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| Modern ideas about the information society in Europe |
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| On October 20-21, a two-day international conference was held in Budapest, under the title of i2010 - A European Information Society for Growth and Employment, where the invited domestic and foreign lecturers expressed their opinion on the challenges and opportunities of the emerging information society in Europe. |
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On Thursday, in the morning, Norbert Kroó, Vice President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, former lecturer of ENCOMPASS, and György Csepeli, State Secretary of the Ministry of Informatics and Communications gave the opening address of the two-day event. Below, we give a short summary on the topics covered in the lectures delivered at the conference.
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Andras Vertes
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The morning session that followed the opening address was dedicated to the discussion of some more general issues about the information society. András Vértes, in his lecture focusing on the states of Central and Eastern Europe: a historic perspective to his studies was provided by a comparison between the older and newer Members States of the European Union (EU) from the point of view of ICT development (information and computer technology). The development projects of the new Member States are determined by a willingness to catch up with the EU, and will soon demonstrate their effects in a wide variety of different areas, from government activities to education. The penetration of broadband Internet and dumping on the part of mobile services are important indications of this development.
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Ferenc Suba
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Ferenc Suba spoke about one of the decisive issues of information society, about privacy, i.e., the protection and recording of personal data. Throughout history, and especially in the last couple of decades, the private life of people became more and more open: today already not only the Big Brother, but countless "Little Brothers" are watching us. This is how service providers try to get acquainted, as profoundly as possibly, with our consumer habits. The examples relating to the Internet represent a true gold mine for researchers dealing with this topic.
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Stig Aga Aandstad
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The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) was established with the purpose of elaborating, in the framework of an international cooperation, effective rules for a wide-ranging protection of personal data. The first foreign lecturer of the conference was Stig Aga Aandstad, who spoke about the development and growth possibilities of the information society. In his presentation, providing a comprehensive overview, but raising new problems as well, he spoke among other things about the expected development trends in the European information area, without circumventing the basics of the new methodology approved in Lisbon. Aandstad also covered the steps due in the immediate future.
The lectures in the afternoon focused on more specific questions. From Poland, Monika Jaranowska spoke about the usability of ICT in education. Without illusions, she described the place of her country within the EU, with special regard to the lag in terms of the requirements of information society. According to her report, the only exception, giving some hope, is education, where next year, according to plans, there will be one computer for each 11 pupils (at present, this number is 30). From Slovakia, Tibor Papp investigated the interconnections between governmental and administrative tasks, on the one hand, and ICT, on the other. Having outlined the theoretical problems of the implementation and development of e-government, he explained that a fast exploitation of the potentials inherent in ICT is indispensable from now on. Attila Naszlady spoke about the relationship between ICT and the healthcare sector: after an overview of the problem's history, the lecturer focused on present and future issues. From Prague arrived Miroslav Zajicek, whose lecture closed the afternoon session. He imparted his audience with a critique of the insufficient legal background for telecommunications in his presentation.
On the second day of the conference, László Pap was the first in a series of lecturers dealing with the area of ICT. In a European environment of higher education, the tasks and the conditions of our universities keep changing and transforming; this is a fact that we cannot leave unmentioned. European examples can point the direction for Hungary in this respect, as well. Being a professor of the Technical University of Budapest, László Pap in his lecture dealt primarily with the problems of his own university.
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Tatiana Kovacikova
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From Veszprém University, Iván Major investigated the role of the state in his lecture, with particular regard to the telecommunications market. Issues like the conflicting interests of consumers and service providers were also mentioned, where it is unavoidable that the state should play a balancing role.
The lecturers of the closing session investigated one of the most important topics, with effect on many people: the specialists discussed the possibilities for broadband access. Tatiana Kovacikova is a teacher of the University of Zilina, in Slovakia. In her lecture, she concentrated on the demonstration of the possibilities offered by broadband technology, in particular for the states in Central and Eastern Europe. A lecture of Christian Kirchner, a fellow at the Humboldt University in Berlin, closed the two-day event. Here, the lecturer covered the legal background of broadband mobile connections. The attendees learned how a revision of the competition law could lead to several efficient solutions in the long run.
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Laszlo Sallai, Elek Straub, Wolrad Rommel
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More pictures of the conference
Foto: Andras Mayer
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