The Networked Society - Essay Example

Running Head: THE NETWORKED SOCIETY (INFORMATION SOCIETY) The Networked Society (Information Society) s The Networked Society (Information Society) Introduction The emergence of the information society, especially in the last 50 years, brought the promise of an unlimited, open access to an infinite array of information that would improve the way we live, learn work and govern. People have observed this rise of technology and they imagined an information world that would migrate from the state of scarcity to a state of abundance, transcending geographic, legal, and political boundaries. This dream envisioned a utopia where people could connect with myriad ideas and individuals just by clicking a mouse, no longer constrained by location, format, cost, time of day, on-site rules and regulations, or other barriers. (Webster, 2002: 48) In essence, anyone, anytime, anyplace could receive, interpret and exchange ideas outside the limit of government controls or the marketplace. “Many of the enthusiasts assumed that this new information infrastructure would reserve public spaces for educational and research institutions, libraries, nonprofits, and government agencies charged with promoting and fulfilling the public interest, and would constitute a public sphere of free speech and open intellectual discourse that enhances democracy”. (Nicholas, 1995: 73 ) Information Society An information society is a society in which the formation, circulation, transmission, use, and management of information is a major economic, political, and cultural activity. The information economy is its economic counterpart whereby wealth is created through the economic development of understanding. There are two major processes of an Information society: Production Consumption A given national information society does not necessarily have to develop high levels in all aspects of production and consumption of information. Production Several things may be produced and one major production process may be the innovation and wide spread production of the hardware of information society, such as computers and telecommunications devices and equipment. (Castells, 2000: 24) Another major production process may be computer software, and a third one may be information itself, mainly electronic. E.g. Internet sites, television programs and movies, etc. Consumption High levels of consumption of information may also be expressed in hardware, software and information. High levels of consumption of information and information devices may be expressed by a wide adoption of telecommunications and information devices such as PCs, telephones, TVs, etc. A high level of information consumption may be measured by wide purchases of software, by the number and length of domestic and international phone calls and by the proportion of homes connected to cable TV. (Webster, 2002: 56) “The exact nature of the relationships between industrial society and information society, namely continuity or change, has been debated over time. On the one hand, the development of information technology and the need for skilled workers who consume and produce more information are viewed as nesting within industrial society, and the subsequent service economy. On the other hand, information technologies allow a direct, on-line linkage between different types of activity in the same process of production, management, and distribution, establish a close, structural connection between spheres of work and employment artificially separated by obsolete statistical categories”. (Katz, 2002: 67) Thus, at a certain stage information and knowledge may replace labour and possibly also capital as leading production factors. Growing co-modification of information has accompanied information society since its inception. In the late 1990s the sale of information has reached levels reserved before for the sale of material products or services only. “Major examples are the sale of data sets relating to Internet users, or the tremendous growth in the sales of software and TV programs”. (Nicholas, 1995: 76) The U.S. has become the world leader in the sale and distribution of electronic information. Information has become a raw material for corporations and organizations, as well as social networks. Information economy is not just about information as a commodity bought and sold in the market. A lot of information is actually internally produced and consumed within organisations. More importantly, information economy is about a fundamental change in the nature of the economy, a profound change in the economy on which our whole world has been built. The Present Today, many people have no access or ability to use the new technologies. Others cannot afford the high prices and limited usage rules created by the industries that control the copyrights on books, articles, and other forms of information and ideas. Meanwhile, with governments continually extending the duration of copyright, the chance of these works ever entering the public domain keeps diminishing. And for those items that are freely available for public use, no plan for permanent public access has yet been devised. Indeed, technological protection measures now restrict what people can read or view in libraries, in schools, and at home. Encryption and other technologies prevent individuals from lending and sharing creative works, as they have a right to do under the "first sale" doctrine of copyright law. They also drastically restrict our right to make "fair use" of copyrighted works through parody, scholarship, news reports, and criticism. Internet filters and other restrictions further stifle access to information online. Finally, commercial and governmental entities mine data and profile our reading and viewing preferences, activities that intrude on both our privacy and free expression rights. As technology is continuing to develop, large numbers of people are using the Internet to obtain information and this is increasing rapidly. Communication technology is providing a better system of exchanging information in large amounts at a lower cost. This increases the opportunity for businesses to expand globally and provides opportunity for success. Digital Divide “Digital divide is the facts that people who do and people who dont have access to and capacity to use modern information technology can be divided society, such as the telephone, television, or the internet. These differences exist due to geography, race, economic status, gender and physical ability”. (Christopher, 2002: 126) While the Internet has benefited part of the worlds population, however, the gap of the usage of Internet between developing and developed countries may increase in the future. The digital divide is out there. The gap has been reducing for the past several years, but it is still too big. Educators, need to help reduce the gap even more by educating people. There is a need to start by educating the younger generations because they are the future. Conclusion Given the array of new restrictions limiting public access and free expression, the promise of a free and open 21st century information society is simply that. The technology that enables unfettered access is just as capable of restricting personal information choices and the free flow of ideas. The dream of a high-tech society is now threatened by the perils of a highly controlled society. To protect our most precious right in a democratic society - the right of free speech and inquiry - we must develop a more balanced public policy. The information commons is a crucial part of this quest to preserve free expression in the digital age. References Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society, Second Edition . U.S. Blackwell Publishing: pp. 24 Christopher T. May (2002) The Information Society: A Sceptical View. Polity Press: pp. 126 Katz, James, & Rice, Ronald. (2002). Social Consequences Of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, And Interaction. Cambridge: MIT Press: pp. 67 Nicholas, Negroponte. (1995) Being Digital. Vintage Books: pp. 73-76 Webster, Frank. (2002) Theories of the Information Society, Second Edition. By. New York: Routledge: pp. 48-56 Read More