Information is Power

Abstract

The core element that drives the digital society is digitalised information. Information is the key to how the digital society adds value and redistributes power. In a connected world, information gains power through permanent storage and wide distribution. The same information that existed in the analogue world can exponentially increase in power once shared on digital networks. Digital information is intangible. Yet once recorded, it can exist for ever. This new way of existing and sharing creates gaps between those who can use information as a resource and those who cannot. The ability to locate data, convert it into information, and apply it in the offline context is the key to information fluency. This chapter outlines the questions around how exclusion from information can lead members of a society into becoming a digital underclass in a highly networked society. Information fluency is introduced as an important component of digital fluency.