What is the relationship of information systems to globalization?
11 Chapter 11: Globalization and the Digital DivideDave Bourgeois and David T. Bourgeois Show
Please note, there is an updated edition of this book available at https://opentextbook.site. If you are not required to use this edition for a course, you may want to check it out. Learning ObjectivesUpon successful completion of this chapter, you will be able to:
IntroductionThe Internet has wired the world. Today it is just as simple to communicate with someone on the other side of the world as it is to talk to someone next door. In this chapter, we will look at the implications of globalization and the impact it is having on the world. What Is Globalization?Globalization is the term used to refer to the integration of goods, services, and culture among the nations of the world. Globalization is not necessarily a new phenomenon; in many ways, we have been experiencing globalization since the days of European colonization. Further advances in telecommunication and transportation technologies accelerated globalization. The advent of the the worldwide Internet has made all nations next-door neighbors. The Internet is truly a worldwide phenomenon. As of 2012, the Internet was being used in over 150 countries by a staggering 2.4 billion people worldwide, and growing.[1] From its initial beginnings in the United States in the 1970s to the development of the World Wide Web in the 1990s to the social networks and e-commerce of today, the Internet has continued to increase the integration between countries, making globalization a fact of life for citizens all over the world. Source: Internet World StatsThe Network SocietyIn 1996, social-sciences researcher Manuel Castells published The Rise of the Network Society, in which he identified new ways in which economic activity was being organized around the networks that the new telecommunication technologies have provided. This new, global economic activity was different from the past, because “it is an economy with the capacity to work as a unit in real time on a planetary scale.”[2] We are now into this network society, where we are all connected on a global scale. The World Is FlatIn 2005, Thomas Friedman’s seminal book, The World Is Flat, was published. In this book, Friedman unpacks the impacts that the personal computer, the Internet, and communication software have had on business, specifically the impact they have had on globalization. He begins the book by defining the three eras of globalization[3]:
According to Friedman, this third era of globalization was brought about, in many respects, by information technology. Some of the specific technologies he lists include:
These three technologies came together in the late 1990s to
create a “platform for global collaboration.” Once these technologies were in place, they continued to evolve. Friedman also points out a couple more technologies that have contributed to the flat-world platform – the open-source movement (see chapter 10) and the advent of mobile technologies. The World Is Flat was published in 2005. Since then, we have seen even more growth in information technologies that have contributed to global collaborations. We will discuss current and future trends in chapter 13. The Global FirmThe new era of globalization allows any business to become international. By accessing this new platform of technologies, Castells’s vision of working as a unit in real time on a planetary scale can be a reality. Some of the advantages of this include the following:
In order to fully take advantage of these new capabilities, companies need to understand that there are also challenges in dealing with employees and customers from different cultures. Some of these challenges include:
Because of these challenges, many businesses choose not to expand globally, either for labor or for customers. Whether a business has its own website or relies on a third-party, such as Amazon or eBay, the question of whether or not to
globalize must be carefully considered. Sidebar: How Does My Internet Speed Compare?How does your Internet speed compare with others in your state, country, or around the world? The chart below shows how Internet speeds compare in different countries. You can find the full list of countries by going to this article (http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/12/real-connection-speeds-for-internet-users-across-the-world/). You can also compare the evolution of Internet speeds among countries by using this tool (http://www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet/). Internet speeds by country. Click to enlarge.So how does your own Internet speed compare? There are many online tools you can use to determine the speed at which you are connected. One of the most trusted sites is speedtest.net, where you can test both your download speeds and upload speeds. As the Internet continues to make inroads across the world, it is also creating a separation between those who have access to this global network and
those who do not. This separation is called the “digital divide” and is of great concern. An article in Crossroads puts it this
way[4]:
The digital divide can occur between countries, regions, or even neighborhoods. In many US cities, there are pockets with little or no Internet access, while just a few miles away high-speed broadband is common. Solutions to the digital divide have had mixed success over the years. Many times, just providing Internet access and/or computing devices is not enough to bring true Internet access to a country, region, or neighborhood. One Laptop per ChildOne attempt to repair the digital divide was the One Laptop per Child effort. As stated on the organization’s website, “The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.”[5] Announced to great fanfare in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte, the OLPC project seemed destined for success. The XO laptop. Click to enlarge. (CC-BY: Mike McGregor)The centerpiece of the project was the laptop itself: an inexpensive computer designed to withstand a lot of punishment. It utilized a revolutionary “mesh” network, allowing the laptops to act as repeaters, extending a Wi-Fi network far beyond their normal range. They also used minimal power, making them practical for remote areas with limited access to the electrical grid. Unfortunately, the OLPC project failed to live up to expectations, running into many of the problems related to globalization discussed above: different cultures, corruption, and competition. In an article that examined the success and failures of OLPC, the authors state, “Expecting a laptop to cause such a revolutionary change showed a degree of naivete, even for an organization with the best of intentions and the smartest of people.”[6] Today, OLPC is evolving their methods and their technology, trying to deliver an OLPC tablet computer. A New Understanding of the Digital DivideIn 2006, web-usability consultant Jakob Nielsen wrote an article that got to the heart of our understanding of this problem. In his article, he breaks the digital divide up into three stages: the economic divide, the usability divide, and the empowerment divide[7]. What is usually called the digital divide is, in Nielsen’s terms, the economic divide: the idea that some people can afford to have a computer and Internet access while others cannot. Because of
Moore’s Law (see chapter 2), the price of hardware has continued to drop and, at this point, we can now access digital technologies, such as smartphones, for very little. This fact, Nielsen asserts, means that for all intents and purposes, the economic divide is a moot point and we should not focus our resources on solving it. The usability divide is concerned with the fact that “technology remains so complicated that many people couldn’t use a computer even if they got one for free.” And even for those who can use a computer, accessing all the benefits of having one is beyond their understanding. Included in this group are those with low literacy and seniors. According to Nielsen, we know how to help these users, but we are not doing it because there is little profit in doing so. The empowerment divide is the most difficult to solve. It is concerned with how we use technology to empower ourselves. Very few users truly understand the power that digital technologies can give them. In his article, Nielsen explains that his (and others’) research has shown that very few users contribute content to the Internet, use advanced search, or can even distinguish paid search ads from organic search results. Many people will limit what they can do online by accepting the basic, default settings of their computer and not work to understand how they can truly be empowered. Understanding the digital divide using these three stages provides a more nuanced view of how we can work to alleviate it. While efforts such as One Laptop per Child are an excellent start, more work needs to be done to address the second and third stages of the digital divide for a more holistic solution. Sidebar: Using Gaming to Bridge the Digital DividePaul Kim, the Assistant Dean and Chief Technology Officer of the Stanford Graduate School of Education, designed a project to address the digital divide for children in developing countries. [8] In their project, the researchers wanted to understand if children can adopt and teach themselves mobile learning technology, without help from teachers or other adults, and the processes and factors involved in this phenomenon. The researchers developed a mobile device called TeacherMate, which contained a game designed to help children learn math. The unique part of this research was that the researchers interacted directly with the children; they did not channel the mobile devices through the teachers or the schools. Another important factor to consider: in order to understand the context of the children’s educational environment, the researchers began the project by working with parents and local nonprofits six months before their visit. While the results of this research are too detailed to go into here, it can be said that the researchers found that children can, indeed, adopt and teach themselves mobile learning technologies. What makes this research so interesting when thinking about the digital divide is that the researchers found that, in order to be effective, they had to customize their technology and tailor their implementation to the specific group they were trying to reach. One of their conclusions stated the following:
To read more about Dr. Kim’s project, locate the paper referenced in this sidebar. SummaryInformation technology has driven change on a global scale. As documented by Castells and Friedman, technology has given us the ability to integrate with people all over the world using digital tools. These tools have allowed businesses to broaden their labor pools, their markets, and even their operating hours. But they have also brought many new complications for businesses, which now must understand regulations, preferences, and cultures from many different nations. This new globalization has also exacerbated the digital divide. Nielsen has suggested that the digital divide consists of three stages (economic, usability, and empowerment), of which the economic stage is virtually solved. Study Questions
Exercises
What are the relationships between information systems and global business?Information systems have become essential for helping organizations deal with changes in global economies and the business enterprise. Information systems provide firms with communication and analytic tools for conducting trade and managing businesses on a global scale.
How are information systems transforming business what is their relationship to globalization?Organizations are trying to become more competitive and efficient by digitally enabling their core business processes and evolving into digital firms. The Internet has stimulated globalization by dramatically reducing the costs of producing, buying, and selling goods on a global scale.
What are the impacts of globalization on information systems?Globalization allows for quicker information transaction, quicker transportation, and a wider selection of mobility from country to country in order to find the most efficient and cost effective location.
What is the role of information technology in globalization?Technical equipment as cell phone, internet, telephone and microchip have contributed to globalisation by exchanging ideas, capital and people to make convenient to move from one place to another as a fast pace to stimulate the process of globalisation. With the help of internet we can find any thing on single click.
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