bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Infrastructures in Vehicular Communications
Authors: Rawat Danda B. , Yan Gongjun
Published: May 2010

Vehicular communication is regarded as a backbone for the development of intelligent transportation system (ITS). Recently vehicular communication has attracted researchers from both academia and industry all over the world, notably, in the United States of America, Japan and European Union. The rapid advances in wireless technologies provide opportunities to utilize them in vehicular communication in advanced road safety applications. The most important feature of vehicular communication is to improve the road traffic safety, efficiency, comfort and quality of everyday road travel. Networking in particular and communication in general are important rudiments in the development of ITS. Generally, in vehicular communication, the information exchange occurs among vehicles not only in an ad-hoc based vehicle-to-vehicle networking but also in a vehicle-to-infrastructure with possible intermediate infrastructure-to-infrastructure networking. Therefore, the infrastructure plays major role in order to realize the full potential of vehicular communications. This chapter provides an in-depth survey of the infrastructures and technologies that are recently proposed as part of future ITS developments as well as tested for vehicular communications in mobile environment. Specifically, we provide an in-depth analysis of wireless technology-applications such as ad-hoc networking and wireless local area network (WLAN), dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), cellular technology and NOTICE Architecture, and compare their characteristics in terms of their abilities to support vehicular communications for development of ITS.
Information Sharing in VANETs
Authors: Fiore Marco , Casetti Claudio , Chiasserini Carla-Fabiana
Published: May 2010

This chapter looks at a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) as a peer-to-peer network, where mobile users may request information contents as well as provide them to other nodes, and it addresses the major technical issues that emerge when dealing with information sharing in VANETs. After briefly reviewing some proposals appeared in the literature on application and network protocols for data exchange in VANETs, the chapter focuses on a possible application for data sharing between vehicular users, which exploits the pull-based approach. It then highlights the main challenges in such a scenario and introduces some mechanisms that can be applied to solve two major issues in content sharing: content query propagation and content caching. A comparison among the schemes presented for query propagation, as well as between the mechanisms introduced for data caching, is shown through simulation results derived using the network simulator ns2. Finally, future challenges and emerging research topics for content sharing and dissemination in VANETs are outlined.
Opportunistic Networking in Delay Tolerant Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Agarwal Ashish , Little Thomas D.C.
Published: May 2010

Vehicular Area Networking (VANET) is an emerging technology to support a class of applications involving communications between vehicles, and vehicles and the environment. Activity in this area includes development of the Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) protocol aimed at enabling vehicles to exchange safety information to enhance awareness of the vehicle beyond the line of sight, and to enhance safety features such as active braking and collision warning. While safety is the primary driver for development, additional applications emerge as potential users of this technology that are more general in nature. Real-time traffic and route updates, traffic monitoring, remote diagnostics, general purpose Internet access and in-car entertainment are examples that require data collection and dissemination analogous to the wired Internet. However, DSRC and related short-range communications technology would appear to be insufficient for these scenarios. In this chapter, we describe, how and under what conditions it is feasible, and in fact desirable, to use short range communications. We describe a network formed over moving vehicles implemented by short-range communication and thereby analyze factors that affect the design and performance. Observations reveal intermittent connectivity between vehicles traveling on the roadway in opposite directions that hinders applications. Techniques adapted from related research in computer networks provide solutions for enabling networking in a fragmented network of moving vehicles. We elaborate and demonstrate analytically the application of techniques that enable networking through short-range communication.
Adaptive Solutions in Multihop Communication Protocols for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Caloca Carlos , Garcia Macias J. Antonio
Published: May 2010

The potential for vehicular applications is rapidly increasing. However this variety also demands a flexible multihop communication protocol supporting different communications needs and adapting to the network environment and to context elements specified by the application itself. We think that adaptive solutions, recently starting to be applied to VANET routing and dissemination protocols, have a great potential for solving the problems stated above. The objective of this chapter is to introduce the reader to these kinds of solutions, show their benefits and also mention the challenges involved. Because one important aspect of adaptive solutions (in this case a common communication protocol for all applications), is having in-depth knowledge of the problem to solve, we first review these different vehicular applications and their classification, followed by their communication needs.
Planning Online
Authors: Yigitcanlar Tan
Published: May 2010

The first use of computing technologies and the development of land use models in order to support decision-making processes in urban planning date back to as early as mid 20th century. The main thrust of computing applications in urban planning is their contribution to sound decision-making and planning practices. During the last couple of decades many new computing tools and technologies, including geospatial technologies, are designed to enhance planners’ capability in dealing with complex urban environments and planning for prosperous and healthy communities. This chapter, therefore, examines the role of information technologies, particularly internet-based geographic information systems, as decision support systems to aid public participatory planning. The chapter discusses challenges and opportunities for the use of internet-based mapping application and tools in collaborative decision-making, and introduces a prototype internet-based geographic information system that is developed to integrate public-oriented interactive decision mechanisms into urban planning practice. This system, referred as the ‘Community-based Internet GIS’ model, incorporates advanced information technologies, distance learning, sustainable urban development principles and community involvement techniques in decision-making processes, and piloted in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.
The Potential of E-Participation in Urban Planning
Authors: Kubicek Herbert
Published: May 2010

Because urban planning affects the living conditions of its inhabitants, most countries, at least western democracies, require some kind of citizen participation by law. The rise of the World Wide Web has led to recommendations to offer participation via the Internet (eParticipation) in various forms. However, many eParticipation applications are not well accepted and fall short of the expectations associated with them. This chapter argues that the electronic mode of participation per se does not change much. Rather, electronic forms of participation have to be embedded in the context of the respective planning processes and participation procedures. If citizens are not interested in participating in an urban planning process, they will not do so just because they could do it via the Internet. Therefore, an analysis of the barriers and deficits of eParticipation has to start with a critical review of traditional offers of participation. Against this background, the forms and methods of electronic participation are described and assessed in regard to expectations and barriers associated with them. It becomes apparent that eParticipation research has still not provided solid knowledge about the reasons for low acceptance of eParticipation tools. This research is largely based on case studies dealing with quite different subject areas. There is also high agreement that electronic tools will not substitute traditional devices for a long time. Instead, they will only complement them. Therefore, online and traditional forms of participation have to be designed as a multi-channel communication system and need to be analyzed against each context together. Accordingly, this paper starts with summarizing both the institutional context of urban planning and traditional modes of citizen participation and the development and use of technical tools as two backgrounds. Recognizing a certain degree of disappointment with the low use of eParticipation, future eParticipation research should focus on fitting electronic tools better into their context and apply more comprehensive and rigorous evaluation.
Beyond Citizen Participation in Planning
Authors: Camarda Domenico
Published: May 2010

The new complexity of planning knowledge implies innovation of planning methods, in both substance and procedure. The development of multi-agent cognitive processes, particularly when the agents are diverse and dynamically associated to their interaction arenas, may have manifold implications. In particular, interesting aspects are scale problems of distributed interaction, continuous feedback on problem setting, language and representation (formal, informal, hybrid, etc.) differences among agents (Bousquet, Le Page, 2004). In this concern, an increasing number of experiences on multi-agent interactions are today located within the processes of spatial and environmental planning. Yet, the upcoming presence of different human agents often acting au paire with artificial agents in a social physical environment (see, e.g., with sensors or data-mining routines) often suggests the use of hybrid MAS-based approaches (Al-Kodmany, 2002; Ron, 2005). In this framework, the chapter will scan experiences on the setting up of cooperative multi-agent systems, in order to investigate the potentials of that approach on the interaction of agents in planning processes, beyond participatory planning as such. This investigation will reflect on agent roles, behaviours, actions in planning processes themselves. Also, an attempt will be carried out to put down formal representation of supporting architectures for interaction and decision making.
Planners Support of E-Participation in the Field of Urban Planning
Authors: Granberg Mikael , Åström Joachim
Published: May 2010

The chapter questions what planners really mean when they display positive attitudes toward increased citizen participation via ICTs? Are they aiming for change or the reinforcement of existing values and practices? What are the assumptions that underlie and condition the explicit support for e-participation? In addressing these questions, this chapter draws upon a survey mapping the support for e-participation in the field of urban planning, targeting the heads of the planning departments in all Swedish local governments in 2006. The results show confusing or conflicting attitudes among planners towards participation, supporting as well as challenging the classic normative theories of participatory democracy and communicative planning.
Public Participation in E-Government
Authors: Baum Scott , Mahizhnan Arun
Published: May 2010

Singapore’s E-government model is considered to be among the best in the world. Over the past decade the Singapore government has constantly developed and re-developed its on-line presence. International comparisons have consistently rated Singapore as one of the most advanced E-government nations. However, despite significant progress towards full E-government maturity, some issues of full public participation remain. It is these issues which this chapter discusses. In particular, it will consider the ways in which a digital divide within the Singapore model has emerged, despite specific policies to address such a problem.
Architectures of Motility
Authors: Reed Darren J. , Webster Andrew
Published: May 2010

This chapter engages with contemporary approaches to urban planning by introducing an analytic strategy rooted in the sociological approach of Science and Technology Studies. By demarcating a ‘social frame’ and comparing this to the established ‘engineering frame’ through different ‘architectures’, the paper reveals hitherto unrecognised features of the implementation of an intelligent transportation system called BLISS (the Bus Location and Information SubSystem). Through the ‘mobilities’ conceptual approach, the relationships between various aspects, including the urban space, the experience of passengers, drivers and managers, and component technologies, are revealed as forming an ‘assemblage’ of conflicting features, that at the same time move toward a form of ‘stabilization’. The underlying point, is that we need to engage not only with the technical difficulties of technology implementation in the city, but also with the contingent and experiential processes of those who use, and are affected by such implementations.
RFID in Urban Planning
Authors: Pang Les , Morgan-Morris Vanessa , Howell Angela
Published: May 2010

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a significant emerging technology that enables the automation of numerous applications globally. Professions, businesses and industries have integrated this technology into their procedures and it has resulted in great advances in the accuracy of data, operational efficiencies, logistical enhancements and other process improvements. This chapter discusses the application of RFID technology to support the needs and requirements within the realm of urban planning. First, the historic and technical background behind RFID is reviewed. Illustrative examples of its use are presented. Next, the technology’s potential is explored in terms of a practical tool for urban planners. Consequently, issues and challenges associated with RFID are identified and considerations to be made when applying the technology are offered. Finally, the outlook for RFID technology is examined as an instrument in urban development and the expected exponential growth of the technology is discussed.
A User-Centric Approach in E-Government Policies
Authors: Verdegem Pieter , Hauttekeete Laurence
Published: May 2010

E-government is given a central role in the modernization debate of the public sector. Despite large-scale investments the electronic public services do not (yet) seem to come up to the promising expectations. As a result, consensus seems to exist that e-government policies require a rethinking. In this chapter the origins and objectives of the electronic service delivery are discussed. The authors state that the development of e-government suffers from deterministic conceptions. Consequently, the user seems to be neglected and minor attention is given to the impact of the electronic services on the customer. As a contribution to the theoretical discussion of e-government, the authors explain why a two-fold paradigm shift is needed. The user-oriented rethinking comprises both the development of e-government services as the evaluation of its policies. At the end of this chapter, the theoretical considerations are linked to daily-based activities by presenting briefly some Belgian e-government practices.
Evaluating the Impact of E-government on Citizens
Authors: Huang Tong-yi , Lee Chung-pin
Published: May 2010

Since the early 1990s, the trend of e-government has attracted scholarly attention to the issue of how governments apply the information and communication technologies (the ICTs) in different services. While most studies focus on “what” and “how” questions of e-government, relatively little literature addresses the issue of “to what effect” it has on citizens. To fill this void, from user-centric perspective, this study examines Taiwan’s e-government performance, which has been ranked by international institutions as one of the top performers worldwide. The authors use a telephone interview data set from a survey conducted in 2007 with a random sample of 2000 respondents to analyze what impact the ICTs applications in administrative service and democracy improvement have on citizens in terms of cost and benefit. The authors’ findings show that e-government has had a significant, positive impact on citizens regarding their time saving, perception of information credibility, and satisfaction with the government. The results also suggest that the ICTs facilitate broader distribution of political information, a key to the success of e-democracy. The authors conclude this chapter by proposing suggestions for further strategic planning and critical research issues.
Innovation in Democratic E-Governance
Authors: Anttiroiko Ari-Veikko
Published: May 2010

This chapter provides a brief introduction to Web 2.0 and its gradual adoption in public services and governance. Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of Web-based communities, networks and hosted services, which facilitates interaction between users. Since the invention of the concept of Web 2.0 version numbering has been attached to various activities and organizations, including government. Government 2.0 opens a horizon towards post-modern governance, in which government utilizes in its governance and stakeholder relations open and pluralist interactivity, community-centeredness and citizens’ own content production and networking, following the logic of Web 2.0. The promise of Government 2.0 lies in the idea that the more direct citizen involvement there is in public affairs in Web 2.0 style, the more reason there is for people to take a constructive view of public policies, governance and organizations.
E-Government, Security, and Cyber-privacy
Authors: Wolf Ross , Korosec Ronnie
Published: May 2010

E-government involves governments at all levels using advanced technology and communication tools to provide services, allow for transactions, and respond to citizen’s needs and requests. This on-line version of government, which is designed to enhance efficiency and improve operations, relies heavily on a network of data structures that are currently in place. While much has been written about e-government, few studies exist that link the concepts of e-government and security with individual rights and government responsibility. Now more than ever, progressive changes in technology allow public and private sector entities to routinely collect, store, and disseminate large files of personal information about the citizens and clients they interact with. The power associated with the magnitude of this information requires great responsibility and accountability. This chapter is a beginning point to discuss how governments in the United States attempt to maintain secure fortresses of data, limit the dissemination of sensitive information to unauthorized parties, and ensure on line privacy for citizens.
Citizen Centric or Government Centric?
Authors: Halperin Ruth , Backhouse James
Published: May 2010

This chapter explores citizens’ perceptions of information risks inherent in the move towards eGovernment that deploy identity management systems (IdMS). The new plans for electronic identity management in the UK sparked a furious public debate but the related perceptions of citizens have not yet been systematically explored. The findings presented in this chapter were developed using grounded theory methods of open-coding content analysis and depict how a sizeable group of UK citizens regard the risks. Five areas of perceived risk emerged and they testify to the diversity of issues and concerns preoccupying citizens: technology failure, public authority competence, public authority integrity, lack of control over personal data, and, the overpowering state. Further, the authors present findings that express how citizens might ultimately act in the light of their perceptions. Drawing on social risk theory and current political developments, the authors discuss these emerging perceptions and suggest that citizen-centricity and joined-up systems - central to the transformational government agenda - stand in considerable jeopardy and require the government’s attention and a suitable response.
Citizens and Service Channels
Authors: Pieterson Willem
Published: May 2010

The arrival of the electronic channels in the 1990s has had a huge impact on governmental service delivery. The new channels have led to many new opportunities to improve public service delivery, not only in terms of citizen satisfaction, but also in terms of cost reduction for governmental agencies. However, until now these promises of e-government have not been met. Surely, the usage of the electronic channels has skyrocketed in recent years and some organizations do witness cost reductions, but in general the usage of the traditional channels remains high and the costs of introducing and maintaining the electronic channels have merely been additional costs. These observations call for a deeper understanding of the behavior of citizens. Why do citizens choose the channels they use to obtain services? Furthermore, how should knowledge about these behaviors be used to improve governmental multi-channel service strategies and marketing activities? In this chapter the authors will analyze citizens’ channel behavior. They will discuss channel usage and explore the channel choices of citizens. Further, the authors will discuss how these findings may help in improving channel strategies and marketing and thus help in improving citizen satisfaction and reduce cost of governmental service delivery.
Social Tagging to Search and Recommend Government Information
Authors: Warner Janice , Chun Soon Ae
Published: May 2010

The amount of data, documents and services provided by the US government and all its agencies is overwhelming for citizens as well as employees of government agencies that need to collaborate. The US federal government offers several portals and associated search engines. In addition, to aid in inter-agency coordination, there are some platforms deployed to exchange information and share resources. This chapter investigates how social tagging technology can support citizen information and service requirements by facilitating discovery of needed information, services and knowledge. The authors also show how governmental agencies and departments can use the technologies to better service citizens through integration of their capabilities and knowledge. The proposed service could have a big impact in helping citizens with a relatively small incremental cost to implement because the “work” done is by the users in a distributed fashion. The impact derives from improving the accessibility and sharing of information resources.
Engaging Citizens on the Internet
Authors: Cassell Mark K. , Hoornbeek John
Published: May 2010

Some literature on E-government has envisioned that the internet would foster a linear progression toward new, productive, and more democratic relationships between governments and citizens (Layne and Lee, 2001). Recent literature has questioned the pace at which these relationships are developing (Coursey and Norris, 2008). This chapter presents empirical results relating to citizen-government relations on the internet that are based on an assessment of the worldwide web presence of 428 local governments in northeast Ohio. Northeast Ohio provides a useful picture of E-government-citizen relationships because it includes a range of local government forms (counties, townships, etc.), urban and rural populations, and Midwestern influences that many consider “typical” of American states. The website reviews conducted assess citizen-government engagement in a variety of areas. The measures used include simple engagements such as the ability to sign up for email updates and the presence of event calendars to more involved interactions such as blogs, e-pay services, and open records requests. Using these measures, we assess citizen-government engagement among local governments in our sample. Follow up interviews with local governments that rate high on these measures are used to further ascertain the extent of engagement and the benefits they yield for government-citizen relationships and service delivery. This information, in turn, provides lessons relating to citizen-local government relationships that may be useful to other government entities. Analyses to ascertain why some local governments seek greater internet engagement with citizens than others are also be conducted.
Assessing e-Government Services
Authors: Kaliannan Maniam , Raman Murali , Dorasamy Magiswary
Published: May 2010

Introduction of Electronic Government (e-Government) is seen as a tool to improve government service delivery to external and internal clients for the benefit of the government and the citizens and businesses that it serves. E-Government holds tremendous promise for improvements in the public service delivery as well to overcome many of the persistent public service problems. Successful delivery of online services has rapidly become an important measure of effective public sector management. The e-Government initiative in Malaysia was launched with the aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government service delivery to its stakeholders, namely, citizens and businesses. The vision of e-Government is a vision for people in government, business and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The dual objectives of e-Government are to reinvent the government of Malaysia in terms of service delivery through the use of information technology and to catalyze the successful development of the Multimedia Super Corridor with IT as one of the leading sectors of the economy. One of the services that was launched as part of e-Government Flagship is on line tax filling or known as e-Filing by the Inland Revenue Board. Via this system, the taxpayers are able to complete an electronic application form and the necessary payment details within few keystrokes and hence complete their revenue declaration within minutes. The purpose of e-Filing service is to encourage every taxpayer to submit their income tax return through an online system, thus reducing the manual paper-based submission method. This system has received good response from the taxpayers. However, there is still a sizeable number who have yet to adopt e-Filing. An empirical assessment of adoption of e-Filing system involving 200 tax payers was carried out. The study aims to assess the extent of e-filling acceptance among the tax payers who have filed their tax forms online. Beyond this, the chapter also analyses the factors that contribute towards adoption of such system in Malaysia. The findings revealed that taxpayers have positive attitude in using the e-Filing system as they perceive that tax submission method via internet is more convenient than submission by post or by hand and that perceived readiness towards using this technology is paramount to their belief for using e-Filing system.
Assessing China's E-government and Its Impact on Government and Citizen Relationship
Authors: Lollar Xia Li
Published: May 2010

The goal of this chapter is to examine the e-government development in China and its political impact on the communist countries’ transition to democracy by transforming relations between the government and citizens. It is widely accepted that e-government can help to encourage government transparency, expand the information flow, promote work efficiency and increase citizens’ political participation. This may be true in open democracies, yet there is little scholarly support for this conventional wisdom applied in authoritarian societies. This chapter will test hypotheses that e-government can improve the quality of government by enhancing citizens’ accessibility to information and service, increasing citizens’ political participation and promoting citizen outreach of the Chinese government. The chapter will indicate that e-government is transforming relations between citizens and the Chinese government and show how it is playing an essential role in China’s incremental process of democratization.
Exploring Citizens' Visions of 2020 E-government in Taiwan
Authors: Hu Lung-Teng , Chen Don-Yun , Tseng Kuan-Chiu
Published: May 2010

“Why do citizens not use government e-services when they are provided?” This is a question always bothering academics and practitioners of e-government. This chapter will argue that, although e-government initiatives usually are advocated as “consumer- or citizen-centered” reform efforts, the initial plans to implement them are, at best, paternalistic. The authors further argue that citizens should play a critical role in initiating e-government and make those initiatives more citizen-centric. This chapter presents the case of the “2020 E-governance Scenario Workshop,” which was held in the fall 2008 in Taiwan, to provide evidence for our argument. By discussing the results of the workshop, this chapter will not only describe the visions and action plans derived from the workshop participants’ perspective but will also show that a problem of professional asymmetry still exists in e-government planning. Further, the authors ask how elected officials can be convinced to adopt citizens’ visions and plans, as their reluctance presents an obstacle that should be overcome. Despite these challenges, the authors wish to emphasize that e-government planning is in need of a paradigm shift from a technocrat-driven to a citizen-centric model.
Citizens and E-Government Service Delivery
Authors: Kurtz Jennifer A. , Cole Roland J. , Cole Isabel A.
Published: May 2010

Without a plan for marketing the convenience, ease, and safety of online services, the goal of achieving an 80 percent adoption rate by citizens for certain e-government services (e.g., tax filing and vehicle registration) will remain a dream. Although states realize benefits from implementing online applications that reduce processing time and costs, the rate of growth in citizen e-government adoption rates seems to have leveled off. This chapter examines, from the state’s perspective, successful techniques for increasing citizen use of electronic applications for two common activities – vehicle registration renewal and income tax filing – in four Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio). Usage patterns depend in part on an individual citizen’s technological sophistication, whether digital naïf, digital immigrant, or digital native. Usage can be influenced, however, by state government investments to market electronic services (through awareness campaigns or financial incentives), establish alternative access points, and incorporate human use factors in applications.
Government 2.0 in Korea
Authors: Cho Hee Jung , Hwang Sungsoo
Published: May 2010

This chapter looks at the various e-participation tools and services of e-government in South Korea. Korea has recently become a test bed for many information technology tools, particularly in the e-government and e-democracy domains. Many of the e-government evaluation indexes, including those of the UN and Brown University, rank the municipal and national e-government sites of Korea very high on the list. First, this chapter highlights a variety of e-government services available in Korea such as e-ombudsman (Shin-moon-go), the Korean Public Information Disclosure System (Open Government), Civil proposal services in e-rulemaking processes, and Call & Change (110 Service), which can be compared to those of other countries. The second part of this chapter focuses on citizen participation or e-participation, which is termed ‘Gov 2.0’, reflecting the concept of web 2.0. Characteristics of Gov 2.0 will be illustrated and then dimensions of possible evaluation measures will be discussed. Some illuminating cases will be introduced to investigate how policy recommendations and proposals from the people transform into actual policy changes. This chapter, thus, will discuss the challenges to implementing and evaluating Gov 2.0 services as well as present recommendations.
Internet Use and Political Participation of American Youth
Authors: Baumgartner Jody C.
Published: May 2010

This chapter examines the relationship between the use of the Internet for campaign information and two dimensions of the political engagement of young adults. Drawing on data from a national survey of 18-24 year olds conducted online during the 2008 presidential campaign, it shows that the effect of Internet use for campaign information on political engagement among youth was marginal. While these young adults did take advantage of opportunities to participate on the Internet, reliance on the Internet for campaign information had no significant effect on knowledge about the campaign or more traditional types of political participation. Despite the promise the Internet holds for increasing political interest and participation, those youth who relied on the Internet as their primary source of campaign information did not seem any more inclined to participate in politics than others in their cohort.
24-7 Government, the Permanent Campaign, and e-Democracy
Authors: Williams Christine B.
Published: May 2010

This chapter traces the evolution of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s website through content analysis of its features and functionality, participation rates and website traffic data, reactions of legislators, media and public, and interviews with the site’s designer and director of the Governor’s political committee. The chief attributes of the permanent campaign, polling, fundraising and public posturing, are all in evidence on the site. Devalpatrick.com provides informative resources on a variety of policy questions that are designed to promote his legislative agenda. It also supports features that allow visitors to interact with the Governor’s team, such as posts and contributions, although visitors cannot contact the Governor, state or local officials, or other political entities directly from the site. Although devalpatrick.com is not able to deliver on high level e-participation goals, the level of citizen engagement it does offer is unique among U.S. elected officials.
UK E-Voting
Authors: Liptrott Mark
Published: May 2010

This chapter evaluates the UK government strategy to promote electronic voting through the public policy process as an integral part of the e-government agenda to enhance participatory democracy. It argues that the formulation of the present policy is flawed as it lacks a diffusion strategy to enhance the likelihood of policy adoption. The electoral modernisation policy arose from concerns regarding the falling voter turnout at elections and is being introduced via local authorities through a series of voluntary pilot schemes. If issues influencing local authority pilot participation are not resolved e-voting may be permanently rejected by local elected representatives and so will not be available to citizens. This author identifies variables influencing pilot participation and suggests a revised public policy model incorporating selected diffusion concepts at the formulation stage of the linear policy process. The model is used to propose recommendations to enhance the likelihood of voluntary adoption of a policy introduced by central government for voluntary implementation by local government.
Online Activism and Computer Mediated Communications
Authors: Fariñas Stephen
Published: May 2010

The use of the internet by radical activists is a significant and growing aspect of e-activism, but has received little attention in the e-participation literature. This chapter aims to fill this gap by examining the use of computer mediated communications by radical groups in promoting their causes. The intrinsic nature of radical movements is such that their ideas cannot be disseminated through the mainstream media. Radical activists communicate through alternative media, of which internet has emerged as a significant source to mobilize as well as to disseminate. We focus on the internet use by two groups of radical activists: environmentalist and anti-globalisation groups. Since these groups have a radical agenda, they use the internet to circumvent government censorship. Beyond this, however, their uses of CMC are quite distinctive. Environmental activists were among the first to use the web as organizing and mobilizing tools. They promote their agenda through alternative forms of media which can easily be made available over the internet, e.g. magazines, booklets, flyers, leaflets, videos, and radio broadcast. Environmental activists also engage in several forms of cyberactivism, e.g. hacktivism. They actively participate in the e-rulemaking process by working to change policy. Anti-globalisation groups, on the other hand, primarily use independent media centers (Indymedia) to promote their cause. Independent media centers are versatile enough to be quickly established during a protest, allowing activists to mobilize interested parties quickly. Activists have also made effective use of e-mail listservs and the internet. However, anti-globalisation groups participate very little in the e-rulemaking process. Rather, these groups ultimately aim to do away with government control and corporate hegemony.
Citizen Consultation from Above and Below
Authors: Bruns Axel , Wilson Jason
Published: May 2010

Citizen engagement and e-government initiatives in Australia remain somewhat underdeveloped, not least for a number of fundamental structural reasons. Fledgling initiatives can be divided into a number of broad categories, including top-down government consultation through blogs and similar experimental online sites operated by government departments; bottom-up NGO-driven watchdog initiatives such as GetUp!’s Project Democracy site, modelled on projects established in the UK; and a variety of more or less successful attempts by politicians (and their media handlers) to utilise social networking tools to connect with constituents while bypassing the mainstream media. This chapter explores these initiatives, and discusses the varying levels of success which they have found to date.
Ontology Driven E-Government
Authors: Salhofer Peter , Stadlhofer Bernd , Tretter Gerald
Published: May 2010

Expectations of citizens concerning the quality of electronically available public services are steadily increasing. Thus more and more of these services are fully transactional (Layne und Lee, 2001) and offer tight integration of electronic access and underlying processes. Whereas this leads to better results in the terms of time, convenience and correctness, software systems become more complex and development effort rises as well. On the other hand, in the field of software engineering there exist several recommendations and approaches to reduce development time and increase the degree of software re-use. Some of these recommendations are known for decades (McIlroy, 1968). One approach that tries to tackle this problem at the very beginning of the development circle is Model Driven Architecture (MDA) (Miller et al, 2001). The core idea behind MDA is the creation of a comprehensive system model that is based on several abstraction levels (OMG, 2002). These different modeling layers as well as a set of transformations between them allow for the automatic generation of most of the code needed. Whereas typically UML 2, which is also based on the same multi-layer modeling approach, is used to create the required abstract descriptions, there already exist some efforts to extend MDA to semantic web technologies as well (OMG, 2006). This chapter describes an approach to apply an MDA-like methodology, which is entirely based on a semantic model to the e-Government domain. The goals are to ease access to e-Government services, provide a new level of user experience and of course to reduce the implementation and maintenance effort while significantly improving the overall quality of service.
Collaborative Knowledge Construction in Virtual Learning Environments
Authors: Helling Kathrin , Petter Christian
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, a practical example of designing and implementing a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) building on aspects of collaborative knowledge construction is presented. Based on a theoretical section on collaborative knowledge construction in VLEs, the potential of the VLE Moodle with regards to its collaboration tools is introduced. The subsequent central section of the chapter has a focus on the actual design and implementation of an online course in Moodle, following principles of constructivist course design. The final two sections reflect on the evaluation of the course by course participants, and possible conclusions to be drawn from designing and implementing the online course.
Constructing a Sense of Community in a Graduate Educational Setting using a Web 2.0 Environment
Authors: Firpo Daniel , Kasemvilas Sumonta , Ractham Peter , Zhang Xuesong
Published: May 2010

This chapter posits that information technology and “Web 2.0 technology” such as blogs and wikis can be used to expand the “Claremont Conversation” by changing the nature of scholarly communication. By using social technologies, conversations outside class among students and professors help build an intellectual community that is the hallmark of a liberal education. We describe the design and implementation of an initial project that targeted only the School of Information Systems and Technology (SISAT) at Claremont Graduate University (CGU). The artifact developed was an online community for the purpose of improving the sense-of-community amongst students, faculty, and alumni of SISAT. This chapter then proposes future steps in how to improve the intellectual community at CGU by expanding the online intellectual community established for SISAT to the entire campus.
Supporting Case-Based Learning Through a Collaborative Authoring System
Authors: Hu Bo , Gollin Klaus
Published: May 2010

A web based collaborative authoring system is deployed to support collaborative and case-based learning projects. Using the versioning and logging data provided by the system a high utilization intensity can be partially ascertained. Reducing plagiarism constitutes a further utilization potential of the collaborative authoring system.
Knowledge Access and Interaction Evolution in Virtual Learning Communities
Authors: Caschera Maria Chiara , D’Andrea Alessia , Ferri Fernando , Grifoni Patrizia
Published: May 2010

Interaction among members in Virtual Learning Communities influences the communities’ evolution. Starting from this consideration, this chapter provides a discussion on the more widely used software systems that support interaction between virtual communities’ members and virtual learning environment underlining the advantages and the disadvantages considering the several processes that characterize the VLCs. Moreover in education environments interactions are important in order to facilitate the learning process, and this chapter describes how the intelligent agent approaches can bean interesting alternative to a human facilitator. The analysis of intelligent agents describes how they allow both analysing interaction and improving the level of participation of members of a Virtual Learning Community.
E-Collaboration between People and Technological Boundary Objects
Authors: Okita Sandra Y.
Published: May 2010

Computerized instruction has become more common over the years. Students can now learn from computerized images of people in virtual environments. A new learning partnership can develop with a Technological Boundary Object (TBO) that simultaneously belongs to mutually exclusive categories. The TBOs may have human-like appearance and behavior that naturally elicit a social response. As learning environments become more human-like, should TBOs maintain a boundary-like state or aim for perfect human mimicry? The challenges to high fidelity seem to outweigh the benefits. Three common categories in TBOs: animate and inanimate, real and virtual, and self and other, are exemplified through empirical studies. The findings draw attention to the different learning partnerships that can be developed with TBOs and their future potential.
Towards Automatic Service Composition within ARGUGRID
Authors: Azam Nabeel , Curcin Vasa , Guo Li , Ghanem Moustafa
Published: May 2010

Workflow systems play an important role in service-oriented computing as they provide an intuitive mechanism for orchestrating the execution of remote services. Constructing new workflows from raw services however, is not always a straight-forward task. It requires resolving many decisions including locating available services, determining which of them match the user requirements and also deciding how to compose them together into valid applications. Workflow construction activities can be simplified, or possibly even automated, by using a combination of semantic annotations and delegation of the decision making tasks to intelligent agents. Two key challenges arise when developing a practical system that attempts to address this vision. The first is elaborating the key properties of service workflows and the decisions that agents are required to assist in. This information is needed for designing and implementing the internals of the agent mind. The second is designing and implementing the run-time interfaces between the workflow system and the agent system to enable the exchange of information between them. This chapter describes our experience in addressing these two challenges and in developing a framework that simplifies the workflow creation process within the ARGUGRID project.
Personalized Web Services Selection
Authors: Helmy Tarek , Al-Nazer Ahmed
Published: May 2010

Web services have gained an increasing popularity over the Internet. Because of today’s wide variety of services offered to perform a specific task. The task of finding selected Web services to perform a specific task becomes very hard, and it is essential that users are supported in the eventual selection of appropriate services. Web services are a great application area for agent techniques and a great substrate for developing serious autonomous agent-based systems to support a personalized Web services selection. In this chapter, we present a Collaborative Autonomous Interface Agent (CAIA) that collaborates with the Internet search engines and supports the user in finding exactly the Web services consistent with his/her needs. CAIA system has been designed, fully implemented and tested. As a case study, the testing results show a big improvement in the relevancy of the retrieved results and of the user’s satisfaction by using CAIA+Google compared to using Google only.
Peer-to-Peer Platforms for High-Quality Web Services
Authors: Qiao Ying , Asaduzzaman Shah , Bochmann Gregor V.
Published: May 2010

This chapter presents a clustered peer-to-peer system as a resource organization structure for web-service hosting platforms. Where service quality, such as response time and service availability, are provided with assurance. The peer-to-peer organization allows integration of autonomous resources into a single platform in a scalable manner. In clustered peer-to-peer systems, nodes are organized into clusters based on some proximity metric, and a distributed hash table overlay is created among the clusters. This organization enables lightweight techniques for load balancing among different clusters, which is found to be essential for providing response time guarantees. Service availability is provided by replicating a service instance in multiple nodes in a cluster. A decentralized load balancing technique called diffusive load balancing is presented in the context of clustered peer-to-peer systems and evaluated for effectiveness and performance.