Technological Diffusion or Cultural Imperialism?: Measuring the Information Revolution

Introduction The Internet is like a 20-foot tidal wave coming, and we are in kayaks. (Grove, cited in Schlender 1996:46) These are words of Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, company credited with launching PC microelectronic revolution in 1971 (Gilder, 1989:91-112). By most accounts, we are deeply ensconced in a technological era in which all of us are (or can be) interconnected via superhighway. What, then, is Grove talking about? As a preliminary reality check, I asked my students to search index of local Yellow Pages to identify evidence of sector, i.e., the part of economy that produces, processes, and distributes goods and services (Hedley, 1992:20). Although they uncovered numerous examples of products, services, occupations, and organizations, overwhelming majority of these predated 1960. In fact most entries were illustrative of an earlier era spawned in mid-fifteenth century by Gutenberg. The now overused term, information highway, only came into being during 1970s as a result of scientists at Coming Glass who created a medium [optical fiber] that could transport unprecedented amounts of on laser beams for commercially viable distances (Diebold, 1990:132). Today's most advanced light wave systems can relay data at 1.7 gigabits per second - fast enough to entire Encyclopaedia Britannica in just two seconds (Diebold, 1990:148; emphasis in original). While this speed is impressive, should current work in developing high temperature superconducting material yield results anticipated, such a resistance-free communications line could transmit text equivalent of one thousand Encyclopedia Britannicas... [in just one second].... Such a transmission line could entire 25 million books of Library of Congress, world's largest library, in two minutes (Meredith, 1987:25; emphasis added). Clearly, we have come only a brief distance along highway. I open in this way to emphasize a number of key points. First and most important, if we are interested in charting effects of a particular phenomenon, it is essential to develop measures of its presence and extent. This statement seems obvious, but history of social change is filled with case after case in which conclusions have been drawn on inadequate or even nonexistent measurement (Hedley, 1992:34-40). Second, contrary to many studies, careful analysis of revolution reveals that it is still very much in a nascent stage. Grove's analogy is appropriate. While technology (IT) market is growing quickly, it is limited primarily to developed countries. Just five G-7 nations (US, Japan, Germany, France, and UK) accounted for 80% of IT market in 1994 (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1996:7). Furthermore, even within these countries, more than 90% of households do not have access to Internet (OECD, 1996:106). In other words, most of us are facing Grove's tidal wave without any boats at all. Consequently, effects that we can now attribute to revolution are likely to intensify as IT permeates mainstream. Finally, if we examine how technology is developing within countries where it has taken hold, we can extend Grove's analogy. While some of us may be in kayaks (Americans and Canadians), others are in life boats (Japanese, and possibly Germans), and still others are in craft yet to be clearly identified. In other words, technology is being introduced and adapted along now familiar cultural fault lines; this aspect forms a major focus of my paper. My analysis first conceptualizes and then measures multidimensional term informationalization. This allows us to observe both similarities and differences in this phenomenon as it is manifested in each of G-7 countries. …