Information Equality
Sergio Vera M.

The impact of information technology cannot have escaped anyone's attention. Instantaneous contact between different points of the world costs little in relation to the benefits that can be realized. Important changes in the structure of the productive sector are enabled through the integration of technology and human resources. Information, as the raw material for the development of knowledge, is has become an important "item" of exchange.

The Internet has the capacity to surpass the need for spatial and temporal convergence in much of the communication processes of human beings. Yet it is just an example of a technology available at the start of the information revolution. Through interactive systems, people can obtain information in an instant and choose the form. Access to a virtual world through the network can be value adding. But, the magnificence of modernity is not available to everyone. Even more, it could be contributing to the major differences between those who have access and those who do not. The poorest, the less educated and the less gifted could be passed over by these advances without an opportunity to realize the benefits.

This situation is of major concern when the economic system posses a notable imbalance in the distribution of wealth. In less developed countries an important sector of the population lives in conditions of low quality of life, characterized by low levels of education. Under these conditions it is not possible to guarantee equality in order to confront the competition imposed by the system of market freedom and the existence of a "global village".

Will information technology transform the existing situation and increase the differences between those who have access and those who do not? How does one avoid creating a new race of underprivileged people?

Influential Readings

• http://www.fas.org/cp/index.html
• Nora, D., "La Conquista del Ciberespacio", Editorial Andrés Bello, Santiago de Chile, 1997.
• Thurow, L., "The Future of Capitalism", Morrow Edit., New York, 1996.
• Taichi Sakaiya, "La Sociedad del Conocimiento"-The Knowledge Society-, Edit. Andrés Bello, Santiago de Chile, 1995.
• Vera, S. "Human Values and Economic Development in the Information Age: · "Will the benefits of modernity be available to all?" International Symposium, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Feb. 9, 1998
• United Nations-UNDP, "Human Development Report - 1995", Oxford University Press, New York, 1996.
• Applegate, L. & Macfarlan F.; "Corporate Information Systems Management", IRWIN Edit., 4th Edition, USA, 1996.