I Norge tas det for gitt at folk på egen hånd skaffer seg tilgang
til nye og nettbaserte funksjoner og (offentlige) tjenester, etterhvert
som tradisjonelle tjenester legges ned og fjernes. Postkontora
er bare ett eksempel på dette (egentlig flere tusen). Med det
finner også en snikinnføring av masse egenarbeid uten betaling
sted. Tvert om må man nå betale dyrt for datautstyr, tilkopling,
tellerskritt og både kompetansemessig og stadig teknisk opp-
datering for å få gjort noe. I dette ligger også flere former for
snikprivatisering - og sniksentralisering - av forskjellige deler av
samfunnet. (Vil hele landet få (like billig og bra) tilgang til bredbånd?)
Når samfunnet utvikles i en slik retning - og i et slikt tempo -
burde det også være et rimelig krav at ALLE skal få bra og
billig (eventuelt gratis) tilgang til de nye kanalene.
Her på forumet har vi vært innom slike selvfølgeligheter (?)
i årevis. I det norske samfunnet forøvrig har det knapt vært
oppe som tema. Vær din egen lykkes smed...
Hadde politisk radikale her i landet kunne lært av teknisk
radikale -- "hackerne" -- OG OMVENDT (om mulig med
"radikal teknorealisme" som resultat), kunne nok denne
situasjonen ha vært litt annerledes.
Kanskje på visse områder mer lik den vi nå ser i England?
Her følger to aktuelle klipp fra avisa Guardian.
1) om 6,000 nye, offentlige "online centres", og om
2) nye funksjoner (Internett mm.) som redning for postkontora
Bjarne Nærum
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Blair puts £1bn into net centres
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,367291,00.html
(Patrick Wintour, Tuesday September 12, 2000)
Tony Blair yesterday extended his campaign to make Britain a leader in the internet revolution by promising a further £1bn to ensure all government services are online by 2005, and 6,000 online centres by 2002, to be placed in shopping centres, libraries, community centres and places of entertainment.
There will be an effort to put the centres in areas of economic deprivation to forestall the so-called digital divide, and they will have extended opening hours to enable people to learn IT skills or pursue interests and hobbies.
Speaking in Loughborough on a tour through the Midlands, the prime minister also announced a brand name - UK Online - for the campaign.
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Analysis
Keeping the post-office customer satisfied
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4034644,00.html
A new role for the ailing rural post office is proving a difficult nut for the government to crack, writes chief political correspondent Patrick Wintour
(Patrick Wintour, Wednesday June 28, 2000)
The future of the rural post office, once the sleepiest of political issues and of interest only to backwoods Tories, has become, in the past year, one of the most sensitive political issues facing this government.
The debate symbolises the conflict between progress and tradition, and the ability for government to see that conflict. The solution being announced today will come from the cabinet office performance and innovation unit. Ministers know it is one of the big issues filling MPs' post bags. The National Federation of Sub-Postmasters managed to organise one of the largest petitions ever to hit the Commons and Labour MPs in rural marginal constituencies have been pressing ministers for solutions.
Ministers have been privately suggesting that if just half the number of people complaining about the closure of post offices actually shopped there, they would not be in the current mess.
But it is not possible for government simply to say that this is the march of progress and the market. The rural post office and - in inner city areas of deprivation, the urban post office - acts both as a social glue, keeping traditional communities together after the closure of, say, a local school or bank. It is also one of the most visible arms of government in communities. It is one of those issues that requires cross-departmental co-operation, largely because the existing long-term decline had in part deepened as a result of the government's own actions.
The Treasury had, four years ago, wanted to save money. It pressed the department of social security to introduce a new, computerised method of paying benefits, especially pensions, directly into bank accounts. Payments of benefits forms 40 per cent of the income of nearly half of the rural post offices. The DSS was keen on the idea because it would keep some of the savings, and also because of projected savings on fraud in the future. Pensioners would no longer be able to draw their pensions from the post office in cash, which would save on administration.
More than 400 of the 18,000-strong network of post offices closed in the last financial year. Many of them were losing custom, partly due to the growth of out-of-town supermarkets and partly due to local post-office owners bailing out before the new technology was up-and-running.
The widespread introduction of computerised benefit payments meant that as many as 8,000 rural post offices might close. Alan Johnson, the DTI minister responsible for the post office, was handed the task in government of overseeing the crisis, although Charles Clarke, the Home Office minister, was given a watching brief over the PIU report. Mr Johnson, a former leader of the Union of Communication Workers, has been thrashing around trying to find some new markets for the local post offices.
Together, they have alighted on three ideas. First, the local post office could become the internet arm of government. Customers could be lured into post offices by the prospect of using the internet to complete their transactions with the state, such as booking train journeys, transferring driving licences or booking hospital appointments. It is a visionary concept, and many post office managers are sceptical that there is a big e-trade waiting to be exploited in the villages.
Secondly, the local post office would become a universal bank, a means by which the nation's poor - traditionally reluctant to open bank accounts - can hold an account. The Universal Bank will not allow its users to run up credit, but it will allow users of others banks, such as Barclays, to make transactions through the Universal Bank.
Thirdly, there should be a large-scale investment in local post offices to make them a more attractive retail operation.
However, it is debatable whether these new markets will generate enough income to cover the losses incurred by the end of pension payments. More importantly there could be a gap between the point at which automation starts and the point at which these new services come on stream. As a result, the government will probably have to provide a subsidy to the network, the size of which ministers have so far refused to disclose.
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PS: I forlengelsen av siste analyse, se gjerne også:
Millions pledged to revitalise post offices
Plan to diversify into banking and internet
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4034795,00.html
<< Countryside in crisis: special report >>
(Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent, and
Geoffrey Gibbs, Guardian, Thursday June 29, 2000)
Hundreds of millions of pounds of subsidies to save the declining post office network have been agreed between the Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry.
The industry secretary, Stephen Byers, yesterday claimed the money, coupled with new commercial opportunities, would help to prevent "avoidable closures" of rural post offices.
(...)
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