Submissions

Next Special issue: Next Generation ICT- How distant is ubiquitous computing?

Editorial Team:

• Kirti Ruikar, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, UK.
• Ketan Kotecha, Director, SIT; Director, Symbiosis Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (SCAAI); Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), India.
• Sayali Sandbhor, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Symbiosis Institute of Technology (SIT), India.
• Albert Thomas, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IITB), India.

Background:

Traditional design development processes have come a long way from the use of a drawing board. The accelerated use of ICT-based digital systems means that the industry has steadily moved towards a digitized future. A future where increasingly unstructured information is created, shared, manipulated, stored, and archived in various digital media that support the four pillars of visualization, integration, communication and intelligence on which typical construction projects currently stand. The ICT field's growth, combined with the unprecedented advances in communication and network media usage, has resulted in hyper-interconnectivity globally. This hyper-connectivity through developments such as the Internet of Things (IoT) creates global opportunities for collaboration, which was not previously possible.  It links 'human' and 'social' networks with 'technical' systems. With the vast volumes of digitally connected systems and the systems' data, new opportunities for learning have surfaced in the construction domain.

Focus/ Theme of the Special Issue:

The proposed special issue bridges the gap between the two domains of construction and computer science. The emergence of next-generation ICT, combined with the developments on ubiquitous computing, presents opportunities that challenge the current status quo of the construction sector. This special issue recognizes that for an industry to remain truly competitive, due consideration needs to be given to the ongoing and emerging technological developments, and a deep understanding of which would lead to novel responsive approaches for their significant uptake. These developments could cover topics such as the innovative application of Artificial Intelligence and IoT in construction projects. With this in mind, the special issue invites papers from all geographies that cover the novel application of next-generation ICT in construction projects at various technology readiness levels to reach ubiquitous computing.

Construction projects typically fall within the four pillars of visualization, integration, communication, and intelligence (and their intersections). The special issue focuses on application of ICT to these pillars. The special issue's proposed topic is extensive enough to draw a reasonable number of submissions but narrow enough to offer a cohesive compilation of articles pertaining to use of next generation ICT in construction.

The major themes focused on ubiquitous computing for this special issue include:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Twins
• Internet of Things
• BIM and Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality
• Robotics
• Advanced ICT for information modeling, analysis and prediction

Key dates:

• Paper submission deadline: 15^thJanuary 2021
• Final paper acceptance: 1^st April 2021
• Author proofs: 1^st May 2021
• Final date of special issue online publication: 1^st June 2021

For any call/ submission related query:

Drop an email to Ms. Vaishnavi Dabir, Editorial Assistant, at nextgenICT_itcon@sitpune.edu.in

ConVR 2020 conference

Nash Dawood and Farzad Rahimian

Special Issue from The Eastman Symposium

In honour of Charles “Chuck” Eastman, the late Professor Emeritus in College of Design (previously, College of Architecture) and College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and founder of the Digital Building Lab, both ITcon and Construction Management and Economics will be compiling a federated special edition based on the conversations and commemorations at the forthcoming Eastman Symposium in May 2021. Eastman was well-known in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry as one of the originators of design computing including applications for computer-aided design (CAD) and building information modelling (BIM). As the headline of the Eastman Symposium summed up, his thought leadership has inspired generations of digitally-minded architects equipped new capabilities and ways of designing and producing the built environment. While it is important to commemorate the legacy of Eastman, ongoing digital transformations such as the fourth industrial revolution (or Construction 4.0) also call for new technical and organisational transformation that builds on and even challenges the foundational knowledge created by Eastman and his proteges. It is in this spirit that this federated special issue in ITcon and Construction Management and Economics is intended.

We welcome a diversity of contributions in addition to traditional empirical research papers, including critical reviews, position papers, policy reviews, essays and book reviews. Prospective authors should pay attention to the submission guidelines of ITcon (for papers that have a stronger technical orientation) and Construction Management and Economics (for papers that have a stronger orientation towards organisation, management and economic aspects).

Editorial Team:

• Prof Žiga Turk, University of Ljubljana
• Prof Dana Vanier, University of British Columbia
• Prof Robert Amor, University of Auckland

Important dates:

• Submissions open: 13 May 2021
• Deadline for full papers: End of July 2021
• First Editorial Decision: October/November 2021
• Final papers due: March - May 2022