Semantic technologies: from niche to the mainstream of Web 3? A comprehensive framework for web Information modelling and semantic annotation

Context: Web information technologies developed and applied in the last decade have considerably changed the way web applications operate and have revolutionised information management and knowledge discovery. Social technologies, user-generated classification schemes and formal semantics have a far-reaching sphere of influence. They promote collective intelligence, support interoperability, enhance sustainability and instigate innovation. Contribution: The research carried out and consequent publications follow the various paradigms of semantic technologies, assess each approach, evaluate its efficiency, identify the challenges involved and propose a comprehensive framework for web information modelling and semantic annotation, which is the thesis’ original contribution to knowledge. The proposed framework assists web information modelling, facilitates semantic annotation and information retrieval, enables system interoperability and enhances information quality. Implications: Semantic technologies coupled with social media and end-user involvement can instigate innovative influence with wide organisational implications that can benefit a considerable range of industries. The scalable and sustainable business models of social computing and the collective intelligence of organisational social media can be resourcefully paired with internal research and knowledge from interoperable information repositories, back-end databases and legacy systems. Semantified information assets can free human resources so that they can be used to better serve business development, support innovation and increase productivity

Blockchain applications for SME transformation: a pilot framework

As blockchain technology matures, governments, banks, healthcare organisations, asset management companies and other corporations explore the potential of the new technology to transform transactions and improve security, efficiency and profitability. While certain aspects of blockchain, such as decentralisation and immutability, are well understood, the technology has evolved beyond the original Bitcoin blockchain, resulting in the need to provide a framework that classifies blockchain infrastructure and aids potential adoption decision making. The framework is particularly relevant to and urgently needed by SMEs, who stand to benefit from the new technology but are disadvantaged by the lack of knowledge and expertise. This paper follows a pilot study that looks into blockchain applications taxonomy and proposes such a framework

Towards the new generation of web knowledge

Purpose - As the web evolves its purpose and nature of its use are changing. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether the web can provide for the competing stakeholders, who are similarly evolving and who increasingly see it as a significant part of their business. Design/methodology/approach - The paper adopts an exploratory and reviewing approach to the emerging trends and patterns emanating from the web's changing use and explores the underpinning technologies and tools that facilitate this use and access. It examines the future and potential of web-based knowledge management (KM) and reviews the emerging web trends, tools, and enabling technologies that will provide the infrastructure of the next generation web. Findings - The research carried out provides an independent framework for the capturing, accessing and distributing of web knowledge. This framework retains the semantic mark-up, a feature that we deem indispensable for the future of KM, employing web ontologies to structure organisational knowledge and semantic text processing for the extraction of knowledge from web sites. Practical implications - As a result it was possible to identify the implications of integrating the two aspects of web-based KM, namely the business-organisational-users' perspective and that of the enabling web technologies. Originality/value - The proposed framework accommodates the collaborative tools and services offered by Web 2.0, acknowledging the fact that knowledge-based systems are shared, dynamic, evolving resources, whose underlying knowledge model requires careful management due to its constant changing

The next generation of the web: an organisational perspective

The web has revolutionised information sharing, management, interoperability and knowledge discovery. The union of the two prominent web frameworks, Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web is often referred to as Web 3.0. This paper explores the basics behind the two paradigms, assesses their influence over organisational change and considers their effectiveness in supporting innovative solutions. It then outlines the challenges of combining the two web paradigms to form Web 3.0 and critically evaluates the impact that Web 3.0 will have on the social organisation. The research carried out follows action research principles and adopts an investigative and reviewing approach to the emerging trends and patterns that develop from the web's changing use, examining the underpinning enabling technologies that facilitate access, innovation and organisational change

Identifying trends and flows in Communication and Information Processing by means of keyword network analysis

The purpose of this paper is to identify influential themes and knowledge flows in the area of communications and information processing and suggest trends that are likely to make (or continue making) an impact. We applied keyword network analysis on articles whose keywords match the themes of the International Conference on Communication and Information Processing, collected through the Thompson Reuters’ Web of Science and studied the articles’ thematic interconnections and their dynamics. The keyword network was found to be clustered around the themes cloud, data, mobile, security, semantic and social. Security and embeddedness are found to be the most dominant topics, common to all groups. Design and performance are key influencers of thematic flows and data mining/analysis are close to all nodes/keywords and therefore most popular. Big data, data fusion/integration and e-government are themes identified as potentially strong future influencers

Digital Transformation and Social Business: A Practice-Based Pathway Framework for SMEs

This research focuses on the lessons learnt from case studies involving the digital transformation of three London SMEs. The companies adopted social technologies to renovate operations, develop new sets of skills and capabilities and remodel customer value propositions. The transformation processes had common elements that fed through to the companies’ strategies. We conceptualised our research as a network, regarding roles and interventions as network effects, to analyse the adoption process and dynamically link the technology and social context with digital transformation strategy. The lessons learned were distilled into a framework whose two-fold aim is to (a) support organisations through digital transformation and (b) inform organisational strategy. The framework is modular with components that assist and guide the various phases of designing, deploying, implementing and sustaining this transition

Chemical and oxygen isotopic composition of Roman and late Antique glass from northern Greece

The present paper emphasizes the importance of measuring the oxygen isotopic and chemical compositions of ancient glass, in order to constrain some features such as age, raw materials, and production technologies and to identify the \u201cfingerprint\u201d of local productions. In this context, thirty-nine Roman and late Antique glass samples and eight chert samples fromnorthern Greece were selected and analysed for their oxygen isotopic and chemical compositions. Results show that the majority of glass samples are produced using natron as flux and have 18O values of about 15.5\u2030, plus or minus a few tenths of one per mil, suggesting that raw materials probably come from Levantine area. Four samples are heavily enriched in 18O, and their chemical composition clearly shows that they were made with soda plant ash as flux. Isotopic and chemical data of Greek chert samples support the hypothesis of local production of the above samples. About half of the glass samples have chemical compositions, which allow their age to be constrained to the late Antique period. For the remaining glass, similarities with literature compositional groups are reported and discussed

D-O-C Stable Isotopes, 14C Radiocarbon and Radiogenic Isotope Techniques Applied in Wine Products for Geographical Origin and Authentication

Oxygen, deuterium and carbon isotopes were measured in wine products in two Greek vineyards, Amydaio (north) and Nemea (south). The enriched isotope values in Nemea reflects the higher evapo-transpiration rate and the more arid condition of Southern Greece. White wines were slightly more depleted than red wines of the same year and the same growing region probably due to different harvest periods. Further was pointed out the variety of isotope values with respect to vintage year indicating that the vintage year contributes to the development of isotopes in wine water. In both vineyards the trend lines intersect the oxygen and deuterium isotopes of irrigation water highlighting the source water and the initial isotopic composition of grape berries. δ13C values of ethanol confirmed the origin of C3 plants and the authentication of wine products without detecting adulteration with industrial alcohol. The results of 14C measurements in ethanol extracted from Greek wines follow the known pattern of 14C variations in atmospheric CO2. The homogeneity of 87Sr/86Sr and 144Nd/143Nd isotope values confirms that the territorial and geological signal is transferred through the vineyards in the final product, wine, certifying the exclusively provenance of the wine areas Amydaio and Nemea