Article Preview
TopIntroduction
In today’s era, internet connects more than two billion people across the globe immensely influencing the global economy by contributing an estimated $1.7 trillion (just under 3% of global GDP) in 2010 (McKinsey Global Institute Report, 2011). Yet half the number of internet users live outside the advanced economies, often in countries that are emerging fast, have significant economic potential and are socially and culturally diverse such as India. India’s base of about 120 million internet users is currently the third-largest in the world (Dhawan, 2012; Mohinta, 2013; McKinsey & Company, 2012) and likely to become second largest base by 2015 offering a remarkable example of the Internet’s growth potential (McKinsey Global Institute Report, 2011). Though, Indian users spend less time online per capita, their pattern of online behaviour is rapidly converging with that of users in more developed countries (McKinsey & Company, 2012). The internet’s role in communication, social networking, and information influencing India’s consumers in categories such as apparel, books, financial services and travel categories can easily be compared to those in developed economies e.g. Germany, Japan, United States (McKinsey & Company, 2012) and even many developing nations like Brazil and Russia (Mohinta, 2013).
Figure 1.
Projection of Internet users in India by 2015. Source: Adapted from McKinsey & Company (2012).
TopUbiquitous: A Concept
The word “ubiquitous” can be defined as an “existing or being everywhere at the same time,” (Merriam-Webster) “appearing or found everywhere,” (Oxford Dictionaries) and “seeming to be everywhere” (Cambridge Dictionaries Online). When applying this concept to technology, the term ubiquitous implies that technology connects everything to everything else, where anywhere can potentially be contacted from anywhere else, and where everybody could conceivably interact with anybody (and anything) else (Bohn et al., 2004; Rao, 2012). European Union Commission defined u-internet as a key enabling technology of the information society. Moreover with proliferation of mobile devices in the following years, there is a high prospect that internet users with mobile/wireless access e.g. PDAs, laptops, cellphones, cordless etc., will surpass users with fixed-line connections e.g. desktop. Consequently, Spurlin & Voorhees (2007) defined ubiquitous technology in education as teachers and students having an access to technology whenever and wherever they need it. Thus, ubiquitous technology is often wireless, mobile, and networked, making its users more connected to the world around them and the people in it.