The Challenge

Space age technology brings a new way of seeing the effects of our actions on the planet -- how can this be made accessible to people in a global market society?

The EcoNet

The group decided to focus on the Black Sea as an example of a region suffering chronic ecological problems made more complex by being spread across political, cultural and economic boundaries. It soon became clear that ecological regeneration in this severely depressed region will be sustainable only if the process which achieves it involves specialists from many different professions in a two-way exchange of information and opinions with people from a range of linguistic and cultural traditions.

The group considered the possibilities of networked computers being used to support collaborative decision making as well as to promote understanding, share expertise, access information and encourage debate. They felt a need for a system which would interface with the region's existing communication infrastructure to enable the participation of all people interested in the creation of plans for the future of their region in what would effectively become a new form of public debate. This might involve creating links with people working in the relevant newspapers, television and radio stations, as well as those responsible for curriculum development in schools.

The implementation strategy involved allowing people to monitor earth systems through remote sensors and local monitors -- in this case, the fishermen. The idea was to use these resources to determine the problem area, because often it is not clear at all where the source of the problem is.

The underlying assumptions for these ideas are that: every village is connected to the Internet; a team of specialists from outside help the people; there is somebody in the village to help the people to interface with the system.

The following participants were identified: fishermen, helpers, town hall (local), industrialists and media (regional), scientists, remote sensing, advisors in organisations like the UN, government (global). Three aspects of the system were investigated:

---- How and when will people collaborate and communicate?

---- What kind of information is going to flow between which actors? 

---- Can intelligent software be used to identify correlations that one wouldn't normally sense?

Example scenario: The fisherman has noticed an absence of fish, so his system sends out intelligent agents all over the network to connect with other agents. The agents might then correlate the fish shortage data with data on chemical spillage. The system's knowledge bases are able to identify the problem. Next, strategies could be drawn from that knowledge base with regard to possible solutions.

Critical success factors in "econet" are the willingness of the parties involved to commit themselves and provide information. Will industrial partners allow their production processes to be monitored? Will fishermen find the time to put in the extra effort?

Participants

• Gloria Brown Simmons, Manager for Visualisation and Presentation Programs, GLOBE Program at the White House, Washington DC, USA
• Jan Hein van Campen, Student, Marine Biologist, Belgium
• David Cross, Research Fellow, Royal College of Art, UK
• Gillian Crampton Smith, Professor of Interaction Design, Royal College of Art, UK (moderator)
• Sean Cubitt, Reader in Video and Media Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
• Adam Eeuwens, Journalist, Wave Magazine, the Netherlands
• Joost Holthuis, Senior Designer, BRS Premsela Vonk, the Netherlands
• Robert Lamb, Director, Television Trust for the Environment, UK
• Dirk Limburg, Journalist, NRC Handelsblad, the Netherlands
• Rebeca Mindez, Art Director, Art Center College of Design, USA
• Frans Nauta, Consultant, Frans Nauta Advice, the Netherlands
• Egidio Reale, Anthropologist, Colombia University, New York, USA
• Hemen Sanghvi, Journalist, Architecture + Design, New Delhi,India
• Cecilia Segami, Designer, Peru
• Evelien van Veen, Architect and Designer, Drost and van Veen Architects, the Netherlands