The Age of Information
In my 4 releases I discuss the rapid changes
the world is going through today which are leading to equilibrium and balance
worldwide. Political movements have played a big role as well, but I will
discuss that later on. As we enter the Digital Age, information is more
accessible than ever. Information has always been valued by mankind. In the old
days, it travelled mouth to mouth. You would meet travelers who would tell you
about the wonders and dangers or distant lands. Some of them would be true,
others would just be fantasy and product of traveler's vivid imaginations, or
simply their own view on things. It was difficult to know to what degree the
things being said were true or not. To find out, people with adventurous spirits
would travel the world. Today, thanks to the Internet, it is much easier to
find out what is happening in other regions. Local media coverage, that is usually
used to manipulate or shifts the population's mindset, it losing power. Before,
you would watch the local news and read the local newspaper. Today, you can
read international publications from the comfort of your home. Russia Today
(RT.com) will give you the Russia view on European events. Aljazeera (aljazeera.com)
brings you the view from the Middle East. BBC takes you to the mind of the
British. CNN or Fox News gives you the American perspective. The way these
different cultures or societies view the world will influence their perspective
on things. The same news can have different focuses, or different ways to
approach the same information. You can find a lot about a societies' mentality
by watching or reading their news. Free access to Internet brings about changes
never seen before, as countries that were before more isolated or uninformed
join globalization.
With little or no investment, @ITRevolusjonen I
am using this blog and Social Media as my own independent media channel. I keep
myself updated in the latest news related to technology and business, and give
it my own view framing my analysis on a historical perspective. Writing 4 books
and having global reach would have been impossible just a few years ago. Today,
you can connect with people from all over the world with the click of a mouse. Nora C.
Quebral expanded the definition of Development Communications, calling it
"the art and science of human communication applied to the speedy
transformation of a country and the mass of its people from poverty to a
dynamic state of economic growth that makes possible greater social equality
and the larger fulfillment of the human potential." Melcote
and Steeves saw it as "emancipation communication", aimed at
combating injustice and oppression.[1]
In the article "Rural Mongolia steps into
the Digital World"[2],
you can see how Internet is now reaching the most remote areas. This is crucial
in many aspects. Physical hardware or machinery is now connected to the
Internet, where collecting data in Real Time has become a reality. Processes
are getting more efficient. Distances are getting shorter. In the past, a
camping expedition that went into the mountains was virtually disconnected.
Today, thanks to communications, getting lost in the middle of nowhere is much
more difficult than before. Consider the impact of communications on poor and
rural areas. In the article "Information Communications Technology for
Development"[3]:
"Connectivity—whether the Internet or
mobile phones—is increasingly bringing market information, financial services,
health services—to remote areas, and is helping to change people’s lives in
unprecedented ways.
New
information and communications technologies (ICT), in particular high-speed
internet, are changing the way companies do business, transforming public
service delivery and democratizing innovation. With 10 percent increase in high
speed Internet connections, economic growth increases by 1.3 percent.
ICT provides economic opportunities to both
urban and rural populations. One common contribution is that it increases
productivity and makes the market work more efficiently, although the magnitude
of the impact on economic growth is likely to be different. The fact that virtually
all new mobile customers in the coming years will be in developing countries,
and more specifically in rural areas, means that the ICT platform is reaching
population with low levels of income and literacy.
As a result, ICT is becoming the largest
distribution platform of providing public and private services to millions of
people in rural and poor areas. Market information, financial services,
education and health services had largely been unavailable in those areas in
the past due to lack of connectivity of any kind. NOW the wireless platform is
promoting NEW economic and social opportunities at all levels for the poor
population."
In my previous articles related to the 4 Keys
to Value Creation I referred Education as one of the keys, in the Knowledge
Based Economy. But education was a privilege before, restricted only to
developed nations. A large part of the population simply did not have access to
it. In my article: "Money, never the issue: Schooling in Africa"[4] I
explained how private schooling can also contribute to the educational system,
to relief the government of all the pressures and guarantee transparency. But
access to Information through the Internet also means an unlimited potential to
learn things yourself. Before, to find a book you needed to go to a library.
Today, you have access to the biggest virtual library in Amazon. You can also
find infinite articles using Google. You can also search for videos in YouTube.
You can publish your own books, release your own videos and write your own
articles. But people in rural areas, who before maybe needed to travel 10 km to
the closest school, can now find it easier to take home tuition. Free access to
information lowers tuition costs, making it easier and more accessible to
people in all situations and parts of the world to acquire knowledge, which
before was limited to just a few.
The possibilities and the potential is
unlimited. Do you want to improve your language? Take a low cost online course
and practice with a native speaker. Do you want to be better at Chess? Find
rivals all over the globe at any time of the day. Do you want to know what life
is like in other regions? Take contact with locals through Facebook to have
some insider information before you travel. Do you want to find out travelling
costs, places to stay, to go to? Everything is available online! Do you want to
take a casual beer to meet some people while you are cruising by? Join a
Meetup. Everything is getting EASIER, as differences between countries and
regions diminish... Hop on the Age of Information , and enjoy the best of the
most exiting period of changes mankind has ever seen!!!
Cristian Bøhnsdalen
CMO/CFO and Co-Founder @ITRevolusjonen
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