10.2190/3TNB-BYR0-1E8Y-9XJU 3TNBBYR01E8Y9XJU 3 Citizen Utilization of Networking Technology: A National Environment Information System 37 46 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 3TNBBYR01E8Y9XJU.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=3TNBBYR01E8Y9XJU 1 Raymond Maurice Meta Information Applications The effectiveness of citizen participation in complex decision making can be enhanced by citizen access to modern computer systems. Such systems, refered to as networking technologies, allow for the rapid, simultaneous, interactive manipulation and storage of large numbers of inputs and outputs from and to diverse sources. Citizen groups and public interest organizations are currently involved in a variety of activities whose effectiveness could be increased by participation in a shared national environment information system. Some specific uses of the system, problems of development, and next steps are discussed.

James D. Carroll, "Participatory Technology," Science, 171, 547-653, Feb. 19, 1971.

Frank M. Potter, Jr., "Pollution and the Public," The Center Magazine, May, 1970.

Hazel Henderson, "Computers: Hardware of Democracy," Forum 70, pp. 22-51.

Richard A. Carpenter, "Information for Decisions in Environmental Policy," Science, 168, 1316-1322.

Edward M. Arnett, "Computer-Based Chemical Information Services" Science, 170, No. 3965, 1370-1376, December 25, 1970.

Social scientists are just beginning to turn their attention to the growth of new technologies. For a theoretical overview of the growth process of new technologies see: Camilla Auger, A Developmental Approach to the Study of New Technologies, Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University.

See: Directory of Environmental Pollution Information and Data Programs. Ad Hoc Committee for the Study of Environmental Quality Information Programs (SEQUIP) in the Federal Government. Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President, July, 1970. There are a number of existing as well as proposed information services which utilize computer technologies. However, few of these programs call for the interactive networking of users into a shared data base, although most call for information retrieval capabilities of some sort. Most uses of new networking technologies have been used in old-fashioned ways, and potential applications of future networking technology show a similar lack of imagination. Some communications specialists conceive of them as new reasons for the consolidation of power, e.g., feedback to the government through cable TV or greater social control through matching of dossiers from diverse data banks. What has been overlooked is their potential for social change. The more interesting applications seem to be emerging in movement type organizations and activist circles where interpersonal networking performs a crucial function and networking technologies are logical extensions of existing forms.

Ronald G. Havelock, Planning for Innovation, Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1969. Presents a comprehensive review and synthesis of studies of the utilization and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Most studies place the consumer at the tail end of the innovation process. Whether citizen applications of new networking technologies will reverse this trend remains to be seen.

Philip M. Boffrey, "Nader and the Scientists: A Call for Responsibility," Science, 171, No. 3971, 549-551, Feb. 12, 1971. See also, as examples, the work of The Council on Economic Priorities, based in Washington and New York.

Earth Day was organized in 1970 by Environmental Action, Inc., a Washington based national mobilization group. This year several organizations, including the Conservation Foundation, Environment!, Friends of the Earth, The Population Institute, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and Zero Population Growth have joined with Environmental Action to proclaim Earth Week. This year's theme will emphasize decentralized local action. Other groups plan the establishment of regional "Advocacy" centers and still other groups have formed networks of association, not to mention the numerous coalitions formed around specific issues. The problem still remains, however, of devising a system which would provide accurate, up-to-date information to citizen groups at the local level in time for the information to be useful and effective.

Groups involved in litigation include, for example, the Sierra Club, The Environmental Defense Fund, the Citizens' Committee for the Hudson Valley, and the newly formed Natural Resources Defense Council. The drafting of the Environmental Bill of Rights legislation in New York State involved major citizen effort.

Scientists' Institute for Public Information, The League of Women Voters, and the Junior League all have major research and information-dissemination programs related to environmental problems.

See, for example, the work of the Environmental Planning Lobby in New York, or at the national level, the result of the First Congress on Optimum Population and Environment (to be published by McGraw-Hill), or the work of the Environmental Defense Fund.

A good example is Environment!-an action group which mobilized a public demonstration against the opening of the Automobile Show in New York City in March, 1970.

For example, the activities of The League of Conservation Voters or Friends of the Earth.

The Public Broadcasting Environment Center, for example, has an ambitious proposed program of dissemination of environmental information and education; cooperation with such a public agency would be essential for citizen group effectiveness.

Such a list is currently being prepared by Environmental Resources, Inc.

For example, the group might examine the resources of the World Environmental Legal Data Bank and Research Center and, hopefully, utilize them in such a project.

A proposal growing out of the recent workshop on Information and Public Opinion at the recent Congress on Optimum Population and Environment.

The United Nations is currently preparing a world Target Audience Data Bank Service. See: Center for Economic and Social Information: CESI/PC. 69-13, 8 December 1969.

Several groups have developed indexing systems for environmental materials, e.g., Scientists Institute for Public Information, Northwestern Students for a Better Environment, Ecology Forum, and the Environment Information Services Project.

Everett M. Hafner, John M. Fowler, and Curtis A. Williams, Environmental Education 1970, Scientists' Institute for Public Information Workbook.

See National Science Foundation's Program to Support Student Initiated Research on the Environment.

A number of individuals and organizations have formally supported the early phases of the Information Services Project; they include: Environment! The Natural Area Council, The Kaplan Fund, and the Conservation Foundation.

See, for example, Eugene Litwak and Lydia F. Hylton Interorganizational Analysis: A hypothesis on Co-ordinating Agencies, in Amitai Etzioni, A Sociological Reader on Complex Organizations, Second Edition, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.