Cultural Aspects and Digital Divide in Europe

Abstract

This paper aims to make a contribution toward an improvement of European e-policy practice. It is inspired by the conviction that successful e-policy strategies can lead to balanced chances for all members in certain societies to aquire the absolutely indispensable capabilities for decision-making in the context of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Following the path of the development of e-policy papers it has to be stated that many goals have not yet been achieved. The techno-deterministic concepts 'access' and 'usage' seem not to reach far enough to get people really involved and informed. Many more aspects have to be considered in order to create a climate for innovation where different choices made by different individuals according to their different social, economic or cultural backgrounds do not lead automatically to the well known either or not, connected or not-connected, haves or have-nots, but to a variety of patterns of involvement. In this paper, we argue for different e-policy strategies according to cultural aspects in certain societies.And hereby we will focus on the cultural aspects of information itself, on the notion of information in different information cultures. It also seems important to mention at this stage that we believe that getting all members of society involved in the ICT-innovation process in order to provide the basis for informed decisions by each individual member is the most important task of e-policy. 1)

Toward digital transformation in healthcare: a framework for remote monitoring adoption

“…RM technologies, for instance, are based on machine-learning applications that require clinicians to use different platforms provided by multiple MedTech to manage the same clinical case. This is associated with the learning and refinement of digital skills and capabilities that should be internally transformed and developed through training (Maier-Rabler, 2002) and support to use technology (Kimura, 2010):… digital technologies [IoHT based] are considerably increasing, but their [effective] adoption depends on [its understanding by] the doctor, technician, and the healthcare staff, as it modifies the clinician's workflow and requires new culture, competences, and skills. (D9)…”

“…RM technologies, for instance, are based on machine-learning applications that require clinicians to use different platforms provided by multiple MedTech to manage the same clinical case. This is associated with the learning and refinement of digital skills and capabilities that should be internally transformed and developed through training (Maier-Rabler, 2002) and support to use technology (Kimura, 2010): "We have the possibility of a big picture and overview related to the patients' overall conditions. This is a factor that brings me to RM adoption" (D1) "To avoid the fragmentation of patients' clinical history is an opportunity for managing chronic cardiac issues with RM" (D6) Process quality "RM adoption improves the quality of our clinical activities, both in relations with colleagues, administrative office and patients" (D3) "The implementation of RM supports us in creating the right times, low workloads, also for quality control, and adequate work heuristics" (D5) "[.…”

The Paradox of Openness

“…Information cultures play a key role in how access to information and the notion of knowledge in general are valued. Maier-Rabler (2002) differentiates between information-friendly and information-restrictive cultural and societal frameworks. In this theory, the flow of information within a state is linked to the information culture of a country.…”

The Welfare State and the Media System

“…region's broader social democratic 'information culture' where 'access to information is a basic right and is seen as a condition for the public control of government' 121. Online media however represent enormous challenges for traditional media;Scandinavian consumers have become ardent users of services like Facebook, Google andNetflix bypassing traditional media.…”