Citizens' communication capabilities in Finland's information society have stalled, causing the country to fall behind other Nordic nations. There are deficits in access to communications technology, digital skills, and motivation to participate in online communities. These deficits must be addressed both individually, by improving access, skills and motivation, and communally through coordinated efforts to make information more available and understandable, provide training, and create a shared vision for how technology can enhance lives.

1. CITIZENS COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES IN INFORMATION SOCIETY 10.11.2005 (?)

2. PREREQUISITES OF VIABLE INFORMATION SOCIETY The progress of the Finnish Information Society has stopped and according to the latest indicators we have started to lag behind the Nordic countries The reason is that we all do not have adequate communications capabilities Which is the reason that we cannot improve our ways of working, the ICT technology does not help our everyday work nor we can apply it creatively from our own premises

3. Communications capabilities Motivatio n Communications capabilities Skill Access Equipement and network

4. Communications capabilities Access Skill Motivatio n Access Skill Motivatio n

5. M M S S S M M M L O M Cannot interpete messages L O M There is no motivation to belong to the community A= access S = skill M = motivation Communication in a community L O M No compatible access A

6. How could we improve communication capabilities We understand the situation better when we look at the deficits in the communication capabilities So far we have only looked at the number of accesses but the bottle neck may be in skills and motivation The means to tackle deficits may be either at the individual level by dealing skill, motivation or access or at the communal level to be dealt with common actions

7. Deficit of access deficit Easy to acquire (citizen ) Information Experience Difficult to acquire (view point of the community) Availability of understandable information Shops Network access point Technical support persons Pricing Information security Updating (digistress) National politics

8. Deficit of skills Lack of skills Skilful citizen Easy to use Manuals and other material available and understandable Training possibilities available Support persons (tax deductible) Well trained staff in the access network points Persistence,information and experience Difficulty to use (Community)

9. Deficit of motivation motivation Active citizen Stagnation ( Community ) National programs (information society, citizens participation etc. campaigns, ) Ethical Ombudsman Visions (future workshops) Examples and best practices (communication camps) Stories benefits possibility for self-expression ” must”/”survival”

10. The adaptation of the use of the ICT technology Group Community The users of ICT The view point of the use of ICT Communication culture Agreed ways of working Unique action Individual rational adaptive social

11. Visio, käsitys hyvästä elämästä ja halutusta tulevaisuudesta Tavoite Ymmärrys valintavaihtoehdoista Päätöksenteko Keskustelut vuorovaikutus Nykytilan identifiointi Palaute Toteutus , toiminta