Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- 1 COVID-19, Digital Technologies-A Challenging Time -- Introduction -- Development of the Pandemic -- The Economic Context -- The Environmental Context -- The Impact on Food and Poverty -- Conceptual Tools -- Marx and Alienation -- Gramsci -- Common-Sense and Good Sense -- Hegemony -- Intellectuals -- The Philosophy of Praxis -- COVID-19 and the State -- The Response from Below -- References -- 2 COVID-19, Digital Technologies, and Labour Organisation -- Introduction -- Unionising Amazon Workers -- Working as a Full-Time Official -- Organising Migrant Labour in New York -- Garment Workers' Union in Bangladesh -- Organising Local Government Workers in England -- The UK University Sector -- Conclusion -- References -- 3 COVID-19, Digital Technologies, and Mutual Aid -- Introduction -- Mutual Aid in Oakland, USA -- Mutual Aid in Hackney, Northeast London, UK -- Mutual Aid in San Mateo County -- Conclusion -- References -- 4 COVID-19, Digital Technologies, and Coping with Mental Health -- Introduction -- Fellowships During COVID-19 -- Mental Health Discrimination in Northwest England -- Organising Psychotherapist Training During COVID-19 -- Peer-to-Peer Support During the Pandemic -- Conclusion -- References -- 5 COVID-19, Digital Technologies, and the Creative Arts -- Introduction -- Creating and Presenting Poetry During COVID-19 -- COVID-19 and the Creative Arts: A Student's Story -- Community Arts During COVID-19 -- COVID-19, Art, and Digital Technologies: A Brazilian Perspective -- Conclusion -- References -- 6 Covid-19, Digital Technologies, and Protest Movements -- Introduction -- Black Lives Matter -- The Atlanta Justice Alliance -- Black Lives Matter: Minnesota -- Black Lives Matter: New Jersey -- Violence Against Women: Sisters Uncut.

"This book explores the fundamental contradiction at the heart of the digital environment: technology offers all manner of promises, yet habitually fails to deliver. This failure often arises from numerous problems: the proficiency of the technology or end-user, policy failure at various levels, or a combination of these. Solutions such as better technology and more effective end-user education are often put into place to solve these failures.
Mike Healy argues that such approaches are inherently faulty drawing upon qualitative research informed by Marx's theory of alienation. Using Marx's theory, he considers participants in three distinct settings: the workplace of information and communications technology (ICT) professionals; university scholars researching the ethical and societal implications of our digital environment; and a group of pensioners living in South London, UK, undertaking ICT training. By delving beneath the surface of how digital technologies are created, researched and experienced, this study illustrates the contradictory nature of our digital lives, as they directly arise from the needs of capitalism.
The book also places Marx's theory in contrast to the mainstream approaches derived from Seaman and Blauner. In researching and comprehending ICT, this book reaffirms the superior explanatory power of Marx's theory of alienation."

Abstract

The widespread adoption of advanced information and communications technology (ICT) is generally regarded as a powerful driver for undermining bureaucratic management. ICT‐enabled organizations are often associated with flattened organizational structures, decentralization of resources and activities, teamwork and the empowerment of employees.
Those lines of argument are questioned with reference to knowledge management, security, the development and implementation of intranets and intranets and the findings of surveys carried out over a period of 3 years on the use of codes of conduct governing the use of ICT by employees in a wide range of organizations.
Evidence is presented that the increasing use of Internet technology has not been accompanied by the expected move away from bureaucratic management but rather by increasing employee regulation and discipline, motivated largely by management concerns about the security and efficient operation of information systems.

Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.