Civic Networks of the Srem District – Overcoming or Indicating the Digital Divide?

Abstract

The phenomenon of digital divide has been examined recent years from many different viewpoints. There is still a variety of definitions and a range of propositions for its examination and measuring. According to the OECD reports: “digital divide refers to the gap between individuals, households, business and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities”. Civic networks are regarded as one of such activities, where the Internet has been used to reflect civic life of the particular region. Measuring the digital divide is mainly based on comparative statistics, primarily in an international context. In this paper, results of qualitative observations of the civic networks are considered as a possible indicator of the digital divide overcome in a regional context.