Open data is a resource that both local governments and citizens can use for answering questions about a particular community and for innovating new products and services. In reality, there are a number of barriers to the use of open data, not least that citizens can find it difficult to make sense of available data and understand what sort of problems it may solve. In this paper we describe th...

The development of case studies in selected Portuguese cities and regions which have been engaged in “digital city” projects is considered in this paper in a way to discuss main challenges and opportunities for mobilizing the information society in Europe, with emphasis for the conditions affecting less favourable zones. It is argued that value-based networks have the potential to make both pub...

In this chapter, we investigate the concept of Smart Sustainable Cities. We begin with five major developments of the last decades and show how they can be said to build a basis for the Smart Sustainable Cities concept. We argue that for the concept to have any useful meaning, it needs to be more strictly defined than it has previously been. We suggest such a definition and bring up some of the...

In this essay, I examine differences between individual and social play and, in particular, the differences between individual and social play within digital media forms designed to promote both: massively multi-player online computer games (MMOGs). The analysis considers in most depth differences between group and solo play within the NCSoft’s and Cryptic Studios’ MMOG, City of Heroes. Based o...