The Dynamics of Public Opinion in Complex Networks

This paper studies the problem of public opinion formation and concentrates on the interplays among three factors: individual attributes, environmental influences and information flow. We present a simple model to analyze the dynamics of four types of networks. Our simulations suggest that regular communities establish not only local consensus, but also global diversity in public opinions. However, when small world networks, random networks, or scale-free networks model social relationships, the results are sensitive to the elasticity coefficient of environmental influences and the average connectivity of the type of network. For example, a community with a higher average connectivity has a higher probability of consensus. Yet, it is misleading to predict results merely based on the characteristic path length of networks. In the process of changing environmental influences and average connectivity, sensitive areas are discovered in the system. By sensitive areas we mean that interior randomness emerges and we cannot predict unequivocally how many opinions will remain upon reaching equilibrium. We also investigate the role of authoritative individuals in information control. While enhancing average connectivity facilitates the diffusion of the authoritative opinion, it makes individuals subject to disturbance from non-authorities as well. Thus, a moderate average connectivity may be preferable because then the public will most likely form an opinion that is parallel with the authoritative one. In a community with a scale-free structure, the influence of authoritative individuals keeps constant with the change of the average connectivity. Provided that the influence of individuals is proportional to the number of their acquaintances, the smallest percentage of authorities is required for a controlled consensus in a scale free network. This study shows that the dynamics of public opinion varies from community to community due to the different degree of impressionability of people and the distinct social network structure of the community.Public Opinion, Complex Network, Consensus, Agent-Based Model

Exploring Risks in Smart City Infrastructure Projects: Municipal Broadband Initiatives

In recent years, cities are under increasing pressure to transform education, health care, transportation, civic engagement, public safety as well as other government services to maintain their competitiveness and improve citizen’s quality of life. This transformation is known as “smart city” initiatives. Broadband network infrastructure is an important underlying infrastructure for smart city projects. This study investigates risks in municipal broadband projects led by local government. Our goal is to develop a middle range theory to explain risks and their interrelationships. We first used grounded theory to identify a set of risks from archival and interview data. Next, we used revealed causal mapping analysis to develop a model of risks and their linkages. Our results suggest five risk categories: socio-political risks, approval risks, financial risks, technical risks, and partnership and resource management risks. We also found that several risk categories are intertwined. In particular, socio-political risks have impacts on other risks. Therefore, risk management and risk mitigation strategies need to take a holistic view towards all risks and their interconnections instead of focusing on each type of risks in isolation

The Interplay between Cloud-based SOA and IT Departments: Research Directions

Cloud-based SOA refers to an application architecture within which all functionalities are defined as independent serviceswith cloud-based APIs that can be used to leverage external computing resources through ubiquitous Internet access. Thispaper uses cloud-based SOA as a new form of IT-enabled enterprise transformation to reconceptualize the roles of ITdepartments. A proposed conceptual framework argues that IT departments and cloud-based SOA are mutually influenced.Upon reviewing relevant literature, this paper suggests that research should reexamine critical success factors in cloud-basedSOA implementations and investigate influences of cloud-based SOA implementations in the reconstruction of ITdepartments. Research questions and propositions are developed to guide research in this area