The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence.

TITLE: The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence

PUBLISHER: McGraw-Hill

PUBLICATION DATE: 1996

LENGTH: 342 pages

PRICE: $24.95

AVAILABLE FROM: Your local bookstore or www.mcgraw-hill.com

The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence was published in 1996 yet continues to provide a unique glimpse of the future for information management neophytes and veterans alike. Written by Don Tapscott, co-author of the best-selling Paradigm Shift, The Digital Economy extends the typical focus of our profession on electronic data and documents to another level. It deals with the impact of widespread digitization on virtually every part of our lives -- the economy, business, government, travel, education, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising. Yet this is not another rose-colored account of some future digital nirvana.

"The dark side of the age of networked intelligence extends beyond the business imperatives for change," contends Tapscott. He starts by addressing the familiar issues of employment displacement, destruction of privacy and the increasing gulf between the very rich and the poor. He also identifies the increasing gaps caused by differential access to the new technology and the economy, the vanishing lines between work and leisure time, and the impact of the new media on the family. Just when the reader is ready to agree that the future looks bleak, he uses these apparent pitfalls as discussion points for the positive evolution of a new society.

The new society begins with a new economy. According to Tapscott, 12 themes are emerging to differentiate the new economy from the old. These same themes inextricably link the new economy, the new organization, and the new technology. Some of these themes are now familiar, such as the globalization of the economy and knowledge management. Others, such as virtualization (i.e., the virtual organization) and molecularization (the replacement of mass production, mass media, and monolithic governments by molecular media, production, governance, etc.) are just now starting to unfold.

One of the most interesting themes for the information manager is the convergence of key economic sectors -- computing, communications, and content. This convergence parallels the convergence of organizational structures responsible for computing, communications and content organizations and even the convergence of these same technologies themselves. This explains the underlying metrics behind the recent mega-mergers and endless joint ventures within these industries. It is also positively motivating to contemplate that our profession is so near to the center of this new projected universe.

The 10 technology shifts that are shaping the convergence of computing, communications, and content (and why they matter) read like an information manager's wish list. Some of these, such as the shift from host computers to client/server computing and from proprietary to open systems, are now commonplace. Others, such as the shift from separate data, text, voice, and image to multimedia, and from dumb access devices to information appliances, are in their infancy. One of the technology shifts on my personal wish list is from garden path bandwidth to the information highway. I'm still waiting.

The subsequent sections, which discuss internetworking in business, government, travel, learning/education, and the media industry, will appeal to a wide range of information managers as they ponder the impact of the digital economy on their own organization and its government or industry sector. These sections are neatly pulled together with a recipe for leadership in the internetworked business. Here the author discusses ingredients such as the transformation of the information systems and human resources functions and how to change a culture to catch the future.

The final two chapters save the toughest issues to last -- privacy and the new responsibilities of business.

The Digital Economy is not an easy read. It is more like doing homework than reading futuristic escapism. However, maintaining a position so near the epicenter of a technologies convergence that is transforming not only our organizations, but our entire society (as Tapscott argues so well), will require our continual learning. A little time spent with The Digital Economy will provide thought-provoking study and a useful trip back to the future.

Jim Coulson, CRM, FAI, is Vice President and Senior Records Management Consultant with the Records Improvement Institute. He may be contacted at [e-mail].