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IT has a role to play in the current debate on climate change. The current discourse on IT and climate
change views IT in a negative light, as a polluter. What remains unrecognised is the critical role of IT as
a source of solutions to the climate change problem. We live in a massive, inter-connected Planet Earth
Supply Chain. IT provides a range of tools to model, manage and optimise this supply chain.
The University of Wollongong Carbon-Centric Computing Initiative (CCCI) seeks to seed a program of research that addresses the climate change problem with a range of computing technologies including (but not limited to): optimisation technologies, supply chain management technologies, business process management/ process improvement technologies, grid computing (e.g., utility grid) and virtualisation technologies, ICT-enabled conferencing and collaboration technologies as well as ICT for knowledge sharing and networkcentric advocacy.
The contours of this new and exciting space for research and industry development are described in this
report. The report provides insights into a set of representative points within this new space. It describes
how existing web infrastructure could be leveraged to devise the optimising web - a massive, globally
inter-connected network of optimisers helping support decisions that would reduce the global carbon
footprint. It describes how computer simulation models can provide the basis for sustainable manufacturing
and environmental management in the enterprise. It describes how IT based techniques can help support
supply chain optimisation audits to determine if and how value might be best derived from the judicious
use of optimisation technology. It describes the critical role ICT-enabled collaboration technologies can
play in reducing the carbon footprint. It also addresses the key role ICT-based knowledge sharing and
network-centric advocacy can play in obtaining broader social engagement in this debate. The report addresses
the policy dimension to these issues and the need for an industry-academia consortium to drive
such an agenda forward.
The DSL: The Decision Systems Lab has engaged in cutting-edge research in the areas of industrial optimisation,
business process management, service-oriented computing, software engineering and the applications
of artificial intelligence technology for over a decade. It prides itself in being able to effectively
span the spectrum from basic to applied research, and has generated a range of high-impact insights and
industry applications.
ATUL: As the Activity Theory Usability Laboratory, ATUL was opened in 2001. Able to support both research
and practice, ATUL was then equipped to conduct holistic and realistic usability evaluations of computer
applications and websites. Since its opening ATUL has expanded to acquire an exciting range of tools in
innovative areas of business analysis and training: team-building, group decision support, systems modeling,
content analysis among these.