Rural 'telecottages' in Sweden
This project, actually under way, has similarities with the proposals of Clive Akerman, above. The details are extracted from 'Ledis', a newsletter about local economic development, put out by the Planning Exchange (3 Worsley Road, Worsley, Manchester M28 4NN, tel 061 727 8677; fax 061 727 8675).
Origins
The first telecottage in Sweden opened in 1985 at Vemdalen, a village in the north of the country not far from the Norwegian border. The man responsible for initiating this scheme, Henning Albrechtsen, was inspired a few months earlier by Jan Michel, a Danish speaker at a seminar on economic development in rural regions.
The aim of setting up this first telecottage was to make jobs, vocational training and service facilities available to people in this remote part of Sweden (where there is less than one inhabitant per square kilometre); and to do this by providing access to a variety of computers and modern telecommunications equipment for anyone willing to invest time and energy by learning how to use them.
'About 40 telecottages are in the course of being set up in Scandinavia, and approximately half are already in operation; and as many as 75 countries have already joined a world-wide organisation, the International Union of Telecottages'
Today, less than four years later, about 40 telecottages are in the course of being set up in Scandinavia, with approximately half already in operation. The Association of Nordic Telecottages (FILIN) has been formed to foster cooperation and as many as 75 countries have already joined a world-wide organisation, the International Union of Telecottages (TCI).
Activities
The telecottage infoteque combines the functions of a training centre, library, post office, telecom shop and communications centre, with courses in the use of computers and telecommunications equipment. As a service unit, the telecottage is able to assist local firms with letter writing, book keeping, translations, etc, whilst functioning as an office for small businesses, and providing advice on the purchase of computers and software. FILIN is opening marketing offices in the larger cities of Scandinavia in order to gather work from large companies and agencies, for feeding out to the telecottages.
Finance
In the case of the Vemdalen telecottage, the initial finance (approximately 1m Swedish kroner) came from the government, Swedish Telecom and the local council. It has managed to cover its running costs in a short period of time, bringing in a monthly income of as much as 150,000 kroner.
From the beginning, the initiators of the project wanted to create a number of jobs where people could sit at home, each working with their own computer connected to the main computer in the telecottage. The unions worried that the workers might be exploited in their low-paid isolation. A solution was adopted whereby these individuals became members of the telecottage staff, working at home if they prefer to do so, but with the choice of working alongside their colleagues in the telecottage. As employees, their rights are thus assured as are their social contacts.
TCI and FILIN, Box 54, S.820 92 Vemdalen, Sweden (tel 46 684 30453). Christer Lundberg is helping the islanders of the northern archipelago outside Gothenburg to set up their own telecottages; his address is Div. for Industrial Architecture and Planning, Chalmers University of Technology, S. 412 96 Goteborg, Sweden (tel 46 31 722478).
Previous / Next / Table of Contents