Information policy, information access, and democratic participation: The national and international implications of the Bush administration's information politics

摘要

Much of information policy is focused on establishing the parameters of information access— ensuring or limiting access to certain types of information. Given how central information access is to virtually every aspect of society, policy can be seen as one of the most significant forces influencing the information society. Recent events, however, have fueled changes in the ways that some governments use policy to shape access, none more significantly than the United States. This paper examines the meanings of and relationships between policy and access, as well as their key roles in society and democratic participation. Following an examination of the historical and social impacts of policies about access, the article analyzes the perspectives of the Bush administration on how policy should shape information access as an illustration of the relationships between policy and access. The paper examines the issues raised by the Bush administration's views on access and policy and the implications of their policies for the United States, for the global information society, and for research related to information. Ultimately, the paper raises questions about the extent to which information policies about access can be used for overtly political purposes, what might be described as "information politics," without significantly altering the meaning of information access in a society.