I
Title: Enhancing social empowerment and regional identity by the use of ICT –
results from a project in Salzburg
ID:
ANKO1285VKU
Andreas Koch, University of Salzburg, Austria; [email protected]
II
Abstract:
Abrupt and unexpected processes like the economic and financial crisis as well as long-ranging
and subtle processes like demographic change have been led to an accentuation of social and
regional disparities – and they are going to do so in the future. As a result, one has to deal with
increased poverty, extended mechanisms of exclusion and uneven social development. Coping
with social, economic and demographic changes sustainably, both top-down strategies of spatial
planning and bottom-up activities of citizens are usually being applied at local and regional
scales. Technological progress – understood as access to state-of-the-art networks, expertise in
using hard- and software, and awareness about the relevance of ICT-applications – plays a crucial role when promoting social empowerment and regional identity.
In an exceptional project, entitled “Do something and things will change – a social festival as a
promoter for local engagement and regional identity”, a consortium of six private Austrian foundations supports small local and regional project ideas to combat poverty and to strengthen local
identity in order to struggle against depopulation and shrinking labor markets. Approx. 70 proposals will be implemented this year in the Lungau region, which is located in the southeast of
the federal state of Salzburg, Austria. Numerous project ideas are directly utilizing the potentials
of modern ICT applications. The contribution describes and assesses some of these projects and
in doing so it highlights the meaning of ICT’s role to social empowerment and regional identity.
Despite its global and real-time meaning, the local embeddedness of ICT applications is also
important in theoretical approaches of social geography, like it is in actor-network-theory or action setting theory.
The examples involve (1) an online-market for regional products which aims at to preserve regional added values and to improve local knowledge about regional products and production.
This market is currently linked with a low-level but efficient logistics system, incorporating mobile phones and text messages in order to handle orders; (2) a Website for people who are living
and working outside the region, but might be interested in coming back if attractive job opportunities would be available. The Website acts as an information and message exchange platform.
Several local and regional authorities and firms are involved to promote regional strengths; (3) a
communication frame, devoted to promoting different car sharing mobility concepts.
As a preliminary result it can be observed that the entire project, supporting initiatives from the
local population, uncovers a differentiated debate about the inherent perception of poverty and
disparities as well as the opportunities to act self-confidential and responsible. ICT, in this context, is both a potentially significant instrument to improve participation – i.e. being included
into social systems – and a means in itself to initiate and maintain participation.
III
Article:
1.
Introduction:
The meaning of information and communications technologies (ICT) related to social and regional
identity is relatively less relevant in its technological innovations, though they are important driving
forces for a general social acceptance, like numerous GeoWeb applications may demonstrate. More
important in this context are social innovations yielded by the adoption of ICT. A proper handling
and understanding of these technologies is a key issue when dealing with social challenges through
virtual media. This paper describes the potentials of ICT as a medium and as a generator to create
and/or maintain social and regional identity. While ‘medium’ means that ICT act as a means to an
end for processes of identity, ‘generator’ indicates that ICT are an independent force to contribute to
identity.
The mentioned relationship will be framed by a social festival which aims at empowering regional
populations to engage in a ‘good community’ and it will be illustrated by three examples. These
examples are project proposals submitted by persons who are willing to participate in this social
event. This year the social festival takes place in the Lungau region (part of the federal state of
Salzburg, Austria) which has been selected because of problematic demographic and economic
structures. The author of this contribution is involved in this social festival as a member of the jury
board and he is responsible for the entire scientific research.
2.
The social festival “Do something and things will change”
The social festival “Do something and things will change” is a programmatic social project that
encourages social-spatial identity of a regional population by actively incorporating people to do
something against poverty, isolation and social fragmentation in order to create a social environment of ‘good living’. Regional disparities in socio-economic and socio-demographic issues are
crucial indicators to be selected as a festival region. Among others, it is ageing of population mainly
through outmigration and low fertility rates, a mono-structured economy or an insufficient infrastructure that counts most. In 2011 the festival takes place in the Lungau region which is part of the
federal state of Salzburg, Austria (see http://www.tu-was.at).
Aim and objective of the festival is to motivate people submitting project proposals dedicated to
‘good poverty eradication’, ‘good labor conditions’ and ‘good living conditions’. Their ideas and
approaches count most when it comes to problem solving. Participation is crucial to gain social belonging, community spirit, and social inclusion. Moreover, the festival offers a platform to get honored for one’s social activity and to raise public attention for voluntary work. Straight access to
people is achieved by this kind of project activity to consciously elaborate the social problems in the
Lungau region. “Do something and things will change” is mainly funded by six private Austrian
foundations, supplemented by public capital from the municipalities, the federal state and the European Union. Approx. 120 projects have been submitted in total, and 60% of them will be monetary
funded. 71% of all projects have an explicit regional range of their objectives.
3.
The Lungau region
With 21.000 inhabitants and 7.000 employees the Lungau region is the smallest region in the federal state of Austria. Population has increased from 13.000 to 21.000 over the last century. However,
since the 1970ies outmigration exceeds in-migration; this tendency has been compensated so far by
a positive fertility rate. Due to a higher share of young people migrating to other parts of the country or abroad birth surplus has declined significantly during the last couple of years. A shrinking of
population is forecasted for at least the next two decades, as is illustrated in Fig. 1.
Figure 1: Forecast of population in the federal state of Salzburg, 2007 until 2032 (source: demochange.org)
Ageing of population is a further demographic trend in this region. The share of people of age 60
and older is currently as high as the share of young people of age 14 or younger (17%). This trend is
an ongoing process as well.
Agriculture and industry are traditionally a big issue in this part of Salzburg. Approx. 9% (compared to 4% in the federal state) of the entire labor force is working in the agricultural sector, and it
is 32% (compared to 24%) in the industry. Commuting is also a characteristic, 27% are leaving the
region daily for labor or educational purposes. Tourism is one of the most important issues in the
services sector. All these facts had been relevant to select the Lungau region as the first festival region in Austria.
4.
The relationship between ICT and processes of social and regional identity
Globalization and technological change have led to comprehensive and far reaching changes of individual living conditions, social networking and patterns of spatial perception – and they are going
to do so in the future. Capitalistic economic regimes and changing demographic structures also contribute to this transformation process. What we can observe is a complex interplay of all these phenomena characterized by path dependencies and contingencies with interdependencies (see Bathelt
and Glückler 2003). In other words, endogenous regional forces come across to exogenous global
influences. Social-spatial identities emerge and maintain within this amalgam of different tensions.
Social geographical theories increasingly account for these processes. Acting-centered approaches
of ‘ordinary making-geographies’ (see e.g. Werlen 2005) or approaches of the relational space paradigm like Löw’s (2008, 2001) social space concept of relating ‘spacing’ and ‘synthesis’ are eligible to understand the complexity arising from mutual dependencies of space, society and the individual.
Information and communications technologies are affecting all three domains and will constantly be
affected by these (see Castells 2001). Due to extensive networking and virtualization, permanent
presence in virtual spaces as well as permanent communications in social networks has achieved a
high significance in society. Thought provoking questions like whether or not different types of
spaces may converge and how we are able to represent them do emerge (see Huber 2007: 209f).
Spatial implications as such are commonly accepted: “The question is not whether spatiality and
locality are an issue or not, but in what ways they are an issue” (Waldenfels 2007: 69; [translation
by A.K.]). The article does not answer these questions theoretically or epistemologically, but it
takes a look at the empirical evidence within the social festival.
Changing relations between society and space is a starting point for our empirical observations.
Globalized spaces of communications allow for manifold activities in real time at any desired places. Herewith space-time patterns of organization and co-ordination are changing and it is assumed
here that they affect capabilities of creating and maintaining social and regional ties. While traditional forms of life had an implicit embedding power towards local social contexts, current societies
more often are explicitly confronted with both disembedding potentials and constraints. Reembedding is thus progressively individualized and a fragmentation of social and spatial structures
at all scales has to be taken into account (see Scholz 2002).
Identity, understood as a basic means of sense creating acting with the social and spatial environment, is composed of ‘identifying-of’ and ‘identifying-with’ (Weichhart 1999; Graumann 1983).
Both sides of the identity coin are important – shaping the environments and being influenced by
them. In each case well-functioning communications structures and local knowledge is necessary to
perform participation and engagement vividly. This is exactly the point where the social festival is
focused on: a platform which sets against fragmentation of social and spatial ties and which generates agency and a feeling of belonging in order to let social and spatial responsibility grow.
ICT is a key issue in this mediation process without denying the importance of face-to-face contacts. Their function is twofold: On the one hand ICT is a medium to communicate observations,
perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes; on the other hand ICT is an application eo ipso, they on their
own let observations, perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes emerge. Thus it appears to be improper
to strongly discriminate between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ spaces and/or communities. There is no dichotomy, but ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ are conflating to a hybrid amalgam. For instance, we ‘really’ go shopping having ‘virtual’ fellows with us (e.g. iPhone) or we are undertaking virtual tours in churches
which seem to be as real as ‘real’ churches. The next generation can be marveled at leisure parks:
4D-cinemas create an atmosphere by including wind or sound synchronously to the plot or the seats
are wiggling.
Amalgamating ‘real’ and ‘virtual’, ‘private’ and ‘public’, ‘social’ and ‘spatial’ and ‘individual’ creates a new and different quality of processes of identity and identification; consequently, the adoption of ICT appears to be a necessary condition for perceiving alter egos and being perceived by
them. The level of technological integration may vary qualitatively, as can be seen by the instances
presented in this article: most of them are simple in application. Due to personal experience and
empirical investigations the implications point to the directions mentioned above.
5.
Examples of ICT applications
In this chapter three projects will be presented where the use of ICT is an integral part of the festival
idea. A lot of projects proposals incorporate ICT applications as well, mostly however to improve
the recognition of the proposed project and less as an inherent tool to cope with the projects’ aims
of strengthening social empowerment to be able to engage actively in local or regional problem
solving. All three project ideas have been submitted to do something for ‘good poverty eradication’
and for ‘good human co-existence’.
5.1
An online platform to merchandise regional products
The online platform ‘Alpenmarkt.at’ (alpine-market.at) is a digital tool to merchandise regional
products of the Lungau region (see http://www.alpen-markt.at; currently only available in English).
The web site which is currently under construction offers agricultural and crafts products. In addition, it informs about the products, their regional idiosyncrasy and relevance. It is intended to include a calendar of events. The distribution of goods is very simple: a staff member approves and
accepts the commissions at home and delivers the products directly from there. A spatial (regional)
identity can be realized via the regional products – the identification-of regional distinctiveness and
the knowledge thereof can create a link to the identification-with this regional distinctiveness.
ICT provide a ubiquitous access and a multi-media preparation of data. Thus, the entire regional
population can be addressed. Apart from a regional identity a social identity can emerge for both the
project presenters and the users of the web site. Networking among the involved persons does not
exclusively takes place virtually via this channel, because a regional spirit of belonging already exists in most cases and it might be confirmed through the public presentations; however, the platform
generates a social context due to its explicit focus on regional issues. This chain of contexts is even
more highlighted through a (potentially) global recognition of the Lungau region and its distinct
products and cultural techniques. The knowledge about this fact can also contribute to strengthen
social and regional inclusion. Platforms of this interactive type are thus both a medium and a generator for social-spatial identity.
5.2
An online platform for exiled Lungau people
Another project proposal is devoted to those people who have left the Lungau region for occupational, educational or other reasons and which are to be converted for re-migration at least temporarily. As mentioned in chapter 3 the Lungau region is characterized by a relatively high rate of
outmigration which resulted in a decline of labor and infrastructure supply. Highly qualified persons
or students have moved to large cities in Austria or elsewhere abroad and many of them stayed
there. While here pull- and push-criteria do exist, the region on the other hand is fairly well
equipped with a competitive real estate market and natural and cultural attractions.
The online platform will present latest data about the labor market, enterprise activities and attractive apartment offers, and will probably be linked to the above mentioned calendar of events. This
project also stimulates a potential of identification ‘of’ and ‘with’ social and spatial needs in this
region. Even if this proposal will not recruit exiled Lungau people for permanent brain gain it at
least offers a virtual discussion of regional topics coupled with a proactive and interactive participation. In this respect the platform has a distinctive position which might be partially achieved by digital newspapers offering regional topics. A direct and interactive communication as it is given for
the online platform enhances certainly the including spirit of belonging.
5.3
A car sharing mobility platform
A third example is a mobility platform which serves to organize and coordinate different car sharing
concepts. Besides traditional forms of rides it is intended to offer last-minute and aperiodic trips
(e.g. to the doctor). Another idea is to integrate privately bought cars into a community sharing concept. Engagement for sustainable mobility concepts is as well addressed as the search for alternatives to the low level supply in public transport. These targets also inspire for social and regional
identity: environmental protection and mobility issues are basic needs with which people in peripheral and touristic regions are confronted with. For this purpose the online platform offers an easy to
use, multimedia and regional access to inform people and to give them the opportunity to reflect
their attitudes.
6.
Conclusion
All three examples represent relatively simple applications with respect to technics and technology.
The innovative character of these projects is much more given in a social and individual context.
These projects have been submitted by persons who are no IT-experts and for which the use of ICT
is a means to implement the aims of the social festival. Nevertheless, they trigger and stimulate a
process to consciously grapple with the problems and potentials of their own region. This is true for
the project presenters itself. They act as promoters for regional and social identity and they demonstrate how self-evident the use of ICT nowadays is – also for issues dedicated to social inclusion,
empowerment and public awareness.
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