Computer and video games is a young industry with rapid growth underpinned by technological development. The global market in 2003 was over USD 21 billion compared with USD 32 billion for the recorded music industry. The main segments are off-line consoles and PCs; online and wireless games are...

Virtual worlds are increasingly evolving into Internet-mediated “spaces”, where large groups of people meet and interact in real-time while experiencing a shared sensation of being there together. This enables richer and more dynamic social interaction and collaboration across national and...

Drawing on an expanding array of intelligent web services and applications, a growing number of people are creating, distributing and exploiting user-created content (UCC) and being part of the wider participative web. This study describes the rapid growth of UCC and its increasing role in...

Information and communication technology (ICT) connectivity (PCs and Internet) is very widespread in businesses of all sizes. As is the case with all technologies, small businesses are slower than large ones to adopt new ICTs. Commercial considerations and potential returns are the principal...

Seizing the Benefits of ICT in a Digital Economy revisits ICT's contribution to economic performance using new and more recent data to assess the degree to which the findings that appeared valid at the end of 2000 remain intact. This new report also examines whether the policy conclusions from...

The main policy directions derived from the analysis are to foster appropriate business environments for e-business and ICT uptake, and target programmes to overcome market failures to the extent that they are needed in particular areas.

With over 80 indicators based on the most up-to-date official statistics, this study provides a comprehensive international comparison of OECD Member countries' performance in the information economy. New indicators address emerging policy issues: international differences in the quality and...