Animals appear in many guises in Charles Dickens’s novels, as wild animals, domestic animals, animals used in the service of humans, and, not least, as images and symbols. Based on a close reading of all of Dickens’s major novels, this thesis centres on the symbolic use of (both metaphorical and actual) animals in the depiction of human characters, the chief aim being to explore a phenomenon that Dickens frequently resorts to, namely, the animalisation of human characters. Certain Dickensian characters are in fact more or less consistently compared to animals – to animals in general, or to specific animals. On occasion, not only individual characters but also groups of characters are animalised, and sometimes to the point of dehumanisation. By and large, being animalised equals being portrayed in a negative light, as if what Dickens himself at one point termed “the divine spark” – the special light accorded to the human brain as opposed to the animal brain – has been extinguished or has at least become almost imperceptible. Furthermore, in conjunction with the investigation of Dickens’s animalisation of human characters, the thesis discusses his implicit attitude to the human-animal divide and argues that, though largely anthropocentric and hierarchical, it also points to a view of human and nonhuman animals as part of a continuum, with no fixed boundaries. A number of different approaches inform the discussion, but theoretical frameworks such as ecocriticism and, above all, contemporary theory on the significance of Darwin’s ideas in the Victorian era, are foregrounded.

Developing countries in Africa present a graphic picture of the digital divide. High costs associated with serving rural customers are the major cause of uneven distribution of services. Rural areas are characterised by a high rate of unemployment and a poor level of education. This results in a scenario where most of the residents are unable to utilize IT resources. Some people in these areas are not informed about the availability and importance of these technologies in the market. Those who are academically fit for accessing these technologies often cannot afford them. Some of the areas still have no existing telecommunications infrastructure. High deployment costs associated with broadband services makes it even more challenging to deploy such services in this environment. In Africa approximately 80% of the population is living in rural areas, which alone creates a demand for the coverage of rural regions. Leaving such a large number of residents not connected, means poor medical care, students cannot participate in distance learning programs which means poor quality of education, poor performance in businesses, poor farming and crippling delivery of government services. DSL technologies were originally designed to suit suburban to urban conditions. In this research it is shown that broadband services can be delivered to rural people by applying DSL technologies, using the existing telecommunications infrastructure. This will mean significant savings, as it does not need core network investments. DSL increases network capacity to a network, which is no longer limited to voice. With this technology a number different high bandwidth applications are delivered to the homes, schools, hospitals, telecentres and small businesses. The cost effectiveness of these technologies for several reach and rural traffic environment is investigated. This is done by investigating several promising DSL solutions in terms of diverse geography, demographics and other cost dictating parameters. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2004.

At the heart of Project Management are time, cost and performance by utilizing the available resources. When analysing the Global Competitiveness index for 2012-2013 it becomes clear that in South Africa labour efficiency is far below what it should be, ranked 113th out of 144. In the same report Business Sophistication is ranked 38th out of 144. It becomes clear that performance, time and cost at the heart of Project Management are hampered by the low labour efficiency. The adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the Construction Project Management Environment will raise productivity and will increase the quality and speed of work, financial controls, communication, and access to common data. The effect will be improved communication, an increase in the speed of data transmission, cost savings and fewer occurrences in miscommunication. The study has been done to set a framework of how ITC can be managed and implemented in the South African Construction Project Management Environment. These enablers and disablers of ICT in Construction Project Management should be determined. The current rate of ICT adoption is verified and the future trends in ICT are researched, characteristics common to quality information should also be verified. The study determined that the future developments in ITC will be profound and if applied correctly, Project Management through the means of communication will be affected positively. In the empirical study the characteristics of quality information, the disablers and also the enablers were investigated taking into account the current rate of ICT adoption in the South African Construction Management Environment. The framework used in the study proposed and confirmed how ITC can be managed and implemented in the South African Construction Project Management Environment. It is set out in the following steps: Firstly: By determining the common characteristics of quality information, namely accuracy, completeness, consistency, uniqueness, and timeliness. The implementation of ITC in the Construction Project Management Environment can be controlled. Secondly: Disablers of ICT adoption in project management exist, namely economic factors (reduction in employment, rising cost, and limited trade), social factors (digital divide, security and lack of education), and other factors (legal, environmental and cognitive). These factors should be managed. Thirdly: Enablers of ICT adoption in project management exist, namely relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trial ability and observe ability. These enablers must be focused on and exploited where possible. Fourthly: Determine the current rate of ICT adoption in Construction Project Management. This was done and it is clear that the digital divide has been crossed by South African Project Managers and that they will embrace future developments in ICT in general. Finally: Future trends in ICT for the next five to ten years pertaining to Project Management should be analysed and new trends with possible advantages for Project Management must be investigated on a constant basis to see what will be advantageous. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

At the heart of Project Management are time, cost and performance by utilizing the available resources. When analysing the Global Competitiveness index for 2012-2013 it becomes clear that in South Africa labour efficiency is far below what it should be, ranked 113th out of 144. In the same report Business Sophistication is ranked 38th out of 144. It becomes clear that performance, time and cost at the heart of Project Management are hampered by the low labour efficiency. The adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the Construction Project Management Environment will raise productivity and will increase the quality and speed of work, financial controls, communication, and access to common data. The effect will be improved communication, an increase in the speed of data transmission, cost savings and fewer occurrences in miscommunication. The study has been done to set a framework of how ITC can be managed and implemented in the South African Construction Project Management Environment. These enablers and disablers of ICT in Construction Project Management should be determined. The current rate of ICT adoption is verified and the future trends in ICT are researched, characteristics common to quality information should also be verified. The study determined that the future developments in ITC will be profound and if applied correctly, Project Management through the means of communication will be affected positively. In the empirical study the characteristics of quality information, the disablers and also the enablers were investigated taking into account the current rate of ICT adoption in the South African Construction Management Environment. The framework used in the study proposed and confirmed how ITC can be managed and implemented in the South African Construction Project Management Environment. It is set out in the following steps: Firstly: By determining the common characteristics of quality information, namely accuracy, completeness, consistency, uniqueness, and timeliness. The implementation of ITC in the Construction Project Management Environment can be controlled. Secondly: Disablers of ICT adoption in project management exist, namely economic factors (reduction in employment, rising cost, and limited trade), social factors (digital divide, security and lack of education), and other factors (legal, environmental and cognitive). These factors should be managed. Thirdly: Enablers of ICT adoption in project management exist, namely relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trial ability and observe ability. These enablers must be focused on and exploited where possible. Fourthly: Determine the current rate of ICT adoption in Construction Project Management. This was done and it is clear that the digital divide has been crossed by South African Project Managers and that they will embrace future developments in ICT in general. Finally: Future trends in ICT for the next five to ten years pertaining to Project Management should be analysed and new trends with possible advantages for Project Management must be investigated on a constant basis to see what will be advantageous. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Our study has explored how university students at the Technical University of Mombasa, TUM, in Kenya consume news. The aim of the research has been to get a snapshot picture of what the consumption look like in a time and context when the development of Internet Communication Technology, ICT, has increased rapidly in a short period of time. Our empiric data has been collected through three different methods. First we approached the area of the Technical University of Mombasa with an ethnographic method. Then we went on with an in-depth interview with one of our key informants before handing out a survey to collect quantitative data to analyse. Through theoretical framework rooted in the theories of Digital divide and New media we interpreted our data to be able to answer our research questions. The results show that the use of the smartphone is widely spread in order to consume news among students of TUM. Money is still a big obstacle for the majority of the students in our population in how they can access news through technical devices. The gap between those who can afford and those who fight with financial issues is still large. Our study confirms that the gap in the digital divide is still big but we could read signs telling us that the gap maybe is about to shrink.

The Internet and the proliferation of other digital technologies have facilitated the emergence of electronic or e-government across the world since the early 1990s. The Internet has now evolved into Web 2.0, which provides greater opportunities and platforms for interaction and collaboration than in the past. Governments using Web 2.0 in their e-government strategies are now moving towards Gov 2.0, a model of government based on increased interaction and collaboration with citizens and other policy actors. This has required a corresponding evolution in the conception of citizenship in democratic countries. While the Citizen 2.0 model is still relatively new, emerging a couple of years ago, it promotes new expectations of how citizens will engage in the political process. This raises concerns about the barriers facing citizens today in the adoption of this new model of citizenship. Bringing together the literature about e-government, democratic citizenship and adult literacy, this thesis explores the difficulties in realizing Citizen 2.0 model. Using discourse analysis to identify the various discourses in each literature, this thesis argues that the challenges in the adoption of the Citizen 2.0 model in democratic societies, and particularly in Canada, exist partially because current adult literacy rates and their impact on political knowledge and participation, as well as technological barriers in leveraging Web 2.0 for political purposes. These challenges carry significant implications for the realization of the Citizen 2.0 model, but also for the successful implementation of Gov 2.0. / Graduate

A tremendous disparity exists between the few countries with expansive access to information and communications technologies, and the many others still lacking the basic infrastructure and unable to participate in the information age. / While the current trade regime under the Basic Telecommunications Agreement, which forms part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, offers many opportunities for developing countries, its potential for bridging the digital divide through increased flows of FDI is likely to benefit only those countries with large, lucrative markets. Global market failures would result in deepening the digital divide facing the poorest of the developing countries. Unable to come under the new liberalization paradigm, these countries are likely to be left even further behind. / A legal approach to bridging the digital divide requires going beyond the current trade regime and engaging in a new regime-building exercise. Drawing upon the domestic universal service concept, this thesis calls for a global universal service and access (GUSA) regime. Such a regime entails a new form of international cooperation that harnesses all available resources and includes the recasting of international accounting rates and a revitalization of official development assistance. It also involves institutional reform and reconfiguration through the creation of a new international financial institution, a Global Universal Service Fund (GUSF) as well as the strengthening of the role of the ITU as the custodian of the GUSA regime. / The GUSF would be an independently managed, politically balanced and internationally accountable institution. Because of its flexibility and its mandate to supplement market mechanisms and respond to global market failures, the fund would go a long way towards subsidizing network build out programs in the poorest developing countries, and ensuring widespread connectivity. The proposal is legally defensible under human rights law as well as trade and telecommunications laws, is economically justified under the global public goods doctrine, and technologically feasible given current capacity to connect the world and create the global village.

Digital inequality, or the disparity in the access and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), is one of the most critical issues in the knowledge economy. This inequality prevents under-privileged people from exploring digital opportunities to enhance their life quality. Governments, business, and the public have devoted tremendous resources to address this issue, but the results are inconclusive. Theoretical understanding, complemented with theory-based empirical assessment of the phenomenon, is essential to inform effective policy-making and interventions. This dissertation explored the key factors that lead to the inequality in the access and use of ICT, particularly the high-speed Internet, between the privileged and under-privileged. I applied a belief-based perspective to understand how distinctive beliefs concerning ICT acceptance differentially influence under-privileged and privileged people¡¦s innovation decision and behavior at different stages of the implementation process. A theoretical model that drew upon the Theory of Planned Behavior, Motivation Theory, Social Learning Theory, Diffusion of Innovation, and Trust was developed to explain how cognitive, social, behavioral, and institutional factors inform digital inequality as a whole. The conceptual model and forwarded hypotheses in the dissertation were empirically tested using data collected from a large-scale field survey. The survey investigated the adoption and usage behavior of residents in the city of LaGrange, Georgia where the city government, aiming to address digital inequality, provided high-speed Internet connection and devices to residents at no cost. A complementary case study was subsequently conducted to examine a multi-stage process model in which various barriers and facilitators may prevent or promote the progress of individuals¡¦ ICT innovation. The results of this research reveal valuable insights into the differential patterns of ICT access and usage, and the key factors that cause them, for under-privileged and privileged people. The findings, in turn, suggest a segmentation and stepwise technology implementation strategy for people with different backgrounds and at different stages of their innovation processes. This dissertation makes several notable contributions for both researchers and practitioners. First, the dissertation contributes a holistic and theoretically grounded perspective that extends beyond the technology-centered view in most digital inequality studies. It also highlights the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon. As such, this research meets the challenge set forward by notable researchers to develop theoretical models capable of revealing the complexity embedded in this issue. Second, the dissertation presents a unifying theory reflected upon adoption and diffusion of innovation. Testing theories in the context of digital inequality extends and complements our existing knowledge about these related fields. Most importantly, the empirical findings derived from the rich data set identity powerful leverage points for stimulating the adoption and use of ICT among the under-privileged. With such insights, practitioners, particularly policy-makers and service providers, can formulate effective interventions to address the problem of digital inequality.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.