Footprints in the cloud: the hidden cost of IT infrastructure

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the hidden carbon footprint of corporate big data infrastructures and provide guidance for communicators responsible for corporate ESG and reputation. Design/methodology/approach It is based on a subjective view of the literature on this topic, selecting relevant examples. Findings The authors found that consciousness within corporations of the carbon footprint of their own information technology infrastructures is low and only a few companies have a strategy for identifying it. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first treatment of this subject from the perspective of the corporate owner of ESG and reputation.

Towards the Semantic Enrichment of Trajectories Using Spatial Data Infrastructures

The term Semantic Trajectories of Moving Objects (STMO) corresponds to a sequence of spatial-temporal points with associated semantic information (for example, annotations about locations visited by the user or types of transportation used). However, the growth of Big Data generated by users, such as data produced by social networks or collected by an electronic equipment with embedded sensors, causes the STMO to require services and standards for enabling data documentation and ensuring the quality of STMOs. Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI), on the other hand, provide a shared interoperable and integrated environment for data documentation. The main challenge is how to lead traditional SDIs to evolve to an STMO document due to the lack of specific metadata standards and services for semantic annotation. This paper presents a new concept of SDI for STMO, named SDI4Trajectory, which supports the documentation of different types of STMO—holistic trajectories, for example. The SDI4Trajectory allows us to propose semi-automatic and manual semantic enrichment processes, which are efficient in supporting semantic annotations and STMO documentation as well. These processes are hardly found in traditional SDIs and have been developed through Web and semantic micro-services. To validate the SDI4Trajectory, we used a dataset collected by voluntary users through the MyTracks application for the following purposes: (i) comparing the semi-automatic and manual semantic enrichment processes in the SDI4Trajectory; (ii) investigating the viability of the documentation processes carried out by the SDI4Trajectory, which was able to document all the collected trajectories.

Geodesign as a support for proposing actions to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals

This paper discusses the state of the art in Geodesign, as a result from the evolution in the use of geospatial data for shared and co-creative planning. The evolution of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) led to significant advances in geovisualization, the use of cartographic data via the Internet and the construction of SDIs (Spatial Data Infrastructures). These advances fostered the emergence of Geodesign as one of the foundations for territorial planning. The text will also introduce a Brazilian Geodesign platform, GISColab, developed according to the standards set by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The platform introduces layer creation resources via WPS (Web Processing Service), as well as tools for measuring the performance of participatory planning workshops, presently focusing on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We introduce case studies in which SDGs were explored in different ways: in post-workshop analyses conducted by coordinators and participants, as well as its application as a supportive tool for decision-making during the workshop, via WPS. Finally, we also discuss the inclusion of SDGs to raise awareness of its key themes and support opinion building, resulting in transformative learning experiences.

Interoperability at the core strategic in the Spatial Data Infrastructure of the Service Aerophotogrammetric of the Air Force of Chile

The Aerophotogrammetric Service (SAF) of the Chilean Air Force works permanently on the implementation of new methodologies and lines of research, fostering innovation in the field of earth sciences, remote sensing and geospatial information management. The above, with the aim of being at the technical and technological forefront in the country. Proof of this is the implementation of the SAF's Spatial Data Infrastructures, which has as one of its strategic axes the interoperability of geographic information, as it is considered a key factor in the correct exploitation of data, its access, availability and its potential use in decision making.

Big data literario de raíz bibliotecaria: reflexiones sobre infraestructuras de anotación, catalogación, descubrimiento y recomendación de ficción narrativa

This work explores the relationships between the field of literary studies based on data inspired by the “distant reading” school and the digital humanities and the activity of libraries and other agents of the book sector in the ecosystem of recommendation and discovery of readings. Projects for enriching catalogues and description resources about literary fiction are presented, such as OCLC FictionFinder and Kirjasampo, within the framework of transmedia and open metadata, understood in relation to the practices of digital content consumption platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. Besides, other practices of annotation and editing of literary texts are outlined. Finally, I explain opportunities to develop digital Library Laboratories supported by open data infrastructures such as Wikidata for the enriched description past and present of narrative fictions in a collaborative way, to enable projects and services for the discovery of related readings. Resumen Se describe la relación entre el campo de los estudios literarios basados en datos de la corriente distant reading y las humanidades digitales, y la actividad de las bibliotecas y otras entidades del sector del libro en el ecosistema de la recomendación y el descubrimiento de lecturas. Se presentan proyectos de catalogación y descripción enriquecida de la ficción literaria, como OCLC FictionFinder y Kirjasampo, en el marco de los metadatos transmedia y abiertos, entendidos en relación con las prácticas de plataformas de consumo de contenidos digitales como Netflix o Amazon Prime Video, junto a otras prácticas de anotación y edición de textos literarios. Finalmente se plantea la oportunidad de desarrollo de laboratorios bibliotecarios digitales apoyados en infraestructuras de datos abiertas como Wikidata para la descripción enriquecida de ficciones narrativas de todas las épocas de forma colaborativa, para posibilitar proyectos y servicios de descubrimiento de lecturas relacionadas.

Wellbeing and Worldbuilding: The Science Fiction of Wellbeing Measurement

Wellbeing has evolved into a fragmented, contextual, and multi-dimensional construct, underpinned by numerous measurement methodologies at many different scales. To explore wellbeing through science fiction and fantasy (SFF), we don’t just need SFF about health and happiness. We also need SFF about measurement: SFF that explores surveillance, data infrastructures, the political economy of personal data, ‘the metric gaze,’ social analytics, and the social life of metrics. This chapter explores just a few linkages between wellbeing, measurement, and SFF, mainly emphasising dystopian fiction. Has SFF struggled to imagine wellbeing policy — or any holistic stance on the myriad factors that inform the happiness and flourishing of populations — except where the interested party is some sinister elite? How might SFF's narratives of distant planets and more-than-human intelligences help us to formulate a more inclusive understanding of the wellbeing of the many morally weighty beings and worlds that inhabit this planet?

The Evolution of National Spatial Data Infrastructure in Pakistan - Implementation Challenges and the Way Forward

Geospatial data are produced by several organizations located at various places, and that is clearly a distributed environment. Many technical and institutional issues need to be resolved to share data in such an environment and to eventually enable regional development. For this matter, many countries implement Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) for the last 40 years. Since 2010, also Pakistan is striving to implement an SDI at the national level (NSDI). However, so far, the promised benefits have not yet been achieved. This study explores the evolution of the NSDI in Pakistan from 2010 till 2020 to reveal what kind of challenges the country is facing. Given the importance of stakeholders' support for the implementation of SDIs, we conducted a stakeholder analysis and a dedicated survey. We adopted the power-interest grid method to classify stakeholders' interests based on their authority to influence the NSDI development. Among other, the results show that stakeholders’ low participation due to insufficient technological, financial, and human resources impedes NSDI implementation efforts in the country.