AN EXTENDED APPROACH TO E-INCLUSION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ROMANIA

• Main Author: Viorel Nita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Institute of Romania 2011-03-01
• Series: Romanian Journal of European Affairs
• Subjects: information society; ICT adoption and diffusion; social inclusion; e-inclusion; Romania
• Online Access: http://www.ier.ro/documente/rjea_vol_11_no_1/RJEA_2011_vol11_no1_artic_5_AN_EXTENDED_APPROACH_TO_E-INCLUSION_AND_ITS_IMPLICATIONS_FOR_ROMANIA.pdf

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.