Symptoms of development of an information society in the Silesian Voivodship

Abstract

The Silesian Voivodship is one of the most industrialised ones in Poland. It can be characterised by the highest number of employees in industry, which was equal to 458,000 in 2006, i.e. 16.9% of the total number of employees in industry in Poland. When calculated per 1000 inhabitants, the coefficient is equal to 98 and it gives the voivodship the first place in the country. The Silesian Voivodship is also close to the top as far as sold industrial production is concerned (the second place after the Mazowieckie Voivodship), which was 140,500,000,000 PLN in 2006, making 17.9% of the total industrial production in Poland, and also in the field of industrial investments, the value of which was equal to 9,500,000,000 PLN, making 18% of all investments in industry in Poland (the first place among all voivodships). Also the value of fixed asset in industry, being equal to 18.0% of the total value of the fixed asset in industry in Poland is the highest in the Silesian Voivodship. The presented factors prove a dominating role of industry in the voivodship economy and the industrial character of its inhabitants.The process of transformation from an industrial to an information society develops gradually. A civilisation is never totally and immediately replaced by another, but it is successively modified and it can exist in that modified form for a long time. According to the above assumption, the goal of the paper is to present selected aspects of development of the information society in the Silesian Voivodship.