The rapid development of the economy in different countries of the world has become a prerequisite for the formation of an information services market. With the growth of the economy and increased competition, society is aware of the need for information resources. The first information products and services appear in the media and telecommunications. Technological progress is becoming a powerful impetus for the development of the information market. The first commercial computers appear, and eventually the first personal ones. Computer technology is rapidly increasing its potential - becoming more powerful and less expensive. PCs are beginning to be actively used in the scientific field and business, and with the advent and development of the Internet - in all spheres of human life.
Market of information products and services
Currently, intensive formation and development of the information services market continues. A new type of economy is being formed, where information plays an increasingly important role - the production of information goods increases, newindustries, new professions and new jobs.
Market potential and statistics
For comparison: according to statistics, the production of world goods and services per year is growing at around 10 percent. The production of information products and services is growing annually by about 30 percent or more. The potential of the information market and its impact on the development of the economy is difficult to overestimate. Thus, over the first decade of the 21st century, the share of expenditures on information resources has grown by tens of percent. The market for information products and services is now the most important element of a new type of economy. The successful functioning of the information market is the most important guarantee for the development of the community, the region and the country as a whole.
Information product - what is it?
The objects of the information market are information products and services. So what is an information product? An information product is information with a sign of expert evaluation, presented in a tangible or intangible form for the purpose of commercial implementation and satisfaction of consumer demand.
Types of information products
It is worth saying that at the moment there is no generally accepted classification of information products and many interpretations of the concept are offered. The most popular is the classification of information products by scope. So, there are five main areas:
1. Business area. The following types of information products are presented here: exchange documentation and financial information (currencyrates, investments, prices, securities quotes, discount rates), statistical data (forecasts and estimates), commercial information about the activities of companies (on its financial condition, directions of work, prices, mergers and acquisitions, transactions, negotiation and legal practice).
2. highly specialized area. The information product presented here is content of a narrow specialization (various kinds of professional information, scientific and technical documentation, archival materials, access to primary sources).
3. Consumer area. Includes various news sources - content from news agencies and the press, literature both on physical and electronic media, reference books, encyclopedias, booklets, magazines, entertainment products - gaming, television and video content.
4. Educational area. Here are educational literature, teaching aids, educational computer content, testing and control systems, teaching and development methods.
5. Information industry. An extremely important branch of the information market that is developing at a record pace. Here are software and information products - various kinds of databases (bibliographic, statistical, informational, documentographic), electronic directories, multimedia applications (for business, entertainment, development), electronic archives, general-purpose software products - for processing graphics, documents, multimedia content.
This area also includes technical means - computers and components,telecommunications equipment, office equipment and related consumables, software development and maintenance personnel - which together form information systems. The information product of the system consists of several processes - obtaining information from internal or external sources, processing and adapting information, providing information to the consumer and receiving feedback. In this case, the information product is files for launching programs and applications, spreadsheets, tools for working with content (graphics, video), personal PC maintenance systems, and equipment administration systems. The artificial intelligence system is also an information product.
Scope of information products
The above classification of the areas of application of information products clearly shows that at this period of development of society, information products have found their application in almost all areas of human life. The production of information products in each individual case is unique, but the general technology of information products includes three stages - the collection of primary data, processing and adaptation, and the proposal of a solution in the form of an information product. An example is a book about the popularization of a scientific idea, for which the author processes a large amount of source information, adapts it into an accessible text and prepares it for commercial implementation in the form of a book on electronic or physical media.
Properties of information products
An information product is a unique indicator of the era of universal automation and informatization and has a number of certain differences from a material product.
So, any information product has a quality that is inherent in information in general - it is not subject to depreciation, physical wear and tear. You can repeatedly use the information product and it will not lose its quality and uniqueness. For example: playing a movie multiple times will not affect its content in any way. The film does not get worse with each viewing.
But it should be said that the information product is subject to the so-called moral obsolescence. Information that was relevant yesterday may lose all its significance and relevance today. With the current pace of technological progress, for example, office equipment is becoming obsolete and losing value at a record pace.
Also, an indicative property of an information product is that the costs of its production, as a rule, are many times higher than the further costs of its replication. It is always more difficult to write a unique work once than to multiply it into thousands of copies.
An important feature of an information product is its targeting. Depending on the group of consumers, the manufacturer chooses the form and method of manufacturing the future information product. Thus, the publication of a scientific work in the professional community will be different from the way the same scientific idea is popularized for schoolchildren.
An information product has the property of universality - it can be of value for different areas of application, used for different purposes in different projects.
Specific information market
The uniqueness of the functioning of the information market is that the demand for information goods is regulated by the specifics of the very concept of “information”. An information product can be truly in demand only in the short term. In the market of information products and services, it is impossible to keep the palm with the same product for several years. To be interesting to the consumer, it is necessary to constantly improve the existing product or create something fundamentally new.
The Future of the Information Society
Now there is an active process of increasing the share of the information product in comparison with the production of the material, which indicates that our information society is rapidly evolving. The value of the material product is decreasing, but the value of the information product is increasing. Intelligence, knowledge, expertise, and the ability to think creatively are in greater demand. In the modern market of professions, the share of mental labor is growing. The prerequisites for the further development of the information society can significantly improve the quality of life and reach a new level of civilization development.
Potential threats to the new society
However, the rapid development of the information society carries a number of threats. Possession of valuable information is able to oppose a small community to the majority, a single user - to the state or the whole system. There is a danger of the formation of the so-called intellectual elite, which has access to the development and valuable sources, and the dependence of the average consumer on it. The threat of lagging behind developing countries is also quite real, since information resources are distributed unevenly. Unfortunately, progress always brings new challenges. Whether modern society will be able to adequately resist them - time will tell.
