ICT policies,the Mediterranean tradition and the Italian diet of discontinuity

The article investigates the ICT policies of characteristically political instable Italy in the wake of the (dis)continuous flood of government reforms that began in the early 1990s. Using the case of the Italian digital agency, the research amplifies the scope of the current discussions on national e-Government trajectories, providing evidence for the interrelated dynamics between policy outcomes, implementation mechanisms and administrative landscape. The article shows that the discontinuity of Italy’s Digital Agenda is attributable to the merry-go-round nature of governments with divergent views of modernization – resulting in the digital agency’s multiple, even conflicting mandates – and to the misalignment of the ‘original agency model’ with the embedded culture of the public machinery. The article provides illustration of these arguments from the historical institutionalist perspective and maintains that insights into these phenomena are essential for contextualizing and understanding ICT policies.     

电信市场开放过APEC主要经济实体的影响

电信市场开放从某种程度上说是为跨国电信企业市场运劳国际化战略提供了通行证。电信市场开放有一系列显著特征,对用户、电信业务提供者、投资者和政府都有不同程度的影响。在介绍电信市场开放显著特征的基础上,主要介绍APEC主要经济实体在电信市场开放条件下所做出的一些承诺、外商投资的条件及其诸如市场竞争格局的变化等相应的市场表现。     

Do educational inequalities affect Internet use? An analysis for developed and developing countries

This study investigates whether the existence of educational inequalities at the country level affects Internet use. Additionally, we explore the extent to which these impacts depend on countries’ economic development levels. We use a logit model and data set of 69 high- and middle-income countries for the period 2005–2015. We find a negative relationship between Internet use and education inequality for the whole sample. The results confirm that, in addition to the level of education and other socioeconomic variables, the distribution of formal education among citizens within a country is also important to explain Internet use. We also obtain that this distribution affects Internet use to a higher extent in middle-income economies in comparison with high-income ones. Unlike the positive influence of educational levels obtained in the academic literature, the existence of within-country educational disparities negatively influences Internet use. This study demonstrates the influence of countries’ educational structure in relative terms in explaining Internet use.     

Increasing inequalities in what we do online: A longitudinal cross sectional analysis of Internet activities among the Dutch population (2010 to 2013) over gender,age, education,and income

We investigate types of Internet activities among a representative sample of the Dutch population from 2010 to 2013. We examined usage patterns of seven types of Internet activities (i.e., information, news, personal development, commercial transaction, social interaction, leisure, and gaming) and related these patterns with gender, age, education, and income. Activities related to news, personal development, commercial transaction, and social interaction increased in popularity. For most capital enhancing activities, men, younger people, higher educated people, and people with higher than average incomes were prominent. These observations, however, are subject to change. The Internet seems to provide increasingly more capital-enhancing opportunities for those with higher education and income, which would accordingly reinforce their already strong positions in society.     

印度发展农村电信的方式与启示

印度为发展农村电信，缩小城乡数字鸿沟，在农村地区积极推行了多项电信实验工程，其中富有特色的包括乡村信使模式Gramdoot、东北部地区的社区信息中心CIC、CorDECT无线本地环路模型和亚洲媒体实验室项目。这些项目由于符合当地农村现实，不拘泥于形式，技术性能合理，安全为满足农村人口生产活动需要等而获得成功。     

欧洲无线DSL的发展现状及市场前景

对欧洲的立法者来说,目前最为关注的课题之一便是如何解决数字鸿沟这一困扰欧洲大陆信息与通信技术整体发展水平的矛盾。向人们提供高速因特网接入服务是消除数字鸿沟的有效手段,而无线数字用户线技术以及其成低、通信质量好、覆盖范围大及灵活性等优势成为宽带接入技术中的佼佼者,并获得很多欧洲国家电信运营商的青睐。     

Digital access,choice and agency in remote Sarawak

Internet use and access to digital devices continues to increase even in remote regions around the world, but users do not participate equally or engage in the same practices online. This leads to inequalities in the outcomes different groups of users can generate as a result of their online practices. Drawing from recent literature on digital divides and using a theoretical framework focused on user choice and agency, we present data from a study of internet and device use in remote villages in Sarawak, a state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo. These villages lack most basic infrastructure such as paved roads or grid electricity, but some have mobile phone and mobile internet access installed under Malaysia’s Universal Service Provision. We discuss qualitative and quantitative data collected between 2015 and 2017 to point to the opportunities as well as obstacles users in remote communities encounter in their engagements with digital devices and the internet. We argue that while remote areas seem to lag behind urban areas in terms of users’ internet skills and practices, people choose to engage with these technologies in ways that are appropriate to their needs and to the local low-bandwidth environment. To enable these communities to tap into additional potential benefits of internet use, however, faster and more reliable access is a prerequisite.     

一种图像处理用的数字乘法器

本文提出一种图像处理用的数字乘法器电路方案,叙述了用PBOM进行乘法运算的原理,并提出了具体实施方案。     

The challenge of e-participation in the digital city: Exploring generational influences among community telecentre users

A primary challenge for the development of e-government and the digital city is participation by low-income, older and technology-challenged citizens. This paper reports on the role of inter-generational interactions in community telecentres in facilitating low-income, older and technology-challenged citizens in gaining access and using digital city infrastructure. Our research also finds that virtual communities are playing a role in supporting e-participation among older, technology-challenged citizens. We examine the influence and interaction of members of offline communities, who use telecentres, on virtual community participation. These communities and telecentres can provide support for the provision of e-services and the development of the digital city. We explore these issues based on empirical field research in community-based telecentres in a developing country. Inter-generational interactions are explored through an analysis using social networks, social identity and social representations theories.     

Gender digital divide in Rwanda: A qualitative analysis of socioeconomic factors

This study aims at exploring how information and communications technology (ICT) is accessed and used by women and men in Rwanda. Specifically, we analyze the factors that contribute to the gender digital divide in Rwanda. In addition, we assess the importance of equal access to ICTs between genders. Rwanda is a particulary interesting case study, since previous studies on gender differences in the usage and accessibility of ICTs have focused on Western countries, while Africa, and Rwanda in particular, have been less covered. The qualitative method of in-depth interviews was used to collect the data. Interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis technique. The findings of this study reveal that a gender digital divide still exists in Rwanda, even though the government puts forth much effort to eradicate this phenomenon. Reasons for barriers for women’s access to ICTs were found in social, economic and cultural factors, such as feelings of lack of self-worth, self-confidence, and proper educations; heavy domestic responsibilities; and computer anxiety. The findings also indicated that equal access to ICTs would be a shortcut to economic growth in Rwanda. This study concludes that Rwandan women need to be better educated in the use of computer technologies. Certain gender-sensitive strategies that guide the use of ICTs in this way also need to be established.     

An analysis of mobile Internet access in Thailand: Implications for bridging the digital divide

Mobile Internet is growing around the world, bypassing the poor legacy of wired infrastructure. This growth can be observed even in developing countries like Thailand. To cope with this trend, this study attempts to provide guidance to a national regulatory agency (NRA) by addressing the following question: What are the key determinant factors for individual consumer to access mobile Internet? A discrete choice model is employed to examine empirically whether price, service, and application attributes, socio-economic variables, and service provider have a systematic link with the decision of the consumer. The data from a national survey in 2010 commissioned by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of Thailand are used for the analysis.     

ADSL deployment in the Community of Madrid: Investigating the geographical factors of the digital divide

Realising the potential of the Information Society requires an adequate broadband infrastructure, a sine qua non condition for usage. In many countries, the broadband offer’s geographical coverage strongly depends on ADSL expansion. Thus, it seems important to know the variables conditioning the deployment of its commercial offer.     

Information technology use among individuals in rich and poor countries: The disappearing divide

According to the conventional measure the digital divide assigns the same weight to each country regardless of its population size. In this note by contrast the divide is conceptualized as the absolute number of Internet users and mobile phone subscribers in developed as against developing countries. On this basis I find that the conventional gap in IT use between these countries either shrinks dramatically or is actually reversed. In estimating the new measure the role of China turns out to be central.     

消除数字差距，推动普遍服务

“数字差距”不是个别国家，个别地区的独有现象，而是一个全球性的问题，缩小全球范围内的“数字差距”，应当建立在对旧的世界经济秩序革新的基础上，改革开放20多年来，中国电信业已由制约经济发展的“瓶颈”，发展成为带动经济增长的先导产业，支柱产业和战略产业，电信服务普及率也达到了一个空前的高度，但由于各方面的原因，中国东西部之间还存在较大的差距，偏远地区电信发展也还面临很多困难，为此，中国政府和企业还有很多工作要做。     

全球电信发展综述

当今电信业发展最突出的特征是民营化、竞争和全球化。移动通信发展迅速,到2001年,已有100个国家的移动用户数超过了固定用户,移动通信已成为普遍接入的必要手段之一。新型“数字鸿沟”尤其体现在发达国家与其它经济体Internet接入的对比。进入新世纪后,世界电信业全面走向萧条,预计在短期内难以扭转全球电信经济的总体走势。     

Empirical study of a sequence of access to Internet use in Ecuador

Ecuador is a country that represents the efforts that a few countries in the Latin American and the Caribbean region are making on infrastructures, regulations and policies that are favorable towards the use of the Internet. However, although the digital divide in its most basic form (physical access and use) is closing with respect to developed countries, a new, more complex digital divide is moving forward, and is related to the socio-economic advantages of the Internet. This study, which used a random sample stratified by provinces and which comprised 3754 respondents representing the secondary school students in Ecuador, had as objectives: (a) to verify the relationship and sequence among the different levels to access the Internet found on secondary school students; and (b) to verify to what degree the student’s family status influenced the different levels of Internet access. Through the empirical analysis of a structural model, the results showed a sequence between the relationships found among the different levels of Internet access, as well as the cumulative effect of the technical resources and levels of digital literacy on the academic use of the Internet. Likewise, it was observed that the influence of the student’s family status lost strength as the level of Internet access increased.