1 Introduction

There is a remarkable advancement in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the 21st century. The rapid advancement of technology, coupled with the increasing interconnectedness of the global society, has ushered in a new era characterized by unprecedented opportunities. At the same time, the dark sides of ICTs including threats to cybersecurity are also on the increase. For example, as a result of cybersecurity breaches, Equifax was hacked, which affected over 148 million Americans (Kennedy, 2018), and the Facebook security breach exposed over 50 million user accounts (Isaac and Frenkel, 2018). Considering the sophistication of ICTs in the 21st century and their impact on our economy and national security, researchers should pay more attention to investments in preventive cybersecurity mechanisms (Miaoui & Boudriga, 2019) to minimize the effect of the dark sides of ICTs use and investigate bright concepts and approaches to drastically reduce its undesirable effects (Lee, 2015; Lee et al., 2020).

The term “Bright ICT” encapsulates the notion of ICT solutions that are not only innovative and cutting-edge but also hold the potential to address societal challenges and contribute to sustainable development. Bright ICT encompasses a wide range of technologies, including but not limited to artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality. These transformative technologies have already begun reshaping industries, economies, governance structures, and social interactions on a global scale. In this special issue, we delve into the realm of “Bright Information and Communication Technologies in the 21st Century,“ exploring the latest developments, applications, and implications of ICT in various domains.

The objective of this special issue is to provide a platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to present and discuss the latest advancements, trends, and impacts of Bright ICT in the 21st century. By bringing together a diverse collection of articles, we aim to explore the multifaceted dimensions of Bright ICT and its potential for driving positive change in various sectors, including healthcare, education, finance, transportation, communication, and beyond.

In this editorial, we provide an overview of the articles included in this special issue, highlighting their key contributions and insights. Additionally, we reflect on the broader implications of Bright ICT for society, ethics, privacy, security, and the future trajectory of technology development. Through this collection of articles, we seek to foster critical discussions, stimulate further research, and inspire innovative approaches to leverage Bright ICT for the betterment of our global society.

2 Overview of Special Issue Articles

This special issue attracted numerous high-quality submissions that underwent multiple rounds of revisions. We selected six papers based on their relevance, rigor, and contribution to the theme of the special issue.

Social media is increasingly being used to showcase the malevolent use of the bright Internet. Bhatt et al. (2023) study the privacy concerns that were expressed on the social networking site Twitter during the Covid-19 pandemic. They found that the tweets were focused on contact tracking, health data gathering, and their use by governments around the globe. The authors used topic modeling to identify six major topics of interest to policymakers and citizens from the surveillance and tracing related tweets so that effective steps could be taken by policymakers to alleviate privacy concerns. The paper by Kim et al. (2023) also focuses on the use of social media and addresses a major concern that is an impediment to the use of bright internet. This is the proliferation of hate speech among users of social media. Using survey experiment data of Youtube users based in South Korea the authors investigate when users tend to report sexist hate speech. They find that the gender and the influence of the speaker determine whether other users will report hate speech or not. The research highlights the important dynamics that exist between the content of hate speech and the social status of the speaker.

Another important aspect of the bright Internet is captured through the widespread use of e-governance which has become a boon for many countries around the world, easing the life of its citizens. However, it does face severe challenges in the face of cybersecurity concerns. The paper by Ahangama (2023) that we selected for this special issue studies the role played by virtual social networks in a country in impacting the level of e-participation by the citizens of the country in governmental services. Using data collected from 115 countries the author shows that cybersecurity protection mechanisms and the level of education of citizens play a significant role in influencing e-participation. Another important citizen facing service is the use of digital payments. It can be considered as one of the best bright uses of the Internet that has helped cash-based societies to quickly leapfrog into less-cash and even cashless societies. However, cybersecurity concerns often prevent the adoption of digital payments by citizens. Krishna et al. (2023) find that the national cybersecurity commitment impacts the usage of digital payments in a country. Using data collected from 76 countries they also show that national culture moderates this relationship.

Some papers in the special issue have also focused on the technological aspects of the bright internet and highlighted how technological advances can play a pivotal role in impacting work and life at present and in the future. Blockchain and IoT technologies are well-regarded for their utility in providing visibility and security. The paper by Pelé et al. (2023) proposes a framework for the use of these two technologies for agricultural supply chains for the traceability of food items as they move along the supply chain. They explain how to create a highly safe environment for the distribution of agricultural products. IoT and blockchain promise to solve a lot of challenges for the firm and the customer that are engaged in food supply chains. Last, but not the least, Sharma and Mukhopadhyay (2023) proposed an analytics-based method to predict the occurrence of distributed denial of service attacks for online gaming companies. They propose a cyber-risk assessment and mitigation model using artificial neural networks that provides assessment, quantification, and mitigation of risk related to cybersecurity breaches. Their research would be useful for technology leaders that are striving to decide how to prevent cyberattacks and create a bright environment for firm operations.

3 Opportunities for Future Research

There are some potential opportunities for future research regarding Bright Information and Communication Technologies:

Sustainable Development: Examine how Bright ICT can contribute to achieving sustainable development goals, such as through the application of IoT in smart cities, renewable energy management, or optimizing resource utilization in various sectors. This will help reduce the carbon footprint, and bring a positive impact to the global climate (De Angelis et al., 2022). Explore the potential environmental, social, and economic benefits of leveraging Bright ICT for sustainable development.

Human-Computer Interaction: Study novel interfaces, interaction techniques, and user experiences in the context of Bright ICT. Investigate how technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality (Porter et al., 2017), or brain-computer interfaces can enhance human-computer interaction and improve user engagement and productivity. This will help create a better understanding of the business problem in hand, and solutions by the use of digital twins (Porter et al., 2017).

Human-Centric Design: Study the design principles and methodologies for creating user-centric and socially responsible Bright ICT solutions. Explore interdisciplinary approaches that incorporate user needs, cultural considerations, and societal values to ensure that technology development aligns with human well-being and societal goals.

Ethical Considerations: Investigate the ethical implications of Bright ICT, such as the impact of AI algorithms on decision-making, privacy concerns in big data analytics, or the ethical use of emerging technologies in various domains. This is very important as a biased training dataset could lead to outcomes that are far from the truth (Cremer, 2020). Explore frameworks and guidelines for ensuring responsible and ethical implementation of Bright ICT solutions.

Security and Privacy: Explore robust security mechanisms that will help in developing zero trust architecture (Rose et al., 2020) and ensure privacy-preserving techniques for protecting sensitive data in the context of Bright ICT. The focus of researchers will be to investigate vulnerabilities and potential risks associated with emerging technologies, such as blockchain or AI. The final output should help arrive at solutions to ensure secure and private communication, data storage, and transactions (Weixun et al., 2023). Also to prevent attacks by advanced persistent threats like ransomware that could lead to encryption of the system or exfiltration of data (Barker et al., 2021).

Trust and Transparency: Investigate methods to enhance trust and transparency in the use of Bright ICT technologies, particularly in areas such as AI decision-making, algorithmic accountability, or data governance. Examine the role of explainable AI, fairness, and bias mitigation techniques in fostering trust and ensuring transparency (Kelley et al., 2022) in the adoption of Bright ICT.

Impact on Industries and Workforce: Healthcare, finance, education, and transportation are undergoing a lot of digital transformation by using the Social-Mobile-Analytics-Cloud-IoT (SMACI) stack (Mocker et al., 2018). These emerging technologies like AI, IoT, or blockchain are reshaping business models, workforce dynamics, and skills requirements, and identifying strategies for successful adoption and adaptation in different sectors.

Digital Inclusion: Examine strategies and initiatives to bridge the digital divide and ensure equal access to Bright ICT technologies and opportunities. Explore innovative approaches to address challenges related to affordability, digital literacy, and inclusivity in deploying and utilizing Bright ICT solutions across diverse communities and regions.

Governance and Policy: Analyze the regulatory frameworks like GPDR and policies required to effectively govern Bright ICT, considering aspects such as data protection, intellectual property rights, cross-border data flow, and ethical considerations (Downes, 2018. Investigate the role of international collaborations and public-private partnerships for co-creation in shaping policies and regulations for the responsible adoption of Bright ICT and for driving innovation (Writer et al., 2012).

Future Technological Trends: With the launch and growth of 5G networks globally, many organizations globally will be able to benefit from using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) (Porter et al., 2017). Many of these applications will benefit from having the operations will using edge computing (Shi et al., 2016) to enhance the throughput of the application. Similarly, the introduction of ChatGPT will improve productivity and also disrupt business models across Industries (Agarwal et al., 2022). In addition, there is a huge promise to business organizations around based applications based on quantum computing (Ruane et al., 2022).

All these above stated emerging and future technological trends within Bright ICT, have huge potential implications for society, governance, and industry. But there are immense challenges posed by these new technologies. Researchers can investigate the challenges and opportunities associated with these advancements and their integration into the existing ICT ecosystem. For instance, the privacy issues related to ChatGPTFootnote 1.

In conclusion, although this special issue only takes a few initial steps toward exploring some issues on Bright Information and Communication Technologies in the 21st Century, it serves as a platform to explore the transformative potential of ICT in addressing societal challenges and fostering sustainable development. By shedding light on the latest advancements and applications, we anticipate gaining a better understanding of the capabilities and restrictions of Bright ICT and paving the way for a brighter and technologically empowered future.