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Information and Communication Technologies: Visions and Realities
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Date: Sun, 3 Nov 1996 22:13:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Bill Dutton
Dutton, W. (1996) (ed.) Information and Communication Technologies Visions and Realities (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press).
Information and Communication Technologies Visions and Realities illuminates the social and economic implications of advances in information and communication technologies. It has been written and edited to reach a broad audience across the social sciences interested in constructive ways of thinking about the social dynamics of the revolution in digital media. Based on a decade of research undertaken by the UK's Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT), this book explains: how social factors influence technological innovation and convergence; why organizations seek to transform work, services, and management; ways in which households domesticate new media; and how public policy and regulation shape the impact of technology on employment, media concentration, privacy, and access in an information society. The 30 contributors include leading figures in the field such as Walter Baer, Jay Blumler, Peter Cochrane, Rod Coombs, Bill Dutton, Chris Freeman, Nicholas Garnham, John Goddard, Kenneth Kraemer, Donald MacKenzie, Robin Mansell, Bill Melody, Roger Silverstone, Robin Williams, and Steve Woolgar.
William H. Dutton, editor. Information and Communication Technologies Visions and Realities. Oxford University Press, 1996. 0-19-877496-6, 400 pp, 15 boxes, 11 figures, and 13 tables #15.99 0-19-877459-1 Hardcover #45 OUP USA: phone orders 9-7 EST on 1-800-451-7556 OUP Oxford: 24 hour credit card hotline +44 (0) 1536 454534
Excerpt from Preface:
"Major advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been among the most exciting and far-reaching developments in science and technology in the late twentieth century. Personal computers, the Internet, video games, cellular phones, electronic banking, and satellite television are just a few of the ICT innovations that have become an intrinsic part of modern life. The rapid pace of ICT innovation and diffusion will be maintained well into the twenty-first century as computing, telecommunications, and broadcast and print media continue to converge on common digital-based techniques. "This technical revolution has generated vigorous debate around a number of `hot button' issues, such as concerns over employment, privacy, and the growing gaps between information `haves' and `have nots'. However, it has also generated many visions which have been focused on concepts like the information society, information superhighway, virtual organizations, and post-Fordist industrial processes. These visions have driven government policies, the opening of new product and services markets, and the development of new ways of living, working, and doing business.
About This Book
"Most books about ICT-related visions look primarily to future technological breakthroughs and what they will mean to business and society. This book critically examines the visions and realities that have already shaped technological change in order to provide practical insights into how the long-term social and economic implications of ICTs can be addressed. In doing so, it provides much evidence to help readers understand the ways individuals, households, schools, organizations, governments, and regions are shaping technologies as well as being shaped by them. Most importantly, this journey into the social and economic complexities surrounding ICTs not only challenges prevailing wisdom about the effects of ICTs; it also provides direction for policy and practice to achieve the opportunities presented by the profusion of ICT innovations.
Fruits of a Decade of Research
"This book is derived from the ten-year Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT), a major initiative launched in 1985 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to study the long-term social and economic implications of ICTs. PICT brought together sociologists, geographers, economists, political scientists, technologists, communication specialists, and other scholars in collaborative multidisciplinary teams. It involved over a hundred researchers in six university centres, who worked on more than sixty projects that encompassed research on the production, utilization, consumption, and governance dimensions of ICTs. "As well as contributing to the development of better theoretical perspectives and empirical understandings of the many issues encompassed by its brief, PICT also aimed to engage practitioners and policy makers in its research. This ambitious attempt to broaden the audience for social science research was supported by targeted activities that disseminated PICT research beyond the bounds of academic disciplines. "This book brings together some of the most significant PICT work in a form designed to be of value to students as well as this broad community government and corporate policy makers; information technology and telecommunications professionals; managers; researchers; and anyone who takes seriously the social and economic significance of the important technologies explored by PICT. Each chapter originated as a PICT working paper, lecture, or other research activity. These have been substantially reworked and extended by authors to provide a fresh and authoritative overview of the major findings from PICT's decade of research. They have then been edited into an easily accessible style to assist a wide variety of readers to appreciate the practical and theoretical insights which emerged from the research programme."
Contents
Preface Acknowledgements Contributors
Introduction William H. Dutton
Part I: Social Dimensions of the Technical: Social, Cultural, and Political Processes Shaping Technological Development and Innovation
1. The Two-edged Nature of Technological Change: Employment and Unemployment Christopher Freeman
2. The Information Society: Competing Perspectives on the Social and Economic Implications of Information and Communication Technologies Ian Miles
3. The Social Shaping of Technology Robin Williams and David Edge
4. Computers, `Bugs', and the Sociology of Mathematical Proof Donald MacKenzie
5. Technologies as Cultural Artefacts Steve Woolgar
6. Constraints on Multimedia Convergence Nicholas Garnham
Part II: Information and Communication Technologies in Organizations, Management, and Work: Reinforcing and Transforming the Structure, Processes, and Geography of the Firm
7. The Factory of the Future and the Productivity Paradox Christopher Freeman
8. Revolution in the Office? Implications for Women's Paid Work Juliet Webster
9. The Politics of IT Strategy and Development in Organizations Rod Coombs and Richard Hull
10. Computer Power and Human Limits Malcolm Peltu, Donald MacKenzie, Stuart Shapiro, and William H. Dutton
11. Why Geography Will Still Matter: What Jobs Go Where? John Goddard and Ranald Richardson
Part III: Living in an Information Society: Information and Communication Technologies in the Home, Education, and Democratic Processes.
12. Future Imperfect: Information and Communication Technologies in Everyday Life Roger Silverstone
13. The Cultural Dimension of Communication Technology and Policy: The Experience of Satellite Television in Europe Richard Collins
14. Learning and Education in an Information Society Michael Gell and Peter Cochrane
15. Innovation in Public Service Delivery John Taylor, Christine Bellamy, Charles Raab, William H. Dutton, and Malcolm Peltu
16. The Information Polity: Electronic Democracy, Privacy, and Surveillance Charles Raab, Christine Bellamy, John Taylor, William H. Dutton, and Malcolm Peltu
Part IV: Public Policy and Regulation: Actors, Goals, and Strategies
17. The Strategic Value of Policy Research in the Information Economy William H. Melody
18. IT and Economic Development: International Competitiveness Kenneth L. Kraemer and Jason Dedrick
19. Telecommunication Infrastructures and Regional Development Andrew Gillespie and James Cornford
20. Telecommunication Infrastructure Competition: The Costs of Delay Walter S. Baer
21. Innovation in Telecommunication Regulation: Realizing National Policy Goals in a Global Marketplace Robin Mansell
22. The Politics of Information and Communication Policy: The Information Superhighway William H. Dutton, Jay G. Blumler, Nicholas Garnham, Robin Mansell, James Cornford, and Malcolm Peltu
Appendix 1. The Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT) Appendix 2. PICT Policy Research Forums Glossary Abbreviations and Acronyms Bibliography Index Contributors
Walter S. Baer directs information infrastructure studies for the Centre for Information-Revolution Analysis at The RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California and its European-American Centre for Policy Analysis in Delft, The Netherlands.
Christine Bellamy is a Professor and Head of Politics and Public Administration at Nottingham Trent University.
Jay Blumler is Emeritus Professor at the University of Leeds in the UK and at the University of Maryland in the USA.
Peter Cochrane is head of the BT Advanced Research Department, which has a staff of over 600 who are investigating a wide range of future technologies, applications and services. He is also a visiting professor to University College London and the Universities of Essex and Kent.
Richard Collins is a Lecturer in the Department of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and was a member of the PICT research team at Westminster University's Centre for Communication and Information Studies (CCIS).
Rod Coombs is a Professor in the Manchester School of Management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and Director of the Centre for Research on Organisations, Management and Technical Change (CROMTEC), which was one of the PICT Centres.
James Cornford is a researcher into geographical implications of ICTs at Newcastle University's Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS).
Jason Dedrick is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO) at the University of California, Irvine.
William Dutton is a Professor at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California. He was the Director of PICT and a visiting professor at Brunel University during PICT's last phase.
David Edge founded the Science Studies Unit at Edinburgh University and was its Director until his retirement. He was a principal investigator for the PICT Centre at Edinburgh's Research Centre for Social Sciences (RCSS).
Christopher Freeman is Professor Emeritus at Sussex University's Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), of which he was a former Director. He is also a Professor at the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, University of Limburg. He played a key role in formulating the initial PICT proposal.
Nicholas Garnham is Professor of Media Studies and Director of the Centre for Communication and Information Studies (CCIS) at the University of Westminster, from where he co-ordinated Westminster's PICT research.
Michael Gell runs Multi Business Zones (MBZ) Research, a company devoted to the study, promotion, and creation of virtual enterprises. He previously set up BT's research unit investigating future communication and business systems.
Andrew Gillespie is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Newcastle and has been Deputy Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at the University.
John Goddard is Professor of Regional Development Studies at Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at the University of Newcastle, which was one of the PICT centres. He preceded William Dutton as Director of PICT.
Richard Hull is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Research on Organisations, Management and Technical Change (CROMTEC) at UMIST.
Kenneth L. Kraemer is Professor of Management and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine and Director of CRITO, a joint centre of the University's Graduate School of Management and Department of Information and Computer Science.
Donald MacKenzie is a professor in the Sociology Department at Edinburgh University and was a principal investigator on projects at the Edinburgh PICT centre.
Robin Mansell is Director of Graduate Studies and Director of the Centre for Information and Communication Technologies (CICT) within Sussex University's Science Policy Research Unit, where she is a professor. CICT was a PICT centre.
William H. Melody is Professor and Chairman of the International Advisory Board, Centre for Tele-Information, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby. He was the founding Director of PICT in London and the Centre for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies (CIRCIT) in Melbourne.
Ian Miles is Director of the Policy Research on Engineering, Science and Technology (PREST) centre at the University of Manchester. He was formerly a Senior Fellow at the Sussex University PICT Centre.
Malcolm Peltu is an editorial consultant and IT journalist who has edited many research-based publications aimed at a non-academic audience, including PICT Policy Research Papers.
Ranald Richardson is a Research Associate at Newcastle University's Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS).
Charles Raab is Reader in Politics at the University of Edinburgh, where he has conducted research on privacy and data correction.
Stuart Shapiro is a research fellow at the Open University and was a researcher at Brunel University's Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture, and Technology (CRICT).
Roger Silverstone is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Sussex and Director of the Graduate Research Centre in Culture and Communication. He was the first Director of the Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture and Technology (CRICT) at Brunel University, which was one of the PICT Centres.
John Taylor is a Professor and Director of Research in the Business Faculty, Department of Management, Glasgow Caledonian University. He was a Research Fellow at the Newcastle PICT Centre.
Juliet Webster is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Innovation Studies at the University of East London. She was a research fellow at the Edinburgh PICT Centre.
Robin Williams is a Senior Lecturer in the Research Centre for Social Sciences (RCSS) and co-ordinator of PICT and other socio-economic research on technology at Edinburgh University.
Steve Woolgar is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Human Sciences at Brunel University and Director of the Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture, and Technology (CRICT). Visions and Realities, based on Britain's Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT), illuminates the social and economic implications of the digital revolution. The 30 contributors include such leading scholars as Walter Baer, Jay Blumler, Peter Cochrane, Chris Freeman, Nicholas Garnham, Kenneth Kraemer, Donald MacKenzie, Bill Melody, Roger Silverstone, and Steve Woolgar.
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Professor William Dutton Telephone (213) 740-2759 Annenberg School for Communication Fax/message (310) 379-9250 USC, University Park E-mail: wdutton@bcf.usc.edu Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281 USA http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~wdutton/ ```
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