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In this paper I want to examine the scope and limits for a major shift in the internationalisation of trade in information and communication services (or ‘tradeable information’ markets) by the close of the present century. I will seek to relate together some of the key socio‐economic, policy, institutional and other factors which, in interaction with new information and communication technologies (ICT), will influence the form and extent of transformations in the structure and spatial scale of information services markets. Thus, the focus of the paper is on some of the key issues related to the globalisation of information and communication (IC) services markets associated with the development and diffusion of new ICT. My discussion is strongly influenced by the British industrial, policy and research context where the potential for the development of international trade in information services has become a matter of increasing concern to industrialists and public policy makers in more recent years (eg ITAP, 1983).

The goal of this paper is to explore how an approach upfronting the notion of crisis and related restructuring processes may yield certain strategic stakes and anchor points by which to identify and measure the forms and extent of unfolding changes or innovations broadly understood. One key objective of this exploratory project is to undertake a comparative investigation of the major commonalities and differences between the specific forms, features and manifestations of “crisis” tendencies and counter‐tendencies in two sub‐sectors of mediated “content”: the music industry and the news media industry.

The paper engages with issues and concerns relating to these two particular sub‐sectors of the media and cultural industries and considers relevant concepts and indicators of crisis and recent developmental trends in these domains. It introduces the background setting and implications of “crisis” and introduces some distinctive concepts and other aspects of the approach of this exploratory study. It identifies key concepts in research literature surrounding deep economic crises akin to the current crisis and applies and advances initial conceptual frames further in light of manifest developmental trends and relevant indicators of crisis in the two sectors.

Drawing on recently completed research studies in the music and news media industries by the current authors, the paper highlights differences and specificities across the two media domains under study. This highlights the form, features and extent of some key changes and challenges unfolding in the media sector.

Its upfront engagement with the idea of “crisis” and related concepts of creative destruction, restructuring, multiple innovation and paradigm shifts makes this exploratory project distinctive, as does its efforts to conduct a comparative analysis of the relevant dimensions of “crisis” and restructuring based on the authors' primary research in two distinct sub‐sectors within the media “content” layers.

Digital technological innovations are commonly perceived to be radically disrupting the power or role of corporate actors within the music industry and their established industrial practices and interests. In particular, the internet is widely regarded as having produced a “crisis” for the music industry. While such assumptions reflect the predominance of technological deterministic thinking in relation to the music industry, this paper aims to draw upon historical insights from past research on radical technical innovation processes to inform this approach to examining some of the key innovations that have occurred in the music industry in the digital era.

This paper draws on a range of qualitative data obtained primarily from a recently completed Irish‐based music industry research project, primarily comprised of interviews conducted with key music industry informants and personnel.

Key findings indicate that ongoing legal innovations, combined with the widespread adoption of social networking sites and other online content platforms are (amongst other factors) serving to maintain and bolster the position of major music copyright owners.

In the context of the contemporary “knowledge economy”, the authors propose paying special attention to one specific area of policy innovation – that related to the intellectual property rights (IPRs) regime. In particular, they place emphasis on the copyright strand of IPRs in shaping the outcome of digital platforms for the promotion and dissemination of music. In doing this, they consider the evolution of a re‐configured music industry “structure” which re‐conceptualises the music artist as an “all‐encompassing bundle” of rights through which a diverse range of revenue streams are increasingly streamlined back to a small handful of major copyright owners.

I must start by congratulating Aslib on its 60th anniversary. It is a great pleasure to speak at this celebratory conference, and I am even happier that I can do so in a godfatherly way, as representing not only CICI, of which Aslib is a member, but also The Publishers Association. We enjoy a friendly rivalry, with the emphasis on the word friendly, because even if at times our interests do not coincide, there has to be a clear recognition that both the producers and the users of books and information are in the same game together. Indeed, it is a commonplace these days that we are all both ‘providers’ and ‘users’ of information, all of us in our industry drawing upon information provided by others and providing our own information to our own customers. It's an unending cycle, and we are in it together, all with the need to maintain the viability and success of the whole operation.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the use of drama in the context of professional learning for sustainability, and specifically, a drama workshop on sustainability for in-service teachers. The workshop was designed to explore environmental problems from several perspectives, by using drama techniques like bodily expressions, visualisations and role-play.

Data are drawn from questionnaires evaluating the effects of a drama workshop delivered in Helsinki in 2017. In total, 15 in-service teachers answered open-ended questions. Responses from experienced teachers were chosen as particularly interesting in relation to work-based learning.

The findings demonstrate that drama work contributes to education for sustainability in terms of increased self-awareness, critical reflections and signs of transformation; experienced professional learners bring their workplace context into the university, which enriches teaching and learning; and sustainability is a non-traditional subject in need of non-traditional teaching approaches.

The results of this small-scale study are only valid for this particular group.

The study gives an example of how applied drama can contribute to learning for sustainability in higher education.

This paper contributes to a growing literature concerning how drama allows participants to work on real problems, from a safe position in a fictive situation, providing both closeness and distance. When students become involved in an as-if situation, it leads to increased motivation and practice-oriented learning. As the content of sustainability can be challenging, drama work offers a meaningful context in which concepts and issues can be explored. Fictive situations may contribute to more realistic learning experiences.

The transformation of France under De Gaulle from the “sick man of Europe” with governments changing every few months, to one of the world's strongest economies, holds lessons for us all. Of course France's virtual self‐sufficiency in food and fuel always ensured an eventual resurgence under a strong and stable government. We thought of this recently on a trip to Western Provence, the oldest part of France and one off the beaten tourist track. It was one of the earliest provinces of Imperial Rome and in each settlement the Romans tried to reproduce a petite Rome, with arena, theatre, baths and villas, so that many Provencal towns have as many Roman antiquities as Rome itself. In its beauty of line and colour, its architecture, clustered villages on hilltops and the tall Lombardy pines, the countryside looks Italian, but the people seem unlike the Italian, Spanish or French. We thought them descendants of the ancient Gaul, whose tribes settled all over Western Europe, from the shores of the Mediterranean to Galway Bay.

Health-care knowledge is dispersed among different departments in a health care organization, which makes it difficult at times to provide quality care services to patients. Therefore, this study aims to identify the main challenges in adopting health information technology (HIT).

This study surveyed 148 stakeholders in 4 key categories [patients, health-care providers, United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens and foresight experts] to identify the challenges they face in adopting health care technologies. Responses were analyzed using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

EFA revealed four key latent factors predicting resistance to HIT adoption, namely, organizational strategy (ORGS); technical barriers; readiness for big data and the internet of things (IoT); and orientation (ORI). ORGS accounted for the greatest amount of variance. CFA indicated that readiness for big data and the IoT was only moderately correlated with HIT adoption, but the other three factors were strongly correlated. Specific items relating to cost, the effectiveness and usability of the technology and the organization were strongly correlated with HIT adoption. These results indicate that, in addition to financial considerations, effective HIT adoption requires ensuring that technologies will be easy to implement to ensure their long-term use.

The results indicate that readiness for big data and the IoT-related infrastructure poses a challenge to HIT adoption in the UAE context. Respondents believed that the infrastructure of big data can be helpful in more efficiently storing and sharing health-care information. On the technological side, respondents felt that they may experience a steep learning curve. Regarding ORI, stakeholders expected many more such initiatives from health-care providers to make it more knowledge-specific and proactive.

This study has implications for knowledge management in the health -care sector for information technologies. The HIT can help firms in creating a knowledge eco-system, which is not possible in a dispersed knowledge environment. The utilization of the knowledge base that emerged from the practices and data can help the health care sector to set new standards of information flow and other clinical services such as monitoring the self-health condition. The HIT can further influence the actions of the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.

This paper highlights the challenges in HIT adoption and the most prominent factors. The conceptual model was empirically tested after the collection of primary data from the UAE using stakeholder theory.