Special Sessions

Virtual Communities and Wellbeing

Chairs

Zeineb Ayachi

ESEN, University of Manouba

Aims and Scope

The limitations of the physical world in terms of communication led to the development from a static Web 1.0 to a more dynamic one; Web 2.0. One of the most interesting outcomes of Web 2.0 was different types of social media platforms which made it easier for people all over the world to communicate, keep and build social connections. Social media users’ accounts have been increasing from year to year, and the year 2020 has witnessed a booming use of social media due to the lockdown imposed by Covid-19 (Cellini et al, 2020). During the pandemic physical and mental health plummeted leading to stress, anxiety and a feeling of helplessness (Sigh et al, 2020). In fact, social distancing and strict security measures have had an impact on the relationship among people, thereby affecting their wellbeing (Saladino et al, 2020). From this perspective virtual communities assume important roles to decrease the negative effects of the lockdown.

Topics of interest

The special session for ICDEc 2021 call for papers invites contributions on topics including but not restricted to the following themes:

  1. Virtual communities and wellbeing
  2. Cultural assimilation in virtual communities
  3. Multiple identities in virtual communities
  4. Gender issues in virtual communities
  5. Linguistic adaptation in virtual communities
  6. Language innovation in Virtual communities
  7. Fake news in virtual communities
  8. Social support in virtual communities
  9. Hostility issues in virtual communities

Mental Manipulations and Neurotechnology: redefining neuro- and cognitive security

Chairs

Aleksander Valjamae

Tallinn University, Tallinn Estonia

More details
Anton Nijholt

University of Twente, Netherlands

More details

Resume

Aleksander Väljamäe received his PhD in at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, in 2007 and is currently an associate professor in physiological computing at School of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University, Estonia. His current psychophysiology research concerns how audiovisual media influence humans on perceptual, cognitive and emotional levels, with particular stress on health/well-being and new applications (Brain-Computer Interfaces, neurocinema, neurotheatre). He actively participates in art and science projects, e.g., his technical directing of the “Multimodal Brain Orchestra” performance in 2009, Prague or directing neurotheatre performance "Demultiplexia" in 2017, Brussels. His latest neurocinema show DataWe was produced for Join Research Center of EC in 2019. He is the author of over 30 journal articles and book chapters.

Aleksander Valjamae Tallinn University, Tallinn Estonia

Resume

Anton Nijholt’s main research interests are human-computer interaction with a focus on brain-computer interfacing, entertainment computing, affect, and humor. He wrote and edited various books, most recently on playful interfaces, playable cities and brain-computer interaction. Nijholt is co-editor (together with Chang S. Nam and Fabien Lotte) of “Brain-Computer Interfaces Handbook: Technological & Theoretical Advances”, published by Taylor & Francis. He is also editor of the 2019 book “Brain Art. Brain-Computer Interfaces for Artistic Expression,” published by Springer.” He is chief editor of the section Human-Media Interaction of Frontiers in Psychology and co-editor of the Springer Series Gaming Media and Social Effects. Nijholt acted as program/general chair of the main international conferences on entertainment computing, multimodal interaction, affective computing, virtual agents, and computer animation.

Anton Nijholt University of Twente, Netherlands

Aims and Scope

While in the traditional sense neurosecurity refers to a set of neuroethical principles for a neural device of the user, this notion can be extended to media manipulations (like deep fakes, emotional propaganda, or other types of cognitive manipulation) that directly undermine critical reception of information content. The new neurosecurity concept would build on a number of new disciplines and technologies including neuroimaging, studying behavioural and emotional reactions to media, behavioral policy, analysis of physiological data streams, big data analytics, user modelling, “hive mind“ and collective intelligence, as well as providing sensory feedback to the users about the aggressive and manipulative media. The aim of this special session is to discuss the potential neurosecurity research field agenda that can address both (1) detecting media-based manipulation and (2) protecting viewers from such manipulation, both explicitly and implicitly using neurotechnology software & hardware tools and methodologies. We envision both short presentations and invited session talks, followed by an open round-table with invited experts.

Topics of interest

The special session for ICDEc 2021 call for papers invites contributions on topics including but not restricted to the following themes:

  1. Algocracy
  2. Artificial intelligence
  3. Data science and sentiment analysis
  4. Hivemind societies / hyperscanning
  5. The Algorithmic Self / Quantified Self
  6. Misinformation and emotional propaganda
  7. Physiological and affective computing
  8. Neuroethics and bioethics
  9. Mental privacy
  10. Neuromarketing

Strategic Networks in the Digital Era

Chairs

Afef Herelli

URISO, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia

Aims and Scope

Advanced digital technologies offer new opportunities to strategic networks in order to identify partners and innovative coordination solutions. Artificial intelligence, big data analytics, Internet of Things, cloud-based ambient computing and machine learning are all technological trends that help companies to manage processes and resources inside and outside organizational boundaries. In fact, companies seek complementarity to manage processes, innovation and value creation through a new organizational design. Value chains have become globally extended and can even become virtual thanks to information technology. In this context, most companies are in the digital transformation process looking to create value for all stakeholders. Thus, several approaches such as organizational agility, open innovation, co-innovation, living innovation, dynamic capabilities, relational competencies, network governance, inter-organizational information systems and knowledge networks have emerged as the core strength of strategic networks. Whatever the size or shape of the network the massive and deep introduction of technologies is transforming the dynamics of relationships.

Topics of interest

The special session for ICDEc 2021 call for papers invites contributions on topics including but not restricted to the following themes:

  1. Strategic network transformation through technology
  2. Interorganizational information systems and network performance
  3. Interfirm Business model innovation
  4. Small and medium-sized enterprise networks for co-innovation
  5. Open innovation and smart projects
  6. Living Labs as open innovation networks
  7. Organizational agility
  8. B2B networks digitalization
  9. Trust, control and information technology within networks
  10. Virtual networks and knowledge management
  11. Platform-to-platform (P2P) based virtual entrepreneurship
  12. Co-creation of new knowledge in networked organizations
  13. Networking and design thinking for innovation

ML & AI Developments in Finance

Chairs

Codruta Mare

Associate professor
Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Dep. Of Statistics-Forecasts-Mathematics and The Interdisciplinary Centre for Data Science Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Daniele Marazzina

Associate professor
Math Department of Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Aims and Scope

The development of the financial sector is lately strongly linked to the digital economy, in general, and to digital and financial technologies, in particular. The sector is the largest user of digital technologies and a major driver in the digital transformation of the economy. The expansion and diversification of the world of the crypto assets, of stock markets, or the entire banking sector, along with the development of new financial tools, have made the financial industry one of the most important sectors where Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are being regarded as go-to solutions. The increase use of technology helps the providers of financial services model the behavior of their customers, better assess the risks, and finally innovate and construct more performant products and services. In the same time, regulators and supervisors have entered into the arena for evaluating, measuring and regulating the financial developments powered by technology.

As the goal of the European Commission is to support ML and AI innovations intended to foster the development of the financial markets across Europe, the main goal of this special session is to provide a debate agora for researchers in the fields of Data Analysis/ Econometrics, ML and AI applied in Finance.
The Special Section is supported by the FinAI project entitled Fintech and Artificial Intelligence in Finance - Towards a transparent financial industry (CA19130)

Topics of interest

The special session for ICDEc 2021 call for papers invites contributions on topics including but not restricted to the following themes:

  1. Fintech
  2. ML
  3. AI
  4. Econometrics
  5. Data Analysis
  6. Finance
  7. Financial markets
  8. Insurance
  9. Finance and Digitalization
  10. Economic and Financial Crime in a Cyberspace
  11. Big Data

Emerging communication technologies in IoT applications

Chairs

Ismehene Chahbi

ESEN, University of Manouba
Heterogeneous Advanced Networking & Applications (HANA) Lab

Aims and Scope

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a major component of digital transformation. Through IoT, we look for the potential of new technologies in the digital world and their impact on the real world. The number of connected IoT devices has grown exponentially due to the recent development of technologies and rising demand for IoT services. The variety of data collected from IoT devices can be used in a vast array of areas of our life such as supply chain, health care, air quality management among other areas, which can improve the quality of life, task automation, and productivity. For example, the emergence of IoT in marketing has created an evolution of marketing activities through the capabilities offered by the ubiquitous identification and interactions.

Hence, the current demand for smart services has resulted in a variety of communication technologies with diverse requirements associated to the IoT applications for many different environments. Those requirements include delay tolerance, low latency, low data rate and high reliability. Indeed, the main purpose of emerging and existing technologies is to meet the stringent power-saving and low data rate requirements for IoT devices. Thus, in this special session, we will focus on the challenges posed by the various technologies that can be used to provide diverse IoT applications. In fact, the new opportunities given by emerging technologies can create services that will bring tangible benefits to users.

Topics of interest

The special session for ICDEc 2021 call for papers invites contributions on topics including but not restricted to the following themes:

  1. Internet of Things in marketing
  2. IoT and proximity marketing : prospective and potential
  3. 5G technologies and smart marketing
  4. Protocols and Architectures for IoT
  5. Design of new protocols for existing and emerging IoT technologies
  6. Social and societal impacts of existing and emerging IoT technologies
  7. Data Analytics and machine learning in IoT
  8. Smart supply chain management systems
  9. Security and privacy for IoT
  10. Intrusion and attacks in IoT
  11. IoT and Cloud computing
  12. 6G and IoT applications