[Sigkm-l] [Fwd: Fwd: [isworld] IJKL - CFP for a special issue on Knowledge, Technology and the Digital Divide: global per]

[Michel J. Menou]

CALL FOR PAPERS - International Journal of Knowledge and Learning
Special Issue  on  Knowledge, Technology and the Digital Divide: global
perspectives

Special Issue Editors: 
Bill Martin, Research Director, School of Business IT, RMIT University,
Melbourne, Australia bill.martin at rmit.edu.au 
Mohini Singh, School of Business IT, RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia mohini.singh at rmit.edu.au 
Alemayehu Molla, School of Business IT, RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia alemayehu.molla at rmit.edu.au 

There is a global consensus on the perceived connection between the
uptake of information and communication technologies (ICTs), economic
growth and new knowledge. Development today is virtually synonymous with
the presence of industries at whose core reside knowledge and related
intangibles. This includes computer hardware and software, multimedia,
communications and biotechnology, the informatisation and digitisation
of traditional commodity and manufacturing production and exchange, and
a range of government and business services available on a 24 X 7 basis.
Nonetheless, the benefits of the so-called digital revolution and the
knowledge economy it enables have been accompanied by a further widening
of the gap between those that access knowledge and information readily
and those that lack such access completely or those whose access is
constrained significantly.  

This digital divide exists both within the developed countries of the
North and between them and those nations in the South that are striving
to escape the burdens of under-development. Clearly the acquisition of
technological capacity is a necessary but not sufficient response to
such challenges. People must also have access to the information and
knowledge to become both users and producers of these technologies. Even
more basic people must be capable of responding to the opportunities
presented by this combination of technology and knowledge. Various
national and international institutions are undertaking policies,
programs and projects to include those that remain on the negative side
of the divide. This carries implications for issues of access and
equity, be this in terms of the basic literacy necessary to participate
in the digital economy or the freedom from poverty and disease that
would enable participation in the workforce. There is a range of
infrastructure issues to do with legal and regulatory frameworks for
telecommunications, intellectual property, e-business and e-government.
There is also a range of relationship issues not only at governmental
level and involving donors, investors and local partners, but also at a
local level to do with balancing external and indigenous knowledge and
resources in ways that are most likely to empower local communities.
Finally there are issues of lessons, outcomes and sustainability of
impacts.  

This special issue will address this range of relationships and
resource issues taking a global perspective. It will also look for
insights into actual and potential responses involving this softer
knowledge-based dimension of the response to some of the major problems
of development and the digital divide. Submissions are invited that fall
into (but are not limited to) one of the following topic areas: 

Theories of knowledge and digital divide
Knowledge and development, millennium development goals, modernisation,
dependency, resource-based theory, knowledge-based theory of the firm,
intangibles, knowledge creation, and management theories, including
complex adaptive systems, knowledge and learning, theories of
information and knowledge societies Information and knowledge in a
North-South connection, issues of relevance and validity  Information
and knowledge flows, potential obstacles and stimulators  Strategies for
creating and sharing knowledge 

Communities and content 
Communities and knowledge sharing  donor-recipient, local and
international  Content mix for North-South, South-South and South-North
knowledge exchanges  Content gaps in the digital divide  Issues of
equity and access  Issues of culture, norms and customs  E-spaces versus
social spaces 

Infrastructure issues 
Technologies for sustainable development  Regulation and deregulation
of basic infrastructures, IP regimes and legal frameworks  Global
ebusiness structures: supply chains and value networks  North-South
business clusters

Policies and models for addressing the digital divide 
Evaluation of policies Comparative studies of policies  Evaluation of
models Issues and challenges Impact assessment 

Case studies, successful and otherwise of knowledge transfer, sharing
or technology projects involving a North-South dimension 

Important dates: 
31st May 2006 Submission of abstracts
30th November 2006 Submission of manuscripts
15th March 2007 Notification to authors
15th July 2007 Final versions due
Late 2007 Publication

Style and authorship guidelines: 
Author guidelines are available at:
http://www.inderscience.com/papers/about.php    

Dr Mohini Singh
Associate Professor of Information Technology and E-Business
School of BIT, RMIT Business
GPO Box 2476V Melbourne 3001
Victoria  Australia

Email: mohini.singh at rmit.edu.au 
Phone: 61 3 9925 1355  Fax:  61 3 9925 5850
http://www.rmit.edu.au/staff/mohini_singh 




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