Network Europe And The Information Society

This text offers an examination of a range of technological issues at stake in the European Union. It discerns social trends but finds there is considerable room to use the technologies as a force for social change.

This publication sets out to make the case for giving everyone the possibility of participating in the development of a European vision of democracy in the age of the information society. It asks what impact the new media are having on politics and representative democracy, looking at the growing relationship between politics and the media and the new links between democracy and representation. It also examines the effect of technological development on the broadening of the political arena and the new ways of exercising political responsibility.

The globalization of social, cultural and economic relations is facilitated, and at the same time conditioned by developments in the information and communications technologies (ICT) and infrastructure. Human knowledge brought mankind from an oral to a literate culture, thanks to the invention of print media. The development of the electronic media in the 20th century paved the way for the information age, in which spatial and temporal constraints are lifted. This work explores the consequences of this revolution in human communications, which are multidimensional in character, affecting economical, political and social life on national, international and local levels. The text is part of a series of volumes arising from the intellectual work of ECCR members.

The developments in information and communications technologies (ICT) have had significant effects on many aspects of modern society. This publication adopts a holistic approach to discuss diverse and opposing current opinions on the role of ICT in the fields of employment, economic growth, the media, education, science and technology, law and culture, as well as in new areas such as e-voting and e-governance.

This volume explores the patterns and dynamics of the network society in its policy dimension, ranging from the knowledge economic, based in technology and innovation, to the organizational reform and modernization in the public sector, focusing also the media and communication policies. The Network Society is our society, a society made of individuals, businesses and state operating from the local, national and into the international arena.

Uniting a team of international and interdisciplinary scholars, this volume considers the views of early twentieth-century European thinkers on the creation, dissemination and management of publicly available information. Interdisciplinary in perspective, the volume reflects the nature of the thinkers discussed, including Otto Neurath, Patrick Geddes, the English Fabians, Paul Otlet, Wilhelm Ostwald and H. G. Wells. The work also charts the interest since the latter part of the nineteenth century in finding new ways to think about and to manage the growing body of available information in order to achieve aims such as the advancement of Western civilization, the alleviation of inequalities across classes and countries, and the promotion of peaceful coexistence between nations. In doing so, the contributors provide a novel historical context for assessing widely-held assumptions about today's globalized, 'post modern' information society. This volume will interest all who are curious about the creation of a modern networked information society.

'. . . offers a fresh look at efforts to manage telecommunications and the emerging "information society" in Europe.ë _ Communication Booknotes Quarterly European countries have recently been involved in an extremely broad set of regulator

Europe enlarged its boundaries in 2004 with the accession of ten new member states to the European Union. The creation of an effective information society is seen as critical to the global competitiveness of Europe. Based upon detailed data collection and rigorous analysis, the book presents a benchmarking study of the 10 new member states and 3 candidate countries of the European Union as compared to the 15 incumbent countries with respect to the development of their information societies. Using a framework based on the Europe 2005 benchmarking framework, the 28 EU members and candidate countries are ranked according to their level of information society development, and then classified into 4 categories. The results presented in this book are of importance to all managers and companies doing business in the IT sector in the European Union.