Building the Information Society

In the context of the 18th IFIP World Computer Congress (WCC’04), and beside the traditional organization of conferences, workshops, tutorials and student forum, it was decided to identify a range of topics of dramatic interest for the building of the Information Society. This has been featured as the "Topical day/session" track of the WCC’04. Topical Sessions have been selected in order to present syntheses, latest developments and/or challenges in different business and technical areas.

Building the Information Society provides a deep perspective on domains including: the semantic integration of heterogeneous data, virtual realities and new entertainment, fault tolerance for trustworthy and dependable information infrastructures, abstract interpretation (and its use for verification of program properties), multimodal interaction, computer aided inventing, emerging tools and techniques for avionics certification, bio-, nano-, and information technologies, E-learning, perspectives on ambient intelligence, the grand challenge of building a theory of the Railway domain, open source software in dependable systems, interdependencies of critical infrastructure, social robots, as a challenge for machine intelligence.

Building the Information Society comprises the articles produced in support of the Topical Sessions during the IFIP 18th World Computer Congress, which was held in August 2004 in Toulouse, France, and sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).

Semantic Integration of Heterogeneous Data.- Three Decades of Data Intecration — all Problems Solved?.- The PLIB Ontology-Based Approach to Data Integration.- The MOMIS Methodology for Integrating Heterogeneous Data Sources.- Building Scalable Mediator Systems.- Representation of Procedural Knowledge and its Use to Compute a Form of Subsumption.- Virtual Realities and New Entertainment.- Developing Re-Usable Interactive Storytelling Technologies.- Connecting the Real World and Virtual World through Gaming.- Positive Effects of Entertainment Technology on Human Behaviour.- Realization of Tai-Chi Motion Using a Humanoid Robot.- Storytelling for Recreating Our Selves: Zenetic Computer.- Interaction in a Sensitive House.- Fault Tolerance for Trustworthy and Dependable Information Infrastructures.- Dependable Systems of the Future: What is Still Needed?.- Dependability and Its Threats: A Taxonomy.- Current Research Activities on Dependable Computing and Other Dependability Issues in Japan.- The Evolution of Dependable Computing at the University of Illinois.- Wrapping the Future.- From the University of Illinois VIA JPL and UCLA to Vytautas Magnus University: 50 Years of Computer Engineering by Algirdas AviŽienis.- Airbus Fly-By-Wire: A Total Approach To Dependability.- Unique Dependability Issues for Commercial Airplane Fly by Wire Systems.- The Fault Hypothesis for The Time-Triggered Architecture.- Communications Dependability Evolution.- Intrusion Tolerance For Internet Applications.- Static Program Transformations for Efficient Software Model Checking.- Architectural Challenges for A Dependable Information Society.- Experimental Research in Dependable Computing at Carnegie Mellon University.- Systems Approach to Computing Dependability in and Out of Hitachi.- Abstract Interpretation.- Basic Concepts of Abstract Interpretation.- TVLA: A System for Generating Abstract Interpreters.- aiT: Worst-Case Execution Time Prediction by Static Program Analysis.- AstrÉe: Verification of Absence of Runtime Error.- Industrial Experience of Abstract Interpretation-Based Static Analyzers.- Multimodal Interaction.- Design Space for Multimodal Interaction.- Software Design and Development of Mutimodal Interaction.- A Generic Formal Specification of Fusion of Modalities in a Multimodal Hci.- Multimomodality and Multi-Platform Interactive Systems.- Multimodality and Context-Aware Adaptation.- Towards Multimodal Web Interaction.- Computer Aided Inventing.- Towards “Inventiveness-Oriented” Cai Tools.- Exploring the Inclusion of Design Factors in Computer Aided Inventing.- State-of-the-Art and Trends of Computer-Aided Innovation Tools.- Computer Aided Comprehensive Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Axiomatic Design (AD).- TRIZ and Computer Aided Inventing.- Optimization VS Innovation in a Cae Environment.- Emerging tools and Techniques for Avionics Certification.- Formal Proof and Test Case Generation for Critical Embedded Systems Using Scade.- Safety Assessment with Altarica.- Improving Certification Capability through Automatic Code Generation.- Early Validation of Requirements.- Proof of Properties in Avionics.- The Convergence of Bio-Info-Nano-Technologies.- The Convergence of Bio-Info-Nano-Technologies.- E-Learning.- Running an E-Learning Project: Technology, Expertise, Pedagogy.- Learning Objects Interoperability: The Ariagne Experience.- An E-Learning Version of the French Higher Education Curriculum “Computer Methods for the Companies Management”.- Perspectives on Ambient Intelligence.- Perspectives on Computing for Service Providers of Intelligent Environments.- Global Governance of the Technological Revolution.- e-Health — Making Healthcare Better for European Citizens: Challenges and Expectations.- Intelligent Ethics.- TRain: The Railway Domain — A Grand Challenge.- The TRain Topical Day — A Foreword.- TRain: The Railway Domain.- Reusing Formal Models.- a Refinement Based Approach to Calculating a Fault-Tolerant Railway Signal Device.- From Railway Resource Planning to Train Operation.- Integrated Formal Methods for Safety Analysis of Train Systems.- Stochastic Train Domain Theory Framework.- CyberRail.- Towards a Formal Model of Cyberrail.- Open-Source Software in Dependable Systems.- Open Source Software in Critical Systems.- Trusting Strangers.- An Interdisciplinary Perspective of Dependability in Open Source Software.- Is Academic Open Source Software Dependable?.- Open Source in Dependable Systems: Current and Future Business Models.- An Open-Source VHDL IP Library with Plug&Play Configuration.- Linux: A Multi-Purpose Executive Support for Civil Avionics Applications?.- A Journey Towards an OSS-Aware Organization.- Interdependencies of Critical Infrastructures.- Interdependencies of Critical Infrastructures.- Social Robots: Challenges for Machine Intelligence.- Social Robots: Challenges for Machine Intelligence.- Development of Humanoids and New Business Structure.- Towards Robot Companions.- Roles of Robots in Human Society: Challenges and Case Studies.- Human-Like Motion from Physiologically-Based Potential Field.- A Dialog Based Interactive Robot.- Tracking Humans.- Learning and Cooperative Multimodal Humanoid Robots.- From Geometric to Cognitive Maps — A Key Element for Personal Robots.- Centibots: Very Large Scale Distributed Robotic Teams.