Matching Up to the Information Society: An Evaluation of the EU, the EU Accession Countries, Switzerland and the United States

This report presents the current understanding of the advancement of the Information Society within the European Union and countries that are up for accession in 2004, and is based on the SIBIS surveys and analyses per SIBIS theme and country. The report is unique in its coherent and comprehensive approach in measuring the Information Society. It is intended to inform policy-makers and citizens on the advancement of the Information Society, further debate and research among the professional statistical community, and lead to an improved statistical competence in measuring the Information Society in Europe. The report focuses on basic access and usage elements like Internet readiness, the digital divide, and information security. It not only considers factors that determine access and usage, such as the perceptions of possible barriers, digital literacy, learning, and training issues, but it also benchmarks on-line applications like e-commerce, e-work, e-science, e-government, and e-health. The report concludes with a summary of recommendations for policy-makers and further research.
The research was carried out in 2003.