Information As The New Global Commons: A Note From The Third World

Abstract

"Despite this optimistic view, many communication scholars have pointed that the potential of communication to become a more inclusive process may not be fully realized. Just three decades ago, print and broadcasting media were assumed to add greatly to the flow of public information, thereby closing the gap and helping to modify differences in knowledge resulting from inequalities in education and social position. However, this prediction did not come true. Instead, it was found that there was a widening of the gap as the media propelled information rich, with higher skills and more resources even further ahead of the informationally lower strata. Will the new information and communication technologies mediated world go the same way?

"Rest of this paper is divided into three sections. Section One deals with the role and importance of information in today's world. The next section covers some of the innovative ways in which people have developed and used the communication media to ensure its democratic nature. Constraints faced in fulfilling this agenda are highlighted in the last section."