Information policies have been developed rapidly in an attempt to exploit the economic and social
opportunities offered by information and communication technologies. Initially such policies were concerned
with building technological infrastructures. Currently attention is focused on the development of policies that
will stimulate the supply of and the demand for information. These policies need to function at three levels:
industrial; organizational; and social. At each of these levels, the policies need to cover four sets of issues:
information technology; information markets; human resources; and legislative and regulatory issues.
The information sector policies that have evolved in Europe and the USA concentrate on the industrial and
social levels, with particular attention paid to market and regulatory issues. In East Asia there is a more
varied approach. Some countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, are still predominantly
concerned with building telecommunications infrastructures. Others have turned their attention to the
information sector. Japan is building the multimedia industry, while China, Korea, and Thailand are tending
to concentrate on the development of applications that will stimulate use of the infrastructure. The most
complete approach has been adopted by Singapore.
The strength of development in Singapore illustrates the advantages that come from adopting a fully
integrated approach.
By Nick Moore
Information and communication technologies offer great potential for economic growth and for social
development. To exploit this potential, many countries have tried to accelerate the transformation into
information societies. To do this they have developed wide-ranging policies and initiatives that aim to
stimulate the creation of the technological infrastructure.
The most dramatic example of this form of policy initiative was the widely- publicized National Information
Infrastructure Initiative launched by Bill Clinton and Al Gore in the USA in 1992-93. The essence of the
Clinton-Gore policy was to use the regulatory power of the state, along with some pump-priming money, to
trigger the release of private capital that would finance the building of the infrastructure. The regulatory
regime was relaxed in stages, competition was increased, profit-making opportunities were expanded but in
return, the private sector was required to conform to certain requirements that would ensure that the benefits
of the networks were available to all.
Many other countries have followed this approach, relying on private sector capital that is triggered through
deregulation.
In Europe, for example, the Commission and the Council of Ministers reacted quickly and in 1994 adopted
the recommendations of a high-level group chaired by Commissioner Martin Bangemann (Ref 1). This urged
the European Union 'to put its faith in market mechanisms as the motive power to carry us forward into the
Information Age'.
Similar approaches can be seen in the information infrastructure policies of countries like Thailand and
Malaysia.
This free market, de-regulatory approach was not, however, universally adopted. Some years before, Singapore had approached the matter differently. In this case, the government played a much more active role in financing and directing the construction of the infrastructure and in developing the applications that would exploit it (Ref 2).
Information Sector Policies
In the early years of the policies, attention has tended to be focused firmly on the construction of the
technological infrastructures, principally the telecommunications networks. As the infrastructure matures,
however, there comes a growing recognition of the need to develop services and applications that will
encourage individuals and organizations to make use of the network capacity.
In many areas there are significant threshold effects that inhibit the take-up of network capacity. These arise
where a service or application only becomes viable when a significant number of relevant organizations have
taken it up. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a case in point - only when a significant number of
customers use EDI does it become viable for a supplier to become a user too. Threshold effects of this kind
held up the early penetration of telephones. In the worst cases, such as the British Prestel videotex system,
applications fail to develop at all simply because suppliers of a service hold back until there are sufficient
customers, while customers hold back until there are sufficient services on the market.
To prevent this happening, and to accelerate the process of development, governments can adopt a range of
measures to stimulate both the supply of and the demand for services that will exploit the potential offered
by the networks.
In some areas market forces are sufficient to drive development. There is little need, for example for
governments to stimulate the development of home entertainment services but there may still be a need for a
policy response to ensure fair competition, or to protect emergent local suppliers from competitive pressure
from overseas. There may be a need to preserve cultural and linguistic identities, or to ensure adherence to
principles of universal service or open access.
These pressures are leading towards the development of policies that are concerned with the information
services sector, as distinct from the information and communications technology sector.
Three Levels of Policy
The potential scope of these information services sector policy frameworks is considerable. We speak of
information societies, implying that information and its use is diffused throughout the social and economic
system. It is not surprising, therefore, to see that the policy responses are similarly wide-ranging.
The policy framework needs first to be concerned with the overall supply of information within the system.
This means that they are concerned with the development of the information content industries which are
concerned with creating and developing information products and bringing these to the market (Ref
3).
The economic importance of these information content industries has been made very clear by the large
capital sums that have been committed in the flurry of take-over activity that has taken place in recent years
(Ref 4).
Many countries feel that these information content industries have an importance that extends beyond their
economic significance. They can play a significant role in social and
cultural life and, for this reason, governments feel that it is important to maintain and develop the local
information content providers. This is one of the motivations behind the recently-announced Info 2000
programme in Europe (Ref 5).
The second area that needs to be covered by the information policies is the use of information by
organizations. To a great extent policies in this area are concerned with stimulating the demand for
information. Policy goals, however, go beyond simple demand creation. The intention is to encourage the
use of information as a resource within organizations and in this way to improve productivity and
organizational effectiveness.
The motivation here is, quite simply, survival within a competitive global economy. As trade barriers
weaken and global trade increases, so a country's survival depends more and more on its relative
competitive position. And this, in turn, is greatly determined by aggregate levels of productivity. There is a
growing realization that information-intensive production processes and styles of management can bring
about significant productivity gains. It therefore makes sense nationally to develop policies that will
encourage organizations to make more effective use of information.
Information-intensive ways of working also make sense in the public sector. Better use of information can
improve quality, reduce costs and can extend the range of service provided.
Which brings us to the third area where information policies are needed - the social arena. In societies that
are becoming increasingly complex, people need information to enable them to take advantage of the
opportunities that are available to them as members of society. They need to be well-informed in order to
exercise their rights. They need information if they are to take control over their personal well-being.
Information societies also offer dramatically increased opportunities for continuing education and for
constructive leisure.
In many cases market forces will not help to develop these social information services. The initiative must
come from the government, or at least from parts of the not-for-profit sector which will look to government
to underwrite the costs of delivering the services.
The need, therefore to think of information service sector policies operating at three distinct levels:
industrial, organizational, and social
The Elements of Policy
At each of these levels it is possible to identify four elements that the policies need to deal with, or to take
account of.
First is the information technology itself. The efficient functioning of the information services industries
pre-supposes the availability of appropriate technology. Similarly, organizations need access to the most
up-to-date technology if they are to use information as effectively as possible. While at the social level,
wide-spread public access to information creates particular needs for innovative technological
solutions.
In the past, the dependence on information technology has led countries to develop policies to protect and to
nurture local information technology industries such as ICL in Britain or Bull in France. Increasingly these
policies are perceived to be short-sighted. In a major study of the relationship between economic growth and
the use of information technology in South East Asia, Kenneth Kraemer has shown that it does not matter
where the technology was developed, who owned the company or where it was manufactured - what is
important is the extent to which it was taken up and used within the economic system (Ref 6). The goal of
policy has, therefore, shifted away from preserving local
information technology industries towards technology take-up and exploitation.
The second element to be considered concerns the exchange of information. Much of this will take place in
conventional markets and the goal of many policy initiatives, such as the European Commission's IMPACT
Programme, is simply to make these information markets operate more effectively.
But the issue goes beyond the commercial trading of information in markets. The issues concern the
provision and exchange of information in circumstances where the information needs to be free at the point
of use. Much of the social information falls into this category. Mechanisms need to be established to ensure
that the cost of information provision is met from public or other funds without these subsidies adversely
affecting associated commercial markets. Provision of public information which is free at the point of use
also raises questions of impartiality, objectivity and universal access.
The third set of policy issues concern people - the human resource issues. The information services sector
needs to be able to recruit suitably skilled and qualified individuals. Similarly, information-intensive
organizations generate demands for new types of skills and competencies, with the resultant need for
training and re-training programmes. Equally, at the social level everyone needs to have a basic level of
information-handling ability.
Governments therefore need to develop policies that will encourage the development of an appropriate range
of skills and abilities at all levels. In Singapore, for example, it was recognised very early on that skill
shortages could impede development and, as a result, the government launched major education and training
programmes (Ref 7).
Finally, there is a need for a wide range of legislation and regulation. In some cases there is a need to
remove regulations. Deregulation is seen by many as a powerful way of opening up markets to new
suppliers and, in this way, encouraging the development of new products and services. In most cases,
however, it is necessary to develop a legislative and regulatory framework that will enable information
society to function effectively.
There is, for example, a pressing need for legislation to protect intellectual property. Without such
legislation it is almost impossible for the information content industries to function effectively. There is a
similar need to protect personal data and to provide individuals with some means of protecting their privacy.
We thus have, in addition to the three levels of information policy, four elements that cut across the levels: information technology, information markets, human resources, and legislation and regulation.
The Information Policy Matrix
By combining the levels and the elements it is possible to create a matrix which can be used to identify the
need for and the scope of information policy. The matrix also makes it possible to specify the
interrelationships between the different policy issues.
This matrix can be used to analyse the scope of the information service sector policies that have emerged in the last five years. It is interesting, for example to consider the scope of the European Commission's policies. The IMPACT Programme that comes to an end this year focused clearly on the stimulation of the markets for information in an attempt to develop the European information services industry. They also did much to resolve some of the legal and regulatory issues. A map of their concerns might look rather like figure 2 (see printed version of this Newsletter).
The position has now changed with the introduction of Info 2000 which has a wider remit and which is concerned, for the first time, with policies at the social level. From 1996 the picture will look more like figure 3.
In the US, the scope of the policies to support the information services sector has generally been broader than in Europe. The work of the Information Infrastructure Task Force and its Committee on Applications and Technology, in particular have mapped out a set of policies and associated programmes that cover many more cells in the matrix. A map of their concerns might look like figure 4.
Information Policies in Asia
How do the information policies in East Asia compare? In some cases, the answer is simple; the countries
concerned appear only recently to have begun the process of formulating policies for the information
services sector.
This seems to be the case in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. This is not to
say that they have no information policies at all. Most have evolved telecommunications infrastructure
policies based on deregulation and increased competition. The countries are also being forced to adopt and
to enforce basic intellectual property legislation in conformity with international standards. The pressure for
this is coming from trading partners, principally the USA, and it is often a pre-condition of membership of
the World Trading Organization.
The position of these countries is shown in figure 5.
In other countries the situation is rather different. In China, along with clear policies to support the development of the information infrastructure there are the two major projects that are designed to stimulate the use of the infrastructure. The Golden Card Project is an electronic banking and point of sales verification system and the Golden Customs is an EDI system for the import and export industry. The information policy map for China might look like figure 6.
Korea has a similar pattern of policy development. The focus is firmly on the creation of a strong telecommunications infrastructure. Interestingly the Korean Information Industry Task Force has identified a range of public sector applications to stimulate use of the networks. These include electronic government services, remote medical care, distance education, and electronic libraries (Ref 8). The Korea government has also given a high priority to the development of information systems that will support the national research and development effort. To this end they have done much to establish information networks that link research institutes and they encourage the growth of a local database industry (Ref 9) This suggests that the Korea map looks something like figure 7.
Thailand is at an earlier stage of development. Telecommunications infrastructure policies, based on the deregulation model were in the process of ratification at the time of the recent change of government and it is too early to say whether the new administration will continue to pursue them. There is, however, a draft framework of policies designed to shape development up to the turn of the century (Ref 10). This notes the requirement for an efficient telecommunications infrastructure and emphasizes the need for it to be universally available and accessible. The draft policy places considerable emphasis on investing in people and recommends substantial education and training programmes, making use of the technology to deliver distance education. It goes further and sets out a framework for the development of the information services sector to create products that will exploit both the networks and the skills and abilities of the newly-educated populace.
Above all, the policy envisages a significant leading role for the government:
'the state must provide the prime moving force. It must dare to dream and conjure up visions, visions of
how to harness the potential, how to apply for the fullest benefits to all, how to prevent or reduce ill effects
that naturally arise from changes.' (Ref 10)
The map of Thailand's proposed information policies might look like figure 8.
Japan is often thought of as an information-intensive society, yet it lacks a coherent set of policies to shape
the development of the information services sector. In part this is the result of a fragmentation in the
policy-making machine with aspects of information sector policy being dealt with by a range of
organizations including the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Council for Science and
Technology, the Science Technology Agency, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. While the
Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture has done much to promote computer literacy programmes in
schools (Refs 11 and 12).
The emphasis in Japanese information policy has been firmly on the creation of a broadband
telecommunications network, on the development of a basic level of computer literacy in the school
curriculum and on the stimulation of the local information content industries. The current emphasis on
multimedia is focusing attention on the development of the Japanese multimedia information content
industry.
The information policy map for Japan might look like figure 9.
The last of the countries to be considered is Singapore. Here we have the most comprehensive set of
information policies. The current approach, embodied in the IT 2000 plan is the culmination of a process of
policy development that began in the early 1980s when the Singapore government set out to build the basic
computing and telecommunications infrastructure. This was supported by a wide-ranging programme to
develop education and training both for specialists and for the general public.
The government took the lead in stimulating development, first by launching a major programme in the
early 1980s to computerize the government service itself. This stimulated the demand for information
technology experts and provided a home markets for the emerging Singapore information technology
industry.
The next stage in the process was the National Information Technology Plan (Ref 13). This coincided with a
large-scale re-assessment of economic policy in the mid 1980s (Ref 14). The plan set out to develop both
the supply of and the demand for information and information technology. It included programmes for the
development of education and training and for the extension of the telecommunications networks and the
services provided on it. Perhaps most significant of all, were the programme to develop
applications such as TradeNet, MedNet and LawNet, to stimulate use of information and the
networks.
The latest stage in the process is embodied in the IT 2000 report which sets out a programme of
development towards an intelligent island in which information use is fully integrated into all aspects of
social and economic life (Ref 15). The resultant map of information policy in Singapore looks something
like figure 10.
Conclusion
Jean-François Rischard from the World Bank clearly articulated the importance of information
infrastructures when speaking at the launch of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission earlier this
year. He said:
'An increasing number of us in the aid business believe that the new, low-cost telecommunications and
information technology systems which are emerging may well represent the developing countries' biggest
chance of making major leaps forward in development, growth and poverty reduction. These systems are the
key to those countries' ability to meet the agility, networking, learning and reliability requirements of the
new world economy. (Ref 16)'
These information infrastructures are clearly important. We cannot assume, however, that market forces alone will ensure that they are used to their full potential.
What is needed is a framework of policies that will stimulate the take-up of the opportunities that the
infrastructure offers. This policy framework should also guarantee certain basic principles that underlie a
just and fair information society - principles of universal service; open access to networks; equal opportunity
for all citizens; diversity of cultural and linguistic content. Indeed all the basic principles that were set out
by the Group of Seven at their meeting in Brussels earlier this year (Ref 17).
There is a pressing need in East Asia to formulate such a range of policies that will shape the growth of the
information services sectors. Without such policy development it is likely that countries will fail to exploit
to opportunities offered by the national information infrastructures that are being put in place.
The costs of failure can be great: loss of competitiveness; loss of cultural identity and loss of social
cohesion. The benefits are equally significant: sustained economic growth at minimal environmental cost, as
well as social unity within culturally diverse nation states.
References
1. High Level Group on the Information Society (1994) Europe and the global information society:
recommendations to the European Council. Brussels, European Council
2. Gurbaxani, Vijay et al (1990) "Government as the driving force toward the information society: national
computer policy in Singapore", The Information Society 7(2)
155-185
3. Daniels, Maxine (1994) "Information services industry: market positioning", Information Market
and its International Cooperation Symposium. Beijing, October 1994
4. Information Market Observatory (1994) Mergers and acquisitions in the electronic information
services industry. (IMO Working Paper 1994/2) Luxembourg, European
Commission
5. European Commission (1995) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and
the Council concerning a multi- annual Community programme to stimulate the development of a European
multimedia content industry and to encourage the use of multimedia content in the emerging information
society (INFO 2000). (COM(95) 149 Final) Brussels, European Commission
6. Kraemer, Kenneth (1994) IT and economic development: lessons from the Asia-Pacific
Region. (PICT Policy Research Paper No 26) London, Economic and Social Research Council,
Programme on Information and Communication Technology
7. Committee on National Computerization (1980) Report. Singapore, Committee on National
Computerization
8. National Computer Board of Singapore (1995) The Korea Information Infrastructure. NII
Scan 3(1995) http://www.ncb.sg
9. Kim, Mee Jean (1995) "A comparative analysis of the information sectors of South Korea, Singapore and
Taiwan", Journal of Information Science (Forthcoming)
10. National Information Technology Committee Secretariat (1995) IT 2000: towards social equity and
prosperity: Thailand IT policy into the 21st century. Bangkok, National Electronics and Computer
Technology Center
11. Negishi, Masamitsu (1992) "A view of information policy in Japan", Workshop on Information
and the Economy. Luxembourg, European Commission
12. National Computer Board (1995) "Multimedia in Japan", NII Scan. 2(1995)
http://www.ncb.sg
13. National IT Plan Working Committee (1985) National IT Plan: a strategic framework.
Singapore, National Computer Board
14. Economic Committee (1986) The Singapore economy: new directions. Singapore, Ministry
of Trade and Industry
15. National Computer Board (1992) Vision of an intelligent Island: IT 2000 report. Singapore,
SNP Publishers Ltd
16. Rischard, Jean François (1995) "A New Golden Age in which 4bn people have a serious chance
to catch up?", InterMedia 23(2) 4-7
17. G-7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society (1995) Communiqué.
Brussels, European Commission
This lecture was delivered by Dr Nick Moore during the NCLOR Meeting in London, December 1995, see this Newsletter.
Dr Nick Moore
Regional Information Coordinator, East Asia
The British Council; Acumen
Brompton Ralph
Taunton TA4 2RU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44-1984-623668
Fax: +44-1984-624838
E-mail: 100306.2164@compuserve.com