The Future of Information Its Changing Role in Society Ashok K. Agrawala Director, MIND Lab Professor, Computer Science University of Maryland “Information is not knowledge” – Albert Einstein “… the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as through it has an underlying truth.” – Umberto Eco What is information?? Two Basic Entities • Energy/Matter • Information Traditionally • Information => Power • He who has information has power • Controlling flow of information => Controlling population Information • Plays a critical role in all decision making/actions • Available Information – Storage • Accessible Information – Transport and Access Methods • Useful Information – Selection Process – What question to ask? • Security and Protection Aspects of Information • Information – – – – – – – – Production/Reproduction/Collection/Recording Storage Transfer Accessibility Duplication Security and Authentication Trust in the authenticity Meaning ?? • Technology has always played a key role. Its form has been different at different times. • Relative costs have changed substantially Impact of changes in Costs • Form – – – – – Human Memory Stone Paper Film Digital • • • • • Punched cards Tapes Cassettes CD – DVD – CMOS … • • • • • • Production/Collection Storage Transfer Accessibility Duplication Security and Authentication Information Past • Production/Reproduction – Human • • • • Large Capacity Automatic Input/Output Unreliable Recall Distortions – Intentional/Unintentional • Transfer – People Movement – Communication Through a natural language • Accessibility – Local • Copying/Reproduction?? • Security/Authentication – Physical Security of humans • Trust in the Authenticity? Information Past • Form – Typically on paper • Files • Books – Libraries/Archives • Accessibility – Difficult • Filing Systems • Catalogs • Systematic arrangements • Production/Reproduction – Handwritten – Printed • Duplication – By hand – Photocopying – Cost ??? Information Past • Storage • Accessibility – Paper – Catalogs – File indexes – … • Handwritten • Printed • Books/Files/Reports/… – Libraries • Transfer – Physical Movement of Paper • Postal System, etc. Information Present • Form – Encoded as bits, bytes, words, records, etc. – Stored in digital media • Accessibility – – – – Through computers Networks Internet Much easier • Production/Reproduction – Conversion from nondigital form – Direct digital production • Duplication – Easy – Inexpensive Dissemination/Spread of Information • Mechanism – Transfer • Broadcast – Who controls the event and the contents? • Multicast – Who can receive? – How many? • Unicast – Repetition process • Measure – No of people consciously aware as a function of time Spread of information – Decay • Many factors determine the time constants 70 No of People Consciously Aware • Media • Web • Phases – Rise 80 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Time Spread of Information • Rise Phase – Triggers • Current sensitivities – Mechanisms • Media • Web • Word of Mouth • Decay Phase – Authenticity ? – Other information competing for attention – Time Information Butterfly Effect !! Controlling Butterfly Effect • Rise Phase – Blocking flow of information – Dictatorships • Decay Phase – Quick challenge to authenticity – Offer competing information to grab attention Sharing of information • Trust • Handling conflicting information • Creating a consistent view World Wide Web • Easy Accessibility to HUGE amount of information • Most of the information generated for the Web • Broad Band Access by a large number of people • Web servers backed up by databases of mostly web pages Live vs. Archived • Live – Collected directly in digital form – As it happens • Text, Audio, Video, Sensor data, … • Archived – Saved as collection of records Other information • Specific Databases – – – – – – – Law Enforcement Healthcare Credit bureaus Personnel Records Census Bureau Financial record Telephone Records • Hundreds of thousands of such databases exist • Contain a lot of data collected as a part of normal operation of an entity • • • Business Government Private operations • Duplication of a lot of records with little controls Example – Law Enforcement • Many organizations – – – – – Federal State Local Special Private • Sharing of information – Exception rather than a norm • Attempts have been made to create “Fusion Centers” – Hardly successful • Each organization – Collects data and stores it – Controls access to it – Has to conforms to laws, policies and practices • You Don’t know what you know • You Don’t know what you don’t know Information Future • We are still in the initial transient phase of information revolution • Assumptions – Unlimited availability of • Processing Power • Storage • Bandwidth Anywhere/Anytime Note that Human Capacity to Assimilate has not increased Impact on Education • Role of a Teacher • What should we be teaching? • What should a student take for granted? – Calculator? – Web Access? • Ability for – Assimilation – Abstraction – Cooperation • Increased Awareness – Changing the world view Impact on Society • Social Interaction – Cell Phones – SMS – Social Networks • All Aspects are impacted Impact on Work Environment • White Collar Worker/Information Worker – Not tied to a location – Employer optimizes ROI – National boundaries have little meaning or impact Impact on Politics • National – We are seeing some of it this year in presidential election – What is a national interest • Internationally – Flow of information is making events known globally – What is the meaning of national boundaries Resource Constrained World • With limited resources – Information will play an ever increasing role • Decisions will require a higher degree of awareness • Cooperation rather than confrontation Concluding Remarks • Tip of the Iceberg • Change is occurring faster than the society can adapt to it • Proactive vs. Reactive Participation • So What is information?? – That is a topic for another day Ashok Agrawala Agrawala@cs.umd.edu 301-405-2525 Information Butterfly Effect 80 No of People Consciously Aware 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Time 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21