Title: Projects of public access to the internet for equal opportunities in the information society

Authors: Stanislava Simonova, Martin Halamka

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Administration, Institute of System Engineering and Informatics, University of Pardubice, Studentska 84, 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic. ' The Regional Authority of the Pardubice Region, Komenskeho nam. 125, 532 11 Pardubice, Czech Republic

Abstract: Information literacy may be characterised as an ability to realise and formulate one|s information needs, to become well informed about information sources, to look up information by means of information and communication technologies, to evaluate the information and use it to solve a particular life situation or a professional task. Absence or lack of information literacy certainly creates a strong handicap that may consequently result in differentiation of the population. This is a problem generally referred to as digital divide. In this context, the term |e-inclusion| is often mentioned as well, which is, – in other words – a set of preconditions for effective inclusion of all population groups in the information society. The paper deals with two particular projects that aim at strengthening the e-inclusion in the Czech Republic, or in the Pardubice region.

Keywords: equal opportunities; information society; internet services; social cohesion; web services; public access; digital divide; e-inclusion; Czech Republic; information literacy; ICT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.2008.019640

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 2008 Vol.18 No.4, pp.385- 395

Published online: 18 Jul 2008 *

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