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The Digital Divide Within The European Union
The Digital Divide Within The European Union
NLW
106,1210/1211 The digital divide within the
European Union
Sjaak Hubregtse
164 Institute of Media and Information Management,
University of Higher Professional Education, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose – Attempts to define the digital divide and examines the significant differences in, and
implications of, the extent of internet connectivity both globally and, more specifically, within the
European Union (EU).
Design/methodology/approach – The paper was designed using and combining objective data
and literature, adding the author’s personal experiences and opinions.
Findings – After 1 May 2004, when the EU was enlarged from 15 to 25 member states, the digital
divide in the EU widened substantially (national connectivity varying from less than 10 to more than
60 per cent), caused by regional lack of technological infrastructure as well as cultural and
psychological factors.
Research limitations/implications – Many “most recent” national data on internet-connectivity
are two years old.
Practical implications – Inequality in internet-connectivity in the EU will increase dramatically,
with all consequences for communication, dissemination of information, economy (e-commerce!), etc.
Consequently, parallel to digital media, traditional means of dissemination of information – such as
printed books, public libraries, local broadcasting – should be maintained and furthered.
Keywords European Union, Libraries, Digital storage, Generation and dissemination of information
Paper type Research paper
The first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Geneva on
10-12 December 2003. A total of 6,000 delegates from 180 countries attended this
conference, which was organised by the United Nations. The many topics discussed
included “the availability of information”, “safety and privacy on the internet”, “the
spam problem” and “the right to knowledge versus intellectual property”. However, the
central theme was “the digital divide”. This theme was referred to again by Andris
Viks, of the National Latvian Library, in the opening session of the Bobcatsss[1]
Symposium in January 2004 at Riga. Also in 2004, a workshop was held in Brussels on
“The digital divide: opportunities and threats at the verge of EU enlargement”. Clearly,
the digital divide is a very real and important topic, especially so in the European
Union (EU), which, as from May 2004, consists of 25 member states as compared with
the previous 15.
Sweden 64.0
The Netherlands 56.4
UK 55.3
Denmark 54.7
Finland 47.0
Austria 43.5
Slovenia 38.1
Estonia 34.7
Germany 34.5
Portugal 34.4 46.3
Italy 33.4
Belgium 33.1
Ireland 32.5
Czech Republic 26.2
Malta 24.9 30.0
Luxembourg 23.8
France 23.6
Cyprus 19.6
Spain 18.4
Poland 16.6
Slovakia 15.9
Greece 13.2
Latvia 13.1
Hungary 11.9
Lithuania 8.2 14.4
Note
1. This article is based on a paper presented at the 12th “Bobcatsss” Symposium, theme
“Library and information in multicultural societies”, in Riga University, Latvia, on 28
January 2004. The acronym Bobcatsss consists of the initials of the nine hometowns
(Budapest, Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Tampere, Stuttgart, Szombately,
Sheffield) of the Library and Information Schools that initiated the first Bobcatsss
symposium in 1993 in Budapest. Now Bobcatsss is an established annual symposium, to be
held in a middle European country or Baltic state, and organised by students at a number of
universities in Europe. Every year two new universities organise the symposium. The
universities have in common that they educate in the field of library and information
education and research under the umbrella of EUCLID (European Association for Library
and Information Education and Research). Target groups of the Bobcatsss Symposia are
information specialists (including new media), students, professors in the field of library and
information education and research and employees of libraries and information departments,
publishers, etc. For Bobcatsss 2005, once again in Budapest, see: http://bobcatsss.mine.nu
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