Our purpose in organizing the 8^th International Conference on Society and Information Technologies (ICSIT 2017) jointly with the 8^th International Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics (IMCIC 2017) and their collocated events, including the 7^th Ibero-American Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics (CICIC 2017), is to provide a multi-disciplinary forum for both disciplinary and inter-disciplinary communication.

These collocated events were organized and sponsored by the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics (IIIS, www.iiis.org), member of the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR, www.ifsr.org). The IIIS is a multi-disciplinary organization for inter-disciplinary communication and integration, which includes about 5000 members. Consequently, a main purpose of the IIIS is to foster knowledge integration processes, interdisciplinary communication, and integration of academic activities. Based on 1) the transdisciplinarity of the systemic approach and its emphasis on relationships and integrating processes, and 2) the multi-disciplinary support of cybernetics’ and informatics’ concepts, notions, theories, technologies, and tools, the IIIS has been organizing multi-disciplinary conferences as a platform for fostering inter-disciplinary communication and knowledge integration processes.

Multi-disciplinary conferences are organized by the IIIS as support for both intra- and inter-disciplinary communication. Processes of intra-disciplinary communication are mainly achieved via traditional paper presentations in corresponding disciplines, while conversational sessions, regarding trans- and inter-disciplinary topics, are among the means used for inter-disciplinary communication. Intra- and inter-disciplinary communications might generate co-regulative cybernetic loops, via negative feedback, and synergic relationships, via positive feedback loops, in which both kinds of communications could increase their respective effectiveness. Figure (at the right side) shows at least two cybernetic loops if intra- and inter-disciplinary are adequately related. A necessary condition for the effectiveness of Inter-disciplinary communication is an adequate level of variety regarding the participating disciplines. Analogical thinking and learning processes of disciplinarians depend on it; which in turn are potential sources of the creative tension required for cross-fertilization among disciplines and the generations of new hypothesis. An extended presentation regarding this issue can be found at http://www.iiis.org/MainPurpose/

In general, IIIS is an organization dedicated to contribute to the development of the Systems Approach, Cybernetics, and Informatics potential, using both: knowledge and experience, thinking and action, for the:

1. identification of synergetic relationships among Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, and between them and society;
2. promotion of contacts among the different academic areas, through the transdisciplinarity of the systems approach;
3. identification and implementation of communication channels among the different professions;
4. supply of communication links between the academic and professional worlds, as well as between them and the business world, both public and private, political and cultural;
5. stimulus for the creation of integrative arrangements at different levels of society, as well as at the family and personal levels;
6. promotion of transdisciplinary research, both on theoretical issues and on applications to concrete problems.

Our objective organizing the 8^th International Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics (IMCIC 2017) is to provide, in these increasingly related areas, a multi-disciplinary forum, to foster interdisciplinary communication among the participants, and to support the sharing process of diverse perspectives of the same transdisciplinary concepts and principles. Complexity, Cybernetics and Informatics are being increasingly related to each other in almost every scientific discipline, engineering area, and human activity.  Their common transdisciplinarity characterizes and communicates them, generating strong relations among them and with other disciplines.  They work together to create a whole new way of thinking and practice.  This phenomenon persuaded the Organizing Committee to structure IMCIC 2017 as a Conference where participants may focus on one area, or on one discipline, while allowing them the possibility of attending events from other areas or disciplines. This systemic approach stimulates cross-fertilization among different disciplines, inspiring scholars, originating new hypothesis, supporting production of innovations and generating analogies; which is, after all, one of the very basic principles of the systems’ movement and a fundamental aim in cybernetics.

One of the main objectives of the 8^th International Conference on Society and Information Technologies (ICSIT 2017) and the 8^th International Conference on Education, Training and Informatics (ICETI 2017) is to bring together academics, professionals, and managers from the private and the public sectors, so they can share ideas, results of research, and innovative services or products, in a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector forum.

Educational technologies, socio-economic organizations, and socio-political processes are essential domains among those involved in the evolving co-adaptation and co-transformation between societies and cultures on the one hand, and between informatics and cybernetics (communication and control) on the other hand.

ICSIT 2017 and ICETI 2017 are related to each other, as well as to IMCIC 2017 and, as a whole, are producing or might produce synergic relationships with Information and Communication Technologies. This is why the Organizing Committees have the purpose of combining their efforts in a way that would lead to the organization of an adequate joint event, where academics, researchers, consultants, professionals, innovators, and practitioners from the three areas might relate and interact with each other in the same event. These types of interaction might generate possibilities of cross-fertilization and analogical thinking, as well as possibilities of new working hypothesis, ideas, and reflections on the impact, significance, and usefulness of Informatics and Cybernetics in important dimensions of educational, socio-political, and socio-economical processes, services, and products.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I extend our heartfelt thanks to the Program Committees’ members, to the 723 reviewers, from 74 countries, who made the double-blinded reviews, and to the 317 reviewers, from 54 countries, who made the non-blind reviews. (Some reviewers supported both: non-blind and double-blind reviewing for different submissions). A total of 2048 reviews made by 1040 reviewers (who made at least one review), from 80 countries contributed to the quality achieved in IMCIC/ICETI/CICIC 2017. This means an average of 6.26 reviews per submission (327 submissions were received). Each registered author had access, via the conference web site, to the reviews that recommended the acceptance of their respective submissions. Each registered author could get information about: 1) the average of the reviewers' evaluations according to 8 criteria, and the average of a global evaluation of his/her submission; and 2) the comments and the constructive feedback made by the reviewers, who recommended the acceptance of his/her submission, so the author would be able to improve the final version of the paper.

In the organizational process of IMCIC/ICSIT 2017, about 241 articles were submitted. The IMCIC/ICSIT 2017 pre-conference proceedings include about 99 papers from 38 countries (55 papers from IMCIC and 44 papers from ICSIT), which were accepted for presentation. The submissions were reviewed as carefully as time permitted; it is expected that most of them will appear in a more polished and complete form in scientific journals. As announced in the conference web site authors of the respective papers “are responsible of the content of their respective papers, as well as for their respective proofreading and copyediting.”

This information is detailed and totalized in the following table, along with the other collocated event:

Conference	# of submissions received	# of reviewers that made at least one review	# of reviews made	Average of reviews per reviewer	Average of reviews per submission	# of papers included in the proceedings	% of submissions included in the proceedings
CICIC 2017	86	213	456	2.14	5.30	36	41.86%
ICSIT 2017	89	362	685	1.89	7.70	44	49.44%
IMCIC 2017	152	465	907	1.95	5.97	55	36.18%
TOTAL	327	1040	2048	1.97	6.26	135	41.28%

We also extend our gratitude to the co-editors of these proceedings, for the hard work, energy and eagerness they displayed in their respective activities. We express our intense gratitude to the late Professor William Lesso for his wise and opportune tutoring, for his eternal energy, integrity, and continuous support and advice, as the Program Committee Chair of past conferences, organized by the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics, as well as for being a very caring old friend and intellectual father to many of us.

Special thanks to Professors José Ferrer and Michael Savoie for co-chairing IMCIC 2017 Program Committee, to Professor Hsing-Wei Chu for his General Co-chairmanship, and to Belkis Sánchez for chairing its Organizing Committee. Special thanks also to Professor Friedrich Welsch for chairing ICETI 2017, Professor José Ferrer and Belkis Sánchez for co-chairing the its Program Committee, and to Professor Andrés Tremante for serving as general co-chair.

We also extend our gratitude to the following scholars, researchers, and professionals who accepted to deliver plenary Workshop and Tutorial, support the conference as panelists in conversational panels, chair conversational sessions and/or to address the audience of the General Joint Plenary Sessions with keynote addresses (More details, abstracts and short bios, were included in the Conference Program booklet and at: http://www.iiis.org/spring2017plenaryevents)

Workshop and Tutorial

• Professor T. Grandon Gill, University of South Florida, USA, “Case Studies in Cyber Security”
• Professor Boris Stilman, University of Colorado at Denver, USA, “Discovering Mysteries of Opposing Games”

Conversational Sessions Chair

• Dr. Ashton T.  Sperry, Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, USA, “Reinventing Academia? Why? How?”

Conversational Panels

• Dr. Risa Blair, Kaplan University, USA and Dr. Tina M. Serafini, Kaplan University, USA, “Competency-Based Education: Is it a To-Do-List or a Way to Achieve Meaningful Outcomes?”
• Professor T. Grandon Gill, University of South Florida, USA, Dr. Suzanne Lunsford, Wright State University, USA, “Integrating Research, Education, and Real Life Problem Solving: Transforming R&D into Innovation and Relating Research and Consulting”

Plenary Keynote Speakers

• Professor Boris Stilman, University of Colorado at Denver, USA, “Turning Idea into Real World Systems: Personal Experience” and “Intelligent Warfighting: Protecting Peace with Ultimate Defense”
• Drs. Robert Hammond, University of South Florida, USA and Syniverse Technologies, USA, “Experts Informing Experts”
• Professor T. Grandon Gill, University of South Florida, USA, “Relating Academy and Business: A Doctorate in Business Management for Executive Officers”
• Professor Rolf Dornberger, University of Applied Sciences, Northwestern Switzerland, “Internet of Things – Some Thoughts and Showcases”
• Dr. Erik Stilling, Louisiana Public Defender, USA, and Dr. Peter Smit, Crisis Support Team, Netherland, “Technical Innovation and User Feedback”
• Professor Steinar Killi, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway, “Apposite Methodology for a More Effective Educational Processes”
• Professor Tomas Zelinka, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic, “Information Exchange in the Dynamically Developing Ad-Hock Vehicles Networks”
• Dr. Bernard Wallner, University of Vienna, Austria, “Higher Education Should Nurture Students’ Creativity”
• Dr. John Motloch, Ball State University, USA, “Big History Understanding of Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics”
• Professor Dennis Bialaszewski Indiana State University, USA, “Information Systems for the Future”
• Michael Von Kutzschenbach, University of Applied Sciences, Northwestern Switzerland, “And then a Miracle Occurs …” - Engaging the Challenge of Operationalizing Theories of Success in Digital Transformation
• Professor John Coffey, University of West Florida, USA, “No Warranty Express or Implied: Why Do We Have so many Problems with the Computer Systems that Pervade our Lives?”
• Professor Suzanne Lunsford, Wright State University, USA, “Multi-Disciplinary Research Experiences Integrated with Industry-Field Experiences”
• Professor Detlev Doherr, University of Applied Sciences, Offenburg, Germany, “Humboldt’s Idea of Interconnectedness and its Relationship to Inter-Disciplinarity and Communication”
• Dr. Ashton T. Sperry, Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, USA, “Reinventing Academia and Independent Scholars”
• Professor Lorayne Robertson, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada, “(Assistive) Technology at the Point of Instruction”
• Drs. Jim Stikeleather, University of South Florida, USA, “Complexity: The Domain of the Engaged Scholar”
• Dr. Fátima Consuelo Dolz De Moreno, Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz, Bolivia, “Educación Virtual para Diferentes Niveles y Enfoques Educativos”
• Professor Edgar Serna M., Corporación Universitaria Remington, Colombia “Ingeniería – Filosofía – Ciencia: Complejidad de una Relación Histórica”
• Others who did not confirm by the time of writing this foreword.

We also wish to thank all the authors for the quality of their papers, and to the 827 reviewers (who reviewed at least one article of IMCIC/ICSIT 2017 and its collocated events) for the great job they did making the 1592 reviews that supported the acceptance process. We also extend our gratitude to María Sánchez, Juan Manuel Pineda, Marcela Briceño, and Freddy Callaos for their knowledgeable effort in supporting the organizational process, the help desk, and for producing the hard copy of the proceedings.


Professor Nagib C. Callaos
ICSIT 2017 General Co-Chair