Information and social quality

This paper introduces the concept of 'social quality' as a measure of quali ty-of-life and it sets out a framework for identifying social indicators of the relationship between information and social quality. Social quality ha s four elements: socio-economic security social inclusion, social cohesion and empowerment. Illustrative indicators are identified at both national (D emos) and community (Ethnos) level for four different aspects of each socia l quality element: input, process, outcome and impact. Then the distributio n of information and social quality between Demos and Ethnos levels is inve stigated. It is concluded that usable indicators of all aspects of each ele ment of social quality can be identified and that analysis of informational social quality at Demos and Ethnos level can add to knowledge about inform ation provision and policy; particularly with reference to minority and mar ginal communities.