Telecottage Handbook- How to Establish and Run a

CHAPTER 2 - THE TELECOTTAGE CONCEPT AND MODELS
Physical implementation
• Virtual – a telecottage that only exists on the Internet, and
is exclusively capable of providing network services
• Real – telecottage in a physical building, such as a house in
the countryside, which in addition to network presence
offers other services
Permanence of installation
• Settled – the service is permanently installed in the
community and continuously available
• Transferable – if necessary, can be moved to another
community, building and all (e.g. a prefabricated container)
Connections to networks
• Outside of the network – the telecottage is not in contact
with any other telecottages, and operates independently
• Service network – the whole operation or parts of it (like
e-learning or telework) is supported as a part of a network
(e.g. see Powys telecottage network: http://www.telecentres.com)
Sector characteristics, culture
• Administrative character – dominated by the operational
order, and culture of a public service, assisting and
supporting public administration, office work “close to
bureaucracy”
• Non-governmental character – dominated by a social, civic
operational mode and spirit that is “close to the community”
2.5 Public services
Although the service character of telecottages fuses business, government
and community approaches, with differing distribution among the three, it is
very important to highlight the services these institutions provide on behalf
of the governmental sector.The easy accessibility and the quality of state and
local governmental services can be problematic in both developed and
developing countries. Service providers are not always eager to expend
resources on developing and maintaining the user friendliness of public
services. This is even more problematic for countries with a large territory, or
countries – like Hungary – with thousands of small municipalities. In countries
with a democratic deficit, where state and public service providers enjoy
monopolies at the expense of society, efficient and user-friendly public services
are often lacking. For small municipalities, it is often not a question of
weak public services provision, but rather a lack of any locally available serv-
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• Mixed – telecottage operating and offering both real and
virtual services, in which the two forms of implementation
are mutually supporting
• Mobile – operates in different locations according to a
fixed timetable and opening hours
• Temporary – the service is installed for a given period of
time and subsequently discontinued, principally with the
objective of education
• Organizational network – the telecottage is part of a larger
network organization, not independent, or it gives up part
of its independence
• Technological network – the telecottage’s infrastructure is
part of a comprehensive network technology system
• Business character – dominated by sustainability of
services, sound business foundation, oriented to customer
requirements, and service spirit
• Balancing – the telecottage operates across a combination
of all three modes, tailored to the nature of the given
activity and services