Mini Tracks – Call for Paper  &  Workshops

Aki Huhtinen



Jari Rantapelkonen


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Messy Wars

Network Enabled Operations

Cyber Defense

If you would be interested in preparing and chairing a mini track, please contact the Conference Director, Sue Nugus outlining your suggested topic.

Mini Track: Messy Wars or What?

Co-Chairs: Aki Huhtinen, Finnish Defence Force, Helsinki, Finland

Jari Rantapelkonen, Finnish Defence Force, Helsinki, Finland

.PDF of Messy Wars

The nature of wars and how to get along has been a serious question concerning many from the military to industry, and from media to the entertainment business. One of the distinguishing features of information age is a contradiction between the ideology of high-tech war vs. the reality of increasingly messy and unpredictable wars. The way spectators of wars attach to and see wars is through the media; television, newspapers, and various internet pages. The way war-wagers fight is very much through the technology; sensors collecting information from complex environment, screens of computer networks showing the chaotic battle space and shooters pinpointing precision munitions thorough the weapons eyes to targets. One may as if the war is more efficient act due to the high tech and civilized man.

This mini track is interested on articles that focus in discussing how the war has changed and where the war is going to. Questions such as

• What is the role of information technology in current and future wars?
• What role do human beings serve in networked centric wars?

The track is also interested in the role played by high tech and humans on the battlefield that influence the results of war. Papers that deal with methodology of examining modern and postmodern wars will also be considered for this mini track.

Both practioners and academics are welcomed to discuss on challenges of conventional wars, terror wars and information wars.

For further insight into Messy War, click here for details of a recent book published by Aki and Jari.

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Mini Track: Network Enabled Operations

Chair: Prof. António Grilo, INESC/INOV, Lisbon, Portugal

.PDF of NEO

Understanding how organizational structures would evolve as a result of the increasing use of information and networking technologies should be considered a major challenge in this information era where social networks play a central role.

Network Enabled Operations (NEO) is currently a discussion topic within both Armed Forces and Enterprises. The current emphasis on NEO originates a certain need to clarify the benefits of such operations. There is currently no universally accepted understanding of NEO, due to the complex nature of the issue. However, the concept is heavily hypothesis driven, characterized by high expectations of possible effects that may be achieved through networking (technological and organizational). The fundamental hypotheses of the concept are yet to be validated, and the benefits of NEO on military operations and enterprises must be put in concrete terms.

Developing models and tools to obtain an information processing view of an organization and analyzing how the use of these technologies would transform its value chain will help us to understand the differences in how work is conducted in net-enabled organizations. Research results derived from recent experiments showed, for example, that the emerging business model would be a value network where multiple enterprises would form a collaborative organization to deliver a unique value proposition to its customers. A key challenge in managing these organizations would be the sharing of tacit knowledge (knowledge that cannot be shared easily through information systems).

In the last decade, focus has increasingly shifted from the relatively stable threat situation of the cold war to a situation characterized by turbulence where accidents and severe peacetime emergencies are strongly influencing our view of the world. A decision to make the Armed Forces ”Network based” has already been made on the political level, and an overarching concept for network based utilization of military power has been developed. The intention is to be able to deploy operational forces tailored according to need, at the right place and at the right time, so as to be able to carry out operations that will achieve the desired effect. The network should be able to provide the means to achieve information superiority and enhance society's total capacity to handle serious crises or emergencies in a coordinated manner. Close cooperation between actors will create the conditions for fast, coordinated and well-founded decisions.

NEO increases the effectiveness of an organization (military force or enterprise) by improving intelligence collection, analysis and information sharing between its various elements. Consequently, the implementation of NEO principles is key to achieve shared awareness, increased speed of command/decision, higher tempo of operations and increased operational security in the field.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together different communities (military, enterprises, government, industry and academic) researching in areas that may affect Network Centric Operations, such as Social Networks, Networking Technologies, Information and Knowledge Management, Decision Support Systems, , to share their ideas and experiences. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Tenets of Network Enabled Operations/Capability (NEO/NEC)
• Insights from NEO/NEC case studies
• NEO/NEC implementation strategies;
• Effects Based Operations;
• Network Based Defence.

NEO is recognized as the cornerstone of Armed Forces transformation around the world. It is known as Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) in NATO and the United Kingdom, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) in the United States and Australia, Network Based Defence (NBD) in Sweden and Network Centric Operations (NCO) elsewhere

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

Mini Track: Cyber Defense

Chair: Rear Admiral Carmo Durão, SI/TIC department of MDN – National Ministry of Defense, Portugal

.PDF of Cyber Defense

With the increasing growth of Internet, we have witnessed a significant change in both nature of threats and level of malicious attacks directed against the Internet-connected systems. These systems, and their structural components, which build up information infrastructures, are the tangible part of a virtual world that we call Cyberspace.

Different actors can explore and use Cyberspace in a competitive or hostile way to attack enterprises or government critical decision making processes and information infrastructures. A major Cyber Attack on Estonian public and private institutions in April and May 2007 prompted the world countries to take a harder look at its Cyber Defences and highlighted this real world problem.

There are essentially two approaches towards security of information infrastructures that configures a reactive or a proactive posture. In reaction mode, every Cyber Security event or incident is typically seen as a crisis where security countermeasures are often applied on a case by case (as-needed) basis and legislative and regulatory measures also tend to produce a late reaction. This has been the traditional paradigm for protecting organization’s information infrastructures. The proactive approach is one where decision makers conduct risk analysis, identify the appropriate Cyber Security controls and processes, and apply these enterprise-wide. The effective adoption of Cyber Defence principles and Cyber Security standards require organizations to establish mechanisms to prevent, deter, detect and recover from attacks.

Depending on their nature and estimated level of disruption to Society, these attacks can configure a danger to critical infrastructures that are vital for the survival of “Information Age Societies”. A clear definition of social vulnerability, risk analysis and risk management in the information arena and the delimitation of concepts such as information warfare and Critical Infrastructures Protection will contribute to a deeper understanding of Cyber Defence related issues. Information Assurance and National Information Infrastructure Protection concepts should also be discussed, reflecting its main areas and its complex interconnectedness. They play a key role in every country’s Defence and Security policy.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together different communities researching in areas that may affect Cyberdefence, such as social and behavioural science, information security, information warfare, information society, critical insfrastructure protection, to share their ideas and experiences. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Cyberspace and Information Warfare;
• Cyberthreats: Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism and Cyberwarfare;
• Critical Infrastructure Protection ;
• Analysis and Management of Social Risk in Cyberspace;
• Methodologies, architectures and computational tools for Cybersecurity and Cyberdefence;
• Legal and Regulatory issues in Cyberspace and its implications on Cyberdefence;
• National and Multinational Cooperative Cyberdefence Initiatives. Case-Study Analysis (e.g. Estonia and Georgia);
• Strategic and Operational Implications of Cyberdefence;
• Information Assurance and National Information Strategy.

For mini track submission details, see the call for papers page.

If you would be interested in preparing and chairing a mini track, please contact the Conference Director, Sue Nugus outlining your suggested topic.

See the complete list of conferences managed by ACI.

Updated 9 February 2009