Old Town Taught New Tricks

BERLIN -- All of Europe is a kind of a laboratory in which to watch what happens as people try to catch up to the Internet revolution that has remade American life. That's especially true of a small town in southwestern Germany.

Beginning this month, a nonprofit organization provided computers and Internet access to more than 90 percent of the small town of Oberhambach, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Many of the town's 280 inhabitants are elderly, including one couple -- both 88 -- who are among the more enthusiastic participants in the Oberhambach Pilot Project.

"They were very anxious to see what the Internet was like," said Dirk Schmitt, the head of the state-sponsored consortium organizing the project. "The problem we have with old people is many are not willing to pay money for a computer -- first because it's a lot of money for them, and second because they don't know if they are going to be able to use it and control it. To learn a computer by a book is very, very hard, especially for an older person."

Much was made over the last year about Europe's preference for accessing the Internet via mobile phone technology -- as compared to Americans -- but that trend appears to have been overstated. In fact, European Internet usage is looking more and more like U.S. habits, and the Oberhambach Pilot Project fits squarely with that trend.

A recent European Commission report found that in terms of raw numbers, Europe will pass the United States sometime next year in quantity of Internet users. The percentages are rising rapidly as well.

The report found that 28.4 percent of people in Europe used the Internet in their homes during October, compared to 18 percent in March and roughly 12 percent in October 1999.

"The idea was to take a whole town that has no infrastructure -- no bakery, no butcher, no grocery store, no post office -- and provide people, especially older people, with a computer to find out what they would do with them," said Schmitt.

To make it easier for everyone to learn how to make the most of their computers, the program also includes having local high school students working as "IT Scouts."

They show up at the house to offer a full range of instruction at the outset, and then are available on call after that to answer questions or give regular tutorials. "It depends on the learning progress of the household," Schmitt said.

The project could end up attracting worldwide attention, both as a novelty and as a potentially meaningful window into the mysterious territory of how people who have lived without computers soon come to rely on them.

"I haven't heard of another project like this one, and it sounds wonderful," said Shari Steele, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.

"Not only are computers being provided, but high-speed access and training are also included. This sounds like it was very well thought out and implemented. I'm interested in seeing if people participating find it to be helpful."