In the scientific community, a term such as "national resources of society" is often found. In what context is it most often used? What practical significance does it have for science and the world economy? What can characterize the national resources of Russian society? How to correctly interpret this term in relation to various areas?
Subtleties of the conceptual apparatus
In most contexts, the term "national resources of society" is closely related to information technology. Of course, this concept in itself can be used much more widely. So it often happens. National resources can be understood as those related to nature, to the intellect of a nation, culture, and traditions.
But in practice, this term most often correlates with another - "information resources". Consider the essence of this phenomenon.
Information resources - what is it?
What are the basic concepts that reveal the essence of such a phenomenon as information resources? Among the popular ones is a definition based on the theory by which human society is consistently developing during the formation of various historical formations. According to the widespread classification, there are pre-industrial societies, i.e. those in which the human life support base was based on manual labor. Gradually, it developed. As a result, an industrial society appeared in which the main efforts of people were directed to the production of material goods.
A term such as "resource" has appeared, which means a certain reserve that can be used if necessary. To those that are characteristic of industrial society, scientists include, as a rule, material, labor, natural, and financial resources. At the same time, there are global, but there are national resources of society. The industrial formation, according to social theorists, has evolved into an informational one. In turn, world and national information resources have appeared.
About national information resources
Theorists of post-industrial society believe that modern developed countries, as they depend on various sources of information - economic, political, technical - began to feel the need for an appropriate resource that would allow, for example, to efficiently transfer, process and store data. As a result, under the urgent requests of the society and economies of developed countries, the so-called national information resources have appeared. What are their features? What characterizes the national resources of a post-industrial formation society?
They are usually assigned to economic categories. That is, the importance of information resources can be traced primarily at the level of work on the effectiveness of production and other types of business models. As soon as this tool appeared in developed countries, processes in the corresponding segments of the economy accelerated.
World market of national information resources
Theorists talk about the emerging market of national information resources. How is it arranged? The countries of the world present on it export to each other samples of certain resources, which in practice can be hardware and software solutions, various patents, drawings, licenses, concepts of production and economy management, knowledge, and behavior patterns. There is a thesis that national information resources related to information are characterized by free access. That is, it is assumed that everyone can use them from their computer.
So, the resources of the post-industrial society, therefore, include knowledge, databases, certain algorithms (in practice, which are computer programs that we use today) that allow us to solve urgent problems. National information resources, some experts believe, should have in the eyes of citizens of countries no less value than those that are characteristic of an industrial formation. What is their practical significance?
The importance of information resources
First of all, it lies in the fact that the national resources of society, related to the type of information, serve as a tool for creating socially significant products. Which for example? Theorists of the information society refer to such virtually any digital products - files, programs. One of their characteristics is the location on some data carrier, electronic (in this case, we are talking about the possibility of its transfer from one subject to another in intangible form) or traditional - in the form of books or documents.
With information products are closely adjacent to the same type of service. What are they? According to the widespread opinion among theoreticians, information services are the result of non-productive activities of people in order to help someone satisfy certain needs. In this case, we are talking about the need to get an information product.
Information and Automated Systems
What are the mechanisms for using resources typical for post-industrial systems (which are traditionally considered to be automated)? How does information rotate in them?
To answer these questions, we again have to delve deeper into theory. First, let’s try to determine what an “information system” is. According to the interpretation widely accepted among theoreticians of post-industrial society, this term is very capacious. It can include several components at once. One of them is the very informational world and national resources of society, the characteristic of which was given by us above. That is, it is data, information, knowledge in the form of documents and files. Also, information systems can include data arrays designed to structure information with a view to their effective application in solving particular problems. Another component of information systems is technologies, which are tools and methods for collecting, storing and processing data. In addition, information systems have various kinds of functionally significant mechanisms. These are hardware, software, legal tools, organizational resources, etc.
The role of information systems today
According to the theorists, the world and national resources of society, which are among the informational ones, are the basis of modern process control systems. They find their practical application in the form of computerized systems, including communication. The role of tools designed to process information, experts say, is as great for modern developed countries as industrial resources in an industrial society. The economic power of states is largely determined not only by, say, national natural resources, but also by information.
Information and economic systems
Thus, the economic systems are closely connected with the phenomenon in question. Consider it with the example of our country. The functioning of modern enterprises, according to theorists, at a level that meets the needs of the post-industrial society, is possible only when only high-quality information resources are used. The potential for their application is as great as that characteristic of industry, energy, and education. It is known that all these phenomena are the national resources of Russia. And their significance is hardly disputed by anyone.
At the same time, if we follow the concepts of the theoreticians of post-industrial society, our country has a chance of world influence only if it develops mechanisms that ensure the full realization of the potential inherent in national information resources. How is this supposed to happen? How to use the potential in question so that the Russian national resource in the form of a combination of natural wealth, the intellect of people, culture is supplemented by mechanisms characteristic of post-industrial trends?
What is the information potential of society?
Theorists believe that the information potential that is present in society should not be limited to the ability to use only technological tools. It is important that a scientific school of an appropriate level is present in the state, social institutions are developed that are able to give new impetus to the use of the opportunities that information resources provide. We need a school for training specialists who are ready to do this.
The national information resources of Russia are, therefore, not only access to technology, it is also an opportunity to conduct relevant research, which allows to qualitatively improve methodological and engineering approaches to solving urgent problems. Only in this case, in the Russian Federation there is a chance to build, as the theoreticians of post-industrialism believe, a modern information society. Actually, what does it represent, according to popular concepts, by itself?
What is the information society?
A common interpretation says that it is legitimate to consider society as a society where a significant part of citizens are engaged in receiving, processing, transmitting, or storing various kinds of information, files, and data. That is, it operates with the main national resource - information, thanks to which people can effectively organize any kind of activity. What are the criteria for the development of society to the level of information? Experts call three main ones - the prevalence of computer technology, the development of networks, as well as the percentage of the population working in the IT field.
Well, judging by these criteria, Russia can fully claim the status of a country that has managed to build an information society. The Russian national resource is supplemented by world-famous giants of the IT industry, the growing market of online retail and other segments adjacent to it (banking, processing, etc.). Some experts also believe that the criterion of a post-industrial society can be considered as the ability of citizens to navigate the legal and ethical nuances of the new formation. This is the so-called "information culture".
Information Resources and Country Development
According to some theorists, the prospects for the development of modern states may depend on how effectively the concepts of harnessing the potential of information resources in various sectors of the economy are introduced. Why? As we said above, the main thing that characterizes the national resources of society related to information is that it belongs to the economic category. The most important aspect of the development of society and the country is the effectiveness of their use. Economic information is one of the most practical parts of the resources in question. The consistency of the state, the stability of its production systems and business models, therefore, depends on the quality of the country's national information resources.
Connection with international space
An interesting fact is that the significance of the concepts of theorists of post-industrial formations is recognized not only in narrow scientific circles, but also at the level of big politics. There are examples of international agreements, the parties of which, represented by individual states of the world, recognized the importance of joint work in the formation of a commonality of information resources and related systems. In particular, in a number of documents reflecting the signing of this type of interstate agreements, it is stated that modern partnerships are largely based on the quality of information that is used by society - both at the level of individual nations and in the aspect of global interaction.
Informatization, experts believe, is recognized by governments as the most important aspect of the development of the economy and culture of the countries of the world. To control the procedures ensuring the realization of the potential of the corresponding resource, responsible structures and institutions are established at the state level, in the system of executive authorities. If the relevant agreement signed by the states provides for the implementation of measures related to the efficient use of the potential of information resources, then coordinators with significant powers can be determined to solve such problems.
It is also interesting that the conceptual apparatus laid down by the theoreticians of post-industrial society is set forth in practically the same form in interstate agreements. This may indicate that the problems of the concepts that we are considering today - those that affect national information resources - are accepted and generally interpreted more or less unambiguously at the level of international partnership. Including with the participation of Russia. Also, in order to ensure that partners represented by different states do not have differences in understanding the goals and objectives arising from joint work, standards can be defined on the basis of which participants in the process of consolidating state priorities in the development of the information potential of society can interact. Along with the elements of standardization, it is also possible to establish certification procedures for partnership participants to ensure that they have the right tools to use the rules and norms recorded during the agreements.
