ICTs for Inclusive Communities in Developing Societies
ICTs for Inclusive Communities in Developing Societies

Author: Darelle van Greunen

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2015-11-25

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1443886262

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Several decades of international aid, predominantly granted by the highly developed world (the haves), for the use of ICT in developing regions (known by several labels, such as the have-nots, bottom of the pyramid, the south, or, some time ago, the third world) have passed, but the holy grail of turning these societies into the ideals defined by the donors is still elusive. Previously the emphasis was on top-down approaches in this endeavour. Now priority is increasingly given to bottom-up approaches, putting the targeted communities first, using methods such as co-creation and living labs. Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) is still a domain in search of a common ground. The many different perspectives from diverse ideologies, paradigms and theoretical perspectives here lead to an interesting debate, but, meanwhile, agents of social change are doing their best to change communities – ostensibly for the better. An ongoing endeavour, this discussion requires further investigation of the complexities of techno-societies. The contributions to this volume range from explorations of theory, models and methods to investigations into the practical implementation of ICT in communities, covering the characteristics of social groups and different generations and gender issues, as well as its applications in education and health. As such, the contributions in this book will inform continuing debates concerning the role of ICT in developing communities on the wrong side of all the technical and social divides in human societies.

Digital Inclusion
Digital Inclusion

Author: Massimo Ragnedda

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-08-15

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1498562132

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The volume examines the risks and opportunities of a digital society characterized by the increasing importance of knowledge and by the incessant rise and pervasiveness of information and communication technologies (ICTs). At a global level, the pivotal role of ICTs has made it necessary to rethink ways to avoid forms of digital exclusion or digital discrimination. This edited collection comprises of chapters written by respected scholars from a variety of countries, and brings together new scholarship addressing what the process of digital inclusion means for individuals and places in the countries analyzed. Each country has its own strategy to guarantee that people can access and enjoy the benefits of the information society. While this book does not presume to map all the countries in the world, it does shed light into these strategies, underlining what each country is doing in order to reduce digital inequalities and to guarantee that socially disadvantaged people (in terms of disabilities, availability of resources, age, geographic location, lack of education, or ethnicity) are digitally included.

Implementing Data-Driven Strategies in Smart Cities
Implementing Data-Driven Strategies in Smart Cities

Author: Didier Grimaldi

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2021-09-18

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0128211237

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Implementing Data-Driven Strategies in Smart Cities is a guidebook and roadmap for practitioners seeking to operationalize data-driven urban interventions. The book opens by exploring the revolution that big data, data science, and the Internet of Things are making feasible for the city. It explores alternate topologies, typologies, and approaches to operationalize data science in cities, drawn from global examples including top-down, bottom-up, greenfield, brownfield, issue-based, and data-driven. It channels and expands on the classic data science model for data-driven urban interventions – data capture, data quality, cleansing and curation, data analysis, visualization and modeling, and data governance, privacy, and confidentiality. Throughout, illustrative case studies demonstrate successes realized in such diverse cities as Barcelona, Cologne, Manila, Miami, New York, Nancy, Nice, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Stockholm, and Zurich. Given the heavy emphasis on global case studies, this work is particularly suitable for any urban manager, policymaker, or practitioner responsible for delivering technological services for the public sector from sectors as diverse as energy, transportation, pollution, and waste management. - Explores numerous specific urban interventions drawn from global case studies, helping readers understand real urban challenges and create data-driven solutions - Provides a step-by-step and applied holistic guide and methodology for immediate application in the reader's own business agenda - Presents cutting edge technology presentation with coverage of innovations such as the Internet of Things, robotics, 5G, edge/fog computing, blockchain, intelligent transport systems, and connected-automated mobility

Citizen, Territory and Technologies: Smart Learning Contexts and Practices
Citizen, Territory and Technologies: Smart Learning Contexts and Practices

Author: Óscar Mealha

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-06-21

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 3319613227

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This book gathers a selection of the articles accepted for presentation and discussion at the 2nd International Conference on Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Developments (SLERD 2017), held 22–23 June What characterizes smart learning ecosystems? What is their role in city and regional development and innovation? How can we promote the engagement of citizens in smart learning ecosystems? These are some of the questions addressed at SLERD 2017 and documented here. The proceedings include scientific papers that endeavor to understand, devise and promote innovative human-centric design and development methods, education/training practices, informal social learning, and citizen-driven policies. The individual papers elaborate on the notion of smart learning ecosystems, study the relation of smart learning ecosystems with As such, they help to foster the social innovation sectors, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and economic development and deployment strategies, alongside new policies for smarter, proactive citizens – making them a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers alike.

Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D)
Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D)

Author: Richard Heeks

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-08

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 1317313569

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Mobile phones are close to ubiquitous in developing countries; Internet and broadband access are becoming commonplace. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) thus represent the fastest, broadest and deepest technical change experienced in international development. They now affect every development sector – supporting the work of hundreds of millions of farmers and micro-entrepreneurs; creating millions of ICT-based jobs; assisting healthcare workers and teachers; facilitating political change; impacting climate change; but also linked with digital inequalities and harms – with the pace of change continuously accelerating. Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) provides the first dedicated textbook to examine and explain these emerging phenomena. It will help students, practitioners, researchers and other readers understand the place of ICTs within development; the ICT-enabled changes already underway; and the key issues and interventions that engage ICT4D practice and strategy. The book has a three-part structure. The first three chapters set out the foundations of ICT4D: the core relation between ICTs and development; the underlying components needed for ICT4D to work; and best practice in implementing ICT4D. Five chapters then analyse key development goals: economic growth, poverty eradication, social development, good governance and environmental sustainability. Each chapter assesses the goal-related impact associated with ICTs and key lessons from real-world cases. The final chapter looks ahead to emerging technologies and emerging models of ICT-enabled development. The book uses extensive in-text diagrams, tables and boxed examples with chapter-end discussion and assignment questions and further reading. Supported by online activities, video links, session outlines and slides, this textbook provides the basis for undergraduate, postgraduate and online learning modules on ICT4D.

Handbook of Research on Human Social Interaction in the Age of Mobile Devices
Handbook of Research on Human Social Interaction in the Age of Mobile Devices

Author: Xu, Xiaoge

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2016-06-16

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 1522504702

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Digital innovations, such as mobile technologies, have had a significant impact on the way people relate to one another, as well as the way they obtain and distribute information. As mobile devices continue to evolve, it has become easier to socialize; however, these mobile advancements have also made certain aspects of interaction more complex. The Handbook of Research on Human Social Interaction in the Age of Mobile Devices features an interdisciplinary perspective on mobile innovations and the use of this technology in daily life. Investigating the successes, issues, and challenges of the utilization of mobile technology, this handbook of research is a comprehensive reference source for professionals, educators, policymakers, and students interested in the impact these devices have on digital interaction, media, and communication.

What is Community Informatics (and why Does it Matter)?
What is Community Informatics (and why Does it Matter)?

Author: Michael Gurstein

Publisher: Polimetrica s.a.s.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 109

ISBN-13: 8876990976

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Community Informatics (CI) is the application of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to enable community processes and the achievement of community objectives. CI goes beyond the "Digital Divide" to making ICT access usable and useful to excluded populations and communities for local economic development, social justice, and political empowerment. CI approaches ICTs from a "community" perspective and develops strategies and techniques for managing their use by communities both virtual and physical including the variety of Community Networking applications. CI assumes that both communities have characteristics, requirements, and opportunities that require different strategies for ICT intervention and development from individual access and use. Also, CI addresses ICT use in Developing Countries as well as among the poor, the marginalized, the elderly, or those living in remote locations in Developed Countries. CI is of interest both to ICT practitioners and academic researchers and addresses the connections between the policy and pragmatic issues arising from the tens of thousands of Community Networks, Community Technology Centres, Telecentres, Community Communications Centres, and Telecottages globally along with the rapidly emerging field of electronically based virtual "communities."

Information and Communication Technologies, Society and Human Beings: Theory and Framework (Festschrift in honor of Gunilla Bradley)
Information and Communication Technologies, Society and Human Beings: Theory and Framework (Festschrift in honor of Gunilla Bradley)

Author: Haftor, Darek

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2010-07-31

Total Pages: 659

ISBN-13: 1609600592

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Information and Communication Technologies, Society and Human Beings: Theory and Framework addresses the extensive area of effects of ICT on human beings and the interaction between ICT, individuals, organizations, and society. This premier reference source features contributions from over 45 distinguished researchers from around the world, each presenting high quality research on Social Informatics, Human Computer Interaction, Organizational Behavior, and Macro-ergonomics. This unique publication is perfect for students, teachers, researchers, engineers, practitioners, managers, policy-makers, and media alike.

Inclusive Communities
Inclusive Communities

Author: Andrew Azzopardi

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-09-11

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9460918492

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The term "Inclusive Communities" has increasingly featured in recent years, at policy, practice and theoretical levels, drawing from different disciplinary standpoints. Much of this has been spurred by efforts at understanding the exclusions confronted by certain populations, to develop the notion of and mechanisms by which communities can include those who are marginalised and/or oppressed, and in some contexts to 'bring back' community as something real or imagined. In spite of this, this deceptive term remains shrouded in epistemological darkness, conveniently endorsed but often little theorised and less understood. This text provides an exciting introductory textbook, drawing academics, policy makers and activists from various fields to theorise, create new and innovative conceptual platforms and develop further the hybrid idea of inclusive communities.

Social Inclusion and Usability of ICT-enabled Services.
Social Inclusion and Usability of ICT-enabled Services.

Author: Jyoti Choudrie

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-31

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1317387791

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Social Inclusion and Usability of Innovative ICT-enabled Services is a cutting-edge research book written for researchers, students, academics, technology experts, activists and policy makers. The book explores a wide range of issues concerning innovative ICT-enabled digital services, their usability and their consequent role in social inclusion, It includes the impacts of the use of ICT-enabled digital services on individuals, organisations, governments and society, and offers a theoretically informed and empirically rich account of the socio-technical, management and policy aspects of social inclusion and innovative ICT-enabled digital services. This publication offers insights from the perspectives of Information Systems, Media and Communications, Management and Social Policy, drawing on research from these disciplines to inform readers on diverse aspects of social inclusion and usability of innovative ICT-enabled digital services. The originality of this book lies in the combination of socio-technical, management and policy perspectives offered by the contributors, and integrated by the editors, as well as in the interdisciplinary and both theoretically framed and empirically rich features of the various chapters of the book. While providing a timely account of existing evidence and debates in the field of social inclusion and technology usability, this book will also offer some original insights into what practitioners, experts and researchers are to expect in the near future to be the emerging issues and agendas concerning the role of technology usability in social inclusion and the emerging forms and attributes of the latter. Through a collection of high quality, peer reviewed papers; Social Inclusion and Usability of Innovative ICT-enabled Services will enhance knowledge of social inclusion and usability of innovative ICT-enabled digital services and applications at a diverse level.