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from CommuNet -- e-mail and public hearings
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Date: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 17:22:35 -0400
From: Bruce McComb
The following is a letter I am sending to anyone who may have an interest and/or may have some suggestions on how to tackle this problem. Perhaps the frustration of beating my head against the wall for over two years is taking its toll.
If anyone has additional e-mail adddresses, listservs, etc. that may be usefull for me to address, please let me know.
Please give this the widest possible dissemination.
Thanks, Bruce McComb
RECA FOUNDATION 605 South Olympia #74 Kennewick, Wa 99336
Phone: 509 586-6481 Tri-Cities Free-Net: 509 375-1111 e-mail: TCFN@Delphi.com TCFN is an Affiliate of the National Public Telecomputing Network
August 28, 1994
To: Cyberspace Distribution
Free-Nets vs the Closed Society
by Bruce McComb, Executive Director, RECA Foundation
The Tri-Cities Free-Net has completed its second full year of operation. The Free-Net is administered by the RECA Foundation [a 501(c)(3) organization] and maintains the Free-Net operation through a force of volunteers and funding from a few users and local businesses. This Free-Net DOES NOT, however, enjoy the support of local government, the US Department of Energy, or the big business interests at the Hanford Reservation. In fact, they have all done whatever they can to discourage the Free-Net and community computing in general. Why? I have been asking that question for over two years and have finally figured it out. They don't want the Hanford people interacting with the general public in an open, ongoing way. It's that simple!
The "secret society" lives and those in power want it to stay that way. There is lots of talk about public involvement, public input, public forums, and the like but there is little substance to go with the words. A recent example:
The August 27, 1994 edition of the Tri-City Herald carried an article (buried in the back of the paper) titled "Hanford comment deadline extended". Public comment on the proposed Hanford workforce restructuring was extended only after U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee and some unnamed "community leaders" requested the extension. "DOE is setting up three public workshops .... to discuss the plan with the public." Wow, three workshops in a month! Of course one would have to know about them and be able to attend and have some knowledge of what the plan was all about.
The Tri-Cities Free-Net has had a Hanford Public Involvement forum available for use for two years. DOE has had the ability to send press releases, upload detailed information (such as the Hanford workforce restructuring plan), and interact with the public - all at no cost! They wouldn't have to rely on three workshops in a month - they could run the workshops online, 24 hours/day, for as long as they wish.
Despite continued requests for participation, the DOE, Hanford Contractors, local governments, and other big business interests have refused to support the Free-Net. Those are the same people that outwardly talk about the need to diversify the business base from Hanford but, at the same time, seek to protect their own self- interests. The cold war secrecy served those people well by perpetuating an economy based on federal funding - to allow the kind of open communication a Free-Net provides is seen as a threat to their power base.
Let's look at another Free-Net in a strikingly similar environment.
The Kitsap Free-Net (Kitsap County, Washington) recently received federal funding [Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA)] to provide a Free-Net to that area. The following is taken from the winning grant application:
"The "problem" is the fast rate of change, something we can embrace or resist. It involves the "face" of information and how people can get to it. Perhaps it can best be stated by example.
...Kitsap County is dependent on a military economy. Community leaders know this, and as part of a county wide planning process began a series of meetings known as "Diversification Summits." In these meetings community leaders are seeking ways to diversify the Kitsap county economy away from such heavy dependence on the military and toward high-tech, low-impact businesses that could locate anywhere, yet contribute to the economy in a meaningful way.
At the first Diversification Summit, held on March 9, 1993 in Kitsap County, Mike Fitzgerald, of the Washington State Department of Trade & Economic Development, had this to say:
The world has shifted. It's now a global, information-based economy, where ideas are capital, and it's empowering people all over this planet in a way they've never been empowered before. Now, with a telephone, a lap-top computer and a fax machine, you can be anywhere in the world and instantly access all the world's stock exchanges and databases. You can run an industry from anywhere. These are the new realities that are pushing us to figure out how to do virtually everything we do better and cheaper. And if we don't, there is no way that our children are going to achieve a standard of living comparable to what any of us have achieved. It simply won't be possible"
The Kitsap county community had already established a group of potential information providers that included representatives from every school district, the ESD, Olympic College, interested citizens, the Kitsap County government, the U.S. Department of the Navy, and others. There are many more pages of information going into detail on how the local governments, citizen groups, business interests, and the U.S. Government (Navy) are cooperating to make diversification a reality. The Kitsap Free-Net is seen as THE major communications component.
Having served in the U.S. Submarine force for over 20 years (my retirement was processed at the Bangor Submarine Base in Kitsap County), I can appreciate what is going on in Kitsap County. Why won't the U.S. Department of Energy take on the same responsibility to the Hanford (Tri-Cities) community as the Navy has assumed for their community? They don't want the Hanford people interacting with the general public in an open, ongoing way. It's that simple!
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Date: Mon, 29 Aug 1994 00:17:22 EDT
From: Steve Weinberg
Bruce, Hi!
Congratulations on the formation of the RECA Foundation and for getting the Tri-Cities FreeNet (TCFN) up and running.
Your letter poses an interesting problem in what must be a growing body of knowledge about the various ways to "grow" a Freenet - with or without the support of the local "establishment".
Your frustration with the Dept of Energy must grow from a sense that with their moral and financial support, TCFN would grow much bigger much faster.
The question is, since most public agencies (at the Federal, State and Local levels) derive their power from relatively unmonitored and, therefore, unchallenged power over whatever a particular agency has power over, it will never be in their interest to diminish that power by sharing it with citizen watchdog/critics.
So we can assume that most public sector officials will be dragged kicking and screaming up the on-ramps of the Information Superhighway. Mind you, I am a big supporter of the public sector. But I recognize the problems of public sector management and do not hesitate to deal with them. Business will use the Information superhighway if they can earn money (power) by doing so. In the end we all hope big business will be surprised at the extent to which the power of telecommunications to democratize the economic playing field will tend to decentralize the economy. In the mean time, Government officials have all the power they need and risk much more than they can gain by playing "Infobahn information bingo" with average citizens.
The problem remains, since everyone has a phone line and 1/3 of all homes have computer stuff that cost at least $1000, what prevents them from buying a $75 modem and signing on to TCFN and all of her sister FreeNets across the land?
I see this as a marketing problem, pure and simple.
You tell me how you've tried to market TCFN and I'll bet you that the folks on Communet will be able to give you 50 great suggestions for "growing" TCFN significantly (at least by 5% per "great suggestion") and with the resources you already have or could reasonably muster.
So let's forget about the DOE jumping on the TCFN bandwagon. If TCFN can provide solutions to real community problems - fill real personal and organizational community needs - then we can "grow" it without the DOE.
Stop "beating your head against the wall" and try us!
Steve Weinberg nevets2@aol.com Community Action Services Think Globally......Act Locally ```
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