Anmerkungen:
In: Romanian Journal of European Affairs, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 2011
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments March 24, 2011 erstellt
Beschreibung:
Depending on the existing social patterns and trends, development of information society creates new opportunities and risks and restructures the established areas of public policy. For example, e-inclusion becomes more and more today's predominant form of social inclusion. Despite the diversity of approaches developed, its intrinsic multi-dimension nature and the challenges posed by the continuous evolution of global digital technologies and networks make e-inclusion a problematic scientific and political concept. This article proposes an extended approach to e-inclusion, seen as the cumulative result of three interlocking contributors – i) global evolution of digital technologies and networks, ii) the levels of ICT access, usage and skills and iii) the existing social structures – and examine its policy implications for Romania. An important conclusion arises from this exploration: Romania is poorly prepared to cope with e-inclusion challenges. The country's relatively incipient stage of information society development and its serious social problems and the emergence of new forms of digital divide demand a holistic policy response capable of coherently capturing and tackling all factors of e-inclusion, beyond the conventional fragmentation of public policy areas. Without it, social inclusion process will be hindered and Romania will not fully reap the social and economic benefits of information society