In summer 2000, about 160 women students, scientists and professionals from all over the world gathered at the University of Hamburg to join the International Women's University (IFU), Project Area Information. The articles in this book report on the ongoing work and the results obtained in this setting, which allowed for creativity and for a world-wide cooperation and exchange of views amongst women. The program was oriented mainly towards the idea of information as a social resource. It aimed to bring out women's perspectives on understanding information and on exploring how to develop information for human needs. The focus was on how modern information and communication technologies interact with and radically change traditional ways of dealing with information, thus giving rise to information societies rooted in different cultures.