Notes on Societal Institutions for Creation, Distribution, and Management of Information

Introduction

  • In today’s information environment, anyone with a computer and Internet can create and distribute information globally, supported by ever-growing storage at decreasing costs.
  • This raises questions: Why do institutions exist to create, distribute, and manage information? Do they still have a place in the digital world?
  • Answering these questions requires reviewing past functions, analyzing current operations, and considering rapid changes driven by technology.
  • Throughout history, individuals, institutions, and agencies have facilitated the creation, distribution, and availability of information records (the so-called "information artifacts"). These entities form the bridge between content and users (Tenopir, 1994: 33) and may also influence content formulation.
  • For an information record, multiple entities may act on it during its journey from creator to user. What matters is what each entity does to the record (alter, add value, delete, change access, increase user costs).
  • The capacity of information-creating/distributing entities to affect records has evolved with new technologies; current trends show increasing separation and then convergence (merging of functions) among agencies.
  • This chapter investigates historical development, current structures, and future changes in the institutions that create, distribute, and manage information.

Early Institutions and Processes

  • Before printed books, information records existed in tangible forms that could be shared—some transportable, some not (e.g., cathedrals, smoke signals).
  • Stable, transportable information existed in various ancient media:
    • Sumeria, Babylonia, Assyria: clay tablets, cylinders, hexagonal prisms in cuneiform; stored in earthen jars/baskets.
    • Egypt: papyrus; format was the scroll (sheets joined to required length; stored in cylinders or cubicles).
    • Eastern Mediterranean/Islands: clay, papyrus, leather; parchment and wood with wax.
    • East Asia: wood, bamboo, silk (China).
  • Dominant media shifted over time: clay/papyrus dominated until about the 4th century CE; parchment and codex became primary stable records thereafter.
  • Types of libraries in ancient societies:
    • Private libraries (wealthy households)
    • Royal/palace libraries (e.g., Assurbanipal library, Nineveh, 669–633 BCE)
    • Temple libraries/archives
    • Municipal libraries
    • Public libraries in Greek/Roman worlds
  • The greatest ancient library: Alexandria, founded in the 3rd century BCE.

Middle Ages and the Publishing Industry

  • Western Middle Ages: the church was the central institution for creating, copying, preserving, and making copies available to literate audiences.
  • Scriptorium: monks copied manuscripts by hand, illuminated texts, often copied from other monasteries or donors.
  • Work distribution evolved: monasteries, travel donations, monastic bequests.
  • As the Middle Ages progressed, commercial guilds of scribes/illuminators emerged as additional production centers.
  • Universities emerged in the 12th–13th centuries, gradually sharing center-stage with the church for creation/distribution of information.
  • Stationers’ shops became centers of book production via a system of "putting out"—parts of a book copied by various workers and paid per piece (Eisenstein, 2005: 10–11).
  • Printing with movable type revolutionized information dissemination:
    • China: woodblock printing (9th c.) and Korea (movable metal type in early 13th c.).
    • Gutenberg in Europe: movable metal type printing in the 1450s; Mazarin Bible (Gutenberg Bible), Mainz, 1455, first major European book from movable type.
  • Consequences of movable-type printing:
    • Accelerated availability of stable information records and the growth of publishing, book trade, and modern libraries.
    • Necessities for a literate population; literacy was widespread only for clergy previously; demand for vernacular Bibles and local-language works increased.
    • Books became more affordable, enabling broader dissemination.
  • Early publishers often wore multiple hats (publisher, printer, bookseller, author); over time functions specialized by product/type (textbooks, religious, scholarly, etc.).

Growth and Change in Libraries

  • Libraries in ancient times served as records repositories and, in Alexandria, as a research facility.
  • Post-Roman Empire: libraries declined in the West due to religious, social, and political pressures; function shifted toward archival repositories.
  • Renaissance revived interest in knowledge and libraries as research facilities for new universities (La Sorbonne, Heidelberg, Oxford, Cambridge).
  • 19th century: libraries established across Europe and North America; new models emerged:
    • Benjamin Franklin’s subscription library (1731) targeted at wealthy white male patrons.
    • Public libraries aimed to improve patrons; circulating libraries emerged to meet demand for popular fiction, often for-profit and accessible to women; later largely replaced by public libraries focused on broad access.
  • 20th century: libraries differentiated into four major types:
    • Academic libraries (support research and train students to use libraries)
    • Public libraries (entertain, improve, edify)
    • School libraries (curricular support in K-12)
    • Special libraries (corporate, medical, legal) serving limited/private constituencies
  • For deeper exploration: Media History Project Timeline (Fang & Ross, 1996).

Establishment of Educational Systems

  • Besides production/collection institutions, education systems sponsor creation and transfer of information across generations.
  • Key players: universities (and colleges) since 12th–13th centuries; gradually secularized and sometimes government-supported.
  • Early American colleges focused on training ministers; women’s colleges and normal schools (teacher education) emerged in the 19th century.
  • Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862: federal lands to states to establish colleges with agricultural/technical education, expanding higher education access.
  • Formal education for information professionals began in the 19th century (e.g., École Nationale des Chartes in France, 1821; first French professional diploma in 1873; US library education began with Melvil Dewey’s library school at Columbia College, 1887).
  • 20th-century expansion: broad growth of higher education systems; growth of community colleges and vocational/technical schools; state university systems expanded.
  • Educational systems provide: initial information-use skills; foundation for creating information; and incubation for research and new information generation.
  • Not all higher education emphasizes information creation, but all facilitate information use and transfer.
  • Elementary and secondary education (K–12) laid the groundwork for information use in societies; universal publicly supported education progressed mainly in the 19th–20th centuries.
  • Trend: availability of information access broadens from elites to universal education; broader access to information-use skills.

Modern Institutions: An Overview

  • Modern information institutions can be categorized by primary functions:
    1) Developing and producing information records for distribution
    2) Fostering transmission of information to future generations
    3) Developing new information
    4) Distributing information records
    5) Providing management of and access to information records
  • These categories cover a range of organizations: book/publishing, newspapers/magazines/journals, music, film, radio/TV, cable/satellite, and now Internet/online publishers.
  • The financial structures vary by category:
    • End-user pricing for consumer products (books, magazines, etc.).
    • Advertising-supported models (newspapers, magazines, radio, broadcast TV).
    • Multi-stage distribution with different pricing/tunding at each stage (e.g., films: theatres → DVD → pay channels → network TV).
  • The evolution of technology has blurred lines between content producers and distributors, and between producers and users, as new modes of access emerge.

Developing and Producing Information Records for Distribution

  • This broad category includes book publishers, newspapers/magazines/journals, recorded music, film, radio/TV, cable/satellite, and online publishers (content providers).
  • Core functions of content providers:
    • Identify information that already exists or needs to be created to meet societal demand.
    • Filter information by quality, accuracy, marketability, and other standards; decide what should be publicly available.
    • Assist content creators (authors, composers, journalists, etc.) to shape records to meet information needs and standards.
    • Arrange production of the information record in a distributable format.
    • Participate in distribution directly or via distributors (booksellers, film distributors, etc.).
  • Financing structures vary; some rely on consumer payments, others on advertising, others on staged access (e.g., film windows), and some on a mix.
  • Major industries and notes on their structure:

Book Publishers

  • Books are categorized by audience/type:
    • Trade Books: general consumer market (fiction and nonfiction); sold in bookstores and other outlets; includes backlist titles.
    • Mass Market Paperbacks: small format, cheaper bindings; often not used for library permanent collections.
    • Religious Books: Bibles, devotionals, hymnals; marketed via religious outlets or general bookstores.
    • Professional Books: for professionals (law, medicine, engineering, etc.); STM (science, technology, medicine) area; may be published by specialized publishers or departments of general publishers.
    • University Presses: scholarly works; increasingly market to wider audiences; self-supporting; number declined but potential revival via digital publishing.
    • Textbooks: elementary/secondary and college-level; content often influenced by state adoption/review boards; content tailored to education systems.
    • Subscription Reference Books: direct-mail reference works, e.g., multi-volume encyclopedias.
    • Book Clubs: distribution via clubs; preselected books; often lower-quality editions.
    • Mail-order Books: decline due to Internet retailers; tied to magazine publishers’ subscriber lists.
  • Trends:
    • Technological distribution changes: e-books, online publishing, and online distribution (e.g., Amazon, Barnes & Noble); libraries distributing e-books (NetLibrary, OCLC).
    • 1999–2004 project by university presses and learned societies to publish scholarly e-books; ~1000 titles published 2002–2006 with 250 additional/year planned.
    • Elementary/secondary textbook digitalization hindered by the digital divide; higher education textbooks show greater digital adoption; distribution models include university bookstores and ad-supported e-textbooks.
    • Mergers and acquisitions lead to media conglomerates owning multiple publishing and distribution channels.

Newspaper, Magazine, and Journal Publishers

  • Definitions:
    • Newspapers: daily/periodic; low-cost newsprint; subscription or single-copy purchase; primarily ad-supported.
    • Magazines: less frequent than newspapers; higher-quality paper; targeted audiences; ad-supported often; consumer vs. trade/specialty magazines.
    • Journals: more scholarly; may be ad-supported but usually not the primary revenue source; some disciplines charge page fees.
  • Trends:
    • Consolidation and mergers within the publishing industry and across media conglomerates.
    • Newspapers moving toward national consolidation; total number of local papers declining.
    • Magazine publishing becoming more specialized to ensure targeted readership for advertisers.
    • Journal publishing facing rising costs; push for open access and reform in scholarly communication (open access journals; open access self-archiving).
    • Open access approaches include Budapest Open Access Initiative and SPARC efforts.
    • Digital distribution expanding: full-text online, RSS feeds, etc.; varying access models from open to subscription-based.

Recorded Music Industry

  • Core functions of content providers:
    • Identify music to be created or signed artists (exclusive contracts)
    • Filter for quality, marketability, etc.
    • Shape performances/recordings to meet standards
    • Produce and replicate recordings; distribute to markets
  • Trends:
    • Oligopolistic structure historically; now controlled by four major groups (the so-called Big Four): UMG, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG (later reorganized), EMI.
    • Consolidation and vertical integration; potential shift toward digital distribution (iTunes, legal downloads, and paid online subscriptions).
    • Napster-era MP3 sharing highlighted copyright challenges; responses included legal download services and advertising-supported/free options.
    • Potential for reduced production/distribution costs via online distribution; independent artists may experiment with new models.
    • Emergence of subscription services and debates about licensing and compensating artists.

Film Industry

  • Origins in the 19th century with Edison; ongoing high up-front production costs and complex distribution (theaters, pay-per-view, cable, network TV).
  • Historically vertically integrated; by the 1930s–1970s, studios dominated production/distribution; later consolidations reduced to a handful of major players.
  • Contemporary major studios (some tied to large media conglomerates): Disney/ABC, Time Warner, Viacom, NBC Universal, Sony/Columbia, Paramount, 20th Century Fox (various ownerships).
  • Trends:
    • Increased horizontal and vertical integration; mergers across media ecosystems (film, TV, music, publishing, cable).
    • Distribution shifted from theatrical windows to digital delivery (DVD, online streaming, downloads).
    • Web delivery challenges include copyright enforcement and digital rights management.
    • International distribution remains essential for profitability.

Radio

  • Origins in the early 20th century (KDKA, 1920) with earlier foundational experiments by Marconi/Tesla/Fessenden/Armstrong/de Forest.
  • Today’s radio: market specialization; stations target niche audiences; emergence of syndicated programming and talk formats.
  • Revenue: advertising-supported; local stations rely heavily on local advertising; some premium content channels exist.
  • Trends:
    • Telecommunications Act of 1996 opened ownership to larger scales; increased consolidation but not to the same extent as other media.
    • Major groups (e.g., CBS Radio/Infinity, ABC Radio) are part of larger media conglomerates.
    • Shift from AM to FM dominance; streaming radio over the Internet and podcasting broaden delivery.
    • Subscription audio services emerged as another revenue model.

Broadcast Television

  • Origins and early growth in the 1940s; first scheduled broadcast in 1928 (Schenectady).
  • Networks expanded programming; later deregulation (late 1990s onward) shifted production back toward networks for prime-time programming.
  • Current structure shows high levels of vertical integration; local stations and networks owned by same conglomerates.
  • Technological shifts:
    • HDTV transition; digital broadcasting regulated by the FCC (analog switch-off planned for Feb 17, 2009).
    • Web-delivered programming on time-delayed or real-time basis; devices like PCs, PDAs, and smartphones enable time/space-shifting.
  • Trends:
    • Consolidation among the major networks (NBC/GE, ABC/Disney, CBS/Viacom, Fox/News Corp).

Cable and Satellite Television

  • Cable origins (CATV, 1948) to extend access where broadcast signals were weak.
  • DBS (direct broadcast satellite) provides direct-to-home content via satellite dishes.
  • Cable delivers multiple channels; revenue from subscriber packages and advertising; premium channels add extra revenue.
  • Ownership: major cable networks and their parent conglomerates often coincide with ownership of content networks (vertical integration).
  • Trends:
    • Cable networks expanding to Internet access and potentially telephone services; interactive and advanced programming opportunities.
    • Major networks unified under media conglomerates; growth of interactive and on-demand features.

Internet/Online/Web Publishers

  • Internet content range is vast: from individual bloggers to major traditional content providers leveraging the Web.
  • Business models:
    • Ad-supported, no direct cost to user
    • Free content (government or corporate use) with indirect monetization
    • Direct payment (restricted access databases like LexisNexis)
    • Subscription with some advertising
  • Distinguishing characteristics of online content:
    1) Instant global availability
    2) High interactivity potential
    3) Cross-medium searchability/findability
    4) Multimedia format potential
  • Advantages: rapid, interactive, global reach, scalable distribution.
  • Disadvantages: higher technology requirements; digital divide; lower global interface device penetration; ongoing copyright and rights-management challenges.
  • Trends:
    • Rapid growth of online content; content provision converges with user creation (mashups, user-generated content).
    • Intellectual property debates persist; digital rights management remains unsettled.
    • Budapest Open Access Initiative and SPARC promote open access to scholarly work; self-archiving and institutional repositories expand.
    • Open-access journals and self-archiving challenge traditional subscription-based scholarly publishing.

Fostering the Transmission of Information to Future Generations and Developing New Information

  • The primary institutions for transmission and development of new information are educational institutions:
    • Elementary/primary and secondary schools (K–12)
    • Higher education institutions (colleges and universities)
    • Vocational and technical schools
  • How institutions affect information:
    • Information transmission is developmentally staged; less choice at early stages, greater choice at advanced levels (e.g., Ph.D. students have broad scholarly latitude).
    • Societally constructed decisions determine what information is transmitted at each level.
  • Financial structures across countries vary:
    • Public sector: government funding via taxes; K–12 is generally tax-supported; higher education receives mixed funding.
    • Private sector: user-pays predominates; private subsidies or religious endowments may contribute; public subsidies via tax exemptions are common.
  • New information creation primarily occurs in higher education through research; universities foster a controlled environment for pursuing diverse research avenues.
  • Other sources of new information include corporate R&D and government research facilities (e.g., National Science Foundation).
  • Trends:
    • Increased use of information technologies to transmit information and teach information-use skills.
    • Higher education emphasizes targeted, workplace-relevant programs and flexible delivery (remote/online access).

The Role of the Museum and the Role of Information Ideas

  • Museums preserve tangible artifacts and, through display, create new information by recontextualizing artifacts to fit contemporary information expectations.
  • Restitution debates reflect a redistribution of information and a potential for reinterpretation of artifacts in their original contexts.
  • Museums also distribute information by relocating cultural artifacts to distant locations; this raises ethical and legal questions but historically broadened access to information.
  • Museums manage information by cleaning/restoring artifacts, adding value through preservation, and controlling access based on location and context.
  • As information institutions, museums engage in multiple functions across the spectrum of information creation, distribution, and access.
  • References and sources: Corsane (2005); Stam (2005).

Distributing Information Records and Providing Management of and Access to Information Records

  • The distribution function is carried out by cable operators, DBS, film distribution channels, and Web-based distribution; ISPs and Internet portals facilitate access and navigation.
  • Libraries represent the major cross-cultural institution providing management and access to information records while also distributing information via physical and digital channels.
  • Libraries perform core functions: identify, select, acquire, organize/describe, store/retrieve, preserve, interpret/evaluate/synthesize, and disseminate information records.
  • Libraries are moving toward blended forms (physical + digital) and increasingly active roles in creating/distributing information (e.g., SPARC initiatives promoting alternative scholarly publishing models).
  • The library adds value through metadata and organization that facilitate access and long-term preservation.
  • Trends:
    • Transformation of scholarly communication with rising costs of traditional publishing.
    • Emergence of institutional repositories and open-access journals.
    • Self-archiving and disciplinary repositories gain prominence as viable dissemination pathways.
    • A broader shift toward enabling creation and production by more members of society, not just traditional producers.

Modern Trends: Concentration and Transformation of Ownership

  • The major trend across societal information institutions is increasing concentration of ownership and vertical/horizontal integration across content creation, production, and distribution.
  • This concentration raises questions about access to information and potential effects on information availability.
  • Yet, continuous reshaping of conglomerates and new organizational configurations suggest ongoing adaptation rather than a collapse of information availability.
  • The role of information-education institutions (schools and libraries) remains critical to ensure access and to promote information literacy.
  • Figure 6-1 (structure of a sample media conglomerate) illustrates the interconnections among media sectors and their parent conglomerates.

Questions for Consideration

1) How do functions of information content providers change across formats (book vs. Web content)? Is value to society higher for some formats than others?
2) What is the societal value of dedicating substantial resources to developing new information? Would information be created otherwise?
3) Do mergers into media conglomerates reduce information availability? How would control by a single company of multiple publishing/distribution entities affect access?
4) Are agencies like libraries still necessary when the Web offers 24/7 access to information? Why or why not?
5) Do individual creators/distributors on the Web have an obligation to perform quality assurance historically provided by publishers?

Chapter 7: The Information Professions (Overview)

  • This chapter introduces some information professions and invites you to reflect on:
    • Differences among computer science, management information systems, library science, and information science.
    • How roles of information professionals have changed with communication systems and information technologies.
    • The functions performed by information professionals across different sectors of the economy.
    • How the work environment influences professional roles and functions.
  • Note: The list of professions and roles presented is representative, not exhaustive.

Key Concepts and Takeaways

  • Information artifacts and information events: information records become meaningful through events and interpretations in use.
  • The bridge function of information institutions: they transform, filter, enhance, and distribute content from creators to users.
  • Historical evolution of technologies and institutions shapes access, literacy, and the distribution of knowledge.
  • Modern information industries display extensive vertical/horizontal integration, influencing access, pricing, and control of information.
  • Open access and open archives reflect a shift in scholarly communication toward more affordable and universal access to knowledge.
  • The library’s evolving role includes active participation in new modes of publishing and dissemination, not just acquisition and storage.
  • Ethical considerations are central to the handling and restitution of cultural artifacts and to open access debates in scholarly publishing.
  • Education systems are foundational to the transmission and creation of information, shaping how information is used by future generations.

Notable Dates and Examples (selected)

  • 1455: Mazarin Gutenberg Bible, first major European book printed from movable type.
  • 1640: Bay Psalm Book, first book published in the American colonies.
  • 1821: École Nationale des Chartes established in France (archivists).
  • 1862: Morrill Land Grant Act (federal lands to states for colleges with agricultural/technical education).
  • 1873: First formal French professional library/d-Assistant diploma established.
  • 1887: Melvil Dewey opens the first American library school at Columbia College.
  • 1996: Telecommunications Act expands ownership rules for radio and TV; later influences consolidation.
  • 2001–2004: Budapest Open Access Initiative discussions and early open-access movements; SPARC advocacy.
  • 2006: Developments in e-books, online publishing, and institutional repositories highlighted in the chapter.

References (Selected Themes)

  • Tenopir (1994) on information bridges and access.
  • Eisenstein (2005) on the Printing Revolution.
  • Harnad (2001) on open access and self-archiving.
  • SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) initiatives (1998 onwards).
  • Contemporary discussions on digital publishing, e-books, and the economics of publishing (Litman, Picard, Greco, etc.).

Chapter 7: The Information Professions (Detailed Objective Alignment)

  • After reading, you should be able to:
    • Explain major differences among CS, MIS, library science, and information science.
    • Describe changes in information professions in response to evolving communication systems and ICTs.
    • Analyze functions of information professionals across economic sectors.
    • Assess how work environment influences professional roles and responsibilities.