The Genesis of the Modern Information Society and the Main World Characteristics

We consider the historical aspect of the formation of the modern information society as a result of the world information revolution. The main stages of the world information revolution are: the Neolithic revolution, iron revolution, the emergence of writing, the invention of printing; the appearance of the telegraph, telephone, radio and television; the emergence of electronic computers, the creation of the Internet. The idea of the information society was formulated in the late 60s — early 70s of the XX century. However, in the 70s of the 20th century there was a convergence of two simultaneously emerging ideologies — the information society and post-industrialism. To date, Information economy is a sector of the information industry of the economic system of the country. The new economic system is highly dynamic, leading to the growth of economic inequality countries, becomes a potential source of conflicts of a different nature. Information, as a reproducible resource, becomes an object of sale and purchase and a source of long-term economic growth. We consider the stages of the world information revolution. The Internet revolution is comparable in its value to the Neolithic and iron revolutions, with the industrial revolution that made the world economy leader England in the 19th century. We distinguish eight characteristics of the modern information society: unique knowledge, strengthening the role of entrepreneurship, digital technologies, creative highly qualified specialists, the growth of the global online population, the lack of ICT skills, the rapid development of the mobile world, the lack of a unified methodology for measuring ICT skills. The authors come to the conclusion about necessity of creation of uniform world information educational environment for people from all over the world due to the low global level of ICT-skills and the lack of a common methodology for the measurement ICT-skills.