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To Know or not to Know: A Moral Reflection on Information PovertyDepartment of Information Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, britzh{at}postino.up.ac.za This article reflects, from an ethical perspective, on the problem of information poverty. Information poverty is defined as that situation in which individuals and communities, within a given context, do not have the requisite skills, abilities or material means to obtain efficient access to information, interpret it and apply it appropriately. It is further characterized by a lack of essential information and a poorly developed information infrastructure. It is argued in this article that information poverty is a serious moral concern and a matter of social justice and as such should be on the world’s moral agenda of social responsibility. Based on social justice a set of broad ethical principles are formulated that can be used to guide the social, economic and political initiatives to solve information poverty and to create a fair information society.
Key Words: information poverty • digital divide • information society • social exclusion • access to information • access to technology • social justice • ethics
Journal of Information Science, Vol. 30, No. 3,
192-204 (2004) This article has been cited by other articles:
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