European
The European Telework Online Web SiteDossier European Telework Online (eto - http://www.eto.org.uk) is an Internet web site with more than one thousand pages of information and advice relating to telework, teletrade and telecooperation, together with a wide range of discussion facilities and commented links to other sites. The telework discussion and announcement facilities currently have in excess of 4000 subscribers. The eto site is widely recognised as the world’s leading web site in its field, regularly attracting over 100,000 requests for its pages per month.European Telework Online is the home site for the European Telework Development (ETD) initiative, which is supported by the European Commission (DGXIII’s ACTS programme) and provides contact and links pages to over 20 countries inside and beyond the European Union. This enables Europeans and others to learn about the Information Society and its applications in many different languages and contexts. The site is home to the database driven European Events Calendar - this hold details of events and activities relating to telework, teletrade, telecooperation and other Information Society or networked economy matters. Anyone can enter event details. The site also provides facilities to help the start up of useful initiatives in telework, teletrade, telecooperation and related applications. Participants In The Activity: The site is managed and maintained by Management Technology Associates (direction and content management), Carlyle Information Services (day to day site management) and Loud-n-Clear.com (technical and Internet services), with support from European Telework Development and a network of country page managers in some 20 countries. Target Groups: European Telework Online provides useful resources and facilities for European and other people/organisations covering Information Society topics but particularly telework, teletrade and telecooperation. The users of the web site range from experienced telework specialists, through managers in industry (both users and suppliers), government policy makers, researchers, teachers and students, to individuals who may be interested in telework but currently know little about it. Objectives: The main purpose of the site is to provide a meeting place, information sharing facility and Internet gateway for people interested in telework, teletrade and telecooperation. A secondary purpose is to provide start up and incubator facilities for related online activities. The main focus of the site is European, but with a strong regard to the International perspective. The main language is English, since this is understood by the largest cross section of users world wide, and the site seeks to stimulate and support development of equivalent sites in other languages, as well as specialist sites addressing related topics. Achievements: The site was first implemented to in 1996 when there were no active web sites focused on telework and the WWW was a relatively little known phenomenon. Although WWW is now widely popular, and there are perhaps 200 sites world wide with substantive telework content, eto has grown to become by far the largest site in terms of content and the busiest site in terms of traffic. It is also the only consistently active open English language discussion environment for telework topics. The creation of the site was stimulated as a result of European Telework Week 1995, when Management Technology Associates provided facilities for event organisers to promote their activities online. The site continues to support Telework Week and is linked to the dedicated Telework Week site which was established for Telework Week 1997. Interactivity with and among users Interactive discussion quickly became a focus; there had been English language email based discussion in CompuServe and through the UK Mailbase facility but the CompuServe forum was accessible only to CompuServe subscribers and the Mailbase list was unmanaged and open to abuse. Sustained interactive discussion in an open environment requires considerable management commitment and discussion moderation skills; eto has "seeded" a number of significant online discussion initiatives, including:
The eto telework discussion list was implemented at a time when no Internet Service Provider or web services provider supplied an equivalent service and has played a significant role in demonstrating the value of well-supported online discussion, in contrast to the generally unsatisfactory and frustrating experiences people have had in newsgroups. Telework archives Although the "live content" is regularly refreshed, material is archived for public access rather than being removed from the site. Accordingly the site provides the archive of central and contributed information for Telework Weeks in 1995 and 1996; all discussion messages and information notices since early 1996; European Telework Status Reports etc. The discussion list archive already contains more than 3,000 messages and is a valuable resource for research into telecooperation experiences and behaviour. It can be searched by author, date or subject. User-driven content European Telework Online was the first major European site to implement user-driven content management, the main example of which is the Open Events Calendar. Event organisers can add details of their events and links to their own sites or booking facilities; events are automatically listed for users according to categories, geography and target audiences. User driven technology is being extended to include links and FAQs and will eventually enable semi-automated management of the entire site. Start-up and incubator support With support from ETD and the site teams, the site has provided "incubator" facilities for several market initiatives, including the Information Society disAbilities Challenge (ISdAC) <http://www.isdac.org>, the European Association for Community Networking (EACN) <http://www.communities.org.uk/eacn>, UK Citizens Online Democracy (http://www.democracy.org.uk) and Communities Online (http://www.communities.org.uk). A number of new projects have been started by people and organisations who have met through the site’s networking and interactive facilities. Currently the site is hosting another new initiative, the Network of Centres of Competence in Electronic Commerce. National and language support For the ETD project eto established "country pages", each managed by the relevant national co-ordinator and providing a gateway to telework links and contacts in the member states of the European Union. In March 1997, to help develop and maintain the web site, ETO launched a "Call For Helpers" to join the ETO Site Team. People usually get involved on a voluntary, part-time basis, providing some of their time and skill in exchange for opportunities to learn about our subject areas and make useful connections and new friendships. If people show the right characteristics to make a successful teleworker and online networker this can sometimes lead to paid work or to participation in ETD or other innovative projects and initiatives. Work by members of the Site Team can be seen all over the site but most noticeably in the national pages <http://www.eto.org.uk/nat/>, where pages for non EU countries such as; Bulgaria, Poland, Russia and Switzerland have been introduced. Many of the national pages are now available in both English and the native language of the country concerned, providing a two way gateway between telework activities within the country and the rest of the world. Useful content A primary aim has been to build a large but accessible repository of useful information relating to telework. Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) (FAQs) are among the resources most valued by users, and the site now has nearly 40 FAQS - an unrivalled resource. The library of FAQs continues to grow, with contributions from outside specialists as well as the eto site team. Another valued resource is the collection of relevant statistics, compiled from published sources and gathered at one point for ease of access by researchers, policy makers and decision makers. Commented and maintained links are another much valued resource. We believe the eto site is unique among English language telework sites (and rare among web sites generally) in providing with each link an editorial comment on what is at the link and a date showing when the link was last reviewed. A new facility being implemented currently will enable users as well as the site team to comment on links and will automate the process of links management. The eto FAQs or subsets of them have been copied by other sites in English and translated into several languages including Italian, Spanish, French and some East European languages. User satisfaction Sometime between 8 am and noon Central European Time on Wednesday 26th November 1997 the web site received its one millionth information request. This gave an average figure in excess of 1500 requests per day, between the site’s launch in February 1996 and November 1997. The site now regularly receives over 100,000 requests for information a month, from users in at least 65 countries. More than 4,000 individuals have formally registered an interest in receiving regular information from the site. Each page carries an invitation to comment about the site and suggest improvements; favourable comments outnumber criticisms by about 20 to 1. A selection of user comments is accessible (http://www.eto.org.uk/links/accolade). Suggestions from user have led to many additions and changes across the site. An important measure of the value of a site is how many people link to it; eto is reported by AltaVista as being linked from more than 1200 places as at 10 September 1998. Detailed Description The European Telework Online web site <http://www.eto.org.uk/> has over 1500 web pages of information relating to telework, teletrade and telecooperation. These pages are available for viewing by anyone with a connection to the Internet’s World Wide Web. It relies heavily on data base technology for the European Events Calendar and the soon to be released Resources Database. The main information gateway pages of the site have a common navigation bar on the left of the page. This is split up into eight main sections; Telework, Teletrade, Telecooperation, Events, Links, Definitions, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and Discussion. Telework: The telework section at ETO provides background material (including examples and guidelines) and links to associated resources, including relevant FAQs, other sites, national telework pages, events. Although the main focus of the site is telework, the links between telework, teletrade and telecooperation are strongly emphasised and supported. Teletrade: Understanding and responding to the emerging "global networked economy", in which competition for many goods and services will increasingly come "by wire" into consumers’ homes and business customers’ offices, is essential to future success in trade and enterprise. These pages present opportunities and strategies related to teletrade as well as practical information and links as with telework above. Telecooperation: Telecooperation is the application of ICTs by individuals and organisations to enhance communications and access to information. It is a key facet of both telework and teletrade. These pages provide practical information about telecooperation and links as above. The term telecooperation, first used at the eto site, is now in wide use in Europe and elsewhere. Events: The European Events Calendar Service uses a data driven multiview calendar developed by Loud-n-Clear.Com in association with the European Telework Development Initiative and the eto site team. It is an open to all service through which event organisers can directly provide information about their events and all site users can access different <views> of the calendar dependent on their personal or business interests. In May 1998 the European Telework Agenda was launched <http://www.eto.org.uk/agenda/telework/>. These are the main telework related events and activities on Europe’s agenda. Items featured here are generally those supported by or involving the European Commission or having a significant market or policy impact at European or International level. Links: http://www.eto.org.uk/resource.htm#links This is a series of pages which details links on the World Wide Web to other sites of direct relevance to telework, teletrade, telecooperation and the Information Society. Sites linked to include those of private citizens, government departments and related organisations, not just in Europe but Internationally. Each link is commented and show the date when the link was last reviewed. There is an "open" policy and the site will link to any relevant link suggested by the other site’s management or by eto users. A new facility will soon enable users and site owners to add their own links and comments on others’ links. Definitions: http://www.eto.org.uk/resource.htm#definitions The ETO team are regularly asked the meaning of common terms connected with telework, teletrade and telecooperation, this section deals with the most commonly asked of these. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) (and Answers!) http://www.eto.org.uk/resource.htm#faqs The Frequently Asked Questions are one of the most popular parts of the web site. As well as being available in English on the ETO site, these pages are available in many different languages via our network of national pages (see below). The core subjects of the site are approached from many different viewpoints. Discussion: http://www.eto.org.uk/discuss/discuss.htm The site supports two main email based facilities, the telework discussion list and the announcements only list. The discussion list had nearly 500 subscribers at mid September 1998 and more than 4000 individuals were registered to receive the eto announcements. Each list has searchable database driven archives, these can be accessed by all visitors to the web site. The site also supports discussion facilities for other initiatives. Other prominent features of the web site include: National Pages: The ETO site is a hub site for a network of over 20 national pages which cover all EU countries and some outside of the Union. These pages provide links to information in English, and in most cases in the local language on the subjects of telework, teletrade and telecooperation for the relevant country or region of the world. The majority of these pages have been provided by the ETD National Co-ordinators but those countries outside of the EU are represented through work by members of the ETO Site Team. Some of the pages are regarded as important international bridges in their countries. Contents Page: http://www.eto.org.uk/contents.htm This page gives an overview of the entire site’s contents, it has eleven main headings; Telework, Teletrade, Telecooperation, European Telework Week 1998, Information Society, Internet/Intranet, European Telework Development, ETD Team Profiles, Audience Interests, Countries, and Information and Resources. Recent Changes: http://www.eto.org.uk/getfiles.htm This facility enables users to see a list of the pages that have been changed in the past day, week or month. If a user wants to update his local copy of the site with all the pages that have changed in the last week, they only have to enter their email address then "press" a button and the files are sent to them attached to an email by the ETO server. They do not have to view each page one at a time and save it to their hard disk. Alternatively a user can browse the list of changed pages and select and view a particular page that is of interest. Search: http://www.eto.org.uk/at-etoquery.htm The site’s search engine enables users to perform a local search within the site’s pages or to search the entire Internet for a specific word or phrase. Users Views: 16 September 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Its existence and the fact that it was returned in relative ease from a simple search on the entire internet"Senior Executive - UK -------------------18 August 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Clear layout - lots of info, but not too long to upload. Have been trying to find newsgroup or something online to discuss policy/implementation of policy - hope to get something from this."Prospective Teleworker - Ireland -------------------28 July 1998 (Europe's Fifth Framework Programme) "There seem to be lots of references all over the Internet to the Fifth Framework Programme, your pages are the first we have found that have actually had useful information and ideas about it."Research Managers - UK University -------------------27 July 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "High quality of information and comment on EC research programmes - eg. Framework 5"Project Manager - UK -------------------26 July 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "I have been poping in and out of your site and I was never lost. Moreover, it is linked in a very meaningful for me way since I always seem to be linked in the proper page."Business School Researcher - UK University -------------------23 July 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "The recognition of the contribution that telework can make to a geographically and culturally diverse community."Manager - Australia -------------------16 July 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "I have to say that I arrived there one minute after having typed telework on the webcrawler browser, and I didn't expect so many and useful information, that quick."Student - Switzerland -------------------13 July 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Informative, easy to search, easy to see, easy to understand."Environmental Information and Sustainable Development Centre - Georgia -------------------05 July 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Flexibility and ease of choice. Well defined functional areas."Managing Director - UK -------------------19 June 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "An idea about what sort of tele-work is possible. It's straight, it's understandable. Thanks for being honest."Prospective Teleworker - Germany -------------------18 June 1998 (European Events Calendar Service) "Your service is great. Now I can plan my Holidays this year!"Academic - Scotland -------------------10 June 1998 (European Telework Online Contents Page) "Great reference page. Topics make it easy to find information. I will keep it as a resource to possibly use with clients."Financial Advisor - USA -------------------03 June 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Contains a broad yet detailed insight into the teleworking industry especially for those who have little knowledge of the industry."Training Officer - Ireland -------------------31 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "The loops and its links. Very very good for the users."Consultant - Greece -------------------28 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Good overview, lots of useful links on every page and fast!"Consultant - UK -------------------27 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?)"It was very well laid out, and I could find links and information easily."Deputy Editor - UK -------------------19 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Its structured very clearly and its fast-downloading."Department Head - Germany -------------------12 May 1998 (Telework Discussion List)"Thank you for your data about the growth in employment. People like you are the ones that make worthwhile to be in this list."Academic - Spain -------------------05 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "There is so much information which is up to date. Its great. I think the discussion list is well managed..."Teleworker - Ireland -------------------05 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "It is organised in an easy accesable way and contains all information relevant."Prospective Teleworker - Spain -------------------02 May 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "Contributions from particular individuals e.g. How do I price my services by John Hanna gives practical assistance to computer contractors wanting to work direct."Company Director - UK -------------------02 May 1998 "Thanks for supplying us the most comprehensive information about European (and not only) TeleWork."NILC Director - Georgia -------------------01 May 1998 (Taxation and Telework) "Many thanks for your email and the advice and suggestions."Manager in a Pharmaceutical Company -------------------30 April 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "The information, precise and sharp."Prospective Teleworker - Canada -------------------28 April 1998 (What Do You Like About The Site?) "That it exists, I've been looking for something this comprehensive for a long time."Teacher - Italy -------------------28 April 1998 (European Events Calendar Service) "The topics of events are excellent!"Lecturer - Belgium -------------------01 April 1998 (FAQs - How Can I Get Work As A Teleworker?) "This page is quite simply 'EXCELLENT' - it answered questions for me which I didn't even know needed asking, intuitive; concise; well presented. What more can I say . . ."Prospective Teleworker - Ireland -------------------29 March 1998 (European Events Calendar Service) "Thanks for the message. Excellent service !"Joze Gricar - Slovenia -------------------15 March 1998"I've visited your web site with interest, and bookmarked it: several of our former students here are thinking of/ have started teleworking, so I'll ensure that our tutors pass on the location in sessions."Manager - Business Support Service -------------------27 February 1998 "I have the pleasure to announce you that your site, www.eto.org.uk, has been selected for the second best site award of Euromednet 98. The award will be given by the CEO of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority, during the conference."Marios Dikaiakos - Euro-Med Net 98 Conference Awards CommitteeRead The Full Story -------------------27 February 1998 "I'm impressed by the well structured and well organised site. Congratulations to the Programme Director and the Webmaster!"Internet Services Provider - Central and Eastern Europe -------------------20 February 1998 "The ETO is a site I sometimes visit and the project is an object lesson in running a project of genuine use. It is to be recommended to anyone interested in telework and much more."Message To The ISPO Electronic Commerce List -------------------29 January 1998 (ETO Home Page) "Had to let you know that this is one of the best laid out web pages I have ever come across. Clean with eye-catching graphics and fast loading.HTML Authoring is a part of my business and I believe in credit where credit is due. Inspirational!"Graphic Designer - UK -------------------30 December 1997 "Congratulations for your web site!"Authors Of A Remote Computing Report - USA -------------------26 November 1997 "Your web site has been an excellent contribution to the field and has helped us in our research."Researcher - Germany -------------------8 November 1997 (Telework FAQs) "I think the questions you list to ask oneself are terrific. I have been a self-employed, self-marketer even though I may be "rare" for over 25 years....keep up the great work!"Teleworker - USA Original material All of the items mentioned in this bid are accessible online at http://www.eto.org.uk and it seems redundant to also add them as pages here. However a selection of pages can be provided in printed or electronic form on request. |
Core Partners
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