The Information Revolution: : Current and Future Consequences

Citation

Morgan, S. (1999), "The Information Revolution: : Current and Future Consequences", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 2-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.5.2.4

This volume in the series Contemporary Studies in Communication, Culture and Information offers up some new thinking about the consequences of the Information Revolution. This it does by seeking multiple perspectives ‐‐ those of modern management, the workplace, academe, politics and “information societies”. These topics which arose out of a series of seminars at Georgia Tech in the United States pose a set of challenges to those who are curious and concerned about the implications of living in an information‐based society. The book is therefore structured into these five parts and rounded off with a set of single paragraph predictions (which, incidentally, have surprisingly little to do with technology) from those who took part in the seminars.

The first trio of papers covers measurement of the information age business, the use of five management principles to deal with knowledge capital and the case for open engineering systems (for product design). In Part II (implications for the workplace) we see examples of companies that have reorganised around information, others that have increased work productivity by altering the mix of professional and support workers and a model of how groupware can make a difference with teams working in a variety of locations. Universities and research are the focus of Part III. The first brief paper examines the changes in teaching programmes and learning environments which developments in IT have brought about. This is followed by a discussion on the nature of electronic publishing as it pertains to the science research community. The conclusions are broadly optimistic, the new media being seen as allowing broader participation in scientific discussion, affording more timely and relevant information and allowing greater customisation of scientific outputs. The political implications of the Information Revolution are addressed in three specific areas in Part IV: democracy and IT (in relation to environmentalism and the World Wide Web); international affairs and IT, the impact of IT on modern warfare. The final clutch of papers looks at the more profound, indirect and extended consequences of the Information Revolution. The topics covered here are the impact of new technologies on our use of physical space (written by a distinguished architect), an exploration of whether this revolution really empowers the individual and whether it will augment democratic practices, the alternatives to the traditional job to meet the needs of increasing longevity and, finally, the extent to which IT is reducing the need for employment.

This is a thought‐provoking collection of papers on a wide range of topics. It is probably more accurate to say that some of the authors have addressed the IT revolution rather than the revolution of the title ‐‐ clearly, a much easier proposition. However, this should not detract from the quality of the contributions themselves some of which are quite technical and require some effort. Perseverance has its own rewards.