The Past, Present, and Future of Information Policy

Conclusion: towards a normative theory of the information society
The paper began with an introduction to the idea of the information society and proceeded to calibrate a tradition of policy thinking which grew up along­side this putative information society. The understanding of information policy that emerges from the discussion is a substantive one. While caution needs to be exercised regarding some of what the historical tradition has said on behalf of information policy, particularly with respect to its scope, we should not question the basic legitimacy of the idea of government policies in and for information. On the contrary, policies aiming at arguably desirable specific social goals, such as FOI, privacy, or a just IPR regime, so long as they are not confused with the neo-Bonapartism of an all-encompassing ‘national information plan’ , are to be encouraged. No doubt it is true that some of the claims associated with the information society thesis are either technologically deterministic or, in a more sinister way, ‘ideological’ (Garnham 2000), as a healthy body of Left criticism insists. But the information society thesis in its more reflective and restrained forms is not merely a manifestation of false consciousness. I think we can still say that a central objective of civilized nations in the twenty-first century should be to realize the information society. By helping to clarify the nature of information policy, and by identifying some disciplinary directions in which it needs to travel (but not to terminate) , this paper hopes to have shown a few of the steps towards a normative theory of the information society.
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Alistair Duff lectures in information and media policy in the School of Commun­ication Arts at Napier University, Edinburgh. His academic background is philo­sophy (London University), moral and political philosophy (Glasgow University), and information studies (Strathclyde University). A doctoral thesis on the information society (Napier University) formed the basis of Information Society Studies (Routledge, 2000). He has published many articles and reviews in journals of communication and information science, and has organized interna­tional symposia and a sponsored public lecture series on the information society. He is currently serving as deputy programme leader and admissions tutor on Napier's MSc Journalism programme. Address: School of Communication Arts, Napier University, Craighouse Road, Edinburgh EH10 5LG, UK. [email: a. [e-mail]]