Editor's Message to Collaboration Support and Network Services for Creative Society
Minoru Kobayashi · Journal of Information Processing · 2016
The ICT environment is undergoing a large change; user devices are shifting from PCs to tablets or smartphones, data is migrating from terminals to cloud services.Digital fabrication technologies, including 3D printers, are diffusing as they combine digital and physical activities for creation.These ICT changes enable us to utilize computers and network services everywhere in daily life, and the information sharing via networks is expected to become a driving force to connect and develop people's creative activities.However, there are many social challenges and expectations, such as low birthrates and aging populations, globalization, energy problems, disaster prevention and restoration, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.In order to face such social challenges and to meet the expectations of society, we need to promote research and development activities on collaboration technologies and network services to facilitate creative activities in society.To meet such needs, this special issue on collaboration support and network services for the creative society has solicited a wide range of papers associated with information/knowledge sharing, social computing, ubiquitous computing, sensor network services, secure network services, medical treatment or social security, network services for disaster prevention/reduction, collaboration, education/learning, and communication theories and technologies.36 papers were submitted.The first editorial committee meeting was held in April 2015.This meeting discussed whether each paper conformed to the topic of this issue.All papers underwent this review process.The second editorial committee meeting was held in June 2015, and the final editorial committee meeting was held in September 2015.Our careful discussion considered the peer review results, and 18 papers were selected for publication.The final acceptance rate was 50%.This special issue includes the following topics on collaboration support and network services; 3 papers related to "social presence", 3 papers related to knowledge sharing or discussion facilitation, 4 papers related to information sharing at the time of a disaster, 2 papers related to collaborative work on digital contents, 2 papers related to sensors and communication systems; four papers about social networking services, crowdsourcing, privacy, and learning were also accepted.