Sandra, thank you for your reply, I know about the Japanese origins of the term from Duff's texts but your tip would be helpful as well and I am looking forward to read it. However, my question was pointed more to the logic behind EU switching terms - whether the reason was rather political top-down, academy-driven, any-other-actor-network-involved, or rather "accidental" result of complex negotiation process as Ren pointed out in this discussion. And - the most importantly - I am asking to better understand the social forces/factors behind the Digital Agenda for Europe information policy. Nevertheless, the connotations of the term Joho Shakai were different from the connotations of the term information society both in its American and French [Nora & Mink] version during 70's and 80's. The result could be seen in the different problem definitions, different definiton of what the term "information" refers to, different role-of-the-state and research traditions developed in these different contexts. It was no sooner that in the 90s when these differences start to converge in the social practice and academic research - if I am correct. These infos are based partly on my own research focused on meaning differences and transformation of the term IS (compare e.g., Nora and Mink, Bell in the late 70s, Marc Porat, and Yoneji Masuda), and on the work of Alistair Duff (the book Theories of Information Society and respective articles). Thank you all for stimulating and interesting replies - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Petr Lupac M.A. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague Celetná 20, Praha 1, 116 42, the Czech Republic e-mail> petr.lupac--at--gmail.com Office hours Mo 12:30-14:00, Celetná 20, room nr. 114, or by appointment. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Sandra Braman Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 1:18 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] development of the information society concept Petr, the history of the information society concept begins many decades earlier than you have placed it. The concept first appeared in Japan in the early 1960s when the notion of an information society -- joho shakai -- was introduced by a scholar. (The first book using the phrase in its title was in 1968, when Yoneji Masuda published INTRODUCTION TO AN INFORMATION SOCIETY.) The concept was then widely publicized in the Japanese mass media, and taken up vigorously by the Japanese government with an aggressive funding program to support the development of new information technologies, the uses of those technologies, and study the effects of those uses. It was AFTER the concept appeared in Japan that Daniel Bell's work introduced the concept to the English language world (though I believe he independently reached the notion). Subsequently, the concept was taken up in a wide variety of ways by scholars across disciplines and by governments for a variety of purposes, but to be accurate the story begins in the early 1960s. (I've a piece from the mid-1990s that documents some of this story and has citations that will lead you onward, if that's helpful -- Harmonization of systems, in the JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION.) Sandra Braman _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/