Paper No : 01 Knowledge Society
Module : 01 Principal
GeneralInvestigator
Introduction to the Course on
Knowledge Society &
Subject Coordinator
Development Team
Paper Coordinator
Principal Investigator
Dr. Jagdish Arora, Director
&
INFLIBNET Centre, Gandhinagar
Subject Coordinator
Content Writer
Prof K S Raghavan
Paper Coordinator
Content Reviewer
Visiting Scientist, Centre for Knowledge Analytics
and Ontological Engineering (KAnOE), ES Institute
of Technology
Prof K S Raghavan
Content Writer Visiting Scientist, Centre for Knowledge Analytics
and Ontological
Engineering (KAnOE), PES Institute of Technology
Dr Sanjeevi Amba
Content Reviewer Retd Scientist, Central Leather Research Institute
Paper Coordinator
, General Introduction to the Course on Knowledge Society
Structure of the Module
1. Introduction
2. Factors of Digital Divide
3. Role of Librarian and information Centre
4. The Outline and Plan
5. A note for the students
1. Introduction
The world is in the process of structural transformation for nearly three decades.
This process is multidimensional and is closely associated with the emergence of a
new technological paradigm, based in Information and communication
technologies that took shape in the last quarter of the 20th Century. However the
diffusion of the technology has not been even around the world. Throughout
history societies and communities have shaped technologies depending on needs,
values, and interests of people who use the technology. ICTs are particularly
sensitive to the culture values and social uses on technology itself. The term
knowledge society certainly does not necessarily convey the same idea to all. This
should be evident from the history of the Internet; the first thousands of users were
mainly those who developed the technology. However in this 2nd decade of the 21st
Century network society is already a reality, at least for many segments of our
societies – academic, business, government, etc. It is certainly not as if the
transformations are in the future. What characterizes the network society is that it
constitutes a system of socialized communication beyond the mass media system
that characterized the industrial society. The network society is not the future that
we must reach by embracing the new technological paradigm. It is our society, in
different degrees, and under different forms depending on countries and cultures.
Our understanding of the notion of the knowledge society must start from this
basic fact. It is not any particular destination but is largely a point of departure.
People, institutions, governments, etc do not have to do anything to develop the
network society because it is already here. Policy makers, however, should realize
that not every individual is included in the network and the building of a true
knowledge society requires that everyone should be included in the network. In
societies that present unbalanced income distribution patterns, societies that have
not yet transited to democratic form of governance, in societies with large
Module : 01 Principal
GeneralInvestigator
Introduction to the Course on
Knowledge Society &
Subject Coordinator
Development Team
Paper Coordinator
Principal Investigator
Dr. Jagdish Arora, Director
&
INFLIBNET Centre, Gandhinagar
Subject Coordinator
Content Writer
Prof K S Raghavan
Paper Coordinator
Content Reviewer
Visiting Scientist, Centre for Knowledge Analytics
and Ontological Engineering (KAnOE), ES Institute
of Technology
Prof K S Raghavan
Content Writer Visiting Scientist, Centre for Knowledge Analytics
and Ontological
Engineering (KAnOE), PES Institute of Technology
Dr Sanjeevi Amba
Content Reviewer Retd Scientist, Central Leather Research Institute
Paper Coordinator
, General Introduction to the Course on Knowledge Society
Structure of the Module
1. Introduction
2. Factors of Digital Divide
3. Role of Librarian and information Centre
4. The Outline and Plan
5. A note for the students
1. Introduction
The world is in the process of structural transformation for nearly three decades.
This process is multidimensional and is closely associated with the emergence of a
new technological paradigm, based in Information and communication
technologies that took shape in the last quarter of the 20th Century. However the
diffusion of the technology has not been even around the world. Throughout
history societies and communities have shaped technologies depending on needs,
values, and interests of people who use the technology. ICTs are particularly
sensitive to the culture values and social uses on technology itself. The term
knowledge society certainly does not necessarily convey the same idea to all. This
should be evident from the history of the Internet; the first thousands of users were
mainly those who developed the technology. However in this 2nd decade of the 21st
Century network society is already a reality, at least for many segments of our
societies – academic, business, government, etc. It is certainly not as if the
transformations are in the future. What characterizes the network society is that it
constitutes a system of socialized communication beyond the mass media system
that characterized the industrial society. The network society is not the future that
we must reach by embracing the new technological paradigm. It is our society, in
different degrees, and under different forms depending on countries and cultures.
Our understanding of the notion of the knowledge society must start from this
basic fact. It is not any particular destination but is largely a point of departure.
People, institutions, governments, etc do not have to do anything to develop the
network society because it is already here. Policy makers, however, should realize
that not every individual is included in the network and the building of a true
knowledge society requires that everyone should be included in the network. In
societies that present unbalanced income distribution patterns, societies that have
not yet transited to democratic form of governance, in societies with large
