READIT-2007 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Global
highly competitive
fast changing
based to a great extent on knowledge as the key asset
“In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one source of
lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. When markets shift, technologies
proliferate, and products become obsolete almost overnight, successful companies are
those that consistently create new knowledge, disseminate it widely throughout the
organization and quickly embody it in new technologies and products.” (2)
2. WHAT IS A COMMODITY?
The "New Oxford Dictionary of English" defines commodity as:
"a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought or sold,
such as copper or coffee a useful or valuable thing such as water or time".
The "Concise Oxford Dictionary" has:
"an article or raw material that can be bought or sold, especially a product as
opposed to a service. a useful thing".
The "Chambers Dictionary" offers:
"an article of trade; (in plural) goods, produce; profit, expediency, advantage,
convenience or privilege (archaic)"
I doubt that any of us here would argue against the idea that information is a
"useful thing". For the purposes of this paper, I intend to define a commodity as "an
item that can be bought or sold". Under this definition, then the answer to the question
posed in the title must be ‘yes - information is a commodity’.
3. CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION
3.1. Information
With the information revolution, communicators need to clearly define
knowledge, re-evaluate the Library & information professionals’ role in the
information transfer chain as both information producers and consumers, and reexamine
how and why we produce information. In the last two decades, the rapid
penetration of desktop publishing and Web technologies not only changed the design
of information but also introduced new power and challenges in its dissemination.
The average user can design information and distribute it via a Web site literally
within minutes. This new power has led to an abundance of information that some
have called the "information overload." Information has become a commodity
because the tools and venues for creating and distributing information are widely
available. Consequently, I argue that the notion of information as we know it is
fundamentally meaningless. The "real value" of information results when creators of
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