These volumes explore a number of significant and interdisciplinary questions relevant to the wider debate regarding the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in a variety of research fields, including management, education, science, and the media. Bringing together research from European countries currently in a state of transition, all three volumes mark a significant contribution to the wider discussion on the role of ICT in today’s world.

The industrial nations of the world have become Information Societies. Advanced technologies have created a communication revolution, and the individual, through the advent of computers, has become an active participant in this process. The "human" aspect, therefore, is as important as technologically advanced media systems in understanding communication technology. The flagship book in the Series in Communication Technology & Society, Communication Technology introduces the history and uses of the new technologies and examines basic issues posed by interactive media in areas that affect intellectual, organization, and social life. Author and series co-editor Everett M. Rogers defines the field of communication technology with its major implications for researchers, students, and practitioners in an age of ever more advanced information exchange.

Information and Communication Technologies in Real-Life Learning presents the results of an International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) working conference held December 2004 in Melbourne, Australia. The working conference was organized by IFIP Working Group 3.2 (Informatics and ICT in Higher Education) and IFIP Working Group 3.4 (Professional and Vocational Education in Information Technology). The papers in this book present a cross-section of issues in real-life learning in which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an important role. Some of the issues covered include: education models for real-life learning enabled by ICT; effective organization of a real-life learning environment; the changing role of the student; the changing role of educational institutions and their relationship with business and industry; the changing role of teachers and their use of ICT; and managment of ICT-rich education change.

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.

The social, political and technological implications of the information revolution are the focus of this textbook. It explores the major social and technological issues surrounding the introduction of information technology (IT) into everyday life; presents historical and comparative perspectives on the social and technological processes involved in the uses of, control of and access to IT; and critically examines the assumptions underpinning technological development. Divided into five sections, each with a detailed introduction, the book provides a comprehensive overview of information technology, and its implications for all of us. Contributors place the debates around IT in an international context, illustrating the imp

Technology was once thought of only in relation to machines, manufacturing or the military. Now it pervades every aspect of our lives.In Technoculture, Lelia Green focuses on the technologies of communication, from things we don't even think of as technology, like the alphabet or electricity, to the rapidly-developing world of cyberspace. She argues that technology is never neutral, rather, it is closely linked to culture, society and government policy.Green looks at what drives technological change, and demonstrates that the adoption of new technologies is never inevitable. She also explores how a variety of technology cultures coexist and interact: industrial culture, media culture, information culture, and now 'technoculture'. Some communities reap the benefits of technocultures, while others are bypassed or even damaged.Technoculture offers a broad and accessible introduction to the complex issues surrounding technology, communications, culture and society for students and anyone else interested in making sense of one of the key issues of the twenty-first century.

By outlining a social theory of the internet and the information society, this book demonstrates how the ecological, economic, political and cultural systems of contemporary society have been transformed by new information and communication technologies.

Scholars from communication and media studies join those from science and technology studies to examine media technologies as complex, sociomaterial phenomena. In recent years, scholarship around media technologies has finally shed the assumption that these technologies are separate from and powerfully determining of social life, looking at them instead as produced by and embedded in distinct social, cultural, and political practices. Communication and media scholars have increasingly taken theoretical perspectives originating in science and technology studies (STS), while some STS scholars interested in information technologies have linked their research to media studies inquiries into the symbolic dimensions of these tools. In this volume, scholars from both fields come together to advance this view of media technologies as complex sociomaterial phenomena. The contributors first address the relationship between materiality and mediation, considering such topics as the lived realities of network infrastructure. The contributors then highlight media technologies as always in motion, held together through the minute, unobserved work of many, including efforts to keep these technologies alive. Contributors Pablo J. Boczkowski, Geoffrey C. Bowker, Finn Brunton, Gabriella Coleman, Gregory J. Downey, Kirsten A. Foot, Tarleton Gillespie, Steven J. Jackson, Christopher M. Kelty, Leah A. Lievrouw, Sonia Livingstone, Ignacio Siles, Jonathan Sterne, Lucy Suchman, Fred Turner

What shapes the role of Information and Communication Technologies in our everyday life? Despite the speed with which information and communication technologies such as the PC, mobile telephone and internet have found their way into society, there remains a good deal of debate surrounding their adoption and use. Through empirical studies covering a broad range of everyday life and work settings, this volume provides grounded insights into the social dynamics influencing how ICTs are both shaped and experienced. Specifically, the book examines the contributions of diverse disciplines to our understanding of these processes, the symbolic nature of technologies, the influence of design on the experience of ICTs, the role of users in influencing that design, the social constraints affecting the use of those technologies, and strategies for evaluating the social consequences of ICT innovations.

Computers, communications, digital information, softwareâ€"the constituents of the information ageâ€"are everywhere. Being computer literate, that is technically competent in two or three of today's software applications, is not enough anymore. Individuals who want to realize the potential value of information technology (IT) in their everyday lives need to be computer fluentâ€"able to use IT effectively today and to adapt to changes tomorrow. Being Fluent with Information Technology sets the standard for what everyone should know about IT in order to use it effectively now and in the future. It explores three kinds of knowledgeâ€"intellectual capabilities, foundational concepts, and skillsâ€"that are essential for fluency with IT. The book presents detailed descriptions and examples of current skills and timeless concepts and capabilities, which will be useful to individuals who use IT and to the instructors who teach them.