ISSN 1022-6559 15 September 1996 Networks for People and their Communities Making the Most of the Information Society in the European Union FORUM Information Society First Annual Report to the European Commission from the Information Society Forum June 1996 EUROPEAN COMMISSION o CORDIS Community Research and Development Information Service CONTENTS NETWORKS FOR PEOPLE AND THEIR COMMUNITIES Making the Most of the Information Society in the European Union First Annual Report to the European Commission from the Information Society Forum - June 1996 Introducing the Information Society Forum 4 Introducing this Report 5 Executive Summary 6 CHAPTER ONE Creating Confidence in Progress 8 CHAPTER TWO Putting People First 11 CHAPTER THREE Mapping out a Future for Job Creation and Sustainable Development. 19 CHAPTER FOUR Summary of Recommendations 26 CHAPTER FIVE Future Work 30 ANNEX Summaries of the reports of the Working Groups 32 Members of the Forum 44 Latest Information Society News7 The Information Society Project Office 52 CORDIS Information 5CORDIS focus and its supplements are published by the European Commission • Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Knowledge Unit (DG XIII/D-2) • Directorate-General for Telecom in uni cations.