How Doomed Are We?

Theological libraries and scholarly publishing in religion and theology operate within multiple overlapping contexts and economic markets: faith communities, theological education, scholars, libraries, and publishing. This paper will complete an analysis of available religious publishing and theological library purchasing trends in order to create a thicker description of the system of scholarly communication. Even allowing for degrees of uncertainty in the data presented, there remains a significant disconnect in the rising collective costs for publishing versus the declining expenditures among theological libraries. The trend appears to be that the average theological library is purchasing a declining portion of the scholarship. The evidence may suggest an increasingly unsustainable market.

1) Ecumenism as an urgent need in theological education basis of the WCC affirms: The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the constitution of the WCC the concern for ecumenical theological education therefore receives a high priority: it is defined as one of the primary purposes and functions of the WCC to nurture the growth of an ecumenical consciousness through processes of education and a vision of life in community rooted in each particular cultural context (WCC Constitution para. III). ecumenical movement from its very beginning and even before the founding of the WCC in 1948 (cf. history of World Council of Christian Education) had a profound impact on the understanding of Christian education in general and ministerial formation for future ministers and priests in particular. If the ecumenical movement as a whole is about strengthening common witness and promoting new forms of the visible unity between churches of different denominational and confessional traditions then the scandal of churches remaining in disunity and using distorted images of sister churches in one's own educational materials and publications needs to be overcome, with foremost priority in the area of theological education and ministerial formation. strengthening and pursuit of church unity in theological education is a gospel imperative for any church joining in the affirmation of the church as being one, holy, catholic and apostolic in its essence (The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed [381]) (interdenominational or ecclesial dimension of ecumenical formation). emergence of interdenominational or non-denominational institutions of theological education in the '50s and '60s which was intentionally supported by the Theological Education Fund (TEF) of the IMC as well as the introduction of distinct courses and curriculum models on ecumenism and the ecumenical movement was a consequence of this ecclesiological insight. emphasis on interdenominational cooperation in theological education as well as the development of proper teaching materials on ecumenism remains an indispensable and in many places still lacking component of the theological education of pastors and ministers. There is no future for the ecumenical movement as a whole if there is no commitment to ecumenical formation processes in formal and non-formal theological education programmes of WCC member churches. If theological education fails to be guided by an ecumenical vision of a church renewed in mission and service to the whole of humankind there will be a serious shortage in terms of a new generation of Christian leaders, pastors and theological teachers carrying on the ecumenical vision and commitment into the 21 st century and a widening gap and estrangement between the majority clergy and ever fewer experts on the ecumenical movement and ecumenical theological discourse which can already be observed in a number of member churches. 2) Contextualization of theological education Ecumenical formation in theological education is guided by the vision of the church truly united and serving the renewal of the human community. Therefore, ecumenical formation reaches beyond the realm of issues of inner church unity in addressing fundamental questions of the human family and the survival of the whole earth. Being inspired by the ecumenical vision of God as the owner of the whole earth (oikumene) as well as the eschatological vision of a new heaven and a new earth, theological education in ecumenical understanding will always try to respond to the pressing needs of social contexts and to be related to issues of human survival both in global and in local environments. Relating theological education to the realities of particular social and cultural contexts, liberating theological education from any captivity of certain social milieus, cultural one-sidedness and spiritual blindness to religious values existing in certain indigenous traditions has been a major emphasis of the WCC in the programme on theological education (PTE) since the sixties (social or contextual dimension in ecumenical formation of theological education). …

Being small does not have to be a liability for theological libraries. This is the argument Myka Kennedy Stephens makes in her essay published in the April 2016 issue of Theological Librarianship. Instead, being small is something to take seriously and, in many cases, celebrate. As distance learning, hybrid pedagogy, and flipped classrooms continue to make inroads in theological education, how do we now envision the future of small theological libraries? This panel will explore and discuss habits that make theological librarians in smaller contexts successful. Staying attuned to needs, optimizing resources, and acting boldly are the habits Stephens names in her essay. This panel will discuss, expand, and share how these habits are applied in three small theological library contexts.

The article reveals the history of Kyiv Theological Academy – the only higher educational institution of Orthodox Church. It functioned on Ukrainian lands of the Russian Empire. Based on the analysis of historical and pedagogical literature, archive materials and documents placed in periodicals, the paper depicts theological education at Kyiv Theological Academy in general and focuses on pedagogical training that was organized there within 1869-84. Study of Pedagogy as a compulsory subject and taking special practical classes on the 4th year are considered to be main components of pedagogical education at higher theological educational institution. The paper reveals the content of Pedagogy, forms and methods of teaching Pedagogy and peculiarities of staffing. The article focuses on the attempt of lecturers of Kyiv Theological Academy to organize students’ pedagogical practice at local seminary, advantages and disadvantages of pedagogical education at Kyiv Theological Academy and the level of education there compared with universities.

Distance learning is an ancient idea to impart education to the learners who wereunable to join the regular educational institutes. Revolution in information technology has changed thismode of learning to e-learning. E-learning is the mode of education in which the learners in remoteareas were educated through the use of technology. Many institutes have developed dedicated websitesand learning management systems such as open courseware, to introduce e- learning method. Theselearning management systems are very efficient, have vast learning material and communicationchannels without assistive support for physically disabled users. Lack of assistive technology supportin these websites stimulated negative user experiences. In this research work an e-learning usabilityevaluation model based on user’s mental model, had been developed. Objective of this research workwas to reduce the gap between user’s mental model and designer’s perception. The major problemwhile improving usability was a communication gap between user and designer.

Third World Citizens and the Information Technology Revolution is an important contribution to globalization studies, global political economy and international relations for its careful weaving of ontological process tracings which may provide new insights and frameworks in post-positivist qualitative method. The book is a three-part study centring on the oft-asserted thesis that global political relationships perpetuate dependency relations that flow from the centre of the global economy to the periphery. Its main accomplishment is to have combined the narrative output typical of detailed single-case historical monographs with a theoretically structured framework that explicitly opens up possibilities for inferential leverage onto other cases, allows for careful theory re-formulation, and is consciously designed for theory testing. Part 1, ‘The Rules of the Game are Forged’, is more analytical than descriptive, and author Nivien Saleh lays therein the groundwork for her theory. Part 2, ‘The Rules of the Game are Enforced’, engages in an analytically grounded process tracing. Key issue areas of the Egyptian information and communication technology (ICT) policy regime are presented in a detailed historical narrative while theoretically relevant data is highlighted. Part 3, ‘Lessons’, reflects on the possibility of applying Saleh’s cause-tracing method from one case to many. From the outset the book is presented as a challenge to the ‘consensus view’ that the IT revolution brings about ‘enormous, unmitigated benefits to the people of the third world’ (p. xvii). In chapter 2, Saleh sets the stage with a presentation of the narrative thread of the transition from a Fordist

The information technology revolution: Computer hardware, software, and services into the 21st century

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the role that academic publishers have historically played and how this is being undermined by the revolution in information and communications technology. A central issue here is that of copyright. Although authors need to be protected against plagiarists, the main role of publishers' control over copyright is to generate profits for the publisher by limiting access.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explores some open‐access models for academic publishing, the first involving a heterodox economics library portal and the second a more general open peer quality review site.FindingsIt identifies a residual role for commercial academic publishers in the new guise of fee‐for‐service providers of refereeing services, whose accreditations may accelerate the uptake of scholarly contributions.Originality/valueThe paper examines the role that academic publishers have historically played and how this is being undermined by the revolution in information and communications technology.

Digital atomic scale fabrication an inverse Moore's Law – A path to atomically precise manufacturing

After the Cold War period, with the restructuring of the world, globalization, the revolution in information technology and the reconstruction of capitalism have created a new type of society, the "network society". The dependence of countries on information technologies, especially the internet, has increased day by day, and it has become almost impossible for individuals, state institutions and private companies to continue their activities independently of cyberspace, which is described as the fifth operational area. This situation has made it a critical priority to ensure the physical and cyber security of nuclear power plants, which carry the energy burden of the societies and at the same time pose great security risks. In this period, states, state-sponsored and radical terrorist groups that wanted to close the power deficit against military and economically strong states, started to develop asymmetric methods of struggle. In the end new threat vectors such as cyber terrorism have emerged and states that have moved many institutions and services to cyberspace have become more vulnerable to malicious attacks and terrorist activities. In this study, the concept of terrorism and cyber terrorism have been examined and focused on the SCADA systems of nuclear power plants and in the last section cyber security of these systems have been evaluated. This Implementation of this model aims to simplify the process for all organizations in the Nuclear Sector—regardless of their size, cybersecurity risk, or current level of cybersecurity sophistication—to apply the principles and best practices of risk management. Ultimately, the framework and this implementation model are focused on helping individual organizations reduce and better manage their cybersecurity risks, contributing to a more secure and resilient sector overall.

We are currently living in the digital age, more commonly known as the Information Technology (IT) Age; which can be described as an era where every aspect of human life or activities are mainly information based. This is due to the development and use of technology. We live in a world that has become more open in the sense of communication (global village) and internationalization (trans-border flow of data). The revolution in Information technology is having its implications on our access to information. The digital space provides us with a vast expanse of data and information on a domain that is easily accessible to all. And as such the ethical aspect with regards to the data get threatened. This paradigm shift in this digital age brings new ethical problems which are mainly related to issues of media laws; such as the right of access to information, the right of privacy which is threatened by the emphasis on the free flow of information, and the protection of the economic interest of the owners of intellectual property. In this paper the ethical questions related to technology and its implications on media laws and ethics will be discussed. Specific attention will be given to the challenges these ethical problems pose to the information on the digital space.

The revolution in information technology and in information and knowledge management contributed to the generation of actionable information and actionable knowledge required to address critical problems of national and global health care. Yet, despite expectations, e-based approaches are far from fulfilling the dream of equitable and universal access to health across the globe. A dramatically new approach is needed if health care is to be brought “among the people.” Based on maximum integration of computer technology (CT), information technology (IT), information management (IM), and knowledge management (KM), and multidimensional human expertise, the concept of “Teams of Leaders” (ToL) provides a foundation for such an approach. Utilizing the entire spectrum of IT/IM/KM, irrespective of specific platforms, and harnessing globally distributed human expertise, Teams of Leaders transcend bureaucracies and politics, create “bottom-up” flows of ideas and knowledge, and generate horizontal and vertical collaboration among hitherto isolated actors. By empowering people rather than concentrating on technology-facilitated improvements of processes, ToL may prove to be one of the pivotal concepts behind the desperately needed healthcare revolution.

The considerable revolution of information technology (IT) and its demands, and uses in the various parts of the human lives, such as education sectors, industrial sectors, agriculture sectors, communication sectors and others, there has also been high demands of IT in medical sectors which use to process, track and monitor the patient's information. To facilitate the medical sectors, the uses of propose study is twofold, and categorized in two phases. In first phase, the patient's real time information is carried via radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors tags and is transmitted and monitored through the uses of mobile phone, as an authorized user of monitoring system. In the second phase, the propose work is novel and is more based on the conceptual modeling, which provides the real time medical services for those patients that will have sudden illness (i.e., less major or major), and they may located at the distance placed from the main medical service station, may the distance will be in several, meters, kilometers, or a whole city. Therefore, to achieve this, a formal model will be designed which result the medical service that required by, and delivered to the remote located patients.

In 2001, The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) attributed substantial problems in the quality of American medicine to four domains: growing complexity of science and technology; the increase in chronic conditions; a poorly organized delivery system; and constraints on exploiting the revolution in information technology (IT). Although all of these domains have been improved by IT systems within the last decade, the U.S. health care systems has been slow to adopt these developments. We propose one way to combat such quality problems by incorporating a medicine-specific computer science (CS) curriculum as the third of Abraham Flexner’s pillars of medical education.

Chapter 4.3 - The information technology revolution: 1990s