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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Nikolaos Askitas; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | This paper advocates the use of Internet data for social sciences with a special focus on human resources issues. It discusses the potentials and challenges of Internet data for social sciences and presents a selection of the relevant literature to establish the wide spectrum of topics, which can be reached. Such data represent a large and increasing part of everyday life, which cannot be measured otherwise. They are timely, perhaps even daily following the factual process, they typically involve large numbers of observations, and they allow for flexible conceptual forms and experimental settings. Internet data can successfully be applied to a very wide range of human resource issues including forecasting (e.g. of unemployment, consumption goods, tourism, festival winners and the like), nowcasting (obtaining relevant information much earlier than through traditional data collection techniques), detecting health issues and well-being (e.g. flu, malaise and ill-being during economic crises), documenting the matching process in various parts of individual life (e.g. jobs, partnership, shopping), and measuring complex processes where traditional data have known deficits (e.g. international migration, collective bargaining agreements in developing countries). Major problems in data analysis are still unsolved and more research on data reliability is needed. Current research is highly original but also exploratory and premature. Our article reviews the current attempts in the literature to incorporate Internet data into the mainstream of scholarly empirical research and guides the reader through this Special Issue. We provide some insights and a brief overview of the current state of research. |
| Keywords: | World Wide Web, web data, internet data, forecasting, human resources,internet |
| JEL: | J00 C80 C81 C83 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps248&r=all |
| By: | Chris Kimble (Euromed Marseille - École de management - Association Euromed Management - Marseille, MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III - UM2 - Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1) |
| Abstract: | An increasingly aging population and spiraling health care costs have made the search for financially viable health care models an imperative of this century. The careful and creative application of information technology (IT) can play a significant role in meeting that challenge. Valuable lessons can be learned from an analysis of ten innovative telemedicine and e-health initiatives. Having proven their effectiveness in addressing a variety of medical needs, they have progressed beyond small-scale implementations to become an established part of health care delivery systems around the world. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01159742&r=all |
| By: | Inés Bouvier (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Proyecto Flor de Ceibo); Gioia de Melo (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Alina Machado (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Magdalena Viera (Presidencia de la República (Uruguay). Oficina de Planeamiento y Presupuesto) |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes the results of the first evaluation of skills in searching for information on the net, and in management of some applications of the laptop provided by Plan Ceibal, implemented to a representative sample of 3rd grade students of junior high in 2012. The evaluation was applied in 47 centers of junior high. It is a descriptive analysis, because given that there is no baseline evaluation prior to the implementation of Plan Ceibal, we cannot determine the impact of the program on digital skills. The test consisted on three sections. The first measured the knowledge of basic concepts regarding the laptop´s operating system. The second tested the ability to find information on the net. The third assessed the use of the following tools: word processor, presentations and spreadsheets. In line with what has been verified for math and reading tests, ITC skills also seem to be positively correlated with family background. However, it seems that differences in internet skills among those that already had some computing knowledge and those that had not, are smaller than differences observed in the basic tools section. In this sense, it could be interpreted that internet access provided by Plan Ceibal could have reduced the internet skills gap. Moreover, students that use the laptop in class more frequently performed better in the basic tools section. Furthermore, those who connect to internet outside school more frequently and use the laptop for leisure, seen to perform better in the test. |
| Keywords: | ITC competences, digital skills, One Laptop per Child, Plan Ceibal, Uruguay |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-09-15&r=all |