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I.a. Which factors need to be attended to during the use of Internet platforms in the course of EU projects?
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| 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
You can download the complete article here:  "Communication goes Europe - new paths in the web" (PDF, 624kB)
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