Methodology for Detection of Cloud Interoperability Problems

Interoperability problems between cloud providers are one of the most serious issues of this new computing paradigm. A methodology is needed to systematically and effectively find and solve interoperability problems. For these reasons, a new methodology with detailed steps to find and solve interoperability problems is proposed here. This new methodology is focused and implemented on the platform as a service model, but it can be used in any of the three main models of cloud computing. The methodology uses an iterative approach, because platform as a service offers and their application programming interfaces evolve and change very often. The focus of the methodology is to use remote cloud application programming interfaces to solve interoperability problems on technical, storage and services levels, respectively. Finally, we show the application of the methodology to achieve service-level interoperability among different providers of platform as a service

Intelligent modeling of e-Government initiatives in Greece

Over the last two years Greece has employed agile ICT solutions to reduce the administrative burden in front-office G2B transactions. This research supplements historic analysis with fuzzy cognitive maps to offer a multi-dimensional coupling of eGovernment initiatives with digital maturity assessment capabilities and a strategy alignment evaluation framework. This “intelligent x-ray” confirms that front-office technology is important in reducing administrative burden. The digital bypass of bureaucracy seems to be an effective start for Greece. However, this strategy can only serve as a short-term tactical choice. The “intelligent x-ray” provides executive level quantification and traceable reasoning to show that excessive emphasis on front- office technology will soon fail to support a strong eGovernment maturity. Organizational efficiency, interoperability, regulatory simplifications, and change management must also act as important objectives. Only then will ICT deliver its full potential, and the eGovernment maturity will improve significantly even with moderate ICT investments

Modeling Business Models: A cross-disciplinary Analysis of Business Model Modeling Languages and Directions for Future Research

Modeling languages for business models are a powerful and flexible means of representing and communicating knowledge related to business models. More than fifteen years after Osterwalder et al. (2005) clarified the ontology for the business model concept in this journal, we offer a systematic and cross-disciplinary assessment of the literature on business model modeling languages (BMMLs) that facilitate the visualization of this concept. In so doing, we synthesize and organize the knowledge dispersed across different disciplines in which BMMLs have originated and highlight the potential weaknesses in this literature to offer solid insights for future research. Our analysis reveals the existence of 17 BMMLs that have originated in traditional domains such as strategy and information systems, but also emerging domains such as sustainability. We contrast and compare these BMMLs along three dimensions: semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. We also analyze research that has made use of these BMMLs, differentiating between research that is conducted with a given BMML and research that is conducted about a given BMML. We conclude by offering a research agenda in which we illustrate the main challenges associated with the lack of well-accepted semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic foundations of BMMLs and outline opportunities for future research

The e-Government Development Discourse

research agenda for e-Government. When e-Government was first conceived, it was designed upon basic technologies where the emphasis was only on the simple display of government information for citizens to read. Nowadays, e-Government design comprises many complicated modules such as upload and download consoles, two-way interaction consoles between citizens and government agents, integrated government business processes presenting the whole of government, and it does not depend solely on technology. The complexity of e-Government has now evolved to include political, cultural, economic, social and technical dimensions. Bringing all these difficult aspects together is so complicated that it needs carefully planned strategies informed by local contextual characteristics. Rather than giving formulaic definitions and conceptual standpoints on many aspects of e-Government, as is the case in many e-Government publications, this book will explore the frontiers of global knowledge value chains by discussing current and future dimensions of e-Government. For example, the book discusses the concept of data governance by exploring how actual opening up of government data can be achieved, especially in a developing world context. Further, the book posits that opening government data should be followed by the opening up of government business processes in order to peddle the concept of accountability and responsiveness. Much text on data governance has concentrated on articulating the basic definitions surrounding this concept. Another very important topic explored in this book is regarding how the concept of decolonisation can be extended to e-Government by providing practical examples as to how researchers in the developing world can contribute to the advancement of e-Government as a scientific field of enquiry and guide its implementation, thereof. Decolonisation is advocated for in e-Government research so that there is a balance in the inclusion of the Afrocentric knowledge into e-Government advancement other than over-reliance on the Euro-, Asia- and America-centric knowledge value chains (Mbembe 2015). As e-Government is a very expensive undertaking, the issue of funding has excluded African countries and a majority of the developing world from implementing e-Government. Despite funding being a critical cornerstone of e-Government development, there is a dearth of information on this topic. Therefore, this book provides a chapter which discusses traditional and innovative ways of funding e-Government design and implementation which can go a long way in improving e-Government penetration into the developing world. Further, the book explores how intelligent e-Government applications can be designed, especially in resource-constrained countries. A couple of emerging technology innovations such as fog computing and intelligent information technology are explored within the realm of e-Government design

Blockchain in Education

This report introduces the fundamental principles of the Blockchain focusing on its potential for the education sector. It explains how this technology may both disrupt institutional norms and empower learners. It proposes eight scenarios for the application of the Blockchain in an education context, based on the current state of technology development and deployment.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Towards the design of secure and privacy-oriented Information systems in the cloud: Identifying the major concepts

Cloud computing is without a doubt one of the most significant innovations presented in the global technological map. This new generation of technology has the potential to positively change our lives since on the one hand it provides capabilities that make our digital lives much easier, than before, while on the other hand it assists developers in creating services that can be disseminated easier and faster, than before, and with significantly less cost. However, one of the major research challenges for the successful deployment of cloud services is a clear understanding of security and privacy issues on a cloud environment, since the cloud architecture has dissimilarities comparing to the traditional distributed systems. Such differences might introduce new threats and require different treatment of security and privacy issues. Nevertheless, current security and privacy requirements engineering techniques and methodologies have not been developed with cloud computing in mind and fail to capture the unique characteristics of such domain. It is therefore important to understand security and privacy within the context of cloud computing and identify relevant security and privacy properties and threats that will support techniques and methodologies aimed to analyze and design secure cloud based systems. The contribution of this paper to the literature is two-fold. Firstly, it provides a clear linkage between a set of critical cloud computing areas with security and privacy threats and properties. Secondly, it introduces a number of requirements for analysis and design methodologies to consider for security and privacy concerns in the cloud

The e-Government Development Discourse

research agenda for e-Government. When e-Government was first conceived, it was designed upon basic technologies where the emphasis was only on the simple display of government information for citizens to read. Nowadays, e-Government design comprises many complicated modules such as upload and download consoles, two-way interaction consoles between citizens and government agents, integrated government business processes presenting the whole of government, and it does not depend solely on technology. The complexity of e-Government has now evolved to include political, cultural, economic, social and technical dimensions. Bringing all these difficult aspects together is so complicated that it needs carefully planned strategies informed by local contextual characteristics. Rather than giving formulaic definitions and conceptual standpoints on many aspects of e-Government, as is the case in many e-Government publications, this book will explore the frontiers of global knowledge value chains by discussing current and future dimensions of e-Government. For example, the book discusses the concept of data governance by exploring how actual opening up of government data can be achieved, especially in a developing world context. Further, the book posits that opening government data should be followed by the opening up of government business processes in order to peddle the concept of accountability and responsiveness. Much text on data governance has concentrated on articulating the basic definitions surrounding this concept. Another very important topic explored in this book is regarding how the concept of decolonisation can be extended to e-Government by providing practical examples as to how researchers in the developing world can contribute to the advancement of e-Government as a scientific field of enquiry and guide its implementation, thereof. Decolonisation is advocated for in e-Government research so that there is a balance in the inclusion of the Afrocentric knowledge into e-Government advancement other than over-reliance on the Euro-, Asia- and America-centric knowledge value chains (Mbembe 2015). As e-Government is a very expensive undertaking, the issue of funding has excluded African countries and a majority of the developing world from implementing e-Government. Despite funding being a critical cornerstone of e-Government development, there is a dearth of information on this topic. Therefore, this book provides a chapter which discusses traditional and innovative ways of funding e-Government design and implementation which can go a long way in improving e-Government penetration into the developing world. Further, the book explores how intelligent e-Government applications can be designed, especially in resource-constrained countries. A couple of emerging technology innovations such as fog computing and intelligent information technology are explored within the realm of e-Government design