The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

Acknowledgements
Although dealing with the wide-ranging and manifold tasks and
duties that are part of the everyday work of the President of the
Portuguese Republic, I have continued to reflect, in recent years, on
the nature and direction of the movement that interlinks the information
society, the knowledge economy and the network society. Where
is it taking us? What demands does it make of the economic agents
and political decision makers? How does it affect our daily lives and
the way in which we define the everyday horizons of our citizens?
It so happens that the speed at which these developments are taking
place is so vertiginous and the work carried out by analysts to come to
a proper understanding of what is going on are so intense, that complying
with the duty of the President of the Republic—i.e., accompanying
and trying to understand the changes going on around us—is
not easily compatible with the performance of the normal tasks and
duties that come with the office.
In these conditions, taking time out to think is a necessity that
makes good common sense. This thinking will be all the more profitable
done in the company of those who are best prepared to reflect,
with the support of solid theoretical and empirical foundations, on
social transformation.
Indeed: stopping to think, one more time, on the limitations and
opportunities of our societies in the global context of network societies,
was what I decided to do. In this, I have been truly privileged to
be able to rely on the support of Professor Manuel Castells, who is,
without doubt, one of the most brilliant and acknowledged theorists
on social change in the digital era.
During the two days of intense work at the conference organized
by Professor Castells, with the support of Professor Gustavo Cardoso,
it was possible, thanks to the quality of the national and foreign specialists
attending—and I would like to take the occasion of the publication
of their contributions to thank them once again for their
participation—to present and discuss updated perspectives on the
main trends towards development of the network society and its policy
dimension. This was achieved without neglecting the fact that