Communications Media

Time to renew your residence permit? Oh dear. Down to the town hall, stand in line, collect the forms, take them away, come back, stand in line, hand in the forms, go away, come back one week later, stand in line again, collect your permit. Elapsed time – two weeks maybe. Sound familiar?

One group of IST researchers is dedicated to simplifying the whole process. The E-MuniS project has developed prototype electronic information systems and processes for town halls that should cut such time

They may be the future of e-government, but online transaction services have yet to realise their full potential. But the SMARTGOV platform helps public sector employees generate e-forms by simplifying integration with existing IT systems.
Combining intelligent management of electronic services and knowledge about public services, the platform, developed by IST-project SMARTGOV, leverages the potential of open-source technologies to provide a set of tools to facilitate and maintain online transa

Using next generation Internet technologies, MOICANE has created and tested an IP-QoS pilot that offers a virtual lab environment of ’networked collaboratories’, where research institutes, universities, manufacturers and service providers can collaborate, and remotely share applications, knowledge, infrastructure and devices.

Testing the IP-QoS pilot

According to project coordinator Pietro Polese of Alcatel Italia, the IP-QoS pilot “worked very well. The scope of t

When it comes to people’s desire to use ATMs and online banking, it’s not just the young, educated, and affluent who are interested.

That’s the finding of a new study at Ohio State University that examined the role that factors such as age, income, and education level play in people’s adoption of electronic banking technology.

While conventional wisdom suggests that young, affluent, and highly educated people are more apt to try new technology, the study found that these groups use

People lie, research has shown, in one-fourth of their daily, social interactions. But according to Cornell University communications researchers, people are most likely to lie on the telephone.

In fact, the researchers say, phone fibbing is even more likely than when people use e-mail, instant messaging or even speak face-to-face.

“Some psychologists did not expect this. Lies makes us feel uncomfortable, and you would think we should be using media to reduce that discomfort, but

Thanks to a new generation multispectral digital camera developed by IST-project CRISATEL, treasured documents and fine art can be captured with high resolution and reproduced in extraordinary colour for analysis, restoration and conservation.

The multispectral (ultraviolet to infrared) capture technique, employed in the JumboScan camera manufactured by consortium member Lumiere Technology, is a leap forward from the 100-year old tricolour concept of analogue photography. This older concept