Chrisanthi Avgerou – författare

Governments, the media, the information technology industry and scientists publicly argue that information and communication technologies (ICT) will bring about an inevitable transition from "industrial" to "information" or "knowledge-based" economies and societies.  It is assumed that all aspects of our economic and social lives, in both the public and private spheres, will be radically different from what they are today.  The World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003 - Tunis 2005) shows the importance of a worldwide reflection on those topics. 

Perspectives and Policies on ICT in Society explores the ICT policies of different nations and regions such as Africa, China, Europe, and India.  The authors assess the arguments surrounding the impending new age, as well as some of the more sensitive issues of its developments.  This progress will signal an expansion of ICT in many domains - the so-called ubiquity - such as in the workplace, the home, government, and education and it will affect privacy and professional ethics.  The expansion will also encompass all parts of the earth, particularly developing countries.  Such growth must take place in the context of historical dimensions and should underscore the accountability of professionals in the field.

The intent of this book is to address these issues and to serve as a handbook of IFIP''s TC9 "Computers and Society" committee.  Thirty authors from twelve countries consider the ICT policies with their associated perspectives and they explore what may be the information age and the digital society of tomorrow.  The book provides reflection on today''s complex society and addresses the uncertain developments rising from an increasingly global and technologically connected world.

Jacques Berleur is at the University of Namur, Belgium, and Chrisanthi Avgerou at the London School of Economics, United Kingdom.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Human Choice and Computers held in Pretoria, South Africa.

The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of refereed international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing.

This title was first published in 2000. A discussion of information technology (IT) in developing countries. The contributors can be considered to share the following set of broad premises: information and communication technologies, and related systems, have significant potential to aid the economic growth and improvement of social conditions in the developing world; however, such potential is not released by simply transferring technologies and processes from advanced economies; in order to better serve development needs, people involved with the design, implementation and management of IT-related projects and systems in developing countries must improve their capacity to address the specific contextual characteristics of the organization, sector, country or region within which their work is located. The text thus emphasizes the importance of context in examining the role and value of IT in the developing countries. It focuses attention on the fusion of the activities of "professionals" (technical experts, managers, policy makers) and "users" (more broadly, all other groups affecting or affected by the technologies and systems), with the intention of facilitating locally meaningful and effective change.

This title was first published in 2000. A discussion of information technology (IT) in developing countries. The contributors can be considered to share the following set of broad premises: information and communication technologies, and related systems, have significant potential to aid the economic growth and improvement of social conditions in the developing world; however, such potential is not released by simply transferring technologies and processes from advanced economies; in order to better serve development needs, people involved with the design, implementation and management of IT-related projects and systems in developing countries must improve their capacity to address the specific contextual characteristics of the organization, sector, country or region within which their work is located. The text thus emphasizes the importance of context in examining the role and value of IT in the developing countries. It focuses attention on the fusion of the activities of "professionals" (technical experts, managers, policy makers) and "users" (more broadly, all other groups affecting or affected by the technologies and systems), with the intention of facilitating locally meaningful and effective change.