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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Larissa Kapitsa (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) |
| Abstract: | The diversity and socio-economic differentiation of the real world prevents the full-scale cultivation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to the benefit of all. Furthermore, the lack of determination and political will in some countries and slowness of responses to new technological opportunities in some others are responsible for the creation of another social divide – a digital one. The above problems were fully acknowledged by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The Summit called for a joint international effort to overcome the digital divide between and within the United Nations Member States under the Digital Solidarity umbrella. This report was prepared as a follow-up to the Summit and represents a brief review of the status and trends in the area of ICT and Internet development in the UNECE region and provides background information on the state of the art in some relevant ICT subsectors in the Member States. The report focuses on the state of the Internet critical resources and, consequently, on the ICT and Internet penetration across countries and social groups. It also looks into existing Internet governance arrangements and makes some recommendations. The report contains three parts and conclusions. The first part, “Towards a Knowledge-based Economy: Progress Assessment”, highlights the situation in the region with regards to the digital divide, both between and within countries, and national strategies and actions aiming at overcoming barriers to accessing the Internet. The second part, “Internet Development: Current State of Critical Internet Resources in the UNECE Region”, concentrates on reviewing the physical Internet backbone, interconnection and connectivity within the Internet in the UNECE Member States. The third part, “Governing the Evolving Internet in the UNECE Region”, focuses on the issues of Internet Governance in the countries of the region, challenges faced by the countries and participation of key stakeholders in ICT and Internet policy formulation and implementation. The final part contains conclusions and recommendations. |
| Keywords: | Internet, governance, knowledge-based economy, Europe, Central Asia, transition economies |
| JEL: | D02 H19 L96 L98 O38 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ece:dispap:2008_1&r=ict |
| By: | Teresa Dieguez (MIETE, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal); Aurora A.C.Teixeira (INESC Porto, CEMPRE, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | In the present paper we provide a quantitative assessment of ICTs role in Family Physicians/General Practitioners (GPs) medical daily practice and scientific performance. It focus on the Portuguese underexplored context, where the Health Sector has been under pressure for wide and profound reforms. These reforms have been extensively relying on ICTs, namely on the Internet. Based on the responses of 342 GPs, we concluded that 94% uses the Internet and 57% agrees that the Internet is essential to their medical daily practice. This is a slightly lower percentage than that observed for other European physicians (62%). GPs tend to use the Internet mainly for professional purposes. On average, they spend 10 hours/week on the Internet for professional purposes. Further data shows that to have or to be enrolled in advanced training fosters the use of the Internet for professional purposes, which in its turn, tends to grant GPs access to more and up-to-date information and knowledge on these matters. A worrisome evidence is that at the workplace, a substantial proportion of GPs (over 70%) do not use the Internet or other related ICTs, namely Telemedicine. Although Electronic Prescription is used by roughly 60% of the respondent GPs, for all other activities – teleconsultation, telediagnosis, and telemonitoring – only a meagre percentage of physicians (10%) claim to use such technologies. Thus, Telemedicine at the workplace is still a chimera. Notwithstanding such dishearten scenario, our data shows that the Internet for the respondent GPs has a critical role on updating and improving their professional knowledge basis. They recognise, however, that the vast majority of GPs lack specific and general training in ICT-related technologies. In fact, half of them agree that they need to attend specific training actions on ICTs. A large percentage of GPs admitted that in the previous year they did not take any professional training targeting ICTs and those who did undertook rather short-term (less than one week) courses: Because of that, such training handicap uncovers that a large part of Portuguese GPs may be unable to reap the benefits of ICTs in their daily medical practice. |
| Keywords: | GPs; Human Capital; Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:275&r=ict |
| By: | Jacobebbinghaus, Peter (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Dieses LIAB-Datenhandbuch beschreibt die Linked Employer-Employee Daten des Instituts für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), wie sie über das Forschungsdatenzentrum (FDZ) der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) im IAB für wissenschaftliche Auswertungen zur Verfügung stehen. Die Linked Employer-Employee Daten im IAB (LIAB) bestehen aus den Betriebsdaten der jährlichen Erhebungswellen des IAB-Betriebspanels und Personendaten aus den Prozessdaten der BA. Durch die Verknüpfung beider Datenquellen entstehen Linked Employer-Employee Daten. Das LIAB-Datenhandbuch stellt die wichtigsten Informationen zur Auswertung der LIAB-Daten zusammen. Diese überarbeitete Neuauflage entstand vor dem Hintergrund der Vereinheitlichung der FDZ-Datenreporte und deren Übersetzung ins Englische. Anlagen zum Handbuch sind eine Datei mit Merkmalsausprägungen, wenn die Liste der Ausprägungen besonders lang ist und eine Datei mit Auszählungen zu allen Merkmalen. Die bisherigen Dokumentationen werden nicht weiter gepflegt, bleiben aber dem deutschsprachigen Leser als reichhaltige Nachschlagewerke erhalten. Weitere Literatur ist in Abschnitt 11 aufgeführt. Wer schon mit älteren LIAB-Daten gearbeitet hat, sollte die Beschreibung der Erweiterungen und Änderungen beim Update auf 2005 und 2006 in Abschnitt 2 lesen. Bezogen auf das IAB-Betriebspanel wird in diesem LIAB-Datenhandbuch nur auf Aspekte eingegangen, die im Zusammenhang mit der Verknüpfung mit Personendaten von Bedeutung sind. Vertiefende Informationen für das IAB-Betriebspanel stellt das FDZ auf seinen Internetseiten zur Verfügung." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)<br><br><b>Additional Information</b><ul><li><a href='http://doku.iab.de/fdz/reporte/2008/DR_03-08_logs.zip'>Anlage zum FDZ Datenreport Nr. 3/2008(DE): Fallzahlen zu den LIAB-Daten</a></li></ul> |
| Keywords: | IAB-Linked-Employer-Employee-Datensatz - Handbuch, personenbezogene Daten, prozessproduzierte Daten, Betrieb, Daten, Datengewinnung, Datenaufbereitung, Datenorganisation, Datenqualität, Datenschutz, Anonymität |
| Date: | 2008–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfda:200803_de&r=ict |