The Information Age. That is what many pundits, writers, and analysts have already labeled these concluding years of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. This characterization of our time is based on the widespread proliferation of emerging information and communication technologies and the capabilities that those technologies provide and will provide humankind to overcome the barriers imposed on communications by time, distance, and location and the limits and constraints inherent in human capacities to process information and make decisions. Advocates of the concept of the Information Age maintain that we have embarked on a journey in which information and communications will become the dominant forces in defining and shaping human actions, interactions, activities, and institutions.
They may be right. But often, promoters of the Information Age give little attention to significant issues and concerns that arise out of their favorite concept. Is the Information Age truly already upon us? Just what is meant by the Information Age? How does the information and communication revolution fit within the broader sweep of human history, or is it indeed such a significant departure for humankind that past history has little relevance? What are the technologies of the information and communication revolution? What do they do and what will they do? Is it really a revolution, and are we really entering an Information Age? Will the capabilities of emerging information and communication technologies lead to greater connectivity and commonality of perception, or will they result in greater isolation and fragmentation? These are some of the major issues explored in Part One of this anthology, designed to set the stage for later discussion and analysis.
In the first article, "Welcome to the Revolution," Thomas A. Stewart begins by stating that the word "revolution" should not be used cheaply. Nevertheless, Stewart asserts, we are in fact already in the midst of a revolution induced by emerging information and communication technologies. Concentrating on the impacts that those technologies are having in the business world, Stewart explains how knowledge technol-ogies are altering the cost/benefit equation for competing organizational arrangements. He concludes that the Information Age is placing a premium on "the ability to adjust and learn" that applies both to individuals and organizations.
Daniel S. Papp, David S. Alberts, and Alissa Tuyahov next place the present information and communication revolution in historical perspective in their article, "Historical Impacts of Information Technologies: An Overview." The authors argue that two information and communication revolutions have already occurred during the last century and a half, and that we are now in the beginning phases of a third. They examine the development of several of the more critical technologies of the first two revolutions, and present an overview of the historical impacts that those technologies have had on humankind’s activities and institutions, and on international affairs and on the international system. Although these authors clearly accept the argument that a new information and communication revolution is at hand, they also see the third modern information and communication revolution as part of a continuing process that dates back at least a century and a half.
David S. Alberts, Daniel S. Papp, and W. Thomas Kemp III next identify and analyze several of the more important information and communication technologies that are part of the third modern information and communication revolution in their article, "The Technologies of the Current Information Revolution." The authors maintain that these technologies will have six major types of impacts on information flows and communications: increased speed, greater capacity, enhanced flexibility, greater access, more types of messages, and heightened demand.
But does all of this really mean that a revolution is taking place and that an Information Age is upon us? Without challenging the validity of any of the historical or technological facts previously presented, Frank Webster in "What Information Society?" asks us to be cautious in leaping to conclusions about an information and communication revolution and an Information Age. Observing that there are immense difficulties in measuring what is meant by an Information Age, Webster warns that information by itself means nothing, and that we must take into consideration the meaning and quality of information, not just its quantity. Finally, Webster asks, even with the proliferation of new and emerging information and communication technologies, has society in fact changed profoundly enough to warrant calling the present—or the near term future—an Information Age?
There are also other cautionary notes that must be sounded about the Information Age. Andrew Kupfer explores one of them in "Alone Together: Will Being Wired Set Us Free?" Kupfer agrees that emerging information and communication technologies will inevitably have an immense and even revolutionary impact on the way people live their lives, but points out that along with the advantages of global connectivity come certain disadvantages, even dangers. We may be able to access more information, but will we know the quality of that information? We may be able to know more people, but how deep will friendships be in a wired world? We may be able to let our family and friends know where we are all of the time, but will we be able to restrict knowledge of our activities only to those whom we wish to have it?
Joel Achenbach takes Kupfer’s first concern, uncertainty about the quality of information that may be available in the Information Age, and examines it in his article "Reality Check." "There is one nagging problem," Achenbach laments about the Information Age, "Much of the information is not true." He then lays out seven different types of "Bad Information" that he contends we must be concerned about—obvious but wrong information, information censored for your own good, accurate but untrue information, millennial information, diagnostic information, statistical information, and historical information. The chief problem in the Information Age, the author theorizes, will be how to distinguish Good Information from Bad Information. Achenbach is less helpful in telling us how to make such an identification. Borrowing the dictum from "The X-Files," he warns simply that when it comes to information, "Trust No One."
The questions raised and issues posed in these first six articles are portentous ones for the Information Age. Over time—barring a Luddite resurgence—all of us will have to face them. But in a certain sense, we are fortunate. Since we now are only at the dawn of the Information Age, we may have a small window of time during which we can look for answers before the full impact of the Information Age is upon us. The time to begin examining these questions and issues is now. Part One of this anthology hopes to help initiate that process, and to help move our thinking toward responding to these questions and issues.
| Anthology Index | Chapter 1 | Part One Index |