Thank God that Information Society Eudaction (ISE)
is gathering momentum

Further to what I discussed on "IT and Education" (article dated 20 June 2000, http://www.kamching.com/clam), I am gald that the idea of Information Society Eduation (ISE, Segment 5) is picking up.

ISE is for enhancing the awareness of the community about the changes of the information era, and guiding them to join the information society. Emphasis is placed on impacts of ICT on lives of people at workplace and at home and on the society at large.

In the teaching package produced by a working group in 1999 (I was/is the convenor of this working group), there are the following topics:

Topic 1--Future lives at home

Topic 2--The critical need for protection of Personal Privacy

Topic 3--Information overload

Topic 4--Telecom. services/ IT and lives  at workplace

Topic 5--Telecom. services/ IT: channel abuses

Topic 6--Information Technology and the culture of the society

Topic 7--IT and medical services and our health

Topic 8--Information Technology and the natural environment

Topic 9--IT as the foundation for economic growth

Topic 10--IT and Electronic Commerce

Topic 11--IT and the financial industry and the related security issues

Topic 12--Telecommunications and IT policy making in Hong Kong

Topic 13--Respecting intellectual property rights

Topic 14--Telecom. services/ IT and ethical issues

A good news has come recently. In a news release dated 4 May 2001, Oxford University is creating the world's first truly multidisciplinary Internet Institute based in a major university. The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) will carry out research and make policy recommendations about the effects on society of the Internet with the goal of putting Oxford, the UK and Europe at the centre of debates about how the Internet could and should develop.

Topics the Institute might investigate include:

global law enforcement

governance and regulation

privacy and security

confidentiality and trust

the boundaries of the nation state (including the implications for taxation)

participation in the information society

e-Government and the delivery of public services

e-democracy

Internet-enabled healthcare

innovation and knowledge creation

effects on education (especially higher education)

the digital divide

problems and prospects for e-money

impact on music and the creative arts

community building and development

defence and counter-terrorism.

A stronger force seems to have emerged that will support the community after they have experienced years of stress, information overload, confusion, wastage, victimisation and fears, amid rapid information society changes.

For more information, please go to http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/po/oii.

I pray that more and more policy makers of government and non-government bodies  around the world responsible for education will follow this new healthy current, moving in the direction of ISE.
 

Charles Lam clam@kamching.com

September 2001