TOOLS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY: AN OVERVIEW

CHAPTER I

I   THE SHAPE OF INFORMATION TO COME: A STRATEGIC TOOL FOR THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

As the Internet and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) become strategic tools in the knowledge economy for governments, and, as a result, society begins to take a new and ubiquitous shape and form, the need for governments to develop information policies to suit the changing nature of these technologies is becoming more evident. In much of the developed and developing world, the Internet, and Information and Communications Technologies are a communications force that is growing. According to NUA plc, a company in Ireland that tracks the growth of the Internet and the implication of our growing information technology infrastructure, as of March 2001, there were approximately 300 million people online around the world. 65% of the population in the United States and Canada had some form of online access to the Internet. This was in the office, the home, an educational institute or some public space, such as libraries, community halls, Internet cafes and other public venues. These numbers will grow exponentially. It is expected that by the year 2005 there could be as many as one billion people connected to the Internet around the world. This has important ramifications for countries contributing the development of strong knowledge economies. This section deals with the whole question of information and its importance to the new economies.

We are now awash with information in our new information technology environments. There are currently billions of pages out on the world wide web. There is so much information that no single search engine can go out and suck up all the information an individual might be seeking. In fact, there is such a proliferation of information that many search engine companies now do not give total access to everything that is on the web. What some of the search engine companies are now doing is giving priority to companies who pay to have their company or organization show first on a search, when a given topic or key word is entered into their search engine. This is now giving an edge to those who can afford to pay the necessary fee to be at the top of the list.
The Web is now so big that some web sites are not even being joined to the network of networks because there might be a connection problem in their local area. Also, government and private organizations are now building web sites that can only be accessed through their own Intranets, or by having a specific address for a web site with a password to enter. The world is at the fingertips of the citizen, but the new challenge is actually finding what is out there. The success of our new information technology environments, and the growth of national knowledge economies, is going to depend on how much access to information citizens will have in the decade to come. It will be important for governments, who want to ensure success in building knowledge-based economies themselves contribute through information rich websites.

Knowledge is dependant on good information and having access to that information in a multitude of forms. The degree to which governments develop good information policies for the private sector, and citizens overall, will determine the degree of success and growth of local knowledge economies. In the global environments the degree to which information can be used strategically in the new economy, will become paramount.

Information is shaping our world. We now live in the Digital Age, in which information, in a global knowledge economy, has become the supreme commodity. Information is not only a piece of barter for the business world to use for competitive and commercial value. Information is now a precious commodity for the citizen whether it is for education, health, or their daily lives. The knowledge economy's most valuable asset is the individual knowledge worker who can utilize, as fully as possible, information resources in the surrounding environment. That environment includes the Internet. But for local economies the way governments make a variety of information available will only enhance the process of the knowledge economy. For example, in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, there are active programs to ensure citizens have access to information resources from a variety of sources.
At the moment, citizens are sharing and using personal and aggregate information in the new information technologies environment. In this milieu, the citizen is becoming increasingly sophisticated in understanding the impact that information can have on one's life. The individual wants unfettered access to all manner of information while ensuring that one's own personal information is protected in the emerging technological environments. But the sheer amount of information available, the ability to communicate information, and the value that individuals put on information, is bringing a new understanding of the nature of information itself. This understanding is also what is driving the new forces for change in the growing knowledge economies around the world.

Thus, on the side of freedom of information, the public is starting to demand more information for all facets of their lives. We see more data on labels of commercial products; shareholders demand more information about the activities of the companies in which they are investing (not just the usual "hyped" good news about the company's activities in the past year). Citizens are demanding and seeking more information about many activities in society, in the public and private sectors alike. Thus, it is essential that governments have strong information policies as strategic tools to ensure they are competitive in the knowledge economy.
Another key element of information in the knowledge economy is the nature of information rights in the private sector. Thus, it appears that the next wave of information rights will spread out to the private sector. As the average citizen becomes armed with more knowledge (or at least has the capacity to be armed with knowledge), then it will be private sector organizations, along with governments, who are going to have to become more forthcoming about the information held in their organizations. The private sector here means not just large corporations or businesses, but rather all organizations, including non-profits. Just as privacy moved into the domain of the private sector thirty years ago, when Sweden passed the first data protection law in the world, so will information laws to protect and inform consumers become a part of the private sector domain. The shape and form it takes will be different, but the providing of more information to society will occur. This is an inevitable evolution as all knowledge-based economies are driven by a wide compendium of information in the society of countries.
As the knowledge economy grows, and the knowledge professional comes to be seen as a powerful force in our society, so will the demands for wider swathes of information grow. It might seem at the moment that we already live in a world with too much information. This change of demand for information will be for "organized" information that informs, not overwhelms, the citizen.

II   The Discipline of Information

In our new environments, we have to look at information as the force it has become in society. Changing environments bring different attitudes.
For example, as governments go online with electronic service delivery, more content is going to become available to the public. But it is not going to be enough to put information up on a web site. Any information is going to have to be organized.
In many cases, there is too much information on a web site, which makes the site virtually unusable by the citizen. Thus, information management is rising as a discipline within government. This is vital, so that policies can be evolved which ensure citizens are getting the information they need and want (not what someone 'thinks' the public want), while at the same time protecting individual privacy. Once governments put content online, a policy issue will immediately emerge. The private sector learned this in the early days of the web. The growth of online marketing and e-commerce brought with it major privacy and copyright issues. For the citizen, who is going online for government information, if a request is rejected, the issue will become: why can't I have access?
In an information-intensive society, citizens want more from both governments and the private sector alike. The above is simply an overview of the emerging issues and problems. Solutions need to be sought, as these new technologies become even more persuasive forces in our society.

III   Possible Solutions: Information as a Practical Tool

There are numerous ways that governments at the local, regional and national level can facilitate these new forms of democracy that are emerging. One is to take the example of Canada. The Canadian government, through their Community Access Program (CAP) has a goal to establish over 10,000 public access sites in rural and urban communities across Canada. Launched in 1997, CAP has already established over 4,200 sites in approximately 3,000 rural and remote communities and is a key component of the government's "Connecting Canadians" strategy - aimed at making Canada the world's most connected nation. The program is now being expanded to include urban centres with populations over 50,000.

CAP matching funds of up to $17,000 per site are available to eligible applicants such as educational institutions, public libraries, community organizations, and municipal and territorial governments. The community funds can include cash or "in kind" contributions, such as facilities, equipment, and staffing of public access sites.
This is a good model to be followed not only by national governments but international organizations. If we are to handle the digital divide between those who have the opportunities to be online and the vast numbers of people who cannot necessarily afford the costs of going online, it is essential to level the playing field. In any democracy it is important that initiatives embrace all the people. At the moment it is estimated there are about 300 million people online. These are small numbers where our world population has exceeded 6 billion people.

Whatever the methodologies governments choose to deliver services to their citizenry, provide information, or work to expand their national knowledge economy, the challenges are daunting but doable. Modern technologies, changing attitudes, and major shifts in society are creating these pressures to change.