Digital Information Flow Research Articles

Contesting personalized recommender systems: a cross-country analysis of user preferences

ABSTRACT Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube wield substantial influence over digital information flows using sophisticated algorithmic recommender systems (RS). As these systems curate personalized content, concerns have emerged about their propensity to amplify polarizing or inappropriate content, spread misinformation, and infringe on users’ privacy. To address these concerns, the European Union (EU) has recently introduced a new regulatory framework through the Digital Services Act (DSA). These proposed policies are designed to bolster user agency by offering contestability mechanisms against personalized RS. As their effectiveness ultimately requires individual users to take specific actions, this empirical study investigates users’ intention to contest personalized RS. The results of a pre-registered survey across six countries – Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and the USA – involving 6,217 respondents yield key insights: (1) Approximately 20% of users would opt out of using personalized RS, (2) the intention for algorithmic contestation is associated with individual characteristics such as users’ attitudes towards and awareness of personalized RS as well as their privacy concerns, (3) German respondents are particularly inclined to contest personalized RS. We conclude that amending Art. 38 of the DSA may contribute to leveraging its effectiveness in fostering accessible user contestation and algorithmic transparency.

An Ontology of Cyberspace as a Basis for Decision-making in Cyberoperations

In the cyberoperations community there is a commonly accepted starting point for describing cyberspace as comprising of multiple planes through which information flows. However, the model is not a tool that facilitates planning and executing cyberoperations. Tools do exist in the form of technical cybersecurity ontologies. At the moment the link between technical ontologies, that are the tools of experts, and the operational planning process is limited. These technical ontologies provide automated information that would support operational planning. At the moment cybersecurity experts translate the information that military professionals need, which may cause insufficiencies or distortions in communication or cause inconsistencies in the planning process. This paper presents the ongoing work of developing a model of cyberspace in the form of a core ontology. The ontology describes the flow of digital information between persons and the enabling technology as well as geographical data. It is intended as a tool that supports operational planning and decision-making in and through cyberspace, by enabling automation and reasoning. The model is created using the well-established Constructive Research Approach (CRA) methodology, and is developed on earlier research. CRA consists of six phases in which (1) the problem is defined, (2) an understanding of the topic is generated, (3) a solution (model) is constructed which then is (4) demonstrated. Then the models (5) theoretical connections are presented and the (6) scope of applicability is assessed. The challenges of developing an ontology of cyberspace as part of the third phase of the methodology are in focus. The ontology serves as an operational core ontology, aiming to link cybersecurity domain ontologies to the DOLCE+DnS Ultralite (DUL) foundational ontology. The ontology is based on research in Cyberspace Geography and Cyber Terrain. No earlier attempts at creating a core ontology of cyberspace grounded in a foundational ontology, based on these concepts, were found. Overall, the use of reference ontologies in cyberspace research is scarce and few are grounded in a foundational ontology. The starting point for the ontology is a model of cyberspace comprising of six layers, which are the 1) geographic layer, 2) physical network layer, 3) logical network layer, 4) socio-organizational layer, 5) virtual persona layer and finally the 6) persona layer. The model was complemented with levels describing action and information and partially excluded the outer levels 1 and 6, which were directly linked to the DUL foundational ontology.

Being in the Digital World: A Heideggerian Perspective

The rapid advancement of the digital age has dramatically reshaped various aspects of human existence. Drawing from Martin Heidegger’s philosophical insights, this study explores the profound implications of digital technology on human life, particularly focusing on the concepts of enframing, alienation, authenticity, and the transformation of human relationships and temporality. Employing a qualitative, theoretical analysis, the study delves into Heidegger’s philosophical constructs of “Dasein,” “being-with-others,” and “enframing” to interpret the contemporary digital experience. The analysis synthesizes insights from Heidegger’s works with current digital phenomena, examining the impact of technology on human identity, relationships, and the perception of time. The study reveals that the digital age, while offering connectivity and efficiency, engenders a sense of alienation and challenges to authenticity. Digital interactions often lack the depth of face-to-face encounters, altering the nature of “being-with-others.” The perpetual flow of digital information disrupts traditional temporal experiences, impacting the contemplative nature of “Dasein.” Moreover, the construction of online identities poses questions about the authenticity of self in the virtual domain. The findings underscore the tension between the benefits and challenges of digital technology. While digital advancements facilitate unprecedented global connections, they also risk commodifying human experiences and relationships. The study highlights the need for critical engagement with technology, advocating for a mindful approach that fosters genuine human connection and preserves authenticity in the digital era

Printable Epsilon-Type Structure Transistor Arrays with Highly Reliable Physical Unclonable Functions.

Printed electronics promises to drive the future data-intensive technologies, with its potential to fabricate novel devices over a large area with low cost on nontraditional substrates. In these emerging technologies, there exists a large digital information flow, which requires secure communication and authentication. Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) offer a promising built-in hardware-security system comparable to biometrical data, which can be constructed by device-specific intrinsic variations in the additive manufacturing process of active devices. However, printed PUFs typically exploit the inherent variation in layer thickness and roughness of active devices. The current in devices with enough significant changes to increase the robustness to external environment noise is still a challenge. Here, printable epsilon-type-structure indium tin oxide transistor arrays are demonstrated to construct high-reliability PUFs by modifying the coffee-ring structure. The epsilon-type structure improves the printing scalability, film quality, and device reliability. Furthermore, the print-induced uncertainty along the channel thickness and length can lead to changes in the carrier concentration. Notably, the randomly distributed printing droplets in a small area significantly increase this uncertainty. As a result, the PUFs exhibit near-ideal uniformity, uniqueness, randomness, and reliability. Additionally, the PUFs are resilient against machine-learning-based attacks with a prediction accuracy of only 55% without postprocessing.

Design and Analysis of Full Adder Using 0.6 Micron CMOS Technology

The design of a full adder involves the use of logic gates so that the design can convert 8 inputs to create a byte-wide adder and to force the carry bit to the other adder. However, the uses of multiplexers to replace the logic gates in the construction of the full adder is proven to be possible due to the function of the multiplexers to act as the digital switch in the system that provides the flow of digital information from multiple inputs into an output. This research aims to explore the possibility of implementing the multiplexers into the design of the full adder and to analyse the different possible full adder design using the multiplexers. Using the multiplexers also allows for fewer logic gates to be used in the design of the full adder, which reduces the overall area coverage of the full adder. However, adding multiplexers does not make a complete adder more efficient and may slow it down. Thus, this article compares a conventional full adder with logic gates, a full adder with two 2:1 multiplexers, and a full adder with six 2:1 multiplexers in terms of power usage, time delay of the Sum and Carry outputs, and technology (0.6 μm).

Understanding the role of digital information in enhancing education in UAE: An investigation of the factors that drive continuous adoption

Digital information has had a significant impact on higher education, transforming the way students learn and interact with course materials, professors, and their peers. Education systems that place a high priority on learning satisfaction and tutor quality frequently ignore the problem of limited access to digital information and technology. In this study, we provide an integrated model that examines how the TAM constructs of digital information in education (DIE) are affected by digital information flow, technological readiness, learning satisfaction, and tutor quality. We provide information on the results of a project evaluation that examined how digital information is used in higher education. We gathered information from a survey of 594 college students to validate our model and hypothesis. Our research suggests that external factors that improve users' technological readiness and learning satisfaction may have an impact on how valuable they perceive DIE to be. A user's traits, particularly their level of technological preparedness, have a significant impact on how simple technology is to use. The user's perceived usefulness of the technology may also be further enhanced in some cultures by the tutor’s perceived excellence. External elements like the flow of information may have a significant impact on the intention to use technology.

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Digital Information Technologies in Higher Education: An Empirical Study

In this study, we present the results of an assessment of an initiative that seeks to transcend the application of digital information in the higher education sector by recommending an integrative approach that quantifies both the flow of digital information and tutors’ quality impacts concerning technology acceptance model (TAM) constructs and the perceived experience of digital information in education (DIE). There is a mounting evidence that the educational institutions that prioritize the perceived experience and the quality of the tutors do not, generally, take into account the limited exposure to digital information and technologies. Data gathered from a survey of 485 college students were used to evaluate the model and hypotheses. The findings show that users’ perceptions of the value of DIE may depend on several extrinsic conditions that improve their experiences of learning and teaching. The user’s traits, such as technological preparedness, are vital in determining perceived ease of use. In some cultures, the superior quality of the tutor may further increase perceptions of the technology’s perceived usefulness. The intention to adopt technology may also be highly influenced by other variables such as information flow. Therefore, academic institutions must reevaluate the usefulness of digital information technology as a tool for improving educational sections. This research limited its focus to educational environments in which DIE has a significant impact on the teaching and learning setting. Future works may concentrate on health or monetary organizations.

Data Collection and Management of Digital Process of Painting and Calligraphy Based on Internet of Things

With the advent of the information age, the research on the digitization of calligraphy and painting information is particularly important. In order to improve the efficiency of data management after the digitization of printed information, this paper designs a digital information flow management system and data retrieval model based on the Internet of Things. According to the mismatch between the selected unit and the actual spatial data distribution and the influence of data dispersion, an algorithm for building an r-tree of a digital information flow control system using computer graphics is proposed through efficient data retrieval based on the r-tree index. The experimental results show that the algorithm has good practicability.

PENINGKATAN KEMAMPUAN LITERASI DIGITAL GURU NON-FORMAL DENGAN PEMANFAATAN MEDIA HAND PUPPET DALAM DONGENG

The development of information technology and the internet affect the abundance of digital information flows. This reflection also indicates that students in Indonesia, who are the digital native generation, have a strong dependence on the internet. In addition, the weak information literacy that plagues educators affects unattractive learning and the quality of students is not adaptable. Therefore, teachers as educators and school library staff as educational staff are required to be competent incapable of information literacy so that they can teach digital literacy continuously. The method in this study uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, which is located at Al-Jannah Jambon KB/TK, Pakis District, Malang Regency. The purpose of this literacy improvement training is to improve teachers' understanding and abilities related to digital literacy competencies, provide insight into alternative learning methods that can be used using technology, improve teacher skills in making interactive learning media to build classroom activity. The PAR results show that with the digital literacy workshop on hand puppets, these non-formal teachers feel helped in their efforts to improve digital literacy. On the other hand, teachers also find it easier to be creative.

Resilient infrastructures in the Anthropocene

This article studies the impacts of natural disasters, and cyber-attacks on critical infrastructures, as well as the practices that are being promoted to create resilient infrastructures in the Anthropocene, a geological era in which the complex interconnections and interdependencies across space between nature, human-beings, infrastructures and digital technologies create risks to security. While interdependencies create cascades causing harms to assets and interruptions of essential flows for life, resilience uses digital interconnection and digital analyses to educate and mobilize the system through risk knowledge to reduce the impacts of future risks. Securing the flows of digital information is critical for infrastructure operation and the governance of security in the Anthropocene, but resilience needs to go beyond the digital.

Augmented Reality: Focusing on Photonics in Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 (or 4 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">th</sup> industrial revolution) facilitates horizontal and vertical digital information flow along value chains up to the end-customer and is highly relevant in a broad variety of industries. Augmented reality (AR) is a key technology in Industry 4.0, which connects the virtual and real-world environments using such digital information flows. In doing so, the technology relies upon the systems that includes hardware and software components. Particularly, optics and photonics are of much importance in the display and processing of information in these systems. However, a particular challenge is that the AR-based systems have not been adopted in the industry as much as other technologies even after several decades of their existence. Based on review of academic literature, an industrial survey and experiments conducted in the industry, this article aims to identify success factors and challenges of AR systems and metrics of photonic components that can form the basis of an AR <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">*</sup> framework for photonics-based system design for future research.

Introduction to Blockchain: An Emerging Technology

It is only a matter of time before technology emerges to open up a whole new world of opportunities. For example, the invention of the Internet was a development like this that changed the world in almost every theory. Blockchain technology is also one of the emerging technological advances that is expected to change the way transactions are conducted, thus affecting a wide range of potential applications. Blockchain is a distributed software network that works both as a digital logger and a method that allows secure transfer of assets without a mediator. Just as the Internet is a technology that facilitates the flow of digital information, blockchain is a technology that facilitates the digital exchange of digital value. Anything from coins to land titles to votes can be token, stored, and exchanged via a blockchain network.

МедиаВики в качестве инструмента для создания модели цифрового университета

The article is devoted to the software product MediaWiki, proposed by the authors of the article for use as a platform for creating the software and technological core of the faculty, which, in turn, is a typical element for building prototypes of the faculty and models. The model considered in the article is proposed by the authors as a comprehensive solution to the problem of digital transformation in the field of education. According to the authors of the article, the MediaWiki software complex, supplemented by domestic software and open source products, will effectively solve the problem of managing information flows in the educational process. The article describes the experience of creating standard wiki systems for faculties and scientific schools of Moscow State University and their use as central elements of the digital transformation of university faculties. The article discusses the creation of a network tool that ensures the management of digital information flows that are formed between teachers and students in the learning process, as well as the development of a system of rules for the interaction of participants in the educational process in the educational process. A digital environment that creates conditions for the successful development of the system. Currently, three systems are being tested, created by specialists from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University in the framework of inter-faculty agreements with the Faculty of Law and the branch of Moscow State University in Sevastopol. The system is built taking into account the experience gained by the authors during the inter-faculty course Introduction to Wikipedia.

Coevolution of digitalisation, organisations and Product Development Cycle

Over the past 70 years, product design has undergone many important changes due to the impact of contemporary digital technologies (i.e. digital design).To support digital design and information flow throughout the product lifecycle, the digital-driven technologies currently in use rely on the evolution of CAD and PLM systems to address new design and manufacturing challenges generated by the new era of 4.0 digital transformation.This paper will discuss the past and present coevolution and shortcomings within industrial organisations, the digital technologies employed in the product development cycle and will illustrate the current challenges and future prospects of the digital thread for design.

A location based novel recommender framework of user interest through data categorization

An efficient location-based recommender system in the digital era enables new dimensions of business and service opportunities to all its stake holders. The data from a particular geographical location will be collected according to their lifestyle and categorized. Increasing the use of social media, overwhelming digital information flow in every user movement will create a new array of dimensions for an online or offline business. The location-based recommender system effectively serves its users in the best possible way as per their interests. The user requirements of their interests will be served effectively as per their interests and location. The location-based recommender system will build new avenues in the business domain. This paper presents the introduction to geographical location-based recommender systems—a detailed review of various recommender systems based on geographical regions. Identify the parameters to categorize the users and a proposed model for location-based recommender systems.One of the most widely used approach for providing personalized services to customers is the Collaborative filtering technique. Similarity between users based on user-item rating matrix is the key essence of this approach for providing recommendations to users. Similarity algorithms like cosine, manhatten, euclidean etc. play a prominent role in determining similarity between users. Our proposed paper presents an innovative approach for enhancing prediction using machine learning for unrated items. Along with local context information global preference of user behavior is also taken into account. Experiments for our proposed system are carried on MovieLens dataset using machine learning. Performance enhancement can be seen in our proposed model.

Digital Assistance in the Maintenance of Offshore Wind Parks

Harsh environmental conditions, time pressure due to tightly calculated maintenance windows, complex technical systems and high quality standards determine the working environment for the maintenance and repair of offshore wind farms. Despite good qualifications and diverse training courses, maintenance technicians are reliant on information from manuals and checklists when performing their tasks and must document their work results in protocols. Both the supply of information and the data acquisition show a multitude of media disruptions. Hence, the processes on site and in the postprocessing are carried out slowly and uncertainly. The assistance system presented is intended to contribute to a consistently digital information flow and to support the technicians in a task-specific manner. Augmented Reality (AR) offers a way of presenting information and interacting with the assistance system during work execution. Using the example of the maintenance of crane systems used in a variety of ways in offshore wind farms, this article shows which potential can be tapped through digital assistance systems and AR applications.

Comparison of versioning methods to improve the information flow in the planning and building processes

AbstractVersion management is a prerequisite for digital information flow between phases in the planning and building processes. Information evolves over time and many parties retrieve information from the various phases. The aim of this article is to evaluate versioning methods, focusing on geodata buildings in the 3D cadastre process. The main attention in the evaluation is on the comprehensive ISO standard Product Lifecycle Support (PLCS). PLCS is evaluated against two simpler versioning methods, the versioning in CityGML 3.0 and a modified Git versioning method implemented in CityJSON. CityGML 3.0 fulfils all but one requirement and PLCS meets all. The methods vary in complexity; the Git proposal is a simple solution, easy to implement and maintain, while PLCS includes all functionalities and is complex to implement. There is a trade‐off between number of functionalities and complexity, it is therefore important that the intended purpose determines the choice of versioning method.

Digital Technologies Enabling Data of Production Systems for Decision Support

Abstract Using digital technologies can support the flow and use of digital information in a timelier manner both within and between production systems. Smart manufacturing systems use these enabling technologies to maximize the capabilities’ cost, delivery, flexibility, and quality. The focus in industry so far has mainly been on the technologies and systems, but to succeed in digitalization, it is vital to understand how the technologies can be put into practice to meet the needs of an industrial organization. The focus of this article is to demonstrate how digital technologies can be used to enable data from production systems to inform decisions and generate value for an organization. This article showcases this with examples from real-world industrial cases, and the technologies used are 3-D laser scanning and 5G communication. The 3-D laser scanning is used to collect spatial data to build a virtual representation of a factory, and 5G is utilized to collect machine data from various data sources, e.g., the machine computer and external sensors. The results show that available data can support multiple roles in the organization and throughout the different phases of a production system. The status of the machine can be monitored in real time, a design can be evaluated against a system’s behavior, an organization can learn from the data transformed into information, and the virtual representation provides a very accurate and photorealistic representation of a system as-is. Digital technologies can enable more data representing the system and support the organization in knowing more about their processes when used in the right way.

Making sense in the flood. How to cope with the massive flow of digital information in medical ethics

Scientific publications have become the currency of Academia, hence the concept of ‘publish or perish’. But there are consequences: the amount of existing literature and its proliferation rate have reached the point where keeping pace is just impossible. If this is true in general, it becomes a huge issue in interdisciplinary fields such as bioethics where knowing the state of the art in more than one single discipline is a concrete necessity. If we accept the idea of building new science on an exhaustive comprehension of existing knowledge, a radical change is needed. Smart iterative search strategies, frequency analysis and text mining, techniques described in this paper, can't be a long run solution. But they might serve as a useful coping strategy.

Digital information flows across a B2C/C2C continuum and technological innovations in service ecosystems: A service-dominant logic perspective

Value co-creation for service innovations involves integrating inputs from multiple actors within service ecosystems. Traditionally, value co-creation has been considered in light of business-to-consumer (B2C) interactions. The emergence of digital information platforms allowing consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communications is changing how service ecosystems establish and create value for service innovations. In this paper, we develop a Digital Information Flow Continuum that includes B2C, external provider and consumer co-created (B2C/C2C combined) and C2C digital communications. Using Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), we assess the impact digital information flow elements have on the perceptions and usage likelihood for telemedicine (TM) services. We use structural equation modeling to analyze online survey results from 827 health consumers collected as part of a healthcare organization’s TM launch. The results demonstrate that the Digital Information Flow Continuum impacts the acceptance of the TM innovation directly, and indirectly through value perceptions of comparable service quality relative to alternatives and ease of access to care.