Austria—state of the development of information society in the public administration

Mag. Elisabeth Stiftinger, Amt für Presse und Information, Magistrat Linz

 

Beam me up, Scotty!

It took some time in Austria until the first local communities finally decided in favour of building up their virtual existence. They dared to take the plunge and have now arrived at the parent ship. The first steps towards finding their bearings in this new territory have been made—sometimes causing unpleasant surprises—but, on the whole, they have progressed constantly and are getting more courageous every day.

Fascinated by automatic doors to start with, they had to learn how to deal with this brave new world, the new outfits and the completely unfamiliar practices. They wasted their time with details, however, they have never lost their balance but are now starting to take advantage of the huge variety of possibilities.

Austria’s municipalities - arrived on the Internet.

At the end of the 80s, beginning of the 90s, the first Austrian authorities started to appear on the Internet. Originally, tourist information, information about sights and calendars of events, in the form of simple Web sites without functionality, dominated the Web.

Vienna was the first municipality to make a huge range of official information available, although the design was most simple.

Some municipalities required an impulse from outside: The City of Linz decided to go on the Web when it decided to participate in the EU project ”EUKIOSK”—a project involving five European cities on the search for a common information system on a common technological platform.

By participating in this project, the city administration was able to come to terms with this new technology must faster than it would have been without this project. The financial aid provided allowed the City of Linz to purchase and extend a timely data processing infrastructure. External communication with the partners in this project was not only simplified, but the internal flow of communication was also accelerated.

The second step for the municipalities was to intensify communication with the citizens: newsgroups on topics of interest for the community were established, e-mail addresses were heavily advertised.

But the most important step to take real advantage of the medium Internet was taken when the phase of interaction began: existing data banks were changed to comply with Internet requirements. On-line orders, hotel bookings, queries on specific air quality, timetables, were now possible.

Tourist Information

Tiscover

Calendar of Events

Geographic Information System

Some provincial governments make their information systems publicly available on the Internet. Topographic maps on various scales can be purchased, nature reserve boundaries or other areas of high public interest as well as administrative boundaries can be looked up. Example: Lower Austrian Provincial Government (noel.gv.at/service/bd/noegis).

Time tables and electronic city maps

Guide to Administrative Channels

Responsibilities

”Administrative guide” on-line: Nearly every department keeps a list of contact persons for various requests, including how to contact them (telephone extension, fax number or e-mail address).

On-line Access to Authorities

The biggest advantage of Internet access to an authority is the fact that the citizen no longer needs to actually go there. Help.gv.at, which is an Internet project organized by the Ministry of Finance, was recently awarded the Speyer Prize, which is the ”Oscar” for slim administration in German-speaking countries.

HELP is a guide which helps every citizen to prepare for access to the authorities along the official channels via Internet and to handle access fast and efficiently.

HELP started its pilot operation at the end of 1997 and is constantly being extended. HELP also receives great support from the authorities, which, in turn, are relieved from routine inquiries.

It is organized to meet the needs of the citizens’ ”real life situations”: birth, marriage, passport, death, … but it is not organized in accordance with the structure of the administration: ministry, provincial government, tax office, district government, old-age pension insurance company, placement service, …

Currently, HELP comprises 20 ”real life situations”.

Companies

But the Internet Services also facilitate contact with industry. The EU project ”EQUAL” is currently in progress, with Linz participating by testing electronic administrative procedures, among other things.

A plant is to be installed. The necessary licensing procedure is to be performed via electronic communication. By doing so, the time for postal delivery alone is reduced by one third of the handling time. Faster completion of the procedure is an economic factor in the struggle for establishing new enterprises.

For handling, both technical questions, such as electronic signature and transfer safety, and difficult legal questions have to be clarified. So far, it has not been clarified, whether rendering of an administrative decision via e-mail has final and binding effect.

Currently, it can be said that the Austrian Legislation is still lagging behind the technical possibilities.

Electronic Commerce in Vienna

Over the coming two years, the City of Vienna will be getting ready for Electronic Commerce, which allows business transactions to be carried out via data nets, in particular via the Internet. The fact that Vienna will be the first to engage in E-Commerce, will further improve Vienna’s attractiveness as economic location. Together with two partners from industry, a concept has been worked out in order to prepare the City of Vienna and the Viennese enterprises for Electronic Commerce. In this partnership, the City of Vienna has taken on the role of initiator and catalyst and by introducing E-Commerce to its own administration, is playing a major role in a successful implementation of this project.

Making political decisions more transparent

Finding out about the current composition of the National Council, the Land Parliament or the Local Council, about the next meeting's agenda or the ballot results for individual items— hardly a problem any more. The same is true for on-line reporting about the elections for the National Council, the Land Parliament or the Local Council.

Virtual attendance of meetings

Not everybody can attend the public meetings of Local Council/National Council in person. A virtual visit will quickly provide the required information.

Parliament, in particular, has a comprehensive and exhaustive server available.

In addition to numerous Web sites for the individual members, committees, etc., complete reports of individual parliamentary committees, petitions, stenographic records are available, some of which can even be downloaded. The sound track of the current meeting is broadcast live.

But also municipalities report on the Web. A Web-Cam has been set up in Linz to awaken the interest in local government meetings. In addition to the background reports, the screen will show the ballot results shortly after the ballot.

Service

The field of services is constantly being extended. Nearly every day a new authority is presenting its latest developments in this field.

Ordering of information material

Print-out of forms

Ordering tickets, bookings, reservations

Queries concerning air quality

 

”Attractions”

The aim of ever operator is it to entice the visitors to have a frequent look at the Web sites. On the way, all sorts of information can be used as a ”bait”. Nice pages, inviting the visitor to dock, are a must. And this is the area, where the municipal authorities are really turning creative:

Virtual flight over Upper Austria

Web Camera in use

On-line Shopping

Sending out post cards

Regional Information Systems

Lately, some smaller municipalities have joined in order to make use of a common infrastructure for their appearance on the Net. Their aim is to create a common cultural, economic and social region. Any information available locally is to be made available within the region, thus forming a counterpart to the structures of a big city.

EU projects—some hesitation

Austria is a young member of the EU. Measured in terms of its participation in telematic projects, Austria does not really feel a part of it yet. Some cities are very active, compared with the ”long established” EU members, however, there is still a certain hesitation, or a lack of contacts, respectively, in order to find international partners for a joint project. A limited number of cities have already taken advantage of this participation.

Authorities on the Net—Is it worth it?

Based on the experiences gained in Austria, the following points are in favour of an independent appearance of authorities on the Net:

Resume

Austrian municipalities are definitely able to take control of their own fleet in virtual space and to take part in building new base stations all over Europe.