-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [AISWorld] Call for Papers - Special Issue of JIITO on Digital Divide Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2012 13:10:40 -0400 From: Alexander Serenko, Ph.D. aserenko@lakeheadu.ca To: aisworld@lists.aisnet.org
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*/Call for Papers - Special Issue of JIITO on Digital Divide/*
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Ravi Sharma & Bob Travica (Special Issue Editors)
Digital information and communication technologies and systems (ICTS) are now seen as necessary infrastructures for development. The traditional developed economies where ICTS had originated no longer exclusively enjoy advantages of ICTS, as it penetrates into the lifeblood of other emerging powerhouses such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) and other parts of the world. This growth measures in hundreds and thousands of percent annually. Still, since these parts of the word started from a relatively smaller ICTS footprint, they still lag behind developed countries in absolute growth measures, such as the penetration rate of the Internet, access devices such as laptops and mobile phones, availability of content and software, and so on. And there are parts of the world where the ICTS draught has all but subsided. A digital divide within and between countries and continents still appears significant, even as it narrows.
Digital divides do not apply only to the global context. In many countries there is a gap between the ICTS availability in urban vs. rural areas. Even economically advanced countries are not spared of this disparity. Within the urban milieu itself, digital divide may correlate with the economic status of neighbourhoods. Moreover, at the organizational level of analysis, there can be a digital divide between the white collar and blue collar employees.
This problematic situation charts a space for framing digital divide as an ongoing and theoretically relevant research problem. This special issue of JIITO intends to address some of the contemporary issues. We invite authors from _different academic and practitioner disciplines_ who may be interested in the indications, aspects, causes and effects of the digital divide. Conceptual research, empirical studies, as well as practitioner accounts are welcome.
*/Specific topics include but are not limited to the following themes/*:
_ICTS and economic inequality/inequity_. Which is the cause and which the effect? Why does it exist? Can it be eradicated? Are we destined for a flat world or is it a myth? Is this a universal problem or restricted to the developing world?
_The omnipresence of a digital divide as a multi-level and resilient phenomenon_. What are the indications, causes and effects of digital divide at the global level? Country level (within society)? Municipal level? Organizational level?
_The digital divide and data (information) and knowledge management_. What are the consequences of data (information) and knowledge asymmetry at various levels? How does digital divide at any level relate to knowledge management or to the knowledge economy?
_The digital divide and globalization_. What is the relationship between digital divide and economic development (what is the cause and what the effect)? What is the relationship between digital divide and economic inequality that is currently brought into global public discourse (e.g., by the Occupy Movement)?
_Overcoming digital divide_. What are the possibilities, opportunities, models and methods of overcoming digital divide at different levels (e.g., one laptop per child, affordable technology, flexible technology using locally available sources of energy, etc.)? What are the cases (success stories) of overcoming digital divide at different levels?
*/Submission guidelines/*: Please visit http://jiito.org for instructions to authors and for online submission. Papers are due by _1-July-2012_.