Elderly people still play a minor role in research on information needs and usage patterns of Internet users. Online research and advocacy groups look optimistically at the (economic and social) potential of the active and technology–skilled elderly; other approaches dealing with the social appropriation of technology see obstacles and stress the dangers of an increasing digital divide between generations. Our objective is to refer to taken for granted normative assumptions of the digital divide discourse, highlighting different requirements for the appropriation of the Internet. Using the concept of technological generations we look at formal and informal learning of young and elderly people in the German context. We use survey material and field impressions we gained in various technology related studies. The results show that the "two worlds apart" assumption (young vs. elderly people) is too simplistic. Factors like gender, education and socio–economic status still play an important role for acceptance and diffusion of a technology. The diffusion rate among the elderly is increasing, but will continue to lag behind the figures of the young users. Cultural preparations and easy access modes are essential for the elderly, who could make use of latecomer advantages. Informal learning and peer group support will be crucial for the diffusion of the Internet among the elderly. In our conclusions we look at the specific social status of the elderly cohort, which makes a comparison with other social groups very difficult.

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We explore emerging contexts of social entrepreneurship in India. Social entrepreneurship is emerging as an important option in poverty reduction and social change wherein organizing societal responses to scenarios like entrenched deprivation, cumulative disadvantages, long extant institutional lock-in, and vulnerabilities enmeshed in social stratification, hiatus emanating from segmentation of labour market and inadequate coverage of social protection form the core of strategies/collectives/organisation. In this paper, first, drawing cues from the literature, we outline basic typology of social entrepreneurship while delineating pivotal role technology and collaboration play in social entrepreneurship. Second, we provide a glimpse of not profit organisations in India, based on the secondary data. We juxtapose select patterns from the data on non profit organisations with human development. Third, we discuss select cases of social entrepreneurship that diverge in characteristics and contexts, in particular how these initiatives work towards poverty reduction and social development.

The booming ICT sector, with new job profiles and more and more young start-up companies, and its hunger for young people with a technical background seems to guarantee a well-paid job and promises rapid job-insertion and personal challenge. Yet these glamorous opportunities do not increase the interest of students in ICT-relevant technical subjects. Why do young people not enrol in these courses more frequently or at least follow short training courses to become web-masters, multimedia experts, etc.? Does the ICT industry only attract a certain type of person? Why are women still under-represented? The article reflects these questions in the light of the German discussion of this issue.