Public awareness. What is the Information Society? Definition

it is a society that is being formed in the post-industrial phase of civilization development, which is characterized by the comprehensive informatization of social structures and is replacing the post-industrial one.

In the "social framework of the information society" by D. Bell, the development of the concept of I. o. expresses the transition from the post-industrial predominance of the service sector over the production sector to the dominance of the information services sector. In this sense, the concept of I. o. reflects new aspects of the development of post-industrial society, is its additional characteristic (see "Post-industrial society").

On the other hand, I. o. can be understood as an independent stage in the historical development of civilization, following the post-industrial society and characterized primarily by the production of information, the level of awareness of the population and the development of education. In addition, the post-industrial society itself can be understood as the first stage of I. o. In this sense, an analysis of the problems of information about. connected with the consideration of postindustrial society as the first in the history of I. about.

To study possible ways of development of I. about. in Western socio-philosophical theories, the concept of a post-information society is introduced (Hunt's work "The Post-Information Society"), that is, a theoretical consideration of the problems of information society. has its further development in the concept of post-information society: information-formation, information, post-information society. The establishment of the similarity of the genetic information system of DNA, the genetic structures of the biosphere and the information structures of the social organization of the noosphere allowed Baudrillard to develop the concept of a post-information society, the "virtual era" of which is replacing the bygone "oral", "written" and "printing societies" of McLuhan. The concept of a post-information society reflects such a change in the sphere of information services as the determinant basis of information technology, on which the former rational mechanism of information production is replaced by the probabilistic chaos of redundant social information. In informational "virtual reality", the formation of "redundant" social and informational structures of social information occurs: in it, the redundancy of social information means only a lack of information about which part of it is superfluous. As the ideology or the hegemony of information structures, Baudrillard's "virtual reality" becomes the reality of Io. In this regard, the concept of I. o. reflects, on the one hand, the way of dissemination of information structures and, on the other hand, the level of informatization and computerization of society.

The emergence of the concept of I. o. closely related to the development of informatics and cybernetics in the works of N. Wiener, information management theory and information theory of value. The value of human activity and its results is determined not only and not so much by labor costs as by embodied information, which becomes a source of added value. In this sense, the concept of I. o. expresses the rethinking of information and its role as a quantitative characteristic for the qualitative analysis of social development. A certain level of social information, in addition to quantitative characteristics, allows one to reflect certain qualitative aspects of the development of society. The information theory of value characterizes not only the amount of information embodied in the results of production activities, but also the level of development of information production as the basis for the development of information technology. - a certain stage of development of society.

The concept of I. o. in a certain way characterizes the changes in the worldview associated with a departure from the classical picture of the world. In this aspect of the concept of I. o. reflects a consistent change in the basis of society - from the natural world of a traditional society to an artificial, created world (industrial - see "Industrial Society" - and post-industrial society) and to the world of social information and information about. Cyberspace, in which only intellectual programmers now work, is becoming an information space for the socio-cultural and, consequently, socio-economic development of the Internet. This is the basis for the production of information, which is the backbone of the structures of the informational community, in contrast to the industrial production of an industrial society. Education and science determine the level of information production and the degree of development of informational education.

Problems of functioning of structures of I. o. closely related to the problems of artificial intelligence (for example, Intel microprocessors or development text editors correcting human errors in a computer set). The concept of intellectual and informational capital, introduced by Bourdieu, is important for the concept of I. o. For example, the intellectual property of Bill Gates, the creator and ideological inspirer of Microsoft (the leader in the world software market for the computer industry), whose property is estimated at many billions of dollars, has largely contributed to the creation of a new type of property and copyright for software products, the formation of international intellectual property copyright systems.

Informational interchange permeates the structure of the spiritual culture of informational education, which is no longer based so much on classical means. mass media"The Gutenberg era" in McLuhan's understanding, how much for innovative electronic media. The latter can rightfully be attributed to the "Internet": both in terms of the number of its audience around the globe and in terms of the volume of information services, the Internet is a global mass media.

The role of information as a strategic resource increases with the development electronic means mass media manipulating the masses, public opinion. With the development of audiovisual technology, global computer networks(like "Rare" or "Internet" - with a multimillion audience in all developed countries, with by e-mail, various magazines, conferences, message boards, etc. inside information network"Internet"), accumulating information, access to it characterizes the possibilities of its use in a complex power structure. An example of how the global information structure, can serve as a system of interconnections within the framework of UNESCO, global media such as Eurovision, or the US National Information Infrastructure.

The social characteristics of the development of I. o. the awareness of its various social groups, the availability of information, the efficiency of the mass media services and their feedback capabilities, the level of education, the intellectual capabilities of society, primarily in information production.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

The very name "information society" first appeared in Japan. The specialists who proposed this term explained that it defines a society in which high-quality information circulates in abundance, and also has all the necessary means for its storage, distribution and use. Information is easily and quickly disseminated according to the requirements of interested people and organizations and is issued to them in a form that is familiar to them. The cost of using information services is so low that they are available to everyone.

Sociology gives a more formalized definition of the information society. In the history of its development, human civilization went through several socio-economic stages:

Agrarian Society;

Industrial society;

Post-industrial society.

The next stage of development should be called “information society”.

The socio-economic criterion that determines the stage of social development is the distribution of employment of the population. At the stage of an agrarian society, more than half of the population is employed in agriculture; in an industrial society, most of the population works in industry; if in a society more than 50% of the population is employed in the service sector, the post-industrial phase of its development has begun. According to this criterion, the stage of the information society begins under the condition that more than half of the population is employed in the field of information and intellectual production and services.

The socio-economic criterion is not the only one. An interesting criterion was proposed by Academician A.P. Ershov: the phases of progress towards the information society should be judged by the total bandwidth of communication channels... There is a simple idea behind this: the development of communication channels reflects both the level of computerization, and the objective need of society for all types of information exchange, and other manifestations of informatization. According to this criterion, the early phase of informatization of society begins when the aggregate capacity of communication channels operating in it is reached, which ensures the deployment of a sufficiently reliable long-distance telephone network. The final phase is when it is possible to implement a reliable and prompt informational contact between members of society on the principle “each with each”. In the final phase throughput there should be a million times more communication channels than in the first phase.

According to a number of experts, the United States will complete the transition to the information society by 2020, Japan and most Western European countries by 2030–2040.

Russia's entry into the information society has its own characteristics associated with the current stage of its development. In Russia, there are a number of objective prerequisites for the transition to the state of the information society. Among them: the rapid development of the material base of the information sphere, the informatization of many branches of production and management, active entry into the world community, the preparedness of public consciousness, etc. human and scientific and technical potential of Russia.

Trends in the development of the information society

Changing the structure of the economy and the structure of labor

The transition to an information society is accompanied by a shift in the center of gravity in the economy from the use of materials to the provision of services, which entails a significant reduction in the extraction and processing of raw materials and energy consumption.

The second half of the twentieth century, thanks to informatization, was accompanied by an overflow of people from the sphere of direct material production to the information sphere. Industrial workers, who in the middle of the twentieth century made up more than 2/3 of the population, today in developed countries make up less than 1/3. The social stratum, which is called "white collar workers", has grown significantly - people of hired labor who do not directly produce material values, but are engaged in information processing (in a broad sense): teachers, bank employees, programmers, etc. So, by 1980, 3% of workers were employed in agriculture in the United States, 20% in industry, 30% in the service sector, and 48% of the population was employed in information sphere.

Informatization has also changed the nature of labor in traditional industries. The emergence of robotic systems, the widespread introduction of elements of microprocessor technology is the main reason for this phenomenon. The machine tool industry in the United States employed 330,000 people in 1990, and by 2005 there were 14,000 people left. This happened due to the massive reduction of people on the assembly lines, due to the introduction of robots and manipulators instead.

Another characteristic feature in this area is the emergence of a developed market for information products and services.

Development and mass use of information and communication technologies

Explosive development lies at the heart of the information revolution information and communication technologies... This process is clearly observed and Feedback: the movement towards the information society dramatically accelerates the development of these technologies, making them widely in demand.

However, the rapid growth in the production of computer technology, which began in the middle of the twentieth century, did not cause the transition to the information society. Computers were used by a relatively small number of specialists as long as they existed in isolation. The most important stages on the way to the information society were:

· Creation of telecommunication infrastructure, including data transmission networks;

· The emergence of huge databases, access to which through the network got millions of people;

· Development of uniform rules of behavior in networks and search for information in them.

A huge role in the discussed process was played by creation of the internet... Today the Internet is a colossal and rapidly growing system, the number of users of which by the beginning of 2007 exceeded 1 billion people. It should be noted that the quantitative characteristics of the Internet are becoming obsolete faster than the books in which these indicators are printed.

The growth rate of the number of network users is fairly stable at about 20% per year. The United States ranks first in terms of the number of Internet users - approximately 200 million Americans are connected to global network(all data as of early 2007). In second and third places are China and Japan with 111 and 87 million users, respectively. In Russia, the number of people connected to the Internet is 21.8 million, which is 17.5 percent more than in the previous year. This indicator allowed Russia to take 11th place in the ranking of the most Internet-connected countries. Note, however, that “connected” does not mean “regularly using”; in statistics of this kind all over the world there are difficulties in data interpretation.

According to some indicators related to the Internet, our country is in the lead. Thus, in terms of the number of users of fiber-optic networks, Russia ranks first in Europe. This is due to the fact that with the relatively late start of mass Internetization, it was easier for Russian providers to develop new and technologically more advanced Internet access channels than to modernize existing ones.

Information and communication technology constantly evolving. Gradually happens universalization of leading technologies, i.e. instead of creating their own technology for each task, they are developing powerful, versatile technologies that allow for many use cases. An example of this is office software systems in which you can perform many different actions, from the simplest typing to the creation of fairly specialized programs (say, payroll using a spreadsheet processor).

The universalization of information technology promotes widespread use of multimedia. Modern multimedia system is able to combine the functions of, for example, a computer, TV, radio, multi-projector, telephone, answering machine, fax, while providing access to data networks.

The improvement of computing technology leads to the personalization and miniaturization of information storage devices. Tiny palm-sized devices with all the functions personal computer allow a person to acquire their own universal reference, the amount of information which is comparable to several encyclopedias. Since this device can be connected to the network, it also transmits operational data - for example, about the weather, current time, the state of traffic jams, etc.

Overcoming the information crisis

The information crisis is a phenomenon that became noticeable already at the beginning of the twentieth century. It manifests itself in the fact that the flow of information that poured into a person is so great that it is inaccessible to processing in a reasonable time. This phenomenon takes place in scientific research, and in technical developments, and in social and political life. In our increasingly complex world, decision-making is becoming an increasingly responsible business, and it is impossible without completeness of information.

The accumulation of the general volume of knowledge is accelerating at an astonishing rate. At the beginning of the 20th century, the total volume of all information produced by mankind doubled every 50 years, by 1950 it doubled every 10 years, by the end of the 20th century - every 5 years, and this, apparently, is not the limit.

Here are some examples of the manifestations of the information explosion. The number of scientific publications in most branches of knowledge is so large, and traditional access to them (reading journals) is so difficult that specialists cannot manage to navigate them, which gives rise to duplication of work and other unpleasant consequences.

It often turns out that it is easier to redesign some technical device than to find documentation about it in countless descriptions and patents.

A political leader who makes a responsible decision at a high level, but does not own the completeness of information, will easily fall into a mess, and the consequences can be catastrophic. Of course, information alone in such a case is not enough; adequate methods of political analysis are also needed, but without information they are useless.

The result is information crisis which manifests itself in the following:

· The information flow exceeds the human capacity for the perception and processing of information;

· There is a large amount of redundant information (the so-called "information noise"), which makes it difficult to perceive information useful to the consumer;

· Strengthening economic, political and other barriers that prevent the dissemination of information (for example, due to secrecy).

A partial way out of the information crisis is seen in the use of new information technologies. Implementation modern means and methods of storage, processing and transmission of information greatly reduces the barrier of access to it and the speed of search. Of course, technologies alone cannot solve a problem that is both economic (information costs money) and legal (information has an owner), and a number of others. This problem is complex, so it should be tackled by the efforts of both each country and the world community as a whole.

Freedom of access to information and freedom of its dissemination

The problem under discussion lies more in the political and economic plane than in the technical one, since modern information Technology purely technically, they opened an endless space for information exchanges. An information society is impossible without freedom of access to information. Freedom of access to information and freedom of its dissemination * required condition democratic development, conducive to economic growth, fair competition in the market. Only relying on complete and reliable information, it is possible to make correct and balanced decisions in politics, economics, science, and practice.

Freedom of dissemination of information of a cultural and educational nature is of great importance. It contributes to the growth of the cultural and educational level of society.

At the same time, the problem of freedom of access to information has an opposite side. Not all information of state, corporate or personal importance should be freely circulated. Everyone has the right to personal secrets; likewise, a state or corporation has secrets vital to their existence. There should be no freedom to disseminate information that promotes violence and other, unacceptable for society and the individual, phenomena. Finding a compromise between freedom of access to information and inevitable restrictions is not an easy task.

Growth of information culture

The modern understanding of information culture is the ability and needs of a person to work with information by means of new information technologies.

Purposeful efforts of society and the state to develop the information culture of the population are mandatory when moving towards an information society. One of the important tasks of the computer science course is the development of elements of the information culture of students. This task is complex in nature, it cannot be solved only by the school. The development of elements of information culture should begin in childhood, in the family, and then go through the entire conscious life of a person, through the entire system of education and upbringing.

Information culture involves much more than a simple skill set technical processing information by means of a computer and telecommunication means. Information culture should become a part of universal human culture. A cultured (in a broad sense) person should be able to evaluate the information received qualitatively, understand its usefulness, reliability, etc.

An essential element of information culture is the mastery of the method of collective decision-making. The ability to interact in the information field with other people is an important sign of a member of the information society.

Changes in education

Big changes are taking place as we move towards an information society in education. One of the fundamental problems facing modern education is to make it more accessible to everyone. This accessibility has economic, social and technological aspects.

However, the problems of building the education system in the information society are not limited to technologies. By virtue of its dynamism, this society will require from its members continuous, over the course of tens of years, training. This will allow a person to keep up with the times, be able to change profession, take a worthy place in the social structure of society. In this regard, even a new concept arose: “the principle of lifelong professional development”. Economically developed countries have already embarked on the path of creating a system of continuous education, including preschool and school education, vocational education, a system of professional retraining and advanced training, additional education(sometimes informal), etc. The level of quantitative and qualitative development of the educational system makes it possible to judge the degree of advancement of the country along the path to the information society.

Changing the way of life of people

The formation of the information society has a significant impact on the daily life of people. From the examples already available, one can foresee that the changes will be profound. Thus, the massive introduction of television in the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century significantly changed the life of people, and not only for the better. On the one hand, millions of people have the opportunity to access the treasures of national and world culture, on the other hand, live communication has decreased, more stereotypes implanted by television have appeared, and the reading circle has narrowed.

Let us consider the individual components of the way of life, analyzing what has already taken place and what is being born in our time.

Job. According to a sociological study conducted in the United States, already now up to 10% of workers can do their job without leaving their homes, and 1/3 of all newly registered firms is based on the widespread use of self-employment, not associated with a regular visit to the office.

Studies. In a number of countries, the number of out-of-school children who are homeschooling with the help of computer programs and telecommunications. If this tendency continues to develop, the school faces the most serious danger since its inception as a mass public institution. If we consider that the school not only teaches, but also instills in children the skills of socialization, social behavior, then such a development causes a certain concern.

Leisure activities are changing before our eyes. Computer games, already taking a significant amount of time for some people, are being transformed into network games with the participation of several remote partners. The time spent on “walking” on the Internet without a specific purpose, as well as on the so-called “chat”, with not too meaningful messaging is growing. At the same time, educational trips to educational sites, virtual museums, etc. are being implemented. As mentioned above, information culture* is only a part of the culture of general humanity, and the form of spending leisure time is determined primarily by the general culture of a particular person.

A recent advancement in internet technology is shopping trip real goods to a virtual online store - is already beginning to noticeably affect the trading system.

The dwelling of a person has a tendency to more and more "informatization". Houses are already being commissioned, in which instead of a wiring harness (electrical wiring, telephone, television, burglar and fire alarms, etc.), only one power cable and one information cable are included. The latter takes care of all information communications, including the provision of many cable TV channels, Internet access, etc. A special electronic unit in such an apartment will control all devices, including household appliances and life support systems, to help the inhabitant of the apartment live as comfortably as possible. Such a house is called “smart”.

Since for many people the car has become an extension of their habitat, the emergence of “ smart cars ” also important. Such a car, in addition to the already obligatory microprocessor devices serving its technical part, is constantly connected with city information services, suggesting the most optimal currently route (taking into account the busyness of the routes). In addition, the “smart” car is associated with “ smart home”Of his master and from him you can control this house.

The dangers of the information society

While admiring the opportunities that the information society brings, one should not forget about the contradictions that it potentially contains and which are already manifesting.

It should be understood that the concept of "information society" does not lie in the same circle of concepts that are associated with the concepts of "capitalism", "socialism", etc., i.e. does not directly indicate the nature of property relations and the economic structure. In the same way, it should not be perceived as another utopia that promises universal happiness.

Here are some of the dangers and challenges on the road to an information society:

· A real possibility of destruction by information technologies of the private life of people and organizations;

· The danger of an ever-increasing influence on society from the media and those who control these means;

· The problem of selection of high-quality and reliable information with a large amount of it;

· The problem of adaptation of many people to the environment of the information society, to the need to constantly improve their professional level;

Collision with virtual reality, in which illusion and reality are difficult to distinguish, creates in some people, especially young people, poorly studied, but clearly unfavorable psychological problems;

· The transition to an information society does not promise any changes in social benefits and preserves the social stratification of people; moreover, information inequality can add to existing types of inequality and thereby increase social tension;

· The reduction in the number of jobs in the economy of developed countries, which is not fully compensated by the creation of new jobs in the information sphere, leads to a dangerous social ailment - mass unemployment.

The so-called “ information wars”. This term is interpreted as an open or hidden informational impact of state systems on each other in order to obtain a certain gain in the political or material sphere. The main targets of defeat in such wars will be the information infrastructures and psychology of the enemy.

Information war is understood as a complex impact on the system of state and military control of the opposing side, on its military-political leadership. In principle, this impact should, even in peacetime, lead to the adoption of favorable (for the side - initiator of information pressure) decisions, and in the course of a conflict completely paralyze the functioning of the enemy's command and control infrastructure. Information confrontation preceding information war is realized by influencing the information and information systems of the enemy while strengthening and protecting their own information and information systems and infrastructure. At a certain stage, an information war can turn into a conventional one, using traditional types of weapons to suppress a weakened enemy. Unfortunately, there are already examples of information wars that have taken place.

The history of the concept

The term "information society" owes its name to the professor of the Tokyo Institute of Technology Y. Hayashi, whose term was used in the works of F. Machlup (1962) and T. Umesao (1963) that appeared almost simultaneously - in Japan and the United States. The theory of the "information society" was developed by such famous authors as M. Porat, J. Massouda, T. Stoner, R. Karz and others; to one degree or another, it received support from those researchers who focused not so much on the progress of information technology itself, but on the formation of a technological, or technetronic (technetronic - from the Greek techne), society, or denoted a modern society, starting from the increased or growing role of knowledge as “the knowledgeable society”, “knowledge society” or “knowledge-value society”. Today, there are dozens of concepts proposed to designate individual, sometimes even completely insignificant features of modern society, for one reason or another called, nevertheless, based on its characteristics. Thus, in contrast to the first approach to terminological designations, the second leads, in fact, to the rejection of generalizing concepts and limits the researchers who profess it to study on particular issues.

Since 1992, Western countries have also begun to use the term, for example, the concept of “national global information infrastructure”Was introduced in the USA after the famous conference of the National Science Foundation and the famous report of B. Clinton and A. Gore. The concept of the information society originated in the work of the European Commission's Expert Group on Information Society Programs, led by Martin Bangemann, one of Europe's most respected information society experts; Information Highways and Superhighways - in Canadian, British and American publications.

At the end of the XX century. the terms information society and informatization have firmly taken their place, and not only in the lexicon of specialists in the field of information, but also in the lexicon of politicians, economists, teachers and scientists. In most cases, this concept was associated with the development of information technologies and telecommunications, which allow, on the platform of civil society (or at least its declared principles) to make a new evolutionary leap and worthily enter the next, 21st century as an information society or its initial stage.

It should be noted that a number of Western and domestic political scientists and political economists are inclined to draw a sharp line separating the concept of the information society from post-industrialism. However, although the concept of the information society is intended to replace the theory of post-industrial society, its supporters repeat and further develop a number of the most important provisions of technocracy and traditional futurology.

It is symptomatic that a number of leading researchers who have formulated the theory of post-industrial society, such as D. Bell, are now advocating the concept of the information society. For Bell himself, the concept of the information society became a kind of new stage in the development of the theory of post-industrial society. As Bell stated, "a revolution in the organization and processing of information and knowledge, in which the computer plays a central role, is developing in the context of what I have called postindustrial society."

According to Professor W. Martin, the information society is understood as a "developed post-industrial society" that arose primarily in the West. In his opinion, it is not accidental that the information society is being established primarily in those countries - Japan, the USA and Western Europe - in which a post-industrial society was formed in the 60s - 70s.

W. Martin made an attempt to identify and formulate the main characteristics of the information society according to the following criteria.

• Technological: the key factor is information technologies, which are widely used in production, institutions, the education system and in everyday life.
• Social: information acts as an important stimulator of changes in the quality of life, "information consciousness" is formed and approved with wide access to information.
• Economic: information is a key factor in the economy as a resource, service, commodity, value added and employment.
• Political: freedom of information leading to a political process characterized by growing participation and consensus between different classes and social strata of the population.
• Cultural: recognizing the cultural value of information by promoting the affirmation of information values ​​for the development of the individual and society as a whole.

In doing so, Martin emphasizes the idea that communication is “a key element of the information society”.

Martin notes that speaking about the information society, it should not be taken literally, but considered as a guideline, a trend of changes in modern Western society. According to him, in general, this model is oriented towards the future, but in the developed capitalist countries already now it is possible to name a number of changes caused by information technologies, which confirm the concept of the information society.

Among these changes, Martin lists the following:

• structural changes in the economy, especially in the distribution of labor; increased awareness of the importance of information and information technology;
• growing awareness of the need for computer literacy;
• widespread use of computers and information technology;
• development of computerization and informatization of society and education;
• government support for the development of computer microelectronic technology and telecommunications.
• widespread - computer viruses and malware around the world.

In light of these changes, Martin argues, “the information society can be defined as a society in which the quality of life, as well as the prospects for social change and economic development, are increasingly dependent on information and its exploitation. In such a society, living standards, forms of work and recreation, the education system and the market are significantly influenced by advances in information and knowledge. "

In an expanded and detailed form, the concept of the information society (taking into account the fact that it almost fully includes the theory of post-industrial society developed by him in the late 60s - early 70s) is proposed by D. Bell. As Bell argues, “in the coming century, the emergence of a new order based on telecommunications is of decisive importance for economic and social life, for the methods of production of knowledge, as well as for the nature of human labor. The revolution in the organization and processing of information and knowledge, in which the computer plays a central role, is unfolding simultaneously with the formation of a post-industrial society. " Moreover, Bell believes, three aspects of postindustrial society are especially important for understanding this revolution. This refers to the transition from an industrial society to a society of services, the decisive importance of codified scientific knowledge for the implementation of technological innovations and the transformation of a new "intellectual technology" into key tool system analysis and decision theory.

A qualitatively new moment has become the ability to manage large complexes of organizations and the production of systems, requiring the coordination of the activities of hundreds of thousands and even millions of people. The rapid development of new scientific directions, such as information theory, computer science, cybernetics, decision theory, game theory, etc., went on and continues, that is, areas related specifically to the problems of organizational sets.

One of the extremely unpleasant aspects of the informatization of society is the loss of stability by the information society. Because of the increasing role of information, small groups can have a significant impact on all people. Such influence, for example, can be carried out through terror, actively covered by the media. Modern terrorism is one of the consequences of reducing the stability of society as it is informatized.

Bringing back the resilience of the information society can be accomplished through strengthening accounting policies. Biometrics is one of the new directions for strengthening the policies of accounting for people. Biometrics is engaged in the creation of automata capable of independently recognizing people. After the events of September 11, 2001, at the initiative of the United States, the active use of international passports with biometric identification of people by automatic machines when crossing state borders began.

The second most important area of ​​enhancing accounting policies in the information society is the massive use of cryptography. An example is a SIM card in a cell phone, it contains cryptographic protection accounting of payment by subscribers of the channel leased from the operator digital communication. Cell Phones are digital, it was the transition to digital that made it possible to provide everyone with communication channels, but without cryptography in SIM cards, cellular communication could not become mass. Operators cellular would not be able to reliably control the fact of the presence of money on the subscriber's account and operations to withdraw money for using the communication channel.

Russia

Several stages can be distinguished in the activities of the authorities in the development and implementation of state policy in the field of information society development in Russia. At the first stage (1991-1994), the foundations were formed in the field of informatization. The second stage (1994-1998) was characterized by a change in priorities from informatization to the development of an information policy. The third stage, which continues to this day, is the stage of policy formation in the field of building the information society. In 2002, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted the Federal Target Program "Electronic Russia 2002-2010." , which gave a powerful impetus to the development of the information society in the Russian regions.

In order to ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of personal biometric data, Russia was the first developed country to start creating a special package of national standards: GOST R 52633.0-2006 (put into effect); GOST R 52633.1-2009 (put into effect), GOST R 52633.2 (public discussion took place); GOST R 52633.3 GOST R 52633.4 (developed, preparing for public discussion); GOST R 52633.5 (developed, preparing for public discussion).

Since other countries do not yet have national standards for converting a person's biometrics into his personal cryptographic key, presumably the standards of the GOST R 52633.xx package will be used in the future as the basis for the corresponding international standards. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the already existing international biometric standards were originally created as national US standards.

Belarus

In 2010, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus approved the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in Belarus until 2015 and the plan of priority measures for its implementation for 2010 (the development of the information society is one of the national priorities and is a national task). The formation of the foundations of the information society is complete, legal basis informatization is laid. In the period until 2015 in the Republic of Belarus, according to the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Republic of Belarus until 2015, work should be completed on the creation and development of the basic components of the information and communication infrastructure for the development of the state system for the provision of electronic services (electronic government). It will include a nationwide information system integrating state information resources in order to provide electronic services; a unified secure environment for information interaction; state system management public keys; identification system for physical and legal entities, as well as a payment gateway integrated with a single settlement information space, through which payment transactions will be carried out. According to the plan of informatization of the Republic of Belarus for the period up to 2015, it can be assumed that by 2015, each university will have broadband access to the Internet. The strategy for the development of the information society in the country provides for the growth by 2015 of broadband Internet access ports to 3 million (about 530,000 today), the number of users mobile access the Internet will reach 7 million (about 1.6 million today). Today, over 87% of Belarusian schools have some form of Internet access, and over 21% have broadband access.

CIS countries

In the CIS countries, the information society is implemented on the basis of an interstate network of information and marketing centers (IMC network), which is a project similar to the Digital Agenda for Europe, presented by the European Commission as a strategy to ensure the growth of the EU economy in the digital age and distribution digital technologies among all walks of life.

Literature

1. Abdeev R.F. Philosophy of Information Civilization / Editors: E. S. Ivashkina, V. G. Detkova. - M .: VLADOS, 1994 .-- S. 96-97. - 336 p. - 20,000 copies. - ISBN 5-87065-012-7
2. Varakin L. E. Global Information Society: Development Criteria and Socio-Economic Aspects. -M .: Intern. acad. communications, 2001. - 43 p., ill.
3. Vartanova E. L. Finnish model at the turn of the century: Inform. Finnish society and media in Europe perspective. : Publishing house Mosk. University, 1999 .-- 287 p.
4. Voronina T.P. Information society: essence, features, problems. - M., 1995 .-- 111 p.
5. Korotkov A.V., Kristalny B.V., Kurnosov I.N.Public policy Russian Federation in the development of the information society. // Under scientific. ed. A. V. Korotkova. - M .: OOO Train, 2007. ISBN 978-5-903652-01-3. - 472 p.
6. Martin W. J. Information Society (Abstract) // Theory and practice of social and scientific information. Quarterly / USSR Academy of Sciences. INION; Editorial board .: Vinogradov V.A. (chief editor) et al. - M., 1990. - No. 3. - P. 115-123.
7. Chernov A. Formation of the global information society: problems and prospects.
8. Tuzovsky, I. D. Bright tomorrow? Dystopia of futurology and futurology of dystopias. - Chelyabinsk: Chelyabinsk State Academician culture and arts, 2009. - 312 p.

Notes (edit)

F. Webster, Information Society Theories, Moscow: Aspect Press, 2004, 400

see also

• Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation

Links

• , 2000
• Basil Lvoff Media and information society
• A. V. Kostina Trends in the development of information society culture: analysis of modern information and post-industrial concepts // Electronic journal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill "... - 2009. - № 4 - Culturology.
• Pogorskiy E.K. The role of youth in the formation of the information society // Humanitarian information portal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill "... - 2012. - No. 2 (March - April) (archived in WebCite).
• Pogorskiy E.K. Formation of the Information Society in the Russian Federation: Dialogue between Citizens and Local Self-Government Bodies // Scientific works of the Moscow University for the Humanities. - 2011.
• Skorodumova O.B. Domestic approaches to the interpretation of the information society: postindustrialist, synergetic and postmodernist paradigms // Electronic journal "

Less than a century ago, a person received about 15 thousand a week. Now we receive about ten thousand messages every hour. And in the midst of it all information flow it is very difficult to find the necessary message, but to do nothing - this is only one of the negative characteristics of the modern information society.

Specifications

So what is the information society? This is a society in which the bulk of workers are engaged in the production, storage or processing of information. At this stage of development, the information society has a number of distinctive characteristics:

• Information, knowledge and technology are of great importance in the life of society.
• The number of people engaged in the production of information products, communications or information technology is increasing every year.
• The informatization of society is growing, with the use of telephones, television, the Internet, and the media.
• A global information space is being created, which ensures effective interaction between individuals. People gain access to the world's information resources... Within the created information space, each of its participants satisfies their needs for information products or services.
• Electronic democracy, information state and government are developing rapidly, digital markets for social and economic networks are emerging.

Terminology

The first to define what the information society is were scientists from Japan. In the Land of the Rising Sun, this term began to be used in the 60s of the last century. Almost simultaneously with them, the term "information society" began to be used by scientists from the United States. Such authors as M. Porat, I. Masuda, R. Karts and others made a great contribution to the development of this theory. This theory received support from those researchers who studied the formation of a technogenic or technological society, as well as from those who studied changes in society, which is influenced by the increased role of knowledge.

Already at the end of the twentieth century, the term "information society" firmly took its place in the lexicon of specialists in the information sphere, politicians, scientists, economists and teachers. Most often, it was associated with the development of information technology and other means that would help humanity make a new leap in evolutionary development.

Today there are two opinions on what the information society is:

1. This is a society where the production and consumption of information is considered the main activity, and information is the most significant resource.
2. This is a society that replaced the post-industrial one, the main product here is information and knowledge, the information economy is actively developing.

It is also believed that the concept of the information society is nothing more than a kind of theory of post-industrial society. Consequently, it can be viewed as a sociological and futurological concept, where the main factor of social development is the production and use of scientific and technical information.

Come to a consensus

Considering how badly they have infiltrated daily life information technology, these consequences are often called information or computer revolution. In the teachings of the West, more and more attention is paid to this phenomenon, as evidenced by the vast number of relevant publications. However, it should be noted that the concept of "information society" is put in the place where the theory of post-industrial society was in the 70s.

Some scientists believe that the post-industrial and information society are completely different stages of development, so a clear line must be drawn between them. Despite the fact that the concept of the information society was called upon to replace the theory of a post-industrial society, its supporters still develop important provisions of technocratism and futurology.

D. Bell, who formulated the theory of post-industrial society, considers the concept of information society to be a new stage in the development of post-industrial society. Simply put, the scientist insists that the information society is the second level of development of the postindustrial one, so it is not worth confusing or replacing these concepts.

James Martin. Information Society Criteria

The writer believes that the information society must meet several criteria:

1. Technological. Information technology is used in various spheres of human activity.
2. Social. Information is an important stimulator of changes in the quality of life. Such a concept as "information consciousness" appears, since knowledge is widely available.
3. Economic. Information is becoming the main resource in economic relations.
4. Political. Freedom of information leading to the political process.
5. Cultural. Information is considered cultural property.

The development of the information society brings with it a number of changes. Thus, structural changes in the economy can be traced, especially when it comes to the distribution of labor. People are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of information and technology. Many are beginning to realize that for a full-fledged existence it is necessary to eliminate their own computer illiteracy, since information technologies are present in almost all spheres of life. The government strongly supports the development of information and technology, but with them malware and computer viruses.

Martin believes that in an information society, the quality of life directly depends on information and how a person will exploit it. In such a society, all spheres of human life are influenced by advances in the segment of knowledge and information.

Good and bad

Scientists believe that development in society makes it possible to manage large complexes of organizations, the production of systems and coordinate the work of thousands of people. New scientific directions related to the problems of organizational sets continue to develop.

And yet the process of informatization of society has its drawbacks. Society is losing its stability. Small groups of people can have a direct impact on the information society agenda. For example, hackers can break into banking systems and transfer large amounts of money to their accounts. Or the media can cover the problems of terrorism, which have a destructive impact on the formation of public consciousness.

Information revolution

1. The spread of the language.
2. The emergence of writing.
3. Mass printing of books.
4. Applications of various types of electrical communication.
5. The use of computer technology.

A. Rakitov emphasizes that the role of the information society in the near future will be to influence civilizational and cultural processes. Knowledge will become the largest stake in the global power competition.

Peculiarities

• Individuals can use the information resources of society from anywhere in the country. That is, from anywhere they can get access to the information they need to live.
• Information technology is available to everyone.
• There are infrastructures in society that ensure the creation of the necessary information resources.
• Acceleration and automation of work is taking place in all branches of production.
• Social structures are changing, and as a result, spheres are expanding information activities and services.

The information society differs from the industrial one by the rapid growth rate of new jobs. The segment of economic development is dominated by the information industry.

Two questions

Dynamism technological modernization poses two main questions to society:

• Are people adapting to change?
• Will new technologies be able to generate social differentiation?

During the transition of society to an informational society, people can face a significant problem. They will be divided into those who can use new knowledge and technologies, and those who do not have such skills. As a result, information technologies will remain in the hands of a small social group, which will lead to the inevitable stratification of society and the struggle for power.

Despite this danger, new technologies can empower citizens by giving them instant access to the information they need. They will give the opportunity to create, and not only consume, new knowledge and allow maintaining the anonymity of personal messages. Although, on the other hand, the penetration of information technology into privacy carries a threat to the inviolability of personal data. No matter how you look at the information society, the main trends in its development will always cause both a sea of ​​delight and a storm of indignation. As, however, in any other area.

Information Society: Development Strategy

When it was recognized that society had entered a new stage of development, appropriate steps were required. The authorities of many countries have begun to develop a plan for the development of the information society. For example, in Russia, researchers distinguish several stages of development:

1. First, the foundations were formed in the field of informatization (1991-1994).
2. Later, there was a change in priorities from informatization to the creation of an information policy (1994-1998).
3. The third stage is the formation of a policy in the field of creating an information society (year 2002 - our time).

The state is also interested in the development of this process. In 2008, the Russian government adopted a strategy for the development of the information society, which is valid until 2020. The government has set itself the following tasks:

• Creation of information and telecommunication infrastructure in order to provide high-quality services for access to information on its basis.
• Improve the quality of education, health care and social protection through the development of technology.
• Improvement of the system of state guarantees of human rights in the information sphere.
• Using information and improve the economy.
• Improve the efficiency of public administration.
• To develop science, technology and technology to prepare qualified personnel in the field of information technology.
• To preserve culture, to strengthen moral and patriotic principles in the public consciousness, to develop a system of cultural and humanitarian education.
• Counteract the use of information technology achievements as a threat to the country's national interests.

To solve such problems, the state apparatus is developing special measures for the development of a new society. Define performance benchmarks and improve information technology policy. They create favorable conditions for the development of science, technology and equal access of citizens to information.

conclusions

So what is the information society? This is a theoretical model that is used to describe a new stage of social development that began with the beginning of the information and computer revolution. The technological basis in this society is not industrial, but information and telecommunication technologies.

This is a society where information is the main economic resource, and this sector comes out on top in terms of the number of people employed, the share of GDP and capital investments, according to the rate of development. A developed infrastructure is traced, which ensures the creation of information resources. It primarily includes education and science. In such a society, intellectual property is the main form of property.

Information turns into a product of mass consumption. Everyone living in society has access to any kind of information, this is guaranteed not only by law, but also by technical capabilities. In addition, new criteria for assessing the level of development of society are emerging. For example, an important criterion is the number of computers, Internet connections, mobile and home phones. With the help of the fusion of telecommunications, computer-electronic and audiovisual technology, a single integrated information system is being created in society.

Today the information society can be regarded as a kind of global phenomenon, which includes: information economy, space, infrastructure and legal system. Here, business activity becomes an information and communication environment, the virtual economy and financial system is spreading more and more widely. The information society gives many opportunities, but it did not arise out of nowhere - it is the result of centuries of activity of all mankind.

A.K. Nesterov Information Society // Encyclopedia of the Nesterovs

The formation and development of the information society has a global character, while the main features and features of the information society were formed in the first decade of the 21st century. To a large extent this process contributes to the emergence of new economic incentives, growth points, the development of social structure, the intensification of intercultural interaction.

Information Society Concept

It is logical that information is the foundation of the information society. Conceptually, information is already an independent value, in many cases it can be evaluated, acquired, which puts it on the same level with material values ​​and energy. In some cases, information becomes one of the resources for the functioning of enterprises, organizations, a factor of progress.

The main factor for creating complex conditions for the development of the information society was the emergence of the Internet, which made it possible to form a single world information and communication environment and a common cyberspace.

The information society is a phase in the development of human civilization, in which the value, role and significance of information and knowledge are sharply increasing.

The concept of an information society presents it as a special nature of a superstructure over a modern social structure, when information, knowledge and information technologies are intensively penetrating and being introduced into all spheres of society.

Modern information society

The modern information society has the following features:

1. Enhancing the role of information and knowledge in the life of society.
2. Intensive development of information technology and communications.
3. Increase in the share of products of the information technology sector in the structure of GDP.
4. The existence of the world information space.
5. Effective communication between people and social groups.
6. Improving access to information.
7. The existence of a variety of information products and services.

The modern information society is characterized by the following aspects.

First, the role of information and knowledge in the life of society continues to increase, while the information saturation of the economic, economic, financial, managerial, commercial, and industrial spheres of activity also increases significantly. For many spheres of activity, information and knowledge are becoming the most important resource for socio-economic development. Similarly, new points of economic growth are associated exclusively with information, knowledge, their implementation and implementation in traditional areas.

Second, the information technology industry is shaping special sector economy, which is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing.

Thirdly, information, information services, individual knowledge are the subject of consumption, they can be purchased, sold, transferred for temporary use. At the same time, in a number of cases, stable market structures have already emerged, for example, information and communication technologies, telecommunications and the sector for servicing these markets.

Fourthly, the models of social, economic, managerial, financial, industrial organization are partially transformed, become wider, and increase their flexibility due to the use of information technologies.

The main tendency is that the role of information is consistently growing, the search for new knowledge is intensifying. Information and knowledge are important factors in production and economic growth. Economic success is increasingly driven by information availability, innovation and continuous development.

Development of the information society

There are 3 stages in the development of the information society:

1. 1950-1980 - The emergence of a close relationship between science, technical development and production. A sharp increase in the dynamics of production, the formation of prerequisites for the emergence of modern science-intensive technologies.
2. 1980-2000 - Globalization of socio-economic relations, intensification international relations and the complication of world economic processes. Reducing the number of purely local socio-economic events and processes.
3. 2000-2020 - Significant complication of all spheres of human activity, the formation of a complex world economic system. Simultaneous strengthening of integration processes in the economic sphere, aspirations of individual states to preserve their economic, political and cultural sovereignty. The emergence of new integration unions: BRICS, EAEU, SCO.

The modern and further development of the information society is associated with the creation and implementation of new information and communication technologies in all spheres of human activity. All this will require a serious and profound restructuring of modern society.

The main directions of development of the information society:

• Electronic commerce
• Telemedicine
• Remote education
• Robotization
• Digital economy
• Electronic services
• Remote receipt of public services

The development of the information society at its current level is determined by the increased requirements for adaptation to sharply increased rates of changes in the economy, production, technologies, etc. The consequence of this is the simultaneous strengthening of integration trends at the local, national and international levels, while the trends towards sovereignty and self-sufficiency at the same levels are growing.

The development of the information society is a set of processes that affect the change in the state structure, society, economic system, technology, production and life of individuals in the context of increasing the role of information and knowledge.

The development of the information society, having a significant potential to improve the quality of life of the entire human community and each individual, expands opportunities for individuals, entrepreneurs, forms the preconditions for further increasing production efficiency, saving resources and focuses on an innovative type of development. This is associated with the possibility of access to the information resources of human civilization for literally every person, as well as the possibility of communication between very distant points of our planet.

Information Society in the Russian Federation

The main areas in which the most obvious development of the information society is taking place in the Russian Federation:

1. Remote receipt of public services. This includes most of the government services that can be obtained through the site https://www.gosuslugi.ru
2. Distance learning. Including through webinars, video lectures, broadcasts, lectures. Many universities have introduced a system for remote loading of completed work, remote passing of control sections of knowledge, remote accounting of progress. Distance learning is partly implemented in schools.
3. Finance and banks. All banks have Internet banks, client banks.
4. Social interaction. The most significant example is the distribution of electronic signatures for both legal entities and individuals.
5. Telemedicine. Electronic Record to the polyclinic, videoconferences of specialist doctors, etc.
6. Remote work via the Internet.
7. Tax administration.
8. Interaction with executive authorities. Online reception of citizens' appeals.
9. Transportation. Electronic tickets for the plane, train. Taxi services (here you can already forget about "The city is inexpensive !!!" as a bad dream).
10. And many other areas.

Further development of the information society in the Russian Federation is associated with the construction of a digital economy and robotization. In turn, this imposes the following requirements on society:

• Increasing the requirements for professional qualifications.
• Increasing requirements for the level of education.
• Changes in the educational structure of society.
• Changing the nature of work.

On this moment the prevalence of intellectual, skilled labor, requiring special skills and knowledge, is already observed in the social structure. Accordingly, getting an education is no longer sufficient; it is necessary to skillfully apply the acquired knowledge and use information.

The information society of the Russian Federation is also characterized by increased requirements for the production of services, especially those related to the receipt, retrieval, processing, storage, transformation and use of information.

The structure of the information society of the Russian Federation is shown in the figure.

The structure of the information society of the Russian Federation

Information Society Challenges

Let's list the main problems of the information society.

1. Globalization leads to the erosion of the national sovereignty of individual states, economic and political boundaries, which is aggravated by the formation of global conglomerates in the field of communications, production, information, etc.
2. The acceleration of the pace of industrialization and the intensification of interaction between different states leads not only to the mutual exchange of cultural achievements, but creates conditions for cultural aggression from a number of countries. Together with the unification of cultures, this exacerbates the danger of the loss of individual peoples of their cultural, national, linguistic originality, and also leads to the imposition of the cult of consumption on mankind, which meets only the interests of transnational corporations.
3. Increased globalization of the economy and production can adversely affect the state of the environment and policies for its protection.
4. There is an offensive (in the long term with complete destruction) of the right to work and social protection.
5. The widespread dissemination of the so-called "screen" or "reference" culture in the context of the inevitable collision of such a virtual culture with objective reality creates significant psychological and social problems for people.
6. With the growth of information, an increase in the amount of information received, it becomes more difficult for people to control its content and protect themselves from redundant information.
7. Opportunities for the free dissemination of information create threats to the transfer of information dangerous to society, and the problem of the security of personal data appears.

Separately, mention should be made of the problem of information inequality, when some people find themselves cut off from information, both for objective reasons and for subjective reasons. As a result, society is divided into those who use the information environment and those who do not. At the same time, many people, especially older generations, deliberately refer all information technologies to the exclusion zone and do not want to get involved with them. This may lead to the fact that in the relatively near future, such people may be left out of the social processes in general.