Description
Book SynopsisFor four decades now, information and communication technologies have been seen as principal drivers of socio-economic change. Stimulated in recent years by the Internet, the National Information Infrastructure, and European Information Society strategies, the Information Society has undergone a new wave of developments. In its new form, the Information Society directly affects the everyday lives of citizens, provoking concerns about the future of work, information overload, access to continuing education, surveillance, and privacy. This volume examines a wide range of issues at stake in the European Union, from employment and the labor market, to the domestication of technologies in households, to larger implications for political processes and democracy. Extending comparisons to other industrialized countries, it demonstrates that the Information Society is far too diverse and rich to be typified in simplistic dichotomies such as information haves and have nots and that simple upbea
Trade ReviewAn important collection that demonstrates why European scholars have taken a leading role in the debate about the social dimensions of the revolution in information and communication technologies. Looking beyond the technology of the day, the contributions address enduring issues of significance to policy and practice in Europe and the world. -- William H. Dutton, University of Southern California, author of Society on the Line
I recommend that Americans read this book to better understand why Europeans resist following their American counterparts into a homogenized technological world. * Journal of Communication *
There are three major strengths. First, it addresses IS topics that have been neglected, including work, healthcare, learning, democracy, and gender. Second, the contributors come from various fields, including geographers, sociologists, education and technology specialists. Third, it is a goldmine of potential research topics. This book can be used in many disciplinary classes and also interdisciplinary seminars. * Progress In Human Geography *
This book illustrates neatly the broadness and pervasiveness of the concept of ‘Information Society’ by bringing together a variety of contributions on social and societal aspects of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). The flexibility of ICT use remains a characteristic emphasis of the European debate, which has been particularly rich in insights applicable to the global context. This timely volume brings to the forefront the underlying social and societal choices that face policy makers—and, for that matter, businesses—in this information age. -- Luc Soete, Maastrict Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, Maastrict University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Information Infrastructures or Societies? Part 2 Part I: Space, Economy, and the Global Information Society Chapter 3 Regional Development in the Information Society Chapter 4 The Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Large Firms: Impacts and Policy Issues Chapter 5 Small Firms in Europe's Developing Information Society Part 6 Part II: Work and the European Information Society Chapter 7 New Organizational Forms in the Information Society Chapter 8 Today's Second Sex and Tomorrow's First? Women and Work in the European Information Society Chapter 9 Toward the Learning Labor Market Part 10 Part III: Life in the Information Society Chapter 11 Health and the Information Society Chapter 12 Information and Communication Technologies in Distance and Lifelong Learning Chapter 13 Information and Communication Technologies and Everyday Life: Individual and Social Dimensions Chapter 14 Computer-Aided Democracy: The Effects of Information and Communication Technologies on Democracy Part 15 References
