Trapped in the Digital Divide? Old People in the Information Society

Senior citizens have not been amongst the first to start utilising Information and
Communication Technology (ICT). Thus there is a danger that they will be excluded
from the growing Information Society. In a Danish program, six local experiments
are trying out the possibilities of utilising ICT to fulfil the needs of old people. This
article will present some of the results of the program. First, I will present the Danish
ICT-policy, which shapes the political background for the program. Second, I will
present the program. Third, I will give a brief presentation of the methodology and
the theoretical framework the study is based on. Through an analysis of two of the
local experiments I will show how ICT becomes a part of old people’s everyday life.
Finally, I will conclude as to whether or not old people in Denmark are becoming
part of the Information Society through these local development projects.

Key words: social experiment, information society, digital divide.