Dominik Renzel

Bio: Dominik Renzel is an academic researcher from RWTH Aachen University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Web service & Mobile computing. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 36 publications receiving 517 citations.

Mobile Community Cloud Computing: Emerges and Evolves

Abstract: With the advent of mobile smart phones, new types of virtual communities arrived, i.e. mobile communities. Mobile communities, with respect to their IT needs, introduce new requirements compared to traditional online web communities. On the other hand, cloud computing is emerging as computing concept that promises provision of computational resources on demand and abstraction of technical details from the clients. We propose Mobile Community Cloud Platform (MCCP) as a cloud computing system that can leverage the full potential of mobile community growth. An analysis of the core requirements of common mobile communities is provided before we present the design of our cloud computing architecture that supports building and evolving of mobile communities.

Requirements Bazaar: Social requirements engineering for community-driven innovation

Abstract: The innovation potential of niche communities often remains inaccessible to service providers due to a lack of awareness and effective negotiation between these two groups. Requirements Bazaar, a browser-based social software for Social Requirements Engineering (SRE), aims at bringing together communities and service providers into such a negotiation process. Communities should be supported to express and trace their requirements and eventually receive a realization. Service providers should be supported in discovering relevant innovative requirements to maximize impact with a realization. In this paper we present Requirements Bazaar with focus on four aspects: requirements specification, a workflow for co-creation, workspace integration and personalizable requirements prioritization.

Towards responsive open learning environments: the ROLE interoperability framework

Abstract: In recent years, research on mash-up technologies for learning environments has gained interest. The overall goal is to enrich or replace traditional learning management systems (LMS) with mash-ups of widgets and services that can be easily combined and configured to fit the learner needs. This paper presents the implemented prototype of the ROLE interoperability framework and a business and an educational case study. The framework provides a common technical infrastructure to assemble widgets and services in Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). Evaluation results indicate that the perceived usefulness and usability is high for one case study in which a mature LMS was enriched with ROLE technology. In the second case study, an early mash-up prototype was deployed. The usefulness and usability of this early prototype were rated low, but the case study provides interesting insights for further research and development.

LAS: A Lightweight Application Server for MPEG-7 Services in Community Engines

Abstract: The success of multimedia enabled community engines depends on a careful design of the digital media and the related communication/collaboration tools. However, the semantics of the multimedia contents in community communication and collaboration is hard to capture and complex to compute. With the opportunities given by the combination of metadata descriptions standards like MPEG-7 and server-side content-based computations, the manageability of multimedia semantics in community engines becomes more feasible. As a proof of concept, we introduce a Lightweight Application Server for MPEG-7 Services (LAS) which is deployed for a web-based high-level semantic annotation tool for arbitrary images.

Today's top RESTful services and why they are not restful

Abstract: Since Fielding's seminal contribution on the REST architecture style in 2000, the so-called class of RESTful services has taken off to challenge previously existing Web services. Several books have since then emerged, providing a set of valuable guidelines and design principles for the development of truly RESTful services. However, today's most popular "RESTful" services adopt only few of these guidelines, resulting in overburdening developers integrating multiple services in mashup applications. In this paper we present an in-depth analysis for the top 20 RESTful services listed on programmableweb.com against 17 RESTful service design criteria found in literature. Results provide evidence that hardly any of the services claiming to be RESTful is truly RESTful, probably due to the lack of rigidness and ease-of-use of currently available decision criteria. To improve the situation, we provide recommendations for various stakeholder groups.

The knowledge-creating company

Abstract: How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

Communications of the ACM

Abstract: Communications of the ACM (CACM for short, not the best sounding acronym around) is the ACM’s flagship magazine. Started in 1957, CACM is handy for keeping up to date on current research being carried out across all topics of computer science and realworld applications. CACM has had an illustrious past with many influential pieces of work and debates started within its pages. These include Hoare’s presentation of the Quicksort algorithm; Rivest, Shamir and Adleman’s description of the first publickey cryptosystem RSA; and Dijkstra’s famous letter against the use of GOTO. In addition to the print edition, which is released monthly, there is a fantastic website (http://cacm.acm. org/) that showcases not only the most recent edition but all previous CACM articles as well, readable online as well as downloadable as a PDF. In addition, the website lets you browse for articles by subject, a handy feature if you want to focus on a particular topic. CACM is really essential reading. Pretty much guaranteed to contain content that is interesting to anyone, it keeps tabs on the latest in computer science. It is a valuable asset for us students, who tend to delve deep into a particular area of CS and forget everything that is happening around us. — Daniel Gooch U ndergraduate research is like a box of chocolates: You never know what kind of project you will get. That being said, there are still a few things you should know to get the most out of the experience.