clusters distinctive mode of production is specialisation, based on a sophisticated division of labour, that leads to interlinked activities and need for cooperation, with the consequent emergence of communities of practice (CoPs). CoPs are here conceived as groups of people and/or organisations bound together by shared expertise and propensity towards a joint work (Wenger and Suyden, 1999). Cooperation needs closeness for just-in-time delivery, for communication, for the exchange of knowledge, especially in its tacit form. Indeed the knowledge exchanges between the CoPs specialised actors, in geographical proximity, lead to spillovers and synergies. In the digital economy landscape, the use of collaborative technologies, such as shared repositories, chat rooms and videoconferences can, when appropriately used, have a positive impact on the development of the CoP exchanges process of codified knowledge. On the other end, systems for the individuals profile management, e-learning platforms and intelligent agents can trigger also some socialisation mechanisms of tacit knowledge. In this perspective, we have set-up a model of a Knowledge Hub (KH), driven by the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT-driven), that enables the knowledge exchanges of a CoP. In order to present the model, the paper is organised in the following logical steps: - an overview of the most seminal and consolidated approaches to CoPs; - a description of the KH model, ICT-driven, conceived as a booster of the knowledge exchanges of a CoP, that adds to the economic benefits coming from geographical proximity, the advantages coming from organizational proximity, based on the ICTs; - a discussion of some preliminary results that we are obtaining during the implementation of the model.

The EU and NATO: Cyber-Security Partners or Divergent Actors? An Exercise in Framework Development

With the continually evolving importance of cyber strategy in European affairs, multi-stakeholder organizations such the EU and NATO are struggling to articulate cyber-security initiatives to address a wide variety of needs and imperatives. This paper will assemble a framework with which to critically analyze and explore the emerging NATO and EU cyber-security dynamic by building bridges between regime complex theory and the Choucri & Clark layered model of cyber-space. In addition the argument will be made to shift away from the term ‘cyber-security’ and instead focus on ‘information-security management’ at various levels of abstraction and analysis. It is proposed the emerging EU/NATO dynamic can be understood within the detailed framework where ‘chessboard politics’ inherent to regime complexes can be focused upon through usage of a layered model of cyber-space

Globalization and its geographical spaces

Közismert, hogy a globalizáció rendkívül sokrétű folyamat. Maga a fogalom néhány évtizede használatos. A folyamatokat az információs és kommunikációs technika robbanásszerű fejlődése gyorsította fel és hozta a világ közvéleményéhez közel. A globalizáció legfontosabb hordozói a transznacionális vállalatok, amelyek ország- és régióhatároktól függetlenül építik ki terjedési területeiket, illetve vonzáskörzeteiket. Ily módon a világgazdaság térszerveződéseiben új formációkat ismerhetünk fel. Jellemző, hogy meghatározott kategóriává emelkedtek a világvárosok, a világvárosi hálózatok. De ebbe a folyamatba új szereplőként léptek be a regionális hálózatok is. Egyre integráltabb városrendszerek alakulnak ki, amelyek térbeli hatásai alkalmasak az új regionális folyamatok szervezésére, amelyeket a transznacionális vállalatok is generálnak. A kelet-közép-európai térségben például a megvalósult átmenet legsikeresebb települései és térségei a globális gazdaságba való beilleszkedés szerint indultak fejlődésnek, és így oldották meg korábbi válságaikat. Érzékelhető, hogy a merev határral rendelkező európai, illetve Európai Uniós térszerkezeti egységek mellett, mozgékony, „szabálytalan” téralakzatok is jelen vannak. Ezek a terek a globalizáció regionális, vagy lokális következményei. Ezért felmerülhet a kérdés: vajon érdemes-e ragaszkodnunk megszokott térkategóriáinkhoz, vagy inkább nagyobb érzékenységet kellene mutatni az újfajta „szabálytalan” térszerveződések iránt, amelyeket a globalizáció működési mechanizmusa hozott létre