SYSTEM EVOLUTION

The nature of the automation/Internet technological intervention needs discussion. Reclamation's projects in the past have typically had beginnings and ends. For example, the agency constructed a dam and then turned it over to the water users to repay and operate. In the case of automation/Internet technologies, there is a continually evolving product. The technologies get more sophisticated and less costly with each passing day. And as the technologies get more complex, so do the needs of the water users. With real-time technologies, we are describing a process more than a specific product.

At the start of the Sevier River automation/Internet project, StoneFly and Reclamation staff were hesitant to speculate on where the project might be evolving, for fear of scaring off the water users. Today the water users are frequently ahead of the technologists. Association members are continually inventing new uses and innovations for their automation/Internet system. This was recently demonstrated when one of the principal users of www.sevierriver.org was interviewed as part of an evaluation process required by the TOP grant (Jacques, 2001).

During the interview, one of the water managers indicated that he was interested in having the real-time information displayed on his cell phone. He went on to envision "being able to pull up the information on my watch, and then (being) able to see and negotiate it by using a stylus on my watch." He further dreamt: "Eventually I want to have something that goes behind my ear, so I can just think in my mind what I need done, and the system (will act) on my thoughts." While its easy to dismiss these comments as being a put-on, they demonstrate that expectations are rapidly expanding. The interviewee went on the mention several new uses for the automation/Internet system.

Having an automation/Internet system that is continually evolving has not always been easy on the water users. It is not uncommon for them to express frustrations with new "improvements." Comments like: "But I just got used to last one" are not uncommon. Ways to mitigate the impact of a continually changing product need to be carefully addressed, particularly as the rate of technological change continues to increase. The ultimate goal of Sevier technology consortium is the one outline by Rosenberg and Birdzell (1990, p. 48): "one clear requirement for economic growth is the ability to shape productive technology to local needs. Whatever the origins of a technology, the people and institutions using it must be able to understand it, experiment with it, and evaluate the economics repercussions of its use."