The informational
economy
The emergence of servicescapes
Issues with information
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The University does not permit the use of file sharing or peer to peer
networking software to be used within the University to share files out across
the web (eg Kazaa)
The University also does not permit extensive file downloading unless in
support of Learning, Teaching or Research.
The University does not permit the inappropriate and unauthorised sharing of
copyright materials out across the Web.
The University does not permit the storage of copyright materials such as
MP3 files unless someone can prove that they have been authorised to use the
materials and can prove that they are being used for learning, teaching or
bona-fide research purposes.
Any inappropriate usage which creates high bandwidth usage may result in
Disciplinary action (see Regulations pertaining to the Use of University
Equipment).
It may also result in the UK educational network providers removing us form
the Joint Academic Network (JANET). Therefore the consequences are
extremely severe in terms of potential loss of credibility when a
University attached to the academic network loses its connectivity publicly.
Post-Industrialism
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Bell’s (1974) The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society popularised the notion of
‘post-industrialism’:
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Image of industrialism transformed by the new service sector professional trading
in theoretical knowledge
“Advanced” societies increasingly reliant on theoretical knowledge, replacing
“capital and labour”
An optimistic thesis, based on concepts of progress, but some:
“reject the post-industrialist fantasy of technical sweetness and
light” (Penley and Ross, 1991: pxiii)
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However, what is clear is that the so-called post-industrial period is signified
by a different set of relationships with work and leisure:
“The entire thrust of modern technology has been to move us away
from solid objects and into informational space (or cyberspace). Man
the farmer and man the industrial worker are quickly being replaced by
man the information worker…we are less and less creatures of flesh,
bone and blood; we are more and more creatures of bits and bytes
moving around at the speed of light” (Terranova, 2000: 271)
DEPENDENT ON AND CONSTRUCTED BY TECHNOLOGY
Information Society (IS): “the modern story”
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Webster (2005) identifies five analyses of an information society:
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Technological innovation:
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Explosion of the use of IT heralds a new ‘silicon civilisation’
where we can all be linked together as computers facilitate a
‘network society’ (Castells, 1991)
Information superhighway provides infrastructure for IS,
replacing its industrial counterpart (e.g. roads, railways, canals)
Technology the distinguishing feature of this ‘new order’
Facilitates ‘flexible specialisation’ (Piore and Sabel, 1984),
allowing small firms to respond to emerging niche markets
Remains a question mark over the ‘break from advanced
industrialism’ and the inherent technological determinism of
the information society thesis
Information Society: “the modern story”
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Economic:
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Proponents produce evidence for an information or ‘knowledge’
economy (e.g. Scottish Executive priority area)
Lash and Urry (1994) argue that knowledge workers require cultural
services which can regenerate the declining industrial heritage
Invention of circuits, microprocessors, and micro computers
revolutionised capitalist organization; more flexible, speed and scope.
Occupational:
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Evidence of IS when services become the dominant economic sector
(e.g. from steelworker to entertainer)
‘Information literacy’ the new corporate buzzword
Freeing workers from the chains of industrial work, and re-skilling them
Critics identify McJobs and insecurity of service sector occupations,
‘servicing the wealth generators’
MANAGING INFORMATION CENTRAL TO THE TASK OF THE
CULTURAL INTERMEDIARY
Information Society: “the modern story”
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Spatial:
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Processing and distribution of information requires/reinforces need for
interdependency, immediacy, interactivity, simulantaneity and speed
(Virilio, 2000)
Emphasises a shrinking world identifiable by a time/space compression
(Harvey, 1992)
Temporal and spatial boundaries de-stabilised, problematising ‘modern’
concepts
 e.g. nation-state, working day, workmates, holiday, sporting
competition
We are increasingly able to both work and ‘play’ with others in
(previously) distant places 24/7
The ‘constraints of space’ (Webster, 2005) have largely been removed
from both the production and consumption processes
DOES THIS BREED ALIENATION AND INSTABILITY?
Information Society: “the modern story”
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Cultural:
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Explosion in cultural information (e.g. books, videos, magazines,
films, fanzines and associated distribution technologies (e.g. cinema,
television, computers, MDs etc) (see Hesmondhaugh, 2002)
Various technologies of photography allow us to ‘capture’ the most
intimate and defining images of our lives: representing a slide-show of
our very existence
Technologies facilitate processes of signification, making the
construction of a self-project more accessible (e.g. fashion, homemaking, lifestyle mgt)
These, and other, technologies redefine our cultural landscape.
Without them we would struggle to communicate and go about our
daily lives
Media technologies allow for the exchange and reception of messages
informing, influencing (and inculcating?) our lifestyle choices
WHAT USE IS INFORMATION WITHOUT A PROCESSOR TO
INTERPRET ITS MEANING?
Information Society: Key questions
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Accounts of IS assume the benefits of technology will be
distributed in a roughly equitable manner, but what about
the role of IT in control and surveillance of our
consumption and lifestyle?
Information age premised on the belief in ‘progress’:
improvements and development are assumed, but for
whom? What about the status of ‘information’ (FOI)
The explosion of signs and information leads to a collapse
of meaning (Baudrillard, 1993) and depthlessness. Are
notions of ‘truth’ and the ‘real’ increasingly challenged by
the ‘death of the author’ (Foucault)?
Are we concerned as traditional notions of community,
workplace, family and leisure are swept away?
The end of progress: the postmodern
story (Rojek, 1995)
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Social condition or social consciousness? Associated with
instability, mobility, constant flux and fragmentation
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Celebrates a playfulness and theatre of experiences, like Debord’s (1967)
‘society of the spectacle’. ICT’s facilitate the spectacular and the
superficiality of everyday life
Communication and information exchange central to
postmodernity. Electronic images become the sole means of
communication (think ‘aestheticization’)
Previous industrial work spaces now become leisure spaces (e.g.
textile mills and coal mines); loss of meaning?
‘Cyberspace’ the ultimate postmodern metaphor as it is
detached from a geographical reality and solidity
But what are the social and psychological impacts of this leisure
environment?
Indicative References
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Bell, D (1973) The Coming of
Post-Industrial Society, Penguin
Webster, F (2005) Theories of the
Information Society, Routledge
Kumar, K (1995) From postindustrial to post-modern society:
new theories of the contemporary
world, Blackwell
Lash, S & Urry, J (1994)
Economies of Signs and Space,
Sage
Rojek, C (1995) Decentring
leisure, Sage (Chapter’s 7 & 8)
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Cooper, J & Harrison, D.M. (2001)
'The social organization of audio
piracy on the Internet', Media,
Culture & Society, 23 (1): 71-89
Danet, B (2001) Cyberpl@y:
Communicating Online, Berg
Bull, M (2003) The Auditory
Culture Reader, Berg
Hadden, L (2004) Information and
Communication Technologies in
Everyday
Life: A Concise Introduction and
Research Guide, Berg