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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Media, information & communication industries > Information technology industries
This book is a multidisciplinary study of the translation and localisation of video games. It offers a descriptive analysis of the industry - understood as a global phenomenon in entertainment - and aims to explain the norms governing present industry practices, as well as game localisation processes. Additionally, it discusses particular translation issues that are unique to the multichannel nature of video games, in which verbal and nonverbal signs must be cohesively combined with interactivity to achieve maximum playability and immerse players in the game's virtual world. Although positioned within the theoretical framework of descriptive translation studies, Bernal-Merino incorporates research from audiovisual translation, software localisation, computer assisted translation, comparative literature, and video game production. Moving beyond this framework, Translation and Localisation in Video Games challenges some of the basic tenets of translation studies and proposes changes to established and unsatisfactory processes in the video game and language services industries.
Blogging and other types of social media such as wikis and social networking sites have transformed the way we use the internet in recent years. It is a transformation that business is eager to exploit. In order to do so, a clear commercial strategy needs to be established; does your organization wish to use the media actively as a business tool, or do you need to respond to the use of social media by others? Blogging and Other Social Media will address this question with practical guidance on using social media as well as the risks associated with it. A collaboration by leading thinkers and business users of social media, the book contains detailed and practical advice on the various forms of social media - their applications, advantages and disadvantages, how these technologies are evolving, and whether or not their use will benefit your business. The section covering social media and the law explains the risks and remedies related to abuse of copyright, defamation, privacy, data protection and user contracts as well as the opportunities and threats for online reputation. If you are looking to encourage your employees but want to protect your business from the threats this emerging media presents, get a copy of this practical guide and study it before you start including social media as part of your corporate marketing or communications strategy.
Open Innovation describes an emergent model of innovation in which firms draw on research and development that may lie outside their own boundaries. In some cases, such as open source software, this research and development can take place in a non-proprietary manner. Henry Chesbrough and his collaborators investigate this phenomenon, linking the practice of innovation to the established body of innovation research, showing what's new and what's familiar in the process. Offering theoretical explanations for the use (and limits) of open innovation, the book examines the applicability of the concept, implications for the boundaries of firms, the potential of open innovation to prove successful, and implications for intellectual property policies and practices. The book will be key reading for academics, researchers, and graduate students of innovation and technology management.
Global corporations initiate, join and maintain socio-technological change and hence, alter the ways in which we organize our lives. Demanding significant investment of resources and time, the development and implementation of new technologies on different levels must take into consideration these subtle processes. As such, it is particularly important that we have a greater insight into the practices of hi-tech corporations, in view of the often inflated promises of and concerns about the destiny of technological breakthroughs, especially those promising sizeable economic outcomes and societal transformation. Elena Simakova undertook a lengthy ethnographic study, working alongside marketing managers in a global IT corporation in their Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in the UK. Using the experience gained through a close participation in their everyday corporate rituals and routines, her account challenges common perceptions of how corporations make the world think and act with regard to technologies in particular ways. The book contains an interesting case study on the launch of a radio frequency identification (RFID) based solution. Unravelling the construction of expectations, inclusions and exclusions around emerging technologies, this reflexive account also tackles uneasy practical and methodological questions pertinent to corporate ethnography. This book is an essential read for scholars in science and technology studies, economic sociology, anthropology, as well as management and organizational studies and research policy.
Research interest in the service sector has boomed in recent years as deindustrialisation became entrenched. Instead of being regarded as merely supplementary to traditional industry and manufacturing, services have generated progressively rising levels of growth in developed economies while at the same time coming to be recognised as major drivers of innovation. Among the factors which have helped service companies notch up swifter growth rates than all other sectors are the outsourcing of such services by other sectors, including the development of information and communication technologies, and changes to the regulatory, legal and market frameworks as well as globalisation and internationalisation. The result is a cluster of highly innovative firms which can loosely be grouped under the heading of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS). Knowledge Intensive Business Services and Regional Competitiveness charts the development of these firms and explores their success through four mutually linked parts: KIBS and industrial dynamics; KIBS and their context; KIBS and their contribution to regional competitiveness and economic development; and finally, KIBS and public policy. This book is suitable for researchers and policy makers interested in the rise of these influential actors and their influence on regional competitiveness.
As economic activity has become more information-intensive and ideas about the information society have been canvassed widely, information technology has overshadowed thinking about the role of communication and information. In the advanced economies investment in information-handling equipment has grown rapidly in importance and almost throughout the world telecommunications facilities are advocated as the leading edge of development.This wide-ranging collection charts the responses of the economics discipline to these changes, initially slowly but with gathering pace, as communication and information have moved from the sidelines to centre stage. This book will be an indispensible reference source by all those in the economics community, those interested in information science, library studies and communication.
The selected papers in this volume bear witness to a maturing of
High Technology Small Firms (HTSF) research. In the past, HTSF
research has produced some solid findings, but also several
paradoxes: shedding more light on the unintended and paradoxical
effects of technology developments regarding HTSFs is now one of
the aims of research in this field, and an observed change in the
focus of the research agenda is reflected in this book.
MANAGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS, 6e, International Edition offers the "behind-the-scene" aspect of technology. By weaving together theory and practice, this text presents an understandable, integrated view of the many concepts skills, tools, and techniques involved in project management.
Identifying security gaps in an organisation's information systems is a first and vital step in protecting data and information. This is what makes the role of an information security (or assurance) auditor so important. However, this is a role that is often maligned as a 'check list monkey' who adds nothing to the business. This practical book confronts this stereotype and gives an excellent introduction to the role, covering areas such as purpose, required skills, responsibilities, interface and career progression as well as tools, standards and frameworks related to the role. Based on the author's extensive experience, it gives practical guidance to those new to the role or interested in developing a better understanding of what it entails.
An approach to reinvigorating economic competition that doesn't break up corporate giants, but compels them to share their technology, data, and knowledge "Bessen is a master of unpacking the nuances of a complex array of interrelated trends to build a coherent story of how the promise of the democratized Internet ended up under the control of just a few. Read The New Goliaths to see how the forest came to have only room for a few tall trees with the rest of us in the undergrowth."-Joshua Gans, coauthor of Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence Historically, competition has powered progress under capitalism. Companies with productive new products rise to the top, but sooner or later, competitors come along with better innovations and disrupt the threat of monopoly. Dominant firms like Walmart, Amazon, and Google argue that this process of "creative destruction" prevents them from becoming too powerful or entrenched. But the threat of competition has sharply decreased over the past twenty years, and today's corporate giants have come to power by using proprietary information technologies to create a tilted playing field. This development has increased economic inequality and social division, slowed innovation, and allowed dominant firms to evade government regulation. In the face of increasing calls to break up the largest companies, James Bessen argues that a better way to restore competitive balance and dynamism is to encourage or compel these companies to share technology, data, and knowledge.
Recent years have seen a growth in strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions and collaborative networks involving knowledge-intensive and hi-tech industries. However, there have been relatively few studies looking at this form of collaboration as a strategy to drive firms' innovative performances. This book specifically focuses on the role of strategic alliances, M&A and innovation networks, providing insights on if and how they contribute to boosting firms' innovation performances. The book has a double purpose. Firstly, it investigates at an industry level the role played by the alliance, M&As and networks in high-tech environments such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical, software and nanotechnology in creating, transforming and reshaping the dynamics inside and between industries. Secondly, it explores the impact at the firm level of factors such as cognitive distance, management capabilities, and relational and social capabilities, on firms' global innovation capacity, measured as innovation quantity, innovation quality and innovation novelty. The book will be of interest to scholars working on the economics of innovation, innovation management studies, strategic management, regional science and evolutionary economics, among other areas.
In today's knowledge-driven economy, the ability to share insight and know-how is essential for driving innovation and growth. In this groundbreaking volume, scholars from around the world demonstrate how communication and information technologies are enabling dynamic project design and management practices that challenge traditional concepts of time, space and behavior. Showcasing experiments in architecture, engineering, and construction design--employing technological infrastructures that link people and their ideas across physical, intellectual, and cultural boundaries--the authors consider such issues as the links between "competence" and "innovation" and between individual and collective knowledge. At the heart of their analysis is the realization that technological innovation is chiefly a social activity. The implications are profound for the practical management of complex design projects, experiments in distance learning and virtual teams, and emerging theoretical concepts of collaborative learning and innovation.
This book investigates the contextual factors that led to Korean society becoming 'broadband heaven' - the most wired nation in the world - by scrutinizing the historical contexts surrounding the Korean Information Infrastructure (KII) project (1995-2005), which aimed to establish a nationwide high-speed backbone network, as well as its later evolution, which involved redesigning the public infrastructure. The book details the hidden mechanisms and the real elements of building the 'broadband heaven': the global constraints conditioning its telecom policies, the dense state-capital linkages, and the bureaucratic desire for social control. It draws on the state-in-society approach to analyze the deformations caused by the symbiosis between the state and big business in implementing the rosy vision of the broadband network. This book provides insights into how to formulate future telecom policies along much more democratically participatory lines while restraining the overwhelming power of the telecom oligopolies and conglomerates. It stands alone as a comprehensive study of the recent East Asian model of IT development, written specifically to examine Korea's socio-historical mechanisms for promoting physical speed and broadband mobility. This book will be important reading to anyone interested in Korean Studies, Information Technology and I.T. Development.
Building Blocks is the history of Buckeye CableSystem. Buckeye is part of a family empire started in 1900 by the son of an immigrant in upstate New York. This book is a fascinating tale of the family's progression into the fourth generation and through the myriad of daily newspapers, radio and television stations, cablevision firms, a telephone company, a fiber-optic construction company, and other related communications and advertising firms which the family owns or has owned. This book shows some of the trials and tribulations faced by family members as they employ a nimble strategy to compete with the industry behemoths. It also examines the unique factors that have spelled success for 50 years and looks at what the competitive future holds for smaller cable and Internet firms Buckeye's size.
The emergence of highly promising and potent technologies has enabled the transition of ordinary objects into smart artifacts-providing wider connectivity of digitized entities that can facilitate the building of connected cities. This book provides readers with a solid foundation on the latest technologies and tools required to develop and enhance smart cities around the world. The book begins by examining the rise of the cloud as the fundamental technology for establishing and sustaining smart cities and enterprises. Explaining the principal technologies and platform solutions for implementing intelligent cities, the book details the role of various technologies, standards, protocols, and tools in establishing flexible homes and the buildings of the future. Examines IT platforms and tools from various product vendors Considers service-oriented architecture and event-driven architecture for smart city applications Explains how to leverage big data analytics for smart city enhancement and improved decision making Includes case studies of intelligent cities, smart homes, buildings, transports, healthcare systems, and airports The authors explore the convergence of cloud computing and enterprise architecture and present valuable information on next-generation cloud computing. They also cover the various architectural types, including enterprise-scale integration, security, management, and governance. The book concludes by explaining the various security requirements of intelligent cities as well as the threats and vulnerabilities of the various components that form the basis of the intelligent city framework, including cloud, big data, Internet of Things, and mobile technologies.
The development of the information technology (IT) industry in the Asia Pacific region faces two challenges. Firstly, can its established physical, technical, regional and governance infrastructures be adapted to meet the challenges embedded in the set of products and processes created by the IT industry? Secondly, as this adaptation evolves, which cities and regions will be best suited to connect to or lead global responses to these challenges? The chapters in this book have set out to explore these questions, providing details of change in a range of aspects of the IT industry such as mobile phones, software services, and flat screen design in regions in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, China and Australia. The book also outlines the policy responses of national and regional governments in Singapore, India and China and India. These case studies provide a basis to understand effective strategies which could be formulated for the future. This book's originality emerges from the fine detail provided about firms, in particular regions and cities, from research carried out by young scholars in the past two years. This makes it very useful for readers keen to understand the recent changes in this dynamic industry in a fast growth part of the world, and it will also help to shape thinking by policy makers on policy settings that can be applied.
The global impact of so-called 'offshoring', including of information technology (IT) and related services, continues to be a topic of great interest to academics, practitioners and policy makers. The Indian IT industry has sustained high levels of growth in revenues and employment since the late 1980s. Even following the global financial crisis and meltdown in 2008, the industry has reported growth, albeit at a lower rate. Furthermore, the high rates of technological change and increased competition has forced businesses and managers to be innovative and create new business models. This book examines how managers and entrepreneurs in the Indian IT industry have explored and exploited human capital opportunities at various stages of the industry's evolution to create innovative human resources (HR) practices and new business models. Based on extensive academic research and deep reflective practitioner accounts, this collection presents expert content, views and a coherent picture of the challenges and changes in the Indian IT industry and analyses how the industry has remained competitive in a constantly changing environment. This book will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners, particularly in the fields of human resources and strategic management.
An accessible and timely guide to increasing female presence and leadership in tech companies Tech giants like Apple and Google are among the fastest growing companies in the world, leading innovations in design and development. The industry continues to see rapid growth, employing millions of people: in the US it is at the epicenter of the American economy. So why is it that only 5% of senior executives in the tech industry are female? Underrepresentation of women on boards of directors, in the C-suite, and as senior managers remains pervasive in this industry. As tech companies are plagued with high-profile claims of harassment and discrimination, and salary discrepancies for comparable work, one asks what prevents women from reaching management roles, and, more importantly, what can be done to fix it? The Future of Tech is Female considers the paradoxes involved in women's ascent to leadership roles, suggesting industry-wide solutions to combat gender inequality. Drawing upon 15 years of experience in the field, Douglas M. Branson traces the history of women in the information technology industry in order to identify solutions for the issues facing women today. Branson explores a variety of solutions such as mandatory quota laws for female employment, pledge programs, and limitations on the H1-B VISA program, and grapples with the challenges facing women in IT from a range of perspectives. Branson unpacks the plethora of reasons women should hold leadership roles, both in and out of this industry, concluding with a call to reform attitudes toward women in one particular IT branch, the video and computer gaming field, a gateway to many STEM futures. An invaluable resource for anyone invested in gender equality in corporate governance, The Future of Tech is Female lays out the first steps toward a more diverse future for women in tech leadership
This book is a multidisciplinary study of the translation and localisation of video games. It offers a descriptive analysis of the industry understood as a global phenomenon in entertainment and aims to explain the norms governing present industry practices, as well as game localisation processes. Additionally, it discusses particular translation issues that are unique to the multichannel nature of video games, in which verbal and nonverbal signs must be cohesively combined with interactivity to achieve maximum playability and immerse players in the game s virtual world. Although positioned within the theoretical framework of descriptive translation studies, Bernal-Merino" "incorporates research from audiovisual translation, software localisation, computer assisted translation, comparative literature, and video game production. Moving beyond this framework, Translation and Localisation in Video Games challenges some of the basic tenets of translation studies and proposes changes to established and unsatisfactory processes in the video game and language services industries."
The Video Game Industry provides a platform for the research on the video game industry to draw a coherent and informative picture of this industry. Previously this has been done sparsely through conference papers, research articles, and popular science books. Although the study of this industry is still stigmatized as frivolous and 'only' game oriented, those who grew up with video games are changing things, especially research agendas, the acceptance of studies, and their interpretation. This book describes and defines video games as their own special medium. They are not pinball from which they grew, nor movies which they sometimes resemble. They are a unique form of entertainment based on meaningful interactions between individuals and machine across a growing sector of the population. The Video Game Industry provides a reference foundation for individuals seriously interested in the industry at the academic level. As a result, this book will serve as a reference in curricula associated with video game development for years to come.
This authoritative book presents a selection of the most important published articles and papers on the computing industry - an industry that after five decades of growth permeates virtually all areas of modern economic activity. Many economists believe the diffusion of computing has been a catalyst and a driver of economic growth. This has stimulated research into the microeconomic determinants and consequences of computing. This collection provides a state-of-the-art survey of advances in applied and empirical approaches to the industrial economics of computing. The first section of the book presents several distinct approaches to the measurement of frontier research in computing. The second section addresses the factors shaping the industrial structure for supplying computer goods and services. The third section focuses on the determinants of the adoption and diffusion of information technology. Shane Greenstein - a leading scholar in the field - has written a new and authoritative introduction which provides a comprehensive overview of the subject. This is an important feature of the volume which will be an essential reference source for both industrial and business economists concerned with the computing industry.
Performance Improvement through Information Management highlights performance improvement and business strategies throughout various health care settings, focusing on business drivers and management mechanisms, explaining when, how, and why information technology solutions are of value. Structured on three levels: Market Environment, Transformational Processes, and Enabling Technologies, the text describes the current state of the art of health care and the shape of things to come, and provides practical solutions and strategies for implementing applications of technology within the current context of health care and its transformation. This text will be an invaluable reference to the chief executive officers, chief information officers, senior executives, and board members who are shaping health care today and into the 21st century. Likewise, it will appeal to healthcare administrators and managers, healthcare systems specialists, and students in advanced healthcare professional and academic programs.
During this era of construction of the information superhighway, this volume presents a prudent analysis of the pros and cons of continuing state regulation of telecommunications. While interested parties either attack or defend state regulation, careful scholarly analysis is required to strike the appropriate balance of regulatory federalism. Focusing on regulation in the 1990s, it uses a positive political economy perspective to analyze enduring state-federal conflicts and to weigh the justifications and explanations for continuing state telecommunications regulation, or for changing its structure. It also considers normative concerns and makes recommendations about how to improve telecommunications policy. Seriously concerned with assessing the problems surrounding cost burdens for different categories of consumers, market entry for different firms, economic growth and the information infrastructure, global competitiveness, and control over information, this volume attempts to provide answers to the following specific questions: * How are states regulating telecommunications in the brave new world of global markets, fiber optics, and digital technology? * Do states vary significantly in their regulatory models? * How are the politics of state and federal regulation different? * Would a different federal-state relationship better serve national telecommunications goals in the future? To tackle these critical questions, the scholarly perspectives of economists, lawyers, political scientists, and telecommunications consultants and practitioners are employed.
When one considers broadband, the Internet immediately springs to mind. However, broadband is impacting society in many ways. For instance, broadband networks can be used to deliver healthcare or community related services to individuals who don't have computers, have distance as an issue to contend with, or don't use the internet. Broadband can support better management of scarce energy resources with the advent of smart grids, enables improved teleworking capacity and opens up a world of new entertainment possibilities. Yet scholarly examinations of broadband technology have so far examined adoption, usage, or diffusion but missed exploring the capacity of broadband networks to enable new applications, the management aspects of funding and developing broadband-enabled services, or the policy environment in which such networks are developed. This book explores a wide range of issues associated with the deployment and use of broadband including its impacts on individuals, organizations, and society, and offers a generalist understanding of the technical aspects of broadband. Management of Broadband Technology and Innovation offers insights on broadband from the perspectives of Information Systems, Management, Strategy, and Communications Policy scholars, drawing on research from these disciplines to inform diverse aspects of broadband deployment, policy, and use. Issues associated with a subject technical in nature, but now researched in many ways, are emphasised. This book explains various softer aspects of broadband deployment and use, focusing on the benefits of broadband rather than on details of the technology.
This seminal study explores the significant changes in the global IT industry as production has shifted from the developed world to massive sites in the developing world that house hundreds of thousands of workers in appalling low-wage conditions to minimize labor costs. Yet little is known about this phenomenon as the major contract manufacturers deliberately hide their names from the public on behalf of brand-name customers such as Apple. In short, the authors argue, globalization is not always helping the IT workers of the world, many of whom are working in unbearable factory conditions. From Silicon Valley to Shenzhen traces the development of the new networks of globalized mass production in the IT industry and the reorganization of work since the 1990s, capturing the systemic nature of an industry-wide restructuring of production and work in the global context. Their wide-ranging and detailed analysis makes an important contribution to ongoing academic and political debates on the globalization of production, especially by taking these debates beyond narrow perspectives of determining criteria of "success" for participation in global production networks. Rather, they emphasize the changing nature of work, employment relations, and labor policies and their implications for the possibilities of sustainable economic and social development. |
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