Toward Delivery of effective mobile government Coursework

Toward Delivery of effective mobile government - Coursework Example In Oman people can apply for jobs via SMS and at the same time the government can update its citizens and provide other services through the SMS. However, the success implementation of this program depends not only on the government support but also to the citizen’s willingness to accept and adopt the mobile government services. For that case it is important to note and understand the factors contributing to mobile government rather than traditional service delivery methods. In previous researches, adoption of the mobile government has determinants such as usefulness, ease of use, perceived risk, trustworthiness, compatibility, external influence, relative advantage, image and facilitating conditions (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). On the other hand, citizens are also influenced by certain factors for easy acceptability of the program. These factors include citizen’s trust, culture and gender difference. ... GCC was formed in 1981 to develop, coordinate, integrate, and interconnect the member states in all aspects and at the same time strengthen ties among its people (Dillon & Morris, 1996, pp.2-15). Because of the availability of oil resources in the region, the GCC of that particular region was considered to be the richest worldwide by the GCC Statistical Department in the year 2005 that estimated Gross Domestic Product of US$ 324.36 billion. According to the 2004 census by the Ministry of National Economy, Oman had a population of 2.34 million people with a growth rate of 2 percent and a density of 7.6 persons per square kilometre. In 2003, the illiteracy level of the Omani population was 17.8 percent as compared to the 31.8 percent in 1993 meaning that the country has greatly invested in education in the past few years. This is important in the sense that for smooth implementation of the mobile government, it requires citizens with reasonable level of education and income. The statis tics show that 5.9 percent of the population does hold post-secondary education qualifications hence it is easier to evaluate the population that could easily adapt to the mobile government. The Oman government had a vision 2020 to develop its economy, promote external economic relationship, diversify industries and develop a robust economy that has professional leadership and skilled labour force (Horst & Kuttschreuter, 2007, pp.1838-1852). To achieve these visions, it became apparent that Information Technology was an essential tool and hence the government started investing in the mobile government. Generally the ICT sector is still at an early

Commercialization of Athletics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Commercialization of Athletics - Essay Example While not detracting from the importance of any of these factors, however, the media has played the most important role in the commercialization of sports and, indeed, were it not for the media, sports would not have attained their current level of commercialization or, at least, not at such a fast pace. Sports and athletics have become nothing more than commodities and tradable goods. The degree to which they have been commercialized is more than evident in the amounts which are spent on sports goods in any given year. As Linberry writes, the available financial figures highlight the fact that sports do not only constitute a billion dollar industry but stands out as one of the most profitable of the global industries (p. 19). In 1996, the sports industry generated a profit in excess of 25 billion dollars and this figure increases every year (Linberry, p. 19). Sports, central to which is the possession of unique talent at a particular games, is a highly profitable commodity. Accordingly, as Roberts and Town argue "in our shrunken, money-driven world, talent is the most prized commodity of them all" (Roberts and Town, para 1). Talent is prized and valued at millions of dollars because, in an environment where sports is a commodity and a consumer good, talent has the power to generate millions of dollars in the sale of sports related goods per annum. It is, thus, that sports have become "$ports" (Hoch, p. 11). The commercialization of sports and its transformation into a consumer commodity is largely a consequence of mass media's treatment and coverage of sports events. Douglas Kellner, a sports sociologists, argues that the mass media and most especially TV, has transformed sporting events into spectacles. As he writes, as a direct outcome of the approach which the mass media adopts towards the coverage of sporting events, the way in which they advertise the events and build up mass excitement towards them, has led to a situation in which "professional sports is one of the major spectacles of media culture" (p. 458). Matches are no longer sports events but sporting spectacles which command the attention of millions of viewers across the world and which countless of companies seek to capitalize upon through advertisements and sponsorships. Sports sociologists contend that while sports have always had a unique popular appeal and would have, with the passage of time, become commodified and commercialization, none other than the sports media is responsible for the depth of its current commodification. Lee, a mass communications scholar, notes that sports have always been popular and have, long before the advent of television and media, commanded popular attention. It was only, however, with the advent of both television and the media that sports and sporting events attained their current level of popularity (pp. 194-195). Television did not just popularize major sporting events but transformed friendly, previously unwatched, matches into spectacles, just as its coverage of athletes led to their transition from sports talents and sporting professionals to heroes with global fan bases which ran into the millions of people (pp. 194-195). Television commercialized sports through the commodification of athletes, sporting event s