USAGE OF ICT IN EU CULTURE SECTOR AS A TOOL OF CULTURAL PARTICIPATION

Abstract

Culture is not only an inherent part of human life but it also creates the potential for economic growth, employment and innovation. For this reason, the European Union considers the development of culture sector and Cultural and creative industries as very important. Nowadays the culture sector is confronted with the penetration of Information and communication technologies. The widespread use of Internet and Information and communication technologies implies more participatory behaviours on the side of users, who are increasingly involved in cultural activities electronically. The presented article is focused on the issue of electronic cultural participation in European Union member countries. The aim is to evaluate the usage of Information and communication technologies for cultural purpose. For the purpose of this aim the selected multi-criteria decision-making method MAPPAC is applied. In the result is presented the ranking of European Union member countries according to the participation of citizens in culture through Information and communication technologies. In the research there was confirmed the importance of Information and communication technologies in European Union culture sector. High involvement of individuals in electronic cultural participation is obvious in developed European Union countries; in less developed countries the electronic cultural participation is habitually lower.