43,187 research outputs found
Analysis domain model for shared virtual environments
The field of shared virtual environments, which also
encompasses online games and social 3D environments, has a
system landscape consisting of multiple solutions that share great functional overlap. However, there is little system interoperability between the different solutions. A shared virtual environment has an associated problem domain that is highly complex raising difficult challenges to the development process, starting with the architectural design of the underlying system. This paper has two main contributions. The first contribution is a broad domain analysis of shared virtual environments, which enables developers to have a better understanding of the whole rather than the part(s). The second contribution is a reference domain model for discussing and describing solutions - the Analysis Domain Model
Social Software, Groups, and Governance
Formal groups play an important role in the law. Informal groups largely lie outside it. Should the law be more attentive to informal groups? The paper argues that this and related questions are appearing more frequently as a number of computer technologies, which I collect under the heading social software, increase the salience of groups. In turn, that salience raises important questions about both the significance and the benefits of informal groups. The paper suggests that there may be important social benefits associated with informal groups, and that the law should move towards a framework for encouraging and recognizing them. Such a framework may be organized along three dimensions by which groups arise and sustain themselves: regulating places, things, and stories
Live Social Semantics
Social interactions are one of the key factors to the success of conferences and similar community gatherings. This paper describes a novel application that integrates data from the semantic web, online social networks, and a real-world contact sensing platform. This application was successfully deployed at ESWC09, and actively used by 139 people. Personal profiles of the participants were automatically generated using several Web~2.0 systems and semantic academic data sources, and integrated in real-time with face-to-face contact networks derived from wearable sensors. Integration of all these heterogeneous data layers made it possible to offer various services to conference attendees to enhance their social experience such as visualisation of contact data, and a site to explore and connect with other participants. This paper describes the architecture of the application, the services we provided, and the results we achieved in this deployment
Science and Technology Parks in Two Lagging Regions of Spain: A Comparative Evaluation Using an Innovation Network Approach
Science and Technology Parks (STPs) have been widely used as innovation support and regional development instruments in most European countries. In Objective 1 regions of South Europe STPs projects were developed during the 90s through regional, national or EU structural funds as tools for promoting innovation and technology upgrade. Most existing studies cast doubt on the effectiveness of parks in achieving their goals, focussing on the traditional measures of the parks added-value (profitability and growth) to the tenant companies, the university-industry linkages developed. However, more recent developments of territorial innovation models stress the role of networks and interactions for knowledge creation and diffusion. While these approaches imply that the Parks â in their strict spatial nature â may become redundant in a networked space, they can also be used to identify additional performance assessment criteria focusing on the role of the park for the development of interactions, linkages and cooperation inside as well as outside its area. The quantity and quality of linkages inside and outside the STP area and its operation as an innovation cooperation promoter in the regional and broader space are used in this assessment. The present work assesses the performance of STPs in Objective 1 regions of South Europe. It develops an evaluation framework that integrates â together with the traditional linear performance criteria â the concepts of networking, interaction and cooperation and uses it to compare the performance of Parks in two regions in Greece (Thessaloniki and Crete) and two in Spain (Asturias and Andalusia). Our preliminary results from in depth analysis show that while there are different levels of success in terms of the traditional metrics/criteria, we observe in general low levels of interaction and cooperation developed inside the parks as well as with the broader region. The Parks do not seem to operate â at least so far â as places that facilitate intensive knowledge exchange inside and outside their area.
Social dilemmas in an online social network: the structure and evolution of cooperation
We investigate two paradigms for studying the evolution of
cooperation--Prisoner's Dilemma and Snowdrift game in an online friendship
network obtained from a social networking site. We demonstrate that such social
network has small-world property and degree distribution has a power-law tail.
Besides, it has hierarchical organizations and exhibits disassortative mixing
pattern. We study the evolutionary version of the two types of games on it. It
is found that enhancement and sustainment of cooperative behaviors are
attributable to the underlying network topological organization. It is also
shown that cooperators can survive when confronted with the invasion of
defectors throughout the entire ranges of parameters of both games. The
evolution of cooperation on empirical networks is influenced by various network
effects in a combined manner, compared with that on model networks. Our results
can help understand the cooperative behaviors in human groups and society.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
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Multimedia delivery in the future internet
The term âNetworked Mediaâ implies that all kinds of media including text, image, 3D graphics, audio
and video are produced, distributed, shared, managed and consumed on-line through various networks,
like the Internet, Fiber, WiFi, WiMAX, GPRS, 3G and so on, in a convergent manner [1]. This white
paper is the contribution of the Media Delivery Platform (MDP) cluster and aims to cover the Networked
challenges of the Networked Media in the transition to the Future of the Internet.
Internet has evolved and changed the way we work and live. End users of the Internet have been confronted
with a bewildering range of media, services and applications and of technological innovations concerning
media formats, wireless networks, terminal types and capabilities. And there is little evidence that the pace
of this innovation is slowing. Today, over one billion of users access the Internet on regular basis, more
than 100 million users have downloaded at least one (multi)media file and over 47 millions of them do so
regularly, searching in more than 160 Exabytes1 of content. In the near future these numbers are expected
to exponentially rise. It is expected that the Internet content will be increased by at least a factor of 6, rising
to more than 990 Exabytes before 2012, fuelled mainly by the users themselves. Moreover, it is envisaged
that in a near- to mid-term future, the Internet will provide the means to share and distribute (new)
multimedia content and services with superior quality and striking flexibility, in a trusted and personalized
way, improving citizensâ quality of life, working conditions, edutainment and safety.
In this evolving environment, new transport protocols, new multimedia encoding schemes, cross-layer inthe
network adaptation, machine-to-machine communication (including RFIDs), rich 3D content as well as
community networks and the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlays are expected to generate new models of
interaction and cooperation, and be able to support enhanced perceived quality-of-experience (PQoE) and
innovative applications âon the moveâ, like virtual collaboration environments, personalised services/
media, virtual sport groups, on-line gaming, edutainment. In this context, the interaction with content
combined with interactive/multimedia search capabilities across distributed repositories, opportunistic P2P
networks and the dynamic adaptation to the characteristics of diverse mobile terminals are expected to
contribute towards such a vision.
Based on work that has taken place in a number of EC co-funded projects, in Framework Program 6 (FP6)
and Framework Program 7 (FP7), a group of experts and technology visionaries have voluntarily
contributed in this white paper aiming to describe the status, the state-of-the art, the challenges and the way
ahead in the area of Content Aware media delivery platforms
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