Information as commodity and economic sector: its emergence in the discourse of industrial classification

  • Authors:

  • Cheryl Knott Malone;Fernando Elichirigoity

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Arizona, School of Information Resources and Library Science, 1515 East First Street, Tucson, AZ;University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 501 East Daniel Street, Champaign, IL

  • Venue:
  • Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

In a critical analysis of the recent development and deployment of the North American Industry Classification System, this article focuses on the discourse surrounding the creation of the system's "information" category. A close reading of the relevant government documents suggests that the category functions simultaneously to position information as a major sector of the economy and to organize data about information as a commodity. The discourse also points to the continuing complexities involved in conceptualizing information as a measurable object.