Inside the Digital Revolution

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INSIDE THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

This book is in memory of Roger Silverstone, an inspirational scholar and encouraging teacher The book is for Gary, Heather and Megan

Inside the Digital Revolution Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

BRIDGETTE WESSELS University of Sheffield, UK

© Bridgette Wessels 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Bridgette Wessels has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England

Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA

Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Wessels, Bridgette Inside the digital revolution : policing and changing communication with the public 1. Great Britain. Metropolitan Police Service 2. Police-community relations - England - London 3. Police communication systems - England - London 4. Police and mass media - England - London 5. Digital media 6. Telematics I. Title 363.2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wessels, Bridgette. Inside the digital revolution : policing and changing communication with the public / by Bridgette Wessels. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-7087-2 1. Police communication systems--Great Britain. 2. Digital communications--Great Britain. 3. Police-community relations--Great Britain. I. Title. HV7936.C8W47 2007 363.2'4--dc22 2007007989 ISBN 978-0-7546-7087-2

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Contents List of Figures List of Acronyms List of Pseudonyms Technical Glossary Acknowledgements 1

2

Introduction: The Context of Changing Communication with the Public using Digital Technologies

vii ix xi xiii xv

1

The Problem of Defining ‘Project Digital’: Making Sense of Digital Technologies in Police Service Environments

13

3

The Cultural Dynamics of Technological Change

27

4

Putting the Researcher in the Field: The Performances and Positions of the Ethnographer in Innovative Networks of Communication

45

The Cultural History of Programme Digital and Project ATTACH in the MPS

59

Phase One of the Relations of Production: ‘Kicking-off and the Early Days’

73

Phase Two of the Relations of Production: ‘Moving on and Developing e-Services’

87

5

6

7

8

The Construction of a Digital Services Narrative at European, National and Regional Levels

101

Narratives of Service Provision in the Metropolitan Police Service: Embedding Telematics within Service Narratives

115

Participation between Service Providers and Residents: Local People’s Perceptions of Services in the East End of London

131

11

Police Work and Everyday Life

147

12

Conclusion

159

9

10

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Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

Appendix:

Bibliography Index

The Research Methods and Objectives of Newham Focus Groups

171 175 189

List of Figures 3.1

The theatre of innovation

43

5.1 5.2 5.3

Overview of the research field Relations of the actors of the ATTACH London site Global view of ATTACH relations

60 61 62

9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4

CDW service model CDW informational model Outline of service aim, areas and tasks Overall view of the service model

118 119 120 121

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List of Acronyms ACPO ALG ATM ATTACH BSI CAD CANS CARAT CCS CCTV CDW Associates CIS CID CITU CRIS DALI DOT DPA DSS DTI EIP EPOR EU GRASP HEO ICT ISDN ISO IT LBN MP MPS NOISE NSY OCU PC PERIPHERA PHSE PMB

Association of Chief Police Officers Association of London Government Asynchronous Transfer Mode Advanced TransEuropean Telematics for Community Help British Standard Institution Computer Aided Dispatch Citizens Access Networks and Services Centre for Applied Research and Technology (MPS) Computer and Communication Services (LBN) Close Circuit Television A ‘proper’ name for a limited company Consultancy and Information Services (MPS) Criminal Investigation Department Central Information Technology Unit Crime Reporting and Information System Delivery and Access to Local Information and Services Department of Technology (MPS) Department of Public Affairs (MPS) Department of Social Security Department of Trade and Industry Exchanging Information with the Public (interest group) Empirical Programme of Relativism European Union Global Retrieval, Access and Information System for Property Higher Executive Officer Information and Communication Technology Integrated Services Digital Network International Organisation for Standardisation Information Technology London Borough of Newham Member of Parliament Metropolitan Police Service Newham Online Information System New Scotland Yard Operational Command Unit Police Constable Telematics Applications and Strategies Combating Social and Economic Exclusion Personal Health and Safety Education Project Management Board

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Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

SCOT SME SQL SRO SSK SW TCP/IP TIU TURA UI WWW YACS

Social Construction of Technology Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Structured Query Language Station Reception Officer Sociology of Scientific Knowledge Software Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Telephone Investigation Unit Telematics for Urban and Rural Areas User Interface World Wide Web Youth and Community Section

List of Pseudonyms MPS team Jonathan Harry Carol Mark Fred Dr Michael Sue

(Marketing and Development, DOT) who was Director of ATTACH. (DOT, CARAT) who was Project Manager of ATTACH in both its European and MPS aspects. (MPS, CIS), the User-Needs Manager. (MPS, CIS), who was responsible for the integration of ATTACH for MPS business. (DOT), the Project Manager of GRASP. Deputy Director of DOT. Higher Executive Officer (HEO) in the MPS.

LBN Team Bruce Peter Greg Nick Chief Executive

Technical Director of ATTACH and Head of LBN’s IT Contract Services for Computing and Communications Services (CCS). Head of LBN-ATTACH technical development and Development Services Manager for LBN. of CCS worked on the project. the Local Information Officer/librarian. from Newham.

Olivetti Dick Dave Philip

the Multimedia Accounts Manager. ATTACH Project Manager for Olivetti. Systems Analyst/Programmer, who was involved in the development of ATTACH applications.

CCD Ergonomics John Dr Jane

the ergonomics expert. an assistant on the project.

Other London site actors Tom

Peer Reviewer for Project ATTACH. He was a partner in CDW Associates, and was involved in the interest group, ‘Exchanging Information with the Public’.

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Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

Andy and Sahite Marcia Roger Neville

of In House Research, the social and market research group in the LBN. Microsoft. Director of Library Services, Newham. Director of Culture and Communication of Newham.

European partners The European partners in ATTACH were the Dutch, the Greeks, the Scottish, the French (associate partners), and the Swedes. The interests and players in these sites are described in the main text. For the purposes of this book, only the Swedish site participants are outlined here. This is because it was decided just to compare the Swedish and London sites, because Sweden already had an advanced infrastructure, the location was in stark contrast to the East End of London, and the cultural orientation to ICTs showed differences to the UK. Solven Manager of IT Services and development of Ronneby Commune. Amy was responsible for the user-needs research in Ronneby. She lectures at the university in aspects such as ‘Humans, Computers and Work’. Mons of Ericsson was responsible for the technical and organisational development of ATTACH in Ronneby. Chris of ARRTIC, the project office, who acted as consultants to the management of the project between the consortium and the Commission. Jacques another consultant from ARRTIC. Actors not directly involved in ATTACH Members of ‘Team Five’

from a police station in an East End division, in particular, PC ‘Dempsey’ and PC ‘Warren’.

Inspector Gail and PC Burton

of the ‘Sector Office’.

Beda and Margaret Station Reception Officers, and PC Warwick who were the front desk staff of a police station. See Figures 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 on pages 60, 61 and 62 for schematic overview of the actors in the overall structure of the ATTACH project. Note Pseudonyms have been used for local place names in the book to protect local sensibility.

Technical Glossary Browser

Programme, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer, which allows users to download and display Web documents.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language. The tool used to create Web documents.

Internet

A co-operatively run global connection of computer networks with a common addressing scheme.

Intranet

A non-public application of Internet protocols dedicated to one group of users.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network. An international standard for digital communications over telephone lines which allows for the transmission of data at 64 or 128 kbps.

Packet

A unit of data. In data transfer, information is broken into packets, which then travel independently through the Net. An Internet packet contains the source and destination addresses, an identifier, and the data segment.

Server

A networked computer on which communication capabilities are resident.

applications

and

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Acknowledgements I would like to thank to all those who contributed to this research. Sadly, due to lack of space I cannot mention everyone, however, thanks to Mike Taylor, John Leary, Jonathon Griffith and John Wallington from the Department of Technology in the MPS for supporting the research. Thanks to all participants in the ATTACH project including Gary Fitzpatrick, Richard Steele, and Danny Budzak from the London site. Thanks to Andrew Sills and Samnit Sawhney from the Newham In House research unit for access to the community research aspect of the project. Thanks to all MPS staff from a range of units for working with the ethnographer and thanks the Section House wardens and residents for sharing the richness of police work and life. Thanks to CDW Associates for permission to reprint two diagrams and for discussing service provision. I would like to thank Richard Hawkins, Robin Mansell and Roger Silverstone, and SPRU and Culcom at University of Sussex for providing me with the support and resource to undertake the study. I would also like to thank the Department of Sociological Studies, Sheffield University, especially Maurice Roche and Allison James for encouraging me to write the book. Thanks to Helen Rana for helping to prepare the manuscript for publication. This work would not have been possible without funding by the ESRC.

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Chapter 1

Introduction: The Context of Changing Communication with the Public using Digital Technologies The police is a key institution within society and represents the civil body politic in everyday life. It is uniquely situated in that it has to maintain an acceptable level of social order within the contradictions of society and during any periods of social change. Contemporary society is becoming increasingly mediated and informational through the use of digital information and communication technologies (ICT). This trend is often hailed as a ‘revolution’ in which digital technologies underpin transformations to a new society (Negroponte 1998; Rheingold 1993). This society is often described as an information society or networked society involving what is variously termed a new economy or knowledge economy (Webster 2004; Castells 2001; Mansell and Steinmueller 2000). There is debate, however, as to the precise character of this ‘revolution’ – whether there is a radical change in society or evolutionary incremental change, and, what the character as well as consequences of any change is (Harrison and Wessels, 2005). Nonetheless, the rise of networks as a main organisational form in economic and social life is evident (Castells, 2001) and this organizational form is particularly adaptable for the needs of global markets within the current neo-liberal consensus and modus operandi. In alignment with these changes is the rise of global cities which act as nodes within the networked economy (Castells 2001; Graham 2004). These broad socio-economic and political changes materialize in specific social consequences such as new forms of social exclusion within neo-liberal economies (Steinert and Pilgram (eds.) 2007; Taylor, Evans and Fraser, 1999), which can result in fragmented cities (Graham and Marvin 1996, 2001) and in exclusion through ‘digital divides’ (Norris 2000). Change also materializes within particular organisational contexts such as the development of flexible patterns of work as well as changes to organisations themselves (Cornford and Pollock 2003; McLoughlin 1999). An overarching characteristic of the dimensions of socio-technical change is that they involve institutional change (Mansell and Silverstone (eds) 1996). As mentioned above, one key institution within contemporary societies is the police. Some police services have specific responsibility for policing a global city such as, for example, the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The work of the police places it directly within contradictions of contemporary societies in which crime, deprivation and poverty interact to produce various situations of social exclusion that are experienced at the local level. This contexts prompts the question: how is a public institution such as the police developing digital services for communicating with diverse publics in complex global cities? This book explores the ways in which the MPS, in collaboration

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Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

with the London Borough of Newham in a European consortium, developed digital technology to change communication with the public. In general terms, institutions are embedded in our notions of what it means to be a citizen in complex contemporary society. Institutions that play a role in modern civil society include the police and local government. The police seek to maintain order and to ensure the security of individuals and groups, and the role of local government is to facilitate local democracy and provide local services. Each organization provides services and constitutes a part of the civil body politic since together they embody the civil, political and social rights of citizenship. As a basic premise, it is reasonable to state that human society is based on symbolic communication (Manning 1977), that all modern institutions are communicationdependent, and that those which serve the public must channel and mediate limited resources to meet citizens’ demands. Policing exists in a symbiotic relationship with the societies it polices (Hobbs 1989) and the police service faces changes to its practices in relation to changing social expectations and social trends. The police are part of the network of state institutions that work to ensure the safety and security of members of society through maintaining order. Although they have a unique role to play in society, they do not work in isolation. Issues of disorder and unrest, domestic violence, burglary and so on are complex phenomena and the police service works with other public agencies to achieve a sense of security for members of society, which requires it to communicate with members of the public and with other agencies in order to carry out its business. The communication problem faced by the police is how to anticipate, respond to, mediate, and prioritize citizens’ demands within a controlled and calculated strategy. Effective policing is based on complex human and technological communications systems and on the communications skills of its officers. The police service also provides an entry point to the judicial system and to a variety of social and emergency services. The police organization is structured to deploy officers in a time/space matrix. They routinely intervene and intrude in private spaces, prompted by a variety of motivating events. When they act, they must, for the most part, rely on information, co-operation and goodwill from citizens in order to accomplish their defined tasks. There are various political interpretations, from within various Right and Left positions, as to how the police-public relationship should be defined and practised. Whatever political interpretation is proposed there remains, nonetheless, a need for the police and public to communicate with each other to ensure a reasonable level of order and safety. Interpretations of ways of controlling crime and disorder evolve through a practical working relationship between the police, local authorities and local neighbourhoods. This places the police’s communication problem within a unique frame – how do the police communicate with the diversity of groups that can inhabit a single neighbourhood? How do they do this in a resource environment that is generally ambiguous about the priorities and efficiency criteria of publicpolice communications? How do the police communicate and work with other local services to fulfil the complexity of citizens’ needs? The diversity of demands made on the police makes defining ‘police work’ difficult (c.f. Manning 1977; Holdaway 1983; Hobbs 1989).

Introduction

3

The issues of communication and access cannot be divorced from the issue of service provision itself. The development and use of digital technology is wideranging, covering areas in the public sector such as e-learning, e-health, e-government, and e-services. The development of these technologies involves change in terms of the ‘back office’ functions, i.e. internal organizational change as well as change to the organization’s public interface and participation with the public (Cornford et al. 2004). The MPS and other public sector organizations were interested in ‘telematics’ based on digital technologies because it sought to develop digital public interfaces and e-services, and subsequent developments in e-services are continuing to build on the ideas embedded within telematics. It is important to distinguish between ‘multimedia’ – essentially a configuration of different digital technologies – and ‘telematics’, a term that refers to a specific kind of service environment employing digital technologies. Thus, multimedia is defined as a technology whose general characteristics are: • • • • •

digital, convergent, involving computers and communication technologies, involving a combination of video, sound and text, possibly involving video conferencing, scanning, interactive tracking and smart card technologies, touch screens etc., and requiring content to be interpolated from it: i.e., it has no intrinsic content or context of its own.

The term ‘telematics’ developed out of a need to describe the specific context of the integration of ICT to deliver new kinds of services electronically, and is defined in this book as: •

involving the use of multimedia technologies to deliver various services.

The factors that contribute to the contextual definitions are: • •

the ability of various organizations to provide access to information and services for the public via information and communication technologies, the promise of which is an enhanced service for the public.

This book focuses on how public institutions such as the police create new forms of technically-mediated access to public services and information about services, in an environment that can be critical in terms of life, property and public safety. It examines issues involved in the processes of developing digital technologies and telematics services in settings that involve a public interface. The complexity of the field means that the focus is both more than and less than a particular technology. The development of public applications of technologies involves not only considering new configurations of technology, but also the social and symbolic aspects of services in relation to citizens’ lives and perceptions. It thus situates the creation of new technological applications in an arena of changing social expectations and cultural trends.

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Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

The significance of this point is both theoretical and practical. In theoretical terms, the study addresses the complexity of the dynamic link between technical applications and human culture in order to understand how technologies are socially-shaped and culturally-informed (Castells 2001). In practical terms, digital applications and services must be reliable in life-critical situations, and accessible to all members of the public. Failures can have serious consequences because death, serious injury or injustice may occur if an application is unreliable. Furthermore, if an application is not accessible, it denies people access to services. The focus of this book is the innovative ways in which the police and other public services form partnerships to change communication with the public. Generally, the term ‘innovation’ is used to denote a change that requires a significant amount of imagination, represents a relatively sharp break with established ways of doing things, and creates a new capability of some kind. But innovation is a matter of degree, and in Schumpeter’s (1934) terms, innovation results in the establishment of a new production function – a change in the set of possibilities that defines what can be produced and how. It is important to distinguish between the conception of a new product or means of production – an invention – and the practical implementation of that conception. In most of the literature the term ‘innovation’ is reserved for the second of these two stages. The ways in which the police aim to change their forms of communication with the public can be understood as ‘ICT innovation’, which refers to the development of new applications involving new configurations of ICT – some existing, some still in development. In other words, ‘ICT innovation’ refers to the process of developing a new kind of telematics service in an environment of general communications between citizens and public services, involving access to information, advice and assistance. The digital technologies need to be embedded within service provision, and in turn, services may need to be modified in relation to the technological means of access. Thus, there may be changes in service provision and changes in technological means of service provision to provide new forms of service provision. The Context of the Ethnography The Metropolitan Police wanted to ascertain how digital technology could enhance their services and communication with the public in order to control crime and to develop and sustain safer communities. At the same time, developments under the European Union’s Research and Development Frameworks were starting to address the ways in which digital technology could be used in public services. The focus on applications for digital technology began predominately in the mid-1990s under the EU Fourth Framework programmes and continue to date in the various ‘eEurope’ developments and into the future for service transformation by 2010 (Wessels forthcoming). One of the main projects in the MPS Digital Programme was a EU project called ‘Advanced TransEuropean Telematics Applications for Community Help’ (ATTACH), which involved partners from London Borough of Newham (LBN), Central Scotland Police, Roosendaal, Stichting Transparent (NL), Ronneby City

Introduction

5

Council (SWE), Thessaloniki, TRD (GRE), Cete Mediterranee, Olivetti (UK), and CCD (UK). The ATTACH project’s ‘official’ statement said that it would: ...develop, implement and demonstrate interactive multimedia kiosks for self-service use of citizens providing information about and interaction with local administrations, police and local organizations including emergency and video services. Special applications are developed for ethnic minorities and deaf people. ATTACH will exchange information with other local authorities and provide a guide to implementing self-service multimedia applications.

The MPS is one of the largest police services in the world and is responsible for policing metropolitan London areas with a population of over eight million. The geographical area is approximately 4,000 km2, comprising 32 independent boroughs, each with its own municipal government. Policing the capital involves many challenges and many unique responsibilities. The MPS deals with all the usual criminal and public order matters, but also with events that are unique to a capital city. It must ensure security at ceremonial occasions in London and is responsible for the protection of the Royal Family, Parliament and the city’s diplomatic communities. The demands of policing London are great: London’s population has become increasingly diverse, there are myriad demands on resources and the public has high expectations of the MPS. The key expectations that the public has of the MPS are to: • • •

tackle crime effectively, provide patrolling officers to reassure and improve their quality of life, and respond well to emergency calls.

The core of the MPS’s work is delivering these services in a way that is fair and professional and is seen to provide value for money. The MPS perceives that crime can be tackled successfully with the support of the public. It relies on effective partnerships in all aspects of policing, whether within the criminal justice system, with car manufacturers in the prevention of car crime, or with voluntary groups in the care of victims. There are 27,000 police officers and 15,000 civilian support staff in the MPS, and the service attends over 3.5 million incidents each year. A total of 778,041 crimes were recorded in 1997–8 (Historical SUMMIT). There were 1,875,381 emergency ‘999’ calls (1997–8), which are taken through New Scotland Yard (NSY). Calls to control rooms, crime desks and criminal justice units over the same period totalled 6,849,710, and there were 4,470,449 calls via switching centres. The Department of Technology (DOT) is responsible for developing, implementing and supporting the technological requirements of the MPS. It is comprised of many branches which address the complex task of providing a vast array of technical applications for the requirements of policing. Examples include CRIS, a crime reporting information system, the central 999 call-centre at New Scotland Yard (NSY) and OTIS, an office information system, amongst others. The DOT has 1,800 staff. The MPS has an annual turnover of £2 billion, and the DOT’s

Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

6

portion of this is £100 million per year, of which the ATTACH budget was a mere £100,000 per year. CARAT (Centre for Applied Research and Technology) is a research centre in the Innovation and Enabling Branch of the DOT. The aims of CARAT are: • •

to encourage and foster innovation, led by the needs and suggestions of police officers in the MPS, to match particular policing problems to particular solutions, using knowledge of what is available in the technology market and what is being researched by academic institutions.

The unit is staffed by a small number (15) of highly-skilled technical specialists who address various aspects of policing and technology. Four members of CARAT explore the potential of digital technology in police service environments. In the ATTACH project, the MPS was a partner with the London Borough of Newham, the physical location of the London ATTACH site. Newham is situated to the east of London on the north bank of the Thames. Together with its neighbouring boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, it forms the ‘East End’. In 1800, Newham was a collection of small rural hamlets with a combined population of less than 5,000. By 1900, this had grown to over a quarter of a million. This phenomenal growth was based around Newham’s docks, which became the entrepôt of the British Empire, handling all kinds of cargo, from coal and sugar to cotton and spices. The closure of the docks in 1975 witnessed a similarly rapid decline, with tens of thousands of jobs being lost. In 1991, based on the census deprivation indicators, Newham became the most deprived borough in the country, with Hackney and Tower Hamlets not far behind. In 1997–8, there were 13,169 crimes reported to the ‘KF’ division (which operates in Newham), that is, 1.7 per cent of the MPS total. With the loss of jobs and the borough’s decline, many skilled manual workers left Newham, mainly for Essex, with an estimated 30,000 white residents leaving Newham between 1981–91. This left first- and second-generation immigrants and some refugees to fill the vacuum left in the housing market. The percentage of the population defined as coming from ethnic minorities rose from less than 0.5 per cent in 1951 to 51 per cent in 1996. There are now between 100 and 150 languages spoken in the borough – creating major problems for communication between public services and service users. The ‘communication problem’ faced by the MPS can be considered as ‘cultural’ in many respects. The relationship between the police and the public has a history of being problematic. This is because the police have to be able to communicate with a public audience consisting of diverse cultural orientations and expectations. They have to maintain order in situations of conflict and be seen to do so in a ‘fair and just’ way. To achieve this, they need the trust of members of the public, and this involves communicating in a milieu of diverse and often conflicting cultural values. At the same time, the MPS must to be seen to be effective in ‘the fight against crime’. The combination of all these factors makes the communication process very complex. When the police-public communication problematic is further contextualized to include relations with local authorities and other public agencies, the problematic

Introduction

7

becomes even more complicated, as it includes the co-ordination of services. This relationship adds an inter-organizational dimension to communication. A central aspect of these relations is the differences between occupational cultures and priorities. Another dimension is the MPS’s relationship to the Home Office, and especially to new policies that the Home Office may wish to implement. Overall, the work of the MPS is held accountable via scrutiny from the Metropolitan Police Authority. The skills of police officers are central to the success of how well the police are perceived to be doing their job. Police work is a craft that is highly individualized, and the sequencing of tasks is controlled and shaped by organizational decisions, especially those made by individual officers. The key skills are ‘communication skills’, ‘observational skills’ and ‘interpretive skills’, all of which can be aided by a sense of humour. Police officers have considerable discretion in how they conduct their business. They are, however, publicly accountable for their behaviour. All of these elements create a distinctive ‘police culture’, which has been forged out of conflict and danger, often amidst ambiguous public opinion. The result is a unique mix of cynicism and heroism, an adaptive occupational culture, and a supportive ‘canteen culture’ (see Manning 1977; Skolnick 1966; Westley 1979; Holdaway 1983). There is a distinct British tradition of policing as well as a particular culture specific to the MPS (Hobbs 1989). The MPS was formed in 1829 and evolved historically as an organization in line with social and political understandings of controlling crime. The development of policing in Britain rested on the principle that the police should be a visible and accountable body in the public life of the nation, reflecting the contemporary ethos that the ‘police … in symbolic terms [are] the most visible representation of the presence of the state and the potential of the state to enforce its will upon citizens’ (Manning 1977, 4). This potential and power to enforce order must be seen as legitimate by citizens in order to be effective and, in this regard, a central characteristic of British policing is to ‘policing by consent’. Another important aspect of MPS history, and British policing generally, is the principle of ‘preventative policing’ established by Bentham in the nineteenth century (Hobbs 1989, 29), which continues to the present day. It is one of the main rationales behind digitizing services and provides the context for digitizing communication with the public. A key concern is how to communicate with the public in order to maintain trust and goodwill, as well as exchanging the information needed for effective policing, and to do so with limited resources. To understand the ways in which the MPS sought to change communication with the public using digital technology the following question is posed: How do ICTs interact as ‘cultural forms’ in public service environments? In order to address the specific points of this question, three empirical questions are asked: • • •

What are the relations of production in the creation of new types of ICT applications in public service environments? What are the cultural narratives of these types of technical service applications? What is the nature of participative interaction between the service providers

Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

8

and members of the public in relation to the innovation process? The research also addresses two practical problems faced by the MPS: •

•

First, how to maintain or improve the level of access, communication and visibility of the police in relation to increasingly high expectations from the public. This has to be achieved using limited resources and within contested priorities. Second, the assumption that ‘technical solutions’ can be found in a policing environment is problematic. The nature of the work and the occupational culture can put constraints on technology leading to increased efficiency. However, the unique mix of the culture of policing with the culture of applied technologists seeking solutions to aid policing in complex environments generates a dynamic, innovative environment.

This situation requires an understanding of the innovation process within the specific context of the MPS, and by examining how technologies might evolve as ‘cultural forms’, research might begin to understand the significance of this context for ICT innovation. The Theoretical Approach The theoretical approach takes the ‘semiotic’ concept of culture (Geertz 1973) and focuses on the ‘symbolic’ actions of ICT innovation framed within a ‘dramatistic’ approach (Burke 1945). Technology is viewed from within an anthropological frame of reference, acknowledging the materiality of the technology, as well as the social and symbolic elements of technology. The ‘symbolic’ and the ‘material’ are joined in the concept of the ‘cultural form’ which encompasses social practices and discourses, as well as material aspects of technology which shape the development of technological forms. The framework focuses on three interdependent frames of action, each related to the three empirical questions: • •

•

The relations of production, which in this book is a European Union R&D project consortium constituted the ‘relations of production’ of telematics. The narratives of telematics, which address the way institutions envisaged the use of ICTs in society and articulated these visions in policies, reports and discussion. The participation between service providers and members of the public, which in this book involved exploring public perceptions of council services and discovering the nature of police-public encounters.

The parameters of the study are the relationships between the development of technology, development of services, and citizens’ needs and expectations of public services. This focus means that issues such as citizenship, community, neighbourhood and multiculturalism are covered only in relation to the development

Introduction

9

of digital services. The concept of organization is identified as ‘organizational work’ in the ongoing innovative action, but is not addressed as an issue in its own right. All these are important and complex issues, however, in this study, they are only discussed where appropriate to the central research focus. The objective of this study was to explore the underlying cultural dynamics of changing communication with the public using digital technologies, not ‘organizational’ or ‘community’ dynamics as such. Methodology To address the cultural dynamics of changing communication with the public using digital technology, the researcher needed to explore the nature and relationships of the cultures of technical developers, policy-makers, service providers and citizens. The ethnographic method is one designed to gain an understanding of the meanings, conceptual structures, interpretations and actions of particular cultural groups. Ethnography’s main approach is that of participant observation in the field of study. The historical trajectory of ethnography runs from colonial descriptions of unfamiliar cultural practices to a reflexive exploration of a variety of contemporary cultural settings. Research using ethnography has been carried out in a wide variety of contexts, including organizations and communities. In organizational studies the general trend has been to move from a functionalist approach and the idea of society organized in terms of structures, to an interpretative approach interested in symbolism and the construction of meaning in social events. The trend also moved from considering organizations as bounded units to a consideration of the organizational-environment relationship. In community studies, too, scope was noted long ago for interchange between social anthropology and sociology in understanding the symbolic construction of ‘community’. In 1952, Robert Park, the joint founder, with W.I. Thomas, of the Chicago School of Sociology, indicated in a paper that anthropological methods which had been used to study North American Indians should also be employed in the study of the inhabitants of the city of Chicago. The focus was on understanding distinctive features of urban life as experienced by different social groups in the city. Wright (ed.) (1994) addressed the complex ways in which people make meaning of organizational settings (referencing Geertz’s concept of culture and ethnography) with some of the studies in her book addressing the symbiotic relationship of state institutions and citizens. There have been ethnographies of British policing, the most significant being those by Holdaway (1983), Hobbs (1989), and Manning (1977). The character of these studies exemplifies the interpretive trend in organizational and community studies. My research takes this relationship and contextualizes it within a locality and a network of developers, to address the problem of communication between public services and citizens. Ethnographic studies are ‘in-depth’ and ‘microscopic’, and this has implications for the generation of theory. The in-depth aspect of the method is based on the premise that it can generate some form of ‘grounded theory’. Grounded theory was part of an important trend in qualitative analysis in the 1970s, which sought to bridge the gap

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Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

between theoretically-uninformed empirical research and empirically-uninformed theory, by grounding theory in data (Glaser and Strauss 1968). In the study of culture, symbolic acts are diagnosed to discover their relative importance in the ongoing action. Theory thus functions as a relative distinction between ‘inscription’ (‘thick description’) and ‘specification’ (‘diagnosis’) in interpretive science. As Geertz expressed it: ... [theory functions] between – setting down the meaning particular social actions have for actors whose actions they are, and stating, as explicitly as we can manage, what knowledge thus attained demonstrates about the society in which it is found and, beyond that, about social life itself (Geertz 1973, 27). Cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete, but it does go some way towards gaining access to conceptual structures that inform and make change meaningful, such as digitizing communication. It is a useful way to view the practical problems of changing communication faced by networks of developers and service providers in the public realm. Outline of Chapters Chapters 2, 3 and 4 address theory and method in studying the ways the police aim to change communication with the public using digital technology. Chapter 2 examines the problem of how to define digital services in police service environments. Chapter 3 explores the cultural dynamics of technological change and explores why telematics should be studied as a cultural form. Chapter 4 discusses the ways in which ethnography was used in the context of changing communication with the public. Chapter 5 is a prelude to the ethnography and introduces the cultural history of Programme Digital in the MPS. Figures 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 on pages 60, 61 and 62 provide a schematic overview of the research partners in the ATTACH project; they are a general point of reference to aid the reader in understanding who the actors are in the ethnography. The ethnography of changing communication with the public is covered in chapters 6 to 11. Chapters 6 and 7 cover the ‘relations of production’ of the cultural form approach. Chapter 6 covers the first phase of the relations of production and ethnographically describes ‘kicking-off and the early days’ of the work with its symbolic acts of the ‘spirit of innovation’, trying to understand ‘user needs’ and building a ‘demo’. Chapter 7 covers the second phase of development in ‘moving on and developing e-services’, which shows how changes in the social and technical directions of ATTACH occurred within a symbolic act environment of a workshop, and how the symbolic act of ‘information and services’ came into the development work. It outlines the technological path, that, as a symbolic act helped to shape community information systems from the ‘digital tardis’ to a local service strategy of one-stop shops based on digital technology. Chapters 8 and 9 cover the narrative aspect of the cultural form approach. Chapter 8 examines the construction of digital services narratives at European, national and

Introduction

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regional levels. Chapter 9 describes how the above narratives could be interpreted within an organizational narrative of policing in general, and the MPS in particular. Chapters 10 and 11 cover the participative dimension of the cultural form approach. Chapter 10 considers participation between service providers and residents, and explores local people’s perceptions of services in Newham. Chapter 11 looks at operational policing in Newham and interactions between members of the public and police officers. The conclusion, Chapter 12, shows how distinctive forms of new ICT-based services evolve out of the dynamics of the interdependencies of the three aspects of the cultural form. The intrinsic meaningfulness of these aspects of the cultural form and the performative actions of actors in the innovation drama produce a specific product in a particular setting. This shows the process by which the police and its partners learned to understand how to develop digital technology for community environments, and to change some aspects of communication with the public whilst maintaining its established ways of communication in its service provision.

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Chapter 2

The Problem of Defining ‘Project Digital’: Making Sense of Digital Technologies in Police Service Environments The development of technologies in the shaping of new services is a contested, iterative and interpretive process in which both technologies and services are creatively imagined and made sense of by developers within sets of social opportunities and constraints (Cornford et al. 2004). This generates a problem of definition, as the shaping of digital technology and new services involves interpretation and reinterpretation throughout the development process. This chapter discusses the preliminary way developers and policy-makers interpret various discourses in defining new forms of communication and services based on digital technology. In particular, it shows how the ways in which the police communicate with the public is linked with other public services. The meaning of digital technology evolves from the various contexts in which technologies are developed in relation to envisaged and untried services. Any emergent digital service is complex and brings together many different agencies and publics in generating a variety of multimedia forms and content. These contexts are, in effect, ‘lifeworlds’ with their own respective narratives, practices and sensibilities, and they form frameworks for action that are value-based, indexical and reflexive. The process of defining digital telematics involves considering the ‘framing’ of digital technologies by the European Commission, MPS, national and local government, key public service organizations and the voluntary sector in relation to the nature of citizenship, the needs and aspirations of local people, and the character of the technology base for services. The problem of definition in developing new services can be seen in the work of the MPS and its partners in the ATTACH project. For example, the Technical Director of ATTACH from the LBN gave a presentation about telematics at a ‘Society of Information Technology Management’ conference, and opened his presentation with the question: ‘what is telematics?’ – to which he answered, ‘I don’t know’. He duly muttered, ‘it’s some kind of “euro-speak”, you can read all about it in the various European documents, it comes under DGXIII ... it’s tele this and that’. This short episode illustrated the problem of defining a new form of communication service and demonstrated that there was no clear understanding of what telematics was, either on the part of telematics developers or by commentators. The European Union provided such a wide definition of telematics that a precise understanding

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of its form and content was difficult to achieve. Second, it pointed to the fact that telematics was not fully established as a means of public access to information and advice in public service settings. Even though the technology was advanced, in many cases its application environment was still largely at the stage of demonstration, validation and evaluation. Third, at the time of the ATTACH project (1996–2000) and continuing to the present day, the organizational formations of telematics were, and still are being developed in the police service and other public services. Examples include e-government initiatives for 2005 (Cornford et al. 2004), the UK regional ‘Connects’ initiatives, including London Connects, which developed from the London telematics projects (www.londonconnects.gov.uk), and service-specific applications such as online crime reporting through the national police portal (www. online.police.uk). This meant, and means to date, that work is still needed to get the concept of digital services accepted by, and integrated into, police organizations and partner agencies. The technologists in the project needed, and continue to need to find ‘product champions’ within organizations to promote digital technology in service areas. Although the exact ways in which the technology could be embedded into service provision was planned in accordance to a clear business case, the implementation and take-up of services involved some degree of ‘learning by doing’ (Arrow 1962; Williams, Stewart and Slack 2005), which brought a degree of uncertainty into the development work. A further complexity was that telematics often involved several public services using the same access point. This meant that co-ordination between service providers had to be considered and, with each new development, agreement had to be reached between service providers on the types of services to be delivered. Actors in different organizational and institutional hierarchies continue discussing how telematics and other digitally-enabled services might fit into the national, regional and corporate strategies of different public services. This kind of ongoing definition and re-definition of telematics and digital services is characteristic of technological change, which is a contested, iterative and interpretive process. In order to arrive at some meaningful definition of ‘telematics’, an understanding of the contexts in which it is being developed is needed. These contexts comprise a variety of ‘lifeworlds’ (Schutz 1962), each with its own narratives and practices. These narratives and practices form frameworks for action that are value-based, indexical and reflexive. Definitions of telematics are constituted through the interaction of structures of meaning and webs of significance (c.f. Geertz 1973). Thus, for example, the process of defining telematics through the development work itself involved interpretations of the following contributing definitions: • • • • •

the ‘official’ European Commission’s (EC) definition of telematics, the EC’s criteria for the implementation of telematics (i.e. practices for implementation), each participating organization’s individualized definition of telematics and vision for its use, the services offered by each organization, how telematics would be embedded into each service organization, i.e. how the service provider envisaged its use,

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the nature of citizenship and public participation in services, and the nature of the technology base from which services are constructed.

The EC provided a very broad rationale for telematics, stating in the Foreword to the Telematics Applications Programme (1994–1998): It demonstrates the enormous potential for the use of advanced information and communication technologies. Ranging from telemedicine to educational multimedia or route guidance systems for cars, hundreds of projects show that research can significantly improve the quality of life of Europe’s citizens, increase the efficiency of our social and economic organization, and reinforce cohesion. This positive message constitutes a significant encouragement in the transition to the Information Society – Bangemann, M. (1996), Telematics Application Programme (1994–1998). Guide to 1995–1996 Projects, iii.

The above quotation illustrates the EC’s broad definition of telematics, and the consequences of using telematics are also referred to in very broad, unspecific terms. In Programme Digital, the MPS’s early understanding of telematics in a policing context covered simultaneously the delivery of services, the dissemination of information, and the interactive provision of advice and support using multimedia technologies. In other words, the police sought to transform communication through digitizing services with the public via the ATTACH project, using new technologies. In its guidelines1 for research and development, the EC was keen to involve user representatives throughout the development of R&D projects, which included the validation of telematics in use. In relation to the technology, there was a focus on multimedia, on interoperability and on maximising the generic content of the technology. However, with regard to both user issues and technology, these principles proved complex to implement within specific projects as well as across programmes. There was a strong focus amongst developers and service providers on the exploitation of projects’ outputs and results, in an effort to ensure that projects were sustainable in service provision after a funded R&D project.2 Part of the process of defining digital services involves understanding the ways in which the EC’s narratives are interpreted and framed by various developers and service providers. The official ATTACH project definition, given in the introduction, provided an overarching view of the project aim and objectives. However, different members of the consortium envisaged different uses for the technology in relation to their own services, concerns and priorities. For instance, LBN interpreted telematics as being one piece in the jigsaw of developing a digital infrastructure to underpin the transformation of the borough in terms of services and in attracting inward investment. Telematics was part of a long-term strategic plan to regenerate the locality. This, in part, has materialized in that the ICT infrastructure was a key factor 1 See Telematics Applications Programme (1994–1998) (1996), European Commission DG X111. 2 Tom Dolton (CDW Associates), consultant in the field of ‘Exchanging Information with the Public,’ who has expertise in public service settings, stated this in a 1997 ATTACH meeting.

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in the successful London bid to host the Olympics in 2012 (Director of Culture and Communication, Newham, 2003). The Swedish partners too had an overarching vision to use ICT to transform an ex-steelmaking region into a digital city, and saw the use of telematics as one aspect of that vision, focusing particularly on improving participation in local democratic processes. Other partners, however, were more focused on specific services, for example the Dutch partners sought to develop home-based telematics for the elderly and the Greek partners wanted to develop tourist telematics to support their EU Cultural Capital event. Some partners, such as the Central Scotland Police, interpreted telematics as providing interactive police services via multimedia kiosks in remote rural areas. The actors who were involved in the early stages of telematics perceived it in broad and rather loose terms in relation to the specific technology and to the types of particular services, as well as any strategic overview of a comprehensive communication strategy. Although the European Commission’s very broad definition existed, the developers and service providers in the field were unsure of the exact nature of telematics, and the developers had not worked out the specifics of the technology or the type of service in any initial planning phases. Thus, for example, in providing remote interactive help-desk access for the deaf, the actual design of the desk had not been considered by the developers, and broader user issues such as how videoconferencing would affect the ability to sign and the precise needs of deaf people had not been addressed by the service providers. Furthermore, the specific organizational issues of this particular service example had not been considered, including factors such as the provision of staff to manage the video-conferencing, hours of service, and so on. However, many developers feel that they learn through pilot projects and, once a digital service has been tested, it can be migrated into mainstream service provision. The precise nature of telematics is, therefore, often not clearly defined at the onset of a project, however, as work progresses, developers and users gain a greater clarity about the characteristics of new services and the requirements necessary for them to be successful in meeting the needs of the public and service providers. Developers of new forms of digital applications, therefore, need to interpret technology’s capacities and the way they may be shaped in relation to the social and cultural contexts of use, a process that is ongoing as each new development triggers further explorations. Geertz pointed out the significance of interpretation, arguing that any ‘ongoing social action’ is formed out of actors’ interpretive abilities: Behavior must be attended to, and with some exactness, because it is through the flow of behavior – or, more precisely, social action – that cultural forms find their articulation. They find it as well, of course, in various sorts of artefacts, and various states of consciousness; but these draw their meaning from the role they play (Wittgenstein would say their ‘use’) in the ongoing pattern of life, not from any intrinsic relationships they bear to one another ... Whatever, or wherever, symbol systems ‘in their own terms’ may be, we gain empirical access to them by inspecting events, not by arranging abstracted entities into ‘unified patterns’ – Geertz 1973, 17.

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This highlights the issues of interpretation in any type of action and, in part, offers an insight into the consequences of these actions. These interpretations indicate that the interests of telematics developers are enacted and realized in the setting of each act in the innovation process. Thus, these interests comprise the cultural conceptions of actors which, through the interactions of the settings and events, become interpreted into the development of a new form of technically-mediated communication. These interpretations and developments have the potential to occur both at the level of a specific application or service and at wider level of networks of communication services, as developers understand the networking capacity of digital technology and envision multi-agency communication and services. This book’s approach takes into account interpretations of the materiality of the technology in relation to interpretations of any service applications it may support. These interests and conceptualizations are important structures of meanings for orienting actions in development processes. Given that established meanings and conventions are often challenged when bringing about change means that those who wish to implement change often have to challenge existing ways of doing things and the common-sense assumptions that are associated with those practices. The process of implementing change is, therefore, reflexive, in that ‘social processes are in part constituted through the ways in which they are identified, enacted and responded to’ (Chaney 1996, 6). Discourse and the Contested Nature of Technical Change Changing communication with the public is complex, and technological innovation in this context is a contested enterprise. This is because there are many different interests and representative groups within the public realm who seek to further their particular priority in that realm. The concept of ‘discourse’ is useful in analysing these dimensions of change, as it refers to a multiplicity of voices, the instability of expression and structures of power that are embedded within discursive repertoires (Chaney 1996). The concept, therefore, sensitizes analysts and commentators to the ‘typology of interests’ within these contexts of change, as well as the instability or problem of definition that is encountered in development processes, and points to the structures of power within public sector innovation programmes. The consequences of the process of definition shape the ways in which digital services become understood and articulated, and directly affects the experiences that citizens and denizens have of the public realm. The actions of those involved in the formation of a telematics discourse, therefore, have a direct impact on the meanings of citizenship, because they are realized through experiences of citizens themselves as innovators change patterns of interaction between members of the public and service providers. Since this book focuses on innovation in the public realm, one criterion for judging the ‘success’ of telematics development is to examine whether it allows citizens to participate in social life in ways that are ‘inclusive, differentiated and reflexive’ (Ellison 1997; Steinert and Pilgram, 2007). One key priority in current public policy is the agenda to reduce social exclusion, which aims to ensure that people can participate fully in social life, to avoid exclusion (Wessels and Miedema

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2007). In this context, public services and communication seek to foster a greater engagement in the public realm. To achieve this, some services are seeking to move beyond established single agency approaches to exclusion, to multi-agency agendas that afford flexibility through digital services. However, the underlying rationale tends to remain one of individual responsibility, meaning that the modern social order therefore still: ... requires complex machineries of elaborate differentiation and enforcement, as well as modern understandings of citizenship which presume a high degree of individual discipline – Chaney 1996, 5.

Chaney (1996) suggests that both these aspects indicate that order is structured and that this can be understood in two ways. The first is that regulations and bureaucratic procedures are an impersonal network of bounds ‘out there’; they exist as a framework that operates in ways which are largely impervious to personal circumstance. The second aspect of structure is that an environment of bureaucratic government is also a world of ‘them and us’ (Chaney 1996, 5). The latter indicates that some people are able to take decisions influencing organizational goals and practices and others who feel subject to the exercise of others’ power.3 The way in which those involved in the innovation of public digital communication and services value and understanding participation in contemporary society has the potential to generate new, more inclusive services. The identity of these actors is therefore influential in shaping public communication, as is the power they have to make changes. The development of consortiums, the capacities and resources that organizations have for development, including their intellectual and skills base, combine to elevate some people and groups into elite positions from which they can instigate and implement change. Notions of ‘elites’ have been used to refer to those who have the ability to perpetuate privileges through time and space. There are numerous ways of defining sources of prestige in complex societies (Crompton 1993), and one example is the formation of technocratic elites (Robins and Webster 1999). The formation of elites in the context of ICT innovation in the public realm is seen in the way technology developers, service providers and policy-makers have the authority to consider and make changes to public service delivery. These elite groups of developers, policy-makers and service providers are, however, not a single homogenous group and are accountable to the citizens they ultimately represent because they act in the public realm. This is significant, as the ethnographic section will show, because the dynamics of the action constituted by the many different perspectives is, to a greater or lesser degree, motivated or focused on a concept of improving the service to the public. The actors either assume that they are, in fact, doing this, or otherwise they use the public service ethic to justify the product. Some, however, are critically reflective of policy and of current service provision and these actors argue against any consensus view that fails to address the issues involved in participation and inclusion. The way in which members of these

3

Compare this to Kafka’s novel The Trial.

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innovation elites contest the precise nature of the development militates against any one view gaining dominance. As the above discussion indicates, an important aspect of developing public services is the conceptualization of citizenship in contemporary society. Citizenship recognises people’s rights as individuals and their lives as social beings, and encompasses status, derived from membership of a collectivity (such as the state), and a system of rights and obligations that incorporates justice, equality, and community. The meaning of citizenship has changed over time, and currently Marshall’s concept of social citizenship – which covers legal, political and social rights – is being questioned due to changing economic factors and political ideologies (Roche 1992). Globalization and the rise of neo-liberalism are generating a context in which the respective roles of the state and the rights and obligations of individuals are under scrutiny, with some commentators advocating a greater role for the market. Nonetheless, any notion of citizenship needs to intimate a verifiable sense of membership and social inclusion. Ellison (1977) argues that it is important to conceive of citizenship as bearing upon a range of shifting memberships and forms of belonging and, to this end, citizenship must be understood as a reflexive process. This is a process in which social agents confront, and are confronted by, changing economic, social and political conditions, which forces a constant questioning and renegotiation of forms of social and political identity and belonging. In practical terms, Turner suggests that citizenship can be understood as a ‘set of social practices that define the nature of social membership’ (Turner 1993, 4). Although citizenship provides one aspect of ‘belonging’ in national terms, other factors such as class, gender and ethnic identities also constitute structuring factors in social order (Grusky 1994) which are, in turn, further complicated by concepts of status and consumerism, which together form a significant factor in the structures of contemporary social order (Chaney 1996, 5). These factors permeate interactions between public services and citizens, and the notion of consumerism has entered the public service environment (Wessels 2000a). Public service providers now take aspects of a consumerist perspective in delivering services in their role as distributors of public resources (Corrigan and Joyce, 1997). Thus, the LBN, one of the ATTACH partners, states that it aims to implement a ‘modern customer-oriented service’. The MPS articulates its activities as comprising a ‘service’ rather than a ‘force,’ and has a charter to define levels of service, as well as holding public-police consultancy meetings to discuss its service. Furthermore, from the perspective of participation, Corrigan (1996) argues that the way to encourage participation in public life is through the expectations and experiences that people have of consumerism. He argues that most people understand consumerism as part of contemporary everyday life and that consumerism is the way in which most people engage with social life in one form or another. Many Newham residents (in focus groups) said that they were identified as ‘customers’ of council services, which should mean that they could expect certain levels of customer care and redress. These aspects take the analysis into the realm of status (Weber in Gerth and Mills eds., 1948.), which puts emphasis on a concern with social differences stemming from ways of using rather than producing resources (Turner 1988). Nonetheless, citizenship embodies rights and responsibilities, and the police, for

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example, form part of the ‘civil body politic’ in everyday life (Manning 1977) and local government is representative of the local populace and is a provider of public services, both of which move the analysis away from direct consumerist politics. To explore communications between citizens and public services, the experience of citizens is conceptualized as ‘the reflexive way in which social agents confront, and are confronted by, changing social conditions, in a manner that forces a constant questioning and renegotiation of forms of social and political belonging’ (Ellison 1997, 714). This grounds the concept of citizenship in contemporary realities and starts to situate it within the contemporary dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. The multi-dimensionality of exclusion means that social agents need a variety of formal and informal resources in order to develop coping strategies in situations of exclusion (Wessels and Miedema, 2007). Situations of exclusion emerge from within a range of social conditions covering many dimensions of social life, encompassing situations and issues such as changing employment/unemployment patterns, the changing ethnic mix of a neighbourhood, changing family patterns, changing values, and so on (see Steinert and Pilgram, 2007). The Provision of Services in Relation to the Nature of Citizenship However, within the tensions and conflicts of social life, official agencies of control have to maintain a level of security for citizens in their everyday lives, thus, as Douglas states: As the public realm has become ever more complex because of the growth of many different kinds of private realms, the members of our society have felt a need for some means of bringing order into that public realm. The device they have created to do this regulating, this ordering of the potentially chaotic, complex society is the official agency of control. These official agencies have grown massively in size and power to try to regulate the growing public sector of our society. These official agents of control have greatly changed the nature of the social rules and their relation to actions in our society – Douglas 1971, 242–3.

The authority of the official agencies of the state, whether to control, to educate or safeguard the welfare of citizens, must be perceived as being legitimate and has to contend with social change in a reflexive public realm. Two institutions in the public realm are the police and local government. The police reference the idea of ‘policing by consent’ at the policy level and in what are commonly termed ‘on the ground practices’. This consent is made and remade on the public stage through the publication of statements of ‘police performance’ and through media representations of the police. However, crucially, consent is made and remade through the interactions of the front-line staff with members of the public. It is in the everyday interactions between police and public that the public experience the police at first hand; and this, as much as media representations, affects public perceptions of the police. In part, these experiences and perceptions maintain the legitimacy and authority of the police in communities. Thus, consent is constantly being negotiated and maintained. Often the public services are situated between some sense of a ‘public morality’ (in

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both the everyday common-sense meaning of morality and that embodied in the law) and the many private meanings of a variety of cultural audiences that constitute ‘the public’ (Manning 1977, 10–13). The metaphor of the ‘Thin Blue Line’ exemplifies this concept perfectly. A local authority’s legitimacy and authority, as the representative of local residents and as a provider of services is based on, and is accountable for, the contribution it can make to good government. The Widdicombe Committee report The Conduct of Local Authority Business summarizes the work of local government as follows: The value of local government stems from its three attributes of: (a) pluralism, through which it contributes to the national political system; (b) participation, through which it contributes to local democracy: (c) responsiveness, through which it contributes to the provision of local needs through the delivery of service. – Audit Commission HMSO 1986, 47.

Local government has to be seen to be fulfilling these criteria in a number of ways. As with the police, a council’s effectiveness is judged by various performance indicators and through the way in which the council is represented in the media. However, how the council interacts with residents is a key factor in how the council is perceived by the public. The interactions of the front-line staff and the quality of services that residents receive influence the public’s perceptions of the council. Citizenship in the UK has increasingly been expressed through ‘charters’. The charter movement began in local government in York in 1988, and in 1991 the government produced its own charter statement (Prior, Stewart and Walsh 1995, 25). The Citizen’s Charter laid out a programme for reform that brought together a range of initiatives which had already been introduced or proposed to make public services more efficient and responsive. The Charter, thus, said little that was new, but did state the incumbent government’s concept of citizenship. The Government Charter was based upon liberal individualism that underlay the government’s view of public service reform. In Prime Minister John Major’s words, the Citizen’s Charter: ... sees public services through the eyes of those who use them. For too long the provider has dominated: now it is the turn of the user .... The principles of the Citizen’s Charter, simple but tough, are increasingly accepted. They give the citizen published standards and results; competition as a spur to quality improvement; responsiveness; and value for money to get the best possible service within the resources that the nation can afford. They give more power to the citizen and more freedom to choose. And where choice is limited in some key public services like schools, social services, probation and the police, the charter is bringing in independent inspection with a strong lay element to ensure that the citizen’s voice is heard – Prime Minister John Major and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1992, cited in Prior, Stewart and Walsh 1995, 26.

The Citizen’s Charter is based on six principles of public service:

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• • • • • •

standards; information and openness; choice and consultation; courtesy and helpfulness; putting things right; value for money. Prior, Stewart and Walsh 1995, 24.

Both the definition of the Citizen’s Charter and the six principles of the Charter express the current popular notion of citizenship, which views the individual as a consumer of services and a citizen participating in civil society (Wessels 2000a). Prior et al. (1995) argue that three basic understandings of the meaning of citizenship emerge from the various charters that have been produced from within local and national government: First there is the concept of the citizen as customer, engaged in the active purchase of public service and the exercise of choice in doing so; citizenship as shopping. The second concept is that of citizens as receiving the public services to which they have a right as members of society. The third concept of citizenship, which generally plays a much lesser role, is that of the citizen as a member of a collective, with duties that result from that membership, and in which there are ties of obligation between individual and state – Prior, Stewart and Walsh 1995, 22.

As Prior et al. (1995) argue, these concepts are very different and they are likely to conflict with each other. Rights, duties and obligations do not sit easily together, especially in the liberal individualism within which these concepts are framed. The Citizen’s Charter derives from an explicit idea of the role of government, which descends from traditional political liberalism, which tries to make government disappear in favour of managed public services controlled by individual choice. The first difficulty with this approach is that it assumes a level of knowledge and resources of the ‘citizens-as-consumers’ that enables them to ‘shop’ in the ‘service market’. There is a huge amount of evidence showing that members of the public lack an awareness of public service provision (Prior, Stewart and Walsh 1995, 26). This is further complicated by different levels of ability to access services, often influenced by factors such as age, ethnicity, education and income. At a fundamental level, the liberal basis of the concept of citizenship is problematic. The difficulties are apparent in the customer/consumer analogy that underlies the Charter. It is difficult to think of people as customers in many aspects of their relations with government, as although many public services have a strong element of consumerism much of what the state does is government. Government involves collective decision-making, regulation and control, and the creation of an institutional framework that makes civil society feasible. It can be argued that many policy decisions based on this liberal interpretation of citizenship have a tenuous reference to the actuality of citizens’ experiences and understanding of public services. Thus, when a new form of service such as telematics is developed, there might be a mismatch between people’s actual needs and organizational priorities. These contradictions add extra complexity in

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developing new services and new forms of communication in the public realm, as part of the underlying rationale behind digital communication is to encourage and foster participation, but the liberal political philosophy underpinning policy agendas can militate against that rationale. Contexts of Telematics Site Testing and Organizational Work The contradictions within policies and the complexities of contemporary life comprise the context in which developers have to creatively devise, conceptualize, implement and test new digital services. Thus, given that ATTACH telematics related to provision of community services and changing communication with the public, the ATTACH telematics services developers in London (MPS and LBN) tested the telematics application in site-specific contexts. Examples included local police stations, council benefit offices, libraries, youth clubs, voluntary agency venues, and local shopping centres. The way the telematics developers interpreted the needs of the local people and services in relation to the characteristics of particular sites influenced how telematics was constructed for the site. The sitespecific developments, as well as the general infrastructure, influenced the way in which local residents perceived and experienced new forms of communication and services. This relationship formed a dynamic of how telematics services were taken up and used by residents. The public’s interpretation of their first use of new services fed into the ongoing development of telematics applications and illustrated how ‘social processes are in part constituted through the ways in which they are identified, enacted and responded to’ (Chaney 1996, 6). The process of development therefore included ongoing evaluation of telematics applications and research to ascertain the needs of local people (see Chapter 10). A key factor in developing public digital communication services is that many of the visions of those services, as well as their planning and implementation, are located in organizations. Organizational change and organizational visions are vital elements in generating technological change, and generally technological change involves organizational change (McLaughlin 1999; McLoughlin 1999). Specifically, in the early days of digitizing and changing communication with the public, organizational narratives were important in the development of telematics services because they formed part of the discourse of telematics. Organizational narratives gave meaning to how telematics services were envisaged, and structured the nature of the digital applications into new forms of communication and services. The formation and reformation of definitions of digital services throughout the development process generated narratives by elites in the innovation process that informed how the concept of telematics was interpreted and framed by the different organizations. The significance of this is that ‘organizations prefigure, organise, and then enact the social environment in which they operate’ (Manning 1982). If, therefore, organizations prefigure and organize their social environment, then the aims, objectives and work of the various organizations involved in developing telematics will shape much of the development. Organizational visions are therefore integral to initial definitions of telematics in project documents.

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For example, in the ATTACH project, the initial definition of telematics was produced by the MPS and the LBN in the project proposal. They documented that the London site of ATTACH would develop a ‘concerns and complaints’ handling process to provide a virtual ‘one-stop shop’ for citizens, and a video interpretation service would be developed in order to communicate with ethnic minorities and with the deaf (these applications were for the LBN). Emergency videolink and broadcast services would be developed by the MPS so that, in emergency situations, citizens would be able to contact the emergency services from public multimedia kiosks. The MPS would also broadcast information to the public via these public kiosks, and would develop document-handling services, such as presentation of driving documents and applications for special licences. It was proposed that both parties of the London site would produce static information, ranging from the latest crime figures to housing information, which would be accessed digitally via the ATTACH system of digital public information kiosks and public service websites accessible via a personal computer. Another example can be seen in the organizational work of private sector ICT companies, whose primary focus is to prefigure a market environment and to supply appropriate technology. The initial understanding of the technology requirements for the ATTACH telematics project was defined by the commercial ICT partner, in technical terms, as the provision of: … a standard range of multimedia kiosks, the MK2100, MK2200 and the MK2250. The kiosk cabinets in each of the models consist of several modules allowing modular building of the terminal with components including touch screen, speakers, receipt cards, videophone, PC base unit, and printer. The basis for the ATTACH multimedia server, being the gateway and control server for the ATTACH network is an Olivetti SNX 400RS. This server will provide a concurrent information stream to the kiosks of up to 2 Mbytes/s. An infrastructure needs to be developed. In Newham there exists a Wide Area Network that links 20 servers and 300 PCs. It includes the use of ISDN, which has been exploited to provide pilot video conferencing facilities. The infrastructure was to be developed by the use of ATM network technology (this aspect of the project to be sponsored by Bell Cable Media) – UR 1001 Urban & Rural Areas 14 November 1995.

The organizational work of the London site partners, the MPS, LBN and Olivetti, constantly interacted with each other in the ongoing definition and redefinition of digital services in the development process. Although generally there are internal organizational dynamics, organizations primarily interact with their business environments, and those environments are influential in shaping organizational visions and processes. Therefore, in the context, of digitizing public communication services, the social conditions of people living in Newham constituted the context of police and local authority business, and these social conditions were influential in defining and shaping new digital services. The services were aligned with each respective organization’s work, but also related to the development of partnership approaches to service provision and, ultimately, to the practices of citizenship in ensuring participation and social inclusion. This process meant that, in broad terms, the development of digital communication moved from a focus on developing multimedia kiosks in public places to local service strategies that provided a network

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of local service centres and a variety of online and offline services involving the reorganization of back office procedures. Conclusion As this chapter shows, at the outset of the ATTACH programme there was no clear-cut definition of what ‘telematics’ actually was. Even though the European Commission provided a broad definitions and guidelines, the ATTACH partners began to interpret some of these broad ideas of telematics in relation to their own organizational priorities. The exact characteristics of telematics, whether at technical or service levels, had not been worked out in detail. The ATTACH partners, who formed an elite, started to define and redefine how telematics might be applied in the public realm and, specifically, in public service-citizen interactions. As public services are concerned with citizens’ needs, the organizational discourses interacted with, and to some degree were shaped in relation to, citizens’ structures of meaning. This relationship was contextualised through contemporary notions of citizenship, as well as the ways in which social agents can participate in social life. Telematics as a nascent form of public service communication, is situated and given meaning by these various social and cultural dynamics, and the context in which telematics services start to take on distinct identities is a local one. In other words, the contested and reflexive nature of telematics development is realized as it interacts with local service provision in a specific locality, such as Newham.

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Chapter 3

The Cultural Dynamics of Technological Change This chapter addresses the question: ‘how is transformation in the way we communicate achieved?’ by developing a theoretical framework to explore the ways in which meaningful action transforms technologies into forms of communication. The central argument is that these transformations are achieved through ‘performance’, which is understood as the dialectic of spontaneous action and reflexivity in which artefacts, meanings, and values are represented in dramatic form and become institutionalized as cultural forms. The framework for this innovative action as performance involves understanding digital communication services as cultural forms where change is achieved through transformational spaces. This approach enables commentators to see that innovations do not simply enter economic systems, but that innovations, including socio-technical change, are culturally meaningful within socio-historical contexts. By understanding the processes of innovation as the institutionalization of cultural forms, the social, political and cultural aspects of innovation can be addressed, so elucidating the richness and complexity of changing communication with the public. This chapter sets out a theoretical framework that aims to address the ways in which technology is socially shaped and culturally informed (Castells 2001). The chapter first covers, briefly, the way in which social sciences have addressed technology. Technological determinists claim that technology determines the social and social change, leaving little room for social factors in socio-technical change. By contrast, social shaping approaches argue that economic and social factors such as, for example, the organization of work and gender roles shape technology. Social constructivism goes further, arguing that technology is fully social. Approaches within the fields of innovation, management, and organizational studies are more specific. A key theme in innovation studies is that technological change is situated within institutional change, and management studies highlight the ways in which technology interacts with organizational change. Although these approaches are insightful, they do not fully address the ways in which the materiality of technology and the character of the communication and services are both socially shaped and culturally informed. The chapter then outlines a conceptual framework for understanding how technology gains its material form and meaning through innovation processes shaped by social values, cultural sensibilities, and political agendas. The framework is premised on the meaningfulness of social action in the production and consumption of (digital) technology. The concepts that make up this framework include the integration of technologies in social and cultural forms constituted

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through the relations of production, narratives and policies, and user-participation. Innovative action is understood as a performance in which new technologies and envisaged services are creatively imagined and staged in relation to social values, cultural narratives, and contexts of use. Innovation takes place in various types of ‘transformational spaces’ such as meetings, workshops, and prototyping trials, where social actors ask ‘what if’ questions in developing new services and technologies. These activities take place in a broader ‘theatre of innovation’ made up of institutions, service providers, policy-makers and user groups. The ethnography is based on this framework, addressing production, narratives and policies, and user participation in the development of new forms of digitally-enabled communication. Addressing Technology and Social Change Those working within the social sciences were initially reluctant to analyse the characteristics of technical change, as the ‘black box’ of technology was thought to be outside the specialized competence of most economists and sociologists, requiring the expertise of engineers and scientists (Freeman 1994, 464). Nonetheless, historically within the social sciences, commentators have addressed the relationship between technology and society. Marx, for example, recognizes the importance of technology for understanding class relationships in his examination of the relationship between labour and technological production in the form of automated and powered machinery (Marx 1976). White’s (1978) technical determinist approach argues that the development of feudalism, as a social system, was the direct product of the stirrup. Technology also figures in recent post-modernist descriptions of society, for example, Poster (1990) argues that new forms of social reality and social life are emerging due to the increasing mediation of communications by electronic devices. These approaches differ from one another in various ways, but display a similar interest in the relationship between technology and society by focusing on the influence of technology upon social structure rather than the social constitution of technology. White’s technological determinism is an extreme formulation, asserting that technology causes social development, whereas Marx (1976) takes into account economic factors as well as technology in the relations of production. Poster (1990) argues that the spread of information technologies is one factor of ‘the post-modern experience’1 which, through the spread of simulation,2 for example, contributes to 1 The reference to post-modernism is only given in relation to placing Poster’s position within his idea of the ‘influences’ of technologies on social relations. Key elements of postmodernism as an intellectual and social phenomenon can be summarized as being: the rejection of modernist thought, values and practices; the rejection of claims to identify ‘truth’ on grounds that there are only versions of ‘truth’; the rejection of the search for authenticity since everything is inauthentic; the rejection of quests to identify meaning because there are an infinity of meanings; the celebration of differences, an emphasis on pleasure, a delight in the superficial, in appearances, in diversity, in parody, irony and pastiche (Webster 1995, 175). 2 By this he means that as actors can no longer believe in a ‘reality’ beyond signs, the self is left fragmented, unfocused and incapable of discerning an objective reality (Poster

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altering social relations. These sociological approaches, therefore, use a study of technology to observe the constitution and organization of the structural arrangements of society, rather than concern for the constitution and organization of technology per se (Button, 1996). Deconstructing the Relationship between Technology and Social Change The development of ‘social shaping of technology’ approaches created interests in technology as an arena where issues such as labour and gender relationships are played out. MacKenzie and Wajcman define technology as referring to: …a set of physical objects (cars, vacuum cleaners, computers), human activities such as steel making (which includes what steel workers do as well as the furnaces they use), and knowledge (technology refers to what people know as well as what they do) – MacKenzie and Wajcman 1985, 3.

Proponents of this approach argue that, in as much as the technology can be shaped, then the ‘content’ of technology is open for sociological scrutiny. ‘Content’ of technology is understood as the materiality, social activity and knowledge that constitutes a technology. Examples of social shaping approaches include Hughes’ (1985) study of Edison’s development of the light bulb, where he identifies the influence of economic factors in technological innovation. Cockburn’s (1985) study of compositors in the printing trade identifies the ways the dynamics of gender resulted in technology becoming the property of men through the exclusion of women from technical jobs. Social shaping approaches also contribute to understanding the innovation process in which they highlight the social dynamics of change, arguing that: •

• • •

Innovation is a complex social activity – a process of struggle as well as a technical process. It involves processes of interest articulation, and learning processes. This framework highlights the types of expertise possessed by different actors in the innovation process and the flows of information between them. Innovation is not a linear process, but an iterative, or spiral process. It takes place through interactions across a network of actors. All this gives rise to significant differences in the form and content of the emerging technology. – Williams and Edge 1992, 18.

Williams and Edge (1992) argue that traditional approaches to innovation separate technologies from their social concepts and fail to identify the social arrangements within which technology emerges and becomes embedded. Thus, for example, Webb (1991) analyses the relationship between supplier and user firms in a variety of new technologies, including IT-based products. Webb emphasizes that product development is not simply a question of deploying technical know-how, but involves 1990, 14).

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other types of expertise, such as marketing, and argues that ‘social interactions amongst particular occupational groups within and between firms, their cultures and orientation, all influence product design and choice’ (in Williams and Edge 1992, 21). Williams et al. (2005) follow this approach to show how technological change involves processes of social learning, whereby developers and users learn to appropriate technology and shape it for specific contexts of use. Social constructivists argue that technology is grounded in, and constituted by, socially operative forces. Bijker, Hughes and Pinch (1987),3 for example, draw on social studies of science to identify three stages in the social construction of technology. The first stage is to demonstrate that technology is open to different interpretations. The second stage is to map out the mechanisms through which debate is closed through the stabilization of the artefact, not only by ‘solving’ problems but rather by having relevant groups see that the problems have been solved. The third stage is to see how the content of the artefact is related to the social. In relation to this last point, Woolgar (1991) advocates an approach that focuses on the discursive and interpretative practices of constructing technology, arguing that: ‘what we apprehend as technology is to be constructed as text, the production and consumption of which is on a par with our own writing and reading practices’ (Woolgar 1991, 9). Woolgar’s approach leads Winner (1985) to argue that ‘technology can have politics’. In his study of the Moses Bridge, which connects Long Island to Jones Beach in Manhattan, Winner points out that the way the bridge was built precluded the use of public transport, which excluded ‘blacks’, as habitual users of public transport, from Jones Beach The technology (the bridge), therefore, excluded black people from the beach as a leisure area, meaning that ‘whites’ using their private cars could retain exclusive access to the beach and enjoy its leisure facilities. Woolgar (1991) argues that the technology can therefore be read in two ways: as a way of transporting people or as a way of playing out racial prejudice. Woolgar’s interest is in the persuasiveness of the text, with what makes one reading of the text more persuasive than another. Law (1987) demonstrates another dimension of social constructivism by focusing on the construction process. He argues that technology is an emergent phenomenon that requires associative activities to be enacted through an ‘actor-network’, which involves: ... ‘actor’, ‘agent’, or ‘actant’ without making any assumptions about who they may be and what properties they are endowed with ... they can be anything – individual (‘Peter’) or collective (‘the crowd’), figurative (anthropomorphic or zoomorphic) or nonfigurative (‘fate’) – Latour 1987, 12.

Law argues ‘that stability and form of artefacts should be seen as a function of the interaction of heterogeneous elements as these are shaped and assimilated into a network’ (Law 1987, 25). Law argues that artefacts result from the elements that make up a network.

3 Also see: Callon, Law and Rip (1986); Fyfe and Law (1988); Callon (1868); Latour (1988); Woolgar (1988).

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Generally speaking, social constructivist theorists emphasize the way that technology is socially constructed, whereas the proponents of social shaping highlight the way in which social factors shape technology. Molina (1995) attempts to move beyond social shaping and constructivist approaches towards institutional and organizational approaches to technology, in his conceptualization of ‘sociotechnological constituencies’. He analyzes the ways in which actors, resources and technologies configure to develop new technologies, showing that they form constituencies in order to do so. The formation of socio-technical constituencies points to the inseparability of technical and social constituents in technical development. Molina’s approach adopts a broadly social shaping notion, but differs from actornetwork theories because it does not place the animate and the inanimate in the same category. However, he makes the link between culture and action, where rules guide or direct action. Wittgenstein argues that this is empirically invalid (1958, 38–9), and Bourdieu (1977) argues that it is tautological, which points to some of the difficulties in the approaches discussed in this section. Although the approaches discussed all deconstruct technology in relation to the social in varying ways, they lose some details of associating technology and social worlds, whether through not fully accounting for any interactional work (Garfinkel and Wiley 1980), the role of organizations (McLoughlin 1999), human and institutional dynamics (Mansell and Silverstone 1996) or cultural factors of the production and use of technology within society. Associating Technology and Social Worlds: Work in Institutionalizing Technology Garfinkel’s critique of constructivist approaches is that they take the phenomenon out of the realm of the social world (cited in Button 1996), which reveals a more general need to address the details of the link between social factors and technology. Garfinkel (in Button 1996) argues that, to explore the cultural worldliness of phenomena, there needs to be a stress on production. He addresses his concern with constructivism from ethnomethodology’s emphasis on the work involved in the production of cultural objects and artefacts, including the work of the occupations involved (Garfinkel, 1984).4 This ethnomethodological view stresses the ways in which actions and interactions produce cultural objects in ways that are ‘accountable’. Significantly, this starts to provide an explanation of why an artefact emerges in the form it does and at the time it does. This is because the accountability of the actions that produce artefacts is realized within sets of relations produced by the social actors themselves. Researchers within the ethnomethodology tradition focus on details of the work of actors and their interactions in producing technology. This approach entails undertaking detailed observations of the actions and interactions of actors as they develop and use technology indexically and reflexively in social contexts.

4 Further examples include: Atkinson and Drew 1979; Bittner 1967; Sudnow 1978; Heritage, 1984.

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Approaches within ethnomethodology are often used to inform the design of technology, by detailing the actions and interactions of the users of technology within specific contexts (Hartwood et al. 2002). The focus of these approaches is on the way in which actors produce orderly and accountable social action, including action supported by technology through the action itself. This micro approach does not address areas at the meso level, such as the role of technology in organizations, or concerns at the macro level such as the function of technology within the broader environment of the (socio-economic) relations of production. Orlikowski’s (1992) work begins to examine the meso level by addressing technology in relation to organizations.5 She argues that technology is created and changed by human action and is used by humans to accomplish action, and she calls this recursive notion of technology the ‘duality of technology’. The interaction of technology and organizations is a function of the different actors and sociohistorical contexts implicated in its development and use, thus technology is a product of human action, which also assumes structural properties (Orlikowski 1992, 405). Orlikowski (1992, 1994) draws on Giddens’ structuration theory,6 which posits that agency and structure are not independent, and argues that, within this framework, the ongoing social action of agents habitually draws on technology that

5 She argues that previous conceptualisations of technology have focused selectively on agency or structure resulting in ambiguous knowledge of technology in organisations, see, Attewell and Rule 1984; Davis and Taylor 1986; Hartmann et al. 1986 and Scott 1981. Working within philosophical positions in social sciences (Bernstein, 1978), she identifies structural approaches in her ‘Technical Imperative’ model, see Aldrich 1972; Blau et al. 1976; Hickson et al. 1969 and Perrow 1967. She identifies agency-based approaches in her ‘Strategic Choice’ model, see Bijker 1987; Bijker, Hughes and Pinch 1987; Boland and Day 1982; Bostrom and Heinen 1977: Child 1972; Collins 1987; Cooley 1980; Davis and Taylor 1986; Edwards 1979; Hirschheim, Klein and Newman 1987; Markus 1983; Mumford 1981; Newman and Rosenberg 1985; Noble 1984; Perrow 1983; Pinch and Bijker 1984; Powell 1987; Sabel 1982; Shaiken 1985; Trist et al. 1963; Woolgar 1985; Wynne 1988; Zuboff 1988. She identifies economic deterministic Marxist accounts of technology:see Braverman 1974; Cooley 1980; Edwards 1979; Noble 1984. Her model of ‘technology as a trigger of structural change’, focuses on soft deterministic approaches, see Barley 1986, 1990. 6 Structuration theory is an approach adopted by Giddens (1976) in which social relations are seen as structured in time and space as the outcome of the ‘duality of structure’. He argues that through the regular action of knowledgeable and reflexive actors, patterns of interactions become established as standardised practices in organisations. Over time, habitual use of such practices eventually becomes institutionalised, forming structural properties of organisations, These structural or institutionalised properties (structure) are drawn on by humans in their ongoing interactions (agency), even as such use, in turn, reinforces the institutional properties (Giddens 1976).

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in turn objectifies and institutionalizes it.7, 8 She sees human action as knowledgeable and reflexive and notes that, although there is flexibility in the design and use of technology, influencing factors (whether external or internal) mean that the interpretative flexibility of any given technology is not infinite. There is, however, a lack of clarity regarding the precise influence of structure and agency in her analysis, which reflects reformulations, including that of Giddens9 to the relations between structure and agency. There is still debate at the theoretical level regarding the appropriate conceptualization of relations between the two, as well as discussion on the prior or interrelated question of how ‘agency’ and ‘structure’ should be defined in the first place. Thus, Layder (1981), for example, regards Giddens’ conception of structure as lacking any autonomous properties or pre-given facticity, and Bryant and Jary (1991) have detected a persistent bias towards agency in Giddens’ formulation. Without understanding the precise nature of action and structure, especially if actions are seen as capabilities rather than intentions, it is difficult to understand the dynamics of change. Given this, Archer states that: ‘the theory of structuration remains incomplete because it provides an insufficient account of mechanisms of stable replication versus the genesis of new social forms’ (Archer 1992, 131). When the problem of the conceptualization of relations between structure and agency in the theory is applied to technology and social action, it reproduces the theory’s inherent ambiguity, resulting in ambiguity of analyzing the relative influences of action and the structuring components of technology-in-use. Mansell and Silverstone (1996) set an agenda for the framing of research questions for studies of ICTs, which seeks to gain a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between technical change and institutional structures. They draw on Freeman, who argues that all innovations are: ‘social and not natural phenomena; all of them the result of human actions, human decisions, human expectations, human institutions’ (Freeman 1992b, 224; Freeman 1992a). Mansell and Silverstone develop this view, maintaining that: ‘the analysis of the determinates of technical 7 There are several approaches to action and agency. These approaches stem from Weber who stresses that action is defined in the terms of ‘meaningfulness’ and sociological analysis must proceed by identifying the meanings that actions have for actors (1922, 1949). They can broadly be defined as ‘hermeneutic’ and ‘positivist’ approaches. ‘Hermeneutic action theories make ‘meaningfulness’ an absolute theoretical priority (Schutz, A. 1971). ‘Positivist’ approaches (Parsons, T. 1937, 1951) tend to be more interested in social structure and how it sets the goals and means available to actors. 8 Social structure refers to the enduring, orderly and patterned relationships between elements of a society. There is debate about what should count as an ‘element’. 1) Social structures as relationships of a general and regular kind between people (Radcliffe-Brown); 2) roles as the elements (Nadel); 3) social institutions as organised patterns of behaviour are proposed as the elements of social structures by a wide range of sociologists, particularly functionalists, who then define societies in terms of functional relations between institutions. Sociologists typically wish to use concepts of social structure to explain something; usually the explanation is a causal one. 9 Other theorists who have addressed this reformulation include Berger and Luckmann (1967), Berger and Pullberg (1966), and Bhaskar (1979).

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change cannot be divorced from the analysis of institutional change’ (Mansell, and Silverstone (eds) 1996, 15). They draw on various functionalist accounts which address social activity by referring to its consequences for the operation of some other activity, institution, or society as a whole.10 Mansell and Silversone (1996) adopt Merton’s middle-range theory as an organizational tool to aid them in constructing ‘minor working hypotheses’ within ‘master conceptual schemes’ needed to address technological and institutional change. They address the issue of change through ‘differentiation’, which is used widely in theories of social change (e.g. Smelser 1959; Parsons 1951). Differentiation refers to a process whereby sets of social activities performed by one social institution become split up between different institutions, representing an increasing specialization of parts of society, resulting in greater heterogeneity within society. Mansell and Silverstone (1996) use this ‘soft’ functionalist framework to explore the institutional-technical change dynamic and adapt this overall ethos to a range of scenarios from the development of a European Information Society (Mansell and Steinmuller 2002) to the appropriation and use of technologies in everyday life (Haddon 2004). Mansell and Steinmuller (2002), for example, counter the view that information society developments are inevitable and take a single evolutionary pathway. Instead, they show that the ongoing development of a European Information Society is the result of a range of competing visions and strategies held by various social actors in Europe and beyond to global actors. By contrast, Silverstone (with Hirsch 1992), develops the concept of domestication to address the ways in which technologies become accepted and used, or become rejected within the complexities and routines of everyday life11 (also see Berker et al. 2006). These approaches counter accounts of a rational and linear innovation process which is monocausal and technically determined (Berker et al. 2006; Mansell and Steinmuller 2002) and, in different ways, analyze various aspects of the social and institutional dynamics of technological innovation.

10 There are a large number of types of functionalist arguments, three of which are: 1) a social activity or institution may have latent functions for some other activity; 2) a social activity may contribute to the maintenance of the stability of a social system; and 3) a social activity may contribute to satisfying basic social needs or functional prerequisites. Theorists in this tradition include Parsons, Merton, and Durkheim. 11 They situated their work in the ‘moral economy’ defined as “... households are conceived as part of a transactional system of economic and social relations within the formal or more objective economy and society of the public sphere” (Silverstone and Hirsch 1992:16). The technology was shaped through a system of relations that consists of four nondiscrete elements or phases, appropriation, objectification, incorporation, conversion. They also pointed to the ‘double articulation’ of ICTs as a means i.e. the media though which public and private meanings are mutually negotiated; as well as being products themselves, through consumption, such as negotiations of meaning, for example, the television is both an object and a medium, one which can provide a basis for ‘education’ as a competence in all aspects of culture (Silverstone and Hirsch 1992:21).

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Addressing the Cultural Dynamics of Technological Change Addressing the richness of the dynamics of technological change involves considering the link between technical forms and human culture. Geertz’s (1973) semiotic concept of culture stresses that human action is meaningful because social actors weave ‘webs of significance’ within their various activities. By understanding human action as symbolic (i.e. meaningful), the complexity of the link between technical forms and human culture can start to be considered in all its ‘cultural thisworldliness’ (c.f. Garfinkel and Wiley 1980). Culture adds a symbolic level to our social, institutional, and material understanding of the development of technologies, digital or otherwise, and it involves moving beyond technical determinism and technical somnambulism, as Pfaffenberger argues: In the somnambulistic view, ‘making’ concerns only engineers and ‘doing’ concerns only users. Hidden from view is the entire network of social and political relations that are tied to making and are influenced by doing. In the technological determinist view, the technology ... is seen as something apart from this network. Technology is thus, in this view, an independent variable to which forms of social relations and politics stand as dependent variables. So there is indeed a hidden unity underlying these positions that seem to stand in apparent contradiction: technology, under the sway of Western culture, is seen as a disembodied entity, emptied of social relations ... It stands before us, in other words, in what Marx would call fetished form: what in reality is produced by relations among people appears before us in a fantastic form as relations among things – Pfaffenberger 1988, 242.

In taking a cultural approach to innovation, the emphasis is on symbolic action, and the analysis is particularly directed towards human action as it attains meaning and is interpreted. Innovation, therefore, is understood by the ways in which change and transformation occurs through action that is meaningful. The process of understanding the meaningfulness of technological change involves considering how humans act in meaningful ways, which in turn leads to situating meaning in social forms, cultural values and technology. Given this framework of analysis, it follows that one needs to address the way in which humans change established patterns of actions, by, for example, asking ‘what if’ questions in the process of change which involve envisaging new ways of doing things. Furthermore, these processes must be understood contextually, as the formation of projects is situated within a broader social and institutional environment. These broader environments generate resources and relevance as well as the context in which meaningfulness of technological change materializes into various social and cultural forms. Dilthey’s (1914–36) analysis of meaning is helpful for understanding the way in which humans make sense of situations and act meaningfully in their varied and diverse social worlds. He argues that meaning involves understanding that there is a distinction between static models of thought and action such as cosmologies, theologies, philosophical systems, ethical systems, and ideologies, and the dynamic lived Weltschauung. This Weltschauung consists of a Weltbild, that is, a body of knowledge and belief about what is cognitively taken to be the ‘real world’. A set of value judgements is raised upon this, expressing the relation of the adherents

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to their world and the meaning (Bedeutung) which they find in it. This, in turn, supports a more or less coherent system of ends, ideals, and principles of conduct, which are the points of contact between the Weltanschauung and praxis, the sociocultural interaction, making it a force in the construction of human projects, and of society at large. Dilthey (1957) argues that Weltanschauung is not a permanent, fixed structure of eternal ideas but itself represents, at any given moment, a dispensable stage in humans’ unending struggle to find a convincing solution to the ‘riddles of life’ (Dilthey 1914–36 Gesammelte Scriften VIII, 237). This concept of meaning indicates that action as praxis involves humans working within their understanding of a set of social and material conditions and actively interpreting the value and meaning of these conditions with relation to sets of principles. The meaningfulness of specific contexts, and the ways in which they are interpreted, form the cultural framework for considering social and technological change. As Dilthey (1957; 1914–36) suggests, meaning is situated in social experience, and therefore understanding technological change involves considering the dynamic interplay of social forms, cultural values and technology. Pfaffenberger (1988) addresses this point by arguing that: … technology is humanised nature [which] is to insist that it is a fundamentally social phenomenon: it is a social construction of nature around us and within us, and once achieved, it expresses an embedded social vision, and it engages us in what Marx would call a form of life. The interpenetration of culture and nature here described is, in short, of the sort that Mauss (1967) would readily call total: any behaviour that is also, political, social and symbolic. It has a legal dimension, it has a history, it entails a set of social relationships and it has meaning – Pfaffenberger 1988, 244.

This conceptualization encompasses the social relations of the formation of technologies, which in so doing, for example, embeds communication within the social, political and cultural dynamics of digitally-mediated communication. Understanding the complexity of this link requires understanding the ways in which cultural forms are envisaged and materialize within the social drama of innovation. This provides a framework for the social relations and cultural dimensions of technology, and the characteristics of the interaction of technology with social forms and systems of meaning to create new technological forms. The processes within these frameworks are especially relevant because the characteristic action within innovation is that of ‘performance’ where social, political and cultural values are constantly ‘in play’ in relation to material and technological artefacts and the conventions of communication. The actual performance of the innovation enacts out – dramatises – the complex links between human culture and technological forms. If the understanding is that technological change is interdependent with social and institutional change, then the meaningfulness of that change is realized through cultural change. Chaney (1993) argues that cultural change refers to differences in the way that social projects are discursively understood in particular historical contexts. Part of cultural change involves understanding the way in which change is contested and represented. One particular approach to cultural change takes a dramatist frame of reference (Burke 1989) which addresses forms and frames of staging (Chaney 1993). This focus provides a framework for the analysis of social order

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as being reflexive. Thus, for example, in envisaging new forms of communication, social actors experiment with cultural conventions, which are ‘distinctive forms of symbolic imagination embodied in material practices [that] are aspects of the institutionalisation of a more-or-less coherent order’ (Chaney 1993, 15). This is the case for innovative work in digital services projects in which the work requires playing with conventionally-held meanings where the elements of the material world (usually currently at hand) are treated as means of signification, and as meaning is generated through performance, interpretation is contingent on, and infinitely capable of, reconsideration (Chaney 1993). The recognition that interpretation is a social practice politicizes the constitutive significance of cultural imagery, rather than atomising meaning. Thus, as Chaney argues, ‘if a form of life is a way of using a set of implements and resources then the order through which cultural imagery represents types of order is a distinctive way of being in the world’ (Chaney 1993, 15), and creates languages in the formulation of social projects. How we change the ways in which we communicate in the public realm, therefore, does not simply mean changing the technological aspects of communication. Rather, it involves integrating social values and cultural meaning within communication technology holistically as a social and cultural practice that materialize as social and cultural forms. The use of implements, artefacts and resources in, for instance, a communication system and the re-imagining of new forms of communication require some analysis of the way that actions affect situations. As Burke (1989) agues, the image of action as performance highlights how actions affect situations, which allows for the ways in which actors create the meanings of situations and form actions that are strategic. This perspective allows action the potential to be dramatic because it includes conflict, purpose, reflection and choice, and actors frame events in the formulation of experience and through symbols. The interpretation and framing of events, such as the development of telematics, is one characterized in terms of sets of relationships where modes of performance involve ‘an assumption to an audience for the way in which communication is carried out, above and beyond its referential content’ (Bauman 1977, 11). Thus, as new forms of technically-mediated services are being created, there is a reflexive concern with forms of communication as they attain meaning in social and cultural contexts. The characteristics of performance are realized in social dramas that give a sense of ‘experiential matrix’ for the generation of various genres of cultural performance (Turner 1974, 78). Turner (1974) argues that drama involves modes of transformation of both performer and setting and requires playing with forms of experience. The relevance of this concept of drama to studies of innovation is that it can address the transformations of products and social practices into new ‘production functions’ and ‘symbolic goods and services’ within specific contexts of development and use. Turner (1974) stresses that the truly spontaneous unit of human social performance is not a role-playing sequence, but rather that action through social drama results in the suspension of normative role-playing, where passionate activity abolishes the usual distinction between flow and reflection. This is because it becomes a matter of urgency in a social drama to become reflexive about the cause and motive of action, which affects the social fabric. It is in the social drama that Weltanschauung becomes visible, if only fragmentarily, as factors give meaning to deeds that at first

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sight seem meaningless. The point that Turner (1974) makes is that the performative genres (such as innovation) are, as it were, secreted from the social drama12 (Turner, 1987), and in turn surround it and feed their performed meanings back to it. In this sense, the process of socio-technical change is embedded in the dynamics of the relationship between socio-cultural landscapes and technical developments in a variety of innovation projects. To reiterate, the theoretical framework that is being developed here aims to address the cultural dynamics of technological change without losing the content of the technology or giving too much influence to overly-determined action. The framework does this by arguing that action is meaningful and produces artefacts through cultural frameworks in social dramas. As innovation involves questioning the existing technological and social order, and the processes of innovation occur in cultural frameworks, action gains meaning from the context of situations and the interpretations in use. In this context, action has a strategizing element to it within any given situation, which, as Gusfield (1989) argues, is the crux of human drama. Therefore, when action is understood as performance within social dramas, it is a way of affecting a situation.13 More specifically, Burke (1989) argues that members of social groups understand their social world through their symbolic order,14 and come to see that order through ‘performance’. Performance is therefore a source of representation and transformation and a dialectic of ‘flow’ – spontaneous movement in which action and awareness are one – as well as reflexivity in which the central meanings, values and goals of culture are seen in action (Schechner and Appel 1990, 1). As indicated above, drama involves modes of transformation of both performer and setting, and requires playing with forms of social experience. Turner’s (1974) focus on performance and social drama shows that there is a continuous, dynamic process linking performative behaviour – art, ritual, play – with social and ethical structures, and considers the way that social actors think about and organize their lives and specify individual and group values. Thus, for example, in the innovation process of changing communication, developers have to work with values embodied in citizenship and in the public realm, to shape 12 For Turner social dramas typically have four main phases of public action. These are (1) Breach of regular norm-governed social relations; (2) Crisis, during which there is a tendency for the breach to widen. Each public crisis has liminal characteristics, since it is a threshold (limen) between more or less stable phases of the social process; (3) Redressive action ranging from personal advice and informal mediation or arbitration to formal juridical process, or in the metaphorical and symbolic idiom of a ritual process; (4) The final phase consists either of the reintegration of the distributed social group, or the social recognition and legitimation of a schism between parties (Turner, V. 1987:74–75). 13 This approach has also been used in studying institutions. Edelman (1964, 1971), for instance, has interpreted much governmental action and labour-management relations as performances by government and management to persuade members of the public and workers of ‘realities’ that are often belied by the ‘backstage’ practices. 14 Burke (1989) argues that the sociologist who examines the symbolic order of a social group is inquiring into the concepts and ideas used to produce understanding in that group. They are the visions and versions of reality through which perceptions of physical and social life are expressed and experienced.

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new communication systems. An innovation process exhibits further characteristics of performance – that performance is an art, which is open, unfinished, de-centred, liminal and, for Turner (1974), is a paradigm for process. The practice of innovation is performative because it is a process of transformation which involves distinctive symbolic acts that are realized through performance in particular transformational spaces. Symbolic acts are the ways in which actors define, mark and make sense of particular stages of the innovation process. Symbolic acts work as catalysts for members of the project to discuss assessments of technology and services, indexically and reflexively, which helps to inform and shape the phases of development. At significant points in the process, these meanings are articulated within the innovation group to either a real or perceived audience that become marked as distinctive milestones in a project – they become the defining symbolic acts of the innovation drama. The articulation of these meanings forms significant moments or events in the process of the development of telematics. Symbolic acts, in this sense, are being used in a sociological manner to express what Burke sees as a way of understanding a situation, i.e: • • • • •

Act: What took place? Scene: What is the context in which it occurred? Agent: Who performed the act? Agency: How was it done? Purpose: Why was it done? Burke 1989, 15.

These aspects are interdependent in the social action and comprise the constituents of a symbolic act, thus giving meaning to the ongoing processes. People working in an innovation project experiment with ideas and materials in relation to orientations to perceived social and cultural values. There is an everpresent potential for conflict since actors in the innovation drama have different ideas and interpretations of the development process. Thus, social dramas constitute transformation and reflexivity in spheres of life and lifeworlds, which is a defining feature of innovation. At this point, one can start to understand innovation and social order as reflexive, because the practice of innovation tends to break with some aspects of established ways of ‘doing things’, i.e. social conventions, in seeking to envisage new social and cultural forms. The concepts of drama and action, when utilized within ethnographies of performance, therefore help to identify the symbolic relevance of specific cultural constellations of communication that give meaning to particular communities as well as elucidate the reflexive constitution of social order (Chaney 1993). It is precisely this last point that helps address the problem of social action and technological change, in that innovation involves questioning the existing order of things and processes of innovation occur in cultural frameworks. Projects, including innovation projects, gain meaning through performance in which all elements of the material world are treated as means of signification and create languages in the formulation of social projects (Chaney 1993).

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A key aspect in the performance of innovative drama (as well as in other performative genres) is ‘transformational spaces’. These spaces can be understood through a theatrical metaphor where actors devise transformational spaces such as workshops in which they play with narratives, products and social conventions of imagined audiences to creatively think through new cultural forms. A workshop, for example, operates as a ‘transformational space’ by being part of a workshop-rehearsal process that is liminoid (Schechner 1977). Liminoid or liminal means a space that is ‘betwixt and between’ the fixed world from which material is extracted and the fixed score of a performance text (Turner 1974; Schechner 1977). Within the ICT innovation process, this is realized in the interdependency of the digital technology, narratives of the role of communication in the public realm, and characteristics of participation in communication and services. It is liminoid because it is ‘in between’ existing communications systems, conventions, guidelines and visions of possible future forms of communication. There is, therefore, a potential for transformation as the new form of communication media is not constrained by established conventions, and actors can interpret and ‘play with’ narratives and artefacts of a nascent digital media form. In order to expand the understanding of transformational spaces, Turner’s idea of liminality (1974) is linked with Stanislavski’s (1946) ‘magic if’. It is during workshoprehearsals that ‘if’ is used as a way of researching a physical environment, effects, and relationships – everything that will sooner or later be fixed in the performance of a cultural form. In a workshop-rehearsal, ‘real work’ is being done, work that is serious and problematical and indicative. Often, however, a casual observer of these rehearsals may feel that the work is ‘as if’ in nature, something tentative, subjunctive: ‘let’s try that’, ‘this could work’, ‘what would happen if?’ Workshops are in a sense playful, the techniques of ‘as if’ flourish in games, role exchanges, and improvisations, and participants contribute ‘stuff from all over’. Workshops find, reveal, and express material, and rehearsals give this ‘stuff’ performative shape. These performances are not ad hoc occurrences because they are realized through innovation dramas of particular cultural forms. Cultural forms, like most conceptual tools, have been used in a variety of ways15 and can be applied to the analysis of the form and content of social dramas. This is because action, performances and dramas are not random events, rather they are constituted through the drama’s relations of production, through the narratives of the play and through the participation between producer, performer and audiences (Chaney 1990). The cultural form addresses these aspects and their relationships in the dynamics of change. Williams’ (1974) concern is to resist cruder forms of technological determinism, and in his study of television he situates the technology within cultural conventions that stem partly from other narrative traditions and partly from wider cultural concerns. The cultural form is, therefore, both more than and less than a particular technology. Although Williams (1974) places culture at the centre of analysis, he does not use the semiotic concept of culture; nonetheless, he does address cultural conventions in the generation of meanings of media technologies. However, he is positioned away from media and cultural theorists such as Hall because he makes 15 For example, Willis 1978 and Williams 1974.

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culture central in the processes of struggles over collective meaning,16 and thus meaning becomes significant in itself. Other approaches to cultural forms include the work of scholars at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), who were writing in relation to developments in cultural analysis within an English tradition,17 American functionalism18 and the Critical Theory19 of the Frankfurt School.20 Academics at the Centre, including Hall,21 approach culture through the idea of hegemony,22 which means the ways in which power is exercised though ideological and political means to gain the consent of the mass of the population to the existing (capitalist) order. Hegemony posits an ideological determinist stance to culture, but the CCCS approach seeks to account for a degree of negotiation in the determination of cultural meanings, whilst maintaining some constraints on voluntarism. There is, however, a contradiction between the need to retain a core of prescriptive determinism while recognising creative cultural strategies in constituting distinctive social worlds.23 As Chaney argues, there is a ‘problem with theories of hegemony as with all 16 Chaney defines it as ‘the ways in which we might assess the dignity and value of different forms of life’ (1994, 11). 17 See Turner, 1990: British Cultural Studies. 18 These approaches argue that the media, for example, exist to meet certain needs or requirements of society and that a function refers to the meeting of such a need. Thus, it can be argued, that a taxonomy of ‘social functions of the media’ could include a ‘dysfunction’ – the ‘narcotising function’, which renders ‘large masses of the population politically apathetic and inert’ (Lazersfeld, P.F. and Merton, R.K. 1948). Also see Mc Quail (1983) for discussion of media effects. Hall criticized media effects research for not addressing the reception of media texts, and developed a model of three moments of production (‘encoding’), text (meaningful discourse) and reception (decoding). Each may be viewed as ‘relatively autonomous’ but are also part of a wider process (Hall, 1973). This work resulted in an array of audiences studies, see: Hobson 1982; And 1985; Radway 1987; Scannell et al. 1992; Morley 1980, 1986; Silverstone 1990; Silverstone et al. 1989. 19 Critical theory derives from traditions of Kantian critical philosophy and of Marxian critique of ideology. 20 Leading members with a selection of publications of the school include, Adorno 1947; Adorno and Horkheimer 1973; Benjamin 1970; Marcuse 1964; Habermas adapted this tradition 1973, 1989; most recent work is Steinert, 2002. 21 Here I use Hall as the representative of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies approach, as he was the key figure in this approach. 22 This is a term used by Gramsci (1971) to describe how the domination of one class over others is achieved by a combination of political and ideological means. Although political force – coercion – is always important, the role of ideology in winning the consent of dominated classes may be even more significant. The Birmingham School also embodied an idea of determination and denied that the ’ways of making meaningful [are graspable] in their own terms, in their forms of appearance in the world’ (Johnson 1979, 65), and instead argued that culture makes the world meaningful as an articulation of ideology (Grossberg 1986). 23 McGuigan (amongst others) argues that, although lip service is still paid to the notion of hegemony, the theory has been exhausted by its attempt to straddle two stools: ‘Hegemony theory bracketed off the economics of cultural production in such a way that an exclusively consumptionist perspective could emerge from its internal contradictions’ (McGuigan 1992, 76).

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prescriptive versions of social determinism, in that they try to close off the processes of the production of meaning. Such theories cannot allow for the freeplay of irony or reflexivity in cultural discourse’ (Chaney 1994, 48). Although Chaney (1994) argues that there is a necessary interdependence of culture and society, this must not been seen as a relationship in which one governs or determines the other, with all that that implies in terms of functionalism or hidden purposes. Rather, one can only understand the ‘dynamic intensity of the meaning of cultural practices by reference to social concerns; participating in and/or enjoying some cultural object is a form of social action’ (Chaney 1994, 49). As the above discussion indicate, the concept of culture and cultural forms have been defined and utilized in different ways. However, one particular definition of cultural forms is useful for understanding socio-technical change: … three interdependent elements …. These elements are: first, the relations of production – that is the social organization of producing and distributing, obviously including specific features of the technology of expression, cultural phenomena; secondly, characteristic modes of narration – that is the themes, styles and narrative organization of the form; and thirdly, the type of participative interaction between producer, performer and audience that is characteristically provided within a particular form – more generally, the social bonds, the nature of the collectivity, that is implied and generated within the performance – Chaney 1990, 51.

This conceptualization examines the interdependency of production, narrative and participation that shapes the innovation of new technological systems, which express particular social and cultural sensibilities when in use. The specific context of production, the context of the formation of specific narratives, and the contexts of participation in the form enable an understanding of how digital technologies develop as cultural forms to gain specific characteristics. This involves understanding the interdependency of the production of digital technologies, the narratives of communication and services, and the communicative interaction and participation of members of the public in the public realm’s communicative services. The cultural form acts as an organizing principle of innovation and situates performance within the production, narrative and participation aspects of innovation. Innovation can only be said to have occurred if the production, narrative and participation become interdependent, i.e. for production and consumption to be articulated through narratives that hold meaning for both producers and consumers. To address the emergence of a new communication media, the interdependency of its production, the characteristics of its narratives and the participative interaction between producers, performers and audiences needs to be understood. Chaney’s (1990) concept of the cultural form within a semiotic cultural approach provides a framework for understanding the cultural dynamics of innovation. The ways in which new social and cultural forms are realized in symbolic action enables an understanding of how digital communication emerges in its distinctive forms to be gained. This cultural forms approach facilitates an appreciation of the cultural contexts of innovation processes and the ways in which the development of new artefacts and services is embedded within broader socio-cultural trends, such as the changing

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character of policing global and multicultural cities in the twenty-first century. The specific context of production, the context of formation of particular narratives and contexts of participation in digital services enables an understanding of how a cultural form such as telematics gains a specific identity. Therefore, research must understand the interdependency of the production of telematics, the narratives of telematics and the communicative interaction between citizens and services. The cultural form approach also has practical applications for achieving ‘best practice’ when implementing telematics in organizations.

User needs research

production

BACKSTAGE

information requirements civil service

MPS

European Union

STAGE

central gov't

local gov't

technology & services firms

minorities

majorities alienated residents

technical development

AUDIENCE aspiring residents

settled residents

Figure 3.1 The theatre of innovation

The three aspects of the cultural form are drawn into the broader innovation environment in which production, narrative and participation are generally organized. This broader innovation environment is understood through a metaphor of ‘theatre’, and specifically as a ‘theatre of innovation’; represented by Figure 3.1. below (Wessels, 2000b). The figure illustrates the central actors of the innovation drama: those within the relations of production are primarily seen as ‘backstage’; those involved in the formation of narratives and policy are located on the ‘stage’; and participants in the public realm form the audiences. These actors move in and out of workshop-rehearsals in the innovation drama, and the backstage, stage and audience are linked in the innovation process. Thus, those involved in the relations of production, in the formation of narratives and as audiences move between these spaces, and the meanings and knowledge gained through these interactions shape new communications systems. The arrows show the interactions between these aspects, with interactions occurring in each area of the theatre as well as between

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areas. Innovation, however, only occurs when there is interdependence between all three areas and all interactions are symbolically framed in the process of change. For example, interactions within the ‘relations of production’ are formed in transformational spaces of developers testing ‘demos’ and also in interaction with those producing narratives in forming policy frameworks on stage and with audiences when the communication service is tested in public sites. These various types of interactions with audiences in new digital services produce other transformational spaces in the ongoing development process. The purpose of the figure is to indicate the various groups and perspectives involved in the innovation process, and to show how these actors form configurations in transformational spaces which are framed as symbolic acts in the innovation process. Conclusion The argument made in this book is that the innovation of digital communication and services as cultural forms involves complex links between human culture and technological forms. The link between values and technologies is traced, showing that the link is constituted through narratives, production and participation. The work of actors differentially situated in the innovation drama in their interpretations of values, technologies and social conventions gives the process dramatic and symbolic meaning. The economic, social and political are all juggled in order to produce a new communication media – a digital service that has meaning in a changing public sphere. The way in which this is done is through performance in transformational spaces within the broad theatre of emerging cultural forms shows how technology is socially shaped and culturally informed (Castells 2001).

Chapter 4

Putting the Researcher in the Field: The Performances and Positions of the Ethnographer in Innovative Networks of Communication This chapter gives an account of the ways in which ethnography can be adapted in late modern western society for researching complex, multi-perspective, multisited networks involved in the innovation of digital technologies in public service environments.1 As Castells (2001) argues, the network is the main organizational form in a digital environment, with networks continuingly forming around specific projects. One of the main challenges for ethnography in a digital age is contextualizing a range of interactions and activities within a networked configuration of social actors, each working in different sites as well as travelling between sites. This involves understanding the different perspectives of each actor in the network, as well as the local contexts and communicative links of any implementation and validation sites. The researcher has to trace the contours of change and follow the process of change as it occurs. Thus, for example, theoretically and conceptually there are three interrelated dimensions of the ethnography: the relations of production, narratives of the form (policy and discussion), and participative aspects in developing a new public communication service. This means that the ethnographer has to work within each of these fields as well as drawing links between the fields. The ethnographer was a participant in a MPS R&D unit CARAT, working on the ATTACH project, which was part of Programme Digital. The ATTACH project network involved partners from local government and the public sector, privatesector information technology suppliers, and voluntary agencies in six European countries. As a participant in the MPS ATTACH project, the ethnographer engaged with policy-making communities in Whitehall and Brussels, as well as Londonwide, borough-wide and locality-based policy-making in the development of digital community services. The ethnographer also undertook practical police work in Newham as well as community research with some different ethnic minority groups and white residents, to understand local people’s communication needs and aspirations. The ethnography deepens an understanding of the needs of local people by describing particular episodes in which the police routinely intervene, including 1 See Agar, 1980; Ellen, 1894; Burgess, 1991; Hammersley and Atkinson, 1993; Spradley 1980; Hobbs and May, 1993 for established accounts of ethnography and its practices.

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some which have sensitive communication requirements, such as street fights and stabbings, assaults and rapes, domestic incidents and burglaries, as well as routine crime prevention and community-building work. To underpin these three dimensions in building trust within the policing aspects of the ethnography, the researcher lived in a ‘police section house’ for two years, which generated a sensibility of being ‘in the job’ amongst police personnel. The ethnographer was, therefore, part of this networked innovation environment for a total of three years, 1996–1999.2 Theory and Method: Performance and Ethnography In gaining an understanding of the process of changing communication with the public, the concept of performance provides a way to link the relevant technical and social aspects in developing a communication system. This enables researchers to situate the process of change in the meaningfulness of everyday life and in the institutions of a global city such as London. The link between performance, culture and ethnography is a well-established one, and some of the key points of this link will be drawn out as they pertain to the study of the innovation of digital technology in public services. As discussed in the previous chapter, performance is a paradigm of process with change generated in social dramas (Turner 1974, 1987, 1982). Performances constitute the plural ‘self-knowledge’ of a group, as it’s members are reflective of culture and are reflexive because they raise a group’s self-awareness as it sees itself enacted out in performance. Thus, for example, when developers seek to change communication services they enact and play with established social conventions of use and they develop prototypes that are displayed and used, as well as finally establishing new social conventions for new communication services. Throughout this process, actors use symbols, draw on culture and display the meanings of communication as they deconstruct and reconstruct patterns of communication in re-imagining new services. Performance is, therefore, crafted out of particular contexts and involves skills and social arenas for appearing, as well as audiences and performers (Myerhoff 1982, 7). The work of those in the innovation drama is performative and the job of the ethnographer is to understand the various performances and the ways in which performances are linked in ongoing production, narrative, and participation in the innovation process and drama. In general terms, the work of an ethnographer is to develop models of the actors’ points of view by viewing observable symbols and symbolic acts in terms of the contexts that lend them their meaning. The focus on actors’ meaning in the process of socio-technical change embedded in the cultural dynamics of changing communication requires an understanding of the relationship between social, economic and cultural dimensions of technological change. In this regard, Geertz argues that cultural and social phenomena are symbiotic and that culture is ‘deeply 2 The trajectory of the research was October–December 1995 gaining access to the MPS; 1996–1998 in the field; 1999–2000 leaving the field; 2002–2004 follow up research in Newham for a Office of Deputy Prime Minister funded project on e-government, see Cornford et al., 2004.

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embedded in the realities of social and economic structures’ (Geertz 1973, 325). This understanding of the interweaving of the economic, social and cultural aspects of the social world reaches into the richness of the development of communication systems, as these systems are at once shaped by economic, social, and political imperatives made meaningful through culture. Another dimension in studying innovation and change is the notion of ‘ideas’ and the role of concepts in the ways in which ideas achieve material outcomes and gain material shape. Geertz insists that ideas and concepts are social, in that: … ideas ... must … be carried by powerful groups to have powerful social effects; someone must revere them, celebrate them, defend them, and impose them. They have to be institutionalised in order to find not just intellectual existence in society but … a material one as well – Geertz 1973, 314.

Geertz’s emphasis on the cultural context of all aspects of social life argues that the ethnographer needs to develop a mode of analysis of cultural forms ‘which attends to their substance rather than reductive formulas professing to account for them’ (Geertz 1973, 453). This raises an issue concerning gaining empirical access to meanings. Geertz draws on the ‘extrinsic’ theory of thought to do this, which posits that thinking is primarily overt – a ‘public act, involving the purposeful manipulation of objective materials’ (Geertz 1973, 76).3 Geertz also points out that the ethnographer cannot gain access to the meanings of symbols by studying them in isolation, because ‘meaning is not intrinsic in the objects, acts, processes, and so on (Geertz 1973, 405), rather the ethnographer must study symbols as they are used. This is essentially a Wittgensteinian view of meaning, by which objects and even states of consciousness ‘draw their meaning from the role they play … in an ongoing pattern of life’ (Geertz 1973, 17). This is relevant to studying the development of networked services in two main ways. First, new technologies gain their meaning through use, whether in envisaged use at the beginning of an innovation process, or actual use when the digital technologies materialize as services. Second, the notion of the ongoing pattern of life opens up a conceptual space for the ethnographer to trace a pattern of relationships and interactions among actors who are situated in different dimensions of an innovation process, but whose interdependencies create the conditions for change. To summarize Geertz, the ethnographer gains ‘empirical access’ to symbolic systems by inspecting events such as ‘social expressions’, ‘social discourse’, and ‘symbolic acts’; and behaviour and the context of action must be considered because 3 It is instructive to compare Geertz’s idea of meanings, which are social, public, and empirically accessible, to Max Weber’s idea of ‘objectively valid meanings’ (Weber 1947, 88). Weber, like Geertz, contrasts objective meanings with subjectively-intended meanings. Neither Geertz nor Weber seeks to discover what any particular person is thinking at any particular moment. Rather, they are both interested in discovering meanings which are relevant to an entire social group and which can be used to understand the actions of the members of such a group. These meanings have a certain existence in the society, whether or not every member is conscious of them, acts in terms of them, or perceives others to act in terms of them.

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it is through the ‘flow of behaviour – or, more precisely, social action – that cultural forms find their articulation’ (Geertz 1973, 17). This approach to ethnography, using the concept of performance, enables a researcher to trace the links between various aspects of a network within a theatre of innovation which is creating a digital communication service within the public realm of a complex socio-geographical urban arena. Ethnography of Changing Public Communication Using Digital Technology The construction of a framework of analysis was based on the concept of the cultural form that enabled enough flexibility for the actualities of innovation in public service environments to emerge. The design of the research, therefore, had to encompass the relations of production, narratives, and participative interaction in the development of telematics. This meant that the researcher had to gain access to, and develop relationships with, the ATTACH consortium team and with the policy-making process in EC, national, regional and local service policy forums. She also had to discern the perceptions and interactions between members of the public and public services, such as routine police work and public perceptions of local services. The relevance of the use of the cultural form was that an analytical framework would not be forced on the data, since telematics was emerging as a cultural form. Thematically, the research could be sensitive to the actuality of innovation by remaining aware of the empirical reality. The analysis, therefore, maintained the validity of the dynamics of the field. The use of ethnography had to be adapted to the environment of the innovation of digital services, which has the following particular characteristics. First, innovation of digital public communication occurs within a space consisting of the intersection of many ‘lifeworlds’ (Schutz 1962). Research practices were found to be performed in a constitutive space within the reflexive relationship of the R&D team, policy-making communities, communities in everyday life and the ethnographer. This space can best be understood as a ‘theatre’ – a ‘place where transformations of time, place and persons ... are accomplished’ (Shechner 1976, 49). Second, the reflexive role of the researcher changed over time in relation to the changing biography and performance of research identities. Within a broad ethnographic role, the researcher performed several roles as different ‘symbolic acts’ in the ongoing action of the drama. This enabled her to identify the interplay between cultural aspects of communication and technological developments in the ways in which new communication services gained meaning. She was also able to identify the ways in which meaning was generated across a network of innovation, as she moved between sites and actors in the network. In order to grasp the dynamics of the action, wherever the ethnographer is positioned, the ethnographer must have an ability to gain and maintain ‘analytical distance’ in relation to the ongoing action. This is achieved by adopting the sensibility of a stranger or marginal native, and involves a:

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… perspective of the ‘marginal’ reflexive ethnographer, there can thus be no question of total commitment, ‘surrender’, or ‘becoming’. There must always remain some part held back, some social and intellectual ‘distance’. For it is in this ‘space’ created by this distance that the analytical work of the ethnographer gets done. Without that distance, without such analytical space, the ethnography can be little more than the autobiographical account of a personal conversion – Hammersley and Atkinson 1983, 102.

Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) note the stress experienced by the ‘marginal native’ and argue that an ethnographer may experience a sense of ‘divided loyalties in resisting over-identification or surrender to ‘hosts’ in the field’ (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983, 102). Lofland (1971) draws attention to the ‘poignancy’ of this experience, asserting that the disengaged/engaged ethnographer may suffer a sense of schizophrenia, but states that these feelings should be managed for what they are, should not necessarily be avoided, or be replaced by more congenial sensations of comfort. Rather, any comfortable sense of being ‘at home’ is a signal that the ethnographer has lost his or her analytical distance (Lofland, 1971, 108–9). In this study, the ethnographer maintained the attitude of a ‘marginal native’ in the ongoing action both in site-specific contexts and across the network of relationships. An added complexity for an ethnographer in networked environments is maintaining trust with all the actors and protecting any areas that require confidentiality. This was managed through the trust that was built up between the actors and the ethnographer over the three years spent in the field that not only fostered open discussion between all participants but also a respect for the ethnographic position by participants not addressing the details of observations and interviews (in whatever form). The general approach was inductive, interactive and reflexive because the ethnographer was concerned to understand the dynamics of change as it occurred, through participating and interacting in the development of a new communication service as it was being produced and was emerging in the public realm. This interactive and inductive approach was conducted from within a reflexive frame, one in which: We act in the social world and yet are able to reflect upon ourselves and our actions as objects in that world. By including our role within the research focus and systematically exploiting our participation in the world under study as researchers, we can develop and test theory – Hammersley and Atkinson 1983, 25.

The research addresses the symbolic complexity of the production of technical change by being in an active, reflexive relationship with that change. This is precisely what ethnography as ‘thick description’ can achieve: what the ethnographer is in fact faced with is a multiplicity of complex conceptual structures, many of them superimposed upon or knotted into one another, which are at once strange, irregular, and inexplicit, and which the researcher must contrive to somehow first grasp and then render (Geertz 1973, 9–10). It is ‘thick description’ that provides a richness and depth to any research area, which is the key contribution of ethnography, and allows for a detailed interpretation of the cultural phenomenon under question.

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Practical Aspects of Ethnography: Chronology of Integrating Access, Roles, Sites and Sampling To discover the complexity of the interaction of conceptual structures and cultures in changing communication with the public, the ethnographer is a ‘performer’ within different nodes of a network of services, communication and sites. Ethnography involves sampling within cases, access, field relations and roles, field sites and contexts, and writing up. In the field, these categories are interdependent and, in an ‘analytical inductive’ approach, access, field roles, sampling, etc. evolve from the empirical actuality in which the researcher becomes embedded. A chronology of the research focuses on the development of the ethnographic story, through a sequence of events and symbolic acts, through the development and performances of research identities, and in the writing up. The research involved forming and performing several identities. The terms ‘identities’ and ‘performing’ give a sense of ‘activity’ to the terms ‘roles’ and ‘field relations’. To provide an overview of the reach of the research, the identities created and performed were in relation to the sampling strategy of the ethnography: • • • • • •

user needs research (relations of production), technology development (relations of production), developing a service model (narratives of the form), policy frameworks in the field (narratives of the form), public perceptions of services (interactive participation), operational policing (interactive participation).

As the list shows, the areas cover all three aspects of the cultural form. The ethnographer developed and performed diverse identities in different contexts of the research; each ‘identity-performance’ interacted differently in each context. Each encounter was an opportunity to use reflexivity in relation to the research question(s). Only by taking the various performances (thus the narrative and the reflexivity of each encounter) into account could the complexity of ICT innovation start to be considered. This was due to the fact that the engagement between narrative and reflexivity in the actions of the actors of the innovation process provided different accounts, and the interactions produced the dynamics of the innovation process. The next section provides a brief overview of the chronology that illustrates the ethnographer’s positioning in the ongoing action and also shows the integration of access, roles and sampling. Chronology In the first phase of the relations of production after the kick-off meeting, the ethnographer attended all London ATTACH meetings at various MPS sites, LBN sites, Olivetti House, and at the ergonomics consultants’ office in Surrey. Some meetings involved discussing the capture of user requirements with the user-needs team, others considered technical developments with the technologists at Olivetti

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and the LBN. The ethnographer socialized with the team, for example by going to the pub to continue discussions informally after meetings. She first became familiar with Newham by being shown round by Nick, the Local Information Officer, and by walking around the area on her own. She spoke with the local historian at the Local Reference Library to gain an understanding of the history of Newham. The library had a very good local history archive, which she used as a reference point. The ethnographer had various jobs to do, such as producing information for the prototype kiosk and designing, piloting and conducting user needs research by undertaking surveys at East Haven Town Hall, at the Council Offices and in libraries in Newham. She worked on the ATTACH stand at the DOT Technology Fair, attended seminars, met the Home Secretary and dealt with press and media enquiries about ATTACH. During this phase, the ethnographer moved into Percy Laurie Section House, a police residential hostel for 100 police officers, and lived there for twenty-one months. Through being a resident, she gained acceptance by police officers and she started to understand police culture. The ethnographer shared an office at Jubilee House, where CARAT was based, and could interact on a daily basis with staff involved in various innovation projects in the MPS. During the second phase of the relations of production, the ethnographer met with the police at Dean End police station to discuss using the station as a pilot site for the ATTACH service and, at this meeting, she was given access to any aspect of police work she wished to explore (see below). She helped develop and test the ATTACH ‘demos’ at sites in Newham. She undertook research for potential sites for e-services, such as police stations, council offices, supermarkets, libraries and community centres. She photographed sites, explored the local use of each area, researched what other information provision was available locally and explored issues of access, including disabled access. She presented her report to the ATTACH team, which raised her profile as a team member and consolidated the respect she had gained from the ATTACH partners. This helped her develop other contacts in Newham (such as local authority contacts and the Dean End police management team), and increased her knowledge of Newham. Interacting with phase two of the development was the need to understand the service and policy aspects of e-services. The peer reviewer had carried out an evaluation of the user needs research, and the concept of a service model was introduced into the project. The ethnographer worked with staff in CIS (MPS) to consider the development of ATTACH, and gained access to key personnel and key information about the delivery of police services. She attended the ATTACH fourday workshop held at Debden and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) conference in Manchester, where she worked on the ATTACH stand and attended seminars. She travelled with Harry to Leeds to meet peer reviewer, Tom Dolton, who had arranged a seminar on e-services for public sector service providers. There was also a series of ‘service model’ meetings at this time, which Tom Dolton attended, and the team discussed how to develop telematics within the MPS generally and within ATTACH specifically. The ethnographer also attended meetings with the MPS Strategy Department to discuss the future of ATTACH in MPS business. She was then involved in the implementation and testing of the ATTACH kiosks and services at police stations

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and council offices. She undertook one week of observational study at the ‘front desk’ of a police station, where she observed the ways in which the front desk staff interacted with members of the public, the type of enquiries that the staff had to deal with, and some initial use of a kiosk. She carried out a survey with Nick at the Council Tax Benefit Office to gauge to the use and non-use of an ATTACH kiosk. She gained access to New Scotland Yard and had many discussions with staff there, resulting in the ‘service model’. The ethnographer helped with the preparations for the official launch of ATTACH and attended the official launch with the ATTACH team, hosted by the local MP, who was Minister for Science and Technology. Other attendees were Local MPs, the Police Superintendent, Chief Executive of the Council and local leaders of various voluntary groups. The media were present, including representatives from regional television, local radio, national and local press. Once some technological development had taken place, the team attended the first ‘Project Management Board’ (PMB) meeting, which were standard MPS practice for technology projects. They consisted of high-ranking officials from various departments of the MPS who were charged with evaluating the progress of technological projects, and the ethnographer became a member of this group. She also attended a workshop at the DTI for the telematics projects in London, which was followed by three specific ‘Telematics For London’ Group meetings.4 Over the next six months, she attended several discussion group workshops to consider the ways in which telematics services could develop and become part of the larger picture of public service delivery. Senior civil servants, MPs, Government Ministers, Directors of Public Services and representatives of the private sector took part in these meetings. She continued to attend the London site meetings; which discussed a combination of user requirements and technical development with the specific focus of the needs of residents in Newham. When the ATTACH services had been running for three months, she travelled to the SPIN (Society of Public Information Networks) conference in Birmingham with Nick to deliver a paper about ATTACH. She also attended various workshops at New Scotland Yard, which were held by several groups concerned with ICTs in public service environments. She met the members of ‘In House Communication’, the Newham social research team for the first time, discussed the community issues of Newham and, in particular, what research would be needed to inform the Local Service Strategy. The In House team gave her access to their annual surveys and other research. She gave a service model presentation at the ATTACH workshop in Marseilles. She contacted the police sector office at Deanford to arrange working with some officers who were involved with community police work (the sector office at Deanford was the community office of Dean End police station). She carried out some preliminary work with the home beat officer in Deanford. She then undertook a further three weeks of observation of front-desk work. By this point, the police officers viewed her as being part of the MPS, as she was working on ATTACH, and was not ‘just another consultant coming in from the outside to tell us what to do’ (police officer’s comment). She spent a month 4 A group formed out of service providers, policy makers and local government in London that sought to develop e-services in London.

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with Team 5 on operational police duties, which meant working on the ‘reliefs’ of ‘earlies’, ‘lates’ and ‘nights’. She gained access to the team through the Inspector, who she had got to know during her time at the front desk. The team accepted her because she was seen to be ‘in the job’, living in a section house and interacting well within the police culture. After the operational policing, she undertook a further three weeks’ observation with the sector office, which included ‘home beat’ duties and visiting schools. During this time, she attended two London site ATTACH meetings and collected information, such as the ‘Station Office Handbook’, for the ATTACH team, as the information on the kiosks needed to be updated. Once the police research was completed, she attended the ‘Information Providers Workshop’ at West Haven Town Hall. After this, she attended internal MPS meetings which discussed the development and possible exploitation of ATTACH. There was another user workshop within the MPS to discuss how to integrate ATTACH into MPS service provision. She carried out some research for Harry in relation to the processes of ‘signing on bail’, of the ‘presentation of driving documents’ and so on, trying to discover what processes the ATTACH kiosks could automate. The London site meetings continued and the Project Management Board met regularly. There were some top-level internal meetings to discuss the development of ATTACH, which she also attended. At this time, the LNB commissioned some research to inform the development of a network of digitally-enabled Local Service Centres. The LBN’s In House research team contacted the ethnographer and they designed the research together, involving ten focus groups with eight participants in each. The focus groups were sampled on two variables, namely age and ethnicity. There were three white groups in the 18–29, 30– 59 and over-60 age groups; two Asian groups in the 18–29 and 30–59 age groups; two African groups in the 18–29 and 30–59 age groups; and three Caribbean groups in 18–29, 30–59 and over-60 age groups. The groups were mixed male and female and were comprised of employed and non-employed people. The research resulted in a jointly-written report which informed the development of digital community services. After this work, the ethnographer attended the ATTACH Technical Workshop in the Netherlands and meetings which were beginning to consider the exploitation of ATTACH, aptly known as LAMRO – ‘life after the money runs out’. Evaluation of the kiosks was undertaken, by ‘usage statistics’ and by interviewing individuals who were using the kiosks. The ethnographer visited Ronneby for a week to discuss the development of e-services more generally with the team there, and to participate in an ATTACH workshop. She presented the results of the focus group research to the ATTACH consortium, which thought that focus groups were useful in the development of telematics services, as a means of consulting users throughout the development process. During this time the ATTACH Intranet was being developed further, with a ‘roll out’ of more ATTACH kiosks and local staff training with regard to maintaining and building the information provision on the kiosk. She conducted four focus groups, using the ATTACH kiosks, to gain an understanding of public responses to using the kiosks. She attended the ATTACH technical meeting in Scotland where the focus was on developing ‘interactive’ services such as video-conferencing to report crime to the Telephone Investigation Unit at Dean End police station.

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She gave a presentation about ATTACH in Cardiff, with Sahite of In House Communication. She attended the ATTACH workshop in Docklands, London and gave a presentation on ‘capturing user needs’ in the ongoing development of eservices using focus groups. She attended the second Marseilles ATTACH workshop where she did a presentation on ‘exploitation’ towards the end of the project. The project continued in the form of the Local Service Centres in Newham in the first instance, which led to an array of digitally-supported services. The MPS shared some of Newham’s services through the local partnership, and developed webaccess in the form of online crime reporting for non-urgent crimes (including hate crimes). From the lessons learnt from Programme Digital, they also undertook a major internal restructuring to their 24-hour response system, as well as reinforcing face-to-face presence through their Safer Neighbourhood initiative. Themes The descriptions above provide an overview of the research project, and show how the ethnographer participated in the ongoing action attempts to develop a deep and valid knowledge of the ways in which the MPS and its partners started to develop digital communication. Methodologically, the themes that have arisen out of this research are: • • • •

reflexivity, and how it is used in the ICT innovation context, the performance and development of various identities in the different research fields, the issue of capturing the dynamics of change, and conducting an ‘ethnography of a network’ in exploring digital communication.

These themes were discovered and realized in the ‘performance’ of doing an ethnography of networks, grounded in institutions and places. The examples show how the different narratives’ actions were performed in the different contexts of a network of services and local conditions. It also reveals how those identities developed over time and how they were created through the development of field relations, for instance the ethnographer was a section house resident, a member of the ATTACH project, an MPS representative at policy meetings, a community researcher, and so on. A key point to note from the performance of these research identities was that reflexivity was used in several ways: • • •

•

generally within various ongoing interactions, over time, as the ethnographer discussed and questioned changing ideas, changes in action, and so on, across cultural viewpoints, where the ethnographer could compare the views of the LBN and the MPS, and the views of user-needs researchers and technologists, and so on, her interaction ‘in the action’ was a useful reflexive tool, as the responses she experienced in relation to her thoughts and actions brought to the fore perspectives of change.

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Each identity-performance interacted differently in each context: each encounter proved to be an opportunity to use reflexivity in relation to the research problem. It was only by taking the various performances into account that the complexity of ICT innovation could begin to be considered. Data was generated through shifting identities in reflexive relationships to other parties/groups/communities who, were also in a network of innovation. The performance of ethnographic roles in each context provided the researcher with an understanding of each narrative and the interaction of these meanings in the ongoing action. As Wright contends: ... people had different structural power and personal ability to impose their meanings on events so as to make their interpretation definitive and thereby accrue very material outcomes. It is this political process that is the key to anthropological understandings of culture – Wright 1994, 22.

This argument is relevant to the study of ICT innovation, because the performance of ICT innovation involves the interaction of actors who are situated within structures of meaning within a network, and who are influential in shaping change. Writing and Ethnography This chapter has identified key themes that have emerged out of this particular ethnographic study of ICT innovation. It sought to do so through performance within a semiotic concept of culture. The well-known criticism of the microscopic nature of ethnography is real and critical but, to paraphrase Geertz, this will not be resolved by regarding a remote locality as the world in a teacup or as a sociological equivalent of a cloud chamber. Geertz goes on to argue that this problem can be ‘kept at bay’ by: ... realising that social actions are comments on more than themselves; that where an interpretation comes from does not determine where it is impelled to go. Small facts speak to large issues, winks to epistemology, or sheep raids to revolution because they are made to – Geertz 1973, 23.

This brings us to analysis and, as Geertz (1973) argues, there is a need for a conceptual articulation that stays relatively close to the ground. The concept of performance is a useful one to start addressing this problem. Its salience is especially realized through the nature of contemporary cultures in their communication practices. Once this concept is linked into a relationship with the research-fields, it starts to offer a way forward in the area of ICT research. This is because, although modern identity is increasingly reflexive in relation to a separation of time and space – which is especially relevant to the development of networked digital services – we can also see that, through performance, this need does not signify the end of narrative in the mediation of experience. The significance of this is that it then becomes possible to form a narrative, from within the complexity of the research problem. However, what distinguishes the ethnographic story from other narratives is the reflexive relationship of theory and social worlds. Knowledge and understanding are grasped through human symbolic action. In this research context, performance provides the actuality of ICT innovation

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by being constituted through the reflexivity and the narratives of contemporary cultures. Performance is representation and thus, in finding a narrative for an interpretation of ‘what might be going on’, the ethnographer needed to re-represent the action through narrative, through the writing of a story (c.f. Geertz 1973, 19). In order to interpret social discourse, an ethnographer writes it down and thereby turns it ‘from a passing event ... into an account’ (Geertz 1973, 16). Geertz calls this activity ‘inscription’ or ‘thick description’ (Ibid., 27). He tells us that inscription is ‘setting down the meaning that particular social actions have for the actors whose actions they are’ (Ibid., 27). Cultural analysis means ‘sorting out the structures of signification ... and determining their social ground and import’ (Ibid., 9). The ‘double task’ of interpretative theory is to: … to uncover the conceptual structures of signification that inform our subjects’ acts, the ‘said’ of social discourse, and to construct a system of analysis in whose terms what is generic to those structures ... will stand out against other determinants of human behaviour – Geertz 1973, 27 (emphasis added).

Thick description involves generalizing within cases, rather than across cases (Geertz, 26). Ethnography is ‘microscopic’; it begins with ‘exceedingly extended acquaintances with extremely small matters’ (Ibid., 21), and ‘what generality [cultural theory] contrives to achieve grows out of the delicacy of its distinctions, not the sweep of its abstractions’ (Ibid., 25). Ethnographic ‘truths’ are, however, ‘partial – committed and incomplete’ (Clifford 1984, 7) and, therefore, this study offers a rich description of the innovation of digital technology which generates a theoretical framework for understanding the cultural dynamics of innovation. An ethnographer, therefore, writes about interpretations gained from an in-depth, long-term study of particular cultures. In this case, these are the cultural frameworks through which actors produce and use information services in contemporary societies. The writing is a presentation of ‘thick description’: of meaning, action and event – in short, it inscribes performance. The position of writing is the ethnographer’s – positioned to ‘make the familiar strange and the strange familiar’. Van Maanen argues that: To write an ethnography requires at a minimum some understanding of the language, concepts, categories, practices, rules, beliefs, and so forth, used by the members of the written about group. These are the stuff of culture, and they are what the fieldworker pursues. Such matters represent the ways of being and seeing for members of the culture examined and for the fieldworker as a student of that culture. The trick of ethnography is to adequately display the culture (or, more commonly, parts of the culture) in a way that is meaningful to readers without great distortion – Van Maanen 1988, 13.

This ethnography is written as a ‘realist tale’,5 which has four main characteristics (Van Maanen 1988). First, in ethnographic realism there is the almost complete 5 The other types of ethnographic tales are ‘confessional’ tales and ‘impressionist’ tales. In general terms, each of these tales takes a much more subjective approach to the writing of the ethnography. These approaches are not appropriate to more policy-focused research. The MPS, although wanting to understand the cultural dynamics of innovation, would not

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absence of the author from segments of the finished text. Only what members of the studied culture say and do is, on the whole, visible, with the fieldworker having only a marginal presence in the text. In this ethnography, there are times when the ethnographer’s voice is included in the text because certain instances need some authorial ethnographic comment6 to help convey to the reader the meaning of an event and/or a ‘strip of action’. Second, the realist tale is a documentary style, focused on the details of everyday life among the people studied. Third, in realist tales, an ethnographer presents the accounts and explanations held by members of the culture of the events. Fourth, in realist tales, an ethnographer assumes some level of authority that his/her interpretation is valid due to his/her methodological expertise (Van Maanen 1988, 48–51). The focus of the research often acts as an organizing scheme for the writing of the ethnography. Thus, this ethnography is organized around the concept of the cultural form because of the central research question asked: ‘how do digital technologies interact in public service environments as cultural forms?’ The ethnography is written in three main sections, which correspond to the three aspects of the cultural form, namely the ‘relations of production’, the ‘narratives of the form’ and ‘participation between service providers and citizens’. Each section describes a key symbolic act which took place within the general chronology of the project described above. The symbolic act was chosen in relation to its significance to the project and for the way it illustrates, theoretically, the cultural dynamics of change. Conclusion To study the complexity of innovation of ICTs in public service settings, a complex and sophisticated ethnographic research strategy was constructed. It was through the performances by the ethnographer in the field as they interacted with the other actors’ performances in the innovation process, that rich and valid data emerged from the field. To represent the richness of the data, the writing of the ethnography is organized to reflect the process within the analytical framework of the cultural form. This framework enabled the dual purpose of ethnography, namely description and analysis, to be realized. Much of the ethnographic work built on established methodological principles such as concerns with roles and relationships in the field; however, the ethnographic method was adapted to address the networked character of developing digital services in the public realm. This meant that the ethnographer had to find necessarily be interested in the ethnographer’s subjective feelings about the actual ‘doing of’ the research. The policy aspect of the research was to form recommendations for the MPS with regard to their innovation process. The ‘realist’ tale enabled a detailed and in-depth understanding of the research problem with a reflexive stance to the material, a stance that was represented in a manner that was appropriate for members of the MPS, namely clearly and with a distance to the material. This stance is one which members of the MPS are used to in their professional working lives. 6 These comments can be descriptive or analytical, depending on the context of the comment.

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ways to engage in a range of activities that made up an innovative network in a complex capital city, by performing various roles in different contexts to trace and analyze the links between actors and activities in the network.

Chapter 5

The Cultural History of Programme Digital and Project ATTACH in the MPS As a prelude to the ethnography, this chapter presents a cultural history of Project ATTACH within the MPS’s Programme Digital that sought to develop a variety of digital services. The chapter is drawn mainly from the account of ‘Jonathan’ who was the ICT marketing and developing manager in the MPS’s Department of Technology (DOT). He was the key player in developing an overall digital programme and he brought the ATTACH consortium together, prepared the proposal and secured project funding (refer to figures 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 on pp. 60, 61 and 62). Leadership and Vision: Jonathan’s ‘Baby’ During the second ATTACH workshop, amongst a consortium of Europeans, Jonathan said goodbye to ATTACH to move on to another project, saying that he felt sure the consortium would continue to work on the project and develop the project’s vision of using digital technology for community services. Everyone in the room clapped, each nodded to the other, aware that Jonathan’s ‘charisma’1 (see Weber in Gerth and Mills, 1948) and vision had brought a consortium together that would gain an understanding by ‘learning by doing’ (Arrow, 1962) of changing communication with the public through digital technologies. A year and a half later, after a London site meeting, Harry said that, ‘Jonathan had had the vision to see how digital technology might be adapted for public services, and had put in place the first steps to realizing that vision – ATTACH had been Jonathan’s baby’. The chronology of Project ATTACH starts with Jonathan and his vision of using digital technology within the MPS. The history of ATTACH alongside other projects in Programme Digital, originates in the MPS’s DOT. Members of staff in the DOT, and more specifically CARAT, were already beginning to look at and consider the ways in which digital technology could be used in policing. Some of this work was being funded by the MPS, however some ideas for projects did not have any clear internal funding stream. Jonathan therefore started to explore other funding possibilities and saw that there might be opportunities for European funding for some of the projects he was thinking about. He saw several advantages to exploring 1 The comment about Jonathan’s leadership and charisma was propounded by the members of Project ATTACH and members of the DOT.

ATTACH Consortium Team

MPS Team

LBN

Olivetti

CCD Ergonomics John, Dr Jane

ATTACH Director Jonathan DOT

User-needs Dean End PMB Manager Mark CIS (replaced Carol)

ATTACH Project Manager Harry DOT

LBN Chief Executive

Multimedia Accounts Manager Dick

ATTACH Technical Director Bruce

ATTACH Project Manager Dave

Ethnographer

Local Information Officer Nick

Head of LBNATTACH Peter

GRASP Project Manager Fred

Systems Analyst Philip

In House Research Andy, Sahite

European Swedish Solven Amy Mons

French (associate partners)

Scottish

Greek

Dutch

ARTTIC Project Office Chris Jacques

ALG

EIP

London boroughs

Other Commissioner Bangemann

ICL

Civil Service College

Other Actors not directly involved in ATTACH Team Five of an East End Division

Sector Office Community Policing

Figure 5.1 Overview of the research field

Members of an MPS Strategy Department

Residents of Perry Laurie Section House

Director of ATTACH Jonathan

Director of Technology Development Bruce

Project Manager Harry

ATTACH Manager Peter

Sales Dick Project Manager Dave Systems Analyst

Ethnographer USER ISSUES Local Information Officer Nick Ethnographer CIS (Carol, Mark) Dean End Project Management Board CIS (Mark)

No-one CCD Ergonomics LBN In House Research (Andy, Sahite)

SERVICE REVIEW (Tom Dolton) Figure 5.2 Relations of the actors of the ATTACH London site

No-one

European Commission

Project Office (ARTTIC)

MPS/DOT Project Co-ordinators

Dean End Police Station

Newhaven Council Services

Figure 5.3 Global view of ATTACH relations

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European funding: first, it was another source of funding; second, it would involve the MPS in networking both within London and more widely within Europe; and third, it would encourage the MPS to think more innovatively about community services through learning from other agencies in a partnership approach to R&D in new forms of service provision. The first project proposal Jonathan developed was based on the core business of policing, namely police work surrounding stolen property. The project was called Global Retrieval, Access and Information System for Property Items (GRASP). GRASP was built on the successful MPS project ‘Operation Bumblebee’, which involved the use of imaging technologies to enable members of the public to identify stolen property. Jonathan had built GRASP up to two-thirds of a consortium, which would be able to summit a proposal, and had then visited the European Commission (EC) for advice regarding the consortium and proposal. At the same time, other developments using digital interactive technologies were beginning to evolve, such as ‘Virtual Interactive Patrolling’ (VIP). The idea behind VIP was the ability for: ... patrolling without the physical presence of a police officer and in its most common application would be characterised by the extensive use of remote video cameras – DOT Fact Sheet, 1995.

DOT’s reasons for developing interactive digital applications and services must be understood in relation to the contemporary demands on policing, in which: The unrelenting conflict between finite police resources and the widespread public demand for improved crime control has forced a radical reappraisal of policing procedures. The increase in the average citizen’s fear of crime, together with political pressures to allay these fears, is particularly severe for many police forces in Europe – DOT Fact Sheet, 1995.

The rationale for developing VIP and other digital interactive services was developed in response to the above perceived problem and policing environment. The rationale was that, as: ... one means of addressing these issues the Department of Technology is investigating the use of virtual interactive patrolling (VIP) on behalf of the MPS. However, the success of such measures is critically limited to monitor, analyse and act upon incoming data ... VIP will address this issue by employing digital technologies and multimedia techniques – DOT Fact Sheet, 1995.

The DOT argued that the development and use of VIP would: • • • • •

maximize police resources, deter and detect crime, identify, catch and prosecute offenders, increase personal safety, and manage traffic and town centre operations.

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Another project in Programme Digital and one which sat within the same framework as VIP was Operation Eagle Eye. This project was already being ‘rolled out’ and its development and early use was providing the DOT with an understanding of how digital technologies could be adapted for police services. However, as with the GRASP project, which was being developed from a core police service’s priority, Eagle Eye was also being developed for core policing and was building on the increased use of surveillance technologies. The Eagle Eye project is a street surveillance operation in which crime related perpetrators are caught through surveillance techniques, and its operations have a resonance with the more general trend towards the increasingly pervasive use of CCTV.2 The development of technology (including digital technology) in the MPS has a service dimension as well as social and political dimensions. The development of technology is seen as an aid to improving policing and managing public expectations and demands more effectively. Counter to popular opinion, members of the DOT did not see technologies themselves as being a solution to managing crime, it was more a case of trying to find ways to support practical police work. However, this was not seen as a straightforward issue. Members of the DOT were also aware that they were working in a political environment in which particular technologies gain prominence in political discourse as ways to combat and control crime. For example, the trend in the use of CCTV was seen as an important aspect in ‘fighting crime’ and had the backing of the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard. The development of Operation Eagle Eye was therefore timely in relation to the current political climate. Jonathan was aware of the political dimension in the development of technologies for policing and felt that it needed to be carefully managed. Very often political opinion is focused on the short term and in response to public opinion, rather than on a deeper understanding of the changing trends in crime and the situations pertaining to criminal activity with both established policing practice and developments in policing to control crime. Jonathan felt that ‘the Home Office is a political maze’ and that DOT needed to learn to be sensitive to it, know how to move around it and respond intelligently to it, in order to maintain MPS priorities. Given this context of the public demands on policing and the political climate that saw technology as part of the ‘fight against’ crime, the DOT was therefore considering ways in which digital technologies might be benefit MPS operations. Whilst undertaking work in relation to forming a consortium for GRASP, Jonathan met a Commissioner from the EC who was interested in what the MPS could do with digital technology beyond the GRASP idea. Commissioner Barry was particularly keen to understand the way in which the MPS had thought about how they could use digital technologies in their community services. Jonathan placed this within the category of preventative policing, an ongoing priority, but one aspect of policing which is often under-represented. Barry felt that the MPS should submit a second proposal and suggested that Jonathan should look at the programme for telematics application sites, as it might provide a framework for digital community policing. There were twelve sites and, in general terms, Barry said, each site was ‘holistic’ 2 Note that this study does not cover the debates regarding surveillance, see Lyon, 2001.

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and, thus, did not fit into any particular political agenda. In effect, the ‘application site’ could be envisioned as a microcosm of the concept of telematics that could be adapted to suit a partnership and multi-agency approach in digitizing services in one site. The idea and concept of digital community police services emerged out of these meetings between Jonathan and Barry. In the meantime, Fred (CARAT’s IT Manager), developed the GRASP idea into a proposal and submitted it to the EC. Unfortunately, this proposal was unsuccessful. Fred felt that he had learnt from this experience because the GRASP project was framed in relation to Home Office and British criminal justice system priorities and, although there had been ‘consensus wording’ in the proposal, the Home Office bias was still evident. From this experience, Fred identified the key importance of identifying distinct roles within a consortium and noted that these roles must be made clear in a proposal in order to satisfy the EC selection board. Furthermore, the Home Office approach was not appropriate in the European arena, and members of CARAT who were generating proposals for the EC needed to understand how the Commission worked, what language it spoke and how it did its business. Through the contacts he had made in the EU arena, Fred found an independent consultancy, ARRTIC, which specialized in mediating between the Commission and potential – as well as funded – EU project teams. Given the disappointing result of the earlier project, Fred and Jonathan decided to work with ARRTIC to resubmit the GRASP proposal and to develop the ATTACH proposal. Their next move was to find partners for both GRASP and ATTACH project consortiums. Each consortium had to have at least three or four main players with a proven record in both technology developments and service delivery. They had to have innovative ideas and show that they were interested in developing projects in the public realm, as well as assuming a key role in delivering high-quality outputs from an R&D project. For the MPS, and for Jonathan in particular, key commercial contacts included IBM, Siemens, ICL and Olivetti. The main advantage of these companies was that they were already involved in telematics projects funded by the EC. Having made some initial contacts in the commercial sector, Jonathan had to start forming a London site partnership, as well as finding European partners. For the London site, he needed a local authority partner and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provided some initial information. The first London borough the DTI suggested was Wandsworth, which had worked on partnership projects with the MPS before in, for example, the Neighbourhood Watch schemes. However, Wandsworth could not support a project of the ATTACH nature at that time. Jonathan found the DTI useful in building a consortium, particularly its EU Information Days, which provided an arena to find partners for the London site and then beyond, to Europe. In Jonathan’s words, ‘the DTI Information Days were formed to drum up support for those people who were thinking of “going to Europe” to get funding for technological projects’. The Information Days also provided general advice and information, as well as presenting successful case studies of projects which had obtained EC funding. It was at one of these DTI Information Days that Jonathan met Bruce, the Deputy Director of Computer Services at the LBN. Bruce was very interested in the ideas behind the ATTACH project, and Jonathan felt they

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both had similar interests and that their organizations could work well together. Jonathan and Bruce began working on building the resources that the ATTACH project and proposal needed. In the first instance, Bruce wanted to maintain his close working relations with ICL as the commercial IT supplier, and he wanted to propose that ICL be both the EC consultant for the project and a consortium partner. The initial meeting was followed by two weeks of consideration and debate with ARRTIC and the MPS on the one hand, and ICL and LBN on the other hand, working towards producing an ATTACH proposal. The proposal at this stage was not ‘set in stone’, as the aim of the MPS and the LBN was primarily to get a ‘first draft of early ideas and possible partners down on paper as a working document’ (Jonathan). After a series of debates, ARRTIC were chosen to act as the Project Office. The decision was taken at a MPS Board meeting, which included Michael (Deputy Director, MPS, DOT). Michael felt that ARRTIC’s reputation in relation to EC projects and with the Commission itself would be absolutely central to the eventual success of ATTACH. He also stressed that ARRTIC should have no interest in the project other than running the Project Office. In contrast, ICL and Olivetti were both main players in the information technology market. He argued that, by choosing ARRTIC, all the partners felt they were in a ‘win-win’ situation, as they had an independent Project Office that was solely interested in enabling the ATTACH project to succeed in the EC framework. This, therefore, eliminated any competitiveness that might have been present with the more commercially-focused IT companies. With some of the early ideas drafted in working documents, Fred took both the ATTACH and the GRASP proposals to a EC meeting in Brussels. At this stage Fred and Jonathan, as representatives of the MPS, still felt like novices in the EC environment, however, as Jonathan said: ‘although it was a bit like the blind leading the blind, the meeting did drum up interest from potential partners’. At the EC meeting, Olivetti, a commercial IT supplier, was interested in the ATTACH proposal. There was also considerable interest from other European countries, in particular from the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. Jonathan said that, ‘the first organization to come on board was Olivetti’. Dick, the Multimedia Business Development Manager, met Bruce and Jacques from the ARRTIC office to discuss the project in more detail after talking with Jonathan. A further contact made at the Brussels meeting was with a small ergonomics firm, CCD, and during the course of the meeting John from that firm indicated that he was keen for CCD to be part of the ATTACH bid. At this stage of consortium building Jonathan, on behalf of the MPS, favoured Olivetti as the technical partner and CCD as the ergonomic partner. Bruce, on behalf of the LBN, favoured ICL as the technical supplier. Another organization that became interested in joining the ATTACH consortium at the Brussels meeting was the Central Scottish Police. On returning to London, Jonathan and Bruce organized a meeting in Newham to drum up further interest in the idea of community telematics at the local level, as well as building on the existing relations that had been established in Brussels. The promotion meeting at was at West Haven Town Hall in Newham, as Newham would be a test site for community telematics. At the time of the meeting, the commercial IT supplier Olivetti, the ergonomics firm CCD, and Central Scottish Police were

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firmly on board. From the European partners who had been interested in joining ATTACH at the Brussels meeting, only the Swedish contingent was still interested in developing an interactive digital public information system, as the first Dutch group and the Spanish group had pulled out. This meant that both ICL (who were still in contention as technical partner) and ARRTIC worked hard to identify other partners from Europe. ICL found a local administration from a Dutch town (Roosendaal) that was interested in providing digital telematics services for the elderly. ARRTIC found potential partners from the Greek City administration of Thessaloniki, which wanted tourist telematics for its tenure as European Cultural Capital, and the administration of Marseilles (France), which wanted transport telematics. The Swedish group from Ronneby (the Commune, the University and Ericsson) maintained their interest in the ATTACH project. To shape the proposal to meet EC project criteria, there were choices to be made in relation to which ‘area and sector’ ATTACH would be best suited to, and which the most suitable programme would be to aim for the best chance of obtaining funding. Alex, another key person in the Commission’s Information Society Technologies Directorate urged Jonathan to go for the Urban and Rural Sector. This was categorized in Area 3, which was concerned with ‘telematics for improving employment and quality of life’ and ‘making a better life for European Citizens’ (Telematics Programme 1995–1996: Guide to Projects, pp. ix–x). From the perspective of this programme, Telematics for the Urban and Rural Areas sector is understood as encompassing a broad remit, in that: Telematics-based services are providing a new ‘lease of life’ to many urban and rural areas. The Urban and Rural sector is developing tele-working and tele-services as tools for economic development. Tele-working can help increase the competitiveness of rural and peripheral areas whilst reducing traffic congestion. Tele-services such as tele-shopping, on-line booking services and entertainment, provide the public with increased access to services. These can help stabilise the population in rural areas and contribute to the regeneration of urban areas – Telematics Programme 1995–96 Guide, pp. ix–x.

Within this broad remit, ATTACH developed a specific citizen-centric and public service vision for digital telematics. This vision, once the funding was obtained, was summarized in the Guide to Projects in this sector as: Public Dialogue with Local Authorities This co-operation project mobilises local authorities and other partners to develop and demonstrate interactive self-service multi-media kiosks for citizens in need of contact, information, support or registration of complaints, involving local government, the police or other agencies, including local emergency and video services. Special applications are envisaged for ethnic minorities and the deaf. ATTACH will exchange information with the authority concerned and provide a guide to implementation of self-service multi-media applications – Telematics 1995–6 Guide, 6.

However, categorizing ATTACH in the Urban and Rural Areas sector was not straightforward. Alex advised Jonathan that it was best to focus on one programme and tailor the proposal to that specific programme outline. Alex further suggested

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that, because the ATTACH consortium was a mix of many applications, the natural home for ATTACH was the Urban and Rural Areas sector. This sector was, however, over-subscribed by value, and the money available for funding was low compared to other areas/sectors. Furthermore, the actual definition of the sector was somewhat vague and general. All these factors made submitting a proposal very taxing and the competition for funding very tough. However, Jonathan and the other partners decided to push ahead with the cross-sector approach. The assessors of the Urban and Rural Areas proposals recalled ATTACH for re-evaluation and re-assessment. The project was ‘in’, then ‘out’ and then ‘in’ again, and Jonathan stressed that the DTI link and advice was very important in this stage of the proceedings. The ATTACH proposal was eventually funded even though, as Jonathan said: ‘the ATTACH consortium had been hastily pulled together’. However, the partners’ hard work ensured that the ATTACH proposal came top out of one hundred and forty proposals in the ‘proposal competition’. The ATTACH project was awarded 4.5 million ECU, which was half of the total budget for the project, and the MPS and LBN considered this to be a very good allocation of funds. The project was to be funded for thirty months, and towards the end of its funding it was awarded a further twelve months’ funding by the Commission, to develop community telematics further. General Characteristics of the ATTACH Consortium As far as Jonathan’s contacts in the EC were concerned, the project was geographically and politically well-balanced. Jonathan explained that, from a geographical perspective, the project had partners from Sweden and Greece, which were new members of the European Community. Furthermore, the Commission saw Greece as being part of a Mediterranean economy that was measured as relatively poor. The project also had partners from the ‘two central European Union muscles’ (Jonathan), namely France and the United Kingdom, which inspired confidence in the project from the Commission as well as representing the European Union (EU) more directly though their participation in the project. From the Commission’s perspective, the Dutch are generally seen as established within the EU and supportive of Commission R&D. From Jonathan’s account, based on the experience he gained from developing bids for European funding, the geographical and the political are related and interdependent. In a more specific sense, another key point is a political and research issue which shapes the character of the research design – the Commission’s stress on projects being ‘user-led’. A major strength of the ATTACH consortium was that its partners all showed a strong commitment to user-led development. This was demonstrated in the proposal by a strong outline of the use of research to identify the needs of service providers and service users within the specific project sites and locales across Europe. Each project partner had a specific set of population needs and service priorities, and the lessons learnt from each application for target groups could then be shared across the consortium to develop a holistic service. Although the user services research was located within each local administration, the principal user needs partner was CCD,

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a small ergonomics firm, which validated a user-led approach to developing new services. However, CCD’s main focus was on ergonomics, so the meaning of user-led research was in the form of expert ergonomics input to the research and development of community- and citizen-based telematics services. Thus, the focus was more on the human-machine interface rather than the broader needs of residents in a specific locale, however, the partners in the consortium felt that the broader community needs could be identified by their own in-house research teams. Another perceived advantage of having CCD as a partner in the proposal was that it was a small firm, and so the ATTACH consortium provided the opportunity for an SME to participate in a EC-funded project. This latter point was something the Commission wanted to promote i.e., the provision for opportunities for SMEs in the economy. As far as Jonathan was concerned, from an MPS perspective, the presence of an SME was preferred to be ‘in the building, but not in the inner sanctum’. CCD was therefore an ideal partner for two reasons. First, it provided a strong but specific ‘user input’ and second, it was an ideal partner to represent the participation of a SME in the project. Each European partner had different interests in the development of digital communication and information services. For instance, CETE (Marseilles) had experience of surveys in innovative domains and an overarching interest in multimedia applications, with a specific need to assess the evolution of the products for CETE’s parent ministry and the integration of CETE’s needs for harmonization and developments. The Greek partners led by Aristotle University sought to provide services via digital systems and interfaces specifically to support Thessaloniki’s Cultural Capital events. They also sought to enhance Thessaloniki’s role in the EU and in the Balkan area by gaining visibility through the project, as well as reinforcing the innovation and research initiative, IRIS. Transport, Research and Development International (Thessaloniki) were responsible for the management and development of the local booking system, AUTh, (network operator of Aristotle University) sought to develop a local booking system and design the network, and the Municipality of Kalamaria was responsible for the demonstration, user needs and funding of the kiosks. The Dutch team mainly aimed to target older citizens who, due to their special living circumstances, have an increasing need for social information and decreasing possibilities to find and use this information. They also intended to target the serviceprovider intermediaries who have to deal with complex inquiries and therefore have an increasing need for effective, adequate and easily-accessible sources of social information. The Dutch team saw the development of telematics as empowering for citizens, through greater access to information and services. They already had an information service for the elderly, called ‘Scin-point’, however, they needed to obtain further funding to develop the system and to plan their exploitation phase. The extra time made available through ATTACH funding meant that they could exploit their service package in relation to a Dutch government initiative for remote service-help-desks. The Central Scotland Police serves an area of 1,300 square miles and has 1,000 employees. The area is a mountainous, popular tourist area and there are three penal

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establishments and a major petro-chemical complex in its area. Its concern was to improve the provision of information and communication in this rural area. The Swedish group already had an advanced infrastructure in Ronneby Commune that supported a high-tech science park, a technical university, and interactive community facilities such as libraries. They also had a public information system called the ‘Ronneby Guide’, but they were keen to develop their reach into the community further through digital multimedia technology, kiosks and services. The context of their work was, on the one hand, to transform an ex-steel-making region into an information society based on an advanced ICT infrastructure. On the other hand, they sought to deepen their democratic processes through digital communication services developed though participatory design with local people. In relation to the London site, each partner – the LBN, the MPS and Olivetti – had its own reasons for joining the consortium. The DOT were keen to try out telematics to see how they could function within preventative and community policing, but more importantly in the longer term, this would inform the MPS’s rethinking of services in relation to police work and back-office procedures using these technologies. There were two main strands to MPS thinking in relation to ATTACH: first, to provide more access points to the police, to police information and to develop services that would help them target officer resources in the most efficient way. Second, many satellite police stations were closed at night and it seemed that kiosks might have the potential to give citizens access to the Division Police Station, as the MPS believed this would reassure the public. A Police Commander had successfully installed a kiosk in a small town in Surrey whose sub-station had been closed down, and local residents were relatively satisfied with the interactive kiosk, considering it was better than having little access to the police. Given this context, ATTACH sought to develop police emergency videolink and broadcast services, using kiosks in public places. This twoway videolink would enable members of the public to interact with a police officer in a control room, who could judge (and record) the emergency situation remotely, and dispatch appropriate (and better targeted) police resources, as required. From the LBN perspective, the ATTACH project was seen as one part in the restructuring of service provision based on an ICT infrastructure. Both the Director of CCS and Bruce framed their understanding of the ATTACH project within a broader narrative of the ‘information society’, since they wanted to do more than improve services in the borough, they wanted to provide access to information for all. The Director of CCS argued that ‘it is our aim that the development of an Information Society does not result in Newham’s residents becoming information poor’. The use of digital technology and multimedia applications was seen as part of the strategy, which included interactive kiosks, help desks, remote access computer clubs, and so on, which would form a network of public access points for a virtual one-stop service. As a first step, Bruce wanted to develop an electronic comments and complaints service and a video interpretation service, to facilitate communication with ethnic groups whose preferred language was not English and for those with hearing difficulties, to find out more about delivering services via digital technology. The LBN saw the partnership with the MPS as beneficial in terms of sharing resources and building up a trusted local authority–police relationship in the development of partnership approaches to services and securing safer neighbourhoods.

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The IT supplier Olivetti had already developed a multimedia kiosk, which they had marketed and sold in the private sector. They wished to expand into the public service sector, which they viewed as a new and evolving market. From the perspective of a commercial organization, getting involved in a high-profile project such as ATTACH, with major public sector players including the MPS and LBN, would help them to gain a market presence in emergent digital technology developments in the public sector. At the level of product development, the team from Olivetti also saw an opportunity to develop an application that would add value to their existing product. In general terms, Dick said that it ‘was good for Olivetti to be seen to be taking part in European projects, to be seen working with the MPS and the LBN and to be seen to be at the “leading edge” of digital developments in the public sector’. CCD, the small ergonomics firm, had worked for several public service organizations, including the MPS, in the human-factors field. John, who led the human-factors group in CCD, felt that involvement in a multimedia and digital project with a variety of access interfaces on the human-factors side would be a good way to develop CCD’s portfolio in this emerging area. He also felt that CCD would benefit from working with the MPS and LBN as major public service providers and with an international IT supplier. However, the firm found that it could not match the EU funding with their own resources in the course of the project, and had to pull out of the project mid-term, to be replaced by a team of ergonomic experts from Loughborough University. In general terms and across all the sites, the characteristics of the ATTACH product were envisaged as providing: • • • • •

a systematized provision of information, human contact when needed, an interactive and intuitive resource, optimal quality (relevant, up-to-date, valid and reliable) resources, and good accessibility, through a wide range of access points where users are.

The balance of priorities in a project is recognized as being important. For example, Jacques from ARRTIC had stressed the importance of clear roles and the cross-sector approach in relation to the site and to EU priorities. These roles and their relationship to the EC priorities had to be well thought out, formalized and clearly represented in the project. Furthermore, the understanding of each partner’s perspective and interests that constituted the project R&D network needed to be contextualized in ‘sites’ that would shape test digital communication services. To summarize, the ‘feel’ of the project was premised on a collaborative approach to R&D which enabled each partner to benefit from the development work. This ‘feel’ was later expressed by some members of the consortium as ‘the spirit of ATTACH’, which is referred to throughout the story of ATTACH. As the chapter started with Jonathan’s perspective on the development of digital services and communication in the MPS, it will end with some of his thoughts on the MPS in an innovation environment. Jonathan felt that the MPS was very insular and, to a degree, smug and excessively self-confident, as it had a major national and international role in policing, being responsible for policing a complex world

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city. The organization has a large geographical area to police, and the size of the organization in geographical spread, in the number of employees, and in its symbolic significance, makes it ‘big and powerful’ but, as Jonathan points out, ‘this also makes the organization slow and vulnerable’. There was, therefore, a need for the organization to look outwards to maintain its position and responsiveness in relation to a changing environment. Thus, the MPS was broadening out to the EU, which was proving to be a stimulating and enjoyable experience. Jonathan felt that the partnership worked well, particularly the relationship with Bruce, who was proving to be trustworthy, and believed that it was the start of local authorities and the MPS working more constructively together, while Olivetti had its brief and was working behind the scenes to provide the technical support. Summary This chapter shows the way in which technologists within CARAT were beginning to think about how digital technologies could support police work. The Centre developed a broad ‘Programme Digital’ in which they undertook innovative projects such as Operation Bumblebee and VIP. However, to develop some of the more innovative projects to support community services, two members of CARAT had to turn to the EC R&D Frameworks for funding. Jonathan actively started to explore the possibilities of digital community communication and services. The process of drawing up a proposal was complex and contested, and required Jonathan to find suitable partners from the public and private sectors across Europe. The MPS, as co-ordinating partner, was able to draw together different actors from different administrations who each wanted to develop digital telematics in various ways. The members of the consortium represented some of the broader EU priorities in terms of the geographical and political distribution of nations in a project partnership, as well as the political and research factors pertaining to research and development. The partners embodied a ‘typology of interests’ which was shaping the development of digital telematics. Thus, for example, the envisaged London ATTACH applications clearly demonstrated both technological and service developments that were generating networked and multi-agency digital services and communication. The development of the ATTACH project illustrates how certain actors interpreted the possibilities that funding from the EC would give to their own development plans. Through the construction of the proposal, the consortium members demonstrated a reflexive approach to innovation, as they considered how to develop telematics in relation to their own organizational priorities, as well as developing digital communication and services more generically. The history of the inception of ATTACH and the formation of the ATTACH consortium can be seen as an example of cultural history which is ‘contested, temporal and emergent’ (Clifford 1984, 19).

Chapter 6

Phase One of the Relations of Production: ‘Kicking-off and the Early Days’ This chapter describes three key symbolic acts in phase one of the ATTACH project, namely the development of ‘the spirit of innovation’; user needs research; and ‘developing a demo’. The focus is on the relations of production and illustrates the ways in which the developers were grappling with the idea of digital services, contesting development processes such as researching user needs, and constructing a working model in the form of a demo for a public audience. ‘The Spirit of Innovation’ The ‘kick off’ meeting was the first occasion for all the partners to meet after winning funding from the European Commission. The four-day meeting took place at the Olivetti Training Centre in Helmsfield. There were many meetings and workshops during the four-day workshop, and discussions about the project continued from breakfast until the early hours of the morning – in the breakfast room, in meetings and later in the snooker room and bar. Each of the partners was welcomed and introduced on the first day, when some guests were present, such as local Newham MPs including the Minister for Science and Technology and Nigel Tucker OCU, Commander for Dean End police division. On the first day, each partner gave a presentation describing their organization’s background, their role in the project and the organization’s interest in the project. Bruce (CCS), who presented a brief overview of Newham, pointed out the information poverty and lack of private investment in the area, but stressed that there were, nonetheless, opportunities. Newham had won a City Challenge bid worth £37 million and was bidding for millennium funding, and the area could utilize its Thames Gateway location. A part of the vision for Newham was for it to become an Electronic Village based on a digital infrastructure. Bruce noted that John and Jane from CCD would ensure that a consistent approach was adopted with regard to all issues of ‘usability’ in the ATTACH project, including hardware and software ergonomic specifications and environmental specifications for kiosks, as well as producing a ‘style guide’. Commercial IT supplier Olivetti would provide the technical development and support for London. Dick from Olivetti said that the company sought to take technology out of laboratories and move it into user environments, create standards for the future, identify user requirements and adapt the technology, while seeking to establish a marketplace for the systems.

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Harry pointed out that, as a provider of information as well as advice and assistance, the MPS was seeking to e-enable much of its information, such as crime prevention advice, victim support information, crime statistics, and so on. In the ATTACH project, they aimed to develop interactive services such as a ‘two-way post box’ email (for concerns and complaints); multi-lingual translation; public video links with the police and council; and communication for deaf people. The ATTACH MPS objectives included shared investments in telematics for London and creating a precedent for applied technology research via collaboratively-funded projects. The Ronneby team’s work was based on ‘Project 2003’ – a long-range visionary resolution to transform a traditional industrial community into an information technology community, prepared for and taking active part in service, trade and industry; and to provide its citizens with a good standard of living. They took a partnership approach that included the Council, the University, and Ericsson Software as partners working in the community. The common objectives in Ronneby were: interactive information services and local democracy; a focus on user aspects and participatory design; the development and improvement of a local infrastructure; and integration with the Internet. The main objectives for the community of Ronneby were to make IT a democratic resource for all of the local society, to co-ordinate public service systems with administrative systems, and to highlight Ronneby as an ‘IT-city’. The general objectives of Thessaloniki were to promote the events celebrating its status as Cultural Capital of Europe in 1997. Among these aims were: to provide tourist services; to promote the cultural, economic, political and scientific possibilities of Thessaloniki; and to study and standardize wireless multimedia kiosks; to develop pan-European remote access; to connect to similar systems elsewhere in the EU; and to develop dynamic applications incorporating the ATTACH results. The focus of the Dutch partner was on elderly people and people with disabilities. The areas to be covered were healthcare, welfare and living conditions, which would later be expanded into community information, leisure, social security, etc. The principle underlying the work of the Roosendaal team was to foster acceptance of new forms of electronic information in everyday life, to evaluate it and, if necessary to influence the social consequences of ATTACH products. The team wanted to improve provision of services through the use of information kiosks as well as home-based telematics. The role of Central Scottish Police was defined as being an associate partner of the MPS. Their objectives were to enhance their service delivery to remote communities, to rural communities and to EU citizens (tourists). The mechanisms for achieving this would be a two-way dynamic video link with information access for the police and information access for third parties. Issues of concern were perceived as being security, ergonomics, corporate identity and corporate continuity. After the introductory presentations, the partners participated in workshops, which addressed technological development, user needs, and general project management. In the ‘user needs capture and functional specification’ meeting, Carol (CIS, MPS) and John (CCD) stressed that user needs must lead the project – i.e., that the development of ATTACH should be driven by user needs rather than being product and/or producer-led. However, the European user needs group found

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it difficult to decide how to actually ascertain what the users needed or wanted. Carol pushed a quantitative methodology and stressed the tight timescales – user workgroups in each country only had six weeks to conduct the relevant research, and a further four weeks to submit the EU ‘Deliverable’ on user needs. The other partners sat back and listened. Solven and Amy (from Ronneby) voiced the same concerns as Martin (from Roosendaal), as he said: ‘surveys are all very well, but you have to be clear what you want to achieve from the survey’, and that often ‘surveys just reproduce the issues that the researcher perceives the issues to be, rather than the real undiscovered needs of users’. This raised a discussion on whether the research ought perhaps to be more exploratory, given the futuristic nature of ATTACH, and respond to the real needs of citizens and service providers, rather than those imposed by the consortium’s questionnaire. This led to a third point – how could members of the public give meaningful answers to questions about a concept they had never seen or used? Most of these issues were left unresolved over the course of the workshop. All of the technologists attended the ATM workshop, which was a demonstration of the Olivetti kiosk system. The demonstrator form Olivetti stressed that there only needed to be one ‘copy’ of the information, which could then be disseminated to various localities via terminals. The demonstrator said that there were two main ‘traffic types’: • •

voice and video, where there was a low need for error correction and a high need for fast constant delivery, and data which were not delay-sensitive (which could be stored and forwarded) but had a high need for error correction.

This, in effect, suggested two networks. One of the existing technologies, ‘Time Division Multiplexing’ with a dedicated channel, was very fast but wasteful. Another existing technology was ‘Packet-Switching’, in which traffic could be sent ‘all ways’ – which was efficient but slow. The demonstrator claimed, however, that Olivetti’s new ATM technology could send traffic ‘all ways’, was very fast and very efficient. His assistant set up the technology by using a low-cost workgroup switch designed for PC networks and multimedia LANs. This used existing office wiring (UTP-3), had a 155 Mbps Interface, 10 Mbps Ethernet, and could connect up to 24 ATM25 desktops. The PC adaptor card had an ATM25 network interface (UTP-3), plug-and-play autoconfiguration, and support for Windows Wkgps/NT/95 Novell. There were also ISA and PCI versions. The multimedia file server was 16 Gbytes (20 Gbytes raw), and there was record and play symmetry which supported 60 Mbps. The environment consisted of multimedia PCs, kiosks, the ATM switch, multimedia store and an Olivetti SNX. The technologists all sat quietly and took notes, and on the whole seemed to think that this configuration of technology would support a stand-alone system. However, some technologists, especially Solven and Mons (Ericssons) from Ronneby, questioned the stand-alone idea and wondered if ATTACH should work towards developing in a networked environment, to make full use of the available digital technology.

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In the various meetings and informally over coffee, meals and drinks, the partners learned each other’s different approaches to, interests in, and conceptual orientations of the project. A common theme emerging from the discussions was that each partner had its own interest and each was unsure how this would actually fit within the ATTACH project. For, even though everyone had agreed in principle to an ATTACH identity with a ‘common look and feel’, no one was really sure what this meant or how it could be achieved. In a project management meeting, Jonathan clearly stated that ATTACH was a collaborative project, and that certain aspects of the project would be common across all sites whereas other aspects were unique to a particular site. Chris (ARTTIC) agreed, stating that the consortium had to show why some aspects were common across sites and others particular to a site. Throughout the discussion, Chris kept stressing the aim that the ‘project should succeed’, which would require ‘working as one project’. This meant getting through the various European Union reviews, developing the technology in relation to local user needs, and planning for the exploitation of the project results. There was a mix of social/ moral-type obligations, commercial interests and bureaucratic procedures, however, ATTACH’s ultimate aim, which became it’s working myth, was to develop citizencentric digital services. The mission that was developed at this ATTACH meeting was that the project would shape digital services to improve citizens’ lives. Social events took place each evening, such as an ‘Equestrian Challenge’, which Jonathan led with much enthusiasm, as well as visits to the local bowling alley. These events helped everyone to relax and talk to each other and, often, conversation carried on in the bar and the poolroom after an evening event until the early hours of the morning. Through the enjoyment of the informal socializing, a group identity started to emerge, which built trust and understanding between the partners. The social events were examples of ‘sociability’, where status is temporarily forgotten and everyone enjoys each other’s company (Simmel 1950), which was important in creating a team spirit after the fierce debates of the meetings. Throughout the workshop, leadership was essential to bring members together towards a common goal. This goal would be achieved though a unifying narrative of ‘success’. This had meaning for the partners in such an innovative project, and the notion of ‘success’ was an aspect of the ‘spirit of innovation’ that the partners formed. This spirit was seen in the feeling that partners were involved in ‘leadingedge technologies’, and it was about them being ‘leaders’, not ‘followers’, ‘having vision’ and being the ones to ‘set standards’. This spirit motivated the participants and gave meaning to their activities. To a degree, it was what each participant could identify with, even with his or her different priorities – commercial, public service ethic, technology development or career enhancement. It was exciting and challenging for the members to be part of such a ‘high profile’ project. The kick-off meeting had created the myth of ATTACH and had fostered a sense of collaboration between the participants. These two aspects underpinned the exploratory and experimental approach of the project, which could draw on the resources, information and experience of all the partners. This spirit of ATTACH innovation would later prove important in some of the debates that emerged in the development process. On leaving the meeting, Harry commented to the ethnographer that ‘everyone now had to return home and do the work’. The ‘kick-off’ meeting and its spirit of innovation was the first ‘symbolic act’ of the innovation process.

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User Needs Research The members of the ATTACH consortium were aware that ‘the amount of time and effort involved in understanding and satisfying user needs is almost always underestimated in deference to technical requirements’ (ATTACH kick-off meeting file). This section of the chapter describes the way in which the London team undertook the user needs research. The first user needs team meeting took place at Tintagel House, the MPS building where Carol was based, with John, Sarah and the ethnographer attending. The focus of the first meeting was to gain an understanding of the characteristics of the research. John pointed out that, at a very basic level, ‘we have got two methodologies: one, a postal questionnaire with a selected sample of information providers; two, a structured interview with a random sample of citizens (off the street, in the library)’. He raised the issue of capturing user response from people who had used a similar information system, such as Newham On-line Information System (NOISE), and responses from people who had not used, or who were not aware of, any such systems. Carol focused strongly on the need to understand the service providers’ requirements in relation to multimedia information and service provision in a stand-alone and/or networked digital environment. However, the discussion rapidly turned to the question: ‘what does the term “user” mean?’ (John). Carol had just accepted the term, with the qualification of dividing users into information providers and public users. John, however, suggested that there were many different types of users, as there were many different people with particular needs who would need to access services at various times. The group decided on the term ‘citizen-user’ to define ‘any member of the public who might enter an ATTACH service to obtain information and seek advice’. The term ‘information provider’ was defined as ‘any organization, department or person within an organization who might supply the information or services through ATTACH’. John repeatedly stressed that the research must be carried out to provide meaningful and reliable information. The research had to be representative of the concerns and needs of members of the public, which could be fed into the technical and informational development of the project. In the meeting, the team produced a draft questionnaire for citizen-users and decided that it was adequate to run a pilot first, and then make changes if necessary. The next user meeting took place after the pilot survey in Deanford Library; a listed building that had links with Kier Hardie, the first Labour MP. As well as the usual library facilities, it held a local history collection and numerous books in languages such as Urdu and Gujarati. The meeting was in a small back office where Nick, the Newham Information Officer, was based. Nick had developed and set up NOISE. Jonathan joined the user needs team at the meeting, being keen to get Nick involved in the user needs research because of his good local knowledge of Newham and experience of setting up an online information system. Nick spoke about his experience of setting up NOISE and said that he felt there was a good enough information-base to develop for ATTACH. However, Nick’s main concern was: ‘will these types of systems meet the needs of local people?’ He explained that, although usage of NOISE was logged, he ‘did not have any qualitative information about actual use. For instance, who was using the system

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and why? What did residents actually want to find out? And what did they really want from an information system?’ Nick was concerned to include some questions in the survey that focused specifically on local need. He stressed that qualitative data would allow themes to emerge that could be followed up as the system became an established community resource. He thought that focus group work at some stage in the development would be a good idea (see Chapter 10). Nick also raised the requirement to understand the particular needs of various ethnic minority groups in Newham, as 56 per cent of its population was part of an ethnic group. The debates in this user needs meeting show how user needs researchers were beginning to think more deeply about the meaning of ‘users’ in relation to a locality. Nick felt that the pilot had raised a number of issues that went beyond the immediate task of testing the questionnaire, to wider issues regarding information delivery. The very fact of consulting even a small number of users meant that the information delivery task had to be considered from the users’ end of the equation and not the information providers’. Nick argued that the pilot had revealed an issue regarding the relationship between the information on the system and information available elsewhere, which highlighted the need to integrate data in the provision of information. For example, Nick accepted one respondent’s suggestion that the book catalogue and NOISE should be integrated, so that if a user was looking for a sport such as volleyball, they would type the word into the system and a menu would appear, offering three choices: • • •

books about volleyball, volleyball clubs in Newham, national contacts.

Respondents in the pilot survey suggested that access terminals could be in libraries, youth centres, the shopping mall, schools, colleges, housing offices, employment centre receptions, careers offices, training centres, the advice arcade, doctors’ surgeries, post offices, the local leisure centre and department stores. There were a number of open-ended questions in the questionnaire, which Nick felt ‘give a flavour of the quality of the responses’ and which illustrated ‘how useful and illuminating they can be’. A few examples are: • • • • •

‘It could be more detailed ... what about the Internet?’ ‘Not sure what’s on there, so I don’t know if I found everything on a subject. ‘I know the database is not complete ... ’ ‘Wouldn’t want to use a machine so much in the street with two kids.’ ‘I think it is encouraging that an effort is being made to integrate the resources in the borough.’

The main survey was developed from the pilot, and part of the user survey was carried out at Newham’s ‘first-stop’ shop, which was in the entrance foyer of East Haven Town Hall. It was comprised of a reception desk, and was staffed by two people. The members of staff had access to other council services and also had other local information that they could pass on to members of the public. There were two

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telephones that were free of charge for the public to use to find information and contact various services. Pam (front desk staff) said they would often inform residents about what they were entitled to from the council and from the various welfare agencies. Pam felt that ‘you just accrue information that is relevant to what people actually want’. She said that ‘they had a book where they jotted down relevant information and contact addresses that they had discovered while trying to help residents with their problems’. She added, ‘although the information has been computerized now, it takes too long to access, so we just keep on using the book’. The ethnographer sat with the video of a mock-up of the ATTACH service in a quiet corner near the front desk where she could interview people. Many of the responses were like those of an elderly white woman and an Asian woman who both answered thoughtfully, but felt that interactive digital services did not seem especially relevant to them. She interviewed two Asian men who wanted information about the electoral roll, a newly-qualified (computer) teacher, who was prepared to work for nothing just to get experience. She interviewed a young couple with a baby who could not pay their rent. Another interviewee was complaining about a religious meeting that was being held in the Town Hall, because the group was fundamentalist and he stated that this was against the principle of the council being non-sexist, nonracist, and so on. Most of the respondents had come to the desk with immediate and basic needs, such as an inability to pay rent, the need for social services, or seeking legal advice. Respondents answered in general terms about common expectations that might not be relevant to their personal circumstances. Thus, they might comment that they would obtain information by telephone, but they may not in fact have a telephone. There was also a tendency to provide answers that were related to the way things were done at present for example, opening hours were taken as being the ‘correct’ time to contact various services. In general terms, most respondents thought that digital services might be useful, but they could not envisage their use. The main findings of the user needs research were that residents needed e-services: ‘to get information’, ‘to get advice’ and ‘to access support services’. The demand for information varied according to the source, for example, information about jobs was wanted on a weekly basis, whereas council information was required monthly. Information was also needed at different times, e.g. council information was required during the day, whereas information on leisure was required most at the weekend, and the police had to provide a 24/7 rapid response service. The most popular way of getting information was via the telephone, and asking a friend was more commonly used than consulting a leaflet. Access, whether via a computer at home or at a kiosk, had to be easy to use and have printing facilities. Digital services had to be reliable and have ‘up to date’ information. The ‘official’ research results only provided very basic findings. However, through conducting the research, the London team gained a deeper sense of the needs of people in Newham and an awareness of the complexity of providing digital services. For instance, Nick and the ethnographer found at least two hundred and fifty information providers in the borough. Furthermore, the ethnographer’s survey was conducted in different sites such as libraries, one-stop shop, and voluntary agencies, which sensitized her to the fact that social exclusion was multi-dimensional, often requiring multi-agency support. These observations

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were discussed in team meetings and were just as valuable as the official findings in the overall development of ATTACH. The EC Deliverable also reported on the results of the information providers’ research. Carol argued that, as the London initiative for ATTACH was a partnership between the LBN and MPS, it was essential to capture the views of both these information providers. She noted that the organizations are, in themselves, quite complex, with different user requirements, representing a variety of interests and responsibilities for the residents of Newham. Nick and Carol conducted the information providers’ research, with Nick focusing on the requirements of the LBN and Carol focusing on the MPS. Both organizations were reported as understanding that ATTACH would improve access to information. They thought that ATTACH would be a more efficient means of disseminating information to the public. MPS division staff thought that the ATTACH system would make more effective use of front office staffing levels. Council officials thought that ATTACH information kiosks should be an integral part of service delivery to the public. The information providers’ survey, however, only produced a very schematic outline of rather ‘woolly, general benefits’ (Tom) which, as Tom argued, ‘clearly shows that the issues of changing information and service provision had not been carefully thought through by the organizations themselves nor addressed in the survey’. Moreover, the survey had not considered the specific nature of each organization’s service delivery, which made the task of integrating ATTACH into MPS business procedures difficult. Thus, as in the citizen survey, the information providers’ survey only resulted in a very basic report on user needs. This had consequences for the development of applications, as the technologists from LBN and Olivetti commented: ‘how can these findings be interpreted as technical specs or identify specific organizational needs for precise application development?’ In conclusion, user requirements were produced within short time constraints and in relation to organizational imperatives, in response to the demands of the EC Deliverable. However, the research did not enable discovery of any untapped demands, which might have been helpful in developing telematics. It was not meaningful to the technical developers, who felt that the results could not be translated into a clear set of ‘specifications’. Rather, the benefit of the research was primarily one of sensitizing the ATTACH team to issues surrounding user needs in Newham. The user needs phase of ATTACH’s development was a clearly-defined ‘symbolic act’. The participants in the innovation process framed and gave meaning to this ‘symbolic act’ as a very basic capture of user needs. The discussions between members of the ATTACH team highlight that the established method of using a quantitative survey to capture user needs did not provide sufficient data for the development of telematics, and the reflexive attitude of the ATTACH actors meant that the limitations of the user needs research were acknowledged. As a consequence of this awareness, the ATTACH team were open to community focus group research later on in the project (see Chapter 10).

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Developing the ‘Demo’: From ‘Spirit’ to ‘Practicality’ Harry had to manage the relationship between the user needs research and the technical development. This relationship was a sensitive and volatile one, as Olivetti and Newham had two different perspectives on the technical development and because the user research was not held in high regard by the technologists. Harry was keen to push the technical development forward early on in the project, as he felt the team needed a ‘demo’ from which they could build services, once they had a sense of user needs. Therefore, even before the results of the user needs research were known, Harry stated that the technologists ‘could make “intelligent guesses” as to what the user requirements might be, and so start on the technical work’. This attitude worked well with the LBN approach, which was exemplified by Bruce’s comment: ‘it is best to throw a system out there and see what happens’, believing that using a ‘demo’ would provide the technologists with enough feedback to inform development. The London Technical Group’s first meeting after the ‘kick-off meeting’ was led by CCS (LBN) at the ‘Pyramid’ – the nickname for Newham Council Offices. Bruce, as Technical Director, chaired the meeting, and Harry was there in his capacity as Project Manager. Dick and Philip from Olivetti were present, along with Peter from CCS and Stewart from Bell Cable Media, who was involved on a contractual basis. Bruce steered the meeting from a council perspective and, throughout the meeting, raised issues of inequality, ethnicity, and exclusion, and the need to counter digital divides. He took a long-term vision in terms of standards, technical trends and the strategic development of digital services. At this point in the development of ATTACH, he envisaged a greater use of kiosks in service environments, but only as a step to integrated borough-wide eservices. Peter, the LBN technical manager, had a more practical approach to the project and flagged up the issue of how the information should be presented to the public. His key concern was finding a way of constructing the information so that members of the public could access the information they wanted – facts like who to contact, and what sections to consult if, for example, ‘your rubbish has not been cleared’. Peter argued that members of the public did not understand the council’s organization, so therefore would not know that they should type in ‘environmental health’, or would even know that this category existed on the system. The discussion moved onto the issue of language provision on the ATTACH system. Newham is a multi-cultural borough where ten ethnic languages are spoken,1 there is a translation service within the LBN, the MPS has a language line and the Station Reception Officers (SROs) speak several locally used languages. The proposal stated that there would be language provision as part of the ATTACH service, however, at this stage of development, the technologists were unclear about providing a language-service digitally, as some of the relevant fonts were not available and the development of ‘talking heads’ was at a very early stage. They were equally unsure how to develop services for the deaf. 1 As noted in the introduction, there are many more languages spoken. The local services, however, have reduced this down to the ten most common languages spoken.

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The discussion then changed to the innovation process itself. Bruce mentioned the need to consider short product cycles in ATTACH’s long-term development. This highlighted one of the main issues that the ATTACH technical team faced – the key division between the Olivetti team, who wanted to push their stand-alone KioskKit solution and the Newham and Ronneby teams, who wanted to develop along an Intranet route. The public sector partners saw Olivetti’s position as wanting to sell its own product, whereas the Olivetti team argued that the use of KioskKit would allow rapid development, particularly for a ‘demo’ and a prototype. Dick felt that changing to an Intranet solution would seriously delay the project’s progress. Bruce and Peter (LBN) had a different vision, wanting to develop ATTACH within the Newham Intranet as part of the strategic development of digital services in Newham. This tension was resolved further along the development process (see Chapter 7). An impetus for the team to make a decision was that a ‘demo’ had to be ready for the Department of Technology Fair three months into the project. Harry intended to translate existing MPS leaflets into a kiosk format, but Dick said that ATTACH was being promoted as a local information system and as a partnership between the MPS and the LBN and he therefore felt that LBN should put some information on the ATTACH system for the Fair. The LBN technologists spoke about the possibility of the Newham application being a Web-type approach with a NOISE conversion, which Dick agreed to because the new application was internal to the LBN and ATTACH, and doing work for the ‘demo’ should not affect its overall development. The kiosk environment was discussed in the follow up ‘demo’ meetings. Dick stated that ‘in Olivetti the latest push is for the corporation to adopt NT in June/July – Windows ’95 is out – until the pricing is brought on line’. There were also issues of licensing: Dick thought there would be a change, either for Windows ’95 or NT Client, and that the NT operating system/client should be the standard for ATTACH. Bruce questioned the ‘longevity’ of this approach. Dick argued that ‘there is a small problem in the middle’, meaning there were, in effect, two stages to the development. There were the ‘demo’ and the ‘prototype’ stages within the first twelve months of the project and then a move to the application/demonstration phase. Dick argued that the kiosks would be in 32 byte environments and the PCs for the development would be 16 bytes, but still use approved NT or Windows ’95, agreeing that the ‘demo’ for the Fair could be 32 bytes and the prototype (early June) could be 16 bytes. Bruce felt that the team should develop towards specific standards, to which Dick responded that ATTACH had bought a product that was open to corporate upgrade and that the migration path was open. Bruce said that was ‘okay until June, but I will monitor this in subsequent meetings’. In the meeting before the Fair, the discussion moved to identifying more specific applications. Harry said that ‘we are two months into the project and the user requirements are to be delivered in another two months’, but he felt that it was possible to identify some ‘starter’ applications now. Harry thought that these could include document handling in the form of LBN’s ‘concerns and complaints’, tourist e-bookings in Greece; and scanning driving documents for remote presentation to police. Bruce thought these examples could general offer insights into developing interactivity in e-services. The generic applications in the first instance could be defined as:

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paying for a service, form filling, and booking.

The talk moved to the status of the ‘demo’, which had to be finished by the end of the week. Bruce and Harry viewed the process of developing a ‘demo’ as a ‘learning experience’, showing, for instance, that Web pages needed to be structured so as to make them ‘kiosk friendly’ and that ‘scrolling’ on a kiosk was not a satisfactory way to use touch screens. Nick’s NOISE system could be made ‘kiosk friendly’ and Bruce thought it would be possible to translate the NOISE videotext into a more user-friendly Intranet-style information system. Dick suggested Bell Cable Media could give ATTACH a ‘global information’ dimension through its cable, while the Newham server could provide access to local information. Bruce said there was much that could be done, but the key was how people react to what they developed. He decided that, once they had a prototype, he would put it in the Council Tax Benefit Office, as his office was just above that. He could then check to see how things were going. He wanted a controlled environment in which to test the prototype and Harry suggested that Nick and Bridgette (the ethnographer) could monitor its use. There had been a flurry of work from Olivetti, the LBN, Harry and Bridgette to get the demo kiosk up and running with some information on it for the DOT Fair. Jonathan said he hoped that the kiosk would stand up to the amount of use it would get over the two days of the Fair, as it was vital that the kiosk did not ‘crash’, which might result in them losing support for the project if it was seen to be unreliable. He said this was an important moment in ATTACH’s history, as it was the first time the ‘concept’ would be seen in ‘real working order’. A key point in the uptake of any technology is to have ‘user-champions’; if the kiosk impressed visitors at the Fair then there would be a better chance of receiving high-level support. For the ATTACH team, therefore, a lot rested on the kiosk’s ‘debut’ performance at the Fair. Harry and Carol gave an ‘MPS-EC Partnership Projects’ presentation. Harry situated ATTACH within non-confrontational relations between the police and the public and stated that it would provide an opportunity to increase public-police contacts. On a practical level, he said that it would extend police presence beyond police stations, and would reduce queues at police stations’ front-desks. The project had a focus on users – defined as members of the public – and the information providers, and sought to evaluate the ways in which digital technology could benefit the police. The ATTACH system was not only a way of disseminating information, but would also provide a range of interactive services. Harry said that these technologies would take the MPS out to the general public, for instance, ATTACH could be seen as part of the Newham Partnership against Crime. There was an array of questions from the floor. One man asked about digital security issues, what services were in place to support interactive remote access, and what were the operational issues regarding remote document handling. One police officer was not convinced by the presentation, arguing that there might be improved access to information, but that remote services could reduce personal contact with the police, which he thought was significant in the context of ‘non-confrontational’ contact. At this point, Carol stressed that the digital services would not replace policemen and women, but would

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just form part of the overall police service. The final question was about language translation, and Harry replied that the LBN were intending to pilot the translation services. There was considerable interest shown in the kiosk, from general visitors to the DOT fair, from the press and MPs. The general visitors seemed to view the kiosk with cautious interest and asked if the services would be available via a range of channels and how they would fit into existing service provision. Some police officers thought it was a good idea as a medium for information provision, whilst others were concerned about who would maintain the information and whether the public would really use it. There was a general concern amongst this sector of visitors that the kiosks would replace police stations, because many of the existing satellite stations were proving inefficient to use in terms of cost, as the 24-hour provision at these stations was rarely used. People had heard that a Commander had put a kiosk in a police station that had been closed down, and that the people in that town were pleased with the provision of a kiosk. However, many of the Fair visitors commented that this had to be considered in relation to the fact that there was no police station in that town. There was a different approach from the press and the Home Secretary. Geoff (DOT) ensured that the Home Secretary visited the ATTACH stand, who commented that ATTACH was part of a strategy for finding ‘technological solutions’ to help to fight crime. Journalists from The Guardian, The Independent, The Times and The Evening Standard were interested enough to file stories about ATTACH. Harry was interviewed for Radio 5 Live, where the kiosk was described as the ‘new Tardis’. Leaving the Fair late on the last day, Harry said that the kiosk had stood up to its first test and that the concept of digital services was beginning to be thought about. He said, however, that ‘it is important not to lose the momentum, we might have the demo now, but if you don’t keep the momentum going, then time will go by, and the project will not keep going and be promoted. We need to follow the “demo” up and get the technology out there’. The development of a ‘demo’ was a clearly identifiable ‘symbolic act’ in the innovation process. The members of the ATTACH team gave meaning to this phase by building a very basic model of telematics that they could subsequently develop. Furthermore, the ‘demo’ was demonstrated to a public audience, who tested the mock-up product and service which would, to a degree, form first opinions of telematics. This was important because, as Jonathon stated, ATTACH services had to have user ‘champions’ who would be willing to integrate ATTACH into their service provision. However, as with the user needs research, the partners gained more from the discussions they had in developing the demo, which also fostered new ideas about developing digital services. The technical development, even in the early stages, was contested in relation to what development path should be taken to which vision. The debates reflected the ways in which technology is shaped, as developers envisage, appropriate and seek to implement it in social contexts of use. This process was influenced not just by the ‘affordances’ of the technology but also by the purpose it had to serve and the underlying values of that purpose. The technologists’ decisions and actions were made not just in relation to the technology, but also to the development of services and the rationale of those

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services. Thus, the developers became accountable to the myth of ATTACH, which was that e-services should improve the quality of life of local people, service users and service providers by improving access, communication and service. Summary The first phase in the relations of production shows that the partners in the project did not have a clear idea what ATTACH telematics was. At the kick-off meeting, they developed a myth of ATTACH which underpinned the development work – that e-services should improve the lives of citizens by improving access to information, advice and services. This broad myth, however, did not prepare the London site partners for the understanding and detail needed to start development. The user needs research only provided some very basic findings, but what was gained from the activity was a sensitivity to the complexity of eenabling community services, which was fed into the rest of the development process. The development of the ‘demo’ pushed the developers to engage with some details of the technology and consider how they might be developed into accessible e-services. Both the ‘user needs’ and the ‘demo’ were contested, with different views being expressed on how best to take things forward, and at this stage user needs and technical development was not integrated. Nonetheless, the spirit of innovation kept the team together and focused. They were all reflective and learnt from this early work in ways that informed the ongoing innovation process, which characterized the development as reflexive. Factors such as local knowledge, an understanding of everyday life and routine information provision, were proving to be significant in developing digital communications – virtual networks were being produced from grounded contexts. The action at this stage of the innovation process was in the primarily in ‘back stage’ sector of the theatre of innovation and involved actors from the domains of user needs and technological development. The user needs research survey was carried out in the audience sector and involved local residents in Newham. Both user needs actors and technology developer actors, however, referred to the audience area of the theatre in relation to their validation sites. The work of this phase only loosely referred to the stage sector, mainly in relation to broad policy initiatives, for example, Ronneby 2003.

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Chapter 7

Phase Two of the Relations of Production: ‘Moving on and Developing e-Services’ The first phase of development was generated from organizational and personal visions invoked a spirit of innovation amongst the R&D team. The user needs analysis and the ‘demo’ was only the first step in developing digital services, and the team had to start engaging with all aspects of changing communication such as information provision, service delivery and technological development, in an integrated fashion. This process shows how the idea of a multimedia kiosk developed into a ‘local service strategy of one-stop shops’, the Newham Intranet, and a videophone service for reporting crime. The ‘Debden Workshop’ as a Crucible for Integrating Information, Service and Technical Developments The ATTACH consortium came together at a four-day project meeting after the user needs research and development of the demo. They met at the LBN’s Debden Educational Centre in Epping Forest. Simon, Director of CCS, explained in his welcoming address that the LBN was restructuring, using digital services, and he welcomed ATTACH as part of that change. He was pleased that Newham Borough Computer Services had now got the support of the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council in developing an e-enabled Newham. Harry and Bruce started the four-day workshop by stating that its main aim was to consider the results of the user need research in the development of technologies and services. Harry said that ‘everyone had burnt the midnight oil to deliver the user needs report’ and that a peer review had been carried out on that phase, but now ‘they had to be technical solutions built in relation to these’. Bruce pointed out that ‘the next phase could be summarized as site specification and local validation’. With the focus on developing services, two new dimensions were brought into the project. First, Nick was constantly raising the issues of ‘information’ and ‘information provision’ within a community. Nick was respected within the group because ‘he was good at his job, he understood information provision, he had an idea about community information needs and he had a knowledge of the technology’ (Greg, CCS). Second, and related to the former point, Tom Dolton – the peer reviewer of the ATTACH user requirements phase – argued that there needed to be a consideration of what ‘citizenship actually means in different regions, countries, places; and how

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the meaning of citizenship is realized in public services, interactions and activities’. Tom was a partner in CDW, a consultancy specializing in public communication and influential in the interest group ‘Exchanging Information with the Public’ (EIP). He stressed the notion of ‘service’ within digital developments, whether kiosk services or other telematics services such as health, education and training. He said that in his experience, for example, most digital projects failed because services had not been thought through and service models had not been constructed within organizations or in partnerships. On the second day Nick argued, at both the morning and afternoon meetings, that there was a huge demand for information. He felt that this required all the information providers to work via a single information system, which would ensure a comprehensive service that was co-ordinated to meet the needs of citizens. The ‘one system’ approach would also prevent overlap in the collation and, by default, the presentation of information to the public. There therefore needed to be networking between information providers to ensure that access to information was easy for the public and that it was relevant to ‘people’s needs’. Nick said he was interested to see if one project could deliver information of sufficient depth and breadth to satisfy the needs of the people of Newham. He said that the aim of the ATTACH project should be to discover community needs and provide information in relation for those needs, ensuring that the information would serve the needs of the citizens and not just the needs of service providers. He said there were two main approaches to information provision. First, there was the information providers’ organizational perspective. Second, there were the various views of members of the public with regard to what information they needed and wanted. He felt that the second approach should be the base for building a system. He also argued for a balance between remote access to information and advice and advocacy services. He was keen to stress two points in developing community information services. First, that information provision is ‘exchanging information with the public’ which means precisely that, an ‘exchange’, and that members of the public should have some input about what information they wanted on the system.1 This would encourage people to think of it as ‘their information system’ that in turn might produce more active participation in local life.2 The second point that Nick made was on the ‘spirit of the Internet’. He felt that the people of Newham should not only have access to and communication with ‘local information’, but that, following the ethos of the Internet, they should be able to access information globally and be able to communicate globally. He also felt that ATTACH should be ‘fun’, which would encourage use, and he renamed ATTACH as it went out live as ‘Newham OK!’ 1 This could be done in various ways, through representatives of groups and clubs. Nick’s vision included the idea that members of the public could put their own information on the system. 2 He did make a provision, that there should be some form of ‘censoring’ of the information that residents put on the system, he thought that, for example, information put on the system by The National Front would be offensive. With this in mind, LBN formed a post of ‘Corporate Editor’ to monitor any offensive communication (Wessels, 2000a).

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Solven spoke after Nick in the meetings, also addressing the issue of situating ICT within local society. One of the main priorities of the Ronneby Commune was that ICT should become something that was ‘used’ and ‘normal’ in citizens’ everyday lives. He found that ‘Forum Ronneby’, a public comments site on using ICT, was a very simple but useful tool in helping find ways to embed ICT in everyday life. In relation to their user research, he presented a plan of the library and showed where the computers were situated, as this is where some of his survey had taken place. The research had found that users had differing perceptions of time, with some users finding the system fast, but others finding it slow. Evidence from the research about differences in gender and use was inconclusive. In the first survey, women used the system for approximately five minutes and men used the system for approximately thirty minutes. In the second survey these results were reversed, with women using the system longer than men. A key finding was that use was often related to the amount and quality of the information, and he felt that much more information could be available if ATTACH added the Internet to its information pool. Even though Solven was responsible for organizational and technical issues in implementing ATTACH, he worked from the users’ experience towards organizational and technical issues. Solven was at an advantage in focusing on community issues, as Ronneby already had an advanced infrastructure in place and he could take the support of the Ronneby Commune leaders for granted. Mons spoke in the Technical Progress meeting and followed the same themes as Nick and Solven. He said that Ronneby had some prototype applications running, which ‘was not just for the benefit of the administrators but also so that the public could do their own bookings’. Mons said this was all part of the ‘Digital Ronneby’ project, which sought to form a connection for citizens to political decision-making via ICT. Mons said that the use of ICT should be part of every group and society and should be fully integrated into community life, as it was a means of communication between citizens and their political representatives. Mons listed some of the service issues he believed the ATTACH project must address, including: • • • •

general public information, internal organization description, a wide scope of work-related information, and marketing.

He categorized development under two headings: ‘purposes’ and ‘system requirements’. Under ‘purposes’, he said that ‘newspapers have learnt to communicate, now the Web will have to learn how to come through with a message’. He said that there was a need to ‘give a homogenous presentation of information to citizen users’, which should be up to date to assure people that they have got ‘fresh information’. He thought that the ‘system requirement’ was an intuitive Web solution, which would generate efficiencies based on the Web’s information field. In relation to making the system intuitive, Mons identified a key difference between people who are technically minded and those who are not, by using the idea of a book. He argued that most people were used to looking up information in a book-

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based index, but the Web was different in that it was based on links and networks he felt that this deceptively simple change in searching for information would be one of the major challenges to the project regarding take-up and participation in services by the public. Bruce (LBN) argued that the London site had realized that digital services required a Corporate Information Strategy to determine local standards, content, and to devise a Public Information Strategy. Within this strategy, the team would consider types of access that were ‘location specific’, which meant that there could be kiosks in public spaces, terminals in libraries and advice centres, and home access through a computer. The Lea Valley Tele-region was considering the infrastructure for this plan and was talking to ACORN, a local cable company, about dovetailing into the ATM network. Newham had also held a Public Information Conference, which showed a wide level of support for telematics services by service providers. However, Bruce said that ‘there has been some level of technical development, as well as the strategy work, for example, there were four hundred pages of information on the kiosks and the use of KioskKit and Free Tools that was serving as a base to build from’. In the technical meetings, the focus was on developing a ‘fast prototype’, and Harry stated that the ‘Commission want a fast-prototype because projects can sometimes degenerate into several discrete projects instead of one cohesive collaborative project across partner sites’. The fast prototype was defined as ‘a collection of demonstration applications from each partner site, all integrated into a common platform’ (Harry’s briefing paper). Warren (Olivetti) had produced a specification for the prototype that outlined the system’s configuration, which tried to ensure that the different applications would fit together with the minimum of integration work. For the fast prototype, they chose not to preclude the use of different specifications (e.g. screen resolutions, operating systems, etc.) from the partners for their main systems developments at their sites. For the London site, the LBN supplied an HTMLbased system, which used Olivetti’s ‘Touch Screen Browser’.3 The MPS supplied a KioskKit application and Gupta database, using a route into the MPS’s Web pages using Olivetti’s Touch Screen Browser. Both of the London site applications were accessed via a KioskKit shell programme. Bruce firmly reminded everyone in the prototype discussions that ‘it is only a prototype’ for demonstration purposes for the Commission, and that at this point nothing was set in stone. The emphasis was to produce a workable model to test the ATTACH concept. These discussions over the first two days of the workshop and the push to develop a prototype to test the ATTACH concept generated debate amongst the ATTACH partners about the complexity of developing digital services. This workshop was a crucible in the development process, as it made the partners realize that developing digital services involved service as well as technical transformations. There was uncertainty amongst the team about how best to take things forward. Bruce, for example, argued: ‘just throw the kiosks out and see how they are used’ and Dick added that ‘through use of the system we will get some sort of “validation” of design and so on’. John (CDD) did not agree, arguing that there should be prior 3

At this point in the ATTACH development the browser was a Netscape product.

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ergonomic testing of the design, and Tom (CDW) said to the ethnographer that ‘the technologists think it is just the technology’. Bruce responded, saying: ‘I want John to be more proactive’ arguing that they ‘really need the ergonomic guide now, rather than at the end of the project’. The consequence of not having such a guide meant that the technologists were ‘making it up as they went along’, resulting in each partner developing in his/her own style, so that there was no ‘common look and feel’ to the project. Again, the link between user issues and technical development was proving difficult to achieve. The difficulty of integrating user issues with technical development was also seen, as Tom reported in his review of the user needs research and in raising the service aspect of e-services. Tom pushed the service and information dimension, asking directly: ‘what information do you have on the kiosk?’ Bruce responded, ‘anything at the moment, information about the Councillors’. Tom argued that the team would ‘run into trouble unless we develop a service model that has toplevel support’. Bruce conceded that all the services agreed with the idea, but not everything was developing coherently, and Tom pointed out that ‘you need to have an understanding of how the relations work in bringing together services through a digital infrastructure’. Bruce agreed, commenting that, ‘there needs to be high-level management support and we have got a “champion” in the Chief Executive’. However, there was also disagreement regarding development from the technologists. Dick and Dave were concerned that the London site team, particularly Bruce, was changing its development plans too much. They felt that there was not enough time to make major changes to the development plans without jeopardising the progress of the project towards delivering workable solutions. However, Bruce and Peter felt that the Olivetti team were not interested in doing any development work, but just wanted to exploit their existing products. Harry and Bruce argued that the Olivetti view did not address the complexity of developing new services, and that development had to be done to implement site demonstration models. The workshop was a crossroads for the ATTACH project, since the partners had started to understand the complexity of developing digital services. The first phase of the development had generated some preliminary understanding of the contexts for changing communication, and the key dimensions of information and services had entered the discourse of the project as partners found that ‘ATTACH is not a technology project but a services and information project’ (Harry). The changing sensibility about developments in digital technology opened up new ways to develop the project. Different narratives began emerging that produced a reflexive consideration of the development, and the team became aware of the complexity of organizational and institutional practices in relation to the everyday life of citizens. The contested nature of the interaction of these performances constituted the dynamism of change. Technical Development: The Path to the Intranet At the Debden meeting, the seeds had been sown for developing telematics using Intranet technologies. The London site team therefore organized a technical workshop

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at Olivetti House to plan an ATTACH public information and communication system based on an Intranet approach. The rationale for taking the Intranet route was the idea that ‘HTML is the mark-up language of the Internet, and the World Wide Web (WWW), and the technology that has made the Internet such a resounding success in recent years can be used to form an Intranet’ (Draft of Technical Deliverable, 2). The team defined the Intranet as ‘a non-public web site devoted to one group of users and for one group of users’. They argued for an Intranet approach because Web traffic outdistanced all other traffic on the Internet and because the increasing use of graphics, audio, video, and other data types on Web servers would continue to drive growth. In recognition of this and the organizational advantages of Intranets, many potential information and service providers for ATTACH are, or would be, implementing their own corporate-maintained Intranets. Thus, much of the information that they would provide to ATTACH would already be maintained in HTML Web page format. If the ATTACH system could make direct use of this, any duplication of information or costly format changes would be avoided. The London site undertook research regarding the Intranet and what would need to be done to migrate ATTACH to that approach. They also felt that time taken on research at that stage would facilitate the longer-term aim of community-wide digital services. More specific advantages of developing the ATTACH system as an Intranet included the availability of common user applications such as email, Web browsers, file transfer protocols, etc. These were readily available for TCP/IP (Internet Protocol) networks and, due to their wide usage they were well tried and tested. The development effort required for their inclusion in ATTACH was therefore minimal. There were several areas where extra work would be required for the ATTACH Intranet. One of these was developing routines to handle control of peripheral devices, e.g. printers for receipts, card readers, scanners, etc. The functions that were readily available in KioskKit would have to be developed for the Intranet system. Another area that required development effort was the interface for HTML to SQL database connectivity. The incorporation of ‘legacy’ information systems from ATTACH service providers was important, both for existing providers and for future expansion. For example, a service provider who had an existing SQL database server might want to grant access to a subset of the information in the database to people using a Web browser (at an ATTACH kiosk, or terminal). In fact, the Web page might be dynamic in that it could directly incorporate pieces of databases, such as the current status of projects, phone directories, or lists of various available forms. The team identified a number of products that facilitated direct SQL database query and dynamic Web page design. Some of those were gateways connecting existing SQL database servers to Web servers, so that clients using Web browsers could query the data. Others supported a variety of database formats and had more extensive development environments, allowing more involved form creation to retrieve dynamically-generated indices of documents. The Web/database interface, at that time, was new and therefore not fully riskfree. However, there were many instances where database connectivity was required to Internet/Intranet systems and, as the Intranet system and the Intranet market were growing rapidly, it was believed that the technology would soon mature. Authoring

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tools that users could employ to create information bound for Intranet publication were readily available. These tools ranged from HTML editors to predefined templates for building preformatted document types, to fully interactive multimedia construction kits. There were also many conversion tools available to reformat documents for Intranet access. Other future developments in the Intranet market included new programming languages, such as Java. These would provide more functionality to the Internet/Intranet interface, and would extend Internet systems to include more multimedia-friendly support. Bruce already had connections with Microsoft and they agreed to supply software solutions for the migration to an Intranet approach for ATTACH. Bruce arranged a meeting to discuss this. He said, in relation to the ATTACH evolution; ‘we are having to adapt the project in relation to various complexities, which include the internal interface of ATTACH, the corporate Newham Intranet, and the public interface’. One of the key issues concerning Bruce was ensuring that there was no duplication of information in developing the corporate Intranet for LBN and the MPS. Graham (services development manager, Olivetti) spoke about the need to develop an ‘Internet/Intranet strategy’, which would help to clarify sub-functions of kiosks like browsing, interactive forms, searching and dynamic uploading of pages, voicemail, and payment methods with personal identification that would also provide a basis for further digital services. Marcia (Microsoft) pointed out which Microsoft products would provide solutions for ATTACH and beyond to other digital services. Given this information, Harry and Bruce decided that the Intranet strategy should be based on Microsoft products, and the reputation, size and market reach of the company were considered as indicators of its success and of it being well resourced. Throughout the meeting, Harry kept stressing ‘reliability’, which Dick supported. Dick stressed the need to ‘plan timescales so that there can be adequate testing of the system, as there are still risks involved even though we are using Microsoft products exclusively. The products should all be compatible but there could still be problems making sure that the tuning of the whole system is correct’. The decision to move towards an Intranet infrastructure was summarized by the ATTACH team as: Even with some disadvantages, Intranets still offer benefits that far outweigh their drawbacks. A web-based Intranet is an excellent platform for information creation and distribution. The ease of navigation, and the fact that many existing and potential information providers will be implementing Internet/Intranet systems in the near future combine to make the ATTACH Intranet an attractive solution. The cost in any information system is not generally in setting up the hardware or the networks, but in the generation and maintenance of the information and services. By adopting the WWW standards, and maximising the use of existing information resources from providers, the extra costs for information participating in ATTACH can be minimised – ATTACH Application and Technical Framework Deliverable, 1.

This development shows how the technologists interpreted the Intranet’s potential in relation to the practical application of telematics. The Intranet started to gain meaning and relevance to the technologists as they began to understand the more holistic character of digital services, and in this context ATTACH moved away

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from a ‘stand-alone’ kiosk approach to being an integrated service system based on the Internet. Thus, after months of debate and conflict, the decision about how ATTACH would develop was led by Bruce in relation to the development of the Newham Intranet. As a partner in Newham, the MPS was keen to benefit from the Intranet approach. It had also become expedient for Olivetti to develop its products for an Intranet market. This was because the Intranet had become the trend and many local authorities were beginning to consider using this approach in their public information systems. Information and Services in the Relations of Production Another strand of activity after the Debden workshop was the development of networks of information providers and laying the foundations for a broader boroughwide service strategy. Up to this point, user needs research and technical development had run in parallel and only loosely-linked. However, when the project became more clearly focused on communication with the public, the issues of information provision and services started to integrate user and technical issues in the development. Nick’s ‘Information Providers Day’ Nick had stressed the need to bring different information providers together to start to network and collate various sources of information into one system. He therefore suggested that he should organize an ‘Information Providers Day’ as a way to bring local agencies together in developing a community information system. The speakers at the all-day workshop were Bruce, Roger (LBN Library Service Manager) and Nick, and their presentations were followed with an open discussion session. Nick was well-known and liked in the borough and he drew in 120 service-providers. Sue, Harry and the ethnographer attended from the MPS; there were representatives from Dean End Police Station, and from all the council services, the health service and various voluntary agencies. Bruce spoke first, pointing out that the ATTACH project was a synergy of several technologies and that the project was going into ‘uncharted territories’ with the aim of developing a community information system. The idea behind the scheme was to make better use of ICT to support council services. Due to the fact that it was expensive to develop such a system, the council, in partnership with the MPS, had looked to Europe for funding. The criteria behind the Newham proposal was to put ‘information where the people are’ using multi-media and digital technology, which involved a ‘massive amount of research’. Bruce commented that there was ‘nothing like putting a system in front of people’ to see how it worked, and the prototype in current use was, in effect, a ‘research tool’. Bruce summarized the technology as comprising a Pentium 90 MHz PC, a laser printer and video conferencing facility. It was to be networked by ATM technology with ISDN for video conferencing. The video conferencing would form the basis of a ‘help-desk’ service, for a language translation service and for a non-verbal and hearing disabled service. He said that they wanted to work with the community in

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developing the service further. He could foresee how this type of information and service provision could expand through initiatives such as the ‘East London and Lea Valley Tele-region’, which was in the process of establishing a network throughout the region, and he noted that the broadband infrastructure would help make the technology accessible to all. Roger’s presentation was focused on information provision in the community. He said that he differed from Bruce in that ‘computers were not his favourite things’. He did, however, concede that they could be one form of information provision. However, he really saw the library service as being the ‘information provider’ and its facilities including its staff provided a formal structure, an informal ambience and a ‘neutral area’ to get information. The aim, however, was to make information more widely available and Nick’s NOISE system was part of that structure. Social services had created a Newham Directory of Resources, which was on a database. Roger pointed out that in the council there was a fair amount of expertise around ‘information’, with an interest in developing the use of information further within services. Roger asserted that the next step in the process of expanding information to the public was for departments and organizations to share their information. He argued that information becomes useful when it is relevant to residents’ needs. There was therefore a need to communicate with, and gather information from, the community regarding their information needs. Once this had been achieved then the information could be structured and presented in an information system. This involved a corporate attitude to databases and information to ensure that information and information access was not fragmented. If the process was integrated, a member of the public could go to any point to access the same information given in the same way. Roger said that, as Chair of the new ‘Public Information Strategy Group’, he was aware that the council was not the only provider of information in the borough and that there were many formal and informal groups who could also provide information to a public system. An essential part of developing a public information system was to use already-existing information resources and then present them in one form, i.e. on the ATTACH system. There were five key points to consider in the process: • • • • •

who has the information? the need to persuade information holders to share that information, the form in which information exists at present, the quality of the information (including accuracy and whether it is up to date), the resources available to maintain the information.

Roger stated that these points reflected the changes going on in the information field. It was important to understand ‘who owns the information’, as the bigger the database, the more difficult it was to maintain. Also, the question of ‘who owns it’ reflects ‘who is responsible for the information’, who updates it, who checks its accuracy and who is responsible for the general content. This is important from an organizational point of view. It is also vital from the users’ point of view because, as soon as the information is suspect, people will not use it. Roger stated that trust was

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important in information sharing, and that procedures needed to be put in place to protect the privacy of individuals by ensuring confidentiality of personal information and so on. There were several questions from the floor. Keith (Community Liaison Officer from Dean End police) asked, ‘is there a time limit to the funding of the project?’ Bruce answered, ‘yes, three years, but the aim is to establish digital services from it’. Another person asked: ‘does the system just involve kiosks?’ Bruce replied, ‘kiosks are part of the ATTACH project but we also aim to pilot some networked computers, with the ultimate idea to take information into people’s homes as well as develop local services on a digital infrastructure’. There was a question in relation to the confidentiality of the service, especially video conferencing, and another question raised the issue of wheelchair access. Although the audience was interested, there was some scepticism about the reach and accessibility of this new communication service. On the whole, Bruce’s answers were that the team was aware of these issues and were building the first steps of a public information system, and via that process was developing standards for digital services. Prioritizing Services in the ATTACH Project and Beyond The members of the ATTACH team had always been concerned with ‘improving services’ as a rationale for developing the technology. However, the precise way in which services could be improved was unclear and had not been fully addressed in either the user needs research or the technical development. Tom, ATTACH’s peer reviewer, however, brought the issue of service to the very centre of the ATTACH project. He noted that, in the early phase of development, ATTACH was largely technically-focused and he stated in his first peer review that: ‘At this stage the project shows an unavoidable emphasis on technology usage’. Even after one of the review meetings, his follow-on report stated that: ‘we remain concerned that ATTACH shows a technology-bias’ (Review of Deliverable 3.1). In the London site meetings, Tom stated that the emphasis on the technology and technology usage in user-trials needed to be balanced by the development of fully worked-through service models. He argued that ‘there is nothing to suggest that giving Project ATTACH a sharper, service-oriented focus could not be achieved, which would considerably increase the potential value of the project, together with its likely chance of long-term success, evidenced by embedded implementation running beyond the life of the project itself’. His other main point was that the project should develop strategies for extended user studies at both a deeper and quicker rate than had been anticipated, so that their findings could feed back into the development process rather than appear as an-after-the-event set of statements prefaced by the comment ‘it would have been better if ...’. Tom stressed that ATTACH had reached the same stage a succession of other projects had also reached, but that none of these projects had managed to pass this early stage in development because they had not developed an integrated service based on user-led development. He argued: ‘the conundrum is that you cannot really get proper results from users until you have an up-and-running prototype, a prototype, moreover which is running on a full,

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relevant database. For example, The Highlands Region and Nottinghamshire found that borrowing someone else’s database was not satisfactory because interviewees did not cross the non-local barrier and no combination of show-cards, videos, etc. could succeed in covering the gap satisfactorily either’. Bearing in mind Tom’s advice and the strategic developments for public information and services in Newham, the team started to consider how they could develop and embed digital services in communities. At first, the team fell back on a questionnaire-based strategy, but Tom thought this approach would not be sufficient to identify all the nuances of a system that is properly responsive to user needs. He thought that this point was particularly likely to be true among ethnic communities, who were one of the main potential user-populations of the project. Furthermore, the questionnaire-based approach could not be expected to facilitate monitoring and development of user responses throughout the life of the project. Tom criticised the questionnaire-based user needs approach further, saying that it could not succeed in developing ‘ownership’ of the project. In his view, ‘ownership’ must be based in the local community, with managers of the various statutory and non-statutory community services, with the senior executives and members of the local authorities, and with the local police authority representatives. Tom thought it essential for all these bodies to gain an early interest and involvement in the project so that the project could fulfil its potential. The point that Tom made was that ‘all these issues can be addressed by directing the project’s attention away from frontend technology issues towards essential service issues’. He then went on to say that ATTACH had not ‘fully grasped the nettle of defining what kind of service it is aiming to deliver’. He said that this was not unusual, as ‘in the UK there is a general and rather vague proposition that providing information must be good without any real understanding of what a good public communication and information service might be’. More specifically, Tom was concerned that the ATTACH team had not even considered the basic question of whether ATTACH would operate within a one-stop or first-stop construct – or something even less well defined. Tom pointed out that the only public organization that had conducted deep trials of informationonly service provision via multimedia terminals found that this approach did not work. On the other hand, there was evidence from two authorities that providing a major information service within the construct of a complete advice and support service could deliver outstanding success, both for citizens and for the facilitating authorities.4 Tom was really driving the ATTACH London site team to think beyond ATTACH, towards a fully integrated information and communication service facilitated by digital technology. Tom thought that the project had potential to develop such a communication system, that the combination of the strategic position Newham was taking to development, with the challenge of integrating police services within the community and technology dynamics, might produce new partnership approaches to communicating with the public. Tom recommended that: ‘the project should consider the development of a community partnership approach in developing digital communications and that they should continually test which aspects of service 4

Tom did not name the public organizations as they wished to remain anonymous.

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and, consequently, which discrete parts of an overall database, they would deploy across a range of possible sites. In order to achieve this, the project needs to define a hierarchy of sites with associated services’. These London site meetings prompted a different approach to digital services by the MPS and LBN. First, although the project still had to stick to its timetable, the development work was being dovetailed into Newham’s Local Service Strategy. This strategy sought to develop multi-agency citizen-centric services on an ICT infrastructure and as part of its development plan it would undertake community research (see Chapter 10). Integrating ATTACH into this community services strategy would help to embed it within a service framework. Second, and also in response to other information society initiatives, senior officers from the MPS and LBN started to see that digital services needed to be planned at a wider regional level, which meant London-wide. The development of a ‘Telematics for London Group’ would be the forum for this planning work. Without taking this wider approach, the ATTACH team would have experienced difficulties in embedding, developing and sustaining its services. For example, Harry found it difficult to define and integrate ATTACH information services within the MPS, although there was common agreement that it should supply static information and the ‘InfoTV’ was thought to be useful to broadcast emergency messages. The interactive applications were proving difficult to develop due to organizational issues such as who would staff a videophone desk. There were also documentation issues, for instance, the remote scanning-in of driving documents was proving difficult because it would be easier to present ‘fakes’, and because each insurance document was different. There were also legal issues, for example, in relation to ‘signing-on bail’, which, at one point, Harry thought could be done remotely, but the legal process was too complex to automate this procedure. There was also resistance to embedding a concept such as ATTACH in the organization from within the organization – Mark (MPS, CIS), for example, could see ATTACH being useful perhaps in five years time, but at present the organization was not ready for it. However, the MPS started to run pilot ‘Telephone Investigation Units’ (TIUs), which enabled members of the public to ‘phone in’ to report certain crimes. One of the pilot sites was at Dean End police station, which was also an ATTACH pilot site. The TIUs incorporated the ATTACH videophone application into their pilot for reporting crimes remotely to the TIU. This enabled the project team to try an interactive application for ATTACH, as the police staff needed for this service were already in place for the TIU pilot. Pockets of resistance within the MPS, and uncertainty within the LBN pushed the development process along two routes which had not been envisaged by the ATTACH team or MPS’s Programme Digital. First, in response to Newham’s strategic approach to developing digital services, and in relation to Tom’s concerns and Nick’s push for community-centred information services, the LBN commissioned community research that would inform their development of e-enabled Local Services Centres. This research, undertaken by the LBN In House Research team and the ethnographer, shaped not just Project ATTACH but beyond, to the first digitally-enabled services in the borough. Alongside these focused research activities, both the LBN and MPS became involved in broader strategic and policy-making activity focused on the development of digital services in more general terms. This activity was mainly

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channelled through a London-wide development called ‘Telematics for London’, in which service providers, local authorities and voluntary agencies met to discuss the ways in which digital technologies could be harnessed to shape services for the people of London. Summary This phase of Project ATTACH shows how the development of technology is shaped by its envisaged use. However, this process is complex and, once the developers started to understand the nuances of changing communication with the public, they had to adapt both the technological product and start to consider how they might transform services. In particular, the development of citizen-centric services involved developing, on the one hand, partnership approaches in the provision of digitally-enabled services, and on the other hand, developing research to identify the needs of communities in Newham. The ‘symbolic acts’ innovation process shows how this understanding was developed through a ‘learning by doing’ scenario. This learning process was achieved through a variety of ‘workshop-rehearsals’, which functioned as ‘transformational spaces’. In ‘transformational spaces’ the participants consider and debate the ways in which technologies and services can be changed. For example, the fourth symbolic act in the innovation process, the Debden meeting enabled the partners to consider the way in which digital technology needed to be embedded within local communities. The fifth symbolic act, the Intranet technical workshops and meetings enabled the technologist to think through a change in technological development, and the sixth symbolic act, Nick’s Information Day provided a space in which local agencies and local strategists could start to think about information sharing within a locality. For the participants in innovation processes, these spaces are ‘betwixt and between’ the traditional ways of ‘doing things’ and a potentially new way of ‘doing things’. This space allows developers to think through transformation and change. The work in phase two of the ‘relations of production’ was primarily in the ‘back stage’ sector of the theatre of innovation. It involved actors from the domains of user needs, technological development and production, and information requirements. Although the work was primarily back stage, actors such as Nick and Tom brought in issues from the audience sector. Furthermore, Nick’s Information Day directly interacted with the audience sector by talking with local information providers. In this process, both the ATTACH developers and the potential service providers tacitly drew on policy generated in the stage sector of the theatre of innovation.

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Chapter 8

The Construction of a Digital Services Narrative at European, National and Regional Levels The construction of narratives, whether in formal policy documents or informally amongst groups, is an essential constituent in innovation processes. The MPS was not the only organization discussing the implications of digitizing communication, as other major public sector organizations were also considering emergent technologies in relation to changing communication with the public. For example, the DTI, Chief Executives of local authorities, central government, the Chief Executive of the Civil Service College and the Chief Executive of ICL were all involved in discussions about the EU’s vision of an ‘information society’ and what that meant in relation to governance and for fostering an inclusive society. These discussions formed the basis for developments in e-government, e-health and other e-enabled services such as telematics. In this context, the Telematics for London Group, the Association of London Government and Commander Smith (MPS) started to engage with the strengths and weaknesses of digital communication, being aware that, on the one hand, it could enhance local democracy and improve services, yet on the other hand, a technologybased approach could create new inequalities and reinforce forms of exclusion. The group’s early work developed into a partnership approach for a digital London, and continues as London Connects. Thus, as the MPS started to work on ideas about changing communication with the public, government and other major public bodies were also beginning to look at the possibilities of such change as well. In this way, the MPS was part of an emerging network of organizations that was beginning to address the same issues. Making Sense of an ‘Information Society’ in the Early Days of Development Developers and policy-makers were engaging with narratives concerning digital services in the context of the ATTACH project and more widely in London, as well as in the UK and Europe. The main narrative sources were the EU Bangemann Report (1994), narratives of the London telematics projects, and the ‘Government Direct’ (1996) Green Paper. Members of the ATTACH project, including the ethnographer, became involved in discussing broader themes and policy frameworks of service provision. The ethnographer attended consultation meetings, workshops, conferences and seminar

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discussion groups, most of which included fairly high-ranking officials from the public sector and government. Some of the meetings focused on overall strategy, whilst other meetings were more concerned with how specific services and the London boroughs could implement service change. To generate discussion, working papers and occasional documents were circulated before meetings. It was through these meetings that a variety of groups such as the ‘Hedsor’ group and the ‘Telematics for London’ group started to clarify understandings of e-services. In the mid to late-1990s, the idea of digital services was new for many people working in the public sector and their partner agencies, as well as government. A starting point for discussions within the public sector was often the 1994 Bangemann Report and the UK government’s 1996 Green Paper: ‘Government Direct’. These reports were discussed at all levels; by ministers, civil servants, Chief Executives of London boroughs, service providers and commentators such as CDW consultants in the field of information provision. The MPS was involved in these discussions as a major service provider. The Bangemann Report was the result of discussions held by a high-level group of industrialists and European Commission Officials in relation to developing a European Information Society. The main themes of the Bangemann Report were that a widespread availability of new information tools and services would generate ‘fresh opportunities to build a more equal and balanced society’ (1994, 6), and that this information society had the ‘potential to improve the quality of life of Europe’s citizens, the efficiency of our social and economic organization and to reinforce cohesion’ (1994, 6). Furthermore, this information revolution would change the ‘way we view our societies and also their organization and structure’ (1994, 6). The report claimed that, for Europe’s citizens and consumers, these developments would facilitate a more caring European society with a significantly higher quality of life and a wider choice of services and entertainment. There would be particular opportunities for content creators to find new ways to exercise their creativity as the information society called into being new products and services. Information society would benefit Europe’s regions by providing new opportunities for them to express their cultural traditions and identities and, for those standing on the geographical periphery of the Union, a minimising of distance and remoteness. In relation to governments and administrations, ICT could provide the tools for more efficient, transparent and responsive public services, closer to the citizen and at a lower cost. From the European perspective, the main risk was that these changes could create a two-tier society of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’, whereby only part of the population has access to new technology, is comfortable using it and can enjoy its benefits (1994, 6). The Bangemann Group argued that such a risk is inherent in the process of change, but that people need convincing that new technologies have the potential to counter the rigidity, inertia and compartmentalisation that form constraints to the development of a competitive and cohesive European society (1994, xx). Their vision was that, by pooling resources that have traditionally been separate, the information infrastructure could open up considerable potential for acquiring knowledge, innovation and creativity (1994, 6). The group placed the responsibility of establishing safeguards to ensure the cohesion of a new society on public authorities. Public authorities were tasked to provide fair access for all to the infrastructure and

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to generate universal services, the definition of which would evolve in line with the technology (1994, 6). The Group advocated that a great deal of effort must be made to secure widespread public acceptance and use of technology, and that preparing Europeans for an information society was a priority task (1994, 6). The Bangemann Group created a narrative of the information society from a European perspective, in which they laid out some broad themes and identified a key risk (see Mansell and Steinmuller 2002; Wessels forthcoming). Various institutions had to interpret these broad general themes to develop an e-services and telematics narrative and, to this end, the Civil Service College (UK) and ICL, for example, organized a high-level symposium to discuss ‘governance in an information society’. The participants in the symposium came from government, the public sector, industry, the arts and the academic world. At this meeting, the Chief Executive of the Civil Service College asked: ‘What does this [Bangemann Report] mean in the context of services delivered by the public services or for the public and government in its broadest sense?’ The Chief Executive hoped that the results of the ‘conversations’ between participants would inform discussion and drive forward the policy agenda, because many of the issues were open, rather, than closed matters. In his introductory talk, the Chief Executive of ICL pointed out that: Whether you are a banker, a retailer, a distributor or within the government, you are in a totally new game, with new opportunities ... that this is not a technology issue but an application of technology issue.

He stressed that: The explosion of the Internet and the development of multimedia technology have opened up vast new areas of interest and thrown down a challenge to traditional and, in many cases, long-cherished notions on the nature of governance. What is sure is that it will affect the lives of every one of us, not just in our homes and in our offices, but in the way we are governed.

The narratives that emerged from the symposium show how social values were being drawn on to shape the ways in which technologies were being envisaged as services. For example, the key themes included: ‘putting the citizen first’, in that e-services had to be easily accessibility and involve ordinary people. Services should enhance the quality of democracy, and ICT could provide an opportunity for more people to become involved in democratic debate. This theme was understood in relation to exclusion – whether by race, culture or opportunity – which was seen as an enemy of democracy. Finally, the aim was to deliver services to citizens through the emergence of an electronic equivalent of the local post office, where it would be possible to carry out various transactions with public services. The Bangemann Report and the discussions in the Civil Service-ICL symposium expressed some of the main themes of an information society narrative and many of these themes were discussed in the work of ATTACH. However, digital communication and e-service were a ‘totally new game’ for service providers and also for developers. This meant that both groups had to consider and write new service narratives. A key area where service narratives were emerging from an applied understanding of digital services was in the EC London-based projects CANS, DALI and PERIPHERA

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(described below), which were running alongside the ATTACH project. These narratives show how projects were appropriating technology in order to devise services to meet real or perceived needs. For example, the ‘Delivery and Access to Local Information and Services’ (DALI) project developed multimedia telematics for more comprehensive services to help improve the quality of urban life, particularly for disadvantaged groups such as the elderly, and to support the take-up of information by local small and medium-sized enterprises. The project sought to gain efficiencies in the context of public demand for improved user-driven services at a lower cost to the taxpayer, whilst also seeking to satisfy the public need for cross-sectoral administration, traditionally delivered via vertical structures. Technical features included a two-way multimedia communication channel, a Smart Card multi-service system and a customised telecentre. The ‘Telematics Applications and Strategies Combating Social and Economic Exclusion’ (PERIHERA) project sought to address the issues of training and employment for groups at risk of exclusion due to economic and social factors and/or geographical isolation, by making telematics applications available that were designed to cope with the needs of these groups. Their employment needs were addressed through new ways of working to reduce this kind of marginalization, such as telematics training for specific groups at different centres to facilitate teleworking. The ‘Citizens Access Networks and Services’ (CANS) project sought to address the needs of citizens who might become marginalized as the information society develops, by building on existing telematics sites to address the needs of older and disabled citizens. The project aimed to see how telematics could reinforce the work of public agencies assisting the numbers of migrant groups in the EU through language and skills training. These projects, along with ATTACH, illustrate some common aspects, such as a concern with accessibility of services addressing the needs of various groups in society who may be excluded for various reasons, including elderly, disabled or ethnic groups and those marginalized by lack of employment. In the context of the capital, the style of these narratives was beginning to become more distinctive, gaining a specific ‘across London’ perspective. A particular example of the ways in which this style was being articulated can be found in the work of the ‘Telematics for London’ group. Members of the group, such as John Donald from the Association of London Government (ALG) and Commander Linford (MPS) stated that, although telematics projects such as ATTACH, CANS, PERIHERA and DALI might currently be small, they were nonetheless central to the development of good government in London. They thought that each of these projects promised, in quite different ways, to become effective and efficient carriers of vital ingredients of democracy. They could, for instance: • • • • • •

receive information about citizens’ concerns, support decentralization of bureaucracy, help to develop one-stop approaches to access to information and services, contribute to the development of market testing approaches, develop more effective machinery in support of community groups, and provide a useful resource for the emerging citizens’ juries and similar approaches.

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These issues form the themes of the narrative of telematics. The interaction of these narratives with the ATTACH project was noted by John Donald: … [the] reality today is that existing systems struggle to meet demand and that they very often reinforce inequality of access. A question confronting those who are advocating a technology based approach, is whether this would restrict access even further, creating a small, powerful group, or whether we can find ways to encourage and develop the reverse.

He emphasized the need for initial simplicity, concentration on user-friendliness in all its aspects and a determination to tackle inequality from the start. Themes for e-services were therefore being developed from the work done in the London-based projects. These discussions led to a reflexive concern about the narratives, for example, would the new technology-based services restrict access, and how should e-services be designed, implemented and facilitated to ensure inclusive access? A further theme was raised by one of the police delegates, who stressed the drive for the police to become more integrated into society, and asked how digital technology would contribute to this. John Donald welcomed this comment and noted how survey after survey revealed that crime was one of the top issues of concern throughout the capital; however, he felt that this was not an issue that could be left to the police alone. He argued for partnership approaches in the development of services, whether including digital aspects or not, and pointed out that many of the emergency-services, voluntary sector organizations, and others were involved in the kind of networks needed to supply comprehensive services to meet public need. This prompted another theme, which was that the integration of information and other services around electronic networks might enable more multi-agency services to be delivered through partnerships to help counter exclusions in various ways. One of the earliest UK attempts to start considering and harnessing digital technology in the public realm was the government’s Green Paper: ‘Government. Direct’,1 which articulated many of the narratives of the LBN and MPS and other public sector organizations. This consultative Green Paper set out the government’s vision of wide-ranging reform founded on the potential of ICT, suggesting new ways for the government to provide services by making them more accessible, more convenient, easier to use, quicker in response and less costly to the taxpayer. This started to address how narratives of the ‘information society’ and the narrative styles of telematic projects could be organized. In response, Tom and his associates in CDW stated that the Green Paper presents a rather loose proposition, however, they argued that this was understandable given the long timescale that the changes would inevitably take. In their report, CDW identified some core themes of the Green Paper, including: • • •

access to services with quicker – sometimes immediate – responses, available in more convenient places and at more convenient times, better and more efficient services for businesses and to citizens,

1 Published in November 1996 under the imprint of Roger Freeman, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Cabinet Minister for Public Service.

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• •

greater efficiency and openness of government administration, and substantial cost savings for the taxpayer. – EIP and CDW Associates 1997, 124.

The government’s intention was to provide services delivered electronically, which would be of world standard2 in quality, efficiency and value for money. CDW Associates identified the following narrative themes: •

•

•

• •

•

•

•

choice – while electronic direct delivery of services is the preferred option there will always be people who are not willing or able to use such services so the option of a traditional face-to-face, telephone or paper-based service will be retained, confidence – with processes which will safeguard information, allow individuals access to their own data and give confidence that personal and other sensitive information is protected, accessibility – interactions between government and the public will be simpler with services available how, where and when the customer requires them, including electronic one-stop shops and public access terminals, ease of use – especially for people in remote areas, for those with limited mobility and for people whose language of choice is not English, efficiency – using technology to streamline and integrate processes so that boundaries are invisible to the customer, to simplify and automate processes to reduce manual operations and paper-handling, and to enable nearinstantaneous responses wherever practicable, rationalisation – sharing resources which are common to more than one department or agency and, where legally permissible, to share information too, open information – offering a commitment to make information of all kinds electronically available covering the range of government information, barring that which needs to be withheld to protect personal or commercial confidentiality or in the public interest, fraud prevention – ensuring that public funds are protected from fraud. – EIP and CDW Associates 1997, 124.

The Green Paper considered how the broad narrative themes of an information society laid out by Europe and the narrative styles of individual projects could be organized to produce a clear narrative of service provision using ICTs. Nonetheless, there was concern by those involved in changing services, about the provision of information and services within these emerging narratives. These responses, both formal and informal, demonstrated that narratives, as well as aspects of the relations of production, were contested. CDW Associates’ response to the Green Paper is representative of many telematic developers’ responses, which identified concerns in a number of categories, including a need to understand more about:

2

How ‘world standard’ is defined remains uncertain.

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• • •

identifying needs, equality of access, and information, advice and service.3

Tom and his associates from CDW made two points in relation to ‘identifying needs’. First, they stated that UK projects had done much to illustrate the importance of understanding user needs, as opposed to the information providers’ perceptions of need. The Green Paper appeared to be unaware of the needs studies that had been undertaken by various local authorities such as Leeds, the Highland Region of Scotland, Brent (London) and Hampshire, and EC-funded projects also carried out ‘needs analysis’ as the first stage of any development programme. However, CDW raised and questioned the ‘equality of access’ myth: There is a curious and disturbing view, fostered by the technology industry and press, that all or most of the citizens of our country have access to sophisticated technology and are prepared to use it in a sophisticated way. We would draw attention to the futura. com research project, which has a broad base and is looking at trends in the relationships between consumers and their technologies. The project has devised a simple measure based on giving each technology item in the home (other than TV and telephone) a score of 1. Most homes in the UK score less than 3, indicating that the general level of household sophistication is defined by the answer machine and teletext – EIP and CDW Report 1997, 130.

This response then raised issues in relation to the situation in rural areas, with CDW asserting that the lack of infrastructure and facilities, combined with ‘Government. Direct’ policies could contribute to rural deprivation. However, they argued that urban areas also had particular patterns of deprivation: While rural deprivation is a significant issue we have conducted work in cities such as Bolton, Leeds and Westminster, which points to the creation of similar deprivation in the heart of our largest cities. This is especially true among many ethnic communities. For these groups, what government.direct proposes is not so much a move towards technology supported service, but a fundamental change in the ways in which their people must behave and, most particularly, in the ways in which they relate (or not) to government. This change will not happen at a stroke – EIP and CDW Report 1997, 131.

CDW argued strongly for any developments to seriously address and deepen understanding of the concepts of ‘information, advice and support’. They asserted that the need for information is inseparable from the need for advice and, very often, for personal support. They strongly argued that there is nothing ‘nannyish’ in delivering a coherent service or in acknowledging that failing to do so could be constructed as a failure of duty. In their experience of information provision, they found that information seeking is not a sequential process, nor does every citizen enter the process in the same way or with the same needs, and that it is important to recognize a continuum between information and advice, with the concept of a full face-to-face 3 The other concerns were the ‘Image of Local Government’, ‘Business Models’, and ‘Scope of Pre-Publication Consultation’.

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service at the end of the spectrum. They advised that, where any electronic service system is positioned within this continuum, it should be determined by the demands of the local users, not by the nature of a global specification for information provision. They strongly advocated that services must therefore be defined with the community, not for the community. They pointed out that their approach is significantly different to the attitude in the Green Paper, which they felt was ‘out of tune’ with the realities of the British public. In his response, Tom returned to the theme he had raised in the ATTACH consortium, which was the need to develop service models. He asserted that a careful assessment must be made of information models versus service models, and that a plan simply to translate service to an electronic environment based on an information model would not be adequate. He argued that an assessment of any change to the exchange of information must identify what would be lost in the translation. This meant acknowledging the tactic ways that information and knowledge is held amongst staff in public services, and assessing how a myriad of competing pressures would affect communication and service models. Tom argued that providers needed to ask: ‘does the implementation of computer support create new gaps?’ He added that, beyond questions of organizational change, providers also needed to consider if these developments were aligned with emerging social trends (EIP and CDW Associates Report 1977, 129–134). CDW highlighted many of the issues buried in the narratives of the European Commission and the UK government that developers and service providers had to address and find solutions for. These early developments provided the base for the development of more integrated approaches to digital communication in the public realm, including the e-government agenda and the current transforming services agenda. The egovernment initiative for 2005 involved all the local authorities in England, and the LBN continued many of the themes that had been started with the ATTACH project. Also, within this remit, the work done by the Telematics for London Group had formed the basis for the ‘London Connects’ multi-agency digital portal service. The themes that had been developed in the ATTACH project and other London telematic projects were still in evidence in the UK’s 2005 e-government initiative. For example, Bruce was still arguing for ‘using ICT to support governance of the community’ (in conversation with ethnographer, 2004). The Chief Executive of LBN reinforced this, by advocating joining-up with partners to develop new ways of delivering services, and viewing digital communication in broader social, cultural and political terms. Neville (Director of Culture and Communication), for example, saw e-developments linking closely with a strong community engagement and social cohesion agenda, which was especially relevant in a diverse borough such as Newham. Reinforcing Neville’s theme, the Chief Executive considered the twin issues of customer focus and gaining knowledge of the locality to be wider than just the council and its business. He took a multi-dimensional view to inclusion and quality of life, arguing that central issues such as the environment, health and crime are multi-dimensional and require the local authority to work with, and involve, other agencies in improving the quality of life for the people of Newham. In this context, the Local Strategic Partnership is important, as it fosters working in a co-ordinated way with the police, the Primary Care Trust and the local Hospital

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Trust. Although the development of joint working had built trust between agencies, the Chief Executive said that ‘practicalities can get in the way’, such as having compatible systems and negotiating organizational boundaries. He pointed out that, ‘in some cases, for “joining up” to “really” work, a change of working practices is required, such as having to change the police beat system, which is difficult’. Nonetheless, a Geographical Information System prototype was proving useful to the partnership for analysing patterns of crime, for example, and could help to target the right resources to current and emerging trends. Using ICT to support that type of information and intelligence was considered to be ‘best practice’ – i.e. first, gather information to understand and then to implement relevant services. This approach was seen by local policy-makers as part of the ‘Mapping Newham’ exercise, which was enabling members and directors of services to plan services based on consistent and up-to-date information, rather than ‘myth and rumour’, especially in areas such as ‘crime and disorder’ and ‘health inequalities’. The Chief Executive argued that, through the development of the eight local service centres, the intellectual and operational battles had been won. Nonetheless, it was now a case of facing the challenge: ‘knowing how to work differently’, since the local authority and its partners needed to understand what the ethos, training and customer engagement would mean in an e-enabled environment. For him, this meant bringing together the ‘anoraks’ i.e. the technologists, with the managers of service departments such as Social Services, Environment, and Housing, in a new ‘service mentality’. The key to e-government would be bringing these two sides together, developing and using the tools to allow people to do more than just improve services. He stated that the ICT was proving to be effective and that there was now a level of confidence in the technology, arguing, therefore, that, ‘it’s time to move forward’. The Chief Executive said he was pleased that Bruce, as Head of ICT, had worked for the borough for a long time and ‘has a feel for the place’ – both the culture of the organization and the culture of Newham. For e-government to be meaningful in Newham, social inclusion must be embedded within it which, he argued: ‘really matters along several dimensions, involving the key areas of education, housing, social cohesion and personal wellbeing’. The Chief Executive thought that part of the drive to counter exclusion would involve mitigating against the dangers of Newham residents becoming a ‘population that is left behind, and part of local authority strategy is to make sure that local people have the potential, the ability and the support to participate in the employment market as well as in civic life, which means addressing the skills gap, especially in areas of high general deprivation as well as addressing the needs of an ethnicity-rich area’. The local policy-makers argued that best-value and service improvements needed to be couched more generally within this general framework. Given Newham’s vision of using digital technology to facilitate inclusion and regeneration, the ICT strategy therefore needed to address: • • • •

access and cost-savings, quality of services, linkage with social trends information to meet needs, and addressing skill sets.

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Much of this work was being done with the Language Shop at the Local Service Centres, education projects such as laptop schemes and wireless schools, kiosks with language facilities, online transactions such as housing assessment and benefits, and e-voting. Other work included ‘wired-up communities’, online and interactive heritage, and updated libraries with online access. The Chief Executive stated that a modern service must now involve ICT, be efficient, still involve face-to-face contact when required, and must meet the needs of the local population. The use of advanced information-sharing techniques to inform the governance of the borough was central to e-government, and must be seen as a core function of its rationale. However, he wanted to see development of quality services and felt that, ‘in many ways, the jury is still out, but work to integrate backoffice and front-office protocols and practices across agencies in different customerfocused forms is evolving’. To support these developments, detailed analysis of customer behaviour and needs was being undertaken, to tailor a channel strategy and service delivery in the area of e-enabled and customer-focused services. The Director of Culture and Community, Neville, added further issues from his perspective, and argued that the ‘ICT for the Borough’ strategy involved understanding the dynamics of the poverty gap, the information gap and the digital divide. The strategy, which had its legacy in initiatives such as the Local Services Centres, involved partners and community in its widest sense, constant feedback through key personnel, as well as community consultation. The structure for feedback was through the structure already in place for the development of Newham Council. This included an e-champion (Neville), the Head of ICT (Bruce), the ICT strategy group and its four sub-groups, and the corporate group. The stakeholder community was understood as being inclusive, therefore, as well as the above groups, there were ten community forums and neighbour workers who were networked to the Intranet. Furthermore, a current pilot project was linking twenty voluntary sector advice centres, to foster the sharing of data and to co-ordinate service planning. The e-champion argued that a sense of ‘corporateness’ was important to ensure that ICT at the community level and organizational levels were integrated into business to become ‘one process with identified targets’. There are several aspects of the corporate approach that interact with each other and inform the development and innovation of e-government. These include a synergy of political and managerial leadership, which in the case of Newham involved the Mayor’s political leadership and the management board maintaining an emphasis on the community/customer service perspective rather than focusing on the technology perspective. With regard to joining-up services, corporate directors led on a variety of issues working with community forums and the management board, and this structure facilitated inter-working and closer corporate work. Neville, like the partners in the ATTACH project, argued that implementation of digitally-enabled services had to be robust and, to help ensure this was achieved, the partners use a change management process including peer review and critical friends which, with partnership with the private sector, was proving to be beneficial. Newham has many private sector partners in areas of development such as pathfinder projects, digital interactive TV, and the Transport for London smart card, as well as developing eprocurement.

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However, like Jonathan in CARAT, the Newham developers stated that they needed to manage risk and that, if the balance was wrong, it could legitimately be seen as ‘mismanagement’. In general terms, public services that were innovative needed to be aware of what was acceptable risk with public money. Within Newham, a central benefit of the corporate ICT strategy was that it included different perspectives and views, and so helped in-house developers and authority strategists to manage risk. Development in Newham was couched in a stable financial environment, with budget planning done on a three-year cycle out of a ‘central pot’ for investment. All bidders had to state what savings the authority would achieve through any proposed development. The Newham team stated, like the CARAT staff, that bidding for funds was a full-time industry, which was resource-intensive, both for applicants and for those implementing the awards. However, the Newham policy and development team argued that there were also various outcomes beyond any financial gains, which included factors such as improved voter turnout, user involvement, educational attainment, inclusion, homework clubs, including West Haven United FC computer club – all of which depended on an ICT infrastructure. For Neville, as e-champion and Director of Culture and Communication, there had been a ‘revolution’ in Newham with regard to how a council could work and in citizens’ mindsets, especially in relation to stakeholder and partnership working. For Neville, this was generating a connection with the community, and the community with itself. Neville argued that, ‘to sum up, the change has been about imagination with practicality’, and his current role involved maintaining some discipline over creativity in the council, its partners and the wider community. These discussions in Newham show that the core themes of the early narratives developed in projects like ATTACH, the ‘Telematics’ for London’ initiative, as well as the ‘Government Direct’ Green Paper and the Bangemann Report are continuing and are being adapted in various forms of service developments. Situating the Early Narratives in Current Developments The narratives discussed above from the ethnography are situated within a broader social context. In general terms, there is debate regarding the character of an information society on the one hand, and debate as to whether there is any significant transformation to a radically-different society on the other hand (Webster 2003). Nonetheless, the use and development of ICT is situated within broader socio-economic and cultural change and is materializing into a networked society (Castells 2001). Social actors in an information age are experiencing the mediated and informational character of contemporary society, seen in new forms of organizing work and education as well as leisure time and everyday life (Dutton 1999; Haddon 2004). In economic as well as social terms, key features underpinning the information age are networked informational appliances and the networks that support them, facilitating new forms of exchange in and between organizations and throughout society (Mansell and Steinmuller 2000, 453). However, it is the complex ways in which technologies are developed, used and negotiated through various social and economic factors that influence their cultural significance and

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meaningfulness to society. In many ways, the point Solven made at the ATTACH Debden meeting regarding ‘embedding ICT into society’ is the focus of continuing debate at the European, national, regional and local level. Europe was, and still is, a key player in the drive to push forward an information society, and there is a specific European vision of an ‘information society’, which involves ‘achieving ubiquitous and accessible information resources as a foundation for economic growth and development [in which] information is becoming a central feature of social and cultural life’ (Mansell and Steinmuller 2000, 453). It is now largely acknowledged by European policy-makers that information societies will develop in different ways, ‘depending on the rate and implementation of technological developments, how these technologies interact with users’ (Mansell and Steinmuller 2000, 1). EU policy continues to build on papers such as the 1993 EU White Paper: ‘Growth, Competitiveness, Employment: the Challenges and Ways Forward in the 21st Century’ and the 1994 Report of the Members of the High Level Group on the Information Society: ‘Europe and the Global Information Society: Recommendations to the European Council’ in the ‘i2010: European Information Society 2010’ policy initiative. Developments in ‘culture in the digital era’, ‘e-government’ and ‘e-inclusion’, understood via the notion of a European Information Society, imagine a society where low-cost information and ICT are in general use, with a knowledge-based economy that stresses investment in human and social capital, knowledge and creativity. There are strong policy aims to counter exclusion and digital divides which seek to develop digital as well as social cohesion. At the national level in the UK, for example, the narrative themes of policy show continuity from the ‘Government Direct’ Green Paper to the 2005 e-government initiative. Thus, for example, in consultation for the National Strategy for Local e-Government, e-government was defined as: … exploring the power of information and communications technology to help transform the accessibility, quality and cost-effectiveness of public services, and to help revitalise the relationship between customers and citizens and the public bodies who work on their behalf – Cornford et al. 2004, 6.

The development of e-government is seen as being central in the drive to modernize government, in order to enhance the quality of local services and the effectiveness of local democracy (ODPM 2002, 5). The National Strategy identifies three objectives of electronic local government: •

•

Transforming services – making them more accessible, more convenient, more responsive and more cost-effective. It can make services more accessible to people with disabilities. It can make it easier to join up local services (within councils, between councils, and between councils and other public, voluntary and private agencies). It can help improve the customer’s experience of dealing with local public services, whoever provides them. Renewing local democracy – making councils more open, more accountable, more inclusive and better able to lead their communities. E-government can enhance the opportunities for citizens to debate with each other, to engage with local services and councils, to access political representatives and hold

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•

them to account. It can also support councillors in their executive, scrutiny, and representative roles. Promoting local economic vitality – a modern communications infrastructure, a skilled workforce and the active promotion of e-business can help local councils and regions promote employment in their areas and improve the employability of their citizens. – Cornford et al. 2004, 7.

As these current policy themes illustrate, the narratives of digitally-enabled services contain many of the same themes as the early narratives of digital applications. This chapter has, therefore, described how the EU ‘information society’ narrative combined with some of the narrative styles of London telematics projects to form an overarching framework for the early development of digital services. The EU ‘information society’ narrative found in the Bangemann Report had very broad themes of ‘improving the quality of life for citizens’, of providing ‘fresh opportunities to build a more equal and balanced society’, and so on. When this narrative was discussed by the UK Hedsor Group (described above), certain themes emerged in what was seen as a whole new way of providing services. The key theme involved putting the citizen first, in a narrative of inclusion and of enhancing democracy. However, the telematics projects were most influential in the development of this broad narrative because they identified, documented, and formalized the narratives into ‘live demonstrator’ projects and services. These early project narratives produced a distinctive telematics narrative in the context of London, encompassing themes of accessibility, inclusion and enhancing local democracy. The ‘Government Direct’ Green Paper started to focus on how to arrange the themes of the ‘information society’ narrative with ‘provision of services’ and forms of ‘government-citizen interaction’, by creating narratives for electronic service provision. Responses to the Green Paper were insightful because they criticised some of the assumptions made in the policy documents. These concerns were fed into development processes illustrating a reflexive concern from those engaged in producing change in e-services provision. These developers questioned how ‘in tune’ information society narratives were with the everyday lives of British citizens, as well as engaging with the complexities of producing change in communication services. Summary The concerns described in this chapter continue to be addressed at all levels of policymaking and development, whether at the EU level with regard to digital cohesion, in national e-government objectives, or within local initiatives such as Newham’s Local Services Centres and computer clubs. With these broad narrative concerns in mind, policy-makers are building on the telematics narrative at the strategic level, while developers are building on the narratives through specific digital communication services and e-enabled services. Thus, working narratives are being formed from an overarching ‘information society’ narrative and from on-the-ground practices of telematics and other digital projects. These narratives form an essential link in the

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shaping of digital communication services; the values they espouse give meaning to the developments, and they form a link between the production and use of new digital services. The work of this aspect of the cultural form mainly took place on the stage of the theatre of innovation, with actors from local and central government (UK), the Civil Service (UK), the European Commission, the MPS and other London service providers, and technology suppliers. Much of the work was located in meetings, workshops and seminars that acted as transformational spaces, and the discussions referred both to the back stage work of production of services and to the audience sector’s use of services.

Chapter 9

Narratives of Service Provision in the Metropolitan Police Service: Embedding Telematics within Service Narratives This chapter addresses the ways in which the MPS interpreted information society and e-services narratives. They took two approaches in considering how they might embed telematics within their service provision. First, they sought to develop a partnership approach with Newham that focused on improving relations with the public. This involved integrating police services within the broader Newham Local Services Strategy. Second, they considered how they could embed telematics more directly within the MPS organization and mainstream policing services. Members of CARAT who were involved in Programme Digital took CDW’s advice, and sought to develop service models to help assess how best to utilize digital technology to communicate with the public and provide new services. The understanding gained by those in the ATTACH project guided the MPS in planning the implementation of digital technology in policing contexts. By attending the various policy forums and meetings, the members of ATTACH and Programme Digital became aware of the possibilities and risks of digital services. It was through formal and informal discussions that Harry and John, on behalf of CARAT, could start to think about exploiting digital technologies beyond the shortterm aims of specific projects. John was especially concerned with ‘LAMRO’, which meant ‘life after the money runs out’, arguing that exploitation plans must be built into the projects early on, so that services would become embedded into the organization and become sustainable. He could see the benefits of working with Newham Council to develop local service centres, where police information and contact could be made available. The centres would also help to strengthen and develop the partnerships the MPS had with other agencies in the borough. The influence of Tom’s advice was important as it influenced the way in which CARAT started to think about developing specific police applications of digital services. This strategic planning was largely led by John and instigated by Harry and the Dean End Police Board. Work to develop the service model was carried out by the ethnographer and discussed at project board meetings. In general terms, the central themes of the main narratives discussed in Chapter 8 – social inclusion, citizenship and greater accessibility to services – had to be addressed in the context of policing. Three core aspects of the British policing tradition form a broad conceptual understanding of policing work and services, which structure services and their characteristics. The three aspects are: (1) peacekeeping, (2) reduction of crime and disorder, and (3) preventative policing. These broad aspects are comprised

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of a varied set of services which address specific themes of policing, but which combine to produce a more or less coherent service. These services are constantly reviewed and are subject to change and reorganization in response to changing crime patterns, changing social conditions and police resources. The development of digital services was seen as part of a strategy to maintain and enhance communication with the public (which is vital in maintaining trust and credibility with the public) and to manage people’s expectations within a tight resource environment and publicfunded budget. Given this context, the development and piloting of digital services was envisaged to contribute to a wide range of policing priorities, such as: ‘community safety and partnership’, ‘provision of 24-hour response’, and the ‘management of crime reduction and investigation’. Crime prevention through partnerships with the community more generally was, and still is, seen as an important part of MPS’s strategy. For example, youth work was conducted through the Schools Involvement Programme, the Junior Citizen Programme, the Youth Action Groups, and the Volunteer Cadet Corps. The broad youth programme provided the context and vehicle in which to implement some of the key digitally-enabled operational initiatives such as ‘Operation Eagle Eye’ and ‘Operational Bumblebee’. Another example of police work in community partnerships was the configuration of the MPS’s Racial Incident Units. The work of these units covers three main areas: (1) to provide support for the victim, (2) to take action against the perpetrators, and (3) to form effective partnerships to achieve these aims and to prevent victimization more generally. A core area of this work is the task of community consultation, especially during times of concern and disorder, and officers from these units are in regular contact with many organizations such as the Commission for Racial Equality and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Most groundwork is done locally, but the MPS Policy Unit provides advice to borough liaison officers and divisions. As these examples show, there are a wide range of unique and diverse services within the MPS. The complexity of the policing environment, in organizational terms and in terms of the public-police interface, means that any technological change, including changes to communication – whether internally, intra-organizationally, or with the public – requires careful research. In the course of developing service models, John and Harry started to think that digital services might be best developed in community partnerships in order to gain greater efficiencies in communicating with the public, giving the MPS time to address the organizational change needed to support a broad range of digital services. This process illustrates the constant interpretation and re-interpretation of the meanings and definitions of digital services as they were being developed. Part of the ongoing process of envisaging and (re-) interpreting the development of digital services was linked to the ways in which existing services were open to change, in the context of changing organizational and socio-political priorities as well as within budgeting and resource allocations. As stated in the previous chapter, many of the narratives were concerned with inclusion and equal access to services, and the London telematics projects sought to address these concerns in applied settings. However, these pockets of development still left doubts in the minds of some commentators and practitioners, prompting CDW Associates to warn that certain developments fostered by these narratives

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could exclude and marginalize some citizens. They also questioned many of the assumptions about ‘information society’ and telematics narratives, arguing that many of the ‘attitudes’ in the Green Paper were out of tune with the realities of citizens’ everyday lives. The position of police services within society meant that organizations such as the MPS had to balance many priorities as they sought to digitize communication in service provision. The position of their work – on the ‘thin blue line’ – meant that they were constantly facing issues of social inclusion, rights and obligations of citizenship, and the security and safety of individuals and groups in society. The context of police work was, and is, at the interface of ‘public issues and private troubles’ (Mills 1959), where they arise in varying situations of disorder and crime. Through its work, the MPS has a finely-tuned sensitivity to the difficulties and conflicts of many people’s lives in London. The MPS’s police work often occurs in volatile situations, which creates high levels of risk in any police responses. The MPS has to be open to scrutiny and, as well as being accountable to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), it also have a high profile in the media, in which reports of its work are variable and swing within public opinion. The MPS cannot take a static approach to its technical and service developments because it has to evolve in relation to broader social change. Thus, just prior to Programme Digital, and giving that programme its rationale, the Commissioner of the MPS considered the future of policing into the twenty-first century in a Police Foundation lecture (1995). He asked: ‘Do we have the necessary structures, organization and policing style to survive and prosper against a background of rapid technological and social change?’ Although he pointed out that the term ‘partnership’ was fashionable, ‘it nonetheless describes the future of policing’, in areas such as organized and international crime, volume crime, and in maintaining local police forces. He argued that international crime needed co-ordinated global partnerships as well as national partnerships. In volume crime, police should work with industry partners as corporate citizens to ‘design-out’ crime, in sectors such as the motor industry, and in the financial and credit card industries. Speaking at a time when there was pressure to form a National Police Service or develop a regional structure, the Commissioner argued for maintaining local policing and community partnerships. He drew on a 1994 public attitude survey (also see 2004, 2005, 2006 surveys: http://www.mpa.gov.uk), which showed that the majority of Londoners wanted more information about the MPS and, significantly, the information they wanted most was the name of the local police who had responsibility for their street or block of flats. The Commissioner felt that this request went to the heart of the MPS policing style, i.e. local officers patrolling local communities from local police stations. He considered the local police stations were the most important building blocks in the police organization, and believed that police freedom and responsibility to respond to local policing needs formed a basis for sound partnership approaches. However, these approaches needed to remain firmly rooted in local democratic processes. He thought that much could be gained by concentrating on developing formal partnerships with local authorities and businesses, for example, the willingness of local government to become involved practically in community safety issues had led to remarkable transformations in certain areas. His lecture reflected the environment

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and directions of change in police services, in particular the move to take partnership approaches in managing crime. These debates formed the context for re-imagining police services using digital technology. Defining a Service Model CDW Associates were beginning to consider how to develop models for e-services, following the work of the Citizens Advice Bureau’s Chief Executive, who stressed that e-services should be built on a service model, and that there needed to be democratic accountability on the handling of information. Others in the debate, such as the Chief Executive of the Local Government Management Board and the Secretary of the Association of London Government, argued that development work should be based on the needs of local communities and the people living within them. Despite these aspirations, the context for developing models for e-services was contradictory because, on the one hand, there was a general withdrawal of local services whilst, on the other hand, there was a drive for partnership approaches in community-based services (CDW Associates 1997, 16). Nonetheless, CDW started to develop on outline service model. The model critically engaged with some of the assumptions of digital communication positing technology-facilitated forms of interactivity for remote and self-service access. Withdrawal of specialists from the field…

…replaced by technology – can it handle the diversity of requirement?

Specialists

One-stop generalists

Personal service and support required

Qualified enquirers and re-enquirers

Complexity of interaction

Complexity of requirement

Information base

Technology © CDW & Associates Ltd 1997

Figure 9.1 CDW service model

Self-starters

People

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It did this by indicating a continuum of ‘complexity of interaction’, ranging from the most straightforward requirement the information base could address through to one-stop generalists, and to the most complex requirements for specialists along one axis. On the other axis was a continuum of ‘complexity of requirement’, from those who could ‘self-start’ using the information base, to qualified enquirers who would contact one-stop generalists, to those with complex issues who would need personal service and support. To design a service from this model, therefore, meant first identifying community needs and the levels of service required by the organization to support those needs. A further component in the development of service models was the ‘informational’ model, which aimed to generate what CDW Associates called ‘internal questioning’, i.e. the ways in which organizations have built capacities using Intranets and the Internet to communicate both with external users and partners, and within and between the departments of their organization. The stages taken to reach an integrative model were: fostering the sharing of information, then co-working and, finally, developing fully-fledged multi-agency services.

Figure 9.2 CDW informational model

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CDW warned against putting any technology in place without first considering the service and informational models, arguing that technology can only support services if undertaken within the context of developing service models and standards across the field of communication with the public (CDW Associates 1997, 19). The Development of a Service Model for Project ATTACH After the peer review of the ‘user needs’ phase of ATTACH, the team held a meeting with Tom at Tintagel House (MPS) to discuss the development of a service model. Harry, Carol, John from the MPS and Nick were concerned that they had not thought about such a model. At this meeting, they decided to research and develop a service model working paper, and asked the ethnographer to undertake some of the work. The aim of the service model paper was to explore the way in which the concept of telematics could be embedded within a coherent police service strategy. This service model looked specifically at policing and involved identifying: the aim of the service, the service areas, service tasks, and the processes involved in the provision of services that are responsive to, and meet the needs of, diverse groups and individuals. The service aim, areas and tasks formed a framework for the model, which had the potential to address the process of service delivery by identifying flows of information and forms of interaction between service providers and users. The thinking through of a service model for new e-services involved working between abstract concepts of the service aim and the ‘concrete’ in terms of service tasks.

Figure 9.3 Outline of service aim, areas and tasks

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This process helped to show how digital services could be embedded in service provision, as well as allowing conceptual freedom to think creatively about e-services within a police service framework. Two service concepts had to be considered: ‘onestop’ services and ‘first-stop’ services. The ATTACH team defined one-stop services as: ‘the ability to provide an integrated service that can provide information, advice, and support/assistance for general and specific needs. They defined first-stop services as: ‘a signposting service to provide basic information on which service to contact’. The aim of the ATTACH project was to explore the ways in which digital technology could support one-stop approaches to services, both within specific police services, and in the development of new partnership approaches with local authorities and other agencies. The service model, therefore, outlined the main functions of policing, including the MPS’s aim and its service provision – i.e. its service area and tasks.

Figure 9.4 Overall view of the service model The Functions of Policing First, at a general level, policing is a service provided at three levels: •

•

Level One is traditionally reactive or, simply, ‘peacekeeping’. This has been responsible, worldwide, for absorbing an ever-increasing proportion of police resources, and research has shown how highly the people served by the police value this service. It lacks effectiveness, however, as it usually has little or no long-term impact on the underlying problems. Level Two is planned policing, focused on reduction of crime and disorder contributing to ‘peacekeeping’. This includes much squad activity and

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•

intelligence-led policing. It is usually a strategic activity linked to a series of events but, whilst it can have considerable short-term effects, it usually has only a limited long-term impact. Level Three is preventative policing, which can only be effective when carried out in partnership with others. It has the greatest potential of the three levels for long-term impact on problems, but often cannot produce quantifiable results in the short to medium-term.1

These three levels form the overarching narrative of policing. Williams pointed out that all three levels are necessary to provide effective and efficient policing, but that police management decisions must be made about the proportions of resources employed at each level (ACPO Conference, March 1996). In accordance with this policing narrative, the development of e-service therefore had to support each of these levels of police work and provide ‘added value’ to services. Service Aim and Service Areas The service aim of the MPS is to uphold the law fairly and firmly; to prevent crime; to pursue and bring to justice those who break the law; to keep the Queen’s peace; to protect, help and reassure people in London; and to be seen to do all this with integrity, common sense and sound judgement (The London Beat, 1996). The service areas are: • • •

community safety and partnership, provision of 24-hour response, and management of crime reduction and investigation.2

Service Area: Community Safety and Partnership The MPS sees ‘community safety’ as being about people, communities, families, victims and other at-risk groups in society. It is concerned with reducing crime, the fear of crime, and achieving what the first Commissioners referred to as ‘the preservation of public tranquillity’. These are legitimate concerns, not only for the police but for every community in London, and they are one reason why partnership is an integral component to the success of community safety. This service area encompasses Levels One, Two and Three of policing functions. The narratives embedded in service tasks include: law enforcement with full participation of investigative and specialist units, police involvement in schools, environmental design and social improvements, in addition to the traditional physical security aspects of crime prevention work. Crime prevention, through partnerships with the community, is seen as vital involving tasks such as: 1 According to David J. Williams, the Deputy Chief Constable, Surrey police (ACPO Conference, 2–4 July 1996. 2 The other two areas are: maintenance of the Queen’s peace and traffic management, which were not covered in the service model.

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• • • • • •

123

forming and maintaining Neighbourhood Watches, forming new initiatives in response to community issues, home-beat officers communicating ‘intelligence’ with crime prevention officers and operational police officers, communicating with different groups in a variety of settings, e.g. in schools, youth clubs and associations for the elderly, giving both general information and specific advice on all matters regarding the prevention of crime, and crime prevention initiatives including campaigns such as Crime Stoppers, Operation Bumblebee and Operation Eagle Eye.

Given this service area and tasks, the team developed hypothetical narratives for e-services. For example, interactive digital technologies could provide another point of access, and an alternative way of contacting the crime prevention unit. The advantage of ATTACH technology is that it could perform a dual function in this role by providing general information in a variety of forms to suit a variety of citizens (ethnicity, disability, age needs) at various points of access (schools, ethnic minority centres, day centres for the elderly). It could also extend the service through a videophone to either a help-desk or the crime prevention unit. In this way, members of the public could obtain information and advice from one point of contact. E-service could therefore become another source to ask for assistance, a point of contact that uses resources efficiently in the deployment of officers, in the production of information materials, and in the provision of advice. ATTACH could be a focal point for local Neighbourhood Watches. This could do more than just publicize the scheme as, for example, each Watch could ‘own’ its local kiosk, and use it for local updates relevant to the Watch. The crime prevention officer could monitor the Watches from a central point by the video-phones’ interactive facilities: e-mail, printing, document presentation and booking. It could enable a more planned approach to crime prevention without losing touch with the community, and provide more opportunity to contact the police. The consequence of this would be that officer time spent in direct contact could be planned and be of better quality through being targeted to the specific public’s needs. ATTACH could be a way of publicizing any new schemes, both generally to the public and specifically to particular audiences. For example, if an ATTACH access point was made available at a health centre or at an older persons’ day centre, older people could find out about the ‘Alarms for the Elderly’ project, and make inquiries straight away if they were interested. The inquiry could go straight to the co-ordinator responsible for the scheme, thus saving police time. Once members of the public became familiar with using the ATTACH technology, it could assist with the public-police consultation process, and to draw up agendas for consultation meetings.3 3 There might be numerous other applications for this framework, as each individual crime prevention unit could tailor the framework to their own local organization and needs. ATTACH could enhance local schemes, such as Horse Watch, Pub Watch and Hospital Watch in much the same way as the Neighbourhood Watch applications described above. A specific

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Youth Work The service aim of the MPS’s youth work is twofold: preventing young people who may be at risk from becoming offenders, and educating young people to recognize circumstances in which they may become the victims of crime or showing them how to deal with such circumstances. One theme running through the MPS’s work with young people is encouraging good citizenship, taking a responsible attitude towards themselves, their friends and the community as a whole. This service area is within policing Levels Two and Three. Service tasks include the ‘Schools Involvement Programme’, the ‘Junior Citizen Programme’, the ‘Youth Action Groups’, and the ‘Volunteer Cadet Corps’. Interaction between the police and ‘young members of the public’ is based on the ‘Schools Involvement Programme’, which is at the heart of youth policy, and schools are keen to have police officers involved with the curriculum and acting as school governors. The three core areas of concern are drugs, crime and, as a consequence, personal safety. This programme also allows delivery of key operational initiatives into schools, such as Operations ‘Eagle Eye’ and ‘Bumblebee’, as well as other relevant local police issues. The ‘Junior Citizen Programme’ is linked to the ‘Schools Involvement Programme’. This is a multi-agency youth initiative that continues to grow in popularity, giving school children aged between nine and twelve a chance to deal practically with everyday situations through participation in a series of life-like scenarios. Working through a multi-agency steering group, the project reached over 26,000 young people in London, through thirty-one schemes in as many boroughs. ‘Youth Action Groups’ help young people become involved in crime prevention. During 1997 the number of groups in London continued to grow and this contributed to youth crime prevention by encouraging young people to identify their own local problems and to take effective action to resolve them. ‘Voluntary Cadet Corps’ offer constructive opportunities for young people in London, as the units enable young people aged between sixteen and nineteen to participate in community activity or gain an insight into the police service. Within this service area, the use of ATTACH was seen in the same framework as the community safety service tasks. The service would, however, be structured around the organization and the needs of the youth initiatives and therefore, by definition, youth needs. There would be a distinct advantage in using this technology for this target audience, as most young people are familiar with its use. It was thought that e-services could provide another medium for junior citizenship course material, linking into online courses in schools and colleges. Furthermore, learning could be made fun through activities like online quizzes. Youth groups could design and set up their own Web pages, blogs and so on, which would encourage research and dissemination of information about issues which young people see as important. It could become an online education aid in the ‘Fight against Drugs’ and other priority schemes. If supported by a help-desk, it could also become a confidential advice advantage for Horse Watch, for instance, would be using the existing equine database as part of the multimedia facilities.

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service. In kiosk form, e-services could make children’s recreation areas safer through the interactive facilities and, especially, through the emergency button and provision of instant access to the police in case of emergencies. Service Area and Tasks: Race Crime The aim of the MPS’s racial incident service is to provide support for the victim, take action against the perpetrators, and form effective partnerships to achieve both and to prevent victimization. The interaction between the police and public in this service aspect is organized through ‘racial incident units’, which specialize in dealing with racial incidents, community safety and ‘vulnerable persons’ issues. Some units have local authority staff working with police officers. The Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS) has been modified to record and monitor all racial incidents. A vital area of work in this area is the task of consultation, especially during times of concern and disorder. There is regular contact with many organizations such as the Commission for Racial Equality and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. This is a wide and varied area of activity. Most groundwork must be done locally, but the MPS Policy Unit provides advice to borough liaison officers and divisions. It is important that all MPS policy-making is informed by feedback from minority ethnic communities and, thus, the Policy Unit liaises with London-wide and national ethnic and religious groups, analyzes information from public attitude surveys, and monitors the ethnic press. The envisaged use of e-services in this service area included the electronic provision of information in many different languages in text-format and through the use of ‘talking heads’. It was felt that this had an advantage over leaflets because the information could be more easily and cost-effectively updated. The interactive facilities could enable access to an interpreter, should the enquirer want advice. An interactive kiosk could act as a bulletin board for information exchange, and to voice concerns. It could also publicize police-public meetings. The emergency button could alert the police to racial incidents in public places, which would be fed into CRIS at a central service point. It might provide a way of implementing surveys to maintain feedback from ethnic minority groups. These surveys could focus on local concerns and needs, as well as more global issues, which would contribute towards addressing the communication, information and advice needs of ethnic minority groups. This could have a spin-off effect by enabling members of these groups to obtain a clearer understanding of police issues in a non-confrontational context, and therefore encouraging them to use the service more efficiently. This would free officer time and add to more efficient running of the service. Crime Reduction and Investigation The MPS sees the overall service aim of crime reduction and investigation as improving performance in preventing and detecting crime, with an emphasis on being proactive, having high ethical standards and caring for victims. The use of technology is part of that narrative, since ‘crime operations’ means developing and making more

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efficient use of information technology such as CRIS, the system which records racial, homophobic and domestic violence incidents, as well as childcare concerns. Further service tasks in this area include victim support work, domestic violence unit work, sexual offences specialisms, child abuse work in specialist child protection units, fraud – and how to prevent it, and an auto-crime initiative. Interaction with the public occurs through patrolling, community policing and through the various specialist units, such as the Domestic Violence Unit. The MPS envisaged e-services as ‘supportive’ to crime operations by providing information in relation to the focus of this aspect of the police service. It was thought that ATTACH could facilitate the update of information quickly in response to immediate local (and national) priorities and police alerts. E-services could provide an anonymous facility for reporting sensitive issues. Staff at the central help-desk could have access to the CRIS system so that if someone telephoned in from a remote access point, the enquiry could be dealt with ‘intelligently’. E-services would allow generally greater access for the public to both information and advice, and the provision of an emergency help button for the public would provide another form of access to assistance. E-services could provide reassurance from speaking to a professional remotely and gaining advice whilst waiting for the emergency services. ATTACH could function as another advice point, which could be strategically-placed to suit the local environment. This might be especially appropriate where satellite police stations are only open at restricted times. Crime operation tasks are related to the 24-hour response aspect, discussed below. Provision of 24-hour Response The aim of the 24-hour response service is to provide a mobile emergency service, available to deal with almost any problem presented by a member of the public. A distinctive feature of the service is that, when human assistance is needed, professional face-to-face help is provided rapidly in response to the unique circumstances. The 24-hour response aspect embodies policing Levels One, Two and Three. Interaction between police and the public is accomplished by police patrols. The narrative of patrolling includes fulfilling a public reassurance role but, importantly, it coexists with other major demands measured principally in terms of success in tackling crime and in the time taken to respond to emergencies. Patrol is considered the cornerstone of effective policing, as it either delivers, or contributes significantly to, every aspect of core police work and is integral to the tradition of policing by consent, on which a significant element of police effectiveness depends. Police patrol is, therefore, far more than a uniformed constable walking the streets. It is the principal, though not the only, means by which the police: • • • •

respond appropriately to crimes, other incidents and emergencies, maintain public order and tackle anti-social behaviour, reassure the public through a visible police presence, forge links with local communities to reduce problems of crime and nuisance, and

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gather intelligence, especially in relation to crime and criminals.

These service tasks are divided into two types of activity. The first two aspects of patrol activity can be loosely described as reactive, as they are mainly driven by incidents, while the other three are more proactive. There are high public expectations in this area of service tasks. To meet these high expectations, the deployment of officers and response to calls from the public need to be well-managed, so that a quality service is delivered and maintained. A key theme in the provision of patrolling is that the police have much to gain from a better alignment between the public’s expectations and what they can actually deliver. Many police officers argue that the service could take steps to move out of the current highly-reactive pattern of activity, which stifles officers’ ability to identify with local areas and reduces their willingness to take ownership of problems. Some police services have made a great effort to create the conditions necessary for a proactive style of policing by trying to foster ‘intelligenceled’ policing into practical police work. Interactions with the public in this area of work include the management and grading of the public’s calls and the deployment of officers in response to such calls. It also includes incident work and the more proactive work of intelligence gathering and problem solving, as well as high-visibility patrol and community safety work. Inherent in all these tasks is the provision of information, advice and whatever assistance is appropriate. The envisaged use of telematics in this area of police work was to manage police resources in relation to public demand, and also to function as a service point for advice and information, covering many social needs. The two roles merge when assistance is deployed. For example, the management of demand more efficiently to enable a balance of reactive and proactive policing in the delivery of services is based on two criteria. These are: ‘graded response’ and ‘help desks’, and an ATTACH service could function in both areas. The grading of calls is handled by operators in control rooms, and two categories of calls are relatively straightforward to resolve: officers are automatically sent out to emergencies, while crime calls are referred to crime desks to assess what action should follow. The focus of efficiency gains lies in the residual bulk of the calls, comprising up to 65 per cent, where the operator has discretion to decide whether police attendance is appropriate. At the time of the ATTACH project, some services had trained operators to improve their decision-making skills. A number of them have also eased the pressure on control staff by greater use of direct lines and by setting up help-desks to deal with callers who are seeking advice and/or information. Central Scotland, for example, used financial sponsorship from Mercury Communications to publicize its Crime Management Unit. After just six months of operation, well over 50 per cent of crimes were being reported directly to the unit, and this figure was expected to continue rising. By managing demand like this, more efficient deployment of officers on patrol could be achieved. The ATTACH service could have direct access to such a unit through its interactive facilities, acting as an outreach access point for a crime management unit which would supply information and advice and dispatch professional assistance if required.

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Another relevant initiative was Oxford’s Customer Services Department, which incorporated the area’s crime desk, public information service, and a resource management function, to relieve patrol officers of some incident attendance. Kent had also taken the help-desk approach further with its resource desk, where police officers staffing the ‘desk’ offer advice and information as well as resolve many incidents which would formerly have required officer deployment, using a combination of telephone enquiries and directing officer attendance. ATTACH could develop these services through its interactive technologies, in particular, the videophone. If all the ATTACH facilities were embedded in a help-desk framework it would offer an enhanced service within an already-successful service provision. A central resource desk approach, with ATTACH kiosks as outreach points, could be one way to manage patrol resources more effectively and still provide a service offering information, advice, and deploying officers to incidents which require human assistance more effectively. Members of CARAT analyzed some of these ideas and developed a strategy for pilot projects across the MPS, such as developing video-links into the new Telephone Investigation Units, or providing kiosks to supplement community initiatives. The specific police focus was only one aspect of developing digital services, the other aspect being the development of partnership approaches to community communication and community policing. This was achieved through the ATTACH project, as trust and understanding was being built up between the MPS and LBN through the project work itself. However, before any real community development could take place, the developers and policy-makers had to understand the participative interaction of members of the public with service providers in a range of community and service scenarios, and these are discussed in the next two chapters. Summary In this chapter, various aspects of policing narratives were described, including the types of interaction between the police and members of the public. A general narrative of policing can be summarized as involving the prevention and reduction of crime and disorder. There are distinct narrative themes within the various aims of police work, which organize policing tasks around key areas of concern such as community issues, racial issues and crime control. All these narratives give the police service its distinctive service profile. In order to understand how e-services such as telematics might be embedded within MPS service provision, the developers created imaginary scenarios within service narratives. These were part of a ‘service model’ working paper and the narratives were a way of considering telematics in service provision that would be relevant to citizens’ lives. This creative work generated ideas for digital communication services, which developers and service providers could consider and work towards piloting. However, the complexity of policing meant that digitizing services was, and is, a long-term process, with some traditional aspects of police communication enduring in local settings, whilst improving back office support through information systems such as CRIS.

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The service model working paper aimed to show how the ATTACH concept (i.e. digitally-enabled community and communication services) could contribute to each of the three levels of policing service. The contribution was seen in relation to both its potential to improve the quality of service, and to enable more efficient use of resources. However, the overriding point made in the service model discussions was that policing in the UK was by consent, which had important implications when considering new forms of police-public communication. One of the key priorities was that trust and communication must be maintained to support this consent and legitimacy. The work in this narrative aspect of the cultural form took place in the stage sector of the theatre of innovation. The actors in the MPS interacted with Tom to creatively imagine possible usage of telematics within the MPS organization.

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Chapter 10

Participation between Service Providers and Residents: Local People’s Perceptions of Services in the East End of London So far the ethnography has described the ways developers, service providers and policy-makers were addressing changing communications in public services. This chapter considers participation in services in the everyday life of people living in Newham. As stated earlier in the book, Newham is a multi-cultural and deprived area where language, ethnicity and poverty interact to form a complex environment for communication and for changing communication. This chapter discusses the perceptions of people living in Newham in the context of research undertaken by Newham’s In House Research team. The team built on their research in the borough to design a series of focus groups that sought to explore residents’ perceptions of services, and also identify some of their information and communication needs.1 The research was commissioned by the LBN Chief Executive to explore communications and service needs to inform the development of a network of digitally-enabled Local Service Centres. This initiative was part of Newham’s long-term vision of becoming a type of ‘electronic village’. The developers commissioned community research because knowledge gained in ATTACH showed that developments needed to focus on the service aspects of digital communication in the context of community needs. The aim of the Local Service Strategy was to construct an infrastructure of digital technologies and face-to-face service centres linked to established service providers such as libraries, social services, education, voluntary agencies, and the local police. Furthermore, through the work of Nick and the ATTACH user needs team, planners and developers were aware of the need for exploratory research that would, to some extent, identify gaps in services and be alert to emerging needs. They also felt that they needed to understand perceptions of place so that they could design digital services into the fabric of local life. This re-imagining of communication and services required an understanding of people’s perceptions of services as well as of their needs and aspirations.

1 See the Appendix for full details of the focus group research (In House Research 1997).

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General Profile of the Needs and Aspirations of Newham Residents The In House Research team had been conducting research since 1992 which intended to throw some light on the issues faced by local residents in their everyday lives and discern how these related to their aspirations. Since 1993, the same four issues have been cited as being of most concern to local residents: rising crime, lack of jobs, quality of the health service and standard of education. These research results show that residents have a hierarchy of need and that their main concerns are to be safe, well and in work. The staff of In House Research argued that needs are the necessities of life, and people’s aspirations follow only when their needs have been met. The researchers defined aspirations ‘as higher level needs, meaning the lives that people aspire to when their basic needs have been met’. The In House programme of qualitative research explored a broad range of community issues, and from this indepth and interactive research, a picture of the aspirations of different sections of the community emerged, in which residents formed three broad groups: the ‘alienated’, the ‘settled’ and ‘aspirers’. These groups form three types of audiences for ATTACH and for the local service strategy. The Alienated The In House Research team found that many, often younger, people felt trapped in Newham by poverty and/or racism. They included single parents who were denied access to the labour market by the cost of childcare, and single people working for low wages, living at home, and whose housing costs were subsidized by their parents. Other people within this group were older men with families, who had been unemployed for long periods and could not find work that would compensate for the loss of benefits. Many young Caribbean people had complained vehemently about their experiences of racism in schools, housing and jobs, however, they felt trapped in Newham because they believed the racism they would experience elsewhere would be worse. Given people’s poor quality of life in these situations, where basic needs were often unmet, aspirations were low: seen, for example, in a young Asian man’s response to a researcher’s question about where he would see himself in five years time – ‘prison’. One of the main conclusions of the Newham ‘Issues Analysis’ research was how little public services were perceived to benefit many groups in Newham. Few people seemed to have gained much from their education, which was deemed to be poor. Many were denied access to council housing or were deeply dissatisfied with the quality of their accommodation. Most people complained about access to, and the quality of, the health service. Generally, local residents felt that the police were ineffective in preventing crime and, for some young Caribbean people, were a source of harassment. The In House Research team reported that, in itself, the implementation of a local service strategy would not make much of an impact on the aspirations of the alienated. However, it might manage to increase awareness of services, thereby improving access and, through the provision of information, help people to find appropriate advice and support.

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The Settled The largest group identified by the researchers was comprised of those who have settled in Newham and regard the borough as their home. The older white community, the majority of whom were born in Newham, may have seen their families move away but remained attached to the area they grew up in and where they felt they belonged. Caribbean elders, who had lived and worked in Newham for decades, owned properties and retired there, expressed a similar loyalty to Newham. Many members of the Asian community had lived in Newham for twenty to thirty years, and bought houses there, and many middle-aged and older Asians regarded Newham as their home, speaking warmly of the shops, the temples and the community facilities that they enjoyed there. This group was particularly useful for the elder Asians who speak little or no English. Finally, there were many refugee communities who had found a safe haven in Newham, but whose future remained uncertain due to their immigration status, whether they wished to remain there, or would be permitted to do so. The In House Research team reasoned that a local service strategy could help meet the aspirations of settled groups if service ‘offers’ were spelled out in local ‘Charters’ which could become the subject of community consultation exercises. Different communities could then have offer suggestions about what should be provided. Awareness of the council and its services could, if successful, develop a greater degree of involvement in civic life, thereby supporting the objective of the borough’s ‘Enhancing Democracy’ programme. The Aspirers As the In House Research team commented, it is good that people have aspirations and wish to improve their lives. What had been disappointing for Newham in the past was that so many residents thought their aspirations could only be achieved by leaving the borough. The researchers considered that the council’s ambitious vision for Newham could only be achieved if it was able to convince those residents with aspirations that they had a future in Newham. The council was attempting to improve services through several initiatives, such as ‘Best in Class’2 and, when combined with the ‘Urban Regeneration Strategy’, this might generate the potential to bring more wealth to the borough. Council representatives, such as the Chief Executive, thought that if these two initiatives were supported by ‘Enhancing Democracy’ and ‘Sustaining Communities’3 strategies, the vision of improving Newham could become a reality and the aspirers would be encouraged to stay. The examination of residents’ needs and aspirations by the In House Research staff indicated that Newham Council and its public and voluntary sector partners needed to provide services that could address the needs of all these groups. The 2 This involves various performance indicators of services that are compared with other London boroughs’ performances. 3 This was comprised of various initiatives that fostered economic, political and social projects to sustain a community.

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emphasis of the local service strategy was on improving delivery by making services more accessible to local residents and providing support in different situations of exclusion, as well as suggesting routes out of exclusion. Focus Group Research in Relation to Designing a Local Service Strategy4 This section of the chapter covers the key topics that emerged in the focus groups. First, the researchers in the focus groups introduced the idea of a network of Local Service Centres that sought to improve access, quality of services and information, and make services more relevant to local needs. This idea gained positive responses, for example one respondent said: I think it goes to right to the core of what most of us are here for. It’s a sense of community isn’t it, getting adequate treatment in relation to where you live, how you live and flexibility as to how you move about, and you want to take more pride in your community, take more pride in your area and yourself – white male, 18–29 year age group.

Understanding the Use of Locality As the local service strategy sought to deliver services through structures that were sensitive to local needs, it worked on the premise that access would be improved if service networks conformed to community perceptions of the locality. Focus group discussions uncovered that one of the defining factors of an area is its retail profile, for example, the Mall in Deanford was seen as the main shopping area. The use of an area is also partly determined by how convenient it is to access, as well as the identity and reputation of its shops. For example, there was concern amongst older white residents that the Fargate end of Deanford is less attractive now, as the buses no longer stop outside the shops there: F: Well people used to get off the bus there … it would stop right outside … you just dashed in – white female, 30–50 age group.

For the Caribbean residents, a sense of ‘being local’ was not a factor in deciding where to shop, as they tended to ‘shop around’ much more than the white residents. For example: F: I shop around as well, sometimes I go to market, at High Stow now and again East Haven – Caribbean female, 18–29 age group. M: I go shopping all over the place …. Very expensive in Deanford – Caribbean male, 30–59 age group.

4 This section is the result of the 1997 focus groups conducted by the ethnographer. It is, therefore, primary data. As explained in the methods chapter, however, the data was still collected through the ethnographic framework.

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However, the ability to ‘shop around’ was not universal, because some older residents were less mobile. However, in contrast to the white or Caribbean groups, the African respondents tended to shop locally, for example: F: I usually shop at West Park … all the shops are there – African female 30–59 age group.

The Asian groups clearly identified the areas in which they lived in terms of access to services and shopping, for example: F: East Haven Town Hall is a very popular place … and services are there … there’s a big library – Asian female 18–29 age group.

Asian respondents shopped locally and in other areas: M: I go to either Allford or Delton or East Haven – Asian male 18–29 age group.

The only area the respondents identified in ethnic terms was Dean Street: F: I’m sure they will know Dean Street – Asian Female 18–29 age group. M: But that to me is obviously Asian – Asian male 18–29 age group.

These discussions helped to identify focal points in the borough for local residents, and showed how these were mostly identified through the shops and services that were easily accessible. These areas were mixed, with only Dean Street being identified in ethnic terms. Comments and Complaints Given the change to a market-oriented way of delivering public services, one key aspect of services is a focus on customer care. An effective complaints procedure is central to customer care, to ensure that citizens can expect a reasonable standard of services and have the right to complain if they are not satisfied (In House, 1997). In general, Newham residents did not complain when they received poor public services, and research found their dominant feeling to be one of powerlessness – residents thought that their views carried little weight, despite the level of need that was often expressed. Central to the issue of powerlessness was the absence of rights which citizens are meant to be able to exercise over public services. With the exception of ‘getting cross at the counter’, very few of the respondents had complained in any more substantive form. Residents were unaware of the council’s formal ‘complaints’ process. Indeed, despite respondents citing a number of serious, ongoing disputes that had ended up in court, only one respondent out of all ten focus groups had heard of the council’s ‘Comments and Complaints’ procedures. Residents were shown a copy of the complaints leaflet but were, with the one exception, unaware that the council had a formal process for handling complaints, being unclear about whom they should complain to. They complained through a variety of means, such as by letter, phone call, or face-to-face at the council office,

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and felt frustration about trying to contact the ‘right’ person who might be able to do something. It was clear that residents did not know what their rights were in regard to council services, but often felt angry at the poor quality of service they received. There were three main reasons why residents chose not to complain. First, as the system was often perceived to be unfair in some way, they believed there was little point in formally complaining. For example, in relation to the council’s allocation policy in housing, one focus group respondent said: M: They don’t give you priority; they just make you wait. I’m not racist in any way but if someone of a different gender or a different nation goes they will get priority over anyone else – white male 30–59 age group.

Second, as the council was seen as being extremely inefficient, they considered there was little point in complaining, with one respondent summing up the comments with: ‘They couldn’t get it right if they wanted to’. Third, respondents felt that there should be an independent body to handle complaints, commenting, for example: ‘It’s got to be independent’ (white female, 30–59 age group) because, if the council was both judge and jury, they believed there was no point in making a complaint. The residents who had complained felt that the procedure was unresponsive and bureaucratic. Furthermore, some of the residents felt alienated from the service providers, and believed they did not care about residents’ concerns. The respondents were asked to say how they thought the process of registering a complaint could be improved. One suggestion was that complaints should be handled more thoroughly and involves a dialogue with the residents who had complained. Another suggestion was to achieve a greater degree of independence in the process, with the police complaints procedure being cited as fairer because it was seen to be independent. Local Democracy The In House Research team found that participation in public life in Newham was low (In House Research 1997a). For most of Newham’s residents, the experience of citizenship came primarily through the consumption of local services, rather than through direct participation in civic life (In House Research 1997a, 33). Although it was not the initial intention of the local service strategy focus groups to explore residents’ awareness of local councillors, this theme emerged during discussions about the complaints procedure.5 Respondents in the focus groups were asked if they were aware of their local councillors and if they understood the role of councillors in the community. The results suggested that there was a low awareness of local councillors, with approximately two-thirds of the respondents being unaware of their existence. The over-sixty white group and the middle-aged (30–59 yrs.) Asian groups were the most aware, with the other groups having no real awareness of councillors 5 It is one of the main advantages of using an open-ended form of research method that questions can follow in response to residents’ comments, rather than sticking rigidly to a closed-ended questionnaire. Over the years, In House Research has found that many of the most interesting findings have come from such exploration of unscripted areas.

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at all. For example, when asked in a focus group if anyone had complained to a councillor, the response was: M: What is a councillor? Q: Let me start again. Do you know we have councillors? M: I don’t – African male 30–59 age group. M: No way – African male 30–59 age group.

The focus group participants’ results highlighted a lack of awareness of local councillors and their role in the community. First, at the political level, it meant that residents could not exercise their democratic rights and participate fully in decisions affecting their own locality. Second, as the residents did not know about their local representative, they could not use this avenue to see their own interests represented, whether at the level of a complaint about services, or about a more general community issue. When the respondents had been informed about councillors, they were very positive about the idea of a local representative. The key issue that emerged was a need for greater publicity about the role of councillors, both who they were and where they could be contacted. Third, the council’s role as a community leader was weakened by not being supported by the active involvement of local citizens. The council’s legitimacy as the voice of local people therefore required the active involvement of local citizens, raising and debating local issues. It is through such consultation that the council’s representative voice would become stronger, even if the process of consultation might be time-consuming and expose local conflicts. Service Charters In general terms, the focus groups uncovered a low awareness of local services among most residents, with many being unaware of their rights of access. As citizens, the majority of residents who participated in the focus groups were unaware of local democratic processes, which left many of them feeling that the council would not listen to their concerns and, thus, their needs would not be responded to. Participants in the focus groups were shown copies of the Leisure Services Charter, asked if they had seen it, and if they thought it was a good idea to have such a charter. The participants were unaware of the charter and directed their questions towards issues of access, wanting to know where the charter leaflets were displayed, saying, for example, ‘where would these (charter leaflets) be?’ (Asian female 18– 29 age group). Although the awareness of charters was low, the idea of a charter was well-received by the participants, with a Caribbean male (18–29 age group) commenting that: ‘it be very useful’. Service charters have the potential to alleviate the problem of lack of awareness of services, however, service material will only be noticed if it is widely displayed and promoted and – crucially – if residents perceive it to be relevant to their own lives (In House Research 1995). Thus, for instance, if a resident is unaware of local services, there is no incentive to pick up and read a local service charter. One way in which local service charters could be given a much

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higher profile would be as part of a community planning process, specifying service standards that could be open to public consultation. Information The focus group research explored what the concept of ‘information needs’ meant for Newham residents, by considering where individuals went for information relating to specific problems. This was further analyzed in relation to ease of access, relevance of information, and availability of satisfactory advice. In general, the results did not suggest any clear trends in residents’ perceptions, experiences and expectations with regard to information provision. The main difficulty was that residents did not have information needs in the same way as they had needs in other areas, such as housing, education, health or finance. Rather, information needs arose in response to specific, often unforeseen, circumstances. The issues involved in obtaining information were not clearly articulated by residents. On the whole, respondents used their common sense and often obtained information through a trial and error process. M: I just ask around and try to get leads – male, Asian, 18–19 age group. F: I’d go to the library – female, Asian, 18–19 age group. F: I’d ask my in laws – female, Asian, 18–19 age group. M: I’d probably go to someone who has worked there before, one of my friends or relatives – male Asian 18–29 age group.

Part of this process involved deciding where to go to find information. In practice, residents drew on numerous sources, with many respondents using their informal networks of family and friends to find out how to obtain the relevant information. It is significant that many respondents chose to use personal contacts as a first stage of their information search, suggesting the need for a degree of supportive interaction when people are uncertain of what they want as well as what might be available. Many respondents expressed a lack of knowledge and awareness of where they could obtain information, and when asked if they knew of any advice agencies, many respondents said: ‘no, I’m not aware’. The main sources of information cited were the Deanford Advice Centre, libraries, social workers, housing offices, schools, careers centres, Dean End Advice Centre, voluntary organizations, Newham Rights, the DSS, Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Newham News, and the local MP. Having identified an information source, many respondents said they often experienced difficulty in accessing the information they required, which was particularly the case with respect to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau: F: There’s only a phone. There’s not one you can attend in Deanford, that comes under Plastow and it’s only a phone one. I don’t think you can just walk in and speak to people – Caribbean female 30–39 age group.

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F: We tried everywhere for three days and ended up visiting one and we just went in there. Their phones are constantly engaged. Parts of the day they just take calls in their office and we visited there and it was absolutely packed ridiculous – Caribbean female 30–39 age group. F: And even then you had to wait for a couple of hours. It’s just ridiculous – Caribbean female 30–39 age group.

Some information was seen as directly relevant to a clearly defined need; for example, a parent with children at school has regular information needs regarding leisure activities in the school holidays, as she said: F: just before the end of term you get a booklet and it tells you everything that’s going on during the holidays – white female 18–29 age group.

This case is an example of information provision that is very specific and aimed at particular customers, allowing for a tight fit between customers’ needs and organizational knowledge. Thus, there is a greater chance that the information provider will meet customer expectations. However, the information that a resident required was often ‘multi-faceted’, meaning that the person required information from various sources. In this context, the Deanford Advice Bureau was often cited because it provided a range of information and services in one place. F: Yes, I’ve been in the Deanford Advice Bureau and I think it’s very good. There’s a women’s health centre and they do lots of classes and things like that. Like immigration advice at certain times – African female 18–29 age group.

Furthermore, the centre was seen to supply not only relevant information, but also advice on various issues. This supports previous research by the In House team (1995), which found that residents often require advice in addition to information, for example: M: Can I talk about careers guidance for a second? If you are over twenty-one that’s it, you go to the Job Centre but it is totally unrelated to what you do. And in my situation, I’ve come out of university about a year and a half ago now and I’ve found it really hard to get decent work and there doesn’t seem to be anywhere or anyone who actually knows about my situation. I’m sure there are loads of graduates in East London … who have come back, and suddenly a lot of my friends are on the dole and you can’t get help anywhere – Asian male 18–29 age group.

There were also concerns that some sources of information were not helpful, as one young white woman (18–29 age group) said: F: They (housing advisors) just say the same things as everyone else; they’re altogether not helpful. You need someone that you can go to and you know that that person is not looking at you like … – white female 18–29 age group.

140 Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public M: I mean, even though it might not actually be the case, but you feel you’ve got someone on your side it helps a lot and half the time you go to these places and it seems as though nobody’s on your side, nobody is interested – white male 18–29 age group.

In attempting to obtain relevant information, residents identified three main problems. First, knowing where to go for information was not clear to residents. The main sources identified relied heavily on personal contacts and tended not to include the council. Second, with popular sources of information like the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, there could be issues of access, in that people often needed advice and assistance as well as information, and agencies with good reputations such as Citizen’s Advice invariably have a high demand for their services. Third, residents often need advice and a degree of support, and some of the members of the ‘information staff’ were criticized for their unhelpful attitudes. Dovetailing into the above discussion on information needs is the communication needs of non-English speaking residents. Previous research by the In House Research team with Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu and Sylheti-speaking residents highlighted the difficulties some of these residents face (In House, 19956). These groups also ask friends and relatives for help when searching for information. They ask workers at advice centres, use interpreters when available, attempt to find a council worker who speaks their language or try to muddle through in English. However, men and women from these communities have different strategies for information-seeking. Men have access to a wider network of contacts which includes service providers, whereas women often have to rely on their families. Men, for example, find information through word of mouth in the broader community: If we find out, (about some interesting event) then we tell other people. And if they do, then they tell us. The word just spreads. If it’s something of value then we tell other people – male Pakistani, Moslem, 25–45.

Women on the other hand were not so sure, saying for example: ‘we don’t know many people’ (Female Punjabi Sikh, 25–45). Advice centres with bilingual Asian workers were a key resource for nonEnglish speaking residents and provided a range of services, including information and advocacy. There was one ... but now it’s closed. That’s where I used to go for advice regarding housing problems. They spoke our language. Now when I have to complete forms, I seek help from friends – female, Punjabi Sikh, 25–45. I had a problem. I was harassed where I lived. I went to the advice centre situated on the same road where I live. They had an Urdu-speaking lawyer there. He advised me exactly what to do, that I should go to Social Services and explain. I did that. He also took up my case, and with his help, I had a transfer in two weeks – male Pakistani, Moslem, 25–45.

6 All the respondents in this research were in the 25–45 age group and they had limited or no fluency in spoken English. They were living in Newham and were a mix of working and non-working people (In House Research, 1995).

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Amongst the Bangladeshi community, the most common language spoken and understood was Sylheti, with many having very limited English or Bengali. In many cases, Sylheti is the only language known, and applies equally to older and younger people and to men as well as women. This is important in relation to the provision of interpreters, for example: In the past I have asked the council and the hospitals for Sylheti interpreters but sometimes you get a Bengali interpreter, this is not much help – male Bengali, 25–45.

These communication difficulties reinforce isolation, particularly for women. For example, one young woman wanted to go to English classes, but she said: I cannot find any with crèche facilities. The isolation and loneliness is made worse as my husband has to work away from home six days a week and I am expected to sort out any problems that may arise – female Bengali, 25–45.

In general terms, the way in which Bangladeshi residents coped with communications problems was through the help of friends or the use of Bangladeshi voluntary groups. For example: I normally show the letters to my husband but if he is not around I ask my brother-in-law. If I have to contact the council then either my brother-in-law or a friend will ring the council for me and they will ask for an interpreter, the only thing is that I have to wait a few days – female Bengali, 25–45.

Following the 1995 research on the needs of non-English speaking residents, Newham set up a Language Shop, which was to be part of the local service centres, as these communication needs were highly relevant in the borough. Thus, the knowledge gained from previous research by the In House team also informed telematics development. Building on previous research, the focus group research indicated the need for an integrated form of information and advice provision that would support an approach such as the local service network in developing services, by making them locally-accessible and high-profile, to help increase public awareness of them. The provision must be multi-faceted in order to provide solutions to the complex issues that face Newham residents. Finally, services must be experienced as ‘caring’ and understanding of the residents’ aspirations. Service Delivery and Customer Care A common theme arising from focus group discussions was a lack of care in all aspects of service delivery, from initial contact to the time and quality of the response. In a few instances, council officers were seen to be unsympathetic to residents’ plights. For example: M: I did find myself experiencing serious hardships last year. I had to jeopardise whether I continued with my degree or go back into unemployment and getting my housing benefit. Now that’s not necessarily the actual concern of the housing officer or whatever, but I

142 Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public was dealt with very badly by the housing officer. I communicated my affairs (regarding housing benefit) to him, months in advance. All (the advice) I was getting was like go to court. I went to court and I was annoyed because the representative from Newham hadn’t turned up. Now to this day, they are chasing me for rent, which I’ve explained my circumstances, I never got those paid to me – Caribbean male, 30–59 yrs.

There was evidence of a lack of trust in services, for example: F: My mum has problems with housing benefit. She wanted to be moved on and out. She had been there for ten years, she’d had no rent arrears, no problems; she had always paid her rent. All of a sudden when she does want to move she’s in arrears of £3,000 … And just found out that she’s never owed £3,000. It’s just the fact that they don’t want her to move out – Caribbean female, 30–59 yrs.

Sometimes in particular sets of circumstances, residents can be in very vulnerable positions, and dependent on council services for help. If customer care breaks down in these kinds of situations it can cause distress: F: I went blind in my right eye … And I was so scared I didn’t know what to do. I rung, and then they had me on the phone for about half an hour and they told me that they would send somebody to see me. No-one came. And I was so depressed, I didn’t know what to do and I cried and cried – Caribbean female, 18–29 yrs.

The council service as a whole was perceived to be a poor communicator when members of the public attempted to make contact by telephone. When residents were put through to an extension, they expect their query to be answered, but research respondents claimed that they were often put through to the wrong person, or kept waiting for five minutes while the ‘right’ officer was located. For example: F: ... it’s this person, that person, passing the buck you know, so it gets passed around and around – white female, 18–29 yrs.

Participants thought that a more friendly and customer-oriented approach would be to take down some details from the resident and ask the relevant officer to ring them back. Respondents complained that the council, in particular, was often extremely slow to remedy errors. Some respondents felt particularly vulnerable to problems that occurred because of ‘computer error’. The computer was seen to be remote, impersonal and arbitrary in its actions. Given that most respondents want to solve their own problems in conversation with a relevant officer, the computer was seen to present an impenetrable wall, which they could not negotiate around. For example: F: They say it’s the computer … when you ask why they have made this kind of mistake – Asian female, 18–29 yrs.

This aspect of the focus group research highlighted the need to consider customer care an essential element in the provision of services. Making services more accessible and ensuring a more integrated approach to service delivery might be a step towards improving citizens’ perceptions of public services. However, customer care should

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be seen as a necessary accompaniment to this process, if the full benefit of a local service strategy was to be realized. The Use of the Multimedia Kiosk in the Focus Group Setting The groups also considered the use of multimedia kiosks and were generally positive about the concept. They liked the idea that information would be available twentyfour hours a day, and that the kiosks would be situated in busy shopping areas so that people did not have to make special visits to a council office or police station to obtain information. The only people who had any reservations about the kiosks were two Caribbean participants who were extensive computer users and felt it was more important to have human contact on a one-to-one basis, arguing that people are far better at expressing their needs face-to-face than through a video-conferencing screen. They did, however, want to see the person dealing with their inquiry so that, should anything go wrong, they would know who was responsible. The participants spent a few minutes looking up information that they might be interested in, which highlighted a number of problems with the information, and with the presentation of the information in the kiosk. The participants found that the information was patchy and inadequate for their needs – for example, when people looked up a particular organization they said they would have liked the organization’s telephone number and opening times to be listed as well as its address, and one person commented that the kiosk was like a computerized version of Yellow Pages. Some people wanted information on education grants but found that the only information involving education on the system was about schools in the borough. Most of the participants felt that the kiosk was adequate as a ‘first-stop’ for finding information but that they would need to consult a service advisor to find further information. This was also reflected by comments that the information on the kiosk was just ‘standard’ and could not assist people with their individual circumstances, and people felt that they would still need to seek face-to-face advice. There were several presentation issues – some of the respondents experienced difficulty reading the text and perceived it as being too small; the ‘search’ facility did not work as well as could be expected – for example, when a white pensioner typed in the word ‘welfare’ the only information available was on the Gujarat Welfare Association. Participants also expressed concern that the kiosks would not be easily accessible to wheelchair-users as they would not be able to lean over the console. Another concern was that the kiosk did not have any information in ethnic languages, something that was expressed by all of the groups. The Asian group argued that it would be better to have ‘talking heads’ in ethnic languages, since not everyone can read their mother tongue. Some participants in other groups also wanted to have ‘talking heads’ in English as well as voice recognition on the system (so that people could say what they were looking for), to assist people with low literacy skills. Respondents were generally disappointed with the information in the kiosk, and some said they would prefer to read a leaflet, as it would be more informative. This is unusual, as research conducted in the past by In House Research has shown that people have low recognition and interest in reading leaflets (In House Research 1995).

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The conclusion from these focus groups was that more work needed to be carried out on the kiosk software, as well as ensuring that sufficient information was available on the system, if the kiosks were to be an effective medium of information delivery within a public communication strategy. Summary The community research in this chapter forms part of the participative interaction aspect of the cultural form. The studies done by the In House research unit showed the concerns of Newham residents. There was a marked consistency of concerns expressed, with rising crime, lack of jobs, quality of the health service and standards of education being the most prominent. In House Research identified groups of residents in Newham, which they called ‘alienated’, ‘settled’ and ‘aspirers’, each of which had different sets of needs and related to public services in different ways. There were implications from these two points for e-services – first, it indicated that Bangemann’s vision of ICT ‘improving the quality of life of European citizens’ was complex and raised the question whether policy-makers were aware of the needs of local citizens. It also pointed to the need for local telematics developers (such as the London ATTACH team) to be aware of local needs. Both the focus group research and previous In House Research (‘Issues Analysis’ 1996) suggested that there were two major issues interacting with each other: first, ‘customer care’ by many service providers was poor and, second, there was both a general feeling of being disempowered amongst residents and individual feelings of powerlessness, with individuals feeling that they had little control over their lives. From these research findings, the researchers produced recommendations that it would not be enough for services to be readily accessible, but that they must also be delivered in an acceptable and appropriate way and provide ways to improve the quality of life of people living in Newham. The research also identified some of the issues that affected people’s ability to participate in shaping and using services, for instance, many residents lacked awareness of services, the means of access to services and of procedures for redress. Whilst some of these issues were exacerbated by a lack of confidence or command of English, there was a general unwillingness to make formal complaints, which showed a degree of fatalism amongst some groups who expected poor service, so were not surprised to receive this. The In House Research staff and service providers thought that the issue of powerlessness was relevant to considerations about the local service strategy. Greater accessibility to services might help to increase residents’ awareness, and improved information systems could result in residents being better informed, but a great deal more would need to be done for residents to become more ‘empowered’ to shape services and improve their quality of life. The evidence of a lack of awareness of services, of how to complain, of service charters, and the low participation in local democracy has serious implications. If service providers aim to be responsive to public needs but do not receive any feedback from citizens, it becomes extremely difficult to respond to these needs. Furthermore, lack of awareness and apathy are factors in the development of new

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types of services such as telematics, because if residents are not aware of services and they hold low expectations of existing services, they might not be aware of a new service or, if they are, they may view it with the same low regard they have of existing services. A key feature of telematics is the provision of information, and the focus group research found that respondents were uncertain about what their information needs were. The results of the focus groups indicated that there was a need for an integrated information system responsive to local needs, but that the characteristics of such a service were unclear. The general lack of awareness of local democracy issues and the lack of understanding of ‘information needs’ are significant to the development of telematics as a cultural form. This is because telematics developments within an ‘information society’ narrative are, to a degree, premised upon assumptions that information will improve citizens’ lives, both in relation to access and quality of services, and in relation to political concerns such as improving democratic processes. The actuality of residents’ relations with public services and local government in Newham undermines some of the narrative assumptions. Furthermore, the concept of ‘information needs’ is far from clear and this has implications for how an information service to improve residents’ lives can be provided along the lines outlined in the ‘information and ICT’ narratives. The focus group respondents’ reaction to the ATTACH kiosk was illuminating, as it indicated that residents liked the idea of an information kiosk and welcomed it. They were not afraid or worried about the technology, however, the lack of information available from the kiosk resulted in a negative reaction, as the residents did not see how the kiosk could benefit them. As the search facility was not functioning, the residents felt that the kiosk could not provide an adequate service. Furthermore, certain groups of the community would be excluded from the service, as there was no ethnic language provision in the kiosk or facilities for the deaf, and the kiosk design also made wheelchair access difficult. As Tom Dolton, the ATTACH peer reviewer, had stressed, the quality of the service is paramount in any form of communication between services and citizens. Newham residents perceived public services to be ‘uncaring’, and this led many citizens to feel alienated from their services. The developers of ATTACH telematics were faced with all these cultural dynamics as they tried to implement a new digital service in Newham. This work in the user participation section of the cultural form mainly took place in the audience domain of the theatre of innovation. The Newham researchers conducted the work, however, the key participants were the respective alienated, settled and aspiring residents from Newham. The results were fed into the back stage area of the theatre of innovation to inform the developers and they were also fed into the stage area where local policy-makers could plan for new services.

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Chapter 11

Police Work and Everyday Life This chapter discusses operational policing, focusing on the various interactions between the police and public. The objective of the chapter is to illustrate the diversity of police work and communication in a locality within Newham, to contextualize the complexity of changing police communication with the public. This is important in two respects: first, when planning change, developers need to understand the nature of the communication so that they can design and implement new forms of communication in ways that are sensitive to the service environment. Second, it is important to gain an understanding of the nature of participative interaction between services and citizens to inform the transformation of digital technology into new communication services that become institutionalized as cultural forms. Dean End Police Station A police station is the focal point from which the police operate, and it is embedded within a division. Each station is unique because, although there are general structures in the way a police station functions, each station has autonomy to organize itself in relation to the needs and priorities of the locality. The station is the base for both uniformed officers and CID. The uniformed branch consists of five core teams and three sector teams. The core teams are responsible for the service’s ‘twenty-four hour response’. Each team consists of one inspector, five sergeants and twenty-five to thirty police constables (PCs), who are responsible for street policing and responding to calls. There is front desk staff, CAD (computer aided dispatch) room staff, custody staff and the ‘sector office’ staff.1 A chief superintendent is the operation command unit commander, and is in charge of the station. There is a superintendent under him who is responsible for both the uniformed branch and the CID branch. The police station functions as a point of access for the public, through the front desk and by telephone, with calls being directed through the CAD room. There are three categories of police response to calls from the public: the ‘I’ call, which means immediate response, according to which the police have to arrive at a scene within twelve minutes; the ‘S’ call, which is the ‘as soon as possible’ call and has a response time of an hour; and the ‘delayed call’ which can be responded to in due course. Dean End Police Station, known locally as ‘the fortress’, is situated in a neighbourhood of the London Borough of Newham. The division is a busy one, situated in the East End of London, with a high crime rate and in one of the poorest 1 The police station also houses the CID aspect of police-work. This aspect was not the focus of this study and, therefore, is not described here.

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boroughs in London, with 51 per cent of the residents coming from ethnic minority groups. The next section describes typical days at the police station, and operational and community policing. First, it portrays a typical shift on the front desk, then it describes night duty operational policing, followed by typical days of the home beat officer and the schools liaison officer. The Front Desk There were usually two station reception officers (SROs) on duty with a police officer (PC). The office was fairly small, with four seats, an internal telephone, an ATTACH kiosk, a private interview booth and the front counter itself. The front counter was open, without a protective screen, and accommodated two reception officers dealing with two members of the public at once. There was also room on the counter for a PC to step in to deal with a pending inquiry. There was a desk for a CRIS computer, which also provided space for a telephone and room to write notes, reports, and so on. The wall in this area displayed numerous local telephone numbers for various services, staff rostas, etc. Underneath the counter were files with all the documentation required for the front desk work, such as the Alien’s Register. Beda and Margaret were the SROs on duty and Warwick was the PC on duty. An Asian man reported for the Alien’s Register, which Beda dealt with. PC Warwick was writing a crime report on the CRIS computer. Margaret informed a man who had lost his passport that the police could not do anything about it by explaining that the passport was lost by the Post Office. She ascertained that the Post Office had sent a letter to the man and said the passport people should accept that. The man was satisfied and left. An Asian man then reported to Beda about threats being made to his shop by youths demanding payment. Beda said that nothing could be done, as there was really nothing to go on and that it would be best to see if they came again today, and then to ring 999. Interspersed with these encounters, there were numerous ‘bound to return’ (bail) and ‘alien register’ interactions, which took a few minutes to complete. Such encounters were characterized by their brevity, there was minimal talk and the encounter was usually closed with a nod. An Afro-Caribbean woman came into the front office in a highly agitated state. She shouted out, ‘come to make a complaint about you – the police’. PC Warwick took this case, saying, ‘okay, just take a deep breath and tell me about what’s bothering you’. She said that the police had entered her house without her permission. Warwick asked why the police had been round there. She said she had called them because her husband was shouting at her and she thought he might hit her, but didn’t think that ‘it gave the police the right to enter my house: I had not told them that it was okay’. Warwick asked, ‘was there still shouting going on?’ She said ‘yes, but I didn’t want the police involved; it was because I’m Afro-Caribbean, they came in and were rude to me’. Then she kept shouting, ‘I want to make a complaint’, Warwick went to get the officer who was in charge of taking complaints. The woman continued shouting, meanwhile, Margaret and Beda kept the other inquiries moving. The duty officer came into the office and asked her what the exact nature of her complaint was but, by

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this time, she had said what she wanted to and replied, ‘it doesn’t matter’. The duty officer said that he wanted to make sure she did indeed want to drop any complaint and she said, ‘yes, it’s all right’. Beda could speak several of the languages common in Newham, and this ability proved very helpful. Thus, for example, when a young couple came in with a baby, and neither the man nor the woman could speak English, Beda could converse with them. They had lost their immigration papers and did not know what to do. Beda was able to explain the procedure to them, so whatever their circumstances, the couple could at least follow procedure. A Bengali woman came in who could not speak English, she had been arrested on 15th June and was told that she had to return to the station to ‘get her stuff back’, but Beda explained that she could not get anything back until she had ‘gone through court’. A young man came to the front desk to sign the Alien’s Register; he could not speak English and did not understand what he had to do, so Beda found out that he could speak Urdu and explained the procedure in that language. Throughout the time these encounters were taking place, there were telephone calls into the office, and people were constantly being directed to the internal telephone, especially for custody and property inquiries. There were also general inquiries asking who to contact about housing, and other issues as well as general location directions. CRIS reports were also constantly being made. The SROs and the PCs said that, most of the time the placement of the CRIS machine was bearable but, if there was a very sensitive crime to put on the system, there was no privacy for the victim. In one case when a woman came in after being assaulted, a woman police officer took her into the interview booth and wrote down the crime report in her notebook and then entered the details on the CRIS machine afterwards. This was done to protect the woman’s privacy and to help her deal with her traumatic experience. A white man came in with a broken nose. He had been assaulted the night before. He had come to the police station just after the incident, had then gone to the local casualty department, and back to the station for the incident to be investigated. The PC dealt with this enquiry. Two Afro-Caribbean men came in, saying that two girls had been assaulted and one of the girls was the niece of one of the men – PC Warwick took them into the private interview room. Another white man came in, wanting to know if he had got a criminal record even though he had been proved innocent in court, PC Warwick checked the records and said that the man had not and told the man he could check his own record, giving him the appropriate leaflets. A man with severe hearing difficulties and without speech exchanged notes with Beda and, as Beda had seen him before, she knew what the business was about. She thought he was supposed to have gone to Plastow but he had not understood, PC Warwick said he thought he had heard that Plastow had sent something across – he went to check and came back with a set of keys for the man. These descriptions represent the diversity, the unpredictability and the almost chaotic chain of events that characterize the work of the front desk. The members of staff use their interpretative skills to categorize the loose, muddled tales and requests from members of the public into police or non-police business; and, if they are police business, they decide which category they belong to. Members of staff translate various ‘stories’ into ‘categories for organizational action’ and, as Margaret said,

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they are ‘literally on the front line’ negotiating the contradictions of contemporary life as it materializes between members of the public and the police. Operational Police Work with Team Five This description starts in a small briefing room where Team Five were parading at the start of a night shift, and the ethnographer was going on patrol with PC Dave and PC Warren. Inspector White read out the briefing notes and asked if anyone had anything to add. The police officers checked notebooks and added locally-based information, for example that a group of young men had been seen hanging around a kebab shop. PC Dave gave the ethnographer a radio and said to her, ‘carry this and just come with us, they will think you are CID’. The first call was to a block of flats, where a woman had rung the police saying that she wanted her live-in boyfriend to leave as the relationship was finished, but he was refusing to go. Dave, Warren and the ethnographer responded quickly to the ‘I’ call and, as Dave knew the area well, they reached the flats within a few minutes. They went up to the third floor, where they heard shouting and screaming coming from the flat. Dave knocked on the door and said it was the police, an Afro-Caribbean woman holding a baby opened the door and they entered the small, narrow hallway where they had to step over numerous black plastic bags full of clothes. The man was in the bedroom, putting some more clothes in a bag. Dave greeted the woman, who was very distraught, she explained that: ‘it is over and that he refuses to believe me and I want him out of the place’. She was crying and shouting constantly and stood in the corner of the lounge. Warren, meanwhile, had been looking around the flat and came and stood in the lounge. Dave went to chat to the man, who did not want to leave, saying that this often happened and that he wanted to be with his child. The woman went into the bedroom and started shouting at him again. Dave managed to separate them and the woman went back into the lounge with Warren. Dave then told the man that it would be better if he left, and explained that if things did not calm down he would have to take action to ensure that mother and child were safe. This would mean taking official action, which might mean that the man would not be allowed to see his child. Dave said that the best thing to do at that point was for the man to leave, and asked him if he had anywhere to go. He said he did. Dave suggested that this would give things a chance to calm down and to see how things were in the morning. The man left. The woman was very emotional and confused and Dave chatted to her for a while, explaining that the man had left for the night. Dave advised her just to settle down for tonight, to look after the baby and then to see how she felt in the morning. The next call was in response to a complaint from a neighbour about a disturbance from the house next door. Dave, Warren and the ethnographer parked outside the house and entered, as the front door was open. There was a middle-aged AfroCaribbean woman crying and shouting at her fourteen-year-old son. There was an older man there too, who was the woman’s brother. He told us that his sister had been in hospital with mental health problems and she was refusing to take her medication, so becoming upset and irrational. Her son was crying and Warren took the boy into

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the hallway away from his mother. Dave started talking to the woman to try to calm her down; but she was volatile and would calm down for a minute or so and then start shouting again. She said that she did not want her brother in the house and kept shouting at her son that he was rubbish. Dave managed to separate the three participants in the scene so that the woman was in the lounge, the son on the stairs and the brother in the hallway, where the telephone was. Dave asked the brother to get his sister’s tablets and, in the meantime, Warren talked to the son to help him cope with the situation. Warren asked the boy if he liked school and what his favourite subjects were, and so on. Dave tried to persuade the woman to take her tablets, however, she kept refusing, saying that she wanted to go back to the hospital. Dave managed to find out from the brother which hospital and ward she had been in and rang them to explain what was happening. They said that they did not have any beds and to get her to take the tablets. Dave went back to say that the hospital could not take her and that they had said she must take her tablets, but she still refused. Dave rang her doctor, and told the woman that the doctor would see her tomorrow if she would take her tablets. At this point, the woman seemed more relaxed and Dave asked, ‘what would you like to eat with them?’ She asked for ‘chicken and chips’ and Warren drove off to get a takeaway, and the ethnographer stayed with the son in the hallway. In the meantime, an elaborate plan was being put in place: the woman wanted to go and stay with her sister, but she did not want her brother to stay in the house, however, Dave was concerned about the safety of her son. The plot involved the brother appearing to leave without a house key, but in fact having one, and the son saying that he would be fine. Dave, Warren and the ethnographer then took the woman to her sister’s home, and the brother returned to the house to look after his nephew. Later on during the same shift, Dave, Warren and the ethnographer had an urgent call to a fight outside a pub, and when they got there the whole of Team Five was on the scene. The team, as a unit, broke up the fight by separating people. There was a casualty – one man had been stabbed and was going to Newham General Hospital by ambulance. A policeman had some CS gas blown back in his face. The other officers, including the inspector, chased and caught some of the men and drove them off in the van. A young white woman called Jeanette had gone across to try to fight off the man who had attacked the victim. She came back to the police station as a witness. The CID took on the incident and the ethnographer travelled with the two CID officers and Jeanette to see the victim in casualty. They had to ‘hang around’ for about fortyfive minutes before they could see him. Jeanette explained that she would never leave anyone ‘being beat up – I’ve got my knuckle-duster wristbands and boots on – I’ll duff anyone over – I’m not afraid of anyone’. The CID officers and the ethnographer then went to see the victim. His father was there and said that, ‘things were different in my day’. One of the CID officers then started to find out what had happened, but there did not seem to be any real evidence to go on. The victim was tired, so they left, with the possibility of a follow-up interview later. They took Jeanette back to the block of flats where she lived, who chatted all the way back, saying ‘fancy getting a lift home from the CID’.

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After the ethnographer was picked up from Jeanette’s flats by Dave and Warren, there came an urgent call to a possible rape: there was a report of what looked like an attack on a young woman by three or four men, who had run off. Dave, Warren and the ethnographer reached the address given and, as the front door was unlocked, they went upstairs to the top-floor flat. A young woman was sobbing on the sofa. There were eighteenth birthday cards on shelves and the coffee table and the late-night ‘Heart-to Heart’ radio show was playing. There was a baby in a cot in the corner of the room. Dave sat in a chair opposite her while Warren looked around the flat. The girl kept sobbing and saying, ‘I’m filthy – I’m dirty’. Warren, just outside the room, received radio messages about when the CID officers would arrive on the scene. Dave kept talking to the girl, staying silent when appropriate. She started to recount how she had gone down to the off-licence, and on the way back four men had torn her dress and forced her to the ground. Dave asked gently if intercourse had occurred, she did not answer, just kept saying that she was filthy, he periodically kept asking her. Two CID officers arrived, and the young woman continued speaking to Dave (and the CID officers let him maintain the rapport he had developed). She said that she did not want to report anything to the police because she could not bear to go through all the questioning and being made to feel like a slut. The officers then made sure she would be all right and told her that she could ring them if she needed to. Towards the end of the shift Dave, Warren and the ethnographer were driving along a residential street when they spotted some young men walking along the pavement. Dave said, ‘let’s stop them’, as there had been a radio call about some house burglaries. Dave stopped the car and asked what they were doing and where they had been. By this time, another police car had arrived and the two officers from the car started to look in the gardens. One of the officers found a bag over a front garden hedge, which was full of CDs, a portable CD player and a car radio. The youths were asked about this, were then arrested and driven to custody in the van. These examples are representative of the types of episodes that police are routinely called out to, and are reactive since the police respond to calls and crime as they are reported and identified. Public calls, the CAD room, radios and various forms of intelligence gathering, ranging from local knowledge to various information sources on the MPS Intranet and other national databases, supported this work. Sector Office – The Community Aspect To study the community aspect of policing, the ethnographer worked with police officers from the sector office, which has primary responsibility for community policing. The duties from this office are varied including, for example, ‘home beat’ activities, work done by the ‘Youth and Community’ team and ‘Schools Liaison’, as well as ‘Crime Prevention’. Generally, MPS officers emphasize the importance of community policing and, in line with the Scarman Report, they had not only identified a lack of trust between the public and the police, but had sought to find ways to build and maintain trust. The report recommended fostering greater communication between the public and the police to increase trust. There were numerous initiatives in this drive, such as the use of home beat officers, greater consultation between the police and the public, and inviting lay visitors to police stations.

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One aspect of community policing is the job of the home beat officer, and the ethnographer spent some time with PC Burton, the home beat officer for Deanford. PC Burton met the ethnographer at Deanford police station’s front desk in ‘civvies’ because he wanted to stress the fact that: ‘we are not one anonymous uniform, we are individuals who are doing a job. We can relate to people as ordinary people ourselves’. PC Burton and the ethnographer went up to the sector office, where Inspector Gail was holding a team meeting. The main focus was on some drug-related trafficking activity taking place out of certain properties in the area, and some ‘look-out points’ they had managed to obtain in several Neighbourhood Watch houses in that area. PC Burton was about to go on his home beat area, which covered Deanford centre, the shopping mall, the Ashdown estate, and the police shop on the estate. PC Burton and the ethnographer walked into the centre of Deanford. PC Burton said that he had seen the play ‘East is East’ the night before at the Theatre Royal, Deanford. PC Burton commented that the play was relevant to issues facing many residents of Newham because the story was about an Asian family living in contemporary English society and it represented the ethnic and generational tensions of familial experience in a ‘multi-cultural’ society. There were several places that PC Burton wanted to visit; first he visited the theatre to drop off an old policeman’s hat for another stage production. The members of staff greeted PC Burton warmly and they all discussed the previous night’s performance. This was followed by some reports that a group of young men had been ‘hanging around’ one of the streets at the back of the theatre, which was known as a ‘getaway’ point for people stealing from the shops located nearby. PC Burton and the ethnographer then made their way to the Ashdean Estate Police Shop; several people said ‘hello’ as they made their way through the shopping mall. As the ethnographer crossed the railway via a bridge, PC Burton explained that this bridge had been made safer by the placement of observation mirrors, as it used to be a ‘bit of a blind alley’ and many women had been afraid to cross the bridge at night, because there had been several muggings. This, once more, PC Burton explained, showed how the fear of crime restricted residents’ lives. As they crossed the bridge, a young Afro-Caribbean woman and her son (aged about five) were walking along the pavement. The young boy started to talk to PC Burton and PC Burton chatted back and spoke to the mother. The whole of the interaction was one of mutual respect, with PC Burton asking a few ‘fact finding’ questions about whether the woman had spotted or was having any problems on the estate and chatting to the young boy about school and various other things. The ethnographer carried on with PC Burton to the police shop, which was equipped with a CRIS machine, a telephone, a counter and waiting area. It had been designed as a ‘front desk’ with a ‘back office’ located in the community where local people could go for information and advice. It was thought that the shop would act as a point from which the police could operate on the estate, as well as giving the MPS a symbolic presence there. It sought to reassure the residents that there was a police presence and could be a proactive way of gaining local knowledge, thus acting as a deterrent to crime on the estate. The police shop initiative had been part of Newham’s ‘City Challenge’ package, but PC Burton said that the idea had not taken off as, on the whole, the shop was not used heavily and most people either

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rang for police assistance or went to the police station. Both these forms of access were established and ritualized forms for people to access and communicate with the police. PC Burton, however, was pleased that the shop was there, because it meant he could keep his ‘home beat’, as part of his duties involved opening up the shop for set periods in the week. The ethnographer chatted about community policing in the shop with PC Burton, who thought that it was important to have a police presence in the community. He explained that people got to know you and, in his view, this had two consequences. First, it built trust between the police and members of the public. Second, through the police presence and the trust that was built up, local residents were more inclined to contact the police and inform them of any suspicious behaviour. This exchange of local information was central in controlling crime in the residents’ own locality. PC Burton and the ethnographer then moved on to a local youth and community centre, which was also funded through the City Challenge. PC Burton called in to arrange the next police-public consultative meeting and there was then some general chat about youth and community issues and about crime in the area. When they left, PC Burton said that the centre was a good source of information on that side of the railway line. In general terms, the home beat officer is the police presence in the community. PC Burton created trust between the police and the public: he found out about movements going on in the locality and he provided information and advice to the public. He said that the role involved being able to communicate with all types of people. He explained that he had wanted to be an actor but had opted for a job with some security. He said that he could utilize his acting skills to communicate with the public in his work as a policeman. Schools Liaison The inspector in charge of the ‘schools liaison’ programme told the ethnographer that he and his team had seen positive results from the programme. He believed it was an educational and preventative scheme, which helped young people but also maintained order inside schools. He argued that a Schools Involvement Programme was very important and, in less than a decade, the MPS had seen their role in schools develop from being unwelcome by the majority of Head Teachers, to one where the demand for MPS support in the classroom often exceeded present MPS resources. The schools liaison team consisted of six officers, who covered fifty-one primary schools, eight junior schools, eight infant schools, fourteen secondary schools, two sixth form colleges and two special needs schools. The programme was designed to target pupils progressively from infants to sixth form, developing the concept of good citizenship within the National Curriculum’s ‘Personal Health and Safety Education’ module. The programme in Newham closely supported the service strategy on schools involvement in aiming to reduce offending and victimization, while tackling substance abuse and promoting active citizenship. The context of Newham was taken into account and, as the inspector explained, ‘the topics are adapted as far as possible to meet divisional objectives’.

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The inspector said that they had worked very hard to win the acceptance and trust of teachers in schools and he thought they had succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. He did stress, however, that trust was fragile and Newham was volatile because the borough had many problems involving deprivation, ethnic differences, high unemployment and a high crime rate. This meant that the police often got caught up in the tensions endemic in the borough and it was therefore very difficult to maintain a level of trust amongst the various residents of Newham. He said, however, that goodwill had been built up between the various communities of Newham and the police, and that the schools programme had been a particular success. The Schools Involvement Strategy Group stated that the optimum level of delivery to schools was one visit per primary class and two visits to secondary school per term. The ethnographer spent her time with PC Pete, who had been a schools officer for five years and said that he enjoyed the work. Although he enjoyed teaching all ages, he generally liked taking the older pupils more, because he could foster some good discussions on various issues such as racism and bullying, as well as more academic debates about what good citizenship meant. He said that it was also a way of finding out what young people’s concerns were. He commented that the police were now welcome in schools, which was not only due to the schools programme, but also because, if there was an incident in the school, the police were on hand straight away. The ethnographer and Pete went to one of the largest secondary schools in the borough, and Pete was welcomed at the main office, where he had gone to check if there were any current problems. The administrator said that a prowler had been seen around the school gates in the last few days, but he had not been seen the previous day. As Pete and the ethnographer walked to the classroom, some children said ‘hello’, whereas other children did not seem to notice the police presence. The presence of the police in school was taken for granted by both pupils and staff. The style of teaching varied according to the age group that was being taught, and there was always a schoolteacher in the classroom with the police officer. One of the classes Pete took was comprised of thirty eleven-year-old pupils and there was lots of noise and banter when they entered the classroom. Pete got the pupils’ attention and set the topic for the lesson, which was bullying and discrimination. First of all, Pete discussed how bullying and discrimination might be defined, and then asked the children what they thought it was. They came up with a vast array of ideas that were all relevant, and Pete followed this by giving some examples of discriminatory behaviour, and again the children provided examples. The children were then asked what action they would take in the various contexts of bullying and Pete gave them practical advice on what to do if they were being bullied or if they saw someone else being discriminated against. The lesson progressed to the issue of what to do if anyone was threatened in a physically violent way: Pete talked about a range of tactics for these types of contexts, from using verbal cues to physical selfdefence. He constantly stressed the idea of contacting the police. The class finished with a summary of what had been covered. The children had been attentive in the class and they had actively joined in the discussion. Pete had kept everyone’s attention by using various strategies such as humour and supporting his points with realistic examples, as well as ensuring that

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most of the children felt the topic was relevant to them. Pete had a chat with the teacher before he left, and said he was happy with how the class had gone. Pete asked his usual question, ‘Are there any problems at the moment? Have you noticed anything unusual at all?’ Pete informed the front office that he was leaving; there was some talk about a school trip that Pete was going on, and goodbyes were said. On the way back to his office, Pete said that the work they had been doing helped towards recognition of drug or substance abuse and made pupils more aware of bullying and inappropriate behaviour. He explained that in the spring (when the ethnographer accompanied him), he often found there was boyfriend-girlfriend trouble, and said that, although this might sound trivial, the children could get depressed and, if other pupils were able to recognize this, then appropriate action could be taken to avoid suicides or other self-harming behaviour. Summary The police work studied in this participative interaction of the cultural form showed that policing is situated in the realities and emotions of everyday life, which is meaningful in different ways to different cultural and generational identities. Examples of the diversity of experience include the concerns of schoolchildren, the trauma of a possible rape victim and the domestic situations of some residents. The police are, symbolically and practically, the agents of order in a complex, and at times intolerant, world. They are metaphorically and literally on the front line between citizens themselves, and between citizens and the various arms of state authorities. The need for the police to be able to communicate through any medium and in any face-to-face scenario requires the dramatic ability of a first-class performer combined with an understanding of what it is to be a human being in contemporary experience. That dramatic ability comes with a responsibility to manage different scenes with integrity and fairness. Furthermore, ‘policing with consent’ requires that services are easily accessible and that citizens trust the services and officers. Thus communication, access, diversity of service provision and information remain paramount to the MPS, its work and the public it seeks to protect. The descriptions in this chapter show that each policing context had its own distinctive frame, however, all the examples demonstrate the police’s ability to communicate face-to-face, often in very tense situations. Furthermore, there was an ability to communicate across cultural, ethnic, gender and age boundaries. Intuition and experience enable officers to go into different situations in an appropriate manner; and their acting skills have to be instantaneous and varied, depending on the context. They also have interpretative skills to translate often almost incoherent and muddled stories into categories for organizational action. Throughout the operational police work, ‘team work’ was strong, for instance, all the members of Team Five responded to the call about the pub fight; as they said, ‘you look after your own, and you know which situations are dangerous’. The work of policing means being able to give some definition to a situation: police officers take into consideration all the mitigating circumstances to arrive at

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such a definition, and it must have a resonance with the member(s) of the public. Action must be perceived to be appropriate – even if it involves being arrested.2. Technology played a supportive role in police work, for instance radios were carried by the police officers on patrol to enable them to send and receive calls. CRIS was used to enter crime reports and the CAD room was used to receive and delegate calls. The technology had to be taken for granted and not to be intrusive in encounters and, if used as a strategic information source, it must be used in ways that did not take up too much time. This ethnographic description of sector policing demonstrated how the police and the public could exchange information. The ‘exchange of information’ occurred through the various informal interactions of the home beat officer while on patrol, and was also evident by the team being able to use Neighbourhood Watch Schemes residents’ homes as ‘look-outs’. Local issues were very much part of police communication and understanding. This was evidenced in the awareness of the problems faced by the residents of Newham, in an understanding of how fear of crime can restrict residents’ lives, the concerns of young people, and so on. The importance of trust was emphasized time and again, with the police often being caught up in the tensions that were endemic in Newham, making trust between the police and the public fragile. The contacts forged in the locality were important for sustaining trust, and contacts from different areas were also important as they provided detailed local information. The constant question, ‘have you noticed anything?’ was a core information-seeking tool. Finally, in relation to the public, ritualized and known forms of access to the police, such as the police station and the telephone, were primarily used. This participative aspect of the cultural form occurred in the audience sector of the theatre of innovation with MPS police officers and the ethnographer. The understanding gained by the ethnographer was fed back to the ATTACH team and the Newham In House research team to inform decisions on the development of e-services.

2 The arrests the ethnographer witnessed were all controlled events. The most volatile situations were usually in custody, where suspects sometimes became violent.

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Chapter 12

Conclusion This ethnography explored the ways in the MPS, in partnership with other public and private organizations, sought to develop digital communication services. The police face a communication problem in how to manage citizens’ demands for services and build public trust in a complex, and often volatile, social environment. The police work in the public realm and intervene in the private realm, negotiating the contradictions and exclusions inherent in contemporary society to ensure the security of people in their area of operation. The MPS, in particular, polices the cosmopolitan city of London, and the ‘public’ with which they communicate is comprised of a particularly diverse range of cultural groups. The MPS aims to serve London within the tradition of British policing, which means ‘policing by consent’. To achieve this, it has to balance a range of priorities to cover peacekeeping, reducing crime and disorder, and crime prevention work. As an organization, it has developed a number of policing practices to meet these priorities: one of which is the development of community partnerships to foster trust and communication between the police and public as part of a strategy to reduce and prevent crime. In the formation of these partnerships, the police symbolize the civil body politic in everyday life, working alongside local authorities that provide services to uphold local democratic processes and the wellbeing of citizens. The current popular notion of ‘citizenship’ perceives the individual as both a consumer of services and a citizen participating in civil society, which provides an underpinning rationale of public services. This rationale is problematic because services have to meet collective and individual needs as well as respond to choice in service provision, often within tight budgeting structures. Framework of Analysis In this context, the MPS sought to explore the potential of digital technology to develop new communication services as part of their policing strategy, but it had to do so within a budgetary constraint that forced it to apply to the European Commission for funding. To submit a suitable proposal, the members of the DOT had to build a project consortium from both public and private sectors across Europe, and through this process DOT formed a network for the innovation of digital services in the public realm. The framework of analysis was the cultural form, which encompassed the social, political, and symbolic meanings of technology, as technology is institutionalized in sets of social conventions. A cultural form is realized through three interdependent elements: (1) the ‘relations of production’, encompassing the social organization of

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producing, including the specifics of any technology; (2) the characteristic modes of narration which include discourses of formal policy and informal discussion; and (3) the types of participation between service providers and user groups. The use of concepts such as performance, transformational spaces and the metaphor of theatre generated a framework of analysis that provided insights into the way that digital technology was being socially-shaped and culturally informed in the domain of the public realm. To explore the dynamics of changing communication, the ethnographer asked: ‘how do ICTs interact as cultural forms in public service environments?’ Three specific questions were posed for empirical enquiry: • • •

What are the relations of production in the creation of digital applications in public service environments? What are the cultural narratives of these types of service applications? What is the nature of the participative interaction between service providers and members of the public?

To discover the cultural dynamics of socio-technical change, an ethnographic approach was employed, which explored the meanings, conceptual structures and actions of actors within a network of innovation. Ethnography is an interpretative science and, in this context, the theory aims to make relative distinctions between ‘inscription’ (i.e. the ‘thick description’) and ‘specification’ or ‘diagnosis’. This means distinguishing between setting down the meaning that particular social actions have for the actors, and stating what this knowledge demonstrates about the social groups in which it was found. The ethnographic method yields theory at the meso-level, which is grounded in the particular meanings that actions have for actors. Grounded theory states, as explicitly as possible, the extent to which generalized knowledge can be derived from an understanding of those meanings, and what further questions might be suggested. This chapter addresses the three empirical questions by reference to the ethnography itself, in which the substantive findings are discussed. Building on these findings, the cultural dynamics of technological change are discussed to indicate how technology is socially-shaped and culturally informed. There is a concluding summary, followed by broad recommendations and further research questions. The Relations of Production The relations of production were formed by the MPS in building a consortium for a European-funded project. The consortium brought together a network of innovators from public services, private sector ICT suppliers, and consultants. The first phase of development involved three symbolic acts. First, a ‘spirit of innovation’ generated a project dynamic of the team wanting to be ‘leaders’ in the field. This was demonstrated at the ‘kick-off’ meeting, where the participants were huddled in debate from early morning to late at night. Each of the European partners envisaged digital services in different ways – from ‘multi-lingual

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translation’ facilities to ‘electronic-villages’. What united the team was the strong sense of being at ‘the leading edge of technology and service innovation’. Second, in the symbolic act of ‘user-needs research’, difficulties materialized in relation to understanding the meaning of ‘users’ and finding out how to research user ‘needs and perspectives’ in developing new digitally-enabled services. This involved addressing both citizen and service provider perspectives in the context of specific localities and forms of exclusion. The merging of some early understandings of user needs with early technological development (driven by the innovatory spirit) produced the third symbolic act of a ‘working demo’. The ongoing re-interpretation of envisaged digital futures involved an interweaving of social values with technological capacities in contested technical development. The public ‘demo’ of a digital kiosk served to promote the idea to high-level champions, with the media reporting favourably on the ‘the new tardis.’ In the second phase of the relations of production, the team continued struggling to imagine what digital telematics meant. They played with established social conventions, engaged imaginatively with possible scenarios that local residents might face, and gained an understanding of practical police work and the work of council and voluntary sector services. In playing with these ideas, the team had to configure and re-configure the technology in order to shape new digital forms of communication that were, at the same time, social and technical. The fourth symbolic act, the ‘Debden’ workshop, was a ‘crossroads’ for the project: at this point, the team had some social and technical understanding from which to make key decisions about the shape that digital telematics would take. The meeting moved the project towards providing networked community information, and communication that balanced remote access to information with advice and advocacy services. Forming the fifth symbolic act were choices in technological development that interacted with multi-agency networked services and, keeping both in mind, the team developed an Internet/Intranet strategy that could harness the functionality and usability of Internet technology. The sixth symbolic act involved the drive to develop community-based e-services in which digital technologies were utilized within a coherent service framework. By this stage, there was an emphasis on communicating with, and gathering information from, communities, and towards developing a service model The relations of production may have started with some notion of a ‘digital tardis’ in the form of a multimedia kiosk but, as the project progressed, the foundations were laid for the police and its partners to change and digitize communication with the public that materialized in a local service strategy of one-stop shops with remote access via digital technology, which also linked the service providers in the borough. Narratives and Policy Narratives are essential constituents of the link between technological forms and human culture. Narratives, in part, define the initial trajectories of digital innovation and, throughout the development of digital services, themes emerge, which become

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institutionalized and help shape communication services. Narratives give form and meaning to the innovation process and, through the emergence of narratives, the meanings and values of communication in the public realm are debated reflexively and indexically. Therefore, the construction of narratives, both in formal policy documents and informally amongst groups, was an essential constituent in the development of ATTACH and beyond into the broader service environment. MPS had to address changing policy on communication with the public at several levels, as it was not the only organization discussing the implications of digitizing communication. Within the public realm, other major public sector organizations were looking at the emergent technologies in relation to changing perceptions of public services and various publics’ needs and expectations of community services. For example, the DTI, Chief Executives of Local Authorities, Central Government, the Chief Executive of the Civil Service College and the Chief Executive of ICL were all involved in discussions about Bangemann’s notion of an ‘information society’ and what that meant in relation to governance and for fostering an inclusive society. In this context, the Telematics for London Group, the Association of London Government, and Commander Smith from the MPS started to engage with the strengths and weaknesses of digital communication, being aware that, on the one hand, it could enhance local democracy and improve services, yet on the other hand, a technology-based approach could create new inequalities and reinforce forms of exclusion. Just as the MPS had started to work with ideas about changing communication with the public, government and other major public bodies were also beginning to consider the possibilities of such change. The MPS did not change the way it communicated with the public on its own, rather it was a key player in an emerging network of organizations that was beginning to address the same issues. However, the central themes of these broad narratives, such as social inclusion, participatory citizenship, and greater accessibility to services, had to be addressed in the policing context. There are three aspects of the British policing tradition: ‘peacekeeping,’ ‘reduction of crime and disorder’ and ‘preventative policing’ in partnerships. The role of digital telematics was envisaged to be in the areas of ‘community safety and partnership’, ‘provision of 24-hour response’ and the ‘management of crime reduction and investigation’. Crime prevention through partnerships with the community is seen as a vital part of MPS strategy. For example, youth work is conducted through schemes like the ‘Schools Involvement Programme’, which also allows delivery into schools of key operational initiatives, for example, ‘Eagle Eye’ and ‘Bumblebee’. Another example is the work of the MPS Racial Incident Units, which provide support for the victims, action against the perpetrators and effective partnerships to achieve both and prevent victimization. Consultation is a vital element of this type of work, especially during times of concern and disorder. There is regular contact with many organizations such as the Commission for Racial Equality and the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Most groundwork is done locally, but the MPS Policy Unit also provides advice to borough liaison officers and divisions. As the MPS reviewed their range of work during Programme Digital, they started to consider that digital services could perhaps be developed best in community

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partnerships, through the use of service models. This illustrates how the meaning and definition of digital services were constantly being interpreted and re-interpreted during the course of development. Participative Interaction Public participation in forms of communication and services within police contexts covers the everyday life of those living in a multi-cultural and deprived area where language, ethnicity, gender and poverty interact to form a complex environment for communication and for changing communication. Research by the Newham In House researchers explored local residents’ perceptions of services, as well as understanding their needs and their aspirations to inform the development of eenabled local service centres. In House Research identified three groups of residents in Newham: those who feel ‘alienated’ and trapped in Newham by poverty and/or racism; those who have ‘settled’ in Newham and regard it as their home – including refugee communities who find security in Newham, but whose immigration status remains unclear; and the ‘aspirers’, who tend to move away from Newham to achieve better life chances. Communication needed to be contextualized in relation to these groups’ respective understandings of their neighbourhood, services and local democracy. The research showed that residents developed their own strategies to seek information, and found communicating with services difficult due to issues such as access, ease-of-use and trust. The ethnography revealed the diversity of police work and communication in a complex multi-cultural environment. The police were often caught up in tensions that are endemic in Newham, making trust between the police and the public fragile, therefore the face-to-face contacts forged in the locality were important in sustaining trust. Police officers needed to communicate across gender, age and ethnicity in a variety of situations, seen in the work of the front desk, where station reception officers and police officers dealt with an array of issues, deciding on what was or was not police business. The operational police work included domestic incidents, suspected rape cases, mental health episodes, public fights and stabbings, and burglaries. The community work of the sector office included crime prevention work, schools liaison work, and the home-beat officer’s patrol. Much of police work is ‘situated’ and involves face-to-face interaction with internal communication systems, including radios, telephone and online recording systems, supporting the core ‘on-the-scene’, ‘patrolling’ and preventative work. The practical police work indicated that remote and technologically-mediated communication could not replace the face-to-face work of policing. In changing communication with the public, the MPS realized, at that stage, that digital technology could enhance community relations and non-urgent access in the context local service centres, but it could not replace established forms of access such as police stations and the telephone. The MPS viewed the digital services as helpful to a degree for communicating with the public, but did not see it as a solution to the actualities of policing the East End of London. The lessons MPS personnel learnt

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from Programme Digital included developing partnership approaches to e-services and undertaking organizational change in order to maximise the use of digital technology. Socially-shaped and Culturally Informed – The Process of Changing Communication with the Public The integration of technologies as cultural forms is constituted through the relations of production, narratives and policies, and user participation. The ethnography described how the meanings of actors within an innovation network – that spanned public and private sector developers, service providers and policy-makers, users and community researchers, consultants and local information officers, and residents – informed the social shaping of technology. Their meanings formed the cultural dynamics that informed the social shaping of telematics, moving it from multimedia kiosks to a digitally-enabled network of local service centres organized through a local partnership. The study showed that technology gained its material form, social shape and cultural meaning through the symbol acts within an innovation process. Action in these acts and process is one of ‘performance’, in which digital technologies and envisaged services are creatively imagined and staged in relation to social values, cultural narratives, and contexts of use. The playing with ideas in these performances occurs in ‘transformational spaces’ such as meetings, workshops, and prototyping trials, where social actors ask ‘what if’ questions to develop new services and technological applications. These activities take place in a broader ‘theatre of innovation’ made up of institutions, service providers, and policy-makers, developers and user groups. The framework of the theatre of innovation mirrors the three aspects of the cultural form, and it was through the interactions between ‘back stage’, ‘stage’ and ‘audiences’ that telematics gained the form and trajectory it did, and continues to take, which are reported below. The ethnography showed how change was contested between many different actors, by service providers such as the police, by policy-makers, and by local people in the development of new digital services and communication. The complexity of policing in contemporary society showed how new forms of communication could only become established if there was interdependency between producers, service providers and local people that generated an understanding of communication within the lived realities of everyday life. The meaningfulness of digital communication and services emerged by embedding technologies in social and cultural forms, such as one-stop shops or interactive multimedia crime reporting. The developments showed the ways in which the police worked with other services and local residents, and how the ‘thin blue line’ of public ‘trust’ required reliable and sensitive forms of communication. ‘Policing by consent’ means that the police as a service is innovating with digital technology in ways that are not merely technocratic. In the area of communicating with the public, the police are learning to, and indeed struggling with, the various experiences of those living their everyday lives in a diverse and multi-cultural society.

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Concluding Summary Change only occurs when there is interdependency between the relations of production, policy and informal narratives and participation in digitally-enabled communications and services. When these interdependencies are not formed, the disjuncture can still enable developers and service providers to create and develop other forms of communication which are more appropriate. The development of digital services in the public realm is therefore neither narrowly technically- or socially-driven; rather, the ways that digital technology gains meaning in different cultural contexts shape specific forms of digital communication and influence takeup levels. In the process of generating change, these groups open debates about the character of the public realm in late modernity, and negotiate new forms of participation and voicing of different perspectives. It is through the sensibility and practice of performance that developers, policymakers and users work with technologies and social discourses to produce sociotechnical forms which are informed through the cultural dynamics of public and everyday life. In this ethnography, however, the development process also informed the police that face-to-face policing was central to their service, and that they would have to undertake immense organizational change before developing interactive public communication. They therefore chose to work within a local partnership, providing public information and access via community telematics, and developing their Safer Neighbourhoods initiative using both police staff and the new Police Community Support Officers. They reviewed their organizational processes in relation to police work, assessing how they could adopt digital technology in a secure way, to keep much of their information confidential. They therefore decided to develop an online crime reporting service using the national police portal, to enable people to report non-urgent crimes and hate crime, with the facility to submit digital pictures as evidence. This procedure required the police to trace the provenance of any such pictures to ensure validity and reliability, as they may later form evidence in a case, possibly even in court. They have undertaken major organizational change with the roll-out of Ci3, a project to reorganize their 24-hour call response system. The police in Newham continue to engage with members of the public through the Civic Partnership (which is not solely ICT-related), and it is involved in the Newham Neighbourhood Information Management System.1 Newham continues to use interactive kiosks through Cityspace and through the East London Choice-Based Lettings partnership programme, and around half of all housing lets are now arranged via kiosks. Newham’s community engagement work has mushroomed through their ‘ICT in the Community Strategy Group’ and their network of connected voluntary sector agencies. Newham pioneered digital TV (RegenTV), and the council is now very active in assistive technology, working towards implementing telemedicine.2 They are also working collaboratively on a portal for the wider health community in Newham. The Local Service Strategy has evolved into ‘Excellence Online’ and is now largely 1 2

http://www.Newham.info/research/home_intro.htm. http://www.Newham.gov.uk/Services/NewhamNetwork/AboutUs/NeAT.htm.

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concerned with promoting use of low-cost, self-service channels. The use of Smart Cards has materialized in the Oyster transport application on library cards, and social care visits are being managed using a Radio Frequency Identification. One development is the engagement around London Olympics 2012 opportunities, with Neville leading a project to develop a private fibre infrastructure to provide ubiquitous, fully-converged broadband coverage for the 2012 Games. A specific aim is to provide a free package of basic broadband services to all local residents. The ethnography shows that digital technology does not produce a solution to the complexity of communicating with the public, and that a face-to-face presence is important in many interactions between the police and the public. The early development of digital technology within the everyday lives of citizens in the East End of London may suggest particular contexts where new forms of communication might be useful, such as the strategic provision of local service centres supported by digital technologies. However, this type of communication will need to address the complexities of ways in which different groups and individuals negotiate often difficult and traumatic episodes and situations in their lives. This process shows that a simple notion of a ‘digital revolution’ is misleading, because ‘inside the digital’ face-to-face communication is important as is the way in which services are developed to manage, and in some case, counter, exclusions in fostering an inclusive society. Furthermore, ‘the digital’ materializes out of institutions, organizations and publics grounded in ‘real places’ that wrests change from sets of (limited) resources to accrue tangible services with cultural significance. In the context of the MPS, communication and services are combined with local knowledge, trust and understanding, walking the beat and talking with local residents, understanding and tolerating difference, and actively fostering participation. All of these are central for police communication with the public in order to maintain a sense of a just and democratic social order. Thus, communication remains ‘situated’ and ‘vital’, as well as mediated, and the digital comprises just one other aspect of that humanness, its use shaped to a large degree by the values and motivations of developers and policy-makers which local people have to negotiate in ways that may enhance or constrain their social capacity to manage their lives. Recommendations for Policy-makers and Public Service Providers Recommendations based on the cultural forms are categorized under four main headings: • • • •

cultural dimensions of innovation, key actors in the innovation process, transformational space in the innovation process, and supply and demand dynamics, i.e. user needs.

Cultural dynamics of innovation •

Technology departments in public service organizations should plan future

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projects with the understanding that a ‘cultural change’ research component will be built into the planning process. When developing ICT projects in public service environments, there needs to be an assessment of where contested meanings are likely to arise in the innovation process. Department of Technology innovation planning and management processes must assess at regular intervals any changes occurring in the material content of the technology as a result of ‘culturally-generated’ impacts. Partnerships should plan community participation in designing e-services. They should set in place structures and research processes to understand community needs and aspirations. The results from this research should feed into both policy-making and developer communities.

Key actors • •

A form of ‘top down’ management is essential, but it must concentrate on co-ordinating evolving cultural perspectives. In addition to having key skills and/or knowledge, the actors must have good ‘performative’ abilities in order to be able to assess, interpret and influence areas of innovation within service environments.

Transformational space •

•

ICT innovation requires two types of transformational space. One is for technology developers to think creatively about technologies in relation to public service environments, i.e. a ‘workshop’ environment, and the other is for experimentation with ICT service delivery in actual public service settings. Part of public service organizations’ innovation planning should include workshops comprised of technical and service experts, to plan future projects. These workshops should be formalized with posts allocated to specific staff members of the various services (for example the MPS) and be run over a set period of time. A strategic planning of pilot sites should be undertaken. Sites should be categorized to identify which aspects of ICT innovation each site could test. The ‘workshop’ space requires a framework for action and the participation of actors who can bring different views and knowledge to the discussion. Thus, for example, in the case of police work, a key component of this process would be for the technologists to have some knowledge about the nature of police work. Designated posts should be created, to introduce a detailed knowledge of the service work into the innovation process. The posts should be formalized, with clear job specifications.

Supply and demand dynamics •

To undertake meaningful user-needs research, a detailed analysis must be made of the police’s actual working practices. This would ensure that the

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•

•

• •

•

technology is appropriate in relation to the public service organization’s strategic requirements, without becoming intrusive into service workers’ everyday tasks. User-needs research must consider service workers, as well as citizens, the users of technologies. The capture of user needs should be done in a way that can be translated into realizable technological solutions. This means that there must be communication and close collaboration between user-needs researchers and technical developers, to create a useful framework for the capture of user needs. There could be a general framework, but the context of each particular case must also be considered according to its own requirements. There must be a detailed understanding of the organizational processes and an awareness of organizational changes which may need to occur to develop the technology’s potential. Technology should be designed so that it functions as a support for service workers and not an added layer of complexity to service tasks. More work needs to be done to integrate ICTs into public service business. There should be a planned and co-ordinated link between production processes and the service audiences. It is recommended that public service technology departments should have detailed knowledge of current policy and how policy may change. This would enable technology departments to be proactive in matching technology developments to service developments. Technology departments should also have a clear overview of the totality of its respective public service business to be able to identify priority areas in which ICTs could be developed. In order to achieve this, formal channels of communication must be established between relevant policy departments.

Future Research The study raised some potential further areas of research. •

• •

•

•

Research should be done into capturing user needs in public service environments. The research approach must be able to identify how to capture the ‘real’ needs of users in ways that can meaningfully be fed back to the technical development. Further research should explore how citizens react to, and learn to interact with, public services using the new ICTs. Research should be done to ascertain the significance of the ‘quality of service’ in service provision, and how this may impact on the use of ICTs in public service environments. Further research should be done to examine what ‘information needs’ might be. The types of information citizens require, how citizens find information, and how best to present information should be explored. A qualitative approach could start to discover the benefits citizens feel they gain from a visible police presence, and officers’ perceptions of the need to

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communicate with the public face-to-face. Further research could explore the dynamics of the need for face-to-face advice, with the needs and abilities of citizens to seek ‘self-service’ information. Further research into the relations of production aspect of the cultural form needs to address the relative influences of acts and ideal-types of meaning in the production drama. The acts and ideal-types could, at their present stage of development, be used as ‘sensitizing concepts’ in a variety of telematics case studies. If patterns emerged in the relations of production, then typologies could be constructed from which patterns of influences could be studied to explore the dynamics of the relations of production. Further research in the area of narratives could examine how responsive elite bodies are to the reflexive concerns of policy-makers. In relation to participation issues, further research is necessary to understand and identify the ways in which the three groups identified in the ethnography (alienated, settled and aspirers) interact with their services. Another area that should be examined is the age, gender, ethnic and class origins of these three typologies. Research is needed to explore the relationships between concepts of citizenship, which act as premises for policies in public service delivery, and how they relate to the realities of citizens’ lives. The impact of any disjuncture between the two could be assessed in relation to service delivery and efficiency in meeting citizens’ needs. On a theoretical level, the nature of the dynamics of the cultural form could be explored further in order to discover any paradoxes in the formation of new cultural forms: for instance, the paradox identified in the study between narratives of the ‘information society’ and ‘realities’ of the residents of Newham. Once any inconsistencies are identified, the impact of these inconsistencies could be explored in relation to the dynamics of innovation. On a practical level, this type of analysis could start to address why many digital projects fail once funding ceases.

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Appendix

The Research Methods and Objectives of Newham Focus Groups The nature of this aspect of the research was exploratory, aiming to discover what the experiences and expectations of Newham residents are in relation to council services. To achieve, this a qualitative methodology was chosen. The focus group method is appropriate for two reasons. First, the method enables the researcher to discover and explore issues involved in communication and service delivery from the point of view of the Newham residents. As these are issues on which the public is often unclear, an interactive methodology, which promotes discussion, is necessary. Secondly, it can focus on key policy issues and gain an insight into residents’ concerns in these specific areas. The combination of these two factors resulted in focus groups being selected as the preferred methodology. It is hoped that this produced data that will inform the council about residents’ concerns and will enable the council to become more responsive to local needs. The data will aid the council to implement appropriate change that is sensitive to the local needs in Newham. The objectives of the research were to gain an understanding of: • • • • •

residents’ perceptions of local neighbourhoods, residents’ awareness and image of local services, how they obtained information, what they thought of the quality of service provided, and the experiences residents had of making complaints.

These objectives were realized by examining a set of factors that are significant in local service delivery. Although the research did not impose council assumptions onto residents’ perceptions, the research was based on several key factors: • • • • • • • •

how residents defined the area in which they lived, residents’ awareness of council services, existing service use (convenience of access, location, opening times and distance to travel), the comments and complaints procedure, awareness and use of local democratic processes, experience of attitudes towards local service charters, experience of contacting the council, and information needs.

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The group discussions provided an interactive environment for respondents to consider their experiences and expectations of council services. The broad range of respondents in each group facilitated dynamic discussions that enabled a full exploration of the issues. Discussions between respondents was fruitful in gaining an understanding of what they felt was, or was not, acceptable in service provision. The discussions, furthermore, revealed that Newham residents were experiencing major problems in service provision. Residents’ perceptions give some indication of key needs and requirements that are relevant to the context of service delivery and provision in Newham. Although the main exploratory fieldwork was concerned with the general public, the research was structured in relation to both the ‘Communication’ and ‘Local Service Strategy’ priorities of Newham Council. This served to clarify the areas to be explored and to ensure that the coverage focused on the needs of policy-makers without however, imposing, council assumptions on residents. The latter point is especially significant when implementing change, as the council must implement change that will enhance the actual life-chances of its residents. The key role of communication (informing, listening, responding) in service delivery was highlighted in the Key Drivers Analysis of the LBN (In House Research Annual Survey 1996). This showed that communication is responsible for nearly two-thirds of the factors shaping residents’ opinions of the council. The issues of communication, information and access were addressed through the seven stages of communication framework as developed in the ‘Needs of Non English Speakers’ report (Sills, Sawhney and Desai 1995). This report identified seven stages in communication: awareness, relevance, comprehension, language, medium, distribution and impact. These stages were adapted to the issue of Local Service Delivery and Service Network. Within this theoretical framework, the respondents were asked to consider how the council could make its services more convenient for the residents, and how the council could raise awareness of its services. Selecting the Focus Groups Previous research has shown that residents’ perceptions, expectations and needs of council services vary according to age and ethnicity (see Annual Survey 1996 and Sills. A., et al. Issues Analysis 1997), so the focus groups were sampled on these two variables. These variables will be especially significant in relation to the focus of this research. For example, the criterion of access to service points and effective communication of information raises several issues in relation to age, ethnicity and consequent life-stage. Age Age is an important variable in a person’s life-stage in relation to access and delivery of services. Clearly, people at different stages of their lives use different services, and are likely to have different concerns. First, when the council is considering the

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restructuring of local service delivery, then the issue of distance to an information and advice centre will need to encompass the different age capacities of mobility. Second, when considering opening hours, a key factor is whether that person is employed, at college, at home with young children or retired. Third, generational differences will affect confidence in communicating with the council. This extends into how comfortable residents feel with the different media of communication. These issues have consequences for the capacity of individuals to enhance their own life-chances and to partake actively in their own community and borough. The focus groups were sampled into three age categories to reflect the above factors, in line with the age analysis undertaken for the Annual Survey: • • •

eighteen to twenty-nine year old group (White, Asian, African, Caribbean ethnic groups), thirty to fifty-nine year old group (White, Asian, African, Caribbean ethnic groups), and over sixty years old (White and Caribbean ethnic groups).

Ten focus groups were conducted, each with ten participants. The focus groups were conducted in March 1997 at West Haven Town Hall. The focus groups were recorded on tape, and then transcribed by the staff of In House Research. Ethnicity The focus group research built on the LBN report: ‘Communication Needs of NonEnglish Speaking Residents’ (In House Communication October 1995), which explored the issues concerning communication between different ethnic groups and the council. The focus groups were sampled into White, Asian, African and Caribbean groups for two reasons. First, at a general level, given the demography of Newham, the council needs to be responsive to the different ethnic mix of its population. Second, it is important to discover if there are any key factors in relation to communication and access of information and services that relate specifically to ethnic needs. By dividing the sample according to ethnicity, the research was expected to highlight both common and specific problems in Newham Council’s ‘communication’. There were ten focus groups conducted in total: • • • •

three White groups in the three age categories, two Asian groups in the 18–29 and the 30–59 age groups, two African groups in the 18–29 and the 30–59 age groups, and three Caribbean groups in all three age groups.

All groups were mixed male and female. The groups were comprised of employed and unemployed people and the discussions were conducted in English. Participants of the focus groups were recruited at random by a professional fieldwork agency. Respondents were not chosen because they had any particular interest

174 Inside the Digital Revolution: Policing and Changing Communication with the Public

in, or criticisms of, local services. Respondents had to live within the borough, and conform to the various quotas for age and ethnicity set out above. Recruitment for the Asian groups was done using a local community group with wide contacts in the Asian community. This technique is known as community recruiting (see Sills, A and Desai, P., ‘Qualitative Research Amongst Ethnic Minority Communities in Britain,’ Journal of the Market Research Society, 38:3 1996, 247–265).

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Index

action and agency 33 Advance TransEuropean Telematics Applications for Community Help (ATTACH) 4–5, 45 actor relationships 61 Central Scotland Police 69–70, 74 CETE 69 chronology 59–68 consortium 68–72 demo 81–5 Dutch partners 69, 74 ergonomics 90–91 fast-prototype 90 funding 68 global relations 62 Greek partners 69, 74 innovation 73–6 intranet 82, 91–4 ‘kick off’ workshop 73–6 language provision 81 mission 76 partners 66–7, 68–71, 73–4 Project Office 66 prototype 90, 94 purposes 89 research field 60 Swedish partners 70, 74 system requirements 89–90 technology requirements 24 user-led development 68–9 user needs 74–5, 77–80, 91, 94, 97 workshops 73–6, 87–91, 94–6 agency 33 alienation 132 American functionalism 41 analysis, framework of 159–60 analytical distance for ethnographers 48–9 ARRTIC consultancy 65–7 ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) systems 75

ATTACH see Advance TransEuropean Telematics Applications for Community Help Bangemann Report 102–3 Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) 41 CANS (Citizens Access Networks and Services) 104 CARAT see Metropolitan Police Service, Centre for Applied Research and Technology CCCS (Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies) 41 CCD Design & Ergonomics Ltd. 66, 68–9, 71 CCTV (closed-circuit television) 64 CDW Associates 105–7, 116–17 Central Scotland Police 69–70, 74 Crime Management Unit 127 Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) 41 CETE 69 change management 110 chronology of research 50–54 citizen-users 77 Citizens Access Networks and Services (CANS) 104 Citizens’ Advice Bureaux 138–9 Citizen’s Charter 21–2 citizenship 19–20, 87–8 charters 21–2 concepts of 22 closed-circuit television (CCTV) 64 communication see public communication community safety 122 consumerism 19–20, 22 service provision 20–23 councillors 136–7 crime 117 crime prevention 116, 122–3

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Critical Theory 41 cultural analysis 10, 56 cultural dynamics of technological change 35–44 cultural forms 40–43, 159–60 definition 42 telematics 43, 48 cultural significance of technology 111–12 culture and technology 35 DALI (Delivery and Access to Local Information and Services) 104 deaf people 16 Delivery and Access to Local Information and Services (DALI) 104 democracy digital services 103 local 136–7 differentiation of technologies 34 digital services see also telematics accessibility 4 democracy 103 ethnography 48 first stop 121 innovation 37 meaning of 13 one stop 121 partnerships 105 public sector 2 service provision 88 shaping of 24–5 digital technology see digital services discourse on telematics 17–20 domestication of technologies 34 DOT see Metropolitan Police Service, Department of Technology drama and innovation 36–9 e-government 108, 109, 110, 112–13 Eagle Eye project 64 EIP (Exchanging Information with the Public) 106 equality of access to technology 107 ergonomics 90–91 ethnographer 45–8 analytical distance 48–9 identities 50 research chronology 50–54 research themes 45–8

trust 49 ethnographic realism 56–7 ethnographical context 4–8 ethnography 45–6 digital services 48 inscription 56 methods 160 performance 46–8 police service 9 practical aspects 50 public communication 48–9 thick description 56 writing of 55–7 ethnomethodology 30–31 EU see European Union Europe and the Global Information Society - Recommendations to the European Council (report) 102–3 European Information Society 34, 102–3, 111–13 European Union (EU) Research and Development Frameworks 4 Telematics Applications Programme 15 Exchanging Information with the Public (EIP) 106 exclusion 17–18 first stop services 121 focus groups age 172–3 ethnicity 173–4 fieldwork 172 objectives 171 research 134–44 selection 172–4 framework of analysis 159–60 Frankfurt School 41 functionalism 34, 41 gender 89 Geographical Information System (Newham) 109 Global Retrieval, Access and Information System for Property Items (GRASP) 63, 65–6 ‘governance in an information society’ (symposium) 103

Index Government Direct (green paper) 105–8, 113 GRASP (Global Retrieval, Access and Information System for Property Items) 63, 65–6 grounded theory 9–10

interpretation of technological capacity 16–17 interpretative theory 56 intranet 82, 91–4

hegemony 41–2 hermeneutic action 33 HTML (HyperText Markup Language) 92

Kent Police 128 KioskKit 82 kiosks see multimedia kiosks

ICT see Information and Communication Technology ideas 47 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as cultural form 7–8 gender 89 innovation 4 siting of 89 Information Days (DTI) 65 information needs of residents 138–41 information provision 77, 87–8, 94–6, 97, 107–8 information society 101–11 European 34, 102–3, 111–13 governance 103 narrative themes 106–7 informational models 119–20 innovation Advance TransEuropean Telematics Applications for Community Help (ATTACH) 73–6 cultural dynamics 166–7 cultural forms 42–3 definition 4 digital services 37 drama 36–9 narratives 101 performance of 36, 38–9 social shaping 29 symbolic action 35 theatre of 28, 43–4 inscription 56 institutionalization of technology 31–4 institutions 2 international crime 117 internet 88–9

language provision 81 liminoid space 40 local democracy 136–7 local government attributes of 21 councillors 136–7 role of 2 Local Strategic Partnership (Newham) 108–9 locality, perceptions of 134–5 London, telematics 98, 99

191

Junior Citizen Programme 124

magic if 40 meaning analysis 35–6 meanings of symbols 47 methodology of study 9–10 Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) see also police service Centre for Applied Research and Technology (CARAT) 6, 65, 115 community partnerships 116, 122–3 community policing 152–4 community safety 122 crime operations 125–6 crime prevention 116, 122–3 CRIS (Crime Reporting Information System) 125, 126 cultural orientations 6–7 Department of Technology (DOT) 5–6 Fair 82–4 digital interactive services 63–4 DOT see Department of Technology information society 101 Junior Citizen Programme 124 multimedia kiosks 70, 84 operations 125–6, 150–52 patrolling 63, 126–7 police shops 153–4

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police stations 147–50 principles of policing 7 prioritization 117 public communications 6–7 public information 117 race crime 125 Racial Incident Units (RIUs) 116 responsibilities 5 Schools Involvement Programme 124 schools liaison 154–6 stolen property 63 street surveillance 64 Telephone Investigation Units (TIUs) 98 24-hour response service 126–8 Voluntary Cadet Corps 124 workload 5 Youth Action Groups 124 youth work 124–5 Microsoft 93 Moses Bridge 30 MPS see Metropolitan Police Service multimedia, definition 3 multimedia kiosks 24, 70–71, 75, 84, 143–4, 165

Geographical Information System 109 history 6 In House Research team 131–4 ICT strategy 109–10 information needs of residents 138–41 interpreters 141 languages 81, 140–41 local democracy 136–7 Local Service Strategy 98, 131 focus group research 134–44 Local Strategic Partnership 108–9 non-English speaking residents 81, 140–41 On-line Information System (NOISE) 77–8, 83 police stations 147–50 regeneration 15–16 service charters 137–8 service delivery 141–3 service levels 19 settled community 133 Sylheti speakers 141 telematics 15–16 NOISE (Newham On-line Information System) 77–8, 83

narratives 101 and policy 161–3 service 103–4 telematics 104–5 National Strategy for Local e-Government 112–13 needs see user needs Neighbourhood Watches 123 networks 45 Newham (London Borough) advice bureau 139 alienated community 132 aspirational community 133–4 Bangladeshi residents 141 Citizens’ Advice Bureau 138–9 complaints 135–6 consumerism 19–20 Corporate Editor 88 councillors 136–7 crime 6 customer care 141–3 development budgets 111 ethnic minorities 6

Olivetti KioskKit 82 multimedia kiosks 71, 75 one stop services 121 organizational visions for telematics 23–4 organizational work 24–5 organizations 9 technology 32–3 Oxford, Customer Services Department (Thames Valley Police) 128 participation in public life 19–20 participative interaction 163–4 performance and communication 46 and ethnography 46–8 PERIPHERA (Telematics Applications and Strategies Combating Social and Economic Exclusion) 104 pilot projects for telematics 16 police service see also Metropolitan Police Service (MPS); policing communication 2

Index core aspects 115–16 culture 7 ethnography 9 operations 150–52 partnerships 117–18 role of 2 police shops 153–4 police stations 147–50 policing see also police service by consent 20–21, 164 functions 121–2 peacekeeping 121 planned 121–2 preventative 122 politics and technology 30 positivist action 33 post-modernism 28 power and public communication 18 preventative policing 7, 122 product champions 14 Programme Digital, objectives 15 public communication culturally informed 164 ethnography 48–9 Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) 6–7 offensive 88 performance 46 police service 2 power 18 service delivery 172 social-shaping 164 public service websites 24 questionnaires for user needs 97 race crime 125 Racial Incident Units (RIUs) 116 recommendations 166–8 relations of production 160–61 research chronology 50–54 themes 54–5 user needs 77–80 risk management 111 Ronneby 74, 89 Schools Involvement Programme 124 schools liaison 154–6 security of citizens 20

193

service charters 137–8 service models 108, 118–21 service narratives 103–4 service provision consumerism 20–23 digital developments 88 prioritization 96–9 services see digital services shopping 134–5 site testing of telematics 23–4 SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) 69 social action 16 social change and technical change 28–31 social citizenship 19 social constructivism 27, 30–31 social drama 37–9 social exclusion 17–18 social-shaping 27, 31 innovation 29 public communication 164 technology 29–30 social structures 33 SQL (Structured Query Language) 92 stolen property identification 63 structuration theory 32–3 structure and agency 33 symbolic action 35, 39 symbolic order of social groups 38 technocratic elites 18–19 technological change 17–20 cultural dynamics 35–44 social change 28–31 technological determinism 27 technology content of 29 cultural significance 111–12 culture 35 deconstruction 29–31 definition 29 equality of access 107 institutionalization 31–4 organizations 32–3 politics 30 social shaping 29–30 telematics see also digital services cultural forms 43, 48 deaf people 16

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definition 3, 13–14 development contexts 14–15 discourse 17–20 London 98, 99 narratives 104–5, 117 organizational visions 23–4 pilot projects 16 rationale for 15 testing 23–4 24-hour response service 127–8 Urban and Rural Areas sector 67–8 Telematics Applications and Strategies Combating Social and Economic Exclusion (PERIPHERA) 104 Telematics Applications Programme 15 Telematics for London 98, 99 Telephone Investigation Units (TIUs) 98 testing of telematics 23–4 theatre of innovation 28

Thessaloniki 69, 74 thick description 56 transformational spaces 28, 40, 167 user-led development 68–9 user needs 74–5, 91 identification 107 research 77–80, 97, 167–8 technological development 94 VIP (Virtual Interactive Patrolling) 63 volume crime 117 Voluntary Cadet Corps 124 websites, public service 24 Weltschauung 35–6 Youth Action Groups 124 youth work 124–5