Power in the Information Age involves the capacity to govern big data, network infrastructures and platforms to modify attitudes and belief systems…
Over the last two decades, with the onset of the information and communication technologies (ICTs), social scholars believe that humanity has reached a new era called the Information Age or the Digital Age.
The Information Age began with the development of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989 by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee and has surged forward and evolved with the invention of personal computers and other digital devices by companies like Microsoft and Apple, thus permitting access to information easier, faster, and available to a wider user, a global one.
The Information Age is continuously changing, pervasive in nature, and is characterized by a global turn in power relations (Flor, 2009). Access to information and, as a result, to communication and media is considered power in the Information Age.
Power in the Information Age involves the capacity to govern big data, network infrastructures and platforms to modify attitudes and belief systems, to mold social reality. Digital power involves the ability to control data to influence events in the real world (Noel, 2019).
Information is the catalyst of dynamic growth in information-based societies. Access to information, communication and media channels is deemed to be closely associated with opportunities, wealth, economic and political control, power over people and social systems.
The increasingly networked character of this global reality is bringing in a tide of positive effects such as an increased democratization in some developing countries, liberalization and rapid diffusion of media channels.
In the Information Age, with the extensive use of ICTs, things are easier, faster and productive. Complex and multi-faceted operations done in the past by a number of skilled operators are now easily brought together via electronic computers and sophisticated software programs (Hanf, 2009).
However, since information is synonymous to dominance and communication means power, there seems to be an incredible race to achieve more access to information, leading to the rise of media conglomerates, mergers and concentrations of ownership, which impacts the quality of information and content given to the general public (Shah, 2009).
Furthermore, the proliferation of ICTs has deepened the existing inequality within and across countries. If there is a profusion of information in developed countries (the information-rich), some developing and least developed countries (information-poor) are still deprived of this commodity. Disparities in the use of ICTs may impede not only access to information but also access to available employment opportunities and, as a consequence, the fulfillment of human potential and prosperity.
In the ASEAN region, for example, based on the 2024 data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Philippine ICT Development Index (IDI) score was 74.4 out of 100, compared to 97.8 of Singapore, 97.4 of Hongkong, 95.7 of Brunei. The IDI index measures ICT's progress in 170 countries, calculating the level of universal and meaningful connectivity (Business World, 2024).
In addition, while the Philippines is being hailed for its leadership in the BPO industry (Inquirer.net, 2024), it is still lagging in terms of internet penetration and connectivity. According to the early 2024 reports from DataReportal, the Philippines had approximately 86.98 million Internet users, which means an Internet penetration rate of 73.6 percent of the total population, while 26.4 percent of Filipinos remained offline, elevated costs and limited digital infrastructures posed as important barriers to universal access.
As a conclusion, if access to information is correlated to power and if communication and media means power, then this power should not be confined in the hands of the dominant groups. Instead, it should hold a social function, which is to empower the underprivileged people.
Information and channels of communication should thus be employed to meet the information needs, concerns and interests of the disadvantaged areas in the ASEAN region. Communication and media should help eradicate poverty, enhance the lives of people and should help achieve dynamic growth that is inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable.
References:
Biscontini, T. (2025). Information Age (Digital Age). EBSCO. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/information-technology/information-age-digital-age
Business World. (2024, July 4). Philippines’ Score Improved the Most Among its Peers in ICT Index. Business World. https://www.bworldonline.com/infographics/2024/07/04/606031/philippines-score-improves-the-most-among-its-peers-in-ict-index/
DataReportal. (2024, February 21). Digital 2024: the Philippines. DataReportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-philippines
Flor, A. G. (2009). Developing societies in the information age: A critical perspective. UP Open University.
Hanff, W. A. Jr. Automation. Encyclopedia of Journalism. Ed. Christopher H. Sterling. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference, 2009. 146-150. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3202300045&v=2.1&u=phupou&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=792c7499e04a93dfc671fe84b27a4444
Inquirer.net. (2024, November 27). The 38.7$ Billion BPO Industry: the Filipino worker’s English skills crucial to success. Inquirer.net. https://business.inquirer.net/492365/the-38-7-billion-bpo-industry-filipino-workers-english-skills-crucial-to-success
Noel, J.C. (2019, November 11). What is Digital Power? IFRI French Institute of International Relations https://www.ifri.org/en/studies/what-digital-power#:~:text=Being%20powerful%20in%20the%20digital,coordination%20sometimes%20generates%20considerable%20tension.
Rights and freedom: Bridging the digital divide. (2015). In The Business Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/rights-and-freedom-bridging-the-digital-divide/
Shah, A. (2009). Media conglomerates, mergers, concentration of ownership. Global issues. http://www.globalissues.org/article/159/media-conglomerates-mergers-concentration-of-ownership
World Bank. (2013). ICTs are creating new jobs and making the labor market more innovative, inclusive and global. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/09/10/icts-are-creating-new-jobs-and-making-labor-markets-more-innovative-inclusive-and-global-world-bank-study
Over the last two decades, with the onset of the information and communication technologies (ICTs), social scholars believe that humanity has reached a new era called the Information Age or the Digital Age.
The Information Age began with the development of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989 by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee and has surged forward and evolved with the invention of personal computers and other digital devices by companies like Microsoft and Apple, thus permitting access to information easier, faster, and available to a wider user, a global one.
The Information Age is continuously changing, pervasive in nature, and is characterized by a global turn in power relations (Flor, 2009). Access to information and, as a result, to communication and media is considered power in the Information Age.
Power in the Information Age involves the capacity to govern big data, network infrastructures and platforms to modify attitudes and belief systems, to mold social reality. Digital power involves the ability to control data to influence events in the real world (Noel, 2019).
Information is the catalyst of dynamic growth in information-based societies. Access to information, communication and media channels is deemed to be closely associated with opportunities, wealth, economic and political control, power over people and social systems.
The increasingly networked character of this global reality is bringing in a tide of positive effects such as an increased democratization in some developing countries, liberalization and rapid diffusion of media channels.
In the Information Age, with the extensive use of ICTs, things are easier, faster and productive. Complex and multi-faceted operations done in the past by a number of skilled operators are now easily brought together via electronic computers and sophisticated software programs (Hanf, 2009).
However, since information is synonymous to dominance and communication means power, there seems to be an incredible race to achieve more access to information, leading to the rise of media conglomerates, mergers and concentrations of ownership, which impacts the quality of information and content given to the general public (Shah, 2009).
Furthermore, the proliferation of ICTs has deepened the existing inequality within and across countries. If there is a profusion of information in developed countries (the information-rich), some developing and least developed countries (information-poor) are still deprived of this commodity. Disparities in the use of ICTs may impede not only access to information but also access to available employment opportunities and, as a consequence, the fulfillment of human potential and prosperity.
In the ASEAN region, for example, based on the 2024 data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Philippine ICT Development Index (IDI) score was 74.4 out of 100, compared to 97.8 of Singapore, 97.4 of Hongkong, 95.7 of Brunei. The IDI index measures ICT's progress in 170 countries, calculating the level of universal and meaningful connectivity (Business World, 2024).
In addition, while the Philippines is being hailed for its leadership in the BPO industry (Inquirer.net, 2024), it is still lagging in terms of internet penetration and connectivity. According to the early 2024 reports from DataReportal, the Philippines had approximately 86.98 million Internet users, which means an Internet penetration rate of 73.6 percent of the total population, while 26.4 percent of Filipinos remained offline, elevated costs and limited digital infrastructures posed as important barriers to universal access.
As a conclusion, if access to information is correlated to power and if communication and media means power, then this power should not be confined in the hands of the dominant groups. Instead, it should hold a social function, which is to empower the underprivileged people.
Information and channels of communication should thus be employed to meet the information needs, concerns and interests of the disadvantaged areas in the ASEAN region. Communication and media should help eradicate poverty, enhance the lives of people and should help achieve dynamic growth that is inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable.
References:
Biscontini, T. (2025). Information Age (Digital Age). EBSCO. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/information-technology/information-age-digital-age
Business World. (2024, July 4). Philippines’ Score Improved the Most Among its Peers in ICT Index. Business World. https://www.bworldonline.com/infographics/2024/07/04/606031/philippines-score-improves-the-most-among-its-peers-in-ict-index/
DataReportal. (2024, February 21). Digital 2024: the Philippines. DataReportal. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-philippines
Flor, A. G. (2009). Developing societies in the information age: A critical perspective. UP Open University.
Hanff, W. A. Jr. Automation. Encyclopedia of Journalism. Ed. Christopher H. Sterling. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference, 2009. 146-150. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3202300045&v=2.1&u=phupou&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=792c7499e04a93dfc671fe84b27a4444
Inquirer.net. (2024, November 27). The 38.7$ Billion BPO Industry: the Filipino worker’s English skills crucial to success. Inquirer.net. https://business.inquirer.net/492365/the-38-7-billion-bpo-industry-filipino-workers-english-skills-crucial-to-success
Noel, J.C. (2019, November 11). What is Digital Power? IFRI French Institute of International Relations https://www.ifri.org/en/studies/what-digital-power#:~:text=Being%20powerful%20in%20the%20digital,coordination%20sometimes%20generates%20considerable%20tension.
Rights and freedom: Bridging the digital divide. (2015). In The Business Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/rights-and-freedom-bridging-the-digital-divide/
Shah, A. (2009). Media conglomerates, mergers, concentration of ownership. Global issues. http://www.globalissues.org/article/159/media-conglomerates-mergers-concentration-of-ownership
World Bank. (2013). ICTs are creating new jobs and making the labor market more innovative, inclusive and global. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/09/10/icts-are-creating-new-jobs-and-making-labor-markets-more-innovative-inclusive-and-global-world-bank-study
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