Digital inclusion guidelines and promotion by the European Union

Abstract

Digital inclusion has emerged as an institutional objective of European policies on information society since the last fifteen years in response to the potential risk of an increase in the digital divide within the European society. Content analysis of the European Commission plans and ministerial declarations —that constitute these policies— reveals a change in the treatment of the access to and the use of Information Technology and Communication (ICT), most clearly visible when these policies are associated with the development of e-Government. The main change is from the initial approaches focused on the social benefits of ICT access and its use to new approaches in which such social benefits are subject to technological development —mainly by extending broadband connections. This finding is especially relevant in the discussion of access to and the use of e-Government, more precisely the e-Administration services.