What is the Information Society? Info 280 February 13, 2007 Mahad Ibrahim

Conventional Wisdom We are firmly convinced that we are collectively entering a new era of enormous potential, that of the Information Society and expanded human communication. In this emerging society, information and knowledge can be produced, exchanged, shared and communicated through all the networks of the world. WSIS 2003, Declaration of Principles that information as a driver in economic development has expanded dramatically during the past decade in line with the shift in parts of the world from an “industrial society” to an “information society”. Josephine Ouedraogo, Deputy Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa

Defining the Information Society No accepted definition Predicated on widely accepted premise that the amount of information is ballooning. –We estimate that new stored information grew about 30% a year between 1999 and (Lyman, Peter and Hal R. Varian, "How Much Information", 2003) Information explosion is a result or cause of societal change.

The Impetus for ICT4D We are embarking onto the Third Millennium, confident in our capability to bring about a technological revival that crowns the efforts of the Egyptian development and redoubles its fruitful results so that welfare will prevail in all sectors of the Egyptian society. The international community has imposed on us a new order based on knowledge and science that comes as a result of rapid communication, and grows on innovation and creativity. Globalization has imposed on our age a new world based on giant transitional [sic] corporations with their huge power of making use of knowledge and sciences; these corporations link the whole world by means of developed advanced telecommunication nets and seek to expand their presence and domination of markets. - President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt,

Open Questions What is an Information Society? Or Network Society? Or Knowledge Society? How do we measure it? At what threshold, does a given nation qualify as a information society?

Many Dimensions Technological Economic Occupational Spatial Cultural

The IT Revolution 1974 represented a tipping point in the costs of ICTs Technological breakthroughs lead to increased pervasiveness of ICT Advent of the network begins to alter the rules of the game “Computer technology is to the information age what mechanization was to the industrial revolution” John Naisbitt in Webster

The Information Economy The rise of information –Machlup and Porat The rise of services and the service economy –Industrialization --> Services --> Informationalism? Changes in the process of production - flexible specialization –IT has reconfigured the production process Corporate capitalism over all else –Market shapes info flows, class determines access, corporations shape rules of the game

The Info Worker Create knowledge Process information Use and Maintain information machines Or Workers that create, process, and handle physical goods

The Network Society Networks represent the fundamental organizing principle of human relations –production, consumption, reproduction, experience, and power Networks are not new, but emboldened by information and communication technologies They are characterized by flexibility, scalability, and survivability Binary choice of inclusion/exclusion “This approach is different from the conceptual framework that defines our societies as information or knowledge societies.” Castells

Mass Culture vs. Big Brother The rise of mass media --> global media –The growth of satellite and cable TV globally –Are there asymmetries in the dissemination of media? Increased opportunities for informal and formal surveillance Is the public sphere compatible with the commoditization of information?

OECD Conceptual Model of the Information Society OECD, 2005.

UNESCO’s Vision of the Information Society Infrastructure –Internet hosts per 100 Inhabitants –Number of Fixed Telephone lines versus Cellular Mobile Telephone Subscribers –Television Receivers per 1,000 Inhabitants Access and Use –Internet Users per 100 Inhabitants –Combined Tele-density measures –Annual Internet Tariffs as a Percentage of GDP (in current US dollars) per capital

UNESCO’s Vision part 2 ICT and Education –Percentage of students that use computers at least a few times a week by gender –Percentage of computers within schools connected to the Web ICT and Culture –Percentage of world online population by languages

UNCSTD UNESCO, 2003