The Information Society: A Retrospective View

The past three decades have witnessed the worldwide growth of an information industry and the definition of the new information sector. With modern telecommunications and information technology, the industrialized nations are creating a system in which information goods and services can be bought and sold as in a goods market place. This book defines `informatization′ in three ways: infrastructure, economic and social. The analysis focuses on 19 countries which are categorized as high, middle and low income nations by Gross Domestic Product per capita. The countries include: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, UK and USA.