Information and Communication Technology Policy Research in the United Kingdom: A Perspective

1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Mansell

Abstract: Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are altering the ways in which time and distance affect productive activities. Such innovative activity is affected by historical factors, the capacity of individuals and institutions to adapt and act, and by decisions of technology producers, users, and government policy-makers. This paper highlights the directions and perspectives in social science research in the United Kingdom that have emerged in the Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT) established by the Economic and Social Research Council. Résumé: Les technologies d'information et de communication sont en train de changer les effets du temps et de la distance sur le travail. De tels changements dépendent en outre des conditions historiques, de la capacité d'individus et d'institutions de s'adapter et d'agir, et des décisions prises par les producteurs de technologies, les usagers et les créateurs de politiques gouvernementales. Cet article met en relief les orientations et les perspectives dominantes en sciences humaines au Royaume-Uni qui ont émergées au "Programme sur les technologies d'information et de communications'' (Programme on Information and Communication Technologies [PICT]) établi par le "Conseil de recherches économiques et sociales'' (Economic and Social Research Council).

1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena O. Hrytsenchuk

The problem of implementation strategy for information and communication technologies (ICT) in social studies school education in the UK today are examined in the article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1 SI) ◽  
pp. 120-122
Author(s):  
Oleh Sydorenko

The report identifies the benefits of using information and communication technologies in public administration. The essential content of the phenomenon of digital transformation is considered. A description of the UK practice of digital transformation of public administration is given. It is proposed to introduce in Ukraine the experience of the United Kingdom in the field of digital transformation of public administration.


2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Southern ◽  
Alan Townsend

The idea that information and communication technologies (ICT) can provide a means to regenerate deprived urban areas is still a relatively new concept in the United Kingdom. There is in fact little empirical evidence to demonstrate what actually happens when ICT projects are designed with regeneration in mind. A case study of ICT regeneration is examined here, one funded through the Single Regeneration Budget and operational in an urban area in the North East of England. What became apparent during this study is how the changing policy environment meant other types of ICT initiative came on-stream before the project could firmly establish a position within its community. The authors challenge the logic of this form of activity and demonstrate that even when there seems to be a need to support ICT-led development the sustainability of such projects is highly problematic.


1989 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
M. V. Posner

WHAT IS RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES FOR? SHOULD (much of) it be financed by the state? How should it be organized? Where should it take place? In the United Kingdom, these questions thud down each morning on the desk of the Chairman of the Economic and Social Research Council, which now has a new home (in Swindon, with its big sister Research Councils) and a new Chairman, Professor Howard Newby. Six years, and more than one chairman, have come and gone since I sat at that desk; I have a short memory, and a full recognition of the duty of a retired bureaucrat — ‘get out, and shut up’. I am not willing or able to bore readers with a description or a critique of recent policies. But my present function gives me a new standpoint; things look different from Strasbourg, and an international perspective helps; above all, my responsibilities now spread widely (although jolly thinly) over the whole range of learning, scholarship, and science. So these are home thoughts from abroad.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Freeman ◽  
Sharna Quirke

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer opportunities for greater civic participation in democratic reform. Government ICT use has, however, predominantly been associated with e-government applications that focus on one-way information provision and service delivery. This article distinguishes between e-government and processes of e-democracy, which facilitate active civic engagement through two-way, ongoing dialogue. It draws from participation initiatives undertaken in two case studies. The first highlights efforts to increase youth political engagement in the local government area of Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom. The second is Iceland’s constitutional crowdsourcing, an initiative intended to increase civic input into constitutional reform. These examples illustrate that, in order to maintain legitimacy in the networked environment, a change in governmental culture is required to enable open and responsive e-democracy practices. When coupled with traditional participation methods, processes of e-democracy facilitate widespread opportunities for civic involvement and indicate that digital practices should not be separated from the everyday operations of government. While online democratic engagement is a slowly evolving process, initial steps are being undertaken by governments that enable e-participation to shape democratic reform.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Hare

Using the example of the Masters in Records Management by Distance Learning at the University of Nortumbria at Newcastle in the United Kingdom, the article will explore the potentials of the new information and communication technologies and the implications for using them as a means of delivery for education for information professionals.The key challenge is to ensure that the education instils not only an awareness of the technologies and skills in their use but also the capacity to understand and evaluate their potential since they are the prime tools of trade for information professionals today. An effective approach is to study the technologies through using the technologies but success can only be achieved if the wider systems of processes and approaches, based on teamwork, are developed to recognise specialisms and divisions of labour. 


Author(s):  
Abel Usoro

There is a general agreement in the literature that social, technological, political, cultural, and economic factors encourage a greater number of businesses to globalize their operations and markets. To operate in more than one market or country involves complexity on a larger scale than to operate locally. The complexity is combined with increasing risks, a faster pace of change, and the difficulties of managing an organization in more than one country. Information and communication technologies (ICT) act not only as an imperative to globalize but also as a potential tool to help global managers to plan, and yet there is no conclusive study that these technologies are adequately providing assistance. Indeed, existing studies suggest that there is much room for improvement. At the same time, there is no coherent and well-tested theory to explain or predict the use of information and communication technologies for global planning. To bridge the knowledge gap, this paper presents a causal model that groups predictor variables of the use of ICT in global planning under organizational, ICT, personal, and infrastructural factors. It also reports on a pilot study in which one hundred questionnaires were distributed to multinational companies in the United Kingdom (UK) and in South Africa (SA) to collect information to examine the role of ICT in global planning using the model. The result suggested among others that the Internet forms the most popular platform for building global planning tools. Factors most important to managers include the provision of timely information, provision of report and presentation facilities, and support for group working and alternative (highly summarized and detailed) views of information. On the other hand, managers appear not to be very satisfied with the provision of technology for global planning, partly because it does not adequately provide for creativity needed in global planning. Recommendations are made based on the findings, and areas for further research to enhance the validity of the model are highlighted.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Denison ◽  
Graeme Johanson

Abstract This paper aims to fill an international gap in knowledge about the adoption of information and communication technologies by third sector organisations. In Australia, the United Kingdom, USA, and Canada, such research that exists into the usefulness of the spread of ICT into community-based organizations, is limited in its coverage and by its tendency to rely on a management approach to analysis. This paper summarizes findings of all of the identifiable surveys, compares their findings, and proposes the use of Social Network Theory as a more useful lens through which to analyse current developments.


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