Technology and In/equality explores the diverse implications of the new information and communication technologies through case studies of their applications in three main areas - media, education and training, and work. Questions of access to and control over crucial resources such as information, knowledge, skills and income ae addressed drawing upon insights from science and technology studies, innovation theory, sociology and cultural studies. All of the chapters question the meanings of the terms 'technology' and 'inequality' and of the widespread association of technology with progress. Written with a non-specialist readership in mind, all complex theories and key concepts are carefully explained making the book easily accessible and relevant to a wide range of courses.
Preface ix Acknowledgements x List of contributors xi Critical perspectives on technologies, in/equalities and the information society 1(18) Flis Henwood Sally Wyatt Nod Miller Peter Senker PART I Promises and threats: access and control in media technologies 19(90) Access is not the only problem: using and controlling the Internet 21(25) Graham Thomas Sally Wyatt Panaceas and promises of democratic participation: reactions to new channels, from the wireless to the World Wide Web 46(15) Rod Allen Nod Miller Public service broadcasting and new distribution technologies: issues of equality, access and choice in the transactional television environment 61(25) Kathy Walker Limited Horizons (inc.): access, democracy and technology in community television in Canada 86(23) Herbert F. Pimlott PART II Exclusion, inclusion and segregation: new technology and skill in education 109(38) A tale of two cultures? Gender and inequality in computer education 111(18) Flis Henwood Sarah Plumeridge Linda Stepulevage Tending to the tamagotchi: rhetoric and reality in the use of new technologies for distance learning 129(18) Nod Miller Helen Kennedy Linda Leung PART III Technology, inequality and economic development 147(72) Social inequality, technology and economic growth 149(23) Chris Freeman Inequality, work and technology in the services sector 172(25) Gavin Poynter Alvaro De Miranda A dynamic perspective on technology, economic inequality and development 197(22) Peter Senker Bibliography 219(16) Index 235
Flis Henwood, Nod Miller, Peter Senker, Sally Wyatt
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