OBERHAMBACH, GERMANY (dpa) – Germany’s first Internet village, embraces 300 people in the village of Oberhambach in the central Hunsrueck hills who are all hooked up to the Worldwide Web.
Their home computers are intended to compensate for the paucity of shops in the area, the fact that the bus only calls by three times a day and that the mobile bank comes on Thursdays only. Unfortunately, the first findings from the experiment indicate that online shopping is, for most people, not all it’s cracked up to be.
The state government and a local initiative called BIR inform e.V., selected the pretty little village a year ago.
Because the place was only peopled by cattle farmers, and the last shops and services had moved out long ago, they decided that it was ideal for linking them all up via a PC.
So, every Oberhambacher was given the loan of a computer sent in by a sponsor along with cheap ISDN Internet access and 20 free hours a month. This was so that the village’s “netizens” could order their rolls and sausages from neighbouring Birkenfeld town and also handle bank transactions.
The state premier of Rhineland-Westphalia, Kurt Beck, kicked off the initiative last year and Economy Minister Hans-Artur Bauckhage helped shift a box or two during the first phase to deliver the computers.
The scientific experiment was actually due to deliver initial results only in autumn, but it’s already clear that the initiative has at least promoted interest in the new technology.
“At the end of the test year, 99 per cent of the citizens took advantage of the offer to buy a test computer with printer and Internet access at a much-reduced price,” says Birkenfeld mayor Manfred Dreier.
The people of Oberhambach – from schoolchildren to 74-year-old “computer grannies” – surf and mail more intensely than probably anywhere else in the republic. During the preliminary phase, 30 young PC scouts from the village gave the old ‘uns – many of whom were highly sceptical – some help.
Thanks to the Internet which made them famous nationwide, Oberhambachers have been able to form entirely new friendships. In fact, the first chat meeting of 25 internet users from all over Germany just took place in local restaurant Die Glockenstube.
But as far as shopping, visiting the authorities and other daily necessities goes, a car is much more important for the villagers than their own PC.
“I still go shopping in Birkenfeld, around six kilometres away,” says a building contractor. Like many people, he has lost the initial euphoria that the locals had for online shopping.
Many of them complain that the goods they order over the web are often substantially more expensive and carry a surcharge of two marks – one euro these days – for delivery. “I tried to order fresh rolls, but they didn’t come at seven in the morning like I was expecting but at half-past one,” says local restaurant owner Anke Bernett.
