4.3.2 Network externalities and increasing returns to scale The reader should ask herself the following question: Would I subscribe to a telephone service knowing that nobody else subscribes to a telephone service? The answer should be: Of course not! What use will anyone have from having a telephone when there is no one to talk to? (Shy, 2001, p. 3) The uncertainty surrounding production in the introductory phase, which places such importance on
3.2 Technology and costs in the short run Advertising leaflets are dropping through letter boxes around the UK, as we are writing this chapter, from cable suppliers trying to attract new customers for their services. They promise to provide a telephone line, a bundle of television channels, an Internet connection, home shopping and movies-on-demand, all at a ‘bargain price’. These leaflets raise some interesting questions. How does expanding output of cable services by selling to new customers make it possible to offer them for s
3.3 A summary I have shown that, while IT has no doubt had an impact on productivity, it is not clear whether this goes beyond the IT-producing sector, or whether the gains will outlast the boom period of the business cycle. With so much debate, whom should we believe? Perhaps, as is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The optimistic view highlights the way that IT has transformed society, and how this transformation has in many instances led to growth through the productivity-enhancing
2.1 Industrial revolutions and technological change In this section I shall look at the way that technological innovations in previous eras, such as the invention of electricity in the early 1900s, radically affected the way society organised production and at how these changes spurred general economic growth. In many instances, the changes were so large that they defined an entire period, just as the rise of information technologies has led some to call the current era the ‘information age’. The way that technological change can fun
1.5.1 Why is it important to be organised? 87% of items that are filed into a filing cabinet are never looked at again. STANFORD UNIVERSITY
In 2010, the world’s digital information output was estimated to pass 1.2 zettabytes. A zettabyte is a new term which equals a thousand billion gigabytes. A new blog is created every second. TECHNORATI
10% of salary costs are wasted as employees search for information to complete tasks.
1.4.1 PROMPT There is so much information available on the Internet on every topic imaginable. But how do you know if it is any good? And if you find a lot more information than you really need, how do you decide what to keep and who to discard? In this section we are going to introduce a simple checklist to help you to judge the quality of the information you find. Before we do this, spend a few minutes thinking about what is meant by information quality. 1.3.10 Choosing the right tool for the job Before searching it is always a good idea to check what the source you have chosen covers to make sure it will unearth information that matches your search need (you will notice that all the resources we’ve covered in this guide have short descriptions to enable you to decide which to use). Some of the decision makers, depending on the context of your search might be: Does it have full text? Does it cover the right subject? 1.2.4 Checklist of common features Is there any on-line help? Can I do a simple search? Can I look at the information in both short and detailed form? Can I choose where in the record I want my search terms to be found? Can I search for phrases? Can I combine search terms? Can I use truncation? Can I use wildcards? Can I do an advanced search? Can I get a list 1.2.3 Basic principles Whatever resource you choose to use to find information on the internet, many of the same principles apply. Each source that you use will probably look quite different from the one you tried before, but you'll notice that there are always features that are similar – a box to type your search terms in, for instance, or a clickable help button. Different resources refer to the same functions using different terminology, but the principles behind them are exactly the same. The trick is to chec 1.2.1 Planning your search Your approach to searching will depend to a great extent on what kind of person you are. In an ideal world, when searching for information for a specific purpose, we would all find what exactly we were looking for at the first attempt, especially if we are in a hurry. However, it’s always a good idea to have some kind of plan when you are searching for information, if only to help you plan your time and make sure you find the information you need. If I was starting to search for material on Introduction Contributions from leading academics, voluntary sector campaigners and practitioners, highlight the distinctive features of Scotland's experience of poverty and the extent to which devolved and reserved policies have contributed to progress in tackling it. This unit is from our archive and is an adapted extract from the book Poverty in Scotland 2011, originally published by Child Poverty Action Group, in association with Glasgow Caledonian University, The Open University and Pove 2.2 Postscript A headline-grabbing weekend of ‘midsummer madness’, when six murders occurred in (parts of) Glasgow over the weekend of 5–6 August 1995, reinforced the ongoing nature of contestation and debate about the issues discussed in the programme. As noted in The Scotsman (8 August 1995), the legacy of the imagery of No Mean City was quickly resurrected by the press – for example, ‘a darker side to that much-vaunted transformation of Glasgow from No Mean City to Culture City’ Introduction This unit focuses on the images of Glasgow and was first presented as a TV programme in 1993. It is not about Glasgow as such; it is about Glasgow's image. Images are representations of places: they are constructed and contested; images also represent multiple identities, uniqueness of place, interdependencies. There are many different ways of interpreting and representing the character and identity of a place – many different geographical imaginations. Identities of places ar 3.5 Looking ahead: economic change and human well-being There are different interpretations of the new economy and its impact on human well-being, on whether the changes sometimes labelled the ‘new economy’ are desirable or beneficial. It is time to review the benefits and costs of the new economy. 2.5 Looking ahead: understanding economic change Section 2 has looked at different ways of understanding the new economy, of understanding what is actually happening. Look back over the different understandings of the new economy. Is there really a new economy – ju 4 The celebrity persona and the celebrity text It has been emphasised that we can only know stars through media texts (Dyer, 1998) and this can be extended to seeing celebrities themselves as texts, though for celebrities of any longevity we would certainly have to consider them as large, complex and modulating ones. This section will look at how we might go about reading such a text. There is a distinction between the ‘real’ person and a persona presented in the public arena. One pervasive feature of the ‘large celebrity text’ is 3.1 Categorising texts: introduction Whether we are producing, analysing or consuming texts, one of the principal ways in which we make them meaningful is by considering what type of text we are dealing with. This helps to identify appropriate codes so we do not try to make meanings by calling on unsuitable frames of reference by, for example, analysing the items in a gossip magazine as if they had been subject to exhaustive checking for verifiable facts. There are many ways to categorise texts, a few of which are examined next. Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: identify various techniques that can be used to analyse media text; give examples of how celebrity activity is represented in the media; define specific media terms such as genre and tabloidisation; understand the term celebrity in relation to its representation in the media. Introduction This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Crime, order and social control (D315) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this subject area. 1.1 Engendering citizenship: the notion of social citizenship Mary Langan talks with Professor Ruth Lister, Professor Fiona Williams, Helen Meekosha and Dr Madeleine Arnot about the notion of social citizenship in relation to the rights and obligations within society, with particular reference to women and disabled people. Participants in the audio programme were: Mary Langan Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at The Open University; Ruth Lister Professor of Social Policy at Lo
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