"This cross-country study compiles data and calculates ICT Development Indices for the following: connectivity (physical infrastructure for ICTs, in penetration rates of Internet hosts, PCs, telephone mainlines and mobile phones per capita); wider access to ICTs (literacy, GDP per capita and cost of
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local calls, as well as actual number of Internet users); usage of ICTs (incoming and outgoing telecom traffic, as an alternative to Internet data traffic flows in the absence of publicly available statistics on these); and policy environment (a wider policy framework conducive to the adoption and absorption of ICTs, which can be evaluated in terms of the presence of a domestic Internet exchange, as well as competition in the local loop, domestic long-distance and ISP markets). This study analyses country and regional rankings based on these index measurements, and reviews results over time to identify interesting trends. It also seeks to evaluate the extent and evolution of the digital divide, using basic measures of hardware equipment and numbers of Internet users in each country, to determine how the digital divide is evolving over time." (Preface)
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"The contribution in this book cast a spotlight into dark, often neglected, corners of the "information society" as articulated in the World Summit on the Information Society. Several very different layers are illuminated, from the philosophical underpinnings of the role of information in society, t
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o the context and manner in which the concept has recently emerged into global consciousness, to how it can be deployed in practice to maximize benefits to society. An edited volume is well suited to covering these diverse ways of thinking about the topic as it offers the opportunity to bring together authors with different backgrounds and approaches." (Publisher description)
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"Eine Einigung buchstäblich in letzter Minute, kontroverse Entscheidungen in Arbeitsgruppen vertagt - die Ergebnisse des World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), dessen erster Teil vom 10. bis 12. Dezember 2003 in Genf stattfand, sind bescheiden. Die offiziellen Deklarationen enthalten nur v
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age Grundsätze und allgemeine Absichtserklärungen. Dennoch fällt die Bilanz des Gipfels positiv aus, denn zweifellos hat der Weltgipfel für die Informationsgesellschaft das Problembewusstsein der beteiligten Regierungen, internationalen Organisationen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Vertreter geschärft." (Seite 720)
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"The essays collected here capture the richness of current discourse about democracy and cyberspace. Some contributors offer front-line perspectives on the impact of emerging technologies on politics, journalism, and civic experience. What happens, for example, when we increase access to information
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or expand the arena of free speech? Other contributors place our shifting understanding of citizenship in historical context, suggesting that notions of cyber-democracy and online community must grow out of older models of civic life. Still others consider the global flow of information and test our American conceptions of cyber-democracy against developments in other parts of the world. How, for example, do new media operate in Castro's Cuba, in post-apartheid South Africa, and in the context of multicultural debates on the Pacific Rim? For some contributors, the new technologies endanger our political culture; for others, they promise civic renewal." (Publisher description)
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"This research of Orbicom entitled Monitoring the Digital Divide… and beyond is a contribution to the international community in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Geneva, December 2003.It sets high standards in international benchmarking and places particular empha
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sis on developing countries. Its unique features are: a cohesive conceptual Framework, which goes beyond connectivity measures and logically incorporates skills, as well as offers rich analytical linkages; explicit measurements both across countries at a given point in time and within countries over-time in such a way that comparisons are not reduced to changing rankings from year to year; policy relevant results on a component-by-component basis; immediate benchmarking against the average of all countries (Hypothetica) and the planet as a whole (Planetia); use of existing and reliable data sets with a sound and transparent statistical methodology. The empirical application of the model covers a great number of countries. Measurements of networks are offered for 192 countries, covering 99% of the population of the planet; of skills and overall Infodensity for 153 countries representing 98% of the population; of Info-use 143 countries and overall Infostate 139 countries, both accounting for 95% of the global population. The results are based on 21 variables, reliable, tested and available to all and extends over the 1996-2001 period." (Publisher description)
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"Its products may embody the latest in high technology, but labour standards and conditions in computer manufacturing can be appallingly low. Many stages of computer production are carried out by low-skilled, low-paid workers – most of them women – in developing countries. But unlike their count
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erparts in the clothing and footwear sector, computer companies have thus far escaped scrutiny on labour issues. CAFOD’s interviews with electronics workers in Mexico,Thailand and China reveal a story of unsafe factories, compulsory overtime, wages below the legal minimum, and degrading treatment." (Summary)
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