Freedom of access to the radio spectrum for satellite communications

A conference will open on 8 August 1985 under ITU auspices to consider major procedural changes in the international regulation of the use of the radio spectrum by geostationary satellites. There has been strong pressure for the introduction of a priori orbit/ spectrum planning for, for example, the fixed-satellite service from countries which foresee that they may lose their option to set up domestic satellite networks under the present ptocedure. However, reform of the present procedures, rather than radical change, would give better assurance that the real needs of all countries will be met.     

From leisure to labour: towards a typology of the motivations,structures and experiences of work-related blogging

Beyond a purely social activity, mode of leisure or form of escape, blogging is an increasingly important form of labour that is becoming central to many jobs, occupations and forms of self-employment. Yet, the labour dynamics of blogging remain poorly understood and articulated. To address this gap, this paper presents a novel typology of work-related blogging based on the integration of existing knowledge, an in-depth qualitative analysis of 10 blogs and 1,304 blog posts and a ‘total social organisation of labour’ framework. It contributes to the sociology of work by unpacking and nuancing our collective understanding of the relationships between blogging, labour market mobility and labour market trends such as the fragmentation of work, the heightened significance of unpaid labour and new forms of resistance and solidarity in the digital age.     

A Swedish workplace of the future?: The Tomteboda mail centre

In 1983, the Swedish Post Office opened the most technically advanced mail centre in the world. Here the author describes how work is organised in this futuristically designed workplace.     

Remixing work,family and leisure: teleworkers' experiences of everyday life

This paper explores whether and in what ways telework is associated with a reconfiguration or remixing of daily work, family and leisure activities. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 51 teleworkers employed in a financial organisation in Canada. For some, telework was a condition of employment, while others negotiated part‐time telework arrangements with managers. Using interpretive thematic analysis techniques, intersections and inter‐relationships between experiences of work, family and leisure were identified. Three main themes emerged, including the need to not only protect, but also containing work time and space; the significance of family and being available for children; and, the relative devaluation of leisure. Although it was anticipated that differences between involuntary and voluntary teleworkers would be evident, gender and family stage were more influential in structuring daily life. The flexibility of telework was valued, but there was little evidence of a reconfiguration of life spheres except for women with children at home.     

Restructuring, productivity and workplace relations: evidence from the textile industry

This study analyses the nature of productivity improvements in the textile industry by focusing on the interplay between micro-electronic technologies and changes in work practices at two hosiery plants and a cotton spinning mill. The findings highlight the uneven impact of technological change on workplace relations and patterns of occupational segregation.     

At home on the outstation: Barriers to home Internet in remote Indigenous communities

Indigenous Australians living in remote areas have little access to the Internet and make little use of it. This article investigates the various dimensions of Internet take-up in remote Indigenous communities in Australia and considers the implications for broadband policy. It focuses specifically on the circumstances and experiences of three remote Indigenous communities in central Australia. Residents in these communities provided significant insight into the social, economic and cultural aspects of communications access and use. This evidence is used to examine the drivers and barriers to home Internet for remote Indigenous communities and to discuss a complex set of issues, including: the dynamics of remote living, economic priorities, cultural engagement with technology, and the characteristics of domestic life in remote Indigenous communities.     

The role of the workplace in ethnic wage differentials

Using linked employer–employee data for Britain, we examine ethnic wage differentials among full-time employees. We find substantial ethnic segregation across workplaces. However, this inter-workplace segregation does not contribute to the aggregate wage penalty in Britain. Instead, most of the ethnic wage gap exists within the workplace, between observationally-equivalent co-workers. Lower pay satisfaction and higher levels of skill mismatch among ethnic minority workers are consistent with discrimination in wage-setting on the part of employers. The presence of recognized trade unions and the use of job evaluation schemes within the workplace are associated with a smaller ethnic wage gap. These findings indicate that more attention should be placed on ensuring fairness in wage determination.     

Consumer Resistance to Innovation in Services: Challenges and Barriers in the Internet of Things Era

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to be the next phase of the Internet revolution and to transform consumers’ service experience. It nevertheless raises challenges on innovation in services. Based on Ram and Sheth's ( 1989 ) theoretical framework, this work attempts to provide a better understanding of the barriers that lead to consumers’ resistance to smart services as an innovation. To this end, our research adopts an integrative framework that combines functional barriers, psychological barriers, and individual barriers to explain consumer resistance to smart services. Structural equation modeling was used to test this theoretical framework. Our research enriches the existing literature by (1) adapting Ram and Sheth's ( 1989 ) theoretical framework to the evolution of digital technologies (technological vulnerability barriers), (2) taking into account the ideological aspect of resistance (ideological barriers), and (3) considering dispositional variables (individual barriers). Moreover, it highlights the key role of skepticism toward IoT devices as a mediator between technological vulnerability barriers and individual barriers on the one hand and consumer resistance to smart services on the other.     

浅谈网络环境下高校馆员的素质培养

针对网络环境下对高校图书馆员素质的要求,本文从塑造高素质图书馆员的必要性、对馆员素质要求、塑造途径等方面进行阐述。     

Electronic surveillance in the global workplace: laws,ethics, research and practice

This paper considers the legal, ethical and cultural factors that must be addressed in evaluating the appropriateness of employing electronic surveillance (ES) in varying international contexts. It critically evaluates the rationale that underlies the use of ES in a variety of settings and types of organisations. It suggests guidelines for the adoption and use of ES and potential directions for future research.     

Job change and workplace learning in the public sector: the significance of new technology for unskilled work

Focussing here on local authorities and health services, this paper examines the significance of new technology to unskilled work in the public sector as it is developing and the implications for workplace learning. An argument is developed that new technology is central to a minority of examples of job change, although, significantly, it is more important to staff–initiated change and to workers' ability to fully participate in life beyond the workplace.     

Organisational culture in the age of the Internet: an exploratory study

Through an exploratory study of a large financial services organisation, this study finds that the idiosyncratic nature of the Internet and Internet operations point to a range of implications for both the interaction of organisational subcultures and the internal and external perceptions of organisational culture.     

Critical resource: An institutional economics of the Internet addressing-routing space

This paper links the analysis of IP address policy to the established vocabulary and concepts of institutional economics. Internet addressing and routing are usually discussed in technical terms, yet embedded in this highly technical discourse are a number of critical economic concepts, such as scarcity, externalities, common pool resources, tragedy of the commons, and conflict over the distribution of costs. To solve these problems, governance institutions native to the Internet have evolved. Yet despite the centrality of addressing and routing to Internet governance, there is very little research literature that bridges economic, institutional and technical discussions of IP addressing and routing. This paper connects the techno-economic discussion to analysis of institutions and governance arrangements.     

Baywatch: Two approaches to measure the effects of blocking access to The Pirate Bay

In the fight against unauthorised sharing of copyright protected material, Dutch Internet Service Providers have been summoned by courts to block their subscribers' access to The Pirate Bay and related sites. This paper studies the effectiveness of this approach towards online copyright enforcement, using both a consumer survey and a newly developed non-infringing technology for BitTorrent monitoring. While a small group of respondents download less from illegal sources or claim to have stopped doing so, no impact is found on the percentage of the Dutch population downloading from illegal sources. Slight changes are found on the distribution of Dutch peers, but these seem related to the awareness raised by blocking rather than the blocking itself.     

网络时代包装企业面临的机遇与挑战

现代企业都把信息化看作企业综合实力和市场竞争力的重要标志之一.而以往包装企业习惯于通过大规模硬件设施的投入来加强竞争力,在一段时间里,这些措施确实使企业获得了一定的发展.但随着市场形势的变化,也产生了一句名言,叫做"不搞技改是等死,搞了技改是找死",为什么呢?这里面就有一个企业决策信息量不足的问题.解决了信息问题,也就解决了企业发展的问题.     

The combined effects of positive and negative affect on job satisfaction and counterproductive work behavior

Management researchers have paid more attention to the role of affect in the workplace in the last two to three decades. While it is clear that positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) should be associated with positive and negative employee attitudes and behaviors, respectively, we know little about their combined effects. In this study, we provide preliminary evidence concerning the potential complexity of the interplay between PA and NA in affecting job satisfaction and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). Results of polynomial regression analyses from a sample of 216 employees showed that congruence of PA and NA at high level leads to the higher level of job satisfaction and CWB than they are congruent at low level. For incongruence situations, PA higher than NA leads to higher level of job satisfaction and a lower level of CWB than when NA is higher than PA. Theoretical implications, limitations and future directions are discussed.