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An IT rationalist discourse predominates in the e‐government literature. Furthermore, and whenever an alternative and holistic discourse is developed, e‐government evaluation remains mechanistic. E‐inclusion is rightfully advocated as a socially inclusive strategy for e‐government planning and development but it is erroneously considered as a further stage of e‐government development, following the fourth and transactional stage. The paper aims to reconfigure e‐government and e‐inclusion as two parallel processes of government intervention to support a socially inclusive development strategy through a national IT strategy.

This paper reviews the general discourse surrounding e‐government development and implementation, highlighting its mechanistic underpinnings and contrasting it with an inclusive approach to e‐government. The mechanistic discourse of e‐government is analyzed through key constructs that underlie the e‐government concept. Vision and objectives, e‐government evaluation, e‐government models and the enabling role of ICT will be analyzed in view of sorting out the predominance of a mechanistic theme in their elaboration. The synthesis part of this work introduces e‐inclusion based on a more organic and community‐centered approach to e‐government in light of the insufficiencies earlier identified.

Whilst e‐inclusion provides a good platform to pinpoint insufficiencies of the predominant mechanistic approach to e‐government, it remains doubtful whether it could be achieved within the realm of e‐government programs alone.

Models, roadmaps and strategies for e‐inclusion should explicitly outline the premises for a socially inclusive e‐government and not consider e‐inclusion as a further and mechanical stage of the e‐government stage model. E‐government evaluation has to pinpoint the inclusion aspects of existing projects by going beyond mechanistic measurements.

This paper questions a major assumption in the e‐government literature, namely that e‐inclusion follows e‐government. By drawing from the political science literature, it identifies a niche for e‐inclusion which helps reconceptualize it as socially inclusive government rather than a further stage of e‐government.

This paper aims to give an overview of EU‐level e‐inclusion policy providing elements for the context for reflection on the role and shape of universal service.

The paper provides an account of the drivers and principles of EU e‐inclusion policy.

The paper finds that e‐inclusion – at this stage – needs a comprehensive and coherent approach addressing any social and economic exclusion factor with the help of ICT, addressing the risk of ICT as a factor of exclusion, bringing together the market, society, and user perspectives and seeking a “triple‐win”, and pro‐actively and forward‐looking combination of policy tools that can help to realize e‐inclusion.

The paper provides a contribution to the discussion on universal service from the wider perspective of EU e‐inclusion policy.

The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of the societal problem of the deepening digital divide by establishing and testing an integrated conceptual framework for digital divide research.

The authors established the integrated conceptual framework after synthesizing the literature, and then tested the framework by conducting a secondary analysis of a 2014-2015 data set comprised of 398 survey responses and nine interviews with Chinese migrant workers.

The results showed that Chinese migrant workers were partially e-included in the digital society. However, they encountered material, cognitive, motivational, and social access limitations due to the lack of financial, material, educational, psychological, interpersonal, and cognitive resources, which caused them to experience a digital divide. Findings support the use of the integrative model as a potential analytical framework to understand and address digital inequalities.

This study first proposed an integrative framework to understand the measurements and causes of the digital divide and then empirically tested its feasibility.

This purpose of this paper is to identify principal stakeholders and needs in e‐inclusion, with particular reference to senior citizens, determining to what extent those needs are being met or could be met by other stakeholders. It considers inclusive stakeholder organisational structures that could address unmet needs.

Although the European Commission (EC), Member States, local authorities, industry, and researchers have called for greater collaboration and partnerships among stakeholders to overcome the so‐called digital divides, little attention has been giv]en to the form of collaboration. Reviewing various policy‐oriented documents, this paper compiles a list of principal stakeholders and their e‐inclusion needs, reviews existing multi‐stakeholder undertakings and partnership structures as candidates for addressing needs not already met.

Many important e‐inclusion needs are not addressed by any multi‐stakeholder undertaking. Some structured collaboration or partnership should address those needs. A new structure should not merely represent all interested stakeholders, but involve them in decision‐making processes.

This is a conceptual paper, constrained by length from producing a detailed list of needs. Similarly, although the paper identifies 12 different stakeholder categories, some could be further segmented.

Further research and analysis could be undertaken sourcing each identified need, perhaps adding others and further segmenting stakeholder categories.

The paper is of value to stakeholders involved or interested in e‐inclusion efforts. It uses a novel, straight‐forward, approach for identifying stakeholders and needs, who can meet those needs and who is addressing those needs.

The issue of digital divide is widely discussed in research as well as in practice. Today, especially senior citizens are excluded from the merits of using information and communication technologies (ICT). This paper aims to study municipal projects for an inclusive information society in Russia, Austria, and Switzerland.

In this paper 50 cities are selected from each country studied based on three variables. In each city, all age‐related e‐inclusion projects are analyzed to find commonalities and varieties.

Results show that in all countries the projects share several commonalities. However, project ideas are not shared internationally.

The research is limited by the selection of countries and cities. Future research should compare the results of other countries.

Decision makers in municipalities should look for successful e‐inclusion projects in other areas, not only nationally but also internationally.

This paper presents a first comparative analysis of e‐inclusion projects in several European countries.

This article considers research directed at conceptualising aspects of assistive technology of benefit to ineffective readers. In particular, it deals with educational practice that fosters e‐inclusion. Exploring the potential of digital technologies, this article presents results from research in a five‐year period in Denmark. Frequent and proper use of assistive technologies may promote reading fluency, but the core objective is to overcome barriers to learning and to support ineffective readers to work at age‐related expectations. Compared to learning without any assistive technology, ineffective readers develop higher intrinsic motivation and self‐esteem regarding school work. The use of digital technology helps them when translating written words into spoken words (decoding) and when getting meaning from the text. In general, they also become more self‐reliant and produce texts of higher quality. An innovative strategy, consequently, encompasses quality reading education and implementation of technology enabling age‐relevant text comprehension.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether existing organisations that seek to integrate a range of stakeholders (i.e. senior citizens, industry, academics, public authorities, civil society organisations and the media) in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) and ageing are adequately meeting the needs of each of these stakeholder groups, and to determine whether a new, or re‐organised, mechanism is needed to better meet the needs of stakeholders.

The authors identify, describe, assess and compare the adequacy of various candidate multi‐stakeholder mechanisms in order to improve stakeholder co‐operation.

The authors' principal finding is that the stakeholder co‐ordination mechanisms discussed in this paper are not adequate to foster e‐inclusion co‐operation, co‐ordination and collaboration among all different types of stakeholders.

This analysis offers direction in how a new organisation, or the expansion of an existing mechanism, could ensure that currently un‐met needs are addressed. The strengths and weaknesses of the stakeholder co‐ordination mechanisms discussed here demonstrate that some organisational types are better for performing certain tasks and for integrating particular types of stakeholder. Thus, a federated, multi‐dimensional organisation offers one possibility for addressing the needs of all different types of stakeholders.

This paper provides an avenue of response to various calls for closer stakeholder collaboration by the European Commission and other stakeholders, in order to improve the quality of life for older persons and to meet European social objectives.

Selecting an appropriate theory has always remained a critical task for the digital policy researchers. The literature seems to miss providing theoretical accounts of policy view of the digital platforms governance and offering tools for measuring the effectiveness of policies. To this end, this paper aims to provide a critical review and comparison of dominant information systems (IS) theories used. It highlights the weaknesses of these theories to explain technology features and actor- technology interactions with the rising trend of digital platforms. The main argument of this research is that the policymakers will not have adequate tools for policymaking of digital platforms by following the assumptions of theories used dominantly in the IS field.

This paper analyzes the assumptions of dominant IS theories and their applications in the digital policy literature. Then, it shows to what extent these theories are incapable of conceptualizing features of technology and actors’ role in policymaking and governance of digital platforms.

This paper identifies three aspects of digital platforms, including layered architecture, multisided (“side” means “participants”) and user interaction based, that dominant IS theories have shortcomings in explaining them.

The findings of this research can help authorities to take a more realistic view in defining digital platform policy objectives and applying more appropriate tools in policy implementation.

Discussing insights into the shortcomings of theories helps to define the theoretical requirements for studying policymaking and governance of digital platforms. It also suggests opportunities and recommendations for future studies.

Definitions of assistive technology are varied and sometimes contradictory and this raises particular issues for a new Journal seeking to address this area. A preference for loose and wide definitions is seen as leading to a more inclusive grasp of the field. Disability itself is a contested concept and this has affected the approach taken to technology use for groups that have been identified as having special educational needs. A key focus of the Journal of Assistive Technologies is on the practices of technology use, rather than the tools themselves, and this is discussed in the light of the social model of inclusion. The use of the term e‐Inclusion leads to a discussion of a tentative taxonomy of this area: technology to train and rehearse; technology to assist learning and technology to enable learning. Practitioners and researchers from a range of backgrounds are invited to contribute to the debates raised in this article.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a flavour of the content of the BOBCATSSS Symposium, held in Zadar, Croatia, in January 2008.

A brief and subjective account of approaches to the main topics of this conference is the approach taken in the article.

The theme of the symposium, “Access to information for everyone” invited a variety of approaches that show the complexity regarding the future library institution and the future roles of the librarian. The conference included areas such as technological developments, e.g. Web 2.0 and e‐inclusion, digital rights management, open access, and the library as physical space.

A brief report of value to library and information professionals regarding provision of access to information and the future of libraries and librarians.