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Information and communications technologies are encroaching on every sphere of modern life. New modes of networking and cross‐referencing are revolutionizing our management of data and thus the concept of knowledge itself. Now the advent of embedded technology and artificial intelligence promise to re‐open the debate about whether we are becoming masters of technology or its slaves. Co‐ordinating public policy with product‐oriented R&D has never been more important, for either the economic or cultural future of Europe.

Reports on a scenario exercise regarding the impact of digitisation on European media content industries, focusing on employment trends and changing skills. Concludes that the Internet will profoundly restructure but not destroy, existing industries. Highlights the needs for multidisciplinary and multimedia training programmes for the new digital age.

Presents a view of the forecast impact of e‐commerce on developments of value chains in several economic sectors, with a time horizon of 2005. Highlights the scenarios that were built and demonstrates that the impact of e‐commerce technologies on value chains may vary widely across firms and sectors, as a function of sector‐specific characteristics. Concludes that the impact of e‐commerce technologies and practices on firms in the current decade may be expected to be of the same magnitude as the impact of management techniques such as just‐in‐time, or total quality management, in the 1990s.

The main goal of this paper is to create a methodology for estimating public research and development (R&D) expenditures on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the European Union (EU). The study further applies this methodology on business expenditures on R&D (BERD) data across all sectors and estimate ICT BERD within each of them. Then the study assesses the evolution of these expenditures in the context of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) and its specific target to double them by 2020.

The study assumes that the share of public ICT R&D expenditures in total public R&D expenditures is similar to the share of ICT R&D labour costs. The study bases its estimation on government budget appropriations or outlays on R&D (GBAORD).

EU public ICT R&D expenditures grew steadily over the period 2004-2010 and in 2010 reached 5.9 billion. The study also estimates that the total EU ICT BERD in 2010 amounted to 15.8 billion. Regarding the DAE target about ICT R&D expenditures, the study shows that, in both public and private, the EU drops behind.

The study estimates that substantial ICT BERD can be found also in non-ICT sectors.

The methodology allows for monitoring one of the DAE targets.

The methodology currently represents the only way for measuring public ICT R&D expenditures in the EU.

Questioning gender is about taking an active, critical role in the technological design of our daily behaviour. It is a deconstruction of the oppositions that exist in the discourses of Ambient Intelligence designers, the ICT industry and computer scientists. What underlies the assumption that Ambient Intelligence will, by disappearing into our environment, bring humans both an easy and entertaining life? The gender perspective can uncover power relations within the promotion and realisation of Ambient Intelligence that satisfy an obvious wish for a technological heaven. The deconstruction of the promise of progress and a better life reveals what is overvalued, what is undervalued and what is ignored. This paper is a deconstruction of the view, currently prevalent in the discourses of Ambient Intelligence; a view of humans and the way they live. A view that will influence the way women and men will be allowed to construct their lives.

This study aims to investigate the emerging new phenomenon of corporate blogging and its objectives. In particular, this study focuses on how Fortune 500 firms attempt to maintain control, while supporting employee autonomy in corporate blogging.

Using the framework of corporate blogging strategies proposed in this study, corporate blogging practices of the 2005 Fortune 500 companies were analysed.

Most organisations maintain high levels of control by implementing top‐down blogging strategies, while few support employee autonomy by applying a bottom‐up blogging strategy. Because of the inherent limitation of each strategy, many organisations attempt to take advantage of the complementary mechanism that balances autonomy and control. Organisations emphasising bottom‐up blogging tend to focus on product development and customer service content strategy, while those practising top‐down blogging focus on thought leadership or promotional content strategy.

This study reports leading blogging firms among the Fortune 500 companies. However, the study sample accounts for only 3.6 percent of the 500 firms. The results of the study shed insights on newly emerging corporate blogging in terms of its trends, issues, and possible future direction.

Companies that adopt blogs must realise that developing a candid dialogue with customers is the best way to build a meaningful customer relationship.

This study is the first attempt to systematically investigate the corporate blogging phenomenon.