1. THE SOCIAL LIFE OF INFORMATION I203 Social and Organizational Issues of Information

2. A few highlights from “How Much Information 2003”  Print, film, magnetic, optical storage media: 5 exabytes of new info in 2002.  92% of new info stored on magnetic media.  Info flows through electronic channels (telephone, radio, etc) = 18 exabytes of new info in 2002; 98% of that from telephone alone.  Among P2P file sharing systems, only 7% actually share digital information goods.  Internet is fastest growing new medium of all time.  About 31 billion emails sent daily (2002). 2

3. The Social “Periphery”  The social periphery are the communities, organizations and institutions that frame human activities.  Often seen as targets, not resources for design of information systems.  For example, “news” is not objective information from a source that is merely contaminated or framed from the people (i.e., journalists) who report it; “news” is the process from which information is interpreted and expressed to an audience. 3

4. Information Solutions and Burdens  “Endism” in the information age  What exactly is “ending”, and why is that such a popular claim?  Example: Digital Music and the “Music Industry”  The “end” of CD’s? The “end” of free downloadable music? 4

5. Decentralization or Centralization?  “6-D” notion of the future…  Demassification….decentralization... denationalization…despacialization… disintermediation….disaggregation  …so what about Microsoft? Google? Yahoo? Others? 5

6. “Decentralization” reconsidered: Open and Closed Systems  “open” systems  Open systems allow new members of a network to enter/exit through permeable boundaries. E.g., online auctions, many public chatrooms  “closed” systems:  New members cannot easily enter a given network due to various restrictions (i.e., structural, legal, high cost) Trade groups, private chatrooms. 6

7. Example: Wikipedia  Openness creates risks for the online encyclopedia  Intentionally false information  Some information may lack “expert” knowledge  Deletion of information  Rings of hegemony? Core group emerged to monitor and quickly fix problems. Server/hardware management controlled by closed network of volunteers. 7

8. Wikipedia Example  ‘open’ or ‘closed’ may best be thought of as a continuum rather than as two static conditions.  The open/closed nature of a system is may be related to competing dynamics of risk and growth.  Raises questions about how the structure of a given interaction situation affects the ‘open’ or ‘closed’ nature of a system. 8

9. Productivity Paradox “administrative overhead, far from being curtailed by the introduction of office automation and subsequent information technologies, has increased steadily across a broad range of industries.” -Paul Attewell

10. For Next Week:  Chapters from Lessig’s “Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace”  Web 2.0 Discussion