Theoretical basis for the global information society By: Hojat Modirian (original) (raw)
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Course outline: Information society; an introduction ------- شرح درس مبانی جامعه اطلاعاتی
This course will generally discuss the nature of information society as well as critically review the main notions proposed to understand the different aspects on this ‘new society’. To this end, we will read writings from Giddens, Habermas, Castells, Schiller, Lyotard, etc. Moreover, we will investigate the ongoing debates on information society from a critical lens. Thus, we will use Marx, Frankfort thinkers (e.g., Althusser), post-modernists and post-structuralists scholars (e.g., Foucault) and Hannah Arendt’s ideas to better understand what information society is, how it works and the networks and mechanisms in which such a society entangles and embodies. Finally, we will focus on new conceptualization of such society like networked or platform society. Overall, this course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of information society and will enable them to discuss the relevant theories and concepts critically.
Information Society as a Global Policy Agenda: What Does It Tell Us About the Age of Globalization?
International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2007
The issue of information society commands worldwide attention: diverse constituencies work at closing the gaps in access to and in use of digital technology. Why are such efforts directed specifically at the issue of the information society? In this article I argue that the redirection of world society's attention towards this issue is related to the correspondence between the dimensions of globalization and those of the field of information and communications technologies. Specifically, I highlight five such shared dimensions: economic transactions, political relations, globality, networks, and world norms. In this way, the theme of information society was quickly defined as a global social problem because it corresponds to the themes of the era of globalization. I also argue that while various realist theories of globalization focus solely on the dimensions of economic and political transactions, world society theory expands on these by highlighting the cultural and institutio...
Information Society: Concepts and Definitions
This paper presents the author's view of the Information Society, emphasizing some basic concepts and definitions. Pointing out the significance of information, the paper provides a formal definition for "information". The evolving concept of "global information society" is the major concern of the paper. Currently developing islands of information societies here and there are going to evolve, as the information age unfolds, into one Global Information Society. The paper outlines some of the basic characteristics of this society, presents a discussion of the associated issues, and concludes with some final remarks.
2009
It goes without saying that knowledge and information are the most valuable commodities in the new economy. Though knowledge and information as private goods could provide great business opportunities for rights holders in the global communications network, they exhibit the distinctive characteristics of public goods. Therefore, the commodification of knowledge and information requires a strict proprietary regime which restrains free access to them and enforces effective legal protection over their production, use, and dissemination. If the accessing and using rights of the individual users were free and unlimited the legal entitlements of rights holders would be worthless. Besides this common belief, many legal scholars, philosophers, scientists, and social scientists also emphasize that knowledge and information are social and cultural products made, shared, settled, and revised in democratic discourses, open scientific debates, and the pragmatic self-understanding of society. The...
Framing a Global Information Society Discourse
Economic and Political Weekly, 2006
The outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis in November 2005 were widely seen as “fuzzy”. But the WSIS was never mandated with a clearly defined global “problem”. The summit was held at a time when US-led interests were active in undermining several democratic forums of global governance, even as global capital appeared increasingly intolerant towards public policy regimes. Thus there was a consistent attempt to keep several substantive issues out of the summit discussions. Moreover, the private sector, as a supposed leader of the information society, was pushed in very questionable ways into various governance arrangements.
Implementing Global Public Interest in Information Society
Revue québécoise de droit international, 2005
Because the means of communication through which information is conveyed are indispensable for the eradication of poverty, public interest requires that all information and communications technology services must be available at affordable cost in all countries and to all areas within a country. Unfortunately, in spite of numerous international efforts, a digital divide still exists at both the national and international levels. Bridging this divide will be extremely difficult in the near future if the international and national regulatory regimes and approaches applicable to means of communications are not revised. There are many challenges, including access to appropriate national communication facilities, the privatisation of international operators in the field of satellite communications, the provision of domestic services by foreign operators, and the lack of national regulatory frameworks. To improve the situation, the Tunis Phase of the WSIS should ensure that all States and...
The Information Society by Professor Hiranya K. Nath
This article briefly discusses various definitions and concepts of the so-called information society. The term information society has been proposed to refer to the post-industrial society in which information plays a pivotal role. The definitions that have been proposed over the years highlight five underlying characterisations of an information society: technological, economic, sociological, spatial, and cultural. This article discusses those characteristics. While the emergence of an information society may be just a figment of one’s imagination, the concept could be a good organising principle to describe and analyse the changes of the past 50 years and of the future in the 21st century. Key words: Information economy, information society, post-industrial society
The Genesis of the Modern Information Society and the Main World Characteristics
Administrative consulting, 2019
We consider the historical aspect of the formation of the modern information society as a result of the world information revolution. The main stages of the world information revolution are: the Neolithic revolution, iron revolution, the emergence of writing, the invention of printing; the appearance of the telegraph, telephone, radio and television; the emergence of electronic computers, the creation of the Internet. The idea of the information society was formulated in the late 60s-early 70s of the XX century. However, in the 70s of the 20th century there was a convergence of two simultaneously emerging ideologies-the information society and post-industrialism. To date, Information economy is a sector of the information industry of the economic system of the country. The new economic system is highly dynamic, leading to the growth of economic inequality countries, becomes a potential source of conflicts of a different nature. Information, as a reproducible resource, becomes an object of sale and purchase and a source of long-term economic growth. We consider the stages of the world information revolution. The Internet revolution is comparable in its value to the Neolithic and iron revolutions, with the industrial revolution that made the world economy leader England in the 19th century. We distinguish eight characteristics of the modern information society: unique knowledge, strengthening the role of entrepreneurship, digital technologies, creative highly qualified specialists, the growth of the global online population, the lack of ICT skills, the rapid development of the mobile world, the lack of a unified methodology for measuring ICT skills. The authors come to the conclusion about necessity of creation of uniform world information educational environment for people from all over the world due to the low global level of ICT-skills and the lack of a common methodology for the measurement ICT-skills.