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Successful animal systems often manage risk through synchronous behavior that spontaneously arises without leadership. In critical human systems facing risk, such as financial markets or military operations, our understanding of the benefits associated with synchronicity is nascent but promising. Building on previous work illuminating commonalities between ecological and human systems, we compare the activity patterns of individual financial traders with the simultaneous activity of other traders—an individual and spontaneous characteristic we call synchronous trading. Additionally, we examine the association of synchronous trading with individual performance and communication patterns. Analyzing empirical data on day traders' second-to-second trading and instant messaging, we find that the higher the traders' synchronous trading is, the less likely they are to lose money at the end of the day. We also find that the daily instant messaging patterns of traders are closely associated with their level of synchronous trading. This result suggests that synchronicity and vanguard technology may help traders cope with risky decisions in complex systems and may furnish unique prospects for achieving collective and individual goals.

Einleitung -- Sensibilisierende Konzepte – theoretische Ausgangs- und Anknüpfungspunkte -- Grounded Theory als Methodologie und Methode -- Methoden im Mixed Methods Design -- Ergebnisse Teil 1: Ausgangspunkt, explorative Analyse und erste Konzepte -- Ergebnisse Teil 2: Konzeptuelle Codes aus relationaler Perspektive -- Ergebnisse Teil 3: Prozesse der Herstellung von Bildungsrelationen -- Conclusion.

International audience ; Nowadays, digital communications are pervasive and as such, they carry a huge amount of both professional and private information all around the world. Given the knowledge that can be extracted from such information, its confidentiality is of utmost importance for both companies and individuals. Recent news related to massive breaches of privacy by both external actors such as government agencies, rogue teams, and internal actors such as communication services providers (i.e., Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon) have exacerbated the need for more secure communication technologies. Although message content can be encrypted end-to-end by so-called off-the-record techniques, message metadata such as sender, recipient, time sent and size can still leak a lot of information about communicating parties. Oblivious RAM (ORAM) systems form a promising new branch of research for hiding such metadata from the hosting servers, but they have not yet been deployed in production environments. Due to their complexity and performance penalty, they can currently be used only for very simple client-server applications such as instant messaging (IM). In this context, we show that accessing metadata on a messaging server can leak information that could be concealed by ORAM systems. More specifically, we show the differences observed in metadata collection between a classic XMPP server and two ORAM-based servers. In order to assess those systems , we have designed a new attack based on live forensic techniques in order to retrieve metadata from the RAM of a running IM server. We have used two datasets of instant messages for carrying out this assessment. Our experimental attack setup can highlight the leak of metadata from a standard messaging server and can also be used for testing the security of an ORAM-based messaging server.

International audience ; Nowadays, digital communications are pervasive and as such, they carry a huge amount of both professional and private information all around the world. Given the knowledge that can be extracted from such information, its confidentiality is of utmost importance for both companies and individuals. Recent news related to massive breaches of privacy by both external actors such as government agencies, rogue teams, and internal actors such as communication services providers (i.e., Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon) have exacerbated the need for more secure communication technologies. Although message content can be encrypted end-to-end by so-called off-the-record techniques, message metadata such as sender, recipient, time sent and size can still leak a lot of information about communicating parties. Oblivious RAM (ORAM) systems form a promising new branch of research for hiding such metadata from the hosting servers, but they have not yet been deployed in production environments. Due to their complexity and performance penalty, they can currently be used only for very simple client-server applications such as instant messaging (IM). In this context, we show that accessing metadata on a messaging server can leak information that could be concealed by ORAM systems. More specifically, we show the differences observed in metadata collection between a classic XMPP server and two ORAM-based servers. In order to assess those systems , we have designed a new attack based on live forensic techniques in order to retrieve metadata from the RAM of a running IM server. We have used two datasets of instant messages for carrying out this assessment. Our experimental attack setup can highlight the leak of metadata from a standard messaging server and can also be used for testing the security of an ORAM-based messaging server.

Modern communication technologies have vastly increased the reach and influence of political rumors, with negative consequences for democratic political systems globally. Rumor communication can be theorized as a form of political talk that helps citizens grapple with the uncertainty inherent in politics, form opinions, and build solidarity with others. The present study examines how one type of communication technology—instant messaging platforms—might facilitate forms of rumor communication that can influence participation in and knowledge about politics. Using original panel survey data from the 2017 South Korean election, we find that rumor communication on the popular instant messaging platform KakaoTalk predicts increased campaign participation, but not campaign knowledge. Further, political rumor communication on instant messaging platforms appears to exacerbate participatory inequality between those with weak and those with strong political interest and ideology.

Organizational decision making is dominated by teams. When an important decision is required, a team is often formed to make it or to advise the individual decision maker, because a team has more resources, knowledge, and political insight than any one individual working alone. As teams have become geographically distributed, collaboration technology has come to play an important role in such collective decision making efforts. Instant messaging (IM) is an increasingly prevalent workplace collaboration technology that enables near-synchronous text exchanges on a variety of devices. We examined the use of IMduring face-to-face, telephone, and computer-mediated team meetings, a practice we call "invisible whispering." We introduce Goffman's characterization of social interaction as dramatic performance, differentiable into "front stage" and "backstage" exchanges, to analyze how invisible whispering alters the socio-spatial and temporal boundaries of team decision making. Using IM, workers were able to influence front stage decision making through backstage conversations, often participating in multiple backstage conversations simultaneously. This type of interaction would be either physically impossible or socially constrained without the use of IM. We examine how invisible whispering changes the processes of collaborative decision making and how these new processes may affect the efficiency and effectiveness of collaborative decision making, as well as participation, satisfaction, relationships among team members, and individual attention.

Internetkommunikationsdienste sind Dienste, die zwischenmenschliche Kontakte über das Internet ermöglichen. Zu diesen zählen etwa die Internettelefonie (Voice over IP, z.B. Skype), Instant Messaging (z.B. WhatsApp) und die E-Mail. Viele dieser Dienste sind bereits seit den 1990er Jahren populär, doch ihre rechtliche Einordnung und die daran anknüpfenden Regulierungsfolgen sind nach wie vor umstritten. In dem Werk wird untersucht, ob sie de lege lata vom Telekommunikationsrecht erfasst sind. Sodann wird erforscht, welche Regelungen dieses Rechtsgebiets sinnvoll auf derartige Angebote anwendbar sind oder künftig sein sollten. Analysiert werden Normen des sektorspezifischen Kartellrechts, des Kundenschutzes, der öffentlichen Sicherheit sowie des Datenschutzrechts. Abschließend wird angesichts des schnellen technischen Wandels in der Telekommunikationsbranche die Reaktionsfähigkeit des hierzulande geltenden Telekommunikationsrechts im Vergleich zum US-amerikanischen Recht untersucht.

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Instant messaging services (IMS) are widely used in medical practice. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate perceptions regarding use and usability of IMS within clinical practice and assess users' knowledge of the ethical and legal context involved in using IMS within medical practice. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study conducted in different hospitals and medical institutions in Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: Medical students, medical residents, primary care physicians and specialist doctors answered an online questionnaire regarding epidemiological data, graduation level and use of IMS for medical communication. Responses were collected over a five-month period and data were assessed using the IBM-SPSS software. RESULTS: 484 people answered the questionnaire: 97.0% declared that they were using IMS for medical-related purposes; 42.0%, to elucidate medical concerns every week; 75.0%, to share imaging or laboratory tests and patients' medical records; and 90.5%, to participate in clinical case-study private groups. Moreover, only 37.0% declared that they had knowledge of the legislative aspects of use of smartphones within clinical practice. Differences in the frequency of discussion of medical concerns within the daily routine between student/residents and general practitioners/specialists, and in the frequency of image-sharing and patient-guiding/assistance between students and medical doctors, were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide reliable proof that medical doctors and students use IMS, as a tool for clinical case discussions, interactions between healthcare providers and patients, or dissemination of knowledge and information. Nonetheless, because of limitations to the ethical and legal regulations, evidence-based discussions between authorities, academics and medical institutions are needed in order to fully achieve positive outcomes from such platforms.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Information, Communication and Society on 07 Aug 2017, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1350730 ; Mobile instant messaging services (MIMS) are emerging as important digital environments in citizens' everyday lives. We explore the use of MIMS for talking about politics with unique survey data on samples representative of Internet users in Germany, Italy, and the UK. First, we show that robust percentages of our respondents who use MIMS employ them for posting political messages and discussing politics. Second, we demonstrate that political talk on MIMS is positively associated with users' tendency to censor themselves politically on social networking sites (SNS) and, to a lesser extent, with ideological extremism. Third, we find that the association between self-censorship on SNS and the likelihood of publishing political contents on MIMS is stronger for individuals living in former East Germany where, due to historical reasons, large segments of the population are reluctant to talk about politics in public. Our findings suggest that MIMS make a distinctive contribution to contemporary repertoires of political talk, with important implications for the quality and inclusiveness of interpersonal political discussion.

Background. In KwaZulu-Natal (KZ-N), South Africa, recent reports have indicated that spontaneous use of smartphones has occurred, providing access to specialist dermatological care to remote areas. This informal use has raised a number of practical, legal, regulatory, and ethical concerns. Aim. To assess the nature and content of WhatsApp messages sent to dermatologists, to determine the referring doctors' reasons for, and satisfaction with, their interactions, as well as their knowledge of legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements. Methods. A retrospective study of WhatsApp messages between referring doctors and dermatologists, as well as a cross-sectional survey of doctors working at district hospitals in KZ-N who used IM for teledermatology. Results. Use of IM (primarily WhatsApp) for teledermatology was almost universal, but often not considered 'telemedicine'. Few referring doctors were aware of South Africa's ethical guidelines and their requirements, and few of those who did followed them, e.g., the stipulated and onerous consent process and existing privacy and security legislations. No secure methods for record keeping or data storage of WhatsApp content were used. A desire to formalize the service existed. Conclusions. Based upon these findings, it was proposed that a number of described steps be followed in order to formalize the use of IM for teledermatology.