From Information Society to Knowledge SocietyFraming the conceptual links between

ICT, Knowledge and Development

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• Information Society, origins of the concept and its impact

• Network Society, how is it different from previous forms of social organizations?

• Economic, technological, and ideological assumptions underlying the various terms

• Implications for development discourse

Overview

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1. The aggregate knowledge production made up29% of the adjusted gross national product (GNP);

2. The rate of growth was projected at 2.5 times the average growth rate of other components of the total GNP, and knowledge production would soon reach 50%of the GNP.

3. The total civilian labor force engaged in knowledge-producing activities was equal to 31.6% in 1969, and if full-time students of working age were added the total labor force would be equal to 42.8% of the population.

Machlup listed a number of reasons for studying the economics of knowledge, among them: Knowledge’s increasing share of the nation’s budget.

Knowledge’s social benefits, which exceed private benefits.

Knowledge as strongly associated with increases in productivity and economic growth.

Knowledge’s linkages to new information and communication technologies.

Shifts of demand from physical labour to brain workers.

Improving and adjusting the national-income accounting in the US.

“producing knowledge will mean, in this book, not only discovering, inventing, designing and planning, but also disseminating and communicating”.

Machlup

We will go into more in-depth discussion and debate about what constitutes knowledge in the following weeks.

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Knowledge as rational product of intellectual inquiry, using specific kinds of methods

There are substantial costs associated with the production and distribution of knowledge but the return on investment is substantial

Machlup

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High production cost

High distribution cost

High barriers to entry

Strict enforcement of copyrights to protect profit

The primary of firms and multinationals

Print paradigm and industrial mode of knowledge production

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But digital technology and the Internet completely disrupted the “industrial” mode of production

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New form of social organizations and activities enabled by digital network and communication technologies

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"As a historical trend, dominant functions and processes in the information age are increasingly organized around networks. Networks constitute the new social morphology of our societies, and the diffusion of networking logic substantially modifies the operations and outcomes in processes of production, experience of power and culture".

Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.: 469.IDSB10H3

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What is NEW about the Network Society?Technology

But“… new technology is not a sufficient

but a necessary condition for the kind of society we live in, the network society”

(Castells, 2000, 152)

Manuel Castells

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“Prevalence of Networks”

But

Networks are not new to human society

Manuel Castells

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Emergence of “global informational capitalism”

Still follow the logic of the “market” and “rational self-interest”

Manuel Castells

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In the past, social networks were more limited in different spheres. Networks were more exclusive.

The Internet changed the nature of networks by making them more inclusive and easy to participate.

Manuel Castells

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Network cross-cutting organizations

Firms FirmsGovernment

GovernmentNGO

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Castells – emphasize access to ICT to close the digital divide

Developing countries to participate in digital capitalism

Network Society and Development

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How the Internet enable social innovation

Global reachCommon and Open Standards not own

by anyoneParticipation is simple“Narrowcasting”New forms of non-market, commons

based peer production

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“The Wealth of Network” (2006) -Yochai Benkler

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High entry costTuring raw

materials into goods

Firms and Corporation

Vertical organizationCentralized decision

makingStandardization

Relatively low entry cost

Knowledge as raw material

Distributed production

Horizontal organization

Flexible decision making

Customization

Industrial Information Economy

Networked Information Economy

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View a video of Benkler’s lecture on “Open Source Economics”

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This week’s readings highlight the broader shift away from rigid vertical modes of organization towards ones more fluid horizontal.  How do we see this shift manifest in our political, social or economic systems?  Reflecting upon your own surroundings or experiences, how are we implicated by these shifts as citizens and consumers?

Question 1:

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How should we interpret this transition towards the “knowledge” or “network” society vis-à-vis our understandings international development? Does this transition suggest new opportunities for the global south to “leapfrog” onto a new path of development, or could it serve to exacerbate asymmetries between the core and the periphery?

Question 2:

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