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especially so when illiteracy still plagues populous countries like India
and China. Ironically, Asia, the continent to which these countries
belong, constitutes 41% of the global internet users, in spite of a mere
17% population penetration of the internet!

A different but relevant social challenge in the Information age
will be the right deployment of human capital. As the need for
knowledge workers grows, a vast part of the global workforce may still

be untrained in using information systems. A critical task, here, will be
to train and involve them in the information revolution.
4. Technological challenges. Another daunting task will be to find
and deploy cost effective, fast, accurate and smart technologies to store,

secure, verify and share information.
Technologists and entrepreneurs will have a tough time satisfying
the on the go' information needs of Generation Y. Tiny storage devices

with huge capacities and fast retrieval techniques, are what this
Generation of the Information age would like to see in their pockets!

ASSIGNMENTS
1. Explain the meaning of the terms ‘information sharing technologies’,
‘security agencies’ and ‘digital world’.

2. What is the difference between the Industrial Age and the
Information Age? The table below will be helpful.
Table 1.2
Industrial vs. Information Age

# Industrial Age Information Age

1 Adversarial relationship Cooperative relationship
2 Bureaucratic organizations Team organization

3 Autocratic leadership Shared leadership
4 Centralized control Autonomy with accountability
5 Autocracy Democracy

6 Representative democracy Participative democracy
7 Compliance Initiative

8 One-way communication Networking
9 Compartmentalization Holism
10 Division of labour Integration of tasks
11 Practices Principles

12 Outside In Inside Out