An Early Management System for Subscriber Equipment Installation

The Journal revisits an historic paper from 1970 detailing the introduction of a computer-based Subscriber Installation Management Control System.

Editorial: Perspectives on Machine Learning

Progress in machine learning technology has truly impacted our lives by tailoring many of our daily experiences to be seamless and intuitive. This innovation has brought about changes in day-to-day routines; from suggesting music based on our emotions to offering recommendations for places to visit or meals to try out. This special issue explores various Machine Learning technologies. Among some are Machine Learning advances that improve human interaction, predict user behaviours, analyse user reviews, and optimize high-risk investments like Bitcoin trading. These technologies enhance user experiences, help businesses refine marketing strategies, and provide quick insights from vast amounts of information, elevating AI to new heights. With the rise of transformation into advanced technologies taking prominence in our lives, we expect to see these machine learning innovations being integrated across many sectors and uses.

Editorial: Operational AI

This editorial provides some reasoning behind the decision to publish the Special Issue section on “Perspectives on Machine Learning”. It also outlines the other content of this September issue and introduces the new Managing Editor of the Journal to take over in 2025.

How Does the Digital Economy Influence the Pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals?

Our study aims to examine the impact of the digital economy on sustainable development during international financial crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the current war between Russia and Ukraine. To do this, we collected an annual dataset from 1990 to 2022 for twenty-eight developed and twenty-five developing countries, to identify links between environmental, socio-economic, and proxy indicators of the digital economy. We estimate these links using the Within and GLS methods and use the Hausman (1978) test for individual effects to determine the nature of these links. Our results show that the digital economy has made a positive and significant contribution to sustainable development. For developing countries, mobile technologies have positive and significant effects on sustainable development, whereas, in developed countries, these effects are less elastic. The Internet has a positive and significant effect on the Human Development Index. While trade openness plays a driving role in environmental performance, it has a negative impact on equitable and sustainable development.

Exploring Digital Proficiency Among Mothers of School-going Children in Kerala

Early exposure to social and digital media in this digital age greatly influences children’s lives, leading to an increasing number of parents and educators becoming concerned about the potential negative effects of excessive screen time. By investigating mothers’ digital competencies as informal educators, this study fills a significant research gap. The paper emphasises women as mentors, highlighting their responsibility to supervise and guide their children’s use of digital devices in an era of pervasive connectedness. Using a modified version of the DigCompEdu framework, the study focuses on two essential elements: empowering children; and fostering their understanding of digital competence areas. A thousand homemakers from two wards of the Kochi Corporation area in the Ernakulam district, Kerala, India are included in the study. Discriminant analysis is used to identify four important skill areas that demonstrate significant group differences – between Novice, Basic, Independent, and Proficient user groups. Results imply that tailoring digital literacy programs to mothers’ varying proficiency levels can enhance their ability to navigate digital parenting effectively. Additionally, integrating sociodemographic factors into interventions can ensure relevance and efficacy in addressing digital competence disparities among mothers.

Developing a Holistic Framework for Assessing the Development of the Digital Economy

Rapid advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT) have accelerated the expansion of the digital economy (DE). However, the lack of a universally accepted definition has hindered a systematic assessment of the progress of the DE. A robust framework to evaluate various aspects of DE activities is crucial to fully capture the potential of the DE. This study conducts a systematic review of academic literature to identify and analyse various dimensions of the DE, aiming to propose a framework to assess the development of the DE. A comprehensive analysis of 161 articles from the Scopus database (2010–2024) identifies four core dimensions, namely digital infrastructure, digital industrialisation, industrial digitisation and digital innovation as the primary focus of existing DE research. These findings lay the groundwork for developing the framework to assess the development of the DE.