|
on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Srinuan, Chalita; Srinuan, Pratompong; Bohlin, Erik |
| Abstract: | Mobile Internet is growing around the world without exception for developing countries like Thailand by passing the poor legacy wired infrastructure. This study attempts to provide guidance to a national regulatory agency (NRA) by addressing the following question: What are the key determining factors to explain the probability that individual consumer will use mobile Internet? The discrete choice model is employed to empirically examine whether the service and application attributes, socio-economic variables and service provider has systematic link with the decision of consumer. The data from a national survey in 2010 commissioned by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of Thailand is used for the analysis. Based on the findings, fixed telephony, e-mail, age, area of living and mobile operator are recognized as the strongest determinants for mobile Internet adoption. The findings suggest that the mobile Internet becomes an alternative technology to bridge the digital divide since a group of people who have no fixed Internet connection at home they can connect the Internet via mobile Internet. As such, telecom regulator and policy makers need to consider the policies regarding to infrastructure investment frequency allocation, content and application development and competition in order to stimulate the growth of mobile Internet adoption and close the digital divide within country. -- |
| Keywords: | Mobile Internet,digital divide,developing country |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52326&r=ict |
| By: | Jitsuzumi, Toshiya |
| Abstract: | The rapid development of information and communication technology has facilitated Internet use considerably, particularly with regard to the speed of packet transfer at access segments. With the boom in bit-intensive and live-streaming content in the broadband Internet ecosystem, the phenomenon of increasing and persisting congestion on the Internet is no longer a mere engineering possibility but a grave and imminent reality. To deal with this problem, network neutrality has become the focus of discussion among operators, academics, and telecom regulators in recent years. Over the past several months, one of the most contentious issues in the US discussion of network neutrality has been whether both mobile and fixed Internet access should comply with similar network neutrality standards. Unfortunately, thus far, policy has been developed and academic debates have taken place without an understanding of the extent to which fixed and mobile Internet services are, from the user's perspective, close substitutes. Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether it is beneficial to treat these services similarly. Using a Web-based questionnaire, this paper shows empirically that users' communication quality preferences for fixed broadband differ significantly from their preferences for its mobile counterpart, suggesting that different treatments should be proposed for each broadband medium in order to attain optimal resource allocation. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52322&r=ict |
| By: | Götz, Georg |
| Abstract: | This paper re-examines the effect of the regulatory regime on both penetration and coverage of broadband access to the internet. The framework also allows for an evaluation of different public policy measures such as subsidization of broadband demand and supply. A welfare analysis asks what the optimal regulatory regime is and whether and how high-speed access to the internet should be subsidized. Using an approach similar to Valletti et al. (2002), the paper highlights the importance of population density for whether firms invest to provide internet access. The analysis reveals a trade-off between coverage and penetration. -- |
| Keywords: | broadband internet,penetration,coverage,subsidies |
| JEL: | L51 L96 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52166&r=ict |
| By: | Hsieh, Yuli Patrick |
| Abstract: | -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52324&r=ict |
| By: | Rohman, Ibrahim Kholilul; Bohlin, Erik |
| Abstract: | The vast majority of the studies investigating telecommunication development (diffusion of mobile phone, Internet, the broadband, etc.) that have been carried out in the literatures aim at assessing the impact on economic indicators, mainly the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), whereas little attention has actually been paid to investigate the other measurement which reflects a more direct linkage to the individual welfare, for instance the quality of life (QOL) indicators. Following the current counterargument for using the GDP as the goal of economic development, this paper investigates a survey data in Indonesia, observing the relationships between the experience to technology (the length of mobile phone ownership) and technology adoption (internet access) in affecting quality of life (QOL) at individual level. The QOL index is proxied by two indicators which are equally weighted; the objective measurement represented by income level and subjective perceived QOL following the study by Costanza et al., (2007). To operationalize these aims, the model is investigated in two sequential ways; first by determining binomial probit on the Internet access demand equation and then putting the predicted probability of the first equation into second equation of the ordered probit model. The model is further analyzed through the return to education-type equation (Card, 2001) to see the impact of experience to technology and internet access on the QOL index. The results indicate that whereas the access to the Internet is not statistically significant affecting QOL, experience to technology plays an important role. Additionally, the experience of technology (measured at its mean value of 3.5 years) affects the likelihood to have a lower QOL index around 49% and to achieve a higher QOL index in Indonesia around 12%. A year additional of ownership reduces the likelihood on a lower QOL by 3.6% and increases the likelihood to obtain a higher QOL by 2%. -- |
| Keywords: | technology,quality of life,ordered-probit,Internet |
| JEL: | O11 O14 O32 O33 N84 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52206&r=ict |
| By: | Baranes, Edmond; Poudou, Jean-Christophe |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a model of the Internet broadband market as a platform in order to show how different pricing schemes from the so-called net neutrality may increased economic efficiency by allowing more investment of access providers and enhancing consumers surplus and social welfare. -- |
| Keywords: | Network neutrality,Flat rates,Termination fees |
| JEL: | L51 L86 L96 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52196&r=ict |
| By: | van Jaarsveldt, Leon |
| Abstract: | Based on a dataset by Pew Internet and American life project on the 2008 Post election results in the United States, this research aims to determine whether the frequency of SNS usage, the amount of SNS profiles, the number of SNS platforms and the use of SNS platforms for political purposes, especially through the 'friend' function, positively predict online political engagement and online political information seeking. The findings show that while the number of SNS profiles have no impact on either dependent variable, the number of SNS platforms plays a role in online political engagement while the frequency of use plays a strong role in both online political engagement and online political information seeking. The findings also indicate a strong relationship between using SNSs for political purposes, especially for finding campaign or candidate information on the site and for learning friends' political interests or affiliation, and online political engagement and online political information seeking, as well as for starting or joining a cause and becoming a 'friend' of a political candidate. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52311&r=ict |
| By: | Damon, Chi-Him Poona; Louis, Wing-Chi Leung |
| Abstract: | This research identifies the gratifications sought by the net-generation when producing user-generated content (UGC) on the internet. Members of the Net-generation want to vent negative feelings, show affection to their frieds and relatives, be involved in others' lives, and fulfill their need to be recognized. These gratifications were all found to be significantly associated with the users' various levels of participation in UGC (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, blogs, online forums, etc.) What's more, narcissism was predictive of content generation in social networking sites, blogs, and personal webpage, while leisure boredom was significantly linked to expressing views in forums, updating personal website, and participating in consumer reviews. In particular, the results showed the Net-geners who encountered leisure boredom had a higher tendency to seek interaction with friends online. Implications of findings are discussed. -- |
| Keywords: | Narcissism,leisure boredom,user-generated content,uses and gratifications |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52316&r=ict |
| By: | Ning, Yan Mai |
| Abstract: | -- |
| Keywords: | Online pornography,obscenity and indecency,People's Republic of China,protection of minors,Internet regulation |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52343&r=ict |
| By: | Hsiao-Hui Wang, Eunice; Chen, Chao-Yu |
| Abstract: | The continued decline of voice revenues is pushing mobile operators in Taiwan turn into data and content services for exploring new revenue opportunities and raising ARPU. This study aims to discuss the critical determinants of the internet user's adoption of 3.5G mobile broadband services in Taiwan. The theoretical framework employed in the study is Information System Success Model (DeLone & McLean, 2003; Chae et al.,2002), which is operationally defined with mobile web-services measurement scales. The study attempts to identify how the system quality of 3.5G mobile broadband services affects the customer satisfaction and their perceived net benefit. With the affordable mobile broadband connectivity, 3.5 G access or HSDPA in Taiwan has played a major role in the burgeoning mobile Internet market. HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) could be viewed as an advanced version of WCDMA wireless network. HSDPA ideally provides mobile data services up to 14.4 Mbps for the downlinks and up to 5.8 Mbps for the uplinks. According to TWNIC, the number of cell phone subscribers in Taiwan has grown up to 23 million by March 2009 with a 100% penetration rate Yet, among cell phone subscribers there were only 1.6 million users adopting mobile broadband services. -- |
| Keywords: | Mobile Broadband Services,IS Success Model,Customer Satisfaction,Net Benefits |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52334&r=ict |
| By: | Yeh, Chih-Liang |
| Abstract: | -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52328&r=ict |
| By: | Yamakata, Daisuke; Nogawa, Hiroki; Ueda, Masashi |
| Abstract: | In this study, we focused on analysis of healthcare data exchange over the network. For the advance of broadband capability development, many governments expect online medical information exchange between medical institutions. Japanese government also has tried to deploy ICT in the healthcare field. In Japan, many healthcare ICT projects started, but almost of all the projects face many issues and failed to continue. This situation caused us to clarify the success factor of healthcare information exchange network. For inspecting the success factors, we analyzed information access of healthcare systems in Kagawa prefecture of Japan. Kagawa prefecture is one of the most advance areas for healthcare information technology. We analyzed four medical ICT projects in Kagawa prefecture: K-MIX, Critical Pathway for Diabetes, E-prescription, and PHR. In addition, we inspected characteristics of exchanged data in the network, and stakeholder involved in these projects. This analysis lets us find various types of healthcare ICT projects. Characteristic of data processed in the projects caused differences of characteristic of the projects. On the other hand, multiple systems process same data, though the project does not share the data itself. Considering various types of medical information exchanges projects, we propose classification and standard format of exchanged data according to their characteristic are critical for efficient business deployment. -- |
| Keywords: | e-Health,regional healthcare information exchange,EHR |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52314&r=ict |
| By: | Tözer, Ayhan; Göktaylar, Yavuz |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to evaluate sectoral innovation system of Turkish internet service market by looking into some case studies and making interviews with related actors. In this attempt, firstly, a sectoral innovation systems approach has been described briefly from theoretical point of view. Then, third section introduces sectoral innovation systems of internet services. At fourth section, two case studies are mentioned. At the following chapter, we focus on regulatory developments that affect market and sectoral innovation systems regarding broadband internet access in Turkey. Fourthly, we describe the results of interviews done with executive officers of several large Internet Service Providers and a general secretary of a sector association in this country. Finally, we discuss the policy implications for Turkish policy makers in order to improve the functioning of sectoral innovation systems of internet services. At the conclusion section, we summarize the main findings and policy suggestions. -- |
| Keywords: | competition,innovation,internet service market,sectoral innovation system,telecommunications,regulation. |
| JEL: | L51 L96 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52179&r=ict |
| By: | Srinuan, Chalita; Bohlin, Erik |
| Abstract: | The term digital divide was introduced in the mid-1990s and defined as the gap separating those who have access to new forms of information technology from those who do not. The digital divide remains an important public policy debate that encompasses social, economic and political issues. This paper presents a literature review and classification scheme for digital divide research. The review covers journal articles published between 2001 and 2010 in three types of journals: (1) Information technology & information systems, (2) Economics and business & management and (3) Social science. A classification of digital divide literature and a comprehensive list of references are provided. The results show that the digital divide is a multifaceted phenomenon, due to the many dimensions of determinant factors. Recent studies have included socio-economic, institutional and physiological factors in order to gain a greater understanding of the digital divide. Among other findings, they show that technological determinism is not sufficient to explain the emergence of the digital divide. Moreover, several types of technologies were investigated, both from empirical and conceptual standpoints. The Internet is the most commonly studied technology. The divide in access and usage are discussed at the global, social and democratic levels by employing a quantitative method, either a survey or data analysis, as the main method. However, there is less discussion in developing countries and at the level of the organization (i.e. SMEs, the private sector and the public sector). The qualitative research method could be seen as a complementary method to fill the gap in the current research. The choice of policies which have been recommended to the policy maker and national regulatory agency (NRA) are also presented and discussed at the end of this paper. Several initiatives made at the country and regional levels and by international organizations have also attempted to create a combined policy. This may suggest that the combined policy is the current trend among digital divide policies. Therefore, there is a need for future research to examine these determinants through the context of global, social and democratic divides. The results would provide some insight into how diverse people in different areas adopt ICTs. -- |
| Keywords: | Digital divide,Literature review,Future research |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52191&r=ict |
| By: | Kariuki Nyaga, Joseph |
| Abstract: | The East African Community (EAC)'s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been confronted with the convergence phenomenon. This is a concept that describes the trend of blurring boundaries between the traditionally distinct ICT sectors, namely: Information Technology (IT), broadcasting and telecommunications. This is significant for the EAC since the driving force behind this convergence phenomenon is that of efficiency. It necessitates the need to rethink the current legislative and regulatory frameworks in the ICT sector in order to cope with this phenomenon. The need to address this is pertinent since adapting to legislative and regulatory frameworks that are fully converged will expand access to ICT, stimulate economic growth, technological advancement, and also faster integration process of the EAC. Therefore this paper aims to demonstrate the following: Implications and challenges of this trend for the EAC legislative and regulatory frameworks; the need for a common legislative and regulatory framework that is fully converged. It therefore focuses on the inadequacies of the existing legislative and regulatory frameworks and reveals the lacunae in the present frameworks and how they fail to adequately address convergence phenomenon. The paper recommends effective, workable and consistent proposals on how to address the inadequacies. This brings awareness and deepens the understanding of the regulatory convergence issues to the ICT stakeholders in the region and the challenges of convergence on the existing frameworks. This will contribute to better legislative and regulatory frameworks in the EAC ICT market. It will therefore enable the region to enjoy the benefits of convergence and minimise instances of inefficiency in regulation of these converged ICT markets. -- |
| Keywords: | East African Community (EAC),Legislative and Regulatory Harmonization,Convergence,Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Regulation |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52170&r=ict |
| By: | Weiwei, Zhang; Peiyi, Huang |
| Abstract: | Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have been proliferating and growing in popularity worldwide throughout the past few years, which have received significant interest from researchers. Previous literatures on Internet suggest that offline social trust influences online perceptions and behaviors, and there is linkage between trust and self-disclosure in face-to-face context. Adopting the Uses and Gratifications perspective as the theoretical foundation, this exploratory study aimed to address the roles that motivations of SNSs use and offline social trust play in predicting levels of self-disclosure on SNSs. Taking 640 snowballing sampling on Renren.com, the study found that there was an instrumental orientation of SNSs use among China's college students. Social interaction, self-image building and information seeking were three major motivations when college students use SNSs. As expected, the results also indicated that motivations of SNS use and offline social trust play a more important role in predicting self-disclosure on SNSs than demographics. This exploratory study gives an empirical insight in the influence of motivations of SNSs use and offline social trust on self-disclosure online. -- |
| Keywords: | Social Networking Sites,Motivations,Self-disclosure,Offline Social Trust |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52327&r=ict |
| By: | Obren, Mark; Howell, Bronwyn |
| Abstract: | As public policies seek to advance deployment of enhanced broadband infrastructure as a means of acquiring economic advantage, the issue has arisen of the extent that additional economic performance accrues from increases in headline bandwidth speed in locations that are physically remote from the infrastructure hosting time-critical information services. For time-dependent applications, latency (the time delay in accessing data across a network) is correlated with the effective bandwidth (the actual speed of access), and thus impacts upon the economic performance of the application to the user. We extrapolated data for interactive web-based applications from Belshe (2010), where latency was found to substantially reduce the effective bandwidth available to the user of a typical web-based application, to estimate the effective bandwidth over a range of headline bandwidths and latencies typical of web-based transacting patterns in New Zealand. We find that the decreasing returns on effective bandwidth as headline bandwidth increases are further exacerbated by the higher levels of latency experienced as a consequence of New Zealand's distance from the bulk of the global infrastructure supporting web-based applications.The benefits of enhancing headline bandwidth through new forms of faster infrastructure were substantially reduced by the impact of the latencies typically experienced by New Zealand users accessing remote web based applications, and thus the economic benefits expected from investment in infrastructure in accessing enhancing those applications most impacting economic performance is likely to have been exaggerated; providing an insight into a constraint upon cloud computing and other web-enabled information systems. -- |
| Keywords: | Internet,broadband,fibre-optic cable,regional economic development,HTTP protocol |
| JEL: | O18 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52331&r=ict |
| By: | Valcke, Peggy; Hou, Liyang; Stevens, David |
| Abstract: | Broadband over CATV networks is flourishing in the EU and in some Member States it even has already made significant impact on the retail broadband market. Our article aims to provide an overview of the regulatory treatment of broadband over CATV under the electronic communications regulatory framework. For this purpose, we carry out a survey of the different approaches within the 27 EU Member States. Based on the comments of the European Commission within the EU consultation procedure, our observation is that open Internet access obligations upon CATV operators remains limited. -- |
| Keywords: | access regulation,CATV,broadband |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52171&r=ict |
| By: | Guo-Chiang Yu, Vinnie |
| Abstract: | With the coming of 'multi-platform film-viewing' era, contemporary viewers can enjoy movies not only at the cinema, but also at home via innovative media technology, such as DVDs and Internet. Therefore, movies can be played and stored in different formats, from celluloid films, video tapes, to DVD discs and digital files. For many viewers, movie-collecting, along with film-viewing become of the essential parts of domestic movie-related leisure activities. However, not many existing literatures are focusing on viewers' movie-collecting activity, especially in today's digital media-rich environment, with the exception of some research about viewers' practices of video movie collecting, related activities and the meanings behind their collecting practices (Tashiro, 1996; Dinsmore, 1998; and Bjarkman, 2004). Owing to some specific characteristics of digital media like DVD discs or potable hard drives, sharing collected movies with other people becomes a popular activity for contemporary viewers to conduct. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to examine how modern viewer appropriate available information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate their practices of movie-collecting and sharing by adopting qualitative audience research method with respondents recruited from different age cohorts. After analyzing collected data, it is argued that DVD discs and downloaded movie files are used as a kind of social tool for audiences' to build up interaction with their family, friends, classmates or colleagues. Furthermore, sharing collected movies with other people is more significant than actually viewing those collected movies for many respondents participating in this research. -- |
| Keywords: | film audiences,DVD movies,movie-downloading,movie-collecting and sharing,domestic film-viewing culture |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsp11:52309&r=ict |
| By: | Baum, Peter |
| Abstract: | The paper takes a look on potential contribution of Information and Communication Technologies to abate public health challenges caused by demographics and lifestyle. From the current convergence of mhealth, and sport market products emerge targeting normal athletes to control their training in a quantified manner. The resulting feedback and transparency foster a healthier lifestyle. These products and services help overcome limitations to innovation typical to the health care market. The paper is based on research by the European Commission's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies on Integrated Personal Health/Care services. -- |
| Keywords: | eHealth,Integrated Personal Health/Care services,sport,training,lifestyle related disease,innovation |
| JEL: | L86 I19 I29 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52185&r=ict |
| By: | Katz, James E. |
| Abstract: | Communication perspectives are presented on the challenges posed to traditional newspapers by social media and citizen journalism, with special reference to the United States. This is an important topic given the critical role investigative reporting, long the domain of newspapers, plays in fostering democratic practices. New Media and social networking technology are evaluated in terms of their impact on the newspaper enterprise. Alternative scenarios for future developments are examined as are the implications for social values and the role of an informed citizenry in democratic society. Strategic management issues are analyzed, and the possibility is considered that social media can fulfill much of the democracy-enhancing role served traditionally by newspapers. -- |
| Keywords: | Newspapers,news industry,social media,social networks,democracy,journalism |
| JEL: | O3 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52203&r=ict |
| By: | Shinohara, S.; Akematsu, Y.; Tsuji, M. |
| Abstract: | Deployment of broadband, particularly, FTTx, is now one of major policy objectives in many countries, including Japan, Korea, and the U.S., for example. The U.S. announced a National Broadband Plan which aimed at providing 100 million households with access to 100 Mbps broadband services by 2020. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical analysis to identify factors affecting broadband service diffusion in OECD 30 member countries. In so doing, by considering the diffusion ratios of three broadband technologies, 30 countries are categorized into types, namely CATV (BB), DSL and FTTx. Then, the paper identifies the following factors which promote broadband services by an international comparison method: (1) initial conditions of Cable TV around year 2000; (2) open access obligations on copper subscriber lines; (3) relative connection speed of FTTx to DSL; and (4) business strategy of operators for investment in FTTx influence FTTx diffusion. (1) promotes CATV diffusion, (2) promotes DSL and FTTH, and (3) and (4) influence FTTH diffusion. Finally, the paper empirically verifies the above hypotheses and the migration process among three services using panel data model, which take care of the endogeneity problem using instrumental variable method. This analysis will provide an important basis for national broadband policy formulation in individual countries. -- |
| Keywords: | OECD,broadband,FTTx,DSL,CATV,migration,unbundling,collocation,panel data analysis,instrumental variable method |
| JEL: | L96 O33 O57 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse11:52157&r=ict |