Dear jirkat-ga,
Good day!
This is a very interesting and relevant question and has been examined
by various researchers from time to time. The major change brought
about by the ICT is transformation of the industrial economy into a
knowledge and network economy. This concept of the "new" economy has
been adopted by by the government, the corporates and the citizens.
ICT brings about
i) openness
ii) democratization
iii) connectivity
iv) accountability
v) accessibility
vi) decentralization
The networking of people, projects, ideas and innovation (facilitated
and accelerated by the ICT) leads to a power shift and social
transformation.
The impact of ICT on the society can be felt at the local level, the
national level, the regional level and the global level.
Some examples of the ICT applications at the local level include:
i) Local government support and social services - e-governance
ii) Smart communities/schools
iii) Market information/opportunities
iv) Employment opportunities
v) Local content creation
Atthe national level, ICT helps the society by helping provide:
i) e-governence
ii) Regulatory framework and cyber-laws
iii) Sustainable human development, e.g., e-learning, telemedicine, etc.
iv) e-commerce
At the regional and the global levels, ICT facilitates cooperation and
growth by easing the government-to-government, people-to-people
contacts and sharing of education, best practices, etc.
With all the above beneficial impacts of ICT on the society also come
some issues. The biggest of these issues is the "digital divide" - the
gap between those who have access to technology (telephones, computers
and, increasingly, the Intenet) and related services and those who do
not have access to these resources. This digital divide exists at all
the levels of society, e.g., the ethnic minorities in the USA vs. the
majority; the rural poor in India vs. the urban educated; least
developed countries (e.g., the sub-Saharan Africa) vs. most developed
countries (e.g., the Netherlands).
I hope that the above introduction to the subject matter is
satisfactory to you! As my fellow researchers have pointed out, there
are innumerable resources on the topic.
Additional Links
"The influence of ICT on society and government. E-conomy: ICT and
market operation" by Eric van Damme and Benedict Dellaert (Dec 12,
2001)
Infodrome
http://www.infodrome.nl/english/damme.html
"ICT and Society" by National Informatics Centre
Asian Parliamentarians Forum
www.eapf.net/resource/presentation/ict-society.ppt
Intenet Galaxy by Manuel Castells. Oxford University Press (2002).
ISBN 0-19-925577-6
Search Strategy
Impact of ICT on Society
://www.google.com/search?q=Impact+of+ICT+on+Society&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&start=20&sa=N
define: digital divide
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=define%3A+digital+divide
Thanks and regards,
reeteshv-ga,
Google Answers researcher |
