Information Flow, Global

Beginning in the 1960s, as the supply of information increased at a high rate—both internationally and domestically—information and equal access to it were seen as vehicles for reducing dependency in economic, political, and cultural relations. In a broad sense, the study of the international flow of information is an approach to the study of international relations. It is also an aspect of globalization.

Initially, the study of the international flow of information examined the international political aspects of flow as well as the news dimension. Later it broadened to include technological, cultural, and economic factors, expanding the concept of the international flow of information beyond the narrow scope of the mass media and the growing number of technological channels.

The global information flow has two complementary and adaptive dimensions. On the human orientation side, it includes educational, artistic, and cultural exchanges, including conferences and sporting events; diplomatic and political channels, including military and related conferences and organizations; and tourism, travel, and migration, including religious and other personal contacts. On the technological orientation side, the flow includes print media; new(online) media; broadcast media and satellites; film, recordings, and video; marketing, advertising, and public opinion polls; and mail, telephone, telegraph, and related telecommunication channels.

A number of information flow studies dealt with theories of imperialism, integration, conflict and cooperation, and hypotheses about image and perception among and between nations. Other studies examined a nation's internal and external communication systems as well as its political, economic, social, and cultural development in a national, regional, and international context. This category also includes studies on the balance or imbalance of information flow and the direction of flow, which at times are related to such factors as ideology, ethnocentricity, commercialism, or geographical proximity. Other flow studies examined international actors and the impact [Page 331]of political and persuasive messages on the behavior of individuals and nations. This perspective includes propaganda and policy studies, as well as research on stereotyping or image manipulation and control. Other inquiries analyzed the political economy of information and factors influencing the process of global flow, including gatekeepers, as well as the technological, institutional, and human dimensions of both production and distribution aspects of the information flow. Some researchers looked at the technical and legal aspects of information flow, such as technology and techniques of international information gathering and processing, national and international regulations and standards of information industries and flow, and the technical aspects of transferring information across national boundaries. Studies from this perspective increased recently as a result of the rapid development of the Internet and computers, the growing power and importance of transnational organizations, and the priority regional and international organizations gave to the complex problems of technology, information, and services.