Inside the digital society
David Souter writes a weekly column for APC, looking at different aspects of the information society, development and rights. David’s pieces take a fresh look at many of the issues that concern APC and its members, with the aim of provoking discussion and debate. Issues covered include internet governance and sustainable development, human rights and the environment, policy, practice and the use of ICTs by individuals and communities.
Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed that ‘Inside the Information Society’ took a break towards the end of last year. It’s back today, with a long list of themes up and ready for 2018.
This week’s blog looks at the impact of the Internet on politics.
Too much debate about the Information Society is binary. To advocates, anything digital looks good. Others are spooked by impacts that are uncontrolled and unbenign. If we’re serious, we need to be more nuanced. Some reflection on this where social media’s concerned this week; next week, the Internet’s impact on politics.
In a previous post, I looked at different ways to measure the internet. This week, we'll look into measuring the Information Society.
Last week I looked at the big picture on the digital economy, in the light of UNCTAD’s latest Information Economy Report. This week: some of the issues the digital economy raises for policymakers at a national and local level.
This week’s post is the first of two on the digital economy. UNCTAD – the UN Conference on Trade and Development – published its two-yearly Information Economy Report (IER) last week. It’s consistently one of the more interesting UN publications on the Information Society. Well worth a read.
Robots are talked of more and more these days. Like implants, they’ve moved from science fiction to present reality. Instead of fantasizing over them, we need to understand the role they’re playing in our lives and going to play in them in future.
This week’s blog post concerns what might happen if the Internet of Things begins to get under your skin.
Last week I wrote about the need to shape our thinking on the Internet around its future rather than its past. This week I’m asking what that means for how we think about security.
It’s time for ‘Inside the Information Society’ to resume after its Northern-summer/Southern-winter break. There’s no shortage of issues. I’ll start this week by asking if/how we should rethink the Information Society?

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