ABOUT
Communication is fundamental to the valorisation of
information, and together information and communication play
multiple roles in social development. For example, layers of
information have accumulated over generations to provide us
with the stock of knowledge we take for granted in science,
culture and everyday life. This knowledge is communicated
from person to person and from generation to generation,
thus becoming the foundation for all new innovation. The
system of intellectual property rights has been devised as
one way of achieving a balance between rewarding creativity,
by granting limited rights to withhold or charge for
information, and simultaneously ensuring that there is a
viable public domain with information freely available to
future generations of creative minds.
Communication is also recognised as a basic requirement
for democratic society because it underpins other human
rights; ensuring that people can participate in the (re)organisation
of their social, cultural and political environments. These
rights are embodied in institutions and practices and evoked
in international covenants such as Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Together information and communication are the
fundamental building blocks of our societies - essential for
everything from technological innovation to cultural
development.
In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the information
domain became 'turbo-charged', first through mass media and
then ICTs. Suddenly, information processing could be
'industrialized'; copying and dissemination could in
principle be virtually instantaneous and infinite; access
could be made universal, or universally denied. The stakes
were hugely raised in terms of creativity, the balance
between ownership and social use of information, and
information and communication rights. Today the roles of
information and communication are international arenas of
contention, with dynamics often pulling against each other.
This research will contribute to defining a vision of an
information and communication society by examining a number
of aspects of these dynamics and by mapping out a series of
alternative scenarios for governance of information and
communication. The scenarios will examine implications of
the different levels of participation by various actors from
multilateral bodies, governments, private sector, and civil
society. The paper will conclude with a number of proposals
for actions.
Back
|