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| With the rapid evolution of the Internet, we are currently experiencing a shift from the traditional sharing of information and applications as the main purpose of the Web to an emergent paradigm that puts people at the very centre of networks and exploits the value of peoples connections, relations and collaborations. Social networks are also playing a major role in the dynamics and structure of intelligent Web-based networking and collaborative systems. Virtual campuses, virtual communities and organizations effectively leverage intelligent networking and collaborative systems by tapping into a broad range of formal and informal electronic relations, such as business-to-business, peer-to-peer and many types of online collaborative learning interactions, including the emerging e-learning systems. This has resulted in entangled systems that need to be managed efficiently and autonomously. In addition, the latest and powerful technologies based on Grid and wireless infrastructure as well as Cloud computing are now greatly enhancing collaborative and networking applications, but are also facing new issues and challenges. The principal objective of the research and development community is to stimulate research that leads to the creation of responsive environments for networking and, in the longer-term, the development of adaptive, secure, mobile, and intuitive intelligent systems for collaborative work and learning. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||