A community closer to its citizens: The European union's use of the internet

Government Information Quarterly

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 117-142

  Sheehy, Helen M ^a  

^a PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0003183572     PISSN: 0740624X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0740-624X(97)90015-0     Document Type: Article

References (98)

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4. For a fuller discussion of the political factors surrounding the debates over the Maastricht Treaty see Franklin Mark, Marsh Michael, McLaren Lauren. Uncorking the Bottle: Popular Opposition to European Unification in the Wake of Maastricht. Journal of Common Market Studies. 32:1994;455-472.
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7. Siune Karen, Svensson Palle, Tonsgaard Ole. The European Union: The Danes Said 'No' in 1992 but 'Yes' in 1993: How and Why. Electoral Studies. 13:1994;107-116.
8. The Commission is roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Executive Branch with the additional responsibility of initiating legislation.
9. Curtice John. Deliberative Poll Shows Voters Keen on Europe when Fully Informed. New Statesman and Society. 8:(357):June 16, 1995;9.
10. European Commission. Eurobarometer: Public Opinion in the European Union. 43:1995;57-64 The Commission has tracked European public opinion, for many years, in the semiannual Eurobarometer survey, which covered a number of general questions on an ongoing basis, as well as in-depth surveys on specific topics. One aspect of this survey is a series of questions on knowledge of European issues. It is interesting to note that as part of the Commission's new communication and information strategy, as outlined.
11. Information, Communication, Openness. 1994;Office for Official Publications, Luxembourg, it now has a monthly survey to monitor public opinion on EU initiatives. The results are published in "EUROPINION: Continuous Tracking Survey," Recent survey results care available at http:// europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg10/infcom/epo/eo.html (accessed July 26, 1996).
12. Lanoue Margaret. The French Videotext System Minitel: Its Uses and Application in Libraries. Electronic Libraries. 12:1994;89-95.
13. European Commission. Eurobarometer: Public Opinion in the European Union, Report on Standard Eurobarometer 43. 1995;57-64 Office of Official Publications, Luxembourg.
14. Birmingham Declaration - A Community Close to Its Citizens. Bulletin of the European Communities. 25:(10):1992;9.
15. "Openness" and "transparency" have become the watchwords for EU officials and denote the efforts being made to make the process of EU government easier to understand and more responsive to citizen input, and to make information more easily available.
16. Council of the European Communities. Conclusions of the Presidency: Annex 3 to Part A. Transparency - Implementation of the Birmingham Declaration. Bulletin of the European Communities. 25:(12):1992;18-19.
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19. An Open and Structured Dialogue between the Commission and Special Interest Groups (93/C 63/02). Official Journal of the European Communities, C Section. 63:March 5, 1993;2.
20. (93/C 156/05) Public Access to the Institutions Documents (Communication to the Council, the Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee). Official Journal of the European Communities, C Section. 156:June 8, 1993;5.
21. Code of Conduct Concerning Public Access to Unpublished Commission and Council Documents. Official Journal of the European Communities L Series. 340:December 31, 1993;41 This is also available on the Internet at http://europa.eu.int/en/comma/accdoc/code.html (accessed July 26, 1996). The "Code of Conduct" is similar to the Freedom of Information Act in the United States.
22. Commission of the European Communities. Commission Decision of 8 February 1994 on Public Access to Commission Documents. (94/90/ ECSC, EC, Euratom) Official Journal of the European Communities, L Series. 46:February 18, 1994;58 This is also available on the Internet at URL: http:// europa.eu.int/en/comma/accdoc/comdec.html (accessed July 26, 1996). Commission Decisions are similar to final agency rules in the United States.
23. De Clercq Group Presents Its Report on Communication Policy to the Commission. March 31, 1993;. Available on the online database. EUROBASES: RAPID database.
24. European Union: New Strategy for Information on Europe. Europe Report. March 31, 1993;. Available on: Lexis/Nexis. Library: EUROPE. File: ALLEUR.
25. European Information Association. European Access. 2:April 1993;33-35 The EIA is an association of information specialists concerned with EU information policy issues. It includes librarians from public, academic, and government libraries as well as other information providers.
26. Barton Judith. Reflection on Information and Communication Policy of the European Community. European Access. 3:June 1993;25.
27. Pinheiro is now Commissioner for External Relations with African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries and South Africa: the Lomé Convention, however, during 1993-1994, he was Commissioner for Relations with the European Parliament and with Member States (Transparency, Communication and Informaion). Culture and Audiovisual Policy. Commissioners hold roughly the equivalent of cabinet level posts in the United States.
28. Perry Suzanne. EC Communications Effort Backfires. Reuters Library Report. March 31, 1993.
29. Mr. Pinheiro Announces a Radical Review of the Commission's Information Policy to MEPS. Reuters Textline: Agence Europe. March 30, 1993;. Both available on: Lexis/Nexis. Library: EUROPE, File: ALLEUR.
30. The Commission of the European Community. The Commission's Information and Communication Policy: A New Approach. June 30 1992;. (SEC 93).
31. European Commission. Openness in the Community. Communication to the Council, the Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee. 1993;Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. COM (93) 258 final.
32. Commission Agrees to Information Guidelines. EuroWatch. 5:(8):July 12, 1993;. Available on Lexis/ Nexis Library: EUROPE. File: ALLEUR).
33. European Commission. Information, Communication, Openness. 1994;25 Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
34. These initiatives are summarized in European Commissions Information, Communication, Openness. 1994;Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
35. Attempts to track any meeting of the Users' Advisory Council after January 1995 in Rueter EC Report Diary record of meetings, no news reports mention the group, and no publications can be located.
36. European Commission. Information, Communication, Openness. 1994;Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
37. European Commission. Information, Communication, Openness. 1994;Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
38. The Bangemann report. Recommendations to the European Council. Europe and the Global Information Society. May 26, 1994;. is available at http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/backg/bangeman.hlml. (accessed July 26, 1996).
39. "Recommendations to the European Council." Europe and the Global Information Society. Application Nine. Trans-European Public Administration Network: Better Government, Cheaper Government is available on the Information Society Project Office server at http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/backg/ bangeman.html#A9 (accessed July 26, 1996).
40. Information Society Forum. The First Annual Report. 1996;. is available at http://europa.eu.int/en/record/info-soc.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
41. The Commission. Directorate General for Information, Communication, Culture & Audiovisual. Information and Communication. 1996;. Available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg10/infcom.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
42. A description of the Europe by Satellite program and a listing of programs is available at http:// europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg10/infcom/ebsen.html (accessed July 26, 1996).
43. These information relays are centers, similar in some respects to the U.S. depository program, which provide access to EU official information, both print and electronic. Where the United States has chosen to organize its depository system by congressional district the EU has taken a different approach and developed centers designed to target specific audiences, such as academic or business users. For exam- ple. EDCs and Depository Libraries are very similar in mission to U.S. depositories and generally serve academic communities. Other centers serving the business community are designed to go beyond pro- viding information to encouraging business development. A fuller description of the information relays can he found at http://europa.eu.int/en/eu/infosrc/relays.htm (accessed July 26, 1996) or in European Commission.
44. Europe INFO: Directory of networks and Other European Union Information Sources. 1995;21-171 Office for Official Publications, Luxembourg.
45. Isabelle Mirambet, Information officer at AEIDL briefly discussed the help desk at a seminar for EDC librarians held June 22-24, 1996 in Brussels, Belgium. Additional information will be forthcoming from Commission offices.
46. For a discussion of EC publications promoting the agenda in the Europe 1992 program see Aldrich Duncan M. Europe 1992 in Print: Propaganda and Guidance. Government Publications Review. 18:1991;35-50.
47. The Commission's Work Programme for 1996. 1995;. (COM (95) 512 final) http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/co96pr/en967.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
48. "On the Political Agenda: Next Steps to Integration" at http://www.cec.lu/en/agenda.html.
49. No firm plans have been announced to distribute these booklets via the Internet, however, at the seminar for EDC librarians held June 22-24. 1996 in Brussels. Belgium officials did mention the possible use of the EUROPA server to disseminate the booklets as well as use of the Europe by Satellite facilities for broadcast of video materials.
50. Numerous government reports extol the efficiency and cost effectiveness of electronic dissemination. A few are: National Performance Review. Reengineering through Information Technology. 1993;GPO, Washington, DC.
51. U.S. Office of Technology Assessment. Making Government Work: Electronic Delivery of Federal Services. 1993;OTA, Washington, DC.
52. Canada. Information Highway Advisory Council. Building the Information Society:Moving Canada into the 21st Century: Getting Government Right. available at http://info.ic. gc.ca/info-highway/society/part5_e.html. CCTA Report on Information Superhighways. July 1995;. available at http://www.open. gov.uk/ceta/update.htm#e6 (accessed July 26, 1996).
53. U.S. Government Printing Office. Study to Identify measures neccessary for a Successful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Preliminary Report. Task 8A: Congressional Bills. Available at: URL: gopher://.burrow.el.msu.edu:70/0R47723-57671-/news/archives/bit.listserv.govdoc- l/blg.9602 (accessed July 26, 1996).
54. "Address by Jacques Santer, President of the European Commission to The world Telecommunications Forum 1995 Opening Ceremony, Geneva: 3 October 1995." available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/js/js031095.html.
55. European Commission. Commission Opinion: Reinforcing Political Union and Preparation for Enlargement. February 28, 1996;. available at http://europa.eu.int/en/agenda/ige-home/eu-doc/commissn/avisen.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
56. The Information Society: Colette Flesch on INTERNET,the Information Highways and Europe by Satellite. EUR-OP News. 4:(3):1995;. is available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comma/opoce/395/r3133.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
57. Where Are All The Users? Information Society. 1:April 1996;. available at http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/newsletter/ISPOAVRIL/ISPOAVRIL 12.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
58. An additional concern is the demographics of internet use which indicates that, relative to the total population, users are largely male, white, affluent, and more highly educated that the general population.
59. For a recent survey discussing this see European WWW User Profiles. GVU's 5th WWW User Survey. April 1996;. available at http://www.clark.net/pub/granered/introsum.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
60. For a more complete description of the ECHO and EUROBASES files, see: Reekie A.F. The European Commission's Online Public Databases. Journal of Government Information. 22:1995;33-43.
61. Delegation of the European Commission. The European Union: Electronic Information. July 26, 1996;. available at http://www.eurunion.org/info/resource/electron.htm. (accessed).
62. A description of the National Awareness Partners that provide access to the ECHO databases is available at http://www2.echo.lu/impact/en/napmap.html. A list of the National Gateway Agents providing access to EUROBASES is available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/opoce/b3.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
63. Eurobases is available via telnet at eurobases.lu.
64. EUR-OP is similar to the U.S. Government Printing Office in that it manages a printing operation, publications sales program, and the depository program. While GPO is just beginning to provide database access via the WWW. EUR-OP has managed databases for many years.
65. de Bruyne. EDC Librarians Conference, Brussels, Belgium. June 26, 1996;. (personal communication).
66. Midday Express is available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/spp/me/midday.html (accessed July 26, 1996). Negotiations to include these on Europa are continuing among Commission officials and the representatives of the Spokesman's Service.
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81. Recent summaries of Eurobarometer are available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg10/intcom/epo/ eb.html (accessed July 26, 1996).
82. EUROPINION is available at http://europa.eu. int/en/comm/dg10/infcom/epo/eo.html (accessed July 26, 1996).
83. XXX 'M Europe is available at http://www2.echo.lu/.
84. SPO is available at http://www.ispo.cec.be/.
85. CORDIS is available at http://www.cordis.lu/.
86. As of November 18, 1996, the European Parliament Documemt Exchange Server was still available at http://www.eppe.be/.
87. EUROPARL is available at http://wvvw.europarl.eu.int/.
88. The European Court of Justice is available at http://www.europa.eu.int/cj/index.htm.
89. The Economic and Social Committee is available at http://europa.eu.int/ces/ces.html.
90. The Council of the European Union is available at http://agenor.consilium.eu.int/.
91. The European Court of Auditors is available at http://ue.eu.int/.
92. The principles of EU Policy for the Information Society is available at http://europa.eu.int/en/eupol/ infosoc.html#pis (accessed July 26, 1996).
93. The Information Society; Colette Flesch on INTERNET, the Information Highways and Europe by Satellite. EUR-OP news. 4:(3):1995;. is available at http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/opoce/395/r3133.html. (accessed July 26, 1996).
94. Armstrong Lindsay. presentation on the EUROPA server at EDC Librarians Conference. Brussels, Belgium :June 26, 1996.
95. The Commission maintains links to WWW servers in EU offices in member states and foreign countries at http://europa.eu.int/en/euwww.htinl (accessed July 26, 1996).
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