Towards a Normative Theory of the Information Society

Information society studies has emerged as an important field of interdisciplinary research, illustrated by the success of The Information Society: An International Journal, and the newer British-based refereed journal Information, Communication & Society. There has also been a continuous stream of books, including Christine Borgman's From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World (2003), Manuel Castells's The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, 3 vols (1996-98, and already in second edition), Dearnley and Feather's The Wired World (2001), Scott Lash's Critique of Information (2002), Shalini Venturelli's Liberalizing the European Media: Politics, Regulation, and the Public Sphere (1998), Frank Webster's Theories of the Information Society (2002), and my own Information Society Studies (2000).There is a growing recognition in the international scholarly debate represented by these titles of a need for more explicitly normative, prescriptive works, especially ones that are deeply rooted in competent understandings of philosophy and policy, as well as information or communication studies. My book would seek to make such a contribution. It intends to reflect one distinctive approach anchored in religious social-democratic ideals, exploring how the ideas of thinkers like R. H. Tawney can be 'applied' to the information age and its attendant problems. It is hoped that this book would stimulate debate around important issues such as the sources of norms, the philosophical justification of information policies, the legitimacy of social engineering, and the role that information institutions, including libraries and the press, should be playing in the development of a just information society. The book is conceived of primarily as a theoretical and interpretative work, whose research methods will accordingly be those of the humanities scholar: intensive reading, note-taking, reflection, and writing, drawing upon the resources of several major university and research libraries in the Central Belt of Scotland. For detailed analyses of integral issues such as the social distribution of news and the impact of freedom of information legislation, the Official Publications sections of these libraries will be crucial. The author also plans to approach some eminent thinkers, including Jurgen Habermas and Manuel Castells, with the hope of entering into sustained scholarly correspondence with them. Such is, of course, a time-honoured 'research method' in the humanities.Towards a Normative Theory of the Information Society would attempt to meet identifiable needs of several communities of theory and practice, namely: communications, media, sociology, and information science scholars specialising in the information society; and policy-makers and their advisors seeking to make knowledge-based information policy decisions in light of information society developments. It is intended that the book would be supplemented by dissemination of versions of chapters in leading journals, such as The Information Society, Information, Communication & Society, and Media, Culture & Society. The audiences for these well-established outlets are international and span disciplines throughout the humanities and beyond. Some of the work upon which the book will build has already been published in these journals, indicating that there is a real need for a more comprehensive treatment. The publication of this book might also spur other scholars to produce their own normative theories of the information society.