INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN

Information and communication technologies (ICT) offer the opportunity to develop rural areas, which were affected by demographic and economic recession. The Information Society offers new opportunities for development because it may allow us to overcome the isolation caused by distance. Electronic commerce or teleworking can be key opportunities to boost rural development processes. Yet, besides infrastructure, it is necessary that people have appropriate qualifications to use technologies in a fruitful manner. This article presents a study of the diffusion of the Information Society in rural areas of northern Portugal, through a survey conducted in rural parish schools. The analysis reveals the degree of ICT equipment in households and the use by families of the computer and Internet services. The research exposed two types of Digital Divide; one of them includes the population who do not have access to the technology, and the second the embraces the population who have the possibility of use, but who do not, either because of the lack of knowledge or because of not seeing any value in i