Over overvloed en tekort in de informatiesamenleving: aandacht, aandacht...

In het boeddhisme speelt aandacht voor het hier en nu een belangrijke rol. Aandacht, aandachtigheid voor wat er nu en hier gebeurt, is het plaveisel van de weg naar Nirwana. We leven in een informatiesamenleving, een samenleving die naast overvloed ook belangrijke tekorten kent. Over overloed aan informatie en communicatie en het tekort aan aandacht sprak prof.dr. Jan van Cuilenburg bij de opening van de Online Conferentie 16 april j.l. in Rotterdam. Een bewerking van zijn keynote speec

‘Het zit in onze genen te denken dat communicatie vooral véél communcatie betekent'

Op dinsdag 16 april spreekt prof.dr. Jan van Cuilenburg ons informatie werkers toe ter gelegenheid van de opening van de Online Conferentie Nederland 2002. De voorzitter van het Commissariaat van de Media zal het dan niet over de omstreden overheidssubsidie voor de internetsites van de publieke omroepen hebben, maar over ‘aandacht’ en de overvloed en tekorten in de informatiesamenleving. Informatie Professional sprak alvast met hem

Free and equal access: In search of policy models for converging communication systems

In this paper we propose a generic model for policy with regard to convergence which allows for media specific regulations and procedures. First, we propose a political approach that is based on the well-acccepted notion of freedom of communication. From this notion free and equal access to communication systems is inferred as the main policy objective for modern communications policy. Second, we argue that convergence urges to new descriptive and policy models for media and telecommunication.The notion of control over access to communications is the heart of this approach, which seeks to conceptualize the balances of power between different actors in the communications sector. Six patterns of control are distinguished: exchange, distribution, proliferation, registration, editing and packaging. Policy in a liberalized environment of converging communication systems, it is argued, should be aimed at correcting imbalances in these control patterns. Thirdly, a five-layered model of communications systems is proposed which sets out posssible loci for such policy intervention. Finally, some remarks are made on future communications policy operating on a control-balance analysis of communicaion systems.

Competition and innovation in telecommunications: An empirical analysis of innovative telecommunications in the public interest

According to current opinion, competition in telecommunications stimulates innovation. However, there are reasons to believe that at least in some circumstances competition might lead to a decrease in product innovation. In this paper a cross-sectional statistical analysis is carried out on data for the OECD countries. A positive correlation is indeed found between competition and innovation. However, the level of economic development is an important mediating variable. The economies of emerging technologies in the local loop lead to the conclusion that especially in the mobile segment competition will stimulate innovation.

Competition in the local loop: Towards an anticyclical competition policy in telecommunications

This paper investigates which governmental policies are most suitable for creating an innovative telecommunications market at the local level, focusing on the relation between the local telecommunications network and local CATV networks. Regulatory policies must put more emphasis on competition instead of stimulating specific technological innovations. There is a need for an anticyclical competition policy which will enhance competition if the telecommunications market is insufficiently innovative and restrict competition if the market becomes extremely detrimental to innovation. The regulatory model to be applied to the local loop should not be the common carrier model, but rather the press model of regulation, providing free entry for all network operators and information suppliers to the telecommunications market.

Impact of Moderate and Ruinous Competition on Diversity: The Dutch Television Market

This article analyzes how competition in television broadcasting influences diversity of program supply. We argue that competition in oligopolistic broadcasting markets can take different forms, depending on the strategies adopted by broadcasters. We distinguish between moderate and ruinous competition, and discuss under what conditions these types of competition will emerge. We hypothesize that moderate competition improves diversity, whereas ruinous competition produces excessive sameness. We test these hypotheses for the Dutch television market.

A Theory of Evaluative Discourse:Towards a Graph Theory of Journalistic Texts

Charles E. Osgood and his colleagues developed a technique for content analysis called ‘Evaluative Assertion Analysis’ (Osgood, 1956). An elaboration of the technique will be presented here. Sentences are split up into nuclear sentences, which are predicating something about the relation between meaning objects. Meaning objects might be political actors, empirical variables, attributes or abstract philosophical notions such as ‘the good’ or ‘the world’. By uttering nuclear sentences, meaning objects are associated or disassociated. A computer program, CETA, has been developed which applies graph theory for combining these nuclear sentences in order to detect the structure of discourse