Complex City Systems

Information and communications technology (ICT) is being exploited within cities to enable them to better compete in a global knowledge-based service-led economy. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, cities exploited large technical systems (LTSs) such as the telegraph, telephony, electrical networks, and other technologies to enhance their social and economic position. This paper examines how the LTS model applies to ICT deployments, including broadband network, municipal wireless, and related services, and how cities and city planners in the twenty-first century are using or planning to use these technologies. This paper also examines their motivations and expectations, the contribution to date, and the factors affecting outcomes. The findings extend the LTS model by proposing an increased role for organizations with respect to an individual agency. The findings show how organizations form themselves into networks that interact and influence the outcome of the system at the level of the city. The extension to LTS, in the context of city infrastructure, is referred to as the complex city system framework. This proposed framework integrates the role of these stakeholder networks, as well as that of the socioeconomic, technical, and spatial factors within a city, and shows how together they shape the technical system and its socioeconomic contribution. The CCS framework has been presented at Digital Cities Conferences in Eindhoven, Barcelona, Taiwan, London and at IBM’s Global Smart Cities Conference in Shanghai between 2010 and 2012. Its finding are timely in the context of major policy decisions on investments at regional, national and international level on ICT infrastructure and related service transformation, as well as the governance of such projects, their planning and their deployment

A behavioural model of the adoption and use of new telecommunications media: the effects of communication scenarios and media product/service attributes

Recent years have seen the dramatic growth of new modes of communication. Above and beyond using land line and mobile phone for voice real-time communication, people spend increasing amounts of time receiving and sending messages through social networks (e.g. Myspace or Facebook) and also through real-time communication software (e.g. Skype or MSN). As indicated by the significant decline on the amount of call volumes of land line and mobile phone during the period from 2000 to 2006 in UK and in Taiwan, we conjecture that consumers are transferring to these new forms of communication in order to satisfy their communication needs, diminishing the demand for established channels. The purpose of this research is to develop a behavioural model to analyse the perceived value and weight of the specific media attributes that drive people to adopt or use these new communication channels. Seven telecommunications media available in 2010 have been categorised in this research included land-line, mobile phone, short message service (SMS), E-mail, Internet telephony, instant messaging and social networking. Various media product/service attributes such as synchronicity, multi-tasking, price, quality, mobility, privacy and video which might affect the media choice of consumers were first identified. Importantly, this research has designed six types of communication scenarios in the online survey with 894 valid responses to clarify the effects of different communication aims, distinguish consumers' intended behaviours toward these telecommunications media. --Multi-attribute choice model,Telecommunications media,Communication scenario,New product adoption,Substitution effect,ICT forecasting

DIGITAL TEHNOLOGIES. AN OVERVIEW OF CURRENT EVOLUTIONS AND IMPACT

Various observers describe today's global economy as one in transition to aknowledge economy, as an extension of an information society. The transition requires thatthe rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need rewriting in aninterconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how andexpertise are as critical as other economic resources. According to analysts of the knowledgeeconomy, these rules need to be rewritten at the levels of firms and industries in terms ofknowledge management and at the level of public policy as knowledge policy or knowledge-related policy. The digital and ICT revolutions are twin revolutions. Information andcommunications technology (ICT) refers to a broad field encompassing computers,communications equipment and the services associated with them. It includes the telephone,cellular networks, satellite communication, broadcasting media and other forms ofcommunication.digital revolutions, communication equipment, broadcasting media

Balancing freedom of expression and social responsibility on the internet

This paper reflects on the articles submitted for the Symposium Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side. I discuss some of the criticisms of the book’s theory and my treatment of hate speech. The responsibilities of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Web-Hosting Services (WHSs) are in the fore, arguing that as they are the gatekeepers, they need to be proactive far more than they are now. This paper, like my book, strives to suggest an approach that harnesses the strengths and capabilities of the public and the private sectors in offering practical solutions to pressing problems

Governance of interactions between infrastructure sectors: the making of smart grids in the UK

This paper uses historical analysis to explore the evolution of interdependencies between the electricity and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors in the UK. It explores the role of governance in shaping the interface between these two sectors, and subsequent implications for smart grid innovation. The analysis focuses on three periods between 1940 and 2016, with distinct institutional logics: state ownership, privatisation, and transitions to sustainability. The interactions between the electricity and ICT sectors are analysed through Raven and Verbong’ (2007) typology: competition, symbiosis, integration and spill-over, drawing on social-technical transitions theories and discussed in terms of rules and institutions; actors and networks; and technology, artefacts and infrastructures of socio-technical regimes. The paper finds that a way to encourage more spill-overs and integration between the electricity and the ICT sector is through a more symmetrical and integrated governance approach that takes into account the needs and characteristics of both sectors