The social implications of information and communication technologies

What are the implications, according to Castells. Do you agree or have other perspectives?


* The implications of information technology for economy
- Fundamental transformation in the labour market- emergence of flexible forms of work and employment. (stable, long-term employment-> diverse employment status across the whole spectrum of occupational structure)
Firms have to manage the contradiction between labour involvement and temporary connection of labour with firm.
Workers’ value depends on the capacity to store specialized knowledge, reprogramming skills according to the change.
The relation between firms and workers is becoming increasingly loose.
- Massive entry of women and new rural migrants

* The implications of information technology for education
- Contextual factors (pedagogic quality of the school, family background, and teacher are powerful factors that condition the potential benefits of information technology
- Teachers can share knowledge and skill so that they deepen their specific knowledge.
- Students may rely on a much broader field of expertise than the one physically available to them
- Distance learning : open university and adult learning with lower cost, and much quality can be possible

* The implications of the pervasiveness of the internet as a communication medium
- Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except by disconnecting a communication system from the global network
- There is no virtual world independent from the physical/ social world.

* Inequality in the information age
- ICTs are not related to inequality and social exclusion. It helps to alleviate poverty and inequality on the contrary. However, the context of global, informational, and deregulated capitalism can be a major factor of social exclusion.

I agree with the overall opinion about implication of information and communication technologies which Castells presents, especially for the education part. Through the development of information society, teachers and students could share their information with each other, so they can make community. It makes students play roles as an active learner, organizer, and knowledge creator. Also it makes teachers play roles as a supporter, and peer-learner. Yet, the fundamental reform should be preceded, such as better working/ studying conditions, the reduction of class size, and building infrastructure of technology in education.

However, I disagree with the implication that Internet cannot be controlled, technically or politically, except by disconnecting a communication system from the global network. I think it can be controlled by government; also it is possibly controlled by the public. For example, in South Korea, the members of the internet community insisted that Tablo (famous singer of South Korea) fabricated Stanford diploma, and it lasted about 6 months and most of the people believed that Tablo told a lie before it turned out to be true that he graduated Stanford, finally. Like this, the internet can be controlled by various factors rather than before, so people need an ability to judge and select “right” information.