Orientation of proposal

Setting up "interface" structures would permit better coordination between the actors of the non-profit sector and European and national authorities. The aim is to imagine new types of structure and places, forming a network of networks to permit free discussion with the public authorities.

These new structures coordinated as networks in different European countries should constitute :
  an observatory of social uses ;
  a centre of analysis and forward studies on the societal impacts of ICTs ;
  consulting services and expertise for public decision making. Their tasks could be linked around the following actions :
  the collection and exchange of practices to develop the social and civic uses of these technologies ;
  in-depth reflection on the impacts of these technologies on citizenship, culture, employment, exclusion, the environment, health, education, work, money, consumption, public services, etc. ;
  evaluate in terms of ease of use (interface ergonomics, cognitive simplicity, online help, the pertinence of functions, specific configurations, etc.) of ICTs intended for social purposes ;
  publish, diffuse and debate the conclusions of these research topics since the empowerment of the community in this area requires knowledge and awareness of the decisive nature of the choices to be made, and of the power of action on these choices ;

 Transpose the lessons thus acquired in policies, taking care to integrate the latter at European scale, since certain issues dealt with by national governments are now covered by European policy.

Context

The approach taken by governments is still too bureaucratic and insufficiently political with respect to ICTs. They forget that it is necessary to think of the society we want to create at the same time as dealing with the technological stakes, since it is not only a question of regulating the diffusion and use of these technologies but also of conceiving a new dimension of technical progress capable of interacting with a new society, a new perception of the world and another general culture. The potential societal impacts of ICTs go far beyond the reach of the regulations needed for the development of Internet applications. What is more, we know little of these impacts in most cases, and we too often forget that it is up to politicians to orient both the design and use of technologies and not simply adapt a regulatory and legal framework to stem their perverse effects.

An open network of this type, designed at European scale, would make up for this lack of vision on the relationships between technologies and society and fuel political reflection on the practices contributed by the actors of the non-profit sector. Organisations and other actors in the social economy reach a highly representative section of the population (45% of the French population over 15 years old belongs to an organisation) and generates a considerable revenue. Consequently, they represent a very efficient mechanism of transmission.