Constructing Social Systems through Computer-Mediated Communication

The question whether computer-mediated communication can support the formation of genuine social systems is addressed in this paper. Our hypothesis, that technology creates new forms of social systems beyond real-life milieus, includes the idea that the technology itself may influence how social binding emerges within on-line environments. In real-life communities, a precondition for social coherence is the existence of social conventions. By observing interaction in virtual environments, we found the use of a range of social conventions. These results were analyzed to determine how the use and emergence of conventions might be influenced by the technology. One factor contributing to the coherence of on-line social systems, but not the only one, appears to be the degree of social presence mediated by the technology. We suggest that social systems can emerge by computer-mediated communication and are shaped by the media of the specific environment

Mobile radio alternative systems study. Volume 1: Traffic model

The markets for mobile radio services in non-urban areas of the United States are examined for the years 1985-2000. Three market categories are identified. New Services are defined as those for which there are different expressed ideas but which are not now met by any application of available technology. The complete fulfillment of the needs requires nationwide radio access to vehicles without knowledge of vehicle location, wideband data transmission from remote sites, one- and two way exchange of short data and control messages between vehicles and dispatch or control centers, and automatic vehicle location (surveillance). The commercial and public services market of interest to the study is drawn from existing users of mobile radio in non-urban areas who are dissatisfied with the geographical range or coverage of their systems. The mobile radio telephone market comprises potential users who require access to the public switched telephone network in areas that are not likely to be served by the traditional growth patterns of terrestrial mobile telephone services. Conservative, likely, and optimistic estimates of the markets are presented in terms of numbers of vehicles that will be served and the radio traffic they will generate

Privatising Network Industries

privatization, regulation, competition, telecoms, electricity, gas, water, rail

Information Security in Business Intelligence based on Cloud: A Survey of Key Issues and the Premises of a Proposal

International audienceMore sophisticated inter-organizational interactions have generated changes in the way in which organizations make business. Advanced forms of collaborations, such as Business Process as a Service (BPaaS), allow different partners to leverage business intelligence within organizations. However, although it presents powerfull economical and technical benefits, it also arrises some pitfalls about data security, especially when it is mediated by the cloud. In this article, current aspects which have been tackled in the literature related to data risks and accountability are presented. In addition, some open issues are also presented from the analysis of the existing methodologies and techniques proposed in the literature. A final point is made by proposing an approach, which aims at preventive, detective and corrective accountability and data risk management, based on usage control policies and model driven engineering

Early aspects: aspect-oriented requirements engineering and architecture design

This paper reports on the third Early Aspects: Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design Workshop, which has been held in Lancaster, UK, on March 21, 2004. The workshop included a presentation session and working sessions in which the particular topics on early aspects were discussed. The primary goal of the workshop was to focus on challenges to defining methodical software development processes for aspects from early on in the software life cycle and explore the potential of proposed methods and techniques to scale up to industrial applications

A technical approach to privacy based on mobile agents protected by tamper-resistant hardware

We address the problem of protecting the privacy of individuals in the information society. Our goal is to devise technical means that allow users to actively participate in the management and use of information related to them. The advent of the information society creates serious challenges for the privacy of individuals. Due to the drastically improving communication infrastructure, ever larger amounts of ever more precise information become available. The problem with the free availability of this information is not only the risk that the information can be abused by powerful institutions, but also that this can lead to an unconfined mutual surveillance of individuals, which can have adverse effects on society as a whole. We argue that individuals should be empowered to define for themselves the level of privacy they are comfortable with. This can be achieved by notifying them whenever information on them is created, accessed, or modified and by giving them some control over the use of this information. The notification informs individuals who is using what information on them and allows to detect possible problems with this use. The control allows individuals to resolve most (or at least some) of these problems. Obviously this requires that the individuals can trust the users of information to properly implement these notifications and to offer an effective control. We analyze the concept of trust more closely and distinguish between the optimistic and the pessimistic approach to trust, which can both provide the foundation for the protection of privacy. The former is based on the classical concepts of control and sanctions, while the latter tries to prevent malicious behaviour. We choose to pursue the pessimistic approach and investigate in technical means that can be used for this purpose. A promising technology is the mobile agent paradigm, which is a new approach to structure distributed applications. Its main idea is to move both the code and the state of an object to another principal for remote execution. This indicates that the mobile agent paradigm also embraces the object-oriented programming paradigm, which allows us to encapsulate a data item and to specify an access control policy on it. Since the mobile agent is physically moved to a remote location that is under the control of a different principal, it needs to be protected from this principal who is responsible for its execution. This problem constitutes the major diffculty for using the mobile agent paradigm for privacy protection and is explored in great detail. Based on the discussion in the relevant literature, we decide on an approach that relies on a trusted and tamper-resistant hardware device, which is developed on a conceptual level. The approach is further explored in the context of the mobile agent paradigm, where it allows us to realize more elaborate protection goals that may be desirable for the owner of the mobile agent. These are developed in the form of conducts, which regroup the goal, the requirements, as well as a specification of the necessary collaboration to achieve this goal. Finally, we return to the original problem and describe how the presented technology can be used to improve the protection of privacy. This results in a rather complex framework, in which information on individuals cannot be used freely, but where this use is constrained by the level of privacy desired by the subject of the information. The major problem of this framework is the increased complexity that individuals have to deal with. This problem is addressed with an additional level of indirection that attempts to confine the complexity and to delegate it to trusted experts. We believe that this approach, despite its complexity, is a viable means to address the urgent problems of privacy protection, which do not lend themselves to simple solutions

A case study of the use of computer conferencing at the Open University

This case study is set within the theoretical framework of distance education, and is centred on the first large-scale use of computer conferencing for distance education at the Open University. The concepts of independence and autonomy, of the quasi-industrialisation of large distance teaching universities, and of interaction with learners, are taken as the frameworks for analysing the success of this application of the medium. The hypothesis concerning the convergence of traditional and distance education systems is given further support by the introduction of this new technology.The perspectives of the students who used conferencing as part of their course on Information Technology, the tutors who used conferencing for tutoring the course, and the course team who designed and wrote the course, and then maintained it with conferencing, are the central areas of investigation and analysis in this study. Qualitative data - from interviews, observation and conference content, is used along with quantitative data from user-generated statistics, from surveys and from the course database.The success of the application is analysed in three ways: its effectiveness as a mass distance teaching medium, its value as a medium for tutoring, and its use as a minor component of a multi-media course.The results show that computer conferencing can be used with large numbers of students mastering the system at a distance, though not necessarily using it interactively. The medium is very successful for certain tutoring duties - support, advice and information exchange, and potentially for interactive discussion. However, as a minor component of a course, it is too powerful and too time consuming to be successful

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