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Report
Networks and Community Compiled 018
NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY : March 8, 1994
Networks and Community is devoted to encouraging
LOCAL resource creation & GLOBAL resource sharing.
The 12th report of 1994 is the 18th weekly survey.
----------------------------------------------
coverage in this issue includes: QUOTES OF THE WEEK
CORRECTION ASSISTANCE NEEDED DISCUSSIONS EVENTS
FUNDRAISING LEGISLATION NEW SERVICES TRENDS
---------------------------------------------------
MY FAVOURITE QUOTES FROM THE PAST WEEK OF POSTINGS.
( both have been edited by me )
==================================================
1 - WHAT COMMUNITY COMPUTING SHOULD BE ABOUT
"I think we should be trying to collect and develop good ideas
about how to make this all work to make healthier communities and
more humane and effective governments. ........ What we haven't
done is to fit that into the on-going routines of government and
community life in practical and transforming ways.
..... I've seen too little thought about how it's going to make
communities different, improve the workings of governments, change
the character of public life. If you think about the nasty effect
television has had on presidential campaigning in the years since
Eisenhower, you will get an idea of the dimensions of the
sequences that are possible. Can't we please do better than
that?!" Putnam Barber Seattle
2 - GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE
"I've been an activist outside of government--which I am now--and
both an elected official and an administrator on the inside.
........ My general reaction to the discussion of whether
government should or should not "run" telecommuncations systems is
it depends on the government...A few basic points:
1. "Governments" are as different as the communities that elect
them. To generalize about "government" in Canada or in the US is
silly. There are thousands of local governments in both places,
with different structures, politics, values, etc..--as varied as
the communities, again, which they serve.
The variety is not infinite--there are types of governments; types
of systems--but it's essential to make this decision on a
government by government basis.
2. A more general problem of government involvement right now,
however, is that almost no public official understands what any of
this entails. They aren't any further along the learning curve than
their constituents, and considerably behind anyone who is
participating in this discussion. Nor do most of them have the time
to learn. They'd like to be able to communicate with their
constituents in various ways, but someone has to make it easy for
them to even understand how to do that.
3. The fate of public access on cable television should be
sobering warning those who think that public involvement will be
a panacea everywhere. I sat on Philadelphia's City Council when we
awarded cable franchises. I took it all quite seriously --
interviewing all the companies, etc. Their response to public
access requirements was a prerequisite for my support. The moment
we awarded the franchises, the feds relaxed the regulatory
requirements and the companies reneged on all deals. Those channels
are blank. The City's own channel took three years to show
anything, and now it's still basically bulletin board styled
announcements. It's run out of something called the "public
property" department whose major responsibilities the maintenance
of public buildings...As I say, there's not a lot of vision here...
4. As important in big cities--perhaps more important--as any
content on these channels--and I'm talking now about both cable
and telecommunications channels--will be who gets the gravy.
Affirmative action for hiring...specific contracts to specific
people and groups...even small buck deals have their price
....I've played in all these arenas, and don't find them as
noxious as most people do...It's disturbing, though, when that's
all that elected officials care about. That's as big a threat as
censorship--maybe bigger.
5. Government control won't be a problem..that is, until someone
uses one of these systems at public expense to mobilize a major
lobbying campaign against elected officials over some
issue...that'll get their attention... and the reaction of all but
the most decent governments will not be pretty.
I left government in 1992 to return working with citizen
groups...I accomplished a reasonable amount in both positions that
I held, but the capacity to "empower" people in ways that
challenged the system of which I was a part was limited...And if
this is to be a tool for empowerment, then that would apply in most
instances to government control of it.. Government should pay for
the training...give it startup funds...make itself accessible as
the White House is trying to do...but the rest of us should
build it...
Ed Schwartz Institute for the Study of Civic Values 215-238-1434
---------------------------------
CORRECTION
==========
A NATIONAL GOPHER SITE FOR CANADA
The National Library of Canada's Gopher server, which was
previously reported as open, is accessible but under development.
Comments and suggestions are appreciated, but visitors to the
Gopher should be forewarned that some menu items are in place for
developmental purposes and may not yet contain information or
links. At present, the structure is being developed in only
one of the official languages - English - for simplicity. Within
the next few weeks, the same menus will be translated into French.
The Gopher will be ready for registration then with the University
of Minnesota. As soon as the NLC Gopher is open, announcements
will be posted on several discussion lists and newsgroups.
ASSISTANCE WANTED
=================
1 - CREATING A PUBLIC INTEREST GOPHER
--------------------------------------
jmorris@resudox.net wrote " We are presently working on the gopher
the group. I would appreciate any input from you as to what the
content should be. We will have the Canarie gopher and the Well.
There will be the minutes from the last meeting and general
information."
Any suggestions readers may have to improve the gopher site for
Canada's Coalition for Public Information will be appreciated.
2 - DEVELOPING A NATIONAL ADVISORY BODY FOR CANADA
--------------------------------------------------
The Advisory Group for the Information Highway is still being set
up and as yet has no official name. The chairs, which may
possibly be two co-chairs, should be in place by mid-March.
Additional members of the group are likely to be selected by the
chairs on the recommendation of Industry Canada. These members
may have very little experience with the public information
access/freenet/telecommunities sector and might need assistance
with nominees. The following people are those who will probably
be submitting recommended names to the council:
Hon. John Manley,Minister of Industry
235 Queen St, 11th floor, East Tower
Ottawa, Ont
K1A OH5
613-995-9001
NET:jon@istc.ca
Dr. Jon Gerrard
Secretary of State
Science, Research and Development
235 Queen Street, 11 Floor, East Tower
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A OH5
613-995-1333
NET: manley.john@istc.ca
Michael Binder
Assistant Deputy Minister
STITT
Industry Canada
0th Floor
300 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A OC8
613-998-0368
NET: not yet established
Susan Baldwin
DGNM
Industry Canada
6th Floor
300 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A OC8
613-990-4262
NET: Not established yet
It has been strongly suggested that community network groups,
library, public interest and other organizations should be
contacting all these people over the next two weeks or so in order
to secure representation on the Council.
3 - ASSISTING A LOCAL GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW ZEALAND
--------------------------------------------------------------
Here in New Zealand Local Government Reform and changes in
legislation brought about changes in the way Local Authorities
relate to their people and communities. This new non-prescriptive
legislation, and a growing desire for self determination within
communities, has meant involvement with people (partnership) to
provide many different services and to help shape a better
environment people live in. Many small and rural communities
are wanting control over their own destinies.
* Many Local Governments are adopting a "facilitation
role" to encourage "community-based" facilities, services and
projects.
Before I leave for the USA (3 April) I have agreed to
assist a Local Government representative (Karen has no access to
the Internet) in locating background literature (reading
lists) publications (newsletters, magazines, electronic
newsletters and lists etc), case studies, contact particulars of
key contacts and those she could visit (eg Local Governments,
community organisations, development groups, research and
education providers). In September Karen is planning a nine week
study tour to North America and the United Kingdom.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT WITH DEVELOPMENT
The focus is on the involvement of Local Government with
community based programmes, services and projects for,
telecommunications, distance education, telecomputing,
information kiosks, health, education, management of at-risk
environments, community facilities, employment, new business
development, economic development (of rural communities, rural
towns, rural cities and regions), noneconomic outcomes (eg
recreation and lifestyle) etc.
YOUR ASSISTANCE IS APPRECIATED
I look forward to your reply. Thank you for providing any
information you can on resources that are available (via
Internet and paper) and possible contacts.
Roger Mackenzie rogerm@nzonline.ac.nz
4 - BERKELEY WOULD LIKE THE SAME INFO TOO!
-------------------------------------------
If you want to pass on your thoughts about
the challenges of turning government into a "broker"
or "facilitator," I'd welcome those, too.
You can reach me by e-mail at robbg@well.sf.ca.us
Rob Gurwitt Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley
[ as a later post points out - some locations have been very
successful getting government involved - ed "Have a look at the
Government Centre on freenet.carleton.ca.
We have a city government and a regional government participating.
Half of the elected officials in the city can be reached via email
and there are newsgroups about their wards." ]
DISCUSSIONS
===========
The principal theme this week has been the formula for developing
a viable civic net.
Nancy Willard <willard@edlane.lane.edu> Who is co-authoring an
upcoming book on creating community systems wrote:
"It is my hope that the future will bring public-private
partnerships, where the government folks take the responsibility
provide access to public records, libraries take the
responsibility to sift through the incredible information resources
available and provide pointers/access to their local residents,
and a non-profit organization handles the other aspects that we
now consider to be community networking, local information, local
conferences, Internet access, etc. Of course, each
community will need to work out what is best for it."
In a separate communication she wrote that the standard by which
business activities on the part of Free-nets should be judged is
their impact on the PUBLIC INTEREST.
Much of the discussion on both com-priv and communent dealt with
the potential of commercial activity to impact both the free-net
movement and Internet in general. SEE TRENDS for additional info.
Some contended that junk mail would hurt Internet. Others proposed
a variety of mechanisms to accommodate business on the Internet.
One freenetter claimed that only by permitting business activities
on free-nets could they survive in long run.
An interesting response pointed out that Freenets without Internet
connections could be created for very little money. Thus avoiding
the whole issue of constant fundraising.
EVENTS
======
1 - "Computers, Freedom and Privacy 94." Chicago, Il. March 23-26.
Sponsored by ACM and The John Marshall Law School.
contact: George Trubow, 312-987-1445 (CFP94@jmls.edu).
2 - Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC)-94
"Developing an Equitable and Open Information Infrastructure"
Cambridge, MA. April 23 - 24, 1994. Sponsored by CPSR.
Contact: cwhitcomb@bentley.edu, or doug.schuler@cpsr.org.
3 - Computer-Human Interaction 94. Boston, Mass. April 24-28.
Sponsored by ACM.
Contact: 214-590-8616 or 410-269-6801, chi94office.chi@xerox.com
4 - "Navigating the Networks." 1994 Mid-Year Meeting, American
Society for Information Science. Portland, Oregon. May 22 - 25,
1994. Contact: rhill@cni.org
5 - Rural Datafication II: "Meeting the Challenge of Providing
Ubiquitous Access to the Internet" Minneapolis, Minnesota. May
23-24, 1994. Sponsored by CICNet & NSF.
Contact: ruraldata-info-request@cic.net.
Send name, mailing address and e-mail address.
6- "Information: Society, Superhighway or Gridlock?" Computing for
the Social Sciences 1994 Conference (CSS94). University of Maryland
at College Park. June 1-3, 1994.
Contact: Dr. Charles Wellford, >301-405-4699, fax 301-405-4733,
e-mail cwellford@bss2.umd.edu.
7 - Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Science.
Washington, DC June 9-11.
Contact: 415 617-3335, hopper-info@pa.dec.com
8 - Third Biannual Conference on Participatory Design, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, October 27-28, 1994. Sponsored by CPSR.
contact: trigg@parc.xerox.com. Submissions due April 15, 1994.
FUNDRAISING
===========
1 - A DIRECT APPROACH TO GOVERNMENT FUNDING SUCCEEDS
----------------------------------------------------
FEBRUARY, 1994--STATE FUNDING BILLS PASS
All of us at La Plaza wiped our brows and gave sighs of relief upon
hearing that the two bills introduced into the New Mexico State
Legislature to help support La Plaza were passed with flying colors
in both the House (Rep. Frank Peralta) and Senate (Sen. Carlos
Cisneros). Both bills were pegged at $500,000 each.
However, after the legislative budget paring knife took over, the
total funding for the project has been cut, but at press time, we
do not know the exact amount. Nonetheless, it appears that La Plaza
will receive some state funding for development. Thanks to everyone
who called or wrote their legislators.
Richard W. Bryant Vice President and Director of Projects and
Development La Plaza Telecommunity rbryant@hydra.unm.edu
2 - A VERY USEFUL DOCUMENT AVAILABLE AS A MODEL
FOR GROUPS SEEKING GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
--------------------------------------------------
>From : Clyde "Bird-Dawg" Forrest
Forrest Research & Consulting Group
Internet E-mail: ud793@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
HIS PREAMBLE BLASTS THE CANADIAN TELCO's VISION
"I encourage you to consider how we can build on this model to
contrast Stentor's vision statement. Note that in the BC model,
65% of the $12.9 million price tag is for people. If we need about
$13 million for BC, what do we need to Free-Net all of Canada?
$100 million? Maybe $200 million? That's still less than what BC
ministries spent on I.T. last fiscal year. Compare a community
run Free-Net vision which sez "within one year, we can build &
maintain Canadian public electronic communications utility for a
couple 100 million" versus Stentor's $30 billion/10 year consumer
rollout strategy. Too much, too little, too late.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BRITISH COLUMBIA FREE-NET BUSINESS CASE
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[ The document includes these and other sections - ed ]
SECTION PAGE #
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Summary ...................................................... 2
Purpose & Goal ............................................... 4
What is Free-Net? ............................................ 4
Standard Free-Net Costs ...................................... 5
Free-Net Benefits ............................................ 6
[ This section includes a major examination of the economic
benefits of civic nets -ed ]
Also covered are :
Potential Major Funding Sources:
Potential Partners
----------------------------------------------
3 - NEW NTIA FUNDING PROGRAM GUIDELINES ANNOUNCED
_________________________________________________
Key elements of the NTIA program :
Total grant funds available in this round: $26 million
Size of individual grants: No guidance for this first round.
Application deadline: May 12, 1994
Announcement of awards: Late summer or early fall, 1994
Duration of grants: 6-18 months
Special consideration: Requires matching support
Special consideration: Emphasis on partnerships for applications
Special consideration: Emphasis on computer-based electronic
networks
Eligible Entities: State and local governments; nonprofits
Types of grants: 1) Planning Grants (40% of available funds);
2) Demonstration Projects (60% of available funds)
Selection process: Competitive merit review
Additional note: Guidelines are approx 37K
Excerpts:
Summary: "...funds for planning and demonstration projects to
promote the goals of development and widespread availability of
advanced telecommunications technologies; to enhance the delivery
of social services and generally serve the public interest; to
promote access to government information and increase civic
participation; and to support the advancement of an advanced
nationwide telecommunications and information infrastructure."
"The TIIAP will provide matching grants to state and local
governments, non-profit health care providers, school districts,
libraries, universities, public safety services, and other
non-profit entities.
Grants will be awarded after a competitive merit review process
and will be used to fund projects to connect institutions to
existing networks and systems, enhance communications networks and
systems that are currently operational, establish new network
capabilities, permit users to interconnect among different networks
and systems, and bring more users on-line. Equally important, they
will help leverage the resources and creativity of the private
sector to devise new applications and uses of the NII. The success
of these pilot projects will create an ongoing process that will
generate more innovative approaches each year."
NTIA contact:
Dr. Charles Rush, Acting Director of the Office of
Telecommunications and Information Applications
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Department of Commerce
Telephone: (202) 482-2048; fax: (202) 482-2156
e-mail: tiiap@ntia.doc.gov
NTIA BBS via Internet: ntiabbs.ntia.doc.gov; or at: iitf.doc.gov
LEGISLATION
===========
1 - INTERNET CONNECTIONS FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF DEMOCRATIC
DISCOURSE [ guaranteeing flat rate access ]
Proposed amendment to HR 3636.
.............. much material deleted -ed ................
On page 25, add a new section
SEC. 106.INTERNET ACCESS AND FLAT RATE PRICING OF EMAIL SERVICES
(a) APPLICATION -- All telephone service providers are
required to offer a reasonably priced tariffed service which
provides Internet access.
(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMISSION -- The Commission
shall determine a minimum level of service for Internet access.
The minimum level shall include the ability to send and receive
electronic mail to and from the Internet.
.....................
The rationale for this proposal is to insure that the Internet
will continue to provide opportunities for citizen to participate
in democratic discourse on a wide range of topics (since flat rate
email pricing is considered extremely important for Internet
discussion groups).
Please copy (cc:) comments to James Love of the Taxpayer Assets
Project. v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet:
love@essential.org. jamie
--------------------------------
2 - PUBLIC INTEREST AMENDMENTS TO H.R.3636
A. UNIVERSAL SERVICE VISION
"(2) To make available, so far as possible, to all the people
of the United States, regardless of location or disability, a
switched, broadband telecommunications network capable of enabling
users to originate and receive affordable and accessible high
quality voice, data, graphics and video telecommunication
services."
This is in-lieu of the current provision that reads:
(2) to encourage the continued development and deployment of
advanced and reliable capabilities and services in
telecommunications networks"
B. PUBLIC INTEREST RATES
A new provision will be added to the bill that reads as follows:
"(iii) Such plan [referring to a plan developed by a federal/state
joint board] shall address the need for public access to
telecommunication services at incremental cost offered by
non-profit, public institutions, public education, library, public
broadcasting and government entities, both as producers and users
of services."
The Alliance for Public Technology working with Congressman Al
Swift (D-WA), have developed the amendments, which HE WILL OFFER
DURING MARK-UP OF THE BILL IN FULL COMMERCE COMMITTEE. HOWEVER HE
NEEDS TO KNOW THAT THERE IS BROAD BASED SUPPORT. AT THIS TIME, WE
HAVE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THERE WILL BE NO SERIOUS OBJECTIONS
FROM INDUSTRY, EITHER TELCO OR CABLE.
The purpose of the first amendment is to include in the
preamble of the bill a statement of national purpose, similar to
the statement in the 1934 Act, except that this makes clear that
the national policy is for the eventual deployment of a broad band
network to every home that has the capability to enable "upstream"
video...that is, the ability of any user on the system to input
video and, in effect, become a publishers.
The purpose of the second amendment is to establish the
principle of non-profit rates. It amends that part of the bill
that creates a federal/state Joint Board to come up with a
Universal Service definition. This adds the requirement that they
develop a plan for non-profit access and use at "incremental cost,"
which means the cost of one addition service or user. This would
be substantially reduced from standard rates.
LET CONGRESSMAN SWIFT KNOW YOU SUPPORT THE AMENDMENTS BY
E-MAIL LETTER TO THE ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC TECHNOLOGY STATING YOU
OR YOUR ORGANIZATION SUPPORTS THE AMENDMENTS.
AND I WILL SEE THAT THEY GET IT.
(SSIMON@IDI.NET)
--------------------------------------
3 - CLIPPER PETITION PASSES 40,000
The CPSR Internet Petition to oppose the Clipper Proposal has now
passed 40,000 signatures.
The petition has been signed by users at over 2,600 sites,
including ,100 companies and 800 colleges. Messages continue to
arrive at a rate of over 1,000 per day.
To sign on to the letter, send a message to:
Clipper.petition@cpsr.org
with the text "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
To obtain a copy of the petition, email a blank message to
petition-info@cpsr.org
For more information on Clipper, email clipper-info@cpsr.org. You
will receive a copy of the Clipper FAQ.
4 - CPSR ANALYZES THE CANTWELL LEGISLATION
This legislation takes some important steps to resolve a
serious problem facing some of our most dynamic industries. It
would give the Secretary of Commerce exclusive authority over
dual use information security programs and products, eliminates
the requirement for export licenses for generally available
software with encryption capabilities, and requires the Secretary
to grant such validated licenses for exports of other software
with encryption capabilities to any country to which we already
approve exports for foreign financial institutions.
Indeed, there is no provision in H.R. 3627 that would in any
way rescind the Administration's recent decision to adopt
key-escrow Clipper technology as the government encryption
standard. The legislation would do precisely what Rep. Cantwell
said it would do relax restrictions on the export of strong
encryption products outside of the United States.
Some have suggested that passage of the Cantwell bill would
create an environment in which it is less likely that Clipper will
become the defacto encryption standard within the United States.
This view was expressed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
and several large corporations in a letter to the President last
December which expressed "tentative" support for Clipper on a
"voluntary" basis. CPSR dissented from this position in a
subsequent letter to the President and expressed its opposition to
the Clipper proposal under any circumstances.
While it is possible that the Cantwell legislation would make
it less likely that Clipper will become the de facto privacy
standard, such a result is by no means a certainty. It is, in fact,
possible that passage of the legislation would provide better U.S.
encryption products overseas than would be available within the
United States -- particularly if, as many fear, Clipper eventually
becomes a mandatory standard in this country.
We believe that the Cantwell bill is a step in the right direction,
as it would remove current disincentives to the development of
strong encryption products by U.S. companies. But the proposed
legislation is not a panacea -- it would not address the threat to
privacy in the United States created by the Clipper initiative.
Export controls on cryptography are a related issue, but they are
not central to the Clipper controversy. The Administration's
adoption of the key-escrow Clipper standard must be opposed and
reversed.
------------------------------------------
[ editors note - the administration has tacitly recognized the
validity of criticism of the security of the clipper chip proposal.
It announced this week that government agencies can only use
clipper for sensitive information - NOT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.
Now you just have to take part in the effort to convince the Gov.
that no one wants this flawed piece of nonsense for any purpose.]
5 - QUASI OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF THE ROLE OF CIVIC NETWORKS
Americans Communicating Electronically (ACE). is
recommending the issuance of an Executive Directive assigning
responsibility to all Federal Departments and Agencies for the
establishment of information access programs to help create and
foster an "inter-active citizen-government communications system".
ACE does not recommend a new layer of bureaucracy. ACE is however,
urging Federal departments and agencies to fully adhere to the OMB
A-130 circular utilizing existing funds and resources and, to
respond to a new culture with new directions and a commitment to
openness in government.
GOALS OF THE INFORMATION ACCESS PROGRAMS
The goals of the information access programs would be to foster
and facilitate interactive communications between the public and
their government, and to broaden public participation in the
development of government communications policy. Citizens would
be provided with access to a wide range of public databases
containing electronically stored information accessible through an
electronic gateway.
................ lots deleted ...........................
COMMUNITY-BASED CITIZEN DEVELOPMENT/FREE CIVIC COMMUNITY NETWORKS
With the participation and support of federal departments and
agency information access programs, the coordinating body could
support community-based citizen development of free civic/community
networks with a focus on creating broad-based community
participation and opportunities. In time, this would lead to the
innovative development of nation-wide community computer systems
and use of the national communication technology for economic
development opportunities.
Citizens could learn new issues, gain a sense of accomplishment,
build new relationships and develop evidence that every individual
matters.
In addition, the coordinating body would foster and promote
understanding of the social benefits to be gained from
community-based inter-active communication applications.
COMMUNITY AND GOVERNMENT COOPERATION
Community and government cooperation is critical to the success
and balance of this major undertaking. The participation and
contribution of federal staff resources would ensure a more useful
information flow with greater ease to providers of free community
networks, citizens, information architects, community activists,
public policy analysts, facilitators, and administrators through
computer-mediated cation, such as; email, bulletin boards,
electronic conferencing that forms a direct link between the public
and government, which is the centerpiece of ACE. Finally, the
coordinating body would be responsible for conducting periodic
studies to gauge the information needs of the public and compiling
an annual report of the findings and goals of the organization.
NEW SERVICES
============
1 - STATISTICS CANADA GOPHER
[ as I predicted this gopher will not offer the public any free
access to the information they pay to have gathered - ed ]
It's Internet service -"Talon" is now open. " Our internet service
includes a Gopher with WAIS, a LISTSERVER and an anonymous FTP
This node will not replace current data dissemination
practices. Information about Statistics Canada's products and
services will be made available on the node but all products and
services which Statistics Canada currently sells will not be made
available on this node. "Statistics Canada's Gopher can be accessed
via a gopher client by specifying the following host name and port
number: talon.statcan.ca (142.206.64.2) port=70
For more information, contact thoemic@statcan.ca
2 - ENVIROFREENET, A PROJECT OF THE ENVIROLINK NETWORK
TELNET ENVIROLINK.ORG or 128.2.19.119
Login Name: Press RETURN
Password: Press RETURN
1. About the EnviroLink Network...
2. The EnviroGopher-- Environmental Information Library...
3. EnviroFreenet News (please read regularly)
4. EnviroProducts-- Green Products and Services...
---- deleted ------
3 - NEW SERVICES FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA
A SMALL RURAL BRITISH COLUMBIA FREE-NET COMES ON LINE
& there is now a WWW SERVER ON THE VICTORIA FREE-NET.
A - For those of you lucky enough to have IP connections to the
net, it can be found at the following URL:
http://freenet.victoria.bc.ca/vifa.html
For everyone else, we are running the secure "Lynx" vt100 client,
you can use that by connecting to the Victoria Free-Net and making
the appropriate choice under "Library and Information Services" on
our FreePort menus.
[ Lynx lets you see the information even when you don't have a
graphic interface available to you. All WWW sites should provide
this service - ed ]
B - TRAIL BC - this tiny community - population 3,000 now has a
free-net. CIAO! Free-Net
TELNET CIAO.TRAIL.BC.CA or 142.231.5.1
login: guest
For general information contact - info@CIAO.trail.bc.ca
If you require assistance contact - Help!@CIAO.trail.bc.ca
To offer assistance (or money) contact - support@CIAO.trail.bc.ca
Positive Suggestions and Ideas contact - ideas@CIAO.trail.bc.ca
----------------------------------
4 - LISTSERV SEARCH TOOL
LISTGopher or "I love to get email."
[ This tool only covers listserv's for Librarians - but its an
idea that deserves to be spread to all types of listservs - ed ]
LISTGopher is a gopher+ item whose purpose is to facilitate the
searching and retrieval of archived LISTSERV messages.
Despite the large amounts of noise, I have long believed LISTSERV
archives contain a wealth of useful information. How many times
have you wished you could retrieve that little bit of information
you read in that posting a few months ago? Or how often do you
wish you could glean postings from a LISTSERV list without
subscribing to the whole thing? LISTGopher can help you with
these and other problems.
North Carolina State University Library gopher
Type=1+
Name=Search library-related LISTSERVs (LISTGopher)
Path=1/library/disciplines/library/listgopher
Host=dewey.lib.ncsu.edu
Port=70
URL: gopher://dewey.lib.ncsu.edu:70/11/library/disciplines/library
/listgopher
5 - COMMUNITY NETWORK INFORMATION
As part of an ongoing project on community networks, a set of
of surveys from over 30 community networks are now available.
"http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/community-networks/"
These surveys are intended to help develop a "community memory"
for community network developers. Feedback on the survey and new
surveys are welcome, as part of an effort to keep the information
current. Send questions and comments to doug.schuler@cpsr.org.
6 - COLLECTION OF DOCUMENTS CRITICAL OF NII
FINS INFORMATION AGE LIBRARY ADDITIONS
Washington, DC Fins Information Age Lib will release, Mar 8, 1994,
a new online directory: Periodicals_and_Newspapers. This directory
will contain thoughtful, thorough, and provocative articles of
special relevance to the emerging Information Age. In this
undertaking, Fins intends to track the antidemocratic propaganda
model of the mass media developed by American business that has
been discussed by writers during the last half of the
twentieth century (Arendt, 1950; Lindblom, 1977; Herman & Chomski,
1988). Special emphasis will be placed on the technological
imperative of the Information Age now being pursued by the
"one-eyed prophets" of the Clinton-Gore Administration, which
threaten totalitarian dangers of the "Technopoly" described by
communications critic Postman (1992). Finally,
articles that discuss alternative possibilities that can sustain
and enhance democracy will also be highlighted.
Follow these directions to browse the Fins Information Age Lib:
If you have a Gopher client : gopher to inform.umd.edu
and go to the directory
Educational_Resources/Computers_and_Society/Fins_Information_Age
If you have ftp : ftp to inform.umd.edu
cd to inforM /Educational_Resources/Computers_and_Society
/Fins_Information_Age
Federal Information News Syndicate, Vigdor Schreibman, Editor &
Publisher, 18-9th St. NE #206, Washington, DC 20002. Internet:
fins@access.digex.net.
7 - TWO SOURCES FOR ACCEPTABLE USE POLICIES
A - If anyone wants a really big file of [ free-net ] AUP's and
you haven't received it, please let me know. Dave Loan
aa112@freenet.carleton.ca
B - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has got a large
collection of AUPs, primarily from academic institutions, along
with critiques. It's part of the Computers & Academic Freedom
archives.
Via Gopher, it's at:
Name=Computer policies from many schools (with critiques)
Type=1
Port=70
Path=1/CAF/policies
Host=ftp.eff.org
8 - NPTN - PROPOSES A "LOW COST" APPROACH TO RURAL NETWORKING
FOR INFORMATION: If you have any questions about NPTN or the Rural
Information Network, please contact:
NPTN - Rural Information Network
Box 1987
Cleveland, Ohio 44106 e.mail: info@nptn.org
9 - A GOPHER SITE TO SERVE URBAN NATIVE AMERICAN POPULATIONS
an excellent gopher site from British Columbia has opened with the
specific purpose of serving the needs of urban native american
groups. The material under "library" provides access to virtually
all other Internet gophers and sites created to serve native
americans.
gopher ------------> gopher.native-ed.bc.ca
TRENDS
======
The impacts of BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET are increasing rapidly.
A company called Electronic Postal Service which purports to pay
people to receive commercial e-mail. The company sounds too good
to be true, doesn't it?
Well research by Brock Meeks show that it is a fraudulent posting.
Another item on the same theme - this time about the Internet
listserv with "the largest membership". HOTT circulated an
announcement last year that also sounded to good to be true. So
far nothing has been delivered of the promised cornucopia of
articles from the commercial press. It made no mention of ads in
its announcement. Now this from the L.A. Times, 3/2/94
"...But Lewis believes users will accept tasteful ads in the form
of promotional stories known as 'advertorials,' which in HOTT will
take the form of perspectives from computer company executives,
helpful hints, or new product announcements."
"The market will speak," said Dern. "And it's hard to know what
the reaction will be and it depends on how it's done."
Lewis says HOTT will have eight times as much news in it as ads.
Once the circulation hits 50,000, Lewis said he will seek sponsors
who will be charged somewhere between $2000 and $3500 per screen
of advertorial. A few sponsors have already approached him."
[ Lewis is involved with HOTT, Dern - is unaffiliated with HOTT and
is an writer and former magazine editor - whose work focuses
primarily on the Internet -ed ]
2 - OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOUNDATIONS TO IMPACT THE CIVIC NETWORKING
MOVEMENT ARE GROWING.
There have been numerous calls for the creation of mechanism to
simplify the development of new civic nets. NPTN has decided to
partially meet this need by creating an "exclusive" document
repository. For non members there needs to be a public equivalent.
Techies have also been calling for a mechanism to share
improvements to software being used by freenets. Both of these
needs would benefit from a single site to locate these services
on.
These needs represent an excellent opportunity for the Foundations
with an interest in Urban issues to provide a major public service
at very low cost. Perhaps the Morino, Benton, Kellog and other
foundations with an interest in this area could cooperate in
funding such a site.
==============================================
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