Aspects of the history of state information policies in Britain before the digital age

Alistair Black

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

The history of information policies - encompassing the state’s collection, storage, organization, analysis, generation, dissemination and distortion of information - can be traced back centuries before the formal recognition of the digitally-loaded term ‘information policy’. It is possible to conceptualize a pre-history of information policy, formed by the histories of a wide variety of discrete information policies fashioned by the state before the digital age. The contexts selected to discuss these policies are: the government and Parliamentary machines; economic life; population, public health and statistics; military intelligence; mass media, communications and information control; and administrative surveillance of the individual. Although evidence presented is confined to Britain and its antecedents, a main aim of the chapter is to offer a template for investigating the history of information policies elsewhere. Recognition of a pre-history of information policy supports the argument that the ‘information state’ has a lineage stretching back to the Middle Ages.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationResearch Handbook on Information Policy
EditorsAlistair S Duff
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Pages80-95
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9781789903584
ISBN (Print)9781789903577
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 24 2021

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