Title:	INFORMATION SOCIETY IN CROATIA: LANDSCAPES OF KNOWLEDGE FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION: E-ISLAND PROJECT
Author(s):	Jorge Ricardo da Costa Ferreira
ISBN:	978-972-8939-82-3
Editors:	Piet Kommers and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2013
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Information Society, Knowledge, digital inclusion, e-Island, CARNET, Croatia
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	19
Last Page:	26
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	Croatia remains a country with an historical problem concerning development asymmetries. That is also true when it comes to knowledge dissemination. Information and communication technologies sector (ICT) is crucial to leverage economic growth assuming an important role in some aspects of the so called information society (IS). The ICT sector is also important for the decrease of territorial asymmetries, assuming of course that a basic set of social and economical variables has already been taken into account. But the difference between numbers is bigger when it comes to large cities or metropolitan areas compared with its peripheries or rural regions. A country’s education system is one of the main indicators of competitiveness in human resources. Highly competitive human resources are a consequence from high quality educational system that is available to a large percentage of the population. There is a major correlation between an increase on the level of education and economic growth (Hall, 2002; OECD, 2001a, 2001b, 2001c; Bassani and Scarpetta, 2001). An additional year of education counts as an increase in output per capita by four to seven percent (Bassani and Scarpetta, 2001). In developed and in transition countries the quality of education is even more important than the quantity of education in determining economic growth (Hanushek and Kimko, 2000). Croatia has also undergone a program of information and knowledge dissemination. Although we cannot refer to as a specific program, we could see that ICT is growing and that is considered a priority sector within economy. Some reports and strategic documents clearly state the importance of information and their infrastructures (RERASD: 2012). The dissemination of information is now determinant in terms of territorial competitiveness and both public and private sector take large benefits when the data-information-knowledge value chain repeats itself trough space and time. Competitiveness is played at world scale and telecommunications play a major role. The need for information corridors has become crucial. Information diffusion catalyses regional development and lead to informational clusters. The polarization of places contrasts with the dispersion of spaces. And all this geographical hierarchies are important to achieve higher stages of territorial development. Knowledge networks are determinant to create critical mass and are crucial to globalization processes. To be out of the networks means only one thing: you do not exist. CARNet, the Croatian network for research and education has done a major job to disseminate information and knowledge throughout the territory. Supporting the educational structure and overcome gaps between regions (when it comes to digital literacy) are some of the priorities. Projects of digital inclusion represent an obvious advantage in countries in transition to a more global economy. This research shows some of the aspects considering the information society, as well as a particular digital inclusion project: e-Island.
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