21 research outputs found
Software Takes Command
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Software has replaced a diverse array of physical, mechanical, and electronic technologies used before 21st century to create, store, distribute and interact with cultural artifacts. It has become our interface to the world, to others, to our memory and our imagination - a universal language through which the world speaks, and a universal engine on which the world runs. What electricity and combustion engine were to the early 20th century, software is to the early 21st century. Offering the the first theoretical and historical account of software for media authoring and its effects on the practice and the very concept of 'media,' the author of The Language of New Media (2001) develops his own theory for this rapidly-growing, always-changing field. What was the thinking and motivations of people who in the 1960 and 1970s created concepts and practical techniques that underlie contemporary media software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, Final Cut and After Effects? How do their interfaces and tools shape the visual aesthetics of contemporary media and design? What happens to the idea of a 'medium' after previously media-specific tools have been simulated and extended in software? Is it still meaningful to talk about different mediums at all? Lev Manovich answers these questions and supports his theoretical arguments by detailed analysis of key media applications such as Photoshop and After Effects, popular web services such as Google Earth, and the projects in motion graphics, interactive environments, graphic design and architecture. Software Takes Command is a must for all practicing designers and media artists and scholars concerned with contemporary media
Software Takes Command
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Software has replaced a diverse array of physical, mechanical, and electronic technologies used before 21st century to create, store, distribute and interact with cultural artifacts. It has become our interface to the world, to others, to our memory and our imagination - a universal language through which the world speaks, and a universal engine on which the world runs. What electricity and combustion engine were to the early 20th century, software is to the early 21st century. Offering the the first theoretical and historical account of software for media authoring and its effects on the practice and the very concept of 'media,' the author of The Language of New Media (2001) develops his own theory for this rapidly-growing, always-changing field. What was the thinking and motivations of people who in the 1960 and 1970s created concepts and practical techniques that underlie contemporary media software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya, Final Cut and After Effects? How do their interfaces and tools shape the visual aesthetics of contemporary media and design? What happens to the idea of a 'medium' after previously media-specific tools have been simulated and extended in software? Is it still meaningful to talk about different mediums at all? Lev Manovich answers these questions and supports his theoretical arguments by detailed analysis of key media applications such as Photoshop and After Effects, popular web services such as Google Earth, and the projects in motion graphics, interactive environments, graphic design and architecture. Software Takes Command is a must for all practicing designers and media artists and scholars concerned with contemporary media
Aspects of internet security: identity management and online child protection
This thesis examines four main subjects; consumer federated Internet Identity Management
(IdM), text analysis to detect grooming in Internet chat, a system for using steganographed
emoticons as ‘digital fingerprints’ in instant messaging and a systems analysis of online child
protection.
The Internet was never designed to support an identity framework. The current username /
password model does not scale well and with an ever increasing number of sites and services
users are suffering from password fatigue and using insecure practises such as using the same
password across websites. In addition users are supplying personal information to vast
number of sites and services with little, if any control over how that information is used.
A new identity metasystem promises to bring federated identity, which has found success in
the enterprise to the consumer, placing the user in control and limiting the disclosure of
personal information. This thesis argues though technical feasible no business model exists to
support consumer IdM and without a major change in Internet culture such as a breakdown in
trust and security a new identity metasystem will not be realised.
Is it possible to detect grooming or potential grooming from a statistical examination of
Internet chat messages? Using techniques from speaker verification can grooming
relationships be detected? Can this approach improve on the leading text analysis technique –
Bayesian trigram analysis? Using a novel feature extraction technique and Gaussian Mixture
Models (GMM) to detect potential grooming proved to be unreliable. Even with the benefit
of extensive tuning the author doubts the technique would match or improve upon Bayesian
analysis. Around 80% of child grooming is blatant with the groomer disguising neither their
age nor sexual intent. Experiments conducted with Bayesian trigram analysis suggest this
could be reliably detected, detecting the subtle, devious remaining 20% is considerably
harder and reliable detection is questionable especially in systems using teenagers (the most
at risk group).
Observations of the MSN Messenger service and protocol lead the author to discover a
method by which to leave digitally verifiable files on the computer of anyone who chats with
a child by exploiting the custom emoticon feature. By employing techniques from
steganography these custom emoticons can be made to appear innocuous. Finding and
removing custom emoticons is a non-trivial matter and they cannot be easily spoofed.
Identification is performed by examining the emoticon (file) hashes. If an emoticon is
recovered e.g. in the course of an investigation it can be hashed and the hashed compared
against a database of registered users and used to support non-repudiation and confirm if an
individual has indeed been chatting with a child.
Online child protection has been described as a classic systems problem. It covers a broad
range of complex, and sometimes difficult to research issues including technology, sociology,
psychology and law, and affects directly or indirectly the majority of the UK population. Yet
despite this the problem and the challenges are poorly understood, thanks in no small part to
mawkish attitudes and alarmist media coverage. Here the problem is examined holistically;
how children use technology, what the risks are, and how they can best be protected – based
not on idealism, but on the known behaviours of children. The overall protection message is
often confused and unrealistic, leaving parents and children ill prepared to protect
themselves. Technology does have a place in protecting children, but this is secondary to a
strong and understanding parent/child relationship and education, both of the child and
parent
On the orchestration of operations in flexible manufacturing
Tese de doutoramento em Engenharia Mecânica (Controlo e Gestão) apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de CoimbraDomÃnio
A capacidade de produzir bem é a chave da riqueza. Uma boa produção concretiza-se pela
transformação competitiva de matérias-primas em produtos de qualidade para o mercado
global. Tal transformação inclui uma série de operações coordenadas de modo a obter a
produtividade que permite o aumento da competitividade.
Embora algumas operações possam requerer pessoal especializado, a tendência é para uma
crescente automatização. A coordenação das operações automatizadas é também
automatizada (através de uma variedade de transportadores, comunicação digital, etc.).
Contudo, e embora a produção seja automatizada, a configuração do equipamento é feita
manualmente.
Situação
A necessidade de automatização foi inicialmente sentida e aplicada na produção de longas
séries, como no caso da indústria automóvel. Com a necessidade de redução de custos e
aumento de flexibilidade, a inclusão de máquinas/equipamentos controlados por computador,
assim como de interligações por computadores/redes tem sido extensiva. O aumento de
software nestes sistemas, as restrições fÃsicas e as (indesejáveis) interconecções lógicas
conduzem a um aumento da complexidade, que em empresas de produção em grande escala é
obviado por especialistas.
O aumento na procura de produtos personalizados e a rapidez para a sua comercialização
determinam a necessidade de uma produção flexÃvel. Contudo, a referida indesejável complexidade constitui um grande obstáculo para o recurso a soluções (semi)-automatizadas, e
postos de trabalho (de alta qualidade) são deslocados para paÃses de mão-de-obra mais barata.
O caso mais difÃcil prende-se com a utilização de robôs (que é o tipo de máquina mais flexÃvel)
nas empresas mais flexÃveis, como sejam as Pequenas e Médias Empresas (PMEs). Deste modo,
as condições para a utilização de robôs (juntamente com outro tipo de equipamento) em PMEs
(incluindo operações manuais e configuração) representam o maior desafio, uma vez que os
sistemas técnicos têm de ser estruturados de forma a suportarem a desejada flexibilidade.
À semelhança da incapacidade de uma boa gestão em compensar a falta de competência em
actividades como a do comércio ou da investigação cientifica, as etapas de produção têm de ser
apropriadamente construÃdas e mantidas. Estas últimas representam aquilo em que o produtor
se deve concentrar e especializar. Assim, sejam quais forem os avanços que facilitem a
produção, as práticas de produção competitiva deverão ser mantidas. Especificamente,
processos de trabalho com conhecimentos valiosos não devem ser prejudicados por detalhes
técnicos irrelevantes. Novas tecnologias que possam aumentar a competitividade e/ou
melhorar as condições de trabalho são obviamente desejáveis. Contudo, estas deverão ser
combinadas com princÃpios de utilização simples para os quais os sistemas de produção são
construÃdos. Tópico
A complexidade surge tanto na operação como na coordenação, mas também na sua
configuração manual. Esta é parcialmente compreensÃvel e gerenciável, uma vez que uma
determinada máquina ou processo de fabrico pode ser bastante avançado e complexo. Assim, a complexidade será local. Contudo, e em particular com software envolvido, dependências adhoc acidentais entre operações e coordenação tornam a situação actual mais difÃcil.
Adicionalmente, a configuração de cada máquina e subsistema envolve uma variedade de
interfaces de utilizador e ferramentas de configuração/programação. Uma vez mais, as grandes empresas podem contar com engenheiros altamente qualificados para lidar com estes problemas, enquanto que nas PMEs a situação fica facilmente ingovernável. Consideramos que podemos referir o problema como uma questão de orquestração. Orquestração é então definida como o arranjo, coordenação e gestão (semi-) automatizada de
complexos sistemas de produção, incluindo as suas interacções em termos de comunicação e
os seus serviços em termos de controlo por computador.
O tópico pode então ser formulado como a procura de princÃpios óptimos, ou pelo menos
exequÃveis, para a orquestração de processos produtivos de pequena escala. Na realidade,
existem aspectos fundamentais envolvidos que não representam apenas uma questão de
engenharia a ser solucionada. Ao contrário, a situação requer uma abordagem cientÃfica com
especial atenção para a recente tecnologia de suporte proveniente de outras áreas.
Abordagem cientifica - A procura de princÃpios apropriados a PMEs para a orquestração de processos de produção não
se presta a uma análise teórica, que por sua vez requer a utilização de modelos formais e
derivação das soluções (sub-)óptimas e suas propriedades. Embora tivesse sido preferÃvel obter provas formais de uma solução óptima, a complexidade do equipamento, o envolvimento de humanos, a considerável desorganização das PMEs, a necessidade de aderir à s práticas
industriais, assim como a variedade de PMEs existentes, dificultam uma abordagem teórica.
Deste modo, foi seguida uma abordagem empÃrica. A dificultar o teste e a avaliação de uma
abordagem empÃrica estão as possÃveis variações no software envolvido, juntamente com a
constante mudança que ocorre na produção em sistemas de produção flexÃveis.
Adicionalmente, a experimentação não pode ser conduzida em ambientes industriais (onde
esta iria perturbar a produção). Assim sendo, as experiências deverão ser cuidadosamente
seleccionadas e conduzidas em laboratório com recurso a equipamento industrial. Ainda assim,
dadas as condições e singularidade de algum equipamento, não é fácil reproduzir os resultados
noutros locais, o que constitui um problema para a validação e aceitação dos mesmos.
Contudo, caso a solução sugerida em termos de princÃpios técnicos possa ser encontrada ou
confirmada por resultados publicados de investigação independente, ou se técnicas
relacionadas derem origem a novos produtos, tal pode desejavelmente contribuir para a
validação de resultados. Isto é, embora resultados semelhantes para outros laboratórios sejam válidos, as diferenças actuais vão revelar a existência de variações que merecem estudo
detalhado.
Abordagem técnica - Os sistemas de produção flexÃveis consistem em equipamento distribuÃdo do ponto de vista computacional. Tipicamente, os diferentes aparelhos não foram concebidos para operarem em
conjunto, mas devem, no entanto, ser de fácil configuração no local de trabalho. Uma
abordagem básica passaria pela utilização de plataformas de software que suportassem
componentes distribuÃdos de uma forma flexÃvel. Contudo, as plataformas computacionais
existentes podem não satisfazer com eficiência a necessidade do equipamento integrado,
podendo revelar falta de robustez, nomeadamente nas interconecções. Deste modo, é
necessário combinar com algum cuidado a tecnologia existente e confrontar as soluções
sugeridas com as necessidades actuais das empresas.
A abordagem seguida encontra-se dividida em quatro partes:
1. Suportar o acoplamento fraco entre componentes de forma a obter simples composição
quando o equipamento é instalado ou substituÃdo. As interacções necessitam ser
assÃncronas e baseadas em eventos através de interfaces bem definidas e auto-explicativas,
contendo serviços definidos em termos de operações de produção (e não em termos de
software interno).
2. Produzir princÃpios unificados para interacção com utilizador e interfaces, permitindo que
utilizadores não especializados possam (re)configurar e (re)programar o sistema de
produção. Uma interacção com o utilizador que permita combinar operações básicas que
resultem num novo serviço, o qual deverá idealmente estar facilmente acessÃvel através de
interfaces programadas e manuais.
3. As abordagens baseadas em modelos têm-se revelado eficazes para desempenho e
reutilização. No entanto, os modelos consistem em elevado nÃvel de conhecimento e são
dispendiosos de obter no âmbito da flexibilidade e desorganização das PMEs. Uma melhor
abordagem é permitir a visibilidade do conhecimento envolvido numa determinada etapa em termos do processo de produção, de modo a que o operador transmita inteligência
através de uma interface simples.
4. O software é por defeito não descritivo, assim como a execução sequencial de código
imperativo não se compõe. Conhecimento no metanÃvel e descrições declarativas deverão
ser utilizadas, se possÃvel, sem comprometimento dos itens anteriores. O objectivo é gerar
software ao nÃvel de aplicação, partindo de descrições de alto nÃvel.
A avaliação experimental deverá verificar técnicas individuais como tal, e os resultados deverão
ser comparados com investigação relacionada. A abordagem global consiste em combinar os
resultados das diferentes partes em princÃpios aplicáveis a futuros processos de produção das
PMEs.
Resultados
O uso de arquitecturas orientadas a serviços (SOA) nas redes empresariais resolveu as
limitações das arquitecturas orientadas a componentes no que diz respeito ao acoplamento
através da standarização das interfaces, protocolos de comunicação, gestão de transacções, e
segurança, entre outros. SOA ao nÃvel do dispositivo é o resultado da importação de princÃpios
SOA para os sistemas embebidos com algumas importantes diferenças, nomeadamente:
inclusão de padrões de mensagens publish/subscribe, descoberta e descrição directa entre
dispositivos, e modelos descritivos genéricos. Numa primeira fase, este trabalho validou os
inúmeros trabalhos realizados sobre a aplicação de SOA ao nÃvel do dispositivo em ambiente
industrial com o teste num protótipo de célula de trabalho. De seguida foi levado a cabo um
trabalho de avaliação comparativa entre duas SOA ao nÃvel do dispositivo com estilos de
arquitectura diferentes, servindo como base aos restantes desenvolvimentos da tese. Ainda
que os resultados desta avaliação tenham mostrado o grande avanço proporcionado pelo uso
de SOA, nomeadamente no que diz respeito ao desacoplamento entre componentes atingido,
alguns aspectos crÃticos para o seu uso efectivo ainda estavam por resolver, designadamente:
1. A geração e a especificação dos serviços ao nÃvel da tarefa
2 A definição de uma linguagem de orquestração adequada à s SOA ao nÃvel do dispositivo. Uma abordagem baseada em tarefas, quando relacionadas com processos de manufactura,
consubstancia-se na capacidade de disponibilizar um mecanismo flexÃvel (e amigável para o
utilizador de uma PME) para a especificação das interfaces de rede. Os programas de robô são
um elemento chave na flexibilidade do robô e este trabalho mostrou que o seu uso para a
definição de interfaces vai elevar a fasquia da flexibilidade para o nÃvel das interligações. A
natureza procedimental de muitas linguagens de robô encaixa-se perfeitamente com o padrão
de mensagens definido nas plataformas SOA, com uma mistura de variáveis de estado definidas
a partir de variáveis do robô, e com acções definidas a partir de métodos da linguagem robô.
A definição de uma linguagem de orquestração preencheu uma lacuna nos padrões de
orquestração: sistemas conduzidos a eventos. Estes sistemas definem estados e transições de
uma forma clara, potenciando a capacidade do utilizador de acompanhar o estado do sistema.
Statecharts constituem um par adequado para a arquitectura SOA, uma vez que as transições
de estado são baseadas em eventos, que no nosso caso são eventos na rede, mas os estados (e
também as transições) incluem igualmente acções, que podem ser mapeadas para operações.
A avaliação empÃrica efectuada mostrou uma previsÃvel boa curva de aprendizagem para estes
sistemas, em parte devido às vantagens associadas à sua semelhança a técnicas de automação
tradicionais, como os Sequential Function Charts. Os resultados desta avaliação são positivos e
justificam esforços suplementares para efectuar testes em aplicações reais, o que neste caso
implica utilizadores de PME reais.
Conclusões
Três conclusões devem ser retiradas desta tese:
A estratégia proposta para a especificação de serviços é um elemento chave no futuro do uso
de SOA ao nÃvel dos dispositivos, devido à importância da definição das interfaces no sucesso
destas arquitecturas. A programação ao nÃvel da tarefa é desta forma transferida da
programação dos robôs para o nÃvel da rede.
Uma linguagem conduzida a eventos foi definida para a orquestração. Testes revelaram o seu
uso e compatibilidade com as necessidades das células de fabrico das pequenas e médias empresas, nomeadamente estados explÃcitos e transições baseadas em eventos. Esta
abordagem preenche uma lacuna nos padrões de orquestração existentes na indústria e
constitui uma excelente base de trabalho para o futuro.
Finalmente, foram abordadas técnicas baseadas em conhecimento, e avaliada a sua integração
com a arquitectura definida anteriormente. Estes estudos mostraram a importância das
estratégias descritivas e as inúmeras possibilidades abertas quando a semântica é adicionada
aos sistemas industriais baseados em software, especialmente quando suportados em bem
estabelecidas tecnologias de rede, como as descritas anteriormente.Our ability to manufacture well is the key to our wealth. Obtaining a wider range of different
(and better) products in a sustainable way in terms of labour and environment is the big
challenge faced by modern manufacturing. In the last few decades, automation has played a
key role in the enhanced productivity of mass-production industries, but there has been a
paradigm shift: global consumers ask for customization, leading manufacturers to target mass
customization and consequently requiring new levels of flexibility for automation. An industrial
robot is usually considered to be a flexible machine, which is only true within the large plant
scenario. Small enterprises, which are by nature the most flexible ones, do not make use of
robot systems as they could, because robot flexibility, which relies on reprogramming and
reconfiguring, cannot be taken on by the SME (Small Medium Enterprises) worker at the
workshop, and hiring specialists is unacceptable in terms of costs. The easy reconfiguration of a
robotic work-cell, which is a distributed environment with computation in different platforms
that are coordinated by software, is hindered greatly by the dependencies between cell
components. This thesis addresses the problem of dependencies by proposing principles and
mechanisms for the orchestration of complex manufacturing systems, i.e., the (semi-)
automated coordination of their interactions in terms of communications and computer
control. The industrial environment, especially regarding robotics, does not lend itself to theoretical
analysis due to the amount of work needed to reach formal models. This is exacerbated in the
unstructured SME environment and when working with user-in-the-loop systems. Therefore, the approach used in this thesis was mainly empirical, with validation through laboratory
prototypes used by some representative users.
The approach consisted of the following parts:
1. supporting loose coupling between components to promote simple composition of services
to enable an easier reconfiguration;
2. defining unifying principles in terms of user interaction, by taking into account current robot
technologies and improvements from other scientific areas, namely enterprise level
networking;
3. enabling a task-based view of knowledge in terms of the manufacturing processes to
promote the reconfiguration of the system by process rather than robotics specialists;
4. proposing declarative techniques that support easy configuration of the work-cell in terms
understandable by the SME user.
The use of service-oriented architectures (SOAs) in the business world has tackled the
limitations of component-oriented architectures in terms of coupling through the
standardization of interfaces, communication protocols, transaction management, and security,
among others. Device-level SOA are the result of the porting of SOA principles to the embedded
level with the addition of several important features, namely: publish/subscribe messaging
patterns, peer-to-peer discovery description and generic templates. At an initial stage, this
work has validated the current trend of using device-level SOA in industrial environments by
testing their use against a prototype work-cell. Following this, a comparison was made between
device-level SOA platforms that embodied two different architectural styles. This served as a
basis for the rest of the thesis. Although the results from this evaluation have shown the great
advances brought about by the use of device-level SOA, for instance in terms of decoupling,
some critical issues for their effective use remained unchallenged, namely:
1. The generation and the specification of task-level services (contracts), with transparent and easy-to-use techniques for the SME user. 2. The definition of orchestration techniques adapted to the device-level SOA, with adequate
expressiveness and simplicity for the SME user.
A task-based view of knowledge in terms of manufacturing processes relies on the ability to
provide a flexible (SME user-friendly) mechanism for the specification of network interfaces.
Robot programs are the key element for robot flexibility. This work has shown that their use in
interface definition will feature flexibility also at the interconnection level. The procedural
nature of many robot programming languages copes perfectly with the device-level SOA
messaging style, with a mixture of evented state variables defined by robot variables, and with
actions defined by robot methods.
The definition of an orchestration language has addressed a missing pattern in service
orchestration: event-driven systems. These systems define states and transitions in a clear way,
thus enhancing the user’s ability to predict the state of the system. Statecharts provide a
perfect match for the device-level SOA since the state-transitions are event-based, but the
states (and the transitions) embody actions, which can be mapped to operations. The empiric
evaluation made with several types of users has shown the predictable steep learning curve of
these systems, partly due to their resemblance to traditional automation techniques like SFCs.
The results are therefore positive and justify the effort of testing the system against real
applications, which in this case means with real SME users.
Descriptive techniques for software are one of the keys to establish the bridge between
humans and computer programs. Despite recent evolutions, these techniques are not yet ready
for use, and supportive technologies and methodologies need to be tested. In this work, a cell
specification language has been defined and software developed that configures a
programming-by-demonstration robotic work-cell.
In conclusion, there are three main outcomes from this thesis. The proposed strategy for the specification of services is a key enabler in the future use of
device-level SOA in industrial robotics, due to the importance of interface definition in the success of these architectures. Task-level programming is in this way extended from the robot
programming level to networked devices.
An event-driven language has been defined for the orchestration. Tests revealed its ease of use
and compatibility with the orchestration needs of SME work-cells, namely: explicit states and
event-based transitions. This approach fulfils a missing orchestration pattern in the industry,
and provides an excellent basis for future work.
A descriptive robotic cell specification has been introduced that supports the automatic workcell
(re)configuration. This work has shown the importance of descriptive knowledge in
automation, especially when supported by the networking integration techniques described
previously.Project SMERobot, Integrated project funded under the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6
Turning Today’s Students into Tomorrow’s Stars
Selected Papers from the 2008 Central States Conference
Adeiline J. Moeller, Editor
Janine Theiler, Assistant Editor
Silvia Betta, Assistant Editor
1 The Important Work of Engaging Our 21st Century Learners — Toni Theisen
2 A Model for Teaching Cross-Cultural Perspectives — Susan M. Knight
3 The Stealth Approach to Critical Thinking in Beginning Spanish Classes — Deanna H. Mihaly
4 Teaching About the French Heritage of the Midwest — Randa Duvick
5 Integrating Russian Cuisine with Russian Language and Culture Classes — Marat Sanatullov
6 Preparing a Fotonovela in the Foreign Language Classroom — Carol Eiber
7 Engaging Students through Hybrid Course Materials — Angelika Kraemer
8 Digital Recordings and Assessment: An Alternative for Measuring Oral Proficiency — Peter B. Swanson & Patricia Early
9 Motivation in the Foreign Language Classroom by Elimination of Winners and Losers: Mastery Goals versus Performance Goals — Rebecca A. Barrett
10 Differentiated Instruction – One Size Does Not Fit All! — Ekaterina Koubek
11 Bellringer Reading — Silvia Hyd
Aspects of internet security - identity management and online child protection
This thesis examines four main subjects; consumer federated Internet Identity Management (IdM), text analysis to detect grooming in Internet chat, a system for using steganographed emoticons as ‘digital fingerprints' in instant messaging and a systems analysis of online child protection. The Internet was never designed to support an identity framework. The current username / password model does not scale well and with an ever increasing number of sites and services users are suffering from password fatigue and using insecure practises such as using the same password across websites. In addition users are supplying personal information to vast number of sites and services with little, if any control over how that information is used. A new identity metasystem promises to bring federated identity, which has found success in the enterprise to the consumer, placing the user in control and limiting the disclosure of personal information. This thesis argues though technical feasible no business model exists to support consumer IdM and without a major change in Internet culture such as a breakdown in trust and security a new identity metasystem will not be realised. Is it possible to detect grooming or potential grooming from a statistical examination of Internet chat messages? Using techniques from speaker verification can grooming relationships be detected? Can this approach improve on the leading text analysis technique – Bayesian trigram analysis? Using a novel feature extraction technique and Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) to detect potential grooming proved to be unreliable. Even with the benefit of extensive tuning the author doubts the technique would match or improve upon Bayesian analysis. Around 80% of child grooming is blatant with the groomer disguising neither their age nor sexual intent. Experiments conducted with Bayesian trigram analysis suggest this could be reliably detected, detecting the subtle, devious remaining 20% is considerably harder and reliable detection is questionable especially in systems using teenagers (the most at risk group). Observations of the MSN Messenger service and protocol lead the author to discover a method by which to leave digitally verifiable files on the computer of anyone who chats with a child by exploiting the custom emoticon feature. By employing techniques from steganography these custom emoticons can be made to appear innocuous. Finding and removing custom emoticons is a non-trivial matter and they cannot be easily spoofed. Identification is performed by examining the emoticon (file) hashes. If an emoticon is recovered e.g. in the course of an investigation it can be hashed and the hashed compared against a database of registered users and used to support non-repudiation and confirm if an individual has indeed been chatting with a child. Online child protection has been described as a classic systems problem. It covers a broad range of complex, and sometimes difficult to research issues including technology, sociology, psychology and law, and affects directly or indirectly the majority of the UK population. Yet despite this the problem and the challenges are poorly understood, thanks in no small part to mawkish attitudes and alarmist media coverage. Here the problem is examined holistically; how children use technology, what the risks are, and how they can best be protected – based not on idealism, but on the known behaviours of children. The overall protection message is often confused and unrealistic, leaving parents and children ill prepared to protect themselves. Technology does have a place in protecting children, but this is secondary to a strong and understanding parent/child relationship and education, both of the child and parent.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Video Vortex reader : responses to Youtube
The Video Vortex Reader is the first collection of critical texts to deal with the rapidly emerging world of online video – from its explosive rise in 2005 with YouTube, to its future as a significant form of personal media. After years of talk about digital convergence and crossmedia platforms we now witness the merger of the Internet and television at a pace no-one predicted. These contributions from scholars, artists and curators evolved from the first two Video Vortex conferences in Brussels and Amsterdam in 2007 which focused on responses to YouTube, and address key issues around independent production and distribution of online video content. What does this new distribution platform mean for artists and activists? What are the alternatives
Creation of value with open source software in the telecommunications field
Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200
ATEE Spring Conference 2020-2021
This book collects some of the works presented at ATEE Florence Spring Conference 2020-2021. The Conference, originally planned for May 2020, was forcefully postponed due to the dramatic insurgence of the pandemic. Despite the difficulties in this period, the Organising Committee decided anyway to keep it, although online and more than one year later, not to disperse the huge work of authors, mainly teachers, who had to face one of the hardest challenges in the last decades, in a historic period where the promotion of social justice and equal opportunities – through digital technologies and beyond – is a key factor for democratic citizenship in our societies. The Organising Committee, the University of Florence, and ATEE wish to warmly thank all the authors for their commitment and understanding, which ensured the success of the Conference. We hope this book could be, not only a witness of these pandemic times, but a hopeful sign for an equal and inclusive education in all countries
The e-learning dome: a comprehensive e-learning environment development model
The purpose of this study is to investigate the weaknesses of current e-learning environment development models and to establish a comprehensive e-learning environment development model (EEDM). In the literature study I established the components of a comprehensive EEDM by looking at five existing models. The main concern in all of the models is the lack of configuration management, which lead to the investigation of other characteristics that an EEDM should have to be described as a comprehensive model. I then used these characteristics to establish the E-learning Dome - a comprehensive EEDM. The E-learning Dome consists of three layers, namely the Infrastructure layer, E-learning administration layer and the Course development layer. The Quality Dome encompasses the combination of these three layers. Through the use of case studies to test the feasibility of the E-learning Dome I concluded that the E-learning Dome is successful as a comprehensive EEDM.Theoretical ComputingM.Sc. (Information Systems