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V A L O G O S |
| V A L O G O S |
In this short presentation I try to outline the basic conceptual tools for understanding the challenges of local government in the information society. I start with the theoretical discussion which should help in dealing with this topic. After that I discuss on the information society and the nature of local communities within it. Lastly, on the basis of these conceptualizations, I deal more specifically with the core theme, challenges to local government.
 Chapter 1
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| Chapter 2
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| Chapter 3
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| Chapter 4
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Conceptual Framework
| Elements of Framework
| The concept of information society is very widely used these days. What is it all about? How to make it comprehensible? Here I present a simple contextual model for this purpose. The motive of this kind of approach is to avoid information and communication reductionism.
The key elements of this model are These form the elements of a simple descriptive model. It shows some essential thematic areas to be taken into account in trying to make the information society with its instances comprehensible. My main aim is just to widen the perspective in analysing these phenomena. The concept of "information society" is contentless and meaningless unless we deal with it within a broader framework, such as the four elements mentioned above. These elements form a setting in which the concept of information society can also be related to such social phenomena as growth, welfare, unemployment, equality, legitimation and disintegration. I use the concept of technocapitalism as the key of the theoretical analysis. Douglas Kellner defines it as "a configuration of capitalist society in which technical and scientific knowledge, automation, computers and advanced technology play a role in the process of production parallel to the role of human labor power, mechanization and machines in earlier eras of capitalism, while producing as well new modes of societal organization and forms of culture and everyday lifes." (See from the list of references at the end of this chapter Kellner 1989, 178) There are three processes which are built into this concept, those of globalization, commercialization, and technological push. They are in the heart of the dynamics of modern societies, and they are built in the elements I will describe next.
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| Material Conditions | The concept of technocapitalism is essential in understanding the basic nature of information society. The key of this process is globalization. Another important point can be expressed by the post-fordist mode of production. These mean that the internal and external dynamics of (post)modern economies are determined on the basis of global technologically intensive capitalist world-system. This process is naturally very complex and diffuse with varieties of counterforces, which means that what is said above must be understood as a general description of certain pervasive and fundamental tendencies. This note is important especially because postmodern condition makes the logic of capital and social order very diffuse, unstable and unpredictable. It is, in fact, sometimes called the capitalism of uncertainty (by John Urry), and also disorganized capitalism (by Claus Offe). But, as Kellner points out, technocapitalism continues to attempt to monopolize new technologies in the interest of corporate domination and profitability, and thus continues to follow the imperatives of capitalist logic. (See below Kellner 1989, 182)
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| Social Conditions | Technocapitalism has changed our social infrastructure and everyday lives. We have to cope with new technologies whether we want it or not. We are part of the globalization in many daily activities. These kinds of tendencies can be seen as the imperatives of our life-worlds: global Systemwelt is colonializing our local Lebenswelt, as suggested by Jürgen Habermas. Kellner has expressed these cultural tendencies this way: "Techno-culture represents a configuration of mass culture and the consumer society in which consumer goods, film, television, mass images and computerized information become a dominant form of culture throughout the developed world which increasingly interpenetrate developing countries as well." Then he adds, "In this techno-culture, image, spectacle and aestheticized commodification, or 'commodity aesthetics', come to constitute new forms of culture which colonize everyday life and transform politics, economics and social relations." (See below Kellner 1989, 181)
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| Postmodern Mentality | The psychological aspects of our social life have extended to new spheres due to many recent developments. In the beginning of this century these were above all about modernization and "mass society" (the theory of mass society was, indeed, psychologically biased). Nowadays these wide ranging topics and ideas are primarily concerned with problems of (post)modern urban life with certain deconstructive and individualistic emphases. In its most radical sense it can be referred to as postmodernity. It is above all name for the mentality, or should we say, the fragmentation and diffusion of mentalities, of people of our age. (See from the list of references below e.g. Best & Kellner 1991, Callinicos 1989, and Cahoone 1988)
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| New Dimensions of Time and Space | It is obvious that along with the other factors the social dimensions of time and space are changing. This development is, of course, in a very essential way dependent on the development of technology. At the same time it has changed people's social and psychological horizons. The modernization is to a large extent about simply the creation of disembedding mechanisms which always contain a spatio-temporal dimension, too. (For further details see below Giddens 1990) The information society is as itself an aggregate of instances which overcome some spatial obstacles of special action fields as well as those of everyday life.
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| Summary | We must understand the key aspects of the dynamics of our society in order to understand the concept of information society. For example, if we cannot understand how information society relates to economic relations, we cannot figure out its nature and relevance.
Main themes of this chapter were
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| References
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| Douglas Kellner, Critical Theory, Marxism and Modernity (Polity Press 1989)
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| Go to: | Table of Contents | Conceptual Framework | Information Society | Changing Nature of Local Communities | New Management of Local Government |
Information Society
| What is Information Society?
| One of the most important aspects of postmodern society, or as I prefer to express following Giddens' terminology, of the radicalization of modernity, is the state of social development which has been referred to by the concept of information society. This concept as such is not very stimulating, nor illuminating. It is, however, so widely used in scientific and public contexts that there is no point in disregarding it. Rather, we must try to show what is the use of it, and what kind of actors in our society use it and why and how they do so.
In short, the concept of "information society" seems to be
the way of (A) describing technologically driven tendencies and opportunities
of our societies, as well as (B)
legitimizing certain public policies. The latter aspect is well presented in the
European Union's policy, see for example following net sources
Information society is part of the public and everyday discussions, and forms as such an inherent part of the reality of our social life.
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| The Concept of Information | There are many concepts which should be clarified if we wish to understand the meaning of information society. They affect our social life and constuction of social realities, and are in this sense "real" (though not material) entities of our world. But what does the concept of "information" tell about information society? In the dictionaries the concept of information is usually defined something like the facts that tell us something about the world we live in. Sometimes it looks very similar to "knowledge" which refers to the facts, skills and understanding that one has gained through learning or experience (there is also the concept of knowledge society, but I leave it aside here). In the information society the "information" is seen as a key resource or means of production. Gathering and classifying information, processing data, using and evaluating information and knowledge, should, then, be vital concerning the dynamics of society. And in fact, it really seems to help in forming new efficient ways of production and reproduction. It increases economic activities, and intensifies wide range of transactions. Edward Blakely has emphasised strongly this aspect in his article in 'Cities of the 21st Century' (1991, 230): "It is very clear that flows of data and information will play a larger role than the flow of goods or capital. Cities that are the transmission points and the control centres for information systems will play an increasingly important role in shaping the world." (See below Cities of the 21st Century edited by Brotchie & Batty & Hall & Newton). If we think about this aspect, there is no doubt that the technology is in a special role in the play.
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| Information Technology | There is no information society without information and communication technology. It is a way of extending and intensifying the use of information. As a matter of fact, the contents of the concept of information society seems to refer very often, at least in everyday speech, to information technology society. The so called technological push has been in recent years the driving force of development. Consequently, information society is dependent upon complex electronic information and communication networks, and allocate relatively great portion of its resources to information and communication activities, such as new telematic services (See from the references below Cities of the 21st Century 1991, 67, 73-75, 95-97).
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| Instances of Information Society | Though information society is quite vague and narrow concept, there are a lot of instances which indicate and reflect the tendencies and trends it is meant to describe. Wide range of technology industry and related services known as information economy are the core of it, but hardly enough to create the information society. However, the change in the relevance and use of information and knowledge change also our institutions (See William Melody's article in the same book as above, Cities of the 21st Century 1991, 66-67). Most private enterprises and public sector bodies use very much information technology in their day-to-day activities. In the educational systems in many countries, from schools to universities, technological infrastructure of information society is both used and studied. Beside the television and videos, home computers are more and more "must" in standard household equipment. The list of these kinds of instances could be made almost endless. And, because most of the people are in some ways using information technology in their work, we can even say we already live in the information society.
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| Summary | Information society is a concept which emphasizes the use of information and information technology in practically every field of society.
Main themes of this chapter were
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| References
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| Go to: | Table of Contents | Conceptual Framework | Information Society | Changing Nature of Local Communities | New Management of Local Government |
Changing Nature of
Local Communities
| Localities under Globalisation
| In order to understand the concept of local community we must understand how the anatomy of society has changed. This process is global though there is a lot of varieties and differences between different countries and cultural areas. Globalization is changing every part of our world, and it enters into our daily lives. New technology is inherent part of this process. It is not only a kind of "add-on" to the current situation. It should, as Carl Strack has expressed, be treated as an integral part of the make-up of the city on the same level as the traffic infrastructure, housing, schools, parks and other open spaces etc. (See from the net Strack 1995).
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| The Process of Delocalisation | Even in the beginning of the development of human societies local communities were not isolated from external influences. Their social processes were, however, determined by local knowledge, customs and traditions. The radical change happened at the dawn of the modern age. The awareness of the world increased, and so did the interaction and social influences. This long process - surplus production, expanded world view, technological innovations, urbanization, industrialization etc. - created in the end a totally new situation; tendencies of societies were no more determined by the locally created knowledge and resources.
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| Local Communities | In present times there are no actually "local" communities. Rather, there are delocalized and networked quasi-localities of radicalised modernity. The processes in localities are developing according to pervasive global logic of technocapitalism. One important note must also be made. Along with the transition from government to governance the focus is more and more on "urban" and "cities" rather than "local" or "local communities". This is due to the fact that most of new developments in local government studies come from the fields where need for comprehensive and dynamic analysis is recognized. These approaches are those such as evolutionary economics, new institutionalism, new urban political economy and alike. (See for example Judge & Stoker & Wolman 1995 and some other books mentioned in the list of references at the end of this chapter).
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| Virtual Communities | Along with the global developments described here, the nature of communities are changing. The urban community or city can be seen as a point in the flow of information rather than that of goods (See below Cities of the 21st Century 1991, 229). There are also new modes of local interaction from business networks to green communities. And, lastly, there are "virtual communities" in which the local aspect is no more relevant. The concept of network is used to describe this development. The "localness" as itself is no more decisive element in forming communities, at least in the sense it used to be. It is more and more replaced by cyberspace and virtual communities. Virtual community is a set of on-going many-sided interactions that occur predominantly in and through computers linked via telecommunications networks (See from the net Marc A. Smith). They are quite recent phenomena. They also pose a real challenge to conventional institutions and their working methods. There are already a lot of community networks which will challenge some institutional practices. Community network is electronic public space where ordinary people can meet and converse about common concerns. It is about people and the social use of an electronic commons that belong to everyone, not of technology of which only elites have access. (See from the net Graham 1995)
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| Summary | Local communities are no more "local". They are delocalised spatio-temporal nodes of networks operating within the radicalised modernity.
Main themes of this chapter were
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| References
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| Go to: | Table of Contents | Conceptual Framework | Information Society | Changing Nature of Local Communities | New Management of Local Government |
New Management
of Local Government
| Challenges to Local Government
| Local government authorities could have many faces depending on the economic, political, cultural and historial settings of the country and area. They are bound to the wider contexts of societies as well as the changing nature of localities. If the local values, needs and strengths are valued, the governmental systems are also in one way or another decentralized. This is the case in most of the Western countries. However, as the nature of societies and local communities are changing, the local government must change, too. The on-going change from the institutionally established bureaucracy to more dynamic network-based process has sometimes been described as from government to governance, and it can be seen as the core of this change. There are certain social functions which local government can take care of more efficiently and legitimately than any other public body. It is the form of government closest to the people who need public services, though it is, of course, part of the wider system of government. In order to maintain this role, local government must prepare for some deep changes in its public role. One obviously more and more important direction seems to be the one discussed here (See for instance from the list of references Cities of the 21st Century 1991, 171-176). Miles R. Fidelman has described very illuminating way a municipal roadmap for the information superhighway: "A hundred years ago, lack of a railroad stop condemned many towns to a lingering death. Thirty years ago, interstate interchanges helped many communities to prosper, while those on back roads stagnated. Now the 'information superhighway' is coming." He describes the potential of this change in this way: "For communities that prepare, the information superhighway, or National Information Infrastructure, will help streamline internal operations of municipal government, improve delivery of town services to citizens and businesses, reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, bring new educational opportunities to local schools, and help local businesses prosper in a global marketplace." (Net source Fidelman 1994) Another kind of aspect is formulated in the presentation given by Brenda J. Trainor. She has said that local government involvement in telecommunications should be funded to assure implementation of social corrections to the inherent economic inequalities evident in a technologically-based information economy. (See for more details from the net Trainor 1995) Both of these aspects are important, and show that there is need to consider thoroughly the potential of telematics in local government. (See about these tendencies Information Society web sites by VALOGOS)
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| Local Teledemocracy | Teledemocracy is a new concept describing the democratic model of information society. At local level we can speak of local teledemocracy, which is the democratic aspect of local governance in information society. (See Teledemocracy Action News + Network)
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| Management with Telematics | Challenges to local government also relate to the management of local government. We have new tools as well as new ways of thinking about administrative functions, management and organization of local government, and the processes and networks of local governance. (See from the net for example Strack 1995)
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| The uses of Internet | There are many ways to use the Internet in the management of local government. It can be used in voting, deliberative polling, computer assisted democracy, electronic town meetings and networking and public discussions. (See for example Teledemocratic experiments). In addition, there already exist such experiments as simplifying citizen access to government, present information about elected officials and candidates, publicize meeting agendas and minutes, inform citizens of planning issues, of pending decisions and of traffic conditions, announce community events, enhance public safety awareness, promote business and tourism, obtain lower cost contracts and so on. (See closer Examples of Local Government Uses of the Internet by abagOnline)
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| Summary | Local government is a political-administrative institution of society. When its context changes, local government is to change, too. This is the challenge to local government in the age of technocapitalism. There are many forms of teledemocracy, service production assisted with telematics and management with information and communication technology available. The model based on these could be called virtual polis.
Main themes of this chapter were
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| References
Go back to
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| Go to: | Table of Contents | Conceptual Framework | Information Society | Changing Nature of Local Communities | New Management of Local Government |
If you want to comment on the ideas represented here, contact me using the form below.
Tampere 1996, Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko