Relationships of Information and Cultural Policies in the Region

Astahova Z.V.

Russia, Chelyabinsk,
South-Ural State University

Local administrative authorities pay more attention to the problems of information and informatization over the past years.

The adoption of local laws on librarianship and legal deposit of documents promotes information development of the regions. But these juridical acts, although important, are fragmental and do not form the whole system as most of the regions have not scientifically-based information policy. The most important tendencies in world and country's development of the regions in a wider, humanitarian context.

Humanity steps into-informational age and information environment becomes the type of cultural being of individuals and sotiums. Information today is not an additional as before, resource, which is provided by specialized divisions (libraries, information centers). Information today is the most important economical resource alongside with material, financial and staff resources. Today we speak about a new type of information generating -information management. New terminological system (information civilization, information weapon, information revolution, information resources, infonets, information security, right on information, information management etc), having overwhelmed the minds of foreign users begins to be installed on native soil. But unfortunately it is not true to all regions.

In 1998 the Chelyabinsk Duma adopted "The Conception of Chelyabinsk Socio-Cultural Policy". It states insufficient development of city's communicative space, increased role of mass media, more exact segmentation of information context, specialization of mass media and their audience, and it also says that a promoting intensively interregional and international relations gives new opportunities to intercultural communication and sharpens the problem of cultural choice". In the process of defining the cultural priorities of the city's cultural development several facts connected with its information development are ignored. They are as follows:

• it's the world information dimension that provides the cultural environment of a civilized human being and standard of his thinking and activity.
• possibility and ability of human existence in this dimension are the norms of modern civilization and culture, which require acquisition in the region, in the process of socialization.
• modern sociocultural situation is characterized by moving knowledge and information on the starring roles in a world's evolutional spectacle.
• sociocultural activity must determine the preservation of stored information reserves, promotion of regional information space, change of the sociocultural situation in the region through installing a higher social understanding of the information and information values role into consciousness of the region citizens.
• regional cultural policy can't achieve the aims of developing the region if it doesn't determine a new-coming type of culture, culture of the III-millennium, if it doesn't characterize it's specific qualities and artificially installed new cultural norms and values.

It is an evident necessity to work out unified regional information policy, in which priorities intended for information promotion of the region should be set, such as: developing the means and systems of communication in the regions (especially telecommunication), informatization of the regional administrative bodies (administration, councils, dumas, legal bodies); financial and jurisditial support of institutes, organizations, establishments and commercial structures which realize research and technological practical experiments; installation of new information products, creating and exploring well-competing hardware and software in the region; regional infonets; formation and support of training high-rate information specialists and information training other specialists; creation of information-searching systems able to satisfy the information needs on professional and leisure levels; setting the high standard and role of information competence in human activity and regional production etc.

Alternative is to create unified program of information-cultural regional development, including tasks of both cultural and information promotion of the region, forming an antity of regional cultural and information space.

Information training of specialists in the region must take a leading place in this policy, as all fields of management, production and small business require qualified information specialists. Regional authorities should think of the organizing diverse system of training - not only for the libraries but also for the developing sphere-information business.

Informational education should become forthcoming. The growth of needs in specialists of a new kind { analysts, referents, consultants etc.} should be accounted and information-analytical aspect should be enhanced. Otherwise regional educational establishments risk to remain far too much behind the level of the world education.

Taking into account Russian and foreign tendencies of information development, the South-Ural State University Economics and Law Department worked out and set humanitarian conception of information training of specialists. In accordance with this conception within the boundaries of two specialties - 06.11.00 "Management" and 06.12.00 "Management in Social Sphere" - a new specialization "Information Management" is opened; and as an obligatory discipline "Culture of intellectual activity" is included into the curricula of all humanitarian courses.

But nevertheless, working out the information and cultural policy accounting to ethnic and demographic characteristics of the region remains the most important problem of regional authorities and legal instances.