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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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Digital literacy of socially excluded adolescents
DOBIÁŠ, Václav
With the advent of digital technology into our lives, the fact that the socially weakest stratum of society is lagging behind in digital literacy is becoming increasingly apparent. This problem is referred to as the second form of the digital divide. Since it has not yet been sufficiently examined, we carried out qualitative research using the grounded theory method, aimed at identifying the causes leading to this second form of the digital divide and defining the development model for this inequality. The collection of data was conducted by means of students solving tasks focused on digital literacy. In the course of this process, the computer screen was recorded and the entire investigator-student communication was captured on an audio track. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the students and their teachers. On the basis of analysis of the data, we created a theory of learning to handle an unknown software program. The process of learning exposes the student to various problems. The strategy used by each student to address these is chosen by the person depending on their previous knowledge of and experience with similar situations, particularly with similar software. The effectiveness of the applied strategy is overseen by the student's metacognitive control mechanisms. On the basis of the results obtained, the student's learning may (or may not) occur that improves the person's knowledge and skills, thus influencing how he/she addresses similar problems in the future. We see the benefits of our theory in describing a process of independent learning in the specific world of digital technologies. This can make the theory highly beneficial for teaching informatics. On the basis of this theory we described differences between socially excluded students and the majority in learning how to handle unknown programs. On the basis of our research, we believe in the long term that the difference in speed of lifelong learning in the field of handling digital technologies is the root cause of the emergence of the digital divide. During data analysis we identified a total of eight factors influencing the speed of lifelong learning in this sector; half of these also directly affect the level of digital literacy through the ability to solve problems. The resulting theory describes the lifelong process of the emergence of the digital divide. We see the main gain of our work in the identification of the process of emergence of the digital divide.
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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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The Internet and socially disadvantaged people
Krátká, Tereza ; Lupač, Petr (advisor) ; Sedláčková, Markéta (referee)
The work deals with the issue of relations between social disadvantage (defined in four dimensions - economic, cultural, social and personal resources) and digital disadvantage of people in the Czech Republic (data from the Aktér 12 - 2011 research; 1106 respondents aged 18 to 89). The main hypothesis of the study verifies these assumptions: 1) socially disadvantaged persons will be more affected by digital disadvantage than people socially included; 2) regular use of Internet aids in overcoming mainly personal and cultural disadvantages; 3) social and digital inclusion correlate positively with some specific types of social and digital disadvantage. The research outputs confirm a strong positive relationship between social disadvantage (in its economic dimension) and digital disadvantage. In terms of cultural disadvantage/inclusion both the group of digitally disadvantaged and the group of digitally included are at the same level. Positive correlation between specific types of social/digital disadvantage and social/digital inclusion was not confirmed - socially included individuals do not show any significant signs of digital disadvantage; and socially disadvantaged people do not indicate any specific features of digital inclusion. Key words: Internet, digital disadvantage, digital divide, social...
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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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