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DestiNet - Sustainable Tourism Information Portal
[last updated April 26, 2007 5:42 AM]
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Partnership website(s) |
Expected TimeframeMarch 2004 - January 2009 |
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Major Groups:
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UN System:
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Other intergovernmental organizations:
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| Other:
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Primary Themes:
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Secondary Themes:
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Geographic Coverage
Geographic Scope: Sub-regional Europe
Country(ies) where the partnership is being implemented: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
National Focal Points
This partnership has made contact with the national focal points for sustainable development in the countries involved
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Partnership targetsThree targets will be set focusing on: (A) Content, (B) Quality of Information, and (C) Relevancy of the Information to Policy Processes.
A. Content: 1. Proactive participation of all DestiNet partners in content contribution and communication; 2. Continuous document uploading and updating; 3. Progressive site access - users/audience; 4. Expansion of contributor enrolment. B. Quality: 1. Positive site visitor quality-related judgements; 2. Knowledge evaluation in line with objectives; 3. Growth in number of links, provided by other sites to DestiNet; 4. Continuous improvement of site visit facilitation tools: language helps, glossaries, dictionaries, etc.. C. Relevance to policy processes: The EEA by focusing on providing its member countries with high quality information for policy-making to assess the state of the environment, to inform the general public, and to provide scientific and technical support to these ends will provide an unique view on the relevancy that DestiNet may have on influencing policies in Europe and other counties. |
Progress against targetsPerformance evaluation will be established for targets as follows:
Content: 1. Number of active Partner content contributors (29 by Q/4 `04); 2. Number of documents approved for publication within the DestiNet administration and management hierarchy (To be assessed based on quality criteria); 3. Web site access statistics, unique visitors, returning visitors, session time, downloads, etc. (100.000 visitor per month by Q/2 `05) 4. Number of sub-delegations given by Partners to additional content contributors. (>10 per partner by Q/2 `05). Quality: 1. Visitor feedback questionnaires (continuous corrective actions based on comments); 2. Time references, completeness, and traceability of uploads (semiannual document audit); 3. Links established by other sites to DestiNet (>500 by Q/1 `05); 4. Use of glossaries, dictionaries, definitions, languages, help desk, navigation support, searches, use-friendly interactivity interfaces, content retrieval robots, collaboration, and document management functionalities (all facilities implemented by Q/2 `05). Relevance to policy processes: The European Environment Agency (EEA) and its wider network, the Environmental Information and Observation Network (EIONET), shall be considered one of the main recipients and evaluator of DestiNet results. Information uptake by the EEA for indicators and State of Environment reports will be considered fundamental for the partnership relevancy to policy processes. |
Coordination Mechanism of the PartnershipLead partners will define dependencies in data and information flows within the DestiNet web site as well as assign content and sub-contributor responsibilities and tasks to the other partnership members. Coordination will leverage on the web authoring and content management technology of the European Environment Agency currently used for the Agency network (http://www.eionet.eu.int/) and EnviroWindows (http://ewindows.eu.org) made also available to DestiNet website.
The EEA will focus coordination efforts on: * Ensuring that web technologies meet Communication, Information provision, and policy-making information needs; * Carrying out continuous performance evaluation to assess barriers to information sharing, and publishing; * Ensuring that all content contributors receives all technical information to perform their tasks. ECOTRANS will focus coordination efforts on: * Ensuring that there is a regular flow of new information to the site in relevant categories; * Promotion of the portal at conferences, workshops and other relevant fora, and; * Cooperating with EEA and partners to ensure that website design is optimal. |
Implementation Mechanism of the PartnershipTechnology:
A common set of web-authoring and groupware tools is made available by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to the partners at http://destinet.ewindows.eu.org. These tools are designed to enable communities geographically spread across Europe (and beyond) - such as DestiNet - to collaborate on developing, publishing, and maintaining information on common web spaces. Leadership: The lead partners will define the content structure for the partners to post information. A 'basket of approval' allows the leaders and selected partners to approve or reject document for publication on DestiNet site. The leaders for quality control purposes supervise a hierarchical organization of content providers. ECOTRANS members (see appendix) will be invited to become content managers of specific thematic sections within the portal. It is anticipated that a core group of some 5 - 10 content managers, drawn from the ECOTRANS network, will become integrated into the daily operation of the portal, for example adding new content and checking for broken links. Access Control: Lead partners assign specific Access Privileges to qualified users to selected DestiNet sections and services. Lead partners supersede access privileges provided to DestiNet members. Lead partners can grant a specific member "Access and Post data" privileges for specific sub-sections of DestiNet site. Relationships with the partner and the EEA are governed by the "Terms of service for leaders" as defined in http://www.ewindows.eu.org/About/terms/Leaders/ either as Interoperable Portals (IP) and/or Interest Group Leaders (IG). Knowledge: Partners and their stakeholders collect, publish, and disseminate experiences, best practices, scientific findings, and management approaches in order to support various decision making processes: from individual destination selection levels to regional, national, and supranational policy processes and awareness raising strategies. |
Funding Currently AvailableAmount in US$: N/A
Source(s):
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Non-financial resources availableType(s): Computers - Office space - Staff
Source(s): Government - Private sector - IGO - NGO
The partners, from government, private sector, IGOs and NGOs, will devote various non-financial resources to the running of the DestiNet portal. The EEA will contribute time to solving any technical issues that may arise during the running of the portal, as well as space on the EnviroWindows server. Furthermore, the EEA will offer the staff of the other partners, as well as members of the ECOTRANS network, the opportunity to participate in relevant EEA courses on the use of the software. All software needed for running and contributing to the portal is provided by the EEA to the partners. The other partners (WTO, UNEP, and ECOTRANS members) will contribute via free provision of the computers and office space, including internet access and emailing functionality, that the relevant employees need to access the portal. |
Funding SoughtRequired Amount in US$: not specified
Source(s) already approached: It is anticipated that funding could be available within the EU Commission to support an initiative such as DestiNet but this needs to be explored in greater detail, for example using the internet and making in-depth enquiries.
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Non-financial resources soughtRequirement(s): Computers
Computers and software would be of potential use. Source(s) approached and details: Private sector
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