Although the computer's life has been relatively short, it has brought about an information revolution that is transforming our world on a scale that is still difficult to comprehend. This digital convergence is shaping society, technology and the media for the next millennium. Areas as diverse as home banking and shopping over the Internet; WWW access over mobile phone networks; and television systems such as Web TV which combine on-line services with television. But convergence is not just about technology. It is also about services and new ways of doing business and of interacting with society. Digital convergence heralds the 'Information Revolution'. Edited by John Vince and Rae Earnshaw this important new book on Digital Convergence: The Information Revolution is an edited volume of papers, bringing together state-of-the-art developments in the Internet and World Wide Web and should be compulsory reading for all those interested in and working in those areas.

The convergence of IT, telecommunications, and media is changing the way information is collected, stored and accessed. This revolution is having effects on the development and organisation of information and artefact repositories such as libraries and museums. This book presents key aspects in the rapidly moving field of digital convergence in the areas of technology and information sciences. Its chapters are written by international experts who are leaders in their fields.

An Economist Best Book of the Year A Financial Times Best Economics Book of the Year A Fast Company “7 Books Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Says You Need to Lead Smarter” Between 1820 and 1990, the share of world income going to today’s wealthy nations soared from twenty percent to almost seventy. Since then, that share has plummeted to where it was in 1900. As the renowned economist Richard Baldwin reveals, this reversal of fortune reflects a new age of globalization that is drastically different from the old. The nature of globalization has changed, but our thinking about it has not. Baldwin argues that the New Globalization is driven by knowledge crossing borders, not just goods. That is why its impact is more sudden, more individual, more unpredictable, and more uncontrollable than before—which presents developed nations with unprecedented challenges as they struggle to maintain reliable growth and social cohesion. It is the driving force behind what Baldwin calls “The Great Convergence,” as Asian economies catch up with the West. “In this brilliant book, Baldwin has succeeded in saying something both new and true about globalization.” —Martin Wolf, Financial Times “A very powerful description of the newest phase of globalization.” —Larry Summers, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury “An essential book for understanding how modern trade works via global supply chains. An antidote to the protectionist nonsense being peddled by some politicians today.” —The Economist “[An] indispensable guide to understanding how globalization has got us here and where it is likely to take us next.” —Alan Beattie, Financial Times

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.

The conventional wisdom on how technology will change the future is wrong. Mark Mills lays out a radically different and optimistic vision for what’s really coming. The mainstream forecasts fall into three camps. One considers today as the “new normal,” where ordering a ride or food on a smartphone or trading in bitcoins is as good as it’s going to get. Another foresees a dystopian era of widespread, digitally driven job- and business-destruction. A third believes that the only technological revolution that matters will be found with renewable energy and electric cars. But according to Mills, a convergence of technologies will instead drive an economic boom over the coming decade, one that historians will characterize as the “Roaring 2020s.” It will come not from any single big invention, but from the confluence of radical advances in three primary technology domains: microprocessors, materials, and machines. Microprocessors are increasingly embedded in everything. Materials, from which everything is built, are emerging with novel, almost magical capabilities. And machines, which make and move all manner of stuff, are undergoing a complementary transformation. Accelerating and enabling all of this is the Cloud, history’s biggest infrastructure, which is itself based on the building blocks of next-generation microprocessors and artificial intelligence. We’ve seen this pattern before. The technological revolution that drove the great economic expansion of the twentieth century can be traced to a similar confluence, one that was first visible in the 1920s: a new information infrastructure (telephony), new machines (cars and power plants), and new materials (plastics and pharmaceuticals). Single inventions don’t drive great, long-cycle booms. It always takes convergent revolutions in technology’s three core spheres—information, materials, and machines. Over history, that’s only happened a few times. We have wrung much magic from the technologies that fueled the last long boom. But the great convergence now underway will ignite the 2020s. And this time, unlike any previous historical epoch, we have the Cloud amplifying everything. The next long boom starts now.

This book aims to inform the non-IT specialist about the technological revolution that is taking place and, specifically, how the digital component of it is affecting our lives. It is hoped that this information will fill possible information gaps in readers’ mental model, enabling them to make better-informed decisions. This book can also be used as a textbook in a stand-alone introductory course to the digital revolution and its effects on society. The course could be used in both bachelor and master degree programs in business management, healthcare management, sociology, or any other non-IT programs. Chapter 1. This chapter, although the longest, is a brief review of the interactions between technology, economy, and politics. The subject is a much neglected one, and I believe that understanding of these interactions is vital for understanding the underlying causes of some of our most important pressing issues. The chapter discusses the interactions between technologies, economy, and politics, examining the effect of technologies on economic development and political ideologies. Chapter 2. This chapter deals with technological revolutions in general and the digital revolution in particular. I shall discuss the components of the digital economy. These being: knowledge, digitisation, virtualisation, molecularization, integration/internetworking, disintermediation, convergence, innovation, sharing economy, immediacy, and discordant. In addition, we shall examine the disruptors that are changing the face of competition in the marketplace. Chapter 3. This chapter deals with digital transformation, i.e., the process of using digital technology in all areas of business, changing the way the businesses operate and deliver value to their customers. We shall examine models for dealing with digital transformation. Chapter 4. We shall examine one of the most important developments of the 21st century, namely the advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). We shall look at how the human brain works and what is intelligence. We shall look at the artificial neural networks, machine learning, and deep learning. We shall also look at the deployment of AI in various fields such as healthcare, finance, Natural Language Processing (NPL), news media, and warfare. Chapter 5. This chapter deals with one of the most controversial and yet promising developments in finance and distributed secure databases, namely cryptocurrencies and blockchains. This subject is divided into two parts — the first part deals with the cryptocurrencies, and their viability as currencies. One of the most popular cryptocurrencies, the Bitcoin, will be examined in depth. The second part is somewhat technical and deals with the inner workings of the blockchains. As with cryptocurrencies, many see a bright future for the blockchains, especially in the form of smart contracts. Many believe that blockchains will be of great value in areas such as finance, handling contracts, healthcare and more. Blockchain promises to bring disintermediation to many industries and thereby reduce costs. Chapter 6. Technological revolutions tend to disrupt the lives of many middle-aged and older workers. New technologies give birth to new industries, destroying the old industries in the process. New technologies often require special skills that the old industry workers do not possess. The laid-off workers of the old industries can seldom find jobs in new industries since the new industries often rely on new technologies and skills that the old-industry workers do not possess. These workers need training, something that the prospective employers do not provide. Also, the new technologies, including AI, are automating many tasks, reducing the need for human workers. This chapter discusses the issue of automation and its effect on employment. Additionally, the type of jobs that are in danger of automation is discussed as well. Chapter 7. While chapter six discussed the employment situation, chapter seven considers the type of education required by the new industries. Also, the weaknesses of the existing educational system are considered, and alternative systems are proposed. Chapter 8. History tells us that whenever there has been a technological revolution, it has been accompanied by a shift in power, both nationally and internationally. The global shift of power has seldom been a peaceful affair. It often has resulted in major wars and global reorientation. This chapter discusses the possibility of the global shift of power. Currently, there are not that many countries or entities that can be considered as contenders. Of the three, Russia, European Union, and China, only one, China, is considered to have any chance of wresting power from the United States. The technological, economic and military power of China is compared and contrasted with the United States’.

The very word "digital" has acquired a status that far exceeds its humble dictionary definition. Even the prefix digital, when associ ated with familiar sectors such as radio, television, photography and telecommunications, has reinvented these industries, and provided a unique opportunity to refresh them with new start-up companies, equipment, personnel, training and working practices - all of which are vital to modern national and international economies. The last century was a period in which new media stimulated new job opportunities, and in many cases created totally new sectors: video competed with film, CDs transformed LPs, and computer graphics threatened traditional graphic design sectors. Today, even the need for a physical medium is in question. The virtual digital domain allows the capture, processing, transmission, storage, retrieval and display of text, images, audio and animation without familiar materials such as paper, celluloid, magnetic tape and plastic. But moving from these media to the digital domain intro duces all sorts of problems, such as the conversion of analog archives, multimedia databases, content-based retrieval and the design of new content that exploits the benefits offered by digital systems. It is this issue of digital content creation that we address in this book. Authors from around the world were invited to comment on different aspects of digital content creation, and their contributions form the 23 chapters of this volume.