eCitizen - Stories
Taming the mouse
One of eTampere’s aims was active citizenship. In the language of eTampere this means that all Tampere residents have the opportunity to use new electronic services for their benefit and entertainment. The willingness to use such services is based on the genuine benefit or pleasure they provide. Guidance and training are required to ensure that people have the skill to use these services. Access has been improved by more than 140 internet terminals in central city locations.
Was the mouse tamed? How did citizens find and experience the new electronic world? eTampere collected dozens of stories on this subject. A few examples are presented here.
Sofia Nordman, 10 years
The home of the future
I would like my home to be a normal home where I can raise my children. It would not be an intelligent home but a normal one. I would live in the countryside five kilometres from the city. There would be a warm atmosphere in my home and it would be lovely there. When I would live there, I would do everything myself. I would get in with keys, the coffee would not be ready, I would make it myself, but a cleaner could clean there. I would make the food myself though. I would never want an intelligent home. My Coca Cola wouldn’t go in the fridge if I typed that in my mobile phone, but I would put it there myself in the morning. My home would work with electricity even if there were power cuts. Never an intelligent home.
Lassi Pispa, 11 years
Tampere 2020
I walk over the Tammerkoski bridge and go through a new shopping centre. My eyes catch two skyscrapers. Before Tampere was only half of what it is now. I work at Nokia and life smiles on me. I walk across a park where well looked after trees and flowerbeds are green. Five years ago I was unemployed in Lamminpää. Blocks of flats started to spread to the edges of the city which made me move to the centre and take on bigger assignments. A couple of years ago I was already a wealthy man and a familiar subject of gossip in Tampere’s finest circles, stock prices were rising after I had bought wisely. There are many schools in Tampere and also one of the world’s best known universities after Oxford. I myself went to upper secondary school for many years and was in the average ranks. The Särkänniemi Adventure Park has got many new rides but is close to bankruptcy due to a week-long power cut. Old concrete junk has been replaced with newer skyscrapers and detached houses. Obesity is no problem and diet pills are the thing of the day. Finnish agriculture was about to disappear in 2016 due to too small tomatoes but thanks to Tampere’s good soil, it was possible to grow tomatoes the size of melons, which turned melons into the size of tomatoes.
I walk upstairs and enter my home. The sofa squeaks when I sit on the padding. Now I could tell you about my recent trip to the raisin festival in Hervanta. It all began when… or perhaps not! I am very stressed and decide to jump in my flying car and journey to Helsinki through a star gate.
Martin van Wetten
Shangri e?
The most laughable thing is time. All in all quite an inconceivable restriction of understanding, which hinders philosophers from proving their own existence (does it matter?) and workers from doing two men’s work for one man’s salary. It hinders me from sitting in front of my computer through the night because, in my parents view, 3 a.m. signifies the deadline for my bedtime.
Sitting at the computer and using my mobile are more pleasant pastimes than school or going to sleep. By the way, I bought a new clamshell because my old mobile was already a two-month old model. It would be too embarrassing to show it on the webcam. I spend most time on Messenger and IRC. You can ignore galleries as they’re net elitism, and the point of forums has gone after the teen invasion.
It’s not as if there would be anything to talk about on Messenger. It’s the same kind of place as a café, shopping centre or cinema. You are there in the company of others, silence is a virtue. So I’m mostly stuck on Messenger, and on IRC I can laugh at other people’s stuff for hours. Fortunately my parents keep carrying food to my room which means my intimate online relationships don’t suffer due to unnecessary breaks.
My mother has complained that I no longer meet my friends in the city centre. She thinks it’s not normal to sit at a computer all the time. I think it’s not normal to sit at work all the time. Meeting friends is problematic because I wouldn’t have time to do IRC or Messenger. These magnificent means of communication are too good not to use.
The same goes for my mobile phone. I don’t really make calls because a human voice is so disturbing, but I send a lot of messages. Often there is no actual point to it because I just want to gain the maximum benefit from my text message connection which allows sending a thousand messages for the price of ten euros.
I want to emphasize that people now have all the means they need to achieve their aims. Messenger and IRC are just the right tools to achieve the noble goal of being social.
A spark kindled by Nettikinkerit
“I’d forgotten that there’s also a button for double-clicking. And a long time ago at work my mouse didn’t have this kind of scroller,” says Esko Kuusela at the Nettikinkerit training event.
Kuusela is retired and he is now taking part in eTampere’s Nettikinkerit for the third time. Basic computer use was covered during previous sessions and the theme for the evening is discussion and influence via the internet. Kuusela has previously used the internet mainly to read e-mails. However, the spark to become an active internet user has been kindled.
“The possibilities offered by the internet are quite limitless. I’ve already learned to look for maps from a map service when I’m going somewhere. When planning a holiday I can compare prices and even find a hotel in advance.”
Kuusela has become acquainted with the opportunities for discussion and influence on the City of Tampere website. He considers it to be a channel that suits the purpose well.
“It’s easy to take a stand on the internet. You don’t need to think who to send a letter to, not to speak of paying a visit to any particular official. I think in the future I’ll continue using the opportunity for participation and discussing various topics on sites like the city website.”
The internet replaces the bar
One example of the eTampere programme’s fruitful cooperation with third-sector organizations is Pakin hovi, maintained by Pirkanmaa A Guild, an organization promoting an intoxicant-free lifestyle.
“We turned a boozer into a cosy web lounge where everyone is welcome,” summarizes Jukka Nieminen, chairman of the Pirkanmaa A Guild.
The project also guided the guild’s customers into the world of computers and online services. The project answered a clear need. Everyone should be offered an opportunity to use computers. The lack of home computers among certain population groups increases social inequality. Computer skills are comparable to the ability to read and write, and the computer to eye glasses. The project aimed to remove computer related anxieties and provide guidance in the use of services.
Good results but still a lot to do
Here is one personal viewpoint: “Finding an interesting activity for the spare time previously spent at a bar is an important part of adopting a sober lifestyle. A total change of lifestyle is difficult, but it is the only way. This pastime has also been very helpful to me because I’ve found a lot of information on the internet. I handle my banking easily online. An internet connection costs something of course, but it is very little compared what I used to spend at the bar.”
