The influence of providers and brokers

International information providers (e.g. World Bank, DFID) are increasingly concentrating on the internet as a means of making information increasingly available (e.g. websites, full text documents available as download PDF files; searchable databases for past research funded by DFID through Transport Links; World Bank virtual Helpdesk, WIN Technical Enquiry Service etc.) but as the following table shows, internet access is very uneven across the continents. 

Table 1: Internet Provision and Users

	Internet			Estimated PCs
	Hosts Total 2001	Hosts per 10,000 inhabitants	Users (k)	Users per 10,000 inhabitants	Total (k)	Per 100 inhabitants
AFRICA	274,742	3.45	6,781.20	85.09	7,605	1.06
Americas (excl USA)	6,302,776	113.74	40119.3	724.01	41,905	7.56
USA	106,193,339	3728.74	142823	5014.91	178,000	62.5
Asia	10,554,632	29.23	156897.8	434.12	117,933	3.33
Europe	15,324,765	191.43	147269	1840.02	143,611	18.23
Oceania	2,731,944	876.38	8467	2720.49	11,945	39.39
WORLD	141,382,198	232.59	502357.6	826.1	500,977	8.51

Source ITU Dec 2002

Where users live in countries with good communications infrastructure and the equipment and resources to maintain it. (e.g. in Latin America, Asia) this information is accessible.  Where they do not, users are hugely disadvantaged.  In all the workshops there was the perception that this concentration on the Internet disadvantages those who still need to rely on ‘traditional’ communications media such as books, paper documents etc., both because the information budgets prioritise electronic communication and do not invest in the traditional modes, and because the Internet doesn’t require the information provider to ‘bespoke’ information so that it is suitable for different users.

Information providers tend to create their own places to locate information rather than build on what already exists (e.g. CSIR), possibly because of issues of control, or because the existing sites aren’t well known/don’t’ operate effectively. But this produces duplication and confusion on the part of users (too many storage sites each one without a distinct and complementary ‘niche’) and is not sustainable both because there aren’t enough funds for all of them, nor enough users to justify the services). In the commercial world ‘takeovers’ and ‘mergers’ happen where a new operator moves in and keeps what is good about the old company, strengthens what is weak, adds shiny bells and whistles that have been shown to work (make a profit) elsewhere, and launches a re-branded product. This could be mimicked for information centres.

Information brokers exist and are accessed by users, who could be ‘stereotyping’ them as suppliers of particular types of e.g. TRL for technical information, ILO ASIST for information on labour based methods IFRTD for information on people working on transport in the south. (This could partly explain why even though participants in the workshops were all aware of all these sources, they were not cited as such)

The ‘stereotyping’ is exacerbated by biases in what organisations think different stakeholders want, so they don’t bother to let them know ‘what else is on offer’. Internet provides some brokerage and creates awareness and demand for non-electronic information (e.g. paper documents)  It helps users know what is out there.  But for the non-internet world they are still victims of what others think they want.   Brokers also tend to promote certain kinds of information over others.  e.g. the IFRTD website discusses issues and documentation related to those issues rather than a general overview of transport information.  Information that is brokered tends to originate in the ‘international community’ rather than be located in the local discourse. 

There is some brokering of information at a national level though networks and communities of practice, particularly in countries like India and Indonesia, and through networking events organised by the Animal Traction Network of Eastern and Southern Africa or IFRTD.  However, the extent to which this happens was not captured by the work carried out in this study. 

Cost has been an issue for some organisations where charges are made for information.  There are also hidden costs in accessing internet information (or even  hard copy information in different locations).  For accessing internet based information these are associated with costs of internet surfing or downloading times, printing costs and time costs due to difficult connections.  Locating hard copy may also require transport and other costs to access libraries and resource centres, and costs of photocopying relevant material.

Engineers and trainers in particular (Zimbabwe and UK) build up contacts and their own ‘yellow pages’ of information suppliers –i.e. where to go to find what information across the spectrum of knowledge to do their jobs. Individuals indicated that they use trusted contacts who are specialists in their subject as a point of entry when looking for new information (e.g. UK consultants from both NGO and engineering groups phoning people they know, or emailing known colleagues; information networks in Harare asking members for other references etc). Making information available to one group therefore will also ‘open the gates’ into other communities.

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