A rapidly growing number of services and applications along with a dramatic shift in users' consumption models have made media networks an area of increasing importance. Do you know all that you need to know? Supplying you with a clear understanding of the technical and deployment challenges, Media Networks: Architectures, Applications, and Standards covers media networks basics, architectures, protocols, standards, specifications, advanced audiovisual and multimedia services, and future directions. Focusing on video and audio-visual services, it provides wide-scale reference on media networks and the audiovisual domain. The book investigates the different network architectures along with their related protocols and standards. It examines the different digital TV technologies as well as their deployment architectures. Illustrating the role of network operators, service providers, content providers, and manufacturers, this timely reference is divided into three parts: Presents digital TV technologies, including Open IPTV, Mobile TV, 3D video, and content delivery networks Covers media content delivery and quality of experience (QoE) Examines user-centricity and immersive technologies that take into account advanced services personalization, immersive technologies architectures and applications, e-health, and societal challenges The book considers emerging media content delivery architectures including Future Internet, CDN (Content Delivery Networks) architectures and Content Centric Networks (CCN) approaches, while examining the technical challenges and standardization efforts related to such issues. It presents the Quality of Experience (QoE) in Future Internet/ Next Generation Mobile Networks and also covers the management of media (audio/video) information in Future Internet, including transport protocols and compression technologies. The book concludes by describing pressing s

Even though the semantic Web is a relatively new and dynamic area of research, a whole suite of components, standards, and tools have already been developed around it. Using a concrete approach, Introduction to the Semantic Web and Semantic Web Services builds a firm foundation in the concept of the semantic Web, its principal technologies, its real-world applications, and its relevant coding examples. This introductory yet comprehensive book covers every facet of this exciting technology. After an introduction to the semantic Web concept, it discusses its major technical enablers and the relationships among these components. The author then presents several applications of the semantic Web, including Swoogle, FOAF, and a detailed design of a semantic Web search engine. The book concludes with discussions on how to add semantics to traditional Web service descriptions and how to develop a search engine for semantic Web services. Covering the building blocks of an advanced Web technology, this practical resource equips you with the tools to further explore the world of the semantic Web on your own.

Aggressively being adopted by organizations in all markets, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a framework enabling business process improvement for gaining competitive advantage. Service-Oriented Architecture:SOA Strategy, Methodology, and Technology guides you through the challenges of deploying SOA. It demonstrates conclusively that strategy and methodology are the keys to implementing SOA and provides the methodology needed for SOA success. The book examines the role of both non-agile and agile project management techniques for deploying SOA. Its methodology applies frameworks of governance, communications, product realization, project management, architecture, data management, service management, human resource management and post implementation processes. Filled with case studies, the book shows the methodology in action. This reference benefits business managers, business analysts, and technology project managers who are serious about adopting SOA as a long-term strategy. It is also benefits those new to business process management, enterprise architecture, and information systems and need to understand SOA, its business drivers, and its methodology.

Scalable and Secure Internet Services and Architecture provides an in-depth analysis of many key scaling technologies. Topics include: server clusters and load balancing; QoS-aware resource management; server capacity planning; Web caching and prefetching; P2P overlay network; mobile code and security; and mobility support for adaptive grid computing. The author discusses each topic by first defining a problem, then reviewing current representative approaches for solving it. He then describes in detail the underlying principles of the technologies and the application of these principles, along with balanced coverage of concepts and engineering trade-offs. The book demonstrates the effectiveness of the technologies via rigorous mathematical modeling and analysis, simulation, and practical implementations. It blends technologies in a unified framework for scalable and secure Internet services, delivering a systematic treatment based upon the author's cutting-edge research experience. This volume describes in breadth and depth advanced scaling technologies that support media streaming, e-commerce, grid computing, personalized content delivery, distributed file sharing, network management, and other Internet applications.

Over the past years, a considerable amount of effort has been devoted, both in industry and academia, towards the development of basic technology as well as innovative applications for the Internet of Things. Adaptive Middleware for the Internet of Things introduces a scalable, interoperable and privacy-preserving approach to realize IoT applications and discusses abstractions and mechanisms at the middleware level that simplify the realization of services that can adapt autonomously to the behavior of their users. Technical topics discussed in the book include: - Behavior-driven Autonomous Services - GAMBAS Middleware Architecture - Generic and Efficient Data Acquisition - Interoperable and Scalable Data Processing - Automated Privacy Preservation Adaptive Middleware for the Internet of Things summarizes the results of the GAMBAS research project funded by the European Commission under Framework Programme 7. It provides an in-depth description of the middleware system developed by the project consortium. In addition, the book describes several innovative mobility and monitoring applications that have been built, deployed and operated to evaluate the middleware under realistic conditions with a large number of users. Adaptive Middleware for the Internet of Things is ideal for personnel in the computer and communication industries as well as academic staff and research students in computer science interested in the development of systems and applications for the Internet of Things.

This volume offers unique insights into the mutually constitutive nature of social media practices and religious change. Part 1 examines how social media operate in conjunction with mass media in the construction of discourses of religion and spirituality. It includes: a longitudinal study of British news media coverage of Christianity, secularism and religious diversity (Knott et al.); an analysis of responses to two documentaries 'The Monastery' and 'The Convent' (Thomas); an evaluation of theories of the sacred in studies of religion and media within the 'strong program' in cultural sociology in the US (Lynch); and a study of the consequences of mass and social media synergies for public perceptions of Islam in the Netherlands (Herbert). Part 2 examines the role of social media in the construction of contemporary martyrs and media celebrities (e.g., Michael Jackson) using mixed and mobile methods to analyse fan sites (Bennett & Campbell) and jihadi websites and YouTube (Nauta). Part 3 examines how certain bounded religious communities negotiate the challenges of social media: Judaism in Second Life (Abrams & Baker); Bah'ai regulation of web use among members (Campbell & Fulton); YouTube evangelists (Pihlaja); and public expressions of bereavement (Greenhill & Fletcher). The book provides theoretically informed empirical case studies and presents an intriguing, complex picture of the aesthetic and ethical, demographic and discursive aspects of new spaces of communication and their implications for religious institutions, beliefs and practices.

Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009 several hundred different 'cryptocurrencies' have been developed and become accepted for a wide variety of transactions in leading online commercial marketplaces and the 'sharing economy', as well as by more traditional retailers, manufacturers, and even by charities and political parties. Bitcoin and its competitors have also garnered attention for their wildly fluctuating values as well as implication in international money laundering, Ponzi schemes and online trade in illicit goods and services across borders. These and other controversies surrounding cryptocurrencies have induced varying governance responses by central banks, government ministries, international organizations, and industry regulators worldwide. Besides formal attempts to ban Bitcoin, there have been multifaceted efforts to incorporate elements of blockchains, the peer-to-peer technology underlying cryptocurrencies, in the wider exchange, recording, and broadcasting of digital transactions. Blockchains are being mobilized to support and extend an array of governance activities. The novelty and breadth of growing blockchain-based activities have fuelled both utopian promises and dystopian fears regarding applications of the emergent technology to Bitcoin and beyond. This volume brings scholars of anthropology, economics, Science and Technology Studies, and sociology together with GPE scholars in assessing the actual implications posed by Bitcoin and blockchains for contemporary global governance. Its interdisciplinary contributions provide academics, policymakers, industry practitioners and the general public with more nuanced understandings of technological change in the changing character of governance within and across the borders of nation-states.

Do you spend a lot of time during the design process wondering what users really need? Do you hate those endless meetings where you argue how the interface should work? Have you ever developed something that later had to be completely redesigned?
Paper Prototyping can help. Written by a usability engineer with a long and successful paper prototyping history, this book is a practical, how-to guide that will prepare you to create and test paper prototypes of all kinds of user interfaces. You'll see how to simulate various kinds of interface elements and interactions. You'll learn about the practical aspects of paper prototyping, such as deciding when the technique is appropriate, scheduling the activities, and handling the skepticism of others in your organization. Numerous case studies and images throughout the book show you real world examples of paper prototyping at work.
Learn how to use this powerful technique to develop products that are more useful, intuitive, efficient, and pleasing:
* Save time and money - solve key problems before implementation begins
* Get user feedback early - use it to focus the development process
* Communicate better - involve development team members from a variety of disciplines
* Be more creative - experiment with many ideas before committing to one
*Enables designers to solve design problems before implementation begins
*Five case studies provide real world examples of paper prototyping at work
*Delves into the specifics of what types of projects paper prototyping is and isn't good for.

This book explores the history of hypertext, an influential concept that forms the underlying structure of the World Wide Web and innumerable software applications. Barnet combines an analysis of contemporary literature with her exclusive interviews with those at the forefront of the hypertext innovation. She tells both the human and the technological story, tracing its path back to an analogue device imagined by Vannevar Bush in 1945, before modern computing had happened.

'Memory Machines' offers an expansive record of hypertext over the last 60 years, pinpointing the major breakthroughs and fundamental flaws in its evolution. Barnet argues that some of the earliest hypertext systems were more richly connected and in some respects more flexible than the Web; this is also a fascinating account of the paths not taken.

Barnet ends the journey through computing history at the birth of mass domesticated hypertext, at the point that it grew out of the university labs and into the Web. And yet she suggests that hypertext may not have completed its evolutionary story, and may still have the capacity to become something different, something much better than it is today.

This collected volume gathers a broad spectrum of social science and information science articles about Facebook. It looks into facets of users, such as age, sex, and culture, and into facets of use, e.g. privacy behavior after the Snowden affair, unfriending on Facebook, or Facebook addiction, as well as into quality perceptions. Written by leading scholars investigating the impact of Web 2.0., this volume is highly relevant for social media researchers, information scientists, and social scientists, and, not least, for everyone interested in Facebook-related topics.

Full text online version at www.nyupress.org/netwars.

Who will rule cyberspace? And why should people care? Recently stories have appeared in a variety of news media, from the sensational to the staid, that portray the Internet as full of pornography, pedophilia, recipes for making bombs, lewd and lawless behavior, and copyright violators. And, for politicians eager for votes, or to people who have never strolled the electronic byways, regulating the Net seems as logical and sensible as making your kids wear seat belts. Forget freedom of speech: children can read this stuff.

From the point of view of those on the Net, mass-media's representation of pornography on the Internet grossly overestimates the amount that is actually available, and these stories are based on studies that are at best flawed and at worst fraudulent. To netizens, the panic over the electronic availability of bomb-making recipes and other potentially dangerous material is groundless: the same material is readily available in public libraries. Out on the Net, it seems outrageous that people who have never really experienced it are in a position to regulate it.

How then, should the lines be drawn in the grey area between cyberspace and the physical world? In net.wars, Wendy Grossman, a journalist who has covered the Net since 1992 for major publications such as "Wired, The Guardian," and "The Telegraph," assesses the battles that will define the future of this new venue. From the Church of Scientology's raids on Net users to netizens attempts to overthrow both the Communications Decency Act and the restrictions on the export of strong encryption, net.wars explains the issues and the background behind the headlines. Among the issues covered are net scams, class divisions on the net, privacy issues, the Communications Decency Act, women online, pornography, hackers and the computer underground, net criminals and sociopaths, and more.

Social Networks and the Semantic Web offers valuable information to practitioners developing social-semantic software for the Web. It

provides two major case studies. The first case study shows the possibilities of tracking a research community over the Web. It reveals how social network mining from the web plays an important role for obtaining large scale, dynamic network data beyond the possibilities of survey methods. The second case study highlights the role of the social context in user-generated classifications in content, such as the tagging systems known as folksonomies.

The performance of most digital systems today is limited by their communication or interconnection, not by their logic or memory. As designers strive to make more efficient use of scarce interconnection bandwidth, interconnection networks are emerging as a nearly universal solution to the system-level communication problems for modern digital systems.

Interconnection networks have become pervasive in their traditional application as processor-memory and processor-processor interconnect. Point-to-point interconnection networks have replaced buses in an ever widening range of applications that include on-chip interconnect, switches and routers, and I/O systems.

In this book, the authors present in a structured way the basic underlying concepts of most interconnection networks and provide representative solutions that have been implemented in the industry or proposed in the research literature.
* Gives a coherent, comprehensive treatment of the entire field
* Presents a formal statement of the basic concepts, alternative design choices, and design trade-offs
* Provides thorough classifications, clear descriptions, accurate definitions, and unified views to structure the knowledge on interconnection networks
* Focuses on issues critical to designers

If you develop, test, or manage .NET software, you will find ."NET Test Automation Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach" very useful. The book presents practical techniques for writing lightweight software test automation in a .NET environment and covers API testing thoroughly. It also discusses lightweight, custom Windows application user interface automation and teaches you low-level web application user interface automation. Additional material covers SQL stored procedure testing techniques.

The examples in this book have been successfully used in seminars and teaching environments where they have proven highly effective for students who are learning intermediate-level .NET programming. You'll come away from the book knowing how to write production-quality combination and permutation methods.-->Table of Contents-->API Testing Reflection-Based UI Testing Windows-Based UI Testing Test Harness Design Patterns Request-Response Testing Script-Based Web UI Testing Low-Level Web UI Testing Web Services Testing SQL Stored Procedure Testing Combinations and Permutations ADO.NET Testing XML Testing

The Historical Web and Digital Humanities fosters discussions between the Digital Humanities and web archive studies by focussing on one of the largest entities of the web, namely national and transnational web domains such as the British, French, or European web. With a view to investigating whether, and how, web studies and web historiography can inform and contribute to the Digital Humanities, this volume contains a number of case studies and methodological and theoretical discussions that both illustrate the potential of studying the web, in this case national web domains, and provide an insight into the challenges associated with doing so. Commentary on and possible solutions to these challenges are debated within the chapters and each one contributes in its own way to a web history in the making that acknowledges the specificities of the archived web. The Historical Web and Digital Humanities will be essential reading for those with an interest in how the past of the web can be studied, as well as how Big Data approaches can be applied to the archived web. As a result, this volume will appeal to academics and students working and studying in the fields of Digital Humanities, internet and media studies, history, cultural studies, and communication.

The Internet has revolutionized the way consumers and firms interact in the marketplace, and it has dramatically changed the information enjoyed by market participants at various points in the value chain. This volume on the Internet and e-commerce provides academics and practitioners with useful research on the 'glue' that holds the new economy together. The first six chapters of the text examine four broad issues: the role of the Internet in fostering competition, its impact on price dispersion and on business-to-business transactions, and the importance of reputation and trust in the new economy. The last four chapters examine the impact of the Internet on the organization of firms, the efficiency of auctions in the Internet age, how consumers choose websites and acquire product information, and the growing problem of congestion on the Internet. This volume is part of Emerald's "Advances in Applied Microeconomics" series - an annual research volume that seeks to disseminate frontier research well in advance of journals and other outlets.

Invisible Search and Online Search Engines considers the use of search engines in contemporary everyday life and the challenges this poses for media and information literacy. Looking for mediated information is mostly done online and arbitrated by the various tools and devices that people carry with them on a daily basis. Because of this, search engines have a significant impact on the structure of our lives, and personal and public memories. Haider and Sundin consider what this means for society, whilst also uniting research on information retrieval with research on how people actually look for and encounter information. Search engines are now one of society's key infrastructures for knowing and becoming informed. While their use is dispersed across myriads of social practices, where they have acquired close to naturalised positions, they are commercially and technically centralised. Arguing that search, searching, and search engines have become so widely used that we have stopped noticing them, Haider and Sundin consider what it means to be so reliant on this all-encompassing and increasingly invisible information infrastructure. Invisible Search and Online Search Engines is the first book to approach search and search engines from a perspective that combines insights from the technical expertise of information science research with a social science and humanities approach. As such, the book should be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students working on and studying information science, library and information science (LIS), media studies, journalism, digital cultures, and educational sciences.

This is the first book to systematically evaluate e-voting from the wider European perspective. It focuses on the European experience, thereby raising key issues at the heart of the social sciences, legal scholarship and technology studies in a penetrating and interdisciplinary manner. It coincides with a crucial juncture for European integration in which the Convention on the Future of Europe and the 2004 Intergovernmental Conference will discuss measures to further democratize the EU.

Everything you need to know to choose and use your laptop.

Brilliant Laptops guides you through the essential tasks step-by-step, showing you how to:

• Choose the right laptop for you
• Understand and use Windows 7, its applications and other software
• Connect to the Internet via wireless and wired networks
• Choose and install monitors, printers and webcams
• Keep your laptop safe and secure at home and on the road
• Manage power and battery life
• Maintain your laptop and optimise its performance

• Detailed contents page
• Numbered step-by-step tasks
• Visual full colour screenshots
• Expert tips, tricks & advice
• Practical troubleshooting guide

Engaging with customers through social media is essential for businesses in this day and age. Writing for social media can be difficult to get right and even big brands can get it very wrong. This book walks you through how to deliver maximum benefit for your business through your social media writing. Topics include how to develop an online persona, how to tailor your messages across different social media platforms, how to appeal to your audience, and how to use social media tools.

Covering every aspect of the internet for professionals, this up-to-date, three-volume compendium offers a broad perspective on the internet as a business tool, an IT platform, and a medium for communications and commerce. It presents leading-edge theory and developments as described by global experts from such prestigious institutions as Stanford University and Harvard University, and such leading corporations as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems. It is available in both a print version and as an online product. The key features of the volumes include: detailed cross-referencing and extensive references to additional reading; more than 200 articles vigorously peer-reviewed by more than 800 academics and practitioners from around the world; more than 1000 illustrations and tables for in-depth understanding of complex subjects; and eleven major subject categories that address key issues in design, utilization, and management of internet-based systems.

Cogs, cranks, wheels, plates, chains, springs and pistons - a nightmare for animators. This book shows 3D artists how to create, setup, control and automate movements for complex and technically challenging mechanical structures all while working on a super-detailed steampunk train! This book will specifically implement current industry trends and techniques for animated mechanical structures. We will be using Autodesk 3ds Max only, with no plugins and no additional software required. Readers will close out this book with a completed steampunk train for their portfolios and practical knowledge to combat other tricky hard-surface rigging and animation challenges. Key Features This is the only book available for mechanical setups in Autodesk 3ds Max. Although 3ds Max specific, the techniques and foundations will work for any 3D application. By following the step-by-step guides in this book, you can finish and complete a portfolio-ready steampunk train. Each chapter will include an introduction and a summary, giving significance to the start and end of each section where readers can rest! Boxed step-by-step guides will be used for the creation of technical setups in 3ds Max. A "Memory Refresh" section is included in each chapter, this gives short and quick reminders for the stages needed to complete the chapter setup - helpful as a reference guide for those that have already read the book and just need a reminder, saving them time as they won't have to re-read the whole thing!

Following in the tradition of its popular predecessor, A Practical Guide to Content Delivery Networks, Second Edition offers an accessible and organized approach to implementing networks capable of handling the increasing data requirements of today's always on mobile society. Describing how content delivery networks (CDN) function, it provides an understanding of Web architecture, as well as an overview of the TCP/IP protocol suite. The book reports on the development of the technologies that have evolved over the past decade as distribution mechanisms for various types of Web content. Using a structural and visual approach, it provides step-by-step guidance through the process of setting up a scalable CDN. Supplies a clear understanding of the framework and individual layers of design, including caching and load balancing Describes the terminology, tactics, and potential problems when implementing a CDN Examines cost-effective ways to load balance web service layers Explains how application servers connect to databases and how systems will scale as volume increases Illustrates the impact of video on data storage and delivery, as well as the need for data compression Covers Flash and the emerging HTML5 standard for video Highlighting the advantages and disadvantages associated with these types of networks, the book explains how to use the networks within the Internet operated by various ISPs as mechanisms for effectively delivering Web server based information. It emphasizes a best-of-breed approach to building your network to allow for an effective CDN to be built on practically any budget. To help you get started, this vendor-neutral reference explains how to code Web pages to optimize the delivery of various types of media. It also includes examples of successful approaches, from outsourcing to do it yourself.

The rapid advancement of semantic web technologies, along with the fact that they are at various levels of maturity, has left many practitioners confused about the current state of these technologies. Focusing on the most mature technologies, Applied Semantic Web Technologies integrates theory with case studies to illustrate the history, current state, and future direction of the semantic web. It maintains an emphasis on real-world applications and examines the technical and practical issues related to the use of semantic technologies in intelligent information management. The book starts with an introduction to the fundamentals-reviewing ontology basics, ontology languages, and research related to ontology alignment, mediation, and mapping. Next, it covers ontology engineering issues and presents a collaborative ontology engineering tool that is an extension of the Semantic MediaWiki. Unveiling a novel approach to data and knowledge engineering, the text: Introduces cutting-edge taxonomy-aware algorithms Examines semantics-based service composition in transport logistics Offers ontology alignment tools that use information visualization techniques Explains how to enrich the representation of entity semantics in an ontology Addresses challenges in tackling the content creation bottleneck Using case studies, the book provides authoritative insights and highlights valuable lessons learned by the authors-information systems veterans with decades of experience. They explain how to create social ontologies and present examples of the application of semantic technologies in building automation, logistics, ontology-driven business process intelligence, decision making, and energy efficiency in smart homes.

While there are sporadic journal articles on socio-technical networks, there's long been a need for an integrated resource that addresses concrete socio-technical network (STN) design issues from algorithmic and engineering perspectives. Filling this need, Socio-Technical Networks: Science and Engineering Design provides a complete introduction to the fundamentals of one of the hottest research areas across the social sciences, networking, and computer science-including its definition, historical background, and models. Covering basic STN architecture from a physical/technological perspective, the book considers the system design process in a typical STN, including inputs, processes/actions, and outputs/products. It covers current applications, including transportation networks, energy systems, tele-healthcare, financial networks, and the World Wide Web. A group of STN expert contributors addresses privacy and security topics in the interdependent context of critical infrastructure, which include risk models, trust models, and privacy preserving schemes. Covers the physical and technological designs in a typical STN Considers STN applications in popular fields, such as healthcare and the virtual community Details a method for mapping and measuring complexity, uncertainty, and interactions among STN components The book examines the most important STN models, including graph theory, inferring agent dynamics, decision theory, and information mining. It also explains structural studies, behavioral studies, and agent/actor system studies and policy studies in different STN contexts. Complete with in-depth case studies, this book supplies the practical insight needed to address contemporary STN design issues.