NATS 1700 6.0 COMPUTERS,  INFORMATION  AND  SOCIETY Lecture 18: E-Business, E-Commerce, E-Trade, etc. | Previous | Next | Syllabus | Selected References | Home | | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |   Introduction Read Peter Drucker's    Beyond the Information Revolution. where the author argues that "the truly revolutionary impact of the Information Revolution is just beginning to be felt. But it is not 'information' that fuels this impact. It is not 'artificial intelligence.' It is not the effect of computers and data processing on decision-making, policymaking, or strategy. It is something that practically no one foresaw or, indeed, even talked about ten or fifteen years ago: e-commerce--that is, the explosive emergence of the Internet as a major, perhaps eventually the major, worldwide distribution channel for goods, for services, and, surprisingly, for managerial and professional jobs. This is profoundly changing economies, markets, and industry structures; products and services and their flow; consumer segmentation, consumer values, and consumer behavior; jobs and labor markets. The impact, however, may be even greater on societies and politics and, above all, on the way we see the world and ourselves in it." Since Peter Drucker's prediction has been more than fully realized, it is almost useless to suggest readings on the business aspects of the internet. Good starting points are, for example, Wikipedia's entries, such as Electronic commerce, and major business publications such as the Economist, The Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, etc, as well as the business section of the major newspapers such as the New York Times, The Times, The Washington Post, etc. As in the 'old' business world, e-business has contributed to set up digital divides. "The digital divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without. The term digital divide refers to those who can benefit from it, and those who don't, as opposed to just talking about who has direct access to technology, and those who don't. The digital divide is not a clear single gap that divides a society into two groups...Another key dimension of the Digital Divide is the global digital divide, reflecting existing economic divisions in the world. This global digital divide widens the gap in economic divisions around the world. Countries with a wide availability of internet access can advance the economics of that country on a local and global scale. In today's society, jobs and education are directly related to the internet. In countries where the internet and other technologies are not accessible, education is suffering, and uneducated people cannot compete in our global economy. This leads to poor countries suffering greater economic downfall and richer countries advancing their education and economy." It is important to remember, though, that there are other forms of digital divide. Here is what Judy Heim writes in PC World,    Locking Out the Disabled : "Office buildings have wheelchair ramps, TV has closed captions, but many Web sites are inaccessible to people with disabilities. Things don't have to be that way." The article includes a comprehensive selection of related links. See also W3C's section on accessibility , Fulfilling the Promise: Report of the Task Force on Access to Information for Print-Disabled Canadians , and Electronic Clearinghouse for Alternative Format Production Pilot Project . A rapidly growing trend is telework or telecommuting . See for example Telecommuting. Telework and Alternative Officing , GSA Telework or EscapeArtist: Telecommuting From overseas:Expatriate & Offshore Internet Telecommuting . An interesting list of home jobs is available at The Independent Homeworkers Alliance.   Topics As we mentioned in Lecture 16, business did not become interested in the commercial potential of the Internet until the early 90s. Richard Rosenberg, in The Social Impact of Computers (Academic Press, 1997, p. 91), writes: "A major part of the June 5, 1971 issue of Business Week was devoted to a serious overview of computers in business. The underlying sentiment was that computers are wonderful tools but that they must satisfy traditional business principles, they must be used wisely, and they tend to generate their own special problems." Of course at that time personal computers did not exist, but even when they made their appearance, business' interest in them continued for quite a while to be confined essentially to data processing and other internal uses. The other important factor was that until 1994, the Internet was essentially a not-for-profit university and government network consisting of a few thousand nodes with a few million users. "In February 1994, the NSF announced that four Network Access Points (NAPs) would be built so that a new class of Internet Operators might interconnect directly with each other to exchange traffic. The purpose of the scheme was to cede provision of the Internet backbone network directly to commercial carriers" [ from Dan Schiller, Digital Capitalism: Networking the Global Market System, The MIT Press, 2000, p. 12 ] To understand e-commerce it is necessary to take again a brief look at the new digital economy. In his book by that title (p. 44-72), Don Tapscott presents a list of the main themes of the new economy: The new economy is a global economy The new economy is a knowledge-based economy The new economy is a digital economy The new economy is a networked economy Many physical goods become virtual The traditional corporation is replaced by clusters of individuals--knowledge workers 'Disintermediation:' unless they succeed in creating 'new value,' middleman functions between producers and consumers are eliminated through digital networks The dominant trend is represented by the 'convergence' of the computing, communications and content industries The new economy is innovation-driven In the new economy the distinction between producers and consumers is becoming fuzzy In an economy based on bits, immediacy becomes a key driver in economic activity and business success Unprecedented social issues continue to arise, potentially causing massive trauma and conflict See also Digital Divide: The Three Stages , where the author suggests that in addition to the economic aspects, we must consider also "usability and empowerment divides, [which] alienate huge population groups who miss out on the Internet's potential." It is a sign of the times that most books and other media dealing with business now include under such heading just about everything else, from health and education to government. Since a cost and a price is becoming attached to all sorts of goods and services (commodification), this is not surprising. For many analysts, the internet is synonymous with business. The very concept of "value added" is at the core of the global economy, and much of it is unavoidably deriving from the further commodification of traditional services that used to be free, public and paid for by taxes. Disintermediation is a rather misleading concept, because as many middlemen do indeed disappear, just as many new ones are being created. The global information society generates so much information that information brokers are becoming practically essential. Moreover, although the web is still by and large freely accessible in the US and in Canada, it is not so in Europe and almost everywhere else, where telephone charges, even for local calls, are much higher. With the increasing emphasis on mobile connectivity (via digital cell lines), this is becoming true also in North America. One of the consequences is the consolidation of a "digital divide" (see above).   The Digital Divide In Canada, a study conducted by The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, with statistical analysis by Statistics Canada, has been published. It is entitled  Research into the Digital Divide in Canada.  "The purpose of this study was to analyze Canadian households at the margins in terms of access to the Information Highway... The levels of awareness and the use of these new technologies and services are highly polarized along social class and generational lines, creating a digital divide. From 1997 through 1999, higher-income households were three times more likely than lower-income households to have home access. By 1999, about two-thirds of upper-income households had access from home, as compared to about one in four low-income Canadians...The concept of a digital divide is much more complex than a simple differentiation between those who are connected and those who are not. In addition to the usually understood division of users and non-users (the first divide), non-users are not a homogenous group. They clearly fit into two broad groups (the second divide). Together, the user and the segmented non-user groups form a 'dual digital divide.' Of those not connected, the first group is near-users, those who have varying degrees of interest in being connected, but are unable due to a number of barriers, of which the most important are cost/affordability and literacy. The second group, distant-users, consists of people who have little or no interest in the Internet and online services, or perceive no value in the Internet to meet their everyday economic or social needs...Evidence suggests that it is highly unlikely that the dual digital divide will be overcome anytime soon." Despite efforts from some governments, the digital divide is growing in two senses. On the one hand, "a narrow definition of the digital divide focuses on access to computers and the Internet. But access alone does not bridge the technology gap. To realize the potential of today's information tools, people need the skills to operate them to better their lives and the health of their communities. The ability to create and share community-relevant information is part of that equation." [from Digital Divide Network ] On the other, most of the world is forced to struggle with the much more basic problem of access per se. A substantial fraction of the world does not possess the telecommunications infrastructure we take for granted. To learn more, visit    Global Culture, Trade and Technology: Digital Divide Project. This is an initiative of the International Faculty Council of the University of Washington. Here is their mission statement: "The revolution in computers and telecommunications networks and the accelerated rate of this change, along with the global explosion in knowledge, are creating unprecedented changes in the flow of trade, finance, and information in and among nations. New jobs, an explosion in entrepreneurship, access to education, new modes of community building, ease of access to global markets-all of these things, and many more, are dividends of this revolution in information technology. Yet the fruits of the Information Age are out of reach for many in both developed and developing nations. This gap, the 'digital divide,' threatens to cut off populations from good jobs and the chance to participate in the affairs of the broader society. For some citizens technology brings the promise of inclusion, opportunity and wealth; for others, greater isolation and increased poverty. The Seattle School District and the University of Washington are collaborating to create a curriculum for middle school and high school students that begins to engage them in some of the complexities of the digital divide, especially in the global dimensions of these issues. The curriculum will give students historical, economic and social contexts for the digital divide, while also providing students with skills to address the issues themselves. A central theme will be the emergence of e-commerce and its impact on the WTO and trade issues. This curriculum will involve a dialogue among students from a number of countries, including Japan, China, Mexico, and South Africa. The culmination of this curriculum on the digital divide will take place at the WTO conference, with a televised interactive forum among the students of the various nations (to also be simulcast on the World Wide Web). Ideally, WTO dignitaries, and local experts on this topic from education, business, and philanthropy, will participate in this forum, as well as some of the leadership of the Seattle Host Organization for the WTO"   Questions and Exercises Sketch your argument for the importance (or lack of importance) of the humanities in higher education. What kind of information do you believe should be freely available?   Picture Credit: An Atlas of Cybespaces Last Modification Date: 02 March 2010