Information Society

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Information Society
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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.
• Information and knowledge can be produced,
  exchanged, shared and communicated through all
  the networks of the world.( WSIS 2003,
  Declaration of Principles )

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Defining the Information Society

• No accepted definition
• The amount of information is ballooning.
• We estimate that new stored information grew
  about 30 a year between 1999 and 2002. (Lyman,
  Peter and Hal R. Varian, "How Much Information",
  2003)
• Information explosion is a result or cause of
  societal change.

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Definitions of information society on the Web I.

• A society integrated by complex communication
  networks that rapidly develop and exchange
  information.
• Featuring traffic, publishing and distribution
  systems, office networks, mobile telephones,
  computers, and a preview of the advanced
  information society of the near future.
• A society where the creation and exchange of
  information is the predominant social and
  economic activity

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Definitions of information society on the Web II.

• a type of society in which information and
  information access plays a central role,
  economically, socially and individually.
• the environment in which information and
  communication technologies play a significant
  role
• An information society is a society in which the
  creation, distribution, diffusion, use,
  integration and manipulation of information is a
  significant economic, political, and cultural
  activity.

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• Progress in information technologies and
  communication is changing the way we live how we
  work and do business, how we educate our
  children, study and do research, train ourselves,
  and how we are entertained.
• The information society is not only affecting
  the way people interact but it is also requiring
  the traditional organisational structures to be
  more flexible.

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• In an Information Society people will get the
  full benefits of new technology in all aspects of
  their lives at work, at home and at play.
  Examples of ITC's are ATM's for cash withdrawal
  and other banking services, mobile phones,
  teletext television, faxes and information
  services such as the internet and e-mail.

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Websters Five Types of Theories

• Most of the work in information society is
  futuristic but informed by few theoretical
  insights.
• However, Frank Webster (2000) has build a useful
  typology to understand IS theories
• Technological
• Economic
• Occupational
• Spatial
• Cultural

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Perspectives on the Information Society

• Technological definitions focus on rapid
  increase of information technology and its impact
  on society
• Economic definitions focus on measuring size
  and growth of information industries
• Occupational definitions focus on number of
  individuals engaged in work related to
  information
• Spatial definitions focus on networks that
  connect locations and have dramatic effect on the
  organization of time and space
• Cultural definitions focus on increase of
  information in daily lives

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Websters Five Types of Theories

• Technological vision of the IS
• Puts emphasis on ICTs and their transformative
  powers.
• Technological innovation new possibilities in
  transmission and storage of information.
• Society has moved from the Industrial
  Revolution and now entered an Information
  Age. Computer technology is to the information
  age what mechanisation was to the industrial
  revolution (John Naisbitt quoted in Frank
  Webster).

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Websters Five Types of Theories

• Economic vision of the IS
• Concerned with economics of information.Assesse
  s the size and growth of the information
  industries.
• Puts emphasis on the importance of knowledge to
  the economy.
• Technological innovation central for increasing
  productivity and thus for growth of economics and
  competition between economies.

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Websters Five Types of Theories

• Occupational vision of the IS
• Focuses on occupational change that the
  predominance of occupation is found in
  information work service workers now in the
  majority
• Emergence of white collar society and decline
  of blue collar workers

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Websters Five Types of Theories

• Spatial vision of the IS
• Puts emphasis on the information networks which
  connect locations and have great impact on the
  organisation of time and space.
• Information Networks are linking together
  locations within and between offices, towns,
  regions, nations, continents and the entire
  world, seen in increase in transborder data,
  telecom facilities, ISDN, movements of money
  across nations.
• Concepts of information superhighway and wired
  society are found in these arguments.
• Everyone is connected

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Another Descriptor The Information Age

• Information as the symbol for our times
• Professional, caring society or more control of
  over citizens???
• Emergence of highly educated public with ready
  access to knowledge or too much trivia,
  sensationalism, propaganda???
• Turning point in social development

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The Information Society The Third Wave

• From brute force to brain force
• Information ethics/ politics -- Access, privacy,
  priorities, cost

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Agricultural Society
Industrial Society
Information Society
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Relationship between Information Technology and
Economy
Information Technology and Paradigm Shift of
Economy
Agricultural Society
Knowledge and Information-based Society
Industrial Society
Labor
Farmer
Knowledge Worker
White Collar Worker
Energy
Intermediate Resource
Informatization
Industrialization
Knowledge
Rate of Transformation from Information to
Knowledge
Rate of Yields
Value -Added Rate
Main Resources
Land
Information
Energy
Product
Farm Product
Knowledge
Product
Product Site
Research Institute, University
Factory
Farm
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Industrial Society vs. Information Society
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More comparsion

• http//ccit205.wikispaces.com/Industrialsocietyv
  sInformationsociety

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Information Cycle

• Creators of information -- writers,
  musicians, artists, researchers,
  database producers, web producers
• Information products -- books, videos, magazines,
  CDs, web sites, etc.
• Distributors of information -- publishers,
  Internet providers, vendors, producers
• Disseminators of information -- schools,
  libraries, colleges and universities, businesses,
  government, museums,
• Users of information -- individuals, business
  persons, researchers, employees and employers

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Sources of Information

• Print materials -- over 28,000 book stores
  selling over 3m titles (June 23-25 -- Harry
  Potter book outgrossed The Hulk movie!)
  newspapers and magazines
• Telephones -- individual to individual
  underpins information revolution
• Audio, Radio -- news, entertainment, safety
• Video, TV, DVD -- multiple info.formats,
  multi-access, and now computer networks over TV
  infrastructure
• CDs, Databases, Internet -- use growing
  exponentially
• Libraries -- institutional support to
  individuals, groups, organizations -- esp.
  important for self-development

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Information Networks Systems

• Networks/Services
• Internet
• Telephone system
• Satellite networks
• Radio, TV, movies
• Online services
• Publishing
• Transportation systems
• Power networks

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Can All Societies Really Catch up?
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Information Societies Must Have Four Legs
Information Society

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The ISI s Four Legs and 23 Variables
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE Secondary school
enrollment Tertiary school enrollment Newspaper
readership Press freedom Civil liberties
COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE PCs installed/capita Home
PCs shipped/household Govt/commercial PCs
shipped/non-agric. workforce Education PCs
shipped/students faculty Networked PCs
Software/hardware spending
INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE Telephone
lines/household Telephone faults/lines Television
ownership/capita Radio ownership/capita Fax
ownership/capita Cellular phones/capita Cable/sate
llite TV coverage
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE eCommerce spending
Internet home users Internet business users
Internet education users
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• http//www.webpages.uidaho.edu/mbolin/holland.pdf
  

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The Information Society
FUSION
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Critical trends
People become more and more dependent on computer
technology
Users are not necessarily computer experts (as
opposed to users of previous generations of
computers)
Computers penetrate all life situations
(work, entertainment, education)
There is a need for systems for all, access for
all and high interaction quality
Computer applications and services provide an
ever increasing functionality and complexity for
everyday tasks
Computer users have diverse abilities, skills,
requirements and preferences
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Challenges in the Information Society

• The Information Society has the potential to
  improve the quality of life of citizens, the
  efficiency of our social and economic
  organisation and to reinforce cohesion.
• But also,
• May lead to the creation of a two-tier society of
  have and have-nots, in which only a part of
  the population has access to the new technology,
  is comfortable using it and can fully enjoy the
  benefits.
• There is a danger that ordinary citizens may
  reject the new information culture and its
  instruments.

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Acceptability of Information Society Technologies

• Acceptability of the emerging Information Society
  by all citizens ultimately depends on the
  accessibility and usability of the associated
  technologies.
• Therefore, it is important
• to develop high quality user interfaces,
  accessible and usable by a diverse user
  population with different abilities, skills,
  requirements and preferences,
• in a variety of contexts of use, and through a
  variety of interaction technologies.

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Interaction platforms beyond the desktop

• shift towards non-desktop support systems
• mobile and wearable (wireless) devices
• information and communication support
• essential system characteristics
• intuitive
• self-adaptation
• intelligence
• reliability and robustness

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Universal Access

• Universal Access concerns the right of all
  citizens to obtain and maintain access to a
  society-wide pool of information resources.
• To this end, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has
  a critical role to play.

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Universal Design levels of concern
Design for All
TV
PC
Mobile phones
User Interface Level
Communication protocols
Telecommunications Infrastructure
Bandwidth
Satellite links
Web
Application Domain Services Level
Work
Education
Social
Healthcare
Entertainment
Accommodating Diversity
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e-Law reforms to support Information Society

• Industrial laws to be transformed to Information
  Age
• Laws to protect value protection and minimum
  ethics in Industrial practices when Government
  transforms itself to be a facilitator/provider

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Global Internet requires Global Laws

• Laws in relation to
• Internet Pornography
• Safety of Children
• Protection of Privacy
• Taxation
• Jurisdiction
• Regulations and competitiveness

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e-Law needs

• Balance between Creativity and Chaos
• Innovation and Stability
• National and Global co-operation in
  understanding, acceptance and appreciation.
• Mutual Regional Co-operation in Investigation

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1. Three Changes in World Economy
Liberalization of Trade - Abolition of
various kinds of tariff and non-tariff
barriers in the international trades (WTO
system) Microeconomic Globalization -
Globalization of business activities and
positive deployment of cross-border
investments Macroeconomic Globalization
- Reinforcement of mutual correlation and inter
dependency in economic activities among
countries