Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Many information systems provide for user identification and assigning of users
to groups. Another way to think of groups is not in terms of individuals but in terms
of roles. Roles have certain privileges by default, usually tied to job responsibilities.
The organization defines a finite number of roles, and the roles and privileges are
managed and enforced according to policy. Individual users may be associated with
roles without reframing their identities.
Attribute management provides for attributes (characteristics) and attribute val-
ues for a person or entity. Attributes provide a more dynamic method of privilege
management with regard to awareness (know something exists), access, read, write/
modify, features for use, etc.
Metadata is a subset of attributes. Attributes apply to people, entities (informa-
tion technology), and information (data). Metadata provides data about the data.
Metadata may include the creator of the data, the date and time created, relevant
cross-indexing of the data, source of the data, etc. The Dublin Core Metadata Initia-
tive (http://dublincore.org/) is one effort to develop metadata standards for online
information. IA concerns with metadata include the accuracy of the metadata: Is
it trustworthy, from a trusted source, passed through trusted hands to get to the
consumer of the metadata? Does the metadata indeed belong to the data? Has the
metadata been modified in transit? Prior to transit or otherwise, has the integrity
of the metadata-to-data relationship been compromised? Look for emerging work
in the cryptobinding of metadata that ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and
nonreputable association of metadata with the data to which it belongs.
An avatar is a virtual representation of a person. A person uses an avatar in vir-
tual worlds to interact with other avatars representing other people. Virtual worlds
are simulated online environments that avatars may inhabit and live. The duration
of the online environment may be as long as a game (a few minutes or few hours),
or it may persist and allow interaction for months and years. Virtual worlds include
fantasy gaming as well as serious games that simulate real-life situations and pro-
mote real-time interactions, like an education or social environment. IA issues
already include protecting online identities, online identity theft, and adjudication
between game players and game administrators when adverse decisions affect an
online persona. Moreover, virtual worlds add the ever-blurring distinction between
reality and entertainment. There are questions of how much personal details (and
perhaps professional details) enter the online environment.
Look for an emerging realization of the changing face of war. There are difficult
questions to ask with regard to war. What defines war? What defines a warrior?
What defines a combatant? Who and what are the targets of war? The changing
face of war includes a changing understanding of the conventions of war, the pur-
pose of war, the manifestation of war, and the motivation for war.
Despite such questions, wars are real and affect lives and livelihoods. Actually,
livelihood, the means of subsistence, is the greatest motivation for war. Famine in
one region incites desire for another's bounty. If trade does not work, then taking
by force will. The traditional attack by a country's military is a means to an end,
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