INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY

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National Information Policy within the context of Economic, Political and Social

Conditions The formulation of a national information policy needs to be developed within the context of a country’s economic, political, cultural, educational and social conditions. These conditions are unique to a specific country. As Haddock (1990: 45) states: … nations create information policy based on their own history, values, prevailing social, cultural, political, and economic needs; the current state of technology, and last, but not least, as a response to or anticipation of other nations’ information policy issues. Although various policy guidelines for the development of national information policy have been compiled by organisations such as UNESCO (2004), there are no commonly accepted stimuli or motivations for the development of a national information policy. Different countries develop their policies based on different stimuli (Malley, 1990: 92) as governments are motivated to develop their national information policy within the country itself.

National Information Policy Goals

The goals of national information policies tend to be linked to national economic, political and social development. Mason (1983: 93) explained the goal of information policies for the collective value to the economy, politics, and all individuals: … Collectively, information policies form a framework that impacts on the economic, political, and social choices available to individuals and a society itself. Thorngate (1997: 195-200) conducted a study in which he measured the effects of information on development. As a social psychologist he argues that it is easier to evaluate the effects of knowledge on development, as information has potential value (and cannot be evaluated) as well as current value within a society. He warns that the value or impact of information on development may “… lie elsewhere” and that we may be “… looking in the wrong place for the evaluation of the impact of information”.

National Information Policy Outcomes

The outcome of this type of policy on a society can be observed in a country such as Singapore, with regard to the industrial growth linked to the policy to establish research parks in the country (Appold, 2003: 1), aimed at stimulating innovation in a structured environment. South Africa has also set up a similar type of project, aimed at stimulating research and development in Gauteng with its Blue IQ projects. These projects consist of “…11 mega projects in economic-infrastructure development, in the areas of technology, tourism, transport and high-value-added manufacturing” (South Africa Yearbook, 2005/06, 2005: 20). The outcome of a project such as the Blue IQ cannot be predicted and it will take some time to establish how successful it has been in the various areas of development.

MOTIVATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY PRIOR TO THE 1980S

Various motivations are given in the documents mentioned above prior to the 1980s, for the development of national information policies. The policy guidelines presented by United Nations’ organisations and other national agencies (Gray, 1988: 92, 93), focused on the aim to provide access to national information sources. The emphasis in many of the initial national information policies was on the role of the national library of the country and the provision of access to the information produced nationally. Later documents address wider international efforts which aim to ensure access to information sources. One such example is the UNISIST Programme, launched in 1972 by UNESCO (UNESCO, 1979).

International Trends in the 1980s

With time social change influenced the approach to national information policy. Rosenberg (1982: 19-20) explained that the policies that were initially aimed to cope with information, were shifting to cover more aggressive issues of sovereignty (governance), culture, economics, and national security. Information was beginning to be viewed as a resource for economic and social development, and had gained a political-economic dimension as well (Rowlands, Eisenschitz and Bawden, 2002: 32). A political dimension was also later attributed to the library and information sector in South Africa as the country was moving towards change in government (Nassimbeni, 1996: 359) from the previous apartheid 99 government to the newly elected government of 1994.

CONTENTS :

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• SUMMARY
• OPSOMMING i
• CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM AND ITS CONTEXT
  • 1.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM
    • 1.2.1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
    • 1.2.2 OTHER INFORMATION-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS AND CONCEPTS
    • 1.2.3 BACKGROUND TO DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA
  • 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • 1.4 METHODOLOGY
    • 1.4.1 DEFINING THE SCOPE OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
    • 1.4.2 NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY AS INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
    • 1.4.3 NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY AS PROCESS AND LINKED TO VALUES
    • 1.4.4 COMPARATIVE POLICY STUDIES AND THE POLICY PROCESS
    • 1.4.5 METHOD USED IN THE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE REGARDING MOTIVATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
    • 1.4.6 INFORMATION-RELATED ISSUES IDENTIFIED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK
  • 1.5 DEFINITIONS OF CORE TERMS
    • 1.5.1 NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
    • 1.5.2 INFORMATION
    • 1.5.3 THE INFORMATION AGE
    • 1.5.4 INFORMATION SOCIETY
    • 1.5.5 ACCESS TO INFORMATION
      • 1.5.5.1 Universal Access to Information
    • 1.5.6 LITERACY
    • 1.5.6.1 Information Literacy
    • 1.5.7 INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
    • 1.5.8 INFORMATION SECTOR
    • 1.5.9 INFORMATION ECONOMY
    • 1.5.10 DIGITAL ECONOMY
  • 1.6 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
    • 1.6.1 GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND DEVELOPMENT
    • 1.6.2 GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND ACHIEVING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
    • 1.6.3 GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
    • 1.6.4 GOVERNMENT POLICIES, INFORMATION AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF DEVELOPMENT
  • 1.7 VALUE, LIMITATIONS AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY
  • 1.7.1 VALUE OF THE RESEARCH
  • 1.7.2 LIMITATIONS AND CHALLENGES
  • 1.8 EXPOSITION
• CHAPTER TWO GOVERNMENT POLICY, INFORMATION AND NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
  • 2.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 2.2 THE MEANING OF GOVERNMENT POLICY
  • 2.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GOVERNMENT POLICY
  • 2.3.1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA
  • 2.4 THE PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF A GOVERNMENT POLICY
    • 2.4.1 MOTIVATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES
    • 2.4.1.1 Factors such as Time, place and Historical Circumstances
    • 2.4.1.2 Policies implemented in other Countries
    • 2.4.1.3 Policies with a Specific Application, Value Attached, or Intent held by a Government
  • 2.5 THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOR GOVERNMENT POLICY WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA
• CHAPTER THREE HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY
  • 3.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 3.2 INTERNATIONAL TRENDS PRIOR TO
  • 3.3 MOTIVATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY PRIOR TO THE 1980S
  • 3.4 INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN THE 1980S, 1990S AND 2000S
    • 3.4.1 INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN THE 1980S
    • 3.4.2 INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN THE 1990S
    • 3.4.3 INTERNATIONAL TRENDS SINCE THE YEAR
  • 3.5 NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
    • 3.5.1 WESTERN INFLUENCES AND LIBRARIES IN AFRICA
    • 3.5.2 WESTERN INFLUENCES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA
    • 3.5.3 TELECENTRES OR MULTIPURPOSE COMMUNITY CENTRES IN COUNTRIES IN AFRICA
    • 3.5.4 INTERNET IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
  • 3.6 NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY INITIATIVES IN AFRICA
  • 3.7 CONCLUSIONS
• CHAPTER FOUR NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY ISSUES
  • 4.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 4.2 METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS
  • 4.3 ISSUES LINKED TO FACTORS SUCH AS TIME, PLACE AND HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES
    • 4.3.1 ACCESS TO INFORMATION
    • 4.3.2 ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
    • 4.3.3 LITERACY LEVELS
    • 4.3.4 COMPUTER LITERACY LEVEL
    • 4.3.5 LEVELS OF EDUCATION AND SKILLS
    • 4.3.6 INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT
    • 4.3.7 THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE (INCLUDING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE)
    • 4.3.8 INFORMATION CONTENT, INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVENESS
    • 4.3.9 OTHER ISSUES – SUCH AS E-COMMERCE
  • 4.4 ISSUES ADDRESSED IN INFORMATION POLICIES IN MANY COUNTRIES
• CHAPTER FIVE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA
• CHAPTER SIX NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY AND GLOBALISATION
• CHAPTER SEVEN SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT
A SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOUTH AFRICA