Skip Content
You are currently on the new version of our website. Access the old version .

Information

Information is a scientific, peer-reviewed, open access journal of information science and technology, data, knowledge, and communication, published monthly online by MDPI.
The International Society for the Study of Information (IS4SI) is affiliated with Information and its members receive discounts on the article processing charges.
Quartile Ranking JCR - Q2 (Computer Science, Information Systems)

All Articles (5,649)

One of the key artefacts of epigraphy in Southeast Asia is the Singapore Stone inscription, which is, unfortunately, in a poor condition. There are huge spaces that separate the readable characters, rendering the text incomplete. This renders a traditional reconstruction and interpretation by philologists extremely challenging. We consider epigraphic restoration as a data-restoration task in this paper. We represent the inscription as a system of categorical symbols, in keeping with the original spatial disposition of characters and spaces. Our model is trained in a conservative, data-driven manner using the observed symbols to learn the local transition statistics, and it takes advantage of this information to make plausible predictions of the most likely characters in missing sequences that are short and well-constrained. The procedure generates a probabilistic hypothesis of restoration, which can be audited, as opposed to one definitive reading. The validation of masked-character recovery demonstrates that the model has a mean top-one error of 53.3%, which represents a significantly worse performance compared with simple baseline methods. The process is focused on interaction and transparency with experts. It relies upon assurance scores and prioritised alternative completions of each proposed reconstruction, as a useful means to produce hypotheses in computational epigraphy and the digital humanities.

7 February 2026

A localization map of the original site of the Singapore Stone at Rocky Point.
  • Systematic Review
  • Open Access

Digital Mental Health Interventions (DMHIs) offer a scalable solution to the global mental health crisis, yet their real-world impact is often hampered by low user engagement. Gamification has been widely adopted as a strategy to enhance adherence, but its implementation creates a complex and often unacknowledged “Engagement–Efficacy–Ethics Trilemma”. This systematic review synthesises the current literature to deconstruct this trilemma, arguing that an uncritical focus on maximising engagement can fail to improve—or may even undermine—clinical efficacy, while simultaneously introducing significant ethical risks. Our analysis reveals a persistent “Engagement–Efficacy Gap”, where increased usage of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) does not consistently translate to better therapeutic outcomes. Furthermore, we map the ethical landscape, identifying potential harms such as manipulation, psychological distress, and privacy violations that arise from persuasive design. The roles of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in personalising these experiences and Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) in mediating user responses are critically examined as key factors that both amplify and potentially mitigate the tensions of the trilemma. The findings indicate a pressing need for a paradigm shift toward an integrated approach that concurrently evaluates engagement, efficacy, and ethical integrity. We conclude by proposing a framework for responsible innovation, emphasising theory-driven design, co-design with users, and prioritising intrinsic motivation to harness the potential of gamified DMHIs safely and effectively. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO for studies published between 2015 and 2025.

6 February 2026

The Engagement–Efficacy–Ethics Trilemma: A conceptual framework for analysing tensions in gamified digital mental health interventions.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) offers significant potential to support requirements engineering (RE) education; however, its integration poses challenges regarding accuracy and student engagement. While Gen AI cannot independently specify requirements without hallucinating or overstepping scope, it can serve as a powerful partner in a hybrid intelligence workflow. In this paper, we address the challenge of translating high-level motivational models into detailed user stories, a process that is traditionally labour-intensive for novices. We introduce a structured, human-in-the-loop workflow that uses Gen AI to refine and polish user stories while strictly preserving student agency. By grounding the output from Gen AI in a validated motivational model, the workflow minimises the risk of metacognitive offloading, requiring students to actively critique and validate the initially generated requirements. Our analysis of instructional artefacts demonstrates that Gen AI helps in three ways: suggesting structural improvements, offering alternative professional phrasing, and enhancing readability. However, we also identify risks of intent drift and scope expansion, reinforcing the need for rigorous human oversight. The findings advocate for a pedagogical approach where the Gen AI system acts as a reflective assistant rather than an autonomous generator.

6 February 2026

Symbols used in motivational models.

This article presents the general method of QR decomposition of r-qubit operations, r 3, by means of quantum signal-induced heap transformations (QsiHT). These are quantum analogues of discrete signal-induced heap transformations, which are generated by given signals and paths, or orders, of processing the data. The case of the 5-qubit operations is described in detail, and a recurrent form of calculation of all 5-qubit QsiHTs from the 4-qubit QsiHTs is given. For that, roadmaps and quantum circuits are presented for all 31 5-point QsiHTs that are used in the QR decomposition. New roadmaps, namely the schemes with paths for performing basic operations on qubits, and corresponding quantum circuits, are also described for the 4- and 3-qubit transformations. All QsiHTs use fast paths, which allow us to calculate the QR decomposition only on disjoint bit planes. As a result, we build the quantum circuits for 5- and more-qubit operations without permutations, only elementary rotations. Unitary operations with real numbers are considered. In the general case, the method of compositing all the roadmaps and quantum schemes for the calculation of any r-qubit operation by only elementary rotations is described.

6 February 2026

A scheme of construction and subsequent use of the DsiHT on the input signal z.

News & Conferences

Issues

Open for Submission

Editor's Choice

Reprints of Collections

Text Mining
Reprint

Text Mining

Challenges, Algorithms, Tools and Applications
Editors: Fei Liu

Get Alerted

Add your email address to receive forthcoming issues of this journal.

XFacebookLinkedIn
Information - ISSN 2078-2489