Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Overview
The information infrastructure is complex and has evolved over time. This chapter
explores the components of the information infrastructure, including the transport-
ation, communication, and technological components. The library and information
profession is examined as a vital contributor to this infrastructure. The evolving new
paradigm is examined as a framework for analyzing the information infrastructure
and for understanding the current, sometimes confusing changes occurring in the
creation, dissemination, and utilization of information in contemporary society.
In Chapter 2 we introduced characteristics of the emergent paradigm created by
Peter Schwartz and James Ogilvy (1979), applying it as a lens for understanding
the digital world. These characteristics describe the collapse of certainty in society
evident in the intellectual revolutions taking place in the sciences, humanities, and
social sciences. In summary, contemporary society is described as complex, heter-
archical, holographic, indeterminate, mutually causal, morphogenetic, perspectival,
and digital.
Table 3.1 is a matrix that applies the Schwartz and Ogilvy characteristics as
a way of describing the evolution of the information infrastructure from its old-
paradigm values and systems to the emergent values and systems of the digital
age. The matrix provides an overview of the elements of the information infrastruc-
ture as it has evolved. The left column represents the old paradigm, while the right
column represents the information infrastructure in the contemporary digital age. A
brief history of this evolution follows.
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