Information society by Richard Sidaway

Once upon a time societies were organised around religion, farming, trade or industry. In many parts of the world today this is still true, but something else is becoming more important - the exchange of information, and the technology that we use to do this. Twenty-four hour news, e-commerce, international call-centres, mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems ... all these are making the world smaller and faster.

The growth in telecommunications is now giving more and more people access to democratic ideas, to the principles of international law and human rights, to the science that will help their country to develop or to the medical knowledge that can fight disease. It is starting a real global village which people only dreamed of a generation ago.

But how can everybody in the world share the recent technological advances? Millions of people cannot read these words because they don't have access to a computer. They don't understand English either, the language that 80% of the information is written in. They don't even have a telephone. They are more worried about how far they will have to walk today to get clean water or if they can feed themselves and their families. For most people on this planet, information is not a priority.

The contrast between countries that have information technology and those that don't is called the ‘digital divide'. Scandinavia and South East Asia have a high number of people who use Information Communication Technologies (ICT). Central Africa and the Pacific have almost none.

The United Nations is trying to make the information society a reality for more of the developing world. It wants to see rich countries transfer new technology and knowledge to poorer nations.

Ten years from now, the plan is that everybody in the world will have a radio or television and that 50% of the world's population will have access to the internet from schools and universities, health centres and hospitals, libraries and museums. This will improve medical care and education, science and agriculture, business opportunities and employment. At the same time, they say, local communities, languages and cultures will become stronger.

Just a dream? Certainly there are some contradictions. Does only good come with freedom of information? If information is power, why will people share it? Doesn't more technology mean fewer jobs? And how can the exchange of information keep local cultures alive if most of that information is only in one language?

It is much easier to get people connected to broadband or put government online in Europe than in South America or the Middle East. However, developing countries often leapfrog the process which richer nations went through, and avoid their mistakes. Brazil collects most of its taxes online these days. There are cyber cities in Dubai and Mauritius. And Taiwan and Hong Kong have better access to ICT than the United Kingdom. Maybe the English language isn't so important after all.

Perhaps the spread of technology means that the old centres of power are also changing. The United States introduced internet technology in the 1970s. But people are asking why they should continue to be in charge. Why should a small organisation in California tell the rest of the world how computers talk to each other?

The US says it makes the rules, but it doesn't control the flow of information. The domain name system (DNS) controls how internet addresses work, but not what a website or database contains. Many want a more international approach, however. But they also want the internet to remain open and free for all to use.

Can the world create an information society for all? If a farmer in Bangladesh can read this in the year 2015, then maybe the answer is yes.

Vocabulary

5 words/phrases from the text:

e-commerce: business done over the internet
global village: the idea of a world made smaller by being connected via computers
digital divide: difference in wealth and opportunity measured by how many people use information technology
broadband: large capacity internet cable connection
cyber cities: metropolitan areas linked up by information technologies

Exercise one.

Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the 5 words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:

If you want to play games online, you really need a ...................... connection
The ability of terrorist organisations to recruit followers in several different countries very quickly shows that the ......................is a reality
I haven't got involved in ......................yet. I am still not confident that my money will be secure.
I wonder how long it will be before the place I live in can be called a ...............I don't think having a few internet cafes is enough.
There is a ................................ between North and South Europe

Exercise two.

Comprehension: true or false. Decide whether these sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text.

More than three quarters of the information on the internet is in English
The writer isn't sure if new technology can preserve local languages
More people use information technology in the Pacific than in South East Asia
Poorer countries can often adopt technology quicker than richer countries
An international organisation decides how computers communicate with each other

Grammar.

Past perfect

When we talk about something that happened in the past we sometimes want to refer back to something that happened before that time. We can use the past perfect tense (had + past participle) to do this.

Look at these two sentences.

John left the house at 7:30 yesterday morning.
Mary rang John's doorbell at 8:15 yesterday.

Both actions happened in the past so we use the past simple tense. But look at how we can combine the sentences.

Mary rang John's doorbell at 8:15 yesterday but John had already left the house.
We use the past perfect (had left) because the action happened before another action in the past (Mary rang the doorbell.)

Look at some more examples of the past perfect.

When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine she realised she had washed the cat.
I got a letter from Jim last week. We'd been at school together but we'd lost touch with teach other.
The past perfect is used because they were at school before he received the letter. It refers to an earlier past.

Look at these 2 sentences.

James had cooked breakfast when we got up.
James cooked breakfast when we got up.

In the first sentence, the past perfect tells us that James cooked breakfast before we got up. In the second sentence, first we got up and then James cooked breakfast.

Past perfect continuous

The past perfect can also be used in the continuous.

I realised I had been working too hard so I decided to have a holiday.
By the time Jane arrived we had been waiting for 3 hours.

NOTE

The most common mistake with the past perfect is to overuse it or to use it simply because we are talking about a time in the distant past.

~~The Romans had spoken Latin~~

Remember that we only use the past perfect when we want to refer to a past that is earlier than another time in the narrative.

Exercise

Complete the sentences about the past using an appropriate form of the verb in brackets.

I (recognise) him because I (see) him several times before.
He (already eat) by the time we (arrive).
I (work) there for 6 months before anybody (speak) to me.
When we (get) home we (find out) that we (be burgled).
Philip (is not) at the party because he (break) his leg playing football the day before.