Internet access standards: dissemination of the Integrated Services Digital Network in Spain, 1984-2005

This article aims to narrate the birth and evolution of the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) in Spain with an essentially descriptive methodology, from an interdisciplinary perspective and from varied sources. The study aims to investigate the forms of the transition from a conceptual or engineering phase to the market in a standard of Internet access and, at the same time, in the different patterns of technological innovation and the factors that motivate them. It tries to verify if the own nature of the techniques, the degree of diffusion of the previous technologies, the technological level -digitalization- and the structure of market of the telecommunications — continued existence of the monopoly of the historical operator National Telephone Company of Spain — had a significant impact on the inequality of penetration with respect to other countries. The research authorizes to conclude that a very heterogeneous combination of factors caused that leading countries in the diffusion of a technology did not achieve that leading role in the diffusion of other technologies.

CULTURA SAMPLEADA EN LA BABEL CONTEMPORÁNEA. NOTAS SOBRE LA COLONIZACIÓN Y DEPREDACIÓN COMO PRÁCTICAS DISCURSIVAS

Resumen: En este artículo se trata de analizar las relaciones que establecenlas diferentes prácticas discursivas dentro del mundo audiovisualcontemporáneo y la influencia que unas ejercen en otras formando partede lo que podría venir a denominarse como cultura sampleada. La red derelaciones se hace cada vez más densa y los textos se saturan de significadoen un complejo proceso que obliga al receptor a construir una lectura queva siempre más allá del propio texto para dar sentido a los mensajes. Todoello se ejemplifica en el caso del spot televisivo de la compañía telefónicaespañola Movistar que se valió de discursos precedentes. Algunoshablaron de plagio, pero la cadena de relaciones era mucho más larga delo que indica un parecido evidente entre dos discursos. Cómo se modificanla esencia, las intenciones comunicativas y contextos pragmáticos es elobjeto de análisis de estas páginas. Abstract: This article attempts to analyze the relations established bythe various discursive practices found in the audiovisual world and theinfluence some of these strategies exert on each other within what couldbe known as sampled culture. The network of connections in this complex process becomes increasingly tangled and the texts saturate with meaning, thus forcing the receivers to construct a reading which always goes beyond the text itself in order to confer meaning on the messages. All this can be specifically illustrated by a TV commercial spot produced by the Spanish telephone company Movistar which made use of previous discourses. Although some people considered it plagiarism, the chain of connections was indeed much more intricate than that merely showing an evident similarity between two discourses. How the essence, communicative purposes and pragmatic contexts of these texts are modified is the object of analysis of the following pages.

Interlude | Facebook with Cristina

It is 28 June 2013 and I’m sitting on the bed in my small room in Cristina’s house. There is a chest of drawers in the room that Cristina found in the street, which she cleaned and squeezed into the room next to the bed. Cristina comes in and stands on the small part of the floor between the bed and the wall. She has received a letter from the telephone company and she wants to know whether this means she can use the internet. She wants to use Facebook to try to find her sister. Dan, her husband, had mentioned to me before that Cristina’s sister moved to Italy when she was 15 (Cristina was 6 years old at the time) with an Italian man. Cristina thought that she would be able to find her sister through Facebook and often asked to use my phone, which could access the internet, to search for her sister’s name....

Performance of Moving Average (MA) Chart Under Three Delta Control Limits and Six Delta Initiatives

An SQC chart is a graphical tool for representation of the data for knowing the extent of variations from the expected standard. This technique was first suggested by W.A. Shewhart of Bell Telephone Company based on 3σ limits. M. Harry, the engineer of Motorola has introduced the concept of six sigma in 1980. In 6σ limits, it is presumed to attain 3.4 or less number of defects per million of opportunities. Naik V.D and Desai J.M proposed an alternative of normal distribution, which is named as moderate distribution. The parameters of this distribution are mean and mean deviation. Naik V.D and Tailor K.S. have suggested the concept of 3-delta control limits and developed various control charts based on this distribution. Using these concepts, control limits based on 6-delta is suggested in this paper. Also the moving average chart is studied by using 6-delta methodology. A ready available table for mean deviation is prepared for the quality control experts for taking fast actions.

A Review of Grand Intentions

Grand Intentions by Trevor Barr is an exciting read that involves many themes and works at many levels. It concerns a fictitious telephone company, Telco One, which is undergoing major change as the Government privatises it. Telco One is in the throes of moving from a traditional culture that is based on public sector, even public service, values to a commercial entity subject to the overwhelming imperative of shareholder value. The twists and turns as Telco One transforms from its previous culture into the dynamic commercial entity are transfixing. This is a must read book for those with an interest in what could become a dystopian drama if not for the emergence and re-emergence of grand intentions and praiseworthy aspirations of the characters themselves.

A Review of Grand Intentions

Grand Intentions by Trevor Barr is an exciting read that involves many themes and works at many levels. It concerns a fictitious telephone company, Telco One, which is undergoing major change as the Government privatises it. Telco One is in the throes of moving from a traditional culture that is based on public sector, even public service, values to a commercial entity subject to the overwhelming imperative of shareholder value. The twists and turns as Telco One transforms from its previous culture into the dynamic commercial entity are transfixing. This is a must read book for those with an interest in what could become a dystopian drama if not for the emergence and re-emergence of grand intentions and praiseworthy aspirations of the characters themselves.