scholarly journals Digital inequality in provincial China

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 2179-2182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haimeng Liu ◽  
Chuanglin Fang ◽  
Siao Sun
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The West ◽  
Digital Inequality ◽  
The Past ◽  
Development Tool ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Scant Attention

The rapid spread of information and communications technologies is accelerating the development of our economy and society. While information and communications technologies have become an important development tool that reshapes many aspects of the world’s activities, digital inequality emerges on a worldwide scale due to difference in access to and use of information and communications technologies. Digital inequality, which is a new phenomenon in the current information era, will widen the gap between developed and developing countries/regions. China has witnessed rapid informationization along with its booming economic growth over the past decade. However, digital inequality, as an important aspect of social inequalities in China, has received only scant attention currently. Based on the technique of cartogram, Figures display provincial information and communications technologies development index (IDI) values in 2010 and 2015 in China, exhibiting high inequality. Regions of the highest information and communications technologies levels are distributed along China's eastern coast. On the contrary, the provinces in the west present very low information and communications technologies levels. The coefficient of variation of IDI values dropped from 0.30 to 0.18, indicating declining digital inequality in China. A causal bidirectional relation probably exists between the economic development and information and communications technologies levels.

Cyber Peacekeeping: Critical Evaluation of Digital Blue Helmets Program

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Fahad Nabeel
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Threat Detection ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Future Potential

In 2016, the United Nations (UN) launched the Digital Blue Helmets (DBH) program under its Office of Information and Communications Technologies (OICT). The launching of DBH was a continuation of a series of steps that the UN and its related agencies and departments have undertaken over the past decade to incorporate cyberspace within their working methodologies. At the time of inception, DBH was envisioned as a team capacitated to act as a replica of a physical peacekeeping force but for the sole purpose of overseeing cyberspace(s). Several research studies have been published in the past few years, which have conceptualized cyber peacekeeping in various ways. Some scholars have mentioned DBH as a starting point of cyber peacekeeping while some have proposed models for integration of cyber peacekeeping within the current UN peacekeeping architecture. However, no significant study has attempted to look at how DBH has evolved since its inception. This research article aims to examine the progress of DBH since its formation. It argues that despite four years since its formation, DBH is still far away from materializing its declared objectives. The article also discusses the future potential roles of DBH, including its collaboration with UN Global Pulse for cyber threat detection and prevention, and embedding the team along with physical peacekeepers.

scholarly journals International Schools for Young Astronomers (ISYA): a programme of the International Astronomical Union

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (SPS5) ◽  
pp. 221-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michèle Gerbaldi
Keyword(s):  
International Schools ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Data Access ◽  
International Astronomical Union ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Data Archives ◽  
International Astronomical ◽  
Communications Technologies

AbstractThis paper outlines the main features of the International Schools for Young Astronomers (ISYA), a programme developed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1967. The main goal of this programme is to support astronomy in developing countries by organizing a school lasting 3 weeks for students with typically a M.Sc. degree. The context in which the ISYA were developed has changed drastically over the past 10 years. We have moved from a time when access to any large telescope was difficult and mainly organized on a national basis, to the situation nowadays where data archives are established at the same time that any major telescope, ground-based or in space, is built, and these archives are accessible from everywhere. The concept of the virtual observatory reinforces this access. However, the rapid development of information and communications technologies and the increasing penetration of internet have not yet removed all barriers to data access. The role of the ISYA is addressed in this context.

Information Technologies and the Global Political Economy

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Hart
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Consumer Electronics ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Past ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Telecommunications Services

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) constitute a potentially transformative force in world politics. The industries associated with these technologies are growing rapidly, and some have argued that their importance in the overall economy at both the national and global levels increased in recent decades. ICT industries include both goods producers and service providers. ICT manufacturing includes all the goods-producing industries that use semiconductor components, such as consumer electronics, the computer industry, the telecommunications equipment industry, and industrial and military electronics. Within each of these groups, there are sub-industries that specialize in particular segments of the market. The services side of ICTs is also very large in terms of revenues and employment, and is growing rapidly. ICT services include, among others, the software industry, telecommunications services, data processing, and web-based information services. Many scholars argue that the importance of ICT industries goes beyond the revenues and employment generated in the industries themselves, however. ICTs may also be transformative in that they reduce transaction and communications costs in the overall economy. They make possible new forms of organization of human activity, especially as globalization and digitalization is progressing rapidly in the recent decades. Such processes have attracted the attention of international relations scholars, as they have been focusing on international regimes governing ICT-related activities in the past decade.

scholarly journals Facing the digital divide into a dementia clinic during COVID-19 pandemic: caregiver age matters

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Arighi ◽  
Giorgio Giulio Fumagalli ◽  
Tiziana Carandini ◽  
Anna Margherita Pietroboni ◽  
Milena Alessandra De Riz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Digital Divide ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Gender And Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Impacting Factors ◽  
Social Health Inequalities ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
Evaluation Information

Abstract Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically stressed the health care system and has provoked changes in population use of digital technologies. Digital divide is any uneven distribution in Information and Communications Technologies between people. Aims The purpose of this work was to describe the digital divide of a population of patients with dementia contacted by telemedicine during Italian lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic. Method One hundred eight patients with cognitive impairment were contacted by video call to perform a telemedicine neurological evaluation. Information on patients and caregivers attending the televisit were recorded. Results Seventy-four patients connected with neurologist (successful televisit, 68.5%) and 34 patients were not able to perform televisit and were contacted by phone (failed televisit, 31.5%). No significant differences were observed among the two groups concerning age, gender, and education, but the prevalence of successful televisit was higher in the presence of younger caregivers: televisits performed in the presence of subjects of younger generation (sons and grandsons) had a successful rate higher (86% successful, 14% failed) than the group without younger generation caregiver (49% successful, 51% failed). This difference is mainly due to the ability of technological use among younger people. Discussion The most impacting factors on digital divide in our population are the social support networks and the experience with the technology: the presence of a digital native caregiver. The COVID-19 pandemic is unmasking an emerging form of technology-related social inequalities: political and community interventions are needed to support the most socially vulnerable population and prevent social health inequalities.

scholarly journals Historical forms of the journalistic communication style in Slovakia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-132
Author(s):  
Milos Horvath ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Communication ◽  
Communication Style ◽  
Public Communication ◽  
Citizen Journalism ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Negotiation Style

The work is based on the presumption that the journalistic (publicistic or newly mass communication) style is an integral part of the communication universe of people in the 21st century, and its importance has increased in direct proportion with the rise of the influence of media. In the specific conditions of Slovakia, the evolution of journalism was closely related to the issue of language emancipation of the Slovaks and the strengthening of their national awareness. In later phases, it was considered partially a hybrid style of public communication that was created by a mixing of the official (also referred to as the administrative style and the negotiation style in the past) and the scientific style as well as the belles-lettres style with the aim to not only inform, but also educate, influence or persuade dispersive, heterogeneous addressees in regard to the most current events having a broader social meaning. In the current era that is influenced by the massive use of information and communications technologies, the stylistic characteristics of texts in media significantly changes prevalently towards colloquialisation which is closely related to the deprofessionalisation of the journalistic profession and the creation of citizen journalism.

Contemporary Qur'anic Studies in Iran and its Relationship with Qur'anic Studies in the West

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Morteza Karimi-Nia
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
The West ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Religious Learning ◽  
The Status ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The status of tafsīr and Qur'anic studies in the Islamic Republic of Iran has changed significantly during recent decades. The essay provides an overview of the state of Qur'anic studies in Iran today, aiming to examine the extent of the impact of studies by Western scholars on Iranian academic circles during the last three decades and the relationship between them. As in most Islamic countries, the major bulk of academic activity in Iran in this field used to be undertaken by the traditional ʿulamāʾ; however, since the beginning of the twentieth century and the establishment of universities and other academic institutions in the Islamic world, there has been increasing diversity and development. After the Islamic Revolution, many gradual changes in the structure and approach of centres of religious learning and universities have occurred. Contemporary advancements in modern sciences and communications technologies have gradually brought the institutions engaged in the study of human sciences to confront the new context. As a result, the traditional Shīʿī centres of learning, which until 50 years ago devoted themselves exclusively to the study of Islamic law and jurisprudence, today pay attention to the teaching of foreign languages, Qur'anic sciences and exegesis, including Western studies about the Qur'an, to a certain extent, and recognise the importance of almost all of the human sciences of the West.

ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN TEACHING INFORMATION LITERACY IN ZIMBABWEAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinashe Mugwisi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Communications Technologies ◽  
Information Skills ◽  
The University

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the Internet have to a large extent influenced the way information is made available, published and accessed. More information is being produced too frequently and information users now require certain skills to sift through this multitude in order to identify what is appropriate for their purposes. Computer and information skills have become a necessity for all academic programmes. As libraries subscribe to databases and other peer-reviewed content (print and electronic), it is important that users are also made aware of such sources and their importance. The purpose of this study was to examine the teaching of information literacy (IL) in universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and the role played by librarians in creating information literate graduates. This was done by examining whether such IL programmes were prioritised, their content and how frequently they were reviewed. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to 12 university libraries in Zimbabwe and 21 in South Africa. A total of 25 questionnaires were returned. The findings revealed that IL was being taught in universities library and non-library staff, was compulsory and contributed to the term mark in some institutions. The study also revealed that 44 per cent of the total respondents indicated that the libraries were collaborating with departments and faculty in implementing IL programmes in universities. The study recommends that IL should be an integral part of the university programmes in order to promote the use of databases and to guide students on ethical issues of information use.

Managing rivers for conservation and ecotourism in the Kruger National Park

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 227-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Venter ◽  
A. R. Deacon
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Good Condition ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Three Rivers

Six major rivers flow through the Kruger National Park (KNP). All these rivers originate outside and to the west of the KNP and are highly utilized. They are crucially important for the conservation of the unique natural environments of the KNP. The human population growth in the Lowveld during the past two decades brought with it the rapid expansion of irrigation farming, exotic afforestation and land grazed by domestic stock, as well as the establishment of large towns, mines, dams and industries. Along with these developments came overgrazing, erosion, over-utilization and pollution of rivers, as well as clearing of indigenous forests from large areas outside the borders of the KNP. Over-utilization of the rivers which ultimately flow through the KNP poses one of the most serious challenges to the KNP's management. This paper gives the background to the development in the catchments and highlights the problems which these have caused for the KNP. Management actions which have been taken as well as their results are discussed and solutions to certain problems proposed. Three rivers, namely the Letaba, Olifants and Sabie are respectively described as examples of an over-utilized river, a polluted river and a river which is still in a fairly good condition.

Anti-corruption in History

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Wellbeing ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Over Time

Anticorruption in History is the first major collection of case studies on how past societies and polities, in and beyond Europe, defined legitimate power in terms of fighting corruption and designed specific mechanisms to pursue that agenda. It is a timely book: corruption is widely seen today as a major problem, undermining trust in government, financial institutions, economic efficiency, the principle of equality before the law and human wellbeing in general. Corruption, in short, is a major hurdle on the “path to Denmark”—a feted blueprint for stable and successful statebuilding. The resonance of this view explains why efforts to promote anticorruption policies have proliferated in recent years. But while the subjects of corruption and anticorruption have captured the attention of politicians, scholars, NGOs and the global media, scant attention has been paid to the link between corruption and the change of anticorruption policies over time and place. Such a historical approach could help explain major moments of change in the past as well as reasons for the success and failure of specific anticorruption policies and their relation to a country’s image (of itself or as construed from outside) as being more or less corrupt. It is precisely this scholarly lacuna that the present volume intends to begin to fill. A wide range of historical contexts are addressed, ranging from the ancient to the modern period, with specific insights for policy makers offered throughout.

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