The field of information policy: 1. Fundamental concepts

Abstract

This paper begins the task of laying the conceptual foundations for a value-critical and paradigm-critical approach to information policy argued in a 1996 Journal of Information Science article by Ian Rowlands as necessary for advancement of the field as an area of scholarship. It commences with a brief overview of the history and contemporary context of national information policy before moving to an analysis of three fundamental concepts in information policy: (i) information, (ii) policy and (iii) information policy. The paper concludes that there is a significant lack of clarity in the information policy field regarding the meaning of these concepts. There are, however, frameworks in information studies and public policy studies which can be brought together to provide input for development of an intellectually rigorous field of information policy. Some of these frameworks and how they might be applied to information policy are described. A second paper in the series is foreshadowed with an indication that it will compare the scope of information policy and policy studies research and explore methodologies for value-critical and paradigm-critical approaches to information policy.