After the Industrial Revolution that entered
human societies into a new phase, in the last decade, this time IT Revolution,
has directed societies into a new phase. In many circles, this new phase
was called Information Society. This last Revolution (of ICT) has rendered
deep changes in almost all social levels and angles both in form and
content – and continues to do further. These changes include different
and varying areas of education, commerce, governance, leisure, culture,
politics, family, and other institutions.
Putting in other words, the new information and communication technologies
have created new conditions for the emergence of knowledge societies.
Added to this, the emerging global information society only finds its
raison d’?tre if it serves to bring about a higher and more desirable
goal, namely the building, on a global scale, of knowledge societies
that are a source of development for all.
Knowledge societies are about capabilities to identify, produce, process,
transform, disseminate and use information to build and apply knowledge
for human development. They require an empowering social vision that
encompasses plurality, inclusion, solidarity and participation. Emphasized
by UNESCO during the first phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS), the concept of knowledge societies is meant to be more
all-embracing and more conducive to empowerment that the concept of
technology and connectivity, which often dominates debates on the information
society.
Many objectives and goals perceived for Knowledge Society are those
classically defined to be parts and parcel of Civil Society.
This section deals with the theoretical considerations as well as practical
criteria of these three concepts and their relations.
