Browsing by Subject "Internet der Dinge"

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Behind the scenes of emerging technologies – Opportunities, challenges, and solution approaches along a socio-technical continuum
(2021) Bayer, Sarah; Gimpel, Henner
Digitalization is a socio-technical phenomenon that shapes our lives as individuals, economies, and societies. The perceived complexity of technologies continues to increase, and technology convergence makes a clear separation between technologies impossible. A good example of this is the Internet of Things (IoT) with its embedded Artificial Intelligence (AI). Furthermore, a separation of the social and the technical component has become near enough impossible, for which there is increasing awareness in the Information Systems (IS) community. Overall, emerging technologies such as AI or IoT are becoming less understandable and transparent, which is evident for instance when AI is described in terms of a “black box”. This opacity undermines humans’ trust in emerging technologies, which, however, is crucial for both its usage and spread, especially as emerging technologies start to perform tasks that bear high risks for humans, such as autonomous driving. Critical perspectives on emerging technologies are often discussed in terms of ethics, including such aspects as the responsibility for decisions made by algorithms, the limited data privacy, and the moral values that are encoded in technology. In sum, the varied opportunities that come with digitalization are accompanied by significant challenges. Research on the negative ramifications of AI is crucial if we are to foster a human-centered technological development that is not simply driven by opportunities but by utility for humanity. As the IS community is positioned at the intersection of the technological and the social context, it plays a central role in finding answers to the question as to how the advantages outweigh the challenges that come with emerging technologies. Challenges are examined under the label of “dark side of IS”, a research area which receives considerably less attention in existing literature than the positive aspects (Gimpel & Schmied, 2019). With its focus on challenges, this dissertation aims to counterbalance this. Since the remit of IS research is the entire information system, rather than merely the technology, humanistic and instrumental goals ought to be considered in equal measure. This dissertation follows calls for research for a healthy distribution along the so-called socio-technical continuum (Sarker et al., 2019), that broadens its focus to include the social as well as the technical, rather than looking at one or the other. With that in mind, this dissertation aims to advance knowledge on IS with regard to opportunities, and in particular with a focus on challenges of two emerging technologies, IoT and AI, along the socio-technical continuum. This dissertation provides novel insights for individuals to better understand opportunities, but in particular possible negative side effects. It guides organizations on how to address these challenges and suggests not only the necessity of further research along the socio-technical continuum but also several ideas on where to take this future research. Chapter 2 contributes to research on opportunities and challenges of IoT. Section 2.1 identifies and structures opportunities that IoT devices provide for retail commerce customers. By conducting a structured literature review, affordances are identified, and by examining a sample of 337 IoT devices, completeness and parsimony are validated. Section 2.2 takes a close look at the ethical challenges posed by IoT, also known as IoT ethics. Based on a structured literature review, it first identifies and structures IoT ethics, then provides detailed guidance for further research in this important and yet under-appreciated field of study. Together, these two research articles underline that IoT has the potential to radically transform our lives, but they also illustrate the urgent need for further research on possible ethical issues that are associated with IoTs’ specific features. Chapter 3 contributes to research on AI along the socio-technical continuum. Section 3.1 examines algorithms underlying AI. Through a structured literature review and semi-structured interviews analyzed with a qualitative content analysis, this section identifies, structures and communicates concerns about algorithmic decision-making and is supposed to improve offers and services. Section 3.2 takes a deep dive into the concept of moral agency in AI to discuss whether responsibility in human-computer interaction can be grasped better with the concept of “agency”. In section 3.3, data from an online experiment with a self-developed AI system is used to examine the role of a user’s domain-specific expertise in trusting and following suggestions from AI decision support systems. Finally, section 3.4 draws on design science research to present a framework for ethical software development that considers ethical issues from the beginning of the design and development process. By looking at the multiple facets of this topic, these four research articles ought to guide practitioners in deciding which challenges to consider during product development. With a view to subsequent steps, they also offer first ideas on how these challenges could be addressed. Furthermore, the articles offer a basis for further, solution-oriented research on AI’s challenges and encourage users to form their own, informed, opinions.
Management von Cyber-Risiken und Möglichkeiten des Risikotransfers : eine ökonomische und versicherungstechnische Analyse
(2016) Haas, Andreas; Schiller, Jörg
In a data-based economy cyber-risks are an emerging operational risk. Data breaches, data destruction or business interruption resulting from a cyber attack, can lead to unexpectedly high costs. The increasing exposure of companies to cyber risks is the consequence of a lasting change in the digital economy. At the same time, continuous investments in technological prevention measures to reduce the cyber-damage risk may come to an economic limitation. With the growing use of cloud services in businesses, the cyber-risk exposure increases, especially when sensitive digital information is processed. The problem with cyber-risks regarding cloud services is that the possibilities of technological IT risk management are limited. Moreover, the financial consequences of a cyber attack may exceed the risk-bearing capacity of the affected company. Therefore, risk transfer instruments such as cyber-insurance can reduce the financial risk of cyber attacks. But despite an increased use of cloud services and a significantly rising number of cyber attacks, the cyber insurance market in Germany remains at a very low level. The aim of this work is the economic analysis of the management of cyber risks. For this purpose, cyber risks are explained in detail, and a market analysis of existing cyber insurance concepts in Germany is conducted. We find explanations for the low demand for cyber insurance products in Germany: Especially existing gaps in current coverage are identified as a market barrier. To improve cyber insurance coverage, technological development, and changes should be anticipated and implemented faster into the coverage of cyber insurance products. We developed new approaches to identify and analyze new technological risks in the context of emerging technologies like Cloud-Computing and the Internet of Things. Based on that analysis we highlight the importance of an insurance-based risk transfer. As we identify incentives for companies to externalize the costs of cyber attacks, we discuss regulatory measures to increase the general risk perception in the market to avoid such behavior. With the internalization of the financial consequences of cyber-attacks, the relevance of cyber-insurance as a complementary element in risk management increases.
Smarte Städtebauliche Objekte für eine adaptive Stadt : ein Verfahren der Künstlichen Intelligenz zur Erhöhung der Wohlfahrt
(2021) Hubl, Marvin; Kirn, Stefan
The objective of the thesis is the advancement of urban areas with intelligent information technology to enhance urban life. In doing so, social inclusion of people with motor impairments is of particular interest. At this, an important group is the set of older adults. The aspired advancement aims at enabling self-determined participation in urban life, and hence in social life, up until old age: Participation in social life essentially depends on the opportunities for self-determined exertion of outdoor activities. Motor impairments in old age lead to a perceived significant reduction of safety in urban areas and hence concerned people are worried of using the urban area. To counteract the resulting avoidance of outdoor activities the thesis pursues the approach to transform urban objects by means of technologies of the Internet of Things into novel so-called Smart Urban Objects that actively provide support in outdoor activities. Smart Urban Objects are equipped with sensors, actuators and information processing capabilities and can adapt to individual requirements of pedestrians. Due to age-correlated motor impairments, there are for example special requirements for seating. Besides the information technological transformation of single urban objects, there are furthermore important requirements for networked Smart Urban Objects. By means of intelligently coordinated, goal-oriented availability of the supportive functionalities of single Smart Urban Objects, the urban area as overall system is enabled for adaptivity with respect to pedestrians requirements. The thesis studies the conception for an adaptive city with a safety-engineering approach at the example of smart seating and develops a method for an intelligent coordination of the networked Smart Urban Objects. For an accurate allocation of single smart seats as public objects with respect to individual requirements a welfare criterion is applied which shall avoid unfairness. Using methods of Artificial Intelligence the thesis develops a heuristic procedure for finding a solution according to the welfare criterion. This implements aspects of the theory of justice by John Rawls that underlie the welfare criterion for the example of the urban area. A scenario-based simulation substantiates that the developed solution approach can effectively enhance the safety-oriented welfare in the urban area.