Framework

Framework for Understanding
International Information Infrastructure Development

KEY PLAYERS
Infrastructure development is a synthesizing process between key players with individual agendas and varying amounts of power. Sometimes interest coincide and there is mutual agreement on how to proceed along a development path. At other times, key players clash due to vying interests. In circumstances like these, the most powerful player, usually the government, has the upper hand in shaping national infrastructure development. The table below lists who the typical players are and their respective agendas.

Key Player Agenda

Academic community The academic community is normally one of the first players involved in promoting technological infrastructure development. It is primarily interested in using technological resources to develop ongoing relationships with fellow colleagues and to gain access to up-to-date reasearch materials.

Government Government is concerned with establishing a managerial role in the development of its national
infrastructure. This managerial role may be more consistent with laissez-faire attitudes (e.g. providing unmonitored access to the general population) or a totalitarian mentality (e.g. establishing cyberlaws).

Private Industry The private industry, if one exists, strives to establish a profitable niche for itself in the developing IT market.

General Population During the development process, the general population is trying to make sense of the rapid changes occuring all around them and learning how to adjust to the impact infrastructure development has in their lives. The general population can either take a passive or an active role in how IT will affect their lives

ISSUES

Issues Description

Cultural Issues How do we define what is considered information? How do we determine what constitutes a reasonable flow of information? How can value conflicts be rectified when the Internet is a global network? How do we create an Internet accessible to countries with non-Latinized alphabets?

Regulatory Environment What types of regulatory environments have been created in response to national initiatives on information infrastructure development? Are certain types of governments more likely to engage in a particular course than others?

Measuring Development How do we determine the extent to which the Internet has reached? Are these measurements biased? If so, how?

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Last modified December 18, 1997
This web page was developed as a group project for SIMS 204
School of Information Management & Systems (SIMS), University of California at Berkeley
Project Members included: Suzanne Ginsburg, Haydee Hernandez, and Mohammed Shamma

Key Player	Agenda
Academic community	The academic community is normally one of the first players involved in promoting technological infrastructure development. It is primarily interested in using technological resources to develop ongoing relationships with fellow colleagues and to gain access to up-to-date reasearch materials.
Government	Government is concerned with establishing a managerial role in the development of its national infrastructure. This managerial role may be more consistent with laissez-faire attitudes (e.g. providing unmonitored access to the general population) or a totalitarian mentality (e.g. establishing cyberlaws).
Private Industry	The private industry, if one exists, strives to establish a profitable niche for itself in the developing IT market.
General Population	During the development process, the general population is trying to make sense of the rapid changes occuring all around them and learning how to adjust to the impact infrastructure development has in their lives. The general population can either take a passive or an active role in how IT will affect their lives

Issues	Description
Cultural Issues	How do we define what is considered information? How do we determine what constitutes a reasonable flow of information? How can value conflicts be rectified when the Internet is a global network? How do we create an Internet accessible to countries with non-Latinized alphabets?
Regulatory Environment	What types of regulatory environments have been created in response to national initiatives on information infrastructure development? Are certain types of governments more likely to engage in a particular course than others?
Measuring Development	How do we determine the extent to which the Internet has reached? Are these measurements biased? If so, how?