National information infrastructure policy: a theoretical and normative approach

Abstract

Relies on critical theories of technology and democratic disclosure to construct normative communication principles for the development of the national information infrastructure. Suggests that efforts to privatize the information highway, which are currently underway, undermine the network's long-range potential to encourage citizen-tocitizen discussion of public issues.represent some of the great communication technology and policy questions of our time. Government forecasts suggest that the NII will be constructed primarily with private funding but that it will serve public interests. Yet, private money and public interest can be strange bedfellows that may sometimes come together but are not necessarily permanent partners. Indeed, if the network is fully privatized, the NII may come to look more like a private tollway than an information superhighway -a development that would place financial barriers on the use of the system by less affluent citizens.In recent years there has been a renewed call (Avery and Eadie, 1993;Gomery, 1993;Noam, 1993;Rowland, 1993) for scholarship that influences communication policy. This call pushes communication scholars to move beyond the safety of historical analysis into the far more speculative and partisan realm of forecasting and policy formation. The questions surrounding NII development are so big, and the technological and institutional interests involved in the NII are so complex, that the subject is daunting. Yet, leaving the policy debates over new technological developments strictly to the proponents of economic forces, power politics, and technological determinism would amount to an abdication of scholarly interest in ethical communication structures and democratic institutions.This article relies on critical theories of technology and democratic discourse to develop normative communication principles for the development of the information highway. The analysis suggests that the rush to privatize the NII, which is currently underway, undermines the system's long-range potential to enhance democratic participation through public dialogue and decision making.