New STOA project on cloud computing and social networks [11.06.2012]
A new STOA project has been launched by ETAG. The project is scheduled to run until December 2013. The project will incorporate and assess the key findings and conclusions of the relevant research conducted in the field of Cloud Computing services and Social Network Websites. Based on the results of this research, options will be developed that are relevant for actions of European decision-makers. The project team is made up by colleagues from the Danish Board of Technology, the Austrian Institute of Technology Assessment, ITAS and Fraunhofer ISI, the latter as the leading partner.
The project will analyse the technological, economic and legal foundations of cloud computing.
The main task of the project will be to analyse possible economic and social impacts of cloud computing. Impacts considered are the impacts on the European citizens and industry in general, e.g. regarding privacy, as well as on the IT industry in particular.
Given the specific context and issues of Social Network Websites, this topic will be treated in an extra module. As a first step the module will review the different types of Social Network Websites focusing on traditional global open social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, XING and the VZ group. The focus will be on identifying the demands, motivations and risks of the intensive use of Social Network Websites especially by younger people. Building upon this review of cultural and social factors the module will analyse legal implications arising from that situation. In further steps technological and economic factors like the different types of business models (membership, data exploitation, in-shop-concepts, etc.) or alternative technological approaches like Diaspora will be researched as well as questions related to security, privacy, and the protection of intellectual property rights in SNS.
Further links