ICT and Agricultural Cooperatives

2013 ◽  
pp. 180-199
Author(s):  
Yolanda Montegut-Salla ◽  
Eduard Cristóbal-Fransi ◽  
Maria Jesús Gómez-Adillón

New technologies in information and communication technology are significantly impacting traditional business models, demonstrating how the relationship between the company and its corresponding value chain is changing in recent years due to the new possibilities they offer. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the current situation of Internet usage and electronic commerce in agri-food cooperatives in the province of Lleida, Spain. To this end, a questionnaire was completed by olive oil and sweet fruit cooperatives in 2010 that addressed the following aspects: computer equipment, Internet connection and presence, and finally, the level of electronic commerce. The results provide information on aspects to consider for ensuring that agricultural cooperatives take full advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies, resulting in a useful tool for the managers of these organizations as well as for policy makers concerned with encouraging and promoting the social economy.

Author(s):  
Fen LIN

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract in English only.In the dominant discourse of the "human–machine relationship," people and machines are the subjects, with a mutually shaping influence. However, this framework neglects the crux of the current critical analysis of AI. It reduces the problems with new technology to the relationship between people and machines, ignoring the re-shaping of the relationship between "people and people" in the era of new technology. This simplification may mislead policy and legal regulations for new technologies. Why would a robot killing cause more panic than a murder committed by a human? Why is a robot's misdiagnosis more troubling than a doctor's? Why do patients assume that machines make more accurate diagnoses than doctors? When a medical accident occurs, who is responsible for the mistakes of an intelligent medical system? In the framework of traditional professionalism, the relationship between doctors and patients, whether trusted or not, is based on the premise that doctors have specialized knowledge that patients do not possess. Therefore, the authority of a doctor is the authority of knowledge. In the age of intelligence, do machines provide information or knowledge? Can this strengthen or weaken the authority of doctors? It is likely that in the age of intelligence, the professionalism, authority and trustworthiness of doctors require a new knowledge base. Therefore, the de-skilling of doctors is not an issue of individual doctors, but demands an update of the knowledge of the entire industry. Recognizing this, policy makers must not focus solely on the use of machines, but take a wider perspective, considering how to promote the development of doctors and coordinate the relationship between doctors with different levels of knowledge development. We often ask, "In the era of intelligence, what defines a human?" This philosophical thinking should be directed toward not only the difference between machines and people as individuals, but also how the relationship between human beings, i.e., the social nature of humans, evolves in different technological environments. In short, this commentary stresses that a "good" machine or an "evil" machine—beyond the sci-fi romance of such discourse—reflects the evolution of the relationships between people. In today's smart age, the critical issue is not the relationship between people and machines. It is how people adjust their relationships with other people as machines become necessary tools in life. In the era of intelligence, therefore, our legislation, policy and ethical discussion should resume their focus on evolutionary relationships between people.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 41 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.


Diogenes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Dermendzhieva ◽  

The study of the „information environment – person“ relationship is becoming an increasingly important focus in the research repertoire. The informatization of the social environment is not an isolated phenomenon – it is interpreted as one of the functional characteristics of modern society. Although the „child-to-media environment“ relationship has been the subject of numerous studies, it is still attracting scientific interest. This interest is focused mainly on the specifics of the development of the modern child. Defining the multimedia environment as mediating individual socialization focuses on the multimodal functioning of new technologies. Taking into account this fact requires a new type of organization of the educational environment, aimed at the early development of multiliteracy for orientation in the processes of information and communication in the changing world.


This study aims to analyse the predisposition of social economy agents to resource sharing. To achieve this, it was chosen to implement an exploratory qualitative approach directed to managers and an exploratory quantitative approach directed to employees. The results allowed to estimate that they do have a significant economic impact on number, paid work and business volume. It was shown the relationship between the interest demonstration on sharing and the appropriate qualification for the jobs of managers and employees. It was demonstrated the practice of informal and non-regulated sharing of own and third parties’ resources, among close partners, without the existence of a management model of knowledge, assets, time, use/reuse and exploitation. It is anticipated that the study could serve as scientific/methodological basis for a regional investment project, R&D and establishment of partnerships, reconciling interest in a smart region, as well as the application of circular economy principles.


Author(s):  
Mahabir Pun

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become a vital instrument for delivering a number of services such as education, healthcare, and public services. Community wireless networks are community-centric telecommunication infrastructures developed to provide affordable communication for those who live in remote areas. This chapter discusses the role of Nepal Wireless in achieving socio-economic development of rural communities by facilitating affordable Internet access. In particular, the authors discuss the philosophy and objectives of the project, used network technology, financial resources, and management structure. In addition, the chapter discusses its key services including e-learning, telemedicine, e-commerce, training, and research support. The authors also analyze the challenges Nepal Wireless faced and articulate on the approaches it took to address those challenges. These challenges include lack of technical skills, selecting appropriate technology, ensuring funding resources, difficult geographical terrains, unstable political situation, and expensive devices. They conclude the chapter with some suggestions for policy makers, community developers, and academicians.


Author(s):  
Kamil Demirhan

This chapter analyzes the capacity of social media usage and the social media strategies of political parties that became the members of Turkish Parliament after 2011 election. The social media usage increases in parallel to the improvements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and it becomes an important tool with its communicative functions to realize activities in social, political, and economic fields. In the globalization process, developments in ICTs and changes in the meaning of democracy have been realized parallel to each other. Politics has become more open to interaction and the participation of different actors. ICTs have created new opportunities to interaction and participation of social actors. These improvements require transformations in the role and functions of political parties. They have to arrange their programs and structures according to participative understanding of democracy and new technologies. Social media usage is seen as a requirement for political parties and party leaders for adaptation to these developments, and it is also seen as a device with its potential for realizing participation, communication, and interaction to adapt to the changes in the understanding of politics.


2015 ◽  
pp. 1196-1225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamil Demirhan

This chapter analyzes the capacity of social media usage and the social media strategies of political parties that became the members of Turkish Parliament after 2011 election. The social media usage increases in parallel to the improvements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and it becomes an important tool with its communicative functions to realize activities in social, political, and economic fields. In the globalization process, developments in ICTs and changes in the meaning of democracy have been realized parallel to each other. Politics has become more open to interaction and the participation of different actors. ICTs have created new opportunities to interaction and participation of social actors. These improvements require transformations in the role and functions of political parties. They have to arrange their programs and structures according to participative understanding of democracy and new technologies. Social media usage is seen as a requirement for political parties and party leaders for adaptation to these developments, and it is also seen as a device with its potential for realizing participation, communication, and interaction to adapt to the changes in the understanding of politics.


2020 ◽  
pp. 406-423
Author(s):  
Chao Lu ◽  
Sijing Liu

It is absolutely not an accidental phenomenon that the development of Internet overlaps with boom of business model research. The emergence of the Internet has greatly promoted the development and study of business models. This paper focuses on exploration of O2O business model innovation by analyzing the main types, evolution and driving factors of Chinese Internet business model, taking Ctrip as the example. From the social prospective, O2O business model improves value and feeling of the customer experience as well as the operational efficiency of the enterprise value chain and utilization efficiency of social resources. This paper has also put forward what Ctrip can enlighten the development of tourism enterprises.


Author(s):  
Katjuša Gorela ◽  
Roberto Biloslavo

The professional development of a young researcher is mainly influenced by the organizational culture and the relationship with academic colleagues, especially mentors. This chapter presents the results of a qualitative study conducted on a sample of 16 researchers employed in three Slovenian public universities. The study examines the senior-junior researcher relationship, as the relationship between mentor and mentee, the nature of their cooperation, and how new knowledge is generated and transmitted. In-depth semi-structured interviews and content analysis for structuring qualitative data was used. The results indicate that the professional development of junior researchers is based mostly on their independent work where the mentor guidance is only occasional. Despite the development of information and communication technology, and in particular the Social Web tools, the mentorship in the framework of higher education institutions is still based on a face-to-face relationship.


Author(s):  
Cristina López-Cózar-Navarro ◽  
Tiziana Priede-Bergamini

In the past few decades, a new way of responding to social and environmental problems has emerge: the social entrepreneurship. It is presented as a special type of venture, in which the creation of social value prevails over the maximization of profits. Thus, the main objective of these types of ventures is to serve the community and to search for a positive social change. In this chapter, in addition to presenting the concept of social entrepreneurship and its various approaches within the so-called third sector and the emergent fourth sector, the main sources of funding that can be used by social entrepreneurs are also presented, especially business angels and crowdfunding, are detailed. New paradigms such as the collaborative economy and the circular economy are also addressed within social economy, highlighting the relationship with social entrepreneurship and the path of opportunity to foster new ventures in these fields.


2022 ◽  
pp. 54-64
Author(s):  
Gianluca Attademo ◽  
Alessia Maccaro

The formulation of Charts for research ethics and Codes of conduct has been growing in the last few decades, on the one hand due to a renewed awareness of the ethical dimensions of research governance and the relationship between regulators and researchers, and on the other hand for the expansion of possibilities achieved by innovation in information and communication technologies. The voluntary involvement of research participants, risk management and prevention, data protection, community engagement, reflexivity of researchers are some of the centres of gravity of a debate that involves researchers, institutions, and citizens.


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