Shoesmith, Brian, Mark Balnaves

Cultural Indexes of Information Society: The future of the Internet in Asia

Abstract

There is little dissent around the fact that an information society has been created in the past decade. There is dispute, however, over the contours this society possesses and how they are traversed. Two problems of great significance colour the debates generated by the presence of the information society. They are issues of access (the digital divide) and the absence of any global census of information use. This is especially true of Asia where governments, NGOs and business have enthusiastically embraced the Internet as a means of ensuring economic relevance. This study proposes to address these issues in the Asian context through the identification of cultural attitudes towards information (the cultural indices) and the application of these indices to national and global trends in information consumption, especially uptake of online services (wireless and terrestrial). The findings generated by the research will have immediate and direct benefit for government, business and cultural policy makers and analysts. Geert Hofstede's qualitative methodology for developing quantitative indicators has been adapted and enhanced in this research. Additional indicators developed for the project include the sampling of key informants from: government (eg cyberlaw practitioners); education (a small probability sample of prospective and 3rd year students); employees (a small probability sample of employees from an IBM, replicating Hofstede's sampling and review processes). In addition In addition, cultural geography techniques have been modified to permit cluster analysis of information trends. The deployment of geodemographics and cultural characteristics allows us to generate easy to use descriptions of clusters that assist with decision-making on who are early adopters of Internet (and where grouping for creative or business activities are likely to develop). This is the first time this approach has been taken in Asia. Government and commercial decision makers can use these clusters in planning the provision of new media services.