Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started By: Sunday working group (teluride) on Sun, Jul 25, '93 12 responses so far Community Networks: Where Do you start? (Sun 9-10:30) 12 responses total. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 1: Steve Cisler, Apple Computer (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:40) 60 lines Presentation Notes for Community Computer Networks: Building Electronic Greenbelts. Tomita's Model in 1980 for communication showed 3 levels: Conversation, Group Participation, Mass Communication. Group participation is the gap. Tomito felt the fax and computers could fill that gap. Community network background: Purpose is for community information accessibility. The debate on telecommunications is similar to the spread of electrical power--first used in lighting, then street cars, movie theatres and amusement parks. May be that telecom is similar and entertainment uses should be looked at. Information on a community network includes local, national, international, and news from affinity groups (ethnic, hobby, professional. religious, cultural, etc.), and government. Unique services on a community network include personal interactions, health, life-long learning, job listings, city/county legislation, advice from experts (e.g., freenet), library catalogs, tourist info, reports for legislators. Ways to connect for comm networks include dialups, dedicated phone line, LAN's, cable and wireless. Comm networks are run by enthusiasts, universities, libraries (Glendale PL), commercial (Americal Online/San Jose) and non-profit concerns (Blacksburg Electronic Village) Comm networks are funded by volunteer donations, gov't budgets (Santa Monica put $120K in salaries toward their network), in-kind donations (Sun, Apple, HP, ...), grants (Kellogg, US West, Kaplan, ...), out of pocket from computer system operators, and pilot projects providing federal and state dollars. Systems to look at: National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Canada. Through the Internet they wrote papers for 1 year on what community network should be. Typically they have a menu system on a Unix system. City Council's Community Computer Network, Wellington, New Zealand. They charge .20/min connect across the board to support it. Connection available thru Gopher. There are more outside users than users in Wellington. Started by one tecchie on council staff who wanted to. Cupertino CityNet. Uses 1st Class software for their front end. They have public workstations in libraries throughout the city. They charge $20/yr for an account. TogetherNet. Uses graphical user interface client. They have a relational database searching function to navigate through topics, mail, etc. Mercury Center, San Jose Mercury News. They provide access through commercial service America OnLine. What's needed in future systems: Cross platform (hardware) Scalability (Servers/clients can work with many systems) Extensibility (Multiple data types, GIS info, collaborative tools, transactional data) Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 2: Richard Bryant, Taos NM (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:41) 2 lines We want to do a community network in Taos and are looking at Telluride InfoZone to learn, and any other notwork we can look at. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 3: (teluride) (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:44) 2 lines You need to provide services that keep users' interest. Daily newspaper news, sports, *timely* information. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 4: (teluride) (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:45) 2 lines Model is similar to public TV networks--networks are a driving force for a minority of the community. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 5: (teluride) (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:46) 2 lines Their is also a comparison to public radio--it might have to be user supported. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 6: (teluride) (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:47) 2 lines An important use of community networks is information *sharing*--Have you seen my lost dog, etc. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 7: (teluride) (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:48) 2 lines To market and sustain a system you need to go after affinity groups that need group communication. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 8: (teluride) (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:49) 2 lines You need to do a needs analysis with the community--what does the community need? Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 9: (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:50) 3 lines There is a need to provide vs. a need to know--this has driven persons to provide access before users figure out what to do with it. This has seemed to work. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 10: (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:51) 2 lines On the subject of connectivity, Princeton, NJ is using cable to move data between universities. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 11: Steve Cisler (teluride) Sun, Jul 25, '93 (12:59) 8 lines Key issue: provision needs to be made for (non)repudiation of message traffic -- i.e., assurance that a message has/has not been sent, and on the flip side, assurance that a message sent has/has not been delivered or received. This issue addresses those vital messages which must be transmitted in a timely manner and/or received and read by the addressee to assure completion of the communication loop. Topic 35: Community Networks Getting Started # 12: Bill McDonald (billmcd) Mon, Jul 26, '93 (00:01) 7 lines Why should I make it easy for people to find out when _I_ read my mail ? It isn't their business. If they feel anxious about, tough. They send letters in the mail now without too much worry. BTW, Compuserve has this if you want it. .