Agent and Semantic Support for Rural Enterprise (ASSURE)
Overview
ASSURE is a multidisciplinary research project being carried out at the dot.rural Digital Economy Research Centre (University of Aberdeen) in partnership with Scottish Enterprise. Computing Scientist Prof Tim Norman leads the ASSURE project, within dot.rural’s Enterprise and Culture research theme.
In the project a group of rural Scottish businesses will participate in research that drives the design of an online business-networking tool. The project explores how online networking can help rural businesses to identify useful connections and potential collaborations. Both Computing Scientists and Social Scientists are working together on the project to design the user-driven technology.
The research will provide valuable insights into the socio-economic impact of online business networking support in rural areas. In particular, this technology is expected to alleviate the effects of remoteness while enhancing the global reach of rural businesses.
Objectives:
Aims: To understand the impact of existing social networking technologies in developing and sustaining rural enterprise; to evaluate how Semantic Web and Agent technologies can be exploited to enhance and add value to rural business networks through the design of an online business networking tool.
Objectives:
1. Assess how existing social networking technologies are used by rural businesses both within communities and to support wider collaboration. For what purpose are they used in what business sectors, what are the perceived benefits and in what ways can these benefits be quantified?
2. Development of an early prototype ASSURE system that incorporates elements of semantic matchmaking and agent technologies that extends an existing off-the-shelf social networking system.
3. Explore, through mechanisms such as focus groups, surveys and structured interviews, the possible ways in which semantic matchmaking and intelligent agent technologies could enhance existing, and facilitate the formation of new business collaborations. This exercise will be run jointly by social and computing science researchers, and utilise the prototype ASSURE system. Issues of trust and information security will be explored with stakeholders in this context.
4. Refinement of ASSURE system in response to outcomes of early evaluation exercise. This refinement may operate as a process of co-creation between end users and computer scientists (Drs. Nico Rotstein and Chris Burnett) facilitated by the social sciences Research Fellow (Dr. Leanne Townsend).
5. Deploy and evaluate a stable version of the ASSURE system with existing rural business communities (identified in objective 1) with the aim of assessing the impact of next generation social networking systems on rural enterprise.
Research questions:
Research questions include the following:
- In what ways do rural businesses utilise internet technologies?
- In what ways do rural businesses utilise the internet in communicating with other businesses?
- How are existing social networking technologies already being used by rural businesses, both within communities and to support wider collaboration?
- What are the existing benefits of this practice to these businesses?
- How can a social networking-type technology be designed which encompasses elements of semantic matchmaking and intelligent agent technology, for use by rural businesses?
- How can semantic matchmaking and intelligent agent technologies enhance existing/formulate new business collaborations in rural settings?
- Can such collaborations reduce the barriers associated with remote location?
- Do issues of trust exist around working relationships that are developed via online technologies?
- Can the increased utilisation of social networking-type technologies enhance the resilience and adaptability of rural businesses?
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