What is a Knowledge Society?

In 2005, UNESCO published Towards Knowledge Societies, developing the concept of knowledge societies as a way of understanding the profound changes taking place as information and communication technologies transformed the production, circulation and use of information and knowledge. 

The report distinguished this emerging idea from the current, narrower concept of an information society. While an information society could be understood primarily in terms of the technological capacity to produce, store and transmit information, knowledge societies encompass broader social, ethical and political dimensions. For UNESCO, the question was not simply how much information could be made available, but how societies could create the conditions in which knowledge could be produced, shared and used.

Over 20 years later the idea of the knowledge society might still offer us a reasonable, workable vision of how society might be organised in response to paradigm shifting technologies. 

It suggests a society in which knowledge is widely accessible, where people have the education and capabilities to understand and use it, and where participation in the creation and sharing of knowledge is broadly distributed. These are not simply technological objectives. They describe conditions that can contribute to human development, individual agency and the capacity of societies to respond intelligently to change. It is significant not simply as a description of social change, but as a vision of how society might be organised in response to it.

What visions of the future do you hold in your mind? How would you describe them?

Find out more about knowledge societies on UNESCO's site: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000141843