Issue Four
The eCommunity Portal: Your Local New Economy Marketspace According to a 1997 study by Public Technology Inc. (PTI) and International City/County Management Association (ICMA), 39 percent of 3,600 cities surveyed said they operated home pages. Of those that did not operate a home page, 64 percent said they planned to create one by 1999.
Civic or municipal web sites that are developed, managed and operated by the local government entity are most often inwardly focused on information about services that their departments or agencies provide to their citizens. Furthermore, most local governments will link only to complementary sites operated by local non-profit entities, or only to other non-commercial organizations. Therefore, these city or town web sites rarely reflect more than the structural composite of an online version of the local government pages in a typical telephone directory. They are consequently not representative of the societal elements that constitute the non-governmental centers of a community, or the culture of its local commercial sector.
National city guides (such as CitySearch and DigitalCity) often provide a partial listing of some local news, weather, and entertainment information, but they’re selectively targeted at the larger metropolitan areas. Moreover, while these web sites often feature national major direct marketing retailer links or associated advertisements, they rarely provide local business or retail store information. Online yellow pages web sites frequently offer greater insight and focus on local business and retail establishments, yet they rarely include or link to a broader array of other complementary local community content.
Local traditional media (newspaper, radio, television, cable TV) web sites often provide more complete content on local news, weather, entertainment, classified advertisements, community calendars and bulletin boards or discussion groups. However, representation of local business establishment and local retailer information is inconsistent at best (due to variable fees charged for inclusion in their listings).
In contrast, a comprehensive geo-centric eCommunity Portal attempts to provide a broader, or more holistic, representation of the combined local public and private sector environment, often with much greater local community participation and involvement in content creation and development. Put simply, this portal is a window to an array of web-based locally relevant and useful content, and an interactive communication channel to organized clusters of local community constituents and individuals.
Specifically, enabled by the eCommunity Portal model, local retail store-centric businesses and other local consumer focused service providers are now better able to participate in the emerging e-commerce phenomenon by providing a link from the portal to their enterprise’s home page. By applying the virtual marketspace made possible by the internet, they can benefit from broad exposure to their growing local online consumer population -- and the vast world of online consumers beyond.
The most referenced example of the eCommunity Portal in action within a large metro area is LibertyNet, the Philadelphia, PA web site. This multifaceted web site provides access to a plethora of local content sources and hosted interactive constituent communication options. Some forward-looking smaller towns or villages have also embraced the eCommunity Portal concept, with Blacksburg Electronic Village, VA being one of the most celebrated web sites. Both web portals are hosted by public/private non-profit partnerships, and they feature an extensive local business searchable online directory.
So, you may ask "how can I tell if my local political leadership is supportive of a geo-centric eCommunity Portal, and the anticipated benefits that it will bring to my hometown?" I say ask yourself if your local politicians are appropriately focused on helping local enterprises become e-businesses? When they speak of the internet or e-commerce applications, do they demonstrate their enthusiasm for the intrinsic local economic growth possibilities, or are they myopically focused on the fear of unattained or lower government revenue from retail sales or use taxes? Do your local e-business entrepreneurs benefit from investment incentives, simplified regulation, relevant workforce education and training, or any other substantive support and encouragement from your local government or public sector at large?
Access to a state of the art telecom and information system infrastructure alone won’t ensure your community’s success in the global networked economy. Access is just one piece of the puzzle. Applied technology is where there’s the most potential to foster innovation. So envision your geo-centric eCommunity Portal, and remember that research indicates that less than 7% of legislators have a basic understanding of the inherent characteristics of the internet to be able to lead successfully in the New Economy. Help them to understand that netizens are attached to compelling ideas, not political parties. And, the most prominent compelling idea today is that e-business is here to stay.
David H. Deans
Founder
Economic TeleDevelopment Forum