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The Information Rich and the Information Poor: Two Faces of the Informatio Age in a Developing Country
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation submits that in this age of information and communication, existing imperialistic structures and practices of the Western elite has generated two new distinct classes of people and/or social structures in the developing world: the information-rich class, which constitutes the privileged or the elite, and the information-poor class, which forms the underprivileged or dispossessed. The competitive struggle for accumulation of information resources provides the backdrop for the phenomenon. This is aggravated by the innate self-perpetuating tendency of the extremely information-rich and the inertia of the extremely information-poor.
The gap between the information-rich and the information-poor revolves around difference in income, standard of living, education, availability and use of communication media, economy, and travel. This gap tends to increase over time.
Although an increasing and marked polarization between the information-rich and the information-poor is fast becoming evident in our society, a strict categorization might be too simplistic. A more accurate approximation may be found in the concept of "continuum."
By way of validating the foregoing propositions, the study confirmed the existence of information-rich centers and information-poor peripheries through quantitative macro level analysis. In a case study of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). the study also established patterns of social behavior that substantiated the theoretical propositions forwarded. Futhermore, extreme scenarios of the information-rich and information-poor phenomena in the year 2000 were constructed to generate feed forward information.
This work also proposes a new typology of social systems or communities in the developing world which consist of two types: the Peripheral Information Rich (PIR) and the Peripheral Information Poor (PIP). The term "peripheral" in this context is used to differentiate these from other communities that may have similar characteristics but exist in the developed world.
The proposed typology characterizes a PIR community as usually populated by individuals with relatively high educational attainment. Mass media and other channels of communication are easily available and accessible. Professions and livelihood tend to be information-related. Income and standard of living tend to be higher. Constituents of PIR communities travel farther and more frequently. Information activities account for most of the economic transactions.
On the other hand, PIP community is characterized as usually composed of individuals with relatively low educational attainment. Mass media and other channels of communication are scarce and inaccessible. Individuals who make up the community are usually farmers, fishermen, factory workers, or laborers. Their income is relatively low and their travels are less frequent than nearer. Agricultural and small industrial or entreprenuerial activities usually account for most of the economic transactions done in the PIP community. This work contains both descriptive and prescriptive models of phenomenon under study.
To counteract imperialism, a method known as "horizontalization" was prescribed. The dissertation begins and ends with a discussion of the development communication concept known as "covergence."