Immanent Domain

Editorial| July 01 2021 Note from the Editors: Precarious Mobilities Paula J. Massood, Paula J. Massood Paula J. Massood is a professor of screen studies and chair of the Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and on the doctoral faculty in the Theatre and Performance program at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the author of Black City Cinema: African American Urban Experiences in Film (Temple University Press, 2003) and Making a Promised Land: Harlem in 20th-Century Photography and Film (Rutgers University Press, 2013), editor of The Spike Lee Reader (Temple University Press, 2007), and coeditor of Media Crossroads: Intersections of Space and Identity in Screen Cultures (Duke University Press, 2021). She is currently president of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Pamela Robertson Wojcik Pamela Robertson Wojcik Pamela Robertson Wojcik is a professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame and a Guggenheim Fellow. She is the author of Gidget: Origins of a Teen Girl Transmedia Franchise (Routledge, 2020), Fantasies of Neglect: Imagining the Urban Child in American Film and Fiction (Rutgers University Press, 2016), The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945 to 1975 (Duke University Press, 2010), and Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna (Duke University Press, 1996). With Paula J. Massood and Angel Daniel Matos, she coedited the collection Media Crossroads: Intersections of Space and Identity in Screen Cultures (Duke University Press, 2021). Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Feminist Media Histories (2021) 7 (3): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2021.7.3.1 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Paula J. Massood, Pamela Robertson Wojcik; Note from the Editors: Precarious Mobilities. Feminist Media Histories 1 July 2021; 7 (3): 1–18. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2021.7.3.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFeminist Media Histories Search When we proposed this special issue of Feminist Media Histories on “Precarious Mobilities,” we were thinking about all the forms of precarity that engender mobility or make movement, in all forms, arduous or impossible. We were thinking about how certain forms of mobility could be precarious, risky, even dangerous. We were thinking about the long arc of precarious mobility, such as the forced enslavement of millions of Africans in the Americas. But we were especially attuned to contemporary dynamics of this state of being as it relates to what has come to be called the precariat, an intersectional class of people who lack labor security and thus have unstable sources of income, people who have “no ladders of mobility to climb,” for instance those from the traditional working or lower middle class, migrants and ethnic minorities, and youth.1 We were thinking about precarious labor in the academy and the... You do not currently have access to this content.

El presente trabajo pretende ser una reflexión teórica sobre las rupturas y nuevas articulaciones de las formas de movilización política en el periodo postcrisis. Proponemos que en la década de 2010, catalizadas por las tecnologías digitales, cristalizan tres grandes rupturas: socioeconómicas, en las que la precarización de las condiciones laborales y vitales supone la reemergencia de una crítica social material; temporales, en las que la dinámica aceleradora del capitalismo tardío intensifica la primacía del corto plazo; y socioculturales, en las que la fragmentación se traduce en una sensación de inseguridad e incertidumbre. Todo ello deriva en una transformación en las formas de movilización, que tienden hacia una acción colectiva efímera, espasmódica. Esta puede dar pie al surgimiento del gran evento, donde lo primordial es juntar físicamente a personas y recuperar el sentido de comunidad.

ABSTRACTAlthough creative industries and creative talent have traditionally clustered in established global centres such as London and New York, new forms of independent production, digital technologies and mobilities are reshaping this landscape. Drawing on 87 interviews and participant observation, this paper considers whether independent fashion designers in Canada still need to locate in the established centres to realize their ambitions. It explores how these entrepreneurs choose a ‘home base’ for their operations and demonstrates how they mobilize three forms of mobility (temporary, mediated, virtual) to access opportunities and resources within Canada’s fashion system.

Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714) is the author of the famous treatise De morbis artificum diatriba (Diseases of Workers) and is widely acknowledged as the founder of occupational medicine. In his writings, he set out groundbreaking and innovative principles for identifying and controlling hazards causing diseases in workers at a time when technologies were poorly developed. Since Ramazzini’s time there has been a series of different industrial revolutions, each bringing with it major new technologies. These new technologies have introduced advanced industrial processes, which have contributed to improvements in economic productivity and social wellbeing for the community. They have also introduced many new hazards which can adversely affect the health of workers. The first industrial revolution began in Britain in the mid 18th century with the development of coal power generation and the rise of machines to manufacture a wide range of goods. An example of one important hazard to workers from this new form of power was coal workers’ pneumoconiosis. Despite the introduction of control measures during the 19th and 20th centuries, this occupational disease persists in many parts of the world to the present day. The second industrial revolution from the late 19th century revolved around the development of electrical power, which led to greater mechanisation of industrial processes. The rapid increase in the use of production lines in industrial processes brought with it a rise in musculoskeletal conditions in workers, due to poor ergonomic design. The 2nd industrial revolution also involved a dramatic expansion in chemical processes, including the production of pesticides, solvents and synthetic dyes. Many of these chemicals have subsequently been found to cause a wide range of malignant and non-malignant diseases in the workers who produce them and in those who use them, such as agricultural workers. The 3rd industrial revolution is widely known as the digital revolution, which started in the latter parts of the 20th century. This revolution introduced many digital technologies into workplaces, such as the internet and advanced communication technologies, which brought with it concerns about the hazards of radiofrequency and other non-ionising radiation. Currently, we are in the midst of the 4th industrial revolution, which is sometimes referred to as the Cyber-Physical revolution. This industrial revolution has introduced novel technologies leading to greater automation of industrial processes, robotic manufacturing systems, machine learning and the rise of artificial intelligence. These new technologies have also led to major changes in work organisation, such as the 24 hour work cycle, increasing introduction of shift work arrangements and the rise of the Gig economy. Such work organisation changes have had significant health impacts on workers, such as the rise in work stressors and associated mental health conditions related to work. As we head into what is considered the 5th industrial revolution, we are seeing a rise in machine-human interaction. One example of this is the rise in the number and sophistication of robots used in industry, as well as in community settings. One of the concerns which has been raised is whether this will lead to a reduction in employment opportunities for humans. Being in gainful and hazard-free employment is considered to be an important source of health and wellbeing for workers and society more broadly. The rising use of robots has the potential to undermine this prompting considerable debate about the balance between beneficical and adverse events. The rise in the use of digital platforms is leading to a rapid increase in the Gig economy, which has been demonstrated to increase the risk of injury in those involved in delivery services. This technology can also lead to blurring of the line between work and non-work life for workers, especially with the rise of work-from-home arrangements. These arrangements increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and have persisted since then. One further consideration about the introduction of new technologies is the potential for old hazards to return in newly developed products. A good example of this is the introduction, and rapid increase in use, of artificial stone over the past two decades. Artificial stone can contain up to 95% crystalline silica. Recent research has demonstrated that the use of this material has led to an epidemic of an accelerated form of silicosis among stonemasons. As well as considerations of rising hazards and other possible negative impacts due to the introduction of new technologies, we need to consider the impact on the provision of occupational health services. The increase in the use of digital communication technologies, such as telehealth, has been beneficial in making health services, including occupational health services, more accessible. This can be beneficial for workers in remote work locations and help to improve the current low rate of occupational health service coverage in many countries. Not only can telehealth be beneficial in performing clinical consultations, but it can also be used to facilitate workplace inspections from a distant location. Greater sophistication of artificial intelligence in healthcare also has the potential to increase efficiency in occupational health service provision. This will be particularly beneficial where the occupational health workforce is scarce and/or only has basic training. Therefore, the introduction of new technologies during the various industrial revolutions can result in a wide range of beneficial and potentially adverse impacts on workers. What is very important is that any potential negative impacts are anticipated and/or detected at an early stage and suitable control measures put in place early. It is just over 300 years since the death of Ramazzini, who worked and wrote about workplaces and workers who were involved with very basic technologies at that time. The world and workplaces have gone through dramatic changes over those three centuries with the introduction of new technologies way beyond the wildest imagination of Ramazzini. Nevertheless, the important principles which he advocated in his writings to protect the health of workers and to benefit society as a whole still apply today in the modern workplace and will continue to guide occupational health programs and activities into the future.

The theory of multiple intelligences has been embraced by the education and research communities worldwide. Substantial research has been conducted to understand multiple intelligences and learning. However, studies that examine how various types of technology affect across the board the different types of intelligences in learning is lacking. This chapter reviews the multiple intelligence (MI) theory and how emergent technologies can be used to support MI learning in education using a meta-analysis method. The results reveal that bodily-kinesthetic is most responsive to technology-based intervention compared to other types of intelligences and that immersive and visual images are effective in improving verbal linguistic and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences. Discussion of the findings are made along with their implications in educational practices. Suggestions for future research and practice are made in regard to multiple intelligence and emergent digital technology.

The whole set of political, legal, scientific, educational and economic relations in society and the state absorbs its information and communication space. This is where all the concepts of the various sciences that study the material and virtual world are interpreted today. Political science as a social science cannot stand aside in this process. In turbulent conditions, it simultaneously differentiates and integrates the problems that make up its structural content. Activities of the authorities and their relations with civil society; political institutions, processes and systems; technologies of political activity and motivation of political behavior; political aspects of international relations and the problem of supranational power, everything is interested in political science, where today is the conceptualization of ideas of organization of global information and communication space – the spheres of generation, interpretation and consumption of information, the question of interaction of information actors in science, education, economic or political activities use a single information and communication environment. There is no doubt that the digital world we are entering is not only a new logical stage in the development of the technological sphere of humanity, but a transition of the existing political-legal and socio-political systems to a new dimension of reality. Digital technologies are already rapidly grasping the footholds for advancement in all spheres of society, and digitalization is becoming a trend in modern development, however, it will require ever more in-depth work to develop ever more effective ways of legal regulation of various information and communication relations, as well as effective organizational and legal support for informatization of the state. The complexity of this area is due to the fact that virtually all social and industrial relations have an information component, and therefore the information and legal nature are all norms of interaction in different sectors and spheres of citizens. For example, relationships that arise: in the production and dissemination of information by the media; when applying the organizational and legal mechanisms of its security; at creation and functioning of the state automated information and communication systems. Legal regulation of information relations and social production activities in the information and communication sphere (infosphere), one way or another, affect the organization of all political institutes and processes engaged in the process of creating all targeted programs to improve national, state and personal security of citizens of any country, normatively – legal acts, including laws on relations, which represent the subject of a new field of law integrated with the technical sciences – information law, which practically emerged 20–25 years . Both political science and jurisprudence are still amorphous enough and are not actively defining the scope of their tasks, but they exist and require their decision. Analysis of global trends in the development of mankind in the XXI century suggests that the further development of states will occur in the face of enormous technological and psycho-emotional challenges and risks associated with digital inequality of citizens, however, and under such conditions, the formation of societies and their policies is already happening today, military affairs and, of course, science and education. Risks are the foundation of a fundamentally new economy (knowledge-based economy), the basis of competitiveness in countries where new high-tech breakthrough technologies are being created based on digitized information. The digital economy is defined as an economy based on the digital use of digital information and communication technologies (ICTs), however, they do not take into account that digital technologies of information and knowledge processing are becoming, today, the energy that conceptually changes the organization of information and communication. Areas – Areas of processing (production, interpretation, communication) and consumption of information. The information space is changing – as a sphere of interaction of information actors who use a single information environment. Traditionally, the information environment refers to the totality of information infrastructure, ICTs and tools, as well as organizational and legal structures that represent the organizational, material and legal conditions for the existence and functioning of information actors. The basis (central part) of the information environment is not only the information and communication infrastructure – a set of interconnected communications, information systems and information resources, but also the ability of countries to adequately fulfill the political and legal conditions for its development. Key words: information, informatization, information and communication technologies, information and communication security, information and communication activity, information space, information war, humanities, scientific and educational policy, information legislation.

Strategic priorities of social production digitalization: world experience

Purpose Despite the continuous development and application of new digital technologies in the construction industry, there has been little research on digital technology trajectories in the construction industry. The study addresses the issue faced by the construction industry in exploring digital technology trajectories: how to comprehensively identify and analyse digital technology pathways across multiple technology fields in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach Firstly, the digital technology patent identification and classification method based on text mining is used to identify digital technology patents and construct a digital technology innovation network. Second, the main path of the digital technology innovation network is identified with the help of SPNP. Then, the subpaths of the digital technology innovation network are identified with the help of the Louvain algorithm and SPNP. Finally, starting from the technology nodes where the main path and subpaths intersect, the technological similarity of the paths is analysed to explore the evolutionary characteristics of the technology trajectories. In light of this, the developed method is applied to the global construction industry patent dataset to analyse the trajectories of digital technologies. Findings The technological innovation path in the construction industry starts with construction materials and gradually expands to intelligence, automation and digital data processing technology. Equipment and devices with electronic digital data processing capabilities as well as improvements in green building technologies and user experience-enhancing technologies, may be the future of the construction industry. With the increasing demand for green buildings and intelligent buildings, the direction of digital technology innovation in the construction industry is gradually tilted towards these areas. In addition, influenced by geographic and economic factors, there is a spatial clustering effect of digital technology innovation in the construction industry. Research limitations/implications Future research should analyse in depth the performance of different countries and regions in digital technology innovation and explore the root causes, motivations and influencing factors behind it, such as the policy environment, the level of the economy and the investment in research and development. Exploring the reasons affecting digital technology innovation can help formulate more targeted policies and promote cooperation and exchange of digital technology innovation in the global construction industry. Meanwhile, to solve the problems of overly broad IPC categorization and the difficulty of accurately describing cross-field innovations, combining IPC co-occurrence networks with patent citation networks is an effective strategy. This strategy can track technologically interrelated patents and provide more specific contents to know the advantages and challenges of the construction industry in the field of digital technology innovation. Practical implications The study has practical implications for the construction industry. The identification of digital technology innovation trajectories provides valuable insights for industry firms and research institutes. It helps them understand the current and future directions of digital technology in construction, enabling them to stay at the forefront of technological advancements. The findings highlight the importance of focusing on areas such as solar energy utilisation, green energy, intelligence, automation and data applications. This knowledge can guide firms in developing new building materials, incorporating digital information technologies and enhancing user experiences. The study’s results can inform strategic decision-making, technology adoption and innovation management in the construction sector. Social implications The social implications of this study are significant for various stakeholders. The identification of digital technology innovation trajectories in the construction industry highlights the potential benefits for society. The focus on green energy, intelligent buildings and enhanced user experiences aligns with the increasing demand for sustainability, energy efficiency and comfortable living environments. These technological advancements can contribute to reducing environmental impact, improving quality of life and promoting sustainable development. The findings can inform policymakers, urban planners and architects in shaping regulations, designing sustainable cities and creating buildings that prioritize energy efficiency and user well-being. Ultimately, the study’s social implications aim to foster a more sustainable and livable built environment. Originality/value An identification method integrated with SPNP and the Louvain algorithm is developed to map digital technology innovation trajectories in the construction industry. This study helps to reveal the trajectories of digital technology innovation, provides new perspectives, insight and ideas for research in related fields and has great potential for applications in practice to promote the innovation and development of the construction industry.

Over the last few years, there has been a renewed interest in the area of mobile and ubiquitous systems, like Internet of Things and mobile cloud computing. Research advances in this area promise to transform our world with systems that will far exceed those of today in terms of: effectiveness, adaptability, autonomicity, energy efficiency, precision, reliability, safety, usability, scalability, stability and user-centric applicability. The special issue of TETC on Emerging Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems devoted to recent advances in addressing challenges on emerging systems, applications, networking, middleware, data management and services for mobile and ubiquitous computing. The Call for Papers was issued in late 2013, with the submission deadline set to 1 March 2014. We have received overwhelming submissions, and ultimately 11 high quality papers have been selected in the first part of this special issue.

With the developing of wireless technologies and networks, isolated network makes no sense without interconnection with each other in the future. The ubiquitous wireless mobile networks and systems aim to integrate various kinds of wireless heterogeneous networks so as to achieve intercommunication with anyone and/or anything at anytime from anywhere. In this article the primary concept and applications of the ubiquitous wireless mobile networks and systems are comprehensively reviewed. Key basic techniques for the ubiquitous mobile networks developing are discussed. In the end, some promising wireless heterogeneous networks integration in the nearly future are presented.

This study aims to integrate digital technology with the animation production process. By experiencing and learning how body joints move -- with digital technology as the learning aid -- students can create results similar to motion-captured body movements. This then can be applied to animation design with the hope that it can help the students in their future employment. This paper focuses on digital learning and technology to bring forth body movement production principles and an integrative framework. The study results can offer training to front-end talents of the digital content industry. In addition, the main contribution lies in the research and development of training methods and linking them with digital learning techniques. This can provide directions for the development of upcoming relevant cultural industrial courses. This paper will use human-like character animation -- that is comparatively harder to represent in 3D computer animation -- as the example. It will also discuss the variations in results achieved by different production processes. At the same time, feasible training directions are provided as references for learning digital technologies.

In the context of the digital transformation of the economy, the development of small businesses significantly depends on the ability to adapt modern marketing tools, in particular digital marketing, to increase competitiveness, expand the customer base and optimize the costs of promoting goods and services. At the same time, small businesses, especially in the regions, often face barriers — from a lack of financial resources to limited access to digital technologies. This necessitates effective institutional support from state and local authorities, business associations, entrepreneurship development centers, etc. Such institutions should play a key role in creating an enabling environment for the digitalization of small businesses, providing advice, educational services, financial assistance, and infrastructure support. Today, the study of the relationship between institutional support and the implementation of digital marketing in regional small businesses is extremely relevant. It allows us to identify effective approaches to strengthening the role of small business in the sustainable development of regions, as well as to form recommendations for improving the effectiveness of small business support programs in the digital economy. Despite the rapid development of digital technologies and the growing availability of digital marketing tools, a significant part of small businesses in the regions of Ukraine remains on the periphery of these transformations. Entrepreneurs often do not have enough awareness, technical knowledge, or financial resources to effectively implement digital promotion strategies. At the same time, institutional support from state and local authorities, business associations and donor organizations, although declared, is not always systematic, targeted and adapted to the real needs of small businesses in specific regions. Lack of proper coordination between support entities, fragmentation of programs and weak analytical base limit the effectiveness of the digital transformation of small businesses. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively study the role of digital marketing and institutional support in stimulating the development of small businesses in the regions, as well as to identify effective mechanisms for their interaction to increase the competitiveness and sustainable economic growth of small businesses in the context of digital transformation. In today's world, digital technologies are dynamically transforming the economic environment, changing the rules of doing business, ways of communicating with customers, and means of popularizing products and services. In this vein, digital marketing becomes crucial for ensuring the viability and competitiveness of small businesses, especially in regions where entrepreneurial activity is often limited by resources, infrastructure, and access to modern knowledge. Small business is the basis of the economy of most countries, because it provides market flexibility, promotes employment of the population, and stimulates the development of local communities. However, in many regions, these enterprises remain vulnerable to economic changes, without adequate access to digital transformation technologies. They face a number of barriers — from the lack of the necessary technical base to a lack of qualified personnel and knowledge in the field of digital marketing In today's digital transformation environment, the effective use of digital marketing is one of the important factors for the long-term growth of small businesses, especially on a regional scale. The use of digital technologies creates additional ways to effectively promote goods and services, improve communication with customers, analyze the market situation and optimize costs. At the same time, the success of their application depends not only on the technological base of the enterprise, but also on the level of digital competence of the staff, strategic vision and flexibility of management decisions. At the same time, institutional support for small businesses plays an important role — through educational programs, consulting services, tax incentives, access to digital infrastructure and platforms. Coordination of efforts of government agencies, business associations, incubators and local initiatives contributes to the formation of a favorable environment for the implementation of innovative marketing strategies.

Embedded and ubiquitous computing is an exciting new paradigm that provides computing and communication services all the time and everywhere. Its systems are now affecting every aspect of our life to the point that they are hidden inside various appliances. This emergence is a natural outcome of research and technological advances in embedded systems, pervasive computing and communications, wireless networks, mobile computing, distributed computing and agent technologies, etc. This special issue has collected best papers presented in the 2007 IFIP International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing (EUC 2007), held in Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. These papers present state of the art in the areas of real-time and embedded software, power-aware hardware management, network security, embedded compiler techniques, mobility and security in advanced wireless networks, and data crawling. Best papers in the EUC 2007 conference were invited for submission. All the invited papers had undergone an intensive review process. The Editor-in-Chief agreed with our recommendation of the acceptance of eleven high quality papers. The first four papers focus on software techniques in embedded and ubiquitous systems. The first paper, entitled “Task Scheduling for Context Minimization in Dynamically Reconfigurable Platforms”, by Nei-Chiung Perng et al. describes a real-time approach to reducing the number of FPGA configuration contexts in dynamic reconfigurable systems. The second paper, entitled “Real-Time Embedded Software Design for Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems” by Pao-Ann Hsiung et al., describes a component-based software architecture that supports automatic synthesis and verification, aiming at high software design productivity. The third paper, entitled “SIGMA system: A Multi-OS Environment for Embedded Systems”, by Wataru Kanda et al., introduces a virtualization technique to support multiple operating systems for multi-processor embedded architectures. The fourth paper, entitled “Compiling for Reduced Bit-Width Queue Processors” by Arquimedes Canedo et al., presents a compiler technique for generating compact codes for embedded processors. The next three papers are on hardware management for embedded and ubiquitous computing. The fifth paper in this special issue, entitled “Energy-Efficient Considerations on a Variable-Bitrate PCI-Express Device”, by Jian-Jia Chen et al., presents a dynamic power management (DPM) algorithm for variable-bitrate PCI devices for power saving. The sixth paper, entitled “Design and Synthesis of An Multiprocessor System-on-Chip Architecture for Real-Time Biomedical Signal Processing in Gamma Cameras”, by Kai Sun et al., discusses communication synthesis and areacost reduction for an MPSOC Gamma Camera. The seventh paper, entitled “Variable Length Pattern Matching for Hardware Network Intrusion Detection System”, by Chun Xue et al., presents a high-performance hardware-based network intrusion detection system. The last four papers are related to wireless-network applications. The eighth paper in this special issue, entitled “A Lightweight Authentication Protocol for Low-Cost RFID” by Hung-Yu Chien et al., proposes a lightweight L.-P. Chang (*) Department of Computer Science, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, Republic of China e-mail: lpchang@cs.nctu.edu.tw

Collecting, monitoring, and analyzing data automatically by well instrumented systems is frequently motivated by human decision-making. However, the same need occurs when system software decisions are to be justified. Compiler optimization or storage management requires several decisions which result in more or less resource consumption, be it energy, memory, or runtime. A magnitude of system data can be collected in order to base decisions of compilers or the operating system on empirical analysis. The challenge of large-scale data is aggravated if system data of small and often mobile systems are collected and analyzed. In contrast to the large data volume, the mobile devices offer only very limited storage and computing capacity. Moreover, if analysis results are put to use at the operating system, the real-time response is at the system level, not on the level of human reaction time. In this paper, small and most often mobile systems (i.e., ubiquitous systems) are instrumented for the collection of system call data. It is investigated whether the sequence and the structure of system calls are to be taken into account by the learning method, or not. A structural learning method, Conditional Random Fields (CRF), is applied using different internal optimization algorithms and feature mappings. Implementing CRF in a massively parallel way using general purpose graphic processor units (GPGPU) points at future ubiquitous systems.

Over the last few years, most business processes have changed on various dimensions (e.g., flexibility, interconnectivity, coordination style, autonomy) due to market conditions, organizational models, and usage scenarios of information systems. Frequently, information is relocated within a geographically distributed system according to rules that are only seldom defined as a well codified business process. This creates need for a software infrastructure that enables ubiquitous mobile information and collaboration systems (UMICS). The anywhere/any time/any means paradigm is becoming the major challenge in conceiving, designing, and releasing the next-generation information systems. New technologies, such as wireless local area networks (WLAN) and third-generation (3G) mobile phones, are offering the infrastructure to conceive information systems as ubiquitous information systems, that is, systems that are accessible from anywhere, at any time, and with any device. Ubiquity is not yet another buzzword pushed by emerging technologies, but is mainly a means to support new business models and encourage new ways of working. This new wave of UMICS will exploit the knowledge developed and deployed for conventional information systems, but will also need new concepts, models, methodologies, and supporting technologies to fully exploit the potentials of the enabling infrastructure and to be ready for the challenge. Moreover, people need to move across organizational boundaries and collaborate with others within an organization, as well as between organizations. The ability to query the company’s distributed knowledge base and to cooperate with co-workers is still a requirement, but mobility brings new access scenarios and higher complexity. Therefore, some issues also arise about how to enable users to retain their ability to cooperate while displaced in different points of the enterprise, the role of context and location in determining cooperation, and the support for ad hoc cooperation in situations where the fixed network infrastructure is absent or cannot be used. The eight papers presented in this special issue represent an overview of the 2nd International Workshop on Ubiquitous Mobile Information and Collaboration Systems 2004 (UMICS), co-located with the 16th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), 7–8 June 2004 in Riga, Latvia. The contributions cover four areas: data and context management, coordination and control, application frameworks, and process modeling. Each of the papers offers valuable lessons on various aspects of UMICS. Furthermore, they provide insights into an emerging community of research topics, with scientists from various backgrounds working on them. We believe that the authors have succeeded in this pioneering work and we would like to thank them for submitting their work to UMICS 2004 and the extended versions to this special issue. We also would like to thank all reviewers who helped select and refine the papers and the editorial team at Springer for being an excellent partner. We hope to see you at future UMICS workshops! L. Baresi (&) AE M. Matera Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy E-mail: baresi@elet.polimi.it E-mail: matera@elet.polimi.it