Download What does it mean for developing countries

Information, Knowledge and
Innovation
Cornerstones of the Information Society?
STIMULATE
5-6 October 2004
Brussels
SMIT – IBBT
Leo Van Audenhove
SMIT – Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication
Pleinlaan 2 – 1050 Brussels – Belgium – T. +32 2 629 24 18 – F. +32 2 629 28 61 - [email protected] – http://smit.vub.ac.be
Four Fallacies of the
Information Society
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Information Society Discourse
• IS Discourse often based on growth of
Internet
 Enormous explosion of Internet since 1990s
 New medium with enormous potentials
 Decentralized: No (or little) central control
 Participatory: Every Receiver is also a Sender
 Non-commercial: At least at early stages carried by
scientific community
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Every new media: discourse of emancipation
 Internet walhalla of free information
 High hopes for educational and social use
 eEurope
 hope that Internet leads to social cohesion
 Hope that Internet new motor of ec. growth
 Closing digital divide=closing knowledge divide
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Access to internet in developing countries
 lowers the barriers for access to information
 contributing to enhanced performance in all sectors
 contributing to individual empowerment
 new opportunities for development
(catching up=leapfrog)
 supported by examples of promising applications
• e.g. farmers know prices at the market
• e.g. doctors in London help doctors in Lusaka
 very powerful images because some truth in them
 question whether can be implemented on large scale
http://smit.vub.ac.be
The four fallacies
• Guided discussion on four fallacies of the IS
 assumptions underlying much of the discourse
of Internet and developmental impact
 which can be questioned from the point of
view of developmental countries
• Information is available
• Information is for free
• Information is knowledge
• Knowledge is social change
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Discussion
• On each point group discussion
 Start with an open discussion
 Would like you to reflect on basis of
 what you have seen in the course
 your own experiences in the field
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Information is available
• Assumption: The Internet is a sea of information
where individuals and institutions have access to
information for empowerment and development.
• What information is available, what information not?
 Western Bias in information production and provision
 e.g. production of scientific material about DC
• Internet changes the possibilities of access
• Internet does not change the fact that production largely
Western
 The hidden web
 More and more information hidden in databases
• Until last year info in Dialog bigger than whole web
 Not seen by search engines
 Not accessible for many
http://smit.vub.ac.be
 Contextual factors inhibiting access?
 Language remains predominantly English
 Valuable information is localized and contextualized
• E.g. information on HIV
 Overload:
• Availability might become a problem in itself
• Selection becomes more important
• Costs time and money
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Information is free
• Assumption: The Internet and the enormous amount
of information available will drive the cost of
information down.
• Two tendencies in information provision
 Increasing amount of information free
 Eldis: scientific/policy material on different policy areas for
DC
 Increasing commodification of information
 Educational and scientific world
 Information from public service institutions
• E.g. BBC as public service versus commercial service
 Question is what information is for free and what
information is not for free?
 Impression that strategic information and selection
becoming expensive
 Contextualization of information remains expensive
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Information is Knowledge
• Assumption: Access to the information on the
internet leads to knowledge generation
 Knowledge= organised information
 Embedded in a social context
 Ability to make sense of information, how to relate it to
one’s own life
 Difficult to acquire
 Explicit knowledge: conscious, encodable, transferrable
 Tacit knowledge: unconscious, not encodable, has to be
learned
 Wisdom=
 Capacity to know what body of knowledge to use to solve a
significant problems
 Knowing what questions to ask about knowledge
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Knowledge is social change
• Assumption: Knowledge is sufficient for
social change.
 Arrogant position
 A lot of people know what their situation is and
know what the solution is
 Other more structural barriers can hamper
them from acting
 Resources needed to put knowledge into practice
 Power relations at different levels local, national and
international
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Information Society Theory
& Developing Countries
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Information Society Theory
• Webster five types of theories
 technology, economy, occupation, culture,
spatial
 in recent years most common theories start
from technology, i.e. from developments in
ICTs
 new possibilities in transmission and storage of
information
 lead to new possibilities in all sectors of society
 often very positive about influence on society
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Two critique from the left
 Negation:
 Rejection of IS as something new
 Webster, Robins and Webster, Garnham, etc.
 Evolution:
 technological change as the starting point of critique
 IS seen as new phase in capitalism
 Melody, Mansell, Freeman, Soete, Castells, Antonelli,
etc.
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• In this session we focus on the second category
 authors starting from technology change
 embedding it in broader economic and social processes
 from a critical view
 (neo-marxian and neo-schumpeterian)
 Marx: economy central determinant in social structuring
 Schumpeter: technological innovation central for increasing
productivity (and thus for growth of economies and
competition between economies)
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Why focus?
 a more correct interpretation of what is really happening
 sheds more realistic light on possibilities of developing
countries to leap-frog (to jump stages of development)
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Problem of theories
• Rather complex, dense and confusing
 see ICTs as all-pervasive, changing all sectors
 do not distinguish between changes in specific sectors,
at economic levels or at level of social institutions and
structures
• Goal of this session (and article)
 rephrase theories according to level of argumentation
 look at implications for developing countries
 all too often theories of the information society are seen as
universally valid
 critical authors much more cautious
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Levels of analysis and
conceptualization
•
•
•
•
•
The
The
The
The
The
information industry
micro-economic level
meso-economic level
macro-economic level
social level
• Division is somewhat artificial
 Most authors combine different levels
 BUT: can be very useful as a tool to better understand
theory
http://smit.vub.ac.be
The Information Industry
• Mix of factors has fundamentally changed the
industry
 technological: convergence through digitalization
 convergence of telecommunications, media and computing
into one sector
 political: new international regulatory frameworks
 liberalization of markets as result of GATS negotiations
 especially in finance, services, telecommunications and
electronics
 economical: globalization of financial and other markets
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Why information industry of utmost importance?
 Information industry one of few growing sectors in West
 in many traditional sectors delocalization of production
 hope that employment in information industry (services)
will balance the loss
 Information industry the underlying industry of
information society
 produce the technology, services and information products,
used and consumed in IS
 countries (or blocks) want to harbor new industrial
champions
 IPR (commodification of information) important
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• What is the position of the developing countries
• Technologically two options
 try to become part of information industry
 enormous investment and capacity needed
 road might be long and many losers
 import technologies to support economies in other areas
 paradox
 imports risk to remain high:
• ICTs and renewal remain expensive
 exports risk to remain low:
• higher production in already overcrowded markets
• import barriers in the West so far remain intact
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Culturally
 risk of being swamped with Western content and
services
 interactivity of new technologies potentially provides a
channel back (e.g. Internet)
 structural imbalance will remain high
http://smit.vub.ac.be
The Micro-economic level
• Level of individual firm
 knowledge most important factor in production
 R&D driving force of innovation
 Marketing driving force of distribution
 ICTs the underlying infrastructure
 e.g. Cellphone and Medicine
 also more and more the case in services
 knowledge driven production makes innovation cyclus very
fast
• Cellphones: huge, sexy, color, tunes, MMS, gaming
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• What does that mean for policy?
 Knowledge Society in the West supported by complex
web of public and private institutions that support
education, research and innovation
 life long learning
 flexibilization of employment
• What does it mean for developing countries
 information society is a knowledge society
 not only question of access to information
 question of education, research, connection between
research and education, industrial development, etc.
http://smit.vub.ac.be
The Meso-economic level
• Focus on the level of interaction between firms
 classical theories of economy: market place
• new theories of economy: network economy
 firms work in close networks
 rely on each others R&D and knowledge
 are strongly interdependent
 e.g. car production (doors Sidmar-VW)
• two consequences
 high performance ICT networks important for
communication
 geographic proximity highly important
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• What does that mean for policy?
 in West stimulation of technology valleys
 Silicon Valley, Munich Area, Paris Area, etc.
 invest in high performance ICT and transport infrastructure
• What does that mean for developing countries?
 very difficult to become part of the industrial network
 invest in ICT infrastructure and skilled labour
 Malaysia: MultiMediaCorridor
 South Africa: plans to develop Jo’burg-Pretoria ax
 make investment attractive through tax-exemptions,
etc.
 contradictory
http://smit.vub.ac.be
The Macro-economic level
• Focus on economic structures of countries
• Globalization of central economic activity
 liberalization of most markets (since 1980s)
 ICTs makes it possible to integrate segments of markets
worldwide
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• Shift in balance between states and capital
(firms)
 powerless states
 states have to compete against each other for
companies and economic activity
• DHL, Ford Motors Genk
 creation of a global network economy
 only those places interesting for the global network
economy are connected
 large parts of the developing countries and
disadvantaged regions in the West disconnected
• Where does it leave Africa?
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• What is the role of policy in the powerless
state?
 Create an enabling environment for investment
 High skilled (low wage) workers
• Good educational system
• Pleasant environment to live
 High quality infrastructures
• ICTs and telecommunications
• Transport
 Low-taxes both on employment and companies
• What does it mean for developing countries
 Exactly the same
http://smit.vub.ac.be
The Social level
• Globally two types of labour
 self-programmable labour:
 highly educated and flexible workers
 flexible in terms of learning and relearning
 allowed to move globally
• e.g. Indian Engineers and Informatics specialists
 generic labour:
 non skilled workers
 easily replaceble by either technology or
delocalization of production
 not allowed to move globally
• e.g. economic asylum seekers in the West
http://smit.vub.ac.be
• What does it mean for society
 rebalancing of wages - growing inequality
 together with pressure on taxes to keep economic
activity within countries
 in the West pressure on the Welfare state
http://smit.vub.ac.be
Don’t want to end negative
• Is this a gloomy picture on the future?
 Yes it is.
• Is there hope?
 Yes there is.
 Counter-reaction
 Developing countries starting to question global
economic structures (Cancun)
• South Africa, Brazil, Egypt, India leading countries
 In the West movement for an alternative
globalisation
http://smit.vub.ac.be