Applications of computer communications in education.

Applications of computer communications can be used in many ways in education. An overview is given of a number of categories of computer communications applications in learning-related activities. Particular attention is given to a new type of system called a course-support environment. In this type of system a database is integrated with Web-based tools and applications, and used to generate a course-support environment accessed via a standard Web browser. Some examples are given. The article moves on to an overview of various issues confronting the acceptance of computer communication systems in educational settings, and indicates some of the ways in which computer communications engineers will have to deal with those issue

Poster Presentation: Xcerpt and XChange – Logic Programming Languages for Querying and Evolution on the Web

age Xcerpt and provides advanced, Web-specific capabilities, such as propagation of changes on the Web (change) and event-based communications between Web sites (exchange). Xcerpt: Querying Data on the Web Xcerpt is a declarative, rule-based query language for Web data (i.e. XML documents or semistructured databases) based on logic programming. An Xcerpt program contains at least one goal and some (maybe zero) rules. Rules and goals consist of query and construction patterns, called terms in analogy to other logic programming languages. Terms represent tree-like (or graph-like) structures. The children of a node may be either ordered (as in standard XML) or unordered (as is common in databases). Data terms are used to represent XML documents and the data items of a semistructured database. They are similar to ground functional programming expressions and logical atoms. A database is a (multi-)set of data terms (e.g. the Web). Query terms are patterns matched against Web resources

An open standard for the exchange of information in the Australian timber sector

The purpose of this paper is to describe business-to-business (B2B) communication and the characteristics of an open standard for electronic communication within the Australian timber and wood products industry. Current issues, future goals and strategies for using business-to-business communication will be considered. From the perspective of the Timber industry sector, this study is important because supply chain efficiency is a key component in an organisation's strategy to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Strong improvement in supply chain performance is possible with improved business-to-business communication which is used both for building trust and providing real time marketing data. Traditional methods such as electronic data interchange (EDI) used to facilitate B2B communication have a number of disadvantages, such as high implementation and running costs and a rigid and inflexible messaging standard. Information and communications technologies (ICT) have supported the emergence of web-based EDI which maintains the advantages of the traditional paradigm while negating the disadvantages. This has been further extended by the advent of the Semantic web which rests on the fundamental idea that web resources should be annotated with semantic markup that captures information about their meaning and facilitates meaningful machine-to-machine communication. This paper provides an ontology using OWL (Web Ontology Language) for the Australian Timber sector that can be used in conjunction with semantic web services to provide effective and cheap B2B communications

THERE IS NO LONGER ONE TRUTH!: CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT THROUGH DEFERRED SYSTEMS

Web 2.0 technologies promote democracy which poses issues for corporate communications. Corporate communications is orchestrated by companies to promote business strategy and raise brand profile. However, companies’ use of Web 2.0 technologies in the form of social media raises problems for corporate communications departments. Web communities on social media may run campaigns that have adverse effects for companies. This is the emergence effect of Web 2.0 technologies. The Web 2.0 platform is likely to be a permanent feature for corporate communications. In this paper, the theory of deferred action is proposed to promote the positive use of social media whilst managing its adverse effects, or more generally emergence. The deferred systems concept in particular is proposed for conceptualising and developing social media uses for corporate communications whilst managing emergence. Design principles are proposed to develop social media effectively for business use

Are Foundation Leaders Using Social Media?

All it takes is a quick visit to Glasspockets.org to see just how fast and how far foundations have come in terms of using social media. As of August 2010, the web site had documented the Web 2.0 activities of more than 650 foundations, including 271 that are active on Facebook, 190 on Twitter, 102 with blogs, and 93 on YouTube. While such statistics provide clear evidence that foundations are actively using social media, just how engaged are the leaders of foundations themselves with these new communications tools? In July 2010, the Foundation Center surveyed members of its Grantmaker Leadership Panel in order to find out. Completed surveys were received from 73 of 228 current Panel members, for a response rate of 32 percent

Media industry facing biggest upheaval since Gutenberg. Media consumers morphing into media makers

The advance of innovative information and communication technologies has triggered a fundamental upheaval in the media industry. The technology is reforming the conventional media model. The media mix will become more varied; interactive and personalised offers are taking root and finding their ideal milieu on the web. Newspapers, radio stations and TV broadcasters will have to reposition themselves if they want to remain attractive in the media industry with the arrival of the Web 2.0. This will include seeking new distribution channels and considering e.g. pay-per-view programming and innovative forms of advertising.Information and communications technology; ICT; TV; Radio; Newspaper; media portal; Internet; Web 2.0; broadband; convergence; triple play