fFBOJEKTCRUPPE S KULTURRAUM INTERNET

Schriftenreihe der Abteilung „Organisation und Technikgenese“

des Forschungsschwerpunkts Technik-Arbeit-Umwelt am WZB

FS I I 96-104

Management and Network Technology.

Proceedings from COST A3 Workshop in Trondheim, November 22-24, 1995 Trond Buland, Häkon Finne, Sabine Helmers,

Ute Hoffmann & Jeanette Hofmann

f FBOJEKTCRUPPE S KULTURRAUM INTERNET

intemet@ duplox.wz-berlin.de Institut für Sozialwissenschaften

Fachbereich Umwelt und Gesellschaft, TU Berlin und

W issenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB) Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin

Telefon (030) 254 91-0, Fax (030) 254 91-684

Schriftenreihe der Abteilung „Organisation und Technikgenese“

des Forschungsschwerpunkts Technik-Arbeit-Umwelt am WZB

FS II 96-104

Management and Network Technology.

Proceedings from COST A3 Workshop in Trondheim, November 22-24, 1995

Trond Buland, Häkon Finne, Sabine Helmers, Ute Hoffmann & Jeanette Hofmann

4 * PROJEKTLRUFFE $ KULTURRAUH INTERNET

internet@duplox.wz-berlin.de Institut für Sozialwissenschaften

Fachbereich Umwelt und Gesellschaft, TU Berlin und

W issenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB) Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin

Telefon (030) 254 91-0, Fax (030) 254 91-684

Schriftenreihe der Abteilung „Organisation und Technikgenese“

des Forschungsschwerpunkts Technik-Arbeit-Umwelt am WZB

FS I I 96-104

Management and Network Technology.

Proceedings from COST A3 Workshop in Trondheim, November 22-24, 1995 Trond Buland, Häkon Finne, Sabine Helmers,

Ute Hoffmann & Jeanette Hofmann

F R O JE K T tR Ü F F f % KULTURRAUH INTERNET

internet @ duplox. wz-berlin. de Institut für Sozialwissenschaften

Fachbereich Umwelt und Gesellschaft, TU Berlin und

W issenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB) Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin

Telefon (030) 254 91-0, Fax (030) 254 91-684

M anuscript Editor and Composition:

Volker Grassmuck

Technical Assistance:

Kai Seidler

Zusammenfassung

Dieses Discussion Paper dokumentiert den Workshop „Management and Network Technology“, der vom 22.-24. November 1995 im Rahmen der COST A3 Aktion der Europäischen Union in Trondheim stattfand. Organisiert wurde der W orkshop von der Abteilung „Organisation und Technikgenese“ (WZB) gemeinsam mit Partnern des norwegischen Technik- und Wirtschaftsinstituts SINTEF-IFIM (Institute of Social Research in Industry, The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology). Vor dem Hintergrund des Auf- und Ausbaus von Computemetzen bestand das Ziel des Treffens in einem Austausch zwischen Organisations- und Managementforschung einerseits sowie (Netz-)Technikforschung andererseits. Die Beiträge befassen sich mit der Entwicklung und Nutzung von offenen Datennetzen sowie Netzwerken für organisationsinterne Zwecke.

Abstract

This discussion paper documents the workshop Management and Network Technology held in Trondheim, November 22-24, 1995. It was financed by the European Commission COST A3 Action and organized by the project group „Interaktionsraum Internet“ (WZB, Research Unit

„Organization and Technology“) in cooperation with the Institute o f Social Research in Industry, The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology(SINTEF-IFIM). The workshop aimed to contribute to a better understanding of critical issues of (internetw orking. It brought together research on organizations using dedicated networks as well as on experiences in open networks, thus providing an opportunity for the meeting of researchers on business culture and researchers on Internet culture in a European context.

T

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Introduction

Networked Communications and its Actors. Challenges for Research Häkon Finne, Volker Grassmuck, Sabine Helmers 5

I. Management of Networks

Telecommunications and Information Policy. Some Proposals for the Intervention of the Public Administration

Eugenia Salvador 23

Standard Development as Techno-social Ordering: The Case o f the Next Generation of the Internet Protocol

Sabine Helmers, Ute Hoffmann, Jeanette Hofmann 35 The Internet Standardisation process

Harald Tveit Alvestrand 59

The Development and Usage of Public Key Systems on Networks as a Social Process. A General Overview with an Emphasis on Payment Techniques

Arnd Weber Q7

II. Networks of Management

An Eclectic Framework for Understanding New Organisational Forms Bettina Schwarzer, Stefan Zerbe, Helmut Krcmar 85 The Management o f Variety

Vincent Homburg, Henk Gazendam 99

Groupware and Multi-Media in a Product Development Setting:

Creating a Common Language in Multi-Functional and Multi- Disciplinary Work Groups

P.C. Muller, K. Sierts, J.M.L. van Engelen, P. Terlouw 117

Effects of Technology Support for Groups: Introducing Subtle Changes Powerfully

Henrik Lewe, Bettina Schwarzer, Helmut Krcmar 143 The Role of Telecommunications. The Impact on Organisational

Behaviour and New Organisation of Work

Jana Gasparikova 155

How Human Can You Approach a Chicken? A Project on Nesting a Living Organism on the Internet

Netband 167

Appendix

Programme of the Workshop 176

Information on the Authors 179

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Häkon Finne, Volker Grassmuck, Sabine Helmers

Computer networking, despite all the great expectations this fairly new technology raises, is still very much at the teething stage. It is useful to keep in mind that less than 15 percent o f the world popula­

tion have access to the telephone network. In this light, the estimated 40-50 million Internet users world-wide - demographically a negligi­

ble minority - can be seen as the explorers of new modes of informa­

tion and communication, collaboration and entertainment that, without doubt, will radically change the media landscape as we know it.

A look back in time shows that, like other media technology, computer networking has its origins in military communications. In the immediate post-war years, Whirlwind computers were intercon­

nected via dedicated telephone lines to establish the first early warning system. During the late 1960s, the US Department of De­

fense’s ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) initiated research on an indestructible communications architecture based on packet- switched data transfer. Ironically, the rigidly hierarchical structures of military command created the need for a decentralised, distributed network.

At about the same time, dedicated intra- and inter-corporate networks were established, tailored to specific applications and tightly integrated into pre-existing work processes. They facilitated distri­

buted transaction terminals like automatic teller machines and airline booking systems. Most of these uses are purely instrumental in nature and assume a strong centralised hold on the communication technol­

ogy, the access to it, and the form and content of the information flow itself.

Out o f the ARPA-Net grew the Internet that soon turned into an indispensable tool for academic use. Over a period of twenty years, researchers and students comprised its privileged population out of

which the original Internet culture grew. Elements o f this culture include unique mechanisms of self- organisation, since the Internet knows no central authority, an acceptable use policy prohibiting com­

mercial messages, and a netiquette - a code of conduct for the various forms of action and interaction on the net. The ethos of the community of the net has been characterised as democracy by rough consensus („if it needs voting, it’s wrong“), by individual freedom of expression (and, symmetrically, the right not to listen), and the spirit o f give-and-take that led to a free circulation of information, ideas and software.

On a more personal level, netizen’s communities form around virtual meeting places like discussion lists, chat lines, or multi user dungeons. In these text-based interactions, people discuss, work and play together experimenting with role patterns, and leaving pre­

existing social (gender, race, age, colour) and organisational bonds behind. Many participants have discovered that they can not only present themselves differently but actually develop new and multiple selves (that is, be influenced by their own experimental projections), and furthermore that new social forms evolve from these meetings of new and old selves. Are the new personalities tinged by carry-overs from the value system o f those who built these network applications, the same way values are embedded in other social institutions, or is the main point that unexplored alternatives open up?

Turning Point 1993

At the end of the 1980s, the Internet entered a period o f exponential growth. The end o f the backbone monopoly of the US National Science Foundation in 1993 marked the opening of the Internet to the general public through commercial access providers. So called Outernets, closed commercial networks based on proprietary technology, one by one opened gateways to the Internet. Also in 1993, the first graphical user interface to large portions of the Net, the World Wide Web browser Mosaic, was introduced, and thereby the point-and-click user friendliness that had made personal computers accessible to non­

specialist user groups. Finally, the announcement of US vice president A1 Gore’s Information Super Highway vision in September 1993 turned data communications from an academic tool into front-page news.

Three groups o f actors - A Meeting on Uncommon Ground

Broadly speaking, three groups of actors have come together in a cul­

tural encounter in the Internet, the netizens, the business actors, and

the general public. The encounter has potentially enormous ramifica­

tions not only for how electronic communication networks will develop but also for how the daily practices and structural characteristics (in terms o f social, cultural, cognitive, economic, and other dimensions) of each o f these groups will evolve.

Markets for Business

Most observers agree that multimedia networks are the largest growth industry at the turn of the millennium. Technologically and organisationally many questions are unsolved and the situation is still in flux. Therefore, we are observing a reshuffling of industries and changing strategic alliances of telecommunications, old media, software, and entertainment companies. Nevertheless, structurally one can distinguish three separate market segments in networking:

connectivity, access and content.

Connectivity, i.e. the lines that carry the information, in most of the world is still largely provided by the privatising former state-run telecommunications monopolies. New players are preparing for market entry when in 1998 the European market will be deregulated.

Access for private and business end-users is offered by an array of providers from multinational corporations like Microsoft to small local businesses and non-profit organisations. While it can be expected that increasing competition will drive down the profit margins for connec­

tivity and access, content - i.e. information and services - garners the highest revenue expectations.

Industries are gropingly developing the Net as a business platform. Depending on their assessment, the seriousness of their engagement ranges from a mere place-holder presence in a potential future environment to an all-out commitment, like the recent $6 million advertising agent contract to develop General Electric’s image on the Internet (Pressman 1996). Viewing the Net as a new marketing and distribution channel, many small and large firms are publishing home pages on the World Wide Web for purposes of corporate image, brand or product advertising, and sales. Another common strategy, especially of media companies, is to offer interesting information for free (e.g. WWW databases) in order to attract advertisers based on the viewer ratings o f their home pages. Because of the individual address structure of the Internet, unprecedented opportunities for market research and development of niche markets are opening up. Shared resources that emerged out o f the Internet community are now being commercially developed.

Other businesses, notably in the software sector, but also information providers, are experimenting with new marketing strategies. Basically, the low cost of storing digital information for self-serviced copying makes it possible to give away free copies of working software (or useful but hardly comprehensive information) as

an appetiser to commercial versions and to not-so-free add-ons. The paying customer is offered higher quality, better support, greater timeliness, or any other advantages that the client might be willing to pay for beyond the actual basic product itself. The magnitude of the experiments in this domain creates a fertile ground for developing new strategies and market relations for the pricing of information and other intangibles.

A final building block of a full-scale electronic consumer market is an electronic currency for use on the Net. Currently, payments are mostly based on credit cards, but many users are hesitant for reasons of security and privacy. Systems like DigiCash, CyberCash and Mondex attempt to create digital money that is native to an open networked environment and, at the same time, can be implemented in chip cards. Again, many questions concerning encryption, standardi­

sation and compatibility with traditional financial infrastructures remain to be solved.

Organisation o f Work

The second area where the impact of data communications in the busi­

ness realm has already become evident is intra- and intercorporate communications. The effects on employment and work organisation should not be underestimated. Computer-aided group work, video conferencing, telecommuting and document flows (EDI) have the potential to create more fluid and flexible structures and support the logistics in globalised production and distribution. This poses an entirely new set of tasks for management. Hierarchies are called into question, certain tasks will be eliminated and new ones created, and an adequate adaptation and education of the workforce will be needed.

Research on the design of systems for computer-aided work group support discovered and harnessed effects, for example, of social anonymity in computer mediated discussions (Dennis and Gallupe 1993). In laboratories far more constrained than the Internet, groups that wish to improve their creativity, their design tasks, or their decision making processes, can rent time and use the latest tech­

niques for trying to overcome some of the dysfunctionalities of the organisational forms in which they are working. There are some

similarities between what happens in these groups and what happens in some of the encounters on the Internet. An important difference, of course, is the degree of unitary control over experimental conditions, including recruitment to participate.

The Internet may also play a role in the development of the virtual organisation. Companies that integrate links of a global production and distribution chain across physical and ownership barriers, through a mix of strategic alliances and frequent partner change facilitated by rapid market updates, are using the Internet as part of their information and communication infrastructure. Even if the starting point may be purely instrumental, the contact with other resources on the Internet will increase the exposure of the involved employees to other ways of doing things. Perhaps these firms will find among the netizens models for co-ordination and concerted action at a distance that may prove quite useful in harnessing the potential of a distributed virtual organisation without a single power structure.

Similar learning effects may come from the superimposition of local area networks of individual organisations onto the Internet. Results of modes of thinking originating in closed and in open electronic net­

works then could appear simultaneously on the computer screen, in overlapping windows on the world, and perhaps even seamlessly interwoven as through Lotus Notes’ recent integration of World Wide Web resources and technologies with classical distributed intra­

company databases.

General Public

For the commercial expectations to materialise it is necessary to develop a broad user base. Among the general public, the Net is being popularised mostly through the mass media. Their expectations and assumptions stem from existing functionally equivalent service provisions such as: libraries and encyclopaedias for information, newspapers and television for news, television and multimedia computers for entertainment, telephone and postal service for inter­

personal communication, mail order catalogues for distance purchas­

ing and window shopping, etc. No doubt, the symbolic value of going on-line is also on a par with that of early adoption of mobile tele­

phones and other vogue technologies.

Person-to-person communications, i.e. e-mail, is still by far the most frequent application. But looking at traffic volume, utilisation of WWW-indexed information is catching up. If one were to polarise the possible popular usage patterns, the active user collaborating with

others in newsgroups could be matched against the read-only couch potato surfing the Web like the channel swapper consuming televi­

sion.

Netizens

The citizens of the net, also known as Netizens, comprise the old user communities, most of all in the academic world. Here the commer­

cialisation and popularisation of the Internet is watched with ambivalent feelings, to say the least. While the actual effects of over­

crowding are contested, the privatisation of the telecommunications landscape has a measurable negative impact on their day-to-day work.

A fragmented backbone infrastructure leads to delays in the ex­

changes with research colleagues who obtain their connectivity from a different provider company.

Cultural clashes occur in these meetings of netizens, business and general public. A highly publicised event involved the mass distribution o f commercial e-mail messages by two US immigration lawyers who offered their services through thousands of e-mail groups. Junk mail distribution of this kind (called spamming, i.e. mass mailings irrelevant for most recipients) violates the netizens’ consen­

sual right not to listen and was met with massive condemnation and retaliation from concerned netizens who let the offender taste its own medicine which resulted in the firm’s communication channels being clogged up. For a time, the firm’s Internet access provider closed its account in fear o f prolonged netizen unrest. But how long will the netizens rule their own creation? The battles of dominance will find many forms.

Research - Breaking the Confinement o f Research

The advent of the age of a universal digital network medium carries with it great opportunities as well as significant upheavals. The social constitution of network cultures by diverse groups like managers and consumers, civil servants and citizens, teachers and pupils, journalists and politicians, etc. poses new challenges for the research agenda of social sciences. To name but a few, research has to deal with the acceleration of exchanges on a global scale in a multi-national, multi­

cultural, and multi-language setting; problems o f privacy and confi­

dentiality under conditions of unprecedented possibilities for monitor­

ing and surveillance; the processes of devising regulatory frameworks to ensure equitable and ubiquitous access to public networks, and the freedom of speech and assembly.

Both open and closed electronic networks have been the object of study for quite some time, but from fairly different camps. The patterns of interaction in mailbox networks and the Internet have been studied under the aspect of computer mediated communication.

The development of the Internet and its culture has caught the attention of historians looking for the roots of the distributed power structure in (or despite) the net’s military origin (O’Neill 1995); of sociologists, ethnographers, and anthropologists studying the evolu­

tion and character of social order in the Internet (Hoffmann 1995) and how the basically communicative character of the net shapes its social order once the communicators inhabit it (Buland 1996); philosophers studying the development of a space in which the annihilation of physical distance also gives time a virtual character (Sandbothe 1996);

of psychologists studying the modes of personality development available or dominant in verbal forums like multi-user dungeons (Turkle 1995).

The list could go on, and it would maintain a flavour quite different from that which displays the major social science research concerns with closed electronic networks: standards for inter-company data exchange (Graham, Spinardi et al. 1995); intra-company network applications and organizational forms (Baskerville and al. 1994);

computer mediated co-operation processes (Nunamaker Jr, Dennis et al. 1991); public regulation of provision of both the communicative infrastructure and the services to be offered (Wrobel and Pope 1995).

Although there is plenty of good research in both areas, there are good reasons to bring them together. They will be grouped in three classes.

Firstly, in the meeting of the two objects of study, a number of interesting phenomena appear that cannot be properly understood on the basis of understanding just one of the originating cultures. The culture clashes, the merging o f technologies, and the spill-over be­

tween different ideas of groupwork clearly have more than one cause.

Knowledge of both will most certainly enhance both analytical and constructive research associated with it.

Secondly, it is not at all clear that the phenomena under study are fit for research by single disciplines alone. Not only are we talking of complex phenomena, which is the usual argument for multi-disci­

plinary approaches, rather, we are pursuing a moving object. Setting aside the quantitative growth of the Internet, the fads, and the hypes, the interdependencies between the different influences on develop­

ment and use of electronic networks are probably not stable. Histori­

cal contingencies will also play an important part. Furthermore, the

target is not only moving but changing under way. What is it we are studying? The socio-technical constitution of computer based networks and practices and institutions associated with them is in a fluid state.

Any closures seem to be temporary for the time being. The situation invites multiple approaches to its research-based understanding and development. Even art projects like „The Egg of the Internet,“ which deals with sociality and responsibility in the Net, can deliver most interesting and valuable data and inspiration for researchers.

Thirdly, looking across the fences may help develop the disci­

plines themselves. For example, in economic theory, the perfect mar­

ket assumes free and full access to all the information required for price formation. Commodity exchanges and money markets probably come closest to this assumption, and electronic networks have been built to speed up the updating of the necessary information within and between stock exchanges. The advent of electronic markets for consumer goods (along with their standardisation and global distribu­

tion - e.g. canned music) extends this assumption to other areas and will give important new empirical insight into market theory. Simi­

larly, the aforementioned experiments on pricing strategies give ample empirical data for studying the price formation of information and might contribute to theoretical groundwork in this field.

The Workshop

The current rapid developments of social science research within both open and closed electronic networks warrant exchanges on a European scale within and across disciplines. When the practices of these two types of electronic networks also meet, so should the research that goes into them. Hence the workshop invitation was extended to research groups with widely different interests, and emphasis was put on creating a meeting ground. The mix o f papers and people who eventually signed up reflects this open call, and the topics discussed departed to some degree from those we anticipated at the outset, at least in emphasis. A change of contents during the planning of a workshop must be expected when the object o f study is changing in character as well. This shows the dynamic and liminal times we are in. (The original programme of the workshop is reprinted in the appendix of this volum e.)

The Proceedings

This collection groups the papers received under two headings,

„Management o f Networks“ and „Networks of Management.“ The first

section deals with the political, social and technical changes in the information and communications landscape.

Eugenia Salvador treats the historical development and the current conditions of the information market in Spain. Her focus is on the role the public administration should play in creating a favourable environment where public and social interests are served. A crucial issue is access for all citizens to inexpensive and efficient telecommu­

nications.

The Internet has been called a prototype o f the emerging Global Information Infrastructure. Sabine Helmers, Ute Hoffmann and Jeanette Hofmann use the formation process o f the next-generation Internet protocols to analyse the underlying social structures of the Internet standards and decision making process.

As somebody directly involved in the standardisation process on the Internet, Harald Alvestrand gives an inside view, detailing it with accounts of the formation of two e-mail protocols, and emphasising the effectiveness of this open process compared to the regulating mecha­

nisms of other standards organisations.

An element o f network architecture essential for electronic mar­

kets is the security of on-line interactions, in particular of money transactions. In discussing an emerging standard for cryptography technology that does not require centralised record keeping, called public key, Arnd Weber presents another rather technical discussion with far-reaching social, political, and economic implications.

The second section of this book, „Networks o f Management “ addresses the changes information technology effects on the organisation of work.

This section is opened by a theoretical framework for research­

ing new organisation forms enabled by information technology.

Bettina Schwarzer, Stefan Zerbe and Helmut Krcmar introduce an eclectic model based on political economy, complemented by exchange theory and transaction cost theory.

Information management was traditionally understood in relation to the efficiency of information flows. Vincent Homburg and Henk Gazendam suggest information management strategies target­

ing an explicit acquisition and absorption of variety, e.g. using the variety of resources of the Internet to promote innovation processes inside corporate settings.

The next two papers introduce case-studies o f model systems that support work groups in problem formulation and decision mak­

ing. Peter C. Muller, Karma Sierts, Jo M.L. van Engelen, and Pieter

Terlouw describe how multi-media tools were utilised in the develop­

ment of new services of the Dutch PTT Telecom, discussing advan­

tages and disadvantages of their Co-operative Computer augmented Concept development system.

Henrik Lewe, Bettina Schwarzer, and Helmut Krcmar discuss effects of groupware, like time and space dispersion of work, synergy and anonymity. Their case study deals with the early phase of a project, in which a team is formed, goals are defined, and the success factors are identified.

Telecommunications plays a major role in the transition of Eastern European countries from planned to market economy. Jana Gasparikova treats the macro- and micro-economic impact of infor­

mation and communication technology in Slovakia with respect to management and a new organisation of work.

The final paper takes a rather different approach to the emerg­

ing network environment. The Dutch artists group Netband is con­

structing an installation that will let us understand that there is not only dead information out there on the net, but living beings. Breeding and raising a chicken in an environment linked to the Internet through sensors and effectors, The Egg o f the Internet is at the same time an experiment in two-way inter-species communication and a case study of shared responsibility.

Agenda for Further Research

During the workshop, a range of topics from the fields of management and network technology were discussed. Many open questions show that a lot of research is required in order to achieve a better under­

standing of the techno-social conditions and developments of open networks as well as of the impacts of networking on organisational processes, administration and management, inter-firm and customer relationships and markets - especially in a European perspective.

European governments are just beginning to formulate policy for an information society and introduce regulatory directives and meas­

urements while computer networking is rapidly growing globally.

Some of the workshop participants came together in an ad-hoc group to draw upon some of the larger ‘white spots’ in the landscape of social, political, economical and organisational research in the context of the new I&C-technologies1.

1 The participants were Georg Aichholzer (A), Trond Buland (N), Hakon Finne (N), Jana Gasparikova (SK), Vidar Havn (N), Sabine Helmers (D), Ute Hoffmann

The most important international open computer network is the Internet and thus many of the workshop discussions referred to the Internet and its specific conditions - for example its decentralised structure, free flow of information, and somewhat anti-commercial climate. An important topic during the workshop was the Internet way of technical standard setting in which a) everyone is free to participate and which is b) faster than conventional standardisation processes done by international and national standard organisations and c) ideally will result in „Keep it simple“-solutions which are manageable for all Internet participants regardless of whether they are equipped with advanced high-tech or old and simple low-tech. The just completed version of the Next Generation of Internet Protocol (IPv6), which has been developed by active Internet users, illustrates that even very large open data networks are capable of self-organisa­

tion. Maybe this capability of the Internet is unique and due to the specific history o f the Internet. A lot of research is needed in order to understand the characteristics and functioning of Internet’s internal techno-social order.

Another important Internet-related topic has been the question of governance. Recent attempts to restrict legally the services offered on the Internet show that the global virtual realm is very hard to control. To date, most public affairs relevant to the Internet user community are regulated by a set of cultural principles (‘netiquette’) which evolve on the basis of interaction taking place in the Internet itself. Both the growing size of the Internet and the growing heteroge­

neity of its usages throw into question the appropriateness of these self-regulating principles which have yet left many open questions for social and cultural research. However, the international extension and specific conditions of virtuality make conventional, nation state-based forms of regulation difficult if not impossible to employ. Thus, new institutions and techniques of governance seem to be necessary in order to cope with problems arising out of the dynamic development of the virtual space of the Internet. Suggestions for such regulating institutions and rules should take up the principles o f decentralisation and self-organisation which have been constitutive for both the technical design and the culture of Internet.

A third important Internet-related field for further research is the process of commercialisation as well as consequences of this process for the future of the Internet. Various technical problems have (D), Jeanette Hofmann (D), Vincent Homburg (NL), Kaveh Rahnema (F) and Eugenia Salvador (ES).

to be solved - for example a status of data security which allows secure financial transactions and will be the basis for the evolving of electronic cash. Such technical developments will have social impacts which open up questions for technology assessment and other kind of studies, e.g. on the consequences of possible tracing o f user transac­

tions or on the chances for growth of electronic markets. Another field for social and cultural research is the cultural encounter o f different groups of actors along with the recent opening of the Internet to the general public through private access providers. Problematic had been the culture clash which occurs in the meeting of the first inhabitants of the net - the netizens - and the entering business people. The netizens originally belonged to that elite of scientists who developed the Internet for their own academic, non-commercial use and their response to „intruding“ business users has not always been positive and welcoming during the last few years.

Beside questions which relate directly to the Internet and its specific conditions, a lot of more general research tasks occur, e.g. in the field of research of technology development. Guiding visions or

‘Leitbilder’ play an important role during the early phases of new technological developments. What is, for example, the impact and what will be possible influences of guiding visions such as human- centred design in shaping telematic systems and network technologies in organisational use? In order to minimise a possible gap between a goal that is hoped for and a goal that is achievable, it seems more than wise to study these phenomena in an early stage of development. The glorious hopes for all-over economic growth through tele-working and tele-commuting for example seem to be a good field for these kind of studies.

The „media hype“ made many people want to participate in net­

working, and yet often the desire is stronger than the actual need.

Also, the desire may be stronger than the competence to use this technology. This seems to happen with many organisations which hook up to the Internet or install intra-organisational networks.

Firms hope to find a new and possibly ubiquitous medium for generat­

ing sales or obtaining cheap communication. Most organisations seem to need to learn how to use the new I&C technologies in a way which is useful for their purposes and effective for tasks of the organisation.

Research efforts should be spent on revealing ways for successful introduction and usage within administrations and companies from various branches. At the same time it is necessary to study how organisations will be transformed by the very existence of networks.

A lot of research questions arise when taking a regional or national perspective. Within Europe, the directions and levels of I&C- technology development are quite diverse. Comparative studies could help to achieve a better understanding of national differences and influencing factors. The national telecoms - monopoly or deregulated market - do have a great impact on the future o f networking. Another important topic for future research concerns the political influence of governments on the design and use of data networks. Necessary are international comparative studies on forms and extent of political regulation. This concerns especially public access to open networks.

What kind of measures do EU countries take to support the infra­

structure o f communication networks in order to make this infra­

structure available to the public? Another dimension of public regula­

tion which needs to be investigated in more detail is the impact of political initiatives to restrict the access and the usage o f data net­

works. The different legal situations in the European Community are an important supportive or suppressive factor for the development of computer networking. Different political concerns and juridical measures against violation of national laws could hamper the growth of open data networks in the EU. Furthermore, a comparison of publicly offered services on electronic networks such as on-line communication with administrative authorities or the on-line publi­

cation of information on administrative procedures would be very useful.

Research is an important factor for the successful implementa­

tion and further development of networking in Europe. But o f course a lot of supportive and regulative political action is required on the national as well as European level. An important topic is the subject of

„information policy.“ The role assigned to the European public ad­

ministrations in the implementation and development of new infor­

mation technologies has not been clearly defined. Europe has reacted to the A1 Gore-Clinton proposals for a National Information Infra­

structure with the Bangemann report, where an important role is conferred on the private sector and a greater involvement o f the public sector is recommended. According to it, local, metropolitan and regional administrations should be involved in generating demand as well as in promoting an awareness among their citizens o f the advan­

tages of the new services. In the Action Plan of the European Council, the ten different applications of modern information technologies to reach the goals Europe should aim to include tele-working, distance learning, a network for universities and research centres, telematic services for small and medium enterprises, road traffic management,

air traffic control, health-care networks, electronic tendering, public administration networks, and city information highways.

The means to reach those goals are mostly technologically oriented. To develop a pan-European telecommunications infrastruc­

ture and to attract private investment to build it up are among the main concerns. Not much attention is paid, however, to the contents of the information that will flow through the information-highways. In marked contrast to the US, where great efforts have been made to give the citizen access to the process of government and to the infor­

mation produced by the government at its different levels - nation, state or city level - , the initiatives undertaken by European govern­

ments in this direction are either non-existent or scarcely known to their citizens. The Commission o f Information and Communication Policy, based on Directorate General X (Information, Communication, Culture and Audiovisual) was recently reorganised in order to co­

ordinate a more open, demand-orientated and user friendly informa­

tion policy. But to make the information and documentation produced by the European institutions easily accessible is not the only way to promote the use of telematics. Most people would like to be aware of which type o f information produced in their own country could be made available to them. On the other side, the „Internet model“ may fail as a widely accepted on-line public information system in the mosaic of different languages, cultures and economic developments on which Europe is based. To draw a common guideline on the type of information that should be made available to citizens, on which support, by means of which agencies, and to establish the means to evaluate its cost and quality, could lay the foundations for increasing the interest of the citizens in the use of telematics. Yet, „information policy“ has to be defined. Before that, further research should be done by analysing experiences, at different administrative levels, that have proved successful in exploiting the potential of on-line public infor­

mation systems.

Organisation of the Workshop

The European Cooperation and Coordination in the Field o f Scientific and Technical Research (COST) is a well-established institution which promotes collaboration among researchers in 25 European countries.

The COST secretariat rests with the European Commission. The aim of COST is to put researchers all over Europe in touch with one another so that they may compare perspectives and findings and be stimulated to conduct further work, possibly on a collaborative basis.

The COST A3 Action concerns Management and (New) Technologies, and currently comprises a network of 17 countries. COST A3 will be concluded in 1996.

The COST A3 workshop on Management and Network Technology was jointly organised by Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialfor­

schung (WZB), Department ‘Organisation and Technology’ (Director:

Meinolf Dierkes) and SINTEF Institute of Social Research in Industry (IFIM; Director: Tore Nilssen). The members of the programme committee were Trond Buland and Häkon Finne o f IFIM and Sabine Helmers, Ute Hoffmann, and Jeanette Hofmann o f WZB.

IFIM is doing multidisciplinary research in the field of innova­

tion and technology transfer, work environment and health, industrial relations, and migration/refugees. IFIM is part of the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Tech­

nology SINTEF, with 2,300 employees the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia.

The WZB conducts basic social scientific research in selected problem areas. Its department Organisation and Technology ad­

dresses societal influences on the development of technologies. The newly formed working group on electronic net culture2 aims to explore the Internet as a cultural space marked by hitherto unknown ways of global social interaction.

2 http://duplox.wz-berlin.de

References

Baskerville, R. et al., Eds. (1994). Transforming organizations with information technology

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virkelighet“ . Trondheim, SINTEF IFIM

Dennis, A. R. and R. B. Gallupe (1993). A history of group support systems empirical research: Lessons learned and future direc­

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Graham, I., G. Spinardi, et al. (1995). „The dynamics of EDI standards development.“ Technology Analysis & Strategic Management Hoffmann, U. (1995). „It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it ... Netzkul­

tur und Selbstregulierungsprozesse.“ TA-Datenbank-Nachrich- ten 4(3): 33-38

Nunamaker Jr, J. F., A. R. Dennis, et al. (1991). „Electronic meeting systems to support group work.“ Communications o f the ACM 34(7): 40-61

O’Neill, J. (1995). Developing the Internet: ARPA’s view

Pressman, A. (1996). The medium is the meta4. Wired: 45-48

Sandbothe, M. (1996). Mediale Zeiten. Philosophische Untersuchun­

gen zu Theater, Fernsehen und Internet, (in progress)

Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen. Identity in the age of the Inter­

net. New York NY, Simon & Schuster

Wrobel, L. A. and E. M. Pope (1995). Understanding emerging net­

work services, pricing, and regulation. Boston MA, Artech house

I. M anagement of N etworks

T elecommunications and I nformation P olicy . S ome P roposals for the I ntervention of the

P ublic A dministration

Eugenia Salvador

Universität Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Abstract

This paper analyses certain factors that have conditioned the develop­

ment, of the information market in Spain. The lack o f a decisive policy on the part of the public administration for promoting an electronic in­

formation market, the inhibition o f the private sector and the policy of the Spanish telephone company (which has given itself more to compet­

ing within the private sector than to helping consolidate the market) have been determining factors in the setbacks plaguing this sector.

The deregulation o f telecommunications, the Bangemann report and the expectations raised by Internet (largely due to publicity on the part o f the media) are forcing administrations to take steps to guaran­

tee access to the information highways for all citizens. It would be a good time for the pubic administration, at all its different levels, to take a more active part in defining social goals and acting accordingly.

New information technologies and their repercussions on today’s soci­

ety are the subject of recurrent articles in the general and specialised press, in which the most apologetic highlight the fantastic advantages of planetary intercommunication, while the most pessimistic make predictions for a dehumanised, fractionalised society in which com­

puters substitute personal relationships, causing a greater and greater separation between those who have access to information and those who do not have the financial means to permit such access.

In Spain, it may be said that the debate between the benefits and drawbacks of these new technologies preceded their implantation.

The use of computer networks is at the dawning stage, and the con­

tinuous strategic alliances being made between carriers, service com-

panies and banks are primarily based on scrambling for position in a potential market in expansion due to the future deregulation of com­

munications, as opposed to sharing the current market, which is prac­

tically non-existent.

Telecommunications costs have been an important obstacle in having the use of computers extend to small businesses and individu­

als, to the point of reaching the crucial mass of users necessary to en­

courage the private sector to invest in it. Another handicap has been the lack of services with quality informative contents. In this sense, the country is faced with a historic barrier that may be attributed as much to the public administration as to Telefonica, the Spanish car­

rier.

Setbacks in the Electronic Information Market

For years, the use of computers was seen as a means of obtaining in­

formation, rather than a communication tool. Since the late 60s, as a result of the information boom, of the continuous increase in computer capacity, and the popularisation of personal computers, the informa­

tion sector has undergone enormous growth. In Western, better-devel­

oped countries, data bases on magnetic storage media proliferated, and hosts were created to market them, facilitating on-line access to information. In most cases, investments for launching a host came from the public sector or specific economic sectors (aeronautical, chemical, biomedical, etc.). Initiatives in Europe have mostly been public sector driven, while in the US the potentiality of a huge market based on a single language has attracted private investments. Some of the most important American database vendors at the international level - Dialog is one example of them - are privately owned.

These initiatives contributed, although initially only in the fields of scientific and technical research, to the creation of certain cultural computer habits, and to an awareness of the usefulness of electronic information. However, computer access to computerised information was, for a long time, the privilege of a few expert documentarians.

Documentary sources were not well-known, mastery of retrieval lan­

guages was a well-respected skill of professionals, the knowledge of English was absolutely essential and, above all, communications was expensive. Only documentation centers or libraries, basically in uni­

versities or research departments of large corporations, could allow themselves the luxury of access.

In Spain, institutional actions designed to promote the existence of an electronic information market were few and badly coordinated.

The offer of on-line databases originated in public institutions, which produced and distributed their databases at the same time. The lack of coordination of public and private initiatives - which gave rise to a great dispersion of the offer and, as a result, a diversity of query lan­

guages - the disparity among rates and the lack of technical assis­

tance for the user, together with high communications rates, which put small businesses and individual users at a disadvantage, slowed down the demand which, in turn, deflated the offer. The result was that the electronic information sector did not reach the level of devel­

opment achieved in other countries.

Telefonica’s Role as Carrier

For years, the Spanish telephone company, which is controlled by the state but has great autonomy of action, has been blamed for not pay­

ing much attention to small businesses and individuals. In 1971, the company started up a packet switched data network for packet trans­

fer, which was the first to operate in Europe.1 The European stan­

dardisation institutions had not agreed on international standards yet, and the company developed its own standards. Very high installa­

tion costs made it prohibitive for individual users. The politics of put­

ting up an outward-looking image lead it to set up an access point from abroad. This brought about the paradox of it being easier to con­

nect to Spain from abroad than vice-versa, and it was almost impossi­

ble to consult information generated by Spain from within Spain itself through the data transmission network.

It was only in the mid 80s when the X.28 standard was commer­

cialised. It finally allowed small computers to be connected to the packet switched data network, for which the X.25 standard defined by the CCITT1 2 had already been adopted. However the price Telefonica demanded for renting a modem which only it could supply (about $90 per month) discouraged small users from trying this new means of communication.

The combined actions of Telefonica, the limited distribution of information, the inhibition of the private sector, and the lack of vision on the part of the administration in giving support to the creation of databases left Spain out of the race in a sector which, abroad, was ac-

1 In practice, this type of network means costs that are slightly lower than those of the telephone network, higher speeds and better data transmission quality.

2 CCITT: Comite Consultatif International de Telegraphes et Telephones. See Horrocks: 1993

quiring a growing importance in the economy as a whole, in the US as well as the more developed European countries. Researchers from our country had no alternative but to resort to information generated by other countries. These countries not only distributed information they produced, but also information produced by Spain, which was duly translated into the corresponding languages.

Videotex: A Lost Opportunity to Promote the Use of Communi­

cation by Computer

The 80s were the decade for developing videotex, for once a means of computer consultation designed for the general public. Anyone lacking computer knowledge could access, through the phone line, by means of a terminal and a modem, databases which contained no longer scien­

tific or technical, but rather general information. The first videotex models were developed by Great Britain and France almost at the same time (Branscomb, 1988). The decisive and steady policy of busi­

ness promotion followed by the French telephone company, which in­

vested huge amounts of money in the system, was not imitated by any other country.

In Spain, promotional activities and subsidies for the creation of information server centers were hesitant and indiscriminate, and de­

cisions were made more in accordance with political criteria than through optimising resources or supporting initiatives that were al­

ready operating. The result was the creation of a multitude of centers that offered information without adding any value, or that offered er­

roneous or obsolete information (Beascoechea, 1990). This all caused a growing lack of interest in a medium that has now fallen technologi­

cally behind the times and has been overwhelmed by other networks, such as Internet. Videotex has not become popular as a medium, even though certain institutional or local and regional government services, and those of a few department stores or airlines have attained a cer­

tain prestige (Perdiguer Andres, 1991), and others have contributed to its being discredited, as is the case of „personal” bulletin boards, which were the forerunners of erotic phone lines.

Society of Information or Communication?

Today, thanks to the characteristics of the Internet, which works in a decentralised way, is owned by no one, and receives voluntary contri­

butions from thousands of people, accessing information has become horizontal. It is now beginning to be considered not just a means of

obtaining information, but also of offering it to establish commercial trade.

This medium’s initial function of communication, first for mili­

tary purposes and later for scientific and technical research purposes, has been entirely outdated. A newly developed system for navigating the Internet, based on hypertext technology, the World Wide Web, greatly simplifies the search for information. And even though finding valuable information remains expensive and requires a great deal of dedication and a certain degree of professional skill, there is no doubt that, with this tool, a large step has been taken towards bringing citi­

zens closer to the information superhighway. The situation is quite different from that of a few years ago. This is equally true regarding the development of telecommunications infrastructures, which are ac­

ceptable today, as well as the existence of a more diversified offer of information services and, perhaps the most important of all, the pub­

licity campaign lead by Bill Gates, which has created a collective psy­

chosis around the pressing need to ‘hook-up’ in order

The proliferation of users and services has given rise to fre­

quently-reported misuses and abuses of the network, which has been used by terrorists, arms traffickers and narcotics and pornography mafias. Attempts to regulate these misuses (with legislation such as the Communications Decency Act in the United States) which are un­

derstandable if one keeps in mind the fact that access to the network - institution’s access at least - is subsidised with government funds, have caused a great deal of controversy precisely because the Inter­

net’s primary virtue is its operational anarchy and an absence of con­

trol over the information available.

What Role Should the Public Administration Play?

This question allows for different answers, depending on the economic and social context of any country, the standards for social objectives, and the level of government we discuss.

The current situation, which is characterised by a context of de­

regulation, is forcing public administrations to define new policies of action and to regulate numerous aspects that are known to be contro­

versial.

a) Updating Legislation. Legislation must adapt itself to the new situation generated by massive access to the information superhigh­

ways. Questions such as privacy, copyright, freedom o f speech vs. re­

spect for the law, defending minority languages, confidentiality of per­

sonal data, etc. require not only new legal frameworks, but also coor­

dination of action among different countries.

b) The Definition o f A Telecommunications Policy. Telecommunica­

tions policies are considered to be one of the central axes that will al­

low Europe to take a competitive place beside the US in the Informa­

tion Age. A telecommunications policy involves, or should involve, regulatory aspects such as (Bauer, 1992):

• regulation o f market access. One of the central points is the cross­

subsidies of suppliers across low and high cost areas. The diversifi­

cation of dominant suppliers is also a crucial current issue

• price and quality. Quality services, investment budgets and sup­

plier-customer relations are crucial aspects to be regulated, espe­

cially when the carrier monopoly evolves towards a market driven situation. Regulation of prices is rather complicated due to techno­

logical changes. The market results in one dominant multi-product firm and a fringe of smaller competitors.

• public versus private production. Although the advantage of one form of ownership against the other has not been clearly shown, the choice between either of them must take into account additional fac­

tors derived from the rigidities in the managerial and financial per­

formance in the administrations of the public enterprises.

• mdustrial policy. The telecommunications and the electronics in­

dustries have been the focus of industrial policies as a means to overcome the stagnant economic development of the 1970s. Such policies are justified on the basis of their contribution to the social welfare.

• social policy. The development of infrastructures has been consid­

ered crucial for society. However, telecommunications has been rec­

ognised to produce unwanted effects. Different measures have been implemented so as to counterbalance them. Privacy, equal access, services for the impaired, decentralised health services, are some of the issues policies have to cope with. These are usually based upon the notions of distributional equity, fairness or individual rights rather than efficiency.

The choice of instruments for telecommunications policies, and of in­

stitutions involved, depends on the goals that are set; for example, ef­

ficiency, equality, transaction costs etc. A decision must be made as to whether regulating instruments should optimise one objective or

many. In Europe, the public enterprise system is designed to fulfil several objectives: efficiency, and industrial and social objectives. A n­

other important point to bear in mind is assigning different areas to different levels of government (Bauer, 1992).

At any rate, achieving inexpensive and efficient telecommunica­

tions could be the greatest incentive to popularising the use of com ­ puter communications in the productive sector, which has tradition­

ally offered more guarantees of sustained and steady growth in the consumption o f telecommunications than has the leisure-time market.

The fabric composed of small and medium businesses, professionals and researchers must be one of the preferred targets of public admini­

strations. The speed with which the use of the Internet is penetrating universities is explained by the non-existent cost for academic users.

c) The Role o f Regional Governments and Local Administrations. The role of regional and local administrations, which are closer to citizens, must focus on different aspects of regulation. In the case of Spain, the activity of the most active regional governments must focus on two areas: achieving control of telecommunications infrastructures by tak­

ing advantage of the imminent deregulation which will put an end to Telefonica’s monopoly - the cable law is an example of ongoing wres­

tling with the central government in this matter - and popularising the possible uses of computer communications among the different communities in the fields of business, professionals and administra­

tion.

Different entities connected to the administration have initiated actions to this end: institutions and foundations created for popularis­

ing new technologies, for promoting the use of computer networks ap­

plied to research, promoting new professions, and the use of new tech­

nologies by businesses. The activities of these institutions, which are directly or indirectly connected to government, basically consist in or­

ganising training courses, debates and conferences, in facilitating con­

tacts between suppliers and demand for access points to Internet, and in supporting the commercial promotion of businesses through this network (La Revista, series of interviews).

This set of actions is added to those promoted by private initia­

tives. The results are turning into a varied and chaotic offer of serv­

ices which puts novice users right back where they started: not know­

ing where to search for information. Finding something of interest through the network implies considerable cost in communications and time. There are plenty of sceptics who question whether navigating

the networks increases or reduces productivity. In any case, the im­

mediate results are not those of arousing enthusiasm for the new technologies. Citizens scarcely know what kind of information pro­

duced by the public administration is available, if any, by remote ac­

cess, i.e. through data transmission or telephone network.

The lack of quality contents was already a handicap beforehand, with databases and videotex. Many questions will be formulated, such as „We can go very quickly, but where to?“

One of the ways of promoting the use of computer communica­

tions would be to act on the offer of quality services. The non-existence of databases at any given time and the low quality of services offered through videotex slowed down the demand. Therefore, one of the clear actions government could propose would be to promote the creation of quality information services that are adapted to the informative needs of users. The principles of quality, a catch phrase that is highly in vogue, should be applied to institutional information. Above all, the offer of information should not be seen as an instrument of propa­

ganda at the service of the governing political body, but rather as a means by which administrations can increase communication with their citizens.

In this sense, the following could be possible lines of action:

• Coordinating initiatives within the public sector, not as control, but in order to avoid overlapping and duplicating offers of information.

An attitude of excessive intervention that does not attempt to take advantage of initiatives that already exist would, apart from wast­

ing resources, frustrate those who have made efforts to create in­

formation services, which are often extremely useful even though their sphere of influence may be small.

• Increasing quality and efficiency in distributing the information of­

fered to citizens and, above all, in information on the information it­

self, in order to make known those initiatives that are already set up. Government should be brought closer, giving a definite push to tele-democracy.

• Promoting initiatives of public and social interest. Private initia­

tives attempt to place themselves in the market by offering televi­

sion channels, interactive videos, multimedia shows, three-dimen­

sional images, etc. Administrations should act as counterbalance to the tendency to consider citizens simply as consumers of entertain­

ment.