Abstract
Globalisation and population movements are making societies increasingly multicultural. In principle, increased Internet access and the potential of the web for communication and education should bridge cultural boundaries. Yet, cultural and language differences continue to block effective communication and action across different countries, groups, and governmental functions. How can semantics, ontologies, or other approaches address this cultural interoperability problem? How can consistent public services be provided across cultures and languages?
Keywords
socio-cultural inclusion, pan-European services, cultural diversity, multilingualism
Description
Grounding the research on Semantic and cultural interoperability of public services
Globalisation and population movements are making, and will in the future continue to make, European societies increasingly multicultural. Moreover, the creation of the internal European market with the free movement of goods, services, capital and, particularly, people should enable European citizens to enjoy the same civil and social rights and public services regardless of the place of work/residence.
In principle, traditional walls and borders should be disappearing already as a result of increase Internet access and the unprecedented potential of the web as an educational tool. The reality, however, is much more complex, as language and cultural difference and barriers continue to block effective communication in general, and the advancement of eGovernment services in particular. Effective online communication in general and the online delivery of public services in particluar are already difficult within one language and culture, as the low take up of such services demonstrates. It becomes even more challenging when such communication and services have a mixed audience speaking different languages and belonging to different cultures that have different understandings, not only at the higher level of general values but also at the more concrete level of the semantics of basic concepts within the field of public services.
Proof of this difficulty is the very low advancement made so far in terms of Pan-European eGovernment services for citizens of the European Union. The problem is even more acute when considering that European governments should also service permanent residents and/or more temporary/seasonal workers coming from geographic/cultural areas beyond the EU.
If eGovernment research and development could help to overcome this gap, this would represent a strategic contribution for three key reasons. First, to make the free movement of EU citizens a reality in terms of the mobility of civil and social rights and of access to public services. Second, to enable non EU citizens who are permanently and legally residing in any Member State to have culturally facilitated access to the benefits of online public services. Last, but certainly not least, overcoming language and cultural barriers would help the EU government to improve the engagement of immigrants in the public sphere and facilitate their integration, thus reinforcing the common civic values and increasing the social cohesion across different cultures. This is a very important goal given the tensions that have arisen in Europe after 9/11 and the subsequent manipulations of the alleged clash of civilizations.
These barriers, however, cannot be overcome by simply replicating in multiple languages the core online offerings of public services, for one simple reason. In any given country the delivery of online services reflects a repertoire of semantic terms rooted in that country's administrative traditions. At times these result in concepts and communication that are difficult to be fully grasped even by nationals of that country. These concepts would surely be lost in translation and not rendered across cultures. On the other hand, cultural mediation is already difficult in analogue face-to-face exchanges, and, most likely, it would be beyond the capabilities of those designing online public services to come up with such inter-cultural mediation.
The only possible and pragmatic solution can come from the field of semantic/ontology used for interoperability. A good successful example has been the Schengen Information System, that is a culture independent engine working behind the scene, and enabling cross language and culture standardisation.
This, transposed to the field of eGovernment services, is what emerged in the course of the project as the theme of a semantic model of adminstration enabled to manage cultural diversity.
Research question
- How do we design and implement a culturally independent semantic model of public administration as the back-end engine enabling front-end multi-language communication and service delivery?
- How do we replicate the good practice case represented by the Schengen Information System for eGovernment specific domains?
- What kind of ethnographic and cultural studies should be carried out as support actions to the development of the semantic model of administration?
Link to the final eight scenarios
For several of the eight final scenarios the capability to manage cultural diversity and overcome barriers is crucial. It is certainly so in the Orchestrating Government scenario where Europeanization and Inclusive Society are key components. Under this scenario, while government will focus on its core business, it is evident that it will do so by integrating the different cultural components of society. Multicultural integration is even more important within the Ambient Government scenario for straightforward reasons not requiring further explanation. In the Empowering State scenario management of multicultural diversity is also relevant in relation to Europeanization and to a community-wide electronic ID. In these three mentioned scenarios the management of multicultural diversity will be a proactive choice of the government. On the contrary, as a reactive action, management of cultural diversity will be imposed as an essential requirement to governments within both the Individual Society and Transition Period scenarios.
Link to the gaps and gaps storyline
The issue of cultural diversity is addressed mainly in the gaps and gaps storylines falling within the category ?Society? such as ?geographic borders disappear?, ?immigration?, ?tribalism?, ?religious war and conflicts?. Since the storylines of these gaps hint at the possible problems, at times disruptive, that can spring from the increasing cultural diversity, they strongly support the strategic importance of this research theme.
