Menu
homeiOS

Scientific electronic library. Report: Information society concepts, definitions, concepts



Information society. The state and trends in the development of information technologies and their impact on the life of society and citizens. Electronic services, e-government, e-inclusion, e-business, telemedicine and other facets of the information society.

The development of modern society is impossible without information technology, which allows us to talk about a new phase of social development, which is called the “Information Society”. The development of the concept of the information society was carried out by many outstanding scientists of the world, such as W. Martin, M. Castells, M. McLuhan, Y. Masuda, T. Stonier. The author of this term is considered to be Yu. Hayashi, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

The information society is a stage of development of society when the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has a significant impact on the main social institutions and spheres of life:

      • economics and business sphere,
      • public administration,
      • education,
      • social services and medicine,
      • Culture and art.

Communication means - telephony, radio, television, the Internet, traditional and electronic media - are the technological basis of the information society.

Let's see how the information society can manifest itself in various areas of our lives.

Economic: information is used as a resource, service, product, source of added value and employment, e-business is developing. There is no need to send a representative to a business partner from another region; documents are certified with an electronic digital signature. There is no need to waste time choosing a product; just look through the online store catalog. There is no need to visit the tax office to submit tax returns. No need to spend time traveling to get your work done (for some professional activities). You don’t need to go to the ticket office to buy a train ticket; you just need to order it and pay for it remotely.

Political: freedom of information leading to the development of electronic democracy, electronic state, electronic government. To express your opinion on a particular issue or to form a group of like-minded people to implement any initiative, just go to the corresponding website on the Internet. To receive a government service, it is enough to fill out a request form remotely, and after a certain time receive the necessary document in your mailbox. E-government will be discussed in more detail in the next lecture.

Electronic government is a way to increase the efficiency of government activities based on the use of information systems. It is understood that the executive (electronic government), and legislative (electronic parliament, electronic democracy), as well as judicial bodies (electronic justice) function using ICT.

We can say that the process of establishing an electronic state is currently underway, as evidenced by the emergence of the Unified Portal of Electronic Democracy of the Russian Federation
(http://e-democracy.ru/). The “Electronic Democracy” system makes it possible to participate in management decision-making, public discussions of official documents and monitoring the activities of government bodies.

Social: information acts as an important stimulator of changes in the quality of life. To get advice from a specialist, the patient does not need to go to the medical center, but will only need to leave his documents on the portal and contact a specialized doctor at the appointed time (telemedicine). To get help in an emergency, it is enough to use a single emergency number (for example, the “Care” system, which will be discussed in more detail in one of the following lectures). To get a student ready for school, all you need to do is download a set of textbooks from the regional educational portal and save them in an e-book.

Cultural: recognition of the cultural value of information (e.g. UNESCO Digital Heritage Project). To select literature on a topic of interest, just use the electronic catalog of any library throughout the country. To visit a foreign museum, just visit the corresponding website. To get an education at any university in the world, you need to turn to its distance learning resources.

We can say that the information society is most manifested in countries that are characterized as a “developed post-industrial society” (Japan, USA, Western Europe).

Here are some dates, strategies and programs. In March 2000, the European Union adopted a 10-year operational strategy for economic, social and environmental renewal, called the European Research Area (ERA). The goal of this strategy is the EU's transition to a knowledge-based economy, which should become the most dynamic and competitive in the world.

One of the projects that stimulates intensive economic development and strengthening the position of the EU in the international market is the largest political project “Electronic Europe” (eEurope), within the framework of which many programs can be implemented both within EU member states and at the level of the European Commission.

In 2000, G8 leaders adopted the Okinawa Charter for the Global Information Society. The Charter points out the importance of developing the information society to improve the well-being of citizens and the development of the economy as a whole. It explains how new technologies and their diffusion are a key driver of socio-economic development in countries today. The Charter also points to the need to introduce national and international strategies for achieving the objectives.

The development of the ideas of the information society can be considered the concept of a “knowledge society” supported by UNESCO, which places emphasis on humanistic principles. The economic and social functions of capital are transferred to information, and the university becomes the core of social organization as a center for the production, processing and accumulation of knowledge. It is especially emphasized that in a “knowledge society” the priorities should be the quality of education, freedom of expression, universal access to information for all, respect for cultural and linguistic diversity.

The development of the information society inevitably leads to the fact that many specialists work in the field of production and dissemination of information. This requires not only new skills and new knowledge, but also a new mindset, desire and ability to learn throughout life.

Unfortunately, in our country there is still an insufficient level of development of the information technology industry, which leads to a lag behind world leaders. The formation of an information society in Russia is also hampered by the insufficient level of dissemination of basic skills in the use of information technologies both among the population as a whole and among state and municipal employees.

The problems that hinder the efficiency of using information technologies to improve the quality of life of citizens are complex. Their elimination requires significant resources, coordinated implementation of organizational changes and ensuring consistency in the actions of government authorities.

As a result of the implementation of the federal target program “Electronic Russia (2002-2010)”, a certain groundwork was created in the field of introducing information technologies into the activities of public authorities and organizing the provision of public services.

Since the development of the information society is a platform for solving higher-level problems - modernizing the economy and public relations, ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens and freeing up resources for personal development, the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society and the state program “Information Society (2011-2020)” were adopted (Fig. .1.1).

Rice. 1.1. Components of the Information Society program

The Program activities in accordance with the Strategy should provide the following results:

Formation of a modern information and telecommunications infrastructure, provision of quality services on its basis and ensuring a high level of accessibility to information and technology for the population;
improving the quality of education, medical care and social protection of the population based on information technology;

Improving the system of state guarantees of constitutional rights of man and citizen in the information sphere, increasing the efficiency of public administration and local self-government, the quality and efficiency of the provision of public services;

Development of the economy of the Russian Federation based on the use of information technology, increasing labor mobility and ensuring employment of the population;

Increasing the efficiency of public administration and local self-government, the interaction of civil society and business with government authorities, the quality and efficiency of the provision of public services;

Development of science, technology and engineering, as well as training of qualified personnel in the field of information technology;

Preservation of the culture of the multinational people of the Russian Federation, strengthening of moral and patriotic principles in the public consciousness, as well as the development of a system of cultural and humanitarian education;
countering the use of the potential of information technologies to threaten the interests of Russia.

Currently, the technical and economic aspects of the development of the information society are coming to the fore. Unfortunately, the social and humanistic aspects of this process are not yet developing sufficiently.

It should be noted that such a complex socio-economic phenomenon as information inequality is widespread in Russia. Many localities and social groups do not yet have access to information technologies and are falling out of the information society. To solve this problem, a set of measures is needed, including not only the development of telecommunications infrastructure, but also the elimination of “information illiteracy” of citizens, assistance to low-income segments of the population in purchasing computer equipment, and the creation of public access points.

Thus, in the modern world, information technologies have a significant impact on the life of society and citizens in all spheres of public life. In Russia, with the support of the state, the process of becoming an information society is taking place: the federal target program “Electronic Russia” has been implemented, the “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society” and the state program “Information Society” have been adopted.

Practice

Exercise 1.1
Read the article “Russia needs electronic democracy” (http://experttalks.ru/book/export/html/325).
Please formulate your attitude towards Internet democracy and the idea of ​​electronic voting.

Exercise 1.2
Watch the video “Electronic services: tested on yourself” (http://rutube.ru/tracks/4693692.html).
How do you assess the situation the journalist found himself in?
Do you have experience in receiving electronic services? Positive or not so positive?



The history of mankind can be viewed as the history of the development and globalization of information. Changes in social formations and technological progress are the result of redistribution of access to information and individual motivation to improve the quality of their life. At the same time, the emergence of new information is connected precisely with the process of human creativity, with his mental activity. The very act of awareness of reality is purely individual, but it requires previously accumulated information by society and its result also becomes information demanded by other people. It is the process of cognition and the associated growth of information that is the vector of human evolution, a vector composed of opposing trends in the development of society, the various interests of individuals and social groups of people. Man's struggle for liberation from slavery to nature, brought to its critical phase in the struggle for freedom from exploitation of man by man, can only be won when all the information accumulated by society becomes truly accessible to every individual, when the only goal of society is to provide opportunities for creative human activity.

How far is the future when the goal of a person’s spiritual development will be the person himself, and not the advantages that he needs in achieving the most comfortable position in society? How will everyone’s full and prompt access to any information accumulated by humanity affect public relations? These and similar questions have become especially relevant today. The unique in its rapidity development of information technologies (broadcasting, computerization and the development of global telecommunications), which began in the last third of the last century, allowed numerous sociologists and futurologists to announce the advent of a new era in the development of mankind - information society. The growth in the number of studies and the creation of new research groups, centers and foundations dedicated to the information society has turned out to be no less than the truly gigantic growth in the capabilities of information technologies themselves. Moreover, on March 27, 2006, the UN General Assembly even decided to declare World Information Society Day, which became May 17, previously celebrated as World Telecommunication Day. And although in the same 2006, at the conference of the International Telecommunication Union, the name of the day was adjusted to World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, attention to the new concept did not decrease.

Frank Webster's attempt to provide a critical analysis of various theories of the information society within the framework of one book only makes it possible to realize the multiplicity of existing views on the consequences of the information explosion. However, the abundance of sometimes contradictory theories only indicates an insufficient depth of understanding by sociological science of the processes currently taking place. The concept of the information society today rather denotes the need to study modern trends, the need to move from a statement of numerous changes in the life of society in the conditions of information globalization to a real analysis of the influence of information technology on changes in social relations. “Although as a heuristic,” Webster notes (p. 30), “the term information society has some value in exploring the basic characteristics of the modern world, it is too imprecise to be accepted as a scientific definition.”

Developing his idea of ​​post-industrialism, Bell considered information or theoretical knowledge as the most striking characteristic of post-industrial society. Moreover, the “axial principle” of such a society “is the enormous social significance of theoretical knowledge and its new role as a guiding force of social change.” In Bell's interpretation, the information society is nothing more than a form of development of a post-industrial or service society, in which the share of services in the field of information technology and theoretical knowledge is dominant. Bell's point of view today is the most widespread, however, like the theory of post-industrialism itself, the theory of the information society according to Bell does not allow identifying significant qualitative changes in social relations characteristic of the “new society”. “The adherents of this new society,” writes Webster (p. 41), “move from seeking quantitative changes in the dissemination of information to asserting that the quantitative side is the indicator of a qualitative change in social organization.”

The growth of the high-tech sector is certainly stunning: the unprecedented success of the international software giant Microsoft; Google's rapid rise from a small project team to a multibillion-dollar empire providing Internet application services; merger of telecommunications and media corporations in promoting new integrated technologies. All this indicates significant changes in the economy, but the changes are more quantitative than qualitative. Perhaps the most extensive study of socio-political changes in the new era was carried out by Manuel Castells in his book The Information Age. Rightly believing that information is important for any historical period, Castells introduces the concept of “information society” to designate a new era, indicating “an attribute of a specific form of social organization in which, thanks to new technological conditions arising in a given historical period, the generation, processing and the transmission of information has become the fundamental sources of productivity and power."

Castells believes that the economy of the new stage in the development of mankind “is capitalist, in fact more capitalist than any other economy in history” and even introduces a new term “information capitalism”: “the new system is characterized by the trend of increasing social inequality and polarization” (emphasis added by the author of “The Information Age”). The information society, according to Castells, has a network structure, with another type of owner being the “collective capitalist” who owns capital through “global financial markets.” In turn, the “collective capitalist” uses the labor of the “collective worker,” who constantly loses and finds work, “circulating between various sources of employment (which is mainly casual in nature).” In fact, Castells describes a society still built on the contradiction between labor and capital, but using the achievements of modern information technology. The antagonisms of social relations, clothed in information technology, lead, according to Castells, to the emergence and “expansion of a digital divide, a gap that could ultimately involve the world in a series of multidimensional crises.”

Castells' information society is much darker and more contradictory than Bell's description of the information stage of the post-industrial era, however, in this case, the new era is distinguished exclusively by quantitative characteristics. It hardly makes sense to introduce a new concept of the information society if it is just a type of currently existing social relations, no matter how they are graded: capitalism or the post-industrial era. Information technologies, even with the explosive nature of their development, cannot by themselves change the social organization of society. Technologies can neither strengthen existing contradictions nor weaken them, but they can create the basis for changing social relations. And such a basis is the automation of routine and physical labor, on the one hand, and full-scale access to all the information accumulated by humanity, on the other hand. Of course, it is still very early to say that such a basis exists, but the tendency towards its formation is obvious, and to one degree or another, theorists of the information society point to these circumstances.

The network structure of society and productive forces, emerging in recent decades, globalizes social relations. Transnational corporations, pursuing exclusively private interests of increasing efficiency, contribute to the development of infrastructure not only in developed countries, but also in backward regions in which their branches are located. In turn, the development of mobile communications and the Internet destroys national and state frameworks; By internationalizing the audience of media and information agencies, it provides the opportunity to form diverse communities of interests. Of course, network communications are primarily intended to give corporations more tools in organizing their business and gain additional opportunities for appropriating the work of others, but on the other hand, these same telecommunications simplify and make accessible the exchange of information between people, regardless of their state or nationality.

Business requirements for transparency and accessibility of information necessary to improve management efficiency lead to the formation of global information databases, access to which is provided to partners and clients. Entering global financial markets requires corporations to have a clear behavioral discipline to communicate their actions. In fact, the technological structure of the future society is being formed, in which there will be no “closed” information currently necessary for competition, and all members of society will be partners and clients of companies. Integration of information systems of commercial and government structures also creates the basis for unity in the exchange of information in the future. How quickly the process of informational “opening” of business and government structures to society will proceed is now difficult to say, even difficult to believe, but the technological foundations are already being laid.

The displacement of routine labor through automation and technological advances in terms of globalization of access to accumulated information create the basis for the formation of a future information society, in which it will be possible to quickly obtain information about everything that is happening or has happened to any person or community anywhere on the planet. These could be development plans, the results of the activities of a corporation, government spending for certain purposes or plans for visits and meetings of delegations, the actions of a person close to us, or the income of a neighbor. Moreover, such information will be available without restrictions to every inhabitant of the planet. The availability of information will be as natural as communication between people on the street is now (although there were times when class or caste differences did not allow people to communicate easily). Information society- this is such a self-organization of people in which routine, non-creative activities are automated, and all the information accumulated by humanity is available to everyone.

There is no need to explain that such a fantastically arranged life is radically different from modern life. It is absurd to say now that we live in the era of the information society, but it is obvious that the historical logic of evolution is leading humanity precisely to such self-organization, and elements of the future society are increasingly appearing in various types of human activity: in business, in the state, in society. Disclosure is incompatible if there is any harm caused by openness. Secrecy, as a tool of competition between states, corporations and people, must die out, and this cannot be achieved only on the basis of the introduction of new technologies (although the spread of information on the World Wide Web illustrates, albeit in its infancy, the future freedom of information). Information transparency of society will require a special organization of people, built not on suppression and inequality, but on the basis of liberation of the creativity of each individual. It is not difficult to understand that in the information society, changes will affect not only social relations, when it will be impossible to be the first only due to the possession of important information, and any government actions will be transparent, but also universal morality, the family, and the individual as a whole.

Outwardly, there is a certain correlation between the future information society and the communist ideal - a classless society that satisfies all human needs and provides everyone with equal opportunities to participate in society. Since human needs are the motivation for his activities, they cannot be fully satisfied: the satisfaction of some needs leads to the formation of others. Due to the displacement of physical labor and full-scale automation, the level of needs in the information society will shift from the area of ​​physiological needs (safety of existence, food and comfort of life) to the intellectual sphere (the need for knowledge and communication), and if such a shift is called the satisfaction of all needs, then the information the society certainly resembles the communist ideal. “Liberty, equality and fraternity” - the slogan of the French Revolution is not popular among the modern elite of post-industrial society: those who have more than others are afraid of equality, and those in power are afraid of freedom and the encroachment on statehood looming in it. However, this same slogan, expressed as “freedom of dissemination of information, equality in access to information, brotherhood in communication,” is quite creative and can become the slogan of the enlightened part of humanity, the slogan of the movement towards an information society.

Despite the “terrible” requirement for absolutely complete access to information for everyone, the information society is not as utopian as it seems at first glance; the trends in its construction are already visible. These include requirements for companies to open commercial information on the stock market and business’s own desire for transparency in management, and expansion of types of reporting on its activities by the state, increasing accessibility in the dissemination of information (especially via the Internet) and freedom in family relationships, etc. d. The actual practice of using information technologies, both in business and in society and the state, unbeknownst to us ourselves, lays the foundations for such a unique self-organization of people. It is the openness of information and labor automation that should form the basis of the strategy for building an information society. A strategy that is not limited to two or three presidential terms or any other political terms, but a long-term strategy, spanning several generations, taking into account not only technological capabilities, but also the possibilities of organizational development of social relations.

The information society is not utopian, if only because the principles of its organization have historical roots - the society of primitive people was structured similarly: no one withheld information, did not divide people into good and bad, poor and rich. The only (but significant) difference between the information society and the primitive one is that the person of the future will become truly free from the whims of nature. Labor activity will be fundamentally creative - it will be the activity of a person who has thinking, and not physical strength or correctly positioned limbs. In the struggle for freedom before nature, a person lost freedom before another person, lost the right to full access to information. Freed from natural dependence and the need to use physical and routine labor, a person will be able to gain freedom in front of society and access to all accumulated knowledge, and the activities of society will be aimed, first of all, at the self-realization of each individual.

Changes in social formations and technological progress are the result of redistribution of access to information and individual motivation to improve the quality of their life. At the same time, the emergence of new information is connected precisely with the process of human creativity, with his mental activity. The very act of awareness of reality is purely individual, but it requires previously accumulated information by society and its result also becomes information demanded by other people. It is the process of cognition and the associated growth of information that is the vector of human evolution, a vector composed of opposing trends in the development of society, the various interests of individuals and social groups of people. Man's struggle for liberation from slavery to nature, brought to its critical phase in the struggle for freedom from exploitation of man by man, can only be won when all the information accumulated by society becomes truly accessible to every individual, when the only goal of society is to provide opportunities for creative human activity.

The information (post-industrial) era began around the middle of the 20th century with the emergence of pockets of post-industrialism in industrialized countries. They quickly turned into regions of post-industrialism. Post-industrial society is becoming the leading one in the world. International organizations of a post-industrial type appear, and the UN becomes a body of the post-industrial era. The basic systems of the information society are also changing.

Technological basis This society consists of information technology, automation of production processes based on computers and cybernetics, globalization of information and technological relations. The basis of informatics is mental work, spiritual capital and knowledge (theoretical and applied), information technology, and computer technology.

Demosocial system The information society is characterized by: the emergence of a mass of migrants and national diasporas, the growth of megacities, a mass consumer society, mass culture, environmental pollution, a significant middle class, a demographic explosion, confirming the fears of Malthus.

Economic system characterized by: automation and computerization of production processes; growth in the number and power of transnational companies (TNCs); private, collective and state property; dominance service sector(medicine, education, leisure, etc.); production, exchange and consumption of knowledge (information); turning science into a direct productive force of society, and technical specialists (experts, consultants) into a leading professional group; dominance of financial capital.

Politic system information societies are characterized by: a strong democratic legal social state; developed civil society (parliamentary democracy, free media, etc.); taking into account the interests of different social classes; middle class political culture; the growing influence of international political organizations.

For spiritual system industrial society is characterized by: the transformation of science into the leading form of social consciousness; the flourishing of the system of general, secondary and higher education; weakening influence of world religions; the development of art and the emergence of its new directions; postmodern thinking; growing influence of mass culture; dominance of television, etc.

Social subjectivity characterized by a strengthening of the role of the spiritual and a weakening of the unconscious, the growth of the value-rational, the spread of solidarist principles, the co-evolution of liberal, social democratic, conservative, communist and religious ideologies.

In the information age, countries with different types of societies (formations and civilizations) coexist: liberal-capitalist, Soviet, social-democratic, etc. Between world religions, related religious communities and world civilizations and within them, there is a struggle for dominance and creation new world society, formation and civilization of earthlings. All this is accompanied by a deepening environmental crisis.

The urban population becomes predominant. Man is forced out of material production; it is being replaced by machine guns. Scientific and technological progress is accelerating, the employment structure of the population is changing. The personnel of information enterprises requires a new management style: creative, intellectual, moral. Labor motives are improving: workers prefer lower wages, but work according to their interests, which gives them the opportunity to make their own decisions. More and more people combine family, work, self-education and sports in their lives.

The institutional structure of the information society so far includes six types of enterprises: economic (banks, exchanges, savings banks, etc.), social (pension, medical, sports, etc.), scientific, production (industry, construction, agriculture , transport), voluntary (organization of the environment, assistance to the elderly, etc.), households. Universities, research centers, and academic institutions are becoming the main institutions (institutions) of post-industrial societies.

The information society is based on TNCs. The development of the world under the influence of TNCs “corresponds to the natural trends of universal evolutionism - the mechanisms of self-organization that determined the development of all living things.”

The previously backward countries of Asia followed the path of liberal capitalist and then bourgeois socialist societies. For example, from 1950 to 1990, South Korea's GDP grew 120 times. The world system of socialism began to lose the scientific, technical, economic and demosocial confrontation with social democratic societies. New technologies, product samples, improving the lives of ordinary people showed the weakness of Soviet society (formation and civilization). In 1991, the world system of socialism and the USSR collapsed. The countries of the Soviet bloc were not ready for the post-industrial era.

As a result of the collapse of the socialist system, the world balance of countries with different types of societies was disrupted. There was a separation of developed (“golden billion”), developing and undeveloped countries. A hierarchical pyramid of countries has emerged: post-industrial capitalism (USA), bourgeois socialism (“old” European democracies), bourgeois socialist orientation (Eastern Europe), Soviet socialism (Cuba, North Korea), state capitalism (Russia and some other CIS countries); colonial capitalism (many African countries).

Expansion has increased American civilization in the sphere of worldview, institutions, lifestyle. It meets fierce resistance in other civilizations: Islamic, Buddhist, Orthodox. The Islamic civilization included countries with different social formations - from post-industrial (Saudi Arabia) to primitive communal (Afghanistan). Civilizational confrontation sometimes turns out to be more important than formational uniformity.

The current world is a hierarchy of all technological and civilizational types of societies: agricultural, industrial, information. Information societies play a leading role in relation to industrial ones, and the latter - in relation to agricultural ones. The base of this pyramid is narrowing, and the central - industrial - part is expanding. This corresponds to the stratification pyramid in developed countries of the world. It is obvious that for a growing humanity, the transition of most agrarian societies to industrial ones, and the latter to information ones, is fraught with environmental disaster: the natural environment cannot withstand the technogenic load. There is a need to slow down technological transition and manage globalization.

In the context of globalization, the deepening environmental crisis, and post-industrialization, a renunciation of profitability and power as defining values ​​is required, and therefore a renunciation of the economic greed and political ambition of entire classes and peoples of developed countries. To do this, it is necessary to mitigate the demosocial gap, the dominance of some countries over others on property, political, national and other grounds. The problem of creating an ecological society of earthlings has risen to its full potential. In this regard, N. Moiseev, like other scientists, do not exclude the emergence of a new international totalitarianism, a kind of post-industrial Middle Ages.

September 11, 2001 was apparently evidence that the neoliberal society (formation and civilization) of the United States was causing outrage in the world. The worldview of individualism, the superiority of the strong and rich, the exploitation of the world, double standards, and the movement toward environmental disaster received opposition from Islamic fundamentalism. It became clear: to make the world safer, we need to make it more just. This is the only way developed countries can get rid of terrorists who are getting closer to increasingly dangerous types of weapons.

The world is faced with the need to radically change international relations in the context of the ongoing scientific revolution, an approaching environmental disaster, and blatant social inequality between countries. To solve these problems, the UN and its institutions need to return to the fight against the aggressive aspirations of the “advanced” countries. Relationships between countries from different historical eras should be reconsidered towards greater equality and justice. The West needs to share more with other countries rather than exploit them; it is necessary to impose stricter restrictions on the sale of weapons from developed countries to other countries and thereby stop the arms race; we finally need to start creating world democratic state, civil society, economy and spirituality.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/

State autonomous educational institution of secondary vocational education “Aginsky Medical College named after. V.L. Chimitdorzhieva"

Essay

On the topic: Information society

Completed by: Tsyrendashieva S.B.

1 course, 151 gr.

Checked by: Tudupova B.Ts.

Aginskoe, 2015

Introduction

At the turn of the 60-70s of the 20th century in developed countries it became obvious that information technologies and processes were beginning to have a significant impact on the development of society. Attempts to comprehend this influence lead to the emergence of the concept of the information society - a society in which the main value and structure-forming basis is information, and in which all processes are closely related to information and information technologies (primarily electronic). Such a society is usually viewed as a new stage in the evolution of human civilization, as a new phase of social development, in which the information sector of the economy begins to play a decisive role in the development of individual countries and the entire world community.

Currently, there is a large number of scientific studies, futurological and journalistic works, in which the problems of the relationship between society and the individual with information technology are studied from various points of view; conferences and seminars are regularly held. The relevance of this topic attracts the attention of a large number of scientists and public figures, and this is not surprising - the information industry continues to develop rapidly, covering more and more new directions.

Next, an attempt is made to summarize some views on the information society, features of its formation, problems and development prospects. To do this, it is necessary to consider the historical background of its emergence, basic theoretical ideas and concepts. In addition, it is important to trace modern trends in the development of society associated with the widespread dissemination of information technologies, which will allow us to draw a conclusion about how the process of development of the information society is currently going on, and what consequences these processes will have for people.

1. The role of information in society: historical aspect

Throughout the history of human civilization from ancient times to the present day, several so-called information revolutions can be identified - qualitative changes in all spheres of social life caused by the introduction of new means of transmitting and storing information. It is customary to distinguish four information revolutions that have had a decisive influence on the development of mankind.

The first revolution was marked by the invention of writing and led to a significant leap in the development of human civilization. There is an opportunity for undistorted transfer of knowledge and its preservation for subsequent generations.

The second revolution was associated with the development of printing, which in turn was closely related to the transition to an industrial society. Printing opened up the possibility of replicating knowledge in order to make it accessible to a large number of people.

The next qualitative leap in the transmission and storage of information was predetermined by the introduction of new communication technologies based on electricity and radio waves. This made it possible to transmit information over vast distances almost instantly, as well as store it on magnetic and other media.

And finally, the fourth revolution, which occurred in the second half of the 20th century, is characterized by advances in the field of electronics (in particular, the widespread use of semiconductor technology), which made it possible to create small, high-performance electronic computers with program control, their widespread introduction into human activity, and also the creation of computer networks. This entailed dramatic changes in the way information is generated, organized and disseminated. Also during this period, significant advances were made in the development of television.

Each subsequent revolution would have been impossible without the achievements made in the previous stages. But it was the fourth revolution that was of decisive importance for the coming to the forefront of the information industry associated with the production of technical means, methods, and technologies for the production of new knowledge. In fact, this revolution integrates the effects of all previous ones, because it creates the technological basis for unifying the intellectual abilities of all mankind. Like no previous discovery or invention in the world of information and communications, this information revolution (sometimes the terms “computer revolution” or “network revolution” are used) has a powerful impact on all spheres of society: politics, economics, culture and, of course, life and safety of people.

In parallel with the development of technology, the very concept of information developed, acquiring new meanings and applications in various fields. The concept of information is so capacious that there is no single interpretation of it. However, it is widely used in physics, computer science, cybernetics, coding theory, systems theory, philosophy and, in general, is a cornerstone concept of modern science. Moreover, each branch of scientific knowledge considers information based on its own set of characteristics.

It should be noted that real research in the field of information began only in the 20th century. For example, in the 20s of the 20th century, attempts were made to study the properties of information as a set of facts, based on the theory of journalism. Then K. Shannon created the statistical theory of information (Professor L.I. Khromov, also uses the term “scalar information theory” in relation to Shannon’s theory) as the basis of communication theory and coding theory. Later, the concept of information was expanded and supplemented by N. Wiener and W. Ashby from the point of view of cybernetics.

Further research has shown that the concept of information is much more capacious and, which is very important, exists outside the perception of a particular person. Thus, the concept of information began to be considered from a philosophical point of view. The entire world around us, both accessible and inaccessible to humans, has an information structure everywhere. There are different views on information from a philosophical point of view. A scientific direction appears as the philosophy of information, the main tasks of which were formulated as a critical study of the abstract nature and basic principles of information, as well as the development and application of information-theoretical and computational methodologies to philosophical problems.

Until the end of the 60s of the 20th century, information and information processes were not considered as something independent. And from the point of view of materialist philosophy (which for a long time dominated, in particular, in our country), it was believed that the improvement of information processes is caused, first of all, by the needs of the development of material production and pursues the goals of servicing it. For example, the rate of growth of knowledge and the accumulation of valuable information is an important indicator of social progress, but this indicator was not considered as the main and only one. It was said that information itself is not capable of increasing the production of material and cultural values, and that it is beneficial only when it is embodied in equipment and technology, in cultural values, in the knowledge and experience of people, in the forms of their communication, in all system of social relations. The value of information is valid when it contributes to the growth of the material-energy and spiritual potential of people, contributes to their comprehensive development and improvement. Therefore, the place of social information depends, first of all, on the nature of society itself, on its inherent system of social and, above all, economic relations. Social information characterizes public consciousness, taken in its regulatory aspect. This means that in all cases, social information is a product and reflection of social existence to the same extent as such a product and reflection is social consciousness. Being secondary in relation to social existence, social information at the same time has an active feedback effect on it to an ever-increasing degree, which is expressed in its increasing regulatory function. However, the regulatory role of social information is determined by the needs of material production and how adequately it reflects the deepest essence of this objective basis of society. Thus, from the above point of view, social existence, material production will always be the determining, primary factor, and social information will be the secondary and determined factor.

However, already in the middle of the 20th century, developed capitalist countries entered the post-industrial phase of development. Fundamental changes are taking place in the structure of society, the economy, employment, and production, facilitated by technical advances in the field of communications, mass communications, and computer technology. There is a tendency for knowledge to prevail over capital. The volume of knowledge and its production is constantly growing. There is an awareness that information can be considered as an industrial product and its production is one of the types of industrial industry. A market for information services is emerging. All these processes gradually lead to the fact that previous views on the role of information and information processes in society become untenable, and this encourages researchers to look for new approaches to assessing the problem.

2. Information society concept

As mentioned earlier, starting from the late 60s of the 20th century in developed capitalist countries (primarily Japan and the USA), it became obvious that information and information resources began to play a special independent role, no longer tied to material production. At the same time, information resources acquire the status of a determining factor in the development of material production, and not vice versa, as was previously the case. All this gave rise to the emergence of a new approach to assessing the impact of information and information processes on society - the concept of the information society, in which information occupies a dominant position. The invention of the term is attributed to Y. Hayashi, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The contours of the information society have been outlined in reports submitted to the Japanese government by a number of organizations, notably the Economic Planning Agency and the Industrial Structure Council. The titles of the reports are indicative: “Japanese Information Society: Themes and Approaches” (1969), “Policy Contours for Promoting the Informatization of Japanese Society” (1969), “Plan for the Information Society” (1971). In these reports, the information society was presented as one where the computerization process would give people access to reliable sources of information, relieve them of routine work, and provide a high level of production automation. At the same time, production itself will change - its product will become more “information-intensive,” which means an increase in the share of innovation, design and marketing in its value. It was then that the now generally accepted idea was formulated for the first time that “the production of an information product, and not a material product, will be the driving force of education and development of society.” The works of W. Martin, M. Castells, M. McLuhan, Y. Masuda, T. Stonier and other researchers also had a significant influence on the development of the concept of the information society.

Later, the term "information society" became widespread and is currently used in various contexts. The related concepts of “knowledge society” and “post-industrial society” are also often used.

Despite the diversity of views of various researchers, it is still possible to identify some common fundamental features of the information society:

a change in the role of information and knowledge in the life of society, expressed, first of all, in an unprecedented increase in the information saturation of economic, managerial and other spheres of activity, in the transformation of information and knowledge into the most important resource for socio-economic development;

transformation of the information industry into the most dynamic, profitable and prestigious sphere of production;

the emergence of a developed market infrastructure for the consumption of information and information services;

Increasing informatization of society using telephony, radio, television, the Internet, as well as traditional and electronic media;

Creation of a global information space that ensures: effective information interaction between people, their access to global information resources and satisfaction of their needs for information products and services;

Profound changes in models of social organization and cooperation, when centralized hierarchical structures are replaced in all spheres of society by flexible network types of organization, adapted to rapid change and innovative development.

Thus, we can say that the rapid development and spread of new information and communication technologies is bringing with it fundamental changes in the information sphere at the global level. Their revolutionary impact concerns government structures and institutions of civil society, economic and social spheres, science and education, culture and people's way of life. As emphasized in the Okinawa Charter for the Global Information Society, information and communication technologies are becoming an important driver of global economic development. They are one of the most significant factors ensuring the functioning of global markets for information and knowledge, capital and labor. Under these conditions, the well-known phrase “who owns the information, owns the world” takes on a completely new meaning and becomes more relevant than ever before.

3. Origins of the information society and some basic concepts

3.1 Information society as the development of ideas of post-industrialism

information society post-industrialism

It should be noted that the ideas of the information society originate in the theory of post-industrialism, which stimulated the interest of researchers in certain aspects of the impact of scientific and technological progress on society, which led to the emergence of a wide range of concepts, including the concept of the information society. In this regard, mention should be made of the works of the American sociologist and futurologist E. Toffler, in particular, “Future Shock” (1970), “The Third Wave” (1980) and others. An important place in his work is occupied by the so-called concept of three waves. Toffler identifies three main stages (waves) of human development - agricultural, industrial and post-industrial. The main metaphor used by Toffler is the collision of waves leading to change. According to the author, the idea of ​​a wave is not only a way to organize huge masses of very contradictory information, it helps to see what is under the “turbulent surface of change.” Using this metaphor, in particular, the emergence of various global conflicts is explained.

Toffler calls the first wave “agricultural civilization.” All the ancient civilizations of China, India, Greece, Rome, and Central America had fundamental common features. The land was the basis of economy, life, culture, family organization and politics. A simple division of labor prevailed and there were several clearly defined castes and classes: nobles, clergy, warriors, slaves or serfs. The economy was decentralized, and the government was strictly authoritarian; a person's social background determined his place in life.

Toffler calls the Industrial Revolution the “second wave,” which changed previously established social institutions and changed people’s lifestyles. In the first half of the 20th century, according to Toffler, “industrial civilization” was finally established, but soon a “new wave” (post-industrial) began to roll over the world, bringing with it new institutions, relationships, and values. The third wave brings new views on the world and new scientific and technological achievements in the field of computer science, electronics, molecular biology, which allow us to go beyond the limited life and philosophical concepts of the industrial period and create conditions for eliminating its main contradiction - between production and consumption.

For example, the development of computer technology and communications will lead, according to Toffler, to a change in the structure of employment, and in combination with the increasing intellectualization of work, to the emergence of so-called “electronic cottages”, which will allow work to be transferred from the office to the employee’s home. In addition to saving time and reducing transportation costs, the cost of providing centralized jobs, the introduction of “electronic cottages” will, according to Toffler, lead to a strengthening of the family and will strengthen the trend towards reviving the attractiveness for life of small towns and rural settlements.

Considering trends in the development of mass media, Toffler notes an increase in their interactivity due to the introduction of new network computer technologies. He argues that the era of non-mass media is coming, while along with the new technosphere a new infosphere is emerging, and this will have far-reaching consequences in all spheres of life, including our consciousness. It should be emphasized that E. Toffler, in addition to purely technological aspects, notes trends and prospects for the creation of a new intellectual environment based on computer networks.

Describing trends in the inevitable introduction of information technology into human everyday life, E. Toffler also identifies important socio-philosophical problems. “Will it be possible for intelligent machines, especially those connected to communication networks, to go beyond our understanding and beyond our control?”

Considering the structure of production in the new society, Toffler highlights the trend of demassification of production. In his opinion, qualitative changes in the technosphere and infosphere have combined, fundamentally changing the way products are produced. The production system is gradually moving from traditional mass production to a complex mixture of mass and non-mass products. The ultimate goal of this process is the production of only made-to-order products, which is carried out as a result of an automated continuous process under the ever-increasing direct control of the customer.

Let us also add that Toffler analyzes the transformation of power and the prospects for the development of democratic principles, from the point of view that a new society will be possible only with the preservation and development of democracy.

In an expanded and detailed form, the concept of the information society (taking into account the fact that it almost fully includes the theory of post-industrial society developed by him in the late 60s - early 70s) is proposed by D. Bell. Bell wrote that the role of agriculture and industry would steadily decline with the increasing importance and expansion of the information industry. The revolution in the organization and processing of information and knowledge, in which the computer plays a central role, is unfolding simultaneously with the emergence of a post-industrial society. As Bell argues, “In the coming century, the emergence of a new order based on telecommunications is of decisive importance for economic and social life, for the way knowledge is produced, and for the nature of human work. The revolution in the organization and processing of information and knowledge, in which the computer plays a central role, is unfolding simultaneously with the emergence of post-industrial society.” Moreover, according to Bell, three aspects of post-industrial society are especially important. This refers to the transition from an industrial society to a service society, the determining importance of codified scientific knowledge for the implementation of technological innovations and the transformation of a new “intelligent technology” into a key tool for system analysis and decision-making theory.

The problems of the information society from the point of view of post-industrialism are also reflected in the works of the American researcher, Professor W. Martin. Martin made an attempt to identify and formulate the main characteristics of the information society according to the following criteria:

1) Technological criterion: the key factor is information technology, which is widely used in production, institutions, the education system and in everyday life.

2) Social criterion: information acts as an important stimulator of changes in the quality of life, “information consciousness” is formed and approved with wide access to information.

3) Economic criterion: information is a key factor in the economy as a resource, service, product, source of added value and employment.

4) Political criterion: freedom of information leading to a political process characterized by increasing participation and consensus among different classes and social strata of the population.

5) Cultural criterion: recognition of the cultural value of information by promoting the establishment of information values ​​in the interests of the development of the individual and society as a whole.

Speaking about the information society, Martin especially emphasizes the idea that communication is “a key element of the information society,” and the term itself should not be taken in its literal sense, but should be considered as a guideline, as a trend. According to him, in general, this model is future-oriented; for a gradual transition to an information society, a number of changes must occur. First of all, changes concern the structure of the economy and the distribution of labor, the increasing role of information, the widespread use of computers, the introduction of information technologies in education, etc.

Martin defines the information society as one in which the quality of life as well as the prospects for social change and economic development depend increasingly on information and its exploitation. In such a society, living standards, forms of work and leisure, the education system and the market are significantly influenced by advances in the field of information and knowledge.”

P. Drucker, in his works on the information society, put forward the idea of ​​overcoming traditional capitalism. He considered the main signs of the ongoing shift to be the transition from an industrial economy to an economic system based on knowledge and information, the overcoming of capitalist private property, the formation of a new value system of modern man and the transformation of the national state under the influence of the processes of globalization of the economy and society. The modern era, according to Drucker, is a time of radical restructuring, when, with the development of new information and telecommunication technologies, humanity has a real chance to transform capitalist society into a knowledge-based society.

Posted on Allbest.ru

...

Similar documents

    Regionalization of international relations as a trend in world development, its universal theories. Global information society and international relations. Unrecognized states: problems and prospects. Military methods of globalization using the example of the USA.

    abstract, added 11/16/2009

    Information and communication society as a new stage in the development of society. The concept of "communication". Information society: pros and cons, development prospects. Globalization as a phenomenon. Replication of an intellectual product, transmission of information about it.

    course work, added 11/10/2013

    Pre-industrial society and its features. Definition and history of the emergence of post-industrialism. A critical analysis of post-industrial society by its opponents, pointing out the failure of technological determinism and the utopianism of its views.

    abstract, added 11/24/2014

    The history of society in terms of its epochal development during the formation of a new, essentially intellectual, era of social progress. Modern ideas of a new era. Information society. Economic formation of the intellectual era.

    abstract, added 03/15/2010

    The main contradiction of the modern information society is the contradiction between the globalization of the world and the identity of a particular community. The prospect of a more adequate interpretation of the computer revolution as one of the trends in the transformation of society.

    article, added 08/05/2013

    Informatization of society as one of the laws of modern social progress. Expansion of direct and backward connections between the state and civil society as a consequence of informatization. Russia's entry into the global information society.

    abstract, added 12/18/2010

    The role and significance of information revolutions. Electronic business and the new economy. Network society, information age and new forms of identity. The institutional approach in the concept of M. Castells and its influence on the development of ideas of the information society.

    course work, added 01/22/2015

    Economy of post-industrial society. Service sector, information and knowledge. The end result of human intellectual activity. Information society, virtual reality. Issues of quality and safety of life, self-realization of the individual.

    presentation, added 09/06/2015

    The history of the formation of post-industrial society. Liberal and radical concepts of post-industrial development, its guidelines. Information society: G. McLuhan's model of world history. Post-industrial concept of social development by R. Cohen.

    test, added 02/13/2011

    Development of information technologies in the modern world. The concept of "information inequality". Sociological and sociocultural aspects of the “digital divide” in Russian society. The main problems of using information technologies and their solutions.

Information society - the concept of post-industrial society; a new historical phase in the development of civilization, in which the main products of production are information and knowledge.

The concept of the information society is a type of theory of post-industrial society, the basis of which was laid by Z. Brzezinski, E. Toffler and other Western futurologists. Thus, the information society is, first of all, a sociological and futurological concept that considers the production and use of scientific, technical and other information to be the main factor in social development.

“Post-industrial society,” argues Z. Brzezinski, is becoming a technotronic society - a society that is culturally, psychologically, socially and economically formed under the influence of technology and electronics, especially developed in the field of computers and communications” [Cit. according to 3]. The technocratic development of our civilization influences the nature of the individual’s perception of reality; it destroys traditional ties in the family and between generations; public life, despite growing trends towards global integration, is increasingly fragmented. It is this paradox, according to Z. Brzezinski, that contributes to the collapse of the old foundations for the community of people and forms a new global vision of the world.

Considering social development as a “change of stages,” proponents of the theory of the information society associate its formation with the dominance of the “fourth” information sector of the economy, following agriculture, industry and the service economy. It is argued that capital and labor as the basis of an industrial society give way to information and knowledge in the information society. The revolutionary effect of information technology leads to the fact that in the information society classes are replaced by socially undifferentiated “information communities” (Y. Masuda).

The authors of the concept of “information (post-industrial) society” never came to a consensus on what is primary - the spiritual or material sphere. For example, K. Jaspers and E. Toffler believed that the moment of the onset of a new “wave” was the changed existence of man and his environment. M. McLuhan paid more attention to the media and considered Gutenberg's printing as his starting point. “Only in conditions of mass dissemination of the printed word do private entrepreneurship and the democratization of society on the basis of suffrage become possible, since it is with the printed word, and not oral or even written, that the initial element is formed, and the central agent of such a social structure is the atomized, isolated human individuality.

However, with the variety of views of various authors on the course of historical development, they all note that:

  • 1. History is divided into three main global stages, which can be called “agricultural”, “industrial” and “post-industrial”;
  • 2. The distinction between stages is made on the basis of production relations or human interaction with nature (through tools, through machines or equipment, through information);
  • 3. The transition to the next stage is carried out through a scientific and technological revolution, during which the habitat changes, which, in turn, leads to transformations in people’s consciousness;
  • 4. The final historical stage, which, according to some philosophers, has already arrived, and, according to others, will come in the near future, is the “information society”, and for culture the postmodern era is coming.

Unfortunately, the authors of the concepts of the “information society” (with the possible exception of E. Toffler) did not devote enough space to consider the question of what consequences its onset will bring for the cultural life of mankind. A.I. Rakitov divided the process of formation of the information society into five stages (information revolutions):

The first is the spread of language.

The second is the emergence of writing.

The third is mass book printing.

The fourth - the information revolution - consists of the use of electrical communications (telephone, telegraph, radio and television), which immediately develops into the fifth.

The fifth stage is characterized by the use of computers, the use of databases, local and global computer networks. At this stage, technological changes accompanying information revolutions are integrated. In this regard, A.I. Rakitov emphasizes that in the near future this will have a gigantic impact on all civilizational and cultural processes on a global scale. J.-F. Lyotard believes that “as society enters the era called post-industrial, and culture enters the postmodern era, the status of knowledge changes - “knowledge is and will be the most important, and perhaps the most significant stake in the global competition for power.”

The distinctive features of the information society are:

  • · increasing the role of information and knowledge in the life of society;
  • · increasing the share of information communications, products and services in the gross domestic product;
  • · creation of a global information space that provides:
  • o effective information interaction between people,
  • o their access to global information resources and
  • o meeting their needs for information products and services.

Criteria for the transition of society to the post-industrial and information stages of its development (according to I.V. Sokolova):

  • 1. socio-economic (employment criteria);
  • 2. technical;
  • 3. space.

The socio-economic criterion assesses the percentage of the population employed in the service sector:

  • · if more than 50% of the population in a society is employed in the service sector, the post-industrial phase of its development has begun;
  • · if in a society more than 50% of the population is employed in the field of information and intellectual services, the society becomes informational.

According to this criterion, the United States entered the post-industrial period of its development in 1956-1960. (the state of California - “silicon or silicon valley” - crossed this milestone back in 1910), and the United States became an information society in 1974. Russia, like the world community as a whole, according to this criterion is at the industrial stage of development.

The technical criterion evaluates information agility.

The early phase of informatization of society begins when specific information weapons reach a level that corresponds to the deployment of a sufficiently reliable long-distance telephone network. The final phase corresponds to the achievement of problem-free satisfaction of any information needs of each person at any time of the day and at any point in space.

According to this criterion, Russia is in the initial phase of informatization and, according to forecasts, will reach the final phase in the 30s - 40s. XXI century, while the United States is already making the transition to the final phase of informatization.

The space criterion makes it possible to note the possibilities of real observation of humanity from space, since informatization has led to the fact that the levels of radio emission from the Sun and the Earth in certain parts of the radio range have become closer.

Additional criteria (A.I. Rakitov) for the transition of society to the information stage of its development: a society is considered informational if:

  • · any individual, group of persons or organization anywhere in the country and at any time can receive, for a fee or free of charge, on the basis of automated access, any information and knowledge necessary for their life activities;
  • · modern information technology is produced in society and is available to any individual, group or organization;
  • · there are developed infrastructures that ensure the creation of national information resources in a volume corresponding to the constantly accelerating scientific, technological and socio-historical progress;
  • · there is a process of accelerated automation and robotization of all spheres and branches of production and management;
  • · radical changes in social structures occur, resulting in an expansion of the scope of information activities and services.

The information society differs from a society dominated by traditional industry and the service sector in that information, knowledge, information services, and all industries related to their production (telecommunications, computer, television) are growing at a faster pace and are a source of new jobs. That is, the information industry dominates economic development.

There is no single definition of the information industry. However, developed countries have accumulated some experience in statistical measurement of the information industry. For example, Canada has proposed a new classification under the heading “Information technology and telecommunications” (ITT), which combines telecommunications, mass broadcasting and computer services.

Regardless of the statistics, it is clear that the dynamism of technological modernization of modern society poses two main questions for society:

First. will people be able to adapt to change?

Second. Will new technologies give rise to new differentiation of society?

The most significant threat of the transition period to the information society is the division of people into those who have information, who know how to handle information technology, and those who do not have such skills. If new information technologies remain at the disposal of a small social group, the stratification of society is inevitable.

Despite the dangers of information technology:

  • · expand the rights of citizens by providing instant access to a variety of information;
  • · increase the ability of people to participate in political decision-making and monitor the actions of governments;
  • · provide the opportunity to actively produce information, and not just consume it;
  • · provide a means of protecting privacy and anonymity of personal messages and communications.

The development of information technology affects all aspects of society: the economy; politics, science, culture, education. However, the most important impact is on civil society and government systems. The potential for citizens to directly influence governments raises the question of transforming existing democratic structures. With the help of new communication technologies, it becomes possible to implement “referendum democracy” Democracy carried out through a referendum. Referemndum (from lat. referendum- something that must be reported) or a plebiscite - in state law, the adoption by an electoral corps of decisions on constitutional, legislative or other domestic and foreign policy issues.”

On the other hand, the penetration of information technologies into people's private lives can threaten the privacy of citizens. The price for convenience, speed of transmission and receipt of information, various information services - a person must constantly report personal data to information systems - loss of anonymity.

Due to the particular sensitivity to the collection of personal information, the documents of the European Community (Building the European Information Society for Us All. First Reflections of the High Level Group of Experts. Interim Report, January 1996) offer the following recommendations:

  • · collection and storage of identifiable information should be minimal;
  • · the decision to open or close information should be left to the people themselves;
  • · when designing information systems, it is necessary to take into account the need to protect personal information;
  • · citizens must have access to the latest technologies to protect personal privacy;
  • · the protection of personal information and privacy should become the central point of a policy that ensures the right to anonymity of citizens in information systems.

Intensive implementation of information technologies in government agencies makes it possible to:

  • · bring them closer to citizens, improve and expand services to the population;
  • · increase internal efficiency and reduce public sector costs;
  • · stimulate the creation of new information equipment, products and services by the private sector through adequate public policy.

The following principles should apply regarding access to public information:

  • · information should be open to everyone;
  • · basic information should be free. A reasonable price should be charged if additional processing is required, bearing in mind the cost of preparing and transmitting the information, plus a small profit;
  • · Continuity: information must be provided continuously, and must be of the same quality.

As a rule, the reason for failures in the implementation of information technology implementation projects both at the level of enterprises and the state is the inability to combine technological innovations with organizational ones.