A highly discussed topic today is sustainability. It is well-known that the climate is changing and that we have to take action to stop the enhanced greenhouse effect. The question that will be addressed in this essay is: ‘How does information strategy contribute to a more sustainable world?’. Information goods have both positive and negative effects on the environment.

First of all, information strategy enables people to create information goods. Information goods are intangible, so they will not be physically thrown away and do not end up in the plastic soup. Additionally, reproducing information goods almost have no impact on the environment, because they do not need any materials. In contrast to information goods, physical products are responsible for a large part for the CO2 emissions (European Environment Agency, 2010). Thus, information goods have a positive contribution to a sustainable world.

Information goods are goods that can be sent and received over the Internet, so there is no transportation needed (Whinston, Stahl and Choi, 1997). On the other hand, information strategy also allows people to order products online, which leads to CO2 emissions due to transportation. However, online second-hand shops are also enabled by information strategy. These second-hand shops, such as Marktplaats, contribute to a sustainable world, because it prevents people from throwing products, that are still in a good condition, away when they do not need them any longer. Another way that information strategy contributes to a more sustainable world is that people can easily connect with another. If a family member lives far away, it is possible to see each other via FaceTime. Of course, FaceTime cannot replace physical visits, but it can reduce the number of times one has to travel, which is positive for the environment.

However, to be able to use these information goods, computers or mobile phones must be made, which harms the environment. So if we want to contribute to a sustainable world, we should only buy new devices if necessary and let them repair at a repair shop. In this manner, the positive aspects of information goods will surpass the negative impact of the production of new devices.

References:

European Environment Agency. (2010). Consumption and the environment – SOER 201 thematic assessment. Available at https://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/2010/europe/consumption-and-environment. [Accessed: 27 September 2020].

Whinsten, A.; Stahl, D.O.; Choi, S.-Y. (1997). Chapter 2: Characteristics of digital products and processes. The Economics of Electronic Commerce. Indianapolis, IN: Macmillan Technical Publishing.

Commonly, universities offer courses on campus. Students can attend workshops and lectures. They can visit student advisors and other supporting services and there are many study spaces among campus. In my opinion, traditional higher education is expensive and outdated. There was almost no interaction during the lectures and only a few things were done online. Sometimes lectures were recorded and posted online afterwards, and some courses offered bonus exams online. Most of the programs were physically taught at university. In 2009 Christensen already stated that “Higher education’s prevailing business model is a mismatch with the current educational needs of our population”. Since COVID-19, the education industry has completely changed. Nobody was allowed to visit the campus and all the workshops, lectures and supporting services switched to online. Students and staff are currently working from home with Zoom, Coursera, MOOCs and other online programs.

These disruptive educational platforms accelerated due to COVID-19. Many online programs are only allowed to hand out certificates, but now it is possible to graduate on a university degree from behind a computer (Shulz, n.d.). A disruptor in the education industry is, for instance, MOOC, which grew to more than seven million users with 145 partners in six years (Shulz, n.d.). Since traditional universities are being disrupted by online platforms, more people got access to higher education. For some young people, studying was too expensive, but as it is not mandatory anymore to physically visit the campus, students do not have housing costs or travel costs. Besides, it also enables students to learn at their own pace (Shulz, n.d.). Online learning platforms also offer cheaper, modular education. Another advantage of the transition to online learning is that it contributes to our interconnected world (Fischetti, 2019). Students can go anywhere, spreading knowledge all over the world. In my opinion, the education industry should invest in creating online education with the possibility to physically attend lectures and workshops. In this manner, studying will be cheaper, with the consequence that less wealthy people can also follow higher education and students who live close to university can still visit campus to come together with their fellow students.

References:

Christensen, C. (n.d.). How to Manage the Disruption of Higher Education? Harvard Business School. Retrieved on September 14, 2020, from http://forum.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FF10ManagDisruption.pdf

Fischetti, J. (2019, June 18). The three things universities must do to survive disruption. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/the-three-things-universities-must-do-to-survive-disruption-117970

Shulz, L. (n.d.). Digital disruption: are universities keeping up? Deakin University. Retrieved on September 14, 2020, from https://this.deakin.edu.au/study/digital-disruption-are-universities-keeping-up