Robin Mansell

Bio: Robin Mansell is an academic researcher from London School of Economics and Political Science. The author has contributed to research in topics: Information society & Information and Communications Technology. The author has an hindex of 34, co-authored 210 publications receiving 4641 citations. Previous affiliations of Robin Mansell include University of Sussex & Simon Fraser University.

Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development

Abstract: 1: Building Innovative 'Knowledge Societies'. 2: Innovation Systems and the Science and Technology Base. 3: ICT Indicators of Developing Country Participation in 'Knowledge Societies'. 4: Building National Information Infrastructures - Producing the Components. 5: Promoting Access to National Information Infrastructures. 6: Using ICTs for Sustainable Development. 7: Capability Building for Innovative 'Knowledge Societies'. 8: Employment, Gender Issues, and International Trade in Services. 9: Intellectual Property in the New 'Knowledge Societies'. 10: National ICT Strategy Formation. 11: International Institutions and Governance for 'Knowledge Societies'. 12: Toward National Strategies for Knowledge-Based Development. 13: Innovative 'Knowledge Societies' for Sustainable Development

From Digital Divides to Digital Entitlements in Knowledge Societies

Abstract: This paper critically examines current constructions of the causes, consequences and appropriate actions to reduce the so-called 'digital divide'. Drawing upon discussions that have occurred in a number of intergovernmental forums, the analysis illustrates the limitations of policy debates that focus primarily on issues of access, affordability and capabilities and skills for employability in industry. An alternative framework for assessing the unfolding relation between the new media and society is developed drawing on Amartya Sen's concept of capabilities. This is applied to demonstrate the need for a shift in the emphasis of social science analysis away from digital divide issues and towards the potential for the new media to be configured in ways that could enable the majority of people to strengthen their abilities to make choices about how they wish to live their lives. As new media permeate global social networks more intensively, it is argued that a rights-based approach to new media policy is essential and that this must be based upon assessments of people's entitlements in emerging knowledge societies.

Communication by design: the politics of information and communication technologies

Abstract: Introduction The Domestication of ICTs: Households, Families, and Technical Change The Characteristics of Software and Systems Development Processes, Structures, and Agencies Electronic Networking: Designing New Inter-firm Relationships Designing Surveillance into the Public Switches Network Standards and Communication Technologies: The Mediation of Institutions and Technical Complexity Governance Institutions and ECT Regulatory and Trade Regimes Conclusion

Political economy, power and new media

Abstract: This article suggests that it is timely to revitalise studies in the tradition of the political economy of media and communications in order to develop a critical and comprehensive analysis of the social and economic dynamics of the production and consumption of new media. Specifically, a coupling of research on mediated communication and on highly situated communities of practice with some strands of research in political economy could shed new light on the way changing power relationships are informing the development and application of new media products and services. There are precedents for this approach in studies of the older media and signs of a greater receptivity to such an approach in some studies of Internet developments and the open source software movement.

Imagining the Internet: Communication, Innovation, and Governance

Abstract: This book is an impressive survey of our collective and cumulative understanding of the evolution of digital communication systems and the Internet. Whilst the information societies of the twenty-first century will develop ever more sophisticated technologies, the Internet is now a familiar and pervasive part of the world in which we live, work, and communicate. As such it is important to take stock of some fundamental questions - whether, for example, it contributes to progress, social cohesion, democracy, and growth - and at the same time to review the rich and varied theories and perspectives developed by thinkers in a range of disciplines over the last fifty years or more.In this remarkably comprehensive but concise and useful book, Robin Mansell summarizes key debates, and reviews the contributions of major thinkers in communication systems, economics, politics, sociology, psychology, and systems theory - from Norbert Wiener to Brian Arthur and Manuel Castells, and from Gregory Bateson to William Davidow and Sherry Turkle. This is an interdisciplinary and critical analysis of the way we experience the Internet in front of the screen, and of the developments behind the screen, all of which have implications for privacy ,security, intellectual property rights, and the overall governance of the Internet. The author presents fairly the ideas of the celebrants and the sceptics, and reminds us of the continuing need for careful, critical, and informed analysis of the paradoxes and challenges of the Internet, offering her own views on how we might move to greater empowerment, and suggesting policy measures and governance approaches that go beyond those commonly debated. This concise book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the challenges the Internet presents in the twenty-first century, and the debates and research that can inform that understanding.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Abstract: How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Abstract: The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

스크린 위의 삶 = Life on the screen : identity in the age of the internet

Abstract: From the Publisher: A Question of Identity Life on the Screen is a fascinating and wide-ranging investigation of the impact of computers and networking on society, peoples' perceptions of themselves, and the individual's relationship to machines. Sherry Turkle, a Professor of the Sociology of Science at MIT and a licensed psychologist, uses Internet MUDs (multi-user domains, or in older gaming parlance multi-user dungeons) as a launching pad for explorations of software design, user interfaces, simulation, artificial intelligence, artificial life, agents, "bots," virtual reality, and "the on-line way of life." Turkle's discussion of postmodernism is particularly enlightening. She shows how postmodern concepts in art, architecture, and ethics are related to concrete topics much closer to home, for example AI research (Minsky's "Society of Mind") and even MUDs (exemplified by students with X-window terminals who are doing homework in one window and simultaneously playing out several different roles in the same MUD in other windows). Those of you who have (like me) been turned off by the shallow, pretentious, meaningless paintings and sculptures that litter our museums of modern art may have a different perspective after hearing what Turkle has to say. This is a psychoanalytical book, not a technical one. However, software developers and engineers will find it highly accessible because of the depth of the author's technical understanding and credibility. Unlike most other authors in this genre, Turkle does not constantly jar the technically-literate reader with blatant errors or bogus assertions about how things work. Although I personally don't have time or patience for MUDs,view most of AI as snake-oil, and abhor postmodern architecture, I thought the time spent reading this book was an extremely good investment.