Industrialised countries have long exported their industrial strength and applied it to other, less developed countries,often being accused of exploitation. Particularly, industrialized nations have assisted in the creation of dependent economies in developing regions of the world. While this dependency throughout the world continues in many ways, it was at its height during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century when colonialism dominated the world scene. Throughout the twentieth century many countries have managed to throw off the mantle of colonialism and assert their political independence. However, economic independence has beer very hard to obtain for many former colonial countries. The industrial might of the west seems unstoppable. Many of the positive aspects of the industrial west(e.g, improved health care, communications, and transportation)are attractive to many developing countries There exist a few success stories in which industrial or commercial development has transformed a country from one of wide-scale poverty in the mid twentieth century, to a shining example of capitalism, in which the standard of living for all citizens has risen dramatically(e.g. Hong Kong), with a quality of life easily matching hat of the West. a number of Asian countries on the Pacific Rim are following this line of progress agenda l. The problem that lingers on, however, is that the world appears dominated by a powerful Western ung people, no matter where in the world, prefer to dress in blue jeans, or western style clothes. Older people prefer to drive automobiles, adolescents prefer western music, and many--young and old--prefer the plethora of movies and television programs imported from the west. People all over the world are thus subject to a barrage of words, images and sounds that have been produced by Western culture. What makes it so powerful and Before we begin to understand the role of criminal justice information in the information age, we should first understand the of the information age, its implications for culture and life For it is the larger issues of life and culture that will shape the way in which criminal justice develops in the information age, and constrain the ways in which criminal justice information may be used and spread. Many claim that we are in the midst of an information revolution and this may be so. However, if it is a revolution it began a few thousand years ago 3. Origins of the Information Society Marshall MeCLuhan argues that the information society has developed out of a particular kind of culture which he calls alphabetic culture. McCluhan identifies three types of cultures as the forerunners of the major modern cultures throughout the world: auditory cultures, alphabetic cultures, and ideographic cultures Auditory were the original cultures; the knowledge source was the elders such as parents, neighbours, or village seniors.The transmission of knowledge was auditory (i.e, by word of mouth--folklore, stories, and songs. This was, however, an inefficient and unreliable way of storing and transmitting information. Only certain individuals had the capacity to remember the knowledge of a particular culture, and on re-telling, there was a good chance that the folklore would be changed or even forgotten. Ideographic cultures were(and are) those cultures in which knowledge was transmitted through a particular form of writing called ideographs. Ideographs are written symbols that have specific reference particular historical events and objects. Without knowledge of these events or objects, it is not possible to fully understand this type of written language. While this type of language allowed for the storing of information, it was highly specialised and required highly-educated individuals to truly understand and interpret it. Thus, it did not lend itself to wide-spread dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge, instead was the harbinger of elite educated individuals phabetic cultures probably arose out of the early hieroglyphics of the Egyptians although there is some controversy as to the actual origins of the alphabet as it appears in many languages today. However, in these cultures, the significant element is their efficiency. Letters can be used in virtually any combination to represent an object, thing or idea. They do not, as in ideographs and the earlier hieroglyphics, have to bear any resemblance at all to the object. A rough idea of the distance between object or idea and its representation as a word is provided McCLuhan, M. (1962)The Gutenberg Galary: The Making of Typographic Man.. Toronto: University of Toronto Press- 2 - McCLuhan, M. (1962) The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man.. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2 Industrialised countries have long exported their industrial strength and applied it to other, less developed countries, often being accused of exploitation. Particularly, industrialized nations have assisted in the creation of dependent economies in developing regions of the world. While this dependency throughout the world continues in many ways, it was at its height during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century when colonialism dominated the world scene. Throughout the twentieth century many countries have managed to throw off the mantle of colonialism and assert their political independence. However, economic independence has been very hard to obtain for many former colonial countries. The industrial might of the west seems unstoppable. Many of the positive aspects of the industrial west (e.g., improved health care, communications, and transportation) are attractive to many developing countries.. There exist a few success stories in which industrial or commercial development has transformed a country from one of wide-scale poverty in the mid twentieth century, to a shining example of capitalism, in which the standard of living for all citizens has risen dramatically (e.g. Hong Kong), with a quality of life easily matching that of the West. A number of Asian countries on the Pacific Rim are following this line of progress. The problem that lingers on, however, is that the world appears dominated by a powerful Western agenda. Young people, no matter where in the world, prefer to dress in blue jeans, or western style clothes. Older people prefer to drive automobiles, adolescents prefer western music, and many--young and old--prefer the plethora of movies and television programs imported from the west. People all over the world are thus subject to a barrage of words, images and sounds that have been produced by Western culture. What makes it so powerful and popular? Before we begin to understand the role of criminal justice information in the information age, we should first understand the origins of the information age, its implications for culture and life. For it is the larger issues of life and culture that will shape the way in which criminal justice develops in the information age, and constrain the ways in which criminal justice information may be used and spread. Many claim that we are in the midst of an information revolution and this may be so. However, if it is a revolution it began a few thousand years ago. 3. Origins of the Information Society Marshall McCLuhan argues that the information society has developed out of a particular kind of culture which he calls alphabetic culture. McCluhan identifies three types of cultures as the forerunners of the 2 major modern cultures throughout the world: auditory cultures, alphabetic cultures, and ideographic cultures. Auditory were the original cultures; the knowledge source was the elders such as parents, neighbours, or village seniors. The transmission of knowledge was auditory (i.e., by word of mouth--folklore, stories, and songs). This was, however, an inefficient and unreliable way of storing and transmitting information. Only certain individuals had the capacity to remember the knowledge of a particular culture, and on re-telling, there was a good chance that the folklore would be changed, or even forgotten. Ideographic cultures were (and are) those cultures in which knowledge was transmitted through a particular form of writing called ideographs. Ideographs are written symbols that have specific reference to particular historical events and objects. Without knowledge of these events or objects, it is not possible to fully understand this type of written language. While this type of language allowed for the storing of information, it was highly specialised and required highly-educated individuals to truly understand and interpret it. Thus, it did not lend itself to wide-spread dissemination of knowledge. Knowledge, instead was the harbinger of elite educated individuals. Alphabetic cultures probably arose out of the early hieroglyphics of the Egyptians although there is some controversy as to the actual origins of the alphabet as it appears in many languages today. However, in these cultures, the significant element is their efficiency. Letters can be used in virtually any combination to represent an object, thing or idea. They do not, as in ideographs and the earlier hieroglyphics, have to bear any resemblance at all to the object. A rough idea of the distance between object or idea and its representation as a word is provided