Perception of landscape in the information society

The paper presents results of the survey carried out in a group of 560 respondents, the aim of which was to study perception of the landscape of the Polish Carpathians by residents of southern Poland, and methods of obtaining information regarding transformation and protection of the landscape (books, lessons, TV, Internet, trips, Google Earth etc.). Nearly 1/3 of the respondents spend no more than 10 minutes per week studying information about transformation and protection of the natural and cultural landscape, slightly over 1/3 spend up to 30 minutes, and the rest up to 3 hours. Most frequently, the respondents have contact with various landscapes during walks and trips, then by means of programs Google-Earth, Virtual 3D, Wind-World. Television, radio and newspapers are main sources of information regarding landscapes. The Internet was behind, but still the surveyed get more information from there than from lessons or specialist magazines, although the latter are appreciated for their credibility of information. The survey shows that protection of wildlife and historic object of architecture is the most important in the Polish Carpathians, followed by protection of rare species of plants and woods. Respondents would rather protect our natural landscape that cultural one, as they do not appreciate the value of protection of historically preserved whole scenic structures. The main obstacle in development of the information society is awareness of the potential of the Internet and skills in using it