Information infrastructure is not an end in itself, but simply a means to an end. Appropriate, timely, culturally relevant content and applications must be made available. The creation of useful applications and appropriate content is the sole reason for the development of infrastructure. So terms such as ``Information Highway'' or ``Global Information Infrastructure'' quite miss the point.
To ensure that all people will have a stake in the information society the NITF is developing an inclusive vision of such a society. Our vision of the Information Society is becoming one of an Information Community. We are balancing the advantages offered to individuals with a renewed emphasis on the benefits for social groups, communities and societies.
Social issues are already taken into account in current thinking on the information society. But the bias still tends to be that of individual advancement via personal universal service. At a public level the focus is on competition between firms and nations. Nationally, regionally and internationally, there must be an equitable information order. An Information Community depends on the way communities can co-operate, bridge differences, and work for mutual upliftment. An Information Community sets out to meet basic needs, and redress under-development. The Information Community perspective aims to ensure that the information revolution benefits society as a whole.