23 August 2004

Information Sharing in a Digital World

Part One: Information as a Democratic Tool

By Thomas B Riley, Executive Director and Chair, Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance

Introduction

In our information-rich environment we need to find ways for the citizen to be better informed. In the emerging knowledge economy, it is time we looked at the whole question of information rights from a new perspective.

In the past, the push has been towards access to official government information. Much of this is codified in law in most developed countries and a trend is emerging in many developing countries. As of June 2004, there are fifty-four national freedom of information laws passed and enacted, or being proposed, by national legislatures. There are also freedom of information laws around the world at the local, state and provincial levels, a trend which started post Second World War.

These laws heralded a transition from a culture whereby government released information at their discretion, to the citizen having the right to request the information. This resulted in the emergence of more information to the public and an expectation of accountability and transparency from government. The next step in this information evolution began with the rise of the Internet and its deep penetration into society in many parts of the world.

Information is not only a commodity to be bartered in the marketplace but also a potentially powerful democratic tool.

In a very short period of time we could see freedom of information laws expand from the parameters of access to government documents to encompass both the public and private sector. Information best practices also need to be written in order to help the developing world. In an information rich era, combined with the rise of the dominance of the Digital Age in developed countries, great potential exists to democratise information at all levels of society throughout the world. Due to our new information technologies, information is not only a commodity to be bartered in the marketplace but also a potentially powerful democratic tool.

Information as a democratic tool

Within the next few year, or sooner, we will probably not even use the word Internet, or Net, because the actual convergences of technologies is creating a new phenomenon. This is because of the rise of cell phones, handheld devices and chip technologies, which will be embedded in our homes and offices and, soon, in humans themselves, though such advances have important privacy consequences. The benefits of new technologies also have their downsides which requires legislative analysis and new policies to address the new realities that our creating widespread incursions on people's personal privacy.

Now an individual can be connected to the online world through a variety of technologies. Voice recognition technologies in the home and workplace allow one to receive email, send a message, take a virtual tour of the office, meet others in virtual meeting spaces, go there anonymously with created identities, book a holiday, shop online from wherever you are, do research, book a movie, monitor the babysitter and thousands of other functions, all of which will depend on the needs and interests of the individual.

Whatever the opinions or views of individuals and governments in society, it is evident that we need a far deeper debate and discourse on the impacts of technologies. There are concerns over ensuring that all citizens have universal access to the Internet (and are free to use it or not use it as they wish). There are serious, abiding anxieties about the digital divide that is occurring throughout the world. However, this is not to infer that governments should not move towards creative and innovative ways to share and distribute wide packages of information that could be of value to many groups and individuals in society.

The demand is for "organized" information that informs, not overwhelms, the citizen.

It may seem at the moment that we already live in a world with too much information. As governments go online with electronic service delivery, more content will become available to the public. But it will not be enough to put information up on a web site. This change of demand for information could be for "organized" information that informs, not overwhelms, the citizen. These trends are creating new problems for governments. For the citizen, who is going online for government information, if a request is rejected, the issue will become: why can't I have access? Part of the answer to this is that government departments and agencies develop policies in advance to decide in advance what information can be public, based on their respective freedom of information laws, and make them publicly available in a comprehensive form.

In the spreading e-democracy movement around the world the major emphasis is on how governments can better provide information to the citizen and how the public can take advantage of information that is relevant to their professional and personal lives and is available from government. Technology is the key driver in finding ways to allow the public to access that information.

Information is an issue in a new form. Governments will also be subject to pressures from emerging information forces in society. For example, the secrecy of governments is defined to the degree that information may be shared with the public based on current freedom of information laws. The lack of efficacy of a freedom of information law is shown by the narrowness with which government exempts information from the public. But the challenge for governments is not just to pass or amend freedom of information laws. Changing environments bring different attitudes. In our new environments, information must be seen as the force it has become in society.

For fuller details on this concept of information sharing please go to the latest paper from Riley Information Services Inc., E-Government: The Digital Divide and Information Sharing: Examining the Issues at: http://www.rileyis.com/publications/research_papers/track04/index.htm

Other articles by Thomas Riley:
- The Digital Divide in the Developed World
- E-Democracy and the Resurgence of Democracy
- eGovernance to eDemocracy: Examining the Evolution
- Security Laws and Privacy: Striking the Balance [Part 2]
- Security Laws and Privacy: Striking the Balance [Part 1]
- An Overview of the Knowledge Economy
- eDemocracy: An Evolution in Progress
- Definining E-Government and E-Governance: Staying the Course
- The Role of Information in eGovernment Implementation
- Change Management and the Relationship to eGovernment
- Privacy Trends: Meeting New Demands
- eDemocracy in a Changing World

Thomas Riley is the co-Founder, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance, a think-tank set up under a Commonwealth Secretariat programme in London. He is also the President of Riley Information Services, a consultant and advisor specialising in national and international IT policy development, and a Visiting Professor of Law and Technology at the University of Glasgow. For further information he can be contacted at rtriley6@cs.com