Syndicate: Opening Transatlantic Information Exchange Service

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl>]

On May 11th, in the framework of the EU-US Summit of London, the new
Transatlantic Information Exchange Service (TIES) opened to the public
(http://www.tiesnet.org). A presentation for EU and US Ambassadors,
officials and journalists is organised by the Foreign Office at the
European Representation in London on May 11th from 10am till 12am.

TIES is a meta-website whose aim is to serve the development of civil
society partnerships and cooperations between the EU and the USA.

As TIES president, Franck BIANCHERI (President of Prometheus-Europe), puts it:
"TIES is the first of its kind. TIES is pioneering technological and social
engineering at the crossroads of three major trends of the next decades:
 - internet
 - transcontinental cooperation
 - civil society empowerment in international relations.
TIES is opening a new way to buid "people to people" transcontinental
cooperations; and it is opening it with the civil society actors themselves
as TIES is implemented by dozens of associations, universities,
foundations, ... .".

Born in May 1997 at the "Bridging the Atlantic: People to People
Conference" of Washington, TIES is currently supported financially by the
USIA, the European Commission and the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry. Since
that date, the European Parliament as well as the European Presidency (with
yesterday the Netherlands and Luxemburg, today the United Kingdom and
tomorrow Austria) are also bringing a crucial support to the development of
TIES.
More Member-States intend to support TIES financially in the next weeks as
well as several EU and US foundations and companies. TIES 98 budget is
680.000$ of which the USIA and the European Commission have contributed for
120.000$ each.

Very concretely, as Nanette LEVINSON (Dean of American University), General
Secretary of TIES, explains:
"TIES is allowing associations, universities, schools, foundations, local
authorities in the EU and in the US to build a transatlantic bridge of
their own by getting access for free to information about:
- where to find funds supporting EU-US cooperations (pubic and private)
- which cooperations do already exist in their area of interest between the
EU and the US - which are the potential partner organisations
- what are the best practices concerning EU-US network management
- How to use the new information technologies in order to  build efficient
and cheap EU/US cooperations?
TIES may help deepening, at the civil society level, the EU and US relations."

Marleen STIKKER (Director of the Society for Old and New Media), the TIES
webdirector, underlines 'TIES constitutes a very advanced information and
communication system enabling people to build communities. TIES is based on
one of the first membership based databases. Its content is created by its
members as they are responsible for their own entries'. The TIES website is
located in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and developed by Society for Old and New
Media and Digital City Amsterdam. It will have a mirror site in Grand
Rapids (Michigan).

TIES content is organised by sections (education, environment, seniors, ...)
supported each of them by a working group gathering several EU and US
organisations working in this very field.

For its public launch in London, TIES will exhibit two projects developed
by the Library of Congress with European partners, called 'Germans in
America', and 'The Luxemburgers in America' which provide a first
historical and cultural background to 'Family TIES'. This section will be
fully developped for the next "EU-US 'People to People Conference' to be
held in October 1998 in Vienna.
With the support of other libraries and research institutions in Europe and
the United States, TIES intend to develop similar virtual exhibitions for
each EU Member-State.


Mylene van Noort, mailadres: mylene@waag.org
Maatschappij voor Oude en Nieuwe Media / Society for Old and New Media
De Waag, Nieuwmarkt 4, 1012 CR Amsterdam
Tel: 020-5579806
Fax: 020-5579880
URL: http://www.waag.org