The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang was a showcase of South Koreas technological advancement and sophistication.

While prior research has looked at big data’s role in strengthening the environmental justice movement, scholars rarely examine the contexts, mechanisms and processes associated with the use of big data in monitoring and deterring environmental offenders, especially in the Global South. As such, this research aims to substitute for this academic gap through the use of multiple case studies of environmental offenders’ engagement in illegal deforestation, as well as legal deforestation followed by fire. Specifically, we have chosen four cases from three economies in the Global South: Indonesia, Peru and Brazil. We demonstrate how the data utilized by environmental activists in these four cases qualify as true forms of big data, as they have searched and aggregated data from various sources and employed them to achieve their goals. The article shows how big data from various sources, mainly from satellite imagery, can help discern the true extent of environmental destruction caused by various offenders and present convincing evidence. The article also discusses how a rich satellite imagery archive is suitable for analyzing chronological events in order to establish a cause-effect chain. In all of the cases studied, such evidentiary provisions have been used by environmental activists to oblige policy makers to take necessary actions to counter environmental offenses.

The use of big data solutions to make better and faster business decisions is no longer limited to large organizations. In recent years, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries are increasingly benefiting from big data solutions. Such solutions have helped developing world-based MSMEs to improve business processes and market intelligence. Big data solutions have also helped them to increase access to financial services, such as loans, credit, and insurance.

This book provides a framework for evaluating big data and cloud computing based on how they evolve to fit users’ needs in developing countries in key areas, such as agriculture and education. The authors discuss how this framework can be utilized by businesses, governments, and consumers to accelerate economic growth and overcome information and communication barriers. By examining the ways in which cloud computing can drive social, economic, and environmental transformation, readers gain a nuanced understanding of the opportunities and challenges these technologies offer. The authors also provide an authoritative and up-to-date account of big data’s diffusion into a wide range of developing economies, such as Brazil and China, illustrating key concepts through in-depth case studies. Special attention is paid to economic development in the context of the new Sustainable Development Goals formulated by the United Nations, introducing readers to the most modern standard of economic evaluation. Students of information management, entrepreneurship, and development, as well as policy makers, researchers, and practitioners, will find Big Data and Cloud Computing for Development an interesting read and a useful reference source.

Major companies in diverse industries have recently downsized or closed down their metaverse divisions. The authors look at the factors that have led to such strategies.