Part One: The Information Society

Introduction by Frank Webster

Advocates:

1. "Image of the Future Information Society," by Yoneji Masuda
2. "Living on Thin Air," by Charles Leadbeater
3. "Cyberspace and the American Dream," by Ester Dyson, et al.

Critics:

4. "Who Will Be in Cyberspace?" by Langdon Winner
5. "The Cult of Information," by Theodore Roszak
6. "The Long History of the Information Revolution," by Robins and Webster

Questions:

1. Webster distinguishes between technology, economics, culture and education in discussing what may or may not characterize an "information society" uniquely (e.g. p. 10). What do you think most clearly distinguishes the "information society" from Industrial Society and/or Agrarian Society, and in which category does your characteristic best fit?
2. Do you think any of Masuda's 17 points of contrast (pps. 16,17,20) should be reconsidered/revised/rejected in 2007?
3. Leadbeater talks about a "knowledge society" characterized/shaped by three primary forces: finance, knowledge and "social capital". He also writes that the "free market argument" (e.g. value = price) has run its course and that we recognize the need to balance "markets and communities." (How) Has information society brought this about, and have the events of the last 5 years changed the picture at all?
4. How does a RISD education fare when evaluated according to the criteria on p. 41 of the manifesto by Ester Dyson et al?
5. What are you thoughts on the phenomenon Langdon Winner calls "digital liquidation" (p. 47), and have you or a member of your family either experienced it or carried it out?
6. Does Roszak's analogy between the hypes & hopes surrounding computers and those that surrounded steam (e.g. the poem about railroads on p. 61) seem reasonable to you?
7. Robins and Webster argue that information technologies are the latest development in a larger history of control and surveillance. They write about the new "model worker" and the new "model student" (p. 66) as examples that show streamlined "control strategies." What do they mean and do you agree that the greatest influence of the Web (for example) has been on the theory and practice of consumption (of goods, services and information)?
8. Given the quotation from Anthony Giddens (p. 65), do you believe that information technology/technologies are "pro-democracy", "pro-totalitarian", or neutral with respect to political systems?