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Nowadays, active citizenship cannot exist without active using information-communication
technologies (ICT). In countries of EU, various types of electronic services for citizens have been
developed for supporting or enabling active citizenship. The level of their use depends on access to
the Internet, skills and actual use of ICT, and awareness of the needs of the citizens. A person digitally
excluded, i.e. not using ICT, becomes a “second-class” citizen, increasingly being removed to the
margins of the social life. This marginalization has a social dimension, because the citizen does not
use the services offered to him by the society (e.g. social networking sites), state or local
governments, and their active citizenship is limited. Marginalization has the financial dimension - the
increased costs paid by citizens in their daily lives.
The paper presents the results of survey on the level of access to ICT in rural areas in Poland. It also
shows the areas of digital exclusions and their causes. Conclusions regarding the actions that
increase an active citizenship have been made. These conclusions relate to ensuring an access to
ICT, training and public awareness, i.e. to develop the awareness and the needs of citizens.
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