Information Society

The University of Exeter has uniquely brought together a network of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds to work on similar issues under the Information Society Network (ISN). The theme of focus is the information society. Researchers are discussing in an interdisciplinary way the production, control, aesthetic, politics and policy-making, regulation, marketing, philosophy, distribution of and encounter with information. We have raised awareness and encourage academic and public debate on issues through a series of interdisciplinary workshops and seminars and are increasingly working towards joint publications and research projects in the field.

Mission

In our society the production, distribution and control of information constitutes an increasingly significant political, economic and cultural activity. Specific to this phenomenon is the central position of information technology which regulates the behavior of our global markets, defines the quality of our labour, qualifies the nature of our conflicts, determines the structure and flow of our urban spaces, facilitates the transformation of human and non-human bodies, plants, cells, proteins and particles into reprogrammable, marketable information. The Information Society, its economy, politics, culture, science and art, but also, crucially, the very dynamics set into motion by our 'encounter' with information, are our principal field of investigation.

The network aims to

Research the information society (the production, control, aesthetic, politics and policy-making, regulation, marketing, philosophy, distribution of and encounter with information)
Raise awareness, encourage academic and public debate, advise on governance
Establish links with and between academic, artistic, scientific, political and business communities
Encourage and facilitate disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary perspectives through a list of public workshops, seminars and conferences
Encourage e-Science activities
Encourage dissemination in mixed reality, pervasive, collaborative, massively multiplayer games (Second Life, ProjectForum etc)
Disseminate internationally and monitor our progress through a project forum wiki hosted at Stanford University’s Humanities Lab

Research output

The ISN has spurred the following research output:

- interdisciplinary article (politics/business) in the Journal of Consumer Policy (2007) 30:177–199
- interdisciplinary special issue (politics/law) of the Journal of Consumer Policy issue 1 2008 on communications regulation
- interdisciplinary workshop (politics/business/law) on the consumer and European law on March 19 2007 at Exeter University
- interdisciplinary workshop (politics/business/law/psychology) on Virtual Worlds May 20 2008 at Exeter University