Our topic is really a combination of three topics -- Globalization, Information technology and the Information society, and the "New Economy." The topics are so intertwined it is probably best to treat them together. We will spend two weeks on this topic.

I've found a short essay that seems to make a nice bridge between our discussions about human rights and the next topic on the global information society. It's by Wolfgang Kleinwaechter and is entitled, "The Cyberight to Communicate: A Human Right of the Fourth Generation?" (pp. 91-101 in Toward Equity in Global Communication; MacBridge Update ed. by RC Vincent, K. Nordenstreng, M. Traber. Hampton Press, 1999). A copy is in the 204 pam box for your reading pleasure, although I realize you may not get to it until next week. I'm also placing copies of two chapters from the Heeks book Reinventing Government in the Information Age in the pam box as well, although the book itself is on the reserve list. The two chapters are:

Benjamin, Peter, "Community Development and Democratisation through Information Technology; Building the New south Africa," Chapter 9, pp. 194-210.

Korac-Jajabadse, Andrew and Nada, "Information technology's impact on the quality of democracy; Reinventing the 'democratic vessel'," Chapter 10, pp. 211-228.

A few online articles that look useful and that I'll be reading include:

• A.T. Kearney, Inc. and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Measuring globalization," Foreign Policy 122(Jan/Feb 2001): 56-65. (cited by Sambhavi)
• Hammond, Allen L., "Digitally Empowered Development," Foreign Affairs 80(2)(Mar/Apr 2001): 96-107. (cited by Leslie)
• Litan, Robert E., "Think Again: The Internet Economy," Foreign Policy (MarApr 2001) http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_marapr_2001/thinkagain.html
• Llosa, Mario Vargas, "The Culture of Liberty," Foreign Policy 122 (Jan/Feb 2001): 66-72. (cited by Sambhavi)
• Mandle, Jay, "Reforming globalization," Challenge 44(2)(March/Apr 2001): 24-38.
• Nadesan, Majia Holmer, "Fortune on Globalization and the New Economy; Manifest Destiny in a Technological Age," Management communication Quarterly 14(3) (Feb 2001): 498-507.
• Persaud, Avinash, "The Knowledge Gap" Foreign Affairs 80(2)(Mar/Apr 2001): 107-118.
• Rauch, Jonathan, "The New Old Economy: Oil, Computers, and the Reinvention of the Earth," Atlantic Monthly287(1) (Jan 2001): 35-50.
• Zedillo, Ernesto, "Globaphobia," Forbes 167(7)*3/19/2001) 49.

Please select from among these or other relevant items from reserve reading list with topics - information society, information technology, information superhighway. Also, please study the Communications map on pp. 84-85 in The State of the World Atlas. I'm sure you can find some updates for the figures provided. Dee Dee provides a reference in her paper to Nua, Ltd., http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online a company that provides some estimates of the number of online connections in various regions of the world (and by countries within those regions). This may be a useful source for you in your examination of the country/region you have chosen.

We will have a few issue presentations (see Getting Ready for March 5) several of them right on today's topic. We will also discuss schedule for presentations of country/regional explorations (second major paper) as we plan for the rest of the semester.

Revised 3/18/2001.