Telecottage Handbook- How to Establish and Run a

CHAPTER 4 - LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS FOR E-COMMUNITY
How to proceed? The matter
must be discussed at length,
and in different forums, and in
consideration of the local
context. As a general
approach, the public must be
made aware of the issue and
then invited to sit down with
other players in both an
official and unofficial way, with
much attention given to
different opinions and
reactions. This is the public
part of the matter. In the
background, there is a need to
analyse the already gained
experiences, and it is useful to
prepare a stakeholder map.
Accumulation of roles – One might not imagine that even in the smallest
community there is such a distinction of roles. And yet there is. With the
scrutiny of those who know the local society well, it is possible to describe
any local community in terms of these categories.The above roles exist even
if they are not played by dedicated people as their specialization. In very
small communities the various roles can become merged. The unified effort
of the community, which the telecottage can influence in a positive way,
should be to limit or decrease the accumulation of roles, especially those
capable of balancing and controlling interests and their representation.
There is the need to examine separately the roles played in the small community
and those who perform them. The key question is to identify who
specifically fills the positions that are important for local life and development.
External stakeholders – Local interests are not only determined by local
actors. Even the most isolated settlements experience external influence and
decisions. In principle, any role can be played by an individual from outside,
and if a suitable person cannot be found locally, one must be found outside
the community. On such occasions, the attribute local does not mean the
individual is local,but that the role played by an external person is a local role.
The point here is that the external actor has local interests and concerns, and
so becomes a player within the local conditions. This is important for a telecottage.
External actors typically also have interests in other small communities and
settlements, and generally operate in a network. Thus it is very important for
them whether changes happening in a given place will affect their regional,
network interests and positions (even if only in the long-term). Like everyone
else, they know that a good example is infectious. For this reason, they must
be taken seriously, even more than suggested here, because they can be far
more powerful and influential than any local actor (consider, for example, a
communications provider which enjoys monopoly control in many places).
Surveying the stakes – Local interests are not always clearly apparent. It is
not necessarily evident, even to those familiar with local conditions, why
someone holds a particular position on a given issue, and whether what is
represented actually expresses that person’s wishes (motivation) or not. On
each new question – which the community does not yet know or has not yet
dealt with – the state of interests can be unclear, and may not even emerge
as quickly as decisions are taken. This means that there is little else to do but
undertake a methodical survey of the local interests concerning the telecottage.
This is worth completing even if the situation appears transparent and
the initiative enjoys apparent widespread support.
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