Advances in the measurement of the Information Society from the perspective of the European Union

Abstract

^{In order to determine in a qualitative more than quantitative manner the guidelines that the proposals for the metrics of information society should have, the trends in information sources, doctoral dissertations and recent models of indicators were analyzed using a selective criterion of indication. For this, the culture of evaluation was assumed as a necessary means for decision making in the information society according to an economic and social, sustainable and inclusive model, –as pointed out in the creation of the first committees established for this mission. Thus, the various models of indicators designed by the EU were studied in order to assess the development of the society of information, with the goal of establishing the grounds of a possible metrics system, analyzing the evolution of the European indicators, their objectives and treatment, and using the latest models of the definition of the EU for the next decade, with qualitative criteria. Finally, the most recent guidelines in the design of models of indicators are presented, as well as their interoperability and convergence process in order to propose a harmonic and global development from the information society to the knowledge society. The conclusion was arrived at that in a new social and economic model the benefic effects of the information society are only possible through the development of mechanisms that involve all the regions of the world and all of the population, for which a competencial analysis is necessary of the use of the ICTs as well as training in understanding digital contents to generate knowledge in order to “know” (efficient application of knowledge)}