The impact of the transfer of information technology on development

Abstract

Like other technical changes, the new information technologies have inspired hopes and fears. The optimists celebrate the “technologies of freedom” and their potential for growth and autonomy, the enhancement of skills and culture, the elimination of unpleasant and boring tasks (Pool 1984). On the other hand, the pessimists fear dehumanized work, growing unemployment, and bureaucracy, with unavoidable threats to privacy (Mosco 1987; Robins and Webster 1983).

In the communication and development debate, similar polarized attitudes are to be found. The technological optimists of the so‐called “modernization paradigm” claim that the transfer of information technologies to the developing world will spectacularly enhance the process of development. Commentators arguing from within this paradigm point out that the transfer of appropriate information technology can contribute to the creation of new social structures that will adequately respond to the needs of the developing world. At the other extreme, however, we have the technological pessimists, “the Luddites of the Information Revolution” (Tehranian 1985, 21). Proponents of this perspective perceive the transfer of information technology as necessarily reinforcing existing structures and thus exacerbating politico‐economic dependency and the loss of cultural identity.

In our opinion, both positions possess partial truths. However, both are based on inadequate theoretical foundations—erroneous conceptions of the nature of technology and its relationship vis‐à‐vis society, and a misunderstanding of the concept of development. Consequently, the policy implications of each approach are less than helpful. Building on what we consider to be a more apt conceptual framework, the central argument of this paper is that the transfer of information technology can play a role, albeit limited, in the development process.     

Some remarks on information and religion

Abstract

This article considers some of the ways in which the enormous growth of information about religion that has occurred over the last century has influenced both the academic study of religion and human religiousness itself. The modern study of religion is characterized as a discipline still reeling from a sudden explosion of information about its subject matter. The shock waves from that explosion are important factors in the “spiritual crisis” which many claim is a feature of twentieth century life. Specialization is identified as an important factor in the growth of religious (and other) information. However, although such specialization has undoubtedly led to many important advances in knowledge, part of the price paid for such progress lies in the distancing of academic endeavor from immediate individual concerns. Moreover, the information which fuels this distancing process tends to create an increasingly diverse environment in which the range of choices confronting the individual is vastly multiplied. In such a situation, commitment to any particular set of religious beliefs is greatly complicated. Some pointers are briefly noted, in conclusion, which suggest possible ways of handling the problems information seems to pose for religious studies and spirituality.     

Political aspects of communications and information resources in Canada

Abstract

“At present, the majority of [radio] programs heard are from sources outside of Canada. It has been emphasized to us that the continued reception of these has a tendency to mold the minds of the young people in the home to ideals and opinions that are not Canadian. In a country of the vast geographical dimensions of Canada, braodcasting will undoubtedly become a great force in fostering national spirit and in interpreting national citizenship.”¹

This statement, written fifty years ago, could just as well have been written today. But, while the basic issue has remained unchanged over time, the uses to which information and communications can be put have steadily grown. The scope of the issue has also therefore increased.

Included under the heading of communications and information today are such diverse but interconnected matters as broadcasting both by TV and radio, the newspaper, magazine, and book publishing industries, the film industry, advertising, computers and all computer communications, telephone and telecommunications, communications satellites, remote sensing, and, to a point, industrial know‐how and research and development.

In this paper, I shall examine how communications and information affect such issues as Canadian unity, Canadian cultural identity, and Canadian economic viability. I shall concentrate on how Canadian governments have seen this issue, and, to a lesser degree, will show where the views of individuals and other interest groups may differ from government policy.     

The information practices and politics of migrant-aid work in the US-Mexico borderlands

Abstract

Numerous organizations work to provide humanitarian aid to undocumented migrants along the US-Mexico border—from running shelters in Mexico to placing water on migratory trails. Resistance to information-sharing between organizations (and to the public), especially through technologically mediated means, is common. However, some organizers and volunteers work across organizational boundaries and share information informally. Information secrecy is often justified by concerns that law enforcement authorities or anti-immigration activists might gain access to information, allowing them to harm, detain or remove migrants, or interfere with humanitarian work. The choices made about the collection and (non)disclosure of information are manifestations of what we call “liminal” information practices: such behaviors are unique to humanitarian volunteers working in the gray, ethical area between law enforcement and humanitarian values and action, and they are guided by the information politics at play within this context.     

ICT Research,the New Economy,and the Evolving Discipline of Economics: Back to the Future?

Economics-related ICT research has moved from the fringes of the discipline to penetrate all of its branches. It is, therefore, not a separate economics subdiscipline. It is also unlikely to become part of an “ICT or Internet research” proto-discipline. Instead, it should be seen as only one part of a bigger agenda toward a proper “information and knowledge economics” and possibly a future proto-discipline of a “unified theory of information and knowledge” or a meta-discipline of information sciences.     

Where Information Society and Community Voice Intersect

Information and communication technology (ICT) development initiatives have begun to acknowledge the power and importance of cultural and community-focused belief systems. Yet the vast majority of such initiatives tend to preidentify developmental goals that communities hold. Paulo Freire's writings have influenced development initiatives by introducing the possibility of working with communities to orient projects. While these “participatory” initiatives have involved soliciting community feedback relative to a research project whose goals were formulated in the university or development institution, they do not go far enough to harness actual visions held by communities. It is important to conceptualize a model and methodology of engaging communities to develop and articulate their own goals of information access and ultimately, an indigenous approach toward cultural, political, and economic aspects of development. This approach holds promise to sustain communities within a return on the investment and efforts of the researcher or institution. This article closes by describing a current initiative in Southern India that reflects the described methodology.     

Chinese Media,Global Contexts,edited by Chin-Chuan Lee. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. xii + 275 pp. $95.00 cloth. ISBN 0-415-30334-6

Abstract

Several information processing technologies which are capable of augmenting human performance in handling a range of emergency situations are featured in this discussion. Among the more sophisticated systems which have proven useful in enhancing information collection, transmission, and selective processing are packet radio networks, “expert planning systems,” multiple‐satellite technology, and such related emerging developments as “internetting” and “machine intelligence.”     

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.     

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.     

On the notions of ambiguity and information loss

One of the fundamental problems in information science is to distinguish various objects (such as books or journal articles) on the basis of associated values (such as authors and titles). Where the values fail to distinguish two distinct objects we say that the objects are ambigious under the given value assignment. To obtain a measure of ambiguity, it is only necessary to count the number of ways that the objects can be arranged for each set of ambiguous objects, multiply these counts and take logarithms. It is shown that such an approach leads to a measure in the formal sense and that the measure depends only on the definition of equality of values so that it can be simply extended to sets of values and ordered sets of values. It is also shown that it is possible to construct a function of ambiguity that one can call “information” and that the information loss that occurs when distinct values are grouped into equivalence classes (as in the use of search and sort keys) is also a measure. Finally, it is shown that ambiguity and information as here defined are directly related to Shannon's definition of “information” thus tieing this approach to that portion of information theory associated with the derivation of optimal distributions frequently used in information science models.     

Telecommunications in rural America: An appraisal and a prediction

Abstract

Rural America has historically been plagued with a disproportionate shortage of health, education, and other public services. However, the application of rapidly changing telecommunications technologies can alleviate many of the problems associated with these isolated and “technologically undernourished” areas. Technologies such as low‐power television, direct broadcast satellites, and satellite‐fed cable services offer the opportunity for building a rural telecommunications network and thus improving services and the quality of life. However, in order for this goal to be realized, the economic constraints presented by insufficient consumer demand and unprofitable markets must be overcome. Direct government subsidization or increased support of projects may be necessary to encourage the private sector to increase investment in telecommunications facilities in rural communities.     

When information wanted to be free: Discursive bifurcation of information and the origins of Web 2.0

In the 1990s the aphorism “information wants to be free” reigned supreme, limiting our thinking in consequential ways. In actuality this aphorism was a fragment of a much more nuanced statement by Steward Brand, who also talked about “information wants to be expensive.” It seemed for quite a while that there was no resolution to the contradiction: information as both free and expensive. Eventually Web 2.0 resolved this contradiction by providing an architecture where information could be both free and expensive. Web 2.0 was not a product of technological advances: social media, wikis, big data platforms, and so forth. It was borne out of the understanding that free information on media platforms could yield profitable data on users. This article lays bare the discursive moves through which this understanding came about.     

Influence of human behavior and the principle of least effort on library and information science research

This study identified the influence of the main concepts contained in Zipf's classic 1949 book entitled Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort (HBPLE) on library and information science (LIS) research. The study analyzed LIS articles published between 1949 and 2013 that cited HBPLE. The results showed that HBPLE has a growing influence on LIS research. Of the 17 cited concepts that were identified, the concept of “Zipf's law” was cited most (64.8%), followed by “the principle of least effort” (24.5%). Although the concept of “the principle of least effort,” the focus of HBPLE, was not most frequently observed, an increasing trend was evident regarding the influence of this concept. The concept of “the principle of least effort” has been cited mainly by researchers of information behavior and served to support the citing authors’ claims. By contrast, the concept of “Zipf's law” received the most attention from bibliometrics research and was used mainly for comparisons with other informetrics laws or research results.     

A fad or future of IT?: A comprehensive literature review on the cloud computing research

Cloud computing is now a global trend and during the past decade, has drawn attention from both academic and business communities. Although the evolution of cloud computing has not reached the maturity level, there is still adequate research about the topic. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the development and evolution of cloud computing over time. A content analysis was conducted for 236 scholarly journal articles, which were published between 2009 and 2014 in order to (i) identify the possible trends and changes in cloud computing over the six years, (ii) compare publishing productivity of journals about the cloud computing subject, and (iii) guide future research about cloud computing. The results show that the majority of the cloud computing research is about “cloud computing adoption” (19%), and it was followed by the “legal and ethical issues” of cloud computing (15%). It is also found that “cloud computing for mobile applications” (6%), “benefits & challenges of cloud computing” (5%) and “energy consumption dimension of cloud computing” (4%) are the least attention-grabbing themes in the literature. However, “cloud computing for mobile applications” and “energy consumption dimension of cloud computing” themes have become popular in the last two years, so they are expected to be trendy topics of the near future. Finally, another finding of this study is that the majority of the articles were published by engineering, information systems or technical journals such as “IT Professional Magazine”, “International Journal of Information Management” and “Mobile Networks and Applications”. It seems as if this topic is generally ignored by the managerial and organizational journals even though the impact of cloud computing on organizations and institutions is immense and is in need of investigation.     

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.     

Ethical pluralism and global information ethics

A global information ethics that seeks to avoid imperialistic homogenization must conjoin shared norms while simultaneously preserving the irreducible differences between cultures and peoples. I argue that a global information ethics may fulfill these requirements by taking up an ethical pluralism – specifically Aristotle’s pros hen [“towards one”] or “focal” equivocals. These ethical pluralisms figure centrally in both classical and contemporary Western ethics: they further offer important connections with the major Eastern ethical tradition of Confucian thought. Both traditions understand ethical judgment to lead to and thus require ethical pluralism – i.e., an acceptance of more than one judgment regarding the interpretation and application of a shared ethical norm. Both traditions invoke notions of resonance and harmony to articulate pluralistic structures of connection alongside irreducible differences. Specific examples within Western computer and information ethics demonstrate these pluralisms in fact working in praxis. After reviewing further resonances and radical differences between Western and Eastern views, I then argue that emerging conceptions of privacy and data privacy protection laws in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand in fact constitute a robust, pros hen pluralism with Western conceptions. In both theory and in praxis, then, this pluralism thus fulfills the requirement for a global information ethics that holds shared norms alongside the irreducible differences between cultures and peoples.     

Transborder data flows: The transfer of medical and other scientific information by the united states

Abstract

The expression “transborder data flows'’ (TBDF) is shorthand for a complex set of issues that have come to the forefront as a result of the electronic transfer or exchange of information across national boundaries. It involves the flow of digital information across borders for the storage or processing in foreign computers and reflects the interests of governments in regulating or otherwise intervening in the free flow of such exchanges for a variety of reasons including economic, social, political, and cultural. This paper provides an overview of these TBDF issues and discusses the policies and experiences of the U.S. National Library of Medicine pertaining to the transfer of biomedical information worldwide. Trends in the international interchange of all types of scientific and technical information are noted and the future of U.S. information policy is addressed.     

Information determinism: The consequences of the faith in information

We identify and examine the assumption of information determinism that is commonplace in policy arenas: that mere access to the “right information” will precipitate desired actions. Our analysis focuses on implications of information determinism in three cases: California disaster response plans in the 1980s, an Indian development project in the 1990s, and an education project directed at the Global South in the 2000s. Our analyses shows that planning based on information deterministic assumptions tends to overlook the sociomaterial circumstances of information production and circulation, including how social structures and materiality shape information in practice. Further, they imbue what we call “information” with the agency to bring about change. While we do not deny that “information” can be useful, we argue that policy needs to move away from information deterministic thinking and its singular focus on information access to address the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations.     

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.     

Differences and similarities in information seeking: children and adults as Web users

This study examined the success and information seeking behaviors of seventh-grade science students and graduate students in information science in using Yahooligans! Web search engine/directory. It investigated these users' cognitive, affective, and physical behaviors as they sought the answer for a fact-finding task. It analyzed and compared the overall patterns of children's and graduate students' Web activities, including searching moves, browsing moves, backtracking moves, looping moves, screen scrolling, target location and deviation moves, and the time they took to complete the task. The authors applied Bilal's Web Traversal Measure to quantify these users' effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of moves they made. Results were based on 14 children's Web sessions and nine graduate students' sessions. Both groups' Web activities were captured online using Lotus ScreenCam, a software package that records and replays online activities in Web browsers. Children's affective states were captured via exit interviews. Graduate students' affective states were extracted from the journal writings they kept during the traversal process. The study findings reveal that 89% of the graduate students found the correct answer to the search task as opposed to 50% of the children. Based on the Measure, graduate students' weighted effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of the Web moves they made were much higher than those of the children. Regardless of success and weighted scores, however, similarities and differences in information seeking were found between the two groups. Yahooligans! poor structure of keyword searching was a major factor that contributed to the “breakdowns” children and graduate students experienced. Unlike children, graduate students were able to recover from “breakdowns” quickly and effectively. Three main factors influenced these users' performance: ability to recover from “breakdowns”, navigational style, and focus on task. Children and graduate students made recommendations for improving Yahooligans! interface design. Implications for Web user training and system design improvements are made.