In strike-beleaguered France, the Internet is playing a dual role, disseminating information directly from the strikers, both students and transport workers, and enabling others to get their work done at home. As might be expected, the student strike movement is the more electronically active, with a Web site Reseau-infos-facs en lutte in operation since the end of November, and the university at Montpellier having set up its own Web site late last week. With the title Let’s speak up! the site Reseau-infos-facs en lutte says its aim is to break up the monopoly on information. It distributes calls to demonstrations for universities throughout the country, as well as electronic mail and general strike information. Using the Web thwarts the disinformation of certain media, said Michel, in a report Friday in Liberation. Michel is one of six informatics students at Montpellier to establish their site, which lists their demands, mass meetings and demonstrations scheduled and transcripts of declarations from the minister of education Francois Bayrou. Newsgroups also help disseminate accurate information, says Mathias, a third-year student at the Jussieu campus in Paris. After clashes there with the police on November 30, I posted directly to the newsgroups what happened in front of my eyes in reaction to what I heard on the radio. The radio said that the university was on fire and bleeding, completely ransacked. The reality was that there had just been some skirmishes with the police, he said. The Paris public transport agency RATP disseminates official strike information on its Web site. But since Monday last week, more complete information, including photos, debates, practical information, press clippings, has been available on the Situation de Crise site, with souvenirs and documents on the origin of the conflict to go up soon. The site was set up by Internet provider Imaginet and La ferme aux Images, an association that agitated for a long time for free television before turning to the Internet as a substitute.
Improvised teleworking
Patrick Robin, managing director at Imaginet, says, A Web like ours is the concrete application of everything that has been said at the [Internet] conferences. A new means of informing and of getting informed. The Net is also allowing some of the strike’s victims to commute without the benefit of the trains. Liberation quotes, for example, Pascal, the design director for a large Parisian publicity agency, who has been isolated in his small town in the Chevreuse valley outside Versailles. On the first day of the strike, he bought two subscriptions to the Internet, one for himself and one for his secretary. In a single day, thanks to a colleague who understands the network and to Eudora, we each got a crash course. We struggled a bit, but now everything works well, he said. So I will stay at home until the transport situation improves. I’m editing a report from my colleagues’ notes, and I need above all to exchange documents and correct text. I can do all of that from my home; it’s just an emergency service, but it’s fantastic! he says. Valerie Jacquet, a spokeswoman for service provider FranceNet, says Lots of professional documents are being sent over electronic mail. In effect, this is closely related to improvised tele-working. Imaginet’s Robin has seen a change in usage hours. In normal situations, we see heavy connection in the evening, after 10:30pm, notably to take advantage of lower France Telecom rates. Now, there is no heavy period; connections are spread out throughout the day. That indicates a more professional use. The trend is not yet overwhelming, however. A spokeswoman for Calvacom said their subscribers report greater use of their electronic mail, but adds that there has been no significant increase in professional subscriptions. A couple of companies have subscribed as a result of the strike, she said, adding that the strike hasn’t lasted long enough for companies to be pushed into making the decision. If the strike continues for much longer, she added, they could see a greater effect.
