FOSTERING QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF INFORMATION

EXCHANGE IN DIGITAL GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS

PROCESSES

Peter A. Buck

World Summit Award / International Center for New Media (ICNM)

Moosstrasse 43a, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria

Keywords: World Summit Award, Best Practice, e-Business, e-Culture, World Summit on the Information Society

(WSIS), e-Content, Content Gap.

Abstract: The World Summit Award (WSA) is a global initiative to select and promote the world’s best e-Content,

started in 2003 in the framework of the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

This paper presents six of the best projects from around the world in the categories of e-Business and e-

Government, which have been judged by independent experts to be outstanding examples of how consumer

ICT can strengthen SME’s on the marketplace, support and optimize business and administrative processes

and strengthen participation of citizens in information society decision making beyond past limitations of

space and time. Key facts of the applications are reported and the judgments of the WSA Grand Jury are

presented in order to provide an informative overview of how culture is made rich with a good use of ICTs.

1 INTRODUCTION: BEST

PRACTICE IN DIGITAL

CULTURAL CONTENTS

The new information and communication

technologies (ICT) are opening a new horizon not

just for exchange of messages or business

applications, but they can empower citizens and

support and optimize processes – be they of public

administrative origin or business related. This paper

presents six of the best projects from around the

world which were selected from entries from 168

United Nations member states and judged by

independent expert jury from 36 different countries

to be outstanding examples of how ICT can support

SME’s on the marketplace and strengthen

participation of citizens in information society

applications beyond past limitations.

2 MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

The paper reports best pratice in terms of the six

winners in the e-Business and e-Government

categories of the World Summit Award (WSA) and

the global contest in 2007. Projects from 168

countries were submitted after national best contests

or expert panels to the Grand Jury of WSA which

met in Brijoni in early September 2007 and was

hosted by the e-Croatia and organized by the

Internet Institute of Croatia.

In the following presentation the key facts of the

applications are reported and the judgments of the

WSA Grand Jury are presented in order to provide

an informative overview of how ICTs strengthen

citizens as well as businesses on a worldwide scale.

Technology offers tools. It is a fundamental fact

of the Information Society development that the

performance of the tools increases faster than the

human capacity to use them. This creates the

Content Gap: ICTs offer more capacity to produce,

store and transmit than humans can use, fill, read or

consume.

3 METHODOLOGY:

ASSESSING CONTENT

QUALITY

The category of e-Business is defined within the

WSA as addressing projects which foster the support

A. Bruck P.

Fostering Quality and Efﬁciency of Information Exchange in Digital Government and Business Processes.

DOI: 10.5220/0006814000010001

In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (WEBIST 2009), pages 5-19

ISBN: 978-989-8111-81-4

and optimization of business processes, the creation

of new business models in e-commerce and m-

commerce, B2B, B2C, internet security and other

areas, and which support SMEs on the marketplace1.

The category of e-Government is dinfined within

the WSA as addressing projects which help to

empower citizens and serve public services clients,

foseter quality and efficiency of information

exchange and communication services in

governmental and public administrative processes,

and strengthen participation of citizens in

information society decision making

3.1 A Worldwide Networking Effort

The World Summit Award is an Austrian initiative

in the context of the United Nations World Summit

on the Information Society (WSIS). It is an

invitation project and a global activity, rather than an

organization. Started in 2003 for the Geneva Summit

conference, the WSA has been an unprecedented

success due to the strong networking of professional

associations, the national chapters of the Internet

Society, multimedia education and research

institutions, electronic chambers of commerce, non-

governmental groups and foundations, government

offices for IT and Information Society development

and many others.

The WSA is the result of an active engagement

of all these players in WSIS and of the shared

conviction that quality contents are essential for a

quality Information Society. Contents inspire,

inform and allow the exchange of information and

knowledge.

3.2 The Content Gap is Growing

Over the last 50 years, Information and

Communication Technologies have become

exponentially more powerful and radically cheaper

and smaller. E-Content does not keep up with

technology in terms of speed of development,

economies of scale and simplicity of consumption.

This results in a dynamically created structural gap.

This gap is widening as we move on into the

Information Society.

The Content Gap is not just one of technological

versus human capacity. It also has awareness aspects

and results from social and economic structures.

The other categories of the WSA include e-Learning, e-Science, e-

Culture, e-Health, e-Entertainment, Special Category: e-Inclusion; for

details see. www.wsis-award.org

There is an imbalance of pay and an inequity of

investment. Post-industrial societies spend enormous

sums of money on equipment, gadgets and ‘tech

things’. They invest far less in quality stories,

knowledge and insight. In the context of the global

economy, it is the content industries which offer the

opportunity for local and regional economic

development. Basic software, hardware and netware

have become global industries with a high degree of

global concentration.

Contents are tied to culture and language. They

are largely local and regional. Most creative

producers – save the ones working for the

Hollywood industries and in English – have

culturally restricted audiences and markets. This

gives countries opportunities to develop

economically. The WSA is strengthening these

opportunities in giving exposure to the best

producers and showing a way for the development

of the content industries.

The Digital Divide adds a further dimension to

the Content Gap. The ‘information poor’ have not

only less or no access to Internet and other digital

platforms. They also get lower quality contents and

applications. The Digital Divide widens the Content

Gap, as info trash clogs the networks and quality

contents move to pay-modes.

The threat of a widening Content Gap runs

counter to the promise of the Information Society.

The capacities of technologies, systems and tools to

generate, distribute and store content increase

exponentially, but content markets are not

transparent or open.

WSA showcases which high-quality contents

exist and thus counteracts oligopolies in the content

sector. It demonstrates the cultural diversity of and

the opportunities for small and medium sized

producers to be successful. In addition, it increases

the capacity of individuals to gain an overview of

what is available on the markets, thus decreasing the

marketing powers of a ‘chosen few’.

3.3 Cultural Richness: Bridging the

Gap

The World Summit Award and this presentation

place their emphasis on cultural diversity and

identity, the creation of varied information content

and the digitalization of educational, scientific and

cultural heritage. These are core issues of a high-

quality Information Society in which people might

be happy to live.

The goal of the WSA is to break the awareness

barrier and the marketing deadlock where big

promotional budgets or market dominance decide

what is available and known in e-Content. It also

aims to help overcome linguistic and cultural

barriers and the smallness of national markets, to

generate an international showcase and to stimulate

an interchange of quality multimedia.

It is a curious fact of the emerging Information

Society that many people – even the ones who are

deeply involved in industry and policymaking –

have little information about what quality contents

are. They lack opportunities to see, use and

experience the power of great e-Contents.

This presentation deals only with 6 of the 40 best

products in the world. They were judged to be the

best ones in the world in 2007 from more than 160

countries. One might disagree in one or the other

case, but one might also see this as an interesting

demonstration of what is best practice in e-Business

and e-Goverment around the world.

4 CITIZEN DK

For a number of years Danish citizens have

demanded one portal to the public sector.

Consequently Local Government Denmark (LGDK),

the national association of local authorities in

Denmark, and the Ministry of Science Technology

and Innovation started working together in the

conception and development of citizen.dk.

With the launch of citizen.dk in the beginning of

2007 Danes have one online entrance to the public

sector. The portal provides the Danish citizens with

easy access to public information and digital self-

services, as well as forming a general view of the

public sector across public authorities.

Citizen.dk offers general information and

provides answers to general questions concerning

the public sector. The portal also helps citizens find

the correct authority or service when more detailed

information is needed. Citizen.dk includes articles,

self-services and publications concerning 18 overall

topics including family and children, disabilities and

residence and building. By clicking on one of the

overall topics, the citizen is lead to several articles

relating to the topic.

When citizen.dk was launched, it contained

roughly 600 self-services from the State, regions and

municipalities – a number that is extended

continuously. Self-services include digital services

in a wider sense. Citizen.dk also contains general

information about and digital maps of the

municipalities in order to make further contact to

local authorities easier – also citizens can compare

different key figures regarding the different

municipalities.

In addition citizen.dk contains a shared public

database (FOA). The database offers the citizens

access to contact information for authorities and a

number of public employees. Citizens are also

offered insight in the democratic process including

insight in legislation (Status) and public hearings

(Høringsportalen): Furthermore citizen.dk has a

search machine, which visually and functionally

resembles the Google search machine.

Figure 1: Screenshot citizen.dk.

Citizen.dk is what we like to call a thin portal. Or in

other words, its primary function is to act as a

looking glass, thus gathering and presenting all

digital services known in the public sector, and

introducing them as a coherent whole to the Danish

citizens. The overall responsibility for the solutions

still lies with the authorities so that a local sense of

responsibility and the best quality possible in each of

the specific solutions is ensured. Borger.dk has quite

naturally now become the platform from where the

development of important common guidelines and

standards is cultivated. The portal therefore also acts

as the lever for a service-oriented architecture.

4.1 Reason for National Nomination

Citizen.dk offers the citizens a better service on the

Internet – as a result of this the citizens are in focus

during the further development of the portal. The

citizens are involved and consulted through tests

involving articles, navigation, design etc. The results

are used in the continuous work with developing

citizen.dk. Also organizations representing people

with disabilities are consulted in the developing

process.

4.2 WSA Jury Evaluation

Public citizen portal, citizen.dk, is a result of

landmark decision of the government to offer one-

window public portal for all requirements and needs

of the citizen.

With the launch of Denmark’s shared public

citizen portal, borger.dk, Danes have gotten a single

online entrance to the public sector. The portal

provides easy access to all public information and

digital self-services. It functions as a looking glass,

thus gathering and presenting all digital services

known in the public sector, and introducing them as

a coherent whole to Danish citizens. The portal is

the result of the largest digital cross-sector project

ever seen in the Danish public administration.

Borger.dk includes also media articles, interactive

services and transactions concerning 18 overall

topics including family and children, disabilities and

residence and buildings.

4.3 Producer

The National IT and Telecom Agency, which is part

of the Ministry of Science, Technology and

Innovation (Science Ministry), has a vision about

creating the groundwork for digitalisation of

Denmark. This aims to make the everyday life of

citizens easier, businesses richer and the public

sector better, or in other words: Digitalisation should

be easy, useful and relevant to all.

5 ATM EXPRESS GOVERNMENT

Express Government Modules (EGM) are advanced

ATMs developed with state-of-the-art technology.

They involve an Internet process that receives

payments in cash and credit card (vehicle services

only). For protection of personal data, the CURP ID

(Population Registry Unique Code) is required to

use the services, and by a series of validations,

which restrict access, it presents only the necessary

data for each request.

Modules are located in main cities of the state

and there is also one in México City. Prototype and

process designs belong to the Government of

Chiapas with patent pending. In addition,

administrative applications of each one of the

services are own and exclusive, constituting a

unique model that offers a best service to citizenship

without additional cost.

EGM brings main public services to citizenship,

offers its services 24 hours, 365 days of the year,

and facilitates the opportune tax payment, with

efficient and anticorruption processes.

Other aspects of innovation in the module are for

example a digital camera that automatically frames

the users, dispenser of Vehicle’s plates, collection

device that receives and gives change in bills and

coins of any denomination and detect damaged or

false bills and much more. In total, the Express

Government ATMs offer 59 fully automated

services to the common citizen.

Figure 2: Screenshot ATM Express Government.

5.1 Reason for National Nomination

In the less developed countries most of poeple lack

access to the technology necessary to connect to the

internet. This makes it difficult or even impossible

for them to use for instance the Internet to

communicate with the government. The use of

technology for administration and operation needs to

take into account that citizens might neither have the

possibilities nor the basic knowledge to access the

WWW.

Gobierno Express is an excellent example of

how the use of ITC under an ATM model can help

the government to deploy better ways to serve the

community on official duties like taxes, certificates

and driver licensing. It is a very clever solution to

overcome the necessity of having human tellers and

the installation necessary to dispatch citizen on

common proceedings.

5.2 WSA Jury Evaluation

It’s the dream of all citizens plagued by

unresponsive bureaucracies. The Express

Government ATMs are advanced automatic teller

machines and offer 59 fully automated services to

the common citizen. The 22 modules are distributed

over 16 cities in the state of Chiapas and are

available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year allowing

one to pay taxes, obtain Birth Certificates, Driver’s

Licenses and Vehicle Plates. It is government

service within minutes. Thus operating costs were

reduced, productivity increased, and public access

improved. Finally, it is clean public administration

as the ATM Express Government cannot be

corrupted.

5.3 Producer

Jorge de Jesús Figueroa Córdova is an Engineer in

Computer Science, graduated from ITESM, Campus

Monterrey in Nuevo León, México. For his ample

labor experience in the design and develop of

computer processes and institutional planning he has

occupied diverse orders. In order to coordinate

coordinating the implementation of the principal

public services in an electronic way in the Express

Government project Jorge joined the Ministry of

Treasure as Chief of the Informatics Unit. He also

coordinated the Public Virtual Library project,

which gives the opportunity to democratize the

knowledge for the whole State. At current, he is

Under-Secretary of planning at the Secretary of

Planning and Sustainable Development.

6 LOWER HOUSE OF GERMAN

PARLIAMENT

The internet site www.bundestag.de is the principal

website of the Lower House of German Parliament.

Its main aims are to make the work of the Lower

House of German Parliament transparent for all

citizens, to make it easy for citizens to follow the

proceedings and to provide interactive features as far

as it is meaningful.

In order to achieve the aim of transparency, the

Lower House of German Parliament provides

background information about all Members of

Parliament, all Committees, other organizational

bodies as well as the parliament's administration, all

rules and regulations that govern the proceedings of

the Lower House. Furthermore it provides

information about third parties that are registered

(lobbies), current information such as general news,

news about the work of the committees, agendas of

the plenary chamber, live video streaming of plenary

sittings as well as public hearings, which are

archived, and much more. Most of this information

is distributed via one of five newsletters or RSS-

feeds.

In addition the Lower House provides

information, that is not directly related to its

constitutional function: The Reichstag, one of

Germany's most famous buildings, has a unique

architecture, that is described in detail. Also, the

other parliamentary buildings built or reconstructed

after Germanys reunification attract a lot of visitors.

Virtual tours (Quicktime Virtual Reality) cover all

these buildings. Art work donated to or bought by

the Bundestag is also presented.

Another section covers history, providing in

depth information about previous legislation periods

of the Lower House's history as well as

parliamentary history in Germany. All this

information is structured thematically.

Figure 3: Screenshot Lower House of German Parliament.

A sophisticated search enables simple searches as

well as complex search operations. Also available:

keyword index, sitemap, glossary. For citizens with

limited understanding of the Bundestag a virtual

eagle can answer natural language questions about

most topics relating to the Bundestag.

Navigational assistance is provided via menu,

bread crumb navigation and a tag cloud at the

bottom of the homepage. If a citizen is interested in

printed material, he can order brochures and other

publications online.

The result: one of the largest and most lively

parliamentary sites in the world that has a huge

following in the German public.

6.1 Reason for National Nomination

Lower House of German Parliament offers the

utmost of multimedia, interactivity and participation

(streaming-video, video-dl, podcast) as well as

online petitions etc. It won in at least one German

Contest, therefore it was selected to the national pre-

selection, were it was judged and chosen by 21

distinguished experts out of 159 Entries.

6.2 WSA Jury Evaluation

Democracy demands transparency. The principal

website of the Lower House of German Parliament

is a world class show case on how to make it easy

for citizens to follow parliamentary proceedings.

More than 60.000 HTML-Pages, 80.000 PDF-files,

6.000 hours of video are augmented by interactive

features such as online-petition procedures,

discussion groups, online reservation for visits. In

depth analysis of current topics and sophisticated

search functionality add democratic value. About

100 editors keep background information about

members, structure and organization, committees,

lobby groups, same-day minutes and proceedings

up-to-date. A history section offers a virtual tour

through the famous Reichstag building. Sub-sites for

youth address the future.

6.3 Producer

Dr. Rainer Babiel studied economics and computer

sciences at the University of Muenster, Germany. He

co-founded the Babiel GmbH in 1991. Together

with his team he has been building up the website of

the German Bundestag since 1995.

Hartwig Bierhoff - Head of Online Services and

Parliamentary Television, a division of the German

Bundestag's administration.

Hans-Peter Neumann - Managing Editor of the

German Bundestag's web site and officer in the

Bundestag's division for Online Services and

Parliamentary Television he was also the Project

manager for creating the Bundestag's website in

1995.

Georg Babiel studied economics at the university

of Muenster, Germany. He is a co-founded the

Babiel GmbH and helped building up the website of

the German Bundestag since 1995.

7 KIVA MICRO FINANCE

In a little over a year, Kiva has rapidly grown to

become the most trafficked site in microfinance with

+80,000 Internet lenders generating +$9 million in

loans to thousands of entrepreneurs in +36

developing countries – all with a +1% default rate

thus far.

Kiva is staffed and governed by experienced

consumer internet and microfinance leaders. In

addition, a number of major internet partners are

supporting Kiva, including PayPal, YouTube,

Google, MySpace and Microsoft. Kiva has also

received wide acclaim from the blogosphere (+4,000

blogs), mainstream media and development experts

(featured at the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative and

2006 Global Microcredit Summit).

Headquartered in San Francisco, Kiva is a 501(c)3

non-profit internet start-up that has a rare

opportunity for dramatic growth and profound

systemic impact. KIVA has also developed a

program that will accelerate the growth of

microfinance institutions through the use of

accounting software. This is a valuable tool that can

be used to lower transaction costs, reduce

paperwork, automate procedures and increase access

to further capital.

Furthermore, Kiva will author a client side

desktop application that MFIs can use to

communicate with the Kiva.org website. Because

the application sits on the desktop, partners can use

it without being constantly connected to the Internet.

In a dial-up environment where page loads take 20

seconds, this vastly improves efficiency.

Figure 4: Screenshot KIVA Micro Finance.

Further, Kiva.org hopes to implement exception-

based accounting principles. Micro-clients pay back

97% of the time world-wide. It is tedious to require

to record every repayment since they occur 97% of

the time. Instead, it makes more sense to record

exceptions to perfect repayment. Exception based

accounting is a method pioneered by the Grameen

bank Mifos project which reduced payment

recording by 97% on average. Finally the product

will reduce internet connection fees for our partners.

7.1 Reason for National Nomination

Kiva.org is a non-profit web site revolutionizing the

fight against global poverty by enabling socially-

conscious internet users to connect with and make

personal loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the

developing world. An exceptional social software

solution, Kiva acts as the world’s first person-to-

person lending marketplace for the poor. Anyone

can make a direct loan of as little as $25 to someone

in a developing country. This affordable capital

helps low income entrepreneurs start or expand their

small businesses, creating a path towards economic

self sufficiency. Specifically, Kiva.org has

developed also a program that will accelerate the

growth of microfinance institutions through the use

of accounting software.

7.2 WSA Jury Evaluation

Kiva.org is a well-focused, efficient and easy-to-

follow platform that enables person to person micro

lending. KIVA micro finance is probably the

world's first online lending platform connecting

online socially conscious organizations and

individuals with entrepreneurs in poor communities.

This system serves as an excellent example of how

can we use the power of the internet and other

existing ICT technologies for higher and better

purposes.

7.3 Producer

Matthew Flannery began developing Kiva.org in late

2004 as a side-project while working as a computer

programmer at TiVo Inc. In December 2005 Matt

left TiVo to devote himself to Kiva.org full-time. As

CEO, Matt has led Kiva.org's growth from a pilot

project to an established online service with

partnerships across the globe a dedicated band of

staff and supporters closer to home. Prior to starting

Kiva.org, Matt spent time in Uganda, Tanzania and

Kenya filming stories of micro-businesses started by

Village Enterprise Fund. It was this time in East

Africa that inspired him to develop Kiva.org. Matt is

a 2006 Global Social Benefit Incubator entrepreneur

and a featured blogger on the Skoll Foundation's

Social Edge website. He graduated with a BS in

Symbolic Systems and a Masters in Analytical

Philosophy from Stanford University.

8 i-KIMONO

i-komono’s mission is to create a market for used

kimono and spread the culture of low-priced kimono

internationally. The aim of this service is to pass on

the kimonos that older generations have stored with

loving care to the younger generations.

It is difficult for ordinary people to estimate the

value of a kimono. In order for them to find out what

a fair price would be and how good the quality of the

kimono is, i-kimono offers the Mekiki system, an

appraisal system, which should help to create the

precious antique kimono market.

i-kimono also provides the e-kimono NPO

Support Program. Many grants for nonprofit

organisations don't cover administrative costs.

Therefore, many Japanese nonprofits repeatedly

experience cash flow problem. To break through

such a problem, i-kimono provide civic groups with

proceeds from their internet charity auction.

Figure 5: Screenshot i-kimono.

The Program works in the following way: A

Japanese nonprofit organisationasks its members and

supporters to donate antiques kimono. i-kimono then

puts those kimono items onto the internet auction. A

successful bidder receives the item after i-kimono

has received the full bidding amount, and i-kimono

gives the proceeds to the nonprofit organisation,

only deducting i-kimono's service charge. “i-

kimono” aims to be a ‘Social Company’ supporting

the Community.

8.1 Reason for National Nomination

i-kimono is different from other e-commerce sites

based on the following view points : The succession

of the culture is promoted from senior citizens to

younger people through this web site. Secondly, i-

kimono helps to promote the 3R system (recycle,

reuse, reduce),because it provides a wise use of the

antique kimono. Most importantly, a new business

model for funding of nonprofit organizations is

offered on the website. i-kimono proposes and

promotes the culture of harmony through kimono.

8.2 WSA Jury Evaluation

i-kimono’s creates an on-line market for used

kimonos and spreads the culture of the kimono

internationally. The site services are intended to

serve commercial and cultural interests: kimonos

stored by older generations with loving care can be

passed to younger generations and brought to use in

today’s culture and societies. The site features a

Kimono Appraisal System in order to find out the

fair price for an old garment thus creating a market

for the precious antique kimono, so that every one

can enjoy freely kimonos for various uses. The

unique i-kimono charity auction system supports

Japanese non profit organisations by creating

proceeds from internet auctions from members and

supporters.

8.3 Producer

Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1957. Mr. Kitaoka Yuki

graduated from Department of Economics at

Ritsumeikan University in 1990. He studied the

business and the Chinese language in Macao from

1990 to 1991. Since 1991 Mr Kitaoka has been

managing the company of kimono business, and

produces the web page of the kimono industry

groups since 1998. Mr Kitaoka established “I-

kimono”, a virtual antique kimono company as a

company president in 2000.

9 THE MERINO INNOVATION

PORTAL

The Merino Innovation portal takes users on a

sensual journey from inspiration to implementation.

A broad panoramic landscape invites them on a

globetrotting jaunt from alpine peak to urban

streetscape and demonstrates the versatility of

merino.

The information is structured to show merino in

diverse contexts, reveal its multiple benefits, and

provide details on potential business partners. A

“Benefits” section sets out the case for merino in six

key categories of performance, style, comfort,

safety, easy care and natural.

More than twenty CSIRO-researched downloadable

PDF Fact Sheets credibly communicate the proof of

merino’s remarkable range of attributes. This

carefully considered content is wrapped in vibrant

colours and sensual images to complete merino’s

extreme makeover from scratchy non-entity last seen

in ill-fitting school jumper to the slinky high-fashion

fibre of now.

In the past, wool's marketing efforts had been

directed at the consumer but consumers are

followers not instigators of shifts in fashion.

Consequently, this website was targeted at the

people who make things happen in the fashion world

- the designers, manufacturers and retailers. Only by

opening their eyes to the possibilities of merino

could we hope to achieve our ambitions for this

critical Australian primary resource.

The fashion world is always looking for

something fresh to take to market and this site

presents them with a fibre ripe for reinvention. It

allows them to see merino in contexts beyond their

current frame of reference, and gives them

information that they can exploit in terms of the

garment's performance and its marketing. It also

provides designers with sourcing guides for textile

manufacturers, and tutorials on technical matters like

dyeing. Australian Wool Innovation has been

inundated with requests from designers and retailers

who want to follow the lead of Akira Isogawa and

Kookaï in working with this wonderful "new"

product, Australian Merino.

The sweeping panorama on the homepage breaks

down age-old perceptions that wool is something to

be worn only by mountain climbers and frumps.

With a single creative execution, the target market

has been re-educated that merino is a fabric that can

be worn in diverse climates by those of a discerning

fashion sensibility. The innovation Timeline is

informative but more critically it conveys the sense

that wool is a product that has evolved with the

changing needs of consumers.

In the Proof section, a diagram of the merino

fibre has been used to illustrate its complexity in

comparison to cotton and synthetics, to demonstrate

its extraordinary range of properties and to reinforce

its natural origins.

The Merino Innovation site has helped shift

perceptions about merino among the most influential

thinkers in the industry. Within hours of the site

going live, a well-known fashion retailer - inspired

by the Kookaï Posh Merino story - had called

Australian Wool Innovation wanting to find a way to

incorporate merino in their range. Since then, AWI

is daily contacted by fashion industry people from

around the world who say that the site has opened

their eyes to the remarkable properties of merino.

Inquiries have come from Australia, the States and

the Europe as well as the extraordinarily important

Chinese and Asian markets. As Australian Wool

Innovation Senior Product Manager, Sam Guthrie

says, “I feel incredibly proud of what has been

achieved.”

Figure 6: Screenshot the Merino Innovation Portal.

9.1 Reason for National Nomination

Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) is charged with a

mission of critical national importance. Due to stiff

competition from lower-priced cotton and

increasingly technical synthetic fabrics a global

decline in wool sales has been registered with

significant consequences - not just for woolgrowers

but the entire Australian economy. To allow

Australian sheep farmers to remain on the land that

many of their families have been tending for more

than six generations, and to help ease the worrying

pressure on a worsening trade imbalance, AWI

needed to find new ways to help sell more of

Australia’s world-leading but currently undervalued

merino wool.

Merinoinnovation.com was created by Devotion

as the key element in a strategy to rejuvenate the

fortunes of this iconic Australian product.

9.2 WSA Jury Evaluation

In response to fierce competition from lower-priced

cotton and increasingly technical synthetic fabrics

the Australian Wool Innovation uses a web portal to

help sell more of Australia’s world-leading often

undervalued merino wool.

Merinoinnovation.com was created as the key

element in a strategy to rejuvenate the fortunes of

this iconic Australian product and the sheep farm

industry of the country. The web site demonstrates

the versatility of Merino wool in many engaging

interactive formats. It takes users on a sensual

journey from inspiration to implementation. It

addresses different audiences from designers to

consumers and has been successful in positively

shifting perceptions and gaining a number of large

international clients for Merino wool producers.

9.3 Producer

Chris Lorang – CEO: After a background as a

Strategic Planner for traditional advertising agencies

such as Leo Burnett & Batey, Chris recognised the

opportunity presented by the net to develop brands

in more creative and cost effective ways. In 2002,

with Creative Director Simon Lester, he created

Devotion.

Simon Lester – Executive Creative Director:

After a grounding in print and agency environments,

Simon found his interactive calling in 1995 when

working for British Telecom and was instrumental in

turning Yell into the Number one hit site in the UK.

After emigrating to Sydney he has worked on online

projects for brands such as Deutsche Bank, Sony,

Bank of Ireland and Samsung.

Anna Fitzgerald - Head of Strategy: Anna was

General Manager of Corporate Communications at

British Telecom before becoming Marketing

Director for one of Australia’s most highly

trafficked websites, ninemsn. After a stint in a

similar position for rival The Seven Network,

including marketing Seven’s 2000 Olympics site,

she joined Devotion in its formative stages and has

been instrumental in the strategic direction and

implementation of the company’s award winning

work for AWI, CanTeen and others.

Allen Palmer – Senior Writer: Allen’s

background was as a screenwriter, developing TV

series for the BBC, and films for Dreamworks and

Working Title. Returning to Australia, he joined

Devotion to explore the narrative possibilities of

new media and has since worked on the innovative

launch of Nike Plus in South East Asia, and AIMIA

award winning campaigns for AWI and CanTeen.

10 CONCLUSIONS

Contents and their quality are difficult to judge,

more so than technology. In the case of technology,

the parameters are clear and objective; the

performance of chips can be measured in Hertz, the

throughput of networks in bits per second, and the

storage capacity of disks can be calculated precisely

in bytes. Such simple parameters do not exist for the

quality of content.

Yet, quality needs to be assessed: users need to

know what they get or buy, clients need to order

according to certain standards, producers and

designers need to have best practice models and

quality comparisons.

This is where the World Summit Award (WSA)

meets a real demand. The WSA is presently the only

existing mechanism to search and find out which

quality contents exist around the world and how they

meet criteria such as depth of content, ease of use,

value adding of interactivity, aesthetics of design

and interface, and technical realization

. The

categories of the WSA address all aspects of social

life, including e-culture.

REFERENCES

Troelsen, L.(nd). National IT and Telecom Agency and

Local Government Denmark (LCDK). Denmark.

Cordova, J. de J. F. (nd). Goberno Expres, Buereau of

Planning and Sustainable Development. Mexico.

GmbH, B., Babiel, R..(nd). Lower House of German

Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag). Germany.

Flannery, M. (nd). KIVA Micro Finance. Kiva

Microfunds, www.kiva.org,United. United States of

America

i-kimono, Yoshisada Tanida (nd). I-kimono. www.i-

kimono.com. Japan.

Lorang, C. (nd). The Merino Innovation Portal. Devotion,

www.devotion.com.au. Australia.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Bruck, Peter A. (MA, Dr. iur., PhD) is General

Manager of the Research Studios, a leading public

research institution in the field of ICTs in Austria.

He has over 25 years of research, teaching and

consulting experience in the area of media,

communications and information technologies. He

earned degrees in law, sociology, and

communications and received numerous awards and

fellowships in Europe, the US, and Canada. He has

taught and founded and headed research institutes at

three universities and has been and is principal

researcher in numerous EC funded project. He has

been the chief content officer for the Austrian

Telekom. He served as Chairman of the Advisory

Committee on Media Diversity of the Council of

Europe and is currently on the Advisory Board of

The criteria used in the evaluation process both by national

contests and the Grand Jury are the following: 1. Quality and

comprehensiveness of content; 2. Ease of use: functionality,

navigation and orientation; 3.Value added through interactivity

and multimedia; 4. Attractiveness of design (aesthetic value of

graphics/audio); 5. Quality of craftsmanship (technical

realization); In addition, the strategic importance for the global

development of the Information Society of a product is rated

separately.

the UN ICT Task Force in New York. He initiated

best practice awards in e-content in Austria, Europe

and around the world, acts as the Head of

EUROPRIX, Europe’s leading multimedia award, is

Chairman of the WSA World Summit Award in the

context of the UN World Summit on Information

Society. E-Mail: bruck@research.at