Introduction
Origins
Our societies are changing. One essential
element of these changes has been advancement in information and
communication technologies. A variety of new concepts such as “new
economy”, “digital communities” and “virtual portals” have emerged
in our daily language. However, after the burst of the .com bubble
in 2000s sceptical voices have questioned the effect of this change.
A demand for systematic and reliable scientific knowledge of the
information society is increasing particularly in current global
economic slowdown. The Information Society Observatory (ISO) tries
to respond to these challenges.
What is the Information
Society Observatory?
The ISO is a research unit launched by the
Information Society Institute in June 2002 with financial support
received from the City of Tampere. The main objective is to promote
and conduct systematic social research related to the information
society and information technologies with solid theoretical
foundations. We are studying the development of the information
society with regional impetus on local, national and international
scales. Our goal is to understand the information society and
contemporary societal developments from the viewpoints of past,
present and future. The unit aims to create policy relevant academic
research with solid theoretical foundations.
How do we
operate?
The observatory has a layered structure
divided into three main components: education, research and network.
Network: We have created an interdisciplinary national network
of researchers representing several institutions from various
geographical locations. The ISO will be linked to international
research networks. Main forms of co-operation are knowledge
exchange, creation of joint funding applications and meetings in
scientific seminars.
Research: The ISO conducts and co-ordinates
several research projects. Currently we are preparing a core project
"Prospects and Challenges of the Finnish Information Society in a
Changing International Environment", which is to be carried out by
advanced researchers from different disciplines of social sciences
such as economic geography, politics, sociology and information
studies. A multidisciplinary approach will be favoured in all
projects running under the ISO.
Education: The observatory will
begin master’s thesis seminar series in co-operation with
departments from the faculties of social, information and
administrative sciences. The seminar participants are advanced
undergraduate students preparing their thesis dealing with issues
relevant to the information society.
Dissemination of
knowledge
In addition to traditional means of
knowledge dissemination, such as printed publications, new forms of
communication including web-portal and e-broadcasting are used. The
Information Society Observatory will also participate actively both
national and international scientific meetings and forums. Moreover,
we aim to promote international knowledge regarding Finnish
information
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