Democratization of information

By Harry Smals on 19 November 2009

Information is everywhere. We can pick it up from the air with our telephones and laptops, or suck it from a thread with our pc’s. Newspapers and magazines are for free.

Information is from everyone. Everyone can start a website or write a blog (are you still reading this?) and share his unique thoughts and brilliant visions.
Information is power. Information and power are given to the people. Information is no scarce article, only available for the elite. Information is democratized.

When I went to university, I learned that information overload was typical for managers and other members of the elite; they were bombarded with information and had difficulty processing all this. Recognize this from your own situation? So, the people now have the same privileges as the elite used to have. In the past only rich people had a telephone, and a computer; and now, who hasn’t?

For the traditional elite this might be difficult to accept. Now they do not have the exclusive power to provide people with information and to explain what is true and valuable; to put things into context. Now everybody is free to believe what he wants, including lies and false information. People find each other and put things into the context they want. They can make sense of events in the context of extreme right-wing political views, or fundamentalist religious views. It’s all available and you are free to believe what you want. Society is scattered into many subcultures.
Information and news used to be something precious, now they are products to earn money with. Some people say that this leads to more superficial information. There are 100 channels on your TV, but they all offer rubbish. There are many free newspapers, but they all give the same irrelevant stories. Because that is what people want.

On the other hand you might say that democratization of information leads to more in-depth knowledge and understanding. When you’re in the train reading one of those free rubbish news papers, you might encounter a word you don’t understand; then you just go to Wikipedia and voila, you learned something …that might be true. Democratization of information can make people smarter, if they know what to believe.

tagged with: information, democracy