Jan Servaes

The Information Society is one of the recurrent imaginaries to describe present-day structures, discourses and practices. Within its meaning is enshrined the promise of a better world, sometimes naively assuming a technological deus ex machina, in other cases hoping for the creation of policy tools that will overcome a diversity of societal divides. With the two-phased World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the United Nations attempted to stimulate the development of such tools. Simultaneously, the WSIS is a large-scale experiment in multistakeholderism. The objective was to create a more balanced decision-making process that would allow the voices of civil society and business actors to be heard in international politics. This book aims to evaluate the potentialities of both the Information Society, and the WSIS in supporting and constructing more democratic, just and developed societies. It is the second book arising from the intellectual work of European Consortium for Communications Research members.

The globalization of social, cultural and economic relations is facilitated, and at the same time conditioned by developments in the information and communications technologies (ICT) and infrastructure. Human knowledge brought mankind from an oral to a literate culture, thanks to the invention of print media. The development of the electronic media in the 20th century paved the way for the information age, in which spatial and temporal constraints are lifted. This work explores the consequences of this revolution in human communications, which are multidimensional in character, affecting economical, political and social life on national, international and local levels. The text is part of a series of volumes arising from the intellectual work of ECCR members.

This volume summarizes the evolution in post-war thought about development and communication and identifies the various options in communication policymaking and communication research. Case studies are provided to exemplify the major theoretical arguments.