E-inclusion for bridging the digital divide in Turkey

Abstract

Development of an information society is an important priority for many countries today. Governments are taking steps to give opportunity to every citizen to participate fully in the information society. However, every person cannot benefit from the information and communication technologies equally because of the inequalities in terms of economic, geographic and other related factors. Digital Divide is described as the inequality between individuals, companies and nations from differing classes in terms of access and use of information and communication technologies (OECD, 2001). E-Inclusion, which is described as being included into information society, aims to terminate the risks of digital divide. It refers to realize an inclusive information society, that is, an ¿information society for all¿. The aim is to enable every person who so wishes to fully participate in the information society. The Council of the European Union have been taking steps towards a highly inclusive information society in recent years. In this paper we aim to determine and identify possible policy actions, structures and applications to achieve a fully inclusive information society in Turkey which is a candidate country to membership of the European Union. By this way, it is aimed to increase the visibility of e-inclusion in Turkey and to raise the level of political and stakeholder commitment. Current official documents and government structures are investigated from the Institutional E-Government Communication Directorate and related public and private institutions are interviewed. Finding of the study is presented systematically.