信息权力及其地理学研究展望

INFORMATION POWER AND ITS GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH PROSPECTS

信息权力的出现源于信息资本主义的深刻变革。本文认为,信息权力是指行为体运用自身掌握的信息资源对其它行为体施加影响的能力。信息资源包括信息内容、信息基础设施、信息和通信技术,行为体对这三者的综合运用形成信息生产力、信息获取力、信息控制力等不同维度的信息权力。信息资源的分布组合定义了信息权力的基本格局,而行为体基于其道德取向、实际利益的互动关系包括协作、对抗等,对已有的信息权力格局进行再定义。展望地理学对于信息权力的研究,可运用于地缘政治、城市网络与地方建构等,信息权力空间格局的演化、信息权力要素及其作用机制、不同行为体之间的信息权力博弈等将成为今后信息权力研究的新课题。

With the development of globalization and informatization, the global strategic power has been forming a new power structure within the infosphere, namely 'information power', whichisalso accompanied by the emergence of information capitalism.As the research on the topic of information power has been looming for nearly 20 years, these is still confusion about what it actually means, especially since several similar terms are often used interchangeably. This paper aims to clarify the meaning of information power and conduct a deep discussionaboutthe related geographicalresearch progressat home and abroad. First of all,we hold that information power refers to the ability of an actor to exert influence on other actors by using information resources that he or she holds. It is to say that information power consists of two elements: information resources and actors. Then we can discuss them respectively: On the one hand, information resources include information infrastructure, information content, information and communication technology andcanbecorrespondinglytransformedto information powers about the acquisition, manufacture and the control of information. Therefor, the distribution and combination of information resources establishes the basic pattern of information power which reflect unbalanced characteristics in both state and urban scale. It’s worth emphasizing that both of these two operational logic provide interesting views for us to understand the contemporary social and economic order.