The changing nature of our social structure should channel official thinking towards the need for a national information policy. If we fail to recognize the liberating and humanizing potential of information, we may create and strengthen the power of the management elite, circumscribe freedom, and create a new kind of rich-power gap between those who, regardless of economics status, know how to command the information technology and those who don't.
The fact is that half of the cost of running the economy is the cost of information. The public and, to some extent, the smaller institution needs to appreciate the importance of information technology. And unless the nation can develop a reasonable national information delivery system that can provide knowledge to the citizens, there will be a dangerous increase in the problems of social injustice which already exist in society.
It's not easy to satisfy the information needs of the people within a pre-industrial society. The obstacles are obvious. One of the major problem which beset the nation is poor or inadequate infrastructural facilities.
Another problem is under-utilization of locally produced information for development purpose. Manpower shortage is also a major obstacle. Despite the emphasize on, and the sound development of education and training facilities, the existing services employ inadequate trained staff. In addition, the low pay and, often, poor job status, discourage people of the right calibre from enlisting in these establishments. Furthermore, training is still based on traditional pattern which aren't in line with today's information development needs.
There is a discrepancy between the services provided and the real needs of the society or users. This is more dominant in the developing countries where the introduction of modern information services is based on traditional library services, without taking any account of the needs of the many and varied users who are very seldom associated with the planning and the operation of the services.
Solving the problem of under utilization of information for development purposes requires a series of short term activities and intensive studies whose finding will guide long term activities.
Short-term activities could include the organization of demonstration courses for the training of users, experimental work on the marketing services and users participation in the design, operation and evaluation of selected system and services.
The application of new technologies to the processing of information should be encouraged by increasing the technological components in vocational training institute, the polytechnic and university, and by familiarising users with these new resources. It is not confined to hardware and software alone, but acknowledge the importance of man and the goals he sets for information technology, the valves employed in making these choices and the assessment criteria used to decide whether he is controlling the technology and is being enriched by it.
