“This is the first time in 10 years that such a wide-ranging survey has been carried out in Belgium,” commented Kristl Strubbe, the city’s alderwoman for ICT. “For years Mechelen has been investing in extending digital communications with its residents. It was one of the first local governments to have a website, an e-counter, a city blog and information pages on digital TV channels.”

The city commissioned a survey last year “to consolidate this pioneering role,” she explains, and “to find out if the demands of citizens and the supply of digital information from the city were in line with each other.”

The city website www.mechelen.be was launched in 1997, well before such initiatives were common. Last year the site welcomed its three millionth visitor, and the KHM survey shows an average monthly readership of more than 36,000 people, or nearly 45% of the population.

The website was revamped in 2009 and gained an e-counter where residents can go to request official documents like birth certificates, which can be downloaded and printed. And, since each one has an authorised digital signature, the print-outs are perfectly valid for legal use. “The digital signature is a real step forward,” Strubbe said. “You don’t have to come to city hall any more, and the city saves money and time.”

The various city departments receive about 100,000 document requests every year, she said. The signature, called IntelliStamp, was developed by an Antwerp-based company, Inventive Designers.

The opening of the e-counter in December brought a sudden upsurge in visitors to the website: 8,021 more than usual, or an increase of 21%. The e-counter should be extended, according to 65% of those polled, with 41% agreeing it should also be possible to sign up for activities like classes.

Half of all Mechelaars use the site regularly, with 92% saying they were familiar with it. Mechelen’s large online population is above the average for Flanders: 82% use internet regularly and actively, compared to 71% across Flanders as a whole. In Mechelen, 80% have internet at home, compared to 64% across Flanders – perhaps connected to the fact that Telenet, one of the two main internet providers in the country, was started and is still based in Mechelen.

The new generation is even being taught digitally; in the city’s De Spiegel primary school, each class is now equipped with an “electronic blackboard” – a computer screen as large as a blackboard – which allows teachers to call up text, graphics, photos and videos. They can also write with a special pen or move screen material around using their fingers.