From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis

Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible. Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well. As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems. Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits, where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good, as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS’ ROLE IN THE DIGITAL ERA

The file attached to this record is the Publisher's final version.In any one organization, in Business, Service, Industry or State, Human Resource Management (HRM) is perceived as a set of activities that creates value to both the organization itself in terms of bottom line results and to employees, in terms of well – being and employment/ contract terms. Organizations, to a more or lesser extent, have adopted Digital technologies and as a result HR activities are affected, in terms of speed, accuracy, quality, cost innovation, flexibility. The aims of this theoretical study are to highlight HRM in the era of digitalization, emphasize the roles of HR managers in contemporary organizations and discuss the impact of technological changes on HR practices. In order to achieve our aims, we adopt a conceptual approach. Our results summarize the contemporary HRM definitions, discuss the impact of digital technologies in certain HR areas and emphasize the new digital role of human resource manager (d-HRM)

Building communities for the exchange of learning objects: theoretical foundations and requirements

In order to reduce overall costs of developing high-quality digital courses (including both the content, and the learning and teaching activities), the exchange of learning objects has been recognized as a promising solution. This article makes an inventory of the issues involved in the exchange of learning objects within a community. It explores some basic theories, models and specifications and provides a theoretical framework containing the functional and non-functional requirements to establish an exchange system in the educational field. Three levels of requirements are discussed. First, the non-functional requirements that deal with the technical conditions to make learning objects interoperable. Second, some basic use cases (activities) are identified that must be facilitated to enable the technical exchange of learning objects, e.g. searching and adapting the objects. Third, some basic use cases are identified that are required to establish the exchange of learning objects in a community, e.g. policy management, information and training. The implications of this framework are then discussed, including recommendations concerning the identification of reward systems, role changes and evaluation instruments

The Future of the Internet III

Presents survey results on technology experts' predictions on the Internet's social, political, and economic impact as of 2020, including its effects on integrity and tolerance, intellectual property law, and the division between personal and work lives

Intellectual capital as a source of challenge for modern business

Knowledge-based economy is the next stage of civilization changes following agricultural and industrial economies, and similarly to the situation when ground and work were the most important factors of economic growth in the agricultural era, and capital in the industrial epoch, knowledge is becoming the most valid asset in the information (post-industrial) time . In a knowledge-based economy intellectual capital plays a key role. The success of modern organizations depends on the ability of using the resources of this specific capital, that is why managing it is believed to be a main tool of future management. The effective management of intangible assets of an organization becomes a serious challenge for every manager, irrespective of the size or specifics of the company