Cover -- PREFACE -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES -- TABLES -- SUMMARY -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- Chapter One INTRODUCTION -- WE ADDRESSED A WIDE RANGE OF QUESTIONS -- In the Technology Arena -- In the Business and Financial Arena -- In the Governmental and Political Arena -- In the Social and Cultural Arena -- With Regard to Regional Variations -- GLOBALIZATION AND THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION ARE CLOSELY LINKED -- SOME TOPICS WE DID NOT ADDRESS-DELIBERATELY -- THE COURSE OF THIS EFFORT -- THIS REPORT -- MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE BEGAN THIS EFFORT -- NOTES -- PART I. RECURRING THEMES -- Chapter Two NEW TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WILL CONTINUALLY DRIVE THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- IT IS USEFUL TO DISTINGUISH AMONG DEVELOPMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES -- SOME TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS CAN BE FORESEEN -- PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTS WILL ALLOW INFORMATION DEVICES TO BE UBIQUITOUS, WEARABLE, AND IN CONTINUOUS CONTACT -- SERVICES DEVELOPMENTS WILL GREATLY EXTEND ACCESS TO, AND THE USEFULNESS OF, INFORMATION SYSTEMS -- Kiosks Can Provide Easy Access to Some Information Services -- Entertainment Will Be at the Leading Edge of Novel Information Services -- Information Services Will Play an Increasing Role in Health Care and Telemedicine -- Online Education Will Have Increasing, but Specialized, Effects -- Micropayment Schemes Will Emerge to Handle Small Online Payments -- MARKETS WILL DECIDE WHAT POSSIBLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BECOME ACTUAL AND WIDESPREAD -- The Emergence of "Killer Apps" Can Greatly Affect Markets and Create Markets -- SOME TENSIONS ARISING FROM THESE DEVELOPMENTS WILL AFFECT THE GROWTH AND SPREAD OF IT-RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES -- Optical Communication Technologies Are Highly Disruptive to Existing Telecommunication Industries Worldwide, and Other New Communications Developments Could Be as Well.

Open Source Versus Closed Source: Proprietary Standards Battles Will Continue -- Intellectual Property and Digital Rights Issues Are Creating Major Tensions -- A PERIOD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONSOLIDATION IS BOTH LIKELY AND HEALTHY -- NOTES -- Chapter Three THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IS ENABLING NEW BUSINESS MODELS THAT ARE TRANSFORMING THE BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL WORLDS -- MANY NEW BUSINESS MODELS ARE ARISING -- Electronic Commerce Is Becoming Increasingly Important -- IT-Driven Changes Are Furthest Along in the Financial World -- Much of This Leading-Edge, IT-Enabled Business Activity Is Concentrated in Geographic "Clusters" -- "Creative Destruction" Is a Common Feature of These Business and Financial Transformations -- Information Work and Information Workers Are Becoming Increasingly Important -- This IT-Enabled Business and Financial Revolution Will Be Ongoing for Some Time -- Recent Developments May Temporarily Slow the Pace of These Transformations in the Business and Financial World and Affect Their Near-Term Character, but Not Their Ultimate Magnitude and Importance -- These Transformations in the Business and Financial World Are Changing the Playing Field for Governments and Societies -- NOTES -- Chapter Four THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IS AFFECTING MECHANISMS OF GOVERNANCE AND EMPOWERING NEW POLITICAL ACTORS -- SOME TRADITIONAL MECHANISMS OF GOVERNANCE ARE BECOMING PROBLEMATIC -- NEW GOVERNMENTAL MECHANISMS ARE BEING ENABLED -- NEW POLITICAL ACTORS ARE BEING EMPOWERED -- THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION COULD OVER TIME CHANGE THE ROLE OF THE NATION-STATE: THE JURY IS STILL OUT -- DIFFERENT NATIONS WILL TAKE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO DEALING WITH THESE CHANGES -- THE EVENTS OF 9/11 MAY LEAD TO INCREASED GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTION INTO IT DEVELOPMENTS -- NOTES.

Chapter Five THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION BOTH SHAPES AND IS SHAPED BY SOCIAL AND CULTURAL VALUES IN SIGNIFICANT WAYS -- THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IS BEING ENABLED BY TECHNOLOGY BUT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY NONTECHNICAL FACTORS, INCLUDING SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS -- DIGITAL DIVIDES WITHIN AND BETWEEN NATIONS WILL PERSIST, BUT THEIR FUTURE SCOPE, DURATION, AND SIGNIFICANCE ARE SUBJECT TO DEBATE -- ABILITY TO ACQUIRE AND USE KNOWLEDGE WILL BE CRITICAL FOR SUCCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY: DEVELOPING HUMAN CAPITAL APPROPRIATELY IS KEY -- GLOBALIZATION, BOOSTED BY THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION, WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE MULTIVALENCED SOCIAL AND CULTURAL EFFECTS -- WILL IT-ENABLED GLOBALIZATION LEAD TO GREATER HOMOGENEITY OR GREATER HETEROGENEITY IN SOCIOCULTURAL TERMS? THE ANSWER IS "YES" TO BOTH -- THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION RAISES SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL-CULTURAL QUESTIONS FOR WHICH WELLGROUNDED RESEARCH ANSWERS ARE UNAVAILABLE -- What Is Effective Proximity? -- What Are Viable Models for Leadership and Management in a Networked Global Society? -- Can the Information Revolution Contribute Meaningfully and Measurably to Environmental Sustainability? -- How Should Risk-Tolerance and Long-Term Planning Be Balanced over the Course of the Information Revolution to Yield Positive Social and Cultural Outcomes? -- NOTES -- Chapter Six MANY FACTORS SHAPE AND CHARACTERIZE A NATION'S APPROACH TO THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- SOME FACTORS ARE CAUSATIVE -- Rich Nations Are Better Positioned Than Poor Nations to Exploit the Information Revolution -- How a Society Deals with Change Is a Major Factor Shaping a Nation's IR Posture -- Governments and Laws Can Be Helpful or Unhelpful -- The Structure of Capital Markets Is Also Important -- These Causative Factors Can Play Out in Various Ways -- OTHER FACTORS ARE EFFECTS, NOT CAUSES.

The Degree and Nature of IT Penetration into a Society and the Distribution of Its IT Activity Across the Technology, Product, and Service Spectrum Are Useful Descriptors of a Nation's IR Posture -- Measures of Information Work and Workers and of E-Commerce Are Also Important Descriptors -- The Presence and Number of IT Business Clusters Are Important Descriptors of the Vigor of a Nation's IR Posture -- The Amount of "Creative Destruction" Going On in a Nation Can Be an Important Descriptor of Its IR Posture -- The Presence of New Political Actors and Changes in Governance Are Measures of IR-Induced Change in the Political Arena -- The Movement of Talented, IT-Trained People Can Be a Useful Indicator of a Nation's IR Posture -- NOTES -- PART II. REGIONAL VARIATIONS -- Chapter Seven NORTH AMERICA WILL CONTINUE IN THE VANGUARD OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- THE NORTH AMERICAN ECONOMY AND SOCIETY ARE WELL POSITIONED TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- NORTH AMERICA WILL EXPLOIT THESE ADVANTAGES TO CONTINUE IN THE VANGUARD OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- THE DOT-COM CRASH AND TELECOM IMPLOSION MAY SLOW THE PACE OF IT-RELATED DEVELOPMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA, BUT ONLY TEMPORARILY -- THE EVENTS OF 9/11 MAY LEAD TO INCREASED GOVERNMENTAL INTERVENTION IN IT DEVELOPMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA -- NORTH AMERICA WILL, IN GENERAL, DEAL WELL WITH THE STRESSES GENERATED BY THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- NOTES -- Chapter Eight THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IS FOLLOWING A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT AND MORE DELIBERATE COURSE IN EUROPE -- EUROPEANS PLACE MORE EMPHASIS ON WIRELESS -- THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IN EUROPE IS DEVELOPING IN A DIFFERENT CLIMATE -- Differing European and American Approaches to Economic and Social Change -- The Greater Importance Europeans Attach to Economic and Social Equity -- The European Desire for "Convergence".

Differing Trade-Offs Between Market Forces and Government Policies -- A Greater European Emphasis on Top-Down Planning -- The European Emphasis on Sustainability -- THE COURSE OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION IN EUROPE IS SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT -- WILL, OR MUST, EUROPE BECOME MORE LIKE AMERICA? MAYBE YES, MAYBE NO -- SOME EUROPEANS VIEW AMERICAN DOMINANCE AS PART OF THE "DARK SIDE" OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION -- NOTES -- Chapter Nine MANY ASIA-PACIFIC NATIONS ARE POISED TO DO WELL IN THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION, SOME ARE NOT -- ASIA-PACIFIC NATIONS VARY GREATLY IN THEIR INFORMATION REVOLUTION POSTURES -- Several Asia-Pacific Nations Are Doing Well Today in the Information Revolution -- Today the Asia-Pacific Region Is a Much More Significant Global IT Producer Than a Consumer -- Asian Nations Generally Follow the "Japan Model" in the Evolution of Their IT Production Activities -- Japan Has Something of a "Split Personality" Today Regarding the Information Revolution -- China and India Are of Special Note as Rapidly Emerging IT Users and Producers -- Other Asian Nations Are Lagging Well Behind -- THE IMPACT OF THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION ON POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION VARIES WIDELY FROM NATION TO NATION -- Information Technology Has Had an Impact on Politics in Some Asian Nations Thus Far, but Not in Others -- IT Is Reshaping the Way Asia-Pacific Governments Conduct the Business of Governance: More in Some Nations Than in Others -- WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE ASIAPACIFIC REGION? -- Over Time, China Should Emerge as a Major IT Player in Asia and the World -- Other Asian Nations Currently Leading in IT Will Define Their Futures by Their Responses to China's Growing IT Role -- Japan's Future Course Is Unclear: It Could Continue as a Leader in IT or Gradually Fall Behind.

India's Software and Back-Office Service Industries Should Prosper.