Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac 1993 September/September 93.iso/Community/BBS/BBS Networks/APC Networks/APC Network/Ian Peter Experiences

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Topic 23        Pegasus - Ian Peter (660 lines) visionary        oz.projects -
Network Projects  9:09 pm

Subject: SDN in Australia - Feb  8, 1993

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NETWORKS -

CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE IN AUSTRALIA -

THE PEGASUS NETWORKS EXPERIENCE

by Ian Peter

INTRODUCTION

In the last year activity has substantially increased on establishment of
"sustainable development networks". Although this began before the 1992 Earth
Summit, the inclusion of the concept in Agenda 21 has given rise to more
activity.

This paper tells the story of the establishment of Pegasus Networks in
Australia. There is much in the establishment and growth of Sustainable
Development Networks which can be learnt from the experiences here, which are
now into their fourth year of operation.

I think it might be right to say that Pegasus is the best example in the world
at present of the Sustainable Development Network concept.  I say this because:

1. our primary emphasis is environment and development

2. we are in our fourth year of operation, with an increasing base of users and
expanding facilities, and a financially viable operation

3. while starting from a grassroots/NGO base, we now have established strong
working relationships with various levels of government and other sections of
the community

4. We are internationally connected to the Internet, the Association for
Progressive Communications networks, United Nations organisms, major commercial
networks, and facilities in over 100 countries

5. All of this was accomplished with no government grants whatsoever to commence
operations. We are a business funded by socially responsible investment
movements.

Some of our projects might be of particular interest.

LandcareNet links rural based groups working on land degradation. The
involvement of these rural groups is sponsored by our national
telecommunications service, in a ten year project to combat land degradation in
Australia. Landcare is actively promoted by the government, and relies on
community based groups in rural areas for its implementation. Our involvement
has extended to conducting Landcare Information Technology training courses and
establishment of a national Landcare Directory.

CouncilNet  was  launched in October 1992  to link municipal government
employees and elected representatives, in a program to provide environmental
information to this sector of government.The project is building up a
significant base of case studies of best practice for a number of environment
related issues facing local government, as well as an information exchange
service that includes major national bodies concerned with these issues,
governmental and non-governmental.

EarthNet links all major environment groups in Australia, plus peak bodies in
the development field.

Our Pactok project and other initiatives  provides low cost links from various
Asian and Pacific countries to the wider services of Pegasus Networks. We are
compiling a base line study of the communications needs of Asian Pacific NGOs.

In 1992 we commenced an innovative project whereby submissions to the
government's Ecologically Sustainable Development Strategy and its Greeenhouse
policy are able to be posted electronically through Pegasus Networks. This was
the Australian government's first experiment in using electronic networks for
public participation.




THE CONCEPT

The need to communicate across distance on vital issues is far from new.  An
ever increasing range of technologies have been applied to this need, from
beginnings before the age of transport to the ever increasing range of
sophisticated services offered by the information age.

In the crucial areas of sustainable development, the need is well recognised.

The Earth Summit (Brazil, 1992) included these basic principles in Agenda 21 in
a special section on information (Chapter 40, Information for Decision Making).
To quote partially from this document:

A.   Bridging the data gap;

Objectives

40.5.  The following objectives are important:

(a)   To achieve more cost-effective and relevant data collection and assessment
by better identification of users, in both the public and private sectors, and
of their information needs at the local, provincial, national and international
levels;

(b)   To strengthen local, provincial, national and international capacity to
collect and use multisectoral information in decision-making processes and to
enhance capacities to collect and analyse data and information for
decision-making, particularly in developing countries;

(c)   To develop or strengthen local, provincial, national and international
means of ensuring that planning for sustainable development in all sectors is
based on timely, reliable and usable information;

(d)   To make relevant information accessible in the form and at the time
required to facilitate its use.

B.  Improving availability of information

Objectives

40.19.  Existing national and international mechanisms of information processing
and exchange, and of related technical assistance, should be strengthened to
ensure effective and equitable availability of information generated at the
local, provincial, national and international levels, subject to national
sovereignty and relevant intellectual property rights.

40.20.  National capacities should be strengthened, as should capacities within
Governments, non- governmental organizations and the private sector, in
information handling and communication, particularly within developing
countries.

40.21.  Full participation of, in particular, developing countries should be
ensured in any international scheme under the organs and organizations of the
United Nations system for the collection, analysis and use of data and
information.

THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE - A THREE YEAR HISTORY

The idea of a network called Pegasus started in Costa Rica. I was on my way to
San Francisco in 1988 to talk to EcoNet people - I had been participating in
their network for some years by then, as part of work I was doing on
international networking on tropical forest issues.

During the time in San Francisco it became very clear to me that what I wanted
to do was to set up Australian connections to the emerging international network
of the Association for Progressive Communications.. That suited everyone I
talked to, and I left USA quite sure what I was going to do, and with a lot of
information as to what I would have to do to do it.

The first thing, I knew, was that I would have to withdraw from working at the
Rainforest Information Centre in order to concentrate on this. That I did
gradually over a period of four months, not an easy thing to do after spending
years working there. The other major thing I knew I had to do to start Pegasus
was  to gather $150,000 - with a personal bank balance of nil, I managed to
convince a few close friends to assist me to print some basic material on what I
was planning and set off to tell Australia.

Those first meetings in Sydney and Melbourne still sit strongly in my memory  -
environment groups, visionaries, this was new to all of us as I would crawl
under desks to connect my laptop and its modem to overseas networks - nobody was
too sure that they weren't getting enormous telephone bills and I wasn't sure I
would be able to pay them in any case!

I really thought everyone would be so excited that they would just put in some
money and we would be up and going in no time - not so, I learned, there was a
lot more to do - and the hardest lesson of the lot was that until I could prove
that this thing would work financially there was no chance of it getting off the
ground. With great reluctance, I took on the three month task of writing a
business plan.

It was the best thing I could have done. The process taught me a lot, refined my
thoughts considerably, and led me into contact with many people whose expertise
I would need if this was going to succeed.

After three months of this, I finally thought I had a document that outlined the
idea and how it would work. I tested it on a few people, spent the last
available $20 to print it up nicely and make a few copies, and just wondered
what would happen next.

Originally, we had planned a non-profit network. That might have been the ideal,
but extensive searches and a full years work had given us the possibility of
about $20,000; my calculator told me that was a long way short of what we
needed.

Then, early in 1989. I heard that Andrew Campbell,  principal of a group called
Fourth Wave Investments, would like to meet and talk about what we were
planning. Andrew, a successful businessman, was disillusioned with the way
business was heading and the way he wished to pursue his life. He saw that, by
proving that socially responsible activities could be financially viable, it was
possible to get a lot of money presently tied up in unethical activities
diverted to something more useful. A nice vision!

Soon after that the partnership between our non profit company, Pegasus Networks
Ltd and Fourth Wave was sorted out. Timetables to get underway were drawn up,
and the real fun began!

We moved into the Epicentre in Byron Bay in May 1989 and in June 1989 Maxine
Cole, who had by then been associated with us for a year, became the first
employee of Pegasus. In late July 1989 Mike Jensen from The Web in Canada
arrived in Australia armed with the technical equipment we could not purchase
here and we began work.

Just to digress here - in the year in which we were planning this and
negotiating with overseas colleagues only twice did I telephone, for a total of
less than 5 minutes, and never did I travel to negotiate agreements. It all
happened by electronic mail and conferencing. I was really starting to realise
what a powerful and effective business tool this is.

By late August we had run enough cable around, learnt enough, printed enough
brochures etc to begin our first public trials. And in September we were finally
ready to go! Overseas polling schedules were set up, users started to join, and
away we went, innocents cast abroad in a brave new world.

There were lots of funny stories in those first few months, as we grappled with
the establishment of a business for which there were no textbooks - only a
concept and some guiding hands from our friends at EcoNet and GreenNet. I had
underestimated the technical complexity of what we were doing considerably - it
was a great relief a few months later when Paul Wilson, now General Manager of
Pegasus Networks, joined us and began to stabilise and improve that side of our
operations.

We had planned on three years of activity before we would become financially
viable. It took no less than that, despite rapid growth.

Our attitude from the beginning was that, although we were going to assist
community based movements to communicate at affordable rates, we were going to
do so with a quality service. We reasoned that anything less than a quality
service would eventually see the larger and more wealthy NGOs and business users
leave us for a more sophisticated service - and that that was in neither our
financial interests or in line with our higher aspirations for the organisation.
We therefore concentrated funds quite heavily on improving our reliability and
stability, as well as introducing new and more user friendly facilities. That
thrust continues today and is central to the sort of facility we are
establishing and will continue to work on.

At the end of our third year, we returned a small profit, which was re- invested
in plans for expanded activities. We had close on 2000 users, a substantial bank
loan, a full time staff of 8 people, and an exciting future.  We were beginning
to fulfil many people's dreams for use of this media. At this point I stood down
as Chief Executive Officer, confident that the team we had established under
Paul Wilson's capable management would take things further. This has enabled me
to concentrate on forward development of the company, and the opportunity at
last to examine our own experience and devote time to assisting others wishing
to establish similar facilities in other countries.

THE AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENT

Australians are heavy users of new technologies. Computer penetration is among
the top 20 countries in the world, and in a country where vast distances
separate major population centres, use of telecommunications is high. A high
standard telecommunications backbone exists.

The history of the growth of awareness of conservation issues in particular is
relevant to the overall climate in which we commenced operations.  Perhaps more
so than any other country, confrontation and direct action tactics have been
used even by major environment groups in a series of battles to preserve areas
of biological diversity. These confrontations dominated the period from 1980 to
1986, when a series of environmental battles influenced national elections - so
much so that both major political parties concede that the "green" vote
determined the results of the last two national elections.

Awareness of the issues involved therefore is fairly high - willingness to co-
operate, however, was a more complex issues and remains so.

Nevertheless, Australia would be one of the most favourable places in the world
to establish a sustainable development network.

SERVICES OFFERED

The services offered by Pegasus Networks include:

electronic mail and conferencing, public and private

access to EcoNet and other world wide environmental networks, via our membership
of the Association for Progressive Communications.

access to the research facilities of the Internet, including telnet access to
overseas databases

specific projects such as LandcareNet and CouncilNet to cater for special
projects

consultancy services on network establishment for organisations and government
departments

SECTORAL INVOLVEMENT

Community Groups NGOs - Our first users were development, aid and environment
groups. I was well connected in these fields, and most groups saw the potential
for co-operation and greater communication which we offered. The development was
interesting - firstly the more radical, and perhaps less organised groups joined
us. The peak bodies were a bit slower to recognise the potential, or perhaps
simply took longer to make decisions. Nevertheless, within 12 months it would
have been hard to think of a major group in these areas which was not involved.

Business Sector - This perhaps remains a weak and under-represented section of
the network. Nevertheless, from the early days business users concerned with
sustainable development issues began to join us.

Three tiers of Government - The involvement of government in any major way came
later, although from early days government departments were interested in what
we were doing. However, in 1992 we were approached by the Commonwealth
government department in charge of environment (DASET) to assist in development
of an Australia wide network dealing with the environmental information needs of
local government. At the same time the Prime Minister's Department approached us
to assist in gaining responses to major government initiatives such as the
Ecologically Sustainable Development and Greenhouse strategies.


FUTURE NEEDS AND POSSIBILITIES

One of the difficulties faced as we prepare for future developments is to
clarify the role of what is essentially a well meaning private enterprise with
the responsibilities in this area of various tiers of government in Australia.

Since Pegasus began operations the government has been more aware of the issues
involved, and has commenced to develop a number of facilities.  Principal among
these would be NRIC (National Resource Information Centre) and ERIN
(Environmental Resources Information Network), managed by the primary industries
and environmental portfolios respectively. Both are sophisticated GIS and land
related data centres.  Under the auspices of ANZLIC (Australian New Zealand Land
Information Council), a number of bodies are beginning the complex process of
identifying and later integrating the various data sets relating to land use
which have been developed in an ad hoc fashion and an unrelated manner by
various governmental tiers and departments.

These developments represent the "high end" of environment related information.
Their role in the future is critical, and co-operation is essential. It may well
be that at some time in the near future some formal co- operative agreements are
entered into between us and government in this country, and perhaps this will
necessitate some change of structure on our part.

The question of appropriate ownership structures for networks like ours are
quite complex, and our decisions to operate as a private company were indicative
of the time of our birth and the people sufficiently interested to devote time
and financial energy to the project rather than any philosophical attachment to
a mode of operation.

However the structure has served us well amidst the politics of governments and
NGOs. We have always regarded ourselves as the carriers of information related
to these issues, rather than a policy body or an arbiter of truth and best
practice. In the early days, this structure and philosophy allowed us to
engender co-operation between non governmental organisations who did not see eye
to eye on all issues - in later days, the same stance has allowed us to assist
co-operation between tiers of government and government departments which have
been known to jealously guard their own interests rather than co-operate. And,
more importantly, we have managed to remain credible with both government and
its more radical opponents.

It is probably our strongest point, that we can operate independent of the
political will of any tier of government or its funding priorities.

The future holds many specific problems to address - questions of co- operation,
questions of standards, and questions of access to information are high on our
agenda at present. Much work is being done towards these ends by both ourselves
and government bodies, but the questions are complex.

PARALLEL DEVELOPMENTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

The other two prime examples that could be mentioned are EcoNet (USA), part of
the Institute for Global Communications, and GreenNet (UK), both fellow members
with us of the Association for Progressive Communications. Both operate in
favourable economic and telecommunications climates.

There is a slight difference in emphasis between what we are doing here and our
two partners mentioned above, both of which carry a strong emphasis on NGO
networking and a lesser emphasis on serving the governmental sector.These
different emphases relate to percieved roles and to a degree to financial
viability considerations - in both UK and USA strong sources of grant funding
are available to enable operations to pursue a more narrow focus. In Australia
such sources are more rare. With our smaller population we in Australia are also
faced with the need for a wider reaching network to achieve financial viability.
Thus, our outreach extends into education, health, and other community based
interests, and towards government bodies serving these sectors.

This wider outreach is probably necessary in less developed countries if
Sustainable Development Networks are to succeed. Certainly this approach on our
part has led to a higher per capita penetration than any comparable network.

LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

UNDP is now commencing to fund studies to implement Sustainable Development
Networks in a number of countries. One of the earliest and most interesting
studies concerns The Philippines. Similar studies are commencing in a number of
other countries.

These follow from earlier UNDP experiments in South America, which have led to
the establishment of networks in several countries. Notable among these is the
Alternex facility in Brazil, which was of sufficient calibre to play a major
role in provision of communications for the Earth Summit in 1992.

Independent of these UNDP initiatives NGO networking has led to the
establishment of facilities linked to global networks in over 100 countries.
Few of these would be viable commercially - many would be considered only
semi-reliable - and most suffer from high costs of international communications.
Some have the capacity to develop into Sustainable Development Networks with
assistance - many would not wish to pursue this direction and many would not
have or wish to develop the managerial expertise needed.

A number of complex issues face networking in less developed countries, not the
least of which is discovering ways to make such operations financially viable
after start up funds diminish. These are the non technical considerations which
need to be thought through carefully in each case.

The technical issues are no less complex. Poor telecommunications
infrastructures and lack of technical expertise in more advanced systems often
suggest that the best systems to implement are less sophisticated ones.  This
carries the danger of "second class" networks being established when more
sophisticated facilities are needed to meet the demands of the situation. The
accompanying danger relates to financial stability  - if the network does not
meet the needs of the more sophisticated researchers and larger non governmental
organisations, they will inevitably seek services offshore. There are no easy
answers!

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS OF NOTE

Independent of the in-country efforts a number of global systems are emerging
which need to be considered in development of national systems for data
collection, if integrated global data is to be a reality.

Some of the global facilities well worth investigating in evolution of any
system would include GEMS (Global Environment Monitoring System, UNEP) and GRID
(Global Resource Information Database, UNEP), World Conservation Monitoring
Centre (a program of UNEP, WWF and IUCN) and Infoterra and Earthwatch, other UN
projects. I believe that a criteria in establishing national indicators should
be compatability with international indicators being developed. Although the new
Sustainable Development Commission of UN will have some significant groundwork
to do in establishing guidelines for integration of national data sets, it seems
important that consideration be given to possibilities here. These are firm
obligations under Agenda 21, and it seems important to research these areas
further.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT - TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES IN SDN ESTABLISHMENT

Our experience suggests that there is far more to establishing a successful
network than purchasing and learning the technology. Indeed, technology expenses
have been a minor part of our budget.

Outlined below are some basic principles we believe are essential in
establishment of viable networks.

1 User Friendliness

Experience indicates that the issue of user friendliness is one where there
should be no compromise. Simplicity of interface is crucial. However, so is
adequate power to perform tasks necessary. This is where a full needs analysis
is necessary. The simplest looking interface may not do the job.

2. Adherence to standards

The only trade off in user friendliness that might occur would be in the area of
adherence to standards. Here, important standards have to be considered if
contact with global networks and global relevance of data collected are
concerns. Equally, if a Tower of Babel is to be avoided, important standards
have to be set in gathering data.

3. Promotion and Education

The most common mistake we can find in large scale electronic messaging
installations is the belief that somehow the system will "introduce itself" .
Not so! You can only successfully train the converted.

The network has to be actively promoted. Its benefits have to be known before
people will use it. Its applications to work areas and advantages have to be
received with enthusiasm. Without this, basic aims will not be achieved.

4.Training

Equally, training is an absolute must for a successful implementation.  Links
should be made to existing training organisations. Training materials must be
available for any software used.

A typical mistake made in electronic messaging implementations is to spend all
available funds on hardware, bandwidth and software development and find that no
funds are available for training. This has been noted in many universities where
typically less than 13% of academics actually use systems. It's not surprising -
they are presented with very basic interfaces, no help desk, no manuals, and
only the very brave and technocratic actually make it.

Exactly the opposite was achieved at Wollongong University in Australia, where
over 85% of academics regularly use the electronic messaging system. This was
achieved by exactly the sort of approach we recommend - substantial budgets for
training, promotion, user friendly and well documented software, and available
and non-technocratic help systems.

5. Product Champions

The concept of a "product champion" is something that occurs in sales
literature, but essentially refers to enthusiasts who promote concepts and
products willingly because they believe in them.

All networks need them. Product champions sometimes create problems for
organisations with their over-enthusiasm, and are rarely popular with
administrators. But they are totally necessary and need to be identified and
supported.

6. Adequate Funding

An under funded initiative which fails can delay  a concept such as sustainable
development networks in a country by a decade or more, and a few failures can
ruin the concept altogether.

It's far too easy to attempt to stretch available funds too far and to leave
behind a string of underdeveloped projects with little chance of success. It's
also far too easy to get carried away by enthusiasm and to start a project
without sensible financial plans to ensure viability.

7. Appropriate Ownership patterns.

This is a difficult question for which there is no immediate formula. But an
appropriate ownership pattern has to be one which will not restrict the
participation of any governmental or non governmental body whose co- operation
is needed.

8. Plans for financial sustainability

Unless a Sustainable Development Network is to be a continual financial burden
to funding organisations, a realistic business plan has to be adopted to ensure
that the network is self sustaining within a given period (perhaps 3-5 years).

9. Managerial, Sales and Technical Expertise - in that order!

The need for managerial expertise must be obvious, as is the need for technical
expertise. What is less obvious is the need for sales expertise. Even if a
facility is not expected to raise revenue, it surely is expected to engender
use. That's a sales job.

10. International Connectivity

Pegasus has developed a sophisticated series of gateways to other networks, 100
other countries, commercial facilities, and like minded organisations and
individuals. They are the backbone of the knowledge exchange which we are proud
to facilitate.

The world is not a series of isolated ecosystems bearing no relationship to each
other, and capable of resolving their own problems. National sovereignty does
not rule the atmosphere or the oceans, or indeed the rivers which meander
happily across borders with no care to the politics of the government of the
day.

Equally, answers to the complex questions facing us in addressing the questions
of sustainable development are not going to emerge in isolated national areas.
Global co-operation is vital, and access to the experiences and knowledge of
others is essential if we are to solve the problems facing us.

Indeed, this paper is written in the belief that what we have achieved and
learnt in Australia is valuable, and may be of assistance to people in other
countries wishing to establish similar facilities . We would be happy to assist
and advise based on our experiences here.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Ian Peter is the founder and Chairman of Pegasus Networks in Australia. From
1980 to 1988 he was a Director of the Rainforest Information Centre and Editor
of World Rainforest Report. In this capacity he participated in a number of
workshops and conferences through Asia Pacific in particular, including World
Bank, TFAP, FAO, UNEP, World Council of Churches, etc. events.

In 1988 he  left this work to found Pegasus Networks in Australia. In 1989
Pegasus commenced business with a concentration on environment and development
links . Three years later, the network here is financially self sufficient, with
2000 users. There is no indication that growth is slowing down.

An International Director of the Association for Progressive Communications and
member of many international networking bodies, Ian Peter acts as a consultant
to organisations, government departments and international bodies wishing to
utilise communications technology.

For further information contact:: Ian Peter, Pegasus Networks, P.O. Box 284
Broadway 4006 Qld Australia.

Tel [phone]

Fax [phone]

Email [e-mail].

This paper may be reproduced in whole or in part, providing that reference is
made to the author and the contact details above.