Four keys to the Global Village My Garðabær A Milestone in E-service and Local Democracy Ásdís Halla Bragadóttir Mayor of Garðabær

Garðabær The sixth largest town in Iceland. Population Population will more than double in the next 15 years. Our challenge is to try to change our small community into a well connected Global Village where informed and responsible inhabitants have an active role.

What has been done to reach the Global Village?

Schools Cooperation Service Consultation Four keys to different doors

1. Schools IT policy from : –IT integrated into every subject –wireless network connections in classrooms –every teacher gets a laptop –Strong support for teachers; executive education –2 employees in every school focusing on IT –IT classrooms and laptop wagons –Active communication with parents – 99% have s Now the Preschools are also working with IT

2. Service 24x7 95% of homes with Internet connections Transformed our e-government –From one way information flow to the inhabitants –Towards access to traditional government services (anytime, anywhere access) – 24X7 at Around 4000 visits per week. No complaints about opening hours

3. Consultation and democracy Important to avoid knowledge gap and ensure accessibility within the community. Turned the library into an information center –everyone can get access to the net with a minimum cost and guidance from trained staff Special training and education for people over 60 and computer with internet connection at their center. Politicians, officials and most of our employees have addresses published on our web. 1/3 of the homes get weekly news with . All kind of traditional consultation through meetings, open forums etc.

4. Cooperation with IT companies Important to invest in R&D. The key in rapid development is to work with companies and talented people you can trust. Garðabæ´s close cooperation with IT companies has been vital for our improvement. Total cost of this development is in the past 4 years estimated more than 2 million Euros. Expensive for a small community.

Not satisfied Although we have made a huge progress in the last 4 years we are still not satisfied. The biggest challenge is to take one step further towards more highly integrated services with a focus on individual needs and local democracy. During the year 2003 our most frequent question was: How can we make all our information systems and infrastructure more accessible and useful to the inhabitants?

With four keys you need a keyring!

Solution; My Garðabær Together with GoPro, an Icelandic software company, we came to the conclusion that to use our keys efficiently we needed a simple connection between them. The solution was a database connected portal we call,,My Garðabær”. Every inhabitant can go to our web and they log on to their own personal webspace.

Our web

How does GoPro e-community work? After you log on with your personal password the software GoPro e-community: –identifies the user –brings out personal information from our information systems –reveals the information on the inhabitants personal webspace

What´s in it for me?

1. Get personalized information When inhabitants log on for the first time they check the categories they are interested in and fill out information about their mobile and . Afterwards they get the news or announcements they are specially interested in; –urban development, –environment –education –etc.

... personalized information Everyone can see the financial status related to municipality, e.g. unpaid playschool fees or property tax. Parents get information about their own children’s work at playschool and elementary school, e.g. –daily schedule, –homework, –attendance, –today's menu, –announcements from their teachers, –classmates names, telephone numbers and addresses

Did my teenager come late to school?

2. Create and follow your case Every user can fill in forms and apply for services on-line. Send a formal “signed” letter to Garðabær. Monitor the status of errands sent to the city; –Who is now working on the case? –For how long has the case been with this committee or official? –Has the case been sent to the city council? –Receive the conclusion. –The user always has access to his files at My Garðabær.

Who is working on my case now?

A question with an attachment

...and the attachment

...and its fed directly into GoPro at the administration offices

3. Participate in local democracy With identified users the municipality can involve the inhabitant more in the decision-making process, e.g. with; –Surveys –Discussion –Consultation

A. Surveys The municipality can use My Garðabær to do all kind of surveys, e.g. regarding the services of the municipality, in an efficient way. In surveys it is ensured that each inhabitant only replies once. Surveys can be sent to all registered users or to selected groups e.g.: –Those who have marked special interests, –Live in certain neighborhoods –Parents –Elderly people

Example of a survey sent to 65+

B. Discussion Every month there are open discussions on different selected issues, e.g. a new school policy. Participants have to obey certain rules, it is f.eks. forbidden to discuss personal matters and all kind of prejudice is also forbidden. Discussions are always named and traceable.

Named participation in discussion forums

C. Consultation My Garðabær will be used in all kinds of consultation f.eks. regarding planning proposals. Inhabitants get planning proposal announcements, regarding their neighborhood or other areas, through or mobile phone. The inhabitants use the consultation form on My Garðabær to send their position. They can add or change their own message until announced deadline.

Consultation on plan proposals

When will My Garðabær be ready? Almost ready and you are welcome to try the portal here in the lobby with GoPro staff. The plan is to have My Garðabær completely developed and running in October We already have ideas on how to improve the portal in the near future; –We would like to develop close cooperation with state run services within the municipality. Our vision is to create access to all public services through one portal. –We would also like to increase cooperation with independent clubs who offer services to the inhabitants, like our sports club.

Valuable resources we must utilize Icelandic small communities have been developing from the,,Fishing Village” to the,,Global Village” – but still wanting to keep our strengths and specialties as a nation with a strong culture proud of our history. To do that successfully we must utilize our inhabitants as valuable resources we can't afford to ignore. We do believe in our inhabitants and hope that they will accept this opportunity to become active participants in our small,,Global Village”.

Thank you!