ABSTRACT
W o r l d w i d e access to all k n o w l e d g e avai lable , i n f o r m a t i o n over - flow, v i r t u a l i z a t i o n of eve ryday l i f e — w h a t is k n o w l e d g e in a society ca l l ed a n i n f o r m a t i o n society? I n w h a t ways a n d why is i n f o r m a t i o n b e c o m i n g m o r e c e n t r a l t o d a y i n d e e d , so c e n t r a l t h a t t h e t e r m " i n f o r m a t i o n socie ty" o r e v e n " k n o w l e d g e society" is j u s t i f i e d ? "An i n f o r m a t i o n society is o n e in w h i c h society is a w a r e of t h e i m p o r t - a n c e of i n f o r m a t i o n in every a s p e c t of its w o r k , a n a t t i t u d e of m i n d t h a t m a k e s f o r t h e e f f i c ien t , p r o d u c t i v e , b r o a d u t i l i za t ion of i n f o r - m a t i o n in every a s p e c t of l i fe" ( D o r d i c k / W a n g , 1993, 128). T h i s d e f i n i t i o n focuses o n t h e p r a g m a t i c i m p a c t of i n f o r m a t i o n in society. T h e t e r m " k n o w l e d g e " is b r o a d e r . I t e n c o m p a s s e s e x p e r t i s e , skills, a n d i n f o r m a t i o n (S teh r /Er i c son , 1992) . B u t e v e n t h o s e two n o t i o n s — u s e of i n f o r m a t i o n a n d k n o w l e d g e d e s c r i b e d as m o r e t h a n i n f o r m a t i o n — m a y n o t b e e n o u g h to d e f i n e w h a t k n o w l e d g e in a n i n f o r m a t i o n society is. T h e d e f i n i t i o n i g n o r e s t h e p r e s e n c e of i n f o r m a t i o n a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y as its basis . H e n c e , all socie t ies w e r e i n f o r m a t i o n societ ies . W i d e n i n g t h e p e r s p e c t i v e of k n o w l e d g e i n s t e a d of m e r e i n f o r m a t i o n , t heo r i s t s such as Fr i tz M a c h l u p (1962) , Y o n e j i M a s u d a (1981) a n d P e t e r D r u c k e r (1969) r e f e r t o t h e i n c r e a s i n g w e i g h t of k n o w l e d g e i n d u s t r i e s in J a p a n a n d t h e U n i t e d S ta tes of A m e r i c a . T h e y m a i n t a i n t h e p r o d u c t i o n , d i s t r i b u t i o n a n d c o n s u m p t i o n of k n o w l e d g e as t h e decis ive f a c t o r f o r e c o n o m i c g r o w t h a n d c o r p o r a t e c o m p e t i t i o n (Webster , 1994; D o r d i c k / W a n g , 1993, 3 3 - 5 2 ) .
