Collaboration in a Data-Rich World

Increasing availability of sensors and smart devices connected to the Internet, and powered by the pervasiveness of Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things, create an exponential growth of available data. We observe the hyperconnectivity of organizations, people, and machines taking us to data-rich environments and often facing big data challenges. All activities in the world, and everyday life of people, leave trails that can be accumulated on cloud-supported storage, while developments in open data movement contribute to the wide availability of such data.

This emerging reality challenges the way collaborative networks and systems are designed and operate. Earlier approaches to collaborative networking however were constrained by scarcity of data, and thus previous solutions in terms of the organizational structures, applied algorithms and mechanisms, and governance principles and models, need to be revisited and redesigned to comply with this fast evolving scenario. Furthermore, new solutions need to consider a convergence of technologies, including CPS, IoT, Linked Data, Data Privacy, Federated Identity, Big Data, Data Mining, Sensing Technologies, etc., and the impact of the variables, such as time, location, time, location, population, which suggest a stronger focus on network dynamics. The new abundance of data also raises challenges regarding data validity and quality, with the increasing need for data cleaning and avoiding the cascading of errors. Cyber-security and the impact of non-human data manipulators (bots) become particularly critical, as there is an increasing dependency on data from the society, which may lead to malicious data access and citizen safety concerns. On the other hand, there is a need to better understand the potential for value creation through collaborative approaches in this context, where organizational change can be highly improved.

PRO-VE 2017 will provide a forum for sharing experiences, discussing trends, identifying challenges, and introducing innovative solutions aimed at fulfilling the vision of beneficial collaboration in a data-rich world.