_____________________________________________________________________________________
Hundley, Richard O., Robert H. Anderson, Tora K. Bikson, and C. Richard Neu (2003): The Global Course of the Information Revolution: Recurring Themes and Regional Variations, Santa Monica, CA, RAND Corporation, pb xliv+174 pp, available: http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1680/ (accessed: October 29, 2004).
_____________________________________________________________________________________
This is a study, undertaken during 1999–2002, by the well-known think tank, the RAND Corporation, “to explore the future of the information revolution throughout the world.” This is a multidisciplinary effort with an overarching goal of mapping the likely future of the global information revolution over the next 10-15 years. This effort also includes a series of international conferences on specific aspects of the information revolution.
The book consists of three parts containing 15 chapters: Part I: Recurring Themes, Part II: Regional Variations and Part III: Some Additional Topics (A Brief Look). Part I consists of 6 chapters (1 to 6), Part II of another 6 chapters (7 to 12) and Part III of 3 chapters (12 to 15). The book is wound up with an appendix (Participants in information revolution conferences) and References.Typically the chapters are titled as summing-up findings, propositions or projections.
Part I: Recurring Themes has the following 6 chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. New technology developments will continually drive the information revolution, 3. The information revolution is enabling new business models that are transforming the business and financial worlds, 4. The information revolution is affecting mechanisms of governance and empowering new political actors, 5. The information revolution both shapes and is shaped by social and cultural values in significant ways, and 6. Many factors shape and characterize a nations approach to the information revolution.
Part II: Regional Variations, which is a regional survey of the ongoing information revolution has the following 6 chapters: 7. North America will continue in the vanguard of information revolution, 8.The information revolution is following a somewhat different and more deliberate course in Europe, 9. Many Asia specific nations are poised to do well in the information revolution, some or not, 10. Latin America faces many obstacles in responding to the information revolution: some nations will rise to the challenge, others will not, 11. Few middle eastern and north African nations will fully experience the information revolution, some may miss it altogether and 12. Most countries of sub-Saharan Africa will fall further behind the information revolution.
Part II: Some Additional Topics (A Brief Look) consists of just three chapters: 13. Geopolitical trends furthered by the information revolution could pose continuing challenges to the United States, 14. What future events could change these projections? and 15. The information revolution is a part of broader technological revolution with even profounder consequences.
The book under review is a panaromic survey of the worldwide trends in the ongoing information revolution what we have been calling in these columns as an information and communication technology (ICT) revolution though going by the definition in this book the information revolution is a more general term than the ICT revolution. What this erudite work offers are assessments, generalizations, propositions and projections almost all of which have intuitive appeal and thus ready acceptance. Such aggregation, however, hides the intra-group variation, which often is of greater significance than what the aggregation, by its very nature, reveals. For example, there are many Asian countries which are in the vanguard of the ongoing ICT revolution while there are many Asian countries which appear to have been bypassed by the ongoing ICT revolution.
To freeze the frame and take a view, well analysed and well informed no doubt, is instructive but what is the policy prescription if one wants to, and one must, correct or improve an existing (albeit unsatisfactory) situation? Such policy prescriptions squarely fall within the domain of think tanks, more so if it happens to be a venerable, well endowed 50 year old institution which in the past had often pushed the frontiers of knowledge.(Its budget in 2000 was $140 million).Take, for instance, the case of digital divide (an issue of worldwide concern as it exists not only among the countries but also within countries, developed or developing). And if you take its multidimensional view, as Norris (2001, pp 3-4) does, then you have global divide (between developed and developing countries), social divide (between information rich and information poor in a country) and democratic divide (between those who can and those who cannot use the digital resources to engage in public life). An effective solution of the problem has been eluding the best of policy makers worldwide.
Yet the ICTs offer tantalizing possibilities. The sight of a kabariwala (rag picker in India) in Delhi wielding a mobile phone and organizing his work among the co-workers efficiently, does give you an initial shock, quickly turning into an astonishment and instantly converting you into a technophile. The question here though is not of technology adoption, which is proved beyond doubt by the ease of its use (though by an unlikely adopter in this case). The question here is: can this technology contribute in imparting literacy and numeracy, provide knowledge in health and hygiene and upgrade skills of people on the other side of digital divide? ICTs will increasingly be judged by such criteria. In respect of India, the study reports:
“India has three important advantages in the global IT competition: a plentiful supply of talented IT-trained people; copious numbers of educated, low-cost workers proficient in English; and close ties to the many Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. As a result, IT business clusters have developed there, it is a world leader in back-office services and software outsourcing, and its software production has increased fiftyfold over the past 10 years. The prosperity and growth of the Indian software and back-office service industries should continue, at least over the near- to mid-term. However, going beyond software into IT hardware activities may be difficult, particularly in view of China’s growing role in this area. Also, the entire Indian high-tech industry is a thin veneer on top of the Indian economy. Much of the nation is still in the agricultural age, not yet having reached the industrial age, let alone the information age. These factors may place any broader role in the information revolution beyond India’s reach.” (p-34). (emphasis supplied).
This conclusion “Much of the nation is still in the agricultural age, not yet having reached the industrial age, let alone the information age. These factors may place any broader role in the information revolution beyond India’s reach,” however, does not bear scrutiny. First, Asian tigers (certain east Asian economies) proved it and ICTs only re-enforce it now and then that there is nothing like a linear progression in development, say, from agricultural to industrial to information stage. Indeed what ICTs do, and have already done, is to enable an economy in agricultural stage to leapfrog to information age. India itself is an example of this assertion by developing a thriving business process outsourcing (BPO) sector from nowhere and meeting the needs of the post-industrial societies. Secondly, ICTs have enormous potential in raising agricultural productivity and production through revamped agricultural research and extension by way of establishing appropriate networks and implied faster problem solving of the farmers including providing timely information through agricultural marketing networks. Lastly, the ICTs have tremendous potential in human resource development. This alone can pull out an economy from backwardness and place it on the path of self-sustaining economic growth through acquisition of new skills and increased production and productivity.
Being a panoramic worldwide survey, the book under review inevitably brings to mind the monumental trilogy on the information age by the Spanish sociologist Professor Manuel Castells (1996, 1997 and 1998), currently shuttling between Barcelona and Los Angeles. A central theme identified by him in this magnum opus is the rise of network societ .It is this network, signifying connectivity, which holds the key to the ongoing information revolution. If you are a part of network (connected), you change, survive and prosper. If not, then you languish in your present state. Indeed the learned professor himself invented a term for it – the fourth world (of unconnected countries, societies and people). Digital divide then ceases to be an empty slogan and bridging it becomes an urgent priority.
The study under review is a notable contribution in assessing the trends of different aspects of the ongoing information revolution worldwide including its inevitable, though undesirable, regional variation. It will be found useful by all those practitioners, researchers and others who are interested in understanding the broader aspects of the ongoing information revolution as it unfolds right before our eyes, very often challenging our preconceived notions necessitating change in our perceptions. And it indeed is a task of the think tanks to capture and then disseminate such broad trends of the ongoing information revolution.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 28, 2004
_____________________________________________________________
References
Castells, Manuel (1996): The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume I: The Rise of Network Society, Oxford, United Kingdom, Blackwell.
Castells, Manuel (1997): The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume II: The Power of Identity, Oxford, United Kingdom, Blackwell.
Castells, Manuel (1998): The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume III: End of Millennium, Oxford, United Kingdom, Blackwell.
Norris, Pippa (2001): Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
Cyber Quiz: Articles-1: Governance and ICTs: Nilekani (2004a)
This* is the first of a series of three articles by Nandan M.Nilekani,CEO of Infosys on governance and information and communication technologies (ICTs).Nilekani presents a refreshing perspective to view governance from the triad of efficiency,effectiveness and equity, call it a 3E perspective, in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play a significant role.The 3Es are unexceptional and universal principles of good governance though the writer has the perspective of developing countries. The article is recommended for reading to any one interested in governance and the role ICTs can play in improving it. The remaining two articles will appear on next two Mondays in the newspaper in which the first article has appeared today.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 25,2004
_____________________________________________________________________
* Nilekani,Nandan M.(2004a):Redemption in this world,this land,The Economic Times,New Delhi,October 25,Monday,op-ed,p-4,available: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/897648.cms(accessed:October 25, 2004).
Dr D.C.Misra
October 25,2004
_____________________________________________________________________
* Nilekani,Nandan M.(2004a):Redemption in this world,this land,The Economic Times,New Delhi,October 25,Monday,op-ed,p-4,available: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/897648.cms(accessed:October 25, 2004).
Friday, October 22, 2004
Cyber Quiz: Reports-1: The Freedominfo.org Global Survey 2004
This is an ongoing survey of the state of freedom of information in countries which have adopted comprehensive national laws on access.This version was originally released in September 2003 and amended in April-May 2004 to include four additional countries.This report,third in the series to an updated global survey, shows that more than 50 countries by now have guaranteed their citizens the right to know what their governments are doing, and more than half of these freedom of information laws have been passed in the last decade.
The report includes links to the texts of laws and commentary on their effectiveness or lack of it.On India,the report,among other things,observes:
"Many of the states in India have enacted Right to Information Acts since 1997 due to pressure from activists fighting corruption. These include Goa, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi and Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh has adopted a Code of Practice on Access to Information. The Maharashtra Government's Right to Information Act was adopted (replacing a 2002 Ordinance)in August 2003 after activist Anna Hazare went on a hunger strike."(p-40).
The report covers the following 57 countries(over 30 more countries have pending efforts):
1.ALBANIA,2.ARMENIA,3.AUSTRALIA,4.AUSTRIA,5.BELGIUM,6.BELIZE,
7.BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA,8.BULGARIA,9.CANADA,10.COLOMBIA,
11.CROATIA,12.CZECH REPUBLIC,13.DENMARK,14.ESTONIA,15.FINLAND,
16.FRANCE,17.GEORGIA,18.GREECE,19.HUNGARY,20.ICELAND,
21.INDIA,22.IRELAND,23.ISRAEL,24.ITALY,25.JAMAICA,26.JAPAN,
27.SOUTH KOREA,28.KOSOVO,29.LATVIA,30.LIECHTENSTEIN,
31.LITHUANIA,32.MEXICO,33.MOLDOVA,34.NETHERLANDS,35.NEW ZEALAND,36.NORWAY,37.PAKISTAN,38.PANAMA,39.PERU,40.PHILIPPINES,
41.POLAND,42.PORTUGAL,43.ROMANIA,44.SLOVAKIA,45.SLOVENIA,
46.SOUTH AFRICA,47.SPAIN,48.SWEDEN,49.TAJIKISTAN,50.THAILAND,
51.TURKEY,52.TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO,53.UKRAINE,54.UNITED KINGDOM,
55.UNITED STATES,56.UZBEKISTAN and 57.ZIMBABWE.
The report has been compiled and edited by David Banisar,a Visiting Fellow, Department of Law,University of Leeds and Director of the Freedom of Information Project of Privacy International(http://www.privacyinternational.org)(a human rights group formed in 1990 and based in London)for freedominfo.org.He was earlier
a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government,Harvard University and a Co-founder and Policy Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The report is recommended for consultation by any one interested in the current national status of freedom of information or securing access to information from government,an area increasingly becoming important due to activism by individuals and organisations to which the information and communication technologies(ICTs)
have significantly contributed(see,for example,Norris(2004)briefly reviewed in this Forum).The sponsors and the editor of the report need to be congratulated for this undertaking which can make significant contribution to good governance.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 22,2004
______________________________________________________________________
* The Freedominfo.org Global Report:Freedom of Information and
Access to Government Records Around the World(updated May 12, 2004),
Available:http://www.freedominfo.org/survey/global_survey2004.pdf
(1.8 MB)(accessed October 22,2004).
______________________________________________________________________
(Source:http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/89)
The report includes links to the texts of laws and commentary on their effectiveness or lack of it.On India,the report,among other things,observes:
"Many of the states in India have enacted Right to Information Acts since 1997 due to pressure from activists fighting corruption. These include Goa, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi and Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh has adopted a Code of Practice on Access to Information. The Maharashtra Government's Right to Information Act was adopted (replacing a 2002 Ordinance)in August 2003 after activist Anna Hazare went on a hunger strike."(p-40).
The report covers the following 57 countries(over 30 more countries have pending efforts):
1.ALBANIA,2.ARMENIA,3.AUSTRALIA,4.AUSTRIA,5.BELGIUM,6.BELIZE,
7.BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA,8.BULGARIA,9.CANADA,10.COLOMBIA,
11.CROATIA,12.CZECH REPUBLIC,13.DENMARK,14.ESTONIA,15.FINLAND,
16.FRANCE,17.GEORGIA,18.GREECE,19.HUNGARY,20.ICELAND,
21.INDIA,22.IRELAND,23.ISRAEL,24.ITALY,25.JAMAICA,26.JAPAN,
27.SOUTH KOREA,28.KOSOVO,29.LATVIA,30.LIECHTENSTEIN,
31.LITHUANIA,32.MEXICO,33.MOLDOVA,34.NETHERLANDS,35.NEW ZEALAND,36.NORWAY,37.PAKISTAN,38.PANAMA,39.PERU,40.PHILIPPINES,
41.POLAND,42.PORTUGAL,43.ROMANIA,44.SLOVAKIA,45.SLOVENIA,
46.SOUTH AFRICA,47.SPAIN,48.SWEDEN,49.TAJIKISTAN,50.THAILAND,
51.TURKEY,52.TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO,53.UKRAINE,54.UNITED KINGDOM,
55.UNITED STATES,56.UZBEKISTAN and 57.ZIMBABWE.
The report has been compiled and edited by David Banisar,a Visiting Fellow, Department of Law,University of Leeds and Director of the Freedom of Information Project of Privacy International(http://www.privacyinternational.org)(a human rights group formed in 1990 and based in London)for freedominfo.org.He was earlier
a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government,Harvard University and a Co-founder and Policy Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The report is recommended for consultation by any one interested in the current national status of freedom of information or securing access to information from government,an area increasingly becoming important due to activism by individuals and organisations to which the information and communication technologies(ICTs)
have significantly contributed(see,for example,Norris(2004)briefly reviewed in this Forum).The sponsors and the editor of the report need to be congratulated for this undertaking which can make significant contribution to good governance.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 22,2004
______________________________________________________________________
* The Freedominfo.org Global Report:Freedom of Information and
Access to Government Records Around the World(updated May 12, 2004),
Available:http://www.freedominfo.org/survey/global_survey2004.pdf
(1.8 MB)(accessed October 22,2004).
______________________________________________________________________
(Source:http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/89)
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Cyber Quiz: List-7: Annual Champion Words: A Word A Year (1904-2004)
What have the following words in common:
mobile phone(1945),cyborg (1960),byte(1964),microchip(1969),double click (1984),virtual reality(1987),applet (1987),URL(1992),dot commer(1997),text message(1998)and Google(1999)?
Well,they all could be said to be annual champion words, characterising the year indicated in parentheses!
This is the second language report*, the first having been published in 2003(it contained much of the vocabulary of war). Author Susie Dent,a lexicographer of British TV words and numbers game Count Down (http://www.thecountdownpage.com/)fame argues that every year one word is born into the English language which says something about the preoccupations of the time.She has come out with a 100-year list from 1904 to 2004.
It is an interesting exercise charting a century of new words,and it has many surprises too (for example,in knowing that the word celeb is as old as 1913 or that year 1992 was characterized by the word URL(uniform resource locator).A number of words no doubt have been contributed by the information and communication technologies(ICTs). A browsing of the 100-year list,reproduced below,is a rewarding
experience.
Here are then three new words: larper, shroomer(from the title of the book)and chav,the buzzword of 2004:
LARPer:(noun)(from 'Live Action Role Playing')a person who re-enacts fantasy scenarios by dressing up and assuming character roles.
shroomer:(noun) a person who takes hallucinogenic ('magic') mushrooms.
Chav: It probably began in Chatham, Kent, as a derogatory label for an older underclass, gypsies. From the Romany word for a child,chavi,the term is used to describe young uncouth or aggressive persons who wear cheap gold jewellery and baseball caps and hang around in shopping centres all over Britain.See also Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words at http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cha2.htm.
Here is the 100-year list:
ANNUAL CHAMPION WORDS: SUSIE DENT'S A WORD A YEAR: 1904-2004
____________________________________________________________
1904 hip
1905 whizzo
1906 teddy bear
1907 egghead
1908 realpolitik
1909 tiddly-om-pom-pom
1910 sacred cow
1911 gene
1912 blues
1913 celeb
1914 cheerio
1915 civvy street
1916 U-boat
1917 tailspin
1918 ceasefire
1919 ad-lib
1920 demob
1921 pop
1922 wizard
1923 hem-line
1924 lumpenproletariat
1925 avant garde
1926 kitsch
1927 sudden death
1928 Big Apple
1929 sex
1930 drive-in
1931 Mickey Mouse
1932 bagel
1933 dumb down
1934 pesticide
1935 racism
1936 spliff
1937 dunk
1938 cheeseburger
1939 Blitzkrieg
1940 Molotov cocktail
1941 snafu
1942 buzz
1943 pissed off
1944 DNA
1945 mobile phone
1946 megabucks
1947 Wonderbra
1948 cool
1949 Big Brother
1950 brainwashing
1951 fast food
1952 Generation X
1953 hippy
1954 non-U
1955 boogie
1956 sexy
1957 psychedelic
1958 beatnik
1959 cruise missile
1960 cyborg
1961 awesome
1962 bossa nova
1963 peacenik
1964 byte
1965 miniskirt
1966 acid
1967 love-in
1968 It-girl
1969 microchip
1970 hypermarket
1971 green
1972 Watergate
1973 F-word
1974 punk
1975 detox
1976 Trekkie
1977 naff all
1978 trainers
1979 karaoke
1980 power dressing
1981 toy-boy
1982 hip-hop
1983 beatbox
1984 double-click
1985 OK yah
1986 mobile
1987 virtual reality
1988 gangsta
1989 latte
1990 applet
1991 hot-desking
1992 URL
1993 have it large
1994 Botox
1995 kitten heels
1996 ghetto fabulous
1997 dot-commer
1998 text message
1999 google
2000 bling bling
2001 9/11
2002 axis of evil
2003 sex up
2004 chav
______________________________________________________________
(Source:http://www.askoxford.com/pressroom/archive/larpers/?
view=uk,accessed October 21, 2004).
Enjoy browsing and have a nice day.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 21, 2004
______________________________________________________________________
*Dent, Susie (2004): Larpers and Shroomers: The Language Report,
Oxford, Oxford University Press(Published October 19),174 pp
Note: See also Between chav and lip,Hindustan Times,New Delhi,
October 21,2004,Thursday,p-24.
(Source: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/87)
mobile phone(1945),cyborg (1960),byte(1964),microchip(1969),double click (1984),virtual reality(1987),applet (1987),URL(1992),dot commer(1997),text message(1998)and Google(1999)?
Well,they all could be said to be annual champion words, characterising the year indicated in parentheses!
This is the second language report*, the first having been published in 2003(it contained much of the vocabulary of war). Author Susie Dent,a lexicographer of British TV words and numbers game Count Down (http://www.thecountdownpage.com/)fame argues that every year one word is born into the English language which says something about the preoccupations of the time.She has come out with a 100-year list from 1904 to 2004.
It is an interesting exercise charting a century of new words,and it has many surprises too (for example,in knowing that the word celeb is as old as 1913 or that year 1992 was characterized by the word URL(uniform resource locator).A number of words no doubt have been contributed by the information and communication technologies(ICTs). A browsing of the 100-year list,reproduced below,is a rewarding
experience.
Here are then three new words: larper, shroomer(from the title of the book)and chav,the buzzword of 2004:
LARPer:(noun)(from 'Live Action Role Playing')a person who re-enacts fantasy scenarios by dressing up and assuming character roles.
shroomer:(noun) a person who takes hallucinogenic ('magic') mushrooms.
Chav: It probably began in Chatham, Kent, as a derogatory label for an older underclass, gypsies. From the Romany word for a child,chavi,the term is used to describe young uncouth or aggressive persons who wear cheap gold jewellery and baseball caps and hang around in shopping centres all over Britain.See also Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words at http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cha2.htm.
Here is the 100-year list:
ANNUAL CHAMPION WORDS: SUSIE DENT'S A WORD A YEAR: 1904-2004
____________________________________________________________
1904 hip
1905 whizzo
1906 teddy bear
1907 egghead
1908 realpolitik
1909 tiddly-om-pom-pom
1910 sacred cow
1911 gene
1912 blues
1913 celeb
1914 cheerio
1915 civvy street
1916 U-boat
1917 tailspin
1918 ceasefire
1919 ad-lib
1920 demob
1921 pop
1922 wizard
1923 hem-line
1924 lumpenproletariat
1925 avant garde
1926 kitsch
1927 sudden death
1928 Big Apple
1929 sex
1930 drive-in
1931 Mickey Mouse
1932 bagel
1933 dumb down
1934 pesticide
1935 racism
1936 spliff
1937 dunk
1938 cheeseburger
1939 Blitzkrieg
1940 Molotov cocktail
1941 snafu
1942 buzz
1943 pissed off
1944 DNA
1945 mobile phone
1946 megabucks
1947 Wonderbra
1948 cool
1949 Big Brother
1950 brainwashing
1951 fast food
1952 Generation X
1953 hippy
1954 non-U
1955 boogie
1956 sexy
1957 psychedelic
1958 beatnik
1959 cruise missile
1960 cyborg
1961 awesome
1962 bossa nova
1963 peacenik
1964 byte
1965 miniskirt
1966 acid
1967 love-in
1968 It-girl
1969 microchip
1970 hypermarket
1971 green
1972 Watergate
1973 F-word
1974 punk
1975 detox
1976 Trekkie
1977 naff all
1978 trainers
1979 karaoke
1980 power dressing
1981 toy-boy
1982 hip-hop
1983 beatbox
1984 double-click
1985 OK yah
1986 mobile
1987 virtual reality
1988 gangsta
1989 latte
1990 applet
1991 hot-desking
1992 URL
1993 have it large
1994 Botox
1995 kitten heels
1996 ghetto fabulous
1997 dot-commer
1998 text message
1999 google
2000 bling bling
2001 9/11
2002 axis of evil
2003 sex up
2004 chav
______________________________________________________________
(Source:http://www.askoxford.com/pressroom/archive/larpers/?
view=uk,accessed October 21, 2004).
Enjoy browsing and have a nice day.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 21, 2004
______________________________________________________________________
*Dent, Susie (2004): Larpers and Shroomers: The Language Report,
Oxford, Oxford University Press(Published October 19),174 pp
Note: See also Between chav and lip,Hindustan Times,New Delhi,
October 21,2004,Thursday,p-24.
(Source: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/87)
Monday, October 18, 2004
Cyber Quiz: Occasional Paper Review-5: Impact of ICTs on Gov: Norris(2004)
Regular Internet users are significantly more politically active than others,finds a recent study* undertaken by Pippa Norris of John F.Kennedy School of Government,Harvard University,Cambridge,MA(Pippa_Norris@Harvard.edu/www.pippanorris.com)as a part of UNESCOWorld Report.
She found the overall score on the mean Political Activism Index,designed by her on four dimensions and 21 parameters,was 4.43 forregular Internet users compared with 2.56 for others,a substantialand significant difference (p-13).She predicts that the primary impact of knowledge societies will be upon facilitating cause-oriented and civic forms of activism,thereby strengthening social movements, more than upon conventional channels of participation exemplified by voting and campaigning.(ibid,p-3).
She notes four main perspectives in literature:
(a) The Internet as a virtual Agora:
The positive view of cyber optimists who emphasise the possibilitiesof involvement of ordinary citizens in direct, deliberativeor `strong' democracy.(p-3).So far hopes that the knowledgesociety could revitalize mass participation in direct or strongdemocracies finds little support from the available empiricalstudies,
(b) The knowledge elite and social inequalities:
The negative view of cyber pessimists who regard knowledge society as re-inforcing existing inequalities of power and wealth (p-4).,
(c) Politics as usual:
The cyber skeptics who argue that both these visions are exaggerated.This view stresses the embedded status quo and the difficulties ofachieving radical change to political systems through technologicalmechanisms(p-5)and
(d) The political market model:
The study hypothesizes that there is a market where the impact of the internet depends in part upon the `supply' of political information and communications, primarily from political agencies, and also upon the `demand' for such information andcommunication from the mass public.In turn the public's demand comes from the social and cultural profile of the online population reflecting long-standing patterns of civic engagement.(p-20).
The study, undertaken for Europe,compares the impact of frequency of use of the Internet on four main dimensions of activism: voting, campaign-oriented, cause-oriented, and civic-oriented. These are summarized into a 21-point `Political Activism' Index combining all dimensions,namely,1. Voting (1 point),2. Campaign-oriented (5 points),3. Cause-oriented (5 points),4. Civic-oriented(10 points)based on data from the 19-nation European Social Survey2002.The evidence presented in this study suggests that the rise of the knowledge society in Europe has had the greatest positive consequences for civic society by strengthening cause-oriented and civic-oriented activism, rather than mass participation in campaigns and elections.(p-20).
This study is highly recommended to any one interested in gauging the impact of information and communication technologies(ICTs) on governance.The author needs to be congratulated for undertaking this study and UNESCO for sponsoring it.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 18,2004
(Source: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/83)
____________________________________________________________________________________
* Norris, Pippa (2004): Building Knowledge Societies:The Renewal ofDemocratic Practices in Knowledge Societies,Cambridge,MA,HarvardUniversity,John F. Kennedy School of Government,February,UNESCO World Report,pp 34,available:http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Acrobat/UNESCO%20Report%20Knowledge%20Societies.pdf(accessed October 18,2004).
She found the overall score on the mean Political Activism Index,designed by her on four dimensions and 21 parameters,was 4.43 forregular Internet users compared with 2.56 for others,a substantialand significant difference (p-13).She predicts that the primary impact of knowledge societies will be upon facilitating cause-oriented and civic forms of activism,thereby strengthening social movements, more than upon conventional channels of participation exemplified by voting and campaigning.(ibid,p-3).
She notes four main perspectives in literature:
(a) The Internet as a virtual Agora:
The positive view of cyber optimists who emphasise the possibilitiesof involvement of ordinary citizens in direct, deliberativeor `strong' democracy.(p-3).So far hopes that the knowledgesociety could revitalize mass participation in direct or strongdemocracies finds little support from the available empiricalstudies,
(b) The knowledge elite and social inequalities:
The negative view of cyber pessimists who regard knowledge society as re-inforcing existing inequalities of power and wealth (p-4).,
(c) Politics as usual:
The cyber skeptics who argue that both these visions are exaggerated.This view stresses the embedded status quo and the difficulties ofachieving radical change to political systems through technologicalmechanisms(p-5)and
(d) The political market model:
The study hypothesizes that there is a market where the impact of the internet depends in part upon the `supply' of political information and communications, primarily from political agencies, and also upon the `demand' for such information andcommunication from the mass public.In turn the public's demand comes from the social and cultural profile of the online population reflecting long-standing patterns of civic engagement.(p-20).
The study, undertaken for Europe,compares the impact of frequency of use of the Internet on four main dimensions of activism: voting, campaign-oriented, cause-oriented, and civic-oriented. These are summarized into a 21-point `Political Activism' Index combining all dimensions,namely,1. Voting (1 point),2. Campaign-oriented (5 points),3. Cause-oriented (5 points),4. Civic-oriented(10 points)based on data from the 19-nation European Social Survey2002.The evidence presented in this study suggests that the rise of the knowledge society in Europe has had the greatest positive consequences for civic society by strengthening cause-oriented and civic-oriented activism, rather than mass participation in campaigns and elections.(p-20).
This study is highly recommended to any one interested in gauging the impact of information and communication technologies(ICTs) on governance.The author needs to be congratulated for undertaking this study and UNESCO for sponsoring it.
Dr D.C.Misra
October 18,2004
(Source: http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/83)
____________________________________________________________________________________
* Norris, Pippa (2004): Building Knowledge Societies:The Renewal ofDemocratic Practices in Knowledge Societies,Cambridge,MA,HarvardUniversity,John F. Kennedy School of Government,February,UNESCO World Report,pp 34,available:http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Acrobat/UNESCO%20Report%20Knowledge%20Societies.pdf(accessed October 18,2004).
Saturday, October 09, 2004
There is no "byte" in the worldwide bestsellers: whatever then happened to dotcom deluge?
There is a remarkable omission of any book on information and communication technologies (ICTs) from the latest list of bestsellers on science. This glaring omission stares at your face blankly when you look at the list in the light of the oft-repeated assertion that we are living in the information age or in an era of ongoing ICT revolution.What happened then to the deluge of books on ICTs in the days of dotcom boom, the last decade of the twentieth century (followed no doubt by books explaining the dotcom bust as well)? Does the omission mean that we have no popular writers on ICTs producing "bestsellers" or "classics" (the two need not be same of course) and people(read lay readers) are not interested in ICTs but are interested in, say,mathematics and physics?
Commenting on the list The Economist, London, which has compiled the list and published it in its issue of 2nd October, notes that science writing for the lay reader is getting better and better, and the best explains even the most complex subjects without condescension. It notes that the books by the populariser, Bill Bryson, and by Richard Dawkins, evolutionist, predominate. But classic works continue to sell well, years after publication.What happened then, for example,to Brook's Mythical Man-Month or Bill Gates' The Road Ahead (or, for that matter,to his Business@The Speed of Thought) or Tim Berners-Lee's Weaving the Web or Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital or Makimoto and Manners' Digital Nomad or indeed to George Gilder's Telecosm, just to mention half a dozen or so rather familiar titles in ICTs? Does it mean that there was no paradigm shift and that the book that invented the term- The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – merrily finds a place (rank 10)in the list despite having been published way back in 1962 when many of the present day geeks were not even born? Or, does it mean that people's initial enthusiasm and curiosity in ICTs have just waned, perhaps unnoticed?
The list has another surprise- the size of books. The size of a number of bestsellers ranges from rather formidable 500 to awesome 1,000 pp. The slot for the slimmest, at 240 pp, is co-shared by Hawkins and Kuhn. This is against the popularly held belief that people do not like "tombs" of scholarship. Apparently people are prepared to spend time (and money as well) on lengthy books if interesting content is offered to them or does it mean that such bestsellers are only "must have, read later" books and those who can afford buy them and then put them on the shelves, never to be read? And who is this "lay reader" who buys these books on esoteric subjects in science?
Whosoever this "lay reader" may be, no one should deny him the access to Sir Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (rank 4). The Economist describes it as "An extraordinary account of the underlying mathematics of the physical universe. Not for the lay reader." Pray, why not? If "lay readers" are not reading these bestsellers then how does Sir Roger's book attain a very honourable rank 4? Or does it mean that only libraries buy these bestsellers and individual "lay readers" have no role in the `making' of these bestsellers?
And how can any one forget Sir Roger's classic The Emperor's New Mind, a very powerful attack on 'strong artificial intelligence (AI)' whose proponents continue to remain unshaken in their claim that it is just a question of time when human beings will be replaced by computers and Sir Roger showed that human thinking can never be emulated by a computer. It certainly is surprising that this book is missing from the list of bestsellers, a case of missing another "byte"! Or its sequel The Shadows of Mind, described as 'one of the most important works of the second half of the 20th century' by The Times, London which provided more rigorous proof of consciousness far beyond the `computational activity.'
Here is then the list of top 15 Amazon worldwide bestsellers on science (with figures following the author indicating the number of pages): 1.A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson 560),2.The Ancestor's Tale (Richard Dawkins 520), 3.Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond 512), 4.The Road to Reality (Roger Penrose 1,000), 5.The Fabric of the Cosmos (Brian Greene 569), 6.Stiff (Mary Roach 303), 7.The Elegant Universe (Brian Greene 464), 8.The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins 366), 9.A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking 240), 10.The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas S. Kuhn 240), 11.Eine kurze Geschichte von fast allem.(Bill Bryson 672), 12.The End of Oil (Paul Roberts 389), 13. Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2005 (Hans-Ullrich Keller 288), 14.The Secret Life of Lobsters (Trevor Corson 289), and 15.How the Mind Works (Steven Pinker 672).(Read the complete list, together with the comments of The Economist, at http://economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3242474).
But what happened to the books which enthused us,those which tried to demystify the ICTs and those which simply excited us, some of which even forcing us to lose our sleep and read them from A to Z? What happened, for example, to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, which, among other things laid down the three laws of robotics? Or to former Stanford professor Robert X. Cringely's Accidental Empires which became the basis for PublicTV's miniseries Triumph of the Nerds? Or to Matt Ridley's Genome, appropriately sub-titled the autobiography of a species in 23 chapters? Or to Where Wizards stay Up Late giving us the origin of Internet or to K.Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation on the coming era of nanotechnology?
The proprietary versus open source debate continues unresolved. Both sides appear to have only strengthened their respective defences with the passage of time.Yet Glyn Moody's rebel code dealing with Linux and the open source revolution has failed to make to the list.While security continues to be an over-riding concern, The Art of Deception by Kevin D.Mitnick, who is described as `a cyber-desperado and fugitive from one of the most exhaustive FBI manhunts in history' did not find favour with the readingpublic. Mitnick,understandably, is also described as `one of the most sought-after computer security experts worldwide.' Or may be these books do not fall under the category of "science"?
Whatever may be the reason, there appears to be lull in the field of ICTs today. Absence of books on ICTs from the bestseller list perhaps only indicates the present lull. This, however, may only be partly true as age appears to have no bearing on bestsellers otherwise Kuhn's book, for example, published in 1962,would not have found a place in the bestseller list. Some cyber-savvy Indians like S.S.Kshatriy (Silicon Valley Greats), Indra Sinha (the cybergypsies), Samar Halarankar (Nirvana under the rain tree), Pratik Kanjilal (Guide to Using the Internet in India) and Chidanand Rajghatta (The Horse that Flew) also tried their hands on writing on ICTs but no Indian has so far produced any popular book on ICTs for the world market not withstanding its world standard software and its aspirations to be IT superpower. Perhaps a classic in ICTs is yet to be written, anywhere in the world. Any takers, techies or non-techies?
(Source:http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/57)
Dr D.C.Misra
October 9, 2004
Commenting on the list The Economist, London, which has compiled the list and published it in its issue of 2nd October, notes that science writing for the lay reader is getting better and better, and the best explains even the most complex subjects without condescension. It notes that the books by the populariser, Bill Bryson, and by Richard Dawkins, evolutionist, predominate. But classic works continue to sell well, years after publication.What happened then, for example,to Brook's Mythical Man-Month or Bill Gates' The Road Ahead (or, for that matter,to his Business@The Speed of Thought) or Tim Berners-Lee's Weaving the Web or Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital or Makimoto and Manners' Digital Nomad or indeed to George Gilder's Telecosm, just to mention half a dozen or so rather familiar titles in ICTs? Does it mean that there was no paradigm shift and that the book that invented the term- The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – merrily finds a place (rank 10)in the list despite having been published way back in 1962 when many of the present day geeks were not even born? Or, does it mean that people's initial enthusiasm and curiosity in ICTs have just waned, perhaps unnoticed?
The list has another surprise- the size of books. The size of a number of bestsellers ranges from rather formidable 500 to awesome 1,000 pp. The slot for the slimmest, at 240 pp, is co-shared by Hawkins and Kuhn. This is against the popularly held belief that people do not like "tombs" of scholarship. Apparently people are prepared to spend time (and money as well) on lengthy books if interesting content is offered to them or does it mean that such bestsellers are only "must have, read later" books and those who can afford buy them and then put them on the shelves, never to be read? And who is this "lay reader" who buys these books on esoteric subjects in science?
Whosoever this "lay reader" may be, no one should deny him the access to Sir Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (rank 4). The Economist describes it as "An extraordinary account of the underlying mathematics of the physical universe. Not for the lay reader." Pray, why not? If "lay readers" are not reading these bestsellers then how does Sir Roger's book attain a very honourable rank 4? Or does it mean that only libraries buy these bestsellers and individual "lay readers" have no role in the `making' of these bestsellers?
And how can any one forget Sir Roger's classic The Emperor's New Mind, a very powerful attack on 'strong artificial intelligence (AI)' whose proponents continue to remain unshaken in their claim that it is just a question of time when human beings will be replaced by computers and Sir Roger showed that human thinking can never be emulated by a computer. It certainly is surprising that this book is missing from the list of bestsellers, a case of missing another "byte"! Or its sequel The Shadows of Mind, described as 'one of the most important works of the second half of the 20th century' by The Times, London which provided more rigorous proof of consciousness far beyond the `computational activity.'
Here is then the list of top 15 Amazon worldwide bestsellers on science (with figures following the author indicating the number of pages): 1.A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson 560),2.The Ancestor's Tale (Richard Dawkins 520), 3.Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond 512), 4.The Road to Reality (Roger Penrose 1,000), 5.The Fabric of the Cosmos (Brian Greene 569), 6.Stiff (Mary Roach 303), 7.The Elegant Universe (Brian Greene 464), 8.The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins 366), 9.A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking 240), 10.The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas S. Kuhn 240), 11.Eine kurze Geschichte von fast allem.(Bill Bryson 672), 12.The End of Oil (Paul Roberts 389), 13. Kosmos Himmelsjahr 2005 (Hans-Ullrich Keller 288), 14.The Secret Life of Lobsters (Trevor Corson 289), and 15.How the Mind Works (Steven Pinker 672).(Read the complete list, together with the comments of The Economist, at http://economist.com/books/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3242474).
But what happened to the books which enthused us,those which tried to demystify the ICTs and those which simply excited us, some of which even forcing us to lose our sleep and read them from A to Z? What happened, for example, to Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, which, among other things laid down the three laws of robotics? Or to former Stanford professor Robert X. Cringely's Accidental Empires which became the basis for PublicTV's miniseries Triumph of the Nerds? Or to Matt Ridley's Genome, appropriately sub-titled the autobiography of a species in 23 chapters? Or to Where Wizards stay Up Late giving us the origin of Internet or to K.Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation on the coming era of nanotechnology?
The proprietary versus open source debate continues unresolved. Both sides appear to have only strengthened their respective defences with the passage of time.Yet Glyn Moody's rebel code dealing with Linux and the open source revolution has failed to make to the list.While security continues to be an over-riding concern, The Art of Deception by Kevin D.Mitnick, who is described as `a cyber-desperado and fugitive from one of the most exhaustive FBI manhunts in history' did not find favour with the readingpublic. Mitnick,understandably, is also described as `one of the most sought-after computer security experts worldwide.' Or may be these books do not fall under the category of "science"?
Whatever may be the reason, there appears to be lull in the field of ICTs today. Absence of books on ICTs from the bestseller list perhaps only indicates the present lull. This, however, may only be partly true as age appears to have no bearing on bestsellers otherwise Kuhn's book, for example, published in 1962,would not have found a place in the bestseller list. Some cyber-savvy Indians like S.S.Kshatriy (Silicon Valley Greats), Indra Sinha (the cybergypsies), Samar Halarankar (Nirvana under the rain tree), Pratik Kanjilal (Guide to Using the Internet in India) and Chidanand Rajghatta (The Horse that Flew) also tried their hands on writing on ICTs but no Indian has so far produced any popular book on ICTs for the world market not withstanding its world standard software and its aspirations to be IT superpower. Perhaps a classic in ICTs is yet to be written, anywhere in the world. Any takers, techies or non-techies?
(Source:http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberquiz/message/57)
Dr D.C.Misra
October 9, 2004
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