literacy, meaning poor ability to read and comprehend written text. In fact, almost the entire adult illiterate population of 775 million lives in developing countries. Product designs that rely on textual communication to ensure that a product or service is used properly—for example, instruction manuals or product labels—are at risk of failing for this reason alone. Therefore, people who design products and services to be used in developing countries put literacy high on their list of challenges. Products or services that involve a webor mobile-based user interface must deal with the additional problem of a lack of technical literacy. Although global in reach, web and mobile technologies have not reached all markets equally. Average Internet penetration in Africa, for example, is just 21.3 percent, compared to 84.9 percent in North America. People in developing countries who do have access to mobile devices often use older phones that require triple-tap text entry and use soft keys whose meaning changes according to context—not an easy system to figure out, even for a fully literate person. Attaining technical literacy is challenged further by frequent power outages, poor network coverage, shared phones that are often swapped—and lost—by friends and family, and expensive data plans. Therefore, designs that rely on technical literacy to ensure that a product or service is used properly—to navigate menus, enter search terms, or use contextual soft keys, for example—are also at risk of failing. Textual and technical literacy clearly are critical considerations for designers, particularly in the context of digital user interfaces in developing markets. This raises the question of what outcomes should be expected from designs that tackle these issues. Are the most desirable outcomes the ability to understand the com-
{"title":"Internet Design for Emerging Markets","authors":"Ravi Chhatpar, Robert Fabricant","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00222","url":null,"abstract":"literacy, meaning poor ability to read and comprehend written text. In fact, almost the entire adult illiterate population of 775 million lives in developing countries. Product designs that rely on textual communication to ensure that a product or service is used properly—for example, instruction manuals or product labels—are at risk of failing for this reason alone. Therefore, people who design products and services to be used in developing countries put literacy high on their list of challenges. Products or services that involve a webor mobile-based user interface must deal with the additional problem of a lack of technical literacy. Although global in reach, web and mobile technologies have not reached all markets equally. Average Internet penetration in Africa, for example, is just 21.3 percent, compared to 84.9 percent in North America. People in developing countries who do have access to mobile devices often use older phones that require triple-tap text entry and use soft keys whose meaning changes according to context—not an easy system to figure out, even for a fully literate person. Attaining technical literacy is challenged further by frequent power outages, poor network coverage, shared phones that are often swapped—and lost—by friends and family, and expensive data plans. Therefore, designs that rely on technical literacy to ensure that a product or service is used properly—to navigate menus, enter search terms, or use contextual soft keys, for example—are also at risk of failing. Textual and technical literacy clearly are critical considerations for designers, particularly in the context of digital user interfaces in developing markets. This raises the question of what outcomes should be expected from designs that tackle these issues. Are the most desirable outcomes the ability to understand the com-","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129296520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out. Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria. We didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to. My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer because the characters in the British books I read drank ginger beer. —Chimamanda Adichie, 2009 The Internet is not an amorphous, spaceless, and placeless cloud. It is characterized by distinct geographies. Internet users, servers, websites, scripts, and even bits of information all exist somewhere. These geographies of information shape both what we know and the ways we are able to enact, produce, and reproduce social, economic, and political processes and practices. By 2013, the Internet was used by over 2.5 billion people around the world. The fact that over a third of the global population uses the Internet means that there is both figurative and literal space to produce more locally relevant information about much of the world. Even in an age of almost ubiquitous potential connectivity, online voice, representation, and participation remain highly uneven. In this paper, I explore why, in an age of almost ubiquitous potential connectivity, so many people are still left out of global networks, debates, and conversations.
{"title":"Inequitable Distributions in Internet Geographies: The Global South Is Gaining Access, but Lags in Local Content","authors":"Mark Graham","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00212","url":null,"abstract":"they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out. Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria. We didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to. My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer because the characters in the British books I read drank ginger beer. —Chimamanda Adichie, 2009 The Internet is not an amorphous, spaceless, and placeless cloud. It is characterized by distinct geographies. Internet users, servers, websites, scripts, and even bits of information all exist somewhere. These geographies of information shape both what we know and the ways we are able to enact, produce, and reproduce social, economic, and political processes and practices. By 2013, the Internet was used by over 2.5 billion people around the world. The fact that over a third of the global population uses the Internet means that there is both figurative and literal space to produce more locally relevant information about much of the world. Even in an age of almost ubiquitous potential connectivity, online voice, representation, and participation remain highly uneven. In this paper, I explore why, in an age of almost ubiquitous potential connectivity, so many people are still left out of global networks, debates, and conversations.","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"81 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133825868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien) that aired during Superbowl XIII, which introduced the Macintosh to the world. The ad shows a young woman, a “revolutionary,” breaking free of the homogeneous life that George Orwell portrayed in his novel 1984. She takes it upon herself to step outside the lines and to break through the boundaries of order by taking a mallet to a giant screen that is projecting Big Brother’s talking head as drooling drones are staring at him blankly and nodding. The commercial aired only once. The imagery and words clearly stated that Macintosh would show us “why 1984 won’t be like 1984.” With that one commercial, Steve Jobs told us Apple would not conform and was set on changing the world. Revolution. I was 16 at the time, and that TV spot moved me. As a young man growing up in a sleepy suburb of New York City, I was in search of my own revolution. I was struck by how powerful freedom—or a lack thereof—could be. Why? Because freedom is innate to our species. People don’t want to be drooling drones. We want to be free. This instinctive need for freedom has been a catalyst and an inspiration for revolutions around the world for centuries, and we’re seeing this play out in many economies today. At a more mundane level, revolutions are also taking place in industry after industry around the world: travel, financial services, employment, newspapers,
{"title":"Power to the People: Revolutionizing Businesses with Transformative Ideas","authors":"Rich Barton","doi":"10.1162/INOV_A_00201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/INOV_A_00201","url":null,"abstract":"Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien) that aired during Superbowl XIII, which introduced the Macintosh to the world. The ad shows a young woman, a “revolutionary,” breaking free of the homogeneous life that George Orwell portrayed in his novel 1984. She takes it upon herself to step outside the lines and to break through the boundaries of order by taking a mallet to a giant screen that is projecting Big Brother’s talking head as drooling drones are staring at him blankly and nodding. The commercial aired only once. The imagery and words clearly stated that Macintosh would show us “why 1984 won’t be like 1984.” With that one commercial, Steve Jobs told us Apple would not conform and was set on changing the world. Revolution. I was 16 at the time, and that TV spot moved me. As a young man growing up in a sleepy suburb of New York City, I was in search of my own revolution. I was struck by how powerful freedom—or a lack thereof—could be. Why? Because freedom is innate to our species. People don’t want to be drooling drones. We want to be free. This instinctive need for freedom has been a catalyst and an inspiration for revolutions around the world for centuries, and we’re seeing this play out in many economies today. At a more mundane level, revolutions are also taking place in industry after industry around the world: travel, financial services, employment, newspapers,","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126034532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
region has gained global attention in recent years. Against the backdrop of a shifting political landscape and economic uncertainty, new firms and entrepreneurs are being increasingly cited as a vanguard of economic development. However, if this vibrant population of young businesspeople and the institutions that support their efforts are to make their mark on the region, they must be able not just to start businesses but to scale them as well. To identify the specific factors that impinge on efforts to scale, the Wamda Research Lab conducted the largest study on entrepreneurship and scale in the MENA region to date, which included a survey of over 900 entrepreneurs and experts in the region.
{"title":"What Is Next for MENA's Entrepreneurs?","authors":"Jamil Wyne","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00207","url":null,"abstract":"region has gained global attention in recent years. Against the backdrop of a shifting political landscape and economic uncertainty, new firms and entrepreneurs are being increasingly cited as a vanguard of economic development. However, if this vibrant population of young businesspeople and the institutions that support their efforts are to make their mark on the region, they must be able not just to start businesses but to scale them as well. To identify the specific factors that impinge on efforts to scale, the Wamda Research Lab conducted the largest study on entrepreneurship and scale in the MENA region to date, which included a survey of over 900 entrepreneurs and experts in the region.","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128675366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
invest billions of federal dollars in apprenticeship programs in the United States likely conjured up the image of Benjamin Franklin apprenticing as a printer, his first professional role. Apprenticeships remain a fundamental, proven method of training individuals in what are likely high-skilled occupational areas, with hand-on learning processes that are directly supervised by skilled mentors. Today the effectiveness of these multiyear training commitments is measured by whether apprentices are hired by their employers upon completing their programs. If they are not, it’s likely that the apprenticeship program itself needs to be restructured. In the United States, there are only 14 apprentices for every 1,000 workers, and 4 percent of U.S. employers end up hiring their own apprentices, according to the International Skills Standards Organization. By comparison, in my native Australia there are 40 apprentices for every 1,000 workers, and 27 percent of Aussie employers hire their apprentices. According to data from the Australian and U.S. governments, Australia will continue to outpace the U.S. in the level of apprenticeships through at least 2015. Onsite work and mentoring are the core of the training model that today’s entry-level workers need in order to build and sustain lifelong careers. Strategically designed apprenticeship programs aggregate, monitor, and streamline the changing inputs and relationships required to promote workers and pave paths of sustainable employment. University graduates have become unemployable in some countries, even while jobs go unfilled. Businesses worldwide lack skilled workers, even as unem-
{"title":"How Apprenticeships Build and Sustain Skills-Based Careers (Innovations Case Narrative: The Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation)","authors":"Nicholas Wyman","doi":"10.1162/INOV_A_00205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/INOV_A_00205","url":null,"abstract":"invest billions of federal dollars in apprenticeship programs in the United States likely conjured up the image of Benjamin Franklin apprenticing as a printer, his first professional role. Apprenticeships remain a fundamental, proven method of training individuals in what are likely high-skilled occupational areas, with hand-on learning processes that are directly supervised by skilled mentors. Today the effectiveness of these multiyear training commitments is measured by whether apprentices are hired by their employers upon completing their programs. If they are not, it’s likely that the apprenticeship program itself needs to be restructured. In the United States, there are only 14 apprentices for every 1,000 workers, and 4 percent of U.S. employers end up hiring their own apprentices, according to the International Skills Standards Organization. By comparison, in my native Australia there are 40 apprentices for every 1,000 workers, and 27 percent of Aussie employers hire their apprentices. According to data from the Australian and U.S. governments, Australia will continue to outpace the U.S. in the level of apprenticeships through at least 2015. Onsite work and mentoring are the core of the training model that today’s entry-level workers need in order to build and sustain lifelong careers. Strategically designed apprenticeship programs aggregate, monitor, and streamline the changing inputs and relationships required to promote workers and pave paths of sustainable employment. University graduates have become unemployable in some countries, even while jobs go unfilled. Businesses worldwide lack skilled workers, even as unem-","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133544634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
(often referred to as synbio), you’ll get six different answers. While it may frustrate policymakers, this semantics problem signifies synthetic biology’s position as one of the most dynamic and misunderstood sectors of the life sciences today. For the purposes of this paper, we define synthetic biology as the deliberate design and construction of a biological system to produce effects that would not ordinarily occur in nature. It is the process of combining raw DNA components into “synthesized” DNA strands that, when introduced into a living cell, create an organism that behaves according to the designer’s intent. That could mean reprogramming the genome of a bacterium so that it manufactures a vaccine, engineering algae to create biofuels, altering a plant’s DNA to make its flowers glow in the dark, or constructing a more powerful influenza virus from scratch (for research purposes or otherwise). Synthetic biology has the potential to solve, and to create, social problems. It represents a tremendous economic opportunity and a considerable threat to public health and security. Now entering a decisive development phase, synbio technologies are beginning to be both commercialized and democratized. As more products created via synthetic biology are going to market, the tools and materials used to apply the technology are also becoming cheap and accessible enough for startups and hobbyists to get involved. The general public has little understanding of the technology and its implications; it therefore arouses attitudes of both enthusiasm and alarm. Given that synthetic biology involves creating new forms of life, these attitudes are neither unjustified nor surprising. It is critical that measures be taken to facilitate discussion and accelerate understanding of synthetic biology so that a code of ethics and policies for its use can be developed. The best way to understand the issues and determine policies to regulate the synbio field is to cautiously embrace a culture of open, transparent, and participatory science that promotes discussion of opportunities and consequences at every turn.
{"title":"Biohackers: The Science, Politics, and Economics of Synthetic Biology","authors":"R. Bolton, R. Thomas","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00210","url":null,"abstract":"(often referred to as synbio), you’ll get six different answers. While it may frustrate policymakers, this semantics problem signifies synthetic biology’s position as one of the most dynamic and misunderstood sectors of the life sciences today. For the purposes of this paper, we define synthetic biology as the deliberate design and construction of a biological system to produce effects that would not ordinarily occur in nature. It is the process of combining raw DNA components into “synthesized” DNA strands that, when introduced into a living cell, create an organism that behaves according to the designer’s intent. That could mean reprogramming the genome of a bacterium so that it manufactures a vaccine, engineering algae to create biofuels, altering a plant’s DNA to make its flowers glow in the dark, or constructing a more powerful influenza virus from scratch (for research purposes or otherwise). Synthetic biology has the potential to solve, and to create, social problems. It represents a tremendous economic opportunity and a considerable threat to public health and security. Now entering a decisive development phase, synbio technologies are beginning to be both commercialized and democratized. As more products created via synthetic biology are going to market, the tools and materials used to apply the technology are also becoming cheap and accessible enough for startups and hobbyists to get involved. The general public has little understanding of the technology and its implications; it therefore arouses attitudes of both enthusiasm and alarm. Given that synthetic biology involves creating new forms of life, these attitudes are neither unjustified nor surprising. It is critical that measures be taken to facilitate discussion and accelerate understanding of synthetic biology so that a code of ethics and policies for its use can be developed. The best way to understand the issues and determine policies to regulate the synbio field is to cautiously embrace a culture of open, transparent, and participatory science that promotes discussion of opportunities and consequences at every turn.","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"92 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125915691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
solved, and perhaps how we govern ourselves on this shrinking planet. Emerging non-state networks of civil society, private sector, government and individual stakeholders are achieving new forms of cooperation, social change and even the production of global public value. They address every conceivable issue facing humanity from poverty, human rights, health and the environment, to economic policy, war and even the governance of the Internet itself. Enabled by the digital revolution and required by the challenges facing traditional global institutions, these networks are now proliferating across the planet and increasingly having an important impact in solving global problems and enabling global cooperation and governance. Call them Global Solution Networks. Yet to date there has been no systematic study of this phenomenon or an attempt to understand the potential in improving the state of the world. Little has been done to evaluate what makes these networks tick, how they succeed or fail, what impact they have and how they address the tough issues of legitimacy, accountability, representation and transparency. This paper sets the framework for a multi-million dollar global investigation of the new models, conducted by The Martin Prosperity Institute at the University
{"title":"Introducing Global Solution Networks: Understanding the New Multi-Stakeholder Models for Global Cooperation, Problem Solving and Governance","authors":"D. Tapscott","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00200","url":null,"abstract":"solved, and perhaps how we govern ourselves on this shrinking planet. Emerging non-state networks of civil society, private sector, government and individual stakeholders are achieving new forms of cooperation, social change and even the production of global public value. They address every conceivable issue facing humanity from poverty, human rights, health and the environment, to economic policy, war and even the governance of the Internet itself. Enabled by the digital revolution and required by the challenges facing traditional global institutions, these networks are now proliferating across the planet and increasingly having an important impact in solving global problems and enabling global cooperation and governance. Call them Global Solution Networks. Yet to date there has been no systematic study of this phenomenon or an attempt to understand the potential in improving the state of the world. Little has been done to evaluate what makes these networks tick, how they succeed or fail, what impact they have and how they address the tough issues of legitimacy, accountability, representation and transparency. This paper sets the framework for a multi-million dollar global investigation of the new models, conducted by The Martin Prosperity Institute at the University","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115211958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
night, but they number in the hundreds of millions. Malnutrition contributes to the deaths of more than 3.1 million children annually; more than 350 children die every hour. One fifth of our global population does not have access to electricity, one in ten people on earth live without clean drinking water, and nearly half a billion women cannot read or write. While we have made tremendous progress in the fight against poverty, these numbers are still too high. Moreover, those who work to reduce hunger know that the years ahead will test the mettle of our global food system, with increased climate variability, strained natural resource systems, and expanding populations. In the complex fight against global poverty, we rarely come across a gamechanger, but we have one now. The digital connectedness that has enveloped our planet is proving transformative for those working in international development. New ways of collecting data, sharing knowledge, exchanging money, and connecting people have created the potential for radical change in how we work to improve the lives of the poor. From crowdfunding microfinance, to SMS-enabled crop disease mapping, to citizen journalists broadcasting from conflict zones, digitally enabled networks offer opportunities to address old problems in new ways. The widespread use of mobile phones by the poor has brought greater access to information and services, as well as important efficiencies through improvements in communication. In the past we often have failed, however, to employ information and communication technologies (ICTs) in ways that have sustainable, scalable impacts on the poor. The ICT for Development (ICTD) field has been steered by a combination of technophilic fervor and academic analysis, with insufficient attention to on-theground realities, business models, and an understanding of how people in developing countries value and use technology. Now a growing number of skeptics caution that the enormous potential for ICT-driven change that excites those working in international development may be far from the reality that materializes among
{"title":"Tempered Enthusiasm for Digitally Enabled Networks in International Development","authors":"S. Boettiger","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00206","url":null,"abstract":"night, but they number in the hundreds of millions. Malnutrition contributes to the deaths of more than 3.1 million children annually; more than 350 children die every hour. One fifth of our global population does not have access to electricity, one in ten people on earth live without clean drinking water, and nearly half a billion women cannot read or write. While we have made tremendous progress in the fight against poverty, these numbers are still too high. Moreover, those who work to reduce hunger know that the years ahead will test the mettle of our global food system, with increased climate variability, strained natural resource systems, and expanding populations. In the complex fight against global poverty, we rarely come across a gamechanger, but we have one now. The digital connectedness that has enveloped our planet is proving transformative for those working in international development. New ways of collecting data, sharing knowledge, exchanging money, and connecting people have created the potential for radical change in how we work to improve the lives of the poor. From crowdfunding microfinance, to SMS-enabled crop disease mapping, to citizen journalists broadcasting from conflict zones, digitally enabled networks offer opportunities to address old problems in new ways. The widespread use of mobile phones by the poor has brought greater access to information and services, as well as important efficiencies through improvements in communication. In the past we often have failed, however, to employ information and communication technologies (ICTs) in ways that have sustainable, scalable impacts on the poor. The ICT for Development (ICTD) field has been steered by a combination of technophilic fervor and academic analysis, with insufficient attention to on-theground realities, business models, and an understanding of how people in developing countries value and use technology. Now a growing number of skeptics caution that the enormous potential for ICT-driven change that excites those working in international development may be far from the reality that materializes among","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"2016 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127435810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thomas Jefferson: “Every generation needs a new revolution.” However, Drucker quickly makes it clear that, as much as he admires Jefferson, this comment is off the mark. Drucker notes that most of the revolutions we have witnessed in recent history have, in fact, failed to deliver what they promised. As French philosopher and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out, revolutions do not demolish the prisons of the old regime; they tend to enlarge them. The conditions that typically lead to revolution in the first place are oppressive leadership, bankrupt ideas and institutions, and, above all, society’s failure to renew itself. Achieving large-scale social change without going through the upheaval of a revolution is obviously the better option. The term “transformation” aptly describes this preferable path. A key question we face today is whether the Western world has the capacity to transform itself in ways that will achieve growth and prosperity, rather than to move inexorably toward social and economic decline and, quite possibly, experience the wrenching trauma of a citizens’ revolt along the way.
托马斯·杰斐逊:“每一代人都需要一场新的革命。”然而，德鲁克很快明确表示，尽管他非常钦佩杰斐逊，但这一评论是错误的。德鲁克指出，我们在近代史上目睹的大多数革命，实际上都未能实现它们的承诺。正如法国哲学家和政治理论家托克维尔(Alexis de Tocqueville)所指出的，革命不会摧毁旧政权的监狱;他们倾向于扩大它们。通常导致革命的条件首先是压迫性的领导，破产的思想和制度，最重要的是，社会无法自我更新。在不经历革命动荡的情况下实现大规模社会变革显然是更好的选择。术语“转换”恰当地描述了这种优选路径。我们今天面临的一个关键问题是，西方世界是否有能力以实现增长和繁荣的方式进行自我转型，而不是无情地走向社会和经济衰退，并很可能在此过程中经历公民反抗的痛苦创伤。
{"title":"The Great Transformation","authors":"Richard Straub","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00202","url":null,"abstract":"Thomas Jefferson: “Every generation needs a new revolution.” However, Drucker quickly makes it clear that, as much as he admires Jefferson, this comment is off the mark. Drucker notes that most of the revolutions we have witnessed in recent history have, in fact, failed to deliver what they promised. As French philosopher and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out, revolutions do not demolish the prisons of the old regime; they tend to enlarge them. The conditions that typically lead to revolution in the first place are oppressive leadership, bankrupt ideas and institutions, and, above all, society’s failure to renew itself. Achieving large-scale social change without going through the upheaval of a revolution is obviously the better option. The term “transformation” aptly describes this preferable path. A key question we face today is whether the Western world has the capacity to transform itself in ways that will achieve growth and prosperity, rather than to move inexorably toward social and economic decline and, quite possibly, experience the wrenching trauma of a citizens’ revolt along the way.","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134006757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
combination of aid, charity, and volunteer work. This makes intuitive sense but ignores an important part of reality. The needs—seen as business opportunities— of those without wealth can spur spectacular innovation. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press slashed the cost of book production by a factor of close to 100. To reach the masses, Benjamin Day sold newspapers at one-sixth the price his predecessors had charged. Henry Ford cut the price of the automobile by a factor of ten. Ray Kroc had low-income people in mind when he developed McDonald’s. These entrepreneurs did not invent books, newspapers, cars, or hamburgers. These entrepreneurs were driven to reach a much wider population; they conceptualized and executed business models that have revolutionized how we live, while at the same time generating great profits. Generally speaking, entrepreneurs do not necessarily invent things; the entrepreneurial function itself lies in providing “only the will and the action,” in order to assemble the ingredients, possibly from others, to implement a vision for reaching a market. Perhaps unwittingly, the entrepreneurs and countless innovators like them were demonstrating a universal pattern: innovations move toward those with lower incomes. Every innovation spurs a complex chain of reactions, but entrepreneurs push consistently toward lower costs and larger markets. This saves known resources or creates new ones, puts price pressures on existing products, and
{"title":"Inclusive Prosperity in Low-Income Countries (Innovations Case Narrative: The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, MIT)","authors":"I. Quadir","doi":"10.1162/inov_a_00203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00203","url":null,"abstract":"combination of aid, charity, and volunteer work. This makes intuitive sense but ignores an important part of reality. The needs—seen as business opportunities— of those without wealth can spur spectacular innovation. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press slashed the cost of book production by a factor of close to 100. To reach the masses, Benjamin Day sold newspapers at one-sixth the price his predecessors had charged. Henry Ford cut the price of the automobile by a factor of ten. Ray Kroc had low-income people in mind when he developed McDonald’s. These entrepreneurs did not invent books, newspapers, cars, or hamburgers. These entrepreneurs were driven to reach a much wider population; they conceptualized and executed business models that have revolutionized how we live, while at the same time generating great profits. Generally speaking, entrepreneurs do not necessarily invent things; the entrepreneurial function itself lies in providing “only the will and the action,” in order to assemble the ingredients, possibly from others, to implement a vision for reaching a market. Perhaps unwittingly, the entrepreneurs and countless innovators like them were demonstrating a universal pattern: innovations move toward those with lower incomes. Every innovation spurs a complex chain of reactions, but entrepreneurs push consistently toward lower costs and larger markets. This saves known resources or creates new ones, puts price pressures on existing products, and","PeriodicalId":422331,"journal":{"name":"Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization","volume":"141 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132926696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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