Metropolitan Area Network Antwerp (MANAP) - Digital Metropolis Antwerp (DMA)
With regards the Flemish contribution for the Integrated Studies we will focus on MANAP (Metropolitan Area Network AntwerP), the main public sector initiative on multimedia (MM) in Antwerp. Given that this is to a large extent an infrastructure project, we will also concentrate on the ways in which this network is used as a link between the public administration and the citizens, i.e. the 'Digitale Metropool Antwerpen' (DMA, Digital Metropolis Antwerp).(1 )
For our analysis we can distinguish three levels.(2) First the network MANAP itself, which constitutes the channels making connections physically possible. In the so-called 'information society', this is indicated as the 'information highway'. The latter refers to an infrastructure or 'broad band network' (BBN) that conveys mainly information, communication and entertainment services (Burgelman, Punie &Verhoest, 1995: 121-122). It is the wide-spread diffusion of these kind of multimedia services (MMS) that determines to a large part the viability and the future development of the channels. The public administration in Antwerp conveys its interactive multimedia services via the World Wide Web site DMA on Internet.(3) However the services and applications can only be transmitted on these channels if the (potential) users have adopted and appropriated the necessary information and communication technologies (ICT) or multimedia appliances to consult the services. This refers to computers and modems, which make it possible to receive the freenet DMA. The citizens can also consult these services in one of the two cybercafés in public libraries or via one of the 8 information kiosks in different public places ('cyberbooths'). Despite the low threshold for access, an adequate level of knowledge, means and/or organizational conditions is still required on the user side, which emphasizes the importance of social learning aspects.
Due to a different conception of the former stage in the TSER Work Plan (2. National and International Studies), this report takes a different viewpoint on the proposed structure of the case studies. In the previous stage of SLIM-TSER I already undertook several interviews with key actors involved in Flemish multimedia-projects (Pierson e.a., 1997b), which constituted the Flemish part of the overall Belgian report (van Bastelaer, Pierson, Lobet-Maris e.a., 1997). The idea was to get a more thorough view on the national study with regards the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (Flanders) by confronting macro aspects of regional policy with the micro situation of case studies in the field. It also created the possibility to discern "generic" characteristics and trends in current multimedia projects on different levels (public-private, content-oriented and local-regional). In the conclusion we will evaluate to what extent these generic features prevail in MANAP-DMA. Nevertheless this alternative approach complements the viewpoint proposed by CITA, which probably will be used for the French-speaking part of Belgium. In this way the overall Belgian situation can be presented in a multi-faceted way.
Spite the different interpretation on the assignment, we will comply with the proposed framework. This is divided in 7 chapters:
1. Main characteristics of the project
2. Services proposed to the users
3. Access, training & support
4. Users implication in the conception, implementation and assessment of the project
5. Information on the project
6. Overall assessment of the case by the actors
7. Conclusions
As a consequence we will first describe the main characteristics of the project MANAP-DMA.
In the first part we draw a picture of the general setting behind the current public administration services. For this we first need to examine the development of MANAP as the backbone network for the 'digital city'.
The MANAP infrastructure (Metropolitan Area Network AntwerP) is set up, implemented and managed by Telepolis Antwerp. This non-profit making company, formerly known as 'Informatica Centrum Antwerpen' (ICA, Informatics Centre Antwerp), is responsible for information and communication technologies at the city of Antwerp, the OCMW (municipal service for public welfare) and the international port of Antwerp. The board of management of Telepolis includes representatives of the afore-mentioned authorities. ICA/Telepolis was founded in 1988 as the result of a merger between the city department and OCMW computer centres. At the time the main tasks of computing centres were the development and management of programmes on the central mainframe. Meanwhile the workload is extended with the introduction of office computer services, telephone services, telecommunications and the installation of PCs and LANs. Today, it employs 174 persons and has a yearly turnover of almost BF 800 million (ECU 19.05 million).
Telepolis is a subdivision of CIPAL (Centrum voor Informatica Provincies Antwerpen & Limburg). This institution manages the automation projects in public administrations of serveral municipalities in the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg. Recently this organization has also been assigned by the Flemish Government to handle the recovery of receiving licences in the Flemish region.
The original idea for MANAP was formulated by the former city administration. At the end of 1992, the city of Antwerp decided, in agreement with its Chamber of Commerce, to set up a telematics programme. This initiative was included in the 'Strategisch Plan Regio Antwerpen' (SPRA, Antwerp Region Stategic Plan) with the intention of benefiting the whole community. The local authorities gave their permission for MANAP on condition that the scheme would be completed within the existing ICA/Telepolis budget. As a result, break-even point, which should be reached by 2003, was based only on telephone services and not on any other (MM) application. In this way it could also anticipate the liberalizing of the telecommunication market advocated by the EU. The overall business plan included a few ideas and hinted at some new MM services, but there was no concrete planning on this level. The reason given was that receipts and expenditures related to that kind of initiatives could not be translated into concrete figures, but would for the most part produce qualitative advantages. The 'teleclassing'-project, for example, would produce better educated civil service workers, who wasted less time.
The MANAP was launched for real in 1993 and installed gradually. This led to a 65-km long fibre optic network with two ATM-switches and a capacity of 155 Mb/s that is due to be upgraded to 600 Mb/s. Initially, it linked the city's main administrative centres and enabled certain state hospitals to be connected to each other. Next it was extended to the city's three main university campuses. The last phase will be finished at the end of 1997, when the private fibre optic network will connect all the main nerve centres of Antwerp. The physical laying of this network was carried out by AIT (Alcatel Bell/ Integan/ Telindus), a consortium of three partners. Alcatel Bell was responsible for the ATM-technology, while Telindus delivered the specific communication equipment. The CATV-operator Integan co-ordinated the whole work process. No major problems that marred co-operation with and between the different partners have been reported, so that work was completed within a short period. A fast-moving scenario was implemented, which meant the main ring of the MANAP network was completed as early as June 1994, only two years after approval by local authorities. AIT assumes the responsibility for all technical aspects and reports back to the person within Telepolis who acts as the interface in technological matters.
The decision to set up MANAP fitted with the vision that access to the "information highway" for local councils should be simplified. On the other hand, it was motivated by the idea that it would considerably improve the provision of services by the city administration and public wellfare services. This digital channel could help bridge the gap between citizens and policy makers. Top-down it should bring all kinds of information to the people (administration, regulations, employment, education, social and medical care, transport, environment etc.). Bottom-up it should serve as a communication channel for all citizens and give them the opportunity to participate in the 'information society'. As a result, it should also involve those people who do not have the necessary skills, (financial) possibilities or education. For this reason, 'cyberbooths' are placed in public places. This social goal can be complemented by a more political goal. The municipal services can be decentralised and spread around the whole city without endangering the homogeneity and consistency of service by creating isolated cells. It enables 'local' contact with and for people. The city authorities consider this as a first necessary step before 'deconcentration' of political power can be implemented.
The importance of MANAP is expected to grow, especially with regards MM applications for the general (residential) public. For this reason Telepolis already carries out experiments in collaboration with the CATV-operator Integan and Electrabel. These companies also link MANAP with the Telenet-initiative. It concerns the opportunities and use of two-way cable. In addition, an agreement has been reached with network provider Belgacom for future co-operation on different levels.
It can be concluded that the policy is aimed at a long term strategy to improve the quality of city administration and implement technological innovations. So no immediate financial return is expected from the various MM experiments and MANAP projects. Nevertheless, all the initiatives should be possible within the allocated budget of Telepolis. Therefore, they have to stay affordable. These objectives also guide the "service agreement" between the different partners in Telepolis: city, OCMW and port.
In this part we analyze which kind of public services are offered via the MANAP. On this horizontal 'wide area' MM delivery system several MM applications and services are offered to mainly two categories of users, the city staff and the city population. However the first data service was the connection between the mainframe in Antwerp and one of the network junctions where Belgacom lines join. Next, the real ATM-traffic was started. When the new administration took office in 1994, it organized the implementation of the first applications, besides telephone. A strategy was developed to create a relative surplus value for this high speed BBN in the form of specific MM trials and pilot projects. The latter were classified in 6 telematics areas.
The first area was 'telematics services for better administration'. Firstly all the internal telephone calls in the administration between different departments were simplified and made free of charge. In addition more (digital) telephone services like 'follow me' could be offered to users. Secondly most computer services were connected to the network, which made simultaneous exchange of information and archives between various civil service workers possible. These improvements were made possible by the inter-connection of 13 telephone-exchanges of city-administrations for almost 30 locations. In that way the citizen is provided with some 'one-stop-shopping': all he/she needs to do is call one phone-number to reach any civil service worker. Apart from the telephone services, a connection between the Local Area Networks (LAN) of administrations and institutions should lead to one seamless network throughout the city administration. This makes an internal and interdepartmental exchange of mail and documents possible. Thirdly, there is a tele-education project ('teleclassing'), aimed at teaching city-employees (among others) desktop-software and in the near future languages (SMART-project) in co-operation with the Antwerp universities. This tele-education is implemented by connecting 5 classrooms with MANAP to enable good quality videoconferencing. In this way the interactive courses on the server that are offered in the classroom via the network can be assisted by remote audio-visual support.
The second telematics area covers the services for the elderly and disabled. On this front no concrete applications have been yet implemented, except for the general information services that are aimed at all Antwerp citizens. In the near future several projects are planned, like alarm systems for personal emergency situations, for fire and for burglary.
The third area concerns tele-medicine, with the JUPITER project. Digital medical images in nuclear medicine are at the moment exchanged among 3 hospitals connected to MANAP. In this way patients can stay at the hospital and the images of their examinations can be remote-controlled by a specialist. This is the first step in teleconsultation and the integration of medical images in the patient-records in any of the 8 city hospitals.
The fourth area relates to telematics services for companies at the port and other SMEs. One of the related initiatives is the EDI project for SMEs at the port, also called Edigo/Seagha. By offering a wide range of (additional) services, it allows all the users to keep up with their changing daily communication needs in the broadest possible sense. This project is aimed less at MM than the projects in the other areas. Telematics services for environmental monitoring include for the most part "remote management systems". Since 1994, this kind of application has been used to create a central post for the monitoring of water quality in the 8 swimming pools. This should lead to remote building management, which would include fire, burglary, heating, elevators monitoring. It could also help monitor environmental pollution and raise the alarm in cases of oil or gas leaks.
The sixth and final area that is being considered, includes services to the citizens and visitors. The project 'INFOrmation and Services ON Demand' (INFOSOND) was set up with the general objective to 'refine democracy'. To meet user needs with respect to the electronic delivery of information and services, this project should offer a wide range of opportunities: easy access to public, professional, economic, educational, scientific and leisure information and services, by voice, mail and video between citizens, local government and companies. These electronic facilities, in the tradition of "digital cities", should be provided at low cost, via user-friendly and self-explanatory MM applications on TV, kiosk or MM PC. Consequently, this has led to various initiatives. In June 1995 the digital city DMA was created on the Internet. This MMS provides a direct interactive link between the local authorities and the Antwerp citizens. We will examine this more thoroughly in the next part of this chapter.
Apart from this Internet-initiative, Telepolis decided to hire an extra contingent of 11 WIS-terminals from the 'Flemish Service for Employment-finding and Professional training' (VDAB). WIS stands for 'Werk Informatie Systeem' (Work Information System), which is a system that offers job-seekers an interactive selection-tool for finding interesting vacancies and opportunities for professional training, a means for registering and a database with other work related information. It is for example possible to print out selected job-offers or to enrol for a specific training scheme. This service is offered on seperate WIS-booths. These posts are in facts PCs, that stock all the data on their hard disks and can be consulted by touch-screens.
Another initiative involving MANAP as provider of services for the citizens, are the Belgacom information booths. In co-operation with Belgacom serveral phone booths will be converted to kinds of MM kiosks, offering telephone services on the one hand and interactive MM services like consultation of city information and the use of e-mail on the other hand. Payments will the done by chipcards. These kind of multimedia phone booths will also be introduced in other parts of Belgium, like the German-speaking region and in Brussels (Steenhoudt, 1997d).
Finally Telepolis is involved in several projects in the cultural and public sector. One of them is the development of a virtual museum on CD-ROM and on Internet. This is part of the European initiative PROMISE (PROmoting Museums through technology based Information SErvices). In addition the Telepolis know-how and infrastructure is also used for information retrieval in the Antwerp libraries and in a system to centralize the tickets sale of several theatres.
A lot of these MM applications on this network were submitted to the European Commission and funding has already been approved for several projects. These include INFOSOND and EDIGO. Telepolis is also closely involved in other European programmes like 'European Digital Cities'. This was launched on 1st January 1996 by four networks of cities, towns and regions. Furthermore, the experiment JUPITER (exchange of medical images between hospitals) is funded by the Flemish Government. Another initiative on European level was the Bangemann-challenge. This is a kind of contest to determine which cities excelled in one of 12 application fields proposed in the Bangemann report. Telepolis Antwerp participated in 5 fields:
1. Distance Learning (Appl.2): SMART
2. Telematic Services for SMEs (Appl.4): EDIGO/SEAGHA
3. Healthcare Networks (Appl.7): JUPITER
4. Trans-European Public Administration Network (Appl.9): INFOSOND
5. City Information Highways (Appl.10): MANAP
In the beginning of 1997 Antwerp got the award in 3 out of the 5 fields: SMART, EDIGO and MANAP (Telepolis, 1997b).
On 14 June 1995 the digital city of Antwerp was created on the Internet in the form of a WWW-site called 'Digital Metropolis Antwerp' (DMA). It was part of general programme 'Antwerp - An Intelligent City', set up in 1994 by Telepolis, which referred to all new initiatives that went further than just the informatization of the city administration. Based on the INFOSOND principle which promotes the use of telematics for the exchange of information, it should lead to a kind of 'electronic democracy'. In that way Antwerp was the first city in Belgium with a site on Internet, created by Telepolis and the city administration of Antwerp (Schildermans, 1997).
DMA wants to embody a virtual place for living. Since February 1996 this idea became even more embodied in the newest version of the DMA-site.4 The public administration and the inhabitants of Antwerp merged virtually and the colourful opening screen was divided into 3 sections: newspaper, quarters, guide for inhabitant. The 'Newspaper' section contains news and information by the city of Antwerp, clubs, associations and inhabitants. Several subsections allow a large degree of interaction. The citizen can for example construct his own newspaper, based on topics he is interested in. He can also react to a certain article or send out his own press release.
The second and most central section is called 'Quarters'. Here the citizen chooses one of the 13 virtual quarters5 or neighbourhoods as a place to stay. Each quarters has the same structure. The ìInformation databaseî gives the opportunity to consult official authorities or associations, while ìInhabitantsî link connects the user with the homepages of the citizens living in that virtual quarter. In that way the respective municipal departments and the virtual community are integrated within each quarter, symbolized by a bridge. This reflects in a sense the ideal actual situation, where authorities and citizens live side by side on an equal level enabling more mutual communication. With the general objective of 'refining democracy' it should help to diminish the cleavage between politics and citizens. In each quarter it is also possible leave a message on the "Notice board" or have a real-time 'Chat' with one of the inhabitants. This demonstrates that DMA not only tries to simplify and improve information and communication between public administration and community, but also within community itself. To animate the virtual community even more 'quarter instigators' were recently elected. Besides the enlivenment of their own quarter, they should bring the inhabitants closer to each other by all kinds of initiatives like organizing games, moderating discussions, bringing the latest news and links, urging inhabitants to follow the rules etc. In June 1997 the inhabitants of each quarter seperately could vote for a candidate, but only 5 to 10% really made use of this possibility. This can be explained by the fact that it was the first time or because there was little choice in opponents. In only 3 of the 13 quarters citizens could choose for more than one candidate. Nevertheless this initiative is a good example of how to stimulate the participation of virtual inhabitants in the digital city.
The third section is called 'Guide for inhabitants' and gives more information on the advantages of living as 'inhabitant' in DMA. It also instructs citizen on how to register and how to build your own webpage. However in order to register one has to comply with certain rules which are explicitly stated. These rules refer to correct registration information, to compliance with Belgian and international law, to the general 'netiquette' and some specific DMA rules (e.g. no commercial content). Compliance with regulation is monitored rather strictly by DMA (Gerard e.a., 1997: 44-45). Violation can lead to removal of personal webpage or blocking of the account.
To get an overview of the relevant interaction services between public administration and the citizens, we base ourselves on the official DMA pages for the 'Stadhuis' (City hall) within the quarter 'Besturen' (Government). The services are divided in 5 areas:
1 - City counsel
2 - Information & Participation
3 - Emergency services
4 - Municipal service for public welfare & Health
5 - Population & Registry office
Within each of the areas the local authorities offer a multitude of administrative services. For each type of service we will present a typical example within DMA (if available).
| Tele-enquiries | |||
| Tele-information | 'Ombudsdienst' City of Antwerp | ||
| Tele-consultation | |||
| Tele-loading |
| Remote order | |||
| Tele-declaration | Police training centre | ||
| Tele-payment |
Newsgroups or forums like Usenet do not exists within DMA. The means for interactive communication are on the one hand the 'Notice board' and on the other hand 'Chat', both within each quarter. The former gives citizens the opportunity to put up a notice or message in a specific quarter. Other people visiting the quarter can see this message and possibly react to it. On the other hand 'Chatting' gives visitors a chance to interact in real-time with each other. Sometimes in the 'government' quarter chat-sessions are organized with the representatives of the local authorities, even with the mayoress herself.
With regards the electronic services and transactions there were some catches in the organization of the response process until 1996 (Steenhoudt, 1997a). Not all civil servants had the necessary computer equipment at their disposal. If a citizens did send a demand for an official document or a complaint concerning the public administration via DMA, this would be transferred most of time to the Telepolis team. The latter will then made a print-out of the electronic message and sent it via the internal mail system to the services or persons in question. The consequence of this procedure was that an electronic DMA message did indeed arrive immediately at the public administration, but not at the person who could take care of it. At that time sending a letter by 'snail mail' directly to the department or person in question would generate quicker response than using the digital way.
The situation today has changed however.(6) All electronic requests are being directly received by the department concerned. For example the electronic 'meldingkaart' (reporting card)(7) is transmitted to the Department for Information, while an order for a city guide arrives at the Department for Tourism. When a new electronic form is implemented, Telepolis first makes sure that the department in question disposes of sufficient equipment enabling them to deal with electronic requests. Telepolis only supports the logistics, not the procedures themselves. This demonstrates that the initiators are constantly trying to optimize the digital city on the basis of former experiences.
Each citizen can receive freenet DMA at home when he/she has a PC, a modem and a telephone connection. The user only needs to call a specific dial-in phone number which gives free access. One only has to pay the cost of the (local) telephone connection. It is off course also possible to consult DMA via a standard (commercial) Internet link. To get access to all the services of the digital city one needs to subscribe as an 'inhabitant'. Everybody (not only citizens in Antwerp) can sign up as an inhabitant of DMA by filling in an electronic form with the real name, address, birth date and sex, together with special DMA nickname and password. Advantages of subscription are free webbrowser software, a free e-mail address and space (maximum 750 Kb) on the server for an own homepage. In addition inhabitants can write articles for the digital newspaper and they can send press releases.
Other people can consult these digital information and communication services for free at 1 of the 2 cybercafés in the public libraries.(8) In addition in the Telepolis building there is a 'cyberlab' with computers connected to DMA and Internet. This is a kind of multimedia classroom which is put at the disposal of schools and associations. It is also possible to use one of the 8 (indoor) information kiosks ('cyberbooths') in public places.(9) These booths not only give access to DMA but to the whole Internet, with the possibility for printing and electronic mail.(10) In that way all citizens can go on Internet free of charge and with the advantage of high-speed MANAP connection. DMA should one day also be accessible via interactive two-way cable TV at home. For that purpose test projects with CATV connection in co-orperation with the cable company Integan have already been set up.
Figures show a large difference with regards the use of the various access possibilities. When we look at the most recent data (August 1997),(11)we see that 68.6% consults the digital city via a commercial Internet-link, while 13.8% uses the freenet dial-in connection. The internal use by the city administration amounts 9.7%. The access via the 2 public cybercafés reaches 4.7%, which is still more than two times the use via the 8 information kiosks (2.1%). Finally the 'cyberlab' generates 1.2% of the consultations.
In addition to all these initiatives, Telepolis in co-operation with other institutions has organized free Internet lessons to lower the threshold and to help people using the world-wide network. Some 800 people attended these courses. For others there is still the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on the DMA site, together with the possibility of asking questions by e-mail.
Concerning the users, two main groups can be identified. First, came the experiments aimed at civil service workers and employees in the administration and other institutions (hospital, fire brigade, university etc.). At the end of 1996 approximately 8,000 civil service workers (80% of staff) in 25 departments had their phone lines connected to MANAP. However, the extent to which new telephone services are used and how cannot be measured because no monitoring software has been installed. Telepolis is not interested in this kind of information because it would only have 'academic' value. Perhaps in the future, when MANAP is commercialized or offered to third parties, it will be necessary to acquire this knowledge. A large part of the staff can also use the new information and communication services through a LAN-connection or follow lessons in the MM classrooms with opportunities for videoconferencing. According to Mr. Van der Cruyssen the representatives of the (potential) users were always involved in the development. The persons who acted as intermediaries for the civil servant workers came from the department 'Training', called PROVOS, in the city administration. This department or subdivision has a lot of decision power. They guide the new regulations by the Flemish government concerning rights and duties with regards training and education of city staff (promotion, evaluation etc.). Consequently this also concerns forms of tele-education ('tele-classing'). The internal users themselves only came into contact with the application after implementation.
The other group consists of citizens and the residential public. At the beginning of the nineties a programme was launched under the slogan 'Antwerp - an intelligent city'. The purpose was to bring together all the applications that went further than just the automation of departments and services. The programme tries to give a forecast of future use in daily life of information technology in the city of Antwerp, applications largely made possible by MANAP. One aspect was the use of MM and telematics for information exchange with and between citizens, based on the INFOSOND principle of 'electronic democracy'. Until now only one main application has been implemented for the residential public, i.e. the virtual city of Antwerp on the Internet. The WWW interface of DMA has been updated twice until now. In the latest version (3.0) the initiators made the site more user-friendly in order "to make the city administration more accessible". They also integrated the links of public administration with those of the citizens to take away the virtual cleavage. At the moment DMA has some 7500 virtual inhabitants (Telepolis, 1997a), i.e. persons who have subscribed as virtual inhabitant, which corresponds with 1,8% of the city population. On average DMA has some 40,000 visitors per month.(12) Since March 1997 quantitative measurement of DMA consultations is systematically being registered and presented on special WWW-pages.(13) However no user studies on social learning were carried out yet.
When DMA was launched in June 1995 the general public was informed by means of an official presentation to the press. The latter reffers to the audio-visual media as well as the newspapers. In this way citizens were indirectly informed. People who are interested in news on Telepolis and multimedia developments in Antwerp can subcribe for free (via Internet) to the semesterial information brochure 'Telepolis krant'. Telepolis also regularly issues information leaflets and press releases with regards concrete topics.
Mr. Peter Crombecq, general manager of Telepolis Antwerpen, states in an interview that more concrete steps towards more services for citizens will be taken in the next years (Steenhoudt, 1997b). The central question is how to involve the most citizens with the least effort given the financial limitations.
The MANAP network was in first instance conceived only for internal use in the administration. Only after time certain policy options have led to communication initiatives for citizens. Two goals were put first. On the one hand information, the citizen should be informed about what's happening in their city. On the other hand enabling transactions, more specifically diminishing the administrative paperwork through electronic consultation. Mr. Crombecq sees it as an opportunity to make the political deconcentration and decentralization idea concrete. But at the moment an important barrier to full electronic transaction is regulation. Official documents still need a hand-writed autograph. However sending a request for the removal of a wasps' nest via the Net for example should be possible.
The public administration commits itself to respond to and as much as possible resolve any electronic question or demand within a period of 14 days. For this somebody checks all the electronic messages every morning in the each Antwerp district as well as at Telepolis. There is a frequency 100 e-mails a day. The public administration strives for a maximum accessibility for citizens, but to what extent this will be successful with regards acceptance and adoption on a large scale is uncertain. Hence no predictions can be made on the future use by Antwerp citizens according to the general manager.
One of the goals of this study is to get insight in the key factors which codetermine the diffusion, adoption and appropriation of MANAP-DMA as a public administration initiative. In order to give an overview, we will use the analytical U.F.O.-diagram which integrates the main factors of influence at 3 levels: micro, meso and macro (Pierson, 1997a).
Fig. 1: Analytical U.F.O.-diagram (Users/ Fabricators/ Other) with factors of influence on 3 levels
To get insight in the future acceptance of MM technologies and services like MANAP-DMA, it is necessary to take a look at the micro level (linkages between suppliers and users), the meso level (project) as well as the macro level (policy). In this way we get a better overview of possible determining factors for success or failure with regards social shaping and learning.
At this level we will evaluate to what extent suppliers´ ideas and users´ practices diverge with regards MANAP-DMA. On the basis of relevant examples we will demonstrate in what way social shaping concepts match with social learning aspects. Once the MANAP infrastructure was introduced for internal use in the administration, the public administration began to stress the relevance of external use by citizens. In this way MANAP should become a community network which could bridge the gap between local government and the citizenry. This led to the introduction of the "digital city" via Internet with the concepts of citizenship and general public access as guiding principles. An important condition to achieve these goals was the low threshold to use DMA. For this reason the initiators installed information kiosks at 8 different (indoor) locations, which gave free access to the digital city as well as Internet together with the possibility of sending and receving e-mail. However the kiosks have some features which limit the actual use in a sense. All the 'cyberbooths' are placed inside of municipal buildings which makes the accessibility dependent on opening hours and days. To a large extent this overlaps with working hours of many citizens. A remarkable social shaping factor is the fact that developers have deliberately designed the kiosk user-unfriendly (Steenhoudt, 1997c). The keyboard is in fact to low for the average user and it is installed at a too acute angle. In this way use of more than a few minutes will lead to cramps in the hands and painful wrists. The idea is that people won't use the information kiosk for too long, especially when they want to use it for surfing on Internet. In that way more people can make use of the services. However one can question whether user-unfriendliness will not lead to non-use. Moreover how can this be reconciled with the concept of general access, especially for those who do not have the possibility for an own Internet-account. However the fact that the design was deliberately conceived user-unfriendly is being denied by the project manager.(14) The low keybord is developed to create more access in particularly for the people in a wheelchair. Off course people still won't use the kiosks for too long, because it is not possible to sit in front of the screen.
In a sense this can be linked to findings in research on the digital public initiatives in Amsterdam (van Diemen, 1997). In this research two public initiatives by the local administration in Amsterdam are compared, i.e. 'De Digitale Stad' in January 1994 and 'The Amsterdam Pavillion' in April 1997. The main results on the inclusion and exclusion of new usergroups show that:
"While the usergroup has expanded the actual use of the communication possibilities of the Internet have diminished. The high level of interactivity and several forms of many-to-many communication the Internet offers have become underemphasized in the design." (van Diemen, 1997: 2)
This leads van Diemen to the conclusion that when it comes to the public Internet terminals the concept of "citizen" is translated as consumer of governmental services rather than that of co-producer of information and policy (van Diemen, 1997: 11). This is only partly true for the DMA information kiosks. The accessability is hindered by the limited opening hours and the deliberate user-unfriendliness. However this is outweighed by the large possibilities for interaction and conversation on the 'cyberbooths'. This refers to the possibility of sending and receiving e-mail,(15) 'chatting' with fellow citizens and policy maker or reporting problems to local authorities. In that way DMA can contribute to bridging the gap between public administration and the citizens.
To evaluate the Antwerp case study we can refer to possible 'generic' characteristics and trends, based on the study of some relevant Flemish multimedia projects (Pierson e.a., 1997b: 31-32). In order to make a better assessment of MANAP-DMA we will check to what extent these features prevail in the Antwerp case.
First, there is the major importance of smooth co-operation between the different actors (stakeholders). As stated by Mr. Coenen(16), in the digital MM world, one cannot survive without firm partnerships between actors on different fronts (hardware, software, research, network providers, marketing etc.). This can only be achieved if there is agreement from the very beginning on wholehearted collaboration with partners that could eventually lead to a kind of symbiosis. In Antwerp the infrastructure showed no major barriers with regards AIT co-operation which led to a smooth construction of the fiber network. On the contrary the first information kiosks should have been delivered already in 1993. Some misunderstandings with the supplier at that time led to bad quality kiosks which were not solid enough.(17)
Co-operation is also useful for the spreading of risks. This is important because it appears that the introduction of new MM applications is always a high risk activity. Other strategies to hedge one's bets is to apply for public subsidies among which European funds. It is also possible to aim at a certain return on new MM technology or delivery systems by offering traditional services (e.g. telephone) that have proved their viability together with new services. Telepolis has used this strategy to make the phone calls within public administration free by using its own infrastructure.
A third important feature is the fact that the MM services in Flanders should use the Dutch language in order to be comprehensible for most people. This differs from the general dominance of English in most MM applications. The main target audience for DMA are the citizens in Antwerp. So another language than Dutch is not regarded really necessary, except English for tourist information. However if the public administration wants to make a bridge to all citizens, it should also consider the large community of non-native speakers of Dutch, like immigrants. At the moment they are largely excluded from the virtual city.
The importance of language is connected to the importance of 'being local'. In the MANAP project this is required for political and administrative reasons. To bridge the gap with the Antwerp citizenry it was useful to organize the city adminstration as close as possible to the citizens.
Current developments in ICT provide more opportunities to act locally by offering 'platform independent' MM information. This means that information is treated as raw material, while the user or consumer can decide which form he/she wishes to receive it in. He/she can make this choice depending on place, time, knowledge etc. Because more and more information is becoming 'platform independent', organizations that have an efficient infrastructure and platform like MANAP, will have the opportunity to convey more kinds of information and communication. So the more the Antwerp administration is automated, the more the city government can be decentralized without endangering uniformity and consistency.
It is clear that MANAP, with its fibre optic and ATM-switch, presents a real step forward in technological terms. But MANAP is still struggling with the question how this technology should be filled in appropriately with regards services for the citizens. The search for appropriate content has already been around in public discourse since the construction of the network.(18) To a certain extent, MANAP is therefore the result of a 'technology push' strategy. First, the broadband technology was created and after its implementation the real search for useful MM applications and services with surplus value began. In the preliminary business plan mainly digital telephony was considered.
But this kind of 'technology push' approach can also be viewed positively. Firstly the Antwerp public administration as initiator seems to have some vision on the future development of the local 'information society'. The use of 'information highways' should for example incorporate aspects of equal access (Internet lessons) and low financial thresholds (free use of 'cyberbooths'). In order to go from vision to action, a 'push' approach is sometimes needed to implement elements of change. Secondly once the appropriate infrastructure has been installed, all possible services and content have then a means for distribution. In that sense one avoids the vicious circle where content isn't developed because the lack of infrastructure, while (private) infrastructure investments will only be made if there is enough content.
Furthermore one should be aware of the idea that technologies and applications that are developed on a successfully performing network, will automatically find their users. The problem is often that many 'forecasts' on the extent of use prove later not to be correct (Burgelman & Van Langenhove, 1991: 66-72). The main reason, in many cases, is that the social context where new applications need to be incorporated is neglected, in particular the role of different users in the innovation process. This can be prevented if social experiments are set up that incorporate forms of social learning. The latter is crucial because nowadays many MM initiatives, private or public, pay only minor attention to aspects of real user context.
"A user-led approach contains more than just market research and includes social, cultural, political and economic concerns on the one hand, and the real needs and expectations of users on the other hand, which are treated as starting points for the ICT innovation policy." [Own translation] (Burgelman, Punie & Verhoest, 1995: 158)
So, given the uncertain acceptance of ICT by professional and residential users, a lot of trial and error will occur before a MM technology or application is appropriated within the user context. Only after some kind of learning process, can the artifact be accepted fully and used regularly (Punie, 1994: 9). Therefore many public innovation projects do not lead to sufficient acceptance and, as a result, do not succeed. In addition a user-led approach needs to be complemented by an analysis of the supplier-side, which allows for more insight. Only in this way can the development and implementation of MM technologies be analysed in the context of the "social shaping and social learning of technology", which is stated as the general objective of the TSER-SLIM programme.
1. The MANAP-DMA study is to a large extent based, besides printed material,
on an extensive interview on 18th November 1996 with Mr. P. Van der Cruyssen
(co-ordinator European projects) and an interview on 22nd September 1997
with Mr. D. Beukeleirs (project manager DMA).
2. Miège refers to the same levels, when he discusses the "complexité
observable des relations entre Réseaux/ Matériels/ Programmes"
with regards economic developments on macro-level (Miège, 1997:3).
3 http://www.dma.be
4 Version 1 was installed on 14 June 1995, updated to version 2 on 18 December
1995.
5 The 13 virtual quarters are: Culture/ Media/ Going out/ Tourism/ Environment/
Sports/ High-tech/ Economy/ Government/ Education/ Forever young/ Living/
Open house. The 14th area is called ìConstructionî and contains
the tools for building the personal web-site.
6 Interview with Mr. Dirik Beukeleirs, project manager DMA.
7 Standard form for reporting problems in the neighbourhood.
8 'Public' cybercafés can be found in the central library in the
centre of Antwerp (15 computers) and in the public library in Deurne (5
computers).
9 'Cyberbooths' can be found in the city hall (Antwerp centre), the administration
centre (Borgerhout), the 'Orangerie' (Hoboken) and in 5 district centre
(Deurne/ Berchem/ Ekeren/ Wilrijk/ Merksem).
10 However recently the Internet access on the kiosk in the city hall was
shut off on request.
11 http://www.dma.be/statistiek/9708.htm
12 For the period March - August 1997.
13 http://www.dma.be/statistiek/9703.htm ... /9708.htm
14 Interview with Mr. Dirik Beukeleirs, project manager DMA.
15 The impossibility of receiving e-mail is indicated as a important disavantage
of the 'Amsterdam Pavillion' (van Diemen, 1997).
16 To get an insight into the general strategy on MM within CUM-RUG, Mr.
J.P. Coenen (New Media Director of the publishing company Concentra) was
interviewed on 15th November 1996.
17 Interview with Mr. Van der Cruyssen, co-ordinator European projects.
18 See articles in newspapers like: Marain, 1995. 24