Ebook

What is an Ebook?
An eBook is an electronic book, one you read digitally on your computer, laptop screen or on devices called ebook readers. You will find them in various formats and until the industry has a standard accessible in all devices these various formats will exist. The PDF format is a popular format for ebooks, it is used as it creates an easy way to read on a pc or mobile divice. All platforms are able to gain access and read PDF formatting. . There are still many who prefer printing out the pages of an ebook to read and PDF files have always been good for this purpose. And recently the Amazon Kindle has became very popular, allowing people to read books specially designed for this device.

So, why would you want an ebook? As you discover this new industry with your surfing over the Internet, you will discover ePublishers and eBookstores gradually growing in numbers. Take a look at what they offer and what they have to say about their authors and titles. Thousands upon thousands of authors write books yearly. Of those, a small percentage have the good fortune of being accepted by a publisher. This is not because they don't make the grade, but because of the vast numbers.

The Internet is a wide open medium. Excellent, talented authors can take their books to the Net, market/promote and sell those books themselves. Others are coming to the growing epublishing houses and taking that route. It is guaranteed as you journey through the epublishing world, you are going to find outstanding, spell-binding, and top-class works, which are well worth the read. So Ebooks are really giving authors more of a chance then they had previously.

Ebooks are prefered by many people over normal psysical books, there are many reasons why people prefer them, such as:

1. Ebooks are delivered almost instantaneously. You can purchase, download and start reading them within minutes, without leaving your chair. You don't have to go to a bookstore to buy them, neither wait for them for days, weeks and sometimes more to arrive in the mail.
2. No trees are required to manufacture paper for the pages of ebooks.
3. When you need certain information, you can get it immediately, by downloading an ebook.
4. Many ebooks are sold nowadays with bonuses, which you usually do not get with a printed book. This adds value to your purchase.
5. Ebooks take up less space. You practically don't need any space to store them. You don't need a library or a room for them. You can store hundreds and thousands of ebooks on your computer or reading device.
6. Ebooks are portable. You can carry a whole library of hundreds of books with you, on CD, in a laptop, notebook or any ebook reader, without worrying about their weight.
7. With today's technology you can read ebooks everywhere, on the bus, train, airplane, and while standing in line.
8. Ebooks are more safely stored and carried from one place to another, than ordinary books. They also withstand time more than books.
9. Ebooks can show links, for easy access to more information and related websites.
10. Ebooks are searchable. You can easily search for any information in an ebook, instead of turning page after page.

For my Ebook I used Adobe Dreamweaver to design it and make it functional, I used HTML in order to get it to work on all browsers.

E-Government and the Digital Divide.

The concept of the digital divide has been evolving over the years, being generally defined as a social issue linked to the different amount of information between those who have access to the information society and technology such as computers, and those who do not. It also refers to countries, regions, cities, and businesses that are at a differentiated economically and culturally with regard to ICT accessibility.
The UK Labour Government under Tony Blair has set targets for the development of E-Government in the UK.  These are aimed at reducing the digital divide in the UK . This divide also effects the way other services are provided, like Police and the National Health Sevice. There are a few ways in how the government has tried to decrease the gap and develop on E-government, these are:

The introduction of online services, and example would be the Government's website, it allows users to find informaion on the current government and allow's users to find out when the next meetings or hearings are taking place. A website such as https://www.gov.uk/ are used for this. This is a good way doing things as in gives people an easy way of accessing government information without the need to even leave their home.

Another way of expanding E-Government is to introduce online payments, payments such as paying taxes and monthly bills can all be done over the internet now and no longer will you need to go to the bank and fill in paperwork. Once again making it easier for the general public to go about their everyday lives.

Online reporting and advice has also been made accessible to the public, this means that people can now go onto the internet and find out the local news and get information on current governmental matters, although such information was available from the television or radio which could be accessed from home just as easily, but being online means that you are able to look back at news incase you miss it first time around on the TV.

Online booking is another useful feature that has been introduced, it allows people to book for appointments or work interviews over the internet, this is very helpful as it saves time and money as you no longer need to actually visit the place you want to book an appointment for beforehand, and means you can avoid driving there and wasting fuel. This service also allows the user to sort out bookings and rearrange meetings without the need to use the phone, it can all be done over email, which is free.

The UK government hopes to have saved £1.3 billion, and the public £1 billion by migrating its sercices to online. This is because they are useing less staff in places like banks and shops, and the public would be saving money as they wouldn't be using as much fuel as before.

With all the advances in E-government, the government has to account for those in low income families who aren't able to access the internet.
The government is to spend £30m over the next three years to bring broadband access to schoolchildren and low-income families. A further £600,000 has also been earmarked to subsidise home computers for entire year groups at 50 education institutions across the country, schools minister Jim Knight told an education conference last week. The plan is the government’s latest attempt to bridge the digital divide between those with access to technology and those without.
The government has already invested £5bn in IT for schools since 1997 and another £837m was budgeted over the next 3 years.
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Activity 2: The Digital Divide

1. Dr Odedra cites a number of infrastructural reasons for a lack of effective ICT. What are these?

 The first reason is that many IT projects fail is because of a lack of secondary equipment, suitable electric power and training etc.
In many African countries pressure is put on them as many growing countries are now using Internet and other technologies such as computers . There are also no plans in Africa to supply the people with technology like computers, the government is simply to poor to even allow computers open to public use, and so many citizens will never use a computer. Some regulatory policies covering procedures for the acquisition of hardware and software do exist in a few places. These regulations typically mandate centralised acquisition for the public sector and tax private companies and non-government organisations in order to discourage imports or to raise convertible currency for the state. Such taxes range from 0 per cent in Mauritius to 60 per cent in Kenya. However, a number of countries such as Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Mauritius have recently taken initiatives to formulate more comprehensive IT policies.
This means that some of these countries will start to become more developed. But this will only happen effectively if people play tax. But due to the majority of poor people in African countries, it isn't likely that they will be able to pay tax. And so this system will not always work.
A reliable power supply to operate the computers, a well-functioning telephone network to transmit data, foreign currency to import the technology, and computer-literate personnel are all prerequisites for the successful use of IT. Such infrastructural elements remain inadequate in many African countries. For instance, the number of telephones per 1,000 people ranges between 12 and 50, depending on the country, and many of the lines that do exist are out of order much of the time. This all means that a lot of Africans can’t get Internet connection because of the service isn’t working.
A problem that faces less developed countries is that they aren't able to set up stable Internet connections as many companies aren't willing to operate withing their country, this means that even with technology, people won't be able to connect to the Internet and miss out on a huge resource that defines modern technology. 

2.What is said do be the most pressing need for Africa (in terms of ICT)?

The most important reason for Africa having barely any access to Internet is the cost of IT falling dramatically. With systems becoming much easier to use and maintain, some of the prohibitive cost and infrastructural problems are being lessened. Many Africans are beginning to take advantage of this. But lack of skills in the area still remains a major problem. Overall, people are learning from their mistakes and are trying to address some of the issues. The longer this process takes the less advanced Africa will be.

 

3. How successful have computer aid projects been?

Computer aid projects have been of relative success, the only problem being that they need to cover such a wide area as almost all of Africa are without proper IT skills, although what has been done has been successful. Computers have been supplied to many countries and training groups have been set up in order to teach people how to properly use IT, these have been very popular and have been effective in dealing with the lack of IT skills.

 

4. Why have they failed?

Skills, funding and knowledge are all of the reasons why Africa are so lower in the technology scale then others. ICT isn't free it costs money which countries in Africa can't afford to use. There is widespread famine in these countries and they aren't able to use the same systems as we do. Secondly, knowledge is very scarce about IT because because people living in Africa haven't had the opportunity to use IT, this will lead to confusion surrounding IT for them. There are few people who have access to IT, but these tend to be people high up in the social hierarchy.



 

5. What computer skill's identified as lacking?

"Africa lacks computer skills in all areas, including systems analysis, programming, maintenance and consulting, and at all operational levels from basic use to management. Most countries lack the education and training facilities needed to help people acquire the proper skills. The few training centres that do exist have not been able to keep up with demand. Only a handful of countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have universities that offer computer science degrees. The programmes available in the other countries are mainly diplomas and certificates. As a result of unskilled and untrained personnel, user organisations are forced to hire expatriate staff, who in turn lack the knowledge about local organisational cultures and thus design poor systems. Many African governments and organisations are waking up to this situation, but few serious measures have been taken. Moreover, it will not be enough to merely institute courses; books, teachers and equipment are also required but unfortunately have been overlooked." Therefore the African public aren't the ones to be blamed here, the governments should be the one to put money aside and invest in ICT teachers to teach the next generation of people. This will greatly develop their country and will help them to be able to advance faster.




6. What area of business fields have been seen as lacking?
"Although African companies have had little success in producing their own hardware, software houses catering to the local market are emerging, particularly in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. Off-the-shelf software packages have largely been used in African countries because of the lack of programmers to develop in-house applications. However, there is a growing demand for applications appropriate for local needs. While the present quality and sophistication of local software may not be on a par with current world standards, it should improve with increasing demand." If African business had better quality technology it would mean that more business can run effectively and more efficiently, therefore increasing overall national income, economically this is good for the country.