Urban concentration and labour market linkages in the Norwegian ICT services sector

Building on research that emphasizes the dependence of services firms on the networks and experiences of individual employees, this paper investigates the urban concentration of information and communication technology services employment in Norway from the perspective of labour market linkages. It finds that urban regions generally provide firms with access to sector-specific expertise. Beyond this, intrinsic region characteristics determine the position of individual firms in national labour markets for expertise: Firms in the dominant university town have strong contact points to academic labour markets, whereas firms in the industrial stronghold of the Western Capital region exploit a broader range of recruitment channels than firms in any of the other urban and non-urban locations. The results illustrate how capability building through recruitment is influenced by local conditions, and imply that the industry will continue to concentrate in the large-city regions where surrounding organizations provide firms with priveliged access to expertise. Implications for research, innovation policy and societal development more generally are drawn.     

E-learning for Geography's Teaching and Learning Spaces

The authors embed their advocacy of educational technology in a consideration of contemporary pedagogy in geography. They provide examples of e-learning from a wide range of teaching and learning contexts. They promote the idea that considering best practice with reference to educational technology will increase the versatility of teaching geography in higher education. On the basis of reviewing the pedagogic options associated with e-learning using a variety of technologies, and their promotion of versatility in the use of e-learning approaches, they find and illustrate the new spaces that have become available to teachers and learners of geography.     

信息通讯技术对城中村女性居民活动空间的影响研究

21世纪以来,信息通讯技术（ICT）的飞速发展对居民日常生活产生了深刻影响,导致居民日常活动时空特征的重构。本研究利用北京城中村居民问卷调查数据,探究ICT影响下的城中村女性居民的活动空间。首先,通过归纳城中村女性居民网络活动特征,发现具有年轻、未在婚姻关系内、受教育水平高、经济状况较好等人口学和社会经济特征的女性是进行上网活动的主体人群。其次,运用计量模型探究ICT影响下的城中村女性居民的活动空间,发现ICT不是居住空间选择的影响因素但能减小女性休闲娱乐活动空间的制约。此外,网络购物对实体购物的补充作用大于替代作用。随着ICT影响的日益扩大,本文的研究结论对于政府制定相关政策和城市规划管理具有较强的现实意义。     

High-Tech Centre in the Periphery: The Political,Economic and Cultural Factors behind the Emergence and Development of the Oulu ICT Phenomenon in Northern Finland

The Oulu region in Northern Finland has witnessed a remarkable growth of ICT industries since the 1980s. A town near the Arctic Circle with only 140,000 people (2012) created a high-tech business that employed at its best nearly 16,000 people in the region at the millennium. This article investigates the historical background of this phenomenon, which is not so much an imitation of Silicon Valley, but rather a result of special Finnish and northern characteristics. The most important contributing factors were the University of Oulu, governmental support and the success of the Nokia Corporation. Oulu's strength was the early clustering of the focal actors. Oulu established the first Technology Park in the Nordic countries in 1982. The northern mental environment, Oulu's traditions and many exceptionally active persons also contributed to the phenomenon. The case of Oulu is presented in a larger international context with the help of studies on regional high-tech clusters and the development of the information society. Present and future challenges are also addressed.     

A Framework for the Integration of DVD Technology in Geography Teaching and Learning

This article discusses the results when integrating digital versatile disc (DVD) technology in full-time second-year geography for BEd degree students at a university in South Africa, a developing country. It proposes a framework for the integration of the DVD in geography teaching and learning, steered by students’ needs, feedback and observations by the lecturer. The proposed framework recommends clear guidelines on how to integrate the DVD, as well as the interactions between the role players/resources. It also explains how the DVD was compiled, what was included and how it was effectively applied in conjunction with seminars, as an alternative to traditional lectures. An action research design was utilized and both qualitative and quantitative data were collected.     

China’s Information and Communication Technology in Geographic Perspective

Two economic geographers analyze the unprecedented growth of China’s information and communication technology (ICT) industry over the past decade (2000–2010)—an industry increasingly important as a new engine powering exports and providing infrastructure and services critical to sustaining economic growth. Using agglomeration and inequality indices including the Herfindahl and the Gini, the authors show that the geographic concentration of ICT activities has decreased over time, in tandem with a decline in their regional inequality; however, a new ICT development index (IDI) designed for this study reveals a significant and persistent gap in ICT development between the country’s advancing and lagging provinces. The paper also explores a range of factors contributing to “leapfrog” ICT growth in some provinces, as well as the challenges likely to be faced by the industry in the future. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L630, L960, O180, O330. 2 figures, 4 tables, 85 references, 1 appendix.     

The impact of broadband and other infrastructure on the location of new business establishments

This paper analyzes the impact of broadband infrastructure, along with a range of other local characteristics such as motorways and other infrastructure, availability of human capital, and access to third‐level educational facilities, on the location of new business establishments. The sample period spans the introduction and recent history of broadband in Ireland. The results indicate that the availability of broadband infrastructure is a significant determinant, but its effects may be mediated by the presence of sufficiently high human capital in an area.     

How to Produce a Digital Story

Modern day students are said to hold a toolbox of technical knowledge, which can assist them with their undergraduate studies. The ‘net generation’ is more technologically capable than ever before and crave interactivity and image-rich environments, which has created a need for higher education institutions to diversify assessment practices. Digital stories (this refers to a collection of still images, audio and video) as a means for assessing Geography undergraduates, lend themselves well to fieldwork activities, and this paper provides practical advice and guidance to students on how to create the best digital stories for assessment.     

Does Combinatorial Knowledge Lead to a Better Innovation Performance of Firms?

The knowledge base concept in the past was often applied in its “pure form”, i.e. it was assumed that there are dominant knowledge bases in particular sectors and firms shaping knowledge and innovation processes and related networks. For “analytical sectors” such as biotech, it has been argued that codified knowledge generated by universities and R&D organizations is the key for innovation, whereas “synthetic sectors” such as machinery innovate more incrementally by recombining existing knowledge often drawn from suppliers or service firms. Empirical literature has partly confirmed these patters, but also shown more complex knowledge processes. More recently it has been argued that combinations of different knowledge bases might enhance the innovation performance of firms. For example in “analytical sectors”, firms might benefit not just from new and basic knowledge generated by research, but also from recombining existing and applied knowledge or by drawing on symbolic knowledge. Combinatorial knowledge bases might also be relevant for “synthetic” and “symbolic sectors”, but in different forms. This study investigates for the ICT sector in regions of Austria if the reliance on combinatorial knowledge leads to a better innovation performance than the use of more narrow knowledge bases.