Change of State: Information, Policy, And Power

by Sandra Braman

As the informational state replaces the bureaucratic welfare state, control over information creation, processing, flows, and use has become the most effective form of power. In Change of State Sandra Braman examines the theoretical and practical ramifications of this "change of state." She looks at the ways in which governments are deliberate, explicit, and consistent in their use of information policy to exercise power, exploring not only such familiar topics as intellectual property rights and privacy but also areas in which policy is highly effective but little understood. Such lesser-known issues include hybrid citizenship, the use of "functionally equivalent borders" internally to allow exceptions to U.S. law, research funding, census methods, and network interconnection. Trends in information policy, argues Braman, both manifest and trigger change in the nature of governance itself.

After laying the theoretical, conceptual, and historical foundations for understanding the informational state, Braman examines 20 information policy principles found in the U.S Constitution. She then explores the effects of U.S. information policy on the identity, structure, borders, and change processes of the state itself and on the individuals, communities, and organizations that make up the state. Looking across the breadth of the legal system, she presents current law as well as trends in and consequences of several information policy issues in each category affected.

Change of State introduces information policy on two levels, coupling discussions of specific contemporary problems with more abstract analysis drawing on social theory and empirical research as well as law. Most important, the book provides a way of understanding how information policy brings about the fundamental social changes that come with the transformation to the informational state.

Genres: Nonfiction

545 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2007

Reviews

[Minsu Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. The book has more than enough examples, probably because the kind of the author’s claim requires lots of research and defense, meaning a reader could skip them if they don’t need to be convinced. The key takeaway is the flexible analytical approach-organic dance with the topic was enjoyable.

[Haleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone working in information management, policy and law.

[Andy Oram · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole lot of research--but in the end it isn't pulled together. I come away saying, "What's the point of telling me all this?"

At a high level, the topics are all familiar to people who have watched cyberpolicy: encryption and privacy, universal service, intellectual property. Braman has uncovered and accumulated some interesting minor incidents in these areas, but not enough to alter the common understanding of the issues.

She does break up and recombine issues in novel ways, and she is clearly trying to provide a new framework for examining them. But in the end, I expect to emerge from such efforts with a new and valuable perspective--but I can't find that in the book. The exercise comes out arid.

[Natalie Kling]

I used this book to help me write a paper in an Information Policy class while in library school. Every time I revisit this book I find something new and profound to me written on its very thin with small typed pages. It's relevancy to the global economic climate today is so very important to decisions and policies that need to be made. The information commons is a complicated thing.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, so boring and needlessly complicated jargon.