Towards a Normative Theory of the Information Society

走向信息社会的规范理论

• 批准号: AH/D000041/1
• 负责人: Alistair Duff
• 金额: $ 3.05万
• 依托单位: Edinburgh Napier University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FD000041%2F1
• 关键词: Towards; Normative; Theory; Information; Society

Information society studies has emerged as an important field of interdisciplinary research, illustrated by the success of The Information Society: An International Journal, and the newer British-based refereed journal Information, Communication & Society. There has also been a continuous stream of books, including Christine Borgman's From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World (2003), Manuel Castells's The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, 3 vols (1996-98, and already in second edition), Dearnley and Feather's The Wired World (2001), Scott Lash's Critique of Information (2002), Shalini Venturelli's Liberalizing the European Media: Politics, Regulation, and the Public Sphere (1998), Frank Webster's Theories of the Information Society (2002), and my own Information Society Studies (2000).There is a growing recognition in the international scholarly debate represented by these titles of a need for more explicitly normative, prescriptive works, especially ones that are deeply rooted in competent understandings of philosophy and policy, as well as information or communication studies. My book would seek to make such a contribution. It intends to reflect one distinctive approach anchored in religious social-democratic ideals, exploring how the ideas of thinkers like R. H. Tawney can be 'applied' to the information age and its attendant problems. It is hoped that this book would stimulate debate around important issues such as the sources of norms, the philosophical justification of information policies, the legitimacy of social engineering, and the role that information institutions, including libraries and the press, should be playing in the development of a just information society. The book is conceived of primarily as a theoretical and interpretative work, whose research methods will accordingly be those of the humanities scholar: intensive reading, note-taking, reflection, and writing, drawing upon the resources of several major university and research libraries in the Central Belt of Scotland. For detailed analyses of integral issues such as the social distribution of news and the impact of freedom of information legislation, the Official Publications sections of these libraries will be crucial. The author also plans to approach some eminent thinkers, including Jurgen Habermas and Manuel Castells, with the hope of entering into sustained scholarly correspondence with them. Such is, of course, a time-honoured 'research method' in the humanities.Towards a Normative Theory of the Information Society would attempt to meet identifiable needs of several communities of theory and practice, namely: communications, media, sociology, and information science scholars specialising in the information society; and policy-makers and their advisors seeking to make knowledge-based information policy decisions in light of information society developments. It is intended that the book would be supplemented by dissemination of versions of chapters in leading journals, such as The Information Society, Information, Communication & Society, and Media, Culture & Society. The audiences for these well-established outlets are international and span disciplines throughout the humanities and beyond. Some of the work upon which the book will build has already been published in these journals, indicating that there is a real need for a more comprehensive treatment. The publication of this book might also spur other scholars to produce their own normative theories of the information society.

信息社会研究已成为跨学科研究的一个重要领域，《信息社会：国际期刊》和较新的英国期刊《信息、通信与社会》的成功就说明了这一点。还有源源不断的书籍，包括克莉丝汀·博格曼的《从古滕贝格到全球信息基础设施：网络世界中的信息获取》（2003年），曼纽尔·卡斯特的《信息时代：《经济、社会与文化》，3卷（1996-98年，已出第二版），迪恩利和费瑟的《连线世界》（2001年），斯科特·拉什的《信息批判》（2002年），沙利尼·文图雷利的《欧洲媒体自由化：政治、管制和公共领域（1998年），弗兰克韦伯斯特的信息社会理论（2002年），以及我自己的信息社会研究（2000年）。在这些标题所代表的国际学术辩论中，越来越多的人认识到需要更明确的规范性和规定性的著作，特别是那些深深植根于对哲学和政策的理解的著作，以及信息或通信研究。我的书就是要做出这样的贡献。它旨在反映一种独特的方法，植根于宗教社会民主主义的理想，探讨如何思想家的想法，如R。H.托妮可以“应用”于信息时代及其伴随而来的问题。我们希望这本书将激发围绕重要问题的辩论，如规范的来源，信息政策的哲学理由，社会工程的合法性，以及包括图书馆和新闻界在内的信息机构在发展公正的信息社会中应发挥的作用。这本书主要是作为一个理论和解释性的工作，其研究方法将相应的人文学者：密集的阅读，笔记，反思和写作，借鉴了几个主要的大学和研究图书馆在苏格兰中部地带的资源。为了详细分析新闻的社会传播和信息自由立法的影响等整体问题，这些图书馆的官方出版物部门将至关重要。作者还计划接近一些著名的思想家，包括尤尔根·哈贝马斯和曼努埃尔·卡斯特，希望与他们进行持续的学术通信。这当然是人文学科中一种由来已久的“研究方法”。《走向信息社会的规范理论》将试图满足几个理论和实践团体的可识别需求，即：专门研究信息社会的通信、媒体、社会学和信息科学学者;决策者及其顾问根据信息社会的发展寻求以知识为基础的信息决策。打算通过在《信息社会》、《信息、通信与社会》和《媒体、文化与社会》等主要期刊上分发章节的版本来补充这本书。这些成熟的媒体的受众是国际性的，跨越了整个人文学科和其他学科。这本书所依据的一些工作已经在这些期刊上发表，这表明有真实的需要更全面的处理。这本书的出版也可能会激励其他学者提出他们自己的信息社会规范理论。

项目成果

The normative crisis of the information society

信息社会的规范危机

• 发表时间: 2008
• 作者: Alistair Duff

A Normative Theory of the Information Society

信息社会的规范理论

• 发表时间: 2012
• 作者: Alistair Duff

Neo-Rawlsian co-ordinates: notes on a theory of justice for the information age

新罗尔斯坐标：信息时代正义理论的注释

• 发表时间: 2006
• 作者: Alistair Duff

The Rawls-Tawney Theorem and the Digital Divide in Postindustrial Society

• DOI: 10.1002/asi.21470
• 发表时间: 2011-03-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• 作者: Duff, Alistair S.