Defining and Measuring E-Democracy

2011 ◽  
pp. 247-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Navarro

The aim of this chapter is to define and to measure electronic democracy. In order to achieve this purpose, first, different conceptual perspectives about the interconnection between new information and communication technologies and democratic institutions are described. Second, a definition of electronic democracy and its relationship with classical theories on representative democracy is provided. Third, with this description, an index to measure the stage of development of electronic democracy in a given political system is developed. Fourth, the index is tested in some Latin American municipalities. Finally, with the obtained results, some conclusions about the level and nature of electronic-democracy implementation in the region are described. The chapter adopts an institutional approach to understand the impact of ICTs on institutions that illustrates how difficult defining and measuring this reality can get.

Author(s):  
Clara Silveira ◽  
Leonilde Reis

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can provide added value in an organizational context in order to enhance the definition of business support strategies. The purpose of the chapter is to focus on the contribution of ICT to implement a sustainability policy in the organizations, in the context of the sustainable development goals to improve cooperation and promote development. In this context, the principles of the Karlskrona Manifesto are applied to the development of software systems. The methodology focused on the literature review of the domain and on a case study, in order to analyze the impact of ICT as an engine of sustainability in organizations. The main conclusions focus on the analysis of the impact of established practices in organizations to design and develop sustainable software systems. The results point to a greater consciousness of the potential effects of software systems on sustainability, which will improve management practices, reducing the quantity of material to be recycled, and aligning organizational strategies with Green IT.


Author(s):  
Christopher Beggs

Cyber-terrorism has evolved as a new form of terrorism since the development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet. It has become an issue of concern to the Australian government as well as a global issue since the impact of the September 11, 2001, tragedies, the Bali bombings in 2002, and the London bombings of 2005. Australia, together with other leading nations such as the U.S., currently faces the threat of conventional terrorism; however, we also now face the possibility of a new digital form of terrorism: cyber-terrorism. This article explores this new form of terrorism and provides examples of possible cyber-terrorism and closely related cases. It also highlights vulnerabilities within Australian computer systems and provides an overview of the future trends of this new emerging threat within the Australian context.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
Michael Macdonald-Ross

University libraries are facing the farce of NICT (New Information and Communication Technologies). Libraries are ancient indeed - they date from the third century BC. Their staff are, as a rule, not well equipped to judge the impact of technological change (who is?). Instead of being too conservative, they are often naïvely accepting of technological overclaims. As a result, librarians plan to reduce access to print in favour of text on screen. Here I counter-attack, arguing that the day of the printed book is far from over.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-96
Author(s):  
Tetiana Hushtan ◽  
Svitlana Danylo

The subject of the study is to consider the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the country’s economic development that requires providing the systematic research of objective prerequisites for increasing ecological and economic efficiency of the introduction and use of ICT. The economic justification for the implementation of ICT taking into account the economic consequences of its impact on the environment is impossible without studying, systematizing economic and environmental effects from the use of ICT. Scientific studies of the economic problems of the implementation of ICT, in our opinion, should be deepened on the basis of the need to take into account the positive and negative economic consequences of their impact on the environment and therefore require further research in this direction. The purpose of the paper is to determine the impact of information and communication technologies on the country’s ecological and economic development and to systematize the economic, social and environmental effects from the introduction and use of ICT. The dialectical method of scientific knowledge, method of analysis and synthesis, comparative method, method of data generalization are used in the paper. The paper outlines and describes the main directions of influence of information and communication technologies (ICT) on economic development of industry, on development of agriculture, on the sphere of transport and communication. The classification of the effects from the introduction and use of ICT is given, namely: by the life cycle of the product – the effects that arise at the stage of development, production, realization, consumption and disposal of the product; by recipients of influence – the effects that arise in enterprises, government bodies, which use ICT, households, which are consumers of ICT goods and services, and in the environment; by the form of manifestation – direct and indirect effects. ICT provide extensive opportunities for learning, promote the participation of citizens in public life, etc., but at the same time they can increase the unevenness of the economic development of the regions of the country due to the difference in access to ICT. The development of ICT provides a reduction in the material component of production and consumption, helping to reduce the resource intensity and ecological sustainability of economic processes, and improve the environmental situation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-29
Author(s):  
Fernando Manuel Santos Ramos ◽  
Óscar Emanuel Chaves Mealha ◽  
Catarina Franco Lélis

Abstract:This paper aims at providing a contribution to the comprehensive review of the impact of information and communication, and their supporting technologies, in the current transformation of human life in the infosphere. The paper also offers an example of the power of new social approaches to the use of information and communication technologies to foster new working models in organizations by presenting the main outcomes of a research project on social branding. A discussion about some trends of the future impact of new information and communication technologies in the infosphere is also included.Resumen:Este artículo tiene como objetivo proporcionar una contribución a la revisión global del impacto de la información y la comunicación, y sus tecnologías de apoyo, en la actual transformación de la vida humana en la infosfera. El artículo también ofrece un ejemplo del poder de los nuevos enfoques sociales sobre el uso de las tecnologías de información y comunicación para fomentar nuevos modelos de trabajo en las organizaciones mediante la presentación de los principales resultados de un proyecto de investigación sobre desarrollo social de marca. Una discusión sobre algunas de las tendencias del futuro impacto de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación en la infosfera también se incluye. 


Author(s):  
César González-Rodríguez ◽  
Santos Urbina-Ramírez

La importancia que han cobrado las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación en la sociedad durante los últimos años ha provocado que la competencia digital sea considerada como clave en el diseño de las políticas educativas y, en consecuencia, que desde diversos ámbitos se hayan desarrollado múltiples instrumentos destinados a la evaluación de las habilidades y destrezas digitales de docentes, discentes y población en general. Es por ello que se ha considerado pertinente analizar diversos tipos de herramientas usadas en la última década en España para el diagnóstico de la competencia digital del alumnado de distintas etapas educativas prestando atención, entre otros aspectos, a los ítems utilizados, la estructura de las herramientas o la metodología empleada. Este trabajo profundiza en el análisis de una serie de investigaciones que, pese a compartir, en muchos casos, aspectos metodológicos, difieren en su visión y concepción de la competencia digital, algo que dificulta el establecimiento de pautas comunes de evaluación, ya que resulta complicado acordar cómo medir una variable cuando la definición de la misma se presta a múltiples interpretaciones. Precisamente la definición de un marco común de referencia en el ámbito educativo que sirva para abordar la evaluación de las habilidades digitales es uno de los retos de investigadores e instituciones, si bien no se trata de una tarea sencilla cuando las tecnologías digitales se caracterizan por los continuos y vertiginosos cambios The impact of Information and Communication Technologies on society in recent years has caused digital competence to be considered the key to designing educational policies and, consequently, the development of numerous instruments for the evaluation of the digital skills and abilities of teachers, students and the population, in general, in several fields. Therefore, it has been considered relevant to analyze various types of tools used in the past decade in Spain for the diagnosis of the digital competence of students from different educational stages, paying attention, among others, to the items used, the structure of the tools or the methodology. This work goes in depth in the analysis of a series investigations that, despite sharing some methodological aspects in many ways, differ in their vision and conception of the digital competence. This makes the establishment of some common evaluation guidelines more difficult, since it is complicated to agree on how to measure a variable when its own definition could be interpreted in several ways. The definition of a common frame of reference in the educational field that serves to address the evaluation of digital skills is precisely one of the challenges of researchers and institutions. However, it is not an easy task when digital technologies are characterized by continuous and vertiginous changes.


Author(s):  
Ángela-Jo Medina

This chapter introduces the impact of new information and communication technologies (nICTs), specifically the Internet, on national and international conflict prevention and management. This analysis provides case studies of the use and examples of the prospective use of nICTs to counteract conflict as it undermines social and economic structures and hinders regional development. This study reviews the specific application of nICT-related initiatives at the different phases of the conflict cycle: from addressing the root causes of conflict as a tool for prevention and management, through the reconciliation and reconstruction phase. The author intends this analysis to illustrate and contribute to the discussion of how the social and development-related application of nICTs can compliment existing conflict prevention and management reduction strategies.


2022 ◽  
pp. 771-792
Author(s):  
Clara Silveira ◽  
Leonilde Reis

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can provide added value in an organizational context in order to enhance the definition of business support strategies. The purpose of the chapter is to focus on the contribution of ICT to implement a sustainability policy in the organizations, in the context of the sustainable development goals to improve cooperation and promote development. In this context, the principles of the Karlskrona Manifesto are applied to the development of software systems. The methodology focused on the literature review of the domain and on a case study, in order to analyze the impact of ICT as an engine of sustainability in organizations. The main conclusions focus on the analysis of the impact of established practices in organizations to design and develop sustainable software systems. The results point to a greater consciousness of the potential effects of software systems on sustainability, which will improve management practices, reducing the quantity of material to be recycled, and aligning organizational strategies with Green IT.


Author(s):  
Susana Wichels

ABSTRACTThe new information and communication technologies (ICT),in particular Social Media like TripAdvisor, Face-book or Twitter are changing flows, processes and tools in Tourism Communication. Considering that traditional communi-cation tools and strategies are becoming less and less effective, ICT are encouraging new communication practices and influencing consumer behaviour. Several studies from the perspective of the reception have been published in recent years on the impact of Social Media in Tourism, therefore we thought to develop a study from the perspective of production. We approach the features and peculiarities of the impact of 2.0 platforms in Tourism Communication and we present as a case study the communication strategy of Long Beach Hotel, Sun Resorts in Mauritius Islands.RESUMENLas nuevas tecnologías de información y comunicación (TIC), en especial las redes sociales, como TripAdvisor, Facebook o Twitter están revolucionando los flujos, procesos, y herramientas de la comunicación turística. Las TIC influyen en los comportamientos del consumidor y obligan a nuevas prácticas en comunicación ya que las estrategias y herramientas tradicionales se tornan cada vez menos efectivas. Son varios los estudios que han sido publicados en los últimos años sobre el impacto de las redes sociales en el turismo desde la perspectiva de la recepción y por lo tanto, hemos querido aportar un estudio desde la perspectiva de la producción. Abordamos los rasgos y singularidades del impacto de las plataformas 2.0 en comunicación turística y presentamos como estudio de caso la estrategia de comunicación del Hotel Long Beach, Sun Resorts, en Islas Mauricius.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document