Information and Information Revolution

Introduction

The starting point for our study of information and communication technology is to understand the concepts of information and information revolution. The information explosion, aided by computers, the mass media and the continuously evolving nature of telecommunication networks, has contributed to the varied conceptions of contemporary society. Increasingly, information has become the defining feature of the modern world, mainly due to:

• The use of information in socio-political and economic spheres. Global attention is now "devoted to the 'informatisation' of social life: we are entering an 'information age', a new 'mode of information' predominates and we have moved into a 'global information economy" (Webster, 1997: 1).
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• The rapid developments of information technologies to create, analyse, store, communicate, and disseminate information. The focus here is on the computer, media and telecommunications technologies.

While it is difficult to define information, for the purpose of this study, we will utilise Frank Webster's (1997: 27) two approaches to the concept of information. Webster (1997: 27) notes that information is meaningful; it has subject; it is intelligence or instruction about something or someone. This is a semantic approach to defining information. The second definition provides us with a more specific approach. Here, information denotes whatever can be coded for transmission through a channel that connects a source with a receiver, regardless of the semantic content.

Conceptualising the Information Revolution

Contemporary society has often been referred to as the 'Information age' or 'information society'. These terms are apt in this epoch, considering the massive explosion of information, which has been facilitated by the technological revolution in computer applications and telecommunication networks. The increasing development in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has revolutionised various socio-political and economic sectors, such as manufacturing, business, science and technology, schools and homes. The information revolution indicates the massive production of information, which is increasing rapidly (Robertson, 1990).