Sustainable Information Society

Abstract

As a development goal, a sustainable information society is emerging at present, with the aims of sustainability and an information society as its converging elements. This article introduces the conceptual elements of sustainability and the information society, while bringing to the surface underlying normative issues. Further, a series of opportunities is presented on how to develop towards such a promising approach. Finally, examples of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) from the ‘Memorandum Sustainable Information Society’ are discussed. That publication was recently released by a working group of the German Society for Informatics. The memorandum provides a valuable source of the role modern ICT is playing on the road to a forward-looking society which is based on increasing use of ICT on the one hand, while at the same time it meets the fundamental sustainability criteria of human, social, and ecological comparability on the other hand.