Farid Shirazi

ICT expansion and the digital divide in democratic freedoms: An analysis of the impact of ICT expansion, education and ICT filtering on democracy

In recent years, several case studies have appeared on how mobile telephones, SMS and the Internet had an impact on political activities. It has been widely argued that information and communication technology (ICT) is influencing democracy all over the world. However, few studies provide any analysis of how ICT expansion correlates with measures of democracy. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the global expansion of ICT and the level of democracy within nations. We analyze archival data on 133 countries from 1995 to 2003, which was the period-of-time of explosive ICT expansion. Some important findings of our study are: (a) there is a growing digital divide in democratic freedoms among countries; (b) in spite of rapid ICT expansion in some countries, Internet filtering is having a significant impact on democratic freedoms.

The impact of information and communication technology (ICT), education and regulation on economic freedom in Islamic Middle Eastern countries

Our study investigated the impact of ICT expansion on economic freedom in the Middle East (Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen). Our empirical analysis used archival data from 1995 to 2005; it showed that ICT expansion in the Middle East has been effective both in bridging the digital divide and also in promoting economic freedom in a region that was vulnerable to political, social, and global conflict. However, differences between countries, such as the educational attainment of their citizens and institutional resistance to technology acceptance, both enhanced and restricted the relationship between ICT and economic freedom.

Information and communication technology and women empowerment in Iran

Since the introduction of the Internet in Iran, Iranian women have used this medium not only as a means of accessing and disseminating information but also as the means of voicing their concerns about discriminatory laws and to participate in public discourse. In Iran, the Internet provided a voice to repressed and marginalized groups, particularly young people and educated women. In 2003 the number of female Internet users in Iran reached a remarkably high proportion of nearly half (49%) of the total Internet users in the country, according to the International Telecommunication Union report (ITU, 2008). This constitutes a total of 11.5 million female Internet users in Iran which is the highest level of Internet penetration rate among Islamic countries in the Middle East. Since the first Farsi blog appeared online in 2001, thousands of weblogs have been created including blogs related to womens issues in Iran. Blogging in Iran has helped repressed and marginalized groups reach out, including womens and human rights activists, ethnic and religious minorities and Iranian youth to get their voices heard and to challenge the long standing univocal government and Islamic religious authorities. Women bloggers have been among the leading bloggers within the Iranian blogosphere. By applying the theory of social action and mobilization, this study finds that womens digital activities prove to be an effective means of participating in communication discourse and mobilizing the female population of Iran in their struggle for a just and fair society.

Social media and the social movements in the Middle East and North Africa: A critical discourse analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social media in communication discourse in the Islamic Middle East and North African (MENA) countries.Design/methodology/approach – By applying the theory of social networks and a method known as critical discourse analysis (CDA) this study investigates the role of social media in the recent waves of popular unrest in the MENA region.Findings – This study finds that social media not only played an important role in citizens’ participation in communication discourse and mobilization, but also that these media activities intensified in part because of the authorities’ failing rationales against protesters, as shown in the four‐part CDA validity test.Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to a particular time frame covering the recent democratic discourse in the MENA region for the period 2009‐2011. While this research is limited to the case study of the MENA region, the author believes that lessons learned from this case st...

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Cloud Computing by Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs)

The main objective of this study is to determine the factors influencing cloud computing adoption by Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). Based on two dominant theories in the field of diffusion of innovation, a conceptual model is proposed. In order to test the model empirically, an online survey was designed and launched. Decision makers of 101 SMEs agreed to participate in this survey. In order to evaluate the internal, convergent, and discriminant validity of the instrument, factor analysis and reliability tests were performed. Logistic regression is employed to test our hypotheses. The results of regression reveal that decision makers knowledge about cloud computing is the main influential factor in decision making about its adoption.

The Contribution of ICT to Freedom and Democracy: An Empirical Analysis of Archival Data on the Middle East

This study is based on an empirical analysis of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) archival data for ten Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and United Arab Emirates for the period of 1995–2003. Some previous studies consider the impact of ICT on socio‐economic development in the region. Using a set of regression analyses, this paper shows that ICT expansion in the Middle East has not only resulted in the reduction of the Digital Divide between this region and developed countries, it has also had a positive impact on promoting democracy and freedom of expression in a region that suffers most from political, social and global conflicts (Freedom House, 2006; Reporters Without Borders, 2005).

ICT and environmental sustainability

ICT may have positive and negative environmental impacts, leading to a U-shaped relationship.We explore this non-linear relationship for a sample of developed and developing economies from 1995 to 2010.The results confirm that the relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions is an inverted U-shaped relationship. The positive and negative environmental impacts of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are widely debated. In theory, ICT is among the sources contributing to the increasing levels of CO2 emissions in terms of production of ICT machinery and devices, energy consumption, and recycling of electronic waste. However, ICT is also expected to reduce CO2 emissions on a global scale by developing smarter cities, transportation systems, electrical grids, industrial processes, and energy saving gains. These two effects work in opposite direction, creating an inverted-U relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions. The aim of this study is to investigate this non-linear relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions on a global scale. Given that global warming is a global issue, it is necessary to look at this relationship in countries at all levels of development. To this end, we use a panel data set consisting of 142 economies, split into 116 developing and 26 developed countries, over the period 19952010. The results of our empirical study confirm that the relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions is an inverted U-shaped relationship. Moreover, while for the sample of developing countries, the ICT turning point is well above the mean value, the opposite is true for the sample of developed countries. This implies that many developed countries have already attained the level of ICT development, at which CO2 emissions decreases as the level of ICT development improves further.

The emancipatory role of information and communication technology: A case study of internet content filtering within Iran

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of internet filtering, and its impact on marginalized groups including non‐governmental organizations, female activists, ethnic, and religious minorities, the younger generation and the increase of the digital divide in Iran.Design/methodology/approach – The paper raises two main questions: to what extent do information and communications technologies (ICTs) and in particular, the internet, promote freedom of speech, and gender equality in Iran? What is the impact of state censorship and ICT filtering on these activities? To answer these research questions, the author uses narratives of the internets usage along with a comparison study with other Middle Eastern countries to analyze the impact of ICTs on citizens freedom of expression.Findings – The paper argues that restrictions imposed on ICT tools and services by the Government of Iran which has been claimed to protect countrys national security against the corruption and immorality imp...

Investigating the Impact of ICT Investments on Human Development

In the last two decades, the worldwide information and communication technology (ICT) market has been growing at a rapid rate. This has led to a global net increase in ICT investments and usage. International organizations, ICT vendors and policy makers have been investigating whether such large investments are worthwhile. The results regarding this issue are inconclusive, for this research area is fraught with complexity, and existing empirical work is limited. This study investigates the impact of ICT investments on human development. Of particular interest are the relationships between different dimensions of ICT investment and the components of human development. ICT investments can be thought of as having four dimensions – hardware, software, internal spending and telecommunication investment, while typical human development indicators are standard of living (GDP per capita), education (literacy and school enrolments) and health (life expectancy). If these variables are not modelled correctly, their effect on each other can be either under‐ or overestimated. In this article, the line of enquiry from a study by Kim et al. (2008) is extended to investigate the relationship between the four aspects of ICT investments and the three key components of human development. The empirical analysis shows that the four dimensions of ICT investment have an impact in various ways on the components of human development, and that these impacts are different, in high income, mid income and low income countries. Based on these findings, this study suggests theoretical propositions to explain the impact of ICT investments on human development.

Do Foreign Direct Investment FDI and Trade Openness Explain the Disparity in ICT Diffusion between Asia-Pacific and the Islamic Middle Eastern Countries?

This study investigates the impact of FDI and trade openness on ICT diffusion in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions from 1996-2005. The results indicate that while dissimilarities exist between the economies included in this study in terms of their level of socio-economic and political development, education and the growth of GDP have had a positive impact on ICT diffusion in both regions. However, while FDI has generally had a positive and significant impact on ICT diffusion in Asia-Pacific economies, its impact on Middle Eastern economies has been detrimental. The results of this study also show that trade-openness has had, in general, a positive and significant impact on ICT diffusion.