This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of Industry Oriented Conferences held at IFIP 20th World Computer Congress in September 2008. The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of refereed international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing.

This Festschrift, Unimagined Futures – ICT Opportunities and Challenges, is the first Festschrift in the IFIP AICT series. It examines key challenges facing the ICT community today. While addressing the contemporary challenges, the book provides the opportunity to look back to help understand the contemporary scene and identify appropriate future responses to them. Experts in different areas of the ICT scene have contributed to this IFIP 60th anniversary book, which will be a key input to the ICT community worldwide on setting policy priorities and agendas for the coming decade. In addition, a number of contributions look specifically at the role of professionals and of national, regional, and global organizations in disseminating the benefits of ICT to humanity worldwide.

Services play a central role in the economies of nations and in global commerce, and to some extent we are all in the field of service. Technological Applications and Advancements in Service Science, Management, and Engineering is a compendium of research that proves to be an indispensable resource for cutting-edge knowledge in service science understood as a broad research field that embodies all the aspects that relate to services, their planning, design, operation, evaluation, and improvement. Perfect for academic researchers and practicing professionals, this volume serves as a vehicle for the development of service science and how good services are devised and engineered to get the maximum value for their efforts.

Ongoing advancements in modern technology have led to significant developments in intelligent systems. With the numerous applications available, it becomes imperative to conduct research and make further progress in this field. Intelligent Systems: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications contains a compendium of the latest academic material on the latest breakthroughs and recent progress in intelligent systems. Including innovative studies on information retrieval, artificial intelligence, and software engineering, this multi-volume book is an ideal source for researchers, professionals, academics, upper-level students, and practitioners interested in emerging perspectives in the field of intelligent systems.

This book features research presented and discussed during the Research & Innovation Forum (Rii Forum) 2020. As such, this book offers a unique insight into emerging topics, issues and developments pertinent to the fields of technology, innovation and education and their social impact. Papers included in this book apply inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to query such issues as technology-enhanced teaching and learning, smart cities, information systems, cognitive computing and social networking. What brings these threads of the discussion together is the question of how advances in computer science – which are otherwise largely incomprehensible to researchers from other fields – can be effectively translated and capitalized on so as to make them beneficial for society as a whole. In this context, Rii Forum and Rii Forum proceedings offer an essential venue where diverse stakeholders, including academics, the think tank sector and decision-makers, can engage in a meaningful dialogue with a view to improving the applicability of advances in computer science.

The ItAIS (http://www.itais.org) is the Italian chapter of the Association for Information Systems (AIS: http://www.aisnet.org) which brings together both individual and institutional members. The Italian chapter has been established in 2003, and since then, it has promoted the exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge among academics and professionals in Italy, devoted to the development, management, organization and use of Information Systems. The contents of this book are based on a selection of the best papers presented at the Annual Conference of the ItAIS, that has been held in Paris, in December 2008. The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach, recognizing the need to harness a number of different disciplines in both the theory and the practice of information systems. The work here presented is comprehensive and up-to-date in this subject. The contributions to this volume aim to disseminate academic knowledge and might be particularly relevant to practitioners in the field.

The modern era of business has prompted an increased focus on the consumer and the responsibility of corporations to consider their ethical and social obligations to their customers. The rise of the consumerist movement has encouraged further research and development on the topic of consumerism, enabling business to succeed in a consumer-driven market. Handbook of Research on Consumerism in Business and Marketing: Concepts and Practices features research on diverse topics on consumerism in the global marketplace, focusing on the ways in which businesses can improve their relationships with customers as well as analyze and influence purchasing behavior. As a comprehensive reference source on topics pertaining to consumer management, identity, and behavior, this publication is intended for use by marketing professionals, business managers, students, and academicians.