This paper examines the characteristics of information as a resource and the implications of so regarding information. Information is defined as the sum total of all facts and ideas available to be known by somebody at a given moment in time, while knowledge results from selecting and organizing facts and ideas into what will be useful to…

In the emerging post-industrial society, there is little understanding of the characteristics of information, a basic, yet abstract resource. Information is expandable, compressible, substitutable, transportable, diffusive, and shareable. Implications for life, work, community, and conflict are considered. (AM)

An information-rich environment is a sharing environment with standards, rules, conventions, and ethical codes different from those created to manage the zero-sum bargains of market trading and traditional international relations. Societies must give all their people a chance at relevant education or be left behind by those that do. (MBR)

Certain characteristics of information make it a crucial resource in today's world. Unlike material resources such as coal and steel, information is expandable, easily transportable, diffusive, and shareable. Because of these properties of information, the new "information age" has already begun to challenge some of mankind's most comfortable…