The KIT ─ Knowledge & Information Technology
No. 177 - 3 October 2016
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In This Issue
Building Smart Cities
Data Residency Discussion Paper
Cloud Architecture for e-Commerce
Cybersecurity Webcast
Free Speech and Cyber-Retaliation
ACM Skillsoft Courses
Seen Recently
Claude Baudoin

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Building Smart Cities
The U.S. Commercial Service and the District Export Council are jointly presenting "Discover Global Markets: Building Smart Cities" in Chicago on Nov. 1-3. The Industrial Internet Consortium is a supporting organization of this conference, which will include panels, one-on-one meetings and extensive networking to address opportunities and demand for new technologies to make cities more sustainable. Registration is $495.
Data Residency Discussion Paper
At a meeting on September 14, the Object Management Group (OMG) kicked off the effort to publish a discussion paper on data residency -- the issues and practices related to the location and movement of data across geographies and jurisdictions. The paper's outline is available here, and co-authors are sought. Your contribution can be of any length and can consist of a short use case, an addition to the table of relevant regulations or standards, examples of sensitive data in certain domains, etc. Please contact us to offer input or sign up as a reviewer!

Contributions made by November will be reviewed at our December meeting. Publication is expected by March 2017 at the latest.
Cloud Architecture for e-Commerce
The Cloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC) has published a new white paper, Cloud Customer Architecture for e-Commerce. As with all CSCC publications, the paper can be downloaded for free.

During a webinar on October 4 (tomorrow), the authors of the paper will discuss key considerations for e-Commerce architecture and methods for enhancing customer engagement by delivering personalized experiences to users based on past purchase history, browsing activity, etc. They will provide guidance on implementing an e-Commerce system using private, public or hybrid cloud deployment models.
Cybersecurity Webcast
On October 18 at 11:00 Eastern US time (16:00 UK, 17:00 Europe), Ron Townsen of General Dynamics and Andrew Watson of the Object Management Group will present a webinar on "Cyber Security Protection for Front Line Real-Time Systems." They will explain the scope of the OMG's Request for Information (RFI) on what new or improved standards can reduce cost in developing high-quality cybersecurity solutions, and invite the audience to respond. Register here.
Free Speech and Cyber-Retaliation
Still on the topic of cybersecurity, cyberattacks have taken an ominous turn toward political and news manipulation in 2016. This article from Engadget mentions a new form of attack: taking down a journalist's Web site in retaliation for his writing about cybercrime. The article also mentions the worrisome possibility that Internet of Things devices could be subverted and "enlisted" into an army of cyberattack bots, thanks to their frequently poor level of protection.

(Thank you to David McCormick for bringing this to our attention.)
ACM Skillsoft Courses
We periodically list here the most popular online courses for IT and software people in the ACM's catalog (which contains 1400 titles across 15 areas of specialization). Here are some we think are worth mentioning: You need to log in with your ACM credentials at the top right of the catalog page before you can see the detailed listing of each topic area and access the courses. The site navigation leaves to be desired... but a whole lot of free courses is worth the effort.
Seen Recently...
"What science can there be in a matter in which, as in all practical matters, nothing can be defined and everything depends on innumerable conditions, the significance of which is determined at a particular moment which arrives no one knows when?"
-- Leo Tolstoy, "War and Peace"
(speaking about war, not information systems)
"If we migrate the enterprise to cloud, use analytics, IoT and DevOps for all services, the entire company can be managed by one monkey. Plus a second monkey to look at the Powerpoint slides from the first monkey."
--Scott Adam's Dilbert