The information society: what next?

Addressing the issues of governance, ethics and social consequences in today’s Information Society is a monumental task. The authors who have contributed to this publication have risen to the challenge and produced papers that offer a variety of perspectives reflecting their different disciplines.
This Chapter attempts to give an overview of the theme of the conference and the work contained within this book by drawing out the potential for influencing policy and the development and deployment of future technologies. It does this by using a stakeholder categorisation in terms of: international, governmental, organisational, educational and individual. Professionals and professional bodies have a major role in promoting awareness, and the ways in which they can do this are discussed. Finally, following the original conference programme, the steps that can be taken by Working Group 9.2 within IFIP together with the recommendations made at the end of the conference are briefly summarised.