Digital ruling out but the social exclusion, that is about power of the determination of the degree of the participation in the society through the access to information technologies

Abstract

<b>Aim:</b> The aim of the paper is to look close at the phenomenon of digital exclusion and its level across voivode ships in Poland and consequently construct ranking arrangement. Digital exclusion is then to be seen in the context of social exclusion and the interdependence of the two are measured and explained. <br><b>Data and methods:</b> The data for the investigation come from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office. The research procedure is based on statistical methods of linear classification of objects as well as chosen correlation measures. <br><b>Results:</b> The application of statistical tools of objects classification allowed to distinguish groups of voivode ships of high, moderate and low level of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) access. The results were compared with parallel outcomes for the investigation of social exclusion. For both cases ranking arrangements were constructed and the correlation between them estimated. The obtained value of correlation coefficient confirmed previous observations indicating the interdependence between the two phenomena, although the real character of it has not yet been discovered. <br><b>Conclusions:</b> The investigation shows that the phenomenon of digital exclusion is differentiated within the set of voivode ships. There are still areas that should be taken care of in this aspect. At the same time it follows from the research that digital inclusion plays a significant role in social inclusion, but still there are many questions left unanswered within this area.