I.a. Which factors need to be attended to during the use of Internet platforms in the course of EU projects?
A decisive
factor for the functioning of Internet platforms is to use them in an
early stage of the project. This is due to the fact, that each project
develops a specific communication culture which, once established, is
difficult to change. As for EU projects, a difficulty already arises
during the application phase while creating the project application,
thus before funding has been aproved, which requires project partners
to co-operate closely. Ideally, the communication and information
structure envisaged for the project should be already used for this
task.
In reality however, the creation of an Internet platform does not begin
until the project starts. Until it is finally ready for usage, other
ways of communication have already been established. Thus, it is
absolutely crucial to build up and actually use a platform in an
earliest stage.
Another point to consider, is the fact that, similar to real group
discussion, an efficient exchange of knowledge can only be achieved
with targeted moderation. For all planned communication and working
processes an accompanying moderation needs to be scheduled.
Hence, when using an Internet platform costs for support need to be
scheduled besides costs for technical implementation and creation of
content. What is important, there is only an all or nothing approach.
The operation of an Internet platform without continuous support does
not only not work but has, in most cases, a counterproductive effect.
An aspect which is moving to the center of attention when it comes to
EU or other decentralized projects is the possibility to use an
Internet platform as a website. This function is particularly
significant in EU projects for the so-called dissemination.
The EU's objective of supporting research co-operations is not only to
ensure that know-how with high usage potential is developed. It is also
decisive to inform potential users about it. This is why the EU does
not only put a focus on the delivery of usable results. Instead, the EU
also demands, as a precondition to receiving support, to develop
strategies for distributing the know-how to a wide audience:
dissemination. The Internet constitutes the perfect medium for this.
It makes sense to provide the public with access to content, which has
been developed in the internal area of the Internet platform, on the
same platform. This way, the development of an own infrastructure
(portal, platform) is no longer necessary and the requirement for
dissemination is fulfilled simultaneously.
Another interesting aspect is that the usage of such an Internet
platform makes it possible to start with the dissemination at an early
stage by publishing general information about the research project.
This means one is spared the effort of gathering and processing content
after the end of the project. Moreover, the chance of getting into
contact with other research projects, the interested public or
potential users and to include their input is increased.
In July 2004, an EU project was started which is intended to implement
the above mentioned aspects and exemplify the use of an Internet
platform:
POSEIDON
The EU-project POSEIDON (Partnership On Socio-Economic and Integrated
Development Of Deprived Neighbourhoods) deals with the analysis and
improvement of social and economic structures in disadvantaged
districts. Vienna is in charge of the leading part of this Interreg
IIIc project. The Vienna Centre for Urban Knowledge Management (WZW) is
responsible for the international process coordination between the six
partner cities (Vienna, Genoa, Stuttgart, Stockholm, North Kent and
London-Haringey).
see http://www.poseidon-partnership.net
