[gu-l] (06/19/02) 21st Century Literacy (Tapio Varis) and Smart
Community Development (John Eger)
Tak Utsumi
utsumi@columbia.edu
Wed, 19 Jun 2002 23:03:28 -0400
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<<June 18, 2002>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking =B3Correspondence=B2 in our
home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.
For those after 2/27/01, see or bookmark:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/> and click on =B3Date,=B2 for
example. The most recent archives are the bottom line.
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl <SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Dennis Gilhooly <denis.gilhooly@undp.org>
Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D. <salah@wisekey.ch>
Martin Sims <martin@iicom.org>
John M. Eger <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu>
Dear Tapio:
(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I) and a very excellent essay
(ATTACHMENT II).
I thank you for the hard copies of the Tampere Business. The ATTACHMENT II
is the OCR version from the hard copy.
It is very interesting, -- succinct, yet broad coverage.
Dear Seth:
(2) I thank you for your invitation to the very interesting seminar on
=B3Information and Telecommunication and Governance=B2 roundtable discussion
held by the Social Science Research Council at Columbia University in the
evening of 6/5th.
Referring to our conversation after the seminar, you may be interested in
reading Tapio=B9s essay to set the direction of your monthly seminars on
=B3Computer, Man and Society=B2 next year =8B BTW, you met Tapio in Helsinki
several years ago.
As Tapio says and I mentioned at the conversation, intercultural issues
could be the main topics of your seminar along with the globalization and
global e-learning.
Dear Dennis:
(3) Your talk at the seminar was very excellent =8B I learned a lot!!
As requested at that time, I would greatly appreciate it if you can kindly
send me a copy of your recent report on Digital Opportunity Task (DOT)
Force.
Also, as I mentioned to you at that time, I would like to visit the people
of your UNDP if they might be interested in our Amazon project =8B see;
* Draft #1 of our full proposal on the =B3International Workshop for The
Community Development with E-Learning and E-Healthcare in Amazon, Brazil=B2 a=
t
> http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus%20Workshop/Tinker%20Foundat=
ion/A
> pplication%20Form/Tinker_Proposal_Web/Application_to_Tinker.html
* =B3Application for Grass Root Fund (Draft #6) for the Manaus Community
Development Network (May 13, 2002)=B2 at
> http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus%20Workshop/Grass_Root_Fund/=
Appli
> cation_Form/MCDN-GR-Draft-6.htm
The former is to deploy CampusNet which interconnect 6 federal universities
in Amazon region via broadband Internet satellite and Community Development
Networks (CDNs) in the cities of main campuses of the CampusNet affiliated
universities with the ODA fund of the Japanese government. The latter is
the kickoff project of CDNs and to provide broadband wireless Internet to
K-12 schools in underserved areas in the City of Manaus, Amazon free of
charge. We already submitted this application to the Japan Consulate in
Manaus.
> As you know, the Japanese government pledged $15 billion (3 years) to clo=
se
> the digital divide in developing countries during the Okinawa Summit in J=
uly
> of 2000 =8B which I helped initiate since 1997 with the help of Salah Mandi=
l
> (while he was at the WHO in Geneva) who introduced me to Dr. Taro Nakayam=
a,
> former Minister of Foreign Affairs. I understood that you received US$5
> million out of this, too.
>=20
> BTW, Mr. Koizumi, the Prime Minister of Japan, will also pledge US$2 bill=
ion
> (5 years) for funding K-12 education in developing countries at the G8 Su=
mmit
> in Canada on June 26th.
>=20
> The Japanese government seems gearing up toward the direction I have been
> preaching to them for many years.
>=20
Dear Martin:
(4) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT III).
I took the liberty of downloading it and distributing to our list
(ATTACHMENT IV) (*).
> (*) =B3Athens in the information age: How will =8Csmart communities=B9 change t=
he
> way we live?,=B2 Intermedia, July, 2001, Vol. 29, No. 3
Dear John:
(5) You may also try to get your paper as following Martin=B9s instruction.
BTW , Tapio=B9s paper mentions =B3public-private-partnership (PPP).=B2 I think
this is similar to your =B3Smart Community=B2 development approach.
Dear E-Colleagues in African countries:
(6) Our GUS projects will follow John=B9s approach in order to share high
costs of broadband Internet telecom trunk line, and also to share
information and knowledge.
I strongly suggest that you read his papers in the following web sites, too=
;
* http://www.smartcommunities.org/library_10steps.htm
* http://www.smartcommunities.org/library_cyberspace.htm
BTW, this is why we need to form a coalition of higher education, secondary
and primary schools, hospitals, libraries, local government, NGOs, etc. in
each country or region.
Best, Tak
ATTACHMENT I=20
Subject: texts
Date: Monday, June 3, 2002 3:36 AM
From: Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>
To: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Dear Tak,
I am sending you by regular mail my article on 21st Century literacies
published in Tampere Business 1/2002 (attachment here). I also want you to
know that Mr. Keiso Katsura, Associate Professor of Surugadai University
and pariticpant of our EGEDL conference, is planning to work with use
2003-2004 and I am preparing his visit to our University.
Best wishes,
Tapio=20
ATTACHMENT II=20
Perspectives
Tampere Business
May 1, 2002, Page 18
=80 TAPIO VARIS=20
Professor and Chair of Media
Education Unesco Chair on global e-learning
Defining 21st century literacy
With our own identity and increased self-confidence we will be better
prepared to face other cultural and civilizational challenges.
Sometimes we get the feeling that world problems are too big and history is
too complex to think of them intellectually. Instead we tend to accept
simplifications, distortions and stereotypes of social and historical
issues, and perceptions of others.
Even though it is no more possible to define the world from a Eurocentric
perspective, we Europeans must also look at things from our own point of
view. Looking at the world as a whole, some things quickly become very
obvious to us.
Firstly, even though the Europe of the future will be essentially greater
than today, we are an ageing population. Young people grow elsewhere; we
grow in terms of pensionability. Secondly, cultural diversity is said to be
a European value, but to what extent can we develop cultural and social
competence into meaningful multicultural communication and dialogue?
The 21st Century Literacy Summit, held in March 2002 in Berlin, discussed
the problems of education, workplace skills and new citizenship on a very
high level, as well as the role of civic engagement. We know that the world
is changing into a place where knowledge is becoming the key economic
resource. But we might not fully understand what this means to people and
communities.
Among other things, individuals and organizations must fundamentally reshap=
e
the manner in which they create, manage, deploy, and leverage knowledge. It
has become almost a dogma to stress the process of lifelong learning and th=
e
use of learning to promote social and economic regeneration.
But what do these processes require from individuals, citizens of the new
knowledge society and their communities?
The Berlin Summit concluded that the following components need to be
promoted in order to enhance our knowledge and critical thinking skills:
=80 Technology literacy, which means the ability to use new media such as
the Internet to effectively access and communicate information.
=80 Information literacy, which refers to the ability to gather, organize=
,
filter and evaluate information, and to form valid opinions based on the
results.
=80 Media creativity, which is the growing capacity of individuals
everywhere to produce and distribute content to audiences of all sizes.
=80 Social competence and responsibility, which refers to the competence
to consider the social consequences of an online production and the
responsibility with regard to children.
All these demands sound reasonable enough to gain acceptance as a policy
goal. However, their implementation on the institutional, communal and
enterprise levels is much more complicated. People and institutions tend to
conduct themselves as if everything would continue as before. Sociologists
speak of a cultural lag. But in a globalized economy this lag may have a
detrimental effect.
We already know that most jobs, even those in a traditional field, require
some sort of computer skills. Most jobs today seem to have short lives. Thi=
s
will be the case more so in the future -- some specialists claim that an
average for future careers will be seven jobs in a lifetime. Jobs are varie=
d
and flexible, often with part-time characteristics.
If we want to improve employment we also have to promote small and medium
sized enterprises and services. As the European population ages, the only
way to maintain our standard of living is by improving productivity and
education. Most enterprises today provide their employees with some sort of
training, but on a very narrow basis.
It has been and will be the responsibility of communities, cities, and
public authorities to supply a means of providing all citizens with the
basic skills and competences needed in the knowledge society.
A new philosophy of public-private-partnership (PPP) is emerging in Europe.
In order to develop the required media and communication skills, it will be
necessary to promote cooperation between local and international media
industry and civic society as well as cooperation between media and
educational establishments and universities.
The public education system in Europe has its merits, which should not be
forgotten in today's policies.
With our own identity and increased self-confidence we will also be better
prepared to face other cultural and civilizational challenges in the
globalized world and have a meaningful dialogue with them. This, in turn,
may be conducive to world peace.
ATTACHMENT III=20
Subject: Re: Inquiry for your suggestion
Date: Sunday, June 9, 2002 6:30 AM
From: Simsmart@aol.com
To: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Cc: <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu>
Tak,
We've changed the security arrangements for the site. You have to go to the
main site: www.iicom.org click the intermedia button, click to enter the
archive then enter the password halibut then you''' see the July 2001
archive with John's article.
The password changes [periodically but can always be found on teh editorial
page of Intermedia.
regards
Martin=20
Intermedia=20
The journal of the IIC <www.iicom.org>
+ 44 (0)20 8672 7489 (h) (I often work from home!)
+ 44 (0)20 7462 4486 (w)
+ 44 (0)7946 485420 (m)
International Institute of Communications
Westcott House
35 Portland Place
London
W1B 1AE
UK
ATTACHMENT IV=20
Excerpt from
http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/archive/JULY2001/EGER.HTM
Intermedia, July 2001, Vol. 29, No. 3
The Journal of the International Institute of Communications
London, U.K.
Athens in the information age
How will 'smart communities' change the way we live?
By John Eger
The more high tech our world, the more high touch we are becoming. The more
global, the more intensely local our focus needs to be.
Athens, the place where civilisation was born and where the city state form
of governance first began, remains a symbol of the dynamic potential of
cities to create and provide the linkages among culture, commerce and civic
pride so important to the wealth and well-being of a community. Over the
years, cities have been both cursed and blessed as they have been compelled
to adjust to the underlying changes taking place in our movement to a globa=
l
economy and society. Many cities have already died; others are in fiscal an=
d
societal decay.
Nonetheless, the concept of cities as engines of civilisation remains deepl=
y
embedded in our collective psyche. Will they succeed and survive in this
next transition to a knowledge-based, global information economy and
society? Indeed, what role will cities play in this evolution? What will
cities of tomorrow look like?
As cities of the past were built along railroads, waterways and interstate
highways, cities of the future will be built along "information highways" -
broadband communications links among homes, schools and offices, hospitals
and cultural centres, and through the World Wide Web to millions of other
locations all over the world. As past is prologue, surely some cities will
become the ghost towns of the twenty-first century information age.
This article explores these revolutionary changes, explains the connections
between technology and place, and provides a framework for understanding th=
e
city of the future - the Athens of the Information Age.
The power and pervasive influence of technology
...until flesh-and-blood human beings can be digitised into electronic
pulses=A0 the denizens of cyberspace will have to live IRL ("in real life")=8A
In less than a decade, the great global network of computer networks called
the internet has blossomed from an arcane tool used by academics and
government researchers into a worldwide mass communications medium, now
poised to become the leading carrier of all communications and financial
transactions affecting life and work in the 21st Century.
The internet's so-called World Wide Web has been even more spectacular. Wit=
h
30 million-plus users worldwide, growing at 15 percent per month, it is
being integrated into the marketing, information, and communications
strategies of nearly every major corporation, educational institution,
political and charitable organisation, community, and government agency in
the world. No previous advance - not the telephone, the television set,
cable television, the VCR, the facsimile machine, nor the cellular telephon=
e
- has penetrated public consciousness and secured such widespread public
adoption this quickly.
In recent years, it has become fashionable to refer to the domain in which
internet-based communications occur as "cyberspace" - an abstract
"communication space" that exists both everywhere and nowhere.
But until flesh-and-blood human beings can be digitised into electronic
pulses in the same way in which computer scientists have transformed data
and images, the denizens of cyberspace will have to live IRL ("in real
life") in some sort of real, physical space - a physical environment that
will continue to dominate our future in the same way that our homes,
neighbourhoods, and communities do so today. Nonetheless, information
technology is a force that will reshape our world as never imagined.
Cyberspace and the emerging cyberplace
According to Charles Handy, author of The Age of Unreason we live in an age
of paradox. The more high tech our world, the more high touch we are
becoming. The more global, the more intensely local our focus needs to be.
The more competitive our markets, the more co-operation must play a role in
developing our business strategies.
One of the more interesting paradoxes is that the more we live and work in
cyberspace, the more important real place becomes. While this notion runs
counter to much of today's popular literature, we are already seeing the
knowledge worker and the high tech knowledge-sensitive industries migrating
to highly livable communities - communities with mountains or lakes, open
spaces, clean air, and, as in the case of Portland, Oregon and other
communities where they have established urban growth boundaries, less
reliance on the automobile as the primary mode of transportation.
This growing concern with urban sprawl, coupled with the nostalgic yearning
which the new urbanism movement represents, are evidence of sweeping change=
s
in public attitude toward physical space. As the internet revolution moves
into full bloom, however, there is every reason to believe it will have a
dramatic impact on the architecture and landscape of communities throughout
the world.
The rise of smart communities
=8Atechnological propagation of smart communities isn't an end in itself, but
only a means to reinventing cities with compelling community benefit.
Already, communities and nations around the globe - often without being
consciously aware of it - are starting to sketch out the first drafts of th=
e
"cyberplaces" of the 21st Century. Singapore has launched its IT2000
initiative, also known as the Intelligent Island Plan. Japan is building an
electronic future called Technopolis, or Teletopia. France, as early as
1976, initiated a plan called Telematique, an aggressive effort to place
personal computers on every desktop and in every home in the country. And i=
n
the United States, the Clinton Administration pursued a vigorous National
Information Initiative, or NII, one of whose early goals is to link every
school and every school child to the internet by the year 2000.
Many communities - Stockholm, Seattle, and Sacramento, for instance, have
constructed large-scale public-access networks that residents can use to
obtain information about government activities, community events, and
critical social services like disaster preparedness, child abuse prevention=
,
and literacy education. The tiny university town of Blacksburg, Virginia,
has transformed itself into an electronic village, in which the majority of
the town's businesses and residents are connected to the local data network=
.
And counties like San Diego, as a result of its "City of the Future"
project, are building even more sophisticated electronic infrastructures
that, one day soon, will allow a wide variety of local government, business=
,
and institutional transactions. Recognising that electronic networks like
these will play an increasingly important role in a municipality's economic
competitiveness, the State of California four years ago launched a statewid=
e
"Smart Communities" program, which has been managed since its inception by
the International Center for Communications at San Diego State University.
More recently a World Foundation was established to help other communities
around the world with their struggle to "get on the global information
highway".
The Foundation defines a "smart community" as "a geographic area ranging in
size from a neighbourhood to a multi-county region whose residents,
organisations, and governing institutions are using information technology
to transform their region in significant, even fundamental ways." A
fundamental premise is that smart communities are not, at their core,
exercises in the deployment and use of technology, but in the promotion of
economic development, job growth, and an increased quality of life. In othe=
r
words, technological propagation of smart communities isn't an end in
itself, but only a means to reinventing cities for a new economy and societ=
y
with clear and compelling community benefit.
Technology, culture and place
One of the main reasons that information networks can have a such a profoun=
d
transformative effect on people, businesses, and communities is that every
other major technology advance that has shrunk space and time also has
remade society in fundamental and important ways. Transportation, over the
millennia for example, has done more than perhaps any other technological
advance to bring the world's people closer together.
But telecommunications developments, including telephones and their more
modern kin, accentuate the trends inaugurated by transportation advances in
three slightly different, but very important ways.
First, by allowing for rapid communication between distant sites, they make
it possible for business and social relationships to flourish over long
distances, permitting workers and investment capital to migrate to the most
desirable locations and those with the highest economic return.
Second, they extend the reach of these economic, social and other
relationships far beyond national borders, creating what is truly a global
economy. And third, and perhaps most significantly, they make possible for
the first time the nearly instantaneous transmission of information,
collapsing both space and time in a way that no other previous technologica=
l
advance has done.
=8A the more time people spend in "cyberspace" the more important real place
becomes, and the more civic involvement and the real values of "community" =
-
places where common dreams and visions really become reality - become
apparent to success and survival in this new age.
The internet, the World Wide Web, and their successors are likely to produc=
e
consequences that are as great or greater than anything we have seen so far
- and that are apt to be equally unexpected. If we are to maximize the
positive contributions of these new technologies while minimizing their
negative ones, we must begin to appreciate now how these technologies are
likely to affect our people, our culture, and our perceptions of place in
the years to come.
The technical architecture of the smart community
There are a few general trends worth noting. The first is the growing
ubiquitousness of telecommunications networks. Because it is based largely
on the existing telephone systems, the internet today spans the globe, with
its tentacles reaching into more than 130 countries and connecting, in one
form or another, an estimated 30 million to 50 million people. This
expansion shows no signs of letting up. Indeed, as the internet migrates
from its almost purely copper-based telephone platform to cable, satellite,
and digital cellular systems, the methods of connecting to the internet wil=
l
proliferate, access costs will decline, and the number of users will
skyrocket.
The second general trend in the development of the internet is the rapid
expansion in bandwidth. In its original incarnation (which lasted for more
than two decades), the internet was primarily a low-volume text-based
medium, and so required little transmission capacity.
The emergence of the World Wide Web, with its heavy use of graphics,
photographs, and animation, changed this equation dramatically, and even
top-of-the-line modem technologies - 28.8 kbs and even the 56 kpbs modems -
quickly proved inadequate to the task of transporting these billions of bit=
s
of graphical information, causing many parts of the internet to react like =
a
two-lane freeway suddenly jammed with a hundred- or thousand-fold increase
in the number of vehicles.
The third and perhaps most important trend in the development of the
internet is the proliferation of access points. Heretofore, logging on to
the internet has required a fairly sophisticated computer, costing in the
neighbourhood of $1000, while one-half of what it was just two years ago -
still has priced the internet out of the range of a large share of low and
middle-income families in the United States, not to mention the vast
majority of the rest of the world's population. This high cost of access ha=
s
combined with the relative inconvenience of using a computer - sitting
before a computer, unlike a television set, is hardly the most relaxing
experience - to restrict the internet largely to the technologically
oriented, well-to-do minority. This is one of the main reasons why many
communities have undertaken aggressive public access initiatives to install
computers and kiosks at community centres, public libraries, and other
public sites in order to make it possible for people who don't own a
computer to use the internet.
But this situation also is changing. Already, several companies, including
Sony and Phillips, have introduced devices that allow people to log on to
and browse the internet directly from their television sets, and the number
of such devices is likely to multiply over the next two years, particularly
as cable television companies become more involved in the internet-access
business. Similarly, other companies are beginning to distribute
videoconferencing equipment that will allow people to make videophone calls
over the internet, to and from their television sets.
As a result of developments like these, we are quickly reaching a point at
which the world will be interconnected by a next-generation internet that
allows for instantaneous transmission of text, photographs, and
broadcast-quality audio, video, and virtual reality, not to expensive
computers nor any other new technological device, but to the ordinary
television sets that are now in place in hundreds of millions of living
rooms worldwide.
The changing geopolitical context
These technological changes are taking place at the same time that the
world's geopolitical landscape is being radically redefined. No longer
dependent upon national governments for policy ideas and information, no
longer content to be bound by the one-size-fits-all pronouncements of
national legislators, local leaders are taking social and economic matters
into their own hands, pursuing policies that will promote job creation,
economic growth, and an improved quality of life within their region
regardless of the policies enacted at the national level.
This "reverse flow of sovereignty" is which local governments are assuming
more responsibility than ever before for their residents' well being, has
come about at a time when information and markets of all types are becoming
increasingly globalized. News, currency, and economic and political
intelligence - not to mention products and services - no longer can be
contained within national borders, but flow, often instantaneously, to all
corners of the globe, making it difficult or even impossible for national
governments to influence political or economic conditions over which, not
long ago, they held unquestioned control. The result is a geopolitical
paradox in which the nation-state, too large and distant to solve the
problems of localities, has become too small to solve the borderless
problems of the world.
Locally based companies that once competed with firms only in their own are=
a
code, for instance, now must battle companies throughout the world for thei=
r
customers' loyalty and dollars; local governments that once had to compete
for high-value residents against only nearby municipalities and the
amenities they could muster now must struggle to attract such residents in =
a
world where a growing number of people can live nearly anywhere they want
and still have access to the same jobs, the same income, and the same
products and services to which they have grown accustomed.
To meet these challenges, many far-sighted localities have begun to
transform themselves from fractured, often highly contentious regions in
which a thousand interests compete for larger shares of a shrinking pie int=
o
something more akin to the city-states of old than to the archetypical
municipalities of modern-day political science texts.
Those that are succeeding, like Smart Valley and San Diego in the United
States, Stockholm, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Infoville in Spain, or Malaysia's
Multimedia Corridor possess a number of common features. One characteristic
is collaboration among different functional sectors (government, business,
academic, non-profit organisations, and others), and among different
jurisdictions within a given geographical region. These "collaboratories"
are fast becoming the new model for successful urban organization in the
global age, and the only local political arrangement likely to make it
possible for besieged municipalities to survive in the increasingly intense
global competition that lies ahead.
This point, admittedly a subtle one, is often lost in discussions of
building smart communities, and even in the implementation of many of the
smart community projects themselves. But it couldn't be more important.
Indeed, the Foundation argues that the more time people spend in
"cyberspace" the more important real place becomes, and the more civic
involvement and the real values of "community" - places where common dreams
and visions really become reality - become apparent to success and survival
in this new age.
This new competitive and community spirit, however, will not come about
automatically. Communities must develop a coherent and compelling vision
that makes it clear how the new information networks are going to promote
job growth, economic development, and improved quality of life within the
community; and communicate that vision broadly. This is the key element tha=
t
is missing from so many smart community plans today, and yet it is the most
essential: for unless a community knows precisely where it is headed and ho=
w
it hopes to get there, it is unlikely to reach its destination, to its
detriment and all who are stakeholders in this new but uncertain future.
Toward a philosophy of permanence
Fortunately, a new breed of architects, planners and developers is beginnin=
g
to pencil in that new vision of America in the Information Age. It is a bol=
d
vision that deals with the crises of growth and the current development
sprawl, while returning to a cherished American icon; that of a "compact,
close-knit community," according to Peter Katz, author of The New Urbanism:
Toward an Architecture of Community. The prospect of a new century, says
Katz, raises serious concerns about the quality of life that can be expecte=
d
in a future era of diminished global resources. The former Vice President A=
l
Gore believes we are on a collision course between our worldwide
civilisation and the ecological system of the earth. Many policy wonks agre=
e
the urgency of our dilemma has reached an acute stage. Thus, as we examine
our current policies of land development and urban planning, new non-linear
solutions are imperative. The thing that we must remember, urges Katz, is
that all of the strategies must be examined, tested and tested again in
relation to prevailing developmental models. Only then can we determine if =
a
new urbanism can indeed be shown to deliver a higher, more sustainable
quality of life to a majority of this nation's citizens.
One of the more interesting and exciting aspects of the new urbanism
movement is that the next paradigm could well be much more than the return
to the close-knit community of small town America, with its village greens
and mixed-use zoning. It could be a spiritual return to the kind of
community enjoyed by the earliest Americans. Tessie Naranjo of the Santa
Clara Pueblo in New Mexico defines community as " the human dwelling place.=
"
It is where the people meet the needs of survival and where they weave thei=
r
webs of connections. Native communities are about connections because
relationships form the whole. Each individual becomes part of the whole
community which includes not just the human population, but the hills,
mountains, rocks, trees and clouds. Until recently, advances in
telecommunications and transportation have contributed to our
disconnected-ness, rather than cemented us as a people; atomized our sense
of community rather than provided us a sense of place. Yet without a
cultural centre, a shared history or a commitment to neutral goals and
visions, there is little to cement communities together. Chief Sealth, for
whom the city of Seattle is named, cautioned: "This we do know: the earth
does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected
like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is
merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."
As the World Wide Web becomes part of the web of life, perhaps mankind's
technology will ultimately enhance and secure our connectedness to the
physical world, preserving and protecting it for future generations. If
successful, the smart and sustainable community will dramatically reverse a=
n
adverse trend precipitated by the invention of the cotton gin and the
industrial revolution which followed; by the automobile, and fifty years of
untamed growth and land development; and worse, by the advance of a rootles=
s
culture without a sense of place, and help lead us out of the spiritual and
physical wasteland we have created.
We have the tools of this new age - computers, telecommunications,
information appliances of all kinds. We have the software, too. Indeed,
because of our hard fought personal freedom and free enterprise culture we
produce more books, movies, software programs for business, entertainment
and society than any other nation in the world.
But we need most of all - each other, and places where culture and commerce=
,
and civic pride are joined; where we are refreshed, energized, challenged t=
o
be all the best we are capable of. Cities do that; they promote the contest
for our lives and the fabric of our existence - our actions and our
enterprises.
Cities of the Future - Athens in the Information Age - will be truly smart
communities, sustainable, healthy, culturally strong, diverse, and exciting
places to live and work and play.
About the Author: John Eger is a Professor of Communications and Public
Policy at San Diego State University and President of the California
Institute for Smart Communities
List of Distribution
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor
Acting President, Global University System
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland
Unesco Chair on global eLearning
Professor and Chair of Media Education
Media Culture and Communication Education
Hypermedia laboratory
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 607
FIN-33101 Tampere
FINLAND
Tel: +358-3-215 6111
Tel: +358-3-614-5247--office in Hameenlinna
Tel: +358-3-215 6243--mass media lab in Tampere
GSM: +358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-215 7503
tapio.varis@uta.fi
tapio.varis@helsinki.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl
Co-chair Columbia University Seminar on Computers, Man and Society
Columbia University
1349 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10128
212-876-7674
SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
Dennis Gilhooly
Senior Advisor to the Administrator
Director, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development
United Nations Development Program
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
212-906-6914
Fax: 212-906-5778
denis.gilhooly@undp.org
http://www.dotforce.org/
http://www.opt-init.org/
Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D.
Vice President eStrategies,
WiseKey S.A.,
29, Route de Pr=E9s-Bois,
1215 Geneva,
Switzerland.
tel: +41.22 929 5757
cel: +41 79 753 7301
fax: +41.22 929 5702
salah@wisekey.ch
Martin Sims=20
Editor=20
InterMedia=20
International Institute of Communications
Westcott House, 3rd Floor
35 Portland Place=20
London=20
W1N 3AG=20
UK=20
+ 44 (0)20 8672 7489 (h) (I often work from home!)
+ 44 (0)20 7462 4486 (w)
Tel: +44 7323 9622
+ 44 (0)7946 485420 (m)
Fax: +44 7323 9623
martin@iicom.org
Simsmart@aol.com
www.iicom.org
John M. Eger
Executive Director
International Center for Communications
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-4522
619-594-6933
619-594-6910
Fax: 619-594-4488
jeger@mail.sdsu.edu
http://www.smartcommunities.org/
http://www.smartcommunities.org/guidebook.html
http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/july2001/eger.htm -- His paper on Smart
Communities in InterMedia.
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ *
**********************************************************************
--B_3107372610_1754358
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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>(06/19/02) 21st Century Literacy (Tapio Varis) and Smart Community D=
evelopment (John Eger)</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><<June 18, 2002>><BR>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking “Correspondence&#=
8221; in our<BR>
home page at <<FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http://www.friends-partners.org/G=
LOSAS/</U></FONT>>.<BR>
For those after 2/27/01, see or bookmark:<BR>
<<FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l=
/</U></FONT>> and click on “Date,” for<BR>
example. The most recent archives are the bottom line.<BR>
<BR>
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor <tapio.varis@uta.fi><BR>
<BR>
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl <SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu><BR>
<BR>
Dennis Gilhooly <denis.gilhooly@undp.org><BR>
<BR>
Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D. <salah@wisekey.ch><BR>
<BR>
Martin Sims <martin@iicom.org><BR>
<BR>
John M. Eger <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu><BR>
<FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><BR>
</FONT><BR>
<BR>
<B><U>Dear Tapio:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(1) Many thanks for your msg (<B><U>ATTACHMENT I)</U></B> and a very excell=
ent essay (<B><U>ATTACHMENT II</U></B>).<BR>
<BR>
I thank you for the hard copies of the Tampere Business. The <B><U>AT=
TACHMENT II</U></B> is the OCR version from the hard copy.<BR>
<BR>
It is very interesting, -- succinct, yet broad coverage. <BR>
<BR>
<B><U>Dear Seth:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(2) I thank you for your invitation to the very interesting seminar on R=
20;Information and Telecommunication and Governance” roundtable discus=
sion held by the Social Science Research Council at Columbia University in t=
he evening of 6/5th.<BR>
<BR>
Referring to our conversation after the seminar, you may be interested in r=
eading Tapio’s essay to set the direction of your monthly seminars on =
“Computer, Man and Society” next year — BTW, you met Tapio=
in Helsinki several years ago.<BR>
<BR>
As Tapio says and I mentioned at the conversation, intercultural issues cou=
ld be the main topics of your seminar along with the globalization and globa=
l e-learning.<BR>
<BR>
<B><U>Dear Dennis:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(3) Your talk at the seminar was very excellent — I learned a lot!!<B=
R>
<BR>
As requested at that time, I would greatly appreciate it if you can kindly =
send me a copy of your recent report on Digital Opportunity Task (DOT) Force=
.<BR>
<BR>
Also, as I mentioned to you at that time, I would like to visit the people =
of your UNDP if they might be interested in our Amazon project — see;<=
BR>
<BR>
</FONT><UL><LI><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">Draft #1 of our full proposal on the &#=
8220;International Workshop for The Community Development with E-Learning an=
d E-Healthcare in Amazon, Brazil” at<BR>
</FONT></UL><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http:=
//www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus%20Workshop/Tinker%20Foundation/Appl=
ication%20Form/Tinker_Proposal_Web/Application_to_Tinker.html<BR>
</U></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><BR>
</FONT><UL><LI><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">“Application for Grass Root Fund =
(Draft #6) for the Manaus Community Development Network (May 13, 2002)”=
; at<BR>
</FONT></UL><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http:=
//www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Manaus%20Workshop/Grass_Root_Fund/Applicat=
ion_Form/MCDN-GR-Draft-6.htm<BR>
</U></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><BR>
The former is to deploy CampusNet which interconnect 6 federal universities=
in Amazon region via broadband Internet satellite and Community Development=
Networks (CDNs) in the cities of main campuses of the CampusNet affiliated =
universities with the ODA fund of the Japanese government. The latter =
is the kickoff project of CDNs and to provide broadband wireless Internet to=
K-12 schools in underserved areas in the City of Manaus, Amazon free =
of charge. We already submitted this application to the Japan Consulat=
e in Manaus.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">As you know, the Japanese governmen=
t pledged $15 billion (3 years) to close the digital divide in developing co=
untries during the Okinawa Summit in July of 2000 — which I helped ini=
tiate since 1997 with the help of Salah Mandil (while he was at the WHO in G=
eneva) who introduced me to Dr. Taro Nakayama, former Minister of Foreign Af=
fairs. I understood that you received US$5 million out of this, too.<B=
R>
<BR>
BTW, Mr. Koizumi, the Prime Minister of Japan, will also pledge US$2 billio=
n (5 years) for funding K-12 education in developing countries at the G8 Sum=
mit in Canada on June 26th.<BR>
<BR>
The Japanese government seems gearing up toward the direction I have been p=
reaching to them for many years.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U>Dear Martin:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(4) Many thanks for your msg (<B><U>ATTACHMENT III</U></B>).<BR>
<BR>
I took the liberty of downloading it and distributing to our list (<B><U>AT=
TACHMENT IV</U></B>) (*).<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">(*) “Athens in the informatio=
n age: How will ‘smart communities’ change the way we live?,R=
21; Intermedia, July, 2001, Vol. 29, No. 3<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><BR>
<B><U>Dear John:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(5) You may also try to get your paper as following Martin’s instruct=
ion.<BR>
<BR>
BTW , Tapio’s paper mentions “public-private-partnership (PPP).=
” I think this is similar to your “Smart Community” =
development approach.<BR>
<BR>
<B><U>Dear E-Colleagues in African countries:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(6) Our GUS projects will follow John’s approach in order to share hi=
gh costs of broadband Internet telecom trunk line, and also to share informa=
tion and knowledge.<BR>
<BR>
I strongly suggest that you read his papers in the following web sites, too=
;<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><UL><LI><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http://www.sma=
rtcommunities.org/library_10steps.htm
</U></FONT></FONT><LI><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http://=
www.smartcommunities.org/library_cyberspace.htm<BR>
</U></FONT></FONT></UL><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><BR>
BTW, this is why we need to form a coalition of higher education, secondary=
and primary schools, hospitals, libraries, local government, NGOs, etc. in =
each country or region.<BR>
<BR>
Best, Tak<BR>
<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U>ATTACHMENT I
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U><BR>
</U>Subject: </B>texts<BR>
<B>Date: </B>Monday, June 3, 2002 3:36 AM<BR>
<B>From: </B>Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi><BR>
<B>To: </B><utsumi@columbia.edu><BR>
<BR>
Dear Tak,<BR>
<BR>
I am sending you by regular mail my article on 21st Century literacies <BR>
published in Tampere Business 1/2002 (attachment here). I also want you to =
<BR>
know that Mr. Keiso Katsura, Associate Professor of Surugadai University <B=
R>
and pariticpant of our EGEDL conference, is planning to work with use <BR>
2003-2004 and I am preparing his visit to our University.<BR>
<BR>
Best wishes,<BR>
<BR>
Tapio <BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U>ATTACHMENT II
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U><BR>
</U></B>Perspectives<BR>
Tampere Business<BR>
May 1, 2002, Page 18<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
? TAPIO VARIS <BR>
Professor and Chair of Media<BR>
Education Unesco Chair on global e-learning<BR>
<BR>
<B>Defining 21st century literacy<BR>
</B><BR>
With our own identity and increased self-confidence we will be better prepa=
red to face other cultural and civilizational challenges.<BR>
<BR>
Sometimes we get the feeling that world problems are too big and history is=
too complex to think of them intellectually. Instead we tend to accept simp=
lifications, distortions and stereotypes of social and historical issues, an=
d perceptions of others.<BR>
<BR>
Even though it is no more possible to define the world from a Eurocentric p=
erspective, we Europeans must also look at things from our own point of view=
. Looking at the world as a whole, some things quickly become very obvious t=
o us.<BR>
<BR>
Firstly, even though the Europe of the future will be essentially greater t=
han today, we are an ageing population. Young people grow elsewhere; we grow=
in terms of pensionability. Secondly, cultural diversity is said to be a Eu=
ropean value, but to what extent can we develop cultural and social competen=
ce into meaningful multicultural communication and dialogue?<BR>
<BR>
The 21st Century Literacy Summit, held in March 2002 in Berlin, discussed t=
he problems of education, workplace skills and new citizenship on a very hig=
h level, as well as the role of civic engagement. We know that the world is =
changing into a place where knowledge is becoming the key economic resource.=
But we might not fully understand what this means to people and communities=
.<BR>
<BR>
Among other things, individuals and organizations must fundamentally reshap=
e the manner in which they create, manage, deploy, and leverage knowledge. I=
t has become almost a dogma to stress the process of lifelong learning and t=
he use of learning to promote social and economic regeneration.<BR>
<BR>
But what do these processes require from individuals, citizens of the new k=
nowledge society and their communities?<BR>
<BR>
The Berlin Summit concluded that the following components need to be promot=
ed in order to enhance our knowledge and critical thinking skills:<BR>
<BR>
? Technology literacy, which means the ability to u=
se new media such as the Internet to effectively access and communicate info=
rmation.<BR>
<BR>
? Information literacy, which refers to the ability=
to gather, organize, filter and evaluate information, and to form valid opi=
nions based on the results.<BR>
<BR>
? Media creativity, which is the growing capacity o=
f individuals everywhere to produce and distribute content to audiences of a=
ll sizes.<BR>
<BR>
? Social competence and responsibility, which refer=
s to the competence to consider the social consequences of an online product=
ion and the responsibility with regard to children.<BR>
<BR>
All these demands sound reasonable enough to gain acceptance as a policy go=
al. However, their implementation on the institutional, communal and enterpr=
ise levels is much more complicated. People and institutions tend to conduct=
themselves as if everything would continue as before. Sociologists speak of=
a cultural lag. But in a globalized economy this lag may have a detrimental=
effect.<BR>
<BR>
We already know that most jobs, even those in a traditional field, require =
some sort of computer skills. Most jobs today seem to have short lives. This=
will be the case more so in the future -- some specialists claim that an av=
erage for future careers will be seven jobs in a lifetime. Jobs are varied a=
nd flexible, often with part-time characteristics.<BR>
<BR>
If we want to improve employment we also have to promote small and medium s=
ized enterprises and services. As the European population ages, the only way=
to maintain our standard of living is by improving productivity and educati=
on. Most enterprises today provide their employees with some sort of trainin=
g, but on a very narrow basis.<BR>
<BR>
It has been and will be the responsibility of communities, cities, and publ=
ic authorities to supply a means of providing all citizens with the basic sk=
ills and competences needed in the knowledge society.<BR>
<BR>
A new philosophy of public-private-partnership (PPP) is emerging in Europe.=
In order to develop the required media and communication skills, it will be=
necessary to promote cooperation between local and international media indu=
stry and civic society as well as cooperation between media and educational =
establishments and universities.<BR>
<BR>
The public education system in Europe has its merits, which should not be f=
orgotten in today's policies.<BR>
<BR>
With our own identity and increased self-confidence we will also be better =
prepared to face other cultural and civilizational challenges in the globali=
zed world and have a meaningful dialogue with them. This, in turn, may be co=
nducive to world peace.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U>ATTACHMENT III
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U><BR>
</U>Subject: </B>Re: Inquiry for your suggestion<BR>
<B>Date: </B>Sunday, June 9, 2002 6:30 AM<BR>
<B>From: </B>Simsmart@aol.com<BR>
<B>To: </B><utsumi@columbia.edu><BR>
<B>Cc: </B><jeger@mail.sdsu.edu><BR>
<BR>
Tak,<BR>
<BR>
We've changed the security arrangements for the site. You have to go to the=
main site: www.iicom.org click the intermedia button, click to enter the ar=
chive then enter the password halibut then you''' see the July 2001 archive =
with John's article.<BR>
<BR>
The password changes [periodically but can always be found on teh editorial=
page of Intermedia.<BR>
<BR>
regards<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Martin <BR>
Intermedia <BR>
The journal of the IIC <www.iicom.org> <BR>
<BR>
+ 44 (0)20 8672 7489 (h) (I often work from home!)<BR>
+ 44 (0)20 7462 4486 (w)<BR>
+ 44 (0)7946 485420 (m)<BR>
<BR>
International Institute of Communications<BR>
Westcott House<BR>
35 Portland Place<BR>
London<BR>
W1B 1AE<BR>
UK<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U>ATTACHMENT IV
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Geneva">Excerpt from<BR>
http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/archive/JULY2001/EGER.HTM<BR>
<BR>
Intermedia, July 2001, Vol. 29, No. 3<BR>
The Journal of the International Institute of Communications<BR>
London, U.K.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Athens in the information age<BR>
<BR>
How will 'smart communities' change the way we live?<BR>
<BR>
By John Eger<BR>
<BR>
The more high tech our world, the more high touch we are becoming. The more=
global, the more intensely local our focus needs to be. <BR>
<BR>
Athens, the place where civilisation was born and where the city state form=
of governance first began, remains a symbol of the dynamic potential of cit=
ies to create and provide the linkages among culture, commerce and civic pri=
de so important to the wealth and well-being of a community. Over the years,=
cities have been both cursed and blessed as they have been compelled to adj=
ust to the underlying changes taking place in our movement to a global econo=
my and society. Many cities have already died; others are in fiscal and soci=
etal decay.<BR>
<BR>
Nonetheless, the concept of cities as engines of civilisation remains deepl=
y embedded in our collective psyche. Will they succeed and survive in this n=
ext transition to a knowledge-based, global information economy and society?=
Indeed, what role will cities play in this evolution? What will cities of t=
omorrow look like?<BR>
<BR>
As cities of the past were built along railroads, waterways and interstate =
highways, cities of the future will be built along "information highway=
s" - broadband communications links among homes, schools and offices, h=
ospitals and cultural centres, and through the World Wide Web to millions of=
other locations all over the world. As past is prologue, surely some cities=
will become the ghost towns of the twenty-first century information age.<BR=
>
<BR>
This article explores these revolutionary changes, explains the connections=
between technology and place, and provides a framework for understanding th=
e city of the future - the Athens of the Information Age.<BR>
<BR>
The power and pervasive influence of technology<BR>
<BR>
...until flesh-and-blood human beings can be digitised into electronic puls=
es? the denizens of cyberspace will have to live IRL ("in real life&quo=
t;)… <BR>
<BR>
In less than a decade, the great global network of computer networks called=
the internet has blossomed from an arcane tool used by academics and govern=
ment researchers into a worldwide mass communications medium, now poised to =
become the leading carrier of all communications and financial transactions =
affecting life and work in the 21st Century.<BR>
<BR>
The internet's so-called World Wide Web has been even more spectacular. Wit=
h 30 million-plus users worldwide, growing at 15 percent per month, it is be=
ing integrated into the marketing, information, and communications strategie=
s of nearly every major corporation, educational institution, political and =
charitable organisation, community, and government agency in the world. No p=
revious advance - not the telephone, the television set, cable television, t=
he VCR, the facsimile machine, nor the cellular telephone - has penetrated p=
ublic consciousness and secured such widespread public adoption this quickly=
.<BR>
<BR>
In recent years, it has become fashionable to refer to the domain in which =
internet-based communications occur as "cyberspace" - an abstract =
"communication space" that exists both everywhere and nowhere.<BR>
<BR>
But until flesh-and-blood human beings can be digitised into electronic pul=
ses in the same way in which computer scientists have transformed data and i=
mages, the denizens of cyberspace will have to live IRL ("in real life&=
quot;) in some sort of real, physical space - a physical environment that wi=
ll continue to dominate our future in the same way that our homes, neighbour=
hoods, and communities do so today. Nonetheless, information technology is a=
force that will reshape our world as never imagined.<BR>
<BR>
Cyberspace and the emerging cyberplace<BR>
<BR>
According to Charles Handy, author of The Age of Unreason we live in an age=
of paradox. The more high tech our world, the more high touch we are becomi=
ng. The more global, the more intensely local our focus needs to be. The mor=
e competitive our markets, the more co-operation must play a role in develop=
ing our business strategies.<BR>
<BR>
One of the more interesting paradoxes is that the more we live and work in =
cyberspace, the more important real place becomes. While this notion runs co=
unter to much of today's popular literature, we are already seeing the knowl=
edge worker and the high tech knowledge-sensitive industries migrating to hi=
ghly livable communities - communities with mountains or lakes, open spaces,=
clean air, and, as in the case of Portland, Oregon and other communities wh=
ere they have established urban growth boundaries, less reliance on the auto=
mobile as the primary mode of transportation.<BR>
<BR>
This growing concern with urban sprawl, coupled with the nostalgic yearning=
which the new urbanism movement represents, are evidence of sweeping change=
s in public attitude toward physical space. As the internet revolution moves=
into full bloom, however, there is every reason to believe it will have a d=
ramatic impact on the architecture and landscape of communities throughout t=
he world.<BR>
<BR>
The rise of smart communities<BR>
<BR>
…technological propagation of smart communities isn't an end in itsel=
f, but only a means to reinventing cities with compelling community benefit.=
<BR>
<BR>
Already, communities and nations around the globe - often without being con=
sciously aware of it - are starting to sketch out the first drafts of the &q=
uot;cyberplaces" of the 21st Century. Singapore has launched its IT2000=
initiative, also known as the Intelligent Island Plan. Japan is building an=
electronic future called Technopolis, or Teletopia. France, as early as 197=
6, initiated a plan called Telematique, an aggressive effort to place person=
al computers on every desktop and in every home in the country. And in the U=
nited States, the Clinton Administration pursued a vigorous National Informa=
tion Initiative, or NII, one of whose early goals is to link every school an=
d every school child to the internet by the year 2000.<BR>
<BR>
Many communities - Stockholm, Seattle, and Sacramento, for instance, have c=
onstructed large-scale public-access networks that residents can use to obta=
in information about government activities, community events, and critical s=
ocial services like disaster preparedness, child abuse prevention, and liter=
acy education. The tiny university town of Blacksburg, Virginia, has transfo=
rmed itself into an electronic village, in which the majority of the town's =
businesses and residents are connected to the local data network. And counti=
es like San Diego, as a result of its "City of the Future" project=
, are building even more sophisticated electronic infrastructures that, one =
day soon, will allow a wide variety of local government, business, and insti=
tutional transactions. Recognising that electronic networks like these will =
play an increasingly important role in a municipality's economic competitive=
ness, the State of California four years ago launched a statewide "Smar=
t Communities" program, which has been managed since its inception by t=
he International Center for Communications at San Diego State University. Mo=
re recently a World Foundation was established to help other communities aro=
und the world with their struggle to "get on the global information hig=
hway".<BR>
<BR>
The Foundation defines a "smart community" as "a geographic =
area ranging in size from a neighbourhood to a multi-county region whose res=
idents, organisations, and governing institutions are using information tech=
nology to transform their region in significant, even fundamental ways."=
; A fundamental premise is that smart communities are not, at their core, ex=
ercises in the deployment and use of technology, but in the promotion of eco=
nomic development, job growth, and an increased quality of life. In other wo=
rds, technological propagation of smart communities isn't an end in itself, =
but only a means to reinventing cities for a new economy and society with cl=
ear and compelling community benefit.<BR>
<BR>
Technology, culture and place<BR>
<BR>
One of the main reasons that information networks can have a such a profoun=
d transformative effect on people, businesses, and communities is that every=
other major technology advance that has shrunk space and time also has rema=
de society in fundamental and important ways. Transportation, over the mille=
nnia for example, has done more than perhaps any other technological advance=
to bring the world's people closer together.<BR>
<BR>
But telecommunications developments, including telephones and their more mo=
dern kin, accentuate the trends inaugurated by transportation advances in th=
ree slightly different, but very important ways.<BR>
<BR>
First, by allowing for rapid communication between distant sites, they make=
it possible for business and social relationships to flourish over long dis=
tances, permitting workers and investment capital to migrate to the most des=
irable locations and those with the highest economic return.<BR>
<BR>
Second, they extend the reach of these economic, social and other relations=
hips far beyond national borders, creating what is truly a global economy. A=
nd third, and perhaps most significantly, they make possible for the first t=
ime the nearly instantaneous transmission of information, collapsing both sp=
ace and time in a way that no other previous technological advance has done.=
<BR>
<BR>
… the more time people spend in "cyberspace" the more impor=
tant real place becomes, and the more civic involvement and the real values =
of "community" - places where common dreams and visions really bec=
ome reality - become apparent to success and survival in this new age. <BR>
<BR>
The internet, the World Wide Web, and their successors are likely to produc=
e consequences that are as great or greater than anything we have seen so fa=
r - and that are apt to be equally unexpected. If we are to maximize the pos=
itive contributions of these new technologies while minimizing their negativ=
e ones, we must begin to appreciate now how these technologies are likely to=
affect our people, our culture, and our perceptions of place in the years t=
o come.<BR>
<BR>
The technical architecture of the smart community<BR>
<BR>
There are a few general trends worth noting. The first is the growing ubiqu=
itousness of telecommunications networks. Because it is based largely on the=
existing telephone systems, the internet today spans the globe, with its te=
ntacles reaching into more than 130 countries and connecting, in one form or=
another, an estimated 30 million to 50 million people. This expansion shows=
no signs of letting up. Indeed, as the internet migrates from its almost pu=
rely copper-based telephone platform to cable, satellite, and digital cellul=
ar systems, the methods of connecting to the internet will proliferate, acce=
ss costs will decline, and the number of users will skyrocket.<BR>
<BR>
The second general trend in the development of the internet is the rapid ex=
pansion in bandwidth. In its original incarnation (which lasted for more tha=
n two decades), the internet was primarily a low-volume text-based medium, a=
nd so required little transmission capacity.<BR>
<BR>
The emergence of the World Wide Web, with its heavy use of graphics, photog=
raphs, and animation, changed this equation dramatically, and even top-of-th=
e-line modem technologies - 28.8 kbs and even the 56 kpbs modems - quickly p=
roved inadequate to the task of transporting these billions of bits of graph=
ical information, causing many parts of the internet to react like a two-lan=
e freeway suddenly jammed with a hundred- or thousand-fold increase in the n=
umber of vehicles.<BR>
<BR>
The third and perhaps most important trend in the development of the intern=
et is the proliferation of access points. Heretofore, logging on to the inte=
rnet has required a fairly sophisticated computer, costing in the neighbourh=
ood of $1000, while one-half of what it was just two years ago - still has p=
riced the internet out of the range of a large share of low and middle-incom=
e families in the United States, not to mention the vast majority of the res=
t of the world's population. This high cost of access has combined with the =
relative inconvenience of using a computer - sitting before a computer, unli=
ke a television set, is hardly the most relaxing experience - to restrict th=
e internet largely to the technologically oriented, well-to-do minority. Thi=
s is one of the main reasons why many communities have undertaken aggressive=
public access initiatives to install computers and kiosks at community cent=
res, public libraries, and other public sites in order to make it possible f=
or people who don't own a computer to use the internet.<BR>
<BR>
But this situation also is changing. Already, several companies, including =
Sony and Phillips, have introduced devices that allow people to log on to an=
d browse the internet directly from their television sets, and the number of=
such devices is likely to multiply over the next two years, particularly as=
cable television companies become more involved in the internet-access busi=
ness. Similarly, other companies are beginning to distribute videoconferenci=
ng equipment that will allow people to make videophone calls over the intern=
et, to and from their television sets.<BR>
<BR>
As a result of developments like these, we are quickly reaching a point at =
which the world will be interconnected by a next-generation internet that al=
lows for instantaneous transmission of text, photographs, and broadcast-qual=
ity audio, video, and virtual reality, not to expensive computers nor any ot=
her new technological device, but to the ordinary television sets that are n=
ow in place in hundreds of millions of living rooms worldwide.<BR>
<BR>
The changing geopolitical context<BR>
<BR>
These technological changes are taking place at the same time that the worl=
d's geopolitical landscape is being radically redefined. No longer dependent=
upon national governments for policy ideas and information, no longer conte=
nt to be bound by the one-size-fits-all pronouncements of national legislato=
rs, local leaders are taking social and economic matters into their own hand=
s, pursuing policies that will promote job creation, economic growth, and an=
improved quality of life within their region regardless of the policies ena=
cted at the national level.<BR>
<BR>
This "reverse flow of sovereignty" is which local governments are=
assuming more responsibility than ever before for their residents' well bei=
ng, has come about at a time when information and markets of all types are b=
ecoming increasingly globalized. News, currency, and economic and political =
intelligence - not to mention products and services - no longer can be conta=
ined within national borders, but flow, often instantaneously, to all corner=
s of the globe, making it difficult or even impossible for national governme=
nts to influence political or economic conditions over which, not long ago, =
they held unquestioned control. The result is a geopolitical paradox in whic=
h the nation-state, too large and distant to solve the problems of localitie=
s, has become too small to solve the borderless problems of the world.<BR>
<BR>
Locally based companies that once competed with firms only in their own are=
a code, for instance, now must battle companies throughout the world for the=
ir customers' loyalty and dollars; local governments that once had to compet=
e for high-value residents against only nearby municipalities and the amenit=
ies they could muster now must struggle to attract such residents in a world=
where a growing number of people can live nearly anywhere they want and sti=
ll have access to the same jobs, the same income, and the same products and =
services to which they have grown accustomed.<BR>
<BR>
To meet these challenges, many far-sighted localities have begun to transfo=
rm themselves from fractured, often highly contentious regions in which a th=
ousand interests compete for larger shares of a shrinking pie into something=
more akin to the city-states of old than to the archetypical municipalities=
of modern-day political science texts.<BR>
<BR>
Those that are succeeding, like Smart Valley and San Diego in the United St=
ates, Stockholm, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Infoville in Spain, or Malaysia's Mu=
ltimedia Corridor possess a number of common features. One characteristic is=
collaboration among different functional sectors (government, business, aca=
demic, non-profit organisations, and others), and among different jurisdicti=
ons within a given geographical region. These "collaboratories" ar=
e fast becoming the new model for successful urban organization in the globa=
l age, and the only local political arrangement likely to make it possible f=
or besieged municipalities to survive in the increasingly intense global com=
petition that lies ahead.<BR>
<BR>
This point, admittedly a subtle one, is often lost in discussions of buildi=
ng smart communities, and even in the implementation of many of the smart co=
mmunity projects themselves. But it couldn't be more important. Indeed, the =
Foundation argues that the more time people spend in "cyberspace" =
the more important real place becomes, and the more civic involvement and th=
e real values of "community" - places where common dreams and visi=
ons really become reality - become apparent to success and survival in this =
new age.<BR>
<BR>
This new competitive and community spirit, however, will not come about aut=
omatically. Communities must develop a coherent and compelling vision that m=
akes it clear how the new information networks are going to promote job grow=
th, economic development, and improved quality of life within the community;=
and communicate that vision broadly. This is the key element that is missin=
g from so many smart community plans today, and yet it is the most essential=
: for unless a community knows precisely where it is headed and how it hopes=
to get there, it is unlikely to reach its destination, to its detriment and=
all who are stakeholders in this new but uncertain future.<BR>
<BR>
Toward a philosophy of permanence<BR>
<BR>
Fortunately, a new breed of architects, planners and developers is beginnin=
g to pencil in that new vision of America in the Information Age. It is a bo=
ld vision that deals with the crises of growth and the current development s=
prawl, while returning to a cherished American icon; that of a "compact=
, close-knit community," according to Peter Katz, author of The New Urb=
anism: Toward an Architecture of Community. The prospect of a new century, s=
ays Katz, raises serious concerns about the quality of life that can be expe=
cted in a future era of diminished global resources. The former Vice Preside=
nt Al Gore believes we are on a collision course between our worldwide civil=
isation and the ecological system of the earth. Many policy wonks agree the =
urgency of our dilemma has reached an acute stage. Thus, as we examine our c=
urrent policies of land development and urban planning, new non-linear solut=
ions are imperative. The thing that we must remember, urges Katz, is that al=
l of the strategies must be examined, tested and tested again in relation to=
prevailing developmental models. Only then can we determine if a new urbani=
sm can indeed be shown to deliver a higher, more sustainable quality of life=
to a majority of this nation's citizens.<BR>
<BR>
One of the more interesting and exciting aspects of the new urbanism moveme=
nt is that the next paradigm could well be much more than the return to the =
close-knit community of small town America, with its village greens and mixe=
d-use zoning. It could be a spiritual return to the kind of community enjoye=
d by the earliest Americans. Tessie Naranjo of the Santa Clara Pueblo in New=
Mexico defines community as " the human dwelling place." It is wh=
ere the people meet the needs of survival and where they weave their webs of=
connections. Native communities are about connections because relationships=
form the whole. Each individual becomes part of the whole community which i=
ncludes not just the human population, but the hills, mountains, rocks, tree=
s and clouds. Until recently, advances in telecommunications and transportat=
ion have contributed to our disconnected-ness, rather than cemented us as a =
people; atomized our sense of community rather than provided us a sense of p=
lace. Yet without a cultural centre, a shared history or a commitment to neu=
tral goals and visions, there is little to cement communities together. Chie=
f Sealth, for whom the city of Seattle is named, cautioned: "This we do=
know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All thing=
s are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web=
of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does =
to himself."<BR>
<BR>
As the World Wide Web becomes part of the web of life, perhaps mankind's te=
chnology will ultimately enhance and secure our connectedness to the physica=
l world, preserving and protecting it for future generations. If successful,=
the smart and sustainable community will dramatically reverse an adverse tr=
end precipitated by the invention of the cotton gin and the industrial revol=
ution which followed; by the automobile, and fifty years of untamed growth a=
nd land development; and worse, by the advance of a rootless culture without=
a sense of place, and help lead us out of the spiritual and physical wastel=
and we have created.<BR>
<BR>
We have the tools of this new age - computers, telecommunications, informat=
ion appliances of all kinds. We have the software, too. Indeed, because of o=
ur hard fought personal freedom and free enterprise culture we produce more =
books, movies, software programs for business, entertainment and society tha=
n any other nation in the world.<BR>
<BR>
But we need most of all - each other, and places where culture and commerce=
, and civic pride are joined; where we are refreshed, energized, challenged =
to be all the best we are capable of. Cities do that; they promote the conte=
st for our lives and the fabric of our existence - our actions and our enter=
prises.<BR>
<BR>
Cities of the Future - Athens in the Information Age - will be truly smart =
communities, sustainable, healthy, culturally strong, diverse, and exciting =
places to live and work and play.<BR>
<BR>
About the Author: John Eger is a Professor of Communications and Public Pol=
icy at San Diego State University and President of the California Institute =
for Smart Communities<BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><B><U>List of Distribution
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Verdana"><BR>
P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D, Professor<BR>
Acting President, Global University System<BR>
Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland<BR>
Unesco Chair on global eLearning<BR>
Professor and Chair of Media Education<BR>
Media Culture and Communication Education<BR>
Hypermedia laboratory<BR>
University of Tampere<BR>
P.O.Box 607<BR>
FIN-33101 Tampere<BR>
FINLAND<BR>
Tel: +358-3-215 6111<BR>
Tel: +358-3-614-5247--office in Hameenlinna<BR>
Tel: +358-3-215 6243--mass media lab in Tampere<BR>
GSM: +358-50-567-9833<BR>
Fax: +358-3-215 7503<BR>
tapio.varis@uta.fi<BR>
tapio.varis@helsinki.fi<BR>
http://www.uta.fi/~titava<BR>
<BR>
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl<BR>
Co-chair Columbia University Seminar on Computers, Man and Society<BR>
Columbia University<BR>
1349 Lexington Avenue<BR>
New York, NY 10128<BR>
212-876-7674<BR>
SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu<BR>
<BR>
Dennis Gilhooly<BR>
Senior Advisor to the Administrator<BR>
Director, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development<BR=
>
United Nations Development Program<BR>
One United Nations Plaza<BR>
New York, NY 10017<BR>
212-906-6914<BR>
Fax: 212-906-5778<BR>
denis.gilhooly@undp.org<BR>
http://www.dotforce.org/<BR>
http://www.opt-init.org/<BR>
<BR>
Salah H. Mandil, Ph.D.<BR>
Vice President eStrategies,<BR>
WiseKey S.A.,<BR>
29, Route de Prés-Bois,<BR>
1215 Geneva,<BR>
Switzerland.<BR>
tel: +41.22 929 5757<BR>
cel: +41 79 753 7301<BR>
fax: +41.22 929 5702<BR>
salah@wisekey.ch<BR>
<BR>
Martin Sims <BR>
Editor <BR>
InterMedia <BR>
International Institute of Communications <BR>
Westcott House, 3rd Floor<BR>
35 Portland Place <BR>
London <BR>
W1N 3AG <BR>
UK <BR>
+ 44 (0)20 8672 7489 (h) (I often work from home!) <BR>
+ 44 (0)20 7462 4486 (w)<BR>
Tel: +44 7323 9622<BR>
+ 44 (0)7946 485420 (m)<BR>
Fax: +44 7323 9623<BR>
martin@iicom.org<BR>
Simsmart@aol.com<BR>
www.iicom.org<BR>
<BR>
John M. Eger<BR>
Executive Director<BR>
International Center for Communications<BR>
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts<BR>
San Diego State University<BR>
San Diego, CA 92182-4522<BR>
619-594-6933<BR>
619-594-6910<BR>
Fax: 619-594-4488<BR>
jeger@mail.sdsu.edu<BR>
http://www.smartcommunities.org/<BR>
http://www.smartcommunities.org/guidebook.html<BR>
http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/july2001/eger.htm -- His paper on Smart Com=
munities in InterMedia.<BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">***********************************************=
***********************<BR>
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA  =
; &nb=
sp;*<BR>
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *<BR>
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *=
<BR>
* Founder of CAADE &n=
bsp; =
&nbs=
p; &n=
bsp; *<BR>
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education)  =
; *<BR>
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of &nbs=
p; *<BR>
* Global University System (GUS) =
&nbs=
p; &n=
bsp; *<BR>
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. &n=
bsp; *<BR>
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *<BR>
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 &=
nbsp; *<BR>
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ &nb=
sp; &=
nbsp; *<BR>
**********************************************************************<BR>
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