Systems Thinking for Island Opportunities in the Information Society

Abstract

Recently, information revolutions have changed the whole society. While industrial society rests on material goods and physical space, the information society feeds on knowledge goods and cyber space. Islands are no exception. A sea between islands and mainland does not exist in the cyber space. In the information society, islands can be characterized by combination of physical isolation and cyber unification. Much of research has been performed on how to use information technologies for developing Cheju Island. However, previous studies paid little attention to dynamic relationships between physical isolation and cyber unification of island in the information age. In this paper we try to understand their relationships and impacts of information depicting their complex causal linkages. We consider three kinds of information applications : teleworking, electronic commerce, and Internet access service for tourists (IAST). Our analysis shows that IAST is the most promising application for developing Cheju business purposes who are expected to improve the quality of life on Cheju Island, this effect will be counterbalanced by the transportation congestion and an increase in commodity delivery costs in the short run. Finally, we explain our scheme of future study integrating causal map analysis and system dynamics. Recently, information revolutions change the whole society. While industrial society rests on material goods and physical space, the information society fees on knowledge goods and cyber space. Islands are no exception. Rapid advancements in computer and telecommunication technology create a totally new space. Although-Cyber space is bulit on physical space, activities in the former are not constrained by the latter. As information networks interconnect distant cities, physical information society, islands can be characterized by combination fo physical isolation and cyber unification.