Since January 1, 2016, the 22 French metropolitan regions have merged to form only 13. The digital competence, like the others, will have to be unified at the scale of the new regions. What impact will this merger have on regional digital observatories? In order to understand the challenges of the transition of the observatories, we first need to look back at their history and their specificities, and then look at their future.
Which Observatories are we talking about?
There are 12 regional initiatives to measure digital usage in France. The regional digital observatories must first be distinguished by the fields they cover: infrastructure (broadband deployment), the digital economy (sector mapping), and usage (individuals, businesses, administrations). The Agence du Numérique's Mission Société Numérique is particularly interested in the Observatories of digital uses by individuals; they will be the subject of this article.However, it should be noted that the observation of the evolution of digital uses is not necessarily carried out by an Observatory, but is sometimes carried out in the form of a survey, a digital barometer updated each year within an administration or a university. There are 12 regional initiatives to measure digital usage in France.
Various project owners, common motivations
Barometers or surveys on digital uses are carried out by different types of actors. These are mainly regional councils (Corsica, PACA, Auvergne, Rhône-Alpes, Lorraine, Franche-Comté, Burgundy, Poitou-Charentes, Pays de la Loire), but also parapublic actors (Agence Aquitaine du Numérique AEC, CCI Alsace), and academics (GIS M@rsouin-Télécom Bretagne, Ensai and Sciences-Po Rennes). Funding comes from the Regional Councils, but also often from the State (within the framework of the Contrat-Plan-Et-Région) and the European Union (FEDER funds).Are the regional observatories of digital uses compatible and comparable?
The measurement and comparison of the evolution of digital uses was a concern in the development of the regional surveys from the outset. 11 of the 12 regional survey initiatives have in fact adopted identical indicators and a comparable methodology. This concerted initiative was born out of the [SOURIR] project, created at the initiative of Aquitaine, Wallonia and Brittany in 2000. This project proposed to define a common methodology for the measurement of regional indicators of ICT use and diffusion. It has also promoted the establishment of a network to share work and feedback on the development of indicators, questionnaires and the implementation of compatible methodologies, and to compare the results of the regions.11 of the 12 regional survey initiatives adopted identical indicators and a comparable methodology.A set of common indicators is thus proposed to measure the digital uses of households. However, specific focuses are made according to the years and the Regions to identify trends: uses of young people, uses of seniors, uses of smartphones,... The non-reproduction of these surveys from one edition to another and their scope being outside the scope of the [SOURIR] indicators does not allow to make comparable measurements in time or space.
Finally, the surveys were not published at the same frequency in the different regions (annually for Rhônes-Alpes, every 2 or 3 years for the others), and some regions have abandoned the publication of their barometer. Thus, out of the 12 surveys carried out, it is difficult to propose a real analysis of the evolution of uses over time or to offer a comparative approach of the French regions between them. However, although they are not systematic and only apply to a few, inter-regional comparisons appear in most of the reports resulting from the surveys.
Valuation of data and information collected
Barometers are often used as decision-making tools. Financed within the framework of the State-Region Contract-Plan, the regional barometers have made it possible to orient and feed this system.It is this function, rather than that of an observatory producing data, that motivated the creation of regional barometers, with the exception of the GIR M@rsouin. The latter is in fact the only academic actor to have an observatory of digital uses.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that the data from the regional surveys on digital usage are available in open data for 7 of the 12 surveys. This availability of data demonstrates the willingness of local authorities to create transparency and public utility through these surveys, going beyond the simple function of decision support.
What is the future of regional digital barometers?
Surveys on digital uses should be renewed in the regions of Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardennes, Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, and Brittany, some as early as this year.While the updating of the indicators in the methodology [SOURIR] raises questions, it is still the concern for continuity of the barometer from year to year that remains an issue for communities.
As for the possibility of adopting an evolving methodology, capable of following the changes of the digital society while preserving the continuity of the indicators, the work of the D21 in Germany, the Oxford Survey or M@rsouin (see our other articles) can be used as a reference to pursue a coordinated initiative of the Regions in the spirit of the network [SEE].
