"The Digital Silk Road is the component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative that aims to establish China as the global technological superpower. While the Belt and Road Initiative is generally understood to be a foreign policy initiative, it is important to view the Digital Silk Road as both a for
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eign and domestically focused aspect of the initiative. The first step to analyzing this component of the Belt and Road Initiative is to create a conceptual roadmap to understand the components of the Digital Silk Road. This paper argues that it comprises four interrelated, technologically focused initiatives. First, China is investing abroad in digital infrastructure, including next generation cellular networks, fiberoptic cables and data centers. Second, it contains a domestic focus on developing advanced technologies that will be essential to global economic and military power. These advanced technologies include satellite navigation systems, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Third, because China recognizes the importance of economic interdependence to international influence, the Digital Silk Road promotes e-commerce through digital free trade zones. Last, digital diplomacy and governance, including through multilateral institutions, are key to China creating its ideal international digital environment.
After outlining a broad conceptual map of the Digital Silk Road, this paper focuses on how China’s investment in digital infrastructure and the strategic technological competition between China and the United States will shape the international orders in the Asia-Pacific region and globally. It argues that China perceives technological advancement as the sphere in which it can most adequately challenge the United States’ global power without creating direct confrontation, including possible military confrontation. Second, the United States seeks to constrain the Digital Silk Road and China’s technological ascendancy by presenting Chinese technology corporations as posing an unacceptable risk to international security. Third, China does not want to replace the current international order that has persisted since the end of the Second World War. Rather, it would like to maintain the liberal economic order that has permitted its economic rise and export its form of digital authoritarianism to create an illiberal political international order. Finally, through investing in data centers and pursuing data localization policies, China aims to achieve strategic geopolitical objectives by projecting sharp power abroad, which will be facilitated by big data." (Executive Summary)
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"This publication discusses the extent to which digital technology can help tackle poverty and social inequality. Does it increase or restrict the opportunities for social and economic participation open to disadvantaged people? We analyse the history of e-commerce in the light of this question. We
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consider current developments in the world trade regime, because a new dynamic has developed in trade policy almost unnoticed. As the Digital Agenda adopted by the US government in 2000 shows, leading tech companies - principally those from Silicon Valley - are increasingly using commercial law to promote their own interests. This is no longer just about reducing tariffs on digital products such as software, or about uniform standards for telecommunications services. Patents on artificial intelligence and the (non-)regulation of data flows are now elements of commercial regulations and the subject of controversy in the World Trade Organization (WTO). For the countries of the Global South - but not only for them - there is a lot at stake, including the risk of a new, digital colonialism. This publication explores the potentials and limits of digital solutions. It analyses the lessons to be learned from supposedly model projects such as the mobile payment system M-Pesa and the spread of cashless payment in India. We also examine whether the digitalisation of transnational supply chains not only boosts transparency but also increases value creation for workers on the coffee and soya plantations or in factories. The question of how digitalisation can be organised so that it contributes to the welfare of everyone must focus on one issue in particular: how can disadvantaged population groups in the rural parts of Africa or the inhabitants of slums in the megacities obtain better access to work and basic services? What steps must be taken to minimise the risks of the digital transformation for people in Asia and Latin America and enhance its potential? The study therefore concludes with a list of nine ideas that would help make digitalisation fair. Consider them as an invitation to engage in discussion of globally just and humane digitalisation." (Preface)
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"While Russian computer scientists are notorious for their interference in the 2016 US presidential election, they are ubiquitous on Wall Street and coveted by international IT firms and often perceive themselves as the present manifestation of the past glory of Soviet scientific prowess. Drawing on
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over three hundred in-depth interviews, the contributors to From Russia with Code trace the practices, education, careers, networks, migrations, and lives of Russian IT professionals at home and abroad, showing how they function as key figures in the tense political and ideological environment of technological innovation in post-Soviet Russia. Among other topics, they analyze coders' creation of both transnational communities and local networks of political activists; Moscow's use of IT funding to control peripheral regions; brain drain and the experiences of coders living abroad in the United Kingdom, United States, Israel, and Finland; and the possible meanings of Russian computing systems in a heterogeneous nation and industry. Highlighting the centrality of computer scientists to post-Soviet economic mobilization in Russia, the contributors offer new insights into the difficulties through which a new entrepreneurial culture emerges in a rapidly changing world." (Publisher description)
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"We started by performing fieldwork in five countries, covering the four main SSA regions: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. We then conducted 116 interviews across 78 organizations, covering the overall ecosystem: mobile network operators (MNOs), aggreg
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ators, donors, multilateral organizations and nongovernmental organization (NGOs). The following are key findings by mobile channel: SMS volumes are driven by a few players, mostly multilateral agencies; Voice/IVR allows for rich interactions, but impact needs to be documented further. USSD usage by aid and development players appears limited despite promise; Interest in mobile money is high among both supply and demand players; Mobile internet adoption is still limited in potential. In each of the five countries, the 2018 market value of all mobile channels generated by NGOs and multilateral organizations was estimated at between $500,000 and $1 million. Using data from these five countries to extrapolate to all 48 countries in SSA, the total 2018 market is estimated at $15.7 million, with mobile money standing out as the largest channel. This aggregate number for the sector appears low compared to the overall size of the telecommunications market. Market appeal is further reduced by the fact that the mobile sector already perceives the aid and development sector as being difficult to work with, due to uncertainty of demand, long procurement processes and other factors. While price has been cited as a reason for this low aggregate number, the fieldwork suggests that it is driven more by the lack of awareness of many implementing partners, particularly at the country level. These challenges to scale are consistent with qualitative findings obtained from DIAL’s Ecosystem Baseline study in 2018. That said, the market appears bound to grow due to strong underlying trends. Our model predicts three scenarios that show a 2022 market value of between $31.6 million and $61.6 million." (Executive summary, page 4)
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"The aim of Measuring the Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for the Future is not to “rank” countries or develop composite indicators. Instead, its objective is to provide policy makers and analysts with key indicators for each of the dimensions of the Going Digital integrated policy framework b
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ut also additional indicators providing detail and nuance, and link to relevant policy levers, to give analysts, stakeholders and policy makers deeper insights into how their economies are performing along those dimensions. The publication draws upon the wealth of data available at the OECD, as well as other international organisations and private data providers. A forward-looking measurement roadmap develops nine actions that, if prioritised and implemented, would substantially advance the capacity of countries to monitor the digital transformation and its impacts. The first four overarching actions are directed towards building the next generation of data and indicators capable of dealing with the challenges of the digital transformation: make the digital economy visible in economic statistics, understand the economic impacts of the digital transformation, measure well-being in the digital age, and design new and interdisciplinary approaches to data collection. Five further actions target specific areas identified as requiring attention: transformative technologies, data and data flows, skills in the digital era, trust in online environments, and governments’ digital strengths. The actions build on 19 roadmap pages, spread throughout the publication, that identify policy needs for measurement, discuss the challenges and propose options for international action." (Foreword)
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"Philipp Staab beleuchtet den digitalen Kapitalismus aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven, um ihn präziser auf den Begriff zu bringen. Er zeigt, wie digitale Überwachungs- und Bewertungspraktiken in immer mehr Bereiche der Wirtschaft vordringen und dabei die soziale Ungleichheit verschärfen. Das Sp
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ezifische am digitalen Kapitalismus, so Staab, ist die Herausbildung »proprietärer Märkte«: Kam es früher darauf an, Dinge herzustellen und mit Gewinn zu verkaufen, geht es im Zeitalter der Unknappheit um das Eigentum an den Märkten selbst." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Just about any social need is now met with an opportunity to "connect" through digital means. But this convenience is not free—it is purchased with vast amounts of personal data transferred through shadowy backchannels to corporations using it to generate profit. The Costs of Connection uncovers
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this process, this "data colonialism," and its designs for controlling our lives—our ways of knowing; our means of production; our political participation. Colonialism might seem like a thing of the past, but this book shows that the historic appropriation of land, bodies, and natural resources is mirrored today in this new era of pervasive datafication. Apps, platforms, and smart objects capture and translate our lives into data, and then extract information that is fed into capitalist enterprises and sold back to us. The authors argue that this development foreshadows the creation of a new social order emerging globally—and it must be challenged. Confronting the alarming degree of surveillance already tolerated, they offer a stirring call to decolonize the internet and emancipate our desire for connection." (Publisher description)
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"The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control us. The heady optimism of the Internet's early days is gone. Technologies that we
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re meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Tech companies gather our information online and sell it to the highest bidder, whether government or retailer. Profits now depend not only on predicting our behaviour but modifying it too. How will this fusion of capitalism and the digital shape our values and define our future? Shoshana Zuboff shows that we are at a crossroads. We still have the power to decide what kind of world we want to live in, and what we decide now will shape the rest of the century. Our choices: allow technology to enrich the few and impoverish the many, or harness it and distribute its benefits. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a deeply-reasoned examination of the threat of unprecedented power free from democratic oversight. As it explores this new capitalism's impact on society, politics, business, and technology, it exposes the struggles that will decide both the next chapter of capitalism and the meaning of information civilization. Most critically, it shows how we can protect ourselves and our communities and ensure we are the masters of the digital rather than its slaves." (Publisher description)
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"This first edition of the Digital Economy Report – previously known as the Information Economy Report - examines the scope for value creation and capture in the digital economy by developing countries. It gives special attention to opportunities for these countries to take advantage of the data-d
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riven economy as producers and innovators – but also to the constraints they face – notably with regard to digital data and digital platforms. Digital advances have already led to the creation of enormous wealth in record time, but this is highly concentrated in a small number of countries, companies and individuals. Meanwhile, digitalization has also given rise to fundamental challenges for policymakers in countries at all levels of development. The Report presents recent trends and discusses key policies for value creation and capture in the digital economy, notably with regards to entrepreneurship, data, trade, competition, taxation, intellectual property and employment." (Publisher description)
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"In Convergence 3.0, the dynamics of competition are evolving while a cohort of ever-expanding supercompetitors and more focussed players strive to build relevance at the right scale. And business models are being reinvented so all players can tap into new revenue streams, by, for example, targeting
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fans and connecting more effectively with customers to develop a membership mind-set. The pace of change isn’t going to let up anytime soon. New and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality will continue to redefine the battleground. In an era when faith in many industries is at an historically low ebb and regulators are targeting media businesses’ use of data, the ability to build and sustain consumer trust is becoming a vital differentiator. The result? To succeed in the future that’s taking shape, companies must reenvision every aspect of what they do and how they do it. It’s about having, or having access to, the right technology and excellent content, which is delivered in a cost-effective manner to an engaged audience that trusts the brand." (Page 2)
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"Dass die Digitalisierung die Wirtschaft grundlegend verändert, steht mittlerweile außer Frage. Die technischen Innovationen haben neue Geschäftsfelder eröffnet, neue Formen von Wertschöpfung ermöglicht und Grenzziehungen zwischen Produzenten und Konsumenten ins Wanken gebracht. Aber wie genau
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verändert sich die Rolle von Menschen und Unternehmen in der digitalen Ökonomie? Wie tiefgreifend ändern sich die Arbeits-, aber auch die Lebenswelten in einer Zeit, in der sich auch das Privatleben zunehmend zu ökonomisieren scheint und einer stetigen Optimierung bedarf? Und welche Rolle spielen Big Data und Algorithmen, die auch mit dem Anspruch eingesetzt werden, vieles einfacher, besser und konsumentenfreundlicher zu machen? Timo Daum unterzieht den digitalen Kapitalismus einer eingehenden Analyse und greift dabei auch auf die Terminologien von Marx zurück, dessen zentrale Thesen aus „Das Kapital“ er zu einem Ausgangspunkt seiner Überlegungen macht. Er zeigt, dass sich der Kapitalismus durch Anpassungen an die neuen Möglichkeiten stetig neu justiert - dabei aber auch von Marktlogiken bestimmt bleibt, die schon lange existieren." (Buchrücken)
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"Em termo de variedade de conteúdos e formatos, há uma hegemonia quase absoluta dos modelos de negócio calcados no lucro e do entretenimento. Este tipo de conteúdo é o foco de 84% dos sites mais acessados. Apenas a Wikipedia surge como grande produtor e difusor de conteúdo, mas ainda assim de
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caráter enciclopédico e não na disputa dinâmica pelos acontecimentos. Apenas 9 dos 100 sites mais acessados (9%) são jornalísticos, sendo metade destes relacionados aos grupos Globo e Folha. Da chamada mídia “progressista”, somente dois sites estão entre os 500 mais acessados, Portal Fórum e Brasil 247 (0,4%). Nesta lista, bem como na de aplicativos, não há um veículo sequer de caráter público ou comunitário. Nos canais de YouTube, em que há a presença de novos agentes, inclusive indivíduos, o entretenimento representa 84% dos espaços analisados. A abordagem temática calcada em “comentários diversos”, visando entretenimento, e a baixíssima incidência de conteúdos educativos ou jornalísticos levanta a questão de como esses canais contribuem ou não para o debate público [...] Em uma tentativa de amarração do quadro geral, podemos arriscar dizer que, se por um lado a Internet aumentou o número de agentes na sua camada de aplicações e conteúdos em relação a outros meios, como a TV, por outro, a hegemonia das grandes plataformas e dos grandes grupos de mídia nacional problematizam de um espaço efetivamente democratizado. Ao contrário, o alcance de plataformas como Facebook e YouTube tem uma dimensão que nenhum outro agente da indústria cultural conseguiu anteriormente, mesmo que já houvesse internacionalização de diversos segmentos (como no cinema e nas programadoras de TV por assinatura)." (Sumário executivo, página 15)
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"The potential for young people to strengthen and grow the continent’s economies is only possible if they are adequately supported and provided with the tools they need to create a sustainable livelihood. Economic opportunities are a significant concern for young people globally, with youth three
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times as likely to be unemployed as their adult counterparts. Young people interviewed in urban and rural contexts across the three African countries [= Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania] experience poverty in a way that leaves them economically and socially deprived. Young people in all of the countries are acutely aware of the barriers to upward social mobility in their lives and those of their families. Lack of finances to support further education and training, or to set up their businesses, and lack of opportunities for meaningful employment are most often cited as holding them back. For young women, gender norms formed an additional barrier. Increasing the numbers of young people in employment will depend on providing them with the right kinds of skills for the jobs available and stimulating inclusive economic and employment growth. Despite the various challenges facing young people, they are at the forefront of Internet adoption. The way in which youths use mobile phones and the Internet is crucial for ensuring that ICTs contribute to their social and economic development." (Executive summary)
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"This report looks at ten factors that have altered the media marketplace and that pose challenges to national and local news producers and their sources of revenue. They include ways in which governments interfere in media markets; changes in the structure of news distribution and audience behavior
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; and the way these changes have transformed how advertising media is bought, sold, and distributed. It then examines the key engagement metrics taken from a sampling of media development partner organizations to offer thoughts on how well these news producers are prepared to compete for audiences and revenue. Finally, it offers thoughts about the implications of these issues for media development organizations." (Introduction, page 2)
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"Hasta 2014, eran cinco los principales grupos que operaban en la región con capacidad de liderazgo y expansión más allá de las fronteras geográficas y de sectorización industrial: en orden de importancia a partir de su facturación, se trataba de Telefónica, América Móvil, Globo, Televisa
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y Clarín. Por entonces, las dos telefónicas mencionadas se ubicaban en un nivel muy superior al de Globo y Televisa, dado que facturaban diez veces más que los multimedios de Brasil y México. Estos, por su parte, duplicaban los ingresos del Grupo Clarín de Argentina. Desde entonces, hubo modificaciones en la estructuración de estos grupos, nuevas sociedades entre algunos de ellos y fusiones que alteraron su jerarquía económica y que potencian aún más el cuadro de concentración que se documenta en este libro. Cabe destacar que, si se considera solo a Telefónica y América Móvil, estos grupos se encuentran presentes en 18 de los 35 mercados analizados en esta investigación, con participaciones que tienen –al menos– el 30% de los mercados. Si la muestra abarca a los cinco grandes conglomerados de la región, se comprueba que estos están presentes en 28 de los 35 sectores. Pero también se puede apreciar que el tipo de presencia es completamente diferente si se considera a las telefónicas o a los grupos provenientes del sector de medios. Las primeras muestran una presencia secuencial, con dominio sustantivo en la televisión de pago, la telefonía fija y móvil, y la provisión de servicios de acceso a internet. Los grupos de medios tienen una presencia más diversificada, ya que han comenzado el proceso de convergencia hacia el sector de las telecomunicaciones (en especial Televisa y, fuera del lapso del presente estudio, Clarín), pero con una participación acotada a su territorio de origen. De esta forma, las telefónicas son grupos de carácter internacional o panregional con fuerte presencia en la región y una facturación muy superior a la de los grandes grupos de medios. Por su parte, los medios tradicionales han aprovechado su capacidad de influencia en la agenda política para promover sus intereses e iniciar el camino a una diversificación plena (presencia en todos o casi todos los mercados infocomunicacionales) antes que las telefónicas. De cómo se resuelva esta disputa con intereses claramente diferenciados entre medios y telefónicas, dependerá la evolución de la concentración en la región." (Conclusiones, página 193-194)
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