ICT-Enabled Social Innovation to support the Implementation of the Social Investment Package: Mapping and Analysis of ICT-enabled Social Innovation initiatives promoting social investment in integrated approaches to the provision of social services: IESI Knowledge Map 2015

This report presents the analysis of the Mapping 2015 of the project 'ICT-enabled Social Innovation to support the Implementation of the Social Investment Package' (IESI). It provides an enriched picture of the existing knowledge base and evidence of how ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives that promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery can contribute to the policy objectives of the EU Social Investment Package (SIP) to support the achievement of the goals of the EU 2020 strategy in terms of inclusive growth and employment. After having introduced the policy and research background outlining the overall objectives and scope of the IESI research and the aim of the mapping 2015, the report provides an overview of the methodology followed for enriching the IESI inventory of ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives through a structured dynamic database and by conducting the mapping and analysis of a selected sample of 210 initiatives. The report then updates the review of the literature and practice in domains related to the role and impact of ICT-enabled social innovation promoting social investment, with a specific focus on the area of active and healthy ageing and long-term care for older people, particularly the theme: prevention, health promotion and rehabilitation. In reviewing the state of the art the report discusses the degree of deployment of ICT-enabled social innovations that promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services provision in terms of geographical spread and different areas of social services covered, providing insight into the levels and types of deployment achieved. Further, the IESI conceptual framework which underpins the research and which has been used to guide the mapping and analysis of initiatives is discussed, proposing additional dimensions in order to enrich the framework of analysis itself. Evolving theoretical approaches are taken into account, the aim being to better explain the implications ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives have or may have for social policy reforms. This is followed by an overview of the consolidated results of the analysis of the initiatives collected as part of the IESI mapping exercise in 2014 and 2015. The analysis presents the IESI Knowledge Map 2015, which aims to provide a better understanding of the main characteristics and patterns of the initiatives identified, according to the IESI conceptual framework. Reference is also made to the different welfare systems and social services delivery models which characterise various EU countries in order to contextualise the potential role played by ICT-enabled social innovation to promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery. The findings of specific thematic analyses conducted on a set of selected topics: 1) the role of social enterprise-driven ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives in support of social services delivery; and the implications of ICT-enabled social innovation that promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery in support of: 2) active inclusion of young people; and 3) active and healthy ageing and long-term care for older people, particularly as regards prevention, health promotion and rehabilitation are then presented. Finally, the main conclusions deriving from the analysis of the mapping in terms of the contribution made by ICT-enabled social innovation promoting social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery to the implementation of the SIP are outlined. This is complemented by an analysis of the gaps identified; the limitations of the current mapping exercise and recommendations for future research, as well as implications and possible directions for policy.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

ICTS INTEGRATION PLAN FOR LIBERATING LOCAL MASSIVE LEARNING INTO DIFFERENTIATING STUDENT CENTERED OPEN TO TRANSNATIONAL AND GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are accelerating developments and making high impacts on every aspect of human life including education. However, education systems and institutions as keys to rearing generations and being the strategic tools for building professionals, pioneers, and civic society are still far behind comparable to other national services in incorporating ICTs and achieving priority goals or producing new methodologies and education reforms. As such, a paradoxical context has been created: abundant availability of ICTs versus a lack of integration and reforms in education. Hence, the major goals of this paper are presenting a prudent "ICTs integration plan (IIP) and exploring the feasibility of possible education reforms. The plan explains counteracting solutions coupled with sixteen presage factors and tasks that should be maintained for integration and closing the gaps between observed ICTs' abundance and the degrees of its utilization in innovating learning, instruction, management and boosting renewal projects in schooling. Applying the IIP in schools and colleges would lead to negating local massive learning and instruction for the sake of differentiated student centered initiatives open to transnational and global alternatives.  Article visualizations

ICTs Policies: E-Democracy and E-Government for Political Development

‘Electronic democracy’ is a concept with a relatively long history. It has been a central feature of the technological Utopias since the 1960s. Today, the trend is spreading worldwide, as public funding is made available for the exploration of the potential of new technologies to provide new channels of access to political information and participation in decision-making. Nevertheless, whereas e-democracy in Western nations is a tool for resolving the perceived crisis of liberal democracies, in the developing countries it is a tool to build democracy. This assumption is clearly important in the action plans and policies of International Organizations (World Bank, OECD, United Nations) which have assumed a leadership role in the reform of political institutions. This paper will focus on theoretical and methodological issues, such as the prevalent meaning(s) of e-government and e-democracy and their ideological roots in the context of political development

ICTs Policies: E-Democracy and E-Government for Political Development

‘Electronic democracy’ is a concept with a relatively long history. It has been a central feature of the technological Utopias since the 1960s. Today, the trend is spreading worldwide, as public funding is made available for the exploration of the potential of new technologies to provide new channels of access to political information and participation in decision-making. Nevertheless, whereas e-democracy in Western nations is a tool for resolving the perceived crisis of liberal democracies, in the developing countries it is a tool to build democracy. This assumption is clearly important in the action plans and policies of International Organizations (World Bank, OECD, United Nations) which have assumed a leadership role in the reform of political institutions. This paper will focus on theoretical and methodological issues, such as the prevalent meaning(s) of e-government and e-democracy and their ideological roots in the context of political development

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Designing Open and Distance Learning for Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A toolkit for educators and planners

Everyone remembers a good teacher. Good teachers are the key to educational expansion and improvement. In many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is an urgent need to expand the number of primary and secondary teachers. In all African countries, there is an equally important need to improve the quality of teaching. To achieve this, it is clear that new approaches to teacher education are essential. Existing institutions of teacher education will continue to play an important role, but, alone, they will not meet the goals of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. It is fortunate that, just as the twin needs to improve the quantity and quality of teachers become imperative, so new forms of education and training are becoming available. The world is witnessing a revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs), which can offer training and support of a type and at a cost hitherto impossible to consider, and thus, must be fully explored given the scale and urgency of demand. In doing so, however, it will be necessary to build on existing and well-tested strategies, including the best models of open and distance learning. This toolkit is the third in a series of recent publications by the Africa Region Human Development Department of the World Bank to share knowledge and experience on how distance education and ICTs can support education in Sub-Saharan Africa. It emphasizes the rigorous process by which new forms of distance-education programs for teacher education can be planned and implemented. The best models of established programs are considered along with the potential for incorporating, as the means become available, new modes of communication. Most forms of teacher education, particularly those concerned with qualification upgrading and ongoing professional development, will have to be based in schools. The authors demonstrate how school-based programs, appropriately resourced and supported, have the potential not only to raise significantly the number and quality of teachers, but also to improve classroom practice and school organization, generally. The guidance and advice, which is drawn from many years of experience in design and implementation, and embraces a range of case studies from across the region, will be of considerable value to those preparing new policies and programs of teacher education and to those seeking to improve existing programs

WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research focuses on developing a framework for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) technology adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). WiMax has emerged as a technology to overcome the limitations of traditional and existing broadband technologies and support a great number of organisations and consumers/citizens in providing a higher speed over substantial distances i.e. in areas that are difficult for wired infrastructure to reach. Despite all the interest in the types of broadband adoption as demonstrated by SMEs in several countries, there seems to be slow progress and lack of information supporting the decision making process for WiMax technology adoption by SMEs specifically in the context of KSA. This may illustrate that SMEs adopt WiMax technology solutions at a slower pace and make them characterised as laggards in terms of new technologies adoption. This research takes into consideration this literature gap and makes a step forward and investigates on WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in KSA with an organisational cultural view, vendors’ commercialisation strategies and government policies by analysing the normative literature related to this research. The data collection of this study was carried out in two phases including quantitative and qualitative approaches. The first phase of the research provided results indicated that, the Saudi SMEs who participated in this research are strongly dominated by clan culture and adhocracy culture. These cultures also have a positive impact on the Internet technologies adoption such as WiMax by SMEs. It is found that, the combination of clan and adhocracy cultures in Saudi SMEs is making them more likely to adopt latest Internet technologies. In the second phase, the results showed a wide difference in views among SMEs, WiMax vendors and government agencies involved in WiMax technology diffusion to SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Although WiMax technology started as an innovation that has the potential to be disruptive and could replace the widely diffused fixed wire line Internet connection, the research findings showed an interesting deviation from this path. In particular, the WiMax technology market analysis in Saudi Arabia highlighted the vendors’ tendency to treat WiMax technology as a sustaining innovation. Research findings also indicated that, the Saudi government provided funds for Information and Communications Technology‘s diffusion in the country. However, the level of awareness displayed by SMEs is persistently low. Knowledge deployment, mobilisation, innovation directive and subsidy have been emphasised by SMEs as the most important government interventions that might have an impact on WiMax adoption by them. Finally, further important issues have been uncovered by the research such as taxation, experience exchange, herd culture/bandwagon, consumer right protection and customer service in relation to the adoption of WiMax by SMEs. The perceived future prospect of these additional issues has been considered as an influence on adoption of WiMax technology by SMEs. The findings of this research can be useful to guide analysts and researchers in determining critical aspects of the complex issues involved in technologies adoption, and lead to suggestions for further valid research

Supporting orchestration of blended CSCL scenarios in distributed learning environments

El diseño y gestión en tiempo real de escenarios de aprendizaje colaborativo soportado por ordenador (en inglés, CSCL) es una tarea compleja y difícilmente realizable por profesores no expertos, que en los últimos años ha dado en denominarse "orquestación". La presente tesis doctoral profundiza en este concepto de orquestación, y de hecho la primera contribución de la tesis es un marco conceptual para caracterizar la orquestación, destinada a su uso por científicos en el campo del CSCL, validado mediante dos paneles de científicos del CSCL. La tesis también propone los "patrones atómicos" como herramientas conceptuales para que profesores no expertos realicen dicha orquestación, y que se han validado mediante cuatro talleres con profesores de educación primaria y superior. Finalmente, se propone GLUE!-PS, una infraestructura tecnológica para el despliegue y gestión en tiempo real de escenarios CSCL, validada a través de talleres y experiencias auténticas con profesorado universitario.Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones e Ingeniería Telemática2012-11-2

Data science for empowerment: understanding the data science training landscape for women and girls in Africa

The increasing datafication of African societies has led to a proliferation of data science-related training opportunities. These trainings provide young people with the opportunity to learn the skills to work on Data science, with some focused specifically on women and girls. While this is encouraging and brings new opportunities for women and girls to participate in the knowledge economy, it is important to understand the wider context of data science training in Africa, in particular, how women and girls experience their (data science) education, and how this knowledge can impact their lives, sustain livelihoods and bring empowerment. Through a review of the literature, as well as an examination of different pedagogical approaches and practices used by various formal and informal training programs in Africa, we examined the experience of women and girls. We conducted a mapping of the training and networks that have been set up to provide knowledge and skills and to empower women in data science. We highlight some of the facilitators that have positively contributed to a greater participation of women and girls in data science education, while also revealing some of the barriers and structural impediments to fair access to training for women in data science