National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design

National Information Infrastructure Initiatives includes adozen case studies analyzing how national-level policy initiatives address the challenge of information technology, interactive content, and new applications, as well as the information superhighway.

Despite the global nature of the Information Revolution, most policies for information infrastructure are developed at the national level. These national policies reflect local economic, social, historical, and political circumstances and exhibit remarkable differences in vision, policy design, and implementation strategy. In general, they reflect the reality that private sector will play the leading role in developing the new infrastructure. National Information Infrastructure Initiatives includes a dozen case studies analyzing how national-level policy initiatives address the challenge of information technology, interactive content, and new applications, as well as the information superhighway. These contributions examine the interplay of issues in different sectors, including telecommunications, broadcasting, publishing, and information technology. The national cases are supplemented with studies of regional and international initiatives that push and pull on national policies.

Brian Kahin is Senior Fellow at the Computer & Communications Industry Association in Washington, DC. He is also Research Investigator and Adjunct Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and a special advisor to the Provost's Office. He is a coeditor of Transforming Enterprise (MIT Press, 2004) and many other books.