Information Policy

ICTs as a catalyst for social justice? A Capabilities Perspective

by Daniel J. Paré

Draft
Co-authored with Sandra Smeltzer
To appear in: Suzan Ilcan (ed). 2011. Mobilities, Knowledge, and Social Justice. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press [In Press]

Telecommunications in Canada: Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose?

by Daniel J. Paré

Draft
To appear in: Ira Wagman and Peter Urquhart (eds). 2012. Canadian Cultural Industries. Toronto: James Lorimer and Company [In Press]

The Politics of a Paradigm Shift: Telecommunications Regulation and the Communications Revolution; by W. Russell Neuman, Lee W. McKnight, and Richard Jay Solomon, in Political Communication, Vol. 10, pp. 77 - 94, 2003.

by Lee McKnight

Mots et pratiques de l'information. Ce que "aviser" veut dire (XVIe-XVIIe siècles)

by Johann Petitjean

published in "MEFRIM", 122/1, 2010, p. 107-121

Compilation des nouvelles et écriture de l'actualité à Venise au XVIe siècle

by Johann Petitjean

published in 'Hypothèses 2009. Travaux de l’école doctorale", Publications de la Sorbonne, 2010, p. 73-82.

Políticas públicas para o livro, leitura e biblioteca

by Nanci Oddone

Wireless Grids or Personal Infrastructure: Policy Implications of an Emergent Open Standard (2010)

by Andreas Kuehn

38th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC), 2010

A wireless grid is characterized by the ad-hoc dynamic sharing of physical and virtual resources among heterogeneous... more A wireless grid is characterized by the ad-hoc dynamic sharing of physical and virtual resources among heterogeneous devices. This paper reviews wireless grids standards development, in which the authors are engaged, and draws policy lessons from the emergent phenomenon to consider if they apply more generally for open Internet-driven innovation systems. Implications of wireless grids for open communications policy, whose need has become more obvious with the failure of the 'Network Neutrality' attempted patch to the1996 Telecommunications Act, is discussed briefly in the conclusion to the paper. In addition, new wireless grid product and market concepts – such as edgeware, gridlets and personal infrastructure – or will it become known as personal cyberinfrastructure? – are introduced and their meaning and policy implications explained.

WiGiT (Wireless Grid Innovation Testbed) specifications now under development with support of the National Science Foundation’s Partnership for Innovation program (grants # 0917973, #0227879) promise to provide users with a new class of personal infrastructure applications, or edgeware. The WiGiT partnership, led by Syracuse University’s Wireless Grid Lab, together with Virginia Tech’s Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology (WICAT), look to employ an open innovation model to engage more universities, faculty , students, firms and government agencies, in their work. WiGiT partners include government, industry and universities. For example, the Portuguese government’s Knowledge Society Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are both founding partners. Recent additions include the Seneca Nation of Indians, and the Syracuse City School District.

Future projections of this nascent specification will be shared in forthcoming publications. For this paper, use cases and scenarios will illustrate some of the capacities, and their benefits and risks, and will make policy recommendations for emergency services, security, privacy, built upon open architecture and open, universal, and flexible access principles for wireless grids.

National Identity and the Informational Welfare State: Turkey and Malaysia Compared

by Gabe Ignatow

published in The Information Society in 2011

Researchers have found a number of economic, technological, and political factors to be associated with the diffusion... more Researchers have found a number of economic, technological, and political factors to be associated with the diffusion of information technology in developing countries. But cultural factors generally, and national identity in particular, have almost never been viewed as consequential. Castells and Himanen's 2002 study of the information society in Finland, in which the authors identify Finnish national culture as an impetus to the development of the country's informational welfare state, is the most prominent exception to this pattern. This article provides a critical overview of Castells and Himanen's research and revises their conceptual framework to focus on the specific choices states make in constructing their national identities and the effects of these choices on information policy and information technology diffusion. It demonstrates the value of this revised framework through a comparison of the historical trajectories of Turkey and Malaysia's nation-building projects, the incentives these projects have created for the two countries’ social and political elites, and the public information policies and programs that have resulted.

National Identity and the Informational Welfare State: Turkey and Malaysia Compared

by Gabe Ignatow

published in The Information Society in 2011

Researchers have found a number of economic, technological, and political factors to be associated with the diffusion... more Researchers have found a number of economic, technological, and political factors to be associated with the diffusion of information technology in developing countries. But cultural factors generally, and national identity in particular, have almost never been viewed as consequential. Castells and Himanen's 2002 study of the information society in Finland, in which the authors identify Finnish national culture as an impetus to the development of the country's informational welfare state, is the most prominent exception to this pattern. This article provides a critical overview of Castells and Himanen's research and revises their conceptual framework to focus on the specific choices states make in constructing their national identities and the effects of these choices on information policy and information technology diffusion. It demonstrates the value of this revised framework through a comparison of the historical trajectories of Turkey and Malaysia's nation-building projects, the incentives these projects have created for the two countries’ social and political elites, and the public information policies and programs that have resulted.

Converging Technologies: The Future of the Global Information Society

by Christopher Altman

First Committee chair report to the UN General Assembly, RSA Information Security Award for Outstanding Achievement (2004).

"Christopher Altman, Chairman of the UNISCA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, was recently selected as recipient of the RSA Information Security Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Policy for his report to the General Assembly, "Converging Technologies: The Future of the Global Information Society."

"The RSA Conference and Awards is the world's most prestigious international information security conference for organizations that deploy, develop or investigate security or cryptography."

"Previous RSA Keynote speakers and Awards Recipients include Bill Gates, Microsoft Corporation, US Congressman Tom Davis, and Richard Clarke, former White House Security Advisor. "

The complex web of the global information grid will undergo explosive changes over coming decades. As advances in... more The complex web of the global information grid will undergo explosive changes over coming decades. As advances in science and technology converge, a myriad array of discoveries in biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology will produce unpredictable effects that must be accounted for in any estimate of what the world will look like in this future. A strategically important feature of this world will be the emerging trend of information warfare. Though still immature at present day, this trend will become increasingly dominant in the years to come. The information warfare of tomorrow will be radically different from its prototype today. No longer will it be confined to the mainframes of the Internet or to corporate databases: the battleground of the future will draw into its scope the scientific advances being made today in bio and nano technologies. The divisions between man and machine will blur. When networked technologies are ubiquitous, a state-sponsored attack on electronic networks can have far-reaching, and devastating, physical consequences.

Audiences Authoring Authors: Audience Production of Value, the Culture Industry, and Copyright

by Tim MacNeill

Active audience, fan communities, cultural policy, copyright, music industry, cultural economy

A study of... more Active audience, fan communities, cultural policy, copyright, music industry, cultural economy

A study of the music industry on the Est Coast of Canada, and implications for economic, intellectual, and cultural policy as well as communication and cultural theory.