The inconvenient public interest: Policy challenges in the age of information

Abstract

The emerging information infrastructure presents a number of complex challenges to policymakers. Current information policy—as expressed in the Clinton‐Gore Agenda for Action report and most recently on the Senate floor—promotes private sector development of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). With current policy discourse revolving around issues of deregulation, unregulation and free‐market development, there is cause to question whether a market‐driven infrastructure will be responsive to public interest concerns. A lack of responsiveness could serve to widen existing gaps between the information‐rich and information‐poor. If the primary uses of the NII are communication‐seeking rather than information‐seeking, as many observers have noted, then a lack of critical mass could well undermine the overall utility of the infrastructure. An alternative policy approach is presented in which development focuses on the least‐abled rather than most‐abled users. Economic reasons for such a public interest agenda are supported by Critical Mass theory.