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all kinds of good stuff in this edition of the Communet digest
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Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 00:01:23 -0500
From: Automatic digest processor
There are 17 messages totalling 964 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. The Reality of Rural Networking (5)
2. Re[3]: rural networking
3. LINCT coalition for community resources and tools (repost, prior
truncated)
4. Internet Article (fwd) (3)
5. Community Media Conference
6. Location of "netizens"
7. Community networks and kids
8. rural networking
9. Community Networking Stories for TV Series
10. Get
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 00:58:19 -0400
From: Brett Honneus
Rural Networking is a great way to connect the small towns to the world wide web. The community would have communication, entertainment, and all kinds of resources at their fingertips, but is it cost efficient.
I live in a very rural area in upstate New York (Hamilton). It seems as though a place as rural as this would benefit more from a large shopping mall where there would be more free enterprise and more job opportunities for the community. A free-net or local network would cost money intially and even more in maintainence cost in the future. It seems as though it is a luxury for a small town that does not have enough tax dollars to support this project without government funding.
If anyone has any ideas how a small community could get funding or if the project would be feasible and worth while, please respond.
Thanks,
Brett BHONNEUS@Center.Colgate.Edu
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Date: Tue, 4 Oct 1994 23:24:51 LCL
From: Bill Russell
Joe Medina said:
> We at the Maine Community Access Network would also be interested in > keeping in touch with both of you on this matter. We are trying to put > together a "network of community networks" as well for the State of Maine. > We are just entering the stage where we have spec'ed out the services we'd > like to see for the system and are entering the system design and > software/hardware imperatives stage. Any ideas on this front would be very > much appreciated. Being a rural state Maine has special problems with > local calling areas being so small that dial-up access to community servers > is a potential problem. We'd be interested to hear how other folks are > approaching this problem.
We on ACE-OR are facing the same problem. My solution is to lobby vigorously for everyone posting important information to post it in ways that are accessable via e-mail. I also advocate more and better gophermail and ftpmail sites. We are not on line yet primarily because of the long distance charges and it will be a long time before we can afford any more than e-mail. Some see salvation in Frame Relay, but I do not quite understand it yet and whenever something sounds too good to be true, it almost never is.
Another long distance toll saver that we are investigating is fidonet. Yeah, I know that it is not the newest and sexiest, but it may well be the most effecient way to move mail and it might even make news affordable.
Joe's comments were in response to Nancy Willard's answer to:
> >Hi Laura. I am developing a project for Eastern Idaho Technical College > >that is proposing the establishment of a network of community networks in > >9 counties in Eastern Idaho. All of the counties, except for the one > >containing Idaho Falls (pop 4?,000) are extremely rural. I am at the > >stage of writing the project ideas. The community networks would be only > >one part of an integrated telecommunication program, including rural > >telecommunication service centers, distance education, economic and > >community development activites, telemedicine, etc. Can't tell you how > >it will fly, but the folks at the college are really enthusiastic. > >I would love to continue a dialogue with you if you are becoming involved > >in the same things.
The idea of using the Internet for distance education is what attracted me to the rural network/community network idea. Are some geographically dispersed community colleges offering a combination of on-line and in-class units in for credit courses? This seems to me to be the perfect blend of the best of both worlds for rural education.
> >BTW, I would love to be in the position of being able to study the > >dynamics of online communication, especially in community networks. I am > >also especially interested in what the impact of online communication and > >access to information is going to have on our governmental processes.
Being a city councilor, I very much want to open up our governance process to access through the community network which I plan to preceed connecting to other networks via Internet. One of my sales pitches to the city is that having council and planning commission minutes on-line will make Freedom of Information access by citizens have less impact on day-to-day operation of the government.
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William P. (Bill) Russell internet: russellb@ext23.oes.orst.edu vox: 503-347-3683 fax: 503-347-6303 snail mail: P.O.Box 2029 Bandon, OR 97411-9108
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 08:48:26 -0400
From: Karl Beiser
On Wed, 5 Oct 1994, Brett Honneus wrote:
> Rural Networking is a great way to connect the small towns to the world > wide web. The community would have communication, entertainment, and all > kinds of resources at their fingertips, but is it cost efficient.
"Rural Networking", like most of the buzz-phrases associated with the creation of new electronic worlds, is essentially meaningless -- because it has so many different meanings to different people. Without being intentionally Gumpish, it is accurate to say that Rural Networking is what it does in your particular case. Only when someone has determined what specific SERVICES will be provided to users of the local system can one even begin to discuss costs and benefits. If your concept of rural networking concentrates on providing free SLIP/PPP access to everyone, your costs -- and indeed the culture which surrounds your project and will determine your fundraising and volunteer involvement possibilities -- will be very different than if you focus on local content and intra-local communications supplemented by global email and access to networked discussions (USENET, perhaps some of the BBS echoes). I suspect that there will be some mix of services that a substantial number of residents and potential users / supporters will find worthwhile, that you will be able to do something perceived as "cost efficient". It just may not be the maximum mix that the most demanding net cruisers would like.
> I live in a very rural area in upstate New York (Hamilton). It seems as > though a place as rural as this would benefit more from a large > shopping mall where there would be more free enterprise and more > job opportunities for the community. A free-net or local network would > cost money intially and even more in maintainence cost in the future. > It seems as though it is a luxury for a small town that does not > have enough tax dollars to support this project without government > funding.
While there may be a local mall deficiency, it seems a bit of a reach to cast shopping opportunities and a public information network as an either-or proposition. I'm not sure about "...a small town that does not have enough tax dollars to support this project without government funding." Which government? Isn't it all tax dollars? Are there realistic possibilities in this lifetime of other levels of government coming to the rescue of the municipal coffers for a project like this (well, given the profusion of grants, there is enough to get folks excited, but far from enough to meet everyone's needs / expectations)? On the one hand, the provision of public education was once considered a luxury. Putting a toilet in the local library may be considered a luxury in some really small towns. "Luxury" is in the eye of the beholder. On the other hand, if the public sees a project seeking its support as a luxury, then it is. Political reality is reality when one is seeking support and / or funds. Failing strong initial demand, I would think some incremental, whet-the-appetite efforts involving low-cost technology, e.g. BBS software and personal computer hardware with a predominantly local focus, would be a place to start. Find people, organizations willing to kick in a few hundred dollars for a 2-yr-old computer and a couple phone lines. Look to going institutions like the schools, local libraries, to house the system. Find volunteers willing and able to tend it. Disclaimer: this advice sounds right to me. I've heard it many times from people who should know. I am only in the early stages of doing something similar, so I can't claim this as a success formula just yet. > > If anyone has any ideas how a small community could get funding or > if the project would be feasible and worth while, please respond.
Know what you want to do first. Identify categories of service and arrange them in priority order -- realizing that tactical considerations will determine how far down the list the early implementation will reach.
Karl Beiser
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 06:19:55 -0700
From: Steve Cisler
I'll take this time to report on a conference I attended yesterday in San Francisco: the National Assn. of Development Organizations (nadorf@idi.net) 202 624 7806. NADO is in DC and has as its mission to promote economic development in America's small cities and rural areas.
They have training sessions and material on topics such as small bus. financing, job training, services for the poor and elderly, minority enterprise, and strategic planning for small communities.
I heard about them from a Ford Foundation officer who, like me, is trying to promote collaboration among groups in communities. He is sponsoring six different projects around the country, though computer networking is not a central focus. The morning session was devoted to reports from these projects, and then a session on telecomms convened. About 150 people attended to hear three speakers: Heather Hudson of the Univ. of SF Telecomms Mgmt and Policy program speak about rural telecomms issues. She co-authored several important works:
Rural America in the Information Age, a book published by the Aspen Institute (no date, but pre-1992)
Electronic Byways: State policies for rural development through communications. (Aspen, no date but probably 1993)
Universal Service: the rural challenge. Changing requirements and options. (Benton Foundation 1994. benton@benton.org)
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Second speaker was Andy Meckelburg, director of infrastructure initiatives for Bell Atlantic.
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Third was Tom Kneeshaw, Palouse Economic Development council Pullman, Washington. Tom recommended a very activist role for rural development councils: become an Internet provider if nobody else is doing it. And he is hoping to link other WA. state EDC's together in a network. He had plans to put in a BBS but was persuaded to start with a Web server on a LAN. I told him that one does not preclude the other, and that a BBS is not just a steppingstone to something more serious and attention getting. However, I could tell that the term BBS has negative connotations for a lot of people.
After lunch there was another telecomms session with
Brent McMahan of BellSouth Telecomms, Inc. He is a big proponent of the so-called tele-center (aka tele-service center, tele-cottage) that would serve as a walk-in site for advanced services and perhaps a place for tele- commuters to hang their hat during the day (if they dont have the equipment at home).
Barry Ross, California Telephone Association, spoke about the rural programs promoted by telcos in California. Sierra Telephone in Oakhurst, CA (near Yosemite) snagged a $500 K Rural Electrification Admin grant to put DS-3 (45 mb/sec lines) between the schools for analog video distance learning projects.
Ken Jones, Ex. Dir, Lower Rio Grande Valley Develop. Council in McAllen, TX. described their project to form an Extended Local Calling Area service over three big rural counties on the Mexican border. Most of it was politics and time consuming rule making. What usually would take 6 months, took them 2 years (because of opposition from the long distance carriers that served the area). But they succeeded in establishing a flat rate coving two telcos (SW Bell and GTE) and 19 telephone exchanges over 120 miles. What's more the service is optional: $25 for residences and $50 for businesses for unlimited calling.
I spoke to Jones about community based information system, and he saw how crucial the flat rate would be in serving more than small, isolated exchanges in that part of the country.
The struggle that Jones and his colleagues went through is not for everyone, but the results will benefit many people and groups in ways they don't even realize.
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Finally, I picked up a NADO Research Foundation report: "Telecommunications and its impact on rural America" (4/94) 58 pages. $5 for members; $10 non-members. Funded by the RBOCs and includes a big section on advanced telecomms applications and one on universal service.
Free paper subscription to "Economic Development Digest" from NADO. I guess you can use email to request a subscription to this 10 page newsletter. Some telecomm items, but really of interest to rural networking groups.
Steve Cisler Apple Library sac@apple.com
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 09:49:56 -0500
From: Willard Uncapher
Dealing with long distance telco costs is of course one of the key issues or rural networking (along with distributing information about the nature and use of the net to non-users, and building a basis of participation by disparate business, civic, educational, and special interest groups). Short of getting the telco's to lower their rates, one solution tried at the Big Sky Telegraph based in Southwestern Montana was to integrate one Internet accessible base site with a variety of satellite Fidonet nodes. The satellite sites would organize area information and service, and then 'store and forward' to the other systems, using gophermail, ftp-mail, and so on. These links to the hub could potentially be made by radio links of some sort, or via traditional Fidonet mail hour routines.
Bear in mind that when money does come into the system, some of it might be spent on the physical infrastructure, on getting lower long distance rates; it might also be spent on 'extension agents' to extend the cultural infrastructure, telling people who might not otherwise know of their opportunities what is out there. Both of these infrastructures are important to consider in the rural setting.
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 11:59:21 EDT
From: "W. Curtiss Priest"
At the suggestion of my associate, Dr. Curtiss Priest, who has been forwarding to me many insightful messages from members of this list about the development of the NII and community networks, I'd like to share with you the following information about a recently formed coalition to help provide developing community networks with required assistance and software tools. I share this publication in the hope that some of you may give me some feedback and others interested in joining the coalition can get in touch with us.
Thanks, Ken Komoski (email: komoski@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV)
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LINCT (Learning and Information Network for Community Telecomputing)
LINCT is a not-for-profit coalition of socially-concerned organizations -- working with affiliated businesses and local governments, libraries, schools, and social services-- to help communities achieve universal, equitable access to integrated, community -wide electronic information and learning services. LINCT does this by stimulating the growth of grassroots community telecomputing cooperatives, to which it provides strategic advice and technical assistance. In addition to helping communities integrate local services, LINCT helps communities to build low-cost, locally-managed "on-ramps" to the national information highway. Through the "BET Initiative" LINCT helps communities to recycle used business computers to poverty-level and low-income families and seniors who may earn them by learning how to use them through training provided by volunteer computer-literates at local community centers and/or libraries and schools.
The first communities assisted by LINCT are five towns in Eastern Long Island, NY where LINCT is working closely with the library system, town governments, schools, and social services agencies within an integrated, systemic model. Other communities on Long Island, in New York City, and in upstate New York, and in seven other states are affiliated with LINCT in order to achieve the shared goal of low-cost, universal, equitable access to information and learning.
LINCT's purposes:
(1) help achieve low-cost, universal and equitable access to telecomputing for homes, schools, libraries, municipal and social service agencies, and community businesses;
(2) promote lifelong learning and earning in all communities via cooperative telecomputing ;
(3) keep the cost of telecomputing low through cooperative purchasing and licensing agreements with regional and national providers of network services, including the Internet;
(4) create specific programs and databases that will help communities to achieve the above.
An example of one such program is Businesses for Equity in Telecomputing (BET). BET helps communities to:
(a) facilitate the recycling of used business computers to low-income families, by enabling them to earn them through their learning to use them to telecommunicate locally and nationwide;
(b) develop cooperative training programs conducted by community volunteers, during which low-income families earn a home computer-and-modem by learning how to use a computer to become full participants in America's fast-changing information society.
Other LINCT programs being developed include improving home-school-social agency communications, primary health and crime prevention, online homework mentoring, and the online operation of community-based "time-dollar" exchanges linked to at-home, work-related training. LINCT and its growing network of affiliated not-for-profit organizations are prepared to assist communities to develop local telecomputing cooperatives to bring the benefits of low-cost telecomputing to all community members.
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LINCT % The Hamlet Green\ Hampton Bays, NY 11946 Tel: 516.728.9100
LINCT's Member Organizations
The member organizations of the LINCT coalition are the Center for Information, Technology and Society (CITS), Melrose, Massachusetts; The Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) Institute, Hampton Bays, New York, and the Time Dollars Network, Washington, D.C. Each organization is making a significant, in-kind contribution in staff time assigned to LINCT as its match of Federal grant dollars.
LINCT's affiliates: Science Linkages in the Community (SLIC), a national community-outreach program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the LINCT-affiliated, communities (eight, in six states as of (9/1/94), including community libraries, local governments, schools, community colleges, human services, and local and regional businesses cooperating in the BET Initiatives.
LINCT's leadership: Each of LINCT's three, founding organizations brings both expert staffing and information resources to this planning and development project that will contribute to its success:
% Curtiss Priest, Director of CITS, is a systems analyst, economist, software designer, who has conducted policy, evaluation, technology-transfer, and cost- effectiveness studies of information technology for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), U.S.DoE, NASA, MIT, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), and EPIE Institute
% Kenneth Komoski, LINCT's Administrative Director, has been consulting and writing on community telecomputing since 1986, and has directed the work of EPIE Institute for over two decades; under his leadership EPIE maintains the nation's only comprehensive, electronic databases of information on all types of electronic learning resources.
% Edgar Cahn, founder of the Time Dollars Network, consults with community Time Dollar Exchanges operating in 30 U.S. states, Japan, and other countries. With LINCT, the Time Dollars Network will develop community-networkable software and training programs to facilitate the ability of members of low-income and minority communities to learn-and-earn the computers, modems and software needed to access the NII for job-training and work opportunities.
LINCT's Program of Activities
% TAP -- Technical Assistance and Planning support for local community telecomputing initiatives in need of help in designing, developing and delivering social and educational services with an emphasis on arriving at the most cost-effective system for a particular community.
% BET -- Businesses for Equity in Telecomputing, enabling low-income families to earn a family computer -- plus computer training -- by earning "time dollars" for completing training at a community center in how to use telecomputing to improve family learning and earning power. Business-donated computers-plus- modems are currently being received from large and small businesses on Long Island, N.Y. where the BET Initiative is being piloted by LINCT (nationally, businesses currently own over 150 million computers, more than 15 million of which are replaced annually). LINCT envisions a nationwide, community-focused BET distribution system for donated computers to local community centers where low-income families will be trained in telecomputing, as a means of earning a home computer and modem.
% LET -- Learning-for-Earning Training, providing any community member (but especially the unemployed) with the means to learn useful skills at home via telecomputing resources available via DIRECT (see below);
% DIRECT -- Digital Information Resources for Education and Career Training, electronically accessible by learners (and/or parents and teachers) for the planning and the delivery of learning resources to homes and schools via community telecomputing cooperatives.
% TACT -- Teachers Assisted by Community Telecomputing, assisting teachers to use community telecomputing to (a) communicate more efficiently and effectively with parents, (b) integrate student at-home computer learning with in-school learning, (c) access to information on teaching resources via DIRECT, (d) access to professional training via distance learning, (f) access to SELF (see below) to facilitate students' development as self-directed learners.
% SELF -- Self-Exploration of Learning Frameworks, helping learners of all ages to use DIRECT to explore areas of learning in relation to school curricula or in response to personal interests and/or career development needs;
% PPP -- Primary Prevention Programs, a means for assisting local health service agencies and local police to use telecomputing to maintain healthier and less violent communities;
% CDA -- Community Development Activities,, such as online neighborhood organizations and projects, community planning forums, town meetings, school- business academies, library outreach, etc;
% TDE -- Time Dollar Exchanges,; "dollars" that may be earned by any member of a community willing to help others by providing skilled or unskilled services ranging from babysitting to yardwork and from database development to computer trouble-shooting. Time-Dollar transactions will be arranged for, recorded, managed, and traded through a community managed Time-Dollar Exchange (reinforced by both LET and DIRECT, see above).
For further information about LINCT contact:
Kenneth Komoski Administrative Director LINCT % Suite 3 \The Hamlet Green\ Hampton Bays, NY 11946 Voice: (516) 728-9100 \ Fax (516) 728-9228\ email: KOMOSKI@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 09:16:36 -0700
From: Jonathan Sass
On Wed, 5 Oct 1994, Brett Honneus wrote:
> If anyone has any ideas how a small community could get funding or > if the project would be feasible and worth while, please respond. >
In the Lake Tahoe area we created our network Tahoe-Truckee Commuity Network to support a regional economic group. We had no funding at first. We found a local "enthusiast" who was running a bbs and "borrowed" space on it. We then continued to speak to anyone who would listen. Once we found some people who "got" it, we worked with them and eventually they sent out fund raising letters. We asked for $250 donations which is the equivalent of mailing a letter to 30 people once a week. We started with one line and a long distance call for many. But with the funds we added the ability for local calls for all. While acceptance is slow, one town (- Truckee - ) has started to embrace the technology by placing agendas, an entire years minutes and two of the 5 council members on line. The more we talk to people, the more they "get" it and encourage others to participate. We are in the process of applying for a grant from a local organization that funds school projects. We are working with a variety of folks in the schools ranging from students to teachers to admininstrators.
Jonathan Sasss for Tahoe-Truckee Community Network (TTCN)
sass@enet.net
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 09:40:10 -0700
From: "Arthur R. McGee"
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 04:13:06 -0700
From: Paul Toliver
The latest issue of PC Magazine (October 11, 1994, VOL., 13 NO. 17) has a story entitled "Make the Internet Connection". It is one of the better stories that I have read concerning how to do it. Major subjects discussed include:
Three Paths to Connect to the Internet How Internet Mail Finds Its Way How to Use Newsgroups and Mailing Lists The Argot of the Internet Webs and Gophers How to Search the Internet Where to go and What to Find Services for Connecting, such as: America Online Delphi NetCruiser The Pipeline for Widows Tools for Connecting Mosaic and Cello Internet Front Ends to Watch For, such as Internet-in-a-Box Riding the Internet for Free
It is very good for the lay person that uses or wants to use the Net for their work or just communication.
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Art McGee [amcgee@netcom.com]
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 10:39:15 -0700
From: "Aaron (aevinck@wheel.ucdavis.edu)"
WHAT: THE 1994 ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY MEDIA FAR WEST REGIONAL CONFERENCE
WHERE: HYATT RICKEY'S, PALO ALTO
WHEN: OCTOBER 20 - 22, 1994
The 1994 Alliance for Community Media Far West Regional Conference is not one to be missed. The theme of this year's conference is "Access 2001: Sharing Strategies for an Evolving Community Media." The purpose is to gather individuals and organizations from a variety of professions such as video, film, multi media, computers, education, health care, government, and law to build ties among people who believe that, during this volatile legislative climate, we must all work together to insure accessible avenues of communication in the public interest. We hope to form alliances with these various individuals and organizations to combine efforts to establish and sustain citizen access to the "Information Superhighway" and other emerging communication technologies.
PRECONFERENCE ACTIVITIES: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20
Thursday, 9:30am - 4:30pm, lectures and demonstrations will be offered on the Internet and on AVID, ADOBE, and EISI non-linear editing systems.
Thursday, beginning at 7:00pm at the Foothill College Theater, some of the Bay Area's most eclectic and provocative "thinkers" will provide their insight at the "Futurist Forum" while discussing how the "Information Superhighway" will affect our everyday lives. Panelists include Nicole Lazaro, Co-founder of the San Francisco State University Multi Media Extension Program; RU Sirius, noted "Cyberwriter" and past Editor of Mondo 2000; Tom Mandel, Senior Management Consultant at the Stanford Research Institute; and Nancy Rhine, Co-founder and Vice President of Women's Wire, an on-line service for women.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 - 22
Workshops will be conducted Friday and Saturday on a variety of topics such as production techniques, legislative update, community on-line networking, interactive media, publicity and distribution, fundraising, equipment purchase, media literacy, copyright and privacy issues, and citizen access.
Walk through the Alliance Vendors' Showcase and experience the newest technologies and trends from the industry's leading suppliers of the latest products and services.
Nighttime activities include Friday night's "Western Access Video Excellence" Award presentation, where video producers from California, Hawaii, and Nevada compete for none other than the "WAVE" award. Saturday night is time to unwind and enjoy a pool- side party where conference attendees get the opportunity to mingle and dance, and discuss their newly found knowledge.
The Alliance for Community Media is a non-profit, membership organization founded in 1976 as the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers and provides crucial support for community media centers and community media volunteers.
For more infornmation about the Alliance or this conference, please contact:
Marilyn Ackerman (Conference Coordinator) Alliance for Community Media Far West Region Phone: (415) 949-7616
Note:
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This message is posted by Aaron Vinck, Treasurer of the Alliance for Community Media Far West Region Board of Directors.
E-mail inquiries may be addressed to:
ackerman@admin.fhda.edu
---
Aaron Vinck aevinck@wheel.ucdavis.edu
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 10:03:00 LCL
From: Bill Russell
Raymond Hustad asks: > > For those of us who do have only limited e-mail access, is there a > NON-condescending answer to the question where can one find "netizens" ? > > (and I don't care how many seconds or minutes)
As a result of the post that offended you, I sent the following message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com:
Connect uceng.uc.edu cd /pub/wuarchive/doc/misc/acn/papers get netizens quit
I do not have the document yet, but expect it today or tommorow. For more general instructions about using ftpmail send a message to the same address with a body that says "help."(without the quotes). Also helpful is the document at hydra.uwo.ca in the directory libsoft file name email_services.txt
gophermail@calvin.edu is another service for e-mail only users.
We should all rememeber that we were newbies until recently.
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William P. (Bill) Russell internet: russellb@ext23.oes.orst.edu vox: 503-347-3683 fax: 503-347-6303 snail mail: P.O.Box 2029 Bandon, OR 97411-9108
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 10:38:31 LCL
From: Bill Russell
Nancy Willard asks:
> Are there any community networks that have developed a significant > program of information and communication services addressing the needs of > children and families?
The National Public Telecomputing Network, the owners of the service mark "Free-Net," offers what they call "Cybercasting" of various services which include many of educational value for young users. They have one entitled "Intergenrational Exchange." You can get more information be sending e-mail to info@nptn.org
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William P. (Bill) Russell internet: russellb@ext23.oes.orst.edu vox: 503-347-3683 fax: 503-347-6303 snail mail: P.O.Box 2029 Bandon, OR 97411-9108
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 15:18:53 -0400
From: Jonathan Prince
Yeah I just bought it and was impressed as well.
Even though it had no mention Free-Nets (as far as I could tell) which I thought was quite an oversight.
Jonathan Prince
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 04:13:06 -0700
> From: Paul Toliver
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||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Jonathan Prince
|LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL||||||| Rural Action
||LL LLLLL LL LLL LL LLLLL LL|||||| VISTA for SEORF
|||LL LLL LLL LL LLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLL LL LL||||| 1 Mound Street
||||LL L LLLL LLLLL LLLLLL LLLLLL LL|||| Athens, Ohio
|||||LL LLLLLL LL LLLLLLL LLLLL LLLLLL LL||| 45701
||||||LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL|| 614-593-7490
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 14:42:00 -0800
From: Nancy Willard ESD
The shared use of telecommunication facilities in rural communities is a concept that was strongly endorsed in the OTA publication Rural America at the Crossroads: Networking for the Future (OTA-TCT-471, April 1991). This is a good report and well worth reading if you are working with rural communities.
I do have some questions about the extent to which public agencies ought to be establishing communication facilities for commercial uses. Actually, I am not sure what I think about this. I see pros and cons. It really would be best if commercial entities were served by commercial Internet providers, but I recognize that in many communities this may be a long day coming.
I do think that the coordination of all of the public interest telecommunications activities (government, schools, libraries, community networks) ought to be coordinated and I could make a strong argument to include medical services (even if they are a commercial activity) as a "public interest" activity.
What I would like to see is an aggressive effort to establish the public interest telecommunication activities, including economic development services. Then, as the community becomes more familiar with the technology, commercial interests could form a cooperative to bring in commercial service.
I would really like to hear other folks opinions on this.
Nancy
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Nancy Willard Whatever you can do,
Information Technology Consultant or dream you can do,
788 W 23rd Avenue begin it.
Eugene, Oregon 97405 Boldness has genius,
(503) 344-9125 power, and magic in it.
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 16:53:41 -0600
From: Madeline Gonzalez
I started such a collection on the Boulder Community Network (URL=http://bcn.boulder.co.us); from Home Page follow links -> About BCN -> Community Networks
Madeline Gonzalez, Coordinator Boulder Community Network
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 18:28:31 -0700
From: Lee Panza
On Tue, 4 Oct 1994, Bill Russell wrote:
> > Being a city councilor, I very much want to open up our governance > process to access through the community network which I plan to > preceed connecting to other networks via Internet. One of my sales > pitches to the city is that having council and planning commission > minutes on-line will make Freedom of Information access by citizens > have less impact on day-to-day operation of the government. >
Bill:
It's reassuring whenever I see a posting from someone who is recognizably an elected public official, because my personal experience has been that disappointingly few government representatives seem to realize how important this growing phenomenon of community computer networking actually is.
Perhaps it's at least partly because it still takes a significant level of technological orientation to understand how it all works and to participate in it to any degree, and politics is probably more attractive to people with more of a philosophical/conceptial orientation. It's critically important, however, that government leaders - particularly at the local level, where things can actually get done - be involved in efforts being made to spread these electronic linkages throughout our civilization. We are clearly living through an era which will be looked back on as a major historical event, as humanity around the globe begins to coalesce into one interconnected community.
As the saying goes, however, we've got to "act locally," and local government leaders have got to be involved in this. I'd be curious how many elected officials are lurking behind the news groups and mailing lists like this (and Miles Fidelman's new one - thanks Miles), but I'm sure it's nowhere near enough of a critical mass to really get government moving. In the SF Bay Area, for example, our Association of Bay Area Governments has been having little success in attracting member agencies to join their web server to get even the most basic information on line without the daunting task of setting up an entire system of their own. Here, with one of the world's most important centers of high tech in our midst, local officials are still disturbingly ignorant of what's happening with computer networking, let alone what it really means.
Over the few months since I was introduced to all of this, I've read some good thought-provoking postings from people who recognize the importance of making information (KNOWLEDGE) more readily accessible to more people. The democratic fervor permeating the net, and this list in particular, is exhilerating! Nevertheless, I have the feeling that much of the value of these exchanges is lost because those who are in the best positions to implement these ideas probably aren't being exposed to them.
I'd like to exhort everyone who is reading these lines, now, to approach their local government officials and make a sustained effort to convey to them how necessary it is for them to be involved in this. I think you'll find that "politicians" at the grass-roots level are generally more responsive and sincerely interested in making government work for-the-people than most of you would expect. Work on them. Get them involved. They're there (for the most part) because they want to do some good. But they might be a little intimidated by the tech aspects, and many of them probably believe that this all matters only to the relatively few people who already have internetworking access. They need to be shown that this will propagate, eventually reaching nearly everyone to some degree or other, and that it will yield rich results.
After all of that, please excuse a little self-indulgence: _____ _______ ||||| _____ ______ LEE PANZA, City Councilman |^^^^^| | |__ |::::L |""""|_ City of Brisbane, CA USA | |_ /^^\ | |_|:: _|_ |::::|_\ (415) 467-1123 __|_ _|_|::|-| _|_|__ |O|-|::::| |__ panza@tcomeng.com | L__ | ||"""|| | | | | |::::| |___________________________ * **
http://tcomeng.com/cities/brisbane (just getting started)
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 21:36:52 -0500
From: Tom White
I read the article. It was generally very good. It did miss one very important aspect, though. It assumed that everyone one the 'Net would have some sort of wide band institutional connection. The "dial-up" providers were completly ignored. I don't mean like AOL, Prodigy, or CIS but the commercial providers like I use and are becoming more and more common for econimical 'Net access.
I use Real/Time Communications (bga.com) which gives me full unlimited SLIP access for $160/year. Period. No time charges. My cohort with whom I frequently work in Santa Rosa, CA pays about $17.50/month at crl.com for similar service. The point is I think that these kind of providers are becoming more and more prevelent but were not mentioned in the PC Mag article.
Tom White Driftwood, TX
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Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 22:06:45 -0500 From: JGLASER@ACS.TAMU.EDU Subject: Re: Unsubscribe
have you heard of the Hotel California?
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End of COMMUNET Digest - 4 Oct 1994 to 5 Oct 1994
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