Living and Working in the Information Age - De Montfort University

Living and Working in theInformation AgeMohamed M. BeggDe Montfort UniversityLeicesterUKbegg@dmu.ac.ukI will start off this short article with a quote from John Birt, BBC Director-General,which appeared in The Times, dated 28th April, 1998."We have already adjusted to massive social change in Britain. But ahead lies a challengeas great as any in our history. We face technological change as revolutionary as radio was75 years ago and television 50 years ago. In the digital age broadcasting will becomeplentiful, global and interactive."The digital age brings with it risks as well as opportunities. The risk that globalisationof culture will threaten national identities, that the powerful gateway controllers willrestrain rather than promote diversity, the risk of a two class society: the informationrich, ready and able to pay for their increasingly expensive media, and the informationpoor, who cannot. Those left behind in the digital age risk being doomed to irrelevence."In many ways I believe that John Birt has summed up the important implications of thetitle of this article. However, it is important to expand on a few areas a bit further. Let ustake the email as an example first. Email is revolutionising communication traditions.Whereas the pen and the written word was the ultimate method of expression, in thefuture the email will make the written word a thing of the past and with it the charm ofvery personal words written by one’s own hands! One the positive side the email canreach the recipient almost immediately whereas the written word took days or weeks toreach by ’Snail Mail’ - thus diluting the message with other events that may havehappened in the meantime!The Internet is one of the most important developments in this age and yet this too hasraised my opportunities and concerns for the society. School children are already sharingglobal lessons. As children are now growing up with computers, they often seem to know1

Living and Working in the Information Ageeconomic condition of the vast majority of people in the world who are poor and cannoteven afford a calculator? I think here lies the real danger for the future - the richbecoming information rich and the poor becoming information poor which reflects whatJohn Birt has said as quoted in the beginning of this article.3