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. Unique in its rapid development 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 indicates the need for research 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 impact 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 human development “is capitalist, in fact more capitalist than any other economy in history” and even introduces a new term “information capitalism”: “ new system characterized 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 controversial than described information stage post-industrial era according to Bell, 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 features to appropriate 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 information systems commercial and government entities 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 emerging in various types 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 no longer be possible to be first only due to the possession important information, and any actions of power will be transparent, but also of universal morality, of the family, and of 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 attack 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 in front of nature, a person lost freedom in front of 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 main force of the “new industrial revolution, which greatly increases the capabilities of human intelligence” are new communication and information technologies. In order to develop new information and communication technologies, the executive body of the European Community - the European Commission - has prepared several fundamental documents. The first and foremost among them remains the Bangemann Report. M. Bangemann, Commissioner of the European Union and a group of other developers prepared the report “Europe and the Global Information Society”, published in 1994 at a meeting of the European Council. Members of the “Bangemann Group” represented mainly the electronics industry, information and communications businesses. The Bangemann Report has a clear social focus; on the basis of this document, the European Parliament adopted an action plan for Europe's transition to an information society. The report highlights the defining and transformative role of information and communications technologies. The practical goal of the document is to coordinate the still fragmented national approaches in order to create new opportunities for European states that are of an integration nature. The authors of the report proclaim the building blocks of the information society, its technological infrastructure, to be the Internet, mobile telephony and satellite connection. Today, the practical result of the work of Bangemann’s group is 99 projects that are being implemented jointly by many cities in the countries of the European Community. Existing plans for the transition to an information society put social issues at the forefront, preventing the polarization of society, improving mutual understanding between different social groups.
On July 22, 2000, in Okinawa, the presidents of eight leading industrial countries of the world signed the Charter of the Global Information Society with the aim of developing the world economy and transitioning to a new phase in the development of society. The document reflects the diverse aspects of the essence and development of the information society. A fundamental role in the development of the global information society is assigned to the international computer network Internet.
Today, in all leading countries that use information technologies in national interests, government programs are being developed and implemented to enter the global information society. These programs contain answers to three fundamental questions:
1) the goal of creating an information society in the country;
2) identifying means and ways to achieve this goal, aimed at expanding the scope of application of information technologies, simplifying access to information, creating political, economic, cultural and legal conditions that contribute to increasing the uniformity of the national information space;
3) distribution of political, economic, financial and organizational roles and responsibilities between participants - the state, society, business.
Russia is experiencing rapid development of telecommunications networks, the Internet, and mobile communications. New information technologies are being introduced, the computer press is developing, new websites are opening, numerous companies offer IP telephony services, sell Cell Phones, computers, modems, etc., but all the processes described above are developing quite spontaneously, with an unknown sign for society, with unclear and uncertain consequences.
In Russia, today there is no formalized national strategy for the country’s entry into the global information space, priorities have not been developed, goals have not been formulated, alternatives have not been realized. It should be noted that the relevance of this issue was also realized during 2000-2005. Conferences, round tables, and open discussions were actively held, where scientific, political, and economic Russian figures sought to develop goals, approaches, and strategies for Russia’s entry into the global information society. The development of new information technologies is evidenced by the federal laws adopted by the State Duma that define state policy for the transition to the information society - “On information, informatization and information protection”, “The concept of the formation and development of a unified information space of Russia and the corresponding state information resources", "Concept information security Russian Federation". Currently, a number of federal programs have been adopted, primarily in the field of education, improvement of public administration and development of information infrastructure. Examples are the interdepartmental program “Creation of a national network of computer telecommunications for science and higher education” (1995-2001), Federal target program « Electronic libraries"(project 2000), Federal target program "Development of a unified educational information environment for 2002-2005." Federal target program "Electronic Russia for 2002-2010" is devoted primarily to the problems of improving the interaction of government bodies with each other and economic entities. With all this, it should be noted that the above programs are scattered and uncoordinated. It is necessary to develop and implement a national development strategy for Russia in the context of the transition of the world economy to a global information society, in which the relationship between the roles of the state, individuals, social groups, and the market will be clearly defined, which will improve the quality of life of members of Russian society.
The beginning of 2002 was marked by the publication of the Concept for the Modernization of Russian Education, a strategically important document that defines the main directions, goals and content of Russian education at the present stage. However, as experience shows, the pedagogical community often evaluates it as another document in a series of those that accompanied not always successful attempts to reform education in Russia. Therefore, it seems very relevant to dwell on the very concept of “modernization,” which was developed in the context of the general theory of modernization and which has a variety of aspects, including aspects related to education. Modernization (from English: Modern - modern) - change, improvement that meets modern requirements. Modernization theory was developed for underdeveloped or developing countries in the post-colonial and post-war period in the middle of the last century. But very soon it was recognized that modernization is not just a temporary way to quickly overcome the gap in any specific conditions, but a permanent and universal form of development of any countries at all stages of their history.
From the point of view of most philosophers who study this problem, the essence of modernization as a special form of development is the transition from traditional to modern society. If modernization is the goal of development of a particular society at a certain stage, then this goal cannot be achieved without a number of inventions and improvements in economic, political and social technologies. That is why in the most advanced countries of the world, education is considered as a means of renewing society, and any processes of a modernization nature in the economy and politics begin with educational reform. Before transformation can begin, it is necessary to prepare a person capable of carrying out these transformations. In the processes of modernization, not only society, but also people become different, modern in comparison with the traditional. He is distinguished by an interest in everything new, a willingness to change; diversity of views, information orientation, serious attitude towards time and its measurement; efficiency; efficiency and time planning, personal dignity, particularism, optimism, activity, etc.
The information society as a scientific concept does not have a single, generally accepted definition. In the book “Virtual new world”, prepared for the 1997 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, gives the most concise definition of the information society as “a society based on information”. In essence, this position underlies almost all definitions that expand and clarify the concepts of this form of social structure.
Let us analyze the currently existing definitions of the term “information society”. A short dictionary of sociology gives the following definition: “The information society is a social structure, the main factor in the development of which is recognized as the creation and use of the information industry (computers, microelectronics, communication and computing networks, national and international databases); a kind of theory of post-industrial society.” In the dictionary of sociology and political science - “The information society is one of the names of the post-industrial society, characterized by a sharp change and increase in the role and importance of information technologies.” The World Encyclopedia of Philosophy presents the following interpretation of the term - “Information society is a concept that actually replaced the term post-industrial society at the end of the 20th century. The information society is developing as a concept of a new social order, applied to the social structure, according to Young and Gouldner, meaning the emergence of a new class. McLuhan's Global Village theory emphasizes that "information production and communication become centralized processes." The Cultural Encyclopedic Dictionary presents the information society as “a society in which information and the level of its use radically influence economic development and sociocultural changes in society: in the economic sphere, information turns into a commodity, in the social sphere, it becomes the main factor in changing the quality of life.”
Modern scientists solve the question of the place of the information society in the historical development of mankind in different ways. Some researchers considered the information society as a synonym for post-industrial society, while others believe that the information society is just one of the varieties of post-industrial society. Still others see the information society as one of the stages in the development of post-industrial society. Fourth, they take the information society beyond the framework of post-industrial society, presenting it as a new stage of social progress, replacing post-industrial society. We adhere to the point of view that the information society is a new stage in the development of human civilization. This social structure is characterized, first of all, by high speed communication processes, which is provided by knowledge-intensive, high-tech means (microprocessor technologies and the Internet computer network), in which information and knowledge acquire a new quality, becoming the main products of the life of individuals and social groups.
The idea of the information society was formulated in the late 60s - early 70s of the 20th century. The term “information society” was introduced by Yu. Hayashi, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Researchers and developers of the theory of the information society are also: M. Castells, F. Webster, E. Giddens, J. Habermas, D. Martin, G. Molitor, E. Toffler, D. Bell, Z. Brzezinski, A. King, D. .Nesbit, A. Touraine, P. Drucker, M. McLuhan and others.
The contours of the information society were first presented in the reports of a number of organizations to the Japanese government, which described the computerization of social processes, helping to ensure access of all social groups to sources of information, freeing people from routine work, by ensuring a high level of automation of production, as the main condition for the transition to the information society.
One of the first researchers who tried to substantiate the concept of the information society was the Japanese professor I. Masuda, the author of the work “The Information Society as a Post-Industrial Society.” He viewed this type of social order primarily in an economic context, according to which new technologies were expected to lead to major positive social changes. According to I. Masud, in the conditions of the formation of the information society, changes will occur in the essence of production itself, the product of which will become more “information-intensive”. “...The production of an information product, rather than a material product, will be the driving force of education and development of society.” I. Masuda pays special attention to the transformation of human values in the information society, putting forward the concept of classlessness and conflict-freeness of this type of social structure - “it will be a society of harmony, with a small government and state apparatus.”
The development of the Japanese version of the concept of the information society was carried out with the aim of solving the problems of economic development of Japan, which determined its limited and applied nature.
In the 70s, two ideologies developed - the information society and post-industrialism. The idea of a post-industrial society was put forward by the American sociologist D. Bell in his book “The Advance of Post-Industrial Society. Experience of Social Forecast”, published in 1973. D. Bell examines post-industrial society, starting from the characteristics of the industrial stage, dividing, in turn, the history of human society into three stages - agricultural, industrial and post-industrial. D. Bell writes - “changes in the social structure occurring in the middle of the 20th century indicate that industrial society is evolving to post-industrial society, which should become the defining social form of the 21st century in the USA, Japan, Russia and Western Europe.” The term “information society,” according to D. Bell, reflects the new name of a post-industrial society, where information is the basis of the social structure. “In the coming century, the emergence of a new social order based on telecommunications will be of decisive importance for economic and social life, for the methods of producing knowledge, as well as for the nature of human labor activity.”
According to M. Castells, in the context of the emergence of the information society, “the growing integration between thoughts and machines is bridging the gap between human beings and machines.”
M. Poster argues that for an adequate understanding of social relations in the era of the information society, it is necessary to study changes in the structure of communication experience, proposing the concept of “method of information”. This term, introduced by M. Poster, reveals the linguistic dimensions of new forms social interactions between different groups and individuals in society, focusing on changing the linguistic culture associated with by email, databases, computer networks. A group of French specialists in the mid-70s, in a comprehensive, multifaceted study conducted and presented in the book by S. Nora and A. Mink “Computerization of Society. Report to the President of France” emphasize that the information society will be less clearly socially structured than the industrial society, and one of the factors will be the attitude of various social groups to the trend of language simplification, associated, in particular, with the features of electronically mediated communication, and computerization will contribute to overcoming cultural inequality between individual social groups through the unification of language.
A classic of the theory of digital civilization, D. Tapscott, writes about the formation of the information society: “we observe some of its external manifestations, but we have no idea what it really is. By combining existing fragments of theory and scattered empirical data with the facts of changing social relations, we are trying to create a picture of the coming digital era. And under this hypothetical picture we guess the legal framework, the education system, and spiritual values. We strive to adapt the entire system of functioning of society to something speculative, approximately guessed from the experience of past information revolutions.” D. Tapscott, highlighting the signs of the information society, emphasizes that the information society is a knowledge society that produces intellectual products, using a digital form of object representation. Due to the transformation of information into digital form, objects of virtual nature are replacing physical ones. Analyzing the development of communication networks, it is necessary to emphasize that the processes of generation, transmission, and processing of information in the network are based on its representation in digital form, therefore, this type of representation is necessary for full use information arrays. In the information society, notes D. Tapscott, the economy has a global scale.
Most theorists proclaim the information society to be the most progressive form of organizing people's life. The idea of creating an ideal society, given by T. Campanella, T. Mohr and F. Bacon, had a significant influence on the formation of concepts of the information society - the “theory of post-industrial society” by D. Bell, the “technotronic concept” by Z. Brzezinski, the “mature society” by D. Gabor, “post-modern society” by J.F. Lyotard, “new industrial society” by J. Galbraith.
Problems of the development of the information society in Russia have become the subject of serious research, which is presented in the works of I.S.Melyukhin, D.V.Ivanov, S.E.Zuev, V.V.Emelin, P.G.Arefyev, I.V.Alekseeva , R.I. Tsvyleva, etc.
One of the theories of the emergence of the information society was proposed by R.F. Abdeev, representing the evolution information structure human civilization in the form of a tapering spiral with variable steps, built in three-dimensional space, in information coordinates and with the introduction of time and progress parameters. R.F. Abdeev believes that the objective and immediate reasons for the emergence of the information society are the rapid increase in the role of information resources and communications in the life of society. This increase is due to the revolution in the field of information technology, which has led to various consequences: from the emergence of new professions and serious changes in the social structure of society to the emergence of new styles in urban architecture.
Editor-in-Chief of the International Encyclopedia of Communication E. Barnow writes: “The central position of communication in human history becomes obvious.” Therefore, it is understandable that many academic sciences are turning to the study of aspects of communication at different levels. The ability to communicate in time and space has expanded enormously since the invention and introduction of such means of communication and information transmission as writing, printing, radio, telephone, electronic, and mobile communications. The speed of progress in communication largely determines the transition to an information society. Humanity is gradually approaching the discovery of such a means of communication as the Internet, which in the future will become the most widespread. Many scientists and researchers of the information society explained the stages of human development with the progress of communication, and not with the progress of industry or agriculture. Since the 20s - 30s. In the 20th century, a number of scientists predicted the decline of “industrial civilization,” the advent of the “society of information and services,” and the emergence of “information production” as the most important national product. E. Toffler saw in the means of communication the main engine of human progress throughout its history, D. Bell predicted the introduction of informatization into the development of all aspects of social life based on computer technology, and even argued that in the future the market will be replaced by organized exchange based on computer networks.
Various types of systems based on microprocessor technology, computer networks, information technology, telecommunications, the Internet are the material and technological base of the information society, ensuring the movement information flows. The picture of the information society represents a single computerized and information community of people, whose activities will be focused mainly on information processing, and material production and energy production will be automated; information technology is becoming global in nature, covering all areas of human activity.
The infrastructure of the information society is a new “intelligent” rather than “mechanical” technology; there is a symbiosis of social organization and information technology. The main principle of creating the technical basis for the development of the information society is the development of a global information infrastructure - “a huge communication network that will forever change the way people around the world live, change the way they learn, work and communicate with each other. This global network will allow people in the most remote village to have access to the most modern library. It will allow doctors on one continent to examine patients on another continent. It will allow a family living in the Northern Hemisphere to maintain contact with relatives in the Southern Hemisphere. And this network will strengthen the consciousness of the joint responsibility of all people on earth for the fate of our small planet.”
During a series of international meetings, developed and developing countries came to general opinion that such an information network must be based on common global fundamental principles in order to ensure its reliability, social, political and economic security and durability. These principles were adopted in 2001 in Buenos Aires at the meeting of the International Telecommunication Union and reaffirmed in 2003 at the meeting of G7 communications ministers in Brussels, as well as at numerous regional forums - the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting and the at the top of the countries of North, Central and South America.
Countries that are experiencing rapid development of Global Computer Networks include: the USA, Japan, England, Germany, and Western European countries. In these countries, the leading direction of government policy is investment and support for innovation in the information industry, development computer systems and telecommunications, which contributes to the creation of the technical basis for the formation of the information society.
« Computer techologies and information networks are symbols of the new society, replacing factories - symbols of industrial society." With the development and spread of the World Wide Web, the ability of individuals and social groups to obtain information has expanded significantly; a person, working at a computer, sitting in front of a screen, can receive information on almost any issue from any source around the world.
In connection with the penetration, dissemination and development of information and telecommunication technologies, the comprehensive coverage of all spheres of society by information technologies, changes occur in social production, leisure of social groups, education of individuals, as well as the social structure of society, economic and political relations. A person has the opportunity to actively participate in the political, state, economic, educational, and social life of society through the Internet. In an information society, more intensively than in an industrial society, society is splitting into two classes. This is the class of intellectuals, carriers of knowledge and the class of those who are not part of the new information economy. This is a very strict division, because in principle the information class has the ability to create finished products without actually using human labor.
Computer technologies are a new means of mediating activity, and computerized activity itself acts as a means of mediating a person’s inner world: his worldview and attitude, which is reflected in the formation of a kind of “computer consciousness.” Computer technologies change the psychological characteristics of the subject of computerized activity at the level of: subject of activity, subject of cognition, subject of communication, causing various kinds of changes in the cognitive, motivational, and emotional spheres of the individual.
In the information society, the way of life and the value system of individuals and social groups will change, and the importance of information values in relation to material values will increase. T. Stoner noted that transactions regarding material things lead to competition, and information exchange between individuals and social groups leads to cooperation. Individuals and social groups in the conditions of the formation of the information society will have to rethink their life position and the ongoing redistribution of life values. The determining factor in the social differentiation of the information society is the level of knowledge, not property. E. Toffler notes that in the conditions of the formation of the information society there will be “radical changes in the sphere of production, which will inevitably entail breathtaking social changes.”
When considering the issue of the formation of an information society in Russia, the conclusions of V.A. are of interest. Yadov, who summarized the long-term discussion of sociologists on the theoretical and methodological foundations of studying Russia as a transforming society. He formulates conclusions that reflect the specifics of the development of Russian society. One of them is of particular interest, concerning information and its role in Russian society. V.A. Yadov notes that Russia has its own specificity, which consists in the low social significance of information, expressed in the information passivity of citizens. Departmental secrecy was the main feature of the Soviet information environment; for many years there was a regime of secrecy, which gave rise to a deeply rooted communication barrier and reluctance to share information. The formation of the information society requires a change in this mentality, which in turn is associated with a long period of time and targeted efforts to modify the current state.
Summarizing the results of the analysis of the approaches of Russian researchers in the process of transition to an information model of social structure, we formulate the following conclusions:
- - effective development of the information society lies in the constructive interaction of three subjects of information transformation: the state, business and individuals, social groups;
- - the main tasks during the transition to the information society are: the desire for social, political, information, economic and structural uniformity of the national information public space; expanding educational opportunities; reorientation of the economy and society from raw materials to innovative, knowledge-intensive development;
- - introduction and development of modern information technologies;
- - elaboration and detailed analysis of the state’s information policy, revealing the way of using existing information flows and resources on the part of various institutions (for example, the state, organizations, individuals and social groups that may have their own ideas and interests when working with information), quantitative control over the flow information flows and control over the distribution of information flow.
The term "information society" reveals objective process gradual awareness by society of the importance of information as some independent fundamental entity (along with energy and matter) and its transformation into a real productive force. Information technologies and telecommunications make knowledge and information publicly available, serving as the technological basis for the development of an information model of social structure.
Glinchikova, A. Russia and the information society. - M.: ACT, 2002. P.32.
Vartanova, E. Information Society and the media of Finland in a European perspective. - M.: MSU, 1999. P.37.
Pavlenok P.D. A brief dictionary of sociology. - M.: Infra - M, 2000. P.72.
Tadevosyan E.V.. Dictionary-reference book on sociology and political science. - M.: Knowledge, 1996. P.93.
World Encyclopedia. Philosophy / main scientific ed. and comp. A.A. Gritsanov. - M.: Harvest, Modern writer, 2001. P.42.
Khoruzhenko K.M.. Culture. Encyclopedic Dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don.: Phoenix, 1997. P.180.
Masuda Y. The Informational Society as Post-Industrial Society. World Future Society.- 1981. P.33.
Bell D. The advent of post-industrial society. Experience of social forecasting. - M.: Exam, 1973, P.21.
Bell D.Social framework of the information society. - M.: Harvest, 1980. P.45.
Castells M., Kiseleva E. Russia in the information age // World of Russia. - 2001. - No. 1. C.3.
Surina, I.A. Values. Value orientations. Value space: questions of theory and methodology. - M.: Sotsium, 1999. P.201.
Cm.: Nora, S., Mink A. Computerization of society. Report to the President of France. - Rostov-on-Don. - Phoenix, 1975.
Tapscott D. Electronic digital society. - M.: Refl-book, 1999. P.54.
Tapscott D. Electronic digital society. - M.: Refl-book, 1999. P.120-122.
Abdeev R.F. Philosophy of information civilization. - M.: Delo, 1994. P.59.
Anxiety of the world. Social consequences of globalization of world processes. Report UNRISD, M: Research Institute for Social Development at the UN, 2004. P.2.
Toffler E. Shock of the future. - M.: ACT, 2001. P.34.
Rakityansky N.M.. Russia and the challenges of globalization // Socis. - 2002. - No. 4. P.6.
TikhomirovO. K. Psychological aspects of the computerization process. - M: Delo, 1993. P.8.
Kuzmina K.E.. The influence of computerized activities on interpersonal relationships in adolescence // 3rd Russian Conference on Environmental Psychology (September 15-16, 2003, Moscow). Section 10. Psychological aspects of the Internet environment. Report. S.1.
Ivanov D.V. Virtualization of society. - St. Petersburg: Petersburg Oriental Studies, 2000. P.57.
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.
Development modern society 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. No need to visit 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. For getting public services it is enough to fill out the request form remotely, and through 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, just use single number emergency services (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?
Information
The entire history of mankind can be associated with the term Information, which is widely used today. The term " information" comes from the Latin " informatio" - information, clarifications, presentation.
There are many definitions of information that only emphasize the complexity and multidimensionality of this concept.
Information is information that removes uncertainty about the world around us.
The federal law “On Information, Informatization and Information Protection,” which was adopted in Russia in 1995, provides the following definitions of the concept information
Information - information about persons, objects, facts, events, phenomena and processes, regardless of the form of their presentation.
Information exists on media, objects that carry information. Objects of living and inanimate nature can act as carriers. Carriers come in different types, shapes, and purposes. The information carrier can be a person, a sheet of paper (hard copy), CDs, DVDs, flash cards, HDD computer (electronic media), wall, sky, trees, etc.
Information exists in two main forms:
· discrete (discontinuous) – in this form information exists on digital media,
· analog (continuous) – in this form information about continuous processes can exist (for example, the process of moving from one point in space to another).
In order for information to exist, a receiver of information, a source and a communication channel between them are necessary. Information is transmitted from the source of information to the receiver in the form of messages.
Message – information prepared for transmission.
A message is transmitted over a communication channel using a signal.
A signal is a process that carries information.
Types of information (according to the way a person perceives it):
visual (information about visual images),
auditory (information perceived by ear),
tactile (skin sensations),
· kinesthetic (orientation in space),
· organoleptic (information about taste and smell).
Information properties:
· Objectivity. Information is objective if it does not depend on anyone’s opinion or judgment.
· Credibility. Information is reliable if it reflects the true state of affairs. Objective information is always reliable; reliable information may be biased.
· Relevance. Actual information– information received in a timely manner.
· Completeness. Information is complete if it is sufficient for understanding and making decisions. Information on completeness is divided into: complete, incomplete, redundant.
· Accuracy - the accuracy of information is determined by the degree of its proximity to the real state of an object, process, phenomenon, etc.
· Usefulness. The value of information for the recipient.
You can perform various operations on information:
· Creation/destruction,
· treatment,
· receiving/transferring,
· collection/storage/accumulation.
Information process is a process associated with performing any operations on information.
Data is information prepared for processing or storage on a computer.
In any society, information performs the following basic functions:
· integrative - uniting members of society and social groups into a single whole;
· communicative - communication and mutual understanding;
· instrumental - participation in the organization of production and management;
· cognitive - as a means of reflecting objective reality and transmitting data.
Information society
Information today has turned into a powerful, tangible resource that has even greater value than natural financial, labor and other resources. Information has become a commodity that is bought and sold. Information has turned into a weapon, information wars arise and end. The cross-border information network Internet is actively developing and entering our lives.
The development of mankind was accompanied by an increase in the volume of accumulated knowledge and information, both about man himself and about the world around him. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the pace of information has increased dramatically. So, if in the 19th century the total amount of human knowledge doubled every 50 years, then by 1950 - every 10 years, by 1970 - every 5 years, and since 1990. - annually. The current situation is often characterized using the expression: “information explosion.” Specialists in the field of computer science have established a quantitative law of increasing information in society. This law is represented as an exponential function.
Civilization in general and each of us in particular are at the stage of forming a new type of society - the information society. The social system and law, as one of the main regulators of this system, lag significantly behind the pace of development of the information society.
In accordance with the concept of Z. Brzezinski, D. Bell, O. Toffler, supported by other foreign scientists, the information society is a type of post-industrial society. Considering social development as a “change of stages,” proponents of this concept of the information society associate its formation with the dominance of the “fourth” information sector of the economy, following the three well-known sectors - agriculture, industry and the service economy. At the same time, they argue that capital and labor, as the basis of an industrial society, give way to information and knowledge in the information society.
The information society is a special society, unknown to history. It is difficult to define it, but we can list the main features and characteristics:
Availability of information infrastructure, consisting of cross-border information and telecommunication networks and information resources distributed in them as knowledge reserves;
New forms and types of activities in TITS or in virtual space(everyday work activity in networks, purchase and sale of goods and services, communication and recreation, recreation and entertainment, medical care, etc.);
The ability for everyone to almost instantly receive complete, accurate and reliable information from TITS;
Almost instantaneous communication of every member of society with everyone, everyone with everyone and everyone with everyone (for example, “chat rooms” based on interests on the Internet);
Transformation of media activities, integration of media and TITS, creation of a unified environment for the dissemination of mass information - multimedia;
The absence of geographical and geopolitical borders of the states participating in TITS, the “clash” and “breaking” of national legislations of countries in these networks, the formation of new international information law and legislation.
A typical example of the information infrastructure of such an information society is the Internet. Today, the Internet actively fills the information space in all countries and on all continents and is the main and active means of creating an information society.
The volume of information resources on the Internet is growing exponentially.
Japanese scientists argue that in the information society, the computerization process will give people access to reliable sources of information, relieve them of routine work, and ensure a high level of automation of information processing in the industrial and social spheres.
The basis of the information society is the production of information. Other products are becoming more information-intensive, with innovation, design and marketing making up most of their value.
A person in the information society is assigned the role of a creator, possessing not only specific knowledge, but also mastering techniques and technologies for their processing and accumulation. The information society is based on various types of computer systems and computer networks, information technologies, communications and telecommunications. The employment of members of the information society is mostly related to the maintenance of information technologies and their use; material production will be entrusted to automated and intelligent devices.
All types of information functioning in society can be called social information.
The following types of social information are distinguished:
Political;
Economic;
Scientific and technical;
Mass;
Legal;
Statistical;
About emergency situations;
About citizens (personal data);
Computer;
Political information - information about the statics and dynamics of political relations, the political line of the state, the activities of political parties and public associations, the image of political figures, and all elements of the political system of society.
Economic information- a set of information reflecting economic processes and relationships.
Scientific and technical information is documented or publicly disclosed information about domestic and foreign achievements of science, technology and production.
Mass information means printed, audio, audiovisual and other messages intended for an unlimited number of people.
Information about citizens (personal data) is information about the facts, events and circumstances of a citizen’s life that allows his or her personality to be identified. The main elements of information about citizens are first and last name, gender, date and place of birth, place of residence, education and marital status, information about social status, affiliation with political parties and associations, physical and mental health, financial status, property ownership, criminal record and etc.
The term computer information was introduced by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 1996. Article 272 defines this type of information as information on a computer medium, in an electronic computer (computer), a computer system or in their network.
By access modes, information can be divided into:
Open (public);
Restricted information (state secrets, confidential information, commercial secrets, professional secrets, official secrets).
State secret is information protected by the state in the field of its military, foreign policy, economic, intelligence and operational-search activities, the dissemination of which could harm the security of the Russian Federation (Article 2 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On State Secrets” of July 24, 1993).
Confidential information is documented information, access to which is limited in accordance with the law. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation “On approval of the list of confidential information” dated March 6, 1997 defines the types confidential information. These include:
Information about facts, events and circumstances of a citizen’s private life, allowing his identity to be identified (personal data), with the exception of information that is subject to dissemination in the media in cases established by federal laws.
Information constituting the secret of investigation and legal proceedings.
Official information, access to which is limited by government authorities in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and federal laws (official secrets).
Information related to professional activity, access to which is limited in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws (medical, notarial, attorney-client confidentiality, confidentiality of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal items, telegraphic or other messages, and so on).
Information related to commercial activities, access to which is limited in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and federal laws (trade secret).
Information about the essence of the invention, utility model or industrial design before the official publication of information about them.
A trade secret is defined as information that has actual or potential commercial value because it is unknown to third parties, there is no free access to it on a legal basis, and the owner of the information takes measures to protect its confidentiality (Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On Trade Secrets” dated July 9, 2004 .).
Are there internationally accepted definitions of the information society?
1. The question is posed very correctly, because in Russian literature there are many non-conceptual uses of this term, everyday or purely author’s interpretations that are not related to the established tradition of using the term in Western literature, where it was formulated.
In 1973, the famous American scientist D. Bell in his work “The Coming Post-Industrial Society. Experience of Social Forecasting" put forward the concept of the transition of Western society, characterized as "industrial society", into the post-industrial stage, called post-industrial society. Although Bell examined many of its features, which did emerge two decades later, the term itself was not deciphered. Just as the term “pre-industrial society” requires disclosure of its content (agrarian, traditional), post-industrial society requires disclosure of its essence. The prefix “post” only indicates that this is a society that comes after the industrial one, after it.
Back in 1972, the Japanese set the task information development their society, declared the need to make it informational. Before the advent of Bell’s concept, this was simply a characteristic of a program to increase the role of information in society. But, taken together, they formed the concept of “information society,” which defines the essence of post-industrial society as a society in which information, rather than industry, plays a decisive role. This is a society whose productivity is determined by the information sector more than by the manufacturing and service sectors. J. Nesbit called the transition to an information society one of the ten most important trends in the transformation of the West, and subsequently the world as a whole. M. Kassel in the work “Information Society. Economy, Society, Culture” examined the essence of the information revolution.
Currently, the importance of knowledge in the information sector has been highlighted, which has led to the spread of the terms “knowledge society” and “knowledge economy”. In accordance with these changes, the West, as a post-industrial society, has concentrated on the production of product models, and their material embodiment has largely moved to non-Western industrial countries, many of which are trying to master high technologies, including information and knowledge application technologies. However, they remain industrial societies. It must be clearly understood that the term “information society” is fully applicable only to Western societies.
Doctor of Philosophy, Prof., Head. Sector of Social Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences
V.G. Fedotova
2. There are many definitions of the information society, which the authors quite actively refer to in different countries Oh.
After the publication in 1983 of the book by I. Masuda, one of the authors of the “Plan for the Information Society”, developed in Japan in the early 70s of the 20th century, the early interpretations of the information society proposed by the Japanese became the subject of attention of the world scientific community. The invention of the term “information society” is attributed to the professor of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yu. Hayashi. The contours of the information society were outlined in reports submitted to the Japanese government in the late 60s and early 70s by such organizations as the Economic Planning Agency, the Institute for Computer Development and Use, and the Industrial Structure Council. The titles of the reports are indicative: “Japanese Information Society: Topics and Approaches” (1969), “Plan of the Information Society” (1971), “Outlines of the Policy for Promoting Informatization of Japanese Society” (1969). The information society was defined here as one where the process of computerization will give people access to reliable sources of information will 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 work and marketing in its cost; the production of an information product, rather than a material product, will be the driving force of education and development of society.
It should be noted that even earlier, in the 40s, the Australian economist A. Clark wrote about the prospect of a society of information and services, and in the 50s the American economist F. Machlup spoke about the advent of the information economy.
The Japanese version of the information society concept was developed primarily to solve the problems of Japan's economic development. This circumstance determined its, in a certain sense, limited and applied nature. However, in the 70s, the idea of the information society became popular in the USA and Western European countries and acquired the features of a universalist ideology.
American sociologist D. Bell, author of the famous concept of post-industrial society, presented a version of the convergence of ideas of post-industrialism and the information society in his 1980 book “The Social Framework of the Information Society”. Bell's expression “information society” is a new name for post-industrial society, emphasizing not its position in the sequence of stages of social development - after industrial society, but the basis for determining its social structure - information. Here, as in the book The Coming Post-Industrial Society, paramount importance is given to the information included in the functioning of scientific knowledge and obtained through such knowledge. The information society in Bell's interpretation has all the main characteristics of a post-industrial society (service economy, the central role of theoretical knowledge, orientation towards the future and the resulting technology management, the development of new intellectual technology). However, if in the “Coming Post-Industrial Society” electronic computing technology was considered as one of the knowledge-intensive industries and as a necessary means for solving complex problems (using systems analysis and game theory), then in the “Social Framework of the Information Society” great importance is attached to the convergence of electronic computer technology and communications technology. “In the coming century,” D. Bell argues here, “the formation of a new social order based on telecommunications will be of decisive importance for economic and social life, for the methods of producing knowledge, as well as for the nature of human labor activity.”
From the late 60s of the 20th century to the present day, many interpretations of what the information society is have been proposed. With all the diversity of emphasis, the degree of attention paid to certain technological, economic or social processes, the information society is considered within the framework of basic concepts as having at least the following characteristics. First of all, this is a high level of development of computer technology, information and telecommunication technologies, and the presence of a powerful information infrastructure. Hence, such an important feature of the information society as increasing opportunities for access to information for an increasingly wider range of people. Finally, almost all concepts and programs for the development of the information society are based on the fact that information and knowledge become a strategic resource of society in the information era, comparable in importance to natural, human and financial resources.
Within the framework of the ideology of the information society, already in the 70s, various directions and trends emerged, concentrating attention on certain aspects of relations existing in society regarding information and technical and technological means of its transmission, storage and processing, considering various social perspectives as possible , desirable or negative.
In the book by S. Nora and A. Mink “Computerization of Society. Report to the President of France" the information society was characterized as a complex society in which serious problems. The authors are confident that it is impossible to understand these problems in line with Bell’s post-industrial approach (it is noteworthy that English translation The book was published with a foreword by D. Bell). This approach, they argue, allows us to see in the future only a “tranquilized” post-industrial society, where abundance and convergence of living standards will make it possible to unite the nation around a huge culturally homogeneous middle class and overcome social contradictions. The post-industrial approach is productive when it comes to information that drives the behavior of producers and buyers, but is useless when faced with problems that go beyond the sphere of commercial activity and depend on the cultural model. The title of one of the chapters of the book by S. Nora and A. Mink is “Will a computerized society be a society of cultural conflicts?” Believing that the information society will be less clearly socially structured and more polymorphic than the industrial society, the authors predict that one of the factors of polymorphism will be the attitude of various groups to the trend of language simplification, associated, not least, with the cost-effectiveness of databases and various forms of electronic communication. -mediated communication. The information society, they predicted, will be a society of struggle over language between different groups.
The most influential sociological concepts put forward in the initial period of formation of the ideology of the information society emphasized the value of scientific, theoretical knowledge and/or reliable information, and predicted an increase in their role in society with the development of computer and telecommunication technologies. Subsequently, trends are intensifying, emphasizing the importance of non-scientific information and linking the prospects for the formation of an information society with the “loss of scientific discourse of its privileged status.” Indicative in this regard is the position of M. Poster, an American sociologist who belongs to the French intellectual tradition of structuralism and poststructuralism. From the point of view of this author, an adequate sociology of electronically mediated communications is possible only if science is considered as one of the types of discourse on an equal basis with others. Poster considers it wrong to interpret information as an economic entity and to provide a theoretical basis for the extension of commodity relations to the information sphere. The poster emphasizes that the ease of copying and distributing information destroys the legal system, the foundations of which were formed to protect private ownership of material things. He insists that in the era of convergence of computing and communications technology, it is impossible to adequately understand social relations without taking into account changes in the structure of communication experience. It is noteworthy that about the possibilities information modeling as “modeling oneself” M. Poster wrote in the late 80s, when the Internet was not yet everyday life for millions of people. In the nineties and zeros, new cultural phenomena generated by the rapid development of information and communication technologies became the object of attention of many authors.
Using the opportunities provided by modern information and communication technologies for the benefit of people is the main pathos of official strategies and programs for the development of the information society adopted by governments of different countries, interstate associations, and regional authorities. The Okinawa Charter for the Global Information Society, adopted by the heads of the G8 countries in the summer of 2000, stated: “The Information Society, as we envision it, allows people to make greater use of their potential and realize their aspirations. To do this, we must ensure that IT [information and communications technology] serves the mutually reinforcing goals of achieving sustainable economic growth, enhancing social welfare, stimulating social cohesion and realizing its full potential in strengthening democracy, transparent and accountable governance of international peace and stability. Achieving these goals and addressing emerging challenges will require the development of effective national and international strategies.”
In the Declaration adopted by the participants of the World Summit on top level on the Information Society in Geneva in 2003, the first section is called “Our General Vision for the Information Society”. It begins with these words: “We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, gathered in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and determination to build a people-centred, inclusive a development-oriented information society in which everyone can create, access, use and share information and knowledge to enable individuals, communities and peoples to realize their full potential, contributing to their sustainable development and enhancing their quality of life based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and fully observing and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
The “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation” proclaims the goal of the formation and development of the information society to be “improving the quality of life of citizens, ensuring the competitiveness of Russia, developing the economic, socio-political, cultural and spiritual spheres of society, improving the public administration system based on the use of information and telecommunications technologies".
The quantitative indicators provided for in such documents characterize the technological and economic aspects information sphere. “Strategies for the development of the information society in the Russian Federation” provides for a number of target values of indicators for the development of the information society, which must be achieved before 2015. In this series - the level of accessibility for the population of basic services in the field of information and telecommunication technologies (100%), the level of use broadband access lines per 100 people (15 lines by 2010 and 35 by 2015), number of households with personal computers(at least 70% of the total number of households), the share of library collections transferred to electronic form, in the total volume of public library collections (at least 50%), the share of domestic goods and services in the volume of the domestic market of information and telecommunication technologies (more than 50%); growth in the volume of investments in the use of information and telecommunication technologies in the national economy (at least 2.5 times compared to 2007). Obviously, such indicators make it possible to judge, first of all, the success in creating a modern information and telecommunications infrastructure and the corresponding level of accessibility of information and technology to the population.
One of important indicators provided for by the “Strategy” - Russia’s place in international rankings of the development of the information society - among the twenty leading countries in the world by 2015. It should be emphasized that such ratings are based mainly on data characterizing the spread of technologies. Thus, the International Telecommunications Union index takes into account 11 indicators. Among them are those that characterize access to information and communication technologies (including mobile communications and landlines), broadband penetration, number of Internet users and their literacy, number of households with computers. Data for 2002-2007 show that, despite all the efforts made in developing countries, it was not possible to reduce the digital divide between developed and lagging countries. The Information and Communication Technologies Development Index is also called the Information Society Development Index. Obviously, in such cases, the information society refers to the corresponding components of the technosphere and market segments.
Against this background, the desire to oppose the knowledge society to the information society seems quite understandable. The UNESCO report states: “The concept of the information society is based on advances in technology. The concept of knowledge societies implies broader social, ethical and political parameters." It is noteworthy that the first chapter of the report is called “From the Information Society to Knowledge Societies,” and the formation of a global information society is given the role of a means of creating “true knowledge societies.” At the same time, many of the problems that are considered in the mentioned report as characteristic of a knowledge society are quite have long been discussed in the context of the information society. The above fully applies to the problem of the “cognitive gap,” which is recognized today as one of the most important problems in the formation of knowledge societies. The concept of “cognitive gap” is directly related to such concepts as “digital divide” and “information inequality”.
In the literature one can find different interpretations of the relationship between the concept of the information society and the concepts of the knowledge society and post-industrial society. Sometimes they say that a post-industrial society replaces an industrial one (as can be seen from the name); after some time, a post-industrial society becomes an information society (i.e., an information society is a stage in the development of a post-industrial society), and the information society is followed by a knowledge society. This method of “ordering” can apparently be explained by the fact that the corresponding ideas became widely known precisely in this sequence. However, all these ideas were put forward almost simultaneously, and the social, technological and economic processes comprehended with their help are closely intertwined.
From the outside, it looks amazing the carefree attitude of people involved in such topics towards issues of conceptual consistency, terminological certainty, variability of meanings and the appropriateness of introducing new concepts, authorial priority and the commensurability of descriptions. Nevertheless, the main points of attraction of research interest, the general content in the various characteristics of the emerging way of life, and the repeated methods of correlating the present with the past and future, allowing one to make forecasts and create plans, are quite clearly visible here.
Material prepared by leading researcher Institute of Philosophy RAS I.Yu. Alekseeva based on the work of: Alekseeva I.Yu. What is a knowledge society? M.: Kogito-Center, 2009.
Masuda Y. The Information Society as Postindustrial Society. Wash.: World Future Soc., 1983
Masuda Y. The Information Society as Postindustrial Society. Wash.: World Future Soc., 1983, p. 29.
Clark C. The Conditions of Economic Progress. L., 1957
Machlup F. The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States. Princeton, 1962
Bell D. The Social Framework of the Information Society. Oxford, 1980. In Russian. language: Bell D. Social framework of the information society. Abbreviation translation Yu. V. Nikulicheva // New technocratic wave in the West. Ed. P.S. Gurevich. M., 1988
Bell D. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. A Venture in Social Forcasting. N.Y., Basic Books, Inc., 1973. The Russian translation of this book, edited by V.L. Inozemtsev, was published in 1999.
Bell D. Social framework of the information society. Abbreviation translation Yu. V. Nikulicheva // New technocratic wave in the West. Ed. P.S. Gurevich. M., 1988, p. 330
Thus, in the “Concept of Moscow’s movement towards the information society” it is stated: “There is no generally accepted definition of the information society, but most experts agree that its essence is determined by several interrelated processes.” The following are noted as such processes: “information and knowledge are becoming an important resource and a truly driving force of socio-economic, technological and cultural development”; “a market for information and knowledge is being formed as a factor of production along with the markets for natural resources, labor and capital”; “the share of industries providing the creation, transmission and use of information is rapidly growing”; “a developed information infrastructure is becoming a condition that determines national and regional competitiveness no less than, for example, transport communications”; “the development and active implementation of new information and communication technologies (ICT) in all spheres of activity significantly changes the models of education, work, social life and recreation” (See: “The concept of Moscow’s movement towards an information society // Information Society. International Information and Analytical Journal. No. 3, 2001, p. 7). The “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation” indicates freedom and equality in access to information and knowledge as one of the basic principles, and as one of the main directions - ensuring a high level of accessibility to information and technologies for the population (See: Strategy for the Development of Information society in the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2008 N Pr-212 // Russian newspaper. Federal issue No. 4591 dated February 16, 2008).
See: Poster M. The Mode of Information: Poststructuralism and Social Context. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990
United Nations
UNESCO. World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003). Building the Information Society - a Global Challenge for the New Millennium: Declaration of Principles (Document WSIS-03/GENEVA/DOC/4-R, December 12, 2003)
Strategy for the development of the information society in the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2008 N Pr-212 // Russian newspaper. Federal issue No. 4591 dated February 16, 2008)
Towards knowledge societies. UNESCO World Report. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2005. P. 19
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