Information age. The era of information

Information Revolution is a metaphor that reflects the revolutionary impact of information technology on all spheres of society in the last quarter of the XX century. This phenomenon integrates the effects of previous revolutionary inventions into information sphere(book printing, telephony, radio communication, Personal Computer), since it creates a technological basis for overcoming any distances in the transmission of information, which contributes to the unification of intelligent ...

The Information Age (also known as the era of computers or the information age (electronic age)) is an ongoing period in human history characterized by a global shift from a traditional industry established by the industrial revolution to a digitalized, computerized industry based on the transfer of information. Also, the era is characterized by ample opportunities for individuals to freely transmit and receive information and instant access, how to ...

Media competence is the result of media education, the level of media culture that provides an individual's understanding of the socio-cultural, economic and political context of the functioning of the media, which indicates his ability to be a carrier and transmitter of media-cultural tastes and standards, effectively interact with the media space, and create new elements of media culture in modern society.

The Digital Revolution is a widespread transition from analogue to digital technologies that began in the 1980s and continued in the first decades of the 21st century; fundamental changes associated with the widespread dissemination of information and communication technologies, which began in the second half of the XX century, and became the prerequisites for the information revolution, which, in turn, predetermined the processes of globalization and the emergence of a post-industrial economy. The main driving forces ...

Scientific and technological progress (STP) is the forward movement of science and technology, the evolutionary development of all elements of the productive forces of social production on the basis of broad knowledge and development of the external forces of nature; it is an objective, constantly operating pattern of development of material production, the result of which is the consistent improvement of technology, technology and organization of production, an increase in their efficiency.

This is a historical period in which human society carries out its activities "within the theoretical paradigm determined by information communication technologies, which are based on electronics and genetic engineering." The information age is characterized by extensive reproduction of information and knowledge; the economy is global and has an informational character, that is, the availability of timely and necessary information becomes a factor in the successful competition of organizations.
The development of information technologies, new methods of communication requires the creation in the socio-economic system of a flexible network management structure, focus on innovation, information, intellectual property, new technologies of the organization business processes, delegation of authority, responsibility, independence of the elements of the organization with a single culture.
Changing the structure of the socio-economic system is impossible without changing the organizational culture, since, as mentioned above, the organizational culture has a structure-forming function, and, in addition, has a direct impact on the process of self-organization of the system.
The organizational structure can be of two types: traditional hierarchical and networked. Hierarchical structures are the most common linear-functional, divisional structures. Networking relies on the interaction of elements and horizontal connections.
A change in the structure is associated with a change in the connections and relationships between elements: their interactions, risk distribution, etc.
So, if in traditional hierarchical structures the risk is minimized by unification, strict control, then in network structures the risk is shared among the elements of the organization. Risk sharing, flexibility of diverse relationships and cultural cohesion ensure the stability and survival of the system, despite external shocks and changes.
Examples of such a structure include churches, well-functioning firms, informal organizations, and communities of people. If in old system Since management was focused on vertical ties and hierarchy, in the new management model, the emphasis should be placed on horizontal ties, which will provide the necessary share of independence to the members of the organization.
It should be noted that flexible structure does not imply a lack of structure. V network model there is no control hierarchy, but there are
different levels, and they are determined not by the position held, a step in the hierarchy, but by professionalism, competence.
In the modern conditions of the functioning of organizations, labor relations are changing (that is, the relationship between the elements social system change their character): the importance of social status, position becomes less than the possession of information, and professionalism. Information Technology allow workers of many specialties to be outside the workplace, outside the organization and even outside the city and country.
Thus, in the formation and development of organizational culture, it should be borne in mind that it directly affects the structure of the socio-economic system, forms new relationships and connections between people as elements of the system.

Once upon a time, knowledge (information) was stored in very expensive basic systems, which, like the Bible, were in the castles of dukes and bishops. The Bibles were carefully guarded by the guards, and the guards allowed only tried, tested and socially alienated hackers named “monks” into the Bible's “body”. When Johannes Gutenber invented the printing press in 1456 ( Hardware), this marked the offensive information age, and the knowledge-information processing system made it possible to engage in the mass production of individual books (inexpensive software for home use).

Not so long ago, computers were in the same sociopolitical situation as the pre-Gutenberg Bibles. The basic information processors that ran society were the monopoly of government and huge corporations. They were closely guarded by priest technicians with security clearance. The average educated person deliberately kept himself in a state of electronic illiteracy, helplessness, and, for obvious reasons, had a fear of computers.

My first contact with computers (or rather, with computers) occurred in 1950, when I was appointed to lead a research project in the field of psychology by the Kaiser Foundation. We built graphs and identified regular manifestations of certain qualities in people in order to learn how to conduct interpersonal personality diagnostics. In accordance with the principles of humanistic psychology, the goal this study was to eliminate human dependence on experts, doctors, professionals, organizations, diagnoses and all sorts of thematic interpretations. To this end, we conducted a survey of subjects who had to answer all our questions only "yes" or "no", and returned: the information received from them in the form of graphs and indices.

Since in our research we relied on directly obtained information, it was ideally amenable to computer analysis. Every day, we sent tons of data to the computer room of the Kaiser's foundation, where mysterious operators turned our numbers into indices and graphs.

Computers were useful, but they were distant and inaccessible. I treated them with suspicion, for I saw in them devices that increase the degree of a person's dependence on experts.

In 1960, I became director of the psychedelic drug research program at Harvard. This project also pursued humanistic goals: people trained in the correct use of psychoactive drugs ceased to depend on doctors and medical institutions. Once again, we had to turn to computers to statistically process subjects' responses to questions about hallucinogenic experiences during consciousness expansion sessions. Back then, I had no idea that these omnipotent and knowledgeable computers could ever become personal. I now know that our research on psychedelic drugs, and indeed the entire psychedelic culture, was a preparatory stage for the advent of the personal computer era.

In 1972, the eminent LSD researcher John Lilly wrote a fundamental monograph on the brain as a system for processing information and working with knowledge. “Programming and Metaprogramming of the Human Biocomputer”. Temporarily removed under the influence of psychedelics protective shield consciousness, and a person directly feels the chaotic signals of a functioning brain. We are talking here about the destruction of analog perception and the chaotic change of images that turn into contrails of flashing neurons, into the disorderly reproduction of chaotic mental programs that penetrate into consciousness and slip out of consciousness in the same way as floppy disks are inserted and removed from the computer's disk drive.

The seven million Americans who realized the enormous potential of the brain during their consciousness expansion travels certainly paved the way for the creation of the computer society.

The advent of personal computers was a step on a Gutenberg scale. If the personal book turned a muscular-feudal society into a mechanical-industrial one, the personal computer allowed a person to survive and evolve in the information age.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The growing role of information as a resource has led to the official recognition of a new type of war by the world's leading states - information wars. Information warfare), the purpose of which is not to physically destroy the enemy, but using information (information operations, psychological operations) to obtain and consolidate a competitive advantage over him, that is, to make the enemy dependent in terms of his own information self-sufficiency, to impose on him the use of such information resources that would primarily serve their own interests (states or corporations).

Challenges and trends

These changes have not only brought new challenges to humanity associated with the directly proportional dependence of the intensity of informatization and urbanization with an increase in the number of diseases associated with physical inactivity and constant stress of the city dweller (total "obesity" of the inhabitants of developed countries), but also made it possible as never before to implement the provisions of the ancients thinkers of humanity - first of all, the introduction of positive aspects of concepts such as the noosphere and co-evolution.

Choosing the right information is one of the challenges. Waves of spam and flooding (not only on the Internet, but also in the media) sometimes make receiving really necessary, useful information difficult task. And the widespread use of computer technology poses a number of new challenges to the information security of individual organizations, individuals and entire states (see competitive intelligence, industrial espionage, cyberwar).

Usage network technologies(on the basis of information) made possible not only the total pooling of the resources of all mankind, but also terrorist acts unprecedented in the history of mankind (9/11, The Tragedy of Nord-Ost, Explosions in the London Underground). Terrorism has become a serious problem.

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Excerpt from the Information Age

The conversation did not subside throughout the evening, focusing mainly on political news. At the end of the evening, he became especially animated when it came to the awards bestowed by the sovereign.
- After all, last year I received NN a snuff-box with a portrait, - said l "homme a l" esprit profond, [a man of deep mind] - why can't SS get the same award?
- Je vous demande pardon, une tabatiere avec le portrait de l "Empereur est une recompense, mais point une distinction," said the diplomat, un cadeau plutot.
- Il y eu plutot des antecedents, je vous citerai Schwarzenberg. [There were examples - Schwarzenberg.]
- C "est impossible, [This is impossible,] - another objected.
- Bet. Le grand cordon, c "est different ... [Tape is a different matter ...]
When everyone got up to leave, Helene, who had spoken very little all evening, again turned to Boris with a request and a gentle, significant order that he should be with her on Tuesday.
“I really need this,” she said with a smile, looking back at Anna Pavlovna, and Anna Pavlovna with that sad smile that accompanied her words when speaking about her high patroness, confirmed Helene's desire. It seemed that on that evening, from some words spoken by Boris about the Prussian army, Helene suddenly discovered the need to see him. She seemed to have promised him that when he arrived on Tuesday, she would explain this necessity to him.
Arriving on Tuesday evening at Helene's magnificent salon, Boris did not receive a clear explanation of why he needed to come. There were other guests, the Countess spoke little to him, and only saying goodbye, when he kissed her hand, she, with a strange lack of a smile, unexpectedly, in a whisper, said to him: Venez demain diner ... le soir. Il faut que vous veniez ... Venez. [Come to dinner tomorrow ... in the evening. You need to come ... Come.]
On this visit to St. Petersburg, Boris became a close friend in the house of Countess Bezukhova.

The war was flaring up, and its theater was approaching the Russian borders. The curses to the enemy of the human race, Bonaparte, were heard everywhere; warriors and recruits gathered in the villages, and contradictory news came from the theater of war, as always false and therefore differently interpreted.
The life of the old prince Bolkonsky, prince Andrei and princess Marya has changed in many ways since 1805.
In 1806, the old prince was appointed one of the eight commander-in-chief of the militia, then appointed throughout Russia. The old prince, despite his senile weakness, which became especially noticeable at the time when he considered his son killed, did not consider himself entitled to resign from the position to which he had been determined by the sovereign himself, and this activity, which was newly revealed to him, excited and strengthened him. He constantly traveled to the three provinces entrusted to him; he was meticulous in his duties, strict to the point of cruelty with his subordinates, and he himself went to the smallest details of the case. Princess Marya had already ceased to take mathematics lessons from her father, and only in the morning, accompanied by a nurse, with little Prince Nikolai (as his grandfather called him) entered his father's study when he was at home. Chest Prince Nikolai lived with the nurse and nanny Savishna in the half of the late princess, and Princess Marya spent most of the day in the nursery, replacing, as best she could, her mother for her little nephew. M lle Bourienne, too, seemed to be passionately in love with the boy, and Princess Mary, often depriving herself, yielded to her friend the pleasure of nursing the little angel (as she called her nephew) and playing with him.
At the altar of the Lysogorsk church there was a chapel over the grave of the little princess, and a marble monument brought from Italy was erected in the chapel depicting an angel spreading his wings and preparing to rise to heaven. The angel's upper lip was slightly raised, as if he was about to smile, and once Prince Andrey and Princess Marya, leaving the chapel, confessed to each other that it was strange, the face of this angel reminded them of the face of the deceased. But what was even stranger, and what Prince Andrew did not tell his sister, was that in the expression that the artist accidentally gave to the face of an angel, Prince Andrew read the same words of meek reproach that he read then on the face of his dead wife: “Oh, why did you do this to me? ... "
Soon after the return of Prince Andrey, the old prince separated his son and gave him Bogucharovo, a large estate located 40 miles from the Bald Mountains. Partly because of the difficult memories associated with Bald Hills, partly because Prince Andrey did not always feel able to endure his father's character, partly because he needed solitude, Prince Andrey took advantage of Bogucharov, built there and spent most of time.
Prince Andrew, after the Austerlitz campaign, firmly decided never to serve again in military service; and when the war began, and everyone had to serve, he, in order to get rid of active service, took a position under the command of his father in collecting the militia. The old prince and his son seemed to have changed roles after the 1805 campaign. The old prince, excited by activity, expected all the best from this campaign; Prince Andrew, on the contrary, not participating in the war and secretly regretting that, saw one bad thing.
On February 26, 1807, the old prince left for the district. Prince Andrew, as for the most part during his father's absences, remained in Bald Hills. Little Nikolushka was unwell for the 4th day. The coachmen who drove the old prince returned from the city and brought papers and letters to Prince Andrei.
The valet with letters, not finding the young prince in his study, walked halfway through Princess Marya; but he was not there either. The valet was told that the prince had gone to the nursery.
“Please, your Excellency, Petrusha has come with the papers,” said one of the girls of the nanny’s assistants, addressing Prince Andrei, who was sitting on a small children's chair and, with trembling hands, frowning, dripped medicine from a bottle into a glass half filled with water.
- What? - he said angrily, and inadvertently trembling with his hand, poured an extra amount of drops from the glass into the glass. He threw the medicine out of the glass on the floor and again asked for water. The girl handed it to him.
In the room there was a cot, two chests, two armchairs, a table and a children's table and a high chair, the one on which Prince Andrey was sitting. The windows were hung, and a single candle burned on the table, filled with a bound music book so that no light fell on the crib.
“My friend,” Princess Marya said, addressing her brother from the crib she was standing at, “it's better to wait ... after ...
“Oh, please, you’re still talking nonsense, you’ve been waiting for everything, so you’ve waited,” said Prince Andrei in an embittered whisper, apparently wanting to prick his sister.
“My friend, it’s better not to wake him up, he fell asleep,” the princess said in an imploring voice.
Prince Andrey got up and, on tiptoe, with a glass, went to the bed.
- Or definitely not wake up? He said hesitantly.
“As you wish — right… I think… but as you wish,” said Princess Marya, apparently shy and ashamed that her opinion had triumphed. She pointed out to her brother the girl who had summoned him in a whisper.
It was the second night that they both did not sleep, caring for the boy who was burning in the heat. All these days, not trusting their home doctor and waiting for the one for whom they were sent to the city, they tried this or that remedy. Exhausted by sleeplessness and anxious, they dumped their grief on each other, reproached each other and quarreled.
- Petrusha with papers from papa, - the girl whispered. - Prince Andrew went out.

Alexander Vasilenko
Head of the Representative Office of VMware in Russia and the CIS

In today's dynamic world, the principles of doing business are changing rapidly. Mobile and cloud technologies are fundamentally transforming today's markets and forcing companies to seek new ways to compete and interact with customers. To succeed in the digital age, businesses need to learn how to adapt to unpredictable, 24/7 changes.

A large number of new players appear all over the world who immediately start working with consumers in a new way. They take completely new approaches to product, service and user experience. It's not just about companies like Uber, Facebook, Airbnb and Alibaba, experts are talking about in general. The founder and president of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Klaus Schwab, put it this way: “Previously, a big fish ate a small one, but now a fast fish eats a slow one.”

New dynamic competitors are not burdened with the burden of outdated processes and infrastructures, and pose a real threat to conservative organizations. Those companies that deny this and do not want to accept the new paradigm of digital business run the risk of becoming less in demand and leaving the market altogether. Today the question is not whether it is worth changing. Changes are necessary, everyone understands this. The question is how exactly to change and what to do? The new wave of IT innovation poses new strategic challenges for organizations.

1. Asymmetry in business

Today the best time in history to become the first company in the industry to challenge the status quo. Thanks to the ubiquitous mobile cloud technology, light-minded innovators have quick and easy access to global network“Common” online resources, including the human resources, capital and market of three billion people connected to the Internet around the world. In today's asymmetric business world, startups have nothing to lose, so they are actively moving to new business models that completely change the rules of the game. Large and reputable players must understand that a long stay in the market will soon cease to be their competitive advantage. Requirement modern world: innovate as a startup and operate at the level of a large corporation.

Think of Kodak, a film and photographic equipment manufacturer. The giant company, which was the leader in its industry, went bankrupt in 2013. But right now, every minute people around the world are taking more photographs than ever before. This is an example that companies that cannot adapt to change risk losing everything.

Banks are one of the most innovative industries along with IT companies. A striking example innovative business model based on IT - these are banks without physical branches, such as Tinkoff Bank, Touch Bank and many others. For traditional banks, the time is coming for active competition for the consumer, as many companies from other sectors begin to provide banking services. For example, telecom operators, internet companies and gadget manufacturers that offer money transfer services, payment for services, and much more.

2. The near future: the professional cloud era

While the cloud is a key driver of today's asymmetric business world, the cloud market itself is also changing rapidly. The cloud that the industry has created on this moment, in many ways looks like an unfinished bridge: these are two detached towers, which have almost no connection with each other. On the one hand, we have enterprise private clouds with well-managed but overly slow application delivery. On the other hand, there are external public clouds with fast application delivery but poor governance. We need to move to connected and interoperable clouds soon so that enterprises can run applications at the speed they need. Unified hybrid cloud is the future of IT and will become the industry standard for years to come.

According to IDC forecasts, in the next four years, the volume of the global market for public cloud services will grow annually by an average of 23%. The domestic market of cloud services, according to IDC forecasts, will grow much faster than the IT market as a whole, and by the end of 2016 its volume will amount to more than $ 460 million, the share of cloud services and related services will reach 13% of the Russian IT services market.

Let's imagine the infrastructure of companies in a couple of years. Business will appreciate the benefits of cloud computing and will use cloud resources on the IaaS model, as well as PaaS and SaaS. But for a large international company, the question arises: how to ensure the availability of all these computing resources in accordance with all requirements and regional characteristics? The solution is to create a single hybrid cloud space that will cover all private cloud computing... Hybrid apps will enable companies to provide employees with access to work apps and data from any device, anywhere, anytime. This is a unified management of the network and applications, as well as an overall level of security. Western companies already have examples of creating a single hybrid cloud. For example, the largest international hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group, which transition to cloud infrastructure allows to provide best service for 750 thousand numbers in 100 countries of the world.

3. Information security: protecting people, applications and data

Now we have a wide variety of security solutions available, however, cyber hacks and data thefts continue to occur with enviable regularity. What are we missing? The answer is a common, unified architecture that allows IT to streamline security controls and protect what is most important: people, applications, and data. In other words, modern systems security is precisely the architectural foundation that is lacking. To do this, you need to use a virtualization layer that will change the very essence of cybersecurity. For the first time in history, virtualization will become a critical element between the “bottom” IT infrastructure and the applications and data above it. The use of virtualization as the main architecture is the beginning of the security renaissance. The main thing is not to miss the moment.

In 2015, there were several large-scale hacks and leaks, which led to multibillion-dollar damage. Affected companies include Anthem, Experian, Carphone Warehouse, Ashley Madison and TalkTalk. Almost every week the media get information about new vulnerabilities in mobile platforms and an increase in the number of cyberattacks. According to a study by InfoWatch, 723 cases of confidential information leaks were registered in the first half of 2015, which is 10% more than the number of leaks registered in the same period in 2014. Russia has been ranked first in the leak rating since 2013, and VTB-24, MTS, Russian Railways were among the companies that compromised the personal data of users.

The traditional hardware approach to security does not provide complete protection for a modern company, simply because it is impossible to supply hardware to every server, user, mobile phone or virtual machine... A simple example is analog and mobile telephony. In both cases, you can talk on the phone, but the user can write an SMS only with mobile phone... The security technology will be implemented in the form of software that will allow installing a firewall to any component of the network, be it a laptop or a server.

4. New wave of IT innovation: proactive technologies

In spite of great amount of the innovations available to us, all the technologies that we use today are basically “reactive”, that is, expecting commands from us. We are on the verge of transition to a new “proactive” technological model, within which software will be able to make decisions on our behalf, managing all processes - from routine daily tasks to revolutionary medical procedures performed by nanorobots in the human circulatory system.

An example of such technologies is now “ smart House"Based on, analytical systems in production, as well as a variety of wearable and mobile devices... For control physical indicators various fitness bracelets and other "smart" accessories, the main functions of which are measuring the heart rate, number of steps, physical activity, calories burned, come to the fore. Soon, the technology of fitness bracelets will allow for a more complete diagnosis of the body and, in case of deterioration in performance, automatically send data to the hospital. Thus, the patient will be able to receive timely medical assistance in emergency situations. Or the supercomputer IBM Watson, which can analyze gigantic volumes of information, structure data and logically construct parameters, which makes it possible to diagnose some types of cancer even now better than the most experienced specialists do.

This just proves the fact that in the near future "smart" things will help to predict all processes several steps ahead.

5. Technological change will reshape industry leaders

Without a doubt, all of these technological changes will have a huge impact on businesses around the world. According to forecasts, within the next ten years, 40% of joint stock companies - participants in the S&P 500 stock index will cease to exist. In other words, 4 out of 10 modern industry leaders will merge with other companies by 2025, change their form of organization, or simply leave the market after Kodak. The fundamental shift within the tech sector will be even more pronounced. We predict half of the current Tech 100 companies will disappear within 10 years. The last major challenge facing companies large and small alike is to make every effort to stay relevant and relevant. Inaction is the biggest risk today. As IT drives change, they have a chance to become entrepreneurs and innovators at the forefront of this change.