CECUA
Euro-news flash
Reaching out to the non-converted
In
his opening speech at the recently held IS User Forum Conference in Stockholm,
Dr. Bangemann emphasised the paramount importance that the Information Society
becomes more acceptable to citizens.
He also stated that
current attempt to make citizens aware of the implications of Information
Society is not reaching those who most need it. Instead of preaching to
the converted the focus now has to shift to preaching to the non-converted.
CECUA and its partners
have been promoting the Information Society and have addressed citizens'
concerns by introducing a Bill of Rights for the citizen in the Information
Society. The Bill of Rights focuses on non-converted citizens by spelling
out, in non-technical terms, his or her basic rights as a citizen in the
Information Society. It uses plain language such as freedom of personal
development, freedom of communication, cultural preservation, right of access,
right for reliable and functioning services and right for accurate and understandable
charging, etc. There are no fancy technological terms here. It is all plain
vanilla.
The Bill of Rights
provides the citizen with a "safety net" to give him support if he ever
needs it. By knowing where he or she stands the citizen is encouraged to
try his hand and get a practical experience of a system he sees beneficial
to him. However, "aller Anfang ist schwer" (beginning is not easy). The
Bill of Rights gives the citizen a holding hand when he steps over the threshold
and into the Information Society.
There is an on-going
discussion about the Bill of Rights is on the web. All citizens are invited
to participate and comment and exchange views with fellow citizens. The
address is:
www.cecua.org