Bulgaria: Information Society Still Under Construction

We are constantly told we live in a global village, an information society, an interactive world. We are all familiar with the term "information divide".

Well, there's certainly a division in Bulgaria! It's a gulf between those who want to know, and those who govern – or say they want to serve. And it’s been there for too long.

Anyone who has built a web site, whether for their company, for an international organization, or purely for themselves, knows that the site may be visually beautiful, may run the latest video techniques, but it still won't attract online customers or readers, if the content is either no good – or simply non-existent.

This certainly applies to official government sites. They are an official portal (literally) between the political rulers and the people who voted for them – the public, the citizens.

Bulgaria is currently in a critical situation with the spread of swine flu nationwide. So, if one is curious about the numbers and areas affected, one simply goes online to find that information. Right? Well, it seems not!

There was a debate in our office the other day, about exactly how many deaths had been confirmed as due to the virus, or where its presence was a contributory factor, and about the number of confirmed cases.

One of us consulted the official Ministry of Health web site – and drew a blank. There's a special section devoted to A (H1N1), that contains four items – a declaration of emergency situation, an announcement of the closing of schools, and advice to medical professionals.

Dig deeper, and find a list of specialist health institutions, leading to the National Center of Contagious and Parasitic Diseases. Delve even more, and eventually – Eureka! A precisely dated table of statistics, showing that Bulgarian fatalities total five.

Screenshot of part of the official statistics concerning strain A (H1N1) fatalities in Bulgaria, dated November 17, 2009 at 9 am. They record 5 deaths, whereas the Bulgarian press reports 13 at that time.

So why were we wondering some days ago whether the total was eleven, or twelve, as the Bulgarian press was then reporting? (And now, as reported on Monday night, as 14?)

It seems unbelievable that one needs to do such involved searching – hunting would be a better word, to track down an answer that demands a new explanation. And, still no answer as to how many people are affected by, and suffering from, the virus.

Some of the cynics among our readers are thinking that the search was done in English, if an expat was doing it, and not in Bulgarian. No, it was a Bulgarian-language search, on a purely Bulgarian-language official site, and carried out by a computer-savvy native Bulgarian.

So, given that swine flu is surely today's most pressing Bulgarian health issue, is this a satisfactory state of affairs? Well....

One would have thought this emergency would merit high prominence on the home page of the Health Ministry's site, with linked and detailed information. That would be a public, open, responsible and transparent service to the people.

Sadly, this important case of a lack of easily accessible information applies to several of the government's sites. This, despite widely-publicized declarations of development of so-called e-government (by the current, and the previous, governments), a move that helps citizens and business, and quickly offsets development investment in terms of delivery and processing costs alike.

True, there are some positive advances in this area, but they seem haphazard, inconsistent, and many are long-delayed. We all had a laugh at the time it took to change the names of new ministers immediately after the July elections, when it seemed for a while that Stanishev was still in power. That situation has of course been remedied, but still today there are so many irritating omissions on these official sites.

Screenshot of the English-language home page of the Bulgaria Republic web site, announcing it is “under construction”. The project began in 2007.

In 2007, that grand Bulgarian e-government project was announced. Today, the English version of the site remains "under construction". We have to wait to see whether all court decisions make it to the web, as promised back in mid-October (but, place your bets now!).

In July, it was announced that open parliamentary sessions would be available live on the internet, as well as via TV broadcasts. Are they, in mid-November? If so, where, at what Internet address? Did the writer miss out, somewhere?

To further test the government information system, the expat decided to search for information about foreigners' rights and the dreaded residence visa system. So, a search in English seemed appropriate.

By going to the wrong ministry - the Ministry of Interior - a search coughed up detailed instructions on how to fill in a residence application form ("hand-written, or by typewriter" - excuse me!), but no online forms to download, and the Law on Foreigners (all 32 pages of it). One page visited showed 15 "Specialized Directorates", with live links to only three of them.

Progressing instead to the Foreign Ministry, the English-language site was pretty comprehensive, and the necessary information was reasonably quickly found. This site (Bulgarian or English) looks like one of the better-maintained on a governmental level. But, even here, there are basic gaps: checking on the media section, there is no information yet on Newspapers, Agencies, TV, Radio, and so on.

And the internal search facility is real fun! Typing in the search term "residence permit" gave some 33 results, the second of which ("Bingo!") was entitled "Types of Visa"; it turned out to be a long scrolling text in – Spanish! Checking the next 10 results confirmed the Spanish trend, as all instructions - next page, previous page, etc., all appeared in Spanish (what was that old phrase about 'Spanish practices'?).

It proved an inconclusive search, therefore. The information that came to light did not provide a clear and helpful description of the process of applying for a Bulgarian residence permit, despite a lengthy and exhaustive investigation.

So, on an important issue for everyone living or residing in (or even visiting) Bulgaria, no easy reference to swine flu information that was user-friendly. And on a particular non-Bulgarian search concerning an important issue for long-stay or permanent foreigners, the same incomplete results.

So what, one may say? What’s the gripe?

The gripe is on several levels. Most importantly in this case, a Bulgarian citizen cannot find definitive, official information on a raging epidemic.

Secondly, a foreigner who does not understand Bulgarian, has no hope of getting an answer to the same question. (Well, if it’s not posted, absolutely no-one gets an answer.)

Third, the question of language. Why should the government provide non-Bulgarian versions of their site contents?

The European Union recognized Bulgarian as one of its official languages from the moment of Bulgaria's accession in 2007. There seems to be an equal obligation on the member state to acknowledge English, not because "us Brits don’t do foreign", but as an internationally accepted language.

Fourth, the stated intentions: the current government was elected (in part) on a pro-European ticket, so there's a definite need for pan-European communication. Domestically, there's a huge obligation to inform the Bulgarian public. After all, what are these investigations into alleged previous infringements and wrong-doing? Are they not being carried out in the public and national interest?

The previous government had put in place some of these official online programs, to be fair. For example, that e-gov program referred to earlier.

But, one has to ask: where's the actual delivery of all these promises made by two successive governments? Where is this flow of information to the public, to Bulgarian citizens first of all, then to foreigners living in or visiting the country, and then, equally importantly, to all others worldwide who have a need to know, or are simply curious about, the way this democratic republic works?

Bulgaria has recently declared that there will be full internet coverage of all its urban areas by 2013. It's made good progress over the past year, but 2013 is only three full years away.

And it is one thing to have provided a comprehensive technical infrastructure for the country, a consumer means of access to the web. But, as mentioned earlier, what about the information, the relevant and open content?

Wake up, please! We all need the content, now, and you can give it to us – if you choose. Or, do you really think we should be kept in the dark?

[If any of our readers can show ways to find significant information, e.g., official swine flu statistics, quickly and easily, Novinite.com would be delighted to hear from you, via Comments.]

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