Essay Prompts - How Governments and Businesses are Getting Ready for the IT-Based Future Economy This short (2 to 3 pages) essay shall cite a minimum of two, and a maximum of four, sources, and involve one of the following topics:
* A national government that is preparing for the 21st-century information-based economy with forward-looking projects designed to provide its citizens and businesses with the necessary digital resources to succeed.
* A company in a high-technology industry that is playing an important role in shaping the future of our digital information-based society - contrasting this company's achievements with its competitors, highlighting its successes and explaining why its products and services have caught on with users.
* A company in a high-technology industry that failed (or is failing) in the new economy - for example, a company that failed in the 1999-2001 dot-com bust, or failed (or is failing now) to keep up with the times and is either out of business or soon may be.
* The role that an aspect of Intellectual Property (IP) - copyrights, trademarks, software patents, or design patents, for example - plays in the new IT-based economy, whether it be a positive or negative one. Cite examples of companies succeeding, or of legal battles hindering innovation and development.
Technical Details: This short essay will be 2-3 pages of printed double-spaced 12-point text in a font usually used for essays (no crazy fonts!). Please format using paragraph indentations. Footnotes are NOT required, but are not discouraged. A brief bibliography at the end (2 or more sources) is required. Citations, specially online ones, should be complete with titles, authors, URLs, and dates!