A well-informed society: travelling the information superhighway

Colin Bannerman

Abstract
The information superhighway - a somewhat romantic description for telecommunication systems that are at once global, domestic and broadband - has provided a focus for much debate in recent years about cultural wealth and poverty. It is argued that, even if barriers of cost, skill and social isolation can be overcome, the superhighway will not necessarily lead to information wealth. Some attempts at building theoretical groundwork for the debate are reviewed. The potential of telecommunications to reshape traditional models of education is discussed briefly and a research project sponsored by DEETYA is described which is currently gathering data on the factors which might affect the take-up of the computer-mediated educational environment. The impact of the technologies on education has clear parallels for libraries and library research, which readers are invited to consider.

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Amanda Foran in researching the literature on which this article is based.