The following study is an attempt to ascertain the most adequate way to understand the relationship in modernity between religion and technology. This relationship is first analyzed by looking at a common way in which technology has been categorized and discussed as representing the religion of modernity. The first chapter critically evaluates several popular and scholarly works which contain arguments for understanding that the modern world participates in some kind of 'religion of technology.' The inadequacies of these arguments are shown to arise from the problematic ways in which they invoke the meanings of both religion and technology. The suggestive possibility of viewing religion as a kind of technology leads to a consideration of how technology is being understood in the field of the philosophy of technology. / The second chapter discusses the influence and responses to the conflation of technology and religion as manifestations of the same phenomenon in Euro-American philosophy. Influenced by German philosopher Martin Heidegger, this stream of thought takes as axiomatic his contention that "technique is the metaphysics of our time." The currency of the 'religion/technology' philosophy in European thought leads to a critical body of work amongst some North American philosophers concerned with a practical approach to technology. / In chapters three and four the work of two of these North American philosophers, Don Ihde and Albert Borgmann, is analyzed to evaluate their responses and reactions to the metaphysical and onto-theological interpretation of technology. Their interpretations contain an inherently religious understanding of modern technology which leads to the conclusion that there is neither religion nor technology in modernity, but only religious technology and technological religion. / The possibilities raised by this state of affairs are explored in the conclusion. The work of these philosophers of technology reveals how the study of religion in modernity would benefit from understanding the quotidian and material way in which religion is manifested technologically and technology religiously. Avenues of future research can address issues regarding globalization, cross-cultural technology implementation and how to understand the place of religion in global techno-culture from the development of a new praxis -oriented philosophy of technology-religion.

It is widely accepted that small and new firms are important in creating income and employment. Their flexible structure enables them to adapt quickly to changes in economic environment and technology. The main purpose of this thesis is to evaluate whether the Technology Development Centers (TEKMERs) established by the Small and Medium Size Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) in Turkey encourage new firm creation in high-technology sectors and boost the performance of small and new firms both in terms of economic and technological aspects. Information on 48 on- and 41 off-incubator firms is gathered through face-to-face interviews to compare and contrast those that benefit from incubators with those that do not. The data set also covers information on 79 on- and 61 off-incubator founders. Our findings indicate that TEKMERs are important in supporting start-ups in their vulnerable stages and help them to survive. There are profound differences between on- and off-incubator firms regarding their economic performance, highly in favor of on-incubator firms, but the same cannot be put forward concerning technological performance. The claim that the founders of on-incubator firms are more educated is not supported by the data.

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Education. / This thesis explores the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within the educational system of Jordan. Educational systems worldwide are vigorously pursuing the integration of ICT as a means of staying abreast of the rapid technological changes associated with the knowledge-based economy, and the Jordanian education system is no exception, leading it to introduce several national initiatives in recent years. There has been considerable research undertaken into the impact of ICT upon society and upon educational systems, but such studies have been generally confined to Western contexts. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Jordan, the little research which exists has been conducted for the most part by Western experts or international organisations. Moreover, in spite of massive spending on education by governments of the MENA region, there have been warnings of a serious and widening gap between current schooling outcomes and the skills required for effective participation in globalised workplaces. Therefore, the Jordanian education system has implemented two national projects, Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy (ERfKE), and the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI), which aim to equip the system and students with skills and knowledge to participate effectively in the new era. In examining the ways in which ICT integration has been planned and implemented in Jordan, the study investigated the roles of all three levels of the Jordanian education system: the central Ministry of Education, the regional directorates, and schools themselves. Research data were gathered using a mixed method approach, which combined the use of questionnaires and case studies. The study was conducted in two phases: in Phase1, two standard questionnaires were distributed to 120 teachers and 12 principals from the three regions of Jordan: North, Central, and South. Phase2 comprised two case studies involving two schools which were found to have optimal conditions for ICT integration compared with other schools in Jordan. The investigation in Phase2 included interviews, observations, site visits, and document analysis. The study identifies and explores three issues which are fundamental to the integration of ICT in the Jordanian education system. These are first, the geo-political location of Jordan in the Middle East, and the impact that turbulence in the region has upon education systems; second, the economic constraints experienced by Jordan as a developing country, which necessitate collaboration with private sector and international parties, and third, the internal and external complexity of factors which surround ICT integration initiatives.

This thesis is an investigation of politics in the context of digital technologies. Its central claim is that technologies of what I call the digital ensemble express a politics that is very different from that of other technological ensembles. In order to come to an understanding of politics in the digital, this thesis explores three broader themes by way of discussions of three different technologies or assemblages of the digital. While I do not aim to establish an overarching conclusion as to a politics of the digital, I do identify both elements that are common among the three themes and where they diverge from one another. The first theme concerns the operation of power in the context of the database and examines how subjects are acted upon. I argue that databases represent both an amplification of the disciplinary mode of power and, as a product of that amplification, also express a new mode of power referred to by Deleuze as modulation. It is this concurrent operation of these two modes of power that produces the subject as 'dividual', both object and objectile at the same time, which has a number of consequences in terms of how subjects are controlled and governed. The second theme considers how the subject is constituted as actor and how this relates to the construction of the political in the context of the digital ensemble. This is achieved by way of looking at the concept of the interface. I argue that digital technologies constitute very different practices or forms of doing, both spatially and temporally. Using a broader phenomenological approach, I argue that these technologies constitute very different forms of being than that of the individual that is so central to much of modern political thought and its construction of the political. A key expression of the political in the digital ensemble, I argue, is the interface, enabling the production of a new human-machine assemblage constituting itself as flow/s. The third theme is an exploration of the conceptualisation of political action in the context of digital technologies. Here I make use of the technological assemblage of the network in exploring the actions of fluid beings. I argue that modern political thought has always conceptualised political action as the action of solid entities acting upon and in relation to other solid entities. In the context of digital technologies, however, I argue that such a conceptualisation of action is not very useful; if one conceptualises the actor as fluid, then so must its actions be conceptualised as fluid. It is in such a context that concepts of flow and turbulence gain great importance in coming to terms with politics in the digital. Indeed, to the extent that a digitisation of politics can be discerned, I argue it makes much sense to think of it as a politics of fluidity.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2002. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. Bibliography: leaves 335-355.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2003. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 280-299.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder School of Music, 2004.

Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Dept. of Sociology, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 233-248.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1995. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 11-12).

Thesis (M.J.)--Carleton University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-119). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.