MEDIA DYNAMICS BEHIND THE GROWTH FROM INFORMATION SOCIETY TO KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Abstract

In the contemporary world, media and information have become influential to the point that they effect human lives. Today, information has become one of the main sources of power and monetary accumulation. The present paper investigates the historicity of the paradigmatic change from the oral traditions in the nascent stages of society to the present day ‘information’ oriented society. This historicity focuses on the power play of information within the evolution of society, while using it as a substrate to elucidate the UNESCO’s Moscow declaration on Media and Information Literacy for Knowledge Societies in June 2012. The paper aims to understand the urgency and need for knowledge societies, simultaneously highlighting the widening ridge between the informationally rich and informationally poor. The paper also paints a cogent picture of the current situation of the informational divide while placing it within the context of the aforementioned UNESCO’s Moscow declaration and the historicity of media and information.