Lithuania - Internet Program
An effort to increase Internet access in a country through partnerships with a wide variety of partners
Partners: Various programs of the Soros foundations network, universities, Parliament, and local organisations
The Open Society Fund-Lithuania (OSFL) started its Internet Program in early 1995 as a result of a two-year grant provided by the Regional Internet Program (RIP) of the Open Society Institute (OSI) and the EuroFaculty. The EuroFaculty, which was founded at the initiative of the Foreign Ministers of Denmark and Germany in 1993, assists the reform of higher education in law, economics, public administration, and political science at the Baltic universities.
This initial project, called the "Baltic Academic Network and Computing Services", was the first example of cooperative efforts between OSI-RIP, OSFL, the EuroFaculty, and the Lithuanian Academic Network (LitNet). It was designed to enhance Internet access for the academic and research institutions in the country, generally the first group in a country with Internet access requirements.
Currently, the aim of the OSFL Internet Program is to create the conditions necessary to enable a wide and effective use of the Internet by various Lithuanian social groups -- not only academic and commercial ones.
Operations of the OSFL Internet Program would be impossible without the permanent cooperation with different organisations inside and outside Lithuania. For example, in 1996 new public Internet dial-up centres were built in Kaunas and Klaipeda. The dial-up centres are the result of a cooperative effort between the Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas), LitNet, the Klaipeda University, and OSFL. While OSFL has provided most of the funds to buy modems and servers, the Universities provided premises for the centres and telephone lines, and LitNet provided connectivity. The centres allow people with computers and modems from all over Lithuania to dial-in and get access to E-mail or the Internet.
The connection of the Lithuanian Academic Library (Vilnius) to the Internet in 1996 is another example of successful cooperation. For this project, OSFL provided radio-modem equipment and training for librarians, while LitNet provided access to their radio-network and technical assistance to install equipment in the library.
Another example of cooperation between programs of the Soros foundations network is the installation of a public "Internet Hall" in the Lithuanian National Library. For this project, OSI-RIP and OSI’s Library Program provided funding ($20,000 each) to buy computers and necessary network equipment. The Lithuanian Parliament provided connectivity, and the library succeeded to find additional sources to renovate the hall and buy new furniture for it.
The OSFL Internet Program seeks partners not only for infrastructure-oriented projects but also for content-oriented projects. One such project is the "Internet course" aimed to create a network-based course to teach students and working adults about the Internet. Creation of the course is co-funded by the Swedish Institute and OSFL. It is implemented by the Vaxjo University (Sweden), the Vilnius Pedagogical University, and the Mathematics and Informatics Institute (Lithuania).
One of the most important events sponsored by the OSFL Internet Program and organised by the Baltic Informatics Program in Sweden is the Eastern Baltic Regional Internet Coordination Workshop. The Workshop was conducted in Vilnius with the participation of representatives from the Soros foundations offices from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the main Internet providers and Internet project/program managers from 14 Scandinavian, Eastern, and Central European countries. The aim of the workshop was to create conditions for: (1) effective information sharing between the organisations; and (2) new cooperative projects in key areas determined during the workshop.
Jonathan Peizer, Chief Information Officer of OSI’s Regional Internet Program, describes the success of the workshop: "Fifty-four organisations and programs were represented during the workshop by more than seventy attendees. Such a large number of interested participants shows how high the interest of various organisations and projects is in building cooperative, information sharing projects in this program area."
In 1997, the OSFL Internet Program would like to continue to collaborate with other OSFL programs in order to implement the following projects:
For information about the achievements of the program during 1995/96, visit the WWW page: http://ip.osf.lt/IP_home.html.
Contact person: Jonathan Peizer, Chief Information Officer, Open Society Institute, New York
Tel. 1-212-8879642
Tfx. 1-212-3973944
E-mail: jpeizer@sorosny.org
