Claire R. McInerney,
Ph.D.
IT & IRELAND
Economic resources were invested in the town of Ennis, Ireland in County Clare, that allowed a large-scale investment in technology in various sectors. Eircom, the Irish telecommunications company, wired the city to allow businesses, government, churches, homes, and nongovernmental organizations to have high speed Internet access for communication and economic development to transform it into the “Information Age Town” of Ireland.
The purpose of the research project was to see how organizational work practices and people’s lives have changed as a result of the technological infrastructure investments in the city. The study focused on three levels: an organizational view, an individual technology user view, and a comparison with at least one other wired city. Another layer of interest in this study is the contribution it will make to the body of knowledge about wired cities and the effect technology adoption has on communication, information transfer, and organizational practices The study was being supported by the Research Development Committee of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies and the Research Council of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
The research team consisted of Dr. Claire McInerney, Dr. Janet Hilbun, and Ms. Lin Lin, with consultation from Professor Angela O'Donnell, Rutgers Graduate School of Education and Dr. Helen McQuillan, Dublin Institute of Technology. To read more about this project, please visit the Virtual Ennis web site at http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~clairemc/ennis_website.html
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
USA
4 Huntington Street,
New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901
Tel: 732-932-7500 Extension 8218; Fax: 732-932-2644
Office: SCILS 330 Email:
clairemc@rci.rutgers.edu
© 2007