Information and communication technologies in context
Contributors: Fortune, Joyce; Johnson, Hazel; Jones, Allan; Kear, Karen; White, Diana; Wilson, Gordon
Series: T324 Keeping ahead in information and communication technologies -- Block 3; T324 Keeping ahead in information and communication technologies -- Block 3.
Publisher: Open University
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Milton Keynes
Language: eng
Number of pages: 132
ISBN-13: 9780749218317
Subjects: Internet; Information technology; Data transmission systems
Other titles: Block 3 :
Notes: "This publication forms part of an Open University course T324 Keeping ahead in information and communication technologies."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part 1 Keeping ahead by avoiding failure; title: 1. Socio-technical systems and failures; title: 1.1 Introduction; title: 1.2 Intelligent transport systems; title: 1.3 Public transport information systems; title: 1.4 Summary; title: 2. Systems terminology; title: 2.1 Boundaries and environments; title: 2.2 Subsystems, hierarchies and processes; title: 2.3 Components of the environment; title: 2.4 Structure and emergence; title: 2.5 Summary; title: 3. Why do failures occur?; title: 4. The systems questions; title: 4.1 Questions on the system and its environment; title: 4.2 Questions on processes; title: 4.3 Questions on structures; title: 4.4 Technical questions; title: 4.5 Pragmatic questions; title: 4.6 Total or basic questions; title: 4.7 Questions on decisions, policies and the future; title: 4.8 Comments on the questions; title: 5. Tackling congestion; title: 5.1 Introduction; title: 5.2 Roadside information systems; title: 5.3 Congestion reduction system; title: 5.4 National Traffic Control Centre; title: 5.5 Summary; title: 6. Road pricing; title: 6.1 Introduction; title: 6.2 The system; title: 6.3 The technology; title: 6.4 Why reduce congestion? The Eddington Report; title: 6.5 Complexity and practicality; title: 6.6 Questions of performance; title: 7. Conclusion; title: Answers to self-assessment activities; title: References; title: Part 2 ICTs in the unequal world; title: 1. Introduction : the ICT revolution and developing countries; title: 2. The digital divide; title: 2.1 Examining lived experience : a case study of the digital divide in Uganda; title: 2.2 Activities of the project; title: 2.3 Five days in the life of the project; title: 2.4 Connecting the technological and the social; title: 2.5 ICT provision in Uganda, and bridging the digital divide; title: 2.6 Summary; title: 3. Keeping ahead with mobile telephony; title: 3.1 Introduction; title: 3.2 Telephones in Africa; title: 3.3 An approach to critical reading; title: 3.4 Reading articles on mobile telephony and international development; title: 3.5 Summary; title: 4. Keeping ahead in ICTs in the developing world; title: 4.1 Introduction; title: 4.2 Access to the technology; title: 4.3 Rapid development : China and India; title: 4.4 Conclusion; title: Glossary; title: Answers to the self-assessment activities; title: References; title: Acknowledgements.