The Community Office: A logical extension of the electronic library
| Date | 01 June 1997 |
| Pages | 463-468 |
| Published date | 01 June 1997 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045597 |
| Author | Michael Price |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
FOCUS
article
..the changing
face of
information
The Community Office:
a logical extension
of the electronic library
Michael Price
Crickhowell Innovations Forum (CIF), Post Restante, Bangor Post Office, 60 Deiniol Road,
Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 1AA, UK
Abstract:
The Crickhowell Innovations
Forum seeks to
develop
the
concept
of
the Community Office
as an
intelligent human interface
to
encourage the
personal,
business
and
domestic telematic acumen
of
the
indi-
vidual,
set
against the background
of
the sustainable development
of
local communities within
the
context
of
a
Local Agenda
21
project.
The focus will
be:
to create a human
interface
to serve
metropolitan,
urban and
rural locations
that
decreases
the
cognitive
load of
users
and
addresses the problem
of
potential information
overload;
and
to extend existing
and
developing multimedia
library
services
and
systems
as a
new paradigm
which enables information access
in the
widest
sense.
'... knowledge should sit in the homes and heads of people with no ambition to control others,
and not up in the isolated seats of power.' Jacob Bronowski.
1. Introduction to the CODICT
Initiative
CODICT is an acronym for Community Office:
Development of Information & Communications
Technologies. The central focus of CODICT is the
provision of a Community Office unit as an advanced
telematics facility which consists of a network of
embedded value-added services, complete with ser-
vice providers and end-user equipment. The unit has
two equal major objectives: the dissemination of
information to the public, and the education and
training of the public in the use and application of
telematic systems, which must be as easy to use
and user-friendly as possible, in order to provide an
efficient and integral part of national multimedia pub-
lic telematic services infrastructures.
The neighbourhood component of a Community
Office facility offers the individual access to knowl-
edge and specialised services, to develop personal
and business acumen, together with access to sys-
tems which are specific to home use and which
combine telephony, radio, TV, telecommunications
and multimedia personal computers.
The environmental component of a Community
Office facility is focused on the input and output of
EEA ecological data, to encourage the sustainable
development of local natural resources as part of
national environmental information networks.
The central issues in the debate concerning the
social impact of the Information Society revolve
around the implications of the way society is being
structured,
and the growing divide which separates
individuals with access to technology from those
without. To provide a solution it will be necessary to
plant new ideas in the public mind.
The Forum seeks to enable the individual to benefit
from access to telematic services and systems on a
help-yourself basis, or with the aid of a qualified per-
son,
and thus reduce the divide between the techni-
cally competent and the technically incompetent.
General computer literacy may become an accepted
fact in the near future but there will always be a basic
need to make telematics more readily understood by
the public, and the opportunity should be taken to
develop a supporting interface for the educational,
socio-economic, cultural and environmental benefit
of the area served by the facility. Not only will this
enable the public to maximise the advantages pre-
sented by the new emerging technologies, but an
advanced telematics facility could also provide sup-
port to individuals who are not, nor wish to
be,
com-
puter literate, so that they will not be at a disadvan-
tage in a society dominated by information technolo-
gy and will have an equal opportunity of being
included in the Information Society
itself.
In becoming proficient at handling information,
citi-
zens increase the possibility of taking advantage of
changing work practices and employment patterns,
and consequently the opportunity of employment,
rather than being content to rationalise their search
for work on the basis of personal — and possibly
outmoded — systems of values and beliefs. The
The Electronic Library, Vol. 15, No. 6, December 1997 463
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