To start with, I would like to share with you a definition of awareness which I have extracted from the IS strategy of Ireland:

"Ensure popular support for, and participation in, a future information society in order to secure the full benefits for all citizens and enterprises in every part of the country".

It means:

• that people must become aware of the challenges/benefits of ICT: there is a need for explanations/discussions/debates for a better understanding and confidence in the potential of IS.
• that awareness must translate into usage and that easy access must be available: there is a need to provide convenient and affordable access by everybody to some services, encouraging people and companies to "take the plunge" and to take the following steps by themselves.
• that this usage will create a favourable environment for the development of IS

Who are the enablers of this change, i.e. what are the best channels for dissemination ?
These include:

• policy makers, at all levels, i.e. national, regional and local
• opinion leaders and organisations with "multiplier effects", in all economical and social sectors: unions and labour organisations, associations, etc.
• teachers, due to their role as "driving belt"
• traditional media, especially radio, television and press

What are the target groups ?

In fact, they are numerous, as awareness has a wide objective. We can distinguish between:

• the enablers themselves: policy makers but also civilians because of their daily contacts with people and companies ; general and sectoral professional associations, consumers associations, educational institutions, the media, etc.
• the general public
• companies and more specifically SMEs, including those from traditional sectors ("late adopters")
• some specific targets groups, having a low level of awareness: non-office workers, unemployed, disabled, elderly people, etc. The provision of IT awareness and introductory schemes is a great challenge for those who are at risk of social or economic exclusion.

What are the organisational issues ?

At the national level, it is often the government itself who tends to coordinate awareness activities at Prime Minister level (France, Belgium) or through sectoral Ministries. However, the government is often helped by dedicated organisations such as Comité Info 2000 in Luxembourg, Mission for the Information Society in Portugal, Information Society Commission in Ireland, Information Society Council in Greece, IT-Commission in Sweden, etc.

At the regional level, a lot of regions have also created specific agencies for the promotion of ICT and multimedia or attributed this task to existing bodies.

What are the tools used ?

This is going to be my main focus now, on the basis of ESIS contents, especially the ESIS inventory and the monitoring of promotional activities in the Member States.

At first, I would like to present 2 statistical results coming from the ESIS database :

The first one is the overall project focus : It shows that application development is the main overall focus of projects, as most organisations embark on IS work to satisfy particular problems or issues which face them, followed by development of enabling technologies and infrastructure development. We find 6% of projects with other focus priorities, such as marketing, awareness, dissemination. It is not a high figure but it is important to underline because it shows that some projects are specifically targeted at awareness, considered as a key catalyst for IS development by project promoters.

Moreover, we must say that an awareness section is most of the time included in the application development projects. Moreover, many project promoters tell us that the target users do not express a specific need and sometimes, the project promoter has the paradoxical impression that his project is "a solution looking for a problem" !

If we now look at the groups targeted by the IS projects, we can see that, besides the fact the range of targets is quite wide, the general public is today the first user target. One can imagine that this preferred target will help in spreading out the demand in the medium term, as a good proportion of the so-called general public actually works in private or public companies. The second largest group is formed by "other target groups", followed by "education professionals and students", confirming the important effort towards the "learning information society" and by the "public sector.". 17% of projects have as primary target SMEs. An other analysis, based on project descriptions, gives a rate of 25%.

470 promotion actions have been indexed, as of January 1998. When we analysed them we could see the diversity of these actions launched by governments, local authorities and various associations.

• A number of publications, documents, speeches, white books, handbooks for citizens, are published every week
• Surveys, studies and observatories are implemented, so that people and companies can have a clearer vision of the impact of new technology on their life and business.
• Experts groups and expertise centres are created, bringing together the appropriate actors, in order to act as information and communication platforms for either global or more specific issues concerning the IS.
• Communication actions are launched such as conferences, forums, workshops, launch of new magazines, newsletters, implementation of new specialised servers on Internet, etc.

We can see on this slide the number of promotion actions that have been identified by the ESIS team in each Member State, showing a large number of actions in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and also in France and in the Netherlands.

• From a geographical standpoint, it appears that the great majority are launched at a national level (70% of actions). At the regional level, we find 17% of communications actions and 7% at the local level. Only 6% of promotion actions are launched at the international level, i.e targeted specifically at the transregional or European level.

• If we now look at the sectors targeted by promotion actions, education/training is ranked at the first place, with almost 2/3 actions targeted at this sector. It is followed by Trade/commerce and Public administration. The last three categories are "consumer focused marketing and sales", "transport/environment" and "healthcare". It is interesting to compare these figures with the application areas of the IS projects included in the ESIS database.

We can see on this graph a good match between application areas of the projects and those of promotion actions. As far as the manufacturing sector is concerned, it is worth noting that the efforts put in the promotion activities are not reflected in the Inventory. One explanation is that a lot of promotion actions are targeted at companies from the IT sector, in particular multimedia sector, which develop applications as suppliers for the other applications areas (education, public administrations) but not especially for the manufacturing sector. In fact, when we look closely at the promotion actions, very few are targeted at companies from the traditional manufacturing sectors, which are often "late adopters".

Let’s now turn to those actions specifically aimed at raising awareness. We can distinguish 5 categories:

• IS Forums
• Traditional tools
• Access points, help-desks ; Courses, demos, concrete examples
• Incentives
• Some innovative examples

Many of these actions are, at present, financed by public bodies. However, as it has been mentioned earlier, private companies are more and more involved in awareness through sponsoring activities, for their own publicity but also because they have a longer term approach, anticipating a fair return on their investment in awareness.

I will give some examples of each type, and please take into consideration that they are often mixing types.

Many IS forums have been implemented at national and regional levels, in order to discuss IS issues. There are different types of IS forums.

• First of all, there are those which are open to the general public, to start a debate ; the great difficulty is to initiate contact. Internet is now used by several governments as a platform for public debates, with discussions forums moderated by ministries in charge or parliamentary representatives (France). Other actions are organised in order to decentralise the discussion: for example, by asking schools, educational institutions, local authorities to organise debates and to play a role of relay.
• Secondly, there are those which are more "exclusive", formed by "qualified" representatives, such as policy experts, economists, technical scientists, representatives of social partners, PTOs, telecom industry, software providers, users, officials form ministries, etc.
• There are those which are formed in order to prepare the national or regional IS strategies. They can stay "alive" after the publication and be consulted regularly on the implementation of the plan; they may also disappear.
• There are those which are implemented just after the publication of the strategies (France), considering that the new Action plan constitutes now a evolutionary framework and a vision for future that allows debate and enhancement.

Then, we can find several examples of IS forums:

• in France and in Belgium, the Government has announced for 1998 a public consultation process ("Assises de la société de l'information") ;
• in Finland, the National IS forum has been implemented to support the work of the national Committee for the IS issues.
• In Germany, the German Government has initiated the Forum Info 2000: supported by about 150 institutions from various horizons, aiming at accompanying the citizens on their way towards the IS by informing, giving impulse, developing models for guidance and, most of all, developing a platform for an open discussion.
• In Ireland, an "Irish Forum for the IS" (IF-IS) has been implemented by Telecom Eirean to promote awareness, including information providers, service providers, educational institutes and experts.
• In Italy, The Presidence of the Council of Ministers has implemented an IS Forum as a working Group including representatives of different ministries and administrations in order to promote and develop IS in Italy.
• In Portugal, a wide public debate was held to discuss the draft version of the Green Paper for the IS and a Forum was convened to discuss the implementation plans for the 72 proposals contained in the Green Paper.

Besides forums with a national or global scope, ESIS has identified several other IS Forum:

• at the regional level : in Spain, for example, several regional government have implemented IS forums, such as Telecommunication Forum (Navarra Government) based on meetings, conferences, workshops between different actors
• On specific areas: education, electronic commerce and EDI (Discussion Electronic commerce in the Netherlands : "What does the Dutch Government have to do to enable the Netherlands to become the electronic business centre of Europe ?" - FOREDI in Spain), teleworking (Dutch Teleworking forum), public administration (the British "Direct.link"/"Government.direct" initiative seen as a policy building forum as public is invited to debate proposals for the further development of electronic delivery of Government services).
• Another type of consultation is the surveys/ polls, which always have an impact on people who feel more concerned by the subject surveyed ( e.g Statistics Finland has interviewed Finnish households in 1997 on "Finns and IS").

The first classical tool is to organise information campaigns. They can be general or topical. The most comprehensive is perhaps the UK campaign, lead by the DTI, which tends to cover all types of targets and topics through its two programmes "programmes for business" and "IT for all". In UK, 1998 has been declared UK Net Year. Some thematical campaigns are also launched, such as the German "information and motivation campaign on Telearbeit" (teleworking).

Second category of classical tools: the events, be they workshops, conferences, seminars, exhibitions etc. A growing number of events have been organised in Europe during the last year, at all levels and in all sectors, using also videoconferencing for a multiplying effect.

Third category : the use of traditional media: they have, of course, a great impact on people. More and more, television and radio networks are proposing specific broadcasts on IS issues and also TV learning courses. In Finland, TV1 channel has proposed during 4 months in 1997 a series of 12 modules on IS issues, in co-operation with the University of Helsinki, aiming at generating a debate among citizens. As a result of the Irish IS strategy for action, a flagship project, entitled NET TV, will be implemented (demonstrating interactive TV series) ; in Portugal, the programme MARIA ELISA on Internet, a prime-time TV live talk-show, has had a great impact on people.

Fourth tool: publications and awareness materials such as practical guides, booklets, leaflets and CD-ROM to help businesses and people:

• in UK, a series of "jargon free" guides have been published targeted at people and business on "How IT can help you?" "How to use EDI ? "How to use videoconferencing ? "How to use e-mail ? " etc., containing practical advise on how to install and exploit these technologies.
• In Finland, an Internet Handbook for citizens has been published which presents public administration services from the point of view of citizens. Same in Denmark, with the "Electronic Citizen's Manual in Denmark"

Another way to raise awareness is to provide public access points to the new technologies.

• First of all, for citizens, through an easy access to Internet or access to information and customer services kiosks and stands which offer information. These kiosks can be installed in public places such as schools, libraries, post offices, town houses, shopping centres and even in the streets to help individuals discover, through hands-on-experience, how it can enrich and benefit their everyday life. For example, in UK, BT Touchpoint kiosks have been installed in travel terminals, shopping and tourist centres in London providing restaurants, theatre and cinema guides browsing, with sound, video clips pictures (4000 sites forecast by the end of 1998). There is a freefone telephone link to companies on the system. It can take credit card payment and also print tickets, coupons and maps on the spot. In France, 1000 post office will be equipped with terminals and access to Internet. There are other ways of catching public attention and raising awareness, for example, through community resources centres such as Telecottages centres which act as local awareness and learning centres, and offer basic training in IT skills (40 in Finland). There are also, as you know, the Internet Cafés.

• Concerning SMEs, several initiatives are taken at national and regional levels to promote awareness and usage of IT among firms through the implementation of resources centres. These centres propose conferences and demonstrations, training courses, presentation of model solutions and best practise examples, coordination of branch activities through common projects, consultancy expertise, etc. We can find examples in UK (local support centres), France (ARIST Nord-pas-de-Calais), Germany (establishment of national network of Centres of competence for electronic commerce to support SMEs), several networks in the Netherlands and centres for IT in Sweden, etc.

• The third way is to organise practical courses, demonstrations and presentation of concrete and positive examples. In the ESIS call for ideas, we have noticed a very high demand for this type of awareness activities. In the promotion actions, several initiatives have been identified such as "Road shows" providing computers, Internet access or other demonstrations technologies set up for the public (or SMEs) to try out IT for themselves (60 road shows organised by Telefit initiative in Austria, in UK, "@the.mall" initiative plans a 24-week tour in 1998 ; in Issy-les-Moulineaux (France) are organised the "Mice and men" Digital weeks (5 weeks of initiation and demos) and in Stockholm the "Stockholm IT week"

There are many other types of incentives or "special actions" aimed at raising awareness by facilitating access and learning:

• Fiscal incentives to encourage companies, households, small municipalities or associations to acquire multimedia computers

• Free access to technologies : Free Internet for home users, Free computers or second-hands PCs, "Free Internet connection kit", thanks to the sponsorship of hardware manufacturers, telecom operators, Internet providers, private companies (banks, regional companies), etc.

  Some examples:

  • Free Internet for home users of the region of Vorarlberg (Austria)
  • The Digikids initiative (Free Internet connection kit) in Belgium
  • A 3 months-free access to the Internet for the first 1000 municipalities which will present a request to France Telecom (Partnership agreement with the French Association of Mayors") in France
  • In the schools sector, the initiatives aiming at providing multimedia computers to schools, giving e-mail to pupils and teachers and free access to Internet, etc. are multiplying in Europe ("Internet access for schools in Austria, Schulen and Netz in Germany, French Educational Action Plan, IT 2000 in Ireland, National Grid for learning, etc)

• For specific target groups, such as Women, disabled, elderly people, some specific actions are launched, comprising preferential access and educational programmes: SeniorWeb, will offer, among other things, a starter package (computer, Internet connection) to senior citizens (Netherlands) ; National IT-education programme for 10 000 unemployed people ; SenioNet Sweden ; Lungau project in Austria for farmer's wifes (awarenessand training programmes) ;

• Competitive shows and awards: already underlined in the previous speech, these types of events have a great impact among targeted people and play of role of awareness. We can cite the prize for the best corporate home page launched in November 1997 in Finland by the Finnish Association or organisational communicators or the IS creativity Awards in the UK.

We have selected, among others, some examples of innovative initiatives.

La Fête de l'Internet
In France, a special event will start next Friday: the "Fête de l'Internet" or ""Internet Festival". It is a national demonstration proposed by the French Initiative for the Internet (a young association grouping several associations in order to raise awareness about Internet), and based on the model of the Music Festival (Fête de la Musique). During 2 days, every citizen will have the possibility to discover Internet in schools, universities, shopping centres, banks, public places, etc. Every organisation, local authority, company etc. is invited to organise an event: more than 500 are already planned over the country.

Helsinki Arena 2000
In Finland, Helsinki Telephone Company (HPY), Finland's largest private telephone company, has initiated Helsinki Arena 2000 - a consortium project in collaboration with the City of Helsinki. The project will develop a Virtual Helsinki into the Cyberspace, that is a local multimedia network to which every home can connect. A three dimensional model (VRML) of the city is being created. People will be able to move through this virtual city using their personal computers. The city's cultural, commercial and public services will be within the reach of everyone via the information networks. It will include meeting points where people can meet and interact physically or virtually. Helsinki Arena 2000 will be a remarkable electronic forum by the year 2000, when Helsinki is the Cultural Capital of Europe and is celebrating its 450th anniversary. The project also heavily promotes pc-based videoconnectivity.

The Computer Driving Licence
In Finland, but also in Ireland and in Denmark, has been launched the Computer Driving Licence: CDL is to direct learning of data processing by taking into account the personal needs as well as the needs of the working life. The licence unifies nationally the level of learning in data processing and also supports the idea of life-long learning. The licence can be obtained through seven exams in different computer skills. 300 educational institutions in Finland arrange these exams and by June 1997 25 000 persons had passed the exam.

IT for all
The British programme "IT for all", already cited, is a major comprehensive awareness campaign led by DTI in the frame of the UK Information Society Initiative. IT for all offers, with a budget of 3.75 million pounds for 1998, to every one from all walks of life the opportunity to try out new technologies, to remove the social, educational and psychological barriers and and build people's confidence with new technologies. It brings together local and national government, businesses, voluntary groups and the public: they are currently over 220 organisations contributing to the initiative, providing more than 700 different activities at over 500 locations. It comprises a very large range of initiatives, from response line to access sites, publications, newsletters, roadshows etc.

Ireland's Information Age Town
Ireland's Information Age Town is a high-profile national project: it will be a multi-million pound test-bed for the range of new technologies that will transform all our lives in the 21st century. The idea is to blanket a complete town with all the communications tools of the Information Age - to see what happens when an entire community becomes "wired": ENNIS town will receive investment from Telecom Eirean, commencing with free universal household telephone connections, voicemail, reduced cost computer and modem provision and cashless or smart electronic funds transfer. It has already a significant level of interest in the IS : in fact, Ennis has been selected as the winner of a competition among 46 other towns, i.e. 75% of Irish towns of this size.

• A growing number of awareness actions are implemented, particularly at national level: you can learn from the others and a lot of information is available on awareness activities within Europe, in particular through the ESIS initiative
• Most of the promotional activities are targeted at education/training, trade/commerce and arts/culture: increase targeted effort is required for some sectors, especially the traditional manufacturing and transports/environment sectors, as well as for certain groups of disadvantaged users
• The great difficulty is to hit the targets and reach a good penetration everywhere, i.e. in all local communities, in all social groups, in all economic sectors: It means adopting decentralised tools and working with relays
• Awareness is based on partnership between public bodies, companies, associations: It means that a key success factor is to build good partnerships