This document discusses the concept of the information society and its dual nature. It describes how information and communication technologies can enable knowledge-based development but also enable privacy violations. It outlines the positive potential of knowledge creation and sharing through semantic technologies and grid computing in a "g-work" model. However, it also discusses the negative risks of increased surveillance and data abuse compromising personal privacy. The document calls for a transdisciplinary approach balancing these opportunities and threats to achieve sustainable development.
Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic: Participating and Anticipating. Actors and Agents Net...José Nafría
Lecture belonging to the thematic axis: "Cosmological Perspectives of the Possible Worlds"
International Workshop on Social Networks: from communicating to solidary netwoks (an interdisciplinary Approach), Sierra Pambley, León, Spain, Septiembre de 2013
http://primer.unileon.es/eventos/RS2013
How to strengthen digital literacy? Practical example of a European initiativ...eLearning Papers
Authors: Michelle Veugelers, Petra Newrly.
Digital Literacy has become one of the main competences in the 21st century. Without being able to use digital media effectively and responsibly the chances on the global market are very low.
The Politics of Open Data: Past, Present and FutureJonathan Gray
Slides for presentation on “The Politics of Open Data: Past, Present and Future” at the Data Power conference at the University of Sheffield, 22nd June 2015.
Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic: Participating and Anticipating. Actors and Agents Net...José Nafría
Lecture belonging to the thematic axis: "Cosmological Perspectives of the Possible Worlds"
International Workshop on Social Networks: from communicating to solidary netwoks (an interdisciplinary Approach), Sierra Pambley, León, Spain, Septiembre de 2013
http://primer.unileon.es/eventos/RS2013
How to strengthen digital literacy? Practical example of a European initiativ...eLearning Papers
Authors: Michelle Veugelers, Petra Newrly.
Digital Literacy has become one of the main competences in the 21st century. Without being able to use digital media effectively and responsibly the chances on the global market are very low.
The Politics of Open Data: Past, Present and FutureJonathan Gray
Slides for presentation on “The Politics of Open Data: Past, Present and Future” at the Data Power conference at the University of Sheffield, 22nd June 2015.
INTEGRATION OF ICT WITH KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TO FOSTER DIGITAL INNOVATION: TH...ijmpict
This paper explores how knowledge management (KM) through information and communication technologies (ICTs) can foster Internet-based digital innovation in the public sector in Bangladesh. A total of twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant persons in four government organizations. Findings reveal that there are huge unexplored areas where ICT can be utilized for the creation, storage and dissemination of knowledge. By reducing time, cost & movement ICT-utilized KM can
promote ICT-led innovation. The main barrier of ICT-led KM initiatives is the lack of awareness of the government officials. This study is an extension of the previous findings. It contributes significantly to a better understanding of ICT’s integration with KM and innovation. It suggests that one of the core functions of ICT in the public offices is to manage knowledge. The paper offers some insights into how in a digital environment, knowledge can be innovatively managed in the public sector organizations.
Future of the Internet Predictions March 2014 PIP ReportVasily Ryzhonkov
This report is the latest research report in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He wrote a paper on March 12, 1989 proposing an “information management” system that became the conceptual and architectural structure for the Web. He eventually released the code for his system — for free — to the world on Christmas Day in 1990. It became a milestone in easing the way for ordinary people to access documents and interact over the Internet — a system that linked computers and that had been around for years.
The Web became a major layer of the Internet. Indeed, for many, it became synonymous with the Internet, even though that is not technically the case. Its birthday offers an occasion to revisit the ways it has made the Internet a part of Americans’ social lives.
Our first report tied to the anniversary looked at the present and the past of the Internet, marking its strikingly fast adoption and assessing its impact on American users’ lives. This report is part of an effort by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project in association with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to look at the future of the Internet, the Web, and other digital activities. This is the first of eight reports based on a canvassing of hundreds of experts about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, the “Internet of things,” and net neutrality. In this case we asked experts to make their own predictions about the state of digital life by the year 2025. We will also explore some of the economic change driven by the spectacular progress that made digital tools faster and cheaper. And we will report on whether Americans feel the explosion of digital information coursing through their lives has helped them be better informed and make better decisions.
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.
IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE) is a double blind peer reviewed International Journal that provides rapid publication (within a month) of articles in all areas of computer engineering and its applications. The journal welcomes publications of high quality papers on theoretical developments and practical applications in computer technology. Original research papers, state-of-the-art reviews, and high quality technical notes are invited for publications.
(GAPMIL) FRAMEWORK AND PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR PARTNERSHIP...eraser Juan José Calderón
FRAMEWORK AND PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR PARTNERSHIPS ON MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY (GAPMIL)
Promoting Media and Information Literacy (MIL) as a Means to Open and Inclusive Development
This is the presentation prepared for MyLISA OPENS
This presentation discusses the Unit-1 of UGC prescribed text for NET examination: Role of Information
Slides for paper on “Open Data and the Politics of Transparency” at European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference 2014, University of Glasgow.
The objective of this study is to determine the impact of Information and Communication
Technology on the efficiency of Human Resource Management in the Cameroon mobile
Telecommunication Sector. It specifically seeks to investigate how the use of ICT affects
the following human resources management practices; Human resource planning,
training and development, selection and recruitment, human resource evaluation
and compensation. An exploratory research design was employed in the study. A
sample of 120 management, senior, junior and contract staffs of the 03 (three)
main mobile telephone operators responded to a structured questionnaire. The
data collected was coded and entered into SPSS version 17. Pearson correlation
coefficient was used to establish the relationship between the variables in the
study, regression analysis was used to establish the combined effect of study
variables on the dependent variable. The results show a significant positive
relationship between the use of ICT in selection and recruitment, training and
development, Human resource planning, evaluation and compensation and human
resource management efficiency. This highlights the use of ICT as an efficient tool
in Human resource management of enterprises. The use of ICT assures Human
resource management efficiency, we therefore suggest that regular Information
and Communication Technology training and development should be enhanced
so as to allow proper interactions between Human Resource Management and the
different departments which could lead to the organizational efficiency.
Keywords: ICT, HRM, HR functions, HRM efficiency, ANOVA test, Telecommunication sector
The Principle of Non-Discrimination in the Infosphere: A New EthicsMichal Černý
Almost everything in EC frame is based on the idea of openness of information interactions for all inforgs.
Openness is not just a human value – openness is affects compatibility, imperoperability, open development, open coding, open formats, data transfer, ... but also machine learning (AI) over open knowledge bases!
Thus, pragmatic ethics extended to information interactions between inforgs can be the starting point for forming a non-anthropocentric framework. The key value of this new ethics is open information interaction that do not discriminate against anyone.
The World Ethical Data Forum Brochure to join us in London July 1–3, 2020 This leading event for impartial and balanced exploration of urgent ethical and practical questions around the use and future of data.
"Understanding Broadband from the Outside" - ARNIC Seminar April1 08ARNIC
"Understanding Broadband from the Outside"
Ricardo Ramírez
Freelance researcher and consultant, adjunct professor at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
http://arnic.info/ramirezseminar.php
Under what conditions can information and communications technologies (ICTs) enhance the well-being of poor communities? The paper designs an alternative evaluation framework (AEF) that applies Sen’s capability approach to the study of ICTs in order to place people’s well-being, rather than technology at the center of the study. The AEF develops an impact chain that examines the mechanisms by which access to, and meaningful use of, ICTs can enhance peoples “informational capabilities” and can lead to improvements in people’s human and social capabilities. This approach thus uses peoples’ human capabilities, rather than measures of access or usage, as its principal evaluative space. Based on empirical evidence from rural communities’ uses of ICTs in Bolivia, the study concludes that enhancing people’s informational capabilities is the most critical factor determining the impact of ICTs on their well-being. The findings indicate that improved informational capabilities, like literacy, do enhance the human capabilities of the poor and marginalized to make strategic life choices to achieve the lifestyle they value. Evaluating the impact of ICTs in terms of capabilities thus reveals that there is no direct relationship between improved access to, and use of, ICTs and enhanced well-being; ICTs lead to improvements in people’s lives only when informational capabilities are transformed into expanded human and social capabilities in the economic, political, social, organizational and cultural dimensions of their lives.
INTEGRATION OF ICT WITH KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TO FOSTER DIGITAL INNOVATION: TH...ijmpict
This paper explores how knowledge management (KM) through information and communication technologies (ICTs) can foster Internet-based digital innovation in the public sector in Bangladesh. A total of twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with relevant persons in four government organizations. Findings reveal that there are huge unexplored areas where ICT can be utilized for the creation, storage and dissemination of knowledge. By reducing time, cost & movement ICT-utilized KM can
promote ICT-led innovation. The main barrier of ICT-led KM initiatives is the lack of awareness of the government officials. This study is an extension of the previous findings. It contributes significantly to a better understanding of ICT’s integration with KM and innovation. It suggests that one of the core functions of ICT in the public offices is to manage knowledge. The paper offers some insights into how in a digital environment, knowledge can be innovatively managed in the public sector organizations.
Future of the Internet Predictions March 2014 PIP ReportVasily Ryzhonkov
This report is the latest research report in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He wrote a paper on March 12, 1989 proposing an “information management” system that became the conceptual and architectural structure for the Web. He eventually released the code for his system — for free — to the world on Christmas Day in 1990. It became a milestone in easing the way for ordinary people to access documents and interact over the Internet — a system that linked computers and that had been around for years.
The Web became a major layer of the Internet. Indeed, for many, it became synonymous with the Internet, even though that is not technically the case. Its birthday offers an occasion to revisit the ways it has made the Internet a part of Americans’ social lives.
Our first report tied to the anniversary looked at the present and the past of the Internet, marking its strikingly fast adoption and assessing its impact on American users’ lives. This report is part of an effort by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project in association with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to look at the future of the Internet, the Web, and other digital activities. This is the first of eight reports based on a canvassing of hundreds of experts about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, the “Internet of things,” and net neutrality. In this case we asked experts to make their own predictions about the state of digital life by the year 2025. We will also explore some of the economic change driven by the spectacular progress that made digital tools faster and cheaper. And we will report on whether Americans feel the explosion of digital information coursing through their lives has helped them be better informed and make better decisions.
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.
IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE) is a double blind peer reviewed International Journal that provides rapid publication (within a month) of articles in all areas of computer engineering and its applications. The journal welcomes publications of high quality papers on theoretical developments and practical applications in computer technology. Original research papers, state-of-the-art reviews, and high quality technical notes are invited for publications.
(GAPMIL) FRAMEWORK AND PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR PARTNERSHIP...eraser Juan José Calderón
FRAMEWORK AND PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR PARTNERSHIPS ON MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY (GAPMIL)
Promoting Media and Information Literacy (MIL) as a Means to Open and Inclusive Development
This is the presentation prepared for MyLISA OPENS
This presentation discusses the Unit-1 of UGC prescribed text for NET examination: Role of Information
Slides for paper on “Open Data and the Politics of Transparency” at European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference 2014, University of Glasgow.
The objective of this study is to determine the impact of Information and Communication
Technology on the efficiency of Human Resource Management in the Cameroon mobile
Telecommunication Sector. It specifically seeks to investigate how the use of ICT affects
the following human resources management practices; Human resource planning,
training and development, selection and recruitment, human resource evaluation
and compensation. An exploratory research design was employed in the study. A
sample of 120 management, senior, junior and contract staffs of the 03 (three)
main mobile telephone operators responded to a structured questionnaire. The
data collected was coded and entered into SPSS version 17. Pearson correlation
coefficient was used to establish the relationship between the variables in the
study, regression analysis was used to establish the combined effect of study
variables on the dependent variable. The results show a significant positive
relationship between the use of ICT in selection and recruitment, training and
development, Human resource planning, evaluation and compensation and human
resource management efficiency. This highlights the use of ICT as an efficient tool
in Human resource management of enterprises. The use of ICT assures Human
resource management efficiency, we therefore suggest that regular Information
and Communication Technology training and development should be enhanced
so as to allow proper interactions between Human Resource Management and the
different departments which could lead to the organizational efficiency.
Keywords: ICT, HRM, HR functions, HRM efficiency, ANOVA test, Telecommunication sector
The Principle of Non-Discrimination in the Infosphere: A New EthicsMichal Černý
Almost everything in EC frame is based on the idea of openness of information interactions for all inforgs.
Openness is not just a human value – openness is affects compatibility, imperoperability, open development, open coding, open formats, data transfer, ... but also machine learning (AI) over open knowledge bases!
Thus, pragmatic ethics extended to information interactions between inforgs can be the starting point for forming a non-anthropocentric framework. The key value of this new ethics is open information interaction that do not discriminate against anyone.
The World Ethical Data Forum Brochure to join us in London July 1–3, 2020 This leading event for impartial and balanced exploration of urgent ethical and practical questions around the use and future of data.
"Understanding Broadband from the Outside" - ARNIC Seminar April1 08ARNIC
"Understanding Broadband from the Outside"
Ricardo Ramírez
Freelance researcher and consultant, adjunct professor at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
http://arnic.info/ramirezseminar.php
Under what conditions can information and communications technologies (ICTs) enhance the well-being of poor communities? The paper designs an alternative evaluation framework (AEF) that applies Sen’s capability approach to the study of ICTs in order to place people’s well-being, rather than technology at the center of the study. The AEF develops an impact chain that examines the mechanisms by which access to, and meaningful use of, ICTs can enhance peoples “informational capabilities” and can lead to improvements in people’s human and social capabilities. This approach thus uses peoples’ human capabilities, rather than measures of access or usage, as its principal evaluative space. Based on empirical evidence from rural communities’ uses of ICTs in Bolivia, the study concludes that enhancing people’s informational capabilities is the most critical factor determining the impact of ICTs on their well-being. The findings indicate that improved informational capabilities, like literacy, do enhance the human capabilities of the poor and marginalized to make strategic life choices to achieve the lifestyle they value. Evaluating the impact of ICTs in terms of capabilities thus reveals that there is no direct relationship between improved access to, and use of, ICTs and enhanced well-being; ICTs lead to improvements in people’s lives only when informational capabilities are transformed into expanded human and social capabilities in the economic, political, social, organizational and cultural dimensions of their lives.
SUPPORTING STATISTICAL LITERACY WITH ICT-BASED TEACHING SCENARIOijejournal
Statistical literacy is gaining recognition as something that people should have in order to function fully in 21st century’s society. On a daily basis an enormous volume of data are available through the Web; making the best of it demands possession of a high level of statistical training. In this paper we present a new technology-augmented teaching scenario, implemented in a way that it may be fully utilized by both teachers and students. Using the features of the web-based platform statistics4school – a free online educational tool for statistical analysis in the Greek language – it paths a teaching method that can be readily facilitated in the classroom. The presented worksheet allows students to have an interdisciplinary approach and be actively involved in the learning process through the exploratory teaching method. In this manner we maintain they will be able to correctly comprehend the goals of the teaching scenario, as they progressively develop their statistical, optical, and digital literacy.
The Virtuous Circle of Use, Attitude, Experience and Digital InclusioneLearning Papers
eAdoption refers to how people learn to become ICT users. “Digital inclusion” however is a more complex status, related to people’s participation in communities and in other dimensions of society, based on knowledge. It refers to areas such as social relationships,
work, culture, politics, and so on.
This paper looks at how to evaluate digital inclusion, using an analysis that considers not only individual factors but community and social ones as well, going beyond an
eadoption perspective that is limited to a focus on skill-level.
The Virtuous Circle of Use, Attitude, Experience and Digital InclusioneLearning Papers
Authors: Roger Esteller-Curto, Raúl Marín, Pilar Escuder-Mollon
eAdoption refers to how people learn to become ICT users. ‘Digital inclusion’ however is a more complex status, related to people's participation in communities and in other dimensions of society, based on knowledge.
Social Networks and Well-Being in Democracy in the Age of Digital CapitalismAJHSSR Journal
ABSTRACT : The objective of this work is, on the one hand, to study the new competitive forms that
correspond to the development of the different markets linked to electronic platforms and social networks on the
Internet. On the other hand, to develop a proposal for social welfare for the positive and negative impacts
produced by the development of these markets. In the first part, the main social and economic changes inherent
to political and social evolution are addressed. The main logical trends of the market are presented about
production and modalities of information appropriation, in particular the new forms of information asymmetries
in the electronic market.
KEYWORDS: Imperfections information; Network Economy; Social Welfare; Democracy, Digital Capitalism.
Rethinking Learning in the Age of Digital FluencyJudy O'Connell
Digital connectivity is a transformative phenomenon of the 21st century. While many have debated its impact on society, educators have been quick to mandate technology in school development - often without analysing the digital fluency of those involved, and the actual impact on learning. Is being digitally tethered creating a new learning nexus for those involved?
What Data Can Do: A Typology of Mechanisms
Angèle Christin .
International Journal of Communication > Vol 14 (2020) , de Angèle Christin del Departamento de Comunicación de Stanford University, USA titulado "What Data Can Do: A Typology of Mechanisms". Entre otras cosas es autora del libro "Metrics at Work.
We now use more information in our day-to-day life than before. The volume of information available through radio, television, internet, books, newspapers, and magazines has enlarged manifold, both in developed and developing countries. Increased flows of information between parties, individuals as well as organizations, have made interactions information-intensive. The unprecedented advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) have transformed societies in both developed and developing countries in ways that were unimaginable not so long ago. The way we conduct our personal lives, the way we build and maintain interpersonal relationships, and the way we engage in production and distribution activities have undergone changes that have long-run implications for the society in general and for the economy in particular.
The intentional use of technology in 21st century teaching and learningBen Kahn
This essay examines the role of the educational system in knowledge dissemination in light of increasingly pervasive information networks and connected devices. Information of all kinds is becoming much more easily accessible; at the same time concerns that young people are distracted by ubiquitous screens and overly immersed in digital entertainment and social media are mounting. Ultimately, this paper argues that technology integration is crucial to prepare students to become successful, engaged, effective citizens who effectively use the power of networks to participate in society. To support this need, curriculum should be designed to develop student’s attentional capacity and to emphasize the deliberate and intentional use of technology.
Including the Excluded Can ICTs empower poor communities? Towards an alternat...Soren Gigler
nder which conditions can information and communications technologies (ICTs) empower poor communities? This paper investigates this question, focusing on the role of information and communications technologies in promoting indigenous people's development in Latin America. First, the paper analyzes key factors under which information and knowledge can be instrumental and substantive for the empowerment of marginalized groups. Hereby, we argue that improved access to information and ICT skills, similar to the enhancement of a person's writing and reading skills, can enhance poor peoples' capabilities to make strategic life choices and to achieve the lifestyle they value. Furthermore, the paper develops an alternative evaluation framework for ICT interventions based on Sen's capability approach. This framework places, in contrast to the current discourse around the "digital divide", the human development of the poor and not technology at the center of the analysis. The paper concludes that there does not exist a direct and causal relationship between ICTs and empowerment, but that in fact this relationship is being shaped by a dynamic, multi-dimensional interrelationship between technology and the social context.
1. Information Society: the two faces of Janus
Michalis Vafopoulos
Department of Cultural Technology and Communication,
University of the Aegean, Faonos St., 81100 Mytilini, Greece.
vaf@aegean.gr
Abstract. Knowledge could be considered as the most critical dual factor –
input and output – in production and scientific processes. Strategic and
influential use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) - the so
called Information Society (IS) – reveals vast potential in knowledge
production and economic development. In our point of view, two are the key
issues in effective ICTs exploitation: (a) social consensus about quantity,
quality and processing mechanisms of public information and (b)
transformation process path between the general e-work model and the g-work
paradigm. In this context, the knowledge-based development codifies the
positive face of IS, in contrast to personal data abuse. The concept of the “new
democratic deficit” is introduced in order to move into the foreground the
significant dialectic relationship between ICTs and society.
1 Introduction
IS is a political and scientific concept, since ICTs affect in a horizontal way many
aspects of our life. In the first section, the Data Information Knowledge and Wisdom
Hierarchy (DIKW) is described. The origins and evolution of the IS concept are
presented in the next section. Third section is devoted in the double face of Janus
which characterizes the IS in practice. The positive aspect refers to the knowledge-
based development as it is described by the g-work analytical framework. Personal
data abuse by legal or illegal authorities constitutes the negative face of the IS.
2 Data – Information – Knowledge
The Data Information Knowledge and Wisdom Hierarchy (DIKW) – or the
"Knowledge or Information Hierarchy" or the "Knowledge Pyramid" – was initiated
by Milan Zeleny [1] and builds on the equation of Data, Information, Knowledge and
Wisdom to “know-nothing”, “know-what”, “know-how” and “know-why”,
respectively. The mainstream view with few variations is that data is raw numbers
and facts, information is processed data, and knowledge is authenticated information
[2,3,4]. Specifically, data is raw in any form, – functional or not – and has no meaning
beyond its existence. Information is meaningfully interrelated data. A certain meaning
2. 2 Michalis Vafopoulos
can be - not necessarily – valuable. In computer and information sciences, relational
databases and data interoperability technologies (mainly XML, RDF, OWL [12,14]
and SKOS [13,14]) enable the data – information conversion. Knowledge is
structured information for facts, procedures, concepts, interpretations, observations,
and theories. Wisdom is considered to be a human process by which we evaluate right
and wrong, good and bad knowledge.
Last decades, the evolution and wide dissemination of digital goods [5,6,33]
triggered an information overload [7,8,9,10] since data, information and knowledge
could be primarily analyzed as the most famous digital goods. Social consequences of
the technological advances are commonly codified by the Information Society (IS)
concept.
3 Information Society
According to Susan Crawford [30] scientists have systematically been considered
the increase of publications in the seventeenth and nineteenth century [15,16], but the
concept of “Information Society” was initiated by the economist Fritz Machlup in
1962. Machlup in his milestone book called “The Production and Distribution of
Knowledge in the United States” [17] analyzed the imperfections of competition in a
free society. The basic aspects of his study were the causal interrelation among the
cost of copyrights and Research and Development (R&D) and knowledge production.
His conceptualization for the knowledge process was consisted of (a) R&D, (b)
Education, (c) Communication and its media and (d) Information machines and
services. Based on this approach he studied the share of information as a component
of the Gross National Product (GNP) of the United States and he found – among
many interesting results – that the aggregate knowledge production made up 29% of
the adjusted GNP and the total civilian labor force engaged in knowledge-producing
activities in the United States was equal to 42.8% in 1969.
Machlup's ideas inspired a series of other authors, but profoundly Peter Drucker
[18], which introduced the concept of "Knowledge Society" and predicted that by the
late 1970s, the knowledge sector would account for one half of the GNP. The concept
of Information Society (IS) was established in the annual meeting of American
Society for Information Science in 1970, which was entitled as "The Information-
Conscious Society" meeting [19].
Last decades, fast advances in the Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) triggered wide research efforts about IS in economic studies and computer and
social sciences. The disciplines of Knowledge Management [11] and Social
Informatics [20] have emerged and Artificial Intelligence [42] and Knowledge
Engineering [43] revitalized. The concept of IS enriched by traditional social theories,
such as Marxist-inspired or post-Marxist theories, more or less critical theories of
modernity and/or postmodernity, or theory of structuration [21,22]. Analysis of the
informational network society initiated by Manuel Castells [23,24,25,26,27] is
shaping a new framework based on analytical resources developed in modern social
theory and new political economy. Related terms to IS are considered to be Digital
Society [31] and Virtual Society [28].
3. Information Society: the two faces of Janus 3
We are still far away from a general theory for the IS. In my point of view, IS
needed to be addressed in a trans-disciplinary framework, a step further to inter-
disciplinarity, based on an integrated view of different disciplinary epistemologies.
According to Vafopoulos et al [29] “In trans-disciplinary research, the point is not just
application of given methodologies but also implication, a result of imagining entirely
new possibilities for what disciplines can do. The 'trans' in trans-disciplinarity is about
recognizing the holistic approach of this process of investigation which trans-forms
mainstream definitions of research”.
In this context, the first step in the trans-disciplinary framework is considered to be
the analysis of the positive and the negative consequences in the modern IS.
4 The two faces of Janus: Knowledge vs. Control
In the current analysis, the positive face of Janus is reflected in the knowledge-
based development and the negative is referred to personal privacy violation issues.
i. Knowledge – based development and the g-work model
Knowledge is synchronously the most valuable input and output in the process of
economic development. Despite the fact that nowadays knowledge is characterized by
excess supply and is under – used, mainly because it can not be accumulated like an
ordinary good [32]. Danny Quah [32] points out that “As humanity becomes more
educated, and ideas, tastes, and beliefs integrate more closely, the greater become the
potential social benefits from deploying all the different kinds of knowledge - those
that increase our productivity, improve our health, and raise our quality of life”.
In this context, ICTs can be viewed as an opportunity to obtain economies of scale
in the knowledge production and dissemination process. Particularly, digital goods –
including knowledge – are nonrival, infinitely expansible, indivisible, aspatial and
recombinant [33], Semantic Web technologies [34] provide knowledge
interoperability and reprocess, high tech collaborative working environment
applications offer quasi face-to face almost costless meetings and Grid computing is
releasing vast amounts of processing power [35].
A comprehensive analytical and practical framework for knowledge creation, reuse
and exploitation in the personal, business and academic sector based on the Semantic
Grid technologies [36] is considered to be g-work [14]. G-work is defined to be a step
further to e-work [37]. G-work was introduced as a personal Grid e-workspace for
every citizen and was defined to have four interconnected parts: (a) Digital Storage,
(b) Network Traffic, (c) Processing Power and (d) One-stop Web Services. As
Vafopoulos et al [14] argues, today business practice is compatible to g-work, web
services for all citizens are being released everyday around the world and academia –
specifically life, computer and information sciences – is adapting to this innovative
operational model [38].
But in any case, it is not ICTs themselves but the way people use them that
influences whether or not and how ICTs gets actually used. Furthermore, in case of
4. 4 Michalis Vafopoulos
social and economic reforms, it is not just the technology itself but the motivation for
people to co-operate each other.
ii. Control society, surveillance and personal data privacy
The development concept is concentrated in an opportunity: more and better input
in every citizen’s information set, and a threat: personal data privacy. The trade-off is
not conspicuous but is fundamental: more personal data in a collaborative working
environment means more chances to work, co-operate, interact, learn and develop
your personality, but also increase possibilities for personal data abuse. In the above
trade – off the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington are
considered as a turning point since security and surveillance operations – including e-
mail and Internet monitoring – [39] become first priority in public policies and
funding. Before that key date, studies on the social impact of surveillance and
monitoring systems were concentrated in the concept of centralized power [40].
According to David Lyon [39] “The increasingly automated discriminatory
mechanisms for risk profiling and social categorizing represent a key means of
reproducing and reinforcing social, economic, and cultural divisions in informational
societies”.
Hacking [41] and inventions in software systems poses the other major category of
risks for personal data privacy. Widespread use of ICTs in everyday life drives a
substantial increase in the value of legality which in turn follows a correspondent
increase in the law-breaking activity. The major issue in this case is that benefits
coming from the IS are divided into a vast and loosely – connected group of people
with not necessarily common interest and action plan. On the contrary, benefits from
law-breaking activity in the IS framework are exploited by small, flexible and well –
organized teams. The above asymmetrical value function for the adaptation of
information technologies partially explains observed time and technology lags in
public compared to private Web Services technologies.
In the g-work framework [14], besides the technical aspect of data privacy (i.e.
semantic firewalls and Community Authorization Service for Group Collaboration),
an independent “third intermediator entity” run by representatives from local
authorities is proposed.
5 Policy implications
Information Society is a political and scientific concept, since ICTs shaped by
society and shape society. Society - ICTs dialectic relation until now has been given
less attention. IS is becoming the major aspect in personal, social, business and
scientific life.
5. Information Society: the two faces of Janus 5
i. Personal and social aspect
The key concept in the personal and social aspects of the IS is introduced to be “the
new democratic deficit”. The new democratic deficit is defined to have two
dimensions:
a. the lack of free access to structured information and knowledge
concerning public action for all citizens and
b. unauthorized and nonvoluntary access to personal data from third
parties.
For instance, democratic deficits exist when a government service is not available
for a group of citizens or a telephone call is recorded without legal authorization.
ii. Research and business aspect
The research and business aspect of the IS is focused in the transition from the
general e-work model to the g-work paradigm. Specifically, from e-work which is
“including all information-processing work carried out away from the establishment
using a computer and a telecommunications link to deliver the work” [37], nowadays,
scientists and businessmen are trying to g-work, namely to semantically interoperate
with people, knowledge, software and hardware.
In order to exploit the benefits of IS we should agree on specific standards on the:
– quality,
– quantity and
– knowledge formation tools and mechanisms of public information.
Quality refers to interoperability and reusability standards of information in order
to solve everyday problems with minimum cost. Quantity mainly involves the
discrimination between personal and public information. Knowledge formation tools
include software and organizational structures capable to transform raw data and
information to useful knowledge.
6 Conclusion
ICTs by augmenting human senses change and/or remove limits among social
structures. Since this basic finding seems not to be fully appreciated by the majority
of politicians, academia owes to guide the way through an efficient and fair IS
exploitation. Social and technology scientists should work together without
technological or social monolithic determinism in order to achieve sustainable
development for human societies.
6. 6 Michalis Vafopoulos
References
1. Zeleny, M.: Management Support Systems: Towards Integrated Knowledge Management,
Human Systems Management, 71 (1987), 59-70
2. Dretske, F.: Knowledge and the Flow of Information, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. (1981)
3. Machlup, F.: Knowledge: Its Creation, Distribution, and Economic Significance, Volume I,
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. (1980)
4. Vance, D.: Information, Knowledge and Wisdom: The Epistemic Hierarchy and Computer-
Based Information System, in Proceedings of the Third Americas Conference on
Information Systems, B. Perkins and I. Vessey (eds.), Indianapolis, IN, (1997)
5. Quah, D.: A weightless economy. UNESCO Courier (1998)
6. Quah, D.: Increasingly weightless economies. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 37(1)
(1997) 49–56
7. Berghel, H.: Cyberspace 2000: dealing with information overload, Communications of the
ACM 40 (2) (1997) 19-24
8. Kirsh, D.: A few thoughts on cognitive overload. Intellectica (2000)
9. Lewis, D.: Dying for Information? London: Reuters Business Information (1996)
10. Feather, J.: In The information society: A study of continuity and change. London: Library
Association (1998)
11. Alavi, M., Leidner, D.: Knowledge Management Systems: Emerging Views and Practices
from the Field. Communications of the AIS (1999)
12. Gil, Y., Ratnakar V.: A Comparison of (Semantic) Markup Languages. Proceedings of the
International FLAIRS Conference, Pensacola Beach, Florida, May 14-16 (2002)
http://trellis.semanticweb.org/expect/web/semanticweb/comparison.html .
13. Simple Knowledge Organisation System (SKOS), W3C Semantic Web Activity (2005)
http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/
14. Vafopoulos, M., Gravvanis, G., Platis, A.: The personal grid e-workspace, In: Grid
Technologies: Emerging from Distributed Architectures to Virtual Organizations, M.P.
Bekakos, G.A. Gravvanis and H.R. Arabnia, (eds) WIT Press, (2005)
15. Kronick, D.: A history of scientific and technical periodicals. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow
Press (1962)
16. Billings, J. S.: Selected papers. Chicago: Medical Library Association (1965)
17. Machlup, F.: The production and distribution of knowledge in the United States. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press (1962)
18. Drucker, P.: The age of discontinuity. New York: Harper & Row (1968)
19. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science. Washington, D.C.: ASIS,
(1970)
20. Kling, R., Crawford, H., Rosenbaum, H., Sawyer, S., Weisband, S.: Learning from Social
Informatics: Information and Communication Technologies in Human Contexts Centre for
Social Informatics, Indiana University (2000)
21. Giddens, A.: The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Polity
Press, (1986)
22. Giddens, A.: The Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press, (1992)
23. Castells, M.: High Technology, Economic Restructuring, and the Urban-Regional Process
in the United States. In Manuel Castells (ed.) High Technology, Space, and Society. Urban
Affairs Annual Reviews, Volume 28. SAGE Publications. (1985)
24. Castells, M.: The Informational City. Information Technology, Economic Restructuring,
and the Urban-Regional Process. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (1989)
25. Castells, M.: The Information Age. Economy, Society and Culture. Vol. I: The Rise of the
Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell (1996)
26. Castells, M.: The Information Age. Economy, Society and Culture. Vol. II: The Power of
Identity. Oxford: Blackwell (1997)
7. Information Society: the two faces of Janus 7
27. Castells, M.: The Information Age. Economy, Society and Culture. Vol. III: End of
Millenium. Oxford: Blackwell (1998)
28. Rheingold, H.: The Virtual Community. Finding Connection in a Computerized World.
London: Minerva (1995)
29. Vafopoulos, M., Gravvanis, G., Platis.: Intra-and Trans-disciplinary semantic
technologies”, HERCMA conference (2005)
30. Crawford, S.: The origin and development of a concept: the information society. Bulletin
Medical Library Association 71(4) (1983) 380–385.
31. Negroponte, N.: Being Digital. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York (1995)
32. Quah, D.: The excess supply of knowledge, A condensed version appears in Newsweek's
Special Edition Issues 2006 The Knowledge Revolution: Why Victory Will Go to the
Smartest Nations and Companies (December 2005 - February 2006), (2006) 43
33. Quah, D.: Digital Goods and the New Economy, in: New Economy Handbook, D. C. Jones
(ed.), New York et al. (2003) 289-321
34. Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J., Lassila, O.: The semantic web. Scientific American (2001)
35. Lee, C., Matsuoka, S., Talia, D., Sussman, A., Karonis, N., Allen, G., Saltz, J.: A Grid
Programming Primer. Global Grid Forum 2, Washington D.C., (2001)
36. De Roure, D., Jennings, N., Shadbolt, N.: Research Agenda for the Semantic Grid: A
Future e-Science Infrastructure. UK National eScience Center(2002) www.semanticgrid.org.
37. Huws, U., Regan, S.: eWork in Europe: The EMERGENCE 18-Country Employer Survey.
IES Report No. 380, Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies (2001)
38. Vafopoulos, M., Angelis, V.: A business model for the Grid e-workspace. Journal of
Applied Systems Studies (2006)
39. Lyon, D.: Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life, Buckingham: Open University
Press (2001)
40. Dandeker, C.: Surveillance Power and Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press (1990)
41. McClure, S., Scambray, J., Kurtz, G.: Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets and
Solutions. Osborne McGraw-Hill, 3rd edition (2001)
42. Russell, S., Norvig, P.: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall (1995)
43. Studer, R., Benjamins, V., R., Fensel, D.: Knowledge Engineering: Principles and Methods,
Data and Knowledge Engineering (DKE), 25(1-2) (1998) 161-197