E-Tourism and Digital Government

Author(s):  
D. Buhalis

The recent developments in information communication technologies (ICTs) and the emergence of the Internet, in particular, as a mainstream communications and transaction media has changed the way that governments, organisations, and citizens interact and operate. These developments have changed the best operational and strategic practices for organisations on a global level and altered the competitiveness of enterprises and regions around the world. ety Technology Advisory Group (ISTAG) (2003) as “a set of properties of an environment that we are in the process of creating.” This represents a new paradigm for how people can work and live together. According to the ISTAG vision statement, humans, in an ambient intelligent environment, will be surrounded by intelligent interfaces supported by computing and networking technology that is embedded in everyday objects, such as furniture, clothes, vehicles, roads, and smart materials—even particles of decorative substances like paint. Humans will live in an ambient intelligence space in which there will be seamless interoperation between different environments—home, vehicle, public space, work, leisure space, tourism destination, and so forth. This implies a seamless environment of computing, advanced networking technology, and specific interfaces, which should be aware of the specific characteristics of human presence and personalities; adapt to the needs of users; be capable of responding intelligently to spoken or gestured indications of desire; and even result in systems that are capable of engaging in intelligent dialogue (Buhalis & O’Connor, 2005).

2011 ◽  
pp. 3934-3943
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Buhalis

The recent developments in information communication technologies (ICTs) and the emergence of the Internet, in particular, as a mainstream communications and transaction media has changed the way that governments, organisations, and citizens interact and operate. These developments have changed the best operational and strategic practices for organisations on a global level and altered the competitiveness of enterprises and regions around the world. ety Technology Advisory Group (ISTAG) (2003) as “a set of properties of an environment that we are in the process of creating.” This represents a new paradigm for how people can work and live together. According to the ISTAG vision statement, humans, in an ambient intelligent environment, will be surrounded by intelligent interfaces supported by computing and networking technology that is embedded in everyday objects, such as furniture, clothes, vehicles, roads, and smart materials—even particles of decorative substances like paint. Humans will live in an ambient intelligence space in which there will be seamless interoperation between different environments—home, vehicle, public space, work, leisure space, tourism destination, and so forth. This implies a seamless environment of computing, advanced networking technology, and specific interfaces, which should be aware of the specific characteristics of human presence and personalities; adapt to the needs of users; be capable of responding intelligently to spoken or gestured indications of desire; and even result in systems that are capable of engaging in intelligent dialogue (Buhalis & O’Connor, 2005).


Author(s):  
Vineeta Dixit

Information communications technologies (ICTs) are one of the major areas of research and investment in developing countries because they seem to serve the cause of democratisation and empowering citizens by extending the public sphere. ICTs and especially Internet are regarded as the new public sphere for they seem to lie outside the market and the State, nurtured by civil society serving the cause of good governance and democratisation and empowering grassroots initiatives, giving them access to critical information, organising political actions, influencing public opinion and policy-making. This chapter examines the ‘publicness’ of the telecentres in the framework of public sphere as defined by Habermas. The chapter uses telecentres as representative of ‘technology mediated public space’ created by ICTs and Internet and examines two approaches to the Telecentre movement, analysing whether Telecentres can meet the requirements of the rational-critical discussions and if and what factors influence the extension of the public sphere. The chapter concludes that while the telecentres create opportunities to improve communication and reconnect citizens to the State, offering greater access to information and support for group based discussion, they are likely to support only incremental modifications to the democratic system because the current use of information communication technologies (ICTs) concentrates primarily on information provision, and not linkages that improve the quality of democratic discourse.


Nanophotonics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1139-1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoon Yeub Jeong ◽  
Eunsongyi Lee ◽  
Soo-Chan An ◽  
Yeonsoo Lim ◽  
Young Chul Jun

AbstractThree-dimensional (3D) printing is a new paradigm in customized manufacturing and allows the fabrication of complex optical components and metaphotonic structures that are difficult to realize via traditional methods. Conventional lithography techniques are usually limited to planar patterning, but 3D printing can allow the fabrication and integration of complex shapes or multiple parts along the out-of-plane direction. Additionally, 3D printing can allow printing on curved surfaces. Four-dimensional (4D) printing adds active, responsive functions to 3D-printed structures and provides new avenues for active, reconfigurable optical and microwave structures. This review introduces recent developments in 3D and 4D printing, with emphasis on topics that are interesting for the nanophotonics and metaphotonics communities. In this article, we have first discussed functional materials for 3D and 4D printing. Then, we have presented the various designs and applications of 3D and 4D printing in the optical, terahertz, and microwave domains. 3D printing can be ideal for customized, nonconventional optical components and complex metaphotonic structures. Furthermore, with various printable smart materials, 4D printing might provide a unique platform for active and reconfigurable structures. Therefore, 3D and 4D printing can introduce unprecedented opportunities in optics and metaphotonics and may have applications in freeform optics, integrated optical and optoelectronic devices, displays, optical sensors, antennas, active and tunable photonic devices, and biomedicine. Abundant new opportunities exist for exploration.


Smart Cities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 1039-1071
Author(s):  
Laura Belli ◽  
Antonio Cilfone ◽  
Luca Davoli ◽  
Gianluigi Ferrari ◽  
Paolo Adorni ◽  
...  

The ongoing diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is opening new possibilities, and one of the most remarkable applications is associated with the smart city paradigm, which is continuously evolving. In general, it can be defined as the integration of IoT and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) into city management, with the aim of addressing the exponential growth of urbanization and population, thus significantly increasing people’s quality of life. The smart city paradigm is also strictly connected to sustainability aspects, taking into account, for example, the reduction of environmental impact of urban activities, the optimized management of energy resources, and the design of innovative services and solution for citizens. Abiding by this new paradigm, several cities started a process of strong innovation in different fields (such as mobility and transportation, industry, health, tourism, and education), thanks to significant investments provided by stakeholders and the European Commission (EC). In this paper, we analyze key aspects of an IoT infrastructure for smart cities, outlining the innovations implemented in the city of Parma (Emilia Romagna region, Italy) as a successful example. Special attention is dedicated to the theme of smart urban mobility.


2020 ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Andrey Ivanovich Shutenko ◽  
◽  
Elena Nikolaevn Shutenko ◽  
Julia Petrovna Derevyanko ◽  
◽  
...  

The article is devoted to the problem of educational communications development as a sphere of implementation of modern information-communication technologies in the higher education system. The purpose of the article is to present the structure and functions of educational communications aimed at the development of personal potential and self-realization of students. Methodology. The study is based on the methodology of personal and communicative-informational approaches in education, psychological-pedagogical provisions on the structure of communication, the leading role of learning activity, didactic principles of building an educational-informational environment. In theoretical terms, the study is based on the idea of the indirect implementation of ICT in education through the development of educational communications. The developing structure of educational communications, including didactic, informational-gnostic, interactive, psychological, attractive-motivational, value-semantic components, is presented. The possibilities of developing personal potential in educational communications are considered. The author’s developmental model of ICT functions is presented, which includes clusters of actual and latent functions aimed at the formation of information-educational space for the development of students’ personal potential. In conclusion, a inference was made about the prospects of the indirect introduction of modern ICT as tools for the development and functioning of various educational communications. At the same time, it is essential that these communications perform psychological and pedagogical tasks and functions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 178-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Sándorová

Abstract Along with mastery of the grammar and vocabulary of a given language, contemporary students are also expected to acquire intercultural communicative competence (ICC), i.e., the ability to use the language efficiently with regard to the sociocultural background of the communicative situation. This requirement should also be reflected in FL course-books, which are considered to be fundamental didactic tools in FL education, even in an era of information communication technologies. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to report the results of the research focused on the investigation of intercultural component in the New Opportunities Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate course-book packages. To validate the findings of the content analysis, as the main research method, the method of triangulation was used, i.e., the results of the course-book package analyses were compared with those of observation and interview analyses. The findings of the research revealed that in the investigated course-book packages only some aspects of the intercultural component could be considered relevant because they were suitably treated.


Author(s):  
Thomas Tops

Summary The present study analyses recent criticisms against the use of modern-historical methodologies in Biblical Studies. These methodologies abstract from the historical horizon of the researcher. In order to relate properly to the historicality of the researcher, historical objectivism needs to be transformed into historical hermeneutics. Recent developments in the historical methodology of biblical scholars are unable to reckon with the historicality of the researcher due to the partial or incorrect implementation of Gadamer’s views on reception history. I analyse the views of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Gadamer on historicality and contend that the study of reception history is a necessary condition for conducting historical study from within the limits of our historicality. Reception history should not be a distinct methodological step to study the “Nachleben” of biblical texts, but needs to clarify how the understanding of these texts is already effected by their history of interpretation. The awareness of the presuppositions that have guided previous interpretations of biblical texts enables us to be confronted by their alterity. This confrontation calls for a synthesis between reception-historical and historical-critical methodology that introduces a new paradigm for conducting historical study in Biblical Studies in dialogue with other theological disciplines.


Author(s):  
Marco Ardolino ◽  
Nicola Saccani ◽  
Federico Adrodegari ◽  
Marco Perona

Businesses grounded upon multisided platforms (MSPs) are found in a growing number of industries, thanks to the recent developments in Internet and digital technologies. Digital MSPs enable multiple interactions among users of different sides through information and communication technologies. The understanding of the characteristics and constituents of MSPs is fragmented along different literature streams. Moreover, very few empirical studies have been carried out to date. In order to fill this gap, this paper presents a three-level framework that describes a digital MSP. The proposed framework is based on literature analysis and multiple case study. On the one hand, the framework can be used to describe MSP as it provides an operationalization of the concept through the identification of specific dimensions, variables and items; on the other hand, it can be used as an assessment tool by practitioners, as exemplified by the three empirical applications presented in this paper.


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