Introduction

\\emph{The papers in this issue}} focus on \\emph{Statistics Describing the Information Society}.\nMost of the papers\noriginate from presentations given during the IAOS Satellite Meeting on Statistics for the\nInformation Society, Tokyo 2001 in connection with the ISI Session in Seoul 2001. However, the\nauthors have further developed and up-dated their papers.\nThe aim of this special issue of the ISR is very much the same as the goal of the above mentioned\nIAOS Satellite Meeting, i.e. to feature research and studies, development of statistics, statistical\nmethodologies and frameworks, and other related matters concerning the evolving \\emph{Information\nSociety}. Key questions are: (1) How does the Information Society challenge statistics? (2) How to\ndescribe the Information Society? How far or deep have we entered into the Information Society?\n(3) And looking ahead, what kind of indicators do we need to monitor and develop the Information\nSociety from economic, societal, and environmental points of view?\nThe papers presented here, seven altogether, aim at summarising the main attempts and efforts\nmade to establish statistical frameworks and programs as well as various statistics themselves\ndescribing the Information Society. Attention has been paid to the geographical coverage of the\nsubmissions. The development and the typical features of the Information Society are explained.\nFuture development plans for statistics on the Information Society and related issues are presented.\nDefinitions and analysis of key-indicators for monitoring the Information Society are introduced.\nSome cross-national comparisons are provided. One important question dealt with is how to\ndevelop official statistics to properly describe the evolving Information Society.\n\\emph{Heli Jeskanen-Sundstr\\"om (Finland)} gives an overview of the ongoing work in the field of statistics\nrelating to the development of information and communication technology (ICT) and its impact.\nShe introduces three slightly different approaches with different emphasis on describing the\nemergence and diffusion of ICT and the respective economic and social change. You may call them\nthe indicators approach, the new economy approach and the intellectual capital approach. Andrew\nWyckoff (OECD) presents the OECD efforts undertaken to address the measurement and policy\nchallenges posed by the Information Society. The OECD has acted as a forum for discussion of\npolicies regarding the information society for over 20-years, producing guidelines and\nrecommendations in areas such as privacy of personal information, computer security,\ncryptography, regulatory reform of communications, and most recently on-line consumer protection\nand the taxation of e-commerce. Jozef Olenski (Poland) deals with the fundamental topic of\ncitizens' right to information and the duties of a democratic state in modern IT environment.\nFred Gault and Greg Peterson (Canada) contribute with Canadian experiences. Statistics Canada\nhas measured the use of information and communication technologies for almost 15 years in\nindustry and more recently in households and it has developed a body of knowledge on the effects\nof the use of these technologies. Gault and Peterson provide examples of ICT use in private and\npublic institutions, in households, and by individuals. They also illustrate the consequent\ndevelopment of electronic commerce and of other uses of the Internet and concludes with some\nimplications for the development of official statistics in light of policy requirements. Tim Power\n(Australia) shares the experiences of development in official statistics on the adoption of ICT in\nAustralia. He outlines the ICT statistical developments that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has\nundertaken over recent years. The developments have been on both the supply side (ICT industry)\nand the demand side (use of IT by sector). One example of recent developments in household\ncollections has been the inclusion of IT use questions in the 2001 Census of Population and\nHousing. An Internet activity survey is run every six months allowing also for detailed regional\ninformation. A major new development is the compilation of an ICT satellite account.\nHiroyuki Kitada (Japan) gives an overview of the present situation of Japanese official statistics\nrelated to ICT. In addition, he highlights some problems related to the necessity and measurability\nof the appropriate preparation of ICT indicators and e-commerce-related statistics. In Japan, more\nthan 40 kinds of official statistical surveys including questions related to ICT have been conducted\nin the past five years. To grasp the new development in IT, a new compendium on ICT entitled ``IT\nIndicators in Japan'' was compiled in 2001. Most importantly, the 11th revision of the Standard\nIndustrial Classification for Japan (JSIC) was published by the Statistical Standards Department,\nStatistics Bureau, Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications\n(MPHPT) in March 2002 to cope with the change of economy and society including the\ndevelopment of ICT.\n``The Internet has resulted in an unprecedented proliferation of Information, Communication,\nKnowledge and Entertainment (ICKE)'' states Ramasamy Ramachandran (Malaysia). He introduces\na framework which adopts a socio-technological approach, premised on contemporary information\nand knowledge development as an integral of the people and technology dimensions. To illustrate\nthe workability of the proposed model, Ramachandran identifies some parameters and variables in\nthe current statistical system, and highlights some new data generated via the Internet Subscriber\nStudy and ICT Exposition Visitor Study. All illustrations refer to Malaysian data.\n{\\bf Milestones in developing statistics for the Information Society} appear as follows.\nTechnological changes and the increased utilisation of electronics and telecommunications\ncontribute to the availability of information in all industrialised countries. The aim of the National\nInformation Infrastructure (NII) programme published in the United States in the early 1990s was to\nimplement ``a seamless web of communications networks, computers, databases and consumer\nelectronics that would put vast amounts of information at users' fingertips''. This development\nprocess was also known as the Information Superhighway. Corresponding programmes were also\nimplemented in Canada under the name Information Highway and in the European Union as part of\nits Information Society programme.\nAs European responses to the challenge from North America, the European Commission published\nthe White Book `European Commission: Growth, competitiveness, and employment---the\nchallenges and ways forward into the 21st century' in December 1993, and the Bangemann report\n`Europe and the global information society' in 1994. Later on, the Europe 2002 and 2005\nbenchmarking indicators put new challenges to European statistical institutes.\nIt was soon realised that official statistics were needed for the follow-up of action plans and\nstrategies. National statistical agencies started to work on their national data needs for monitoring\nthe Information Society. In addition, regional co-operation between the Nordic statistical institutes,\nfor example, for developing the methodology and guidelines on how to measure the Information\nSociety started fairly early. As a result, the Nordic Countries published the first comparable results\non the ICT sector in 1998.\nIn 1997, the OECD decided to restart its work on the development of information society statistics\nand convened the first meeting of the Statistical Panel (the ICCP Statistical Panel on GII-GIS),\nwhich was the following year transformed into a permanent working party (WPIIS, Working Party on\nIndicators for the Information Society).\nFrom the very beginning, the WPIIS considered the lack of basic, commonly accepted statistical\ndefinitions on the scope of these new statistics as the most urgent development need. Therefore, the\nWPIIS centred its work on classifications. As a result, the activity-based OECD definition of the\nICT sector was accepted in 1998. After that, the definitions for electronic commerce were agreed on\na harmonised basis and the model questionnaires for surveying ICT in enterprises and\nhouseholds/individuals were approved. The very first harmonised publication on the ICT sector,\n`Measuring the ICT sector', was published in 2000.\nSince 1998, issues related to the Information Society statistics have become permanent items on the\nVoorburg Group's (United Nations City Group on the development of services statistics) agenda.\nSpecial attention has been paid to the development of a model questionnaire regarding the ICT use\nof businesses.\n{\\bf Demands for ICT equipment and services is driven by the growth of metropolitan markets.}\nAccording to recent OECD research (Information and Communications Technologies in Urban\nAreas, July 2002), ICT has clearly been developed, tested, produced, and applied predominantly in\nurban areas, well ahead of other geographical areas (rural areas and remote regions). ICT clusters or\ndistricts have been established primarily in cities and urban areas. Urban homes are more connected\nthan rural ones. Yet, there are not many studies available which look at urban issues\nrelating to ICT diffusion. Likewise, there are only few comparative urban studies and even fewer\ncomparative urban statistics attempts available concerning ICT development. From the point of\nview of cities and urban areas it would be valuable to know the impact of ICT on economic growth,\nsocial cohesion, quality of life and sustainability. Use of e-government activities is also an\nimportant area of interest, because in cities there is a variety of demands recognised for transactions\nbetween administration and residents. All in all, it would

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