National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

This paper explores the ’information-sharing’ paradigm which is rapidly emerging in mature organizations where information technology is being heavily used for communications and decision-making. The particular emphasis in the paper is not upon the ways in which the paradigm is being exploited in developed societies and economies but on the ways in which it might be used in geographic information systems in the Third World. First, typical approaches to learning about such systems are presented, based on comparative studies and case histories and then the meaning of information in its widest sense is discussed. The sharing paradigm is then developed and its applicability to situations where network infrastructures are not well-developed such as those in developing countries is presented. The paper elaborates the argument with some speculations on how the sharing paradigm might aid our understanding of the development of GIS in the Third World; and by way of conclusion, some speculations on the research agenda now needed in this domain are outlined.