What is meant by the `commodification of information`. How is this development significant?

`Commodification of Information

and its

Significance (Your Name (Your University

2007

Commodification of Information : The Concept

The Information sector has tremendously developed through the years . Its metamorphosis is compared to the Industrial sector of the 19th century . One of the effects of these drastic changes is commodification of information propelled by the dynamic digital technology (Groseide , n .d . According to Groseide , commodification of information is today information , together with physical goods is the raw material of socio-economic and cultural life in the industrialized world (Groseide , n .d p

In today 's world , commodification of information acquired a connotation that it is a primary good like all other social primary goods , i .e . income , wealth , rights and powers (Rawls , 1972 . An analysis would reveal that cumulatively , it appears to be the basis and foundation of all other primary goods . This made Rifkin to conclude that commodification is the transformation of `owned goods ' of people in an organization from production and exchange to access to commodified service relationships (2000

The Oxford English Dictionary defines commodity as a thing of use or advantage to mankind (1989 . It thereafter acquired a connotation as an economic good something of value and utility Commodification therefore is the act of turning something into , or treating something as , a (mere ) commodity commercialization of an activity , etc , that is not by nature commercial (Oxford Dictionary 1989 . This term has also been used to describe information as dictated by media companies and applied as well to the development and advancement of intellectual property laws (Allen , 1980

According to Eli Naom , a Professor of Finance and Economics in the Columbia University , there are four negative but false connotation of the term commodification of information : 1 )There is `massification ' of information ' which means that information is produced by the bulk and in large quantities and therefore of inferior quality . This claim according to Naom is not true considering that mass production does not have any significant relationship with quality . Empirical evidence is necessary rather than a mere assertion . 2 ) It is homogeneous Again , he claims this as untrue because the more information there is the more specialized it must become and therefore , less homogeneous 3 ) It is inexpensive . He compared this with the production of food the price of it is lowered as production increases more than desire for food in general terms . 4 ) As an economic good , it has a commercial value . He believes that information can be shared freely , donated or given as a gift especially when intellectual property rights have expired (Naom 2001

With the development of advanced information technology in the information economy , the bulk of information and knowledge in the public domain takes on a different plane . Data or information which used to have no significant economic value , i .e . ideas , genetic data , and the like , are now the object quasi-property rights ' susceptible of transfer , trade , exchange for value - thus , a tradable commodity (Hugenholtz , 2004 . This in fact , is the very concept of commodification which has spurred debate...