INFS 111: INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 01
DEFINITION AND TYPES OF INFORMATION

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashi-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankan (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

DEPARTMENT OF
DISTANCE EDUCATION
2023/2024 Academic Year
Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03 04 05
What is Public Private Personal Sources of
Information? Domain Information Information Information
Information

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 2 Department of
Reading List

• Aina, L.O. (2004). Library and Information Science Text for

Africa. Ibadan, Nigeria: Third world information services
Ltd.

• Alemna, A. A. (1998). Information in African Society. Information

Development. Vol. 14, No.2. pp.69-72.

• Alemna, A.A. (2005). African Information Society Initiative

(AISI): Opportunities, challenges and the way forward. Legon
Journal for International Affairs. Vol. 2, No. 2, pp13-14.

Department of
Session Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

Understand the concept of information

Distinguish between the types of information

Identify the various sources of information

Department of
Topic
WHAT IS INFORMATION?
1

Topic One:
WHAT IS INFORMATION?

2022/2023 Academic Year

Defining Information

More than 400 (!) definitions of information have been

presented by researchers from different fields (Yuexiao,
1988)

• Porat (1977:2) - Information is data that has been

organized and communicated.

• Machulp and Mansfield (1983) defines it as:

• increasing the state of knowledge of a recipient
• Resolving uncertainty
• Value in decision making

• Derr (1985:498) - Information is a record of resolved

uncertainty.
Defining Information (contd.)

• Paisley quoted in Haies (1992:272) - Information

denotes any stimulus that alters cognitive structure
in the receiver. He adds that something that the
receiver already knows is not information.

• International Standards Organization (ISO) –

Information is the meaning that a human assigns to
data by means of the human conversions used in
their representations.

Department of
 Defining Information (contd.)

• Debons, Horne and Cronen (1988:8) – Cognitive state

of awareness (being informed) giving representation in
physical form (Data). The physical representation
facilitates the process of knowing.

• Buckland (1991) identifies three aspects of information

as:
• Process
• Knowledge
• Thing

Department of
 Defining Information (contd.)

•McLeod and Schell(2007:9) – Information is

process data that is meaningful

•Beynon-Davies (2009:6) – Information is

data plus sense-making (information depends
on and cannot be separated from the
answers that are to be inferred from particular
data)

Department of
 The Information Pyramid

Generally, information is best defined in the context

of what is described as the Information Pyramid.

The information Pyramid represents a continuum in

which information develops from symbols, data,
information, knowledge and finally acquisition of
wisdom through knowledge.

Department of
The Information Pyramid (diagram 1)

Department of
The Information Pyramid (diagram 2)

Department of
 The Information Pyramid
• The continuum can be illustrated in a much more
straightforward diagram below;

• Wisdom Knowledge Information

Data

symbols
 Categories of Information
Tangible Information

• regarded as a thing. Intangible Information

• represents physical objects which can be • information described as process or as

seen and touched, for example, documents. knowledge.

• recorded and may be in the form of written • these are abstract forms of
documents, printed materials or digitalised information.
materials.

• is described as a process when it is

• appear in different formats like books, performing the function of informing.
periodicals, newspapers, diaries, letters,
manuscripts, tapes, diskettes, compact
discs, data-bases, artefacts, microforms • involves transmitting information from
among others. a source to a recipient.

• Information is described as knowledge

when it is performing the role of
imparting knowledge to an individual
where it reduces uncertainty.
 Sample Question

• From the definitions of information provided and explained in

the previous slides:

1. How would you explain the meaning of information to a

layman?

2. Explain the relationship between symbols, data,

information, knowledge and wisdom.

Department of
TOPIC
PUBLIC DOMAIN INFROMATION
2

2022/2023 Academic Year

Public Domain Information (PDI) Defined

• PDI is the type of information that the general public can have
access to within the normal requirements of law and commerce.
PDI is acquired, analysed and prepared for use in many forms.

• Examples of PDI includes:

• Information generated by private organizations that perform
public functions example, water and electricity providers.

• Information about threats to the environment, health or human

rights are issues that are of public concern.

• Information about corruption.

Department of
Problems of Access to Public Domain Information

• Financial problems

• Lack of library and archives facilities

• Problems in accessing electronic information

• Expensive nature of online information

• Lack of access to the internet

• Unreliable power supply

Department of
Ensuring Access to Public Domain Information

•Libraries, archives and other information

centres are the main solution to the problem
of a person’s inability to access PDI, because
of lack of money to buy books and other
information resources.

•They are equally the answer to the problem of

access to electronic information.

Department of
The Public Library

• For the purpose of our discussion, however, let us focus on the

Public Library, because that is where Public Domain Information
should be, and is located.

• The Public Library serves the interest of the whole community,

regardless of who you are.

• It is often described as the poor man’s university, because people

use it to educate themselves to improve their outlook in life.

• They provide internet access to the public.

• Patronage (use) of Public Libraries is free.

Department of
 Uses of Public Libraries

• For recreational purposes.

• To consult periodicals (journals, magazines,

newspapers), technical reports, research reports,
bulletins, government publications (commissions of
inquiry, annual reports, Acts of Parliament, gazettes,
executive instruments, legislative instruments, etc.)
for the purpose of research.

• For specific information.

Department of
 Sample Question

1. I am sure you have been to the Library before, whether

your school Library or local Public Library. list some
problems you encountered when you visited the Library.

2. From the discussion on Public Libraries, what would you

say are the roles of the Public Library?

Department of
What is Private Information?

•Private Information is information that is not

meant for public consumption.

• Examples of Private Information include

marketing information gathered by a
company; information on the development of
a product by an industrial organization, etc.

Department of
Why Keep Information Private?

•Edge over competitors.

•Involves huge sums of money and time.

•Information gathered through research may

reveal negative aspects of a product.

•Commercial confidentiality.

Department of
Governments and Private Information

• Argument about whether governments should have private

information or not.

• Arguments against private information held by government

• Human rights advocates
• Freedom of information advocate(FOI)

• Ways in which government keep information private:

• oaths of secrecy
• Private and confidential

• Governments arguments for keeping private information

• Protection of the security of the state

Department of
Topic
Personal Information
4

2022/2023 Academic Year

Personal Information Defined

• Information that relate to

identifiable individuals

Department of
Types and Implications of Personal Information

• Health information age

• Financial status

• Social status

• Certain kinds of relationships etc.

Department of
Can Personal Information be Absolute?

• The sanctity of personal

information

• On very few occasions

• Often not absolute

Department of
Ethics of Disclosing Personal Information.

Professional ethical codes

 Doctors
 Lawyers
 Bankers

Department of
The Right to Personal Information

Prevention of irreparable damage to the person

• emotional

• psychological

• sometimes physical

Department of
Topic
Sources of Information
5

2022/2023 Academic Year

Information Sources

Primary Sources Secondary Sources

• Publications
• Gathered first hand
• Internal Company Information
• Collected for the first time for
a specific problem • Purchased-Outside
Information
• Examples: Observation,
Experiment, Survey • Government Agencies.
Subjective Estimation.
Problems with Information Sources

• Impartiality

• Validity

• Reliability

• Consistency

• Age of the information

Department of
References
• Boell, S., & Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. (2015). What is ‘Information’beyond a definition?.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sebastian-
Boell/publication/285581995_What_is_'Information'_Beyond_a_Definition/links/565ff3
d608ae1ef929856d77/What-is-Information-Beyond-a-Definition.pdf

• Buckland, Michael K. ( 1997). “What Is a ‘Document’?”. Journal of the

American Society for Information Science, 48 (September): 804-809.

• Debons A., Esther H. and Scott C. (1998). Information Science: An Integrated

View. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall.

• Derr, Richard L. (1985) “The Concept of Information in Ordinary discourse.”

Information Processing & Management, 21: 489-99.

• Paisley, William. ( 1992). “Information and Work.” In Progress in Communication

Sciences, edited by Brenda Dervin and Melvin J. Voigt, 2 (1980): 118. Quoted
in Robert M. Hayes, “Measurement of Information,” 272. In Conceptions of Library
and Information Science: Historical, Empirical, and Theoritical Perspectives, edited
by Pertti Vakkari and Blaise cronin, 268-285. London: Taylor Graham.

Department of
References

• Porat, M. U. (1977). The Information Economy: Definition and Measurement.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Telecommunications.

• Lester J. and Koehler W. C. ( 2007). “Fundamentals of Information Studies:

Understanding Information and Its Environment”. Second Edition. Neal-
Schuman Publishers, New York.

• Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information Science 101.” The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Plymouth, Uk.

• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. “Technology, Media & Telecommunications.” 2006.

TMT trends: Predictions, 2006, A Focus on the TechnologySector. London:
Deloitte & Touche. Available:
www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_tmt_techpredictions2006_0 20206(1
).pdf (accessed December 2006).

• Yuexiao, Z. (1988). Definitions and sciences of information. Information Processing &

Management, 24(4), 479-491.

Department of
 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY
Session 1
THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashi-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankan (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

2023/2024 Academic Year

1
Session Overview

To help students understand the concept of the information

society and realize the pervasiveness of information in the
world we live in. The session also deals with information
activities in our daily lives which we may or may not be
conscious of.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam 2 Department of
Session Objectives

At the end of the session, the student should be able to:

•Understand the concept of the information society.
•Describe how information is used in society to control
and influence behaviour.
•Discuss how individuals differ in the ability to access
and use information.
•Explain how the use of information is changing in the
world today.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 3 Department of
Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03
The Information Daily Uses of
Society Encounters with Information in
Information Society

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 4 Department of
Reading List

Alemna, A. A. (1998). Information in African Society.

Information Development, 14(2), 69-72.
Alemna, A. A. (2000). Libraries, Information and Society.
Accra: Ghana Universities Press. 39p.
Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information Science 101” The
Scarecrow. Plymouth, Uk: Press,Inc.
Lester J. and Koehler W. C. ( 2007). “Fundamentals of
Information Studies: Understanding Information and Its
Environment”. Second Edition. New York: Neal-Schuman
Publishers.
Moore, N. (1997). The information society. World information
report, 98, 271-284.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam 5 Department of
TOPIC
The Information Society
1

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 6
Disadvantages of the Information Society
• A society that organises itself around knowledge in the interest of social
control, and the management of innovation and change... (Daniel Bell,
1980)
• A new type of society, where the possession of information (and not
material wealth) is the driving force behind its transformation and
development […] (and where) human intellectual creativity flourishes.
(Yoneji Masuda, 1980)
• An information society is one in which information is used intensively as
an aspect of economic, social, cultural and political life. [It is a society
where …] information is used as an economic resource, the community
harnesses/exploits it, and behind it all an industry develops which
produces the necessary information ... (Nick Moore, 1997)
• A new type of society in which humanity has the opportunity to lead a
new way of life, to have a higher standard of living, accomplish better
work, and to play a better role in society thanks to the global use of
information and telecommunication technologies.” (Béla Murányi as cited
by Karvalics, 2007)

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam 7 Department of
Characteristics of the Information Society
• According to Nick Moore (1997), there are three main
characteristics of an information society
• First, information is used as an economic resource.
• Secondly, it is possible to identify greater use of information
among the general public (in other words, a citizenry with
widespread access to digitized information, interactivity in
communication, and changes in social organisations driven
by technological improvements.)
• Thirdly, and a defining characteristic of an information society
is an emerging or developing information industry… [divided]
into three distinct segments: the first concerned with the
creation of information – the content sector; the second
concerned with the delivery of the information; and the third
concerned with information processing.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 8 Department of
Characteristics of the Information Society (contd.)
Other characteristics noted are:
• Digital Communication
Communication channels in an information society are primarily digitally
based, such as email, video calling, social media applications, instant
messaging platforms, etc.
• Knowledge-Based Economy
The exchange of information serves as the foundation for generating
economic growth in this type of society (Webster & Bloom, 2020).
• Technological Innovation
The creation, development and implementation of novel technologies that
bring about significant advancement and automation in various
industries (healthcare, supply chains, manufacturing, and digital
banking, for example) takes center stage
• Global Interconnectedness
One can now hold meetings and pursue business, education, etc. without
being in the physical location

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 9 Department of
Benefits of the Information Society

There are many benefits of the information society, including:

• Improved access to information
• Improved communication
• Technology driven economic growth
(e-commerce, ‘gig economy’, etc.)
• Enhanced education options
(online, hybrid, remote, etc.)
• Improved healthcare
(telemedicine, etc.)
• Promotes better democracy/political participation

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 10 Department of
Disadvantages of the Information Society

Despite its many benefits, there are drawbacks to the

information society, including:
• Decreased social interaction and bonds
(loss of relational and other skills such as spelling, writing,
etc.)
• Cybersecurity threats
(hackers, identity theft, etc.)
• Technology driven job loss
(automation, etc.)
• Digital divide
• Information overload
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam 11 Department of
The gender digital divide

Source: International Telecommunications

Union SLIDE 12 Department of
Information Society: recap

What is an information
society?

Do the benefits of an
information society
outweigh the
drawbacks?

Is Ghana an information
society? Why? Why not?

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 13 Department of
TOPIC
Daily Encounters with Information
2

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 14
Daily Activities

From waking up to bed time we interact with information

in different ways;
• Aurally
• Gustatorily
• Olfactorily
• Tactilely
• Visually

A person’s daily information activities may involve

transforming information from one format to another; for
example: a piano student

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 15 Department of
Escalation of Information

• On a daily basis, information grows by leaps and

bounds. Example:
• Information produced in 2002:
• Equivalent to 37,000 libraries with their collections the size of
the Library of Congress

• Approximately 800 megabytes of information for each person

in the world(Lyman and Varian, 2003).

• Information produced in 2006:

• Estimated digital data production, 20 exabytes (Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu, 2006)

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 16 Department of
Escalation of Information (conts)

• In 2020, the amount of data created and replicated

worldwide reached 64.2 zettabytes, a new high
partly attributed to COVID-19 lockdowns which saw
more people working and schooling from home.

• By 2025, global data creation is projected to grow to

more than 180 zettabytes.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 17 Department of
Gathering and Managing Information (contd.)

• 2005: 80% of adult Americans had internet access

at home or workplace (US Census Bureau, 2006)
• 2022: nearly 92%; As of 2022, there are 307.34
million internet users in the United States. That's a
120% increase from 2012, when the number of
internet users was 255.26 million
• 2019: the average ownership rate of computers in
Ghana was 15% The highest concentration of
computers within surveyed households was
reported in the Greater Accra region, at 27.6%,
while the lowest concentration was reported in the
Northern region, at 6.7%. (statista.com)
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 18 Department of
Gathering and Managing Information (contd.)
Broadband internet penetration
• Fixed broadband penetration increased 11.2% between 2019
and 2022 in Organization for Economic Corporation and
Developments (OECD) member countries (OECD, 2023).
• Mobile broadband penetration rate increased 13% during the
same period.
• As of July 2023, 5G was available in 37 out of 38 OECD
countries. The share of 5G in total mobile broadband
subscriptions averaged 21% for the 20 OECD countries able
to provide relevant data, with the highest share in Denmark
(54%), Korea (45%) and Japan (26%).
Source: https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/broadband-statistics-update.htm

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 19 Department of
Gathering and Managing Information (contd.)
Broadband internet penetration
• Between 2010 and 2021, the internet penetration rate
across Africa grew from 9.6% to 33% (individuals using
the internet).
• ITU statistics for 2021 indicate that mobile broadband
coverage – via 3G and 4G networks – was available to
82% of the population in Africa (49% for 4G and 33% for
3G)9. And while many countries continue to invest in 4G
networks, 5G is also being deployed. As of July 2022,
5G networks were being tested or widely deployed in 14
African countries

Sources: https://www.diplomacy.edu/resource/report-stronger-
digital-voices-from-africa/internet-access-connectivity-africa/

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 20 Department of
Gathering and Managing Information (contd.)
• Range of mobile data usage per month in OECD countries, 2022

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 21 Department of
Use of Information Devices

Clock Watch Radio

• In 2006, it was common for
Computer Printer Television
an individual in the
Telephone Telephone Cell phone
developed countries to own Answering
Machine
and use most of the
following information DVD Personal Digital Fax Machine
Player/Recorder Assistant (PDA)
devices on a daily basis Eg. Palm Pilots

Calculator Thermostat Scanner

Which information devices MP3 Player Calendar Book

have you never heard of? VCR CD Player Camera

Which are in common use Security/Alarm

System
today and are not listed?
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 22 Department of
Use of Information Devices

• Individuals in 2006 were likely to have used one or

more of the following information services in addition to
the devices in the above slide;
• Telephone Service
• Cable Television Subscription
• Satellite Radio Subscription
• Internet Access
• Security Monitoring Service
• Wireless Phone Service
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 23 Department of
Total Media Usage (TMU)

• Total media usage is computed per person per year in hours.

Thus, in 2008:

• TMU was 4059 hours per person

• Television viewing was first with 1669 hours per person

• Radio was second with 1032 hours per person

• Use of newspapers, magazines and books decreased

• Use of other media like the internet and video games

increased

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 24 Department of
Internet and Social Media Usage

• As of October 2023, there were 5.3 billion internet users,

roughly 65% of the global population.
• 4.95 billion, or 61.4% of the world’s population, were
social media users
• In 2022, Africa had 384 million social media users
• There were 8.8 million social media users in Ghana
(Source: https://www.statista.com/)

Summary:
The range of information devices and services used by
individuals provide them with information which they use
for a variety of purposes as they carry out their daily life.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 25 Department of
TOPIC
Uses of Information in Society
3

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 26
Introduction

• Information is a powerful and indispensable factor in the

operation and functioning of society.
• Used as an instrument of influence and control in
the lives of individual citizens

• Political structure of the country

• In the relationships among nations

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 27 Department of
Instrument of Influence and Control

• The economic environments:

• The use of advertising to influence behaviour

• In politics:
• Used to influence behaviour of citizens in their voting
choices
• To shape public opinion and national issues
• To inform and support public policy decisions

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 28 Department of
Political Structure of a Nation

• Key elements in establishing and maintaining political

powerbase

• Relationships among nations:

-Unions, Eg EU,AU,G8 etc.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 29 Department of
Information for Entertainment

• Information plays a huge role in the sphere of entertainment;

• Sporting events
• Films
• Music

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 30 Department of
Rapidity of Information Dissemination

• Loss of ‘time cushion’ between the occurrence of an event or

a problem and information diffusion. Eg:
• The loss of Alaskan Airlines door mid-flight (and
other incidents with Boeing 737 Max)
• In Ghana, the death of former presidents J.E.A.
Mills and J.J. Rawlings

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 31 Department of
Summary

The level of information diffusion has caused concerns in a

number of arenas. Among businesses, the fear that
unfavourable news could be distributed so quickly it could
damage their business before they can contain it. Also, in the
entertainment sphere has been raising fears in many
countries about their culture being overwhelmed by foreign
cultures.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 32 Department of

Reference
• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. (2006). “Technology, Media &
Telecommunications.” TMT trends: Predictions, 2006, A Focus on
the Technology Sector. London: Deloitte & Touche.
Available:
www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_tmt_techpredictions200
6_020206(1).pdf).

• Lyman, P and Varari, H.R. (2003). ‘Executive summary’. How much

information? Berkeley: University of California. School of
Information Management and Systems. Available at
www.suins.merkeley.edu/refrence/profile/how-much.info-
2003/execsum.

• US Census Bureau, (2006:737) No.1116. Media usage and consumer

spending; 2000-2008. No.1117. Utilization of selected media:1980-2003;
No.1265.Advertising Estimated Expenditure1990-2004. Washington
DC. Department of Commerce. Available at
www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/obstatab/infocomm.pdf

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Winifred Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 33 Department of
Reference
• Organization for Economic Coorporation and Development (2006)
OECD Broadband Statistics to June 2006. Available at
www.oecd.org/docment/9/0,2340,en-2649-34223- 37529673-1-1

• Madden, M. (2006:4). Internet penetration and impact. Washington

DC: pew internet and American Life Project: Available at
www.pewinternet.org/pdf/r/182/report_display.asp

• Mcltale, J (1976: 18) the changing Information Environment

Boulder, C O: Westview Press.

• US Department of Commerce 2004 ; 4 economics and statistics

administration and national telecommunications and
administration. A Nation Online: entering the broad band age
. Washington DC : Department of Commerce Available at:
www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/an/nationOnlinebroadband

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Winifred Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 34 Department of
 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY
Session 3
INFORMATION AND THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashi-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankan (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

2023/2024 Academic Year

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 1

 Session Overview

The relationship between information and communication is

recognized as necessary in any information activity. The two
concepts, i.e., information and communication are, therefore,
interdependent but they are also different. The main
difference between them is that communication is always
interpersonal and interlined with emotions, values,
expectations and perceptions, while information is impersonal
purely format and devoid of perceptions and emotions.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam 2
 Session Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

 distinguish between information and communication and the
relationship between them

 explain the different methods of communicating information

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 3
 Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03 04 05
Communication Communication Limitations of Communication Access to
of Information in Pre-literate Oral Traditions in Literate Information
societies Societies

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 4
 Reading List

• Aina, L.O. (2004). Library and Information Science Text for Africa.
Ibadan, Nigeria: Third world information services Ltd.

• Alemna, A. A. (1998). Information in African Society. Information

Development, Vol. 14, No.2. pp.69-72.

• Alemna, A.A. (2005). African Information Society Initiative (AISI):

Opportunities, challenges and the way forward. Legon Journal for
International Affairs, vol. 2, No. 2, pp13-14.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam 5
TOPIC
Communication of Information
1

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 6
 Introduction

Information is dormant, passive and motionless with

little or no value if it is not communicated.

Communication is basic to all human societies:

 a process by which meanings are exchanged between

individuals through a common system of symbols, language,
signs and gestures.

 Two very important aspects of communication are information

and feedback.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam 7
 The Communication Process

Sender message receiver

Feedback

Source: Shannon and Weaver (2001) 8 Department of

 Forms of Communication

• spoken communication

• written communication

• telephone communication

• electronic communication

• staff meetings

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 9
 Forms of Communication

• conferences, workshops and seminars

• exhibits and displays

• visual aids

• drama

• non-visual communication

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 10
TOPIC
Communication of Information
2

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 11
 Introduction

• Pre-literate refers to the situation where there is absence of

literacy.

• Pre-literate societies
• societies in which members lack the ability to read
and write.

• used to refer to the period of time when systems of

writing had not been developed for the purpose of
recording, preserving, and disseminating
(communicating) information.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 12
 Information Dissemination in Pre-literate Societies

Language
Observation
Imitation
Other forms;
_gestures or sign language
_scarification:
_Shows a persons ethnic group
_A persons status in society
_Drumming or drum language

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,Dr. Philip
Kankam 13
 The Discovery of Writing

When society realized the need to preserve more information

for the benefit of generations, preliterate society resorted to
the crudest form of writing -

• graphic representations of daily life

• scratches in the form of drawings on the walls of caves.

• Pictorial representation of information

• tribal marks that were made on the face and other

parts of the human body.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 14
TOPIC
Limitations of Oral Tradition
3

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 15
 Oral Tradition in Africa

• Oral Tradition:
• Before writing began in Africa, the oral tradition was
the commonest form of communication and
education.

• Even after the invention of writing, the oral tradition is

still very popular in Africa, because:
• literacy rate in Africa is still very low,
• the local language is easier to communicate with
than foreign languages.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 16
 Limitations
 relies on human memory.

 depends too much on age.

 demands that boys do one thing e.g., hunting, and girls do another
thing e.g., cooking

 develops mistakes as the years go by.

 the young can scarcely challenge the adult.

 the death of an old person is the loss of a whole tradition.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 17
TOPIC
Communication in Literate Societies
4

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 18
 Literate Societies

•societies in which reading and writing

are the basis of every form of activity.

•formal education is the main means of

• socializing

• passing on the human experience from

generation to generation.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 19
 Information in Literate Societies

• With the development of writing, it became possible for the

human experience –e.g.; stories, knowledge, beliefs,
customs, and poetry to be recorded and passed on in a
more accurate manner to people.

• Literacy however began slowly because:

• the medium for writing was expensive and tedious.

• Early writing media included:

• clay tablets,
• polished stones,
• bones,
• wood bark,
• papyrus
• parchment.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam SLIDE 20
TOPIC
Access to Information
5

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 21
 Information Access
• How information users obtain what they require from the
large and ever-increasing stock of information available
today.

• It is a fundamental human right by the United Nations

• Information handlers/experts:
• Responsible for making this huge store of information available
and accessible to users

• Perform this responsibility through careful selection, acquisition

and organization of the available information in all types of
format-

• Have designed tools and procedures for organising and

managing the various types of information

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam 22
 Obstacles to Information Access
• Information explosion
• The Internet

• Bad management of institutional information systems.

• Manual information systems

• Legal constraints such as copyright and intellectual property rights,

• Lack of viable cooperative resource sharing schemes

• Cost of information

• User background and information seeking habits

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip
Kankam 23
 Players in the Provision of Access to Information

•Information handlers

•Information users

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam 24
 References
• Buckland, Michael K. ( 1997). “What Is a ‘Document’?”. Journal of the
American Society for Information Science. 48 (September): 804-
809.

• Debons Anthony, Esther Horne and Scott Cronenweth. (1998).

Information Science: An Integrated View. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall.

• Derr, Richard L. (1985) “The Concept of Information in Ordinary

discourse.” Information Processing & Management, 21: 489-99.

• Paisley, William. ( 1992). “Information and Work.” In Progress in

Communication Sciences, edited by Brenda Dervin and Melvin J.
Voigt, 2 (1980): 118. Quoted in Robert M. Hayes, “Measurement
of Information,” 272. In Conceptions of Library and Information
Science: Historical, Empirical, and Theoritical Perspectives, edited
by Pertti Vakkari and Blaise cronin, 268-285. London: Taylor
Graham.

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam 25
 References
• Porat, Marc Uri. (1977). The Information Economy: Definition and
Measurement. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce,
Office of Telecommunications.

• Lester J. and Koehler W. C. ( 2007). “Fundamentals of Information

Studies: Understanding Information and Its Environment”. Second
Edition. Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York.

• Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information Science 101.” Plymouth, Uk: The

Scarecrow Press,Inc.

• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. “Technology, Media & Telecommunications.”

2006. TMT trends: Predictions, 2006, A Focus on the
TechnologySector. London: Deloitte & Touche. Available:
www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_tmt_techpredictions200
6_020206(1).pdf (accessed December 2006).

Department of
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Winifred
Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam 26
 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY
Session 4
BARRIERS TO INFORMATION TRANSFER

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

2023/2024 Academic Year

1
Session Overview
• As in most situations in life, there are barriers or
challenges to the effectiveness of any
communication process.

• You therefore need to know each one of them in

order to enhance your communication process.

• At the end of the session, you will be able to:

_narrate the problems of information
dissemination and
_describe the barriers to communication

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam 2 Department of Distance Education
Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03 04 05 06
Introduction. Technical/Infr Semantic/Ling Barriers to Legal and Solutions to
astructural uistic Barriers Effectiveness Socio-cultural the Barriers of
Barriers Barriers Information
Transfer

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 3 Department of Distance Education
Reading List

• Lester J. and Koehler W. C. ( 2007). “Fundamentals

of Information Studies: Understanding Information
and Its Environment”. Second Edition. Neal-
Schuman Publishers, New York.

• Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information Science

101.” Plymouth, Uk: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam 4 Department of Distance Education
TOPIC
Introduction
1

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 5
Introduction

•The session explains the barriers or

constraints that impede the smooth and fast
dissemination of information from the
information provider to the information user.
•Certain extraneous factors known
collectively as noise can disrupt the
process of information transmission

•Noise, therefore, is regarded as the

number one enemy in information
communication.

Department of Distance Education

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam 6
TOPIC
Technical/Infrastructural Barrier
2

2022/2023 Academic Year

Lack of or Insufficient Technical Experts

•Modern information systems are:

•formal and technology-based,

•The electronic and sophisticated

equipment require special skills to:
• Design
• Install
• Operate
• manage
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 8 Department of Distance Education
Lack of or Insufficient Technical Experts

_InGhana:
shortage of professionals with the
appropriate skills for these tasks. eg,
• Scientists,
• Technologists,
• System and information analysts,
• Programmers and information managers
lack of a congenial scientific and
technological environment.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 9 Department of Distance Education
Lack of or Insufficient Technical Experts

Users.
•users need appropriate skills to be
able to access or evaluate and use
information materials available to
them in the manual and electronic
systems (especially the Internet).

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam 10 Department of Distance Education
Weak and Inefficient Physical Infrastructure

•The communication of information

requires:
•modern equipment such as computers and
their accessories.
•telecommunication technologies with large
enough bandwidth.
•power or electricity

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 11 Department of Distance Education

Weak and Inefficient Physical Infrastructure

•In Ghana and Africa:

•technical items for processing and
communicating data and information are not
widely available.
•there are no pervasive (widespread)
infrastructure networks at the national, regional
and international levels.
• in-country network infrastructures are still
underdeveloped in terms of geographical
coverage.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 12 Department of Distance Education

Weak and Inefficient Physical Infrastructure

•Teledensity, is still small particularly in rural

areas.
•the bulk of the population has no access
to the telephone and, therefore, cannot
send or receive information by this
device which is considered basic in
developed countries.

•service quality and, therefore, performance

is largely low.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 13 Department of Distance Education

TOPIC
SEMANTIC/LINGUISTIC BARRIER
3

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 14
Introduction

•Communication is deemed to have been

completed successfully when the sender and
recipient of the message are in one accord as
to what the message means.

•Language can become a barrier in the

dissemination of information;
•language problem.
•lack of proper understanding of the
message by its recipient.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 15 Department of Distance Education
Meaning and Understanding of Meaning

Communication failure may result from:

Inability of the recipient to understand
the message.
• The message may be in a language the
recipient does not understand.

•The message may be full of technical and

professional jargon.
•Differences in the level of education
between the sender and the recipient.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 16 Department of Distance Education
Other Aspects of the Language Barrier
• Languages of scholarly communication
• Secondary scientific and technical literature is published
in five main languages –
• English
• French
• German
• Japanese
• Russian
• English leads with about 70%.
• This suggests that nearly 70% of scholarly literature
may be inaccessible to scholars who are not English
speaking, unless they make a deliberate effort to
learn that language.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 17 Department of Distance Education
Solution - Multilingualism as the Answer

Multilingualism:
• The use or expertise in the use of several languages.

• Multilingualism should be encouraged among

scholars to eliminate or lessen the problems of
information dissemination that the dominance of one
language presents.
• Multilingualism in journal publications should be encouraged.
• The provision of abstracts in English in foreign language
papers and vice versa.
• Multilingualism and the provision of translation facilities
on the Internet are being actively encouraged by UNESCO.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 18 Department of Distance Education
Solution Cont’d: Improving tools for organizing
Information
• The need to improve the tools for organizing
and disseminating information in
information systems for users.

• Development of techniques or methods of

organizing and ensuring the easy flow of
information materials.

• Artificial languages
classification,
 indexing,
cataloguing
methods of bibliographic control.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 19 Department of Distance Education
TOPIC
Effectiveness of Barrier
4

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 20
Introduction

•Effectiveness barrier;
•sometimes called the influential level of
noise.

•looks at how effective the

communication has been in terms of
the recipient’s reaction to the message
or information he/she has received.

•affects the recipient’s reaction to the

message or information.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 21 Department of Distance Education
Introduction

•Effectiveness barrier cont’d;

•poses the questions:

•how does the receiver react to the

message received?

•why did the receiver not react to the

message as expected by the sender?

•how effective can the communication

process be?
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 22 Department of Distance Education
Responses to the Question Posed by the Effectiveness
of Barrier
•First response:
•Lack of appropriate infrastructure:
•modern telecommunication equipment
and connectivity
•shortage of experts
•scientist,
•technologists
•information analysts and managers
•combined impact of the
technical/infrastructural and
linguistic/semantic barriers.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 23 Department of Distance Education

Responses to the Question Posed by the Effectiveness
of Barrier
Second response:
information handlers should endeavour to:

•know their users

•Know how users use the information they
provide for them
•be proactive

•feedback from library patrons

•User Studies is a method of obtaining
feedback from users.
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 24 Department of Distance Education
 Feedback
Feedback
Defined Message channel destination

• Feedback simply
means response(s)
from the recipient Noise
of a message to
assure the Feedback Loop
message source
(the sender) that
the message has
been received and
understood.
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 25
 User Studies
User Studies Defined User studies in Libraries
and archives
• Collects data that enable the
•the study of what information managers to identify
the type of information that
people buy or what patrons need.
product or service • Concerned with the ways in which
they use and why. current users obtain information.

• It deals with how the existing

sources of information and their
•an important linkages might best be used to
obtain information users.
aspect of the field • Collect data about the environment in
which an information system works,
of market • identifying the users,
• Users needs,
research, • factors that may impede
access to flow of information

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 26

 LEGAL AND SOCIO-CULTURAL BARRIERS TO
TOPIC
INFORMATION TRANSFER
5

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 27
Legal Barriers to Information Transfer

•The laws and regulations:

•Are designed to protect and defend individual
and national rights and interests.

•In their enforcement, these same laws and

regulatory mechanisms sometimes become
impediments to the free flow and sharing of
information e.g.
•copyright and intellectual property laws
•taxes
•national security laws

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 28 Department of Distance Education

Copyright and Intellectual Property Laws

Copyright and intellectual property provision;

constitutes standards established by the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of the
United Nations.

Designed to protect the intellectual property,

creative products and inventions that are the results
of the intellectual or artistic efforts of certain
individuals or groups in society - authors, creative
artistes, musicians, artists, painters, sculptors,
inventors, etc.
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 29 Department of Distance Education
Copyright and Intellectual Property Laws
• Objective of copyright protection is to restrict the use of a
product for commercial and other purposes to ensure that;
• the right owner enjoys the fruit of his or her labour.
• The WIPO standard for single authorship: Life + 50
years:
• works transfer to the public domain 50 years after the
death of the author.
• If an author or a designer continues to live for 50 years
after he or she creates a work, the length of copyright
protection is 100 years.

• In spite of this standard, duration of copyright varies from country

to country, e.g.
• in Ghana, is Life + 70 years.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 30 Department of Distance Education

Copyright and Intellectual Property Laws

Published print;
• protection is symbolised by the well-known
copyright icon © and accompanying
statement: “All rights reserved”;
• prevent the reproduction of materials by the
general public without the express permission
or acknowledgement of the copyright owner.
Eg. “shrinking of content in the public
domain”.
• The copyright of publications or literacy
products is a major concern to librarians,
archivists and information scientists.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 31 Department of Distance Education

Copyright in Ghana

• Dealt with by the Office of the Copyright Administrator or

Copyright Office.

• Focus has been on violations within the music industry

• Copyright Law of 1985 (PNDC Law110);
• made provision mainly for the protection of the music industry,

• Copyright Law of 2005 (Act 690)

• recognizes and covers all areas of intellectual and creative
products.
• Section 21 of the current law gives special treatment to
librarians and archivists.
• stipulates that copying is restricted to one single copy by reprographic
reproduction
• for more copies; permission of the rights holder must be sought.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 32 Department of Distance Education
Violation of Copyright

• Copyright violation is a global problem

• Download of materials from the Internet without
acknowledging the owner.

• Photocopying of a whole document/materials

due to:
• High cost of printing materials such as
machines, paper, and other printing
materials
• Lack of effective sanctions against violators
of copyright, and
• A rather long period of copyright
protection.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 33 Department of Distance Education
 Fair Use

• Embedded in copyright law.

• Permits librarians to make reasonable individual copies
or portions of most copyrighted works without reference
to the owners.
• Copy Ghana;
• represents literary rights of authors,
• Objective:
• strike a deal with copiers in organizations
• is not making much headway.
• Excessive copying continues
• the penalty for violation is ridiculously low

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 34 Department of Distance Education
Censorship

•The action or policy of removing parts from

news and news bearing objects, e.g. Books,
films, the media, etc., on the excuse that
they are politically unacceptable, religiously
offensive or a threat to national security.

•Tended to take place more in non-

democratic environments, largely in
developing countries and countries with
communist systems of government.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 35 Department of Distance Education

Censorship in Ghana

•Has been a persistent issue in the country since

its independence.

•Punishments/penalties
•Banning:
•The Pioneer Newspaper
•The Legon Observer respectively, are
•Jailed/exiled.
•Individuals in the media and outside
•Resulted in what, was dubbed the ‘culture
of silence’
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 36 Department of Distance Education
Oath of Secrecy

• Denial of access to some information described as classified;

• information held by the security agencies e.g.
• Armed Forces, the Police, Prisons and Immigration
Services.
• May be declared as such by law and for a specified number
of years;
• 30 years in Ghana.

• Violates the right to know or the right to information;

• The Right to Information Bill makes official
information more easily accessible to the general
public.
• Passed into law in 2019

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 37 Department of Distance Education

Socio-Cultural Barriers
• The socio-cultural barrier emanates from three sources:
• the individual/personal source
• level of education
• affects his/her level of awareness
• psychological make up

• personal characteristics
• the societal level
• time and space
• distance from the library
• The gender factor in the cultural environment

• the institutional level

• Inadequate tools for packaging information for users
• inadequate knowledge of patrons
• Lack of anticipation of patrons needs

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 38 Department of Distance Education

Culture and its Manifestations

The elements of culture

•art
• literature
•Music
•dance
•foods we eat
•cultural expressions.
•environment
•the community in which one resides
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 39 Department of Distance Education
Culture and its Manifestations

•All the elements of culture operate at the;

•Personal/individual level
•A person’s level of education
•Psychological factors

•Societal level.
•position of women and children

•Institutional level
Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 40 Department of Distance Education
 Solutions to the Problems of Barriers in
TOPIC
Information Transfer
6

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi, Dr. Philip Kankam 2022/2023 Academic Year 41
Introduction

The possible solutions include:

•Investment in human resource and skills
development.
•Investment in the development of
efficient ICT infrastructure.

• Promotion of multilingualism.
•The formulation of a National Information
Policy.
Department of Distance Education
Solutions to the Technical/Infrastructural Barrier

• Information systems should invest seriously and quite

heavily in human resource development;
• proper training
• employment of the right calibre of personnel

• ICT infrastructures should be strengthened at the local,

national and international levels into viable networks.

• Government;
• provide financial support for infrastructure acquisition,
installation, and human resource development.
• networking at the regional and international levels

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 43 Department of Distance Education
Solutions to the Linguistic Barrier

• Recognition of the problem

• Multilingualism

• Provision of translation facilities

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 44 Department of Distance Education
Solutions to Legal Barriers

• Laws should be friendly

• respect the rights of citizens by striking a
balance between these and protection of
copyright owners

• A National Information Policy (NIP) should be put in

place.

• Passage of the Freedom of Information Bill –

Passed in 2019 in Ghana

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 45 Department of Distance Education
Solutions to the Socio-cultural Barriers

•Provision of well resourced, automated

libraries with Internet facilities at all levels
of education.

•Empowerment of the Public Library System.

•Cultural practices that demean women

and children should be discouraged
through education.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 46 Department of Distance Education
References

• Buckland, Michael K. ( 1997). “What Is a ‘Document’?”.

Journal of the American Society for Information
Science. 48 (September): 804- 809.

• Debons Anthony, Esther Horne and Scott Cronenweth.

(1998). Information Science: An Integrated View.
Boston, MA: G.K. Hall.

• Derr, Richard L. (1985) “The Concept of Information in

Ordinary discourse.” Information Processing &
Management, 21: 489-99.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 47 Department of Distance Education

Reference
• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. (2006). “Technology, Media &
Telecommunications.” TMT trends: Predictions, 2006, A Focus on
the Technology Sector. London: Deloitte & Touche.
Available:
www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_tmt_techpredictions200
6_020206(1).pdf).

• Lyman, P and Varari, H.R. (2003). ‘Executive summary’. How much

information? Berkeley: University of California. School of
Information Management and Systems. Available at
www.suins.merkeley.edu/refrence/profile/how-much.info-
2003/execsum.

• US Census Bureau, (2006:737) No.1116. Media usage and consumer

spending; 2000-2008. No.1117. Utilization of selected media:1980-2003;
No.1265.Advertising Estimated Expenditure1990-2004. Washington
DC. Department of Commerce. Available at
www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/obstatab/infocomm.pdf

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Winifred Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 48 Department of Distance Education
Reference
• Organization for Economic Coorporation and Development (2006)
OECD Broadband Statistics to June 2006. Available at
www.oecd.org/docment/9/0,2340,en-2649-34223- 37529673-1-1

• Madden, M. (2006:4). Internet penetration and impact. Washington

DC: pew internet and American Life Project: Available at
www.pewinternet.org/pdf/r/182/report_display.asp

• Mcltale, J (1976: 18) the changing Information Environment

Boulder, C O: Westview Press.

• US Department of Commerce 2004 ; 4 economics and statistics

administration and national telecommunications and
administration. A Nation Online: entering the broad band age
. Washington DC : Department of Commerce Available at:
www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/an/nationOnlinebroadband

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi,

Dr. Winifred Bentil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 49 Department of Distance Education
 INFS 111: INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 05
INFORMATION CYCLE

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

DEPARTMENT OF
DISTANCE EDUCATION
2023/2024 Academic Year
Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03
The cyclical Components of Information
nature of the information producers
information cycle

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 2 Department of Distance Education
Reading List

• Stair, R. M. and Reynolds, G. W. (2006). Principles of

Information Systems: A Managerial Approach. 7th Ed.
Boston: Thomson Course Technology. pp. 5-8.

• Debons Anthony, Esther Horne and Scott Cronenweth.

(1998). Information Science: An Integrated View. Boston,
MA: G.K. Hall.

• Derr, Richard L. (1985) “The Concept of Information in

Ordinary discourse.” Information Processing &
Management, 21: 489-99.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 3 Department of Distance Education
Session Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

Know how the generation, processing and the use of

information are interwoven.

Identify information producers and how they generate

information.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 4 Department of Distance Education
 THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF
Topic
INFORMATION
1

Topic One:
THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF INFORMATION?

2022/2023 Academic Year

 The Cyclical Nature of Information

The Information Cycle

•The creation and distribution of
information form a discernible and
repetitive pattern.

•One of the major attributes of the

phenomenon of information is the
dependency factor

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 6
The Cyclical Nature of Information Cont’d

 Information builds on existing

information.

 Generates itself and creates more

information as it is used.

 The creation, processing, storage,

retrieval and dissemination of
information and its use are interwoven.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,
Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 7 Department of Distance Education
TOPIC
Components of the Information Cycle
2

2022/2023 Academic Year

 Components of the Information Cycle

a. Information creation and

representation.

b. Searching, selection and acquisition of

information.

c. Organization of information.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 9 Department of Distance Education
Components of the Information Cycle Cont’d

d. Storage, preservation and retrieval of

information.

e. Dissemination and communication of

information.

f. Management of information.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 10 Department of Distance Education
 a. Information Creation and Representation
INFORMATION CREATION REPRESENTATION OF INFORMATION

• Information is created or generated • Presentation in the form of:

through: • books
• writing
• painting,
• journals
• conducting of research • newspapers
• production of databases • electronic data
• composition of music etc.
• Editing
• Information is created by: • adds value to the raw
• universities, e.g. University of information generated.
Ghana
• government agencies, e.g.
EPA • Institutions responsible for
• private organizations, e.g. representation of information
Action Aid;
• research institutions, e.g. • publishing organizations
CSIR • database producers.
• database producers etc.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 11
 b. Searching, Selection and Acquisition of
Information
SEARCHING SELECTION
• Involves looking for information from: • Process of identifying the right
• books materials from the abundant materials
• journals that have been searched already.
• magazines • Good knowledge of the user
• newspapers community is essential
• publishers’ catalogues • ensures that there is no wastage
• relevant databases etc.

ACQUISITION
• Institutions that search for information
materials that can be acquired: • This can be done through:
• libraries • vendors
• archives • publishers
• museums • database producers
• records management centres • subscription agents
• information centres

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina

Ashie-Nikoil, Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 112
 c. Organization of Information
• The essence of organizing • Labels used are concepts (words)
information is to make the derived from the documents
information that has been acquired (materials) e.g.
available to users when it is • an index entry
needed. • an abstract
• catalogue entry

• Tools used to organize information:

• classification schemes • Generally done by:
• list of subject headings • libraries
• thesauri (singular, thesaurus) • archives
• cataloguing tools • information centres
• filing rules etc. • records management centres
• information companies
• computerized information
systems
• Involves the analysis of information: • database industries.
• cataloguing
• indexing
• abstracting.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 13
 d. Storage, Preservation and Retrieval of
Information
STORAGE PRESERVATION
Storage facilities Involves the proper keeping of
• cabinet files information storage media.
• open shelves • To prevent deterioration
• electronic formats
• computer hard disc
• databases RETRIEVAL
• internet, cloud storage etc. The process of extracting
information from documents or
Providers of Storage facilities documents from a collection.
• computerized information systems
• information companies Retrieval tools
• libraries
• archives
• Indexes
• media centres • catalogues
• information centres • bibliographies
• records management centres • registers
• museums and database • search engines
industries.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina

SLIDE 14
Ashie-Nikoil, Dr. Philip Kankam
 e. Dissemination and Communication of
Information
DISSEMINATION COMMUNICATION
Deals with the distribution of Deals with the
information to individuals or transmission of information
groups of people. to individuals, groups of
people, organizations,
Institutions involved in the devices etc. anywhere in
dissemination of information: the world.
• Libraries
• archives
• records management centres Information can be
• museums communicated through e.g.
• information companies etc. • spoken language
Selective Dissemination of Information
• written language
(SDI). • body language
• involves building the profile of an
information user and providing him • electronic device
with relevant information in his field of
interest in anticipation of need.

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 15

f. Management of Information

What has to be managed?

All aspects of information should be

managed.
- Information infrastructure:
Hardware/Equipment
- Recorded objects
- People

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 16 Department of Distance Education
f. Management of Information (cont’d)

•All information institutions are involved in

the information management process.

•Systems analysis has to be done

especially on libraries, archives and
computerized information systems
regularly to ensure that the system is
working efficiently.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,
Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 17 Department of Distance Education
Topic
Information Producers
3

2022/2023 Academic Year

 Producers of Information

 People who create or generate information in a

more organized way. Examples are:
•Authors and writers
•Researchers
•Government administrators
•Artists and musicians
•Database producers
•Historians
•Journalists
•Corporate organizations etc.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 19 Department of Distance Education
References
Madden, M. (2006:4). Internet penetration and impact. Washington DC: pew internet
and American Life Project: Available at
www.pewinternet.org/pdf/r/182/report_display.asp

Mcltale, J (1976: 18) the changing Information Environment Boulder, C O:

Westview Press.

US Department of Commerce 2004 ; 4 economics and statistics administration

and national telecommunications and administration. A Nation Online:
entering the broad band age . Washington DC : Department of
Commerce Available at:
www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/an/nationOnlinebroadband

Onyango, R.A.O. (2000) "Global Information and Africa: on the crest of a

mirage?". Library Management. Vol. 21 Iss: 4, pp.197 – 204. Available at
www.emeraldinsight.com

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 200 Department of Distance Education
 INFS 111: INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 06
INFORMATION CREATION, DISTRIBUTION, AND MANAGEMENT

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankan (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

DEPARTMENT OF
DISTANCE EDUCATION
2023/2024 Academic Year
Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03
Information Information Professional
Infrastructure Professionals Associations
Institutions

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 2 Department of Distance Education
Reading List

• Onyango, R.A.O. (2000) "Global Information and Africa: on

the crest of a mirage?". Library Management. Vol.
21 Iss: 4, pp.197 – 204. Available at
www.emeraldinsight.com

• Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information Science 101”.

Plymouth, UK: The Scarecrow Press Inc.

• Debons Anthony, Esther Horne and Scott Cronenweth.

(1998). Information Science: An Integrated View.
Boston, MA: G.K. Hall.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 3 Department of Distance Education
Session Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Identify institutions that process and provide information

services

• Learn about information professionals and their training

• Know about the different levels of associations that exist

within the library and information science profession.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 4 Department of Distance Education
Topic
Information Infrastructure Institutions
1

Topic One:
WHAT IS INFORMATION?

2022/2023 Academic Year

 Institutions that Handle Information

•Libraries and Information Centres

•Archives and records Management
Centres
• Publishing and book trade
•Information systems
•Communication and media houses
•Educational and training institutions
•Museums

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 6
 Topic
Information Professionals
2

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 7

 Who is an Information Professional?
Who is an Information Categories of Information
Professional? Professionals
• Any person who is first and • The Librarian
foremost concerned with the • The Archivist
user of information and • The Records Manager
secondly with the handling of • The Information Scientist
information (Debons et al, • The Information Systems
Analysts and Designer
1981).
• The Information Manager
• The Information Broker
• Those persons who are • The Information Consultant
essentially, intermediaries • The Database Manager
between information sources, • The Journalist
information systems and • The Editor
information users • The Curator
• The Educator
(Feather,1998).
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina
SLIDE 8
Ashie-Nikoil, Dr. Philip Kankam
 Topic
Professional Associations
3

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 9

What is a Profession?

• Description of a profession
• A body of theoretical and specialized
knowledge
• A set of applied techniques for practice
• The establishment of formal educational
programmes
• Development of a code of ethics
• A representative organization which monitors
general standards of activity
• A service orientation to clients,
• Recognition from a significant number of non-
practitioners of the specific profession.
Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,
Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE0 Department of Distance Education
Professional Associations

• A non-profit organization that seeks to promote a particular

profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that
profession, and the interest of the general public. E.g.

• Ghana Bar Association, for lawyers;

• Ghana Medical and Dental Council for doctors;
• Ghana Registered Nurses Association for nurses
• Ghana Institute of Engineers for the engineering profession
• Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) for teachers
• Archivists and Records Managers Association of Ghana
• Ghana Library Association for library and information personnel
• Ghana Journalists Association for journalists.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 11 Department of Distance Education
 Professional Associations
National Associations International Associations
• American Library Association • The International
• Library Association. Federation of Library
• Ghana Library Association (GLA) Associations and
Institutions (IFLA)
Regional Associations
• West Africa Library Association • United Nations Educational,
• African Library and Information Scientific and Cultural
Associations and Institutions Organization (UNESCO)
(AfLIA)
• Commonwealth Library
Association (COMLA)

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina

Ashie-Nikoil, Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 12
References
• Alemna, A. A. (1998). Information in African Society.
Information Development. Vol. 14, No.2. pp.69-72.
• Alemna, A. A. (1999). The Impact of New Information
Technology in Africa. Information Development. Vol.15,
No. 3. pp. 167-170.
• Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) (2003). AISI: An
Action Framework to build Africa’s Information and
Communication Infrastructure. Economic Commission
for Africa, Addis Ababa.
• Enakrire, R. T. and Onyenania, O. G. (2007) "Causes
Inhibiting the Growth or Development of Information
Transfer in Africa: A Contextual Treatment". Library
Hi Tech News. Vol. 24. Iss: 4, pp.20 – 28.

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

SLIDE 13 Department of Distance Education
Dr. Philip Kankam
 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

SESSION 7 – THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

REVOLUTION

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

2023 / 2024 Academic Year

Session Overview

The advent of information technology revolutionized the

generation and distribution of information. This session is
concerned with the evolution of communication systems from
oral tradition through writing to publishing and
telecommunications.

P.K. Kankam Slide 2

Session Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

•Trace the development of communication systems for

transmission of information.

•Explain how the differences in information transfer through

various communication systems have affected the use of
information in society.

•Explain the importance of standardization and information

communication and transmission.

P.K. Kankam Slide 3

 Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are:

01 02 03 04
ICT and the The first ICT Information The Second
Information Revolution: Storage ICT
Field Writing Revolution:
Movement of
Messages

4
Reading List

•Baldwin, R. (2018). The great convergence: Information

technology and the new globalization. In The great
convergence. Harvard University Press.

•Baller, S., Dutta, S., & Lanvin, B. (2016). Global information

technology report 2016. Geneva: Ouranos.

•Robins, K., & Webster, F. (2020). The Long History of the

Information Revolution: The Long History Of The
Information Revolution. In The information society
reader (pp. 62-80). Routledge.

P.K. Kankam Slide 5

 TOPIC
1 ICT AND THE INFORMATION FIELD

P.K. Kankam Slide 6

ICT and the Information Field Processes
•Common misperception that the digital technology
revolution was the beginning of the ICT revolution
(Lester & Koehler, 2006).

•The human voice as an instrument (technology) for the

exchange of information goes back 30,000 years.

•ICT and the information field are concerned with four

processes;
 Information creation and capture
Information transmission
Information storage
Management and control of information flow
P.K. Kankam Slide 7
Information Creation and Capture

•Writing

•Photography

•Audio recording

•Digitization etc.

P.K. Kankam Slide 8

Information Transmission

•CDs, books, letters, broadcasts

•Carried by carrier pigeons
•In one’s head
•Through the post office
•Broadcast over the airways: by satellite, radio and
television
•Through cable

P.K. Kankam Slide 9

Information Transmission Cont’d

•Telephone, telegraphy, internet

•Over the ages mankind used many methods to
transmit information;
•Voice
•Signal ties
•Flags
•Electrical and optical signals
•Human language
P.K. Kankam Slide 10
Information Storage

•Information storage is dependent on two factors:

How urgently do we need the stored information to be
retrievable?

The initial packaging of the information;

•Information storage went from pigeonholes to
bookshelves

P.K. Kankam Slide 11

Management and Control Information Flow

•Informatics
•Creation of systems to facilitate management and
control of information flow.

•The study, design, and development of information

technology that generates, stores, processes, and
presents information.

P.K. Kankam Slide 12

TOPIC
2 The First ICT Revolution: Writing

P.K. Kankam Slide 13

Managing Information

•To manage information, it must be shared. There are two

steps:
First step
Second step

P.K. Kankam Slide 14

First Step

•Transfer of information from one medium to the other.

•Involves two methods:

1. Oral tradition

a) Story telling
b) Recounting of national and ethnic epics
c) Theatre
2. Writing

P.K. Kankam Slide 15

Second Step

Writing.

•Captures ideas more permanently.

•Constitutes the first great information technology revolution.

P.K. Kankam Slide 16

Cave Paintings

•Paleolithic paintings are the first known recorded information.

Dates back to between 30,000 and 32,000 BC

•Representations of animals and nude ‘Venus’ (female figure)

Found in caves at Chauvret-Pont-d’arc
Lascaux
Grotte Cosquer
Elsewhere in Europe
South America
Australia

P.K. Kankam Slide 17

Cave Paintings (cont’d)

•Meaning of the paintings on subject to conjecture magic

spells.

•Prayers to the gods.

•Mere documentation of a hunt.

•All represent efforts to communicate to contemporaries.

•Perhaps the gods.

•Descendants or later generations.

P.K. Kankam Slide 18

Cave Paintings (cont’d)

•Static information records;

Unsharable over space
Non-portable

•Symbolized in the architecture of religions,

 especially medieval cathedrals.

P.K. Kankam Slide 19

Formal Writing Systems

Cuneiform:
•Dating back to 3,500 BCE developed by the Sumerians.

•Wedge-shaped writing.

•Financial records/ inventories.

•Complex containing more than 2000 symbols later reduced

by more than half.

P.K. Kankam Slide 20

Formal Writing Systems Cont’d

Hieroglyphics:

• Dating back to about 3,000 BCE developed - by the

Egyptians also called ‘Writing of the Gods’ - has three
symbols;

Pictographs – representations of objects

Ideographs – representation of ideas
Alphabet - representing phonetic

P.K. Kankam Slide 21

Formal Writing Systems Cont’d

Sumerian writing preserved

•Complex records
•Mythology
•Gilgamesh epics
•Code of Hammurabi, 1795 to 1750 BCE

P.K. Kankam Slide 22

Formal Writing Systems Cont’d

Egyptian writing preserved

•History of Egypt

•Egyptian Book of the Dead, 1240 BCE

P.K. Kankam Slide 23

Formal Writing Systems Cont’d
Chinese writing
•Dates back to 1,200 BCE

•Oracle Bone inscriptions

discovered in 1899

•Bronze inscriptions
Dates back to 1,000 BCE

•Shi Huangdi
Standardized Chinese Script in 221 BCE

P.K. Kankam
Slide 24
TOPIC Information Storage
3

P.K. Kankam Slide 25

Introduction

• Information storage and writing are intertwined.

•First organized library;

Sumerian clay tablets discovered by Archeologists

(Casson, 2001)
The library at Alexandria

P.K. Kankam Slide 26

The Ptolemaic dynasty

•Restoration by UNESCO

•Library metamorphosis
Changed perception about the role of libraries
Change in the form of the book
•Clay tablet
•Scroll
•Codex
•Digital

P.K. Kankam Slide 27

The Ptolemaic Dynasty Cont’d

•Books may be
Handwritten
•Brush
•Pen
•Ink-jet printer

• The Information Age has come with new formats of

books, hard disks, handheld book readers etc.

P.K. Kankam Slide 28

 TOPIC THE SECOND ICT REVOLUTION:
4 MOVEMENT OF MESSAGES

P.K. Kankam Slide 29

Movement of Messages Cont’d

•Speeding up signals;

drums (sound wave)

smoke (light waves)
signal ties
light houses
semaphore
Flags etc.

P.K. Kankam Slide 30

Problems with Human Movement of Messages

•Transmission of signals over short distances.

•Difficulties in sending complex messages accurately.

• Time-consuming process.

P.K. Kankam Slide 31

 19th C Improvements in the Movement of
Messages
•Beginning of the 19th century
No paved roads
No railways
No telephones
No electric utilities

•Goods, services and people used

Horse power on land
Wind power on water
Walking

P.K. Kankam Slide 32

19th C Improvements in Movement of Messages
Cont’d

•Steam locomotive by George Stephenson 1814

•Photography by Joseph Nicephore Nepceans Louis Jacques

Mande Dagueerre 1820s

•First typewriter by W.A. Bust 1829

•Braille printing by Louis Braille 1829

•Telegraph invented by Samuel Morse in 1837

•Morse code by Samuel Morse 1838

•Bicycles introduced by Kirk Patrick Macmillan in 1839

P.K. Kankam Slide 33

19th C Improvements in Movement of Messages
Cont’d

•Mid 19th century

First prepaid postage stamp used in England 1840

Fax machine by Alexander Bain 1843
First commercial telegraph line established
between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington DC
1844
Fiber optic by John Tyndall 1845

P.K. Kankam Slide 34

19th C Improvements in Movement of Messages
Cont’d

•Later part of 19th century

First telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876

Fountain pen by Lewis Edson Waterman in 1884
Radar discovered by Heinrich Hertz in 1887
Internal combustion engine (diesel engine) by Rudolf
Diesel 1892
Radio by Guglielmo Marceni 1895 range of 100
metres

P.K. Kankam Slide 35

20th Century Innovations in Movement of
Messages
More information-related inventions occurred;
First airship launched by Count Ferdinand Vonzeppehin
1900.
Aeroplane by the Wright brothers 1903.
Radio voice transmission by Lee De Forest 1906.
Color photography by Auguste and Louis Lumiere 1907.
gyrocompass for aircraft navigation by Elmer A. Sperry
1908.
Talking motion pictures by Thomas Edison 1910.
P.K. Kankam Slide 36
 20th Century Innovations in Movement of Messages
Cont’d
• First electrical ignition system for the automobile industry by Charles Franklin
Kettering 1912.

• Carthoderary pulse from urlid television developed by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin

1929.

• Mechanical television which preceded television as we know it now by John Logie

Baird in 1929.

• First broadcast of a television programme made by BBC 1930.

• Car radio by Paul Gavin 1929.

• FM radio by Edwin Howard Armstrong 1933.

P.K. Kankam Slide 37

20th Century Innovations in Movement of Messages
Cont’d
•First photocopier by Chester F. Cavlson 1937.

•Ballpoint pen by Ladislo Biro 1938.

•First software controlled computer by John Atanasoff and

Clifford Berry 1942.

•Cellular phone first conceived in 1947.

•Video tape recorder (VTR) by Charles Guisburg 1951.

P.K. Kankam Slide 38

20th Century Innovations in Movement of Messages
Cont’d

•Modem in 1958
•Audio cassette in 1962
•Video disc in 1963
•ARPANET in late 1960s
•Internet in 1980s
•WWW in 1991
•VCR introduced in 1970

P.K. Kankam Slide 39

20th Century Innovations in Movement of Messages
Cont’d

•Microprocessor in 1971

•Ink-jet and laser printer in mid 1970s

•MS-DOS and IBM-PC in 1981

•CDs n CD players in 1982

•DVD players first marketed in 1996

•First mp3 players came in 1998

P.K. Kankam Slide 40

Lecture Summary

•This session looked at the evolution of communication

systems from oral tradition through writing to publishing and
telecommunications.

Slide 41
Activity 7.2.1

•Trace the development of communication systems for

transmission of information.

Slide 42
Activity 7.2.2

•Explain how the differences in information transfer through

various communication systems have affected the use of
information in society.

Slide 43
References

• Baldwin, R. (2018). The great convergence: Information

technology and the new globalization. In The great
convergence. Harvard University Press.

• Baller, S., Dutta, S., & Lanvin, B. (2016). Global information

technology report 2016. Geneva: Ouranos.

• Robins, K., & Webster, F. (2020). The Long History of the

Information Revolution: The Long History Of The
Information Revolution. In The information society reader (pp.
62-80). Routledge.

P.K. Kankam Slide 44

 INFS 111:
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 8 - CURRENT TRENDS IN

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

2023 / 2024 Academic Year

Session Overview

Change in the technological environment of information

generation, transfer and use is occurring at a rapid pace such
that it is becoming difficult to keep pace with the rate of change.
This session is a follow-up discussion on the functions and use of
technology to create, read, transmit, solve and retrieve data and
information

P.K. Kankam Slide 2

Session Objectives

By the end of this session, the student should be able to:

Identify current information technology used to create,
read, store, retrieve and transmit data and information.
Discuss the most critical current problems of information
technology.

P.K. Kankam Slide 3

 Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are:

01 02 03 04 05
The Data Information Information Interactive
Technological Creation Creation and Transmission Systems:
Environment in Manipulatio Storage,
and Retrieval and
Information and Conversion n Systems
Communication Creation
combined

4
Recommended Texts
•Ratheeswari, K. (2018). Information communication
technology in education. Journal of Applied and
Advanced Research, 3(1), 45-47.

•Wu, J., Guo, S., Huang, H., Liu, W., & Xiang, Y. (2018).
Information and communications technologies for
sustainable development goals: state-of-the-art, needs
and perspectives. IEEE Communications Surveys &
Tutorials, 20(3), 2389-2406.

Slide 5
TOPIC The Technological Environment in Information and
1 Communication

P.K. Kankam Slide 6

The Technological Environment in Information and
Communication
•The technological environment in information and
communication changes so rapidly that it is difficult to keep
up and label the changes as current. E.g.
Cellular phone technology
Apple iPhones
Samsung Galaxy
Nokia
One Plus
Google Pixel
TECNO

P.K. Kankam Slide 7

TOPIC
2 DATA CREATION AND CONVERSION

P.K. Kankam Slide 8

Real-time Monitoring Systems

•Real-time monitoring is a form of technology that allows for the

continuous tracking and analysis of data.

•So, there is minimal delay between data collection and

analysis

•It enables quick detection of anomalies, performance issues

and critical events.

P.K. Kankam Slide 9

Examples of Real-time Monitoring Systems

Pulse oximetry
Thermometer
Telemetry monitors
On-line electronic cardiography
Server and data center management

P.K. Kankam Slide 10

Military or Police or Security Applications

Motion detection
Polygraph
Home alarm systems

P.K. Kankam Slide 11

Environmental Systems

Soil Moisture Sensors

Air Quality Monitors
GPS tracking systems
Traffic Management Systems
Public toilets: Use of motion detectors to trigger
automated flushing.
The Internet of Things: IoT-based environmental
sensors.
Water Quality Monitoring

P.K. Kankam Slide 12

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

•There are numerous applications for data creation,

conversion and reading;
Machine translations

•Expert systems
systems used to interpret, predict, and recommend actions
based on the data being monitored.

•Interpretation of information;
•Medical diagnostic
•AI is used to eliminate potential diseases
•Cybersecurity

P.K. Kankam Slide 13

Artificial Intelligence (AI) cont’d…

•Virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa

•Recommendation systems used in e-commerce platforms

•Fraud detection in financial institutions

•Autonomous vehicles (Self-Driving Cars)

•Natural Learning Programmes (NLP) for chatbots and

customer service

•Image and facial recognition in security systems

•Medical diagnosis and healthcare systems

P.K. Kankam Slide 14

Social Media

•Social media also help to continuously track and analyze

data.

•For example
X (Twitter) algorithm tailors content in feeds based on
engagement, showing trending posts more prominently.

On Facebook, organizations monitor the performance of

their posts, measure user interactions, and understand
audience demographics.

Instagram Stories and live videos provide instantaneous

content sharing and viewer feedback
P.K. Kankam Slide 15
TOPIC Information Creation and Manipulation
3
Systems

P.K. Kankam Slide 16

Information Creation and Manipulation
•The modern technology environment offers a wide range of
systems designed to create, manipulate and analyze data
and information

•Examples of these systems include;

Cloud Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Smart Devices (Digitization)
Social Media
Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc.)

P.K. Kankam Slide 17

TOPIC
4 Information Transmission

P.K. Kankam Slide 18

Information Transmission
•The internet has fundamentally altered the way information is
shared and accessed.

•It acts as a global medium that enables the quick and

unlimited interchange of knowledge and information, linking
individuals and organizations worldwide in ways that were
previously imagined.

•The ability to send enormous volumes of data nearly

immediately has caused significant changes in commerce,
communication, education, and entertainment, encouraging
new types of engagement and collaboration.
P.K. Kankam Slide 19
Information Transmission

Examples of these systems include;

Email services

Social Media

Cloud computing services

Collaboration tools (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc)

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

P.K. Kankam Slide 20

Storage and Retrieval: Electronic Databases

•Examples include;
Cloud computing services (Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud
etc.)
Electronic databases (Oracle, MySQL)
Digital Libraries (Google Books, Internet Archive)
Data Warehouses
Online databases (JSTOR, OPACS, EBSCOhost)

P.K. Kankam Slide 21

TOPIC INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS: Storage,
5 Retrieval and Creation combined

P.K. Kankam Slide 22

Interactive Systems
•Interactive systems provide real-time interaction between the
user and the system, giving instant feedback to the user’s
input.

•Historically, systems used to record and provide access to

information were static.

•Today, there are interactive systems that allow for creation,

storage and retrieval at the same time.

P.K. Kankam Slide 23

Interactive Systems cont’d…

•Interactive systems provide real-time interaction between the

user and the system, giving instant feedback to the user's
input.
E-Learning Platforms (Sakai)
VR
Computer games
Blogs
WIKIs
Wikipedia
P.K. Kankam Slide 24
Difficulty in Preserving Digital Documents

•Data loss

•File format challenges

•Fragility of storage media

•Accessibility

•Security and privacy concerns (Hacking, Malware attacks,

etc.)

•Lack of standards

•Copyright issues

P.K. Kankam Slide 25

Lecture Summary

•This session examined the use of technology to create, read,

transmit, solve and retrieve data and information

Slide 26
Activity 7.1

•Identify some current information technology used to create,

read, store, retrieve and transmit data and information.

Slide 27
Activity 7.2

•Discuss the most critical current problems of information

technology.

Slide 28
References

• Ratheeswari, K. (2018). Information communication technology in

education. Journal of Applied and Advanced research, 3(1),
45-47.

• Wu, J., Guo, S., Huang, H., Liu, W., & Xiang, Y. (2018).
Information and communications technologies for
sustainable development goals: state-of-the-art, needs and
perspectives. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials,
20(3), 2389-2406.

P.K. Kankam Slide 29

 INFS 111:
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 9 – ECONOMICS OF INFORMATION

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

2023 / 2024 Academic Year

 Session Overview

•Information is regarded as a commodity that can be sold and

bought. Information, therefore, now has economic value. Indeed,
information and economics have some common relations - for
example, the role of information in economic decision-making;
another relationship is how information activities contribute to the
economy: in our parts of the world people are hardly willing to pay
for information. People will not even buy newspapers to read
about what is happening in their society. This session will,
therefore, examine information as an economic good.

P.K. Kankam Slide 2

Session Objectives

By the end of this session, the student should be able to:

1.Define the following terms:
•Public good
•Experience good
•Private good
•Externality
•Merit good
2.Identify in a given situation whether information and information
records would be defined as a public good, private good or merit
good.
3.Identify how value for information is determined.
4.Describe the factors considered in the pricing of information and
information goods.
P.K. Kankam Slide 3
 Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are:

01 02 03 04
Information Information as Cost, Pricing Role of
and an Economic and Value of Government in
Economics Good Information the Economics
of Information

4
Reading List

• Campbell, D. E. (2018). Incentives: Motivation and the economics

of information. Cambridge University Press.

• Diaz, A., Schöggl, J. P., Reyes, T., & Baumgartner, R. J. (2021).

Sustainable product development in a circular economy:
Implications for products, actors, decision-making support and
lifecycle information management. Sustainable Production
and Consumption, 26, 1031-1045.

• Murphy, R. S. (2017). Property rights in personal information: An

economic defense of privacy. In Privacy (pp. 43-79). Routledge.
P.K. Kankam Slide 5
 TOPIC
1 Information and Economics

P.K. Kankam Slide 6

Information and Economics

Information and Economics are connected on several levels:

•Information in economic decision making

needed to make decisions that affect the economy buy and sell
decisions in the stock market.

•Contribution of information activities to the economy

% of GNP attributable to information production and use

P.K. Kankam Slide 7

Information and Economics Cont’d

•Indicator of an information society

% of workforce engaged in information work

•Information itself as an economic factor

as an economic good that can be bought and sold in the market place

P.K. Kankam Slide 8

 TOPIC
2 Information as an Economic Good

P.K. Kankam Slide 9

 Information as an Economic Good

•Can be viewed as a public good;

used by many at the same time
does not deplete by use
use by an individual does not lessen the amount available to others
it may or may not be difficult to exclude others or non-players from the
benefit of the good e.g. national defense
Possible to exclude individuals from access.
Possible to provide information according to the preferences of
individual consumers and sell in the marketplace.

P.K. Kankam Slide 10

Information as an Economic Good cont’d…

•Can be viewed as a private good;

good used by one person
acquired to increase personal satisfaction, e.g. an item of clothing
Societal provision of information to a certain level.
Established through political process.

P.K. Kankam Slide 11

Information as an Economic Good cont’d…

•Can be viewed as merit good.

A private good that society believes is important enough to supply
publicity

Examples of merit goods include education, health care, welfare

services, housing, fire protection, refuse collection and public parks.

Society interferes with market mechanisms and supplies with private

funds e.g. education

P.K. Kankam Slide 12

 TOPIC
3 Cost, Pricing and Value of Information

P.K. Kankam Slide 13

Cost of Information

•As a private good users of information should pay the full

cost;
Total cost of production.
Access to the information.

•In practice, most users pay only for access to the information.
Others pay for the container of information and not the
information itself.

P.K. Kankam Slide 14

Pricing of Information

•Difficult to price information goods and services;

Production cost: incurred by a business when it

manufactures a product or provides a service.

Overhead cost: the ongoing costs to operate a

business but excludes the direct costs associated
with creating a product or service.

Profit margins: represents the portion of a

company's sales revenue that it gets to keep as a
profit, after subtracting all of its costs.

P.K. Kankam Slide 15

Value of Information

•To access the real value of information, one has to

experience it

P.K. Kankam Slide 16

Ways to Define the Value of Information

•Exchange value
Amount one is willing to pay for the information in the marketplace.

•Apparent value
Investment in energy and time and opportunity cost that the consumer
is willing to make.

•Value in use
Using the actual value of the information in the situation in which it is
used by the individual.

P.K. Kankam Slide 17

TOPIC
Role of Government in the Economics of
4 Information

P.K. Kankam Slide 18

Potential Roles of Government

•Two major potential roles of government;

Fostering the development of information.

Equalization of access to information.

P.K. Kankam Slide 19

Development of Information

•Creation, generation, production, and

dissemination of information

•Infrastructure development

•Grants or other support

•Regulation

P.K. Kankam Slide 20

Equalization of Information

•Formal education

•Public libraries

•Deposit libraries

•World Wide Web

•Direct payment to individuals

P.K. Kankam Slide 21

Lecture Summary

•This session examined how information can be seen as an

economic good

Slide 22
Activity 8.1

•Define the following terms:

Public good
Experience good
Private good
Externality
Merit good

•Identify in a given situation whether information and

information records would be defined as a public good,
private good or merit good.
Slide 23
Activity 8.2

•Identify how value for information is determined.

•Describe the factors considered in the pricing of information

and information goods.

Slide 24
References

• Campbell, D. E. (2018). Incentives: Motivation and the economics

of information. Cambridge University Press.

• Diaz, A., Schöggl, J. P., Reyes, T., & Baumgartner, R. J. (2021).

Sustainable product development in a circular economy:
Implications for products, actors, decision-making support and
lifecycle information management. Sustainable Production
and Consumption, 26, 1031-1045.

• Murphy, R. S. (2017). Property rights in personal information: An

economic defense of privacy. In Privacy (pp. 43-79). Routledge.

P.K. Kankam Slide 25

 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 10 – INFORMATION AND NATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kwaku Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)
Session Overview

This session introduces some ideas on how information

can be used for national development.

Slide 2
Session Objectives

At the end of the session, you should be able to:

explain how information can be used for national development
discuss the role of information in agriculture development
explain the impact of information on national development
state the legal aspects of information for national development

Slide 3
 Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are:

01 02 03 04 05
Managing The Role of Information Education and Legal Aspects
Information Information and and Socio- of Information
Communication for
for National Technology (ICT) Agricultural Economic
Development Development Development Development

4
Recommended Texts
• Adu, E. O., Emunemu, B. O., & Oshati, T. (2014). The role of
information and communication technology (ICT) and higher
education in sustainable development. Journal of
Communication, 5(2), 181-190.

• Ezeani, N. S., & Falade, C. A. (2018). Information and

communication technology (ICT): A veritable tool for national
development. Nigerian Journal of Business Education
(NIGJBED), 5(2), 165-174.

• Fägerlind, I., & Saha, L. J. (2016). Education and national

development: A comparative perspective. Elsevier.

• Szirmai, A. (2015). Socio-economic development. Cambridge

University Press.

Slide 5
TOPIC
1
Managing Information for National
Development

Slide 6
National Development

•National development is the capacity of the country to raise

the standard of living of its residents (National Planning
Commission, 2013).

•It can be achieved by providing individuals with basic

livelihood requirements and supplying them with
employment, among others.

•Development is a process that creates growth and brings in

progress and positive change.

Slide 7
National Development cont’d…

•Two aspects of development are

Economic growth or increase in people’s income.
Social progress includes literacy, health and the provision of public
services.

Slide 8
Components of National Development

•The components of national development are as follows

Development of rural areas
Increasing agricultural outputs
Enlargement of economic knowledge
Handling of growth in urban areas
Eradication of poverty
Managing population increase in highly populated areas

Slide 9
Need to Manage Information for National Development

•The information explosion.

•Producers of information.
Do not only inform the consumers but also persuade them.

•Makes it easier to know who has what, thereby leading to

information sharing.

•Enables society to build a good foundation as there is a better

knowledge of the world around us.

Slide 10
Ways by which Information can be Managed for National
Development
• Acceptance of information as an important national resource
Firstly, information has to be acknowledged to be a vital resource to the nation

• Equipping information
Provide the necessary tools and system to ensure information is accessed and
managed well

• Ability to identify, locate and obtain local information for the

use of the people as well as foreign sources of information

Slide 11
Ways by which Information can be Managed for National
Development
•A survey of the information needs of the people.
Understanding the kind of information the people will need will inform
proper measures to manage such information

•The compilation of national bibliographies and national

union catalogues.
These are key to finding local information

Slide 12
TOPIC The Role of Information and
2 Communication Technology (ICT)

Slide 13
Definition and Purpose
•Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
systems for producing, storing, sending and retrieving digital files.
These files can contain text, sounds and images, both still and moving.

•Telecommunications and Computer Technologies

the latest channels for the transmission of information to users.

They have revolutionized the whole process of information provision

• information revolution
• information age
• information economy
• information society

Slide 14
Challenges in the use of ICT in Africa

• Insignificant computer hardware and software manufacturing

industry in Africa.

• Inadequate maintenance facilities for ICTs.

• High rate of illiteracy in Africa.

• Poor telecommunication services.

• Lack of foreign exchange to import ICT equipment and spare parts.

• Low electricity generating capacities.

Slide 15
TOPIC Information and Agricultural
3
Development

Slide 16
Importance of Agriculture in Ghana

•Mainstay of the Ghanaian economy.

•Contributes to about half of the Gross Domestic Product

(GDP) and absorbs about 65% of the labour force.

•The country has three main vegetational zones.

The savannah grassland in the northern belt

The coastal

Tropical forest

Slide 17
Types of Agricultural Information

•Technical/Scientific information
Information about new technologies and new procedures in agriculture

•Commercial information
Information concerning where to sell their produce and prices

•Social information
Information regarding new trends in society

•Legal information
Information about laws, their rights, and employment, among others

Slide 18
Obstacles to Agricultural Information Provision in Ghana

•High level of illiteracy.

Most of the farmers especially in rural areas cannot read and write

•Low usage of radio and television sets.

•Inadequate number of personnel trained in agricultural

information.

•Inadequate Agricultural information centres

•Limited skills in accessing information

• Inadequate information resources

Slide 19
TOPIC Education and Socio-Economic
4 Development

Slide 20
The “Information for All” Programme
•The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
everyone has a right to education.

•United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organisations (UNESCO)
The agency of the United Nations contributing to building
peace through international cooperation in education, the
sciences and culture

•International Federation of Library Association and

Institutions, (IFLA).
the leading international body representing the interests of
library and information services and their user
Slide 21
The “Information for All” Programme

•The Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC)

programme
The purpose of UBC is to comprehensively preserve all
documentary heritage

•The Universal Availability of Publications (UAP)

programme
a programme to improve the national and international
provision and supply of publications

Slide 22
The Advantages of Reading

• Social Values
achieving measurable outcomes that will be beneficial for society and
the local community

• Linguistic Values
vocabulary acquisition

• Intellectual Values
Expand your knowledge of the world and open your mind to different
ideas which may challenge your own and cause us to view things in a
different light

• Moral Values
Set standards, and can discipline core values and can help shape
people into who they are.

Slide 23
Factors that Discourage Reading for Pleasure in Africa

•Predominance of the oral culture in Africa

•English as a second language

•Foreign-based contents of books

•Lack of book-buying habits

•Social factors such as housing

•Poor teaching methodologies

•Preference for television

•Electronic means of information

Slide 24
Solutions to Poor Reading Habits
•More books should be written, based on the African
background.

•Teachers should use methodologies that encourage students

to read.

•More local language materials should be produced.

•Attention should be given to children’s libraries.

•Reading should be made compulsory in all basic schools.

Slide 25
Socio-Economic Development

•Socioeconomic development is generally viewed as

improvements in the living standards of individuals and
communities – or simply, as the achievement of a better
life

•Socio-economic development incorporates public concerns

in developing social policy and economic initiatives.

Slide 26
Importance of Information in Socio-Economic Development

•African countries are becoming increasingly aware of

the fact that information is an indispensable factor in
their socio-economic development:

• The designation of 19th November every year as

African Information Day by the Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers responsible
for planning and social development.

Slide 27
Sources of Information for Socio-Economic Development

Domestic and international sources

Government Ministries and Departments

Universities and Research Institutes

Non-Governmental
•Foreign embassies
•Regional and sub-regional organizations
•International information systems
•International conferences and seminars

Slide 28
Problems of Information Access in Africa
• Difficulties in accessing the information.
Lack of proper reporting by information professionals
• leads to misinformation and hampering socio-economic planning
The concept of confidentiality of information

• Lack of proper documentation

• Lack of awareness

• Information explosion

• Bibliographic obstacle

• Cost for Users

• Poor infrastructure

Slide 29
TOPIC Legal Aspects of Information for
5 Development

Slide 30
Intellectual Freedom and Copyright

Intellectual freedom Copyright

• Means that people have both • The sole right of preventing the
the freedom and the right to copying of a physical material
think as they like and say what existing in the body of
they please, without knowledge. It must be noted
governmental interference, that copyright is concerned only
except where there is possible with the prevention of
danger to others in the reproduction of physical
community.

Slide 31
Definition and Purpose of Censorship

Definitions Types of censorship

• Censorship is the attempt to • Religious Censorship
restrict the types of materials
that are disseminated to the
• Political Censorship
public.

• Moral Censorship

• Crime and Violence

Slide 32
Lecture Summary

•This session examined how information can aid in national

development and its contribution to agriculture, education
and socio-cultural development

Slide 33
Activity 10.1

•Explain how information can be used for national

development

•Discuss the role of information in agriculture development

Slide 34
Activity 10.2

•Explain the impact of information on national development

•State the legal aspects of information for national

development

Slide 35
References
• Adu, E. O., Emunemu, B. O., & Oshati, T. (2014). The role of
information and communication technology (ICT) and higher
education in sustainable development. Journal of
Communication, 5(2), 181-190.

• Avdeev, V. A., Avdeeva, O. A., Shagieva, R. V., Smirnova, V. V.,

Mashkin, N. A., & Taradonov, S. V. (2020). The mechanism of
legal regulation in the conditions of globalization and formation
of information environment. Regional aspect. Journal of
Environmental Management and Tourism, 10(7), 1517-1521.

• Bellon, M. R., Kotu, B. H., Azzarri, C., & Caracciolo, F. (2020). To

diversify or not to diversify, that is the question. Pursuing
agricultural development for smallholder farmers in marginal
areas of Ghana. World Development, 125, 104682.

Slide 36
References
• Ezeani, N. S., & Falade, C. A. (2018). Information and communication
technology (ICT): A veritable tool for national development. Nigerian
Journal of Business Education (NIGJBED), 5(2), 165-174.

• Fägerlind, I., & Saha, L. J. (2016). Education and national development: A

comparative perspective. Elsevier.

• National Planning Commission. (2013). National development plan vision

2030.

• Ramadani, L., Breidbach, C. F., & Kurnia, S. (2023). Investigating

information and communication technology‐enabled national
development as a multi‐level social process. Information Systems
Journal, 33(1), 130-153.

• Szirmai, A. (2015). Socio-economic development. Cambridge University

Press.

Slide 37
 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 11 – NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kwaku Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)
Session Overview

The session introduces students to some ideas on the

essence of having a national information policy

Slide 2
Session Objectives

At the end of this session, students should be able to:

•Understand The Right to Information

•Discuss how Information can be seen as a National Resource

•Know the need for a National Information Policy

•State the Stakeholders in the Development of Information

Policy

•Discuss the African Information Society Initiative

Slide 3
 Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are:

01 02 03 04 05
Policy and Information The Need for Stakeholders in The African
Right to as a National a National the Information
Information Resource Information Development of Society
Policy Information Initiative
Policy

4
 Recommended Texts
•Adu, K. K. (2018). The paradox of the right to information law
in Africa. Government Information Quarterly, 35(4), 669-674.

•Gilmour, A. F., & Jones, N. D. (2020). Policies that define

instruction: A systematic review of states’ and districts’
recommendations for evaluating special educators.
Educational Researcher, 49(9), 645- 655.

Slide 5
TOPIC
Policy and Right to Information
1

Slide 6
What is a policy?

Generally:
A public statement of intention that is usually (but not always)
formalized and clearly expressed by a government, institution or other
organizational entity, a social group or club, or even an individual
practising a profession.

Information policies:
As a class or subset of policies in general; in other words, information
policies deal with some component of the production, organization,
retrieval and communication of data/information within an enterprise or
a country.

Slide 7
What is Policy Cont’d

National information policy:

A blueprint that is expected to guide a society (e.g., a nation) in its
progress towards the ‘knowledge’ economy or information society.

A set of decisions taken by government, through appropriate laws and

regulations, to orient the harmonious development of information
transfer activities, in order to satisfy the information needs of a country
(Kisiedu,1988)

Slide 8
Right to Information

•The Right to Information is recognized internationally as

one of the Universal Human Rights.
Reflected in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana;
•Article 21 Section 1 Clause f of the 1992 Constitution.

•It enjoins government Ministries, Departments and

Agencies (MDAs).

•Makes it the responsibility of governments to provide

access to such information through the mandatory
provision of a Right to Information Law.

Slide 9
The Right to Information Versus Availability of Information

•Critical shortage of information in most Sub-Saharan

African countries.
literature on national information policy indicates that a
great deal of information is available but it is difficult to
identify and access it for use because of;
•insufficient and inefficient levels of cooperation among
libraries in Ghana
•Inadequate information structures on the ground
•inefficient information management practices
•ignorance of the public of its right to information
•some government and institutional laws and
regulations that tend to block access to information

Slide 10
TOPIC
2 Information as a National Resource

Slide 11
Access to Information as a Human Right

•Information is the basis of knowledge and has been declared

as a human right by the United Nations.
• Human beings need information for the many daily decisions and
for leading a meaningful life.
• Every modern enterprise needs to acquire not just any information
but sound information, and use it intelligently in order to gain a
competitive edge over its rivals.

•Information has also been declared as a public good.

• Published information should be made available in the public
domain for anybody who needs to use it, without let or hindrance.

• Information is also required for professional services and for

socio-cultural development.

Slide 12
Information is Indispensable and has Value

•Information is indispensable in national development.

it is required in the rational use of :
•National Resources

•The development of human resources

•Scientific and technological advancement

•Progress in agriculture, industry and commerce

•The blooming of culture and enhancement of social

well-being

Slide 13
Managing Information as a Resource

•Every enterprise or resource has four objectives in mind

when it acquires, processes, stores, utilizes or distributes and
disposes of unwanted resources.

These objectives are to:

• Obtain the resource as cheaply as possible.

• Maximize the value obtained from using the resource.

• Ensure a constant, uninterrupted supply of the resource.

• Make somebody accountable or responsible for the

achievement of the foregoing objectives.

Slide 14
African Initiatives

•African organizations

African Union (AU)

• Development projects should have an information component.

Pan African Development Information System (PADIS)

• Centralized bibliographic database of development information.

The African Information Society Initiative (AISI)

• Provision of an ICT-based framework for accelerating Africa’s entry into the
information society.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organisations (UNESCO)

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

Slide 15
The Way Forward
•African countries should;
Revive the information policy debate that has been ongoing since
the 1980s.

Take into consideration the increasingly dominant role of the ICTs

in information management.

Pursue The AISI’s ICT-led agenda to its logical conclusion.

•Librarians should;
Widen the scope of stakeholders to include not just information
personnel but also scientists, researchers, policymakers, planners
and even ordinary information users.

Establish systems and services that make this vital commodity

(information accessible to the user when he/she needs it, and with
little or no wastage of his/her time.
Slide 16
TOPIC
3 The Need for a National Information Policy

Slide 17
Rationale for Information Policy Development

•In the African context the need for policies on information is

urgent because;

Africa needs to overcome fundamental information problems of;

• Weak or non-existent physical infrastructures.

• Shortage of qualified personnel.

• Insufficient awareness by African bureaucrats and policymakers

of the true relevance of information in decision-making,
problem-solving and national development.

• Chronic lack of funds for and indifferent funding of information

programmes.

Slide 18
Fundamental Information Problems: Obstacles in
the Way of NIP Development
•Government officials and decision-makers
Lack of knowledge on the usefulness of information.

•The library profession

Low image, and the lack of success in preparing project plans.

The national information services and systems are usually

based on a single, under-resourced, under-staffed,
underdeveloped final point (such as the Ghana Library Board).

•Lack of national information policy

Slide 19
Impact of the New Technologies, its Positives and
Negatives
•The positives
Enable new knowledge to be produced, organized, packaged,
retrieved, transmitted and applied, together with old knowledge,
speedily and with ease.

Cyberspace

Web (www)

Virtual learning (e-based Distance Education: learning from the home

or office).

• The negatives
Criminal fraud activities on the Internet

Slide 20
TOPIC Stakeholders in the Development of
4 Information Policy

Slide 21
Everybody is a Player in the Policy Formulation Process

•Government, (lead player)

•The information industry (information professionals

and institutions)

•Information users (current and potential)

•Professional associations and societies

•Industry groups

•Educational institutions (including schools, colleges,

universities, etc.)
Slide 22
Everybody is a Player in the Policy Formulation Process

•Health institutions

•Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s)

•Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)

•Private citizens

•Consumer protection groups

Slide 23
Scope of Policies
• Broad Policy Scope;
Involves all sectors pooled together in a comprehensive whole.

Offers government the advantages of setting broad policy objectives that

will cover the different national information institutions and activities.

May be difficult to achieve in the short term.

• Narrow Policy Scope;

Involves the development of partial policies for sub-sectors
e.g.
•agriculture
•education
•environment
•Health
•ICT

Slide 24
Linkages of NIP with Other Policy Areas

•National information policy interfaces with many sectors

of a nation’s economy and policies. E.g.
Education policy:

Science and technology policy

Public and state security policy

General legal System

Overall Economic Policy

Taxation Policy

Slide 25
Stages of the NIP Process and its Major Players

•Informatics Policies in Africa identified the following

stages:
Goal setting
Problem identification
Policy development
 Policy implementation and
Policy review.

Slide 26
Stages of the NIP Process and its Major Players

•UNESCO’s guidelines has also identified the following

four:
Policy assessment, decision and approval
Policy planning and strategizing
Policy implementation and
Policy housekeeping- additions, deletions and changes.

Slide 27
TOPIC
5 The African Information Society Initiative (AISI)

Slide 28
Rationale or Need for AISI

The External Factors The Internal Factors

• 400 years of slavery • Senseless Coups d’Etat, civil
wars and conflicts
• Over 100 years of colonialism
• Dictatorship, tyranny and
• A huge debt burden oppression

• Unequal terms of trade • Corruption and maladministration

• Gross abuse of human rights

including murder and torture etc.

Slide 29
Some Benefits to be Derived from AISI

•Agriculture and food security

•Education and research

•Health

•Gender and development

•Trade and commerce

Slide 30
Implementation of AISI: Challenges and
Achievements
•Stakeholders

•Implementation Plan

•Challenges

•Achievements

•Impact of the AISI Programme

Slide 31
Lecture Summary

•This session introduced students to the need for the National

Information Policy, the need for it and the key stakeholders
involved.

Slide 32
Activity 11.1

•Discuss the African Information Society Initiative

Slide 33
Activity 11.2

•Discuss how Information can be seen as a National

Resource

Slide 34
References
• Adu, K. K. (2018). The paradox of the right to information law in Africa.
Government Information Quarterly, 35(4), 669-674.

• Alla, K., Hall, W. D., Whiteford, H. A., Head, B. W., & Meurk, C. S. (2017).
How do we define the policy impact of public health research? A
systematic review. Health research policy and systems, 15(1), 1-12.

• Gawu, D. A., & Mensah, R. O. (2022). Balancing the Freedom of

Expression, Right to Information and Use of Social Media in Ghana. In
Democratic Governance, Law, and Development in Africa:
Pragmatism, Experiments, and Prospects (pp. 121-145). Cham:
Springer International Publishing.

• Gilmour, A. F., & Jones, N. D. (2020). Policies that define instruction: A

systematic review of states’ and districts’ recommendations for
evaluating special educators. Educational Researcher, 49(9), 645-
655.
Slide 35
 INFS 111: INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

Session 12
INFORMATION ETHICS

Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)

Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kankan (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)

DEPARTMENT OF
DISTANCE EDUCATION
2023/2024 Academic Year
Lecture Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

01 02 03 04
Information Ethics Professional Equitable
Ethics: sources codes of access and
Definitions,
Nature and ethics information
Scope literacy

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam Slide 2 Department of DistanceEducation
Reading List

•Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information

Science 101”. Plymouth, UK: The
Scarecrow Press Inc.
• Fallis, Don (2007). Information Ethics for
21st Century Library Professionals. Library
Hi Tech, 25(1): 23-36

Department of DistanceEducation
Session Objectives

By the end of this session, the student should be able to:

1.Understand and define the following terms:
• Values
• Code of Ethics
• Morals
• Digital Divide
• Ethics
2.Identify the following acronyms and explain the relationship of
each to information ethics: COPA CIPA FERPA HIPAA USAPA WSIS.
3.Explain the historical and current issues in information ethics.

Department of DistanceEducation
 Information Ethics: Definitions, Nature
Topic
and Scope
1

Topic One:
WHAT IS INFORMATION?

2022/2023 Academic Year

 Definition and Related Terms
• Ethics -- the code of moral principles that sets standards of good or bad,
right or wrong, in one’s conduct and thereby guides the behaviour of a
person (J. Fischer, 2004).

• Value -- principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is

important in life (Oxford dictionary).

• Morals -- standards of behaviour; principles of right and wrong;

differentiation of what is proper and improper.

• Code of ethics -- a code of ethics sets forth values, ethical principles, and
ethical standards to which professionals aspire and by which their actions
can be judged. (National Association of Social Workers)

Jan Houghton, Jennifer Berryman, in Libraries in the Twenty-First Century, 2007

Information Ethics
• Information ethics is concerned with ethical, legal and societal
aspects of using information and information and communication
technologies. (UNESCO)
• The branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the
creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and
the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct
in society. (Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science
https://odlis.abc-clio.com/#informationethics)
• Information ethics is a field of applied ethics that addresses the
uses and abuses of information, information technology, and
information systems for personal, professional, and public decision
making… [It] provides a framework for critical reflection on the
creation, control, and use of information. It raises questions about
information ownership and access to intellectual property, the
rights of people to read and to explore the world wide web as they
choose. (encyclopedia.com)

Ms. Rita Agbodza, Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoil,

Dr. Philip Kankam SLIDE 7 Department of DistanceEducation
Nature of Information Ethics

•Information ethics are extremely complex

•Complexity compounded by constant change

in technology
•challenges to privacy
•computer hackers
•creation of new professions
•new ways of performing old tasks

Department of DistanceEducation
 Scope of Information Ethics
• Information-as-resource ethics
This covers moral issues arising from “the triple A”: availability,
accessibility and accuracy of informational resources,
independently of their format, kind and physical support. Other
examples of Information-as-resource ethics, are the so-called
digital divide, the problem of infoglut, and the analysis of the
reliability and trustworthiness of information sources.
• Information-as-product ethics
This may cover moral issues arising, for example, in the
context of accountability, liability, libel legislation, testimony,
plagiarism, advertising, propaganda, misinformation
Source: Floridi, L. (2006). Information ethics, its nature and scope. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society,
36(3), 21-36.(https://philarchive.org/archive/FLOIEI)

Department of DistanceEducation
 Scope of Information Ethics (contd.)

• Information-as-target ethics
This includes breach of someone’s information privacy or
confidentiality. Hacking, understood as the unauthorised
access to a (usually computerised) information system, is
another good example. Other issues here include security,
vandalism (from the burning of libraries and books to the
dissemination of viruses), piracy, intellectual property, open
source, freedom of expression, censorship, filtering and
contents control

Source: Floridi, L. (2006). Information ethics, its nature and scope. ACM SIGCAS Computers
and Society,
36(3), 21-36.(https://philarchive.org/archive/FLOIEI)

Department of DistanceEducation
 Topic
Ethics Sources
2

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 11

Ethics Sources

•Transcendent to human beings

•Human base which may be individual or

social models of ethical sources

Department of DistanceEducation
 Models of Ethical Sources
Multiple Sources
Social Basic
Higher Authority Morals Folkways
Norms Norm

Religion Morals Ethics Law

Single Sources

Religion Morals Ethics Law

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful SLIDE 13 Department of DistanceEducation

 Topic
Professional Codes of Ethics
3

Prof Unknow & Dr Grateful 2022/2023 Academic Year SLIDE 14

Professional Codes of Ethics

•Intellectual freedom
The American Library Association (ALA) Code of Ethics states,
"We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all
efforts to censor library resources." Bu that commitment
conflicts with the values of those who challenge the availability
of some books in school and public libraries.
•Protecting users right to privacy/ confidentiality
•Intellectual property right
•Professional neutrality
•Preservation of the cultural record
•Equity of access

Department of DistanceEducation
Professional Codes of Ethics (contd.)

• A code of ethics cannot guarantee ethical behavior, nor

can it resolve all ethical issues or disputes or capture
the richness and complexity involved in striving to make
responsible choices within a moral community. Rather,
it provides the aspirations and values of the professional
body which then guides decision-making.
• In general terms, professional codes of ethics have a
range of purposes including socializing members into
the values of the professional group, providing the
broader community with an indication of what the
profession represents and raising awareness of ethical
issues. (Houghton & Berryman, 2007)
Department of DistanceEducation
Issues in Information Ethics

• Privacy
• personal privacy

• Cultural differences
• different treatment of private person/public person

• Workplace privacy
• background check of employees, use of employer-
supplied communications

• Internet privacy issues

• easy breach of privacy on the internet
Department of DistanceEducation
Issues in Information Ethics (cont’d)
• Privacy of records
• public records
• births, marriages, deaths, asserts, convictions, real
property transfers.

• Other public records

• driver’s licenses, professional licenses, vehicle
registrations, probated wills, etc.

• Confidential records
• medical and health records
• grades and other educational records
• census data, fax, FERPA; HIPAA

Department of DistanceEducation
 Issues in Information Ethics (Cont’d)

•Communication privacy
•USAPA

•Intellectual freedom
•COPA, CIPA

Department of DistanceEducation
TOPIC
Equitable Access and Information Literacy
4

2022/2023 Academic Year

Equitable Access and Information Literacy

• Individual responsibilities
• Governmental responsibilities
• The digital divide
• Gap in understanding, capability and access to technology
Exploration of the digital revolution: two
topologies
Domestic
• ‘have’ and ‘have not’ in the country
•Countries or regions
• Information infrastructures
• Physical infrastructures
• Training and education of human resources

Department of DistanceEducation
Let’s discuss!

•What would you do when presented with

these ethical dilemmas?
o Should we put Internet filters on all the computers in a public
library (cf. Doyle2002)?
o Should we tell law enforcement officers investigating potential
terrorists what a particular patron has checked out (cf. Garoogian
1991)?
oShould we allow a homeless person that smells very bad to use
the library (cf.Baldwin 1996)?
oShould we make photocopies of an article for a class when the
school librarycannot afford multiple copies of the book itself?
oShould we put a warning label on an encyclopedia that contains
clearly inaccuratemedical information (cf. Pendergrast 1988)?

Department of DistanceEducation
References

• Debons, Anthony. (2008). “Information Science 101”.

Plymouth, UK: The Scarecrow Press Inc.

• Debons Anthony, Esther Horne and Scott Cronenweth.

(1998). Information Science: An Integrated View.
Boston, MA: G.K. Hall.

• Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. (2006). “Technology, Media &

Telecommunications.” TMT trends: Predictions, 2006,
A Focus on the Technology Sector. London: Deloitte &
Touche. Available:
www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_tmt_techpredictions2006_020206(1).pdf).

Department of DistanceEducation
References
• Lyman, P and Varari, H.R. (2003). ‘Executive summary’. How
much information? Berkeley: University of California.
School of Information Management and Systems.
Available at www.suins.merkeley.edu/refrence/profile/how-much.info-2003/execsum.

• US Census Bureau, (2006:737) No.1116. Media usage and

consumer spending; 2000-2008. No.1117. Utilization of
selected media:1980-2003; No.1265.Advertising
Estimated Expenditure1990-2004. Washington DC.
Department of Commerce. Available at
www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/obstatab/infocomm.pdf

• Organization for Economic Coorporation and Development (2006)

OECD Broadband Statistics to June 2006. Available at
www.oecd.org/docment/9/0,2340,en-2649-34223- 37529673-1-1

Department of DistanceEducation
 INFS 111
INFORMATION IN SOCIETY

SESSION 13 – INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM,

COPYRIGHT, AND CENSORSHIP
Ms. Rita Agbodza (ragbodza@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (edashie-nikoi@ug.edu.gh)
Dr. Philip Kwaku Kankam (pkkankam@ug.edu.gh)
Session Overview

Freedom of expression and freedom of information are

considered to be part of the natural rights of human feelings
and they are enforced in the United Nations Charter on human
rights. Yet, there are other equally important aspects of human
existence that seem to be in contradiction with the levels of
freedom of information and intellectual freedom. These are the
issues of copyright and censorship. In this session, the focus is
on how the issues of copyright and censorship hinder free
access to information and free speech.
Slide 2
Session Objectives

By the end of this session, the student should be able to:

Explain the terms copyright and censorship
Understand the implications of ‘fair use’ in copyright
Identify the various types of censorship
Understand the various levels of intellectual property.

Slide 3
 Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are:

01 02 03
INTELLECTUAL CENSORSHIP COPYRIGHT
FREEDOM

4
Recommended Texts

•Aceto, G., & Pescapé, A. (2015). Internet censorship

detection: A survey. Computer Networks, 83, 381-421.

•Cohen, J. E., Loren, L. P., Okediji, R. L., & O'Rourke, M. A.

(2019). Copyright in a global information economy. Aspen
Publishing.

•Leaffer, M. A. (2019). Understanding copyright law. Carolina

Academic Press.

•Magi, T., & Garnar, M. (Eds.). (2021). Intellectual freedom

manual. American Library Association.

Slide 5
TOPIC
1 INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM

Slide 6
Definition

•Freedom and the right to think without government

interference.

•Universal Declaration of Human Rights

•Article 19
•Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and
opinion
•Seek, receive and impart information ideas

Slide 7
Promotion of Intellectual Freedom

Promoted by several professions and movements;

• Education, librarianship and free software movement

•The library profession

Intellectual freedom – core responsibility

•LIS WIKI
Intellectual freedom deals with the right to say, do, and think
without restrictions
Libraries provide access to ideas no matter how unpopular

Slide 8
Promotion of Intellectual Freedom Cont’d

American Library Association (ALA)

•Right of every individual to both seek and receive
information from all points of view without restriction
(ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom, 2007)

Slide 9
Promotion of Intellectual Freedom Cont’d

IFLA:
•Urges libraries and library staff to adhere to the principles of
intellectual freedom uninhibited access to information and
freedom of expression.

•Recognition of the privacy of library users urges member

association to actively promote the acceptance and
realization of the principles of intellectual freedom.

•National Library Associations to expand the principles.

Slide 10
TOPIC
2 CENSORSHIP

Slide 11
Introduction

•Interwoven with the ideas of intellectual freedom is the

concept of censorship. ALA’s unwavering support of
intellectual freedom arose out of the censorship of
certain publications.

Slide 12
Definitions

•Deletion or excision of parts of published materials.

•Efforts to ban, prohibit, suppress, proscribe, remove,

label or restrict materials (ALA Office of Intellectual
Freedom, 2007)

•the action of preventing part or the whole of a book,

film, work of art, document, or other kind of
communication from being seen or made available to
the public, because it is considered to be offensive or
harmful, or because it contains information that
someone wishes to keep secret, often for political
reasons

Slide 13
 Definitions Cont’d
•Prohibition of distribution, circulation or display of a work by
governing authority.

•Main WIKI
• Suppression of speech or other communication which may be
considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to
the general public.

•a system in which an authority limits the ideas that people are

allowed to express and prevents books, films, works of art,
documents, or other kinds of communication from being seen
or made available to the public because they include or
support certain ideas

Slide 14
Application of Censorship

•Can occur before or after the release of a work to the public.

•Preventive censorship
Application of restraint before dissemination of the
material.

•Punitive censorship
Applying the restraint after the publication of the
material.

Slide 15
Historical Antecedents

Evidence exists in history that censorship in one form or

another has been practised in all Civilizations;

•Cato the Elder

One of the renowned censors of the Roman Empire

•Assurbanipal(668-627 BC)
 The Assyrian King removed clay tablets he
considered objectionable from the Kings’ library

Slide 16
Historical Antecedents Cont’d

Censorship in Roman Public Libraries

Emperor Julian (361-363 CE) founder of Roman libraries in
Constantinople attempted to destroy all Christian texts.

Socrates (470 to 399 BCE) promoted freedom of thinking

(intellectual freedom) and refused to allow his teaching and work
to be censored.

Plato (428 to 347 BCE) a disciple of Socrates on the other

defended censorship.

Slide 17
Types of Censorship

Different reasons exist for various types of information

censored;
Moral censorship: obscene or profane materials e.g
pornography
Military censorship: military intelligence and tactics
Political censorship: government hold back
information from their citizens

Slide 18
Types of Censorship Cont’d

•Crime and violence: restriction of books, films and

magazines that show too much violence.

•Religious censorship: suppression of materials considered

objectionable by certain faith.

•Corporate censorship: disruption of publication by editors in

corporate media of information that portray their business
negatively

Slide 19
Censorship and the Library

•Librarians are not supposed to have any forms of bias –

political, religious, moral, social etc.

•Librarians are therefore to provide all manner of materials in

whatever form to everybody.

•Most libraries receive the bulk of their funding from the

government.

•Government policy on the differentiation of information can

affect libraries.

Slide 20
Censorship and the Library

•The internet
Express users to all types of information

Controlling information on the internet is difficult

Software and programmes to block undesirable

sites

Slide 21
TOPIC
3 COPYRIGHT

Slide 22
Definition

•It is a legal concept that grants authors and artists control

over certain uses of their creations for defined periods.

•The exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or

distribute the matter and form of something (such as a
literary, musical, or artistic work)

•The legal right to control the production and selling of a book,

play, film, photograph, or piece of music:

Slide 23
Purpose of Copyright

•Copyright limits who may copy, change, perform or share

those creations.

•Copyright law encourages creativity. Allows creators to profit

from their work.

•Copyright ensures that creators are paid fairly for their effort.

•A creative work is an expression of the personality of its

creator. It must be protected from use without the permission
of the creator

Slide 24
Fair Use

•Allows for copying, without permission for teaching, study,

research, critique etc.

•A fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a

limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment
upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work.
Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.

•Fair use permits a party to use a copyrighted work without

the copyright owner’s permission for purposes such as
criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship,
or research.

Slide 25
Four Factors of Fair Use

In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular

case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such

use is commercial or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. The nature of the copyrighted work;

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used concerning

the copyrighted work as a whole;

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of
the copyrighted work.

Slide 26
The Berne Convention

• The Berne Convention, adopted in 1886, deals with the protection of

works and the rights of their authors.

• It provides creators such as authors, musicians, poets, painters etc.

with the means to control how their works are used, by whom, and
on what terms.

• It is based on three basic principles and contains a series of

provisions determining the minimum protection to be granted, as well
as special provisions available to developing countries that want to
make use of them.

• Spells out the terms of copyright.

• Signatories to the convention.

Slide 27
Implications for Libraries

•Restrictions on copying.

•Developing conventions.

Slide 28
Copyright in Ghana

•Copyright Act, Act 690, 2005.

•Much emphasis on music and film.

Slide 29
Lecture Summary

•This session examined issues of intellectual freedom,

censorship and copyright

Slide 30
Activity 12.1

•Explain the terms copyright and censorship

•What are some of the implications of ‘fair use’ in copyright

Slide 31
Activity 12.2

•Identify the various types of censorship

Slide 32
References
•Aceto, G., & Pescapé, A. (2015). Internet censorship
detection: A survey. Computer Networks, 83, 381-421.

•Cohen, J. E., Loren, L. P., Okediji, R. L., & O'Rourke, M. A.

(2019). Copyright in a global information economy. Aspen
Publishing.

•Leaffer, M. A. (2019). Understanding copyright law. Carolina

Academic Press.

•Magi, T., & Garnar, M. (Eds.). (2021). Intellectual freedom

manual. American Library Association.

Slide 33