Abstract

The new world of ‘information chaos’ is characterised by a growing global digital divide, as postulated by digital dichotomy theory, which unevenly affects actual media-communication outcomes, especially in developing societies. By adding the power of computing to mechanical and electronic innovation of the past, as captured by MacBride in “Many Voices, One World” introduces the phase of “News World Information and Communication Order” to recommend changes to address inequities in global media representations in the 21st-century society. The network societies are now better connected. Westernised societies are linked with those in the global south, individuals and media organisations alike are creating content. In Dickens’ dictum “our contemporary information and communication age can be described as the best of times and the worst of times.” In this perspective, this paper examines the theoretical postulations in media and mass communication, within the broad context of knowledge societies. This conceptual paper interrogates the fundamental issue of digital dominance in information technologies. The paper traces how developing countries may or have been left behind in the journey toward building knowledge societies because of poor technological infrastructure and systems. In particular, the paper examines how developed economies have recognised the urgency and necessity to adopt such disruptive technologies to address many of humanity’s most critical challenges. Thus, developing countries need to speed up efforts at leveraging the power of this innovation, and for developing countries to take full advantage of this innovation, they must learn to close the digital gap. The Diffusion of Innovation and Push-ICT Theories are concerned with how an innovation, a new idea, practice, or object is communicated through suitable channels and how to direct coercion is applied to achieve the desired result over time.

Key Words: Diffusion of Innovation, Digital Dichotomy, Mediamorphosis, Push-ICT, Technological Determinism.

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, Special Issue 2, June 2022, pp. 100-106

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).

About the authors

*Eserinune McCarty Mojaye, Ph.D., is a Professor with the Department of Mass Communication, National Open University of Nigeria, Jabi, Abuja, Nigeria

**Aondover Eric Msughter is of the Department of Mass Communication, Skyline University, Kano, Nigeria.

Article Citation

Mojaye, E. M. & Msughter, A. E. (2022). Theoretical perspectives in world information systems: A propositional appraisal of new media-communication imperatives. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 14 (1, SP. 2): 100-106.

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