scholarly journals Looking to a Digital Future

M/C Journal ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Digital Transmission ◽  
Online News ◽  
Public Broadcasting ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
The Government

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is in the midst of significant change as a result of budgetary pressures from the government and the challenge of the oncoming digital age. Lack of funding and dwindling resources have forced the ABC to shut down many of its regional services and to outsource many of its formerly in-house productions. However, there do appear some ways in which the ABC might meet, as the rhetoric goes, "the challenge of the digital era". Traditionally, the role of the ABC has included the provision of comprehensive coverage of, and service for, the whole of Australia, including regions that would be economically unfeasible for commercial operations to penetrate. Recently, however, budgetary cuts have eroded this role substantially, with the axing of state based current affairs and the cessation of Radio Triple J's planned expansion into regional Australia. The Internet has provided a potential, if problematic, stop-gap solution, through the launch of the ABC's online news service. Internet based news solutions have few of the production-end overheads of the television service. There are no expensive studio set ups, no presenters, no cameras, just text that can be quickly keyed into the system and formatted for instantaneous, non-linear delivery. I should note at this point that currently, this "delivery" is in the passive sense of the word: users must search out the content and download it onto their machines. In Internet jargon, this is called "pull" technology. New technologies being developed promise to "push" the content automatically and directly to a user's computer. The ABC's implementation, taking advantage of all these benefits, is text-based, comprehensive, updated constantly, and easy to use. Currently, however, delivery of Internet-based content is tied to the existing phone network, and with most Internet service providers based in state capitals, regional Internet access is hindered by the cost of long-distance calls. The potential exists, nonetheless, for the ABC to achieve truly national coverage by methods that bypass existing structures. The planned shift by Australian TV networks to digital transmission has the potential to enable new possibilities for public broadcasting. A digital infrastructure could allow information and programming to be cheaply produced at the local level, then recompiled centrally and redistributed across the country. The convergence of computer and television will enable a greater variety of content to be sent to the home -- and, possibly, sent back out again in an altered form. Such a transformation of the way we experience television may well alter the concept of public broadcasting beyond recognition, if not render it obsolete. However, these possibilities, although reasonable given projected advances in technology, so far largely remain fantasy due to the debate over regulation between the Federal government and the commercial networks. It remains to be seen whether the ABC will be able to take advantage of the new opportunities. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Nick Caldwell. "Looking to a Digital Future: Thoughts on the New ABC." M/C Journal 1.1 (1998). [your date of access] <http://www.media-culture.org.au/9807/abc.php>. Chicago style: Nick Caldwell, "Looking to a Digital Future: Thoughts on the New ABC," M/C Journal 1, no. 1 (1998), <http://www.nedia-culture.org.au/9807/abc.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Nick Caldwell. (1998) Looking to a digital future: thoughts on the new ABC. M/C Journal 1(1). <http://www.media-culture.org.au/9807/abc.php> ([your date of access]).

New Indian online rules risk state overreach and abuse

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Online News ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Service ◽  
The Government

Significance The new rules follow a stand-off between Twitter and the central government last month over some posts and accounts. The government has used this stand-off as an opportunity not only to tighten rules governing social media, including Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and LinkedIn, but also those for other digital service providers including news publishers and entertainment streaming companies. Impacts Government moves against dominant social media platforms will boost the appeal of smaller platforms with light or no content moderation. Hate speech and harmful disinformation are especially hard to control and curb on smaller platforms. The new rules will have a chilling effect on online public discourse, increasing self-censorship (at the very least). Government action against online news media would undercut fundamental democratic freedoms and the right to dissent. Since US-based companies dominate key segments of the Indian digital market, India’s restrictive rules could mar India-US ties.

scholarly journals The ascent and decline of a great balneological resort: PUCIOASA

2020 ◽  
pp. 498-500
Author(s):  
Doroteea TEOIBAS-SERBAN ◽  
Liviu IORDACHE ◽  
Dan BLENDEA
Keyword(s):  
Water Analysis ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Iron Concentration ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Rehabilitation Clinic

Introduction. Pucioasa is one of the greater and sadly, almost forgotten balneological resort of Romania. Known since the 18th century, where it was discovered a record of this area on the Austrian map in 1791 with sulphurous streams, the healing waters of the “Pe Pucioasa” hill enters the therapeutic balneological circle when the first water analysis occurred – 1821-1828 by Dr. Trangot von Schobel. In 1878, Ion Ghica, a prominent figure in Romania at that time initiated the exploitation of 14 wells from the 30 known streams of sulphurous and ferruginous waters, thus obtaining enough healing mineral water for a capacity of 60 beds of the balneological establishment. Since 1841, the Resort developed, transformed into a Rehabilitation Clinic (1969) and the number of patients treated there increased from 20 in the beginning to 1000 patient per day. Many of the patients included foreign elite society members who came regularly to benefit from the waters’ healing properties, both external and internal cures, setting Pucioasa on a high level of not only balneology treatment, but also of balneological tourism. Matherials and methods: Studying local industrializations and water analysis, we concluded that there were many factors that contributed to the decline of this great and international renowned balneological resort. The first wrong step in this direction was made when building and extending de gypsum carrier, the peek being between 1970 and 1975, when the industrial forging process made the sulphurous streams to migrate, and the waters from the wells diminished in its sulphur and iron concentration. Another possible factor for the decline can be the modernisation of the medical world, development of anti-inflammatory drugs and modern medical equipment which reduced the need for the elite society to come a long distance for the balneological treatment. Results: Whichever of the reasons, the once prosperous Balneological Resort of Pucioasa fell into an unknown, unimpressive place, known and frequented only by the locals. The Rehabilitation Clinic still has 60 beds, which are occupied to the maximum each month, it still prospers on a local level, but lost its glory from almost a century ago. Conclusions: The Romanian general population and the government must take an interest to one of the many once prosperous balneological resorts in order to revive the national treasure of Romania which is balneology, which many of the developed European countries only wish that they can possess. Keywords: Balneary Resort, Pucioasa,

Making Santorini: reflecting on the past, imagining the future

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Lichrou ◽  
Lisa O’Malley ◽  
Maurice Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Online News ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mass Tourism ◽  
Landscape Degradation

Purpose Strategic analyses of Mediterranean destinations have well documented the impacts of mass tourism, including high levels of seasonality and landscape degradation as a result of the “anarchic” nature of tourism development in these destinations. The lack of a strategic framework is widely recognised in academic and popular discourse. What is often missing, however, is local voice and attention to the local particularities that have shaped the course of tourism development in these places. Focusing on narratives of people living and working in Santorini, Greece, this paper aims to examine tourism development as a particular cultural experience of development. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted narrative interviews with 22 local residents and entrepreneurs. Participants belonged to different occupational sectors and age groups. These are supplemented with secondary data, consisting of books, guides, documentaries and online news articles on Santorini. Findings The analysis and interpretation by the authors identify remembered, experienced and imagined phases of tourism development, which we label as romancing tourism, disenchantment and reimagining tourism. Research limitations/implications Professionalisation has certainly allowed the improvement of quality standards, but in transforming hosts into service providers, a distance and objectivity is created that results in a loss of authenticity. Authenticity is not just about what the tourists seek but also about what a place is or can be, and the “sense of place” that residents have and use in their everyday lives. Social implications Local narratives offer insights into the particularities of tourism development and the varied, contested and dynamic meanings of places. Place narratives can therefore be a useful tool in developing a reflexive and participative place-making process. Originality/value The study serves the understanding of how tourism, subject to the global-local relations, is a particular experience of development that shapes a place’s identity. The case of Santorini shows how place-making involves changing, multilayered desires and contradictory visions of tourism and development. This makes socio-cultural and environmental challenges hard to resolve. It is thus challenging to change the course of development, as various actors at the local level and beyond have diverse interests and interpretations of what is desirable for the place.

Collaborative Working in an ISP Environment

2011 ◽  
pp. 269-279
Author(s):  
Sathya Rao ◽  
Eric Mannie-Corbisier ◽  
Leszek Siwik
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Data Communication ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Internet Service

The way of life has changed with the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) in every one’s day to day activities and the business. As ICT technologies are constantly evolving, many people attribute the success of enterprises to the ways they deploy and take advantage of new technologies, not only to make their operations more efficient but most importantly to refine and adopt new effective and adaptive business models. Since the advent of the Internet and the very first Internet service providers (ISP) in operation, the traditional ISP market has been in constant evolution due to the gradual globalisation and commoditisation of ISP services. Deregulation and ICT policies have fostered competition (e.g., unbundling of the local loop and so forth) as well. The Internet is as an important channel of interaction inside and/or outside enterprises. The essence of the Internet is conducting business and running of business processes over data communication networks based on nonproprietary standards (Porter, 2001). The World Wide Web as a portal represents a major electronic business (e-business) platform accessed through communication channels provisioned by network and service providers (such as ISDN, DSL, WLAN, UMTS, etc.). There are many challenging aspects of the e-Business that must be considered for a sustainable business of an ISP (Petrie et al., 2004).

A Situation Analysis of Public Health Interventions, Barriers, and Opportunities for Improving Maternal Nutrition in Bihar, India

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2_suppl1) ◽  
pp. S93-S103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Noznesky ◽  
Usha Ramakrishnan ◽  
Reynaldo Martorell
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Maternal Nutrition ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Maternal Undernutrition ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities ◽  
The Government

Background Maternal underweight and anemia are highly prevalent in Bihar, especially among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years. Although numerous programs and platforms exist for delivering efficacious interventions for improving maternal nutrition, the coverage and quality of these interventions are low. Objective To examine existing interventions for reducing maternal undernutrition in Bihar and identify barriers to and opportunities for expanding their coverage and quality. Methods The research was conducted in New Delhi and Bihar between May and August 2010. Forty-eight key informant interviews were conducted with policy makers, program managers, and service providers at multiple levels. Secondary data were collected from survey reports and program documents. All data were analyzed thematically. Results Barriers to the delivery and uptake of interventions to improve maternal nutrition include the shortage of essential inputs, low prioritization of maternal undernutrition, sterilization bias within the family planning program, weak management systems, poverty, gender inequality, caste discrimination, and flooding. In order to overcome barriers and improve service delivery, the current government and its partners have introduced structural reforms within the public health system, launched new programs for underserved groups, developed innovative approaches, and experimented with new technologies. Conclusions Since coming to power, the Government of Bihar has achieved impressive increases in the coverage of prioritized health services, such as institutional deliveries and immunization. This success presents it with an excellent opportunity to further reduce maternal and infant mortality by turning its attention to the serious problem of maternal undernutrition and low birthweight.

scholarly journals Social Media as a Battleground for Electoral Violence among Netizens in Africa: The Case of Kenyan Youth

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-115
Author(s):  
Christine W Njuguna ◽  
Joyce Gikandi ◽  
Lucy Kathuri-Ogola ◽  
Joan Kabaria-Muriithi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Electoral Violence ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Government ◽  
Use Of Social Media

There is a rise in unprecedented political infractions, disturbances and electoral violence in Africa with the youth playing a significant role. Thus, the study broadly investigated social media use and electoral violence among the youth in Kenya using two objectives that were to assess the use of social media platforms among the youth and to investigate the relationship between social media use and electoral violence among the youth. Guided by the Dependency Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory, the study was carried out in Mathare Constituency, Nairobi County, Kenya. Data collection involved questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Analysis of quantitative data was by descriptive statistics and regression while qualitative data was analyzed through transcription. The study findings showed that the use of social media platforms in communication has been growing with WhatsApp becoming the most ‘preferred’ platform in Kenya. The study outcome exposed the fact that social media had an important and positive effect on electoral violence among the Kenyan youth in Mathare (R = .812). On the other hand, social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram) had a strong explanatory strength on electoral violence among the Kenyan youth in Mathare (R2 = .659). This means that social media accounts for 65.9 percent of electoral violence among the Kenyan youth in Mathare Constituency, Nairobi County. The study, therefore, concluded that there is a relationship between social media and electoral violence among the Kenyan youth in Mathare. The study finally recommends that the government should embrace and enforce self-regulation mechanisms by Internet service providers to deter incitement. In addition, there should be increased efforts to educate and inform Internet users on the importance of assessing the credibility of information. Promotion of productive engagement as an effective instrument of dealing with online hatred is key.

scholarly journals Difficulties in Establishing Liability in Online Defamation; Tanzania Experience

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Charles W. Marwa
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Service Providers ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Choice Of Law ◽  
Electronic Evidence ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Government

This paper is devoted to uncover difficulties in establishing liability in online defamation in Tanzania. The focus is on the effectiveness of the current laws and regulations relating to online defamation; and the lack of awareness on the part of the general public on legal and practical challenges in establishing liability over defamatory comments occurring on the internet. The investigator discovered that, the existing legal framework in Tanzania cover issues of establishing liability in online defamation suffers from a number of inadequacies. Moreover the legal and practical challenges includes, the weakness of some law and regulations covering online defamation, limitation periods, jurisdiction and choice of law issues, investigation and admissibility of electronic evidence and its authenticity, identifying anonymous defendant and the rights to privacy. The author recommends that the government has to consider amending its law by taking on board the forgotten stakeholders opinions that would address by dealing with specific issues of liability in online defamation to internet users, Internet Service providers(ISP’s) and intermediary for their defamatory comments.

Net Neutrality Policies and Regulation in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Jamison
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Net Neutrality ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Regulatory Issue ◽  
Technology Industry ◽  
The Us ◽  
Transmission Of Information ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One

Abstract The US debate about net neutrality has been unusually contentious for a telecommunications regulatory issue, most recently culminating in a 2017 reversal of a 2015 decision to apply traditional telephone regulations, written for a monopoly era, to internet service providers. This article reviews this history, beginning 1956 when the government first imposed an industry boundary between transmission of information on the one hand, and the creation and processing of information on the other. This regulatory legacy remains embedded in US law and has led to some of the muddle. This article also examines the academic literature relating to net neutrality. On this, the answers found in the literature vary depending on assumptions made about technology, industry structure, and industry practices. When the answer to the question of whether regulations are beneficial is “it depends,” and the scenarios that give different answers are realistic, it would seem that the policy approach should favor applying competition and consumer protection laws that address problems when they occur rather than ex ante regulations, which would be certain to harm at least in some situations.

From Centralized to Local Alcohol Policy? Administrative Decentralization and the Role of Local Municipalities in Finnish Alcohol Policy

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-93
Author(s):  
Sanna Sairanen ◽  
Pekka Sulkunen
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
Alcohol Control ◽  
Local Municipalities ◽  
The Government

The main concern in the article is with the question of how far the administration of welfare policy in general and alcohol policy in particular has been decentralized from central government to the local level. The period under review extends from the abrogation of the Prohibition Act in 1932 up to the present day. For the part of alcohol policy, the development is measured on the basis of the changes that have taken place in alcohol legislation, specifically with regard to alcohol control and licensing. Separate treatment is given to municipal alcohol inspection and alcohol and temperance committees. The latitude of local self-government in welfare policy issues is described by reference to the government grant system. The resources allocated by central government to local municipalities may be earmarked for specific projects, or alternatively be granted for allocation according to the local municipality's own discretion. The article also introduces a case study on the alcohol policy decision-makers in a Finnish municipality in 1991–1994. Local municipalities have greater autonomy today in the implementation and funding of welfare services than they did during the formative years of the welfare state. It is possible that in the future Finnish municipalities will become increasingly differentiated in terms of both the quality and quantity of services. However, local municipalities still remain first and foremost service providers; it seems that they have not even wanted to assume responsibility for the advocacy and protection of moral-political democracy. The same applies to alcohol policy. For the most part, local municipalities have tried to shed their responsibilities and reduce their influence in alcohol policy decision-making. During the 1990s municipalities have no longer wanted to assume responsibility for alcohol control or for the processing of licensing and retail sales permits. The article concludes that local municipalities consider the lack of services a greater problem than the social or health problems associated with alcohol.

Implications and Future Trends

2008 ◽  
pp. 296-303
Author(s):  
Yogesk K. Dwivedi
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Research Trends ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Broadband Service ◽  
Adoption And Diffusion ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Diffusion

This chapter presents the implications of the research discussed in this book and outlines future research trends in the area of consumer adoption and usage of broadband. The findings of the studies detailed in this book generate a number of implications that may be relevant to policy makers, Internet service providers (ISPs), and other relevant stakeholders for increasing consumers’ adoption of broadband. The chapter begins by a discussion concerning the implications of this research for the government, followed by the implications for the Internet/broadband service providers and, ultimately, the implications for content providers and emerging electronic services. Finally, a discussion on the future trends in the area of broadband adoption and diffusion is provided.

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