The Sixth Global Imperative focuses on the fundamental differences between the characteristics of cyberspace (with the Internet at its core) and the traditional features of international relations that often make it difficult to track changes in each domain individually, and almost impossible to do so at their intersection.
The challenge is to track the relationship between cyberspace and the conventional venues of the world system, reduce the disconnects, and help create the fundamental principles for aligning contemporary international relations theory, policy, and practice with the emergent complexities of the twenty-first century.
Clearly, each of these two “spaces”—the cyber and the global—are defined by different core principles and characterized by distinct features of structure and process that enable, and are enabled by, a wide range of actors and activities.
The complexity of interconnections between cyberspace and the global system requires a multidisciplinary approach for assisting stakeholders—including governmental, scientific, and industrial stakeholders—in (a) sharing a common understanding of the challenges, (b) accessing relevant knowledge bases, (c) exchanging expertise and perspectives, and (d) enhancing and improving all cyber-related capabilities. CyberIR@MIT, (see cyberir.mit.edu) is designed in response to such daunting challenges.
We shall address each of the following system features:
What is Cyber-International Relations?
Presents the mission and the vision of Cyber-IR as a knowledge based interactive website.
Content & Coverage
Introduces the content of the Cyber-IR and the underlying logic.
Knowledge Architecture
Shows how the content is organized and structured along dimensions and domains and their intersection.
System Ontology
Presents a high-level view of content by domains and dimensions as an introduction to the detailed ontology available on cyberIR.mit.edu
Search & Submit
Highlights the search functions that operate over the knowledge base, and presents the form for user submission of content into the knowledge base.
Of note is that CYBER-IR is structured as a stand-alone subsystem of GSSD, and follows the similar system and design specifications. However, Cyber-IR is more focused in scale and scope.
What follows is a brief note on each of these issues, all as features of the system.