Rush for Net cash threatens volunteers

Last month the Government introduced its strategy to make Ireland the centre of the electronic commerce universe. Technology industry heavy hitter, Mr Ira Magaziner

President Clinton's senior adviser on Internet policy was wheeled out for the occasion. A telecommunications advisory committee was established featuring the biggest players in the IT industry.

While such initiatives are welcome, they raise questions about the direction in which the Internet roller-coaster is heading. There is a growing fear that the voluntary sector's opportunity for development through information exchange may be subsumed in the clamour for cash.

A recent report conducted by the School of Communications at Dublin City University has gone some way towards differentiating the promise of the IT revolution from the reality.

Weak Connections The Voluntary Sector in the Information Age, worked on the premise "information society" policy is properly understood to be social policy. It concluded that the "benefits widely assumed to flow from the increasing use of information and communication technologies do not accrue to everyone and every organisation in equal measure".

The Information Society Commission, established early last year, published its first annual report earlier this year. It recommended that the Government should aim to develop "citizen-centred services and policies".

According to Mr Brian Trench, one of the authors of the Weak Connections report, there has been little done to realise this aspirational objective. "I would have some concern that the Information Society Commission is considerably more concerned with business issues than social issues. Industry giants have already influenced the introduction of a new copyright Bill, and the commission seems to regard it a major achievement to act as an amplifier for big business."

One of the Weak Connection report's most interesting findings was that the culture of community organisations is not comfortable with the adoption of technology on a mass scale. The biggest barrier to entry is the lack of resources to acquire the equipment necessary to get online.

On a technical level, the expertise to implement and harness the Internet effectively does not exist. There tends to be a scarcity of individuals with IT skills within these organisations and a higher than usual incidence of "technophobia".

Mr Trench says this is one of the main stumbling blocks. "All the evidence suggests it is much more difficult than might seem or be expected for these groups to apply computer-based technologies in a beneficial and effective way for their own use. The apparent improved ease the Internet offers translates only with difficulty to these groups."

High workforce turnover stemming from the voluntary and part-time nature of the work makes it difficult for these groups to establish a solid in-house base of IT expertise similar to that found in the average organisation. The Weak Connections report concluded that voluntary groups would have to develop strategic approaches to integrate information and communication technologies into organisational culture effectively.

It also outlined steps which could be taken by policy-makers to ensure an inclusive information society in the future.

It argued that there should be significant representation from the voluntary and community sector on information society commissions. At present there are two representatives on the 11strong board of the Information Society Commission. It recommended enough funding be made available to voluntary and community groups to take up the new technology, if they so wish.

Work is already under way to deliver on one of the report's most constructive recommendations a centralised technical support structure for training in the community and voluntary sector. Technical consultancy and support is extremely expensive, and beyond the budget of most voluntary groups.

A one-stop-shop for organisations and individuals to get technical service at affordable prices is the central focus of a new proposal for a Dublin Inner City Information Society Initiative (DICISI).

The project will require State funding as part of the national information society programme.

The report also recommends that telecommunications and Internet service providers be required to ensure affordable telephone and Internet access for community and voluntary organisations.

Mr Trench says: "The key issue is ensuring the social dimension of the information society is adequately thought through and represented in all future policy. Policy must ensure everyone has access, and this will require a huge investment in libraries and the provision of equipment for community centres. That means extending far beyond the current schools' initiative." He suggests opening up school computer laboratories to the local community in the evenings.

Dr Carmel Duggan of the Work Research Cooperative recently published Getting Connected: Social Inclusion and the Information Society. The EU-funded report focused on the opportunities and barriers the information society presented to groups representing people excluded by the labour market.

In the course of research it became apparent that the amount of information available through interest groups and published reports online was invaluable. "There is huge scope for shared learning online, but those groups that don't have access end up being further excluded. Information traded at an electronic level helps smaller groups keep in touch very easily with bigger more professional organisations that can help them. This opportunity is lost if you are locked out of the information network."

There is a strong case for establishing socially focused centres on the Internet where people and groups can gain access to non-commercial information. Nua's Local Ireland site will go some way towards delivering such a service, but clearly the voluntary and community sectors need a portal site (a site giving easy access to sites with information about the sector) of their own, separate and distinct from commercial and "just for fun" areas.

The only remaining question is whose responsibility is it to fund and develop such a service. While Government funding will be essential, experience has shown it is not going to start pouring in on its own. It is worth bearing in mind the advice of Mr John O'Shea, director of GOAL: "The government tends to look at the day-to-day administration of Ireland, while voluntary and community groups have very focused interests. It takes a hell of an effort to get government interested in these needs, and I can't see any unprompted initiatives on its part without some pressure from the sectors concerned."