Elite Decision-Making and Epistemic Communities: Implications for Global Information Policy

Abstract

With the rapid development of new information and communications technologies and the continuing processes of globalisation, the role of international telecommunications in the global economy is changing dramatically. Over the past decade, numerous innovative applications have been explored using the global information infrastructure (GII) as a delivery platform, including telemedicine, distance learning, teleworking, and scientific collaboration (Cogburn and Levinson, 2003; Cogburn et al., 2002; Olson et al., 2002). Many of these applications are opportunities for distributed knowledge work while others, such as electronic commerce and trade in services, illustrate the economic potential of the GII (WTO, 2002).

An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the 2001 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC). This research was supported in part by grants from the University of Michigan School of Information, Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Alliance for Community Technology. Special thanks for comments on the ideas discussed in this paper go to Sandra Braman, Nanette Levinson, Michael Kennedy, Paul Resnick, Ernest J. Wilson, William Drake, Robert Horwitz, Tracey Cohen, and Michael Cohen.