Information ↔ democracy: An examination of underlying assumptions

Abstract

This article assumes a widely accepted narrative, with myth-like status, which binds together dominant conceptions of the information -democracy relationship. The article aims to "deconstruct" this narrative by examining it in the framework of six sets of assumptions regarding ontology (views of the nature of reality and human beings) and epistemology (views of the nature of knowing and the standards of judging knowing as informative). The six sets of assumptions are presented as stereotypes, or ideal type extractions, of literatures relevant to discussions of information in the sciences and humanities. The six sets are labeled: dogma, naturalism, cultural relativity, constructivism, post-modernism, and communitarianism. Each set is examined in terms of how it serves the information -democracy narrative and how it leaves spaces for power to exert forces which in effect defy the narrative. Implications for the design and implementation of information/communication systems are discussed.The Information -Democracy Narrative' When we bring the two concepts "information resources" and "democracy" together, we become, wittingly or unwittingly, enmeshed in a widely accepted, weblike narrative based on these premises:2 r The author thanks Sam Fassbinder. Leah Lievrouw, Tony Osborne, and Peter Shields, in particular, for their insightful and useful comments on the draft manuscript, and is grateful to Robert Huesca, Priya Jaikumar-Mahey, and Peter Strimer with whom discussions have been of enormous assistance in the development of these ideas. A very much abbreviated version of this article was presented under the title "Debating different approaches to studying the organization of information-the communication paradigm." at the annual meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Columbus, Ohio, October 1993.* This article focuses on the dominant narrative which the author extracts primarily from U.S. discourses relating to the design and operation of information/communication systems for democracies. As such. the narrative is anchored in market-based conceptions of societal arrangements and accompanying assumptions of liberal pluralism regarding the nature of citizen participation in the state. The narrative has wide reach, however, and becomes increasingly pervasive in most, but not all, Western treatments ofthe issues. Further, the market-based That access to "good information" is critical for the working of "good democracy,"; that when information is allowed to flow freely in a free marketplace, "truth" or "the best information" naturally surfaces much like cream in fresh whole milk; that the value of "good information" is such that any rational person will seek it out and that, therefore, availability equals accessibility; that "good information" ought to be available to all citizens in a democracy, that there should be no information inequities; and that it is unfortunate that some citizens have fewer resources, and that we must therefore provide means of access to "good information" for these citizens3Ta...

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