Showing papers on "Appropriate technology published in 1995"

White paper on national strategy for the development and promotion of small business in South Africa

Abstract: PART TWO The small-business sector in South Africa's economic development....9 2.1 Size and diversity of the sector................................9 2.2 Role and contribution of the sector............................10 2.3 Constraints facing the small-business sector...................11 2.4 Past support policies..........................................12 2.5 International input............................................13 2.6 Research on SMMEs..............................................14

The Power of Babble: Technology and Rural Education.

Abstract: Never has failure been so ardently defended as though it were success. Partly because there has been some success. Partly because a civilization which is no more than a system has neither memory nor shape.[1] WE ARE writing this article for people who work in schools and who have doubtless already heard and read much about the rapid penetration of technology into schools. Most of the discussion on this subject has aimed either to inform or to generate enthusiasm, a critical treatment of the subject that attends to the questions of educational purpose and equity has been missing. Technology connects to culture, politics, and history. Yet these are the very issues that are usually ignored in articles and reports written for teachers and administrators. We are not by nature optimists, but we do understand the hopes that new technologies inspire, especially among rural educators. Rural schools are under continual attack: for being too small, for being located in communities characterized as "not valuing education," for not offering a comprehensive curriculum, and for being inefficient. The very survival of rural schools - and, some think, of rural communities - is in doubt. Bruce Barker and David Monk are among the concerned scholars who have written persuasively about the possibilities of electronic technologies for helping rural educators deal with the immediate attacks and the long-range threats.[2] Despite our lack of optimism, we do not recommend the outright "refusal" to employ technology as a common strategy for dealing with the challenges and threats we describe. In only a few cases will cold-turkey refusal make good sense. In most cases, though, economics, politics, and history will shape what happens in communities and schools - and that certainly means making some accommodation for the new developments in telecommunications. But it is already becoming clear that rural schools typically (though not always) lack the infrastructure and resources to offer all students the sorts of tools touted as 21st-century miracles (World Wide Web browsers, CD-ROM databases on local area networks, and so on). Basic connectivity is, at present, the main impediment. Rural schools are not even served by 56 Kb lines, they cannot afford to install them, and they cannot afford to equip classrooms. They are behind on building maintenance and replacement, and computers and inservice training are additional expenses. Solutions to such problems exist in some communities, but the facilitating circumstances (e.g., good relationships among agencies, leadership to coordinate the effort, consistent funding) are comparatively rare. However, the key challenge is not, "how to get the stuff." Rural schools are destined to lose that rat race. By the time they are, "up to speed" in technology, the benchmark will have moved. The plans that people make for rural schools will differ according to whether they understand this situation or not. Understanding it, they can make more sustainable, longer-range plans. And their plans will stand a better chance of supporting the sort of rural education that makes sense. One final point of clarification: we are not "against" technology. We personally use all sorts of technologies and are fully involved in the technological enterprises of the organizations that employ us. But we see that other issues are much more important. Technology is a form of process, and, for us, education is substance: ideas, intellectual content, and emotional meaning. We also agree with the sociological interpretation that indicts American culture for its tendency to "technologize" everything. This tendency harbors particular dangers for rural places and peoples. In the face of these dangers, we offer our critique, not to dash the hopes of rural educators, but to call forth careful reflection out of which such hopes might be realized. Technology and Empire To understand how technology functions in rural schools, urban and suburban readers (like their rural colleagues) need to recognize that the United States is an empire. …

Small Business Strategic Planning and Technology Transfer: The Use of Publicly Supported Technology Assistance Agencies

Abstract: This article is based on the results of a mail survey of 404 small manufacturing firms in Nashville, Tennessee, to which 123 businesses responded. The survey was developed to test a conceptual framework which describes the technology transfer process from public agencies to small manufacturers. Survival of small manufacturing businesses in the 1990s will depend partly on their ability to increase productivity through the utilization of the latest technology, use of outside consultants, and maintenance of a trained work force (Gray 1989). Historically, overall business increases in technological capability have explained 25 percent of the increase in national income. Small firms have generated about half of all new jobs in recent years but account for only five percent of RD Marcum 1991). For reasons of employment and competition, the small manufacturers should be included in the transfer network. Researchers from the Battelle Memorial Institute (1993) argued that throughout the 1990s there will be increased government attention at both federal and state levels to improve the technology transfer process. Because small manufacturers in the U.S. account for so much employment and because their technological lead over foreign business has all but disappeared, successful expansion of technology transfer by public agencies to small manufacturers is a critical issue of the 1990s. BACKGROUND Selecting technology is part of the strategic planning process. This process is impacted by changes in the external economic, political, and social environment, actions of existing and potential rivals, and the internal characteristics of the organization. Strategic planning involves using the firm's resources to best meet the changing external and internal environment. The internal characteristics of the organization affect the firm's response to changes in external variables. Technology can have a major impact on operating results (Oster 1990) and can serve as a powerful tool to gain and maintain competitive preeminence (Ansoff and McDonnell 1990). Selecting and utilizing the appropriate technology are key elements in competitive advantage (Porter 1985). One aspect of the strategic planning process is in making informed choices. Because information markets are not efficient, selecting the "right" source for technology assistance is difficult. Wrong decisions can have a negative impact on profits. Few studies have considered strategy content as a relevant variable in small firm planning (Lyres, Baird, Orris, and Kuratko 1993). In a recent study of 501 small businesses by AT&T, it was found that the firms did not consider technology needs in their formal planning (AT&T 1993). Chrisman and Danforth (1993) posit that small ventures differ in many ways which result in different business problems and outside assistance needs. They note that there are a variety of different strategies that can lead to superior performance. This variety in strategies is partly caused by the inability of firms to command all the resources necessary for the optimum strategy to dominate competitors. They also found that key business success factors tend to vary by market segment. The need for new technology will vary with the strategic plan of the firm. This variation might affect the type of outside technological assistance needed and hence the selection of public agencies. Furthermore, the level of technology currently utilized in the firm might also determine the value of transfers from the agencies (Amsder and Hikino 1993). …

Technology transfer in Sandia's scientific areas. The engineering sciences Technology Information Environment. Systematic approach to security, privacy and appropriate access

Abstract: This paper describes the need for faster and more efficient technology transfer mechanisms. It outlines the design of a computerized technology transfer mechanism for the engineering sciences area based on Sandia National Laboratories' Technology Information Environment for Industry (TIE-IN). It explains the security, privacy and appropriate access issues that arose in the design of the system. >

Changing paradigms in animal agriculture: the role of academia and industry in technology transfer.

Abstract: Challenges abound for academia, industry, and animal agriculture. Universities, especially land-grant universities, are losing their credibility with the public on whom they depend for support. Industries have gone and continue to go through wrenching restructuring, driven by the realities of the marketplace. On the farm and in the classrooms, laboratories, and field research stations of land-grant universities, agriculturalists face a major challenge-society's growing resistance to science and technology. Technology, especially biotechnology, has become suspect in the minds of many people. Solutions to these and other challenges for effective technology transfer in the future will not depend on a single institution, company, or program. Perhaps the most challenging issue is simply how to unite groups and individuals who have been accustomed to having their own separate programs. In the future, business as usual ; won't work. Academia and industry are being held to new and higher standards of accountability by their clientele (customers). Academia and industry will need to join forces to increase U.S. agriculture's competitiveness in a global environment that demands that the lag time between discovery and adoption of appropriate technology be shortened.

Complexity in selecting health care technology in diverse settings.

Abstract: Nurses in diverse settings around the world work toward improving human health. Attainment of this goal depends, in part, on selecting and using appropriate technology. The article describes the framework of technology assessment and suggests ways in which nurses can be involved in evaluating health care technologies, deliberating on appropriate applications, and, if not selecting, then at least having input into the selection of technologies from the individual patient level through and including health policy.

The Interactive Bottom-Up Approach to Analysis as a Strategy for Facilitating the Generation of Appropriate Technology: Experiences in Zimbabwe

Abstract: Considering that modern biotechnology can contribute meaningfully to poverty alleviation and sustainable development, the article ad dresses the question of how to facilitate the generation of biotech nological innovations in scientific institutions that are appropriate to small-scale, resource-poor farmers in developing countries. The article elaborates on the Interactive Bottom-Up (IBU) approach as a mode for operationalizing a research and priority-setting process in such a way that a systematic exchange of information between this specific client group and others involved in the development of biotechnological innovations is established. The IBU approach builds on insight gained in technology assessment, agricultural development studies, and in studies on corporate innovation processes. It is specifically directed at creating learning processes between the various actors on the possibili ties and constraints of a technological innovation and the context of application. After outlining the IBU approach...

Teaching sustainable design

Abstract: Sustainable design is inclusive, holistic and integrative. It require humility and guts, caring and a certain degree of stubbornness. It helps to do it cooperatively in a group. Human interest in sustainability has gained a great deal of impetus over the last several years as the problems of the late 20th and the early 21st century have become clearer. Design for sustainability broadens and integrates many previously separate design concerns to create a unified approach that is both compelling and ripe with new possibilities. Ecosystem regeneration, ecological land use planning, biometric design, regional environmental and economic viability, natural landscape maintenance, resource optimization, integrated infrastructure system, neotraditional and pedestrian oriented urban design, passive solar architecture, appropriate technology, renewable building materials, healthy buildings, and the aesthetics of place; are a few of these design concerns that, when welded together, can create sustainability.

Appropriate Technology in the Public Sector

Abstract: The argument advanced in the earlier chapters does not entirely preclude the possibility of appropriate technology in the public sector. What was emphasized, rather, was that most offers of external finance for public sector projects in Africa emanate from developed economies and that this type of finance (in conjunction with related project inputs) is generally associated with inappropriate technology. In practice, of course, exceptions to both these generalizations occur. Finance and other project inputs do sometimes originate in developing countries, where, to a somewhat greater extent than in the industrialized market economies, conditions tend to favour the development of relatively appropriate technologies, but even developed-country sources of external finance may at times lead to appropriate forms of technology in the public sector. The purpose of this chapter is to show how a number of exceptional cases from Kenya and Tanzania can be explained in these terms and to assess the lessons for policy that such cases might suggest.