New @ IEEE in Communications, November 2005

1. SOCIAL NETWORKING LAYS FOUNDATION FOR INNOVATIVE DESIGNS
The current special issue of IEEE Internet Computing (v. 9, no. 5) explores how ideas from social networking can propel creative designs in the communications technology field. To help people use communication technologies to understand and manage their social networks more effectively, the issue' guest editors have selected three articles that position social networks and social networking in terms of relationships among individuals. One author focuses on the networked ego of the e-mail user to present sociograms as end-user visualizations of connections between individuals who have been co-addressed on e-mail messages. The second article examines social isolation and depression in elderly individuals and uses social networking and computing technologies to help reduce these feelings and provide health feedback displays. The third article connects physical place, mobile technologies, and social networks into the P3 framework, a system which helps designers determine appropriate geographic context clues for specific social interactions. The guest editors' introduction, along with a sidebar entitled "Resources on Social Networks, Social Networking, and Social Analysis," are available to all readers online: the link


5. FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS MAY LINK MULTIPLE PLATFORMS IN SENSOR NETWORKS
Missions to other planets and moons may one day use combined space, aerial and ground vehicles to deploy sensors and a communications network more robust and adaptable than current one-vehicle missions, researchers say. The new concept would ensure that the failure of one instrument or vehicle would not doom a mission, say scientists from the California Institute of Technology, the University of Arizona and the U.S. Geological Survey. The researchers propose multi-tiered robotic space missions that link orbiting spacecrafts, blimps and balloons with ground robots, all of which will carry instruments which can communicate and interact with instruments on the other platforms to exploit local weather and geographic conditions.
Read more: the link.


14. PAPER SUBMISSIONS TO INFORMATION FUSION CONFERENCE DUE MID-JANUARY
Papers to the 9th International Conference on Information Fusion should be submitted by 15 January 2006. The conference, sponsored by the IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society, seeks papers on advancements and applications in information fusion, particularly those with special emphasis on non-traditional topics. Some areas of interest include foundational tools, algorithmic developments, technological advancements and applications. The conference will take place in Florence, Italy, next June. For more details, visit: the link.