INFORMATION SOCIETY - An information society is a society in which the creation, distribution and manipulation of information is a significant economic and cultural activity. The knowledge economy is its economic counterpart whereby wealth is created through the economic exploitation of understanding. Specific to this kind of society is the central position information technology has for production and economy. Information society is seen as the successor to industrial society and draws its growth from the forces of globalization (through its intensive investment forces, cultural influence and unification of the market), knowledge intensity (over 70% of the workers in the developed world are knowledge/information workers), connectivity (internet, mobile networks, advanced interactive applications).

i2010 - The "i2010 – A European Information Society for growth and employment" initiative was launched by the Commission on 1 June 2005 as a framework for addressing the main challenges and developments in the information society and media sectors up to 2010. It promotes an open and competitive digital economy and emphasises ICT as a driver of inclusion and quality of life. The initiative contains a range of EU policy instruments to encourage the development of the digital economy such as regulatory instruments, research and partnerships with stakeholders. i2010 - the first substantial initiative taken under the renewed Lisbon agenda - seeks to boost efficiency throughout the economy through wider use of ICTs. i2010 rests on three pillars: Creating the single European Information Space (which promotes an open and competitive internal market for information society and media services), increasing investment in innovation and research in ICT and fostering inclusion.

E-DEMOCRACY, a portmanteau of electronic and democracy, comprises the use of electronic communications technologies, such as the Internet, in enhancing democratic processes within a democratic republic or representative democracy. The aims includes making citizen participation in public policy decision-making more expansive and direct so as to enable broader influence in policy outcomes as more individuals involved could yield smarter policies; increasing transparency and accountability. E-democracy includes within its scope electronic voting, but has a much wider span than this single aspect of the democratic process. E-democracy is also sometimes referred to as cyberdemocracy or digital democracy. The concept of e-Democracy helps the implementation of the concept of participatory democracy as a process emphasizing the broad involvement of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. Participatory democracy enabled by the ICT strives to create opportunities for all members of a political group to make meaningful contributions to decisionmaking, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities.

The DIGITAL DIVIDE is a term used to refer to the gap between people who have access to the internet (The information haves) and those that do not (The information have nots). It can also refer to the skills people have – the divide between people who are at ease using technology to access and analyse information and those who are not. Training people in computer skills entails teaching them to read and write first and then how to search and use information effectively but regular practice and the access to practice will still be a limiting factor .Another key dimension of the Digital Divide is the global digital divide, reflecting existing economic divisions in the world. This global digital divide widens the gap in economic divisions around the world. Countries with a wide availability of internet access can advance the economics of that country on a local and global scale. In today's society, jobs and education are directly related to the internet. In countries where the internet and other technologies are not accessible, education is suffering, and uneducated people cannot compete in our global economy. This leads to poor countries suffering greater economic downfall and richer countries advancing their education and economy.

E-INCLUSION or digital inclusion is the term used (at least in the European Union) to encompass activities related to the achievement of an inclusive information society. New developments in technology gives a real chance to turn the risk of a digital divide into "digital cohesion" and "digital opportunities". This means bringing the benefit of the Information Society into all segments of the population, including: people who are disadvantaged due to education, ageing, limited resources, gender, ethnicity, people with disabilities (e-Accessibility), geographical digital divide. Activities cover mainly development of appropriate policies, maintenance of a knowledge base, research & technology development, deployment & best practices dissemination. At EU level e-Inclusion is part of the third pillar of the i2010 policy initiative, managed by Directorate-General for Information Society and Media of the European Commission.

DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (DRM) is any of several technologies used by publishers (or copyright owners) to control access to and usage of digital data (such as software, music, movies) and hardware, handling usage restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work. The term often is confused with copy protection and technical protection measures. These two terms refer to technologies that control or restrict the use and access of digital media content on electronic devices with such technologies installed, acting as components of a DRM design. Advocates argue DRM is necessary for copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work to ensure continued revenue streams. Some critics of the technology, including the Free Software Foundation, suggest that the use of the word "Rights" is misleading and suggest that people instead use the term Digital Restrictions Management. The position put forth is that copyright holders are attempting to restrict use of copyrighted material in ways already granted by statutory or common law applying to copyright. Others, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation consider some DRM schemes to be anti-competitive, citing the iTunes Store as an example.

BLOG is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

CREATIVE COMMONS enables copyright holders to grant some of their rights to the public while retaining others through a variety of licensing and contract schemes including dedication to the public domain or open content licensing terms. The Creative Commons provide several free licenses that copyright owners can use when releasing their works.

SPAMMING is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited, undesired bulk messages. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, and mobile phone messaging spam.

CITIZEN JOURNALISM, also known as "participatory journalism," is the act of citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. With the help of the blogs and blogging this concept has evolved into online citizen journalism.

E-RIDERs provide technical support and help NGOs develop strategy for use of ICT tools. Many NGOs use computers just for word processing, e-mail and surfing, but few have really integrated ICT into their workflow. E-Riders help them develop web presence, but also use of LANs and the Internet. They also troubleshoot hands-on problems and teach basic skills, enabling NGOs to better serve their communities.

NATIONAL INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN - Macedonian set of strategy papers drafted by the Information Society Task Force, ad-hoc expert body consisting over 40 ICT and Information Society Experts with various backgrounds - from governmental officers, business sector representatives, educational institution researches and teachers to non-governmental information society experts and led by the states Commission for Information Technology. The Policy, Strategy and Action plan were drafted in the period of second half of 2004 and first months of 2005, supported by the president, acting prime-minister, adopted by the Government of Republic of Macedonia and voted in the Macedonian Assembly. The Strategy is divided in 7 pillars: Infrastructure, e-Business, e-Government, e-Education, e-Health, e-Citizens, Legislation as well as a special focus on the sustainability of the strategy. The information society development strategy and action plan received high marks from international experts and bodies. The whole process was supported by the UNDP and Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia in partnership with the Metamorphosis Foundation.

E-GOVERNMENT (a portmanteau of electronic government, also known as e-gov, digital government, online government or in a certain context transformational government) refers to government’s use of information and communication technology (ICT) to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. E-Government may be applied by legislature, judiciary, or administration, in order to improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services, or processes of democratic governance. The primary delivery models are Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G). The most important anticipated benefits of e-government include improved efficiency, convenience, and better accessibility of public services.

DATA PRIVACY refers to the evolving relationship between technology and the legal right to, or public expectation of privacy in the collection and sharing of data. The most common sources of data that are affected by data privacy issues are: health information, criminal justice, financial information, genetic information. The Data Privacy is guaranteed directly by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states in its article 12 that: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, or to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. EU addressed the data privacy concerns with its Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. The directive states that personal data should not be processed at all, except when certain conditions are met. These conditions fall into three categories: transparency, legitimate purpose and proportionality.

NEW MEDIA loosely describes those forms of communication and art enabled by computing technology. We currently use "New Media" to provide a broadly accurate sense of those communications, technologies, and artworks made possible or actual by advances in digital computing. "New Media" communication environments are readily interactive, which opens new possibilities for conversation and feedback. The partial list of the new media includes: Web Sites, Email, CD/DVD, Electronic kiosks, Virtual Reality, Interactive Television, Internet Telephony, Mobile, Podcast.

CYBERCRIME is criminal activity involving the information technology infrastructure, including illegal access (unauthorized access), illegal interception (by technical means of non-public transmissions of computer data to, from or within a computer system), data interference (unauthorized damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data), systems interference (interfering with the functioning of a computer system by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data), misuse of devices, forgery (ID theft), and electronic fraud.

E-ACCESSIBILITY is the term used (at least in the European Union) to encompass activities related to the achievement of an accessible information society, in particular for persons with disabilities and older people. e-Accessibility includes computer accessibility. Approaches are essentially based on mainstreaming accessibility in ICT goods & services through the Design-for-All principle (also called universal design or inclusive development in other fora) and availability of adequate assistive technology.

In law, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain types of information, ideas, or other intangibles in their expressed form. The holder of this legal entitlement is generally entitled to exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property. However, various schools of thought are critical of the term "intellectual property", the very concept of intellectual property, and some characterise IP as intellectual protectionism. There is ongoing debate as to whether IP laws truly operate to confer the stated public benefits, and whether the protection they are said to provide is appropriate in the context of innovation derived from such things as traditional knowledge and folklore, and patents for software and business methods. One of the technical tools devised to protect the IP in the new media are the DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies.

FREE/LIBRE/OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE, or FLOSS, is an alternative term for free software. The software is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code and the right to distribute the changed program. Synonymous with free software and open source software, the term describes similar software, licenses, culture, and development models. Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. Freedom from such restrictions is central to the concept, with the opposite of free software being proprietary software (a distinction unrelated to whether a fee is charged). The usual way for software to be distributed as free software is for the software to be licensed to the recipient with a free software license (or be in the public domain), and the source code of the software to be made available (for a compiled language). Open-source software is computer software whose source code is available under a copyright license that permits users to study, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. It is the most prominent example of open source development.

PUBLIC INTERNET ACCESS POINT (PIAP) is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet and other technologies that help them gather information and communicate with others at the same time as they develop digital skills. While each PIAP is different, the common focus is on the use of technologies to support community and social development — reducing isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic opportunities, reaching out to youths.

METAMORPHOSIS is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit foundation based in Skopje, Macedonia. Its main goals are development of democracy and prosperity by promoting knowledge-based economy and information society. Metamorphosis started working in 1999 as part of the e-publishing program of the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM), and became an independent foundation in 2004. Its activities are: lobbying and advocacy in order to make the social and legal environment more conducive to ICT development; educational and informative efforts, including basic and advanced trainings, and rising of public awareness; providing concrete information, communication and technology solutions to social and developmental challenges.

INTERNET LAWs regulate all legal issues that may occur while one is surfing on the internet.

 

*Some definitions are taken from Wikipedia.org