DIGITAL DIVIDES IN EUROPE. CULTURE, POLITICS AND THE WESTERN-SOUTHERN DIVIDE, PANAYIOTA TSATSOU (20ll)

摘要

Increasingly, information and communication technologies and services (ICTS) are moving to the heart of today's economy and society, which have come to known as the Knowledge Economy and the Information Society, respectively, in literature. Economies and societies are undergoing a fundamental transformation as information, delivered and managed over network infrastructure, are gaining importance. The establishment of this Information Society (and the creation of a single Digital Market) is high on the European political agenda. However, a significant part of the European population is still not able to participate in this Information Society and cannot benefit from the externalities of this information-driven society as they lack access to or the required skills to make use of the (broadband) Internet. This book, Digital divides in Europe. Culture, Politics and the Western-Southern Divide, deals with this hotly debated subject of participatory gaps and specifically addresses the divide between European countries. Instead of a techno-economic perspective on digital divides, the author applies a bottom-up, two-way account of digital divides and highlights the influence of the sociocultural and public policy context on the persisting inclusion/exclusion gaps within Europe.