Alina Andreica, PhD

Abstract. The paper focuses on the "Digital Divide, Global Development and the Information Society" conference, a satellite conference to the World Summit on the Information Society, by revealing its main topics, debates, conclusions and drafts of action plans.

The "Digital Divide, Global Development and the Information Society" conference unfolded as a satellite conference to the World Summit on the Information Society between the 8th and the 10th of December 2003. The conference was organized by thr International Foundation for Development - IRFD, in cooperation with CIER (Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research) and the TEK Foundation.

The conference aimed at sharing scientific knowledge and experience in ICT fields from various regions of the globe in order to find efficient ways of bridging the digital divide. Around 160 participants belonging to academic, research, business and civic areas from North and Latin America, Europe, strongly represented Asia, and Africa contributed in depicting a global view on various aspects of ICT (Information and Communicaiton Technologies) implementation all over the globe. The papers presented created an overall analysis of ICT characteristics in various geographical and cultural regions from a complex perspective, with scientific, sociological / anthropological, civic, economic and cultural biases.

The countries represented were: USA, Canada (North America), Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay (from Latin America), Japan, India, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Corea, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Iran (from Asia), United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Greece, Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria (from Europe) and Egypt, South Africa, Congo, Bostwana (from Africa).

The sections of the conference covered the following topics:

. Information society and e-governance, empowerment of communities through ICT, social communication policies, sustainable information society

. Digital divide: development policies and actions, social stratification and digital divide

. Digital education: e-learning in the information society

. Regions in the information age, geographical information systems, building a global data infrastructure

. Culture and politics in the information age

. Business forums: knowledge management and economy, e-commerce and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), the role of ICT in economic growth and socio-economic development, legal issues and security of e-business

. Information society and technology, transfer of IT - development and underdevelopment

. Legal framework of information and security issues, privacy versus cyber crime

The implementation of ICT within various areas of the human society is indispensable for developing the information and knowledge based society. Thus, this process should be highly oriented towards its beneficiaries, user-friendly and aim-driven. It is very important that social and cultural features of people, nations and groups be respected when finding means of expressing themselves in the new e-way.

On a global scale, one of the main problems is the reflection in ICT of the development - underdevelopment gap between various regions of the world, or of some existent discrimination between peoples and groups, issue that was strongly stressed within the Summit. Thus, bridging the digital divide becomes a crucial topic to deal with. Nevertheless, we must notice that the equality, free principles and ethics of Internet use are good premises in this respect and that ICT can bring huge benefits for developing countries with good existing potential in overcoming some drawbacks that exist in classical economy.

The impact of ICT in the economic field, dealt by a considerable number of panels, was strongly revealed within the conference. There were proposed efficient methods of assessing development levels of countries and economic fields and of finding best investment options. Many Central and East European countries are preoccupied in creating and updating proficient databases for computing economic indicators. Another important trend regards measuring the ICT implementation level in the business medium, in order to design strategies for increasing competitiveness and finding investment areas with best economic results. Comparative studies on these topics would also bring huge practical benefits. Therefore, the new e-way could become a better chance for developing countries with good IT potential of integrating into the global economy.

Principles from Asian "success stories" in ICT implementation and developing the software industry (Japan, South Corea, India) can be adapted for other regions of the globe (mostly for developing countries).

Educational strategies should integrate e-learning programs, with huge benefits for the society and especially for empowering life-long learning, indispensable in the knowledge-based society. E-learning systems, with a good management of the educational content, proper trajectory guidance and evaluation / self-evaluation mechanisms, enhanced the student-centered educational model, by making the trainee more responsible of his / her training. Electronic information and communication services and applications are the tools which enable the implementation of these educational facilities. Nevertheless, the efficiency of e-learning systems depends on a good IT infrastructure and policy, the situation of less developed countries being therefore quite difficult to manage.

E-government policies also require a good communication infrastructure, as well as adequate user skills, which can be attained, in a considerable extent, by e-learning programs.

Security issues in electronic communication, are very important both from technical and legal points of view. While most legislations cover such legal aspects, privacy issues are often dealt with depending on cultural and social backgrounds. For example, in Asia information tends to be much more publicly available and is considered in a larger extent public property than in the West. Still, legal aspects of electronic information and communication services need to be developed in order to prevent privacy invasion or, worse, electronic felonies. Technical aspects of Internet security are also very complex, being extensively studied and researched by professionals. In this respect, encryption techniques and digital signatures are most frequently used.

Practical conclusions of the conference led to a draft action plan which aims at improving ICT levels in various geographical regions by assessing specific features, proposing measures to certain categories based on the same characteristics and adjusting them according to each social and cultural background.

Alina Andreica, PhD
ICT Department, "Babe?-Bolyai" Unversity, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
e-mail: alina.andreica@staff.ubbcluj.ro, alina.andreica@euro.ubbcluj.ro