SURVIVABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF SMART CITY INFORMATION SYSTEM COMPONENTS

The article examines the problems of survivability and stability of functioning of components of Smart City Information Systems. The relevance of the topic is related to the wide dissemination and implementation of information and communication technologies at various levels. The degree of relevance is great. The authors analyze the situation with modern integrated systems of various levels of the smart city information ecosystem. One of the main problems of implementing smart home systems is the fragmentation and fragmentation of the market - each manufacturer seeks to lock the user to its standard, which leads to the lack of uniform standards of interaction. As a result, the usability of smart home systems worsens, the cost of ownership and support increases, and the security of their use decreases – including potentially increasing the area of cyberattacks. In addition, disparity in standards and vendor lock-in lead to excessive complexity of interaction between smart home systems and the smart city information ecosystem. All of the above pushes users away from the existing market and leads to a decrease in sales, which leads to stagnation in this market segment. The alternative model of system development proposed by the authors is based on the experience of implementing and developing existing solutions for Global Information Systems. The solution should be based on open interaction protocols at all levels of the information ecosystem, which will allow manufacturers to develop their product taking into account and in the context of interaction with other products. The construction of modules and components of such a system is considered separately. ideally, each of the smart home modules should not lose its qualities both in the context of the Smart Home information ecosystem and outside it.

Sender vs. recipient-orientated information systems revisited

PurposeBelkin and Robertson (1976a) reflected on the ethical implications of theoretical research in information science and warned that there was potential for abuse of knowledge gained by undertaking such research and applying it to information systems. In particular, they identified the domains of advertising and political propaganda that posed particular problems. The purpose of this literature review is to revisit these ideas in the light of recent events in global information systems that demonstrate that their fears were justified.Design/methodology/approachThe authors revisit the theory in information science that Belkin and Robertson used to build their argument, together with the discussion on ethics that resulted from this work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The authors then review recent literature in the field of information systems, specifically information retrieval, social media and recommendation systems that highlight the problems identified by Belkin and Robertson.FindingsInformation science theories have been used in conjunction with empirical evidence gathered from user interactions that have been detrimental to both individuals and society. It is argued in the paper that the information science and systems communities should find ways to return control to the user wherever possible, and the ways to achieve this are considered.Research limitations/implicationsThe ethical issues identified require a multidisciplinary approach with research in information science, computer science, information systems, business, sociology, psychology, journalism, government and politics, etc. required. This is too large a scope to deal with in a literature review, and we focus only on the design and implementation of information systems (Zimmer, 2008a) through an information science and information systems perspective.Practical implicationsThe authors argue that information systems such as search technologies, social media applications and recommendation systems should be designed with the recipient of the information in mind (Paisley and Parker, 1965), not the sender of that information.Social implicationsInformation systems designed ethically and with users in mind will go some way to addressing the ill effects typified by the problems for individuals and society evident in global information systems.Originality/valueThe authors synthesize the evidence from the literature to provide potential technological solutions to the ethical issues identified, with a set of recommendations to information systems designers and implementers.

Questions, Debates, and Frameworks

No general assessment of space activities, actual and prospective, exists. Space thinking falls into three broad competing programs: military, habitat, and planetary security expansionisms. Habitat expansionism is most ambitious, with cosmic scope, but largely unrealized. Military and planetary security approaches are opposites, each partially realized, and focused (so far) on near-Earth space. Space-political questions are entangled in seven great debates about contemporary Planetary Earth. Will accelerating technology produce utopia or oblivion? Should world government replace international anarchy? Can new frontiers escape closure, or must a steady state emerge? Who will control global information systems? Are freedom, democracy, and capitalism still viable? Will humanity be replaced by superhumans or advanced computers? Which understanding of the relations between technology, politics, and humanity is superior? What happens in space will decisively shape outcomes of these debates. Space arguments rely heavily on claims about geography, geopolitics, and geohistory, which provide a focus for comprehensive and even-handed assessment. An ancient story about the astronomer Thales captures the overall argument.

POSSIBLE USE OF A GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM WITHIN CRISIS MANAGEMENT SIMULATIONS

In this paper we deal with Global Information Systems (GIS) used within simulations of crisis management through the phases of the Crisis Management Cycle. In the first part of this paper we point out the short description of the phases and the possible use of GIS within these phases and in simulations within crisis management. In the second part we introduce the GIS in the Slovak Republic with focuses on use in crisis management. The third part is giving possibilities of the interconnections among simulation technologies and GIS within crisis management with a focus on the newly built Laboratory of Modelling and Simulation of Crisis Phenomena in Transport and in different environments. Within conclusions we would like to point out the possibilities for further discussions and directions within this interesting and important topic.