Sustainable information and information science

Abstract

Introduction. Research linking sustainable development and information science has been sparse. In addition, while the United Nations early on recognized the importance of information for sustainable development, there has been very little progress in linking sustainable development with information related issues, such as information and communication technologies. A basic problem is the difficulty in connecting highly flexible concepts such as information andinformation society to the complex concept of sustainable development. Method. This paper reviews the development of the concept of sustainable development, discusses various failures connecting it to information as a strategic resource and attempts an articulation of the concept of sustainable information, building on sustainable development. Conclusions. Sustainable information is seen to consist of two distinct parts: information for sustainable development (seen as a resource for the project of sustainable development) and development of sustainable information (creating sustainable information and communication technologies). It is argued that an articulation of sustainable information is important for information science and neighbouring research disciplines. The paper concludes with suggestions on integrating concepts of sustainable information into educational programmes for information professionals. Specific emphasis is placed on sustainable information as an area to be developed within information ethics