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Developing Societies
in the Information Age:
A Critical Perspective
in the Information Age:
A Critical Perspective
By
ALEXANDER G. FLOR
Professor of Information and Communication Studies
UP Open University
University of the Philippines

OPEN UNIVERSITY
Developing Societies in the Information Age: A Critical Perspective
By Alexander G. Flor
Copyright © 2009 by Alexander G. Flor and the University of the

Philippines Open University
Apart from any fair use for the purpose of research or private
study, criticism or review, this publication may be reproduced,
stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means
ONLY WITH THE PERMISSION
of the author and the UP Open University.
Published in the Philippines by the UP Open University

Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
2/F, National Computer Center Building
C.P. Garcia Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City 1101
Telephone (632) 426-1515
Email [email protected]
ISBN
First printing, 2009
Cover Design by Yeye Payawal-Manipol

Layout by Cecilia Geronimo-Santiago
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
PREFACE
The 2000 Okinawa Summit of G7/G8 nations

described information and communications technology or
ICT as “one of the most potent forces in shaping the Twenty-
first Century…fast becoming a vital engine of growth for
the world economy.” In the same breath, the summit
decried the existence of a digital divide between rich and
poor nations and that the major challenge posed today is
to bridge this widening chasm.
Five years later, in his much read and quoted treatise

on globalization, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman of the
New York Times declared that the competitive economic
playing fields between and among First World and Third
World countries are now leveling due to the mainstreaming
of the Second World (Russia, China, and their satellites)
coupled with the widespread adoption of new information
and communications technology. Friedman alluded to
global supply chains linking New York City executives,
Silicon Valley engineers, Bangalore programmers, Tainjin
assembly line workers, Delhi call center operators, and
Manila product analysis engineers to the global consumer,
each of whom gets a slice of the revenue pie.
No doubt there has been a leveling of the playing

field. Unfortunately, the game is not between rich and poor
nations but among corporations and establishments from
all over the globe sharing a common economic ideology.
Has this evening out of the playing field bridged

the digital divide? Has it led to a more equitable
distribution of wealth? Has it alleviated poverty?
V
Within the backdrop of the current economic crisis,
the Third World collectively remains to be the ghettos and
slums of today’s Global Village. They are disparate
developing societies in the Information Age.
The digital divide does not pertain merely to

technological access but to economic access as well. It is
not just about digital inclusion but, more importantly,
political inclusion. It should not be addressed merely by
the provision of digital opportunities but by social
opportunities as well. We have become so enamored with
technology that we have made it occupy a central place in
the scheme of things.
Consider for a moment mankind as one society. This

society is made up of an elite community on one hand,
which is globally networked through ICT (the Web, cellular
phones, broadband, and wireless technology), and the rest
of humanity, on the other, scattered across the planet. The
privileged group works with information while the rest
supply the world with industrial labor, raw materials, and
food. Yet the former control eighty percent of the world’s
economic resources and thus enjoy most of the world’s
wealth. Lack of foresight has led many to believe that such
a situation is beneficial. After all, there ought to be a sector
that would feed the world and provide it with the needed
raw materials while the elite work with information and
knowledge.
Consider once more the world as one economic

organism. Conventional wisdom forwards that a malady
in one part results in a state of illness of the entire being. It
leads to the lack of wholeness and perhaps even to its
demise. Should we not then address the inequities of the
Information Age?
VI
This volume provides the theoretical framework for
a critical perspective on informatization and its impact on
developing societies and emerging economies. It is based
on my dissertation titled The Information Rich and the
Information Poor: Two Faces of the Information Age in a
Developing Country, which was conducted from 1983 to 1986.
Much has changed since 1983 but the framework remains
valid.
One obvious difference is that information societies

were not as ubiquitous then as they are now, that information
technology did not exert as much influence in our lives then
as it does now. In 1983, the Cloud did not exist. Neither did
Skype, 3G mobile phones and rich media content. Not even
the World Wide Web was present. There were no virtual
worlds, social networks and online transactions. Yet,
information economists were already describing
dysfunctional states attendant to an information-based
economy, i.e., information overload, bureaucracy, invasion
of privacy, IPR infringement and attendant social inequities.
To many of us, this last issue is the most crucial and

deserving of critical analysis. Thus, it has become the focus
of this volume.
This is not to say, however, that informatization, in

general, and information societies, in particular, should
only be seen from a critical perspective. There are other
equally valid views of these phenomena, including
advocacies that optimistically herald their advent as
precursors of a more evolved global system and social
order.
The academic dialogue in this field within the

virtual walls of the University of the Philippines Open
University is vibrant, diverse and dynamic. We, at the
UPOU Faculty of Information and Communication Studies
VII
are committed to pursuing this narrative comprehensively,
initially through a three-part continuing education program
on the non-technical dimensions of ICT inclusive of the
ethical, legal, and social concerns that form the basis of the
ICT4D movement.
It is in this spirit that this book was produced as an integral

part of the program’s courseware but more importantly as
a contribution to the ongoing discourse.
VIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to acknowledge with deep gratitude,

the ideas and insights shared by the following scholars
during the writing of this manuscript:
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, former President and currently

Chairman of the Board of the Asian Institute of Journalism;
Dr. Serafin Talisayon, former Assistant Secretary of the

National Security Council and currently Professor of the
UP Technology Management Center;
Dr. Higino Ables, former UPLB Vice Chancellor for

Academic Affairs and Deputy Director of SEAMEO
SEARCA;
Dr. Gabriel Iglesias, former Dean of the UP College of Public

Administration; and most especially,
Dr. Felix Librero, former Chancellor of the University of

the Philippines Open University and currently Faculty
Regent of the University of the Philippines.
ALEXANDER G. FLOR
Los Baños, May 2009
For
Dr. Antonio G. Moran
who introduced me
to critical theory
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
An Emerging Asymmetric Theory
Los Baños, 1
A Digital Divide within and among Communities, 2
CHAPTER II
New Age, New Societies
Turbulent Field Environments, 8
CHAPTER III
Shifts in Resources of Power
The Information Age, 12

The Information Society, 13
Information and Power, 16
The Information Rich and the
Information Poor, 18
Societal Structures and the Digital Divide, 20
CHAPTER IV
Theoretical Framework
Basic Premises, 28
Derived Theoretical Propositions, 29
Conceptual Framework, 30
CHAPTER V
Values Framework
ICT4D Value Premises, 37

Value-Premised Constituent Concepts, 39
CHAPTER VI
Global Manifestations: Information in

Globalization, 47
Social Consequences, 49
CHAPTER VII
National Indications: Information in the
Philippines
Indicators, 54
CHAPTER VIII
Sectoral Observations: Information of

Agriculture
Cartels, 64
The Rise of the White-Collar Agricultural
Worker , 66
The Need for Policy Rationalization, 69
CHAPTER IX
Social and Policy Implications
Social Implications, 72
Policy Implications, 73
CHAPTER X
Internally Driven Transformation
Literature Cited, 83
XV
Chapter I
An Emerging Asymmetric Structure
Despite all the vaunted technological and economic progress of modern times,
there are probably more poverty-stricken people in the world today than
there were fifty years ago.
Eugene Staley
LOS BAÑOS
F ifty years ago, Los Baños, a town roughly sixty-five

kilometers south of Manila, was like any other rural
town in the Philippines. Pristine in its rustic beauty, it was
bounded by the hills of Mt. Makiling on one side and the
shores of Laguna de Bay on another. It was peppered with
fruit trees, hot springs and pools of mineral water. It also
contained the College of Agriculture campus of the
University of the Philippines.
2 Developing Societies in the Information Age: A Critical Perspective
Then came an influx of foreign aid specifically

earmarked for campus development and the establishment
of international, regional, and national research
institutions. Today, Los Baños is an enigmatic place
especially when seen in the context of conventional social
science theory. Within this town are a number of
communities existing side by side, yet exhibiting
contrasting, even disparate traits and patterns of behavior,
the most odious form of differentiation being poverty. The
kaingin1 community in the Makiling uplands is probably
the most impoverished lot. Not lagging behind in terms of
poverty are the duck raising community in Bayog, the
farming communities in Putho, and the fishing community
in Mayondon.
Affluence, however, is not unheard of in this town. In

fact, the cost of living in Los Baños approximates that of
Metro Manila. Members of the College community, a
community of educators, researchers, and students of the
University of the Philippines Los Baños, are often outraged
by the prices of commodities, which should normally cost
less in provincial areas. In fact, some communities here
are embarrassingly too affluent when compared with others
such as upland barrios of Bagong Silang and Timugan.
A DIGIT AL DIVIDE WITHIN AND

DIGITAL
AMONG COMMUNITIES
How did this condition, best described as an asymmetric

social structure, develop? What differentiates the elite
communities from the underprivileged ones, aside from
wealth and the quality of life?
1
Slash and burn or swidden farming
Chapter 1 3
A recurring trait observable among the elite communities

in Los Baños is the abundance of information and communication
resources. In fact, the international science communit—perhaps
the wealthiest, yet the least conspicuous among the Los Baños
communities—is best off in terms of information and
communication resources. Likewise, a recurring trait observed
among the underprivileged communities in Los Baños is the lack
of information and communication resources.
Los Baños has been immortalized in the media as the seat of

the Green Revolution, specifically food production technology
that is feeding the rest of Asia. It may very well be the first
community in Southeast Asia exclusively devoted to the
generation, analysis, storage, retrieval, and utilization of
agricultural information. Early on, the university town put a
premium on information epitomized by the College of
Agriculture’s trilogy of functions—instruction, research and
extension—later adopted by other UP colleges and state
universities. Its role as an information community in a
predominantly agricultural country expanded greatly with the
coming of international organizations such as the International
Rice Research Institute, regional centers such as SEAMEO
Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture
and national agencies such as the Philippine Council for
Agricultural and Resources Research and Development.
Note the following statistics:
1. Eighty percent of the workforce is composed of

information workers.
2. Seventy percent of UPLB faculty members are doctoral
degree holders.
3. Los Baños is home to four international think tanks or
consulting firms.
4. During his term as President, Fidel Ramos, although
neither a Los Baños native nor alumnus, had in his
Cabinet three secretaries and three undersecretaries

plucked from the UPLB faculty.
This volume submits that the economic and political

elite communities in a developing country, such as those
found in Los Baños, are information-rich communities.
Likewise, underprivileged or deprived communities are
almost always information-poor. This newly emergent
dichotomy or what in fact may be the real digital divide, is a
function of a social environment that considers information
as a primary resource. Furthermore, this divide is
exacerbated by a dominance system that characterizes
relationships between and among rich and poor countries
in this globalized world. Lastly, the aforementioned
situation is the best argument for the adoption of a set of
value premises on information and communications
technology for development or ICT4D.
Chapter II
New Age, New Societies
Today, what counts is not raw muscle power or energy

but information.
Daniel Bell
S ocial observers declare that human civilization is

now in a new age—the Information Age. This new era is
now drastically affecting every aspect of the lives of individuals,
organizations and societies all over the world.
Attendant to the Information Age are a number of phenomena,

the information explosion and the communications revolution
included. Ironically, it is partly because of these phenomena that
we are now aware of the tremendous inequality that is said to
exist within and between nations and societies, an
inequality brought about by a dominance system of
relationships among rich and poor countries.
Perhaps the Information Age is conducive to this dominance

system. Perhaps this dominance system, in turn, accounts for an
emergent dichotomy which now characterizes most Third World
societies, the “information rich /information poor” dichotomy.
Before, it was quite adequate to categorize societies as

sacred or secular, mechanical or organic, Gemeinschaft or
Gesellschaft. These typologies were slowly discarded to be
replaced by the rural-urban dichotomy. Today, these
classifications may lose their relevance in light of new
evolving social situations and environments. Whereas the
folk-feudal and rural-urban typologies may have
developed from the Agricultural and Industrial Ages
respectively, the information rich/information poor
categorization emerged out of the Information Age.
Casual observations support this view. As we described

in the preceding chapter, a number of communities that
are traditionally classified as rural, for all intents and
purposes, do not display the characteristics of such.
Provincial based research communities and university
towns in the Philippine countryside are prime examples
of these. The Los Baños Science Community, for one,
bustles with information-related activities. Furthermore,
almost always, they manifest symptoms of cultural
subservience. (For instance, a person who completes his/
her doctorate degree in a Philippine institution is
considered inferior in certain academic circles. It seems that
the consensus among them is that a genuine PhD is one or
obtained from a United States or European academic
institution, even if graduate programs here exhibit equal
or, in some cases, higher rigor.)
Societies or social systems are often classified according

to their patterns of social organization. These classifications
are almost always dichotomous. Confucius categorized societies
Chapter II 7
as either “the great similarity” or “the small tranquility.” Tonnies

(1887) introduced the Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft typology.
Redfield’s two-part classification consisted of the folk-urban

concepts. However, these typologies tend to become inadequate
if not outmoded. We are now in the Information Age in which the
world is transformed into a global village and power relations
are no longer confined within national or regional boundaries.
Certainly, social systems are altered as well as the theories
that attempt to explain them.
Social science theory, specifically sociological theory, is

dynamic, situational and changing—a systemic reaction to
particular social situations by intellectuals thinking in particular
philosophical traditions and paradigms (Kinloch, 1971). The
emergence of new social environments may necessitate the
restructuring of social theories. This work attempts such a
reconstruction. And it does so, cognizant of the limitations
attendant to undertakings of this nature.
It should be noted that like all other attempts in theory

construction, this book can and will only provide a partial
interpretation or definition of reality. Somehow, the total
picture cannot be completely defined in a manner agreeable
to everybody. Sociological theory, as described, is a product
of particular social situations and specific philosophical
traditions and paradigms. The propositions forwarded in
this work should be taken within the context of critical
theory.
TURBULENT FIELD ENVIRONMENTS
These limitations, however, should not reduce the

significance of analyses of this nature, if only to anticipate
social consequences. It is now generally acknowledged that
we are living in an environment where change occurs with
increasing rapidity and complexity, a condition described
by Emery and Trist (1965) as a “turbulent field”
environment.
Turbulent environments have three causes (Allen, 1978):
1. An increase in the urgency of problems because of the

lack of “lead time” to solve them.
2. The tendency of today’s problems to occur not in
isolation but to interact violently with each other.
3. The failure of old models and theories to cope with
modern day problems.
To cope with “turbulent field” environments, Wedemeyer

(1978) suggests that feedforward information be employed
“to reduce uncertainty and increase equilibrium in the
control process.” Feedforward implies the anticipation of
certain developments given certain situations and contexts.
As early as 1980, Toffler declared:
It is becoming acceptable, in academic circles, to talk about the future.

Before now, it seemed unscholarly, unscientific, and even “unserious”.
Some of the new energies are pilling over into and influencing the social
sciences, the humanities, and other disciplines, forcing them again and
again to ask, “What are the hidden side effects, the long range consequence
of any action?” (p. 29-45).
Feedforward information is the product of anticipatory

methodologies. Such information becomes invaluable to
the planner, decision maker, or policy analyst for them to
adapt to turbulent-field environments. Feed forward
Chapter II 9
enables one to anticipate consequences of certain conditions

or events in terms of lower order and higher order impacts.
The concepts dealt with in this book are evolving and

are concerned with unconsummated social phenomena. The
Information Age has started and no one knows quite surely
what it has in store for the world, especially the Third
World. This analysis may generate policy options, which
may provide the alternative of avoiding problems before
they become irreversible.
Chapter III
SHIFTS IN RESOURCES OF POWER
Who holds the wealth in an Information Society?
Roberto Verzola
T his chapter describes the global shift in resources

of power from land, labor, and capital to information.
The actors have remained essentially the same. The elite
continue to hold political and economic power as well as
dictate social structures. The change is more on the nature
of resources that are being controlled.
These propositions are based on ideas conceptualized

by theoreticians of contemporary social sciences, among
them political scientists Renato Constantino and Johann
Galtung, futurists Daniel Bell and Alvin Toffler, and
economists Fritz Machlup and Marc Porat. Foremost among
these ideas is the concept of the Information Age.
THE INF ORMA

INFORMA TION AAGE
ORMATION GE
Human civilization has entered its third era, the so-called

Information Age. It is a pervasive social phenomenon, a
global environment.
Before the Information Age, was the Industrial Age. Before

the Industrial Age, was the Agricultural Age.
Toffler estimates the Agricultural Age to have begun

“roughly ten millennia ago...it crept slowly across the planet
spreading across villages, settlements, cultivated land, and a
new way of life,” (1980, pp. 29-45). Land was the basis of
society—from economy to culture, from family to politics.
Life was primarily a game against nature and was organized
around the village.
The Industrial Age started “three hundred years ago,

give or take a half-century” (Toffler, 1980). Bell characterizes
life in the era as mechanically paced, a game against
fabricated nature in which the machine predominated and
work was technical and rationalized.
Porat’s description is more explicit:
In the early industrial society, the ownership of land is

democratized, and the feudal structure is completely
dismantled. The new locus of economic wealth and power
is the factory. In that context, the ownership of capital
dominates all other variables, including that of basic
educational levels. The acquisition of superior trade skills
is the road to upward mobility. But without capital, few
craftsmen and small businessmen ascend to the heights of
industry (p. 41).
Chapter III 13
In the Information Age, capital becomes less important

than information. In fact, information becomes the “primary
resource.”
Although referring to the same global phenomenon, the

Information Age has been termed differently by different
people. For instance, Toffler refers to it as the Third Wave
era, the first wave being the “agricultural revolution” and
the second wave being the “industrial revolution.”
Brezinski labels the Information Age as the Technotronic
(technological-electronic) Era. However, economists
exemplified by Fritz Machlup, Marc Porat and Yoineji
Masuda describe the Information Age in terms of information
societies.
THE INF ORMA

INFORMA TION SOCIET Y
ORMATION
In 1982, the first edition of Megatrends was printed. In

that much acclaimed book, social forecaster John Naisbitt
wrote of the transformation of America from an industrial
society to an information society. He also declared that it
was “possible for a single country to be in various states of
agricultural, industrial and information societies
simultaneously” (p. 19).
To avoid confusion, the term information society should

be differentiated from the term Information Age. An
information society refers to a social system while the
Information Age refers to an era in human civilization, a
worldwide phenomenon. Hence, it is possible for a group
of people to live in the Information Age but not within an
information society.
Paradoxically, agricultural and industrial societies are

necessities within the Information Age. In fact, information
societies can never exist without agricultural and industrial

societies supplying food, raw material, and hardware
needs. We shall learn later that the problem lies in the
power relations between these societies.
Porat operationalized the phrase “information society”

as one in which informational activities engage the majority
of the workforce and account for the greater share of
economic transactions. He estimated in the late seventies
that in the United States, the industrial work force has
shrunk to “only half the size of the information work force.”
Vimal Dissanayake, formerly from the East-West Center,

differentiated the information society from the agricultural
and industrial societies using the following matrix:
Categories of Agricultural Industrial Information

Change
Product Food Goods Information
Factors of
Production Land Capital Expertise
Production Household Factory Information
Venue Utility
Actors Farmers Factory Technicians
workers
Nature of Tool- Power Information
Technology oriented technology technology
Methodology Trail and Experiment Abstract theory
error and simulation
Guiding Factor Tradition Economic Codification of
growth knowledge
Prerequisite to Speech Verbal/visual/ Computer
Success aural literacy literacy
Preferred Rule Hierarchical/ Representative Participatory
authoritarian democracy democracy
Unifying Principle Regionalism Nationalism Globalism
Chapter III
8000 BC 1700 AD 1960 Present
u
AGRICULTURAL AGE INDUSTRIAL AGE INFORMATION AGE
u
Information-Based Economies
- North America
- Western Europe
- Japan, South Korea, Singapore
u
Industrial-Based Economies Industrial-Based Economies
- Industrialized Countries
- Emerging Economies
u
Agriculture-Based Economies Agriculture-Based Economies Agriculture-Based Economies
- Developing Societies
- Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
Figure 1. Timeline of Ages and Economies/Societies
15
It is no longer difficult to state categorically whether or not

the trend towards information societies can be found in
the Third World. Recent observations point towards the
affirmative. In Asia, for instance, certain trends that are
indifferent to political developments show that we are
indeed moving towards that direction. These trends
include the growing demand for mobile devices and
software, broadband, wi-fi, or wi-max services, and even
online educational programs.
INF ORMA
INFORMA TION AND PO
ORMATION WER
POWER
Initially, it may be difficult to conceive how something

non-material such as information could overtake land and
capital as an economic resource. An understanding of the
nature of information, however, will allow us to appreciate
its primacy. Information and communication are integral
in our environment. In 1983, Talisayon wrote:
Viewing the human environment as an ecosystem,

consisting of complex interactions and flows of materials,
energy, information and value,1 every human activity, both
economic and non-economic, is seen as processing and
transformation of one or more of these four fundamental
extensive variables (p. 22).
General systems theorists have introduced the concept

of information metabolism wherein communication as
Thayer states, is “a dynamic process underlying the
1
In a marginal note to the manuscript of this book, Talisayon relates value to
a social divide different from that of an informational or digital divide, i.e.,
a civilizational divide. He cites Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations
and the Remaking of the World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996)
as the source of this argument.
Chapter III 17
existence, growth, the behavior of all living beings...as

fundamental to the living system...as the ingestion and
consumption of `food’ and `fuel’ to run its physical and
physiological machinery” ( Thayer, 1968).
Control is achieved through communication. Norbert

Weiner, the father of cybernetics, equated communication
with control and observed that it is negatively related to
entropy, the tendency of all systems towards breakdown.
This function or relationship is magnified in the
Information Age when, as Porat emphatically puts it,
“Information is power.”
As early as 1909, sociologist Charles Cooley wrote:
The system of communication is a tool, progressive

inventions, whose improvements react upon mankind and
alter the life of every individual and institution... It is not
too much to say that these changes are the basis of nearly
everything that is characteristic...of modern life (p. 17).
This was written a century ago when radio was still

being experimented upon and television was not even
a figment of anybody’s imagination. Since then, the
rate and amount of communication has increased in
an almost mind-boggling manner through the merging
of computer, broadcast, cables, and telephone
technology. Hence, wealth and power are now
concentrated in the economics of information. To use
Porat’s early example, the gross revenue of AT&T in
1977 surpassed the GNP of 118 of the 145 UN-member
nations.
Thus, in the Information Age, there seems to be a

positive correlation between information and power,
between communication and power. The logical
consequence of this is the gravitation of special interest
groups toward the communication or information industry

and the mad scramble for communication resources. Those
who will gain access to more resources will understandably
hold more political and economic power. They may, in
turn, perpetuate this condition by determining enabling
societal structures. And, as we have noted in the preceding
chapter, the predominant societal structures which seem
to be gelling is that of another dichotomy: the information
rich and the information poor.
THE INF ORMA

INFORMA TION RIC
ORMATION RICHH
AND THE INF ORMA
INFORMA TION POOR
ORMATION
The evolution of the information-rich elite and the

information-poor masses has been anticipated in the sixties
when Fritz Machlup started writing about information
societies. Fifty years ago, communication theorist Everett
Rogers observed that “new ideas may tend to make the
rich richer and the poor poorer.” People who adopt
innovations are often more educated, enjoy higher status,
are more exposed to mass media, and are more literate.
The phrase information and communications technology

or ICT was first used by Katzman in 1974. He opined that
the uneven initial distribution of resources may aggravate
the situation Rogers describes. Katzman proposed that:
With the adoption of a new information and

communications technology or ICT, people who already
have high levels of information and ability will gain more
than people with lower initial levels.... On one hand, it
raises the information level of all individuals and on the
other hand, it widens the gap between the information rich
and the information poor (p. 47).
Chapter III 19
Porat further furnishes a good description of an

information-rich individual:
The professional technocrat-scientist-manager assumes an

ascendant role....The technocrat as the new leader enjoys
vertical mobility; generally has the good life, is extremely
well educated, tested, and trained for both verbal and
quantitative skills, is rewarded for prowess with abstract
concepts and symbolic behavior; and is keenly attuned to
new information about the world or his or her profession.
Above all, the technocrat knows how to acquire information
(p. 41).
The problem with the advent of an information-rich class

is the implied existence of an information poor class. In
1979, scientists attending an annual meeting held in
Houston, Texas, coined the term “techno-peasant” as a label
for the information-poor individual. The techno-peasant
is the exact opposite of the technocrat. The former is
technologically illiterate and is easily overwhelmed by new
fields of technology. The technocrat increasingly
determines the nature and quality of the techno-peasant’s
life.
The book that resulted from that conference described

a split that “had occurred between the technocrats, a
scientific elite who are really running things in this country,
and the techno-peasants.”
When communication techniques are applied to social

problems, the political implications of the widening gap
between the information-rich and the information-poor
become critical as Katzman declares. In a World Future
Society publication, Didsbury provides a succinct
presentation of this argument:
The new telecommunications media may have equally

undesirable effects on the social structure. It seems reasonable to
suppose that this revolution, like all revolutions, will create its
own new class structure—with all the attendant privileges and
antagonisms associated with such a change. In this case, one can
discern at least two classes, each of which has very unequal
prospects in this new telecommunications society. On one hand,
there are the information rich; on the other, the information poor
(p. 313).
However, the situation is such that one does not have

to wait for the evolution of the information-poor
underclass. The Third World is teeming with it. In the
present global economic structure, the Third World
becomes the natural abode of the information poor.
The world is indeed one economic organism. The

perverse opulence of one nation results in the extreme
poverty of another. This is not to suggest that a zero-sum
game exists in the world economy, the operative term in
the preceding statement being perverse. Excesses ultimately
lead to imbalances. There can hardly be a First World
without a Third World. The First World’s dominance over
information resources, when approximating dysfunctional
levels, may actually contribute to the Third World’s lack
of such.
SOCIET AL SSTR
SOCIETAL TR UCTURES
TRUCTURES
AND THE DIGIT AL DIVIDE
DIGITAL
The structure of society in developing countries and

emerging economies tends to be affected by a dominance
relationship with powerful countries. This relationship or
system of relationships, often referred to as imperialism,
causes the asymmetrical social structures now found
Chapter III 21
between and among nations, between and among societies,

between and among communities. This proposition is
largely based on Johann Galtung’s structural theory of
imperialism.
Galtung theorizes that the world is composed of Center

(C) and Periphery (P) nations. Each nation, in turn has its
own centers (c) and peripheries (p). Imperialism is
conceived as a relation of dominance between these nations,
basing itself on a “bridgehead” which the center of the
Center nation (cC) establishes at the center of the Periphery
nation (cP), for their mutual benefit. Imperialism is thus “a
system that splits up collectives and relates some of the
parts to each other in relations of harmony of interest, and
other parts in relations of disharmony or conflict of interest”
(p. 81).
A state of disharmony of interest is said to exist when

two entities are coupled in such a way that the gap in living
conditions between them is increasing. On the other hand,
a state of harmony is said to be present if the two entities
are coupled in such a way that the gap in living conditions
between them is decreasing to zero. The concept of “living
conditions” is operationalized by indicators such as
income, standard of living, and quality of life (p. 82).
Figure 2 provides a model of the structural theory.

center (c)
Center Nation (C)

periphery (p)
center (c)
Periphery Nation (P)

periphery (p)
Harmony of interest
Disharmony or conflict of interest
Figure 2. Galtung’s Structural Model of Imperialism
The structural theory may thus be summarized as follows:
In our two-nation world, imperialism can be defined as

one way in which the Center nation has power over the
Periphery nation, to bring about a condition of disharmony
of interest between them (p. 83).
This structure is characterized by the following:
1. Harmony of interest exists between the cC and the cP.

2. Disharmony of interest is more within the P than within
the C.
Chapter III 23
3. Disharmony of interest exists between the pC and pP.

4. Disharmony of interest exists between P as a whole and
between C as a whole.
5. Disharmony of interest exists between cC and pC but
to a lesser degree than the disharmony between cP and
pP.
Galtung declares:
The basic idea is, as mentioned, that the center in the Center
nation has a bridgehead in the Periphery nation, and a
well-chosen one, the center in the Periphery nation. This
is established such that the Periphery center is tied to the
Center center with the best possible tie: the tie of harmony
of interest. They are linked so that they go up together and
down, even under together (pp. 83-84).
Information and communication, it seems, play a vital

role in the relationship between the Center nation and the
Periphery nation. Friedman’s thesis (2005) that ICTs have
resulted in level playing fields between the Centers and
Peripheries is misleading. The playing field is not shared
by the Center (C) nation and the Periphery (P) nation but
by the center of the Center (cC) and the center of the
Periphery (cP). The periphery of the Center (pC) and the
periphery of the Periphery (pP) are marginalized in the
process. Outsourcing arrangements between a cC player
such as IBM USA and a cP entity such as IBM China may
be beneficial for the bottom line of IBM and Chinese IT
workers but may not be good for unemployed Americans
or for Chinese rural workers. If anything, these global
supply chains have validated Galtung’s propositions.
Twenty years ago, Aggarwala warned of the dark side

of the Information Age. The revolution in communications
technology has led to the concentration of media ownership
in the hands of a few. The merger of old media
establishments and new media providers into

conglomerates has often been attributed to the convergence
of media. However, Aggarwala quotes Bagdakian as
stating:
Only fifty giant corporations today control the American

media—newspapers, magazines, radio, television, books and
movies, and that these corporations are allied in financial interest
with other massive industries and with international banking....The
fifty men and women who head these corporations would fit in a
large room. They constitute a new Private Ministry of Information
and Culture...More than any other governmental source, the fifty
dominant media corporations can set the national agenda (1985,
p. 90).
Galtung pinpoints communication or media

imperialism as among five types of imperialism. In such a
relationship, the Center nation provides news and the
means of communication while the Periphery nation
provides “events, passengers, and goods.” The major news
agencies are in the hands of Center nations, relying on
Center-dominated networks such as cable, satellite, and
others.
What is not so well analyzed is how Center news takes up

a much larger proportion of Periphery news media than
vice-versa....The Periphery nations do not write or read
much about each other....and they read more about their
Center than about other Centers because the press is
written and read by the center in the Periphery, who want
to know more about the most “relevant” part of the world
— for them.... The Periphery also produces events that
the Center turns into news. This is done by training
journalists to see events with Center eyes.... (p. 92).
Chapter III 25
Hence, information and communication resources are

easily used to further the dominance system of
relationships among Center nations and Periphery nations.
CHAPTER IV
Theoretical Framework
As always when in the midst of extensive and rapid changes,

it is difficult to assume a critical perspective from which to assess
the significance of what is occurring.
Mark C. Taylor
I mprovising upon the propositions forwarded in the

preceding chapter and relating these to situations in
the Third World, we arrive at our framework.
The theoretical structure of this analysis is of the

axiomatic deductive inductive type. Theoretical propositions
were derived from a set of basic premises gleaned from
the preceding chapter. These propositions, in turn, formed
the bases for the conceptual framework.
BASIC PREMISES
This theoretical framework takes, as its point of

departure, the following premises gleaned from the existing
literature:
1. Social systems, and the theories that attempt to describe

them, are constructed within the context of specific
social settings and environments.
2. Presently, the predominant social setting or

environment is that of informatization.
3. In an environment of informatization, information

societies may exist side by side with traditionally
oriented agricultural societies or developing societies.
4. In an environment of structural informatization, there

is a positive correlation between information (or
communication) and social (or political, or economic)
power.
5. In an environment of dysfunctional informatization, the

gap between the information rich and the information
poor tends to increase, leading to asymmetric social
structures.
6. In an environment of global informatization,

information and communication are used as expedients
of a dominance system of relationships.
7. Developing societies and emerging economies tend to

be affected by this system by engaging in a dominance
relationship with information economies. This
relationship or system of relationships is generally
based on conflict of interests.
Chapter IV 29
DERIVED THEORETICAL PROPOSITIONS
The following theoretical propositions have been

derived from the basic premises enumerated thus far:
First Proposition. Assuming that social systems and

structures are constructed within the context of specific
social environments and assuming further that the
predominant social environment now is that of
informatization, the emergent social structures may now
be differentiated according to information-related
variables.
Given premises 1 and 2, the formulation of a composite

typology of social systems that reflect information as a
resource is inevitable.
Second Proposition. If, as Galtung has expounded,

structures of social systems in developing countries and
emerging economies are largely affected by a dominance
system (Premise 7) in which collectives are divided into
centers (c) and peripheries (p) then, social systems in a
developing country tend to be polarized into two
categories: one typifying the characteristics of a center (c)
and the other embodying the characteristics of a periphery
(p).
Furthermore, if a positive correlation exists between

information or communication and power (Premise 4); and
assuming further that information or communication is
indeed used as expedients of the dominance system
(Premise 6) then the emergent social system can be
differentiated according to access to information and
information related resources, a dichotomy more
commonly known as the digital divide.
Third Proposition. Since the centers of Center nations

(cCs) have information-based economies, then the centers
of Periphery nations (cPs) are likely to be information
societies. Hence, the cPs are presumably “information rich”
like the cCs.
It is thus axiomatic for the pPs to be “information poor.”

This is amply supported by Premise 5, which forwards that
“the gap between the information rich and information
poor... tends to increase.”
In summary, the social systems in developing countries

and emerging economies are asymmetric and may be
roughly classified into two types: the center of the Periphery
(cP), which is the elite or the “haves,” and the periphery of
the Periphery (pP), this being the underprivileged or the
“have nots.” This work suggests that the elite constitute
information-rich communities. Likewise, the
underprivileged or dispossessed are information-poor
communities.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Thus far, the following concepts have been identified

as constituents of this framework: informatization;
dominance systems or mechanisms; and the digital divide.
The relationships between these constituents are as follows:
Informatization is the environment within which this

phenomenon occurs. Within an environment of
informatization made dysfunctional by a system of
dominance relationships among developed and
developing societies, the divide will increase. Thus, this
asymmetric social structure that we refer to as the digital
Chapter IV 31
divide is a function of dominance mechanisms within an

environment of informatization, i.e.:
Digital Divide = f (dominance mechanisms,

informatization)
Dominance systems and mechanisms are said to be positively

correlated to the dichotomy between the information rich and
the information poor, or the digital divide. In other words,
the more extensive the dominance system, the greater the divide or the
gap between the information rich and the information poor in
developing societies.
However, to present a more holistic discussion of the

relationships between these concepts in the real world, as
well as their social implications, this analysis would have
to adopt a set of explicitly defined value premises. Without
these value premises, the discussion can only remain sterile
and academic, devoid of any meaningful insights and
practical value. This set represents normative values that
are to be associated with the ICT4D movement.
CHAPTER V
Values Framework
In an era of multimillion dollar research projects, it is hard to deny that

science has both value implications and value origins.
Robert Proctor
I n June 1989, a group of Asian academics, researchers,

and policy makers met in Singapore under the auspices
of the Asian Media Information and Communication Council.
The meeting kicked off an East West Center financed study
on informatization in Southeast Asia led by information
economist, Meheroo Jussawalla.
The research framework for the regional project was

proposed by the founding Dean of the Nanyang
Technological University’s School of Communication
Studies, Eddie Kuo. The framework, which was eventually
referred to as the Kuo Model named three major
dimensions of informatization, namely: the People
Dimension; the Economic Dimension; and the Infrastructure
Dimension. The People Dimension was operationalized

as education and literacy levels. The Economic Dimension
referred to conventional economic indicators such as GNP
and GDP. Infrastructure meant telecommunications and
media infrastructure.
⊳
⊳
INFRASTRUCTURE ECONOMY
⊳
⊳
⊳
PEOPLE
Figure 3. The Kuo Model of Informatization
These factors were theorized to be positively correlated.

High educational and literacy levels meant developed
telecommunications infrastructure and, likewise, high
economic performance and vice versa.
Having newly returned from a stint as Visiting Research

Fellow at the East West Center Institute of Culture and
Communication in Honolulu, I sat in that meeting as
Country Research Collaborator for the Philippines. When
it was time for me to deliver my paper, I argued that Kuo’s
Chapter V 35
Model may not be entirely applicable to the Philippine

situation because of the following observations:
l The high education and literacy levels in the Philippines

were not directly correlated with telecommunications
infrastructure and investment.
l The high education and literacy levels were likewise

not correlated with the degree of economic develop-
ment.
l Although the degrees of telecommunications infra-

structure and economic development were both low, a
correlation between the two cannot be immediately
established.
In 1989, telecommunications development in the

Philippines was one of the lowest in the ASEAN Region.
While it was true that telephone density in the Metro
Manila area was as respectable as in any major city in
Southeast Asia, density in rural areas was close to nil unlike
in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The
national carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Co., was indeed implementing a five-year (1989-1993)
expansion and modernization program with half a million
new telephone lines; but only 25 percent of these new lines
were to be installed outside Metro Manila. Furthermore, if
1989 budgetary allotments were to reflect the priority
afforded by the national government, telecommunications
would be found close to the bottom of the list.
I suggested that perhaps another variable should be

centrally juxtapositioned or superimposed onto Kuo’s
Model in so far as the Philippine situation is concerned.
This intervening variable is the Values Dimension, which
may be operationalized through government priority
indicators, subsidy levels, multisectoral participation

levels, or even corruption levels.
⊳
⊳
INFRASTRUCTURE ECONOMY
⊳
⊳
⊳
VALUES
⊳
⊳
PEOPLE
Figure 4. Modified Kuo Model

Chapter V 37
ICT4D VValue
alue Pr emises
Premises
Some of us may cringe at the thought of incorporating

values into empirical research. However, the phrase
information and communication technology for development
or ICT4D makes no pretensions of neutrality. It is predisposed
towards a certain ideal—development. Neither will this
analysis make any claims about its objectivity. Clearly, it is
not.
The preceding chapter ended with a conceptual

framework. As in the case of the Kuo Model, we now
propose that a set of value premises be adopted by this
framework.
Equality
The equality premise may be formulated in terms of

distribution or redistribution of benefits generated by
society, or as the absence of exploitation (Galtung, 1971).
This work adopts in its framework the latter concept of
equality (non-exploitation) as a normative value. The
former concept may be impractical since diversity in needs
and abilities among individuals discourages equal
distribution of resources and benefits.
The primary value premise of this work is that equality

is preferable to exploitation.
Harmony
Harmony, as a basic value premise adopted by the

framework, implies the absence of conflict. In this analysis,
social value is attached to harmony while none is
associated with conflict.
Complementarity
Complementarity denotes the assumption of specific

roles supportive of one another. Power relations are
reciprocal when no party gains a distinct advantage at the
expense of another. Dominance is diametrically opposed
to complementarity in the same vein that asymmetric
architecture undermines the stability of structures, physical
or social.
This analysis has chosen to take the side of

complementarity.
Integration
In a world of limited resources, the concept of unlimited

growth of a nation could only mean the deprivation of
another. This argument is substantiated by Boulding who
believes that the world, especially the developed world,
should replace its wasteful “cowboy economy” with the
frugal “spaceship economy” as a requirement for human
survival. The “spaceship ethic” encourages integration
rather then segregation or polarization.
Participation and Inclusion
Participation refers to the active involvement of the

beneficiaries of development programs in all stages of
program planning and implementation. It may also mean
a decentralized, inclusive or non-elitist approach to policy
making especially on policies that have far reaching
impacts and consequences. Elitism or exclusivity,
especially in the conduct of development projects, is
counter-productive. Such projects should be people
Chapter V 39
oriented in theory and practice, in planning and

implementation. Thus, elitism is regarded in this work as
a counter value.
Development from Within
Related to the value of participation is development

from within. Development policies should not be imposed
from the outside but conceptualized and formulated from
the inside. No country has the right to dictate upon another
country its “terms” for development. All too often these
are self-serving for a developed country and would prove
not only to be disadvantageous to, but also inappropriate
for the developing country.
Convergence
The term convergence has been applied to

communication models (Kincaid, 1978), media and
disciplines. Convergence as an ICT4D value would refer
to the fusion of interests, goals, and action. It transcends or
goes beyond harmony (the absence of conflict) and
complementarity to mutual understanding. Convergence
is equated with the process of communication. It is
considered socially positive and a social necessity.
VAL UE-PREMISED C
ALUE-PREMISED ONS
CONS TITUENT C
ONSTITUENT ON
CON CEPT
ONCEPT
CEPTSS
A discussion of the constituent concepts in relation to

the above value premises is now in order to reconcile these
with Galtung’s propositions.
Information and Informatization
Information, traditionally defined, is that which

contributes to the reduction of uncertainty. This definition,
although technically accurate, neglects the social dimension
of information. It is the social function which adds value to
information and which gives those who possess it
advantage over those who do not. Thus, information
should be regarded foremost as a resource.
As in the case of other resources, there exists a tendency

for exploitative groups to hoard information and to use it
to further their interests. Information nowadays is
associated with influence and power. It is now treated as a
dominant commodity under the control and manipulation
of the elite.
It may be argued that information is neutral and

autonomous in itself. Noble (1977) contradicts this
argument in his description of technology which is
essentially a type of information: “...it does not simply
proceed automatically, but rather contains a subjective
element which drives and assumes the particular forms
given it by the most powerful and forceful people in
society, in their struggle with others” (p. 44).
It may also be argued that power relations based on

possession of information may not exactly follow the same
laws as those stemming from possession of money, energy
or other non-reproducible resources. This may be the case,
normatively speaking. Information per se is non-material.
However, information per se is useless without a medium.
Generally, it is a physical, tangible medium. And all too
often, it is with such media whereby domination and
controls are imposed by vested interests.
Chapter V 41
Along with informatization is the evolution of particular

forms of social relations characterized by the competitive
struggle for the accumulation of information and
communication resources.
The conflict paradigm essentially presupposes an

element of advantage or “gain”. Hence, in spite of
arguments to the contrary, a zero-sum situation may also
exist even in the information arena. Empirically, this may
be shown both at the macro and at the micro levels.
At the macro level, the abundance of information in

some sectors, regions or areas could be correlated to the
abundance of wealth and opportunities. Likewise, the
scarcity of information in some sectors, regions or areas
could be correlated to deprivation or poverty. The gain of
some constitutes a loss for others.
Based on our ICT4D value premises, this situation

should not be considered as part of the “stark realities” of
the Information Age but as a dysfunction in the proper
utilization of information. In other words, a zero-sum
situation need not exist. The gain of some can also mean
the gain of others.
Information resources should contribute more towards

equality than exploitation, towards harmony than conflict,
towards complementarities than dominance, towards
integration than segregation, towards participation than
elitism, towards indigenous development than
dependency, and towards convergence than divergence.
Dominance Systems and Mechanisms
Dominance, in general, and imperialism, in particular,

thrives on conflict, dependency, segregation and, most
especially, exploitation. It is brought about by the self-interests

of the elite in a Center nation.
Although it may be tempting to conclude that the elite

represents the sentiments and interests of its respective
countries, it may be inaccurate to say so. Modern day
imperialists no longer represent nations in this globalized
world. They represent the interests of the rich in the
developed countries. Contemporary imperialists are bound
by interests, which transcend nationalities. This accounts
for groups that exist because of the need for a higher level of
cooperation among such powers. It is the same will which
provided the impetus for the formation of mechanisms that
would perpetuate the advantages enjoyed by the elite. These
mechanisms have taken the form of multinational or
transnational corporations or international organizations in
the past (Galtung, 1971), the most powerful of these dealing
with information (i.e., transnational telecommunications
companies, international financial institutions, and media
organizations). These organizations and their activities (e.g.,
transfer pricing, monetary policy impositions, and transfer of
technology) constitute the empirical referents of the
aforementioned dominance system. More recently, these
mechanisms may be observed in the global supply chains
described by Friedman (2005).
The IP-IR Dichotomy and the Digital Divide
In Galtung’s analysis the elite in a developing country

assumes the characteristics and living conditions of the elite
in the Western country while the rest of the population
adopt very much inferior lifestyles. It is well established
that the elite in Western countries is information-rich. It
follows that the elite in the developing countries and
emerging economies is also information-rich. Likewise, it
Chapter V 43
may be deduced that the underprivileged is information

poor. Following through this analysis, it would appear that
in a developing country, there exist two classes: one
information-rich, the other information-poor.
However, a strict dichotomy of an information-rich class

and information-poor class may be simplistic and, at times,
misleading. A more accurate approximation of the real
situation may be found in the concept of “continuum.”
Indeed an increasing and marked polarization between

the information-rich and the information-poor is fast
becoming evident in our society. Perhaps, there indeed
exists an extremely information-rich center and an
extremely information-poor periphery. Yet, a continuum
exists between these two extremes and any point within
this continuum may only be defined and characterized in
relative terms.
Following Galtung’s thesis, the gap or divide between

the two extremes of this continuum tends to increase over
time. This tendency is brought about externally and
internally and is not only a function of technology.
Externally, it is caused by vested interests, ideologically
driven technology, global economic policy, and standards.
Internally, it is determined by an innate but marked
tendency of the elite to perpetuate its advantageous status
and likewise, from the “inertia” of the underprivileged.
Galtung hinted at these internal contributing factors
through the phrase “sorting out.” He believes that, through
social interaction, the elite and the underprivileged tend
to sort themselves out along the continuum.
Hence, the tendency for the gap to increase is both a

function of the external forces of this dominance system
and the internal tendencies of both the elite and the
underprivileged. According to Galtung, this gap, in
empirical terms, refers to the differences in living

conditions: income, standard of living, opportunities, and
the quality of life. In information terms, this divide relates
to digital access and opportunities. Further still, it
encroaches upon political indicators such as participation
and inclusion.
Galtung further declares that the center (in this case,

the information rich) has the ability to enrich itself more
than the periphery (the information poor). It is also “high
on rank dimensions” in terms of absolute properties or
development variables. Generally, these refer to traditional
indices of modernization such as education, infrastructure,
economy, and exposure to the outside world. Information-
wise, these relate to Internet penetration, telephone density,
e-readiness, and new media literacies.
Hence, the information-rich, information-poor

continuum would revolve around differences in the above
indicators. The extremely information-rich and the
extremely information-poor are polarized in terms of
income, standard of living, education, the extent of
availability of media infrastructure, the extent of use of
media infrastructure, economy and exposure to the outside
world.
To summarize, this work conceives of a dominance

relationship between a developed country and a
developing country within a globalized world. In an
environment of informatization, this relationship is
increasingly being staged at the information arena in which
transnational information and communications technology
corporations, international institutions, and media
organizations are the main actors. Their activities in
developing countries and in emerging economies
contribute to the existence and gradual polarization of two
Chapter V 45
extreme classes, one information-rich, the other

information-poor. A continuum exists between these two
extremes. The gap between the information rich and the
information poor straddles differences in income; standard
of living; education; availability and use of communication
infrastructure; and economy. This gap tends to increase
over time and is a function of both external forces and
internal tendencies.
ICT4D is thus seen not merely as a global initiative to

leverage information and communications technology to
further the development agenda. It must serve as an active
force to remedy the inequities that are attendant to
dysfunctional information societies.
CHAPTER VI
Global Manifestations: Information in
We seek the West’s technology only, not its ideology.
E.F. Schumacher and P.N. Gillingham
GL OB
GLOB ALIZA
OBALIZA TION
ALIZATION
I nformatization comes with the Information Age. All

aspects of society—politics, culture, business, and
economy—become increasingly information-oriented.
Informatization gives rise to economies and societies in which
information, naturally, becomes the dominant commodity or
resource. Concomitant to informatization is the globalization
of the economy as Dissanayake typologized in Chapter II.
However, it takes the form of globalization guided by vested
interests.
Information societies have almost always been

associated with the so-called North. The South, newly
developed or developing countries, is classified as either
industrial or agricultural societies. Such categorization may

lead one to believe that not much premium is given to
information in developing countries.
However, the communications or information

revolution has tended to shrink the size of the world,
figuratively. Instant communication between two persons
situated at opposite sides of the globe is a common
occurrence. Distance no longer serves as a major factor in
communication. The global village is now a reality. And
so is global economics.
At no other time has it been more apparent that the

world is one economic organism. As the world systems
theorists would have it, major economic developments in
one country ultimately affect other countries. It has also
been argued that in a world of limited resources, one nation
can only become tremendously wealthy at the expense of
another.
One can no longer speak of independent national

economies. What we have today is an information-based
world economy. Rahim (1989) observes:
The informationalization of contemporary economies is not

necessarily limited to post-industrial societies. A rapid
industrialization of non-western economies seems to trigger
a rapid growth of their information sector. The growth of
international trade in information goods and services is
probably a major cause of internationalization of this
structural change. Strong economic linkages of these
countries with the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe might
be responsible for externally induced informationalization
(p. 12).
Chapter VI 49
Informatization is a global trend and there is a need to

understand its social impact particularly on developing
countries and emerging economies.
SOCIAL C ONSEQUENCES
CONSEQUENCES
In April of 1988, a faculty member from the University

of the Philippines wrote a letter to a colleague who was at
the University of Guelph, which included the following
paragraph:
To reiterate my position, I submit that in the developing

world, among the social evils attendant to the Information
Age is the formation of new social structures: a new elite
on one hand and a new deprived underclass on the other.
The latter reminds me of the critical mass of laborers and
factory workers formed during the early years of the
Industrial Revolution who provided part of the basis for
the social theories of Marx and Engels. While the
industrialists and engineers were applauding the steam
engine and the factory assembly line, men, women, and
children were being exploited in factories, coalmines, and
railway companies all over Europe and North America.
Nowadays, while scientists and technocrats applaud
computer-telecommunications technology and
information-based economies, rural folks in the Third World
are deprived of [basic] essentials because resources meant
for them are drained or siphoned, directly or indirectly, to
information-related activities by bureaucracies and
well-intentioned but shortsighted and (at times) self-serving
Western-sponsored “development” programs.
In spite of the note’s subdued rhetoric, the writer’s

observations may find theoretical support in current
studies utilizing the knowledge-gap hypothesis and the

digital divide construct.
Porat has enumerated a number of social problems

associated with the information society. Among them are:
increasing red tape or bureaucracy, the inability to cope,
the invasion of privacy and the emergence of the
information poor.
The First World does not have a monopoly on these

problems. Bureaucracy is worst in the Third World. And
with its teeming functionally illiterate, not to mention,
computer-illiterate millions, so is the inability to cope. The
invasion of privacy is another problem prevalent in
developing countries and emerging economies. Symptoms
of this problem range from military or national security
files on private citizens to the rise in popularity and the
income-earning capacity of gossip writers who make their
living by baring the private lives of celebrities. As implied
in the above quote, the Third World is the abode of the
information-poor. In the previous chapter, we concluded
that the gap between technocrats and the computer illiterate
masses is progressively widening. Yet, the social
consequences of informatization in the Third World go
beyond these.
Informatization coupled with Third World poverty and

social insecurity has resulted in a “mad scramble for
information and communication resources” within the
ranks of Third World businessmen and professionals.
Plagiarism and other crimes involving intellectual property
are rampant. Project proposals showing good promise are
unscrupulously “stolen.”
The services of ghostwriters are in high demand.

Copyright infringement involving the print media as well
Chapter VI 51
as the music and film industries has become a nagging

headache.
The migration of labor and expertise is another. During

the ascendancy of the Information Age in the fifties and
sixties, information workers from periphery nations (India,
Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, etc.) migrated in large numbers
to center nations (the United States and Western Europe).
These engineers, doctors, lawyers, educators, accountants,
and clerks were easily absorbed in the growing information
workforce. Those were the years of the “brain drain.”
Information workers from the Third World came to work
as information workers in the First World.
Nowadays, migrant engineers and doctors from

developing countries have been replaced by migrant
programmers and nurses. Yet, another trend is manifesting
itself. The decreasing supply of domestic non-information
labor in the First World has encouraged the migration of
large numbers of people from developing countries to
assume non-information related jobs. Informatization has
led to a decline in the number of farm workers, janitors,
nannies and housemaids in developed countries. This
resulted in a high demand for non-information migrant
workers. Hence, in American society one encounters more
and more Mexican fruit pickers, Chinese cooks, and African
drivers.
An extreme example is the Filipino domestic helper. It

should be noted that many domestic workers have college
degrees, among others, in education. Since, they are in
demand because of their facility in the English language,
they find it more lucrative to work as nannies in Hong
Kong, Singapore, or Italy than to work, say, as elementary
school teachers in the Philippines. A national furor was
created in the eighties when Europeans started using the
word “Filipina” to refer to their nannies and helpers.
Recently, the entire country was even more outraged when

a Hong Kong magazine columnist branded the Philippines
as “a nation of servants.”
This trend for migrant underemployment is not limited to

our trained teachers in the Philippines. Salesmen, dentists,
and other professionals from many developing countries
would gladly leave their jobs for a stint in the United States
Navy. Globalization has seen it fit for the information
worker from a poor country to enthusiastically migrate to
a rich country to assume a menial job.
Yet, the most serious social consequence of

informatization in the Third World is the siphoning of
economic resources, and the enrichment of one economic
sector at the expense of another.
Chapter VII
National Indications: Information in the
Philippines
In a society characterized by social and economic inequalities,

access to information is also unequal.
Gelia Castillo
H ow should a phenomenon stemming from

dominance and conflicting interests be analyzed?
Should it be approached quantitatively or qualitatively?
Should the preoccupation with objectivity be allowed to
stifle valid insight? Where does one draw the line between
legitimate critique and polemics?
Chapter V presented a set of value premises that should

be adopted by ICT4D undertakings. These premises are
central to the work’s advocacy. These take a definite stand
against concepts, which run contrary to the value premises.
Commenting upon the structural theory of imperialism,

Galtung stated that the theory is so rich in implications
that it provides ample basis for empirical research
employing synchronic statistical methods as well as
diachronic case studies. He added that it would be a pity
if “ideological...conflicts between adherents of different
schools should lead to any systematic neglect as to
mobilizing general social science for a deeper
understanding of how the system works” (p. 131).
Since this analysis makes generous use of Galtung’s

theory in its framework, it also adopts his views on the
necessity for “mobilizing general social science” for the
analysis of this phenomenon regardless of ideological
conflicts. The need to study the problem from different
perspectives (i.e., quantitative, qualitative, and proactive)
is recognized.
INDIC
INDICAAT ORS
Concentration of Information Labor
What becomes of a developing country in the

Information Age?
The ascendancy of information as a vital commodity

even in a developing country such as the Philippines can
be discerned through an analysis of the country’s labor
force. For purposes of this study, information workers are
defined as professional, technical, administrative,
executive, managerial, clerical, sales, and service workers.
Industrial workers are defined as production workers,
transport and equipment operators, and laborers. Hence,
what is traditionally known as the service sector may
Chapter VII 55
include both information labor and parts of industrial labor.

Agricultural workers, on the other hand, are defined as
farmers and farm hands, animal husbandsmen, foresters,
fishermen, and hunters.
Although the majority of the labor force in the

Philippines is still made up of agricultural workers (49.1
%), information workers (27.9 %) now outnumber industrial
workers (20.6 %). Furthermore, based on national census
figures, the percentage of agricultural and industrial
workers have decreased while the percentage of
information workers has persistently increased.
This trend began in the early seventies when

agricultural workers accounted for 51.83 percent of the total
labor workforce. This figure increased slightly to 52.97
percent in 1975 then decreased to 49.17 percent in 1980.
Industrial workers decreased from 21.75 percent in 1970 to
20.61 percent in 1980. Information workers, on the other
hand, accounted for 25.01 percent in 1970. Their ranks
increased to 26.13 percent in 1975 and again to 27.89 percent
in 1980. This figure has increased to almost 35 percent in
2000.
If labor and employment are considered as adequate

indices, it may be concluded that information is fast
becoming the dominant commodity in the national
economy.
Among the information workers in the country’s labor

force, the biggest sector is the educational services and
research and scientific communities (Patalinghug, 1984).
Census data in the mid-seventies reveal that there were
already 2,629 establishments classified under this sector
with an average of 36.89 workers per establishment.
Financial institutions make up the second largest sector

although these account for the biggest share of total
compensation per worker ratio among the major groups
(Ibid, p.27). Workers from the financial sector are only half
the number of workers in the education and research sector.
However, being a high wage sector, the financial industry
has a compensation per worker ratio that is three times
higher than that of the education and research sector.
Roughly 65 percent of the education, scientific and

research establishments; 74 percent financial institutions;
and 83 percent of the transnational corporations in the
Philippines are based in the National Capital Region
evidently making it the so-called “center of centers” in this
Periphery country.
The largest concentration of the nation’s elite may be

found in the National Capital Region. It has become the
abode of transnational interests making it the country’s link
to the global village. Being the plexus of information and
telecommunications networks, it is also the best off in terms
of media infrastructure and information resources.
However, it cannot be said that Metro Manila is

exclusively information-rich while the rest of the country
is totally information-poor, although it would be tempting
to do so. There are a number of information-poor areas in
Metro Manila such as the slum communities of Tondo.
Likewise, many information-rich communities are scattered
throughout the country. Nevertheless, it may be safe to say
that most areas outside Metro Manila are information-poor.
Furthermore, there exists an underlying premise that

information begets greater information. Hence, the
information available to an individual is a function of the
information that one already has. The more information an
Chapter VII 57
individual possesses, the greater is his/her capacity to avail himself/

herself of additional information.
Availability of Communication Media

or Channels of Information
The availability of information may be a function of the

availability of mass media, new media and other channels
of information. At the macro level, Metro Manila, an
empirical referent to Galtung’s cP, may again be compared
with the twelve other regions of the country. All five
television networks in the country are based in Metro
Manila. Undoubtedly, the National Capital Region has the
largest number of television receivers per capita. All twenty
seven national dailies are published in Metro Manila.
Newspaper circulation in the other twelve regions is
obviously more limited. Based on the Broadcast Media
Yearbook (KBP, 2000), Metro Manila has the highest
number of radio stations among the country’s regions.
However no comparative figures on radio ownership
among regions exist.
With regard to new media statistics such as Internet

penetration and cable television density, indices associated
with telecommunications infrastructure (mobile, fixed, and
broadband) may offer a more appropriate parallel than
mass media infrastructure. Generally, however, similar
trends may be observed. Indeed, we have, as an exceptional
case, the availability of mobile service providers in rural
areas, but the ownership of these providers are limited to
three companies all based in Manila, clearly a symptom of
asymmetric economic growth.
Adopting the premise that the gap between the

information-rich and the information-poor tends to
increase, it may then be proposed that the rate of increase in
media availability in a center Periphery (cP) area is greater than

the rate of increase in media availability in a periphery Periphery
(pP) area.
Access to Communication Media

or Channels of Information
Availability of communication media is obviously a

prerequisite to access to For communities in which media
are relatively unavailable, access to information. For
communication media is hampered to a considerable
degree. Content analysis is one procedure in determining
the degree of access to certain channels of communication.
This analysis would provide a quantitative basis (column
inches, airtime, number of frames, etc.) for determining
what messages are given exposure and consequently, what
sources are given access. Unfortunately, recent studies of
this sort comparing access of sources from center
communities with access of sources from periphery
communities are lacking. However, cursory observations
of newspaper, television, and radio coverage indicate that
sources from center areas such as Metro Manila have better
access than sources from periphery areas. Only minor
tokens of space and airtime are provided for periphery
sources. For instance, provincial news is allotted
insignificant placements in print, radio, and television.
Movie and entertainment news figure more prominently
in the media.
Considering that there is indeed a physical, spatial or

temporal limit to the capacity of communication media or
channels, it would follow that media access has also certain
limits. Traditional, conventional and new media access indeed
becomes a zero-sum game between the information- rich and the
information-poor within a system that accommodates dominance
Chapter VII 59
and exploitation. In other words, the more access the center

has, the less access afforded to the periphery.
An inverse relationship exists between the access of the

information rich and the access of the information poor. This
function, again, presents itself as another testable
hypothesis.
Perhaps, the above hypotheses may best be validated

in the agricultural sector. The spread of agri-business itself
is transforming agriculture into a desk job in which the
producer works with information and figures more than
he does with the soil and the plow.
Chapter VIII
Sectoral Observations: Information of
Agriculture
Like the production and exchange of commodities,

agriculture will also be transformed by ICT
The Information Age

Wikibooks
W e began this book with a description of Los

Baños. Patterned after the land grant or “cow”
colleges in America, the University of the Philippines Los
Baños campus has almost always been associated with
agriculture since its modest beginnings in 1909. I taught
development communication at UPLB for more than 25
years. For twenty two of those years, the development
communication program was under the College of
Agriculture.
The Agricultural Age has brought about the

agriculturalization of the planet. The Industrial Age has
caused, among other things, the industrialization of

agriculture. The Information Age is resulting in the
informatization of the agricultural industry. Perhaps,
unwittingly, agricultural development and aid programs
have a lot to do with it.
Who profits from agricultural aid? Who benefits from

so-called rural development programs? Do agricultural
development projects genuinely serve the interests of the
small farmer?
Since the days following South Asia’s “Green

Revolution” development planners and rural sociologists
have attempted to answer these questions. Many have
casually observed that after decades of agricultural
development programs, the so-called intended
beneficiaries, the small farmers, have not improved their
lot. The Institute for Food and Development Policy, for one,
has found reason to believe that many development
projects have primarily benefited the rich rather than the
poor. The possibility that these projects may in fact be
counter-productive to the small farmer, the small fisherman
or the upland dweller, empirical referents to Galtung’s pPs,
has also been seriously considered.
In an attempt to analyze this problem, a number of social

scientists have embarked on critical inquiries that tended
to pose ideological issues. This often led to polemical or
rhetorical arguments which development planners and
policy makers refused to dignify. In spite of this, critical
social inquiries may be credited for their structural
approach to the problem. Perhaps structures are indeed at
fault here. But which structures? Class structures? Hardly.
Economic structures? Quite possibly.
This chapter submits that existing practices in the

agricultural industry as well as policies and procedures
Chapter VIII 63
on the implementation of development programs,

particularly those that govern agricultural aid and
technology transfer, by nature, benefit an economic sector
other than that originally intended. The information sector
is the favored sector as contrasted to the agriculture sector,
the intended beneficiary. Let us take the case of the Filipino
rice farmer.
For many years, experts have pegged the causes of rice

scarcity in the Philippines to inferior production
technology, agricultural land conversion, and uncontrolled
population growth. All of these were valid observations
for a time. During the seventies and the eighties, however,
poor production technology ceased to be a cause of the
rice problem, what with the so-called breakthroughs of the
International Rice Research Institute and the millions
poured into the Department of Agriculture (of which we
have much to say later on).
Recently, the shift to biofuel production and the

implementation of rice farming subsidies have been added
to the foregoing list of factors. To these, I would add another,
the shift from agricultural labor to information-related jobs.
In a tracer study conducted by the Technical Panel for
Agricultural Education, it was determined that only two out
of one-hundred Bachelor of Science in Agriculture graduates
go back to their lands to farm.
From the mid-seventies onward, Filipino rice farmers were

producing more and more except during the droughts that
frequently accompanied that obscure natural phenomenon
known as the el Nino. And yet, the marginal farmer—the poorest
of the poor in the Philippine countryside—was getting poorer.
We may attribute this situation to the informatization of
agriculture of which there are two dimensions: the market
information dimension and the rise of the white-collared
agricultural worker.
CARTELS
In October 1990, Filipino farmers enjoyed a bumper crop

of rice from the July-September cropping season. It was
one of the most bountiful harvests ever recorded in
Philippine history. In the province of Camarines Norte, not
particularly known as a rice producing area, farmers
averaged one hundred cavans of harvested paddy per
hectare.
However, on November 5, then President Corazon

Aquino, upon the recommendation of then Agriculture
Secretary Senen Bacani, announced that the price of rice
would be increased. And indeed it was, at an average of
three pesos per kilo.
In fairness to the Aquino government, it should be

stated that a week prior to the announcement of an
impending price increase, the Central Bank was forced to
devalue the peso because of a record government deficit
and the increase in the price of crude brought about by the
Gulf crisis. Furthermore, the Agriculture Secretary pointed
out that the imported rice stocks were dwindling. But one
wondered if the government were justified in jacking-up
the price of rice in spite of the record harvest.
With the unprecedented bumper crop, one concluded

that a drop in the price of rice was imminent. Since the
supply was high, the demand would go down and
consequently, so would the price. This, however, did not
necessarily mean lower returns for the rice farmer since he
had more to sell, at least, in theory.
The truth of the matter is that during the last quarter of

1990, the entire nation groaned as the price of rice and other
commodities went up. Rice farmers who were expected to
gain from the situation were likewise disadvantaged. They
Chapter VIII 65
were not able to sell their produce at reasonable prices.

On one hand, their bumper crop entailed expensive inputs
—certified high yielding varieties, irrigation, pesticides and
fertilizer. On the other, middlemen bought their harvest at
cutthroat prices, leaving them penniless and in debt.
One needs to know the nature of the Philippine rice

industry in order to understand how this situation came
about. And the nature of the rice industry is such that
information, particularly market information, means
money and power.
For all practical purposes, the Philippine rice industry

then was controlled by a group of obscure Filipino-Chinese
businessmen called the Binondo Rice Cartel. The group,
known in some circles as the Big Five, was based in the
rice-marketing hub of the Philippines, Dagupan Street in
Tondo.
Employing a nationwide marketing network composed

mainly of fellow Filipino-Chinese traders, the cartel had
held a viselike grip on rice trading since the post-World
War II years that enabled them to virtually dictate the
buying price of dried paddy all over the country. In almost
every province in the Philippines, you can find rice mills
owned by these traders. Often, the farmers have no other
choice but to sell their produce to these traders.
Now let us look at the larger picture, the trends that

contribute to the perpetuation of the market information
problematique.
This situation stems from informatization and

globalization trends. The guiding philosophy of aid or
official development assistance is such that it lends itself
very well to these trends. The US Congress, in particular,
states that the purpose of foreign aid is to “assist the people
of less developed countries in their efforts to acquire

knowledge and the resources essential for development
and to build the economic, political, and social institutions
which will meet their aspirations for a better life....”
The focus on knowledge acquisition, information

generation, and institution building in agricultural
development programs may have been founded on the
Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” But given
the actual development experience, this argument may
have been carried out a little too far.
The Rise of the White-Collar

Agricultural Worker
If cost-analyses is to become the measure of the nature

of an undertaking, then agriculture and rural development
may soon cease to be a field activity. It is fast becoming a
white collar job. In other words, in such projects more and
more funds are being allocated to information-related
activities and less and less to actual farming activities.
An analysis of technology transfer and agricultural aid

policy would reveal the following stakeholders: the
national government whose bureaucratic machinery
administers the funds; research and development
institutions that generate the technology and recommend
the mode of transfer; non-governmental organizations
which are sub-contracted to implement certain project
activities; financial institutions such as rural banks, land
banks, national banks, regional, and international banks;
the academe from among whose ranks come the consultants
and experts; local agribusiness marketing networks;
machinery, chemical and fertilizer industries; consumers
of agricultural products; and, lastly, the person who is
Chapter VIII 67
supposed to be the beneficiary of all these programs, the

small farmer representing the small fisherman, upland
dweller, rural housewife, and out-of-school youth.
It may be noted that the only stakeholder that may be

truly classified under the agricultural sector is the last
mentioned, the small farmer. The government, R and D
institutions, NGOs, banks, the academe, and agribusiness
belong to the information sector. The industries, although
mostly belonging to the manufacturing sector, are partly
with the information sector.
We have reason to hypothesize that in agricultural and

rural development programs more funds are being poured
into the information sector than into the agricultural sector.
Consequently, the economic benefits of technology transfer
and agricultural programs accrue more to the first six
stakeholders than the farmer.
A case in point is the Masagana-99 rice production

program of the Philippines. The M-99 program involved
the propagation of HYV (high yielding variety) technology
all over the archipelago. The program led to record rice
yields and the Philippines was transformed overnight from
a rice-importing country to a rice-exporting country. There
were adequate rice surpluses from 1975 to 1985. In 1986, a
group of concerned scientists from the University of the
Philippines Los Baños drafted a position paper that was
presented to President Corazon Aquino. The paper stated
in part:
The irony of this alleged[ly] glaring success, however, is

that it has been tragically negated and swept away by the
worsening poverty of the rice farmers themselves who
adopted the HYV technologies even as they admittedly
witnessed remarkable yield increases in their farms.
“Why have we remained poor and barely able to survive

despite improved technology in rice production?” was the
resounding voice heard from farmers....While farmers
actually doubled their rice yields and some even more, their
production costs (especially for chemical fertilizers and
pesticides) more than tripled in the long term, upsetting
the gains realized from improved yield....The supposed[ly]
thousands of beneficiary farmers of the new technologies
had become poorer than ever (p. 2).
Whose interests were served? Multinational chemical

companies such as Du Pont, Shell, Ciba-Geigy, and their
local representatives; scientists involved in the R and D of
this technology; consultancy firms; advertising firms such
as J. Walter Thompson; contractors and engineers who built
dams and irrigation facilities; rural and government banks;
middlemen; and most especially, the scientist-manager
whose services were required by the increasingly
technocratic programs of the Department of Agriculture.
The position paper further declared that “the majority

of our agricultural scientists and technicians shared the
blame with the corrupt government that profited from the
Green Revolution “while the masses of our people
languished in abject poverty and hunger.”
The embarrassing disparity between the earnings of a

development worker and that of his client is another
symptom. The international “expert” is the most glaring
example of this. In an editorial critical of international aid,
the February 1989 issue of the World Press Review
commented:
Development-aid experts from industrialized nations usually

earn at least $5,000 a month, tax-free—often 20 times what the
Third World ministers and officials they advise make. All over the
world, university professors—well paid at home—go on sabbatical
Chapter VIII 69
as United Nations experts for $7500 a month, plus travel and

expenses (p. 2).
How much would the going rate be twenty years after?

Compare this with how much a small farmer earns.
One wonders where the millions of funds poured into

agricultural development programs went. In so far as
personal service costs are concerned, most of these went to
white-collared agricultural workers—accountants, scientists,
and technocrats—many of whom have never even planted,
raised or harvested anything at all.
If this is the trend, then agricultural development

programs are actually pump-priming the information
sector, not the agricultural sector. All too often, the benefits
do not trickle down to the rural populace. The poor farmer
remains poor. Agricultural aid and official development
assistance are actually injections into the information-based
economy.
The Need for Policy

Rationalization
In earlier chapters, we have proposed in theory which

submits that in a globalized world, increased
informatization unguided by specific value premises has
consequences in developing countries and emerging economies.
Essentially, we employed the center-periphery structure
proposed by Galtung. Given that the cC is information-rich, the
cP adopts the same characteristic. The periphery of the Periphery
nation (pP) then becomes information-poor because one
expects the gap between the cP and the pP to increase.
We have seen how technology transfer and aid

programs serve as dominance mechanisms that increase this
gap. If indeed the foregoing arguments are valid, policies
governing technology transfer and aid in agricultural
development programs need to be rationalized. The situation,
if left unmitigated, may soon become untenable to the millions
of small farmers, small fishermen, upland dwellers, rural
housewives and out-of-school-youth. And no matter what
worldview one espouses, it would be in the interest of the
global community that this point is never reached.
Rationalization need not mean a reduction of monies

earmarked for the information sector. It primarily means
the rearrangement of priorities and the increase of
allotments for actual farming activities, in the case of
agriculture, or to direct social services in the case of rural
development. Informatization is a global trend and there
may be no way of going around it. Perhaps it will be
difficult to conceive of another acceptable yet workable
scheme to implement aid or official development
assistance.
Nevertheless, the situation demands scrutiny. Indeed,

teaching a man how to fish would feed him for a lifetime.
But no matter how hard one teaches, no matter how much
resource is poured into this activity, a poor man just cannot
learn on an empty stomach.
Chapter IX
Social and Policy Implications
A theory should not only be evaluated according

to its potential as a reservoir of hypothesis
implications to be tested against present reality
(data), but as much — or perhaps more — as a
reservoir of policy implications to be tested
against potential reality (goals, values).
Johan Galtung
T he Information Age, it appears, wears two faces in

developing societies: one, information rich and the
other, information poor. As an attempt to study the
implications of such to our social fabric, this work merely
scratches the surface.
SOCIAL IMPLIC
IMPLICAATIONS
The following propositions may then be pursued further:
Proposition 1: The more information an individual

possesses, the greater is his or her capacity to avail himself
or herself of additional information.
Social Implication: The center will tend to depend on the

periphery for the production of food and raw materials. It would
result in serious consequences for the center the moment the
periphery can no longer supply the center with these.
Proposition 2: In a community where the economy is

information based, there exists a tendency for the income
(and standard of living) of the information worker to
increase at a faster rate than the income (and standard of
living) of the non-information worker.
Social Implication: The polarization of these two entities

may lead to open conflict, especially when triggered by
poverty and hunger.
Proposition 3. The cost of living in an information-rich

community is higher than the cost of living in an
information- poor community.
Social Implication: This situation results in a tendency

among the information rich to want to earn more in order
to sustain and perpetuate a comfortable lifestyle. What the
information rich does not realize is that hoarding wealth
may result in the deprivation of others.1
1
Talisayon contests this notion since “Global GDP from services now constitute
69 percent. Knowledge is creating more wealth than natural resources extraction,
agricultural cultivation, or industrial processing. Knowledge workers are now the
primary wealth creators.”
Chapter IX 73
In summary, the social implications of these

propositions point towards one underlying tendency: the
tendency of the rich to get richer at the expense of the poor.
Such a tendency is counter to the value premise of equality
and complementarity adopted by this work. It may be noted
that the above tendency is a direct function of systemic and
structural forces. Some kind of asymmetry or variance is
observed in the way information is used as a resource. All
too often, this asymmetric structure is, at best, competitive
and at worst, exploitative.
POLICY IMPLIC
IMPLICAATIONS
An exploitative and competitive society breeds

dominance relationships. Since this problem is structural,
Galtung (1979) offers a similarly structural solution, which
he calls horizontalization.
Policies Promoting Horizontalization
Galtung refers to this concept as: exchanges between

the centers and peripheries “on more equal terms”; the
“reduction of vertical interaction” between the centers and
peripheries; self-reliance; and even the “destruction of
multi-national asymmetric organizations.”
Among other things, it could mean a shift in dealings

with Center nations (C) in terms of current policies and
practices. Almost always, developing countries have failed
to negotiate or bargain from a position of strength. In
technology transfer, for instance, Philippine officials have
always adopted a resigned attitude towards provisions,
which impose upon programs, equipment that are
exclusively manufactured by donor countries. Yet, we
know fully well that such technologies have been produced
with conditions of planned obsolescence and concommitant

ideologies as Schumacher puts it. Perhaps, policies or
guidelines on the transfer of technology that would enable
us to negotiate from a position of strength should be
formulated.
In the related area of technical assistance, to what

degree are government counterparts involved in policy and
decision-making?
In the case of international research institutions, many

domestic scientists are aware of the failings of their
respective institutions. They would want to do something
about it in their own individual capacities. Yet their
involvement in decision-making has so far been
unsolicited. Thus, the counter values of the elite are
reflected in the priorities and decisions of the institution
as a whole, and not the values indigenous to a developing
nation.
The reduction of vertical interaction could also mean

increased two-way communication: between centers and
peripheries. Self-reliance is self-explanatory. On the other
hand, the destruction of the multinational asymmetric
organizations might be interpreted as the dismantling of
transnational information and communications technology
organizations, international institutions, and media
organizations or the withdrawal of periphery support to
such mechanisms.
Policies on Informatization
The increasing primacy of information in the national

scene should be given due recognition. The national
leadership should become aware of the information
problematique, so to speak. Current census data point
Chapter IX 75
towards its emergence as a significant economic variable.

Yet, traditional economic policy analysis disregards the
economics of information.
The government should adopt a proactive posture instead

of a reactive megapolicy on matters pertaining to information
and communication technology. Policies on these matters—such
as media ownership, foreign equity ratio on telecommunications
industries, freedom of expression, technology transfer, intellectual
property rights, and universal access—should be based more on
foresight than on hindsight. The logical consequences of particular
courses of action should be anticipated within the context of
informatization.
Furthermore, certain government procedures, such as

the restructuring of census data acquisition to fit an
information based framework, may be recommended.
Perhaps, even the National Economic and Development
Authority’s industrial classification system might be
revised to an information classification system.
P olicies VVis-à-
is-à-
is-à-VV is VValues
alues
Policies are not exclusive products of rational processes

but of power as well (Smith, 1976). This can very well be
discerned in the field of communication and information.
A substantially powerful and formidable bloc within
international development circles is vehemently opposed
to communication policies of any kind. This is
understandable considering Western sentiments towards
“freedom of the press.” Hence, even if the need for
communication policies is urgent, none may be adopted
without the support of the powerful.
At any rate, the need for policies is reduced

substantially when positive internal values are adopted.
Policies are guidelines set by society, imposed externally.
Values, on the other hand, are internal control mechanisms.
The fewer positive values adopted by an individual or
society, the more policies are required. Policies and values
are inversely related.
Perhaps, the increasing need for communication or

information policies is indicative of the gradual erosion of
human values. Hence, the best policy recommendation that
may be forwarded at this time may not be one that will
qualify as a public policy nor as a social policy. It is the
internal commitment to individual or societal
transformation.
Chapter X
Internally Driven Transformation
Transform yourself, transform society.
Anonymous
O ne remedy forwarded by Galtung proposes effecting

“changes in the goals of the Center.”1 Center nations
might realize that they are pursuing a policy of exploitation
that breeds strife and conflict. The cC might even “reduce
its economic growth and change towards a politics of
justice,” a shift in American policy discernible in the
administration of Barack Obama.
It may be easily inferred that the prevailing relationship

between developed and developing nations is one
1
Former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte,whom Talisayon reported
to as Assistant Secretary for National Security, introduced a similar concept,
the conscientization of the elite.
generally based on exploitation, conflict, dominance,

elitism, and other counter values. The most desirable
alternative for such a model of relationships should be one
based on the study’s value premises of equality, harmony,
complementarity, integration, participation, and
interdependence. If exploitative countries are to undergo
a change for the better, the economic and political elite that
make up their Center should adopt these positive values
and transform individually as well as collectively.
Braid (1985) writes of the need for an alternative

development model influenced by Third World
philosophy, art, and religion. This model should be based
on “Asian values of harmony, fusion through encounter
and dialogue, complementarity, integration and emphasis
on wisdom instead of knowledge....”(p. 3)
This prescriptive model is based on harmony,

integration, and convergence rather than on the
aforementioned counter values. Harmony of interests exists
between the centers and the peripheries. This brings about
integration between the centers and peripheries of both
developed and developing countries. This relationship is
“horizontal” rather than “vertical.”
Harmony of interests would also exist between:
1. the center of the developed country and the center

of the developing country;
2. the center of the developed country and the
periphery of the developing country;
3. the periphery of the developed country and the
periphery of the developing country; and
4. the periphery of the developed country and the
center of the developed country.
Chapter x 79
INFORMATION AGE harmony

conflict
DEVELOPED COUNTRY DEVELOPING COUNTRY

Figure 5. Prescriptive Informatization Model
Gradually, these conditions would bring about the

convergence (represented by the horizontal arrows) and
mutual understanding between these two entities.
DEVELOPED COUNTRY DEVELOPING COUNTRY

CONVERGENCE
Figure 6. Horizontalization and Convergence

As previously mentioned, the Obama administration

appears to be working towards this goal. Its apparent
genuine global outlook personified by a president with a
distinctly American persona, but with direct African roots,
an Asian childhood and pronounced multicultural
upbringing has tempered the inward looking, self serving
foreign policies and actions that are prompting many to
believe that the United States is indeed working towards
global empire. And yet, if Galtung’s theory is valid, then
nations no longer work towards this end. The powerful
within these nations, embodied by global corporations, do.
However, there are current examples of positive strides

taken by forward-looking corporations that inadvertently
adopt horizontalization programs. Take the case of
Microsoft.
It may be argued that Microsoft Seattle and Microsoft

Manila share the same interests of profit generation or the
improvement of the bottom line, so to speak. However,
Microsoft Seattle through its corporate bodies and the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation are working actively to
improve educational standards primarily by promoting
information and new media literacies, in the US and in the
developing world as well. Microsoft Manila is likewise
doing its share of educational programs in the Philippines.
In this particular case, there appears to be harmony of

interests between:
1. Microsoft Seattle and Microsoft Manila;

2. Microsoft Seattle and the school children in rural
America;
3. Microsoft Seattle and the school children in rural
Philippines;
4. Microsoft Manila and the school children in rural
Philippines; and
Chapter x 81
5. The school children in rural America and the

Philippines.
No doubt, Microsoft considers this as the centerpiece

of its corporate social responsibility program. However,
lifting the rural poor by their bootstraps (or, more
appropriately, by the straps of their sandals) through
promoting information literacy expands the software
market and, hence, contributes to the bottom line.
Microsoft may have learned early on that a business

model based on harmony of interests is profitable and
transcends the zero-sum game. In fact, this model or
variations of it have been recently adopted by several other
corporations, notably Nokia and Eriksson. If this becomes
more of the trend rather than the exception then profound
changes will be felt at the global, national, and sectoral
levels.
No longer need distinctions exist between centers and

peripheries because of this integration. Developed and
developing nations would eventually converge towards
mutual understanding, as Kincaid would put it. Thus the
possibility of interdependence and complementarity as
well as the values of harmony, integration, participation,
inclusion, and equality is injected into Galtung’s model.
The relationship becomes horizontal rather than vertical.
In Galtung’s words, “No country should consume too

little, no country should consume too much.” More
particularly, no country should consume too little because
others consume too much; no country should consume too
much because it is taken from others that consequently,
can then only consume too little (p. 426).
Hence, the counter values, which have dominated social

as well as international relations in this era of
informatization and globalization, should give way to the

value premises adopted by this work. Then perhaps,
dominance systems and mechanisms may be eradicated
and the Information Age would no longer wear two faces
in developing societies.
Developing Societies in the Information Age: A Critical Perspective 83
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Developing Societies in the information Age: A critical perspective

Book · January 2009

GIZ Environment and Rural Development Program View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

University of the Philippines

Copyright © 2009 by Alexander G. Flor and the University of the

Published in the Philippines by the UP Open University

First printing, 2009

Cover Design by Yeye Payawal-Manipol

The 2000 Okinawa Summit of G7/G8 nations

Five years later, in his much read and quoted treatise

No doubt there has been a leveling of the playing

Has this evening out of the playing field bridged

The digital divide does not pertain merely to

Consider for a moment mankind as one society. This

Consider once more the world as one economic

One obvious difference is that information societies

To many of us, this last issue is the most crucial and

This is not to say, however, that informatization, in

The academic dialogue in this field within the

It is in this spirit that this book was produced as an integral

I would like to acknowledge with deep gratitude,

Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, former President and currently

Dr. Serafin Talisayon, former Assistant Secretary of the

Dr. Higino Ables, former UPLB Vice Chancellor for

Dr. Gabriel Iglesias, former Dean of the UP College of Public

Dr. Felix Librero, former Chancellor of the University of

New Age, New Societies

Turbulent Field Environments, 8

Shifts in Resources of Power

The Information Age, 12

ICT4D Value Premises, 37

Global Manifestations: Information in

Sectoral Observations: Information of

Social and Policy Implications

Internally Driven Transformation

F ifty years ago, Los Baños, a town roughly sixty-five

Then came an influx of foreign aid specifically

Affluence, however, is not unheard of in this town. In

A DIGIT AL DIVIDE WITHIN AND

How did this condition, best described as an asymmetric

A recurring trait observable among the elite communities

Los Baños has been immortalized in the media as the seat of

Note the following statistics:

1. Eighty percent of the workforce is composed of

Cabinet three secretaries and three undersecretaries

This volume submits that the economic and political

Today, what counts is not raw muscle power or energy

S ocial observers declare that human civilization is

Attendant to the Information Age are a number of phenomena,

Perhaps the Information Age is conducive to this dominance

Before, it was quite adequate to categorize societies as

Casual observations support this view. As we described

Societies or social systems are often classified according

as either “the great similarity” or “the small tranquility.” Tonnies

Redfield’s two-part classification consisted of the folk-urban

Social science theory, specifically sociological theory, is

It should be noted that like all other attempts in theory

TURBULENT FIELD ENVIRONMENTS