Policy aspects of privacy and access

Abstract

This paper first reviews the development of record‐keeping privacy, together with its legislative attention and major studies of it. It then identifies new dimensions of personal privacy and illustrates them with electronic mail. It notes the intricacy of policy issues arising from large‐scale use of computers and communications for systems that provide a variety of services, many of them oriented toward the individual. The legislative awkwardness of providing protection to the individual and the role of the federal government in the entire issue is described. Other systems that will create new privacy issues are touched on. The “privacy future” is discussed in terms of access‐without‐action, information representation, information protection, exploitation of information such as computer matching, the large‐scale availability of personal information to many people, and the widespread appearance of systems that deal with information about people but for other than record‐keeping purposes. Finally, two broad policy issues are identified: (1) In an information‐intensive future, how can the country establish societally acceptable usage patterns for information but at the same time provide protection for its citizens? (2) How can the country create an appropriate mechanism for addressing such a pervasive and complex issue?     

Conceptualizing and Measuring the Social Uses of the Internet: The Case of Personal Web Sites

The researchers working on information society measures have recently started to consider how people use the Internet not only as a tool but also as a platform for social relations. As the ultimate objective of information society measures is to provide reliable guidelines for social policy, finding criteria for separating “positive” uses of Internet from “negative” ones is an important task. This article employs the concepts of communicative and strategic action as defined by Habermas for that purpose. A general conceptual typology of three communicative and three strategic social uses of Internet is offered, which can be applied to measure uses of any of the Internet's interactive services. A specific empirical application to social uses of personal web sites demonstrates that the deduced measurement instruments achieve satisfying levels of validity and reliability.     

Added value as a function of purchases of information services

Abstract

In this paper, an analysis is provided of data to evaluate the extent to which investment in information resources can be demonstrated to have direct value in greater industrial profitability. Specifically, it examines the statistical relationship between “added value” for the manufacturing industries of the country and the investment they make in purchased information services.

A review is presented of the context of evaluation of the value of information, with anecdotal evidence concerning its role. We review the theoretical background for the analysis and describe the data on which the analysis is based. The discussion of data covers the sources, the nature, and the structure of the data sets and provides a detailed listing of the data itself. We also present the results of the analysis, discuss the implications, and conclude with a commentary on potential problems due to the heterogeneous character of the data, including the analysis of a range of alternative models all of which produce the same qualitative results that were obtained in the basic regression.

We apply a Cobb‐Douglas model to value added as a function of labor, capital, purchases of information services, and purchases of other input. We do a regression analysis for that model on 50 manufacturing industries, using data from 1967, and 51 industries, using data from 1972. The theory states that, if industry is operating in an optimal manner, the marginal return from the external purchases (whether for information services or for other input), as expressed by the coefficient in the regression, should be zero. If the coefficient is positive, industry is not using enough of the external resource; if negative, industry is using too much of it.

Our results show that there is a demonstrable relationship between increased added value (and therefore profitability) and investment in information resources. Beyond that, the evidence suggests that manufacturing industry is using far less than the optimal amount of information resources than should be optimal.     

基于移动社交平台的用户信任度分析研究

随着现代网络的发展,登录移动社交平台已经成为大多数人每天的日常,和亲人朋友在社交平台上的交流远远多于面对面的交谈,学习工作上的事情也大多可以用社交软件完成,在这样的大前提下,移动社交平台用户之间的信任关系必然要成为关注的重点。用户信任度可以用来详细检查用户之间所有可能的社交网络关系,本文以新浪微博为例提供了一种计算用户之间信任的方法,通过对用户之间的信任进行分析完成相应的推荐和其他服务。     

Book Reviews

Abstract

The extent to which Federal agencies may properly engage in information dissemination activities is currently an issue of debate within the public and private sectors. Related to this is the question of how Federal agencies should price their information products and services. These issues, although they involve information activities in many spheres, are discussed with specific reference to the policies and practices of the National Library of Medicine.     

Time‐Intensive Information Technology and Human Welfare in Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the scope for developing countries to benefit from the Internet in non‐synchronous ways that is, in cases where some delay is involved in the delivery of information, as compared with the real‐time alternative used in developed countries. The first part of the paper draws on insights from Becker and others, to argue that poor people in poor countries are wont to exchange (relatively abundant) time for reductions in the cost of Internet use. The second part of the paper then examines whether such time‐intensive products actually exist and to the extent they do, how the required degree of cost reductions are effected in practice. I conclude that time‐intensive Internet technology represents a highly promising opportunity for developing countries to close the digital divide, an opportunity that warrants serious academic scrutiny.     

Information technology and privacy: conceptual muddles or privacy vacuums?

Within a given conversation or information exchange, do privacy expectations change based on the technology used? Firms regularly require users, customers, and employees to shift existing relationships onto new information technology, yet little is known as about how technology impacts established privacy expectations and norms. Coworkers are asked to use new information technology, users of gmail are asked to use GoogleBuzz, patients and doctors are asked to record health records online, etc. Understanding how privacy expectations change, if at all, and the mechanisms by which such a variance is produced will help organizations make such transitions. This paper examines whether and how privacy expectations change based on the technological platform of an information exchange. The results suggest that privacy expectations are significantly distinct when the information exchange is located on a novel technology as compared to a more established technology. Furthermore, this difference is best explained when modeled by a shift in privacy expectations rather than fully technology-specific privacy norms. These results suggest that privacy expectations online are connected to privacy offline with a different base privacy expectation. Surprisingly, out of the five locations tested, respondents consistently assign information on email the greatest privacy protection. In addition, while undergraduate students differ from non-undergraduates when assessing a social networking site, no difference is found when judging an exchange on email. In sum, the findings suggest that novel technology may introduce temporary conceptual muddles rather than permanent privacy vacuums. The results reported here challenge conventional views about how privacy expectations differ online versus offline. Traditionally, management scholarship examines privacy online or with a specific new technology platform in isolation and without reference to the same information exchange offline. However, in the present study, individuals appear to have a shift in their privacy expectations but retain similar factors and their relative importance??the privacy equation by which they form judgments??across technologies. These findings suggest that privacy scholarship should make use of existing privacy norms within contexts when analyzing and studying privacy in a new technological platform.     

Rob Kling and the Irvine School

Abstract

During the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing and related commercial activities led to the evolution of “dense cores” of heavily populated areas. Fundamental to the operation of these industrial‐commercial cores was the development of service activities—banking, risk‐bearing, legal services—which depended on rapid exchange of information or quick “cycle times of information” for effective decision making and allocation of resources. As these cores radiate resources away from the central body toward less populated areas, the need for short cycle times of information in rural areas has become apparent. For example, modem agriculture is an enterprise that requires short time cycles of information exchange. The technology for building computer‐based information networks to facilitate the desired rapid transfer of information exists. However, the installation of hardware linked by reliable, cost‐effective communications networks is only in the beginning stages. One computer‐based information network that has successfully met the challenges of rapid transfer of agricultural management information to farmers is the University of Nebraska's AGNET system.     

Why do People Pay for Information?

This paper investigates the situations where there are incentives for people to pay a premium over the channel costs for information content. It concludes that there are at least four: premium low relative to channel costs and monopoly, which are less interesting as they are not specific to information; where the information need is idiosyncratic; and where the quality of the information source is critical.     

The Cooperative Principle and English Humor

English jokes are humorous and implicit. They can set people laughing, and at the same time they can also set people thinking. However, people in non-English speaking countries cannot completely understand English humor because of the differences between different cultures. This paper tries to explain the causes of English humor in terms of cooperative principles of conversation. Examples are given to illustrate each cause.     

The Cooperative Principle and English Humor

English jokes are humorous and implicit. They can set people laughing, and at the same time they can also set people thinking. However, people in non-English speaking countries cannot completely understand English humor because of the differences between different cultures. This paper tries to explain the causes of English humor in terms of cooperative principles of conversation. Examples are given to illustrate each cause.     

Communication Gone Wired: Working Toward a "Practiced" Cyberfeminism

Abstract

Numerous environmental forces exist today that contribute to changing industry and market segments. The least studied of these is the impact of information systems which transcend traditional company boundaries. One of the subtle impacts of contemporary developments in information systems technology is the redefinition of traditional organizational and industrial boundaries. Examples of these interorganizational systems (referred to as IOS), reviewed by the author, imply that a wide range of organizations may have an opportunity to use these systems to improve their operations, services to their customers, and their competitive position.

Some of these systems raise public policy issues that are not well understood, nor are they being addressed in a comprehensive manner. This article is designed to provide a conceptual framework for thinking about these systems.     

Environmental Management,Structure, Networks and Information Exchange: The Case of a Tasmanian Pulp and Paper Mill

Pulp and paper is a major impact industry, in which environmental impacts can be seen to be complex, diverse and characterised by uncertainty and interdependence. A greening process within this industry requires wide ranging environmental knowledge. Also fundamental are effective networks for information exchange and greening is therefore dependent on changes to such networks. This study investigates the issue of how greening occurs, focusing on the process at the Fletcher Challenge New Zealand integrated pulp and paper mill situated in Tasmania, Australia. It was seen that effective greening within this industry relies on information processing capabilities to access external and internal knowledge and skills, and that this is fundamentally dependent on structural arrangements. Appropriate organisational structure and external networks are therefore essential for accessing information and facilitating its dissemination and integration, thereby enhancing the firm's ability to address environmental concerns. The study highlights interaction between the formal change process, one which sought limited change, and an informal change process that continued greening the company beyond the official aims. The reasons for this are located in the power of informal information exchange.     

Designing information communities: Ethical issues in the information age

Abstract

The worldwide use of computers, telecommunications, and other information technologies is giving rise to the formation of new communities called “information communities.” In the United States, for example, more people are employed as information givers, takers, or orchestrators in these communities than in any other occupation class. With so many social resources going into the conduct of these communities, it is essential that they are designed to be ethical. This requires that we identify the parties involved in each community, that we be empathetic and sympathetic to their needs and that we follow Kant's dictum by always treating them as “ends in themselves.”     

Weak Ties in Networked Communities

Communities with high levels of social capital are likely to have a higher quality of life than communities with low social capital. This is due to the greater ability of such communities to organize and mobilize effectively for collective action because they have high levels of social trust, dense social networks, and well-established norms of mutuality (the major features of social capital). Communities with “bridging” social capital (weak ties across groups) as well as “bonding” social capital (strong ties within groups) are the most effective in organizing for collective action. People who belong to multiple groups act as bridging ties. When people with bridging ties use communication media, such as the Internet, they enhance their capability to educate community members and to organize, as needed, for collective action. This article summarizes evidence from stratified household survey data in Blacksburg, VA, showing that people with weak (bridging) ties across groups have higher levels of community involvement, civic interest, and collective efficacy than people without bridging ties among groups. Moreover, heavy Internet users with bridging ties have higher social engagement, use the Internet for social purposes, and have been attending more local meetings and events since going online than heavy Internet users with no bridging ties. These findings may suggest that the Internet—in the hands of bridging individuals–is a tool for enhancing social relations and information exchange, and for increasing face-to-face interaction, all of which help to build both bonding and bridging social capital in communities.     

U.S. competitiveness in international information trade

Abstract

American competitiveness in international information services trade will be determined by the skill with which government and industry can improve the coordination of commercial and technical policies and actions. This article examines some of the key issues, including federal R&D funding, tariff policies, economic assistance programs, and international technical standards.     

打造具有国际影响力的中国编辑出版类学术期刊

[目的]探讨提高中国编辑出版类学术期刊国际影响力的可行性和措施。[方法]调研中国编辑出版类期刊基本情况和产生国际影响力期刊的特征,调研SSCI编辑出版类期刊现状和中国作者发表文章情况。[结果]中国编辑出版类期刊的国际影响力不高,但是有很大的提升空间,为提高国际影响可采取的措施包括:提高编辑出版类期刊的国际化意识、为文章增添国际化信息、出版中英文双语或英语期刊、加强网站和数据库建设、争取被检索机构收录等;还可通过明确自身定位推动中国STM出版格局的完善,借助学术力量加强国际交流,提高编辑素质,在中国编辑"走出去"的同时将国际同行"引进来"。[结论]打造具有国际影响力的中国编辑出版类学术期刊是可行的,而且对促进中国科技期刊整体发展有重要意义。     

Fragments of your communication: Email,vmail, and fax

Abstract

How are new media, such as electronic mail, voice mail, and fax, used when people have access to several of them simultaneously? This paper reports findings from a field study of media use in four sizable subunits within two large organizations where most employees had access to email, vmail, and fax. Respondents tended to use multiple electronic media rather than relying on one. However, they also showed a tendency to prefer one medium for asynchronous communication and to use the others for occasional, specialized purposes. Further, there were considerable differences across subunits in typical media use patterns. Although respondents expressed strong desires for multimedia integration, this study suggests that technological integration may not necessarily result in seamless, collaborative work.     

Letter from Rob Kling,Editor-in-Chief and Guest Editors Kenneth L. Kraemer and Jason Dedrick

We find that the presence of village Internet facilities, offering government to citizen services, is positively associated with the rate at which the villagers obtain some of these services. In a study of a rural Internet project in India, we identify a positive correlation for two such Internet services: obtaining birth certificates for children and applications for old age pensions. Both these government services are of considerable social and economic value to the citizens. Villagers report that the Internet based services saved them time, money, and effort compared with obtaining the services directly from the government office. We also find that these services can reduce corruption in the delivery of these services. After over one year of successful operation, however, the e-government program was not able to maintain the necessary level of local political and administrative support to remain institutionally viable. As government officers shifted from the region, or grew to find the program a threat, the e-government services faltered. We argue that this failure was due to a variety of Critical Failure Factors. We end with a simple sustainability failure model. In summary, we propose that the e-government program failed to be politically and institutionally sustainable due to people, management, cultural, and structural factors     

Gossips and telegraphs

Suppose we have a group of n people, each possessing an item of information not known to any of the others and that during each unit of time each person can send all of the information he knows to at most other people. Further suppose that each of at most k other people can send all of the information they know to him. Determine the length of time required, f(n, k), so that all n people know all of the information. We show f(n, k) = ?log_k+1n?.We define g(n, k) analogously except that no person may both send and receive information during a unit time period. We show ?log_k+1n?≤g(n, k)≤2?log_k+1n? in general and further show that the upper bound can be significantly improvea in the cases k = 1 or 2. We conjecture g(n, k) = b_k log_k+1n+0(1) for a function b_k we determine.