The citizen & the Information Society

The citizen

the Information Society

Part I: General backgrounds. Where are we?

War in the Balkans.
Ecological disturbances: Hurricanes, torrential rain, high temperatures, ice.1
Increasing transcontinental migratory trends and crisis in the European countries.2
Monopolistic world with increasing regional belligerence all over the planet.3
Space explorations "with dates".4
Explosion of Telecommunications and their increasing use at an unknown speed.5
Attempts to define consensus policies to defend the citizens' "Right to free information" on the Net.6

1 Vide "Wired Magazine", April 1999, pp 118-112
2 Vide "International Herald Tribune", April 9, 1999
3 CNN & 24 horas TVE
4 Address by Vint Cerf to "Computer, Freedom and Privacy", April 7, 1999
5 Ibidem. In the year 2008 we will have a well-functioning Mars-Earth Net, the initial 'backbone' of an interplanetary system of Internets, the InterPlaNet.
6 This symposium?

Part II: How did the citizen get into the Internet?

I. Remote origins and recent examples

The citizen has only, to a certain extent, been the protagonist of the new systems for information and electronic communications through multiple experiments originating in the USA in the 80', which very soon spread over to Canada (by the end of the 80'), and which become usual to Asia and Europe, in the mid-90'. It should not be forgotten that the Internet is being developed from the Pentagon to the National Science Foundation in the 80', and it is not until the latter part of this decade that it moves from the "official" entities to a world more in contact with the citizens.

Earlier, and due to the special geopolitical conditions in Northern Europe and the necessity to set up efficient communications systems, countries like Finland, Sweden and Denmark joined the world of BBS on a varied scale, allowing them a sophisticated information system that was local but also universally accessible through the use of Internet. Legendary servers such as those in Oslo, Helsinki or Vienna became the faithful witnesses of the first, pioneering participation of citizens in the incipient Information Society towards the end of the eighties.

The Cleveland FreeNet, www.cleveland.com, in Ohio, USA, and the National Capital Freenet (NCF), www.freenet.carleton.ca, in Ottawa, Canada, were the first examples of a few innovative LAN, through an offer of services by and for the citizen in that incipient Information Society.

In Spain it would be very useful not to forget three pioneering examples, by mentioning the names of those who furthered the later situation of the citizen within the confines of the Information Society.:

* The Red Iris, which done by José Barbera and his team put Spanish university people on the Internet as early as 1987/88.

* The Spanish browser, Donde?, www.uji.es, which Jordi Adell created from the Universitat Jaume I de Castelló towards 1990, and

* The first Citizens' Net in Spain, the Tinet, tinet.fut.es, in Tarragona, which became popularly established by a handful of friends, by Manel Sanroma, professor at the Rovira i Virgil University, in 1995.

From those years up until 1999 there is much to note and to say. The speed at which the phenomenon Internet has spread, as a channel for rapid, extensive and accessible information + training + education + new_jobs + municipal_services + leisure + health + commerce, is something so important that over this short span of years it has produced, no less and no more, a special Committee in the Spanish Senate and this Symposium, which is not only comprehensive, but also intense and expectant.

In less than four years, the Internet has come to be almost the "Global village" described by McLuhan half a century ago, besides being the objective of much more extensive education, health services, allowing interactivity from and for the municipalities, which in some cases are already equipped with personalized systems and access by means of electronic smart-cards.

This, at the present time seems to be an unquestionable reality.

If there remain any doubts about this, just study briefly the speeches given before mine during this Session "A" of the symposium on "The Information Society for the Citizen".

For this reason it would be useful to already ask ourselves the following questions: Is the citizen really the protagonist of this Information Society? Can it be said with sincerity that the individual is the base around which this new Society turns? And if so, what are the facts to support this?

You have probably read, heard and seen important examples before this speech. Examples that are already well-rooted in the fields of education, medicine, municipalities and individuals. But where are the sources and the origin that promote these IT "riches & welfare". Where can one find the forces to maintain and develop them. Is the citizen really capable of being the creator, promoter, administrator and driving force of the Information Society?

I think so, but it will not be easy!

My opinion is questionable, but it is based on the experience of citizens' movements, from bottom-up, and which are beginning to make themselves felt in an incipient information and communications Society. A very recent experiment, the www.cieza.net, was conceived in September '98 as a Citizens' Net administered by consensus between all political, cultural and economic forces, to the extent that it got a "Ciez@net Coordinating Committee" that continues trying to... go ahead!

But there is a serious risk: Excessive bureaucratisation of the Citizens' Nets might dry out the best sources of creativity, innovation and even enthusiasm. In two words + bureaucracy - creativity, and especially in the spheres of information+education++..., etc.

It is therefore important to find an innovative way of giving orders without obliging, and of managing on the basis of authority and experience.

II. Position of the Citizen before the Information Society

In spite of all this, many of these projects, pioneering as well as recent, should be capable of surviving the challenge of such accelerated changes, and, what is more important, they should be able to profile an active and participating self-sustained force, as is the case today of such innovative electronic communities as the Internet Society (ISOC), the IETF (The Internet Engineering Task Force), the IAB (The Internet Architectural Board), or the GSIs, News groups, Chattings and, especially, through the Citizens' Nets, which is when the citizen can really play a more important role as a protagonist.

III. PROJECTIONS:

In the short term, i.e. from now on until the year 2002, it is important that the following decisions have been taken:

1. Rapid installation of cable infrastructures in all Autonomous Communities of the Spanish State.

2. Giving all citizens cheap access to the Net.

3. Prioritary funding of campaigns aimed at spreading, informing about and using the Internet in Primary and Intermediate Schools, among young unemployed and disabled persons.

In the medium term, towards the year 2005, the following actions could be on the way:

* A concentration of active digital communities evolving around innovative spaces, such as for instance the Chapters of the ISOC, that can maintain the Net free from restrictions, obligations or major regulations.

* A that time we shall be accustomed to the freedom of speech and to the freedom of being heard.

* The citizen will have access to a simple tool, yet with a sophisticated technology, that will enable him or her to communicate without limits, at any time, from any place and in any language.

EPILOGUE: Long term vision (2010) of the citizen as the centre of the Information Society.

The citizen in the first decade of the coming century may very well become rooted in values that today are just beginning to appear in certain Citizens' Nets, such as optimism, tolerance, civic-minded, with a global vision and local action, as a result of an innovative and prospective learning process on the Net and through teamwork during this decade.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to support, from this very day, a new dimension in managing our Networks, if the following hypotheses are fulfilled:

* Give priority to digital movements generated "bottom-up" together with initiatives at the private sector and inside the public administration.

* Giving more support, from the respective town councils and autonomous Governments, to different kinds of new and innovative associations such as the above-mentioned ones (ISOC, IETF, IAB... etc.)

* Enhancing a relationship between the Digital Citizen at the Nets and the Universities, especially in their fields of education and R+D.

Copenhagen, 1999.04.09

José L. Pardos
Ambassador of Spain to Denmark
Member of the Board of Trustees of the "Internet Society" (ISOC)