Next Generation Connectivity: A Review of Broadband Internet Transitions and Policy from Around the World

Fostering the development of a ubiquitously networked society, connected over high-capacity networks, is a widely shared goal among both developed and developing countries. High capacity networks are seen as strategic infrastructure, intended to contribute to high and sustainable economic growth and to core aspects of human development.

Next Generation Connectivity: A Review of Broadband Internet Transitions and Policy From Around the World

Fostering the development of a ubiquitously networked society, connected over high-capacity networks, is a widely shared goal among both developed and developing countries. High capacity networks are seen as strategic infrastructure, intended to contribute to high and sustainable economic growth and to core aspects of human development. In the pursuit of this goal, various countries have, over the past decade and a half, deployed different strategies, and enjoyed different results. At the Commission's request, this study reviews the current plans and practices pursued by other countries in the transition to the next generation of connectivity, as well as their past experience. By observing the experiences of a range of market-oriented democracies that pursued a similar goal over a similar time period, we hope to learn from the successes and failures of others about what practices and policies best promote that goal. By reviewing current plans or policy efforts, we hope to learn what others see as challenges in the next generation transition, and to learn about the range of possible solutions to these challenges

Understanding the role of demographic, perceptual and personality factors in the use of mobile data services

Conventional telecommunication technologies, characterised by wires and fixed locations, are rapidly giving way to mobile data services (MDSs). Recent technological developments have opened up possibilities for various applications of MDSs. This thesis specifically focuses on two promising MDS applications: mobile banking (m-banking) and mobile learning (m-learning). It signifies an important step in the testing of theories related to demographics, perceptions and personality traits in the use of MDSs, through three studies. In Study 1, which examines the digital divide in the use of MDSs, I analyse the effects of gender and age differences on the usage of MDSs. An online survey was disseminated in the United Kingdom (UK), and completed responses were received from 2,000 mobile phone users and non-users on both sides of the divide (i.e., with or without access to mobile information and communication technologies (IeTs)). I developed eight hypotheses and used logistic regression and chi-square tests to test them. My findings demonstrate that men are more likely than women to use MDSs, and that young people are more likely than their older counterparts to use MDSs. The study contributes to the literature on MDSs by highlighting the issue of the digital divide. The study also provides insights to MDS providers and policymakers on how to develop and promote MDSs for different socio-demographic groups. In Study 2, I examine m-banking which is regarded as a killer application amongst all MDSs. This study has two parts. In Study 2 (Part I), I present a literature review of, and a classification framework for, the existing m-banking literature. Sixty-five articles related to m-banking were published in major journals and presented at conferences between January 2000 and June 2010. They belong to various disciplines, including information systems (IS), technology innovation, management and marketing. Study 2 (Part I) classifies these articles into five main categories: (1) m-banking overview and conceptualisation; (2):) m-banking applications and cases; (3) m-banking behaviour; (4) m-banking infrastructures; and (5) m-banking strategic, legal and ethical issues. Several new research questions that could yield valuable results in the m-banking field are given, including a fundamental question on users' switching behaviour from other banking channels to m-banking which is examined in further detail in Study 2 (Part II). In Study 2 (Part II), I develop a model that is anchored by expectancy theory and validate it using data collected from 493 mobile phone users in order to predict intentions to switch to m-banking. I chose the m-banking context because recent advances in mobile devices have made m-banking an attractive option for banks and mobile service providers; however, consumer demand for m-banking is low. The findings suggest that perceived mobility, relative advantage and self-efficacy are positively related to user intentions to switch banking channels. Perceived complexity is negatively related, whereas perceived financial resources and risk are not related to intentions to switch. Study 3 examines another key MDS, m-leaming which proposes to use a text messaging service as a tool to stimulate learners' activities. It examines whether learners' personalities influence their reactions to accessing course materials through m-learning messages. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was used to categorise learners into different personality groups. After conducting a field study with 217 students, it was found that learners of different personalities showed different levels of activities when receiving m-learning messages

Untangling the Web: A Guide To Internet Research

[Excerpt] Untangling the Web for 2007 is the twelfth edition of a book that started as a small handout. After more than a decade of researching, reading about, using, and trying to understand the Internet, I have come to accept that it is indeed a Sisyphean task. Sometimes I feel that all I can do is to push the rock up to the top of that virtual hill, then stand back and watch as it rolls down again. The Internet—in all its glory of information and misinformation—is for all practical purposes limitless, which of course means we can never know it all, see it all, understand it all, or even imagine all it is and will be. The more we know about the Internet, the more acute is our awareness of what we do not know. The Internet emphasizes the depth of our ignorance because our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite. My hope is that Untangling the Web will add to our knowledge of the Internet and the world while recognizing that the rock will always roll back down the hill at the end of the day

Co-evolution of an emerging mobile technology and mobile services : a study of the distributed governance of technological innovation through the case of WiBro in South Korea

This thesis is a study of the development and uptake of an emerging infrastructural technology: the mobile Wireless Broadband technology and service known as WiBro in South Korea, and Mobile WiMAX internationally. WiBro has emerged through a national development effort since the early 2000s. The commercial service was launched in 2006. However, uptake fell far below initial expectations, only succeeding in niche markets. This study was motivated by concerns about the perceived gulf between development and diffusion and the ‘failure’ of WiBro. However, this study seeks to go beyond the technology-driven perspective that informs conceptions of diffusion gap: it aims to explicate the sociotechnical factors leading to such a gap. This study draws on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and in particular the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) perspective, which provides tools to scrutinize the interactions among the various interests and factors involved in the process of technological innovation. The SST perspective goes beyond approaches that treat technology as a static object to be developed and diffused. It provides tools to examine the complex and dynamic forces that develop technical capacity towards particular forms and uses. The ‘social learning’ perspective extends SST and provides concepts to explore the changing dynamics over multiple cycles of innovation. Here, Jørgensen’s concept of ‘development arena’ helps examine the interlinked, yet dispersed and multiple spaces in which differing goals, motivations and strategies of innovation players together shape technological innovation. Through comprehensive analyses of a longitudinal study of WiBro, a broader view of the process and the outcomes of technological innovation have been achieved. Rather than viewing the technology as a stable object that would progress in a linear manner through the stages of design, development, and diffusion, it has focused on the process of shaping of WiBro through multiple cycles of innovation. Several arenas of innovation were identified as diverse players sought to align their interests towards exploiting the resources, capacities, and tools for innovation that seemed to be available. In these spaces, conflicting and yet coevolving dynamics were observed: one involving coordination through alignments of multiple interests, and the other incorporating tensions and misalignments among the differing concerns, aims and commitments towards the innovation. The complex dynamics involved a multi-level game where the collective actions among the innovation players and their individual strategies diverged to a degree. Furthermore, changing contingencies, linked to shifting choices of innovation players, resulted in the deviation of the innovation from the initial visions and aims. The study thus illustrates the outcomes of highly divergent interactions at play in innovation process and the mutual enrollment efforts of players that constituted the distributed governance of innovation. Here the complex interplays among the innovation players involved in multi-level games produced a gap between the generic vision and the actual uptake of WiBro. Changing contingencies, especially linked to broader and evolving structures and relations - brought about the reshaping of the generic vision of WiBro. This research therefore suggests the concept of the ‘distributed governance of innovation’ as a new mode for governance: that accommodates not only differing knowledges and interests but also the shifting choices and visions through the various cycles of technological innovation. The boundary of social learning is thus extended to incorporate diverging choices over time and across the multiple spaces of innovation. Its implications for policy include achieving reflexivity by incorporating into the policy framework the learning process that takes place as the innovation players go through the varying stages and cycles of technological innovation

Media convergence: concept, discourse and influence

This thesis examined media convergence in terms of its concept, discourse, and influence. Based on the examination of Korean case, it was argued that media convergence was an ambiguous concept. And as the concept was not clarified enough, the term seemed to be easily manipulated with liberal ideology to form ‘convergence discourse’. The discourse accelerated the spread of media convergence, and in particular, it justified deregulation and the reform of media policy system. However, despite a rather exaggerated expectation for the development of media convergence, the actual impact of media convergence on Korean broadcasting and telecommunication markets was restricted. More specifically, the change was limited to happen in network and device levels in media value chain. Furthermore, the overall changes in legal and jurisdictional systems in broadcasting and telecommunication were also limited. Interestingly, the development of media convergence caused divergence as well as convergence, in relevant markets and policy fields. Furthermore, the newly integrated broadcasting telecommunication agency in Korea, KCC, brought some side effects. First, it introduced competition-oriented style and the marginalisation of sector-specific policies. Second, it prompted the concentration of power and the deterioration of political independence in media governance. Third, it brought about organisational conflicts between broadcasting and telecommunication agencies. However, notwithstanding the prevalence of competition-centred approach of KCC, the sector-specific regulations in Korean newspaper, telecommunication and broadcasting were generally maintained. More precisely, despite of the overall deregulation trends in the fields, broadcasting was still a more complicated and tightly regulated area, compared to newspapers and telecommunications. All those examinations of Korean media in the last decade show that there can be a strong inertia in the markets and the policy fields of media, even when the expectation of new technology is high