Context-Aware Recommendation Systems in Mobile Environments

Nowadays, the huge amount of information available may easily overwhelm users when they need to take a decision that involves choosing among several options. As a solution to this problem, Recommendation Systems (RS) have emerged to offer relevant items to users. The main goal of these systems is to recommend certain items based on user preferences. Unfortunately, traditional recommendation systems do not consider the user’s context as an important dimension to ensure high-quality recommendations. Motivated by the need to incorporate contextual information during the recommendation process, Context-Aware Recommendation Systems (CARS) have emerged. However, these recent recommendation systems are not designed with mobile users in mind, where the context and the movements of the users and items may be important factors to consider when deciding which items should be recommended. Therefore, context-aware recommendation models should be able to effectively and efficiently exploit the dynamic context of the mobile user in order to offer her/him suitable recommendations and keep them up-to-date.The research area of this thesis belongs to the fields of context-aware recommendation systems and mobile computing. We focus on the following scientific problem: how could we facilitate the development of context-aware recommendation systems in mobile environments to provide users with relevant recommendations? This work is motivated by the lack of generic and flexible context-aware recommendation frameworks that consider aspects related to mobile users and mobile computing. In order to solve the identified problem, we pursue the following general goal: the design and implementation of a context-aware recommendation framework for mobile computing environments that facilitates the development of context-aware recommendation applications for mobile users. In the thesis, we contribute to bridge the gap not only between recommendation systems and context-aware computing, but also between CARS and mobile computing.<br /

This Is the World Calling: The Global Voices and Visions of Internet Radio and Television

Internet radio and TV--tuning into information and feature programs broadcast via the Internet and receivable on a personal computer--piqued interest among educators, librarians, and instructional technologists in the 1990s. Then, connectivity and bandwidth issues affected widespread use. However, interest in Internet broadcasting and podcasting has seen a resurgence in the last few years. Internet radio and TV is more than just a new toy--there's real content online, applicable to the curriculum. Language instruction, music, politics, religion, history, culture, business, science, and more are just a few clicks away. This session will provide background on international Internet radio and TV broadcasting; sources for programs; curricular materials available online; and ideas for application to library and educational services

The Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (DGO2022) Intelligent Technologies, Governments and Citizens June 15-17, 2022

The 23rd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research theme is “Intelligent Technologies, Governments and Citizens”. Data and computational algorithms make systems smarter, but should result in smarter government and citizens. Intelligence and smartness affect all kinds of public values - such as fairness, inclusion, equity, transparency, privacy, security, trust, etc., and is not well-understood. These technologies provide immense opportunities and should be used in the light of public values. Society and technology co-evolve and we are looking for new ways to balance between them. Specifically, the conference aims to advance research and practice in this field. The keynotes, presentations, posters and workshops show that the conference theme is very well-chosen and more actual than ever. The challenges posed by new technology have underscored the need to grasp the potential. Digital government brings into focus the realization of public values to improve our society at all levels of government. The conference again shows the importance of the digital government society, which brings together scholars in this field. Dg.o 2022 is fully online and enables to connect to scholars and practitioners around the globe and facilitate global conversations and exchanges via the use of digital technologies. This conference is primarily a live conference for full engagement, keynotes, presentations of research papers, workshops, panels and posters and provides engaging exchange throughout the entire duration of the conference

Network-Integrated Multimedia Middleware, Services, and Applications

Today, there is a strong trend towards networked multimedia devices. However, common multimedia software architectures are restricted to perform all processing on a single system. Available software infrastructures for distributed computing — commonly referred to as middleware — only partly provide the facilities needed for supporting multimedia in distributed and dynamic environments. Approaches from the research community only focus on specific aspects and do not achieve the coverage needed for a full-featured multimedia middleware solution. The Network-Integrated Multimedia Middleware (NMM) presented in this thesis considers the network as an integral part. Despite the inherent heterogeneity of present networking and device technologies, the architecture allows to extend control and cooperation to the network and enables the development of distributed multimedia applications that transparently use local and remote components in combination. The base architecture of this middleware is augmented by several middleware services that especially aim at providing additional support for developing complex applications that involve mobile users and devices. To this end, previously not available services and corresponding abstractions are proposed, realized, and evaluated. The performance and applicability of the developed middleware and its additional services are demonstrated by describing different realized application scenarios.Eine wachsende Anzahl von Multimedia-Geraeten verfuegt heute bereits ueber Netzwerkschnittstellen. Verfueugbare Multimedia Software-Architekturen beschraeanken jedoch die gesamte Datenverarbeitung auf ein einzelnes System. Verbreitete Software-Infrastrukturen fuer Verteilte Systeme — ueblicherweise Middleware genannt — bieten nur teilweise die Eigenschaften, die fuer die Multimedia-Datenverarbeitung in vernetzten und dynamischen Umgebungen benoetigt werden. Ansaetze aus der Forschung behandeln nur spezielle Teilaspekte und erreichen deshalb nicht den Funktionsumfang einer vollwertigen Middleware fuer Multimedia. Die in dieser Arbeit beschriebene Netzwerk-Integrierte Multimedia Middleware (NMM) betrachtet das Netzwerk als integralen Bestandteil. Die Architektur erlaubt trotz der inhaerenten Heterogenitaet der vorhandenen Netzwerk- und Geraetetechnologie die Kontrolle und das Zusammenspiel von Systemen auf das Netzwerk auszuweiten. Dies ermoeglicht die Entwicklung verteilter Multimedia-Anwendungen, die transparent lokale und entfernte Komponenten zusammen einsetzen. Die Kernarchitektur dieser Middleware wird durch verschiedene Dienste erweitert, die speziell die Realisierung komplexer Anwendungsszenarien mitmobilen Geraeten und Benutzern unterstuetzt. Insbesondere werden neue, bisher nicht vorhandene Middleware-Dienste und zugehoerige Abstraktionen vorgeschlagen, realisiert und evaluiert. Anhand verschiedener Anwendungsszenarien wird die Leistungfaehigkeit, die Effizienz und die praktische Relevanz der entwickelten Middleware und der ergaenzenden Dienste demonstriert