TACTICS researches the supply and use of Telematics and Communications Technologies in Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia compared with competitive market economies. This page describes the scope and emphasis of the work programme.
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The TACTICS consortium gratefully acknowledges the financial support from European Commission DG 'Research' within the Framework IV INCO-Copernicus programme. Without that support, this work would never have been undertaken.
The scope of the study is stated in its title to be Telematics and Communications. For the purpose of the study, Communications is limited to electronic transmission and reception, which may carry voice, data, video or any other traffic. The European Commission’s CORDIS web site provides the following definition of Telematics:
‘applications of information and/or communications technologies in areas of general interest.’
The emphasis is on the applications rather than the technologies. The applications considered to be of most importance to the TACTICS project are shown in the following list :
The above list is not exclusive; neither will every item necessarily be covered by the study. The list is merely to provide some guidance to researchers.
The key instrument to achieve the objectives of TACTICS project (see Annex) is a survey with representative sample of companies, working in the field of advanced communications and telematics. In order to deepen the knowledge gained from the survey, a prior stage was to carry out case studies with a limited number of companies from the sample. Preparation of the survey required the following obligatory steps.
The three main research tasks were:
These three tasks were carried out simultaneously during 1999.
The successful accomplishment of these tasks resulted in building a comprehensive theoretical model to justify the key research hypotheses and basic list of indicators.
The basic indicators have now been developed into a questionnaire, which has been tested in a pilot study.
Two tasks were undertaken. To have a statistically reliable representative sample, the first task was to prepare an exhaustive list of the active advanced communications and telematics companies in each of the three Balkan countries. These lists have answered several important questions about the size, general economic turnover and product specialisation of the companies.
The second task was to create a representative sample using appropriate statistical procedures. The final choice between a quota sample and random sample approach depending on the quality of the data collected.
The time-span of these tasks matched that for the questionnaire development. The exhaustive list of companies was prepared during 1999.
Two tasks were undertaken. Prior to the survey, based of the initial assessments of received empirical information and the results of theoretical and historical analysis a limited number of companies were selected for in-depth case-study analysis.
The case-study programme was based on the theoretical model and draft questionnaire and was completed in 1999. The work on these tasks was undertaken primarily by the scientific co-ordinator with the help of national co-ordinators from Romania and Macedonia.
During the kick-off Workshop held in Sofia on 15-17 October 1998, the above mentioned tasks were developed and largely discussed among the partners, which resulted in detailed research programmes being formulated for each of these tasks. For co-ordination and control the partners agreed the following:
Fast and reliable communication and computer facilities are of crucial importance for the successful execution of the project. Following some communication problems at the preparatory stage of the project, the partners agreed at the kick-off Workshop that upgrade of the existing computer and communication facilities in the three Balkan countries research teams was a priority task. It was decided that the necessary computer equipment should be purchased with the first instalment of the EU funding. The minimum includes powerful enough computers to serve text processing, data storage and statistical analysis, printing and Internet facilities.
The Project co-ordinator puts all internal working documents on an FTP server and all documents for public access on the Isomatic UK Web site. Isomatic Lab. as subcontractor to the Bulgarian team maintains Bulgarian mirror FTP and web sites for ease of access to the partners in the Balkans.
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Copyright for the contents of this web page is owned by the TACTICS consortium. Reproduction is permitted without charge on condition that the TACTICS project and the support received from European Commission DG 'Research' within the Framework IV INCO-Copernicus programme are acknowledged.
This report was originated by the Bulgarian scientific co-ordinating team at the Institute of sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Please send any questions or comments on the scientific content to scientific co-ordinator Ivan Tchalakov tchalakov@sociology.bas.bg
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