New Information Society Commission appointed.

SkepticOne

Article in ENN.

The commission works as an independent advisory body to the government addressing issues regarding communications and information technologies. It is comprised of twenty members representing the business community, the social partners and the government itself. It is to be chaired by Danny O'Hare, former president of Dublin City University (DCU).

If they are taken seriously then this is good news.

Fergus

Wonder what happened to the 40 million last year

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Thx for the link Skeptic

It was a good excuse to get my old man to actually look at the forum. He's worked alongside Colm Butler(head of the Information Soceity Plan) in the Reach Project- which is the govt's campaign at more "e-govt" solutions.

In terms of them being taken seriously, the tenders that are going out at the moment for various projects are mega bucks and in essence these are the ppl driving where that expenditure is going. Here-to-fore the results aren't great but this is good news and progressive in nature. AFAIK there are plans also to run a few ad campaigns like the ones currently on British Media re: "Getting everyone on the net" and the ISC website is quite informative as well.
ie.- Free Access Points throughout the country...
http://www.isc.ie/cgi-local/venues.cgi

Thx again:)

Boston

well im all for getting everyone on the net, it doesnt take to long to cop your getting screwed, and alot will find their way here

corkie

From the sbpost.ie : -

Tech advisory body dominated by non-business groups


By Adrian Weckler
Dublin, Ireland, 2 December, 2001


There has been mixed reaction to the appointment of the Information Society Commission, the advisory body to the government on how to improve development of e-government, internet access and business online ......... More on the site

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Esat and Eircom fight for internet
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NeilF

When asked what ["inequality" and "bridging the digital divide"] meant, several answered in favour of subsidised computers and internet access for all households in the state.

Oh great. So in addition to our free candle and our free tree somewhere in Ireland are we now going to all get an Eircom.net CD with ten minutes free access per decade?

IrelandOffline is the only organised association of ordinary and small business users of the Internet in Ireland. The question has to be why is there no one from IrelandOffline on the board? And I thought Mary O'Rourke was 'delighted' when IrelandOffline was formed that there was someone to represent a previously unrepresented group.

Of the 21 members eight are business users, seven are community projects etc and the rest are civil servants. Not an ordinary user in sight. No "inequality" here :rolleyes:

MiCr0

Originally posted by corkie
From the sbpost.ie : -

Tech advisory body dominated by non-business groups


Esat and Eircom fight for internet
Esat Fusion, owner of oceanfree.net and iol.ie, has started a pre-Christmas press and billboard campaign for Ireland Online. Similar in motivation to the expensive "use your mouse" TV and outdoor campaign begun by Eircom earlier this year, Esat Fusion's aim is take the mystery out of the internet. The message is that people should use Ireland Online because "it's great for looking up stuff". ............... more on the site

Esat Fusion, owner of oceanfree.net and iol.ie, has started a pre-Christmas press and billboard campaign for Ireland Online. Similar in motivation to the expensive "use your mouse" TV and outdoor campaign begun by Eircom earlier this year, Esat Fusion's aim is take the mystery out of the internet. The message is that people should use Ireland Online because "it's great for looking up stuff".


On a budget just over €200,000, Esat's agency Irish International sensibly chose more modest media than TV for the campaign. The agency's strategy was a blanketing of the Grand Canal Dart and railway station in Dublin with Ireland Online branding plus ads in all national media. Esat Fusion's offices face on to the Dart station and the company has bought up all available space in the railway station for separate campaigns in the past.

Part of Esat's aim is to encourage customers to pick up one of its internet access CDs from branches of Tesco, Centra or Supervalu.

Esat Fusion denied that the campaign was a reaction to the Eircom branding exercise. "We don't like to waste money," said Esat Fusion director of marketing and services Andrew Conlan-Trant, who said the promotion had been planned several months back. The timing of the campaign was designed to capitalise on a natural increase in consumer spending before the Christmas holidays. "We will watch what results in people actually signing up for the service and take our plans from there."

Esat Fusion claims 40 per cent of the internet access market in Ireland, between Ireland Online and oceanfree.net, which tends to be aimed at a younger market, mainly college students.

Internet usage in Irish homes is running at just over 30 per cent, significantly behind the level of home PC ownership. Conlan-Trant believes that price remains a major issue for some potential customers, particularly for families with teenagers liable to run up huge bills. Ireland Online used to offer a £20 flat fee internet access service, but stopped selling it earlier this year when costs became too much for it to bear.

Esat has to pay Eircom by the minute for use of its network, and says it was uneconomical to offer a flat fee service to customers. 18,000 customers use its old service.


:eek: :eek: :eek:

yellum

Weren't these Political Appointments ? How many were appointed on merit ?

IrelandOffline should have got someone on it. Maybe next time.

Fergus

I believe the aims of the ISC are quite creditable. Awareness and understanding of the potential of ICT has to be raised throughout society as a whole.

However, it's amazing how little attention the 3rd report gives to the cost and quality of internet access, which has to be one of the key issues.

I mean, the concept of public access terminals in libraries is put forward a number of times, but the idea of flat-rate or broadband for residential users doesn't seem to get much heed in comparison. How many people that know or use PC technology got there by booking time on the BBC micro down in the library?

I mean, it's not a bad idea, but AOL heavily advertising 15/month flatrate on TV has gotta be a million times better at achieving the same goal.

Can you imagine if you wanted to see the mass take-up of television, and you did it by charging per-hour for programming and letting people book time on a public set down at the local library?

NeilF

Originally posted by Fergus
I mean, it's not a bad idea, but AOL heavily advertising 15/month flatrate on TV has gotta be a million times better at achieving the same goal.

Does anyone remember Eircom's piece at the seminar where they said lots of people have computers but don't use the Internet? Thanks mainly to that tiger thing most people already have the equipment, as in a computer, to use the Internet.

All we need is FRIACO and someone to heavily market a good deal, like a 30 day free trial to use the Internet as much as you like and then £25pm.

Are there any telcos capable of making an honest buck?

yellum

That would be a very good argument for FRIACO.
Give everyone a 30 day unlimited use trial and see how many hours its used.

I think it might be a tad more than Eircoms figures.

SkepticOne

My reason for being relatively optimistic about their appointment is that they are about the only state appointed body which is concerned with the ordinary citizen. Everything else seems concerned with business.

Their aims are different from ours, though. They would see flat-rate and broadband simply as a means to an end.

But the problem with all these bodies are that they are usually not listened to.

topgold

If you want to get a member appointed to the ISC from Irelandoffline, you have to lobby for that position. I believe most of the appointees have political connections. I know that whenany elected official asked for a person to be appointed, the government whip looked at the request favourably.

Make it an election issue. Get your local candidate to inundate the government with request for Irelandoffline membership. It wouldn't be a voting membership at this juncture, but it could be a membership on a technical committee, where much of the work is done.

Bernie Goldbach
Irish Examiner Technology Journo

MarcusGarvey

Great information Bernie, good idea.

timod

I reckon it would be a good idea for the committee of IOFFL to send a letter to the new ISC, firstly congratulating them on their appointment, introducing us, telling them our goals and ambitions etc.

If we do this straight away, and then work on getting on a working group...

Tim

topgold

Who is IrelandOffline's designee to serve on a working committee? Once I know that, I'll make a representation to a cabinet member as well as to three appointed members.

Bernie Goldbach

Dangger

Bernie thank you for you offer of assistance, could you contact me directly on this matter at cdavidlong@hotmail.com ?

kayos

Well this is a bit of good news. But I honestly dont know how Danny O'Hare got appointed I have meet the man and he is really interesting and willing to listen (that and he's my gf's uncle).

I seem to remember the last time I meet him back in Augest we did have a conversation on the whole online type thingy but I had no idea he was getting this position.

Any way he's a sound man and maybe just maybe Ireland OffLine will get some where with him.

kayos