Monthly Archives: May 2008

E-Strategies for Technological Diffusion and Adoption

Call for Chapters
E-Strategies for Technological Diffusion and Adoption: National ICT Approaches for Socioeconomic Development (Advances in Global Information Management Book Series)

Proposals Submission Deadline: 30 May 2008
Full Chapters Due: 31 July 2008
A book edited by
Sherif Kamel, PhD, The American University in Cairo, Egypt

Introduction
Information and communication technology (ICT) innovations are increasingly having important implications on business and socioeconomic development due to their role in introducing and diffusing the concepts of knowledge sharing, community development and equality. The implications can be felt at the individual, organizational and societal levels. While the basic needs of humankind have long been food, clothing and shelter, the time has come to add information to this list. The implications on developing nations could be remarkably effective if these technology innovations are properly introduced and managed. However, if the implementation process is not well supported and controlled, the result could be an increasing digital divide between the developed and developing worlds (such divide also exists within nations, especially among developing nations). It is important to avoid the fact that ICT could be marginalized in the development process. There is an urgent need to show that ICT generates the wealth of the enterprise, which in turn pays for socioeconomic development at large. It is ICT that is delivering the productivity gains that enable lives of material comfort for many around
the world that would have been unthinkable only two centuries ago.

ICT should be looked at as a platform for development within a macro perspective that addresses different individual, organizational and developmental needs. Therefore, over the past two decades, numerous studies have underlined the importance of coordination for the formulation of national ICT strategies. The need for resources mobilization, proper environment, legislations and regulations, amongst other elements is important for building and sustaining an outcome-driven ICT infrastructure. For societies to develop, grow, and benefit from the ICT evolution, nationwide introduction, adoption, diffusion and adaptation of technology should take place, something that is hardly seen in developing nations where most of the technology implementations and infrastructure are focused in the capital and the major cities. All these elements demonstrate the importance of developing national ICT strategies.

There are a number of challenges that face the development plans of the developing world when it comes to ICT, including electronic readiness, policies and regulations, infrastructure development and deployment, legal framework, universal access, illiteracy, language, culture readiness, appropriate business models for public-private partnership, transparency and governance, intellectual property rights, privacy, and security amongst others. It is important to address the issues faced by developing nations in striving to develop and grow while capitalizing on the opportunities enabled by emerging ICT. This book addresses the issue of the development of national ICT strategies as one of the recommendations of the “Plan of Action” of the World Summit on the Information Society. The book addresses the importance of such strategies in setting the national agendas to complement the efforts and resources allocated, enabling the optimization of benefits and the returns on the local communities in specific and on the society at large. The book includes a number of model strategies, implications and case studies from the developing world to work as models for future implementations in similar environments as well as to share the accumulated knowledge in terms of lessons learnt.

The E-Strategies for Technological Diffusion and Adoption: National ICT Approaches for Socioeconomic Development is part of the Advances in Global Information Management Book Series. The book will be beneficial as it will provide comprehensive coverage and definitions of the most important issues, concepts, trends and technologies and cases related with the introduction, adoption, diffusion and adaptation of national electronic strategies for ICT for socioeconomic development. This vital new publication will be distributed worldwide among academic and professional institutions and will be instrumental in providing researchers, scholars, students and professionals access to the latest knowledge related to the adoption and usage of ICTs and other related issues to ICT strategy formulation, development and implementation.

Coverage
To ensure that this publication has the most comprehensive current and relevant coverage of all topics related to National E-Strategies for Socioeconomic Development, we are inviting researchers, leading experts in their particular areas of research, to contribute chapters of 5,000 – 7,500 words that offer an in-depth discussion of the key issues, concepts and trends related to the field of ICT and Strategy Formulation and Implementation.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
-E-Strategies in developing nations
-Implications of national ICT strategies on developing nations
-National E-Strategies – cases from the developing world
-Policies and strategies for accelerating socioeconomic development using ICT
-Formulation and implementation of ICT strategies for socioeconomic development
-Leveraging societal competitiveness through using ICT for development
-Application and impact of national ICT on socioeconomic development
-Developing strategies for export-oriented IT-enabled services industries
-Developing ICT strategies for research and innovation
-ICT strategies for development – education
-ICT strategies for development – government
-ICT strategies for development – health
-ICT strategies for development – eContent

Invited Submissions
Individuals interested in submitting chapters on the above-suggested topics – or other related topics in their area of interest – should submit via email a 2-3 page manuscript proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter by 30 May 2008. We strongly encourage other topics that have not been listed in our suggested list, particularly if the topic is related to the research area in which you have expertise. Guidelines for preparing your chapter and terms and definitions will be sent to you upon acceptance of your proposal.

Important Dates
Due date for receiving chapter proposals: 30 May 2008
Notification of Accepted Chapters: 10 June 2008
Full chapters due date: 31 July 2008

Please forward your email of interest including your name and affiliation to skamel@aucegypt.edu no later than 30 May 2008. This book is tentatively scheduled for publishing in 2009 by IGI Global, www.igi-pub.com (formerly Idea Group Inc.) publisher of the IGI Publishing (formerly Idea Group Publishing), Information Science Publishing, IRM Press, CyberTech Publishing and Information Science Reference (formerly Idea Group Reference) imprints.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) to: skamel@aucegypt.edu

Sherif Kamel, PhD
Associate Professor of MIS
Department of Management
School of Business, Economics and Communication
The American University in Cairo
113 Kasr El-Eini Street, P.O. Box 2511, 11511 Cairo, Egypt
Tel + 202.2797.6721 – Fax +202.2792.3847
skamel@aucegypt.edu
www.sherifkamel.org

The Power of Marginal Spaces in the Works of Carmen Martín Gaite

Call for Papers:
The Power of Marginal Spaces in the Works of Carmen Martín Gaite

Deadline: September 15, 2008

Location/Date:
40th Anniversary Convention,
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
Feb. 26-March 1, 2009
Hyatt Regency – Boston, Massachusetts

Description:
Seeking papers for a roundtable on the theme of marginal spaces in the
works of Carmen Martín Gaite. How does marginality empower or
debilitate? How does it figure in Martín Gaite’s ideas about history and
feminism, aesthetics and politics? How does it link her to a feminist
canon from which she has been mostly excluded? How can Martín Gaite’s
works be repositioned within the Women’s Studies canon, graduate and
undergraduate? Range of critical/theoretical approaches welcome. Send
abstracts (500 word limit) for 15 minute papers to
Elizabeth.Huergo@montgomerycollege.edu. (Requests for a more detailed
description are also welcome.)

Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee)

The complete Call for Papers for the 2009 Convention will be posted in
June: www.nemla.org.
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA panel;
however, panelists can only present one paper. Convention participants
may present a paper at a panel or seminar and also present at a creative
session or participate in a roundtable.

HeartTech 08

Call for papers

HeartTech 08

http://hearttech08.unitec.ac.nz/

Papers due 19th July 08

Beyond Sustainability : A conference for people interested in technologies and education to improve the environment, humanity and equity.

This conference is for those who believe that we need to make serious changes in what we value and how we measure and call “ Success” “ Advanced” or “ Developed Society”. Its aim is to share with and support people who care about our footprint on this earth.

If your field touches on: Computing, Development, Ethics, Morality, Business, Technology, Education or Philosophy ….. and you are active in increasing global consciousness on human impact and responsibility on this earth , then please visit the website and consider contributing to this conference. We can no longer be content with sustaining the environment, our technologies and living philosophies must be focussed on IMPROVING it.

Conference Philosophy

This conference is one where people who are prepared to think and act outside the normal doctrines of first world prevalence can come and safely share their thoughts, work and experiences.

It is being held in Thailand near the Laos border because this region is predominantly Buddhist where the importance of spirituality and connectedness with nature form the foundations of all practices, including those of teaching technology at tertiary level.

This conference is a chance to make links with a wonderfully peaceful people from a unique part of the world. It is an opportunity to give and to receive and to share. Our hope is part of your heart will stay here and part of the experience will travel with you always.

Bring your research, your case studies, your desire to learn and share, your humbleness and love and hope of providing a safer cleaner world for our children and future generations.

http://hearttech08.unitec.ac.nz/

Papers will all be blind peer reviewed and selected papers published in the ACM SIGCAS special edition in early 2009 and/or the Journal of the Asia Pacific Technology Management for Sustainability Assoc.

Papers due 19th July 08

Want to help or become part of the Heart Tech move then contact us hearttech08@unitec.ac.nz or lmuller@unitec.ac.nz

Research News -The Canadian Journal of Information & Library Science

Dear Colleagues,

As the new Research News editor for The Canadian Journal of Information & Library Science I am soliciting news items for the column. The purpose of the column is to showcase the multiple dimensions of Canadian LIS research: “The Research News column seeks to provide information about significant Library and Information (LIS) research activities within Canada, including announcements of research grants, major research projects, awards and honours, completed LIS dissertations, and scholarly LIS conferences”.

So, to this end and in an effort to bring our news up-to-date, I invite you to send me news of the following:

-completed doctoral theses from spring/summer 2005 onward (include title, date defended and supervisor name)
-completed masters theses from spring/summer 2005 onward (include title, date defended and supervisor name)
-external grants and other major research funding from the 2006 competitions onward (awarded to faculty and doctoral students; include title of the grant, name of funding agency, etc.)

-news of postdocs, etc
-news of conferences, symposia, etc. held under the auspices of our Canadian institutions, also news of upcoming conferences
-news of awards and honours
-news of recent major research initiatives and projects
-news of Canadian scholarship that is happening outside of Canada
-any other relevant research news

It is my tentative plan to highlight doctoral student research in my first column, so items that speak to this theme are urgently requested with a deadline of 30 June 2008.

Please forward all news items via email to me at: prothba2 AT uwo.ca.