The cybercafΘ is a phenomenon of the 1990's which is under threat from increasingly widespread Internet access. As more people go online at home, work and school we may see the death of surfing or emailing while sipping a cappuccino in a brightly-lit futuristic setting. And as coin-in-the-slot computers become available, we could very soon be checking our email from a pub, surfing at the airport or doing research in a shopping centre.
Although the cybercafΘ business is booming at the moment, manager of Dublin's Cyberia cafΘ, Peter Farrelly, believes that, in five or ten years time, there will no longer be such a demand. 80 per cent of our business is email and only 20 per cent is games, surfing or word processing. As more people have Webbased email like Hotmail or Yahoo, they will be looking for public Internet access points to collect their email. A cafΘ is just an add-on."
Cyberia's customers are 50 per cent tourists or foreign visitors who log on briefly to check their email; the other 50 per cent includes Irish people who drop in every day for 30 minutes, to send and receive emails.
Michael Heraghty of Sligo's recently-opened Futurenet cafΘ believes that there will always be a demand for cybercafΘs because they can offer faster, better-quality Net access: "The more people use the Internet at home and at work, the more they'll come to rely on the service of Internet cafΘs... the function of the Internet cafΘ will lie somewhere between the local library, cinema, access bureau and post office."
Speed of access is becoming an issue and many of the cybercafΘs now have ISDN (typically 64K) or a leased line. Other facilities offered by cafΘs include: network games (for which there is a current proposal for a national network); Webcams for posting photos on the Web; a Web design service and computer training.
Not all cybercafΘs have Websites and, of those which do, few are useful or attractive. Cyberia's, for instance, consists of only their address, without opening times or a phone number, while the Website of CyberX in Kildare lists no address or phone number.
In contrast, Sligo's Futurenet cafΘ site is user-friendly, gives training information and offers an email link, while the site of the Planet Cyber CafΘ in Dublin is the most comprehensive, providing a street map, menu, photo of the cafΘ and an email link.
Many of the cybercafΘs around the country view the provision of Internet access as only a small part of their function and are beginning to specialise in computer training, including the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). "There's four or five more years in cybercafΘs," says Jean Kinane, manager of Galway's NetAccess. "They are becoming more training-based."
IN the Information Age town of Ennis, Co Clare, the local cybercafΘ, MacCools, is benefiting from the huge increase in home ownership of computers. "People with the subsidised Telecom ╔ireann PCs come in for training," says Brendan Carton.
However, like many cybercafΘ owners, Carton is concerned about the proposed country-wide Telecom Net Access Centres: "Telecom ╔ireann is threatening to muscle the cybercafΘs out of the Internet business. e owners eagerly await deregulation, Carton feels that the monopoly of Telecom ╔ireann, as a semi-state body, will give the new centres an unfair advantage. They will probably be subsidised affairs and charge below market prices as they won't be paying the full cost of a leased line," he says.
As cybercafΘs open and close with alarming regularity, Peter Farrelly attributes the failure of some Internet cafΘs to their attempts to concentrate on food as well as the technology: "Food, drink and computers are not really compatible."
"It's hard to sell that much coffee," says Triona Carey of the West Cork Cyber Pub project, who sees pubs and hotels as the future of Internet access.
For business, Carey believes the Internet is vital to hotels: "It's an attraction for business travellers, because not everyone wants to carry a laptop. It's useful for email bookings and also for conferences or seminars - no company will locate a conference in a place without email facilities."
In West Cork - which, with eight cyberpubs, is said to have the highest concentration in the world - usage has increased significantly in recent months as awareness has grown and people are keen to find out what it all the fuss is about. Some pubs encourage children to play games on the computer and many parents log on to assess if it is something they want to purchase for the home.
However, computers in pubs can be problematic. In the messier pubs, says Carey, food gets into the keyboards and, in student pubs, there is the problem of hacking.
The Quays pub in Galway had a computer for a year, but found it was more trouble than it was worth. "Drink was spilled on the keyboard, it was always breaking down and the mouse was stolen a lot," says a spokeswoman.
Internet kiosks are the future, says Peter Farrelly. He believes that public access points will be like a payphone, located anywhere, and coin-operated. John Purcell of Coynet, which installs Internet terminals for public access, agrees: "CafΘs and hotels want to circumvent cybercafΘs. We are putting our coin-operated computers in cafΘs, hotels, railway stations, shopping centres and an airport. They look like photo booths and are hackerproof, fast (with an ISDN line), and cost between £4 and £6 an hour."
However, Stephanie McBride of DCU's Communications Department believes Internet cafΘs will always have a role to play. e atmosphere and social setting cannot be ignored - they make them pleasant places to learn about and use the new technology. "The informal aspect of the cafΘ surroundings are an incentive for novice Net users. Peer support and dynamics are also part of the cafΘ experience." She is also positive about the introduction of the Internet in pubs. "Given the centrality of the pub in Irish culture, why not?"
The first Coynet Internet machines in Dublin can be found in the Avalon Hostel, Aungier Street.
Internet cafΘs/pubs:
Temple Bar, Dublin: http://www.cyberia.ie
O'Connell St, Dublin: http://www.globalcafe.ie
George's St, Dublin: http://www.irelands-web.ie/cafe
Maynooth: http://www.cyberx.ie/cyberx.htm
Sligo: http://www.futurenet.ie
Ennis: http://www.clarenet.ie/maccools
Limerick: http://www.websters.ie
Waterford: http://www.voyager.ie
West Cork Cyber Pub Project: http://www.sleeping-giant.ie
Casey's Hotel, Baltimore: http://www.sleeping-giant.ie/baltimore/caseys