Principal Authors: Daniel Pimienta
Date of Publication: 1993-09-01
Date of HTML Modification: 2000-11-22
Original Language: English
Regions: Latin America and the Caribbean
Subjects: Methodology: REDALC
Related Projects: REDALC, LC
Publishing House: Matrix News, 09/93
Type of Document: Publications
See Related Articles

THE  REDALC  METHODOLOGY   FOR  BUILDING   NATIONAL  NETWORKS  IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

By Daniel  Pimienta,  FUNREDES  Director,  Santo-Domingo, 
e-mail: pimienta!daniel@redid.org.do

   This a reduced  version  of  "Research  Networks in Developing
Countries:  not  exactly the same  story!",  a  paper  written in
November 1991,  first  presented in  the  Network  Users Training
Workshop (Santo Domingo,  July 92), and in INET93. The full paper
will  be  part  of  the INET93  proceedings and is  accessible by
e-mail in the GNET archive (FTP xxxxxx0)


ABSTRACT

   This  paper presents  a structured  set of  guidelines to help
start and operate research networks in developing  countries. The
proposed methodology is  the result  of a  combination of studies
and  field  experiences  in  Latin  America  since  1989  (REDALC
Project).  The introduction identifies the implicit model and the
key factors for the success of research networks creation  in the
industrial countries.  A comparison  is made with  the developing
country's  environment   calling  for  a  different  approach.  A
summary  list  of the  activities linked to  network building and
operation is shown which demonstrates that the bulk of activities
is  in  managerial  tasks  rather  than  in  technical  one's.  A
hierarchical  approach  for  problem  solving  is  described with
associated   guidelines.   Some  success  prone  ingredients  are
presented.

I INTRODUCTION

  The traditional success story for network  creation have proven
the unbeatable superiority of the bottom-up approach.  Putting in
place   an initial kernel of  users have always been  followed by
the emergence of  a  nation-wide  network.  The  mechanisms which
allow the growth from the base have usually been considered as an
inherent part of the environment.

  A slight detail, among others, makes the method not necessarily
transferable from  the  industrial  countries  to  the developing
countries: MONEY. 

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESEARCH NETWORKS 

  If one analyzes the growth  factors of  the EARN/BITNET  model,
one will discover,  from the bottom  to the top,  the presence of
this efficient tool:

The money invested  by  large  computer  manufacturers  to offer
telecommunication costs and/or telematic equipments.
The money invested by  governments to keep on paying part of the
telecommunication infrastructure.
The   money   collected  from  subscriptions   by  the  research
institutions,
And maybe,  tomorrow,  more money   by the last group to pay the
bill of transport networks becoming less subsidized... 


   Money was of course not enough.  Some other  factors were keys
to this success:

The    existence    of     good    national    telecommunication
infrastructures.
The  high level of organization  and management  of the research
institutions (mainly universities).
Their capacity for negotiation with the computer  industry.
The existence of  pioneers  who were  able  to  manage the idea,
create the condition of the network emergence, make it happen and
keep the effort ongoing.

  All that process have created a wide consensus among networkers
about  the  validity  of  the  "pragmatic"/"realistic"  bottom-up
approach against the "planned"/"theoretical" top-down approach.

   The only low rated points of the research networking emergence
are the natural consequence of a technology driven situation:

lack of standardization,
low involvement of the end users in the decisions,
few global efforts for structuring the application level.

PROJECTING THE MODEL INTO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
  There are some risks in  projecting the  model which was proven
in  the industrial world  to a quite  different environment.

The lack of money  may prevent the "growth mechanism" to  make a
start-up realization evolve naturally toward a national solution,

The time  is coming when  research networks are evolving  into a
market  driven pattern,  where the managing power and  the budget
expenses will drastically switch  from networking infrastructures
toward end-users  and  services  (training,  support, interfaces,
applications).  The time frame context is  different:  why should
the networks be built now the same way as 10 years ago?  

The  differences in  the  socio-economic  environment  should be
analyzed and considered.

AN APPROPRIATE METHODOLOGY

  This paper aims to identify the factors which argue for a  more
balanced approach (in between the top-down and  the bottom-up) in
developing countries.  Derived from  that,  a methodological tool
is  presented,  which has been  successfully applied  in two real
cases   (Peru  and  Dominican  Republic),   and  may  be  largely
applicable elsewhere. Readers from other regions have to evaluate
if the  conditions are similar  enough so that  it is applicable.
Obviously,  the necessary cultural adaptation must be provided by
network builders in exporting the methodology.

II BACKGROUND

  The  proposed  methodology is  the result of a  set of in-depth
studies conducted,  since 1988,  by the author, his team and  his
partners in Latin America  and the Caribbean (LAyC).  REDALC (Red
de America Latina  y el Caribe)  is a project  initiated by Union
Latina,  an International   Organization aiming at the defense of
languages  and cultures  derived from  Latin.  The REDALC project
looks  after a steady,  regional and  comprehensive  solution for
research networks.  The studies started in Europe in 1988. An EEC
funding  was obtained in 1990  for a  two years feasibility study
in the field,  in  cooperation between Union  Latina,  Unesco and
ACAL   (Academia de Ciencia de America Latina). Other  activities
of the  REDALC team are: 
 
impact study about research network in French West Indies, 
coordination   of  some  distribution   lists,   in  particular,
REDALC@FRMOP11.CNUSC.FR,   for   professional   exchanges   about
research and networks in LAyC.
development of  a PC-based,  multi-lingual,  network independent
interface (MULBRI),
contributing to national networks (Peru, Dominican Republic, and
next,  Haiti).
organization of workshops for training network users,
various publications  or  conferences related to  networking and
its  social  impact.

  September first,  1993, the Redalc Office is being transformed,
with the support of  Union  Latina,   into  an  international NGO
named FUNREDES  (Foundation Networks  and Development)  aiming at
the promotion of  Computer  Mediated  Communication in developing
countries.

III INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES VS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

   Hereafter are collected various figures  to provide the reader
with  the   magnitude of  the  basic  figures  involved   and the
differences between both   environments. All these figures are to
be taken  as  average  estimates  for  units,  with  the accepted
limitation that there is no such  a thing as  an average country.
They represent the implicit building foundations  of the national
research networks.   The importance  of  the  observed difference
calls for different models in each environment.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x                    COMPARISON IC vs DC                        x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x     I T E M                     x    I C       x    D C       x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x RESEARCHER BELONGS    N1        x ACADEMIC     x DISPERSED    x
x                                 x              x              x
x RESEARCHER JOB PROFILE          x FULL-TIME    x PART TIME    x
x                                 x ONE JOB      x SEVERAL JOBS x
x                                 x              x              x
x RESEARCHER SALARY               x 1000 US$     x 100 US$      x
x                                 x              x              x
x RATIO RESEARCHER PER INHAB.     x 1/1000       x 1/10000      x
x                                 x              x              x
x RATIO NETWORK BUDGET TO STATE   x              x NON          x
x EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (N2)     x MARGINAL     x MARGINAL     x
x                                 x              x              x
x RESEARCH INSTITUTION INFRA-     x              x              x
x STRUCTURE  (N3)                 x FAIR         x CRITICAL     x
x                                 x              x              x
x AFFORDABLE COST PER USER FOR    x              x              x
x NATIONAL NETWORK  (N4)          x 1000 US$     x 100 US$      x
x                                 x              x              x
x NATION-WIDE X25 OR VAN NETWORK  x MATURE       x NEW OR NONE  x
x                                 x              x              x
x OTHER COMMUNICATION MEDIAS      x              x              x
x (telephone, mail, fax)          x FAIR         x CRITICAL     x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


NOTES:

N1:  It  is  worth  noticing  the  special  role  played  by  Non
Governmental  Organisations (NGO's)  as an  alternative place for
researchers.

N2:  The telecommunications are the largely  predominant  part of
the   visible side of the yearly operational budgets. 

N3:  This refers  to  the appropriate characteristics in  term of
budget,   administrative  and  managerial  skills,  computer  and
telecommunication    infrastructures  to  set  up,   operate  and
maintain a node.

N4:  As example,  the building of the Porto Rico research network
(CRACIN)  consumed a budget of approximately US$ 20 Million.  The
same amount  is sufficient to  build a Latin  America proprietary
regional  backbone  which  would  decrease  the telecommunication
yearly operational costs,  says  only  few  hundreds  of thousand
US$  per year,  for  the whole  region.  The  figure  is obtained
assuming a  satellite  transponder   provided  by  the  region as
counterpart   to    an   International   Agency   investment   in
terrestrial equipments and technology transfer costs.  Porto Rico
have 2000 some users and the whole region an estimate 200,000.


IV HOW TO OBTAIN THE BUDGETS FOR BUILDING  AND OPERATING NETWORKS
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?

  The  three  following  alternatives  does  not  bring the right
solution.

1)   Directly from the end-users.

  While,  researchers from  the industrial  countries have  never
been asked to contribute as end-users, there is a perceived trend
in developing countries for such pattern. It is possible to argue
that  the communication are  cheaper  (and  more  reliable) using
data  communication  than  traditional  means  (telephone, telex,
fax).   But is  it fair to  have third world  researchers pay the
bill  which their counterparts  in  the industrial  world had and
still  have  subsidized?  The  user  toll  model would lead  to a
"only-who-can-pay-research  network"  reserved  to  a minority of
third world wealthy  universities.  Is  that  the  real  credo of
networking?  

2)   Directly from the user Institutions.   

  The large majority of research centers cannot  afford it, while
there is  a general agreement on  the  need  for  networks  to be
democratically and openly  accessed.  It is  fair and recommended
to  have  the  Institutions  participated  to  the administrative
costs,  but  it  is  questionable  to  have  them  subsidize  the
telecommunication part.

3)  From Public Authorities.
  
  Of course, the Governments should participate in financing such
activities prone to contribute to the global development.  But it
is  very  difficult for them  to  support it  all:  they  have to
complete more urgent tasks in the Education and  Research fields,
with  narrow  budgets.   For  instance,  they  must  improve  the
alphabetization rate and complete the creation of basic education
infrastructures (including teacher's salary).

4) From the  computer industry? 

  EARN start-up costs in the order of  ten millions  of US $ were
obtained,  between 1985 and 1987, thanks to an IBM grant  for the
international telecommunication   costs.  Later,  other companies
like Digital participated,  and it becomes traditional to observe
the financial support from the computing industry. However, times
have changed and the benefits have become thinner lately for that
market segment!  And, anyway, the forecasted return of investment
does not justify "no free lunch gifts" of that level of magnitude
for most developing countries.

   Three alternatives remain applicable together:

1)  Regional Integration.  

  Substantial   economies  scale  could  be  realized by building
regional  transport  infrastructures  in  a  coordinated fashion.
Furthermore,  regional  agreements  should  be  set  up  for  the
leverage    of    taxes    on    national    and    international
telecommunications  used  for  research  networks.  Last  but not
least,   dedicating  channels  in  a  regional  satellite  is  an
appropriate  way to  offer   a  regional  stable  and independent
solution.   

   For developing regions,  integration is an immediate financial
urgency.  Furthermore,  networking is a typical  area where inter
regional,  and  more  generally,  south-south  cooperation should
apply.  

2)   Dealing  with  Telecommunication  Operators.   

   Most  developing  countries  have  very  recent   data network
infrastructures or are on their way to build  them, together with
value added services.  The  telecommunication infrastructures are
essential  for the country development  and   what  has  been the
rule  in  the  industrial  world  (lack  of  cooperation  between
networkers  and  telecommunication   operators)  is  unacceptable
there.  Furthermore,  the  interest  of  the  data  communication
operators is to use that small market  segment which such  a huge
multiplicative effect on the whole market (university  teachs the
future  decision  makers  of  the business  world).  The offer of
special  discounts to  the researcher  community could be  a wise
solution   to  help  solve the  chicken  and  egg  syndrome which
prevents the arising of  the  telematic  market.    

  Networks  are a crucial   area of common  interests between the
telecommunication  market  players,  the   world  of  science and
technology and, eventually, the whole development area.

3) Multilateral Cooperation
 
  This is probably the only way to trigger the financial process.
The  International Agencies   may provide the  funding to fulfill
the basic regional infrastructure and act as a  reinforcing agent
for the two first factors, within regional programs frameworks.


V A PRIVATE  HOT TUB VS  A PUBLIC SWIMMING POOL:  INTRODUCING THE
TASK OF BUILDING A NETWORK 

  There is a common  mistaken idea  which results from a dogmatic
faith about the bottom-up magics.  Create a node with  few users,
connect it to another network  and you eventually  get a national
network.  The transformation requires  a lot of  organization and
engineering, and indeed, a lot of money!    

  Let us make the analogy of the difference between a hot tub and
a swimming pool.  You can be wet in both of them.  Yet, it is not
very  realistic  to  believe  that  you  can  offer  a collective
bathing service to  a large user  community ...  in your personal
hot tub!  

   And beware your plumber if this  person tells  you there is no
technical problem to transform your hot tub into a swimming pool.
The most delicate problem may not be the water  delivery but some
management one's where your plumber is not skilled for, like, for
instance:

marketing the customers requirements in term of bathing,
defining a billing scheme for the  pool and other facilities,
offering swimming teachers and watching teams,
organizing the administration of the business,
insuring  the  quality  of  the  water,   the  security  of  the
customers, and,   their privacy for changing clothes,
determining,   from   the   traffic   the   pattern   for  water
purification,
preparing to  solve new  customer  requirements  (towel, drinks,
foods, music, sun bathing, etc.).

    Finally,  you  realize  that   the  work   to  transform your
apartment in  a public establishment  is such than  you decide to
consider the problem professionally.

   This  analogy does not mean to make wet the intents of seeding
networking  by  small realizations.  They  are   required actions
participating to  the learning  curve process.  The  point  is to
avoid the confusion between a  ten  users  e-mail  system  with a
nation-wide solution! 

  A  bad habit has been  created of  flagging the countries which
have network access with no consideration of percentage of served
users.  This  is  a consequence  of  the  weird solution-oriented
inventory method:  counting the nodes. Who really cares about the
number of  nodes?  Computers products  salespersons!  What really
matters  is the number of  users! 

  They  are many  steps to building a  national research network,
and   while  the  set  up  of  the  technical  infrastructure  is
important,  it  is    predictable time  and  money-wise  and only
represent  a  small  part  of  the  whole  investment.  The tasks
involving  organization  and  human  relations,  being  much less
deterministic, are more exposed to delays or failures.  

*****************************************************************
* Building a network has much more to do with the gathering of  *
* people under a common and structured organizational   scheme  *
* than installing hardwares and software!                       *
*****************************************************************

VI WHAT IS A RESEARCH NETWORK?

  A research network is a  set of telematic services offered to a
large user population. Beyond the setting up of the nodes and the
connections a set of necessary tasks need  be  performed, without
being exhaustive:

Users base and needs identification (diagnostic, quantification,
population growth pattern recognition, surveys, directories,...).
Users federation within an associative structure (status, rules,
partnerships...).
Users   awareness   and   diffusion   strategy.
Users training and permanent education.
Users support (documentation, help desks, ...),
Users and Service administration  (profile management, security,
confidentiality,...).
Services  Operation  (connections  and  node supervision),
Financial management (accounting and  budget),
Maintenance (prevention, detection, problem solving,...)
Traffic  Analysis  and  networks  resource  provisioning  (phone
lines,  X25  ports,  international  links,  memory  requirements,
modems,...).

   Beyond  the  basic  functions  of  e-mail, distribution lists,
conferences,   remote logging,   file transfer, special attention
must be paid,  from the beginning, on the application level (user
and conferences directories, information networks, data bases).

   Such a system is characterized by its quality  of service. The
quality is a concept  which summarize the global  user perception
with regard to the various components:

system availability (24 hours a day, 7 days a week),
system  reliability (the confidence than  the data  does not get
lost),
response times,
maintenance (mean time  between failure,  mean  time  to solve a
problem),
users interface  quality  (time  to  learn  them,  ease  of use,
functionality),
users support  quality  (mean  time  to  solve  a  user problem,
confidence by  the user  that  his/her problem be  considered and
fixed,  clarity  and  effectiveness  of  the documentation),
quality of resource provisioning (if there is  too much  of them
compared to the real traffic  the bill is too high, if not enough
it can seriously affect  other quality factors  such  as response
time or availability),
migrability (ability to plan and conduct harmonious  upgrades in
answer to  technology moves and traffic increase),
system security.
 
   These quality concepts  translate in  complex engineering  and
managing requirements on  the  system,  like for  instance:
system modeling and/or benchmarking,
system components duplication,
remote maintenance procedures,
back-up and recovery procedures,
queuing theory modeling for resource provisioning,
telecommunication interfaces (protocols and hardware) strategy,
least cost routing strategy,
plan and control procedures.

   The  fundamental objective  is  to  serve  the  maximum of the
potential users at  an  appropriate trade-off level  between cost
and quality.
VII  GUIDELINES FOR BUILDING A NETWORK IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES


 7.1 INTRODUCTION

    We are presenting,  as "REDALC methodology",  the result of a
process which has gone through:

an in-depth diagnostic phase in the field, (1990) 
the conceptualizing of a model, (1991)
a first field experiment in Peru, (end of 1991)
the integration of the first experiment in  the conceptual model
(beginning of 1992),
a second field experiment in the Dominican Republic (mid-1992),
a final conceptualizing step.

    Neither  of  the  two  countries  in  the  experiment  can be
considered as "easy".  Peru,  for the size of the research world,
the complex socio-cultural  situation,  and the dense  history of
trials in networking. In the Dominican Republic, the smaller size
and  the  good  telecommunication  environment  made  it simpler,
however the networking  learning  curve  has   to  be  drawn from
scratch, and the researchers are not identified and organized. 

  The methodological tool includes three basics:

1)  PROBLEM SOLVING  PRIORITY SCHEME:  A logical and hierarchical
grouping  of  the type of problems,  usable as  a priority scheme
tool.

2) STEPS: A chronological organization of the development, usable
as a task scheduling tool.

3)   OTHER  INGREDIENTS:   An identification  of  the appropriate
ingredients which contribute to success.
7.2   PROBLEM SOLVING  PRIORITY SCHEME

   The problems should be treated  with descending priority  from
the  top to the  bottom of the pyramid  presented hereafter.


V                               .
I                          INSTITUTION  
I                   
I                    O R G A N I Z A T I O N 
I  
I                F    I    N    A    N    C    E
I
I      T      E      C      H       N      I      C      S
I
V


INSTITUTION:   What institutional model?  What areas of the civil
society  participate  to  the  project?   Under  what  terms  and
conditions? What types of relationship do they maintain together,
with  the  Public  Administration,   with  the  Telecommunication
Operator, and with other regional networks?

ORGANIZATION:   What   form  of   Institution?   What   model  of
development?  What model of  operation?  

FINANCE: How to get the money? How to expend it? 

TECHNICS:   What   network   architecture   and   design?    What
implementation choices?

 The hierarchy is based on these sometimes forgotten evidences:

It is not very satisfactory  to create a perfect  technical plan
if there is  no money  to finance it.  Technical arguments hardly
help to obtain the money for a project!

Having the money and the  right  technical  model,   without the
appropriate organization,  there is a risk  of  wasting the money
without  getting the result  done.  Next time  it is going  to be
tougher to receive the same money!

Having the technical solution, the money to purchase it, and the
right organization structure,  without the political  will to get
across  the  development  is  probably  the  most   blocking  and
frustrating situation! 

   This pyramid does not necessarily imply  a chronological order
for problem solving,  but it  does  imply a priority  scheme .

   Next,   are associated   the  corresponding   guidelines  with
each layer of the pyramid.


7.2.1 INSTITUTIONAL LAYER
 

Associate  in the same project institutions from  all the  areas
which  host  researchers:  Public  or  Private  Universities  and
Academic Research Centers, Public Administration Research Centers
and Councils, Non Governmental Organizations (NGO), International
Agencies.  Have each area represented in the  development process
by at least some institutions.

Manage a good trade-off for the development  process, maximizing
both the level of independence   from each group and the level of
participation. 

Involve  directly  active  researchers  (future  end-users)  and
obtain,  on the way,  political support  from  their institutions
both in the project and  their  representativeness.

  These three objectives represent together the biggest challenge
of  the whole  process.  In  complying  them,  one  may discover,
afterward,  that building  a networking  user  group have another
important  hidden  content:  it  participates to the  building of
institutionalism   within the country (the lack of institution is
the crude diagnostic for under development).  

Use,  as a constant guideline for decision making,  the regional
integration factor.

Look  for International  Agencies  and/or  bilateral cooperation
support   in  a   non   exclusive   fashion,   and  manage,  with
independence, the federation of contributions.

Participate   in   the   promotion   of   the    national   data
telecommunication  sector.   Integrate  representatives  of  this
sector in the process and negotiate  the best level of support in
term of tariffs for national X25 access and international links.

Develop cooperative relationship with the industrial sector.

Maintain,  as a side-objective,  the support to the  Science and
Technology domain.  In countries where exist official  and strong
structure,  try  not to  appear  as a  competitive structure, and
explain  that  the  constitution  of  a  user   group  with  good
parthership will help their job.

7.2.2 ORGANIZATIONAL LAYER

Organize the participation of the end-users in each step  of the
development.

Put all the concerned Institutions  at  the  same  level  in the
final organization.

Offer  the  same  level   of  rights  and   obligations  to  the
Institutions coming after the foundation.

Establish  a  consensual  juridical  form  on  non-profit making
Association.  For  the legal   statutes  of  the association, use
models from  other countries  and  adapt  them.

Start with an informal and open  step where the institutions are
non officially represented by motivated future end-users.

Only start to formalize the juridical structure  when there is a
good level of consensus and a good level of participation.

Consider user  training  as  a priority  compared  to technician
training. In countries with a large user base, train teachers.

Consider from the  beginning the integration within  the network
of  national information  networks.  Use the momentum to catalyze
the building of new ones.
 
Change from an "assembly" to a "committee" pattern  when a sound
coordination   group  is   formed.

Maintain global information and transparence of the coordination
group activities.

Be organized to start  the technology transfer  and introduce it
as part of any third party agreement.


7.2.3 FINANCIAL LAYER

Look for International Agencies or bilateral cooperation support
for the development and the training.

Reach  the  maximum  support  from   National  Telecommunication
Operators.

Try as much as possible to have your international  traffic flow
via a neighboring country.

Ask  for time  limited free  offering  for commercial Scientific
Data Bases from the main vendors.

Negotiate from  national  industries  the budget for operational
costs.

Obtain hardware gifts  from vendors.  As a rule of the thumb, it
is much  preferable  to  receive money  support  or  to formulate
sponsor  requirements  than  to  receive non  requested donations
(beware the situation where  the gift induce additional  costs in
equipment   higher  than  the  price  of  a  complete appropriate
solution).  

Establish  sub-regional   and   regional   agreements   for  the
minimization of international connection costs.

If exist regional training structures functioning, use them. 

Keep  some  level of  auto-financing   as a sane  objective, and
establish  an  Institution subscription  fee  as  well  as priced
additional services.  It is  hopeless to gather  enough money for
all  operational costs,  but it  does  make sense  to balance the
association administrative budget.

7.2.4 TECHNICAL LAYER
 

Minimize the number of nodes. For countries where users count in
few thousands try to manage a unique node model.

Use UUCP as the more affordable entry solution. Introduce TCP-IP
in the plan and stay open for OSI out-coming.

If  there  is  a  reliable  X25  network,  enforce  its  use for
accessing the node.  If  not,  and  if  the  telephone  system is
particularly  in   bad  shape,  consider a VSAT hub system  as an
alternative.

At the user level,  encourage the use of PC's as the natural way
of accessing the node.  Look after the   most appropriate free PC
interface available.


7.3  STEPS

    Five main steps are distinguished: sensitization, conception,
development, initial use and stable use.


7.3.1 SENSITIZATION

START:
      Whenever somebody  shows the interest  of research networks
      to some part of the research community, be at a personal or
      institutional level.
END:  
      When  every potential user  has reached the right  level of
      awareness. This step will stay on for quite a while!
OBJECTIVE:  
      Attain  the maximum potential user  awareness from  all the
      targeted sectors.
KEY WORDS: 
      Learning curve. Awareness. 
TASKS:  
      Operations of  demonstration  and  promotion  via different
      type  of  media.   Direct  contacts  with  key  people  and
      Institutions.
CRITICAL  PATH:  
      Maintain the motivation  of the first  interested people if
      the process is slow.  Trade-off between the will to satisfy
      the created expectations and the awaiting  of  the critical
      mass.
COMMENTS:  
      Depending  of the maturity of  the country the  process may
      stay at  this  level  from  several  months  to  few years.
      Advantage should be taken of  this step to  build a pattern
      of   mutual   understanding   with   the  telecommunication
      operators.  
      
      7.3.2 CONCEPTION

START:   
      When there is an homogeneous,  representative and motivated
      group of end-users ready to meet toward generic objectives.
STOP:  
      When the critical mass of participating users is  such that
      the need  appears for task  division  in various committees
      and  coordination by a steering committee.
OBJECTIVE:  
      Form a user group.  Create consensus within the  user group
      on the main global objectives of the process.
KEY WORD:  
      Participation.
TASKS: 
      Large  group   meeting   to  obtain   agreement   on  basic
      principles.  Global diagnostic and strategy for the various
      components. 
CRITICAL PATH:  
      The  managing  of  group  dynamic  phenomenon  in  term  of
      struggle for power, leadership or hidden interests.
COMMENTS:  
      An  action  plan  with  the right  timing  is  necessary to
      maintain  the necessary momentum.  The  process consists of
      progressively   transform   the   unstructured   levels  of
      intention of  the participating  users  into  organized and
      articulated committees with very  concrete objectives. Note
      that  the nature  of  the process is  as  important  as the
      results,  in  the  sense  that  it  builds  the  user group
      dynamics by itself.
  
7.3.3 DEVELOPMENT

START:  
      When   sub-groups  meet  toward  specific  and  coordinated
      objectives.
STOP: 
      When both the user Association and the network services are
      launched. 
OBJECTIVE: 
      Form the user Association and the network services.
KEY WORDS: 
      Objectives.Action. 
TASKS:  
      Build a coordinated action plan.  Complete all the elements
      for  the association  (statutes,  logo,  signatures, etc.).
      Prepare  international,  regional  and national agreements.
      Make the technical  solution  functioning.  Obtain national
      financial support.
CRITICAL PATHS: 
      Maintain a high level of user participation  while changing
      to a more hierarchical  form of organization.  Maintain the
      active transparency pattern from the  steering committee to
      the  whole group.  Obtain Institutional support  for a user
      group.  Reach  the  right  mixture  of  people  skills  and
      institutions  in  the  steering  committee.  
COMMENT:  
      This is a no joke step!  There are a lot of thing to do and
      this is a point of  no  return,  after take-off is reached.
      The group have to go from a spectator to  an actor pattern.
      This is very selective: during this step the key people are
      going to  appear,  able to  incorporate the first  board of
      directors of the association. 

7.3.4 INITIAL USE

START: 
      When  network services are ready.
STOP:  
      When the number of active users cross the threshold  of 10%
      of the potential base and a stable  operating budget  is in
      place.
OBJECTIVE:    
      Checking  the basic elements  of  the  model  and adjusting
      parameters.
KEY  WORDS:  
      User training and support. Tuning  of parameters. 
TASKS:  
      Formalize  pending  agreements.   Execute  systematic  user
      training  plans.   Organize  user   support.  Organize  the
      association infrastructure. Organize a systematic diffusion
      scheme. Set up a growth plan.  Organise a distribution list
      to make the research emigration participate.
CRITICAL PATH:  
      Create new habits for user support and avoid  the telephone
      bottleneck.  Maintain  the  participation  after  the  main
      result is obtained. Avoid the last mile problem. 

7.3.5 STABLE USE

START: 
      When the network service is stabilized and  the user growth
      reach a steady pattern.
STOP: 
      Hopefully never...
OBJECTIVE:   
      Increase  the quality of  the  network  services  and serve
      additional user requirements.
TASKS:  
      All the tasks involved in network operation.
CRITICAL  PATH:   
      The user satisfaction. The installation of applications.
COMMENT: 
      This is not the subject of this paper.

7.4  DRIVING PATTERNS  AND OTHER  INGREDIENTS

   Some  ingredients  have  been  identified  which   are  key in
maintaining   the cohesion and the dynamics of the user group.

7.4.1 A right trade-off between leadership and participation.

   The  leader  should  be  an   experimented  networker  with an
orientation toward the  end-user and clearly  identified as above
or  aside  the  sectorial  interests.   A  lot  of  communicating
enthusiasm is required,   as  well as good negotiating skill, and
the ability to make the others collectively participate.

   Developing people participation without economic incentives is
not an easy task.  The success  elements are the  ability to make
people  feel  they  are participating to  a  nation-wide priority
action and a permanent attitude of active transparency.  The last
one  is  a   painful task  (calling large  and frequent meetings,
reproducing and distributing information)  to perform without the
use of e-mail!  It is strongly recommended to open a   BBS or any
other national e-mail mechanism.

7.4.2  A right trade-off between people and Institutions.

7.4.3 A federative attitude implemented in the acts.

   It is   key to obtain,  as far as possible, the identification
and implication of all the persons who have an  history of trying
to  build networks  in  the country and to  make  all the current
intents join a national coordinated effort.

  In case of competitive situation:
negotiate with the competitive group to try to federate efforts,
if the negotiation succeeds,  do integrate  (vs  assimilate) the
originality of the federate actions (and, of course, the people),
if the negotiation fails,  maintain  in the  facts a cooperative
and transparent attitude.

*****************************************************************
*   The  real goal is  to give access  to the  maximum number of*
*satisfied users.  Every  solution  which  participates  to this*
*objective    should    be    treated    with     respect    and*
*cooperation.                                                   *
*****************************************************************

************************************************************
* One should never forget that, eventually, each solution  *
* will  be measured in term of the satisfied user bases    *
* and not in term of  national or  international political *
* alliances.                                               *
************************************************************

7.4.4  An efficient participation of national networkers residing
in foreign countries having network access.

   Use  must be made  of national researcher  residing in foreign
countries  to  support  the  effort.   They  are  key  to  create
communication traffic for the initial use step, they can help new
networkers from their country found their way in  the matrix, and
later one,  they may channels a lot of  cooperative exchanges. It
is strongly recommended to maintain and publish  user directories
as soon as possible.

7.4.5 The use of south-south cooperation 

VIII CONCLUSION

   This paper  will  hopefully  become  obsolete  in  a few years
time-frame,  when all the countries will have a large  number  of
users  accessing research  networks.  Once  this  is  done, other
challenges  await  the  networkers  to  make  their  users  fully
satisfied,  like,  for  instance:

enhance user interfaces,
keep on  with  the  technology,  
develop  applications,   
maintain directories, 
provide good training and user support,
participate to the regional integration.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

   This  paper presents  the synthesis  of   a  part  of years of
personal and team  activities.  Several  people have participated
directly  or  indirectly  in  the  conceptualizing  of  the ideas
generated by the REDALC Project.  Jose Soriano, actual Manager of
the Red Cientifica  Peruana,  has more specifically contribute to
the theme.

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