An information product is what? Concept and services

The prerequisite for the formation of the information services market was the rapid development of the economy in different countries of the world. With the growth of the economy and increased competition, the society realizes the need for information resources. The first information products and services appear in the media and telecommunications. Technological progress is becoming a powerful impulse for the development of the information market. The first commercial computers appear, and eventually the first personal computers. Computer technology is rapidly increasing its potential - it becomes more powerful and less expensive. PCs are actively used in the scientific sphere and business, and with the advent and development of the Internet - in all spheres of human life.

Information products and services market

Currently, the intensive development and development of the information services market continues. An economy of a new type is being formed, where information plays an increasing role - the production of information goods is increasing, new industries, new professions and new jobs are emerging.

Market potential and statistics

For comparison: according to statistics, the production of world goods and services a year grows around 10 percent. The production of information products and services is growing annually in the region of 30 percent or more. The potential of the information market and its impact on the development of the economy is difficult to overestimate. Thus, in the first decade of the 21st century, the share of spending on information resources increased by tens of percent. The market of information products and services is now the most important element of the economy of a new type. The successful functioning of the information market is a key guarantee for the development of the community, the region and the country as a whole.

Information product - what is it?

Information products and services are the objects of the information market. So what is an information product? An information product is information with a sign of peer review, presented in tangible or intangible form for the purpose of commercialization and the satisfaction of consumer demand.

Types of information products

It should be said that at the moment there is no generally accepted classification of information products and many interpretations of the concept are offered. The most popular is the classification of infoproducts by field of application. So, there are five main spheres:

1. Business sphere. The following types of information products are presented here: exchange documentation and financial information (exchange rates, investments, prices, quotations of securities, discount rates), statistical data (forecasts and estimates), commercial information on the activities of companies (its financial status, Prices, mergers and acquisitions, transactions, negotiation and legal practice).

2. A highly specialized sphere. The information product presented here is the content of a narrow specialization (various professional information, scientific and technical documentation, archival materials, access to primary sources).

3. Consumer sphere. Includes various news sources - the content of news agencies and the press, literature on both physical and electronic media, reference books, encyclopedias, booklets, magazines, entertainment products - gaming, television and video content.

4. Educational sphere. Here are the educational literature, methodical guides, training computer content, testing and control systems, teaching and development methods.

5. Information industry. An extremely important and developing at a record pace is the information market sector. Here are the software and information products - various types of databases (bibliographic, statistical, information, documentary), electronic directories, multimedia applications (for business, entertainment, developing), electronic archives, general software - for processing graphics, documents, Multimedia content.

This area also includes technical means - computers and components, telecommunications equipment, office equipment and associated consumables, software development and maintenance personnel - which together form information systems. The information product of the system consists of several processes - obtaining information from internal or external sources, processing and adapting information, providing information to the consumer and receiving feedback. In this case, the information product is the files for launching programs and applications, spreadsheets, tools for working with content (graphics, video series), personal computer maintenance systems, equipment administration systems. The artificial intelligence system is also an information product.

Scope of information products

The above classification of the spheres of application of information products clearly shows that for this period of development of the society, infoproducts have found their application practically in all branches of human activity. The production of information products in each case is unique, but the general technology of information products includes three stages - the collection of primary data, processing and adaptation, the proposal of a solution in the form of an information product. An example is a book about the popularization of a scientific idea, for the writing of which the author processes a large amount of source information, adapts it to accessible text and prepares for commercial implementation in the form of a book on an electronic or physical medium.

Properties of information products

The information product is a unique indicator of the era of universal automation and informatization and has a number of distinct differences from a tangible product.

So, any information product has a quality that is inherent in information in general - it is not subject to depreciation, physical deterioration. You can repeatedly use the infoproduct and it will not lose in quality and uniqueness. For example: multiple playback of the movie does not affect its content in any way. The film does not get worse with every viewing.

But it should be said that the information product is subject to so-called moral obsolescence. Information that was relevant yesterday, may lose all its importance and relevance today. At the current pace of technological progress, it is becoming obsolete and losing in price, for example, office equipment, at a record pace.

Also indicative property of an information product is that the cost of its production, as a rule, exceeds the further expenses for its replication. Write a unique work once is always more difficult than then multiply it by thousands of copies.

An important property of an information product is its targeting. Depending on the group of consumers, the manufacturer chooses the form and method of manufacturing the future information product. Thus, the publication of scientific work in the professional community will differ from the way of popularizing the same scientific idea for schoolchildren.

The information product has the property of universality - it can be of value for different fields of application, used for different purposes in different projects.

Specificity of information market

The uniqueness of the functioning of the information market is that the demand for information products is regulated by the specificity of the very concept of "information". The information product can be really in demand only in the short term. In the market of information products and services it is impossible to keep the palm tree of the championship with the same product for several years. To be interesting to the consumer, it is necessary to constantly improve the existing product or create something fundamentally new.

The future of the information society

Now the process of increasing the share of the information product in comparison with the material production is actively going on, which means that our information society is rapidly evolving. The value of a material product decreases, but the value of information increases. More demand for intelligence, knowledge, expertise, ability to creative thinking. The share of intellectual labor grows in the modern market of professions. The prerequisites for the further development of the information society can significantly improve the quality of life and reach a new level of civilization.

Potential threats to the new society

Nevertheless, the rapid development of the information society carries a number of threats. The possession of valuable information is able to oppose a small community to the majority, a single user - to the state or the whole system. There is a danger of forming the so-called intellectual elite, which has access to the development and valuable sources, and the dependence on it of the average consumer. Also, the threat of backwardness of developing countries is quite real, since information resources are distributed unevenly. Unfortunately, progress always carries new challenges. Whether modern society can adequately resist them will be shown by time.