How Societies Embrace Information Technology

Preface. 1 Introducing the Big Picture. The presence of information technology. Megatrends at work. How societies use technology to shape their world. Notes and references. 2 How Computers Spread Around the World So Fast. Definitions and issues. Government-supported/private-sector-driven model. National champion model. Asian private-sector-driven model. Planned economy: public policy model. Industry-driven model. Corporate diffusion model. Application diffusion model. Technology-standards diffusion model. Patterns, practices, and implications. Notes and references. 3 How Governments Leverage Information Technologies to Improve Their National Economies. A brief historical reminder. Economic development in a connected world: the big picture. How governments use it to encourage economic development. What motivates governments to encourage their citizens and economies to use it?. Emerging strategies for the most advanced nations compared to rapidly advancing nations. The special role of labor. Global recession, twenty-first century style. Implications for public officials. Implications for business leaders. The way forward with policies and practices. Notes and references. 4 How Managers and Officials Decide What Technology to Use. The kinds of decisions made by managers. Types of justification. Managerial practices. Some possible less effective practices. Special role of industries. Path forward. Notes and references. 5 Adding Up the Results So Far: Do We Now Live in the Information Age? Why naming an age is a useful exercise and so hard to do. What historians can teach us about the process. The case against the information age. Can we coexist on the frontiers of a new age? Lessons for management and a strategy for change. Concluding thoughts. Notes and references. 6 An Expanding Role for Scientists and Engineers. The rise of the computer scientist. Their role in modern society. When scientists and tech folk take things into their own hands. When technologists go green. Their future world. An old role made new. Notes and references. 7 Looking Down the Road into the Twenty-First Century. How to see the future of an industry. Knowing how information technology is evolving. A strategy for managers and public officials. Special role of the computer science community. The ultimate trend. Notes and references. 8 Keeping Up: Bibliographic Essay. The big picture. How computers spread around the world. Governments leveraging it for economic development. Deciding what technology to use. Living in the information age. Role of technologists. Into the twenty-first century. Index.