A selection of international perspectives on on-line learning and the virtual university. The essays are divided into three sections: Overview and Theoretical Background; Projects and Tools; and Conclusions and Visions.

The Internet has generated a large amount of information that is created and shared between individuals and organizations. Because of the amount of information flying through cyberspace, the time to locate and digest the information increases exponentially, but the question of what information can be shared and how to share them remains unsolved. ""Advances in Electronic Business, Volume 2"" explores the semantic web and intelligent web services, two methods created to help solidify the meaning and relationship of data, and explains how they relate to business processes. Professionals, policy-makers, academics, researchers, and managers in IT, business, and commerce will find this book useful in understanding the semantic web and intelligent web services impact on e-commerce.

The popularization of the Internet, due in larger part to the advent of multifunctional cell phones, poses new challenges for health professionals, patients, and caregivers as well as creates new possibilities for all of us. This comprehensive volume analyzes how this social phenomenon is transforming long-established healthcare practices and perceptions in a country with one of the highest numbers of Internet users: Brazil. After an opening text that analyzes the Internet and E-Health Care as a field of study, the book comprises six parts. The first part introduces the emergence and development of the internet in Brazil, its pioneering experience in internet governance, digital inclusion, and online citizen participation. The second part is dedicated to internet health audiences by analyzing the cases of patients, the young, and the elderly seeking and sharing health information online, especially in virtual communities. The third part is dedicated to the challenges that the expansion of the internet in healthcare poses to all of us, such as the evaluation of the quality of health information available online and the prevention of the risks involved with online sales, cyberbullying, and consumption of prescription medicines. The fourth presents some innovative e-learning experiences carried out with different groups in Brazil, while the fifth part analyses some practical applications involving the Internet and health, including studies on M-Health, the Internet of things, serious games and the use of new information and communication technologies in health promotion. The last chapter analyses the future of healthcare in the Internet Age. The authors establish a critical and creative debate with international scholarship on the subject. This book is written in a direct and comprehensible way for professionals, researchers, students of communication and health, as well as for stakeholders and others interested in better understanding the trends and the different challenges related to the social phenomenon of the internet in health.

In today's society, the utilization of social media platforms has become an abundant forum for individuals to post, share, tag, and, in some cases, overshare information about their daily lives. As significant amounts of data flood these venues, it has become necessary to find ways to collect and evaluate this information. Social Media Data Extraction and Content Analysis explores various social networking platforms and the technologies being utilized to gather and analyze information being posted to these venues. Highlighting emergent research, analytical techniques, and best practices in data extraction in global electronic culture, this publication is an essential reference source for researchers, academics, and professionals.

Sektion 1: Internet als Business-Plattform.- Elektronische Koordination interorganisatorischer Geschaftsprozesse zwischen privaten Haushalten und Versicherungen im Rahmen von Tele-Insuring.- Internet-Nutzung im Business-to-Business-Bereich: Stand der Entwicklung, Typologie und Anwendungsbeispiele.- Aufbau eines Elektronischen Handelsplatzes fur Java-Applets.- Preisstrategien fur ein integriertes Universal-Internet.- Sektion 2: Optimierung von Geschaftsprozessen.- Value-Based Management of Inter-Organizational Business Processes.- A Hierarchical Planning Procedure Supporting the Selection of Service Providers in Outtasking Decisions.- A Multiagent System-Approach for the Design of Information Systems in Virtual Organizations.- Office-Automation in Municipal and County Administration with an Integrated Workflow Based Information System.- Efficiency and Cost Implications of Capital Allocation Mechanisms: A Contribution to the Market-versus-Hierarchy-Discussion.- Sektion 3: Groupware- und Workflow-Strategien.- Organisatorischer Wandel bei Einfuhrung von Groupware.- Increased Competitiveness using a Groupware based Project Controlling System.- Architektur zur informationstechnologischen Unterstutzung von Kooperationen.- Enterprise Knowledge Medium (EKM) - Konzeption und Einsatz eines computergestutzten Planungs- und Kontrollsystems im prozessorientierten Unternehmen.- Unterstutzung der Workflow-Entwicklung durch ein unternehmensweites Repository fur Geschaftsprozessrealisierungen.- Sektion 4: Groupware-Anwendungen.- New perspectives for higher education processes as a team-based approach - Back-office information technology for higher education and training.- Konfiguration des Informationsdienstes in Groupware.- Sektion 5: Wirtschaftliche Programmerstellung.- Global Production: The Case of Offshore Programming.- Metriken fur die IV-Diagnose, Konzept und prototypische Implementierung.- Produktinformationssysteme in Business Networks.- Sektion 6: SAP und Client-Server-Integration.- System Migration and System Integration: Two SAP Cases.- Unternehmensweite Datenkonsistenz durch Integration bestehender Informationssysteme.- Client/Server Architecture: what it promises - what it really provides.- IS Project Risk in Polish Organizations.- Sektion 7: Organisation und Datenmanagement.- Flexible Organizations Through Object-oriented and Transaction-oriented Information Systems.- Determinants and Outcomes of Electronic Data Interchange Integration.- Referenz-Informationsmodelle fur den Handel: Begriff, Nutzen und Empfehlungen fur die Gestaltung und unternehmensspezifische Adaption von Referenzmodellen.- Entwicklung eines Data Warehouse fur das Produktionscontrolling: Konzepte und Erfahrungen.- Sektion 8: Neue Chancen durch Multimedia.- Der Markt fur interaktive elektronische Medien aus oekonomischer Sicht.- Sektion 9: Anwendungen von Internet/Intranet.- Improving Competitiveness of Direct Banking via IT-Enabled Incentive Schemes.- Die Nutzung von Internet-Diensten im Rahmen des Elektronischen Datenaustauschs - Architekturvarianten und ein Anwendungsszenario.- Sektion 10: Organisation und Workflow.- Neue Organisationsformen und IT: Herausforderung fur die Unternehmensgestalter.- INCOME/WF - A Petri Net Based Approach to Workflow Management.- On the Object-Oriented Modelling of Distributed Workflow Applications.- Sektion 11: Reorganisation des Unternehmens.- Synthesizing Business and Information Systems (IS): Towards a Common Business-IS Model based on Agents.- Planungs- und Kontrollmodelle zur Steuerung prozessorientierter Organisationen auf der Basis einer Intranet-Anwendung.- Neue Kernprozesse fur Versicherer mit Agenturnetz.- Sponsorenverzeichnis.- Autoren- und Adressverzeichnis.

A major investment in professional development is necessary to ensure the fundamental success of instructors in technology-integrated classrooms and in online courses. However, while traditional models of professional development rely on face-to-face instruction, online methods are also gaining traction-viable means for faculty development.Virtual Mentoring for Teachers: Online Professional Development Practices offers peer-reviewed essays and research reports contributed by an array of scholars and practitioners in the field of instructional technology and online education. It is organized around two primary themes: professional development models for faculty in online environments and understanding e-Learning and best practices in teaching and learning in online environments. The objective of this scholarship is to highlight research-based online professional development programs and best practices models that have been shown to enhance effective teaching and learning in a variety of environments.

The growth of Internet use and technologies has increased exponentially within the business sector. When utilized properly, these applications can enhance business functions and make them easier to perform. Exploring the Convergence of Big Data and the Internet of Things is a pivotal reference source featuring the latest empirical research on the business use of computing devices to send and receive data in conjunction with analytic applications to reduce maintenance costs, avoid equipment failures, and improve business operations. Including research on a broad range of topics such as supply chain, aquaculture, and speech recognition systems, this book is ideally designed for researchers, academicians, and practitioners seeking current research on various technology uses in business.

Advances in Electronic Business, Volume 1 advances the understanding of management methods, information technology, and their joint application in business processes. The applications of electronic commerce draw great attention of the practitioners in applying digital technologies to the buy-and-sell activities. This first volume addresses the importance of management and technology issues in electronic business, including collaborative design, collaborative engineering, collaborative decision making, electronic collaboration, communication and cooperation, workflow collaboration, knowledge networking, collaborative e-learning, costs and benefits analysis of collaboration, collaborative transportation, and ethics.

This work discusses issues relating to distance education and distributed learning. There are essays covering: rethinking assessment for the online environment; the role of collaborative learning in social and intellectual development; and the embodiment of knowledge in virtual environments.

Computer-mediated communication and cyberculture are dramatically changing the nature of social relationships. Whether cyberspace will simply retain vestiges of traditional communities with hierarchical social links and class-structured relationships or create new egalitarian social networks remains an open question. The chapters in this volume examine the issue of social justice on the Internet by using a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives.

Political scientists, sociologists, and communications and information systems scholars address issues of race, class, and gender on the Internet in chapters that do not assume any specialized training in computer technology.

To survive in today's competitive business environment, marketing professionals must look to develop innovative methods of reaching their customers and stakeholders. Web 2.0 provides a useful tool in developing the relationships between business and consumer. The Handbook of Research on Integrating Social Media into Strategic Marketing explores the use of social networking and other online media in marketing communications, including both best practices and common pitfalls to provide comprehensive coverage of the topic. This book is intended for marketing professionals, business managers, and anyone interested in how social media fits into today's marketing environments.

Social Media has transformed the ways in which individuals keep in touch with family and friends. Likewise, businesses have identified the profound opportunities present for customer engagement and understanding through the massive data available on social media channels, in addition to the customer reach of such sites. Social Media Listening and Monitoring for Business Applications explores research-based solutions for businesses of all types interested in an understanding of emerging concepts and technologies for engaging customers online. Providing insight into the currently available social media tools and practices for various business applications, this publication is an essential resource for business professionals, graduate-level students, technology developers, and researchers.

The Web is notoriously unreliable, yet it is the first place many students look for information. How can students, teachers, parents, and librarians be certain that the information a Web site provides is accurate and age appropriate? In this unique book, experienced science educator Judith A. Bazler reviews hundreds of the most reliable earth science-related Web sites. Each review discusses the most appropriate grade level of the site, analyzes its accuracy and usefulness, and provides helpful hints for getting the most out of the resource. Sites are organized by topic, from "Air Movements" to "Wetlands," making it easy to locate the most useful sites. A handy summary presents the best places on the Web to find information on science museums, science centers, careers in the earth sciences, and supplies.

As software and computer hardware grows in complexity, networks have grown to match. The increasing scale, complexity, heterogeneity, and dynamism of communication networks, resources, and applications has made distributed computing systems brittle, unmanageable, and insecure. Internet and Distributed Computing Advancements: Theoretical Frameworks and Practical Applications is a vital compendium of chapters on the latest research within the field of distributed computing, capturing trends in the design and development of Internet and distributed computing systems that leverage autonomic principles and techniques. The chapters provided within this collection offer a holistic approach for the development of systems that can adapt themselves to meet requirements of performance, fault tolerance, reliability, security, and Quality of Service (QoS) without manual intervention.

Let an award-winning school library media specialist who has implemented a local area network (LAN) in her media center help you plan this important addition to your media center while avoiding the pitfalls. This hands-on practical guide contains all the information the network novice needs to plan, fund, create, and maintain a LAN in the media center. Based on the experience of the school library media specialist who received the 1994 Follett/AASL "Microcomputer in the Media Center Award" for creating a local area network in the high school media center, this guide describes the procedures for planning, designing, funding, installing, organizing, training, evaluating, and maintaining a LAN in a library media center setting. Step-by-step nontechnical instructions and advice for creating an information network are presented in an understandable format. How to expand into a school-district wide area network (WAN) and gain access to the Internet are also discussed. This comprehensive work takes the network novice from dream to implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of a local area network. It covers funding sources, tips for writing technology grants, requests for proposals from vendors, staff inservice and student training, evaluation and assessment, student internships, technology teams, troubleshooting equipment, and network administration. Useful forms, simple network schematic diagrams, a model school-board approved electronic resources policy, a glossary of technical terms, and sample assessment tools are included. No other book walks the library media specialist through every step in creating a LAN. Media professionals who want to provide networked electronic information to thestaff and students but are not sure of how to proceed will benefit from this clear, nontechnical guide to the process.

Since the dawn of the digital era, the transfer of knowledge has shifted from analog to digital, local to global, and individual to social. Complex networked communities are a fundamental part of these new information-based societies. Emerging Pedagogies in the Networked Knowledge Society: Practices Integrating Social Media and Globalization examines the production, dissemination, and consumption of knowledge within networked communities in the wider global context of pervasive Web 2.0 and social media services. This book will offer insight for business stakeholders, researchers, scholars, and administrators by highlighting the important concepts and ideas of information- and knowledge-based economies.

Cyber-physical systems play a crucial role in connecting aspects of online life to physical life. By studying emerging trends in these systems, programming techniques can be optimized and strengthened to create a higher level of effectiveness. Solutions for Cyber-Physical Systems Ubiquity is a critical reference source that discusses the issues and challenges facing the implementation, usage, and challenges of cyber-physical systems. Highlighting relevant topics such as the Internet of Things, smart-card security, multi-core environments, and wireless sensor nodes, this scholarly publication is ideal for engineers, academicians, computer science students, and researchers that would like to stay abreast of current methodologies and trends involving cyber-physical system progression. Topics Covered The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to: Automotive Domain Internet of Things Multi-Core Environments Safety Concerns Security strategies Smart Card Security System Verification Wireless Sensor Nodes

As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs remain the most high profile (and most read), other types of blogs are gaining in strength and visibility. This book-a follow-up volume to Barlow's Rise of the Blogosphere, which examined the historical context for the modern blog-provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between. Given that millions of blogs have been created over the past five years and yet more come online at an undiminished rate, and given that enthusiasm for both reading them and writing them has yet to wane, it is likely that the blog explosion will continue indefinitely. As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs remain the most high profile (and most read), other types of blogs are gaining in strength and visibility. This book-a follow-up volume to Barlow's Rise of the Blogosphere, which examined the historical context for the modern blog-provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between. Areas covered include the personal blog; the political blog; the use of blogs by various religious communities both for discussion within communities and for outreach; the growth of blogs dedicated to specific geographic communities, and their relations with older local media; blogs dedicated to technical subjects, particularly relating to computers; blogs and business; blogs sparked by video games, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment; and more. Given that millions of blogs have been created over the past five years and yet more come online at an undiminished rate, and given that enthusiasm for both reading them and writing for them has yet to wane, it is likely that the blog explosion will continue indefinitely.