Profound Technological Changes Research Articles

Globalization and the new international trade environment

The combination of profound technological change and the emergence of powerful competitors such as China and the other bric countries has led to dramatic shifts in competitiveness and a tendency for production to be structured around global value chains. Against this background, traditional protectionist threats have reappeared and others have arisen in connection with new security requirements, private-sector quality standards, good practices and climate change. These issues are integral to the new competitive environment but could turn into protectionist barriers in the absence of the right multilateral approach. In view of this and of the current global crisis, the present paper offers some policy proposals oriented towards the adoption of an internationalization strategy in the region’s countries, emphasizing the importance of innovation and on issues that can be addressed from a regional cooperation standpoint.

On the significance of capitalization: The value of literature with capital L

The essay rehearses the often obscured entanglement of Literature and value by taking at its premise the historical emergence of the concept of literary value as tied to the realm of economics in the 18th century. A brief genealogical investigation of their confluence shows the privileged ontological status of Literature as a function of discourse implicated in classical economics’ labour theory of value that accompanies also the birth of aesthetic judgement. Once at the apex of the Humanities, where the knowledge of literary texts signified cultural achievement, ‘the worth of the value’ of Bildung (education), of capitalised Literature and of reading has diminished greatly in today’s world. Under threat by entrepreneurialism made possible by new advancing and exponentially expanding digital mnemotechnical devices that are overtaking print culture, the study of Literature, and with it the Humanities, are losing ground. Interest in questions of ‘literary value’, together with renewed reflection on the “singularity” of Literature, it is argued, are symptomatic of profound changes in cultural technology that require literary studies to rethink language as precisely a writer’s and a reader’s “capital”, and to revisit the oikonomia of language as the place of world-modelling and world-making.

A New World View: Education in a Global Era

Guest editors Stewart and Kagan reflect on what the articles in this special section have taught us about the impact of globalization on education systems around the world. They conclude with recommendations for steps the U.S. can take to advance its own role in the ongoing development of international education. AFTER THE discovery of atomic fission, Albert Einstein said, Everything has changed except the way we think. While less cataclysmic, the quickening pace of globalization over the past 20 years--driven by the profound technological changes described by Thomas Friedman in The World Is Flat; by the economic resurgence of China, Russia, and India; and by the accelerating pace of scientific discovery--has produced a whole new world. The implications of these changes are not completely clear, but it is clear that the changes will be profound. Information, people, and ideas now traverse the globe with unprecedented speed and frequency. Perhaps even more important, such internationalization affects every field of endeavor. Yet somewhat ironically, our educational discourse is largely stuck in a time warp, framed by issues and standards set decades before the widespread use of the personal computer, the Internet, and free trade agreements. But we can no more afford to isolate ourselves educationally than we can economically or in terms of national security. At the same time, other countries such as China, Russia, India, South Africa, Chile, Jordan, and Brazil, to mention but a few, are reexamining their education systems and making fundamental reforms in response to changed political conditions and demographic shifts and in order to prepare their students to be successful in the knowledge-intensive, high-tech, and globalized economy. They and other nations around the world are eager to share their own experiences and effective practices and to learn from the educational choices made by other countries. COMMON CHALLENGES Clearly, because of widely differing historical, social, and economic contexts, the nations of the world are at very different stages of progress in education and child development services. But as economies in most of the world become more knowledge-intensive and as populations press for greater opportunities for their children, governments face many similar challenges as they seek to expand access to education and child development services; to increase the quality, effectiveness, and accountability of their investments in these areas; and to wrestle with new issues brought on by globalization itself. 1. Increasing access. Worldwide, access to education has improved greatly over the past 30 years. Enormous expansions of basic education in countries as different as South Africa and Turkey have helped to open up societies in ways unimaginable a generation ago. But much remains to be done--110 million children around the world, including over 60 million girls, do not go to school at all. The high returns on investments in basic education in terms of health and economic development suggest the urgency of creating effective national and international responses to the Millennium Development Goal of getting all children into basic education by 2015. Even where children are enrolled in school, the overwhelming challenge remains to narrow the achievement gaps between poor children and their more affluent peers and between children in cities and those in rural areas. The nature of a society's expenditures and policies can have a major impact on the size of these gaps and is an important area for cross-national discussion. (1) More recently, some societies have begun to invest in early childhood services on a large scale. These investments have been spurred by research on the early development of the brain; by longitudinal evaluations of early intervention programs that demonstrate the benefits of early childhood education for children's cognitive, social, and emotional development as well as their longer-term success in school and in the labor force; and by the significant cost savings that accrue to those societies that provide the benefit of high-quality early education. …

Enterprise skills and enterprise learning

In an era marked by profound technological change young people must prepare for a future in which rapid innovation is accompanied by the passing of traditional social norms such as career paths and job security. This calls for a level of self‐reliance, self‐determination and preparedness for life‐long learning not required in previous generations. Traditional measures of academic success overlook the broader skill set that is needed for success in the new environment. Emotional intelligence and enterprise skills now form part of a fundamental skill set which has not been given prominence in a traditional school curriculum designed towards a job outcome. Young people need not be victims of change. Parents, educators and entrepreneurial role models in the wider community can all play a role in preparing young people for a life of purpose in which they are aware of and can draw on their talents and abilities.

Reload: rethinking women + cyberculture

From the Publisher: Most writing on cyberculture is dominated by two almost mutually exclusive visions: the heroic image of the male outlaw hacker and the utopian myth of a gender-free cyberworld. Reload offers an alternative picture of cyberspace as a complex and contradictory place where there is oppression as well as liberation. It shows how cyberpunk's revolutionary claims conceal its ultimate conservatism on matters of class, gender, and race. The cyberfeminists writing here view cyberculture as a social experiment with an as-yet-unfulfilled potential to create new identities, relationships, and cultures. The book brings together women's cyberfiction--fiction that explores the relationship between people and virtual technologies--and feminist theoretical and critical investigations of gender and technoculture. From a variety of viewpoints, the writers consider the effects of rapid and profound technological change on culture, in particular both the revolutionary and reactionary effects of cyberculture on women's lives. They also explore the feminist implications of the cyborg, a human-machine hybrid. The writers challenge the conceptual and institutional rifts between high and low culture, which are embedded in the texts and artifacts of cyberculture.

A Progress Report: Drug Information from 1970 to 2000

The technology available for the support of pharmaceutical company drug information department activities in 1970 is described as a baseline for enumerating and evaluating the fundamental and profound technological changes of the final three decades of the twentieth century. These changes have altered rates and methods of accessing drug information, approaches taken in evaluating information, and the speed at which information is provided to inquirers. These alterations, and the accompanying changes in the nature and quality of drug information services currently provided, are discussed in detail.

Policies for an information society

We are undergoing profound technological change and countries all over the world are responding by developing policies that are intended to shape the development of information societies. The goals of these policies are remarkably similar, although it is possible to identify differences in the motivating factors. When considering the mechanisms that have been chosen to achieve the policy goals, it is possible to identify two broadly divergent models. One is based on neo‐liberal economic philosophies and emphasises the importance of market‐led solutions, exploiting private capital. This approach has been adopted by the G7 nations, the European Union and Western‐oriented economies such as Australia. The alternative model can be described as dirigiste. It is based on a much greater degree of intervention and, consequently, places more emphasis on the role of the state as a participant rather than as a facilitator. This approach is characteristic of the economies in East Asia. While it is early yet to identify the effects of the policies, it is possible to discern differences in the rates of social change and economic growth; the degree of stability and social cohesion and in what is becoming known as the cultural ecology of the information society. The broad lesson seems to be that, when dealing with a pervasive social, political, economic and cultural phenomenon, neo‐liberal policy mechanisms with their emphasis on narrow economic solutions are inadequate. The holistic approach that is characterised by the dirigiste model seems more appropriate.

From Telecommunication to Traffic Distribution

Summary: Telecommunications have undergone profound technological, economic and regulatory changes over the past fifteen years. In particular, the widening range of services provided and the proliferation and interconnection of networks have increasingly dissociated subscribers from traffic on a network. The network is less and less a closed sphere linking subscribers whose traffic it "produces". Networks, and specifically télédistribution, mobile and data transmission networks, carry traffic that is no longer generated by their subscribers alone. The network economy is thus becoming increasingly similar to the distribution economy. The massive introduction of intelligent service - which in many respects resembles intelligent distribution and is increasingly characteristic of service providers' added value - is reflected in a mutation in the way financial markets value telecommunications businesses.

Early Graphic Design Periodicals in America

Trade magazines function as professional communication networks, defining professions in themselves and to others. Over time, by their choice of subjects and presentation, they reveal, either explicitly or implicitly, the history of a profession, its changing practices, and its relationship to the larger culture. While graphic design was only recognized as a separate profession in the early twentieth century, its antecedents are to be found in the journals of related professions. American graphic design magazines first appeared in the 1920s. But the graphic designer's interests in typography, layout, and illustration were addressed much earlier in publications for less specialized and more diverse audiences. Magazines devoted to printing, typography, advertising, and fine arts, and, to a lesser degree, to book publishing and paper manufacture, were all considered relevant to the interests of the graphic designer well into the twentieth century. The present article traces the development of graphic design by analysing the editorial content of those early periodicals that were forerunners of American graphic design journals. It identifies the themes with which they were concerned and that shaped the beginnings of the profession. Raising educational and craft standards, supporting workers' rights, monitoring and standardizing business practices, publicizing the importance of advertising to America's economy, and raising aesthetic standards were important issues at different times and for different kinds of journals. The profound technological changes of the industrial revolution dramatically altered the practices of all the crafts and led to increased specialization. Printers, advertisers, and artist-illustrators sought to define their relationship to new concepts of applied art and design. English design theory and practice, British Art Nouveau, the Arts and Crafts movement and William Morris's Kelmscott Press influenced both the ideas and the look of American trade publications.2 In particular, these movements reawakened an interest in typography and fine printing. By oo900, however, some of Morris's earliest admirers adopted a more classical style. Both styles continued to inspire private press printers, as well as commercial jobbers and advertisers, into the second decade of the century. The two currents are reflected in the trade magazines. This study focuses on magazines that were published either in the United States, or were important to graphic designers in the United States, from their inception in the mid-185os until the early 1920S. It suggests that the graphic design periodicals had their beginnings in three types of publications: those serving the printing trades and type foundries, the advertising business, and the fine arts. Once the profession achieved a more clearly defined identity in the 1920s, journals devoted exclusively to graphic design appeared. Publications are grouped into three major categories: printers' and type founder's journals, advertising journals, and art journals. The discussion proceeds chronologically within the categories.

Towards a network of regions: The United States of Europe

Abstract Starting from the changing role of governments in planning (physical, environmental, economic, etc.), this paper calls attention to the drastic structural changes taking place in the regional scene after the transition towards market orientation and global competitiveness. The main focus is on European developments. In addition to économie forces, two phenomena will be highlighted, namely, the transition towards a network economy and the profound technological changes taking place at the regional and urban level Particular attention will be devoted to European spatial dynamics in a networked society. Various new geographical configurations and maps of Europe will be shown, followed by some exploratory remarks on future trends. The main message of the paper is that transport planning in Europe needs to be integrated with the emerging new economic networks. The paper ends with some policy conclusions.

Use of microcomputers in training special education teachers

In a 1982 report, the Office of Technology Assessment observed that modern society is undergoing profound technological and social changes brought about by what has been called the information revolution. This information revolution has already created major demands for changing education practices and will undoubtedly alter the face of education in the future. The microcomputer is one of the prime movers of the revolution. While the computer has long been capable of facilitating classroom instruction, providing teacher training, and assisting school management and administration, until recently, the expense of computer technology has prevented the wholesale utilization of this resource. Recent advances in the computer industry, however, have resulted in the production of relatively inexpensive commercially available microcomputers that are readily accessible to teachers and students. Although microcomputers appear to have major implications for training special education teachers, there is virtually no empirical information available to guide efforts in this area (Rieth & Semmel, 1979). The available information related to the effectiveness of computer-based instruction in higher education, however, is encouraging. In this paper, we briefly review research on the effectiveness of computer-based instruc

Is International Coercion Waning or Rising?

During the past decade or so, a growing number of specialists in international relations have perceived changes in the international system that pointed to a decline in the utility and use of military force' and have raised the question of whether other capabilities, among them economic leverage, were not being exercised to an increasing extent. Among these was the present author in a book On the Uses of Military Power in the Nitclear Age which was written in 1965 and published in 1966. Subsequent writers have carried this sort of speculation much farther and have claimed that the traditional international system is, in this and related respects, undergoing rapid and fundamental transformation. The article by James N. Rosenau on Capabilities and Control in an Interdependent World in the fall issue of International Security is a good example of this literature. I will bypass the question of whether international behavior is experiencing what is sometimes called a systemic change. The question is not very fruitful as long as people do not specify the criterion or criteria by which we can distinguish between change of a system of behavior and change in a system. Two further caveats are in order. It is obviously hazardous to derive clear-cut trends from the ambiguous events of a short period of time. As historians know, much of human behavior is inescapably ambiguous. It is capable of alternative explanations and no inference can be compelling. To project into the future trends we believe we have identified is even more hazardous. If only because they disadvantage some people, while advantaging others, trends have a way of provoking countertrends that modify or even dominate outcomes. Conjectures about the future of the employment of force would profit from recalling that the military sovereignty of organized communities, and resort to force for settling conflicts, have so far survived many and profound changes in science and technology, political and economic regimes, religions and cultures. To posit their declinenot as a temporary but as a permanent thing-is a bold prognosis. It may prove correct, but we cannot know whether it will or not. These strictures will and should not stop thoughtful speculation which, after all, is not only inevitable but can also be variously useful. We must not pretend, however, that we are dealing in more than suppositions.

The Modernizing of Communication: Vernacular Publishing in Nineteenth Century Maharashtra

One of the most profound technological changes that Indian society has experienced in the last hundred years has occurred in its methods of communication. This is the change from a primarily oral system of communication, in which most texts were sacred ones, to a primarily written system utilizing the printing press, which was introduced generally into India at about the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is assumed in a general way that communicative modernization must have produced changes in the nature of relationships in India, but only recently has the relationship between communicative modernization and sociopolitical change in India begun to be examined.1 Interest in the relationship between communication and sociopolitical change in India has been stimulated by the writings of Karl Deutsch, who has analyzed the phenomenon of nationalism as a product of the system of communication through which particular groups perceive their common interest and common identity. In Deutsch's words, Membership in a people . . . consists in the ability to communicate more effectively over a wider range of subj ects with members of one large group than with outsiders.2 This sense of membership is spread by a network of communicative channels uniting the political, economic and administrative centers of a territory with more isolated outlying areas.3 The process by which people within a territory come to perceive their commonalty through these communication channels, Deutsch has termed social mobilization. Deutsch's various analyses of the formation of national states in Europe indicate that the process of mobilization underlies both the formation of the ideology of nationalism and the development of the institution of national states. Since mobilization is a communicative process, its measurement requires close attention to communicative media and institutions. These have received perhaps less attention than they deserve in the literature dealing with Europe, since printing and the communicative modes associated with it have been well established there for some centuries. But this is not