Dossier

From ICT Usability to Usages

Book Review
• By Isabelle POTTIER and Bernard SANCHEZ

Bertrand HOREL
Mobile Multi-media Messages (MMS): Show-don't-tell in a Communication
Key words: MMS, semiotics, interpersonnal communication, image, text, message

With its complex intersemiotic and intermedial textual configuration, the multimedia mobile message (MMS) offers a unique opportunity to apply visual semiotics tools to the theories of communication. By means of an experimental technical device used by a sample of MMS users who exchanged real image-containing messages, the author highlights the ways in which individuals play with the technical constraints of the MMS application during message production. The analysis of a set of simple messages reveals the extent to which the natural indicial tension of photography impregnates the messages, to the point of their assuming a playful dimension, through ingenious playing on meaning within the framework of a private message.

Eric DAGIRAL & Florian DAUPHIN
P2P: From File Sharing to Meta-information Pooling
Key words: P2P, file sharing, online communities, meta-information, cultural goods, MP3.

P2P networks have mainly been used for downloading cultural goods. This sociological research focuses on the practices and norms of users and designers. Drawing on a qualitative survey, it explores the many ways sharing takes place. It looks at P2P networks as file sharing communities and probes the underpinnings of such file sharing. This article  particularly scrutinizes the way in which users are brought together in communities founded on exploration and discovery. The latest developments seem to point towards a type of community chiefly based on exchanging meta-information.

Thomas HOUY
ICT and Lean Management: Will They Ever Get Along?
Key words: Use, Information and Communication Technology, Lean Management, Information Systems, Toyota Production System

In companies, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) accelerate the speed with which information is exchanged between employees, facilitate the processing of data and improve the quality of intra-company communication. As such, ICTs are powerful management support tools and can help to boost firms' performance. However, there is no consensus as to the way in which they should be used. The aim of this article is to contribute to the discussion on the various ways that ICTs are used in companies. Its empirical analysis is based on observations of the paradoxical practices and reasoning that dominate the lean manufacturing approach. Although the lean manufacturing approach considers that ICTs are useful to a degree for carrying out certain tasks, it emphasises the inefficiencies that can result from an inappropriate use of these technologies.

Ludivine MARTIN & Thierry PENARD
Investing in a Website: A Top Dog or a Resource-Based Strategy for Firms?
Key words: Internet strategy, e-commerce, entry barriers, resource-based theory.

This article is aimed at analyzing the motivations on the part of firms to invest in websites. What are the drivers behind such investments? In order to address this issue, we have considered two alternative theoretical frameworks. The first relies upon resource-based theory; the approach herein states that firms with greater resources and competencies are expected to invest more heavily in Internet technologies, especially those firms present in rent-yielding markets (concentrated markets with strong entry barriers). The theory of industrial organization constitutes a second framework and leads to the alternative conjecture that firms should have more incentive to invest in a website when they are in highly-competitive markets. A website can indeed serve as a strategic means for creating artificial entry barriers and eliminating rivals. We have tested these two hypotheses using a French database and found the resource-based approach to be more relevant in explaining the drivers of website investment. In particular, firms tend to invest more in websites when markets are highly concentrated and little exposed to international trade.

Hidenori FUKE
Structural Changes in Telecommunicationsand Regulatory Policy in Japan
Key words: competition, market failure, asymmetric information, vertical integration, layered structure, broadband internet, mobile

This paper discusses and evaluates telecommunications regulatory policy in Japan taking into account the structural changes in the industry. The first section of the paper describes the basic concept of regulation in telecommunications, and is followed by an outline of privatisation, the introduction of competition in Japan and an analysis of the country's regulatory framework. The following section evaluates the regulatory adjustments made with the development of competition, while the section after analyses structural changes in the industry. We then evaluate the major regulatory reform of 2004. The paper concludes by proposing a total revision of the regulatory framework to accommodate the transition from vertical integration to a layered structure.

Ricardo GONÇALVES & Rita RIBEIRO
Skype and the New Regulatory Framework
Key words: Skype, VoIP, Telecommunications, new regulatory framework.

Skype, an increasingly popular VoIP (Voice over IP) provider, has been heralded by many as a revolution for voice telephony. The underlying technology it uses (P2P or Peer-to-Peer) and the quality of its voice calls have been the two main factors behind such bold statements. This paper looks in more detail at Skype, the services it provides and the types of internet access that enable its use in the context of the new European regulatory framework for the telecommunications sector. In particular, we analyse whether Skype will affect the boundaries of those markets that have been (or could be) identified as susceptible to ex ante regulation and whether it affects any of the criteria used to define these markets. We also analyse whether or not Skype can be considered as "potential competition", thus constraining the market power of existing operators in those markets.

Vincent BONNEAU joined IDATE in 2004. He is mainly in charge of the impact of the software industry and IT innovations on the telecom markets (mobility, security, pervasive computing). Prior to IDATE, Vincent BONNEAU worked for the French Trade Commission (Economic Department of the Embassy of France) in San Francisco as an analyst in charge of the software industry. He is graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (1997) and from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (2002). He also holds a MS from HEC in IT Management (2002).
v.bonneau@idate.org

Eric DAGIRAL is a lecturer at the University of Marne-la-Vallée. He is currently completing his doctorate in sociology at LATTS, Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (ENPC, Marne-la-Vallée university). He is studying e-government and his thesis focuses on the various uses of e-administration (taxes, access to general information) by private individuals in France. His research includes work on software design and online services, and above all P2P.
eric.dagiral@univ-mlv.fr
http://latts.cnrs.fr/site/p_lattsperso.php?Id=143

Godefroy DANG NGUYEN is Professor of Economics and Deputy Scientific Director at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne as well as Scientific Director of M@rsouin, a federation of 8 labs of Universities and Grandes Ecoles located in Brittany and researching on the social and economic consequences of the diffusion of ICT.

Florian DAUPHIN is a PhD student in sociology at CEAQ (study center on the current and the everyday), University Paris 5, René Descartes, Sorbonne. He is also a member of the GRETECH, a research group on technology and everyday life. His work is focused on online communities and mainly on forms of socialising and gift giving in peer-to-peer networks. He is also interested in online hoax and free software.
florian.dauphin@laposte.net

Gilles FONTAINE is deputy Managing Director of IDATE. Prior to joining IDATE, and after some time spent with the Ministry of Culture and the French radio broadcasting company SOFIRAD, he worked for the national deposit and consignment office, la Caisse des dépôts et consignations, monitoring investments in a large number of audiovisual and multimedia companies. He has also been involved in developing thematic channel activities. Gilles Fontaine graduated from the top French business school HEC (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) in 1983 and the Institut MultiMédias in 1984.
g.fontaine@idate.org

Hidenori FUKE is a professor of network industry at the Faculty of Informatics at Kansai University in Osaka, Japan. He is also a member of the board of directors of the International Telecommunications Society. His previous experience in regulatory matters includes a senior executive position at the Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation and extensive research into the analysis of the info-communications industry and regulatory policy as an executive researcher at InfoCom Research, Inc.

Michel GENSOLLEN has been trained as an economist and an engineer in telecommunications. From 1990 to 2000, he was Chief Economist at France Telecom, in charge of the Economic and Strategic Studies Department. He is currently working at the EGSH (Economie, Gestion et Sciences Humaines) department at Telecom Paris. His recent publications focus on electronic commerce, network-based firms, information economy, and the new business models triggered by the development of the Internet and ICT
http://www.gensollen.net/

Ricardo GONÇALVES is a partner at Indera – Estudos Económicos, an economic consultancy based in Porto, Portugal that provides expert advice in the field of regulation and competition in the telecommunications sector (among others). He is also assistant professor at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto) and at the Universidade de Aveiro. Gonçalves holds a PhD and a MSc in Economics from the University of York and graduated in Economics at Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (UTL, Lisbon).
ricardo.goncalves@indera.pt

Bertrand HOREL is a PhD student in information and communication sciences at Paris IV Sorbonne – CELSA. Supervised by Professor Yves Jeanneret, he has notably worked on the relationship between the morphology of the digital video camescope and the semiotic formats of its production, amateur and televisual (DEA).

Thomas HOUY is a PhD student in economics at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (Télécom Paris) and is also a participant in the "Lean Enterprise Project" at Télécom Paris. He holds two Masters in economics and management science from University Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and University Paris 2 (Panthéon-Assas). His research interests focus on the field of lean companies, and particularly on microeconomic models of the lean approach.
houy@enst.fr

Ludivine MARTIN is a PhD student in economics at the Center of Research in Economics and Management (CREM - University of Rennes 1). Her research interests focus on ICT use by firms and households.
Ludivine.martin@enst.fr

Laurent MICHAUD joined IDATE in February 2000 as a consultant in the "Media Economics" department. His skills cover the fields of economic and financial analysis and evaluation, statistical data processing, computer-assisted simulation systems, short and mid-term forecasts and database management. Laurent Michaud is in charge of IDATE's multi-client digital entertainment studies. He carries out expert missions on video games issues, and also contributes to strategic, sector-based market reports. He was head of Research at Montpellier University of Economics' research laboratory, Le Centre d'Études et de Projets and holds a post-graduate professional degree (D.E.S.S.) in Economic and Financial Project Engineering.
l.michaud@idate.org

David OSIMO is a researcher on eGovernment and Information Society at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, European Commission Joint Research Centre. He has conducted research on regional development, broadband infrastructure and ICT usage by government, citizens, and business. Before joining IPTS he was in charge of benchmarking ICT activities in the Emilia-Romagna Region, including the coordination of the UNDERSTAND project (European regions UNDER way towards STANDard indicators for benchmarking information society).

Thierry PENARD is professor of Economics at the University of Rennes 1 and member of the Center of Research in Economics and Management (CREM).He is also affiliated to M@rsouin, a Brittany research network on ICT use and ICT public policy. He holds a phD and a MSc in Economics from the University of Paris 1. He was lecturer at the ENST Bretagne from 1997 to 2000. His fields of specialization include the industrial organization, the economics of networks and the economics of contract. His current research focuses on ICT use and electronic markets.

Isabelle POTTIER, lawyer and director of studies and publications at Alain Bensoussan's law firm; is specifically responsible for reports on the legal assessment and protection of new technologies, as well as questions of electronic evidence and data storage.

Rita RIBEIRO is a partner at Indera – Estudos Económicos, an economic consultancy based in Porto, Portugal that provides expert advice in the field of regulation and competition in the telecommunications sector (among others). She is assistant professor at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto) and holds a PhD and a MSc in Management from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). Ribeiro is also a graduate of the management program at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto).
rita.ribeiro@indera.pt

Bernard SANCHEZ joined IDATE in August 2004 as Director of Studies, in the "Industrial Analyses" Department. He is now in charge of regulation and competition division. Before joining IDATE, he was Senior Economist at Enerdata, French consulting firm specialized in the energy sector analyses where he was in charge of markets liberalization topics, energy forecasts and energy efficiency policies assessment. Bernard SANCHEZ holds a Ph.d in Economics (1996).
b.sanchez@idate.org

Roger SILVERSTONE is Professor of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a founding (and now consulting) editor of the journal New Media & Society. His recent research includes work on ICTs and everyday life, minority and diasporic media, and media ethics. He has recently published Media Technology and Everyday Life in Europe (Ashgate, 2005) and will publish Media and Morality: the rise of the Mediapolis, (Polity Press) in 2006.