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AUSTRALIA: Australian Community Networking Alliance (ACNA) In Australia, there is a close association with the Community Information Centre movement, and a very close connection between CN's and the social service community. "The CIC's are volunteer run locations where members of the community can drop in to get a wide range of "community" information --pensions, immigration, schooling etc. The Community Networks are developing out of these CICs as they get the means to bring themselves on-line. What this means is that in contrast to Canada, the CNs in Australia are beginning from a very rich information and volunteer base." (Michael Gurstein). ACNA is a loose coalition of groups and organizations, represented by 7 states, intended "to draw in" participation in community networking and to lobby for its concerns. There is a federal council that meets online (Web Board based), every two months, and a small management group.
Represented at ECN98 by: ken@civ.org.au
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
WEBSITES: http://www.civ.org.au
CHALLENGES:
CATALONIA: BCNET is the web based local community network for the City of Barcelona It's the product of a partnership between the City and cANet (Center for Internet Applications) of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. It provides "a platform for integration of community services at the local level." It is being designed from the bottom up as "the network of networks in Barcelona...the sum of all the small nets." cANet's focus is on "the design of the next generation of Internet based communities, applications and services: digital universities, virtual companies, security and certification authorities, community networks and smart cities,...and their integration mechanisms."
The sources of funding for ECN98 were entirely local, from Barcelona and
Catalonia. This is primary evidence of how seriously BCNET views the
issues of getting community networks onto the European Commission EDC
agenda and sharing national experience through the formalization of EACN.
The city of Barcelona is an active participant in the European Digital
Cities (EDC) programme. But the city is not waiting for an integration of
community networks and Telecities. It is acting on this agenda on its own.
It actively seeks out and supports "virtual communities" of associations,
districts (a formal unit of city government, see for example
Represented at ECN98 by:
WHEN ESTABLISHED: 1996
WEBSITES:
CHALLENGES:
EUROPE:
Telecities: the European Digital Cities (EDC) Partnership
Telecities is an "open network for concerted urban development through
telematics." EDC is a European Commission sponsored project that includes
Telecities as a partner. Telecities' objective is to achieve a common
definition for telematics applications that support the regeneration of
urban areas through:
By providing an open cooperation network for concerted urban development
through Telematics, the European Digital Cities project aims to accelerate
the deployment of cost-effective telematics solutions responding to a
common definition of the "urban demand" for telematics services and
applications. The scope of this project covers a number of networking
activities by cities, towns and regions with a view to laying the
foundations of the Global Information Society as outlined by the G7 world
conference of Feb.'95, the Delors White Paper and the Bangemann report.
Through this open network, local authorities have access to an important
forum for information exchange and expertise which enable policy and
decision makers more effectively to promote the development of new urban
telematics systems and services, based on knowledge and 'best practice'
derived at the European level. By undertaking concerted activities on
telematics applications in urban and surrounding areas and measuring the
development of urban telematics and the contribution that these are making
to economic and social growth, the project also seeks to establish a
consensus on appropriate technological solutions to the challenges facing
urban areas in Europe.
Telecities was described at ECN98 by the Barcelona City Hall contact for
the Telecities Network, Tere Sera. But the formal contact is:
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
WEBSITE:
CHALLENGES:
Telecities brings together cities and towns sharing similar interests and
goals for the development of telematics applications in an urban context.
It is essential to maintain a high profile for local authorities/city
governments, as the democratic expression of user needs and demand in the
urban context. This level of political commitment that Telecities has from
the most senior politicians representing local interests across Europe, is
what differentiates Telecities from other initiatives and networks, and is
why Telecities stresses the importance of universal access to the
information society and of support for cultural and linguistic diversity at
all levels.
Telecities provides an open cooperation network for European Digital
Cities, with:
Technical working groups are coordinated by a city selected each year among
the Telecities members. Each working group collates and synthesizes case
studies, reports on best practices, and any other relevant documents to
draw lessons and analyze possible deployment in other sites. Their work is
based on a series of workshops/seminars and demonstration visits to develop
a consensus on applications responding to urban priorities, through the
exchange of information and knowledge by a wide range of cities and experts
in Europe. There are 102 members including 92 from the 13 member states of
the EC. The current topics of interest are:
FRANCE:
VECAM is European in focus and their representative did not attempt an
overview of community or civic networking potential in France.
Represented at ECN98 by:
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
WEBSITE:
"There is a big diversity - more and more grassroots organizations and they
don't disappear. But I don't like 'community networks.' I don't
understand "community.' I like 'citizens' movements'. It is necessary to
share resources and ideas. There is a need to form an alternative
political movement because something is wrong. Governments are not
competent to solve all these problems. " We need the movement to feel part
of history, to have real power, to be part of the decision making process."
(Veronique Kleck).
CURRENT ACTIVITIES:
ITALY:
Status of community nets in Italy described by:
Contact AIReC:
WEBSITE:
She sees a need for a common vision that blends both ends of that spectrum
to create a new kind of citizenship and democracy, a new kind of social
contract. She quoted Rousseau, "Not buildings but citizens are essential
to community." She called for the design of the "res publica" through the
involvement of all the community where, "the community is the resource for
itself, and the community network is the resource for the community. We
need the creativity of citizens that are owners of sovereignty, not users
and clients."
"We recognize a central role for community networks related to the right of
the citizen to be on the Net." (Vichi Cannada Bartoli).
JAPAN:
The text below comes mostly from the CAN web site.
The status of CN initiatives in Japan was described at ECN98 by:
Izumi Aizu
A more immediate contact might be: Tooru Ono, Executive Director of [the
Institution for a Hyper Network Society], and Secretary General of Japan's
most advanced local community network [New Coara] in Oita Prefecture.
GLOCOM serves as Secretariat for CAN Forum. Takahiro Miyao, Professor of
Economics at University of Tsukuba was appointed as its general manager.
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
CAN Forum's Inaugural Meeting Held at GLOCOM, May 29, 1997
WEBSITE:
Founding forum members believe computer networking in Japan has been a
top-down process in which local community networks are considered
subordinate to backbone central networks. CAN Forum seeks to change this
centralized nature of Japanese computer networks into one that is more
collaborative, de-centralized, and autonomous. With this end in view, it
will encourage local governments, communities and residents to take
initiative and actively improve network environments. CAN Forum hopes that
such user-oriented efforts will contribute to narrowing the huge gap in
information infrastructure between the U.S. and Japan.
CAN Forum consists of various nonprofit organizations, organizations for
the promotion of regional informatization, third-sector organizations,
government agencies, academics, volunteers, and corporations supportive of
the CAN philosophy. Led by proponents of regional informatization, the
Forum serves as a vehicle for the sharing of relevant information by
various members involved in the community information revolution, and is
striving to foster exchange and cooperation with a view to the promotion of
tangible projects.
CAN Forum strives to foster the spread and utilization of leading-edge
technologies well-adapted to the task of building the information
infrastructure essential to community-based networking. In addition, it
will help educate and work with individuals at the community level who are
capable of readily harnessing that infrastructure for the dissemination and
utilization of information. Small businesses will be expected to spearhead
the drive to help their communities become networked. CAN Forum is
planning various measures aimed at helping small businesses assume that
role and grow and prosper through the use of electronic commerce and
cybermoney.
Three prefectural governments, Oita, Kochi, and Okayama,are among the
founding members of CAN Forum and are actively involved in promoting CANs.
In Japan, Oita is recognized as having an advanced network community,
thanks to the success of New Coara. Meanwhile, Okayama Prefecture is trying
to connect each of its residents to the Internet under its Okayama
Information Super Highway project. In addition, [Suwa City's Smart Lake
Project] in Nagano Prefecture is also a participant of the Forum. These
local communities have high expectations for CAN Forum. Koichi Kuratani,
who represented Suwa's Smart Lake Project, said that CAN Forum can provide
a collaborative platform in an environment free of intervention from the
central government.
Four ministries from the Japanese central government are participating in
CAN Forum as observers: the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications,
Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry.
Basic Principle:
Specific Principles:
(b) Companies, local government offices, schools, hospitals, shopping
centers, apartment complexes, and other potential network nodes should
first be equipped with LANs, and then interconnected through those LANs.
(c) LANs and CANs must have at least as much bandwidth as public trunk
lines, if not more.
(d) The overwhelming share of all information flowing through CANs will be
generated by consumer and business activities in each community. That
information will be generated not only by citizens, but also by products
and places.
(e) It is only natural that CANs vary community by community in terms of
the technologies they utilize, the tangible forms they take, and the
administrative structures that run them.
(f) Each community will find it imperative to engage in active exchanges of
information with its peers, and strive to design and implement CAN models
that are ideally suited to its needs, while fully bearing in mind that most
communities face their own unique set of circumstances.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES:
(2) International exchange (study missions abroad, invitations of foreign
speakers).
(3) Research on CAN-oriented information and communications infrastructure,
experimentation, and network installation work, including:
(4) Research groups, information sharing, joint pilot projects, and the
joint construction of systems for the following CAN applications
(5) The collection of relevant information from sources worldwide.
NETHERLANDS- AMSTERDAM:
DDS is a place for cultural and social development for individuals. It
"plays a part in securing the Internet as a public domain." It "strives
for the "common weal in virtual space, a neutral environment that is not
dominated by government or business monopolies and Internet users as active
participants who use the medium as a means for individual emancipation."
DCF has not received any subsidies since 1995. Free services to the
community are financed by providing professional services to a variety of
clients nationwide. In 1998, there are 25 paid staff and use community of
80,000 citizens.
Represented at ECN98 by:
WEBSITE:
"Idealistic / not for profit policy issues of DDS"
WHAT NEEDS DOING?
RUSSIA:
Friends and Partners Russia:
Goals of FP's programs:
Supported by: Ford Foundation, US State Department, NATO, the International
Science Foundation (Open Society Institute), Sun Microsystems, Radio Free
Europe, the Russian Education and Learning Network, and the Pushchino
Biological Center.
Represented at ECN98 by:
Contact US Office:
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
WEBSITE:
CHALLENGES:
The first phase of CIVNET-Russia began on April 1, 1997, funded on a five
month research and development grant by the Ford Foundation. The objectives
of the first phase included:
The primary goal of phase two of the Russian Civic Networking Program
(RCNP) is to cooperatively develop three to four (3-4) model civic network
sites within Russia and to broadly disseminate the results and the findings
of these initiatives. The RCNP represents a close partnership between
community networking activists in Russia and the U.S. It is expected that
success of these projects and a good information base describing the
progress of their development will result in momentum for a broader civic
networking movement within Russia and improved civic networks for
participants in U.S. communities.
The support of the Ford Foundation made possible a competitive application
in which three Russian communities have been chosen and are being provided
with equipment, travel funding for an initial planning/strategy conference
in the US, and funding for basic operating and salary expenses. The
recipients of the grant are the Samara Civic Network, the Chelyabinsk Civic
Network and the Sergiev-Posad Civic Network. The deadline for submission of
proposals was Monday, September 15, 1997, with a decision reached in
December, 1997.
The overall quality of the proposals was excellent, far surpassing anything
that Friends and Partners had anticipated. The decision to choose these
three proposals was difficult. They received first-rate proposals from
across Russia and would like to continue working with those who are
interested in developing community networking by assisting in any way they
are able with the implementation and continued fund raising.
UNITED KINGDOM:
For UK Communities Online, the key phrase governing their activities is
"social inclusion." UKCO is "making the case for a locally focused
information society," harnessing information and communication technology
"for the benefit of all." It is running a three-year campaign to enable
everyone in the UK to be able to join their own local online community that
would include:
Contact:
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
WEBSITE:
CHALLENGES:
But "businesses are afraid of governments forcing universal access in the
framework of social inclusion questions." Samantha Hellawell, IBM-UK.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
AFCN is a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to
improving the visibility, viability, and vitality of Community Networking.
AFCN links and serves the more than one hundred and fifty community
networks around the USA. AFCN also builds public awareness, identifies best
practices, encourages research, and develops products and services. AFCN's
role is to help communities make use of the great technical advances
available to them, in both rural and urban settings.
They define community networks as place-based electronic public spaces
where community development occurs. "Social exclusion is not a concept in
the United States." (Steve Clift).
Start-up activities were supported by Apple Computer, the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, the University of Michigan, the Morino Institute, and a group
of 50 founding contributors.
AFCN is incorporated in the state of Colorado, and is administered by a
virtual Board of community networking professionals: Amy Borgstrom,
Appalachian Center for Economic Networks; Steve Cisler, formerly of Apple
Computer; Richard Civille, Center for Civic Networking; Joan Durrance,
University of Michigan School of Information; Madeline Gonzalez, Boulder
Community Network; and Steve Snow, Charlotte's Web in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Represented at ECN98 by:
Alternate contact:
WHEN ESTABLISHED:
WEBSITE:
CHALLENGES:
CURRENT ACTIVITIES:
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