Appel à contributions
Dossier à paraître dans le n° 86 - 2ème trimestre 2012
Development of ICT in Africa
Edité par Laurent GILLE, Anders HENTEN,Robin MANSELL & Didier POUILLOT
ICTs can be seen as systemic tools for economic and social development. This has been acknowledged for decades in Africa – first with respect to telecommunications and later with respect to information and communication technologies (ICT) generally. Lately, much emphasis has been given to the many different social applications of ICT such as e-learning, e-health, e-governance, etc.
For many years nothing much happened concerning telecommunications and ICT development in Africa. However, over the last decade mobile communication has developed rapidly in Africa providing the basis for voice communication and, increasingly, for a growing variety of data communications services.
This call for papers seeks contributions on experiences regarding the development of telecommunications and especially mobile communications, the adoption and use of ICTs, and the policies and regulations framing these developments. Which policies and regulations have had positive effects on the development, adoption and use of ICTs and what are the less positive experiences?
We also welcome contributions on the applications of ICT in various public social contexts (health, learning, etc.), in smaller and larger business environments and for private residential purposes. What are the experiences so far regarding ICTs supporting public services and how has the use of mobile communications influenced the strategies and performance of micro, small, and large businesses?
In the selection of papers for this dossier consideration will be given to papers that highlight areas where technology solutions and applications have developed earlier or faster than in other countries or regions of the world. The take-up of technology in African countries frequently is seen as following more economically developed countries. However, in some areas, for instance, e-money, African countries are among the leaders. Papers analyzing other similar developments will be welcome.
Potential Topics:
• Benchmarking telecom market status in Africa: priorities (fixed vs mobile coverage), pricing, regulation and competition policies…;
• Opportunities and barriers to the development of innovative services and usage (m-payment, e-health, e-learning, e-governance…);
• Roles of intermediaries (social movement organizations, industry sector organizations, etc.) in encouraging demand for ICT applications;
• Industrial organization: strategy of western telcos in Africa, new emerging African groups;
• Impact of telecom network deployments on Internet and media developments in Africa.
Veuillez envoyer vos propositions (full papers) avant le 29 février 2012 à :
s.nigon@idate.org
Dossier à paraître dans le n° 85 - 1er trimestre 2012
Cloud ecosystem and platforms competition
Edité par Jacques CREMER, Yves GASSOT, Bruno LANVIN & Lorenzo PUPILLO
Cloud computing is substantially changing the way computing is performed. According to some analysts, cloud computing is revolutionizing computers paradigms. Indeed, it allows for on demand self-services, resources pooling to serve multiple users using multi-tenant models, elastic provision of capacity, better control and use of resources through measured services.
The initial appeal of cloud computing was in great part the reduction in cost from centralizing IT services of businesses and administrations. But as innovations roll out apace in the consumer and entertainment markets, the cloud is now becoming a reality there as well, driving a redeployment of technical platforms and changing the value chains for mobile services, video, games, music, etc.
Content is a case in point! Content in the cloud is opening the way for a vast array of content and innovative applications. But, there are also a number of lingering uncertainties:
• Over how several cohabitations will play out: between services and the firms, between traditional media distribution models and technical configurations to new models in the cloud; and over the expected benefits and risks (impact on traffic, on security, etc.);
• Over how open the ecosystems being promoted by the main stakeholders are, due to their control of patents, the role played by smart devices, control over transaction platforms, search engines, the top social networking sites, sensitivity to copyright, switching costs etc.;
• Over resulting new consumption habits (storage versus streaming);
• Over corresponding business models (bundles, multi-screen strategies), the role of two-sided markets and platform strategies, the advantages and limitations of vertical integration strategies;
• Over ownership of data and the ability of customers to switch from one provider to the other;
• Over the type of guarantees which can be given for quality of services and more generally about the contractual relationships between providers and customers;
• The degree of competition, the national or regional dimension of cultural industries and the main components of the industry's organisation as a result of these changes.
The benefits of cloud computing, previously mentioned, come along with additional challenges in the area of:
• Privacy: including cross-border issues related to privacy protection, and data transfer among countries;
• Security: where an holistic risk management approach is called for;
• Consumer protection and cloud computing contracts which often are more asymmetric than traditional outsourcing contracts.
Against this backdrop, this call for papers invites interested authors to develop their thoughts on these issues. In particular, the authors should conduct their research with a view at the quickly evolving landscape of cloud computing technologies and applications. Thus, they should provide original analysis of the platforms competition, and flexible and adaptable approach on the policy side as well as innovative technical and market solutions.
The IDEI and the Toulouse School of Economics will hold a workshop on cloud computing in the Spring of 2011. Some of the authors of the papers presented in the volume will be invited to present their research during this workshop.
Veuillez envoyer vos propositions (full papers) avant le 10 janvier 2012 à :
s.nigon@idate.org
Submission of papers
All papers submitted for publication will be "double blind" reviewed by at least two referees/experts.
Proposals must be submitted in Word format (.doc) and should not exceed 6,500 words.
Please ensure that all illustrations (graphics, figures, etc.) are in black and white - excluding any color - and are of printing quality.
Bibliographical references should be included at the end of the article. Should these references appear in the text, please indicate the author's name and the year of publication in brackets.
