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Knowledge,Technology and Complexity in Economic Growth

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Knowledge,Technology and Complexity in Economic Growth

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There seems to be a connection between Economy as well as technology and thus the birth of the innovation complexity index which states technology is directly involved with an economy boom.

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Co-Chairs: Ricardo Hausmann (Director, Center for International Development and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government) and José Domínguez (Professor of Structural Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Seville).

The application of complexity science tools to the study of society allows for the analysis of phenomena that have been hard to identify and analyze with more traditional tools, especially in the field of Economics, which in the absence of these tools has tended to work with relatively low dimensional representations of reality. But the increasing availability of more detailed information of social phenomena makes it particularly useful to use tools that can exploit this informational richness. This opens up fascinating new horizons on almost all fields of knowledge in the social sciences.

is widely accepted that technology is the key driver of economic growth of countries, regions and cities. Technological progress allows for the more efficient production of more and better goods and services, which is what prosperity depends on.

To sum up, this study group pursues three purposes:

1. To analyze empirically the nature of the partnerships and ecosystem relations that underpin scientific and technological progress and its manifestation in the development of new industries, the appearance of new products and the formation of new teams of people with different and complementary occupations. To do this, we will carry out a research agenda to uncover these connections.

2. To develop tools in order to assess the position of each country and region in the multiplex and its evolution over time in order to evaluate their "adjacent possible" in a way that can help them plan their efforts towards progress.

3. To expand the dimensions that the quantitative tools of CID's Atlas of Economic Complexity can offer its worldwide users, thus allowing policymakers, corporations, STI participants and the broader public to benefit from the results of the research.

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Knowledge, Technology and Complexity in Economic Growth

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Co-Chairs: Ricardo Hausmann (Director, Center for International Development and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government) and José Domínguez (Professor of Structural Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Seville).

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The growing importance of the technology economy

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The growing importance of the technology economy

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Technology have greatly impacted global economy. While this article is more about world economy in general, and perhaps the United States, the conclusions reached also has great bearing on how the UK computer and tech industry has impacted the economy.

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Technological advances have significantly improved operations and lowered the cost of doing business. Currently, as an example, just a few technicians controlling robotic systems can operate an entire manufacturing plant, and innovative inventory systems are capable of supplying needed parts within a short time for assembly. Advancements in the computer industry, coupled with advancements in telecommunications, have increased job opportunities and strengthened economic growth.

All physical barriers to communication over distances have been properly overcome by the internet. In a similar way, manufacturing and consumer goods companies have developed online links to their suppliers and customer support. Suppliers can keep track of production line efficiencies through automated systems and can more efficiently ship parts and materials to the required locations, reducing inventory and downtime. In addition to that ecommerce and online banking capabilities have also helped reduce the cost of doing business.

Within this new context, and given the fast-paced emergence of disruptive products and business models, as well as the transformative power of digital technologies on business and society, executives must become masters of the global "technology economy", being capable of detecting the economic impact of such fast technological changes and respond with similar speed and foresight.

Many researches from many respected companies, such as BCG, IMF and World Economic Forum show that whenever companies cut back on technology investments aiming to shore up profits, the result is the opposite, as profits sink significantly, and, as a side effect, GDP also falls dramatically, then a chain reaction starts with the fall of labor productivity after a few years.

As a matter of fact, what companies are really doing is cutting back on an important investment that could create the next growth wave and, in many instances, that investment could generate huge leverage, helping to lower costs and expenses much faster than technology spending rises, but companies can only achieve that by managing their technology spending properly. To do that, senior executives require new metrics and new ways of thinking. In order to successfully navigate the technology economics scenario and leverage optimum business performance, executives must create, measure, and track virtual economic measures just as carefully as they follow metrics about the physical world.
The impact of technology economy
The impact of technology economy in the market is very significant, infusing even the measurement of the market economy. Some of the largest indexes known in the market, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the S&P 500, have changed. Tech powerhouses like Apple, Google, and Amazon, whose stocks are valued much higher than those of many long-time industrial members, are replacing large industrial super companies. Apple, with its high market capitalization, accounts for such a large share of the DJIA, for example, that any hiccup in its quarterly earnings can move the entire index, situation that was once done by other large corporations such as GM and Caterpillar.

Technology has an amazing power of permeate companies. An important measurement of the technology economy is the observing the Worldwide IT Spending volume, which is regarding the corporate spending for hardware, software, data centers, networks, and staff, both internal and outsourced IT services. Currently, this volume is close to USD6 trillion per year. To put this number on a more illustrative perspective, if we were to consider the global technology economy a country and its yearly spending its GDP, it would be ranked as the world's third largest economy, between the economies of China and Japan and more than twice the size of the UK economy, as shown on the chart below:

Technology spending, gross margins and economic growth have a strong relationship when measured by productivity and GDP. A good example is that executives can predict with some accuracy the impact on the overall economy of a decline in technology spending. Whenever companies cut back on discretionary spending in order to improve profits during a downturn, they slash their investments in technology. Soon afterward, GDP falls dramatically, and, within a few years, labor productivity across the economy falls, as technological innovation is an important component of productivity.

The drop in technology intensity that results from a decline in technology spending causes the labor force to decrease, which shows up in productivity up to three years later because productivity is a "stickier" measure. The relationship between technology intensity and GDP is better illustrated on the chart below:

As a matter of fact, whenever considering a company's productivity, it possible to observe not only a connection between technology intensity and gross margins but also a strong correlation, which means that technology intensity and gross margins tend to rise and decline together, one as a consequence of the other. It's possible to set as a recent example of this effect before and after the recent world economic crash that started in 2007, when companies were investing more and more heavily in technology relative to revenues and operating expenses, and gross margins were rising. That trend accelerated through 2008 and until 2009, when companies belatedly realized the magnitude of what had happened and began to cut technology investment dramatically. After that, technology intensity dropped precipitously along with gross margins. The chart below illustrates this effect:

Within most companies around the globe, in every single industry, technology investment is growing faster than revenues and, in many cases, faster than the GDP of any country. It is clear to all companies that technology is vital to to the successful operations of companies and, mainly, to the global economy, but being able to manage technology spending properly within a few years ahead will require an increasingly sophisticated way of looking at the world and at a company's performance.

With that in mind, it is essential for companies to control, adapt, and optimize investments in real-time according to market conditions and on the basis of new forms of market data. Companies need to consider all inputs and outcomes and look at technology economically to gain competitive advantage before competitors do. Finally, if executives understand it and look at technology investments this way, it will not only matter, it will make all the difference for the their companies and for the global economy.

Copyright © 2016 IDG Communications, Inc.

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The growing importance of the technology economy

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Technology has deeply affected the global economy and its usage has been linked to marketplace transformation, improved living standards and more robust international trade. So, if technology has virtually revolutionized every industry in the current global economy, why economists still question whether technology is visible in traditional economic metrics such as GDP, productivity, and corporate profits?

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Padlet created for NTIC Employability Week April 2021.

PESTLE Analysis by Team 5 Group 4:
Political by Elio Maroun (T0294093)
Economic by Dustin Sumartlie (T0286006) and Jimmy Jude (T0286851)
Social by Weiyi Zhu (T0265573)
Technological by Jimmy Jude (T0286851)
Legal and Environmental by Dustin Sumartlie (T0286006)

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How the technology sector can protect children

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How the technology sector can protect children

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The internet moves at a rapid pace with new trends emerging weekly, often led by celebrity culture, media, brands, and word of mouth. The latest "in" technology or service is talked about and used by a group of friends, and in no time it will have spread to neighbouring schools and colleges.

In meeting the challenge of protecting children in an increasingly digital and online world, education is vital. From the outset, it is important not to forget that the internet affords tremendous potential for all, with many opportunities to discover, create and connect. However, all too often these great opportunities are also the source of hurt and harm for children and young people.

Online risks come in many different shapes and sizes. Recently at the UK Safer Internet Centre's helpline there has been a proliferation in "spotted" pages on popular social networks. Often their primary purpose is to name and shame, bully and ridicule. No one is immune: teachers, pupils, even members of the public, many of whom will never know they have been photographed and featured on such sites. Other risks, such as grooming or sexting, are higher profile and attract more column inches.

In responding to risk there is a role for everyone to play. A survey, Have their Say, published this year by the UK Safer Internet Centre, asked more than 24,000 children and young people what they believe their online rights and responsibilities are.

Young people responded that they believe they have a right to feel safe online and that they want online tools to help them manage their privacy and report concerns. As well as turning to friends and family members for support in staying safe online, young people value the growing array of safety tools and services available to them online: both primary- and secondary-age children believe they have a right to report concerns and to manage their privacy online.

While the study shows that the majority of young people are aware of reporting, a number of young people are not making the most of this tool because they lack the skills, knowledge or confidence in the reporting process.

Where removal of criminal content is concerned, the online industry as a whole has rallied behind the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which was set up to remove particular types of criminal online content, namely child sexual abuse images and videos. It is not underpinned by legislation but, in the self-regulatory sense, takes a voluntary approach. After identifying child sexual abuse content from a public report, the IWF issues a notice to take down the content when it is hosted in the UK.

The online industry has also created a hostile environment for hosting child sexual abuse images in the UK. Some 18% of this content worldwide was hosted in the UK in 1996. Since 2003, less than 1% is hosted here. This drop has happened through companies voluntarily making it hard for people to distribute the content.

What are the examples of business working pro-actively on internet safety for children and young people?

Partnerships and working closely with those providing the services that children and young people are using are critical. Internet service providers (ISPs), as well as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Ask.fm and Tumblr, have provided the UK Safer Internet Centre with contacts who can give clarification on their site's safety features and to whom the centre can address reports of misuse.

The four main ISPs in the UK - BT, Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk - have worked with the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce video tutorials clearly showing how their parental controls work and can be applied. These are hosted on the UKSIC website, a trusted and impartial source of advice for parents, and supported by a range of resources on the safe use of internet-enabled devices and how-to guides for parents.

But there is more that ISPs can do. To create a better internet, it is important that we work together and listen to what children and young people are calling for. This includes ensuring that the barriers that prevent young people from reporting are removed. Service providers need to do more to make these mechanisms more obvious and simpler to use; they also need to introduce more transparency when it comes to informing users how their reports will be dealt with as well as considering feedback to help increase confidence.

Knowledge of privacy settings among children and young people could be improved, and instructions and information need to be more concise and easier to understand, perhaps by using more visual means, such as icons or illustrations.
Will Gardner is the CEO of Childnet International, Susie Hargreaves is chief executive at the Internet Watch Foundation, and David Wright is director at the UK Safer Internet Centre. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox.

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As our digital world expands, how can the technology sector protect children?

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The internet moves at a rapid pace with new trends emerging weekly, often led by celebrity culture, media, brands, and word of mouth. The latest "in" technology or service is talked about and used by a group of friends, and in no time it will have spread to neighbouring schools and colleges.

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This is an article from 2018 detailing how the General Dara Protection Regulation impacts UK tech companies. While the article brings up the pre-Brexit EU GDPR, this article remains relevant as the 2018 Data Protection Act, which was the UK's implementation of the EU GDPR, remains in force.

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Now the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is in force, we are starting to see a shift in the attitude of UK tech companies as they learn what compliance with the new law means for them and as opinions around privacy evolve.

The UK's implementation of GDPR is the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). It mirrors GDPR unless a tech company operates in, or provides technology to support, one of the following sectors: credit referencing, law enforcement, national security and intelligence, journalism, academia, the arts, crime and taxation, regulatory functions, education, health and social care.

There are, of course, carve-outs and clarifications relevant to any industry, particularly with regard to processing within an employment function or as part of corporate finance, legal advice or proceedings. These are, by their nature, limited to specific business processes.

Overall, the message is consistent - pay attention to your data processing and the privacy rights of individuals, or risk enforcement action.

One function of the DPA was to scope the roles and responsibilities of the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), including setting out a procedure for how to deal with breach and enforcement.

One area of note affects companies marketing an information society service (ISS) to a child. The DPA confirms that the age at which a child can give consent for data processing is 13, lowering the European benchmark of 16.

Under this age, consent must be given by an individual with parental responsibility. Any business operating in this field must, considering the technology available, make reasonable efforts to verify that appropriate consent has been given.

An ISS is one delivered by electronic means (using electronic equipment and processing), provided at a distance (without the physical presence of the customer), and at the request of the recipient (normally for remuneration).

Interestingly for tech companies, the ICO has promised future publications in the form of codes of practice. These will give practical guidance regarding: the new legislation on data sharing; standards of age-appropriate design of ISS likely to be accepted by children (considering likely use and development needs); direct marketing; regulatory action including information, assessment, enforcement and penalty notices; and data processing for journalism.

Consultations on the first two - data sharing and age-appropriate design - are live and open until September 2018.

Online privacy and fake news

On 29 July 2018, parliament published an interim report on disinformation and "fake news", which pushed several recommendations for consideration from a privacy angle.

The first is the need for the ICO to have additional resource, specifically technical expertise to be able to scrutinise the operations of tech companies and how they use data, both now and in relation to future trends.

With the ICO already under-resourced, by its own admission, due to the loss of staff to the private sector to run GDPR compliance programmes, significant investment will be needed to ensure the regulator can keep abreast of technology.

The suggestion is for a levy to be introduced for tech companies operating in the UK, in a similar way to how the banking sector contributes to the funding of its regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority.

Should this be a concern for tech companies? Some comfort can be taken from the fact that the report narrowly defined the definition of a "tech company" to "different types of social media and internet service providers, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google".

This suggests that any levy would be limited to particular operators, namely the big players. On the other hand, this may indicate the direction of travel to wider application for tech companies, which should already consider whether they need to pay a data protection fee to the ICO (or risk a financial penalty).

Legal loopholes

Second, the select committee report recommended closing what it deems to be a legal loophole whereby, following Brexit, tech companies may be able to avoid UK data protection law by processing the personal data of UK users from bases in the US.

Further commentary on this is required, especially as the DPA applies to the processing of personal data in the context of activities of a business or person operating in the UK - whether the processing occurs in the UK or not - and outside the EU. This is a very broad application.

Finally, the report identifies a need for enhanced auditing of the non-financial aspects of tech companies, including security mechanisms and algorithms, to ensure responsible operations.

The suggestion is that the ICO should take this role but, if this comes to fruition, it emphasises again the need for substantial investment for the regulator.

Although it could be an error, the recommendation was expressed for "technology companies". This begs the question: is the intention for algorithmic auditing to extend beyond social media and internet service providers?

We await, with interest, a government white paper on these and other issues this autumn.

What's happening in practice?

Within the legal market, we are seeing some key themes for tech companies:

1. With the increased public awareness of GDPR, startups are more conscious of compliance and are keen to get it right from the outset. It is often a challenge for this sector to expend resource on compliance when funds are tight, and the focus is growth.

2. The continued development, and utilisation of, privacy-enhancing technologies.

3. The adaption of operational models to avoid personal data collection in the first place.

4. The necessity to simplify privacy notices and terms and conditions - criticism that has long plagued the big market players.

5. A shift in understanding of processing. Tech companies that traditionally did not see themselves as data processors have been challenged. Even within a software-as-a-service model, the provider's ability to tap into controller data for ongoing support and maintenance can be enough to constitute processing. This is leading to the need to consider and negotiate additional contractual protections. With a raft of data-processing agreements circulating, standard contractual clauses from the ICO would be welcome to lessen negotiation timescales.

6. The risk of going "off scope". For tech companies operating as processors, care should be taken to ensure they keep within the confines of the controller's documented instructions. Deviations are likely to result in the processor becoming a controller in its own right and, under the DPA, an offence may be committed for unlawful obtainment, disclosure or retention of personal data without controller consent.

With the ICO describing privacy and security assessments as an " evolutionary process for organisations", these themes will doubtless continue to dominate for the foreseeable future.

Content Continues Below

Read more on Privacy and data protection

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Better the data you know - how GDPR is affecting UK tech companies

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pe3check - stock.adobe.com By Now the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is in force, we are starting to see a shift in the attitude of UK tech companies as they learn what compliance with the new law means for them and as opinions around privacy evolve.

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There are numerous factors that could impact the computer industry from a legal perspective.

Chief among these is the General Data Protection Regulation and 2018 Data Protection Act. Data protection is a big part of having an online presence nowadays, and the onus is on the computer industry to help safeguard their customers' data.

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The social and cultural trends impact the PC popularity and sales

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The social and cultural trends impact the PC popularity and sales

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Advances in information technology (IT) continue to change all aspects of doing business from operations to marketing, and social media platforms have been key tools in the evolution of business marketing. The widespread use of these digitized communication channels by consumers and businesses across all industries encourage greater interaction between traditional IT and marketing departments within companies. It also creates opportunities for the development of professionals with cross-disciplinary skill sets that increase their value to the companies for which they work and the labor market as a whole. Here are some ways that social communication platforms bolster skill sets and expand career opportunities for IT professionals.

Establishing Computing System Infrastructure For Social Media Marketing

The job descriptions of IT and marketing professionals begin to blur when it comes to implementing, managing, and developing infrastructure in support of social internet media. Businesses that use social internet media establish communication between itself and consumers as well as encourage the creation of user-driven content to generate authentic buzz for its products and services. These activities generally involve marketing professionals. However, social internet media is made possible through IT system development because they run on web-based platforms. IT professionals get involved with establishing and updating the company's computing systems so that internet marketing campaigns using social communication channels can achieve their desired results. For instance, mobile computing has become the norm for social internet media users, and IT professionals make sure that their customer experiences are of the same quality of those accessing the company's website and social communication channels from networked desktop computers. IT professionals also work with marketing departments to set up dashboards and reporting mechanisms that make managing social communication channels easier and allow marketing people to collect the right data points for future internet marketing campaigns.

Social Media Increases the Scope of Data Management

A key benefit of using social media is the metrics that can be gathered, analyzed, and used to make operational and strategic business decisions. Both IT and marketing professionals are trained to demonstrate the problem-solving skills used in data analysis. However, the ways that they use those skills are different. While marketing professionals use data to conduct market research, IT professionals must make recommendations for data management tools that can gather, store, and synthesize data coming in from multiple communication platforms. They look for enterprise tools that make the jobs of marketing managers easier and not a collection of disparate tools for separate functions.

Cross Training of IT and Marketing Professionals

While IT professionals must work closely with marketing experts to understand business requirements and deliver the right tools needed to bring internet marketing campaigns to life, they also can spend some time educating marketing professionals about the numerous features available with some of these enterprise tools. The field of IT moves at a fast clip, and system updates are frequently necessary to keep pace with either industry or consumer-driven changes. IT professionals act as technology trainers for marketing experts who use data management tools. As discussed in an article in The Business Review, as IT and marketing professionals work together and share knowledge, they discover new ways to use social communication channels to engage customers, promote brands and drive sales.

Corporate leaders and executives understand that information drives business, and technology simply makes the utilization of information more efficient. The use of social media is one way that technology has made marketing more efficient and cost-effective when employed by business professionals who understand the depths of its features.
Related Resources:

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How Does Social Media Affect an Information Technology Professional? - Computer Science Degree Hub

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Advances in information technology (IT) continue to change all aspects of doing business from operations to marketing, and social media platforms have been key tools in the evolution of business marketing. The widespread use of these digitized communication channels by consumers and businesses across all industries encourage greater interaction between traditional IT and marketing departments [...]

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With the prevalence of technology in modern society, it is undeniable that the computer industry has had a massive impact in how society works, and vice versa.

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With how prevalent technology is in today's world and society, it goes without saying that the computer industry has had a massive impact on the economy of any nation, much less a world leader like the UK

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As the world of technology expands and develops in this modern society there has been much progress and advancements however there have also been some negatives as well as challenges being faced arising.

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The UK Government Sustainable Technology Annual Report 2018-2019

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The UK Government Sustainable Technology Annual Report 2018-2019

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In this report by the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), it is recognised that "the carbon footprint of ICT worldwide is on par with the aviation industry and is expected to increase". It is also stated that "ICT waste is also a growing worldwide issue and supply chains are under increased scrutiny for their use of modern slavery, conflict minerals and rare earth elements, as well as their contribution to, and impacts from, climate change".

This report is an excellent review on how the UK has utilised sustainable technology, with a particular focus on sustainability in the ICT sector.

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Sustainable Technology Annual Report 2018-19

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It is a given, of course, that the computer industry are bound by laws and government regulations, and that these regulations has enormous impact on how the industry operates.

With the common usage of technology in everyday life, there are many laws and regulations that handles how computers are used and how the computer industry operates.

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Technology and Future of Growth: Challenges of Change

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Technology and Future of Growth: Challenges of Change

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This article goes into more thoughts about the challenges of growth is brings into the working environment, how it is being handles and also some of the more drastic effects using technology more is bringing.

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Economic growth has been lackluster for more than a decade now. This has occurred at a time when economies have faced much unfolding change. What are the forces of change, how are they affecting the growth dynamics, and what are the implications for policy? A recently published book, " Growth in a Time of Change, " addresses these questions.

Three basic ingredients drive economic growth-productivity, capital, and labor. All three are facing new challenges in a changing context. Foremost among the drivers of change has been technology, spearheaded by digital transformation.

Slowdown in productivity and investment

Productivity is the main long-term propeller of economic growth. Technology-enabled innovation is the major spur to productivity growth. Yet, paradoxically, productivity growth has slowed as digital technologies have boomed. Among advanced economies over the past 15 years or so, it has averaged less than half of the pace of the previous 15 years. Firms at the technological frontier have reaped major productivity gains, but the impact on productivity more widely across firms has been weak. The new technologies have tended to produce winners-take-most outcomes. Dominant firms have acquired more market power, market structures have become less competitive, and business dynamism has declined.

Investment also has been weak in most major economies. The persistent weakness of investment despite historically low interest rates has prompted concerns about the risk of "secular stagnation." Weak productivity growth and investment have reinforced each other and are linked by similar shifts in market structures and dynamics.

Shifts in labor markets

Technology is having profound effects on labor markets. Automation and digital advances are shifting labor demand away from routine low- to middle-level skills to higher-level and more sophisticated analytical, technical, and managerial skills. On the supply side, however, equipping workers with skills that complement the new technologies has lagged, hindering the broader diffusion of innovation within economies. Education and training have been losing the race with technology.

Most major economies face the challenge of aging populations. Many of them are also seeing a leveling off of gains in labor force participation rates and basic education attainments of the population. These trends put an even greater focus on productivity-and technological innovations that drive it-to deliver economic growth.

Rising inequality

Growth has also become less inclusive. Income inequality has been rising in most major economies, and the increase has been particularly pronounced in some of them, such as the United States. The new technologies favoring capital and higher-level skills have contributed to a decline in labor's share of income and to increased wage inequality. They have also been associated with more concentrated industry structures and high economic rents enjoyed by dominant firms. Income has shifted from labor to capital and the distribution of both labor and capital income has become more unequal.

Rising inequality and mounting anxiety about jobs have contributed to increased social tensions and political divisiveness. Populism has surged in many countries. Nationalist and protectionist sentiment has been on the rise, with a backlash against international trade that, alongside technological change, is seen to have increased inequality with job losses and wage stagnation for low-skilled workers.

Changing growth pathways

While income inequality has been rising within many countries, inequality between countries has been falling as faster-growing emerging economies narrow the income gap with advanced economies. Technology poses new challenges for this economic convergence. Manufacturing-led growth in emerging economies has been the dominant driver of convergence, fueled by their comparative advantage in labor-intensive production based on their large pools of low-skill, low-wage workers. Such comparative advantage is eroding with automation of low-skill work, creating the need to develop alternative pathways to growth aligned with technological change.

AI, robotics, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Technological change reshaping growth will only intensify as artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and cyber-physical systems take the digital revolution to another level. We may be on the cusp of what has been termed the "Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)." And globalization is going increasingly digital, a transformation that, analogous to 4IR, has been termed "Globalization 4.0."

Technological change recently has not delivered its full potential in boosting productivity and economic growth. It has pushed income inequality higher and generated fears about a "robocalypse"-massive job losses from automation. This should not cause despair, however.

Advances in digital technologies hold considerable potential to lift the trajectory of productivity and economic growth, and to create new and better jobs to replace old ones. As much as two-thirds of potential productivity growth in major economies over the next decade could be related to the new digital technologies. But technological change is inherently disruptive and entails difficult transitions. It also inevitably creates winners and losers-as does globalization. Policies have a crucial role to play. Unfortunately, they have been slow to adapt to the challenges of change. With improved and more responsive policies, better outcomes are possible.

An agenda to harness the potential of new technology

The core of the forward policy agenda is to better harness the potential of the new technologies. Reforms must seek to improve the enabling environment for firms and workers-to broaden access to opportunities that come from technological change and to enhance capabilities to adjust to the new challenges.

Policies and institutions governing markets must keep pace as technological change transforms the world of business. Competition policies should be revamped for the digital age to ensure that markets continue to provide an open and level playing field for firms, keep competition strong, and check the growth of monopolistic structures. New regulatory issues revolving around data, the lifeblood of the digital economy, must be addressed. Flexibility in markets will be key to facilitating adjustments to disruptions and structural shifts from digital transformation.

The innovation ecosystem should keep pushing the technological frontier but also foster wider economic impacts from the new advances. With the intangible asset of knowledge becoming an increasingly important driver of economic success, research and development systems and patent regimes should be improved to promote broader diffusion of technologies embodying new knowledge.

The foundation of digital infrastructure and digital literacy must be strengthened. The digital divide is narrowing but wide gaps remain.

Investment in education and training must be boosted and reoriented to emphasize the skills for the jobs of the future. With the old career path of "learn-work-retire" giving way to one of continuous learning, programs for worker upskilling and reskilling and lifelong learning must the scaled up. The key to winning the race with technology is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines.

Labor market policies should become more forward-looking, shifting the focus from seeking to protect existing jobs to improving workers' ability to change jobs. Social protection systems, traditionally based on formal long-term employer-employee relationships, should be adapted to a more dynamic job market. Social contracts need to realign with the changing nature of work.

Tax systems should be reviewed in light of the new tax challenges of the digital economy, including the implications of the transformations occurring in business and work and the new income distribution dynamics. The potential tax reform agenda spans taxes on labor, capital, and wealth.

Reforms are needed at the international level as well, although the dominant part of the agenda to make technology-and globalization-work better and for all rests with policies at the national level. Not only must past gains in establishing a rules-based international trading system be shielded from protectionist headwinds, but new disciplines must be devised for the next phase of globalization led by digital flows to ensure open access and fair competition. Sensible policies on migration can complement national policies, such as pension reform and lifelong learning, in mitigating the effects of population aging.

The era of smart machines holds much promise. With smart policies, the future could be one of stronger and more inclusive growth.

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Technology and the future of growth: Challenges of change

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Economic growth has been lackluster for more than a decade now. This has occurred at a time when economies have faced much unfolding change. What are the forces of change, how are they affecting the growth dynamics, and what are the implications for policy?

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The UK plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050

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The UK plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050

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In 2019, Parliament passed an amendment to the 2008 Climate Change Act to include a target of being net-zero by 2050. Being net zero means achieving a balance between carbon emission and the removal of emission from the atmosphere.

It goes without saying that the computer industry is also included in this, and steps have been taken to achieve a sustainable technological future.

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As the computer industry continues to grow worldwide, more and more focus shifts to the environmental aspect and how they impact the Earth.

With the convenience and use of computers, also comes a responsibility to ensure that the computer industry proceed towards the future in a sustainable fashion.

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Most sociologists, both professionals and students, now have their own computer with direct access to a printer for writing and to the Internet for electronic mail (e-mail). Beyond the basic tasks of writing and e-mailing are a variety of other computer-supported research applications, both quantitative and qualitative. This article describes how sociologists and other social scientists use these applications and what resources are available.

The data and modeling requirements of social research have united sociologists with computers for over a hundred years. It was the 1890 U. S. census that inspired Herman Hollerith, a census researcher, to construct the first automated data processing machinery. Hollerith's punchcard system, while not a true computer by today's definitions, provided the foundation for contemporary computer-based data management.

In 1948 the U. S. Bureau of the Census, anticipating the voluminous tabulating requirements of the 1950 census, contracted for the building of Univac I, the first commercially produced electronic computer. The need to count, sort, and analyze the 1950 census data on this milestone computer led to the development of the first high-speed magnetic tape storage system, the first sort-merge software package, and the first statistical package, a set of matrix algebra programs.

Only a decade later many social scientists were exploring ways to use computers in their research. In the early 1960s, the first book devoted entirely to computer applications in social science research (Borko 1962) was published. Not only were social scientists writing about how to apply computers, they were designing and developing new software. Some of the most popular statistical software packages, e.g., SPSS (Nie, Bent, and Hull 1975), were developed by social scientists.

During the 1980s, universities and colleges began to acquire microcomputers, accepting the premise that all researchers needed their own desktop computing equipment. The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) survey in 1985 (Morton and Price 1986) reported that 50 percent of sociologists had a computer for exclusive use. A survey of academic departments supported by the American Sociological Association (Koppel, Dowdall, and Shostak 1985) found that slightly less than half of the sociology faculty reported to have immediate access to microcomputers. To put these findings into a more complete perspective, of the approximately 9,000 sociologists in 1985, about 4,500 had their own computers and about 5,200 reported routine computer use. Now, it is hard to find a sociologist's office without at least one computer. And in many countries most students in sociology have a computer for writing papers and accessing online resources.

Sociology and the Web. The Internet may be one of the largest and probably the most rapidly growing peaceful social movements in history. It is not just a technology, or a family of technologies, but a rapidly evolving socio-cultural phenomena often called "cyberspace" or "cyberculture." No matter how this phenomena is defined, it is changing the way sociologists conduct their work.

By the mid-1990s sociology, like most other academic disciplines, had come to depend upon email. In addition, a rapidly growing number had begun to use the World Wide Web (WWW), commonly called the Web (Babbie 1996). Bainbridge (1995) claimed that the Web is "a significant medium of communication for sociologists, and extrapolation of present trends suggests it may swiftly become the essential fabric of sociology's existence." In January 1999, the author searched Web sites with the Alta Vista search engine for the word "sociology" and found 750,000 instances. Two years earlier a search yielded only 250,000. Sociology is indeed rapidly building its presence on the Web.

The Internet and the Web are often described as a medium of communication because e-mail, electronic conferencing, online chats (synchronous discussion), groupware, and data exchange imply social interaction. Another major metaphor of the Web is that of a database for information search and retrieval. However, new roles are emerging for the Web. For the individual, the Web has become an important "presentation of self," an opportunity for publishing personal and professional resumes and other such information. For the organization, the Web has become an opportunity for advertising, recruiting, communicating with the public, and conducting commerce itself. The rapid proliferation of personal Web sites in the form of various home pages suggests that many now see the Web primarily as a medium for personal and organizational impression management.

An appendix to this article provides a number of sources of sociological activity and information on the Internet, especially the Web. Not only does the appendix serve as a resource for information about sociology, but it also portrays the diverse, complex state of the institutionalization of sociology on the Web.

In the next few years the Web and its technologies will offer many new opportunities for conducting research. Already there are software packages developed for Web-assisted surveys and other types of data collection. The amount of data accumulating on the Web is enormous. And the graphical content of the Web is indeed a challenge to sociologists conducting computerized content analyses. The pace of these new developments will continue to challenge sociologists to not only to stay current with the new tools for research but to conduct research on the rapidly growing cultures of the Internet.

Publications on Sociological Computing. The primary source for articles on social science computer applications is the Social Science Computer Review, a quarterly publication of Sage Publications, Inc., which also regularly offers book and software reviews. Other relevant software reviews periodically appear in such journals as Educational and Psychological Measurement, the Journal of Marketing Research, The American Statistician, and Simulation and Games. In addition, JAI Press publishes an occasional series volume on "Computers and the Social Sciences."

In the late 1980s, the American Sociological Association (ASA) formed a "Section on Micro-computing." Over 350 sociologists joined this new section in 1990, making it the fastest-growing new section in the history of the ASA. The section publishes a quarterly newsletter and organizes sessions at annual meetings. In 1993, the section name was officially changed to "Sociology and Computers." A regular newsletter called SCAN (Sociology and Computers: A Newsletter) is published by members.

Another indicator of growing involvement in computing was the first annual conference, "Computing in the Social Sciences," held in 1990 at Williamsburg, Virginia. From this conference emerged a professional association, the Social Science Computing Association. The official journal of this association is the Social Science Computer Review, and they still hold an annual conference.

Computer Applications in Sociology. The practice of computing in sociology has evolved rapidly. Computers have been applied to practically every research task, including such unlikely ones as field note-taking, interviewing, and hundreds of other tasks (Brent and Anderson 1990). The many diverse uses of computing technology in social research are difficult to categorize because applications overlap and evolve unpredictably. Nonetheless, it is necessary to discuss different categories of applications in order to describe the state of the art of computing in sociology. Since 1987, the Winter issue of the Social Science Computer Review has been devoted to an annual symposium on the "State of the Art of Social Science Computing." The categorization of computer applications in this article reflects these discussions. First, some major types of applications are summarized in order of descending popularity. Then some of the challenges of computing for sociological research are noted.

Writing and Publishing. Once equated with the secretarial pool, word processing now is an activity of nearly every graduate student and professional in sociology. It consists not only of writing but preparing tables, "typesetting" mathematical equations, and resizing objects, such as three-dimensional graphs embedded within text. Social researchers are using such capabilities and moving rapidly toward workstation environments that obscure the transition between data analysis and manuscript preparation (Steiger and Fouladi 1990). Not only do researchers use their computers for writing papers, but word processing software plays a central role in the refinement of data collection instruments, especially questionnaires and codebooks, which allows for rapid production of alternative forms and multiple drafts.

Trends in text production that blur traditional distinctions between writing and publishing (Lyman 1989) may in the long term have the most impact on what sociologists do. The growing body of articles and books in electronic-text form propel scholarship toward hypertext, which is a document system that provides for nonsequential reading of text using links that automatically access other documents. Contemporary word processors contain the capacity to easily produce documents in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that are ready for installation as sites on the Web. HTML can contain hypertext links, which with a single click of the mouse can bring up a totally different document from anywhere in the world, making it a truly new form of publishing.

There are several major forms of text entry that may also change the nature of writing and publishing. These forms include scanning for optical character recognition (OCR), voice recognition, and automated language translation. The technology for scanning text documents and producing computer text files has been in use for some years and requires only a scanning device and OCR software. This technology will continue to improve and its use will yield fewer errors and require considerably less effort in the future.

Likewise it is now possible to use voice recognition software to automatically transcribe dictation, interviews, and field notes into computer text files. One of the remaining problems in this approach is that all voice recognition software now requires considerable "training" time where the errors made in recognizing a speaker's word-sound pattern are corrected. The software is thus "taught" to make refined guesses in translating vocalized sounds into electronic text. Even the best voice recognition software now makes a moderate number of errors, so it is not yet a panacea for manual transcription of either the spoken word or audio recordings.

It is possible now to find software that will translate text into many different languages. However, like voice recognition software, translation software still requires considerable time to manually check, decipher, and make judgments about the text produced by such programs. Future software may yield significantly improved results, automating nearly all of the voice recognition and translation process.

Communicating Electronically (E-mail, etc.) . Networks for computer-mediated communication (CMC) continue to expand internationally following the traditional logistic diffusion curve (Gurbaxani 1990). Electronic networks now supplement most other forms of social communication. E-mail, which is asynchronous or nonsimultaneous, is still the most common form of electronic interaction, but Internet-based, synchronous (simultaneous) "mailing lists" and "newsgroups" are also popular, as are "chat rooms" or "discussion groups." With improvements in transmitting digital audio and video files on the Internet, it is expected that some new forms of video conferencing will become commonplace. At the turn of the millennium, desktop video conferencing is available "off the shelf," but suffers from extraneous noise and rough motion. While individual sociologists vary greatly in how they utilize e-mail, nearly all sociologists in economically developed countries depend upon it for certain types of communication.

While e-mail messages are generally written in plain text, "attachments" to e-mail now make it possible for formatted documents, even those including graphics and multimedia, to be shared with others around the world in a matter of minutes. This remarkable technology makes co-authoring, and other forms of collaboration, far more feasible due to reduced time and cost.

As e-mail systems continue to expand, they offer social researchers new opportunities for conducting studies using electronic networks. For instance, Gaiser (1997) explored issues of running online focus groups. Online surveys have become quite common in various forms: e-mail texts, email attachments, entry forms on the Web, and as programs in external storage devices like diskettes and CD-ROMs. Sampling problems and low completion rates pose the greatest challenges. Ongoing methodological investigations will be necessary to determine the implications of this new mode of research.

Statistics. Hundreds of computer programs and articles have been written to address the needs of statistical computing in social research. Prior to the 1980s, all statistical work was performed on large or medium-size, mainframe computers. But advances in both hardware and software for microcomputers now make it possible to conduct the statistical data analysis of most small or moderate-size research studies on microcomputers. A large share of ongoing social data analysis, like analysis of massive census files, would never get done without computer technology. For example, one use of LISREL, a computer procedure which analyzes linear structural relationships by the method of maximum likelihood, would consume weeks or months without a computer.

Not only does statistical computing save time but it offers unique views of the patterns in one's data. Without the ability to quickly reorganize data and display it in a variety of forms, social researchers neglect important patterns and subtle relationships within complex data. Some patterns cannot be observed without special software tools. For example, Heise's (1988) computer program called Ethno gives the researcher a framework for conceptualizing, examining, and analyzing data containing event sequences. In addition, several general-purpose statistical packages offer powerful exploratory data analysis capabilities with bidirectionality through dynamic data links (Steiger and Fouladi 1990). One type of bidirectionality puts a graph in one window and frequency distributions in another, and when the user adjusts the data in one window, it automatically changes in the other.

Finding a statistical program tailored to a particular problem or technique is often challenging as the potential "user community" may be quite small. The best sources for such software are the notices and reviews in journals such as the Social Science Computer Review, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Journal of Marketing Research, and The American Statistician. Another important source is the annual Sociological Methodology and it's software list on the Web (http://weber.u.washington.edu/~socmeth2/software.html). Some of the software noted in these sources can be obtained at no cost or very low cost. No matter what the cost, one cannot assume that any complex program is free of errors. Thus is it important to run test data and to apply data to multiple programs in order to check for inaccuracies.

Accessing, Retrieving and Managing Data. While years ago students and researchers had to use a library or similar institution to gain access to bibliographic data files, now such services are available from one's desktop using the Web or external storage units such as CD-ROM or DVDROM. Large bibliographic databases including Sociological Abstracts and Psychological Abstracts are available in these forms, as is a vast amount of data in the form of statistical tables and maps. Now that devices for "writing" onto CD-ROMs have become inexpensive, it is expected that data from even small research projects will be disseminated in this medium.

One major development is interactive access to data by means of the Web. A variety of models are used for interactive access to both preformatted text files and precoded data files. Among the systems are GSSDIRS from ICPSR at the University of Michigan (http://www.ICPSR.umich.edu/gss), IPUMS at the University of Minnesota (http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ipums), QSERVE from Queens College-CUNY (http://www.soc.qc.edu/qserve), and SDA Archive from the University of California at Berkeley (http://csa.berkeley.edu:7502/archive.htm).

The software technology for archiving and analyzing social data is less than a half-century old. But it is very plausible to expect many advancements in the next fifty years. Interactive data analysis sites of the Web hint about what these advancements might be. For instance, using the SDA Archive Web site (see http address above), one can get a large crosstabulation table for any three variables in the full General Social Survey of over 35,000 respondents in less time than it takes to type in the variable names.

The refinement of such systems faces issues such as how to balance functionality with ease of use, the plausibility of standardizing interfaces for many numeric data files, and the use of gateways between the Web and third-party software such as statistical packages. It will take considerable research and development to sort out the feasibility of providing many different analytical facilities in the Web environment. A major challenge is determining the amount and type of data documentation necessary for typical users to get meaningful results in a reasonable amount of time. A considerable challenge is created when a variety of types of materials are necessary for retrieving useful data-related information. The main types are text, graphics, meta databases (data about databases), fielded text/data (such as bibliographic databases), and multimedia (audio and video) clips.

Qualitative Computing. Computer-based content analysis began with Stone (1966) and associates, and now plays an important role in the social sciences (Weber 1984; Kelle 1995). A survey of 110 qualitative-oriented researchers found three-fourths regularly used computers (Brent, Scott, and Spencer 1987). Ragin and Becker (1989, p. 54) persuasively claimed that qualitative research using these computing tools yields more systematic attention to diversity, for example, by encouraging a "more thorough examination of comparative contrasts among cases."

This type of computing became much more common as researchers combined content analysis with other tasks associated with qualitative analysis. Several general-purpose programs for qualitative analysis have been widely distributed (Tesch 1989; Fielding and Lee 1991). These tools make the analysis of large amounts of text more accurate and efficient, and potentially direct the focus of attention to analytic procedures. The general tasks of text entry, code assignment, counting, and data organization have been extended to include special routines for improving the quality of coding and code management (Carley 1988). Hesse-Biber, Dupuis, and Kinder (1997) technically extended this methodology to include the management and analysis of audio and video segments as well as text.

Simulating and Modeling. Early in the history of sociological computing, Coleman (1962) and McPhee and Glaser (1962) designed computer simulation models and showed how they could be used to identify elusive implications of different theoretical assumptions. Other social scientists followed in their footsteps but the excitement of the pioneers was lost and few simulations and formal computer models were developed in the 1970s. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and other modeling methodologies, social researchers demonstrated renewed interest in formal computer-supported models of social processes (cf. Feinberg and Johnson 1995; Hanneman 1988; Markovsky, Lovaglia, and Thye 1997). New computer simulations for social policy analysis as well as pedagogy or instruction have emerged as well (Brent and Anderson 1990, pp. 188-210).

Neural networks combined with other techniques of artificial intelligence and expert systems have excited a number of social scientists (Garson 1990). Neural nets organize computer memory in ways that model human brain cells and their ability to process many things in parallel. Systems that use neural nets are especially good when pattern matching is required, however, the computations require high-performance computers.

Computer-Assisted Data Collection. CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) is a computing system with online questionnaires or entry screens for telephone interviewers. It has become very common in sociological research, although its impact is not fully understood (Groves et al. 1988). It is used on free-standing PCs, networked PCs, or larger computers. These systems generally, but not always, have the following characteristics: centralized facilities for monitoring individual interviewer stations, instantaneous edit-checks with feedback for invalid responses, and automatic branching to different questions depending upon the respondents' answers. Other major forms of computer-supported data collection include (1) CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing), the acronym used in survey research to refer to face-to-face interviewing assisted with a laptop or hand-held computing device; (2) Computerized Self-Administered Questionnaires (CSAQ), online programs designed for direct input from respondents; and (3) data-entry programs to facilitate the entry of data collected manually at a prior time.

A related innovation is software built for designing online questionnaires. For example, the Questionnaire Programming Language (QPL), developed by Dooley (1989), allows the researcher to draft a questionnaire with any word processor. From embedded branching commands within the questionnaire document, the QPL software package simultaneously produces two versions of the questionnaire: one for computer administration and the other for interviewer- or self-administration. An additional bonus of the program is that it automatically produces data definition commands for SPSS or SAS to use for data analysis.

Visualization and Graphics. Many social researchers have come to rely on computer graphic systems to produce maps, charts summarizing statistical data, network diagrams, and to retrieve data from GIS (Geographic Information Systems) databases. GIS data contain coordinates to associate a specific spatial point or area with any attribute, e.g., social density, associated with that point or collection of points. Because of the complexities of these data structures, the integration of these techniques onto sociologists' desktops has been slow. Another constraint is the paucity of techniques for analyzing such data. Work such as that of Cleveland (1993) for analyzing and visualizing data graphically may increase the utilization of such data by sociologists. In addition, techniques for storing and delivering interactive audio and video by means of the Web may stimulate sociologists to investigate multimedia data containing sounds and moving images.

Teaching and Learning. During the 1970s long before the microcomputer, a small group of social science instructors began to explore how to utilize computer technology in teaching (Bailey 1978). Now it has become quite common, and several sociologically-oriented instructional packages are widely used. The most popular have been Chipendale, designed by James Davis (1990), and MicroCase, developed by Roberts and Stark (cf. Roberts and Corbett 1996). These two packages have served as the basis for the exercises contained in at least a dozen published textbooks and workbooks. A variety of instructional approaches and software tools are described regularly in Teaching Sociology and the Social Science Computer Review.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

The practice of computing in social research has evolved rapidly. Computers have been applied to practically every research task, including such unlikely ones as interviewing, and hundreds of other tasks (Brent and Anderson 1990). This variety of computer applications will continue to evolve with the newer Internet-based technologies.

The application of computing to sociology is not without problems. Errors in data and software abound yet rarely do social scientists check their results by running more than one program on the same data. Data and software tend to be very costly, but there are many impediments to the sharing of these critical resources. Better software is needed but graduate students often are discouraged from programming new software. Nonetheless, new breakthroughs in computer technology will continue, and major new opportunities will emerge. Many of the advances in sociological computing during the next few years undoubtedly will follow the lines of progress already described: hypertext networks; integrated, high performance, graphic data analysis stations; software for computer-supported cooperative work; and neural networks for complex models of social systems.

Perhaps the most exciting challenge for the future involves a concert of these innovations directed at the problem of modeling and analyzing vast amounts of social data. One solution would incorporate three-dimensional, multicolored, dynamic graphical representations of complex social data structures. But new techniques for analyzing these data will require new models of dynamic social structures as well as parallel social processes. Computer representations of these models tend to require extremely fast processing. Access to such models on the Web, supplemented with audio and video displays, may evolve into an important part of the sociologist's tool kit of the future.

references

Anderson, Ronald E. 1981 "Instructional computing in sociology: current status and future prospects." Teaching Sociology. 8,2 (Jan):171-195.

--1997 "A Research Agenda for Computing and the Social Sciences." Social Science Computer Review 14, 1 (Summer):123-134.

--, and Edward Brent 1989 "Computing in Sociology: Promise and Practice." Social Science Computer Review 7,4 (Winter).

--1991 "Sociological Computing: An Opportunity Missed?" The American Sociologist 22,11 (Spring):65-77.

Babbie, Earl 1996 "We Am a Virtual Community." The American Sociologist 27,1 (Spring):65-71.

Bailey, D. (ed.) 1978 Computer Science in Social and Behavioral Science Education. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Press.

Bainbridge, William Sims 1995 "Sociology on the World Wide Web." Social Science Computer Review 13,4 (Winter):508-523.

Borko, Harold (ed.) 1962 Computer Applications in the Behavioral Sciences. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corporation.

Brent, Edward, and Ronald E. Anderson 1990 Computer Applications in the Social Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Brent, Edward, James Scott, and John Spencer 1987 "The use of computers by qualitative researchers." Qualitative Sociology 10(3):309-313.

Carley, Kathleen 1988 "Formalizing the Social Expert's Knowledge." Sociological Methods & Research 17, 2:165-232.

Cleveland, William S. 1993 Visualizing Data. Summit, N.J.: Hobart Press.

Coleman, J. S. 1962 "Analysis of social structures and simulation of social processes with electronic computers." In H. Guetzkow, H., ed., Simulation in Social Science: Readings, 61-69 Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Davis, James 1990 CHIPendale. Zeda Data, 25 Haskins Rd. Hanover, NH.

Dooley, Kevin 1989 QPL Data Collection Program. Washington D.C.: Human Resources Division, U. S. General Accounting Office.

Fan, David 1996 Use of the Press to Predict Time Trends in Public Opinions and Behaviors. Paper presented at the 1996 Conference on Computing for the Social Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

Feinberg, William E., and Norris R. Johnson 1995 "FIRESCAP: A Computer Simulation Model of Reaction to a Fire Alarm." Journal of Mathematical Sociology 20, 2-3:257-269.

Fielding, Nigel G., and Raymond M. Lee (eds.) 1991 Using Computers in Qualitative Research. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, Inc.

Gaiser, Ted J. 1997 "Conducting On-Line Focus Groups" Social Science Computer Review 15,2 (Summer):135-144.

Garson, G. David 1990 "Expert Systems: An Overview for Social Scientists." Social Science Computer Review 8,3 (Fall):387-410.

Groves, Robert M., P. P. Biemer, L. E. Lyberg, J. T. Massey, W. L. Nicholls, and J. Waksberg (eds.) 1988 Telephone Survey Methodology. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Gurbaxani, Vijay 1990 "Diffusion in Computing Networks: BITNET." Communications of the ACM 33,12 (Dec):65-75.

Hanneman, Robert A. 1988 Computer-Assisted Theory Building. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, Inc.

Heise, David 1988 "Computer analysis of cultural structures." Social Science Computer Review 6:183-196.

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene, Paul Dupuis, and Scott Kinder 1997 "Anthropology: New Developments in Video Ethnography and Visual Sociology-Analyzing Multimedia Data Qualitatively." Social Science Computer Review 15, 1 (Spring):5-12.

Kelle, Udo 1995 Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, Inc.

Kiesler, Sarah, and Lee S. Sproull 1986 "Response effects in the electronic survey.", Public Opinion Quarterly 50:402-413.

Koppel, R, G. Dowdall, and A. Shostak 1985 "Using computers to teach sociology: A departmental survey." Footnotes 13,8 (November):4.

Lyman, Peter 1989 "The Future of Sociological Literature in an Age of Computerized Texts." In G. Blank, J. L. McCartney, and E. Brent, eds., New Technology in Sociology: Practical Applications in Research and Work, 17-32 New Brunswick, N.J.:

Markovsky, Barry, Michael Lovaglia, and Shane Thye 1997 "Sociology: Computer-Aided Research at the Iowa Center for the Study of Group Processes." Science Computer Review 15, 1 (Spring):48-64.

McPhee, W. N., and W. A. Glaser (eds.) 1962 Public Opinion and Congressional Election. New York: Free Press.

Morton, H. C., and A. J. Price 1986 "The ACLS survey of scholars: views on publications, computers, libraries." EDUCOM Bulletin 21,3 (Winter):8-21.

Nie, N., D. Bent, and W. Hull 1975 Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Ragin, Charles C. and Howard S. Becker 1989 "How the Microcomputer is Changing our Analytic Habits." In G. Blank, J. L. McCartney, and E. Brent, eds., New Technology in Sociology: Practical Applications in Research and Work. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction.

Roberts, Lynne and Michael Corbett 1996 Social Research Using MicroCase. Bellevue, Wash.: MicroCase Corporation.

Steiger, James H., and Rachel T. Fouladi 1990 "Some Key Emerging Trends in Statistical and Graphical Software for the Social Scientist." Social Science Computer Review 8,4 (Winter):627-664.

Stone, Philip et al. 1966 The General Inquirer. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Tesch, Renata 1989 "Computer Software and Qualitative Analysis: A Reassessment." In G. Blank, J. L. McCartney, and E. Brent, eds., New Technology in Sociology: Practical Applications in Research and Work. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction.

Weber, R. P. 1984 "Computer-Aided Content Analysis, A Short Primer." Qualitative Sociology, 7 (1/2):126-147.

Wellman, Barry 1996 "Computer Networks as Social Networks." Annual Review of Sociology 22.2/3:Annual Reviews, Inc.

APPENDIX: SOCIOLOGY WEB/INTERNET SITES

These lists of Web and other Internet sites include electronic addresses for some of sociology's professional associations and some special interest groups, several resource referral sites giving many additional links, several sites giving access to sociological data, and lists of Internet Mailing Lists on "listservs." The addresses given were all current as of January 1, 1999. While many of the addresses have been stable for several years, there is no guarantee that they will remain accessible. Nonetheless, these addresses profile sociology's presence or representation on the Internet, especially the Web, and serve as entry points to sociologyrelated information in "cyberspace."

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS OF SOCIOLOGISTS

American Sociological Association (ASA)

http://www.asanet.org/

International Sociological Association (ISA)

http://www.ucm.es/OTROS/isa/

Midwest Sociological Society

http:///www.drake.edu/MSS/

Pacific Sociological Association
http://www.csus.edu/psa/
Society for Applied Sociology
http://www.appliedsoc.org/
Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction

http://www.soci.niu.edu/~sssi/

Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP)
http://itc.utk.edu/sssp/
SOCIOLOGY INTEREST GROUPS

ASA Section on Sociology and Computers

http://www.asanet.org/Sections/computer.html (see also http://www.princeton.edu/~soccomp/links.html)

ASA Section on Organizations,

Occupations, and Work
http://www.northpark.edu/acad/soc/oow/
International Network for Social Network Analysis
http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/project/INSNA/
ELECTRONIC JOURNALS ON SOCIOLOGY

The Electronic Journal of Sociology
http://www.sociology.org/
Sociological Research Online (A quarterly "refereed" electronic journal of sociology from the United Kingdom)

http://www.socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/

Current Research in Social Psychology (CRISP)

http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.html

Journal of World-Systems Research

http://csf.colorado.edu/wsystems/jwsr.html

MAJOR SOCIOLOGY DATA SOURCES

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/
General Social Survey Data and Information Retrieval System (GSSDIRS)

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/gss

Council of European Social Sciences Data Archives (CESSDA)
http://www.nsd.uib.no/cessda/europe.html
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
http://www.ipums.umn.edu
Social Indicators of Development ( World Bank's data on social effects of economic development)

http://www.ciesin.org/IC/wbank/sidhome.html

MAJOR REFERRAL SITES FOR SOCIOLOGY RESOURCES

Demography and Population Studies WWW Virtual Library
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/ResFacilities/DemographyPage.html
WWW Virtual Library: Sociology-SOCNET-Courses, Resources

http://www.mcmaster.ca/socscidocs/w3virtsoclib/socnet.htm

SOCIOWEB A Sociology Resource Center
http://www.socioweb.com/~markbl/socioweb/
Research engines for the social sciences
http://tile.net/">tile.net
WeacTies (for Sociology of the Internet)

http://www.princeton.edu//~soccomp/weacties/

SELECTED NONELECTRONIC PERIODICALS IN SOCIOLOGY

Sociological Methodology: An Annual Volume

http://weber.u.washington.edu/~socmeth2/software.html

Social Science Computer Review
http://sagepub.com
The Information Society

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~kling/tis.html

INTERNET MAILING LISTS (LIST SERVERS) ON SOCIOLOGICAL TOPICS

This list of List Servers, or Listserv discussion groups, indicate the popularity of such communication vehicles. The format for each entry is: List-Name followed by a brief one-phrase description. The second line is the Internet subscription address. Unless otherwise noted, anyone can subscribe by sending a one-line message to these addresses. The one-line message should say "subscribe" followed by the List-Name.

ASASCAN Section on Sociology and Computing (ASA)
[email protected]
FAMLYSCI Family studies

IVSA International Visual Sociology Association
[email protected]
MATHSOC Mathematical Sociology

RURSOC-L Rural Sociology Discussion List

SOCIOLOGY-L Sociology Faculty Information

SOCNET Social Networks

SOCIOLOGY USENET NEWSGROUPS

In contrast to Internet Mailing Lists, UseNet Newsgroups do not broadcast a message to all those included on the list. Internet users must specifically access the postings (messages) for any such newsgroup. While on any given day, "sociology" will be mentioned in a variety of newsgroup discussions, the only newsgroup where academic sociological topics are regularly discussed is: alt.sci.sociology. Generally a few messages are added to this discussion area every day.

Ronald E. Anderson

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now have their own computer with direct access to a printer for writing and to the internet for electronic mail (e-mail).

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COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN SOCIOLOGYMost sociologists, both professionals and students, now have their own computer with direct access to a printer for writing and to the Internet for electronic mail (e-mail). Source for information on Computer Applications in Sociology: Encyclopedia of Sociology dictionary.

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A Brexit is an event short for Britain exiting Europe. One of the major issues of a Brexit is that after a Brexit UK tech startups will be much more expensive.

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The Treasury analysis of the costs of Brexit seems to have largely ignored network effects, despite the fact that these are crucial to the IT industry.

Network effects are where a transaction's value depends on the number of people doing related transactions, and are one of the reasons the industry is full of monopolies.

Facebook beat Myspace and Friendster because people want to be where their friends are, and it's extra bother to use several platforms. Auctions are dominated by eBay, as buyers go where there's the most stuff for sale, and sellers want the biggest crowd of buyers. There are more computers running Windows than Apple because software markets work the same way.

We've come to understand network effects fairly well over the past 25 years. The basics of network economics were explained in the 1990s [1], and since 2001 we've learned that network economics explain much of what goes wrong with security and dependability in large systems [2].

There are now hundreds of people studying the economics of networks, games on networks, how online networks interact with physical networks such as the clusters of firms in cities, and how network effects impact international relations [3].

Four things need saying about Brexit and the tech industry. First, the idea that a UK government can "take back control" goes against experience.

Back in the 1970s, ministers tried to bully universities into buying computers from ICL - a company nationalised by EU opponent Tony Benn. Academics refused because the software we used at the time mostly ran on IBM.

A UK that makes up 1% of world population and 3% of world GDP has little influence on IT markets; a post-Brexit Britain would have even less. Most software markets have been global for decades.

EU calls the shots on privacy and competition law

The EU has real clout though. From the viewpoint of Silicon Valley, Brussels is the world's privacy regulator, since Washington doesn't care and nobody else is big enough to matter.

Brussels also calls the shots on competition policy. The reason you get offered a randomised choice of default browser when switching on a new Windows PC in Europe is that the EU competition authorities insisted on it. This was punishment for Microsoft using its desktop monopoly to trash Netscape - which was an offence in the US too, but the Bush administration couldn't be bothered to prosecute it.

If you want someone to police the side-effects of network effects and globalisation, the European Commission is just about the only sheriff in town

Ross Anderson, Cambridge University

If you want someone to police the side-effects of network effects and globalisation, the European Commission is just about the only sheriff in town.

So regardless of whether a post-Brexit England were like Switzerland (in the Single Market, but with no MEPs), Albania (following Single Market rules, but no MEPs) or Kenya (neither in the Single Market, nor having any MEPs), the rules and standards set in Brussels would have huge and continuing influence on the UK IT industry [3].

UK companies could face pressure to move EU data to European datacentres

Second, privacy and data protection will be a test case. Margaret Thatcher brought in the first Data Protection Act because without it UK companies would not have been able to process personal data on Europeans, so London banks would not have been able to use their UK datacentres to maintain account information on customers in Germany.

She did so through gritted teeth - the then home secretary David Waddington admitted: "Maggie doesn't like data privacy; it's a German idea, like ID cards" - but there was no choice then, and there isn't now.

Post-Brexit, a tech startup in England might be pressured to keep the personal data of EU customers in a datacentre in Europe.

The Safe Harbour provision, which let US companies pretend to be European, was struck down by the European Court as it gave citizens no real redress. The US is scrambling to put together a replacement, but is hitting heavy weather; an England on its own would be in a much weaker position.

The same goes for many other international treaties that IT people find annoying, from the WIPO Treaty on copyright to the Wassennaar Arrangement on export controls.

The IT and telecoms industries have lobbied heavily over the past 15 years against creeping extension of copyright rules; in the non-government organisation world, we set up European Digital Rights to coordinate lobbying in Brussels, as European institutions are the only real counterweight to the copyright lobby.

An alliance of the free software movement, the telcos, car parts makers, generic drugmakers and consumer groups drastically amended the IP Enforcement Directive a dozen years ago; the key moment was when Microsoft decided it didn't want patent infringement to be a crime in every country in Europe, and swapped sides.

That's how the game of international trade regulation is played. Sure, the many international treaties that affect our trade can be obstructive and sometimes infuriating; they are the negative network externalities of the information age. But the Brexit idea that Britain could simply press a magic button and ignore all this "red tape" is deluded.

UK startups will be more expensive after a Brexit

The third point follows - Brexit will make UK tech startups more expensive.

The need to comply with EU privacy law will hobble startups that serve consumers directly. Startups that sell to businesses already find their initial customers are usually among US firms rather than in Britain, so they need an American sales office from day one.

And perhaps they'll have to keep more of their development staff overseas if visas become harder to get. A PhD student of mine had to turn his thesis into a startup in Seoul, with a sales office in Vancouver, when the Home Office wouldn't give him the visas. This can only get worse if there is a Brexit vote.

Startup costs matter even more in tech because of network effects. When a new market opens up, there's often a market race where the winner takes all - and the winner is often the first firm to get network effects running in its favour.

Britain does indeed have some success stories, like ARM. But most of the big winners have been American, as their bigger market lets startups get network effects going faster. In fact, the reason Margaret Thatcher pushed for the Single Market was to help level the playing field.

Brexit will close the doors for talented engineers and scientists

Fourth, tech firms tend to cluster.

In the San Francisco area, in Boston, and in Bangalore, there are thousands of engineers for hire. There are specialist subcontractors, good universities, venture capitalists and a thriving tech social scene where entrepreneurs, engineers and marketing people can meet, swap ideas and hatch new ventures.

The Brexit idea that Britain could simply press a magic button and ignore all the international treaties that affect our trade is deluded

Ross Anderson, Cambridge University

Britain has tech clusters in Cambridge and London that have created tens of thousands of jobs, but we're already hamstrung by the difficulty of getting visas. I've already lost one research student (an American!) and had another start a term late because of visa issues.

Brexit campaigners say an "independent" Britain could give visas to Indian engineers instead of Polish plumbers. But the government is already free to issue as many non-EU visas as it wishes. And the world has seen that Brexit campaigners only started to draw level with the Remain camp once they started banging on about immigration, using xenophobia that has spilled over into naked racism, and now into violence.

If the English people now say at the ballot box that they prefer xenophobia to rational self-interest, it's hard to believe that future English governments will be more liberal on immigration.

Bill Gates himself is pessimistic. In a letter to The Times, he said Cambridge would be a less attractive place if the UK left the EU, as it would be less open to foreign staff.

That's the demand side of the labour market. The supply side is that Britain would also be less attractive to foreign staff. First-class engineers earn good money and can live where they please. So tech clusters happen where it's nice to live - San Francisco, Boston, Bangalore and (still) Cambridge or London. Researchers have noted that these are always open and liberal places, where it's fine to be from an ethnic minority, an immigrant, or gay [4].

What would the world's engineers think about moving to Britain after a high-profile vote for xenophobia? American state and federal governments have spent billions trying to create tech clusters in conservative places like North Carolina or Texas but they've struggled. The houses in red states may be cheap and the sun shining, and you might even go there on vacation, but would you actually want to live there? States that prefer restroom laws to investment find tech firms' dollars going elsewhere.

London will become a second choice destination

Finally, this is not just about IT, but about services generally.

An authoritative study of why some cities became global magnets while others didn't showed that the winners were precisely the good places for a company to locate its global or regional headquarters [5]. They're the cities with dense networks of banks, lawyers, accountants, advertising agents, IT people and all the other specialists that a large or complex firm might suddenly have to call on.

A London that declares immigrants unwelcome will become a second choice not just for Indian web designers, but also for American lawyers, German bankers and Chinese manufacturers. Our loss will be Berlin's gain. This is not just about money; it's about who we are, and also about what other people perceive us to be. If we are no longer seen to be an open society that welcomes able people regardless of their background, it will cost us.
Ross Anderson is professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, and a fellow of the Royal Society. In 2016, he won the Lovelace medal, the UK's highest award for computing.
References:

[1] Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian, " Information Rules ", Harvard Business School Press 1999.

[2] Ross Anderson, " Why Information Security is Hard - an Economic Perspective ", 2001.

[3] Ross Anderson, " Privacy versus government surveillance: where network effects meet public choice ", WEIS 2014.

[4] AnnaLee Saxenia, " Brain Circulation: How High-Skill Immigration Makes Everyone Better Off ", Brookings Review, Winter 2002 v 20 no 1 pp 28-31.

[5] Saskia Sassen, " The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo ", Princeton, 1991.

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Brexit and technology: How network effects will damage UK IT industry

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The Treasury analysis of the costs of Brexit seems to have largely ignored network effects, despite the fact that these are crucial to the IT industry. Network effects are where a transaction's value depends on the number of people doing related transactions, and are one of the reasons the industry is full of monopolies.

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IR35 reform
One of the most effecting legislation as it targets the whole public sector body causing IT contractors to look for job in the private sector and making it difficult for the public sector bodies to recruit IT talented contractors.

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The UK is one of the world's leading producer of electronic waste

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The UK is one of the world's leading producer of electronic waste

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As published by Statista in March 2021, the UK is the 9th largest producer of electronic waste in the world, with 1,598,000 metric tonnes of electronic waste in 2019. Data also shows that the UK produced 126,496 metric tonnes of electronic waste in the fourth quarter of 2020 alone.

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China is the largest producer of electronic waste worldwide, generating more than 10 million metric tons worth in 2019. This was followed by the United States where roughly seven million metric tons was produced. Global electronic waste generation amounted to approximately 54 million metric tons in 2019 and is expected to increase further in the coming years.

What is electronic waste?

Electronic waste is often referred to as e-waste, and is the fastest growing waste stream worldwide. E-waste consists of electronic equipment that has reached the end of its useful life. It includes a wide variety of products used in everyday life such as old phones, televisions, fridges, and air conditioners. The most common type of e-waste is small equipment as microwaves, electric kettles, and cameras.

E-waste disposal

Due to electronic products often containing harmful components, proper disposal of e-waste is imperative. However, it is often not collected for recycling or un-documented. Many developed countries export e-waste to developing nations where it is often improperly disposed of causing major environmental hazards. But it is not just environmental reasons for proper disposal. E-waste contains valuable resources such as gold, silver, and platinum. It is projected that billions of dollars' worth of these valuable metals are discarded every year.

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E-waste generation globally by key country 2019 | Statista

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China is the largest producer of electronic waste worldwide, generating more than 10 million metric tons worth in 2019. This was followed by the United States where roughly seven million metric tons was produced. Global electronic waste generation amounted to approximately 54 million metric tons in 2019 and is expected to increase further in the coming years.

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This website talks about the 3 most effective legislation that has affected tech companies, IT workers and contractors in the UK. It shows from salary wise to effecting a whole sector what these laws have caused.

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With only a week to go until some major legislation changes come into play in the UK, here is a reminder of three key changes and how they could affect tech professionals and businesses from 6 April 2017.

IR35 reform

Perhaps the most hotly debated legislation change affecting workers in the IT industry, the reform to IR35 Intermediaries Legislation impacts public sector bodies and contractors.
The change
In a bid to ensure the correct amount of taxes are paid by contractors working in the public sector, the Government is amending the way the legislation will be applied. Under the reform, the responsibility for determining a contractor's IR35 status will move from the individual to the public sector body.

Contractors deemed to be 'inside' IR35 will have income tax and national insurance contributions deducted from their gross earnings.
Impact on IT contractors
Up to 90% of contractors working in the public sector could be ruled as being inside IR35, according to industry estimates and IT contractors make up a large proportion of those likely to be affected by the change in regulation.
Impact on public sector bodies
The regulation changes mean more responsibility for public sector bodies as they will be tasked with determining if a contractor's assignment falls inside or outside of IR35.
Impact on the industry
With take home pay reducing as a result of paying more tax, many public sector contractors are already seeking work in the private sector, where the legislation changes do not currently apply. As a result, public sector bodies will find it harder to recruit and retain talented contractors, especially those with IT skills in challenging areas such as development, cloud based technologies and architecture.

In the already skills-short digital market, this legislation change has the potential to further widen the gap within the public sector.

Ultimately with the amount of movement anticipated within the public sector workforce, organisations within the sector could find their project timescales considerably impacted.
What our experts think...
Damian Hayes, Head of Public Sector says:

"We are seeing an understandable amount of concern and confusion from contractors within the public sector regarding the impending IR35 legislation changes, with a significant number of contractors looking to move to the private sector."

"The public sector still offers exciting, complex and challenging projects for contractors to be part of; projects that IT professionals really like to be involved with. These projects offer the chance to really make a difference to the daily operations of vital organisations like the NHS, Central and Local Government; organisations that impact the lives of every citizen in the UK. We hope the changes to the IR35 legislation will not deter skilled IT professionals from working in the sector."

You can find further information about the IR35 legislation changes here. If you'd like any further information or support about these changes, please contact your Networkers consultant.

Apprenticeship Levy

Coming into effect from 6 April 2017 for any apprenticeships starting after 1 May 2017, the apprenticeship levy is a new funding system designed to support an increasing number of apprenticeships in the UK, including a number of digital skills-focused training schemes.
The legislation
As part of the Government's plans to ensure the UK has the skills it needs for the future, an apprenticeship levy is being introduced to fund three million apprenticeships by 2020.

A wide range of apprenticeships have been approved, with more to be announced, including IT-focused courses such as:

* Cyber Intrusion Analyst
* Software Developer
* Unified Communications Technician
* IT Technical Salesperson
* Network engineer
Impact on tech firms
The levy applies to any UK businesses with a payroll of £3 million or above and whilst the government anticipates it will apply to less than 2% of businesses, Computer Weekly suggests that with an average tech sector salary of £43,000, a high number of tech firms could well be affected. Such companies will be liable to a 0.5% payroll levy and will receive an annual allowance of £15,000 to offset the levy. All other employers will be able to access funding for apprenticeships.
Impact on the industry
It is well-documented that the UK is suffering from a huge digital skills deficit and this was confirmed in our recent Voice of the Workforce research, in which 57% of the 1,656 tech professionals we surveyed said they believe there is a skills shortage in the sector they work in.

One major strand of the strategy to plug this skills gap is to ensure there is a steady flow of people entering a career in technology and that's where the apprenticeship levy comes into play. However, to ensure the UK's more urgent and specialist skills requirements are being met in the meantime, for example, in cyber security and big data, the skills of the current workforce cannot be neglected. Perhaps with this in mind, the Government recently announced investment of up to £40 million on retraining and upskilling the current workforce.
What our experts think...
Jonathan Martin, Head of Information Security says:

"The introduction of the apprenticeship levy provides a great opportunity for companies in the UK to invest in the digital skills that the nation is crying out for. It is great to see that Cyber Intrusion Analysts is on the list of approved courses as the demand for cyber security skills continues to outpace supply.

"47% of IT professionals who took part in our recent Voice of the Workforce research said that cyber security is the biggest potential disruptor to the industry over the next five years, yet only a third believed the organisation they work for is proactively implementing changes to be fit for the future. The new funding for apprenticeships gives organisations an opportunity to invest in information security skills now which will be vital for the future."

For more information on the Apprenticeship Levy, click here.

Gender pay gap reporting

To highlight differences in the average wages of men and women within a single organisation, the gender pay gap reporting legislation will put equal opportunities at the top of the agenda for many UK businesses.
The legislation
From the start of the new tax year, employers with 250 or more employees will have to publish annual figures showing how big the pay gap is between their male and female employees, including bonus payments.

The legislation stipulates a number of calculations which must be undertaken, the results of which should then be made public on the company's website and a Government website within the 12 months following 5 April 2017 and every year thereafter.
Impact on the industry
The new reporting requirements are likely to highlight more than just pay issues within the tech sector. In fact, research by global employee benefits company Mercer indicates that the pay gap in the UK's high-tech sector is well above the national average at 25%, compared to 18% across other industries. However, further analysis of the figures shows that differences in pay may be more about a lack of diversity at different career levels. With only 14.4% of the UK STEM workforce represented by females, it is easy to see the wider issue.
What our experts think...
James Smith, Managing Director says:

"The tech industry is known for being one which lacks gender diversity so this new legislation should help to highlight this issue and keep it on the agenda of businesses across the UK. There is a lot of research which suggests that companies with a more diverse workforce or those with more women in executive roles tend to yield higher returns so not only can encouraging more females into tech careers help address skills shortages but it can also drive performance."

"In our recent Voice of the Workforce research, which surveyed 1,656 tech professionals, 54% said they believe gender diversity is improving within the sector they work in and highlighted the best way to address gender diversity as providing better flexible working practices."

For more information about Gender Pay Gap Reporting, click here.

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3 legislation changes affecting the UK tech industry

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With only a week to go until some major legislation changes come into play in the UK, here is a reminder of three key changes and how they could affect tech professionals and businesses from 6 April 2017.

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Technologies negative impact on Business

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Technologies negative impact on Business

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This Article highlights the negative sides of a constant evolving technological based time, and how it can affect businesses both from a staff point of view and production.

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Employees are ever-increasingly dependent on emerging technologies.

If you've been in business for more than 10 minutes, you're probably aware that the technology "genie" brings with it both amazing advantages and agonizing negatives. On the one hand, payments and orders can happen at lightning speed; on the other, expenses and vulnerabilities may arrive unexpectedly. A sober look at the negative impacts of any technology is a healthy practice for any businessperson.

Tech Expenses

The "no free lunch" rule applies in spades to technology. Virtually every meaningful piece of tech can come with a host of costs, including upfront expenses, recurring fees and maintenance charges. Before you commit your hard-earned cash to technology, it pays to comparison shop and analyze costs and benefits to determine if the expense is worth it to you.

Training and Retraining

Many technologies involve new ways of doing things, which means training on hardware, software and methods. The investments in money and employee time for training can be substantial. Hours and days spent learning new to use technology is time not spent taking care of customers. Also, few technologies stand still. With constant advancements in technology, retraining becomes necessary to keep up with the latest vendor offerings.

Tech Dependence, Part I

Because your business benefits from technology, your company also becomes dependent on it. When the inevitable glitches, bugs and power failures come, you may find yourself unable to accomplish simple business tasks. For example, a glitch in a credit-card processing operation will create major headaches. A power outage might mean long lines of grumpy customers as clerks write up receipts by hand.

Tech Dependence, Part II

Technology dependence can rear its ugly head even under the best of circumstances. Many tech companies use custom hardware and software that leads to a situation called vendor lock-in. If you become dissatisfied with a particular vendor's products, it may be difficult to try another vendor. In many cases, businesses simply put up with the idiosyncrasies of a vendor's technology because changing is too hard.

The Tech Treadmill

To bolster their own revenue, some tech vendors introduce new and upgraded products in rapid succession. Staying up to date means regularly replacing software and hardware with newer versions. Although they can bring benefits, the expense and time involved in upgrading your tech can be a drain on your company.

Hacking and Data Loss

Hacking is a fact of modern life. Almost regularly it seems the news reports yet another major company has had files stolen by data thieves. When this happens, private, confidential and sensitive information may be lost, along with the target company's reputation. Although some organizations have been hacked because of lax data security, others who had good practices have also been broken into.

The Bleeding Edge

Dealing with new technology can conjure up the saying, "You can recognize a pioneer by the arrows in his back." The advantages that come with very new technology may be accompanied by serious risks. Too often, tech vendors rush cutting-edge products to market with inadequate testing and support. Early adopters may be stuck with tech that doesn't meet expectations.

Tech is Disruptive

Technology plays no favorites. Although it may improve your own operation substantially one day, the next, a competitor's tech might adversely affect you. Because technology evolves and spreads rapidly, major disruptions can happen with surprising speed.

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Technology's Negative Impact on Business

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Tech-savvy businesspeople know the latest apps and gadgets come with both benefits and risks. Tech can involve costs after the initial expense, such as maintenance and training. Computer hacking can spell loss of reputation. And dependence on tech leads to serious business snags when it fails.

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How technology affects Business activity

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How technology affects Business activity

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This article covers how the growth in technology has enabled much progression to be made within the business industry for the most part in a positive manner.

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The Impact of Technological Change on Business Activity

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The Impact of Technological Change on Business Activity. Business technology has revolutionized the way companies conduct business. Small businesses can implement business technology and level the playing field with larger organizations. Small businesses use computers, servers, websites and personal digital products ...

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The computer industry in the UK, like in many other places, is currently experiencing an exponential growth in both interest and knowledge. The amount of research and studying in the field is higher than ever owing to the importance of computers in everyday life.

What we will be looking at here is how certain factors have impacted the UK computer industry, and how it might shape the future of both the industry and the country.

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In simple terms, a PESTLE analysis examines how several factors (namely Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental), impacts a certain organisation or industry.

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PESTLE Analysis on the UK's Computer Industry

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PESTLE Analysis on the UK's Computer Industry