       |
|
|
1st virtual vernissage 
|
Dear Friends, The term "information society" has been widely discussed. No doubt, this is due to the fact that modern information technologies offer seemingly unlimited possibilities in all areas of human society. What will be the effect of applying these technologies on the economy, education, state administration, development of regions and numerous other areas? Will we become prisoners of information technologies or will the progress in this area immensly simplify everyday life? Will the development of the information society bring radical changes in the mode of executing state administration and self-government in the Czech Republic? What is the experience of using modern information technologies in public life in developed countries of Europe and countries wishing to joint European structures as well? Searching for answers to these questions will be the subject of an important event, i.e. the second annual national conference on Internet in State Administration and Self-Government (ISSS ´99) and the third European Seminar on Local and Regional Information Society. The importance of this event, which will take place in Hradec Kralove town on 15 and 16 March, 1999, is enhanced by the fact that this event is sponsored by the Committee of Regions of the European Union, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council of Europe, the Office for State Information System of the CR and the Union of Towns and Villages of the CR. ISSS ´99 is a continuation of the successful first annual conference held in March, 1998, in which 600 officials of central authorities of the State administration, district, municipal and village authorities participated. Ministers of Government, members of Parliament and senators of Parliament of the CR were guests of the Conference. One of the conclusions of ISSS ´98 was that the process of forming an information society cannot remain closed within the boundaries of the individual countries. While we, in the Czech Republic, have only started discovering the possibilities offered by the information society, west of our state boundaries, the idea of an information society has already been contributing to the integration of Europe. The cycle of seminars on Local and Regional Information Society is one of the ways, through which the Council of Europe and the European Union wishes to offer the countries of Central and Eastern Europe the possibility of comparing approaches and experience attained by the developed European countries in building their information systems. The fact that the Czech Republic will host the pan-European event dealing with the problems of the information society is a unique opportunity for us to create an idea of how the unified Europe will be like within a couple of years. In the unified Europe, a well performing information society will be a matter of course. Frantisek Dohnal |
|||||
