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Narrowing the gap of the digital divide: how NSTL contributes
Xu, Xiaomu ; Leng, Ling
In China, a digital divide results from geographical conditions, unbalanced economic development, individual differences, and other factors. To bridge this gap and to weaken the polarisation between the “information wealthy” and the “information poor,” a federal, Internet-based library, the National Science and Technology Library (NSTL), has been founded. This paper will introduce what NSTL is and how NSTL contributes to narrowing the gaps in order to reduce differences between the two groups in access to science and technology information and resources. NSTL consists of 9 library members, all of which are national authoritative libraries in different disciplines, respectively covering the natural sciences, engineering, agriculture, medicine, standards, and other fields. First, to narrow the gap caused by geographical conditions, NSTL has built 40 service stations covering 29 provinces, thus forming a nationwide information service network with the help of local and industrial scientific information institutions. This action not only guarantees resource sharing to the whole country, but also improves the service abilities of local providers. Second, to narrow the gap caused by unbalanced economic development, approximately 25,000 types of print resources that are state-funded can be unconditionally supplied to the public at reasonable prices, especially with low prices for remote and poor areas. Document delivery services are ordered over 400,000 times every year. Nearly 4,000 kinds of electronic journals are free for all domestic welfare and educational group users via Internet protocol address permissions. Third, to narrow the gap caused by individual differences, NSTL provides an integrated discovery system on the basis of unified cataloguing so that everyone can search literature easily. NSTL also organises trainings and seminars across the country, introducing and promoting resources to all communities. In addition, NSTL strives to explore approaches to international information access and to foster cooperation opportunities in order to close the gaps between countries.
Fulltext: idr-1378_1_paper -  PDF
Slides: idr-1378_3_presentation - PDF
Video: idr-1378_2_video -  MP4
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Dehumanization as a risk factor for the use of digital technologies in the context of social work
Brezina, Lukáš ; Vrzáček, Petr (advisor) ; Müller, Karel (referee)
The thesis deals with the threat of dehumanization when applying digital technologies and robotics into social work. The work focuses on the history and origin of digital technologies within the context of social changes. It explores the basic rules governing elementary functioning and development of digital technologies and robotics. The thesis describes and summarizes basic information about the possibilities and risks of using digital technologies and robotics within social work. Towards the end it also includes opinions of several professional and political authorities who are active in this topic. This thesis aims to trigger the debate over the possible threats connected to dehumanization of social work and the use of digital technologies and robotics, respectively make it more intensive.
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The political dimension of social exclusion of elderly people as a result of the digital divide
Chmelíková, Tereza ; Kotrusová, Miriam (advisor) ; Potůček, Martin (referee)
The diploma thesis deals with the phenomenon of the digital divide and its influence on the quality of life of seniors. The digital divide - a product of the modern information society - is one of the major factors influencing the social exclusion of elderly people. The theoretical part of theses introduces the concept of active aging as a way of successful solving problems associated with the population ageing, as well as a prevention of the exclusion of seniors from both society and participation in public affairs. The author mainly focuses on the issue of how are seniors in the Czech Republic at risk of exclusion as a result of digital exclusion. In the practical part, the present level of digital literacy of Czech seniors is explored. Following qualitative research - semi-structured interviews with experts - aims to find out whether the digital divide represents a social problem for the elderly people in the Czech Republic that contributes to their inequal position among the society, or even causes their exclusion from the participation in governance, and consequently, reduces the quality of their lives.
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Internet and mobile phone diffusion and its determinants
Kračmerová, Veronika ; Polák, Petr (advisor) ; Serdarevič, Goran (referee)
This thesis examines determinants of an Internet and mobile phones diffusion and potentially different impacts of these determinants in case of developing and developed countries. For this purpose panel data from 199 countries for period from 1995 to 2012 are used. There is a number of variables including economic, technological, political and human capital factors. Benefits of this thesis are that the research uses updated dataset and it also adds new variables into its econometric model. This thesis also examines in detail the adoption of information and communication technologies in the Czech Republic, which has not been published previously. One of the conclusions is a finding that penetration of mobile phones and the Internet is faster in developing countries than in developed countries. Fixed effects method in the global testing also showed that the economic wealth of a country is an important determinant for the Internet only for developed countries, while for the mobile phones the GDP is a significant variable in both groups of countries. Analysis of the Czech Republic brings different results for both technologies, but the unemployment rate, which was added to the basic model, has proven to be an important determinant for both the Internet and mobile phones. Key words: Mobile phone,...
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The cultural capital in the information age
Chrobáková, Alena ; Lupač, Petr (advisor) ; Šubrt, Jiří (referee)
Diploma thesis is focused on social stratification aspects of internet use, as a part of leisure time activities and consequently as a potential part of cultural capital. The main objective of this paper is to make a link between Bourdieusian tradition of research of cultural capital and research tradition of stratification aspects of internet use (especially digital divide). The author is trying to prove if the type of internet usage could be considered as a part of cultural capital. In the first, theoretical part of this text, the author is presenting both research traditions concerned, trying to synthetize them and concluding that internet usage can be considered as a capital. In the second, analytical part of this paper, the author is using data from World Internet Project to provide, that the theoretical synthesis have some empirical support. The analysis proves that the structure of Czech internet users' activities are differentiated by their cultural capital level. On the basis of this analysis, we can conclude that more powerful differentiation between types of internet usages is provided by traditional form of cultural capital, rather than by the emerging one. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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The issue of openness of the Czech traditional media towards Internet non-users
Macek, Oskar ; Lupač, Petr (advisor) ; Sládek, Jan (referee)
This paper deals theoretically and empirically with the issue of traditional media openness towards Internet non-users and its perception among non-users themselves. The theoretical part of the work outlines the problem of inequality in the information society and how specific content of messages in selected traditional media can contribute to these inegualities. The second part examines through a pilot content analysis the nature of the media content in the traditional Czech mass media with regard to the possibility of interaction and participation with the media and the usage of links to the digital content. On this basis, semi-structured interviews examine perception and reflection of such phenomena on a selected group of elderly non-users. The conclusion of this work consists of the introduction of the scheme of factors influencing the extent of perceived discrimination among non-users of the Internet in relation to traditional mass media.
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European Union information policy at the time of the Bangemann's activities in comparison with USA
Mikanová, Helena ; Vlasák, Rudolf (advisor) ; Očko, Petr (referee)
(in English) The thesis "Information Policy of European Union in Bangemann's activities period in comparison with USA" is devoted to the Information policy issue applied by the European Union and the United States of America. The thesis structure is defined at the earliest; afterwards the basic terms are followed. The thesis describes the European Union history, which provides context needed to be able to understand the European Union Information policy. The description and evaluation of the European Information policy in Bangemann's activities period in comparison with USA in the same time period and the possibility of mutual utilization of pros of the Information policy of both countries is the aim of this thesis. The following part is occupied with the comparison of EU and USA Information policy at the beginning of 21st century.
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Application possibilities of the concept of open education at Czech universities
Bušek, Kamil ; Eger, Ludvík (advisor) ; Kopecký, Martin (referee)
5 Abstract: In the introduction the theoretical and philosophical bases are discussed and related to specifics in education in postmodern society. The following are definitions of the historical development of distance education. The key elements of the work are characteristic of The Open University and Open Educational Resources initiative. In both cases, the use SWOT analysis in which it is included also a general appreciation of the advantages the use of e-learning. Specifically, in the case of the Open University is first summarized the historical development in the context of social change from 60th to 90th years of the 20th century. Following evaluation of the current state of the multiple viewpoints. The challenge is to become familiar with current educational offer and new trends that raises this institution. In the case of OER is first placed emphasis on the definition and delimitation of specific outputs inciativy both the institutional background and specific projects implemented non-profit and private sectors. The final part is devoted to a survey of the current state of Czech universities, namely offer distance learning, e-learning courses and degree of openness of access to educational materials. Author 's notes specific strengths and weaknesses and suggests possible improvements to the...
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Mobile technology as a tool for management and teaching in elementary and secondary education
Jeništová, Jana ; Svoboda, Petr (advisor) ; Tureckiová, Michaela (referee)
The primary aim of the thesis concerning mobile technology as a tool for management and teaching at school is to describe the current status of ICT at school from two perspectives: From the management perspective as well as from the perspective of school education. Further, to look through the state policy in education, Annual report of the Czech School Inspectorate statistics CSO and professional literature in this area at the current state of technology introduction at present-day schools. To capture the view of Experts on the new trends that penetrate to us from abroad. To gather by means of quantitative research of the randomly selected sample of respondents what are the possibilities and benefits of technology and knowledge of new trends in our conditions (BYOT). To verify by means of research how this issue is perceived and accepted by current teachers and leaders at schools in the Prague region and in several other regions of the Czech Republic. The conclusion tries to summarize and on the basis of the research results to show needs, opportunities and benefits of mobile technology for the school and its clients. KEYWORDS: ICT, digital technology, iPad, laptop, netbook, smartphone, applications, educational software, BYOD, BYOT, digital divide, digital native, digital immigrant
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Exploring the Social Conditionality of the Contemporary Mode of Technological Development: Beyond the Edge of the (Research on) the Digital Divide.
Lupač, Petr ; Suša, Oleg (advisor) ; Müller, Karel (referee) ; Jirák, Jan (referee)
In his dissertation thesis, the author elaborates on a new position from which both information society theory and digital divide research could be analyzed as active participants in a large-scale societal reconstruction. The text begins with the reconstruction of the argumentation core of information society theories, which is then utilized when choosing their latest, most respected, and most elaborated version. In the following chapter, the author presents the composition of Manuel Castells' information society theory and its tight relationship with the digital divide issue. In the final parts of this chapter, the author reveals the key position of the digital divide issue in solving the contradictions and negative aspects of informatization. The chapter is concluded by finding out the absence of the link between digital divide and information society theory in the preceding criticism of Castells' work. In the fourth part, the development, arguments, and empirical evidence of the digital divide research are presented, followed by identification of the limits of contemporary academic digital divide discourse. In the sixth chapter, the author tries to overcome these limits by proposing a new empirical evidence better fitting model of the digital divide. The thesis is concluded by thinking over the...
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