"What can replace the corporate walled gardens such as Facebook and Twitter? Our answer to this question is a firm and open one: a federation of organized networks, sustainable cells that operate as secret societies. Many have already identified social networks as a conspiratorial neoliberal inventi
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on that, in the end, only benefits the global elite. Think of the vampire data mining economies made possible with all your searches, status updates, likes, etc. The algorithmic modulation of networks generates patterns of data that hold economic value for social media corporations and finance capital. These extraction machines produce a subject Maurizio Lazzarato calls “indebted man.” Exodus for the multitudes, it would seem, is a futile proposition. Nearly twenty years into the 21st century we can conclude that global elites are not threatened by temporary uprisings and will only be questioned by an offensive counter-power that is capable of learning and incorporating its own trial-and-error experiments of daily struggles into the social body. But wait a minute, how does this intersect with the technological condition? Digital networks have been discredited for their short-lived character that merely reproduce the hegemonic fragmentation of desperate subjects. No matter how legitimate such structural proposals are, they often end up in a retromania of social imagination." (Introduction, pages 3-4)
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"This publication aims to provide timely and relevant information on the major ICT trends and the implications of these trends. It serves as a knowledge resource for policymakers and government officials in Asia and the Pacific to increase their awareness and appreciation for the continuously evolvi
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ng ICT landscape. It intends to present a broad understanding of how new and emerging ICT trends could be utilized to support sustainable and inclusive development. This publication is a collection of brief write-ups on the following eight ICT trends: 1. Digital Healthcare; 2. Mobile Payments; 3. Assistive Technologies; 4. Internet of Things; 5. 5th Generation Mobile Networks; 6. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; 7. Blockchain and Shared Ledgers; 8. 3D Printing. This set of topics was selected based on their relevance to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The topics selected also aim to provide a broadly representative sample covering a wide range of technology areas spanning hardware, networking, software and data, as well as application domains (i.e., healthcare, finance and disability). Each write-up introduces the topic by first describing the technology features and components, and then proceeds to highlight potential application areas and use cases, with examples from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. This is followed by a discussion on the policy implications involving regulatory aspects, standards and linkages to the SDGs. Each write-up may vary slightly to highlight relevant aspects." (About, page 7)
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"Der Sammelband enthält 15 Beiträge von Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern unterschiedlicher Disziplinen (Medien- und Kulturwissenschaft, Soziologie, Organisations- und Managementforschung, Ethnologie, Sozialpsychologie, Kulturgeschichte). In kurzen Essays werden pointiert Aspekte des kultu
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rellen Wandlungsprozesses durch Digitalisierung beleuchtet, unter anderem Digitale Migration, Selbstdarstellung und Selbsterkenntnis in digitalen Kulturen, Veränderungen im Organisationsmanagement durch Algorithmen, Internet der Dinge, neue Entwicklungen in den sozialen Medien, Potenziale und Risiken von bewusstseinsbezogenen mobilen Geräten." (https://www.wissensatlas-bildung.de)
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"This annual report presents a global and regional overview of the latest developments regarding information and communication technologies (ICTs), based on internationally comparable data and agreed methodologies. It aims to stimulate the ICT policy debate in ITU Member States by providing an objec
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tive assessment of how countries have performed in the field of ICT and by highlighting areas that need further improvement. One of the core features of the Report is the ICT Development Index (IDI). This year’s results show that nearly all of the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016. During the same period, stronger improvements have been made on ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile-broadband uptake globally. This has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to join the information society and benefit from the many services and applications provided through the Internet. This year, for the first time, the Report also shows countries’ rankings according to their improvement in IDI value. The results show strong improvements in performance throughout the world; a number of middleincome developing countries in particular are reaping the benefits of more liberalized and competitive ICT markets that encourage innovation and ICT uptake across all sectors. Despite these encouraging developments, we need to focus on the countries that are among the least connected in the world. Urgent action is required to address this persistent digital divide if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For example, the Report shows that in some low-income countries, between 20 and 40 per cent of people still do not own a mobile phone and that the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is substantially higher." (Foreword)
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"Eine umfassende Medienbildung ermöglicht es, die Prinzipien der katholischen Soziallehre auch in Bezug auf digitale Medien wahrzunehmen. Einzelne wie gesellschaftliche Gruppen können so zu einem souveränen Umgang mit Phänomenen der Digitalisierung wie mit digitalen Medien befähigt werden. Medi
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en versteht die katholische Kirche nach wie vor als „Soziale Kommunikationsmittel“, die für alle Menschen eine Chance der Kommunikation und somit der Teilhabe und Entwicklung bieten. Der Beitrag der katholischen Kirche angesichts der Digitalisierung besteht daher in einem nachdrücklichen Eintreten für einen Wertediskurs und die Geltung rechtlicher sowie ethisch-moralischer Standards. Dazu gehören auch ihr Engagement für Teilhabegerechtigkeit, Medienbildung sowie einen zeitgemäßen Jugendmedienschutz." (Zusammenfassung und Ausblick, Seite 26)
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"The mobile industry has, for the past 15 years or so, done a phenomenal job of connecting users in emerging markets to voice, SMS and Internet access services. But as we strive to reach the remaining unconnected users, we may need new models of connectivity to reach them. In the first section of th
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is document we discuss the need for new Internet access models, and ask the question of what we mean by “Internet Access” and why it’s important to understand what the impacts of limited service and capability are.
We then move on to look at the barriers to scaling Internet access, and why, despite the availability and affordability of mobile phones, Internet access remains sub-scale. On the supply side, we discuss the issues around the costs of delivery access, and the difficulty of making connectivity affordable. Many attempts to reduce the cost have been tried, with varying levels of success. From Universal Service Funds delivered at a policy level, to zero-rated services from the private sector, it is important to understand the considerations around subsidizing access for poor or hard-to-reach users. The debate around this is nuanced, as the recent decision by the TRAI to ban Facebook Free Basics in India has shown. Supply side barriers are not easily solvable, and some mix of new industry business models and policy efforts to make regulation fit for purpose is required. Providing affordable—or free—Internet access will require negotiating the original principles of the Internet, the desire for an open and fair architecture, with the real costs of delivering this vision.
From a user perspective, even when the available infrastructure enables connectivity, it doesn’t always drive adoption. Users require a reason to go online. A certain amount of this can be demand driven by access to essential government services, but a carrot as well as a stick is required. We have previously researched the digital lives of users in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, and have shown how users come online for non-instrumental reasons (social
media, games, etc.) but then often use these platforms for instrumental activities such as self-directed education, searching for employment, or sourcing essential information.3 User research can show us how these needs can be balanced, and we discuss this within this report." (Introduction, page 4-5)
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"Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their
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communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones.
Though most communication research examines on individual and group usage of smartphones, a few people outside of the more technical journals and books have sketched—at least in overview form—the key factors for smartphone success, what Goggin and Hjorth (2014b) identify as infrastructure, economics, and policy. Apart from the manufacture of the handsets, smartphones require an infrastructure of telecommunications operators, with systems across the world divided between national telecommunication services and competing privately owned companies (Curwen & Whalley, 2014; Feijóo, 2014). Secondly, smartphones depend upon both formal and informal economies, from the manufacture and sale of the phones themselves to the production and sale of the apps to the revenues supporting particular app services (music sales, data storage, on-demand services, and so on) (Lobato & Thomas, 2014). Goldsmith (2014) adds a bit of detail, describing an app ecosystem: “Each ecosystem consists of a core company, which creates and maintains a platform and an app marketplace, plus small and large companies that produce apps and/or mobile devices for that platform” (p. 171). Finally, both manufacturers and operators must negotiate agreed-on technical specifications for voice and data transmission, specifications that governments must approve both locally and perhaps in cross-border treaty agreements (Middleton, 2014). These factors lead to a more complex view of smartphones: not only do they function as communication devices and embodiments of technical negotiations, but they also take on identities as symbols of economic and cultural systems, as “moral objects” (whose value justifies their purchase price), as fashion accessories, and as lifestyle supports (Koskinen, 2012, p. 225)." (Introduction, pages 3-4)
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"Die öffentliche Diskussion über das Wissen wird täglich und in allen Medien geführt: Was wissen wir, was weiß man über uns, und wie können wir die Hoheit über dieses Wissen behalten oder zurückerlangen? Wieso bemühen wir heute, wenn wir etwas wissen wollen, eine Suchmaschine? Warum werden
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wir zu »Informationsgiganten«, laufen aber Gefahr, zu »Wissenszwergen« zu verkommen? Welche Folgen hat die McDonaldisierung des Wissens? Die meisten Beiträge zur Debatte über das Wissen nähern sich dem Thema in praktischen Einzelaspekten oder stochern im Nebel medienwissenschaftlicher Theorien. Niemand außer Peter Burke wagte sich bisher an eine derart weitgefächerte Analyse unserer Wissensgesellschaft. Dank seiner enormen Kenntnisse vermag er die komplexen Prozesse für jeden verständlich zu beschreiben und einzuordnen: etwa die Professionalisierung und die Demokratisierung, die Anhäufung und die Zerstörung von Wissen. Dabei ist Burke nicht nur einer der hochrangigsten Denker, sondern auch selbst ein glänzender Vermittler." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Kaum ein Ort der Erde, der nicht digital vermessen oder erfasst ist, kaum ein Lebensbereich ohne digitale Steuerung, Erleichterung und Optimierung. Die Schattenseite der Digitalisierung bestehe, so Andre Wilkens, in ihrem Potenzial zur Erfassung, Kontrolle und Manipulation. Er stellt in diesem Buch
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beides einander gegenüber: die noch immer nicht ausgelotete Fülle der Chancen, die Erde mittels digitaler Technik lebenswerter zu machen, und die bedrohlichen Szenarien von Gesellschaften, in denen nichts mehr individuell oder verborgen bleibt. Die schwierige Aufgabe, einen humanen Weg der Digitalisierung zu finden, habe, so Wilkens, jede und jeder für sich zu bewältigen." (Klappentext)
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