Poles' participation in informational development
Society's technological progress is always partly an effect of the state's creation of conditions conducive to development, and partly on people's activity and their social openness to change.
According to 2001 data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), every fifth Polish house has a computer. In recent years the percentage of Poles with a computer has grown dynamically.
According to another poll conducted by the CBOS opinion pollster in May 2002, more than one quarter of Poles (27%) said they had a PC at home. This indicates that Poles have started to use new means of communication en masse. According to research based on data from the I-metria research company, eight million Poles over 15 years old visit Internet sites on a regular basis and almost 14 million uses mobile phones.
Poles' attitude towards new media is also related to the radical change in ways of thinking about education. New communication channels are treated as a way of accessing knowledge. For comparison, according to the above GUS results, music players, which only serve a pleasure purpose, were found in 2001 in 10.6% of Polish households. Young people, when they have to choose, decide to purchase a computer rather than a music player. Modern technologies for playing music or looking at a picture on screen do not have to differ in terms of quality from CD technology.
However, it is worth referring to another public opinion poll by TNS OBOP conducted in 2000, which found for that the younger generation (15-19 year olds), education is the most important factor in securing a successful life. TNS OBOP's research showed that out of the total population, the percentage of those who consider education to be a necessary condition of a successful life grew by 24% in comparison to an analogous poll conducted in 1976.
The Polish authorities understand that the modern world is moving towards knowledge-based economies, those which develop knowledge both in data-bases and via society's intellectual potential.
For this reason the government accepted the 'Plan for the development of an information society in Poland, 2001-2006,' which sets out the creation of economic, legal and administration mechanisms with the purpose of guaranteeing open access to information. The Polish government also joined the 'eEuropa+' programme: joint activities for the implementation of an information society in Europe were officially announced on June 16th 2001 at a summit in Göteborg.
This wide-ranging campaign to provide Polish schools with computers and Internet access was the result of government activities that were tangible to the average citizen. As a result of the 'Internet workshop in every commune' programme conducted in 1998, on which 95 million zlotys was spent, 2,480 primary schools were fitted with 10 computer terminals in work rooms with Internet access.
