Facilitating the Establishing of Information Society 
in a Small Region through Education
 
 by Ildiko PROPST and Erika KOCSIS,
 The Soros Educational Centre from Miercurea Ciuc 
of the Foundation for on Open Society, Cluj Branch,
 Miercurea Ciuc, 4100, str. Florilor nr. 9/III 
P.O. Box 40, Romania Tel/fax: +40-66-171799
 e-mail: office@cemc.soroscj.ro

 Abstract: The Information Society. Some positive and negative aspects of it. 
Its contribution in changing mentality of the community by transferring 
knowledge and providing the use of Internet and "information literacy".

	1. Short historical review of the relationship between education 
and society in this region.

The former political system in Romania forced people and the country to live 
behind the Iron Curtain. Without perspectives and possibilities learning 
became art for art\rquote s sake. Technical involvment and exact sciences 
had an advantage over foreign language teaching. About 80% of university 
graduates were in engineering. The dictatorship wasn\rquote t at all 
interested in forming 'European minded'  people or 'European dimension' in 
thinking. That is the reason why today's people over 30 can hardly manage 
themselves in the labyrinth of democracy and need further education.

After 1989 the principles of market economy started to be applied. The labor 
force had to cope with the new field of forces.  A "discursive boom" took 
place which resulted the appearance of a wide range of professions.

By the time the new economic horizons have shown up the companies opened up. 
Relationships, joint ventures became stronger and things that were prohibited 
or pushed into background during communism (languages, computer techniques, 
the Internet) have gained sense and importance and the range of duties has 
changed.

	2. Information Society. Positive and negative aspects.

Information Society is a form of society in which organization of all the 
activities (economic, political, cultural, educational) happens by using 
computers or computer-generated information.

In this society activities became quicker and more efficient than in other 
societies (traditional, industrial) as a result of globalization and faster 
communication between regions and different cultures. In spite of the fact 
that the information has several negative aspects besides the positive ones, 
the Information Society is on its way to be general in the world.

	3. The Soros Educational Centre from Miercurea Ciuc. Results 
and Obstacles in the Way of Establishing the Information Society.

The Soros Educational Centre wants to implement this global trend into our 
local region through educational activities.

In its 1.5 years existence the Educational Centre  organized English and 
German courses, computer technique instructions, management-marketing 
seminars and other activities of social interests.

In 1997 the number of students who attended courses at  the Soros Educational 
Centre was 970  from which 850 adults..

The conclusions seem to be evident
	there is a real need for adult education in this region;
	the Internet is on its way to become popular in the community, 
		but people have very little possibility of access  (this has 
		financial background as it is shown below);
	CMC - Computer Mediated Communication - is not used by the older 
		generations but the young generation is highly interested 
		in it, which shows us a real optimistic factor.
	Taking in consideration that the Soros Educational Centre has the 
		proper and a high-standard infrastructure, including 
		computers and online Internet access for 24 hours a day, 
		the Centre could have a key position in solving some of the 
		educational problems in this region. Using CMC may conduct 
		to a higher level of education which makes possible easy 
		moving inside of the labor-market and at the same time the 
		level of unemployment would decrease and the society (region) 
		would be more mobile, enhancing the economic development in 
		this region.
	The Educational Centre propagates information/knowledge that would 
facilitate the establishing of Information Society in this region, integrating 
the town in the world's information current. 

The most important fact is that there is no political obstacle which would 
prevent developing the Information Society in the region.

Among the practical obstacles that are encountered should be mentioned the 
imperfectness of the infrastructure: the quality of telephone lines which 
has a negative effect on Internet connections. The bureaucracy in 
administration is another obstacle which renders the everyday management 
more difficult. There are also main obstacles at the level of human and 
economic resources: some schools haven't got any computers yet or qualified 
computer technique teachers.

By transferring knowledge and providing the use of Internet and "information 
literacy", the Educational Centre is contributing essentially to changing 
the mentality of the middle-aged community. Besides the fact that academic 
knowledge will be improved, there is also a sociological result: ceasing 
the isolation of people and region. 

References:
1. Desmond Keegan: Foundations of Distance Education, Routledge, 1996
2. David Watson and Kathy Watson: Distant Education Materials via the Web 
- An Australian View, 1996
3. Peter Gyorgy: The New Ancient World, 1996
4. The National Strategy of the Romanian Government for Implementing the 
Information Society, 1997