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Report
Networks and Community Compiled 005
NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY : December 26, 1993
compiler : Sam Sternberg samsam@vm1.yorku.ca
The fifth report of this weekly survey includes:
LEGISLATION & REGULATION FUNDING
DISCUSSIONS NEW SERVICES EVENTS
CORRECTION
Steve Cisler wrote to communet and to me to point out several
errors of fact in my last bulletin.
">WHY FREE-NETS AND CIVIC NETS HAVE YET TO BE MENTIONED IN
WHITE HOUSE MATERIALS.
>1 - The White House does not understand the benefits of civic
networks.
White House staffers Tom Kalil, Mike Nelson, and Jock Gill are all
well aware of civic networks; they meet with Gore on a weekly basis
to discuss telecom issues. The NTIA is aware of community networks
too.
You may have missed the references to civic/community networks in
the September 1993 "NII, Agenda for Action"
>1 - THE CENTER FOR CIVIC NETWORKING ... >Although almost
dormant to date, the CENTER may yet prove a major actor in the work
to shape future legislation.
I think Richard Civille and Miles Fidelman of CCN might take
exception to this statement. They sponsored a roundtable in April
which helped educate a lot of government people about community
networks, and they were instrumental in getting the section on
community networking in "NII, Agenda for Action". Civille has been
particularly active in working with policy makers in DC and at the
state level, and in the Technology Policy Roundtable, a group of
non-profits that draws about 75 participants to discuss legislation
on a regular basis.
>WHY ACCESS PROVISIONS FOR SPECIAL POPULATIONS ARE
NEEDED.
>1 - Almost no classrooms presently have phone access.
Mike Roberts of EDUCOM estimates that about 10% of the schools in
he US have some sort of access to the Internet, but I agree that
individual classrooms lack much connectivity.
[ I do not believe that the last number is correct - sam ]
LEGISLATION & REGULATION
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission has
launched a public inquiry on how to regulate the
telecommunications industry during the transition to effective
competition. [ Interested readers should take advantage of this
opportunity to monitor a progressive regulatory agency. State
Agencies will be critical players in the implementation of Federal
regs around the NII.]
As part of this investigation, Commission staff has
prepared a discussion paper which explores developing trends in
communications technology and market structure and defines basic
policy objectives that a new telecommunications regulatory
structure should accomplish.
Traditionally, Commission inquiries have been open to the
public but have rarely gone beyond comment from the regulated
industries and their major customers. The discussion paper
contends that "in a converged marketplace, local telephone
service will inevitably become simply one component of a multi-
media service package." Thus, the Commission is actively seeking
a wider range of comment from existing and potential
communication network providers as well as informed consumers.
The discussion paper, "Alternative Regulation of U S West:
Toward a New Paradigm" eschews the current popular fascination
with specific technology deployments. Instead of defining an
outcome where customers pay for services they may not want, the
Commission's paper believes the state should foster a
communications marketplace where the customer has a wide array of
choices from competitive providers. Essentially, the message is
that the ultimate and only bottleneck should be the limitations
of the human mind.
First round of comments are due by January 31, 1994.
The Notice of Inquiry, with the associated discussion paper
on the Alternative Form of Regulation, is available via anonymous
FTP on the Internet. Connect to the host at:
FTP.GOVT.WASHINGTON.EDU,
cd to the directory: /wutc, then:
get NOI_ON_THE_AFOR.txt
FUNDING
Grant Opportunity for RURAL Math and Science Classrooms
[ SEE the related RURAL items on the rural datafication conference
under events; and on ACOA under new services ]
Four thousand math and science teachers in rural areas
will gain access to new teaching tools through a grant from the
Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Math Science
Project. Annenberg/CPB, joined by the US West Foundation, is
providing $2.5 million to five projects designed to help rural
elementary and secondary educators learn how telecomputing can
bring a new world to their classrooms.
Roseville Minnesota-based TIES (Technology and Information
Educational Services) will receive $184,500 to implement one of
these five projects.
TIES' proposal is entitled Teacher On-line Projects.
Teacher On-line Projects is designed to develop on-line computer
communication services to support rural middle school classrooms
(teachers and students) in the application of problem-solving
skills for community-based projects to improve their mathematics
and science skills.
A Teacher On-line Projects Advisory Board has established proposal
guidelines and plans are being made for the initial winter training
seminar (March 10-12).
The application deadline is February 18. To receive an application
packet, contact Sue Soine at TIES (612-638- 8780).
OR
Send an e-mail request to: halvor@ties.k12.mn.us
--------------------------------------------------
DISCUSSIONS
The north american section of the Internet was almost silent on
Christmas day. Generally discussion was light during the week.
The largest amount of heat without light was generated by the new
HOTT listserv. This was designed to transmit the excellent HOTT
newsletter once a month. One befuddled newbie sent a subscribe
message and an avalanche of email from other newbies and angry but
not wiser subscribers descended. It is a good thing the nets can't
be used for physical assaults !
Fundraising issues continue to be discussed on a number of
listservs. Several people reported existing schemes for charging
users of services and justified the imposition of these fees.
Others continue somewhat ineffectively to seek alternative to fees.
But, the tone of the discussions are growing more accepting of the
notion of fees. One organization in Canada is providing free
service but charging Fees for membership. In North Dakota an
educational service has imposed a sliding scale fee system.
The most interesting post suggested that "One mechanism that should
be explored is a public telecommunications trust fund, generated
from spectrum usage, franchise, and user fees. Local, regional,
and national projects involving public usage could be funded in a
similar manner as the National Telecommunications and Information
Public Telecommunications Facilities Program or its National
Endowment for Children's Educational Television. [ the U.S.
administration is clearly looking at this possibility ]
----------------------------------------
The Canadian Freenet listserv discussed a possible meeting between
those interested in civic nets and representative of the Telcos.
[This would be very welcome given statements by a representative of
Stentor that there was not enough time to involve the public in
discussion about the information highway in Canada.]
-----------------------------------------
COMMUNET has been discussing the Gore speech. Much of the focus is
on the has focused on a preceived lack of government awareness of
the dangers of commercial exploitation retarding the growth of
publicly available information.
Writers worried about the price of information on a commercially
run networks remaining out of reach of the truly poor despite
government and business assurances.
One warned about "the inability to separate the issue of open
access from the issue of the price of information. Just how can
the mythical little girl in Al Gore's example dial up all those
books and pictures if her parents are not rich? Just how can we
avoid replicating "savage inequalities" online without bankrupting
the Treasury? And how to drive down the cost of hardware for the
little girl to use?
The media's lack of understanding of these issues was decried.
[Perhaps its time for each of use to give an reporter a tour of the
Internet - with time on a civic net of course.]
Another interesting thread discussed the value and dangers of
maintaining a partly regulated environment during the transition to
an open commercial net. The administration focused on the benefits
of maintaining regulation in Gore's speech, but several people
pointed out the long history of regulatory failures in the U.S.
CYPHERWONKS LISTSERV is still both the scene of the electronic
equivalent of a cafeteria food fight and the host of an excellent
discussion on the role of Cryptography in promoting electronic
democracy. [see the trends section for a brief discussion on
cryptographies virtues and dangers ]
Also seeing the light of day are some excellent comments on the use
of the nets to present a fast and largely self correcting system of
reports on events and personalities affecting our governments.
[ I keep hoping the food fight aficionados will take up Voodoo and
use their psychic powers to attack each other - thereby leaving the
listserv available for the intended discussions. They have already
driven many former participants away.]
NEW SERVICES
SUPERHIGHWAY BULLETIN BOARD. The White House Information
Infrastructure Task Force has set up a "superhighway" bulletin
board designed to give the public access to schedules, committee
reports, and minutes of task force meetings. It will also include
documents on the creation of the NII. [ This will be a godsend for
those of us interested in following the progress of the NII at the
federal level.]
You can connect with this system by:
1 - telnetting to:
iitf.doc.gov (198.49.199.20
login: gopher
2 - gophering to:
iitf.doc.gov
3 - dialing:
1-202-501-1920
-----------------------------
A VIDEO FROM THE INTERNATIONAL FREE-NET CONFERENCE held in Ottawa
last August is now available for FREE. The video was produced by
Thomas Whalen, Andrew Patrick, & Alex Black, it contains 3
segments:
1) "A Conference Summary" (10 minutes)
- describes the purpose and themes of the conference
- excerpts from speeches
- interviews with participants
2) "Reflections on FreeNet Development in Canada" (4 minutes)
- quotations from participants about the importance of FreeNets
for Canada, and how they can develop
3) "Keynote Speeches" (67 minutes)
- the entire speeches presented by:
- Michael Binder, Industry & Science Canada
- Peter Calamai, Ottawa Citizen
- Tom Grundner, NPTN
Total running time is approximately 81 minutes.
It does not present an introduction to FreeNets, but rather a
summary of the FreeNet conference and what was said about FreeNets.
The audio for Tom Grundner's speech is poor, but usable. The tape
is presentable, but not as polished as one would like.
If you want a copy of the video, mail a new blank videotape (VHS
format, T90 or T120 size) and a return mailing label. Send these
to:
Dr. Andrew Patrick
Division of Behavioural Research
Communications Research Centre
Department of Communications
3701 Carling Ave.
P.O. Box 11490, Station 'H'
Ottawa, ON CANADA K2H 8S2
-------------------------------------------------
In Montreal a new BILINGUAL FREENET is being planned:
- Discussions concerning the Montreal Freenet are carried out
via a listserv - to subscribe:
| mail listserv@vm1.mcgill.ca
echo sub mtlnet Yourfirstname Yourlastname
For more information contact :Sean Marrett
email: sean@pet.mni.mcgill.ca
wb213, Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute.
3801 University St., Montreal, Quebec. H3A 2B4
tel:(514)-398-1537,1996 Fax: 8948
-------------------------------------------
Tim Kitching kitching.tim@statemail.sa.gov.au
is looking [ on behalf of an australian state gov. ] - to communet
for information on three areas:
- Multimedia kiosks (like InfoCalifornia) for public information
and services
- Dialup access for business information and services
- Freenets as the base for local information with links to central
databases
In reply to his request information was provided about a system
serving Newfoundland, Canada called the ACOA/Enterprise Network.
"We are a publicly funded operation who's mission is to "Transform
the rural economy by leadership in information technology
applications for economic development."
Basically, what we have done is established six electronic
Enterprise Centres (Telecentres) within our province of
approx 400 sq. km. and a provincial data resource relating
mainly to business and economic development. We have
approximately 600 people throughout the Province accessing
our databases through home &/or office computers. These
people include some government personnel, social / economic
development agencies and private business. We have
approximately 25 databases available to our dialin clients
(everything from Statistical info, government telephone
directories, government tenders, business
opportunities, databases of manufacturers, lots of contact
directories, and of course, Internet access.)
our Telecentres are loosely modelled on European telecottages
and provide a variety of services. Our main goal is to
introduce rural Newfoundlanders to networking
and assist in adapting the technology to a user's business idea or
opportunity. We provide assistance in seaching a variety of
electronic information resources; provide assistance with
business planning; assist local community groups; provide a
wealth of computer hardware and software, FAX machines,
photocopiers, etc. We are also providing linkages with the
educational sector.
I have, of course, much more information on our Network and
the things that we are accomplishing in community economic
development; and I also have quite a bit of information on
the Telecottages already established in Scandinavia and in
the British Isles if anyone is interested in receiving it.
Yvonne Bradbury-Wiseman, Telecentre Co-ordinator
ACOA/Enterprise Network
Box 429
Baie Verte, Newfoundland, Canada A0K 1B0
ywiseman@mailer.entnet.nf.ca
Phone: 709 532 4364
FAX: 709 532 4374 "
--------------------------------------------------
For extensive information about the Canadian domain visit
Gopher -> gopher.fonorola.net
Stangelove's INTERNET BUSINESS JOURNAL archive is also located
here, as a very extensive version of the Usenet news system.
Mr Strangelove will also be providing the complete text of the
Directory of Internet Trainers and Consultants (First Edition) and
the Directory of Electronic Journals and Newsletters (Third Edition
in the next few weeks.
---------------------------------------
Other information about networking in Canada can be found in
ISCNEWS. It will distribute the News Releases and Fact Sheets
issued to the public by the Communications Canada section
of Industry and Science Canada. The News Releases are
information regarding Canadian government communications
policy. The Fact Sheets contain information about
developments in communications technology and
applications in Canada. To subscribe to the list, send e-
mail to: listserv@debra.dgbt.doc.ca
in the body of the message write the command:
subscribe iscnews Firstname Lastname
Industry, Science Canada Gazette Archive
Archives of Gazette Notices are available via FTP and
Gopher
FTP: debra.dgbt.doc.ca
Directory: /pub/isc/iscnews
-------------------------------------
A more general view of Canadian government activities and a long
list of e-mail addresses for Canadian officials is available from:
gopher -> copper.emr.ca
--------------------------------------
New U.S. databases of interest to community network developers are
also coming on line:
THE INTERNET MULTICASTING SERVICE MULTICAST GORE'S SPEECH LIVE over
the global Internet computer network. Over 200 comments and
questions from the general public were received before and during
the speech by electronic mail. Mr. Gore was asked some of the
questions and at the conclusion National Press Club President
Clayton Boyce presented the Vice President with a floppy disk
containing all the electronic mail received before 12:50 EST.
This kind of instant feedback from the public to policy makers is
a concrete example of the vision spelled out by Mr. Gore. Recent
statements by the Vice President and by Congressional leaders
outline a key principle: access to advanced information services
must be available in our inner cities, our schools, our
libraries, our homes, and throughout our society.
In response to the call by Vice President Gore and Congressional
leaders for wider accessibility by the public to government
information, the Internet Multicasting Service, a non-profit
corporation, announced that it will be making available on
the Internet a series of databases including:
Federal Election Commission 1992 and 1994 Election Cycles
Federal Reserve Board Releases for 1993 and 1994
U.S. Patent Office Full Text/APS Format for 1994
Data paid for by the American taxpayers must be broadly available
to the American public and not sold off to the highest bidder.
For each of the three databases announced today, the government
agencies were extremely cooperative and supportive of our
efforts. All of government can learn by the examples set by the
Patent Office, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Federal
Election Commission.
Send mail to info@radio.com for more information.
Funding for on-line access to information is provided by our
sponsors, including Sun Microsystems, O'Reilly & Associates,
UUNET Technologies, MFS Datanet, Persoft, and by a grant from the
National Science Foundation.
----------------------------------------------
The Federation of American Research Networks (FARNET), in
cooperation with The Coalition for Networked Information, is
making a collection of Internet stories available on the Internet
which provide concrete EXAMPLES OF HOW THE NETWORK IS BEING USED
to further research, education, industry and manufacturing, the
health services industry, and more.
[This material can be incorporated into your fundraising materials
to show the benefits of net access.]
these stories are now available on the network -
via ftp
URL:ftp//ftp.cni.org/CNI/documents/farnet/stories
via Gopher
URL:gopher://gopher.cni.org:70/11/cniftp/miscdocs/farnet
via BRS/SEARCH
URL:telnet://a.cni.org/brsuser
For additional information about FARNET or the FARNET stories
project: Martha Stone-Martin FARNET
stories@farnet.org
-------------------------------------
A NEW LIST HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED TO FACILITATE DISCUSSION ABOUT
TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION
on the local, state, and federal levels. Topics of immediate
interest include implementation of the 1992 Cable Act, convergence
in the global sense of technologies and on the corporate level of
cable/telco mergers, the National Information Infrastructure
(electronic superhighway) Agenda, and the future of wired and
wireless networks. Any other related (or nonrelated) issue can
also be raised and discussed.
Anyone may subscribe:industry participants are welcome as well as
regulators, academics, consumers.
To subscribe to TELECOMREG --- Send the following message:
SUBSCRIBE TELECOMREG YOUR NAME
send to: listserver@relay.adp.wisc.edu
All postings to the list should be sent to:
telecomreg@relay.adp.wisc.edu
EVENTS
An unusual teleconference is to be held on " On Jan. 5, 3:30-5
p.m., there will be a national teleconference on the CPB grant
proposal, aimed mainly at being public television and radio
stations up to speed about "what are community networks".
CPB has an RFP out and would like to fund 10 projects
as demonstrations of online computer systems involving public
television or radio stations. The stations don't have to run the
systems, but I think the hope is that a dialogue will begin and
partnerships will emerge as a new communications future is forged
at the community level.
For the purposes of the teleconference, the information is
ree-Net heavy, that is, they will show the Heartland Free-Net video
and Tom Grundner will be in a studio taking live calls from around
the country afterward, but I have been told that is NOT to
discouage non-Free-Net systems or alliances.
The teleconference can be seen *only* at public television
stations, So contact your local station to arrange to be present.
This will not be shown on the stations broadcasts. It is only for
those attending in the studio.
----------------------------------------------
An important upcomming conference :
RURAL DATAFICATION II: MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF PROVIDING
UBIQUITOUS ACCESS TO THE INTERNET
May 23-24, 1994
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
You are invited to send proposals for papers and workshops!
----------------------------
DATES FOR PAPER AND WORKSHOP SUBMISSIONS
Abstracts due:
February 15, 1994
Authors/presenters notified: March 15, 1994
REGISTRATION MATERIALS AVAILABLE mid-March, 1994
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEES and DEADLINES
$ 99.00 before April 15, 1994
$125.00 after April 15, 1994
Focusing on issues of rural networking, the goal of the conference
is to bring together people from institutions of higher education,
rural school districts, libraries, state and local government,
business, network access providers, and others who are involved
with developing, managing, funding, and using networked information
resources in underserved areas.
More information on Rural Datafication II, the Rural Datafication
project, and other CICNet activities is available.
Via e-mail: ruraldata-info-request@cic.net
-------------------------------------------------------
A Canadian commercially oriented Conference: The Information
Superhighway (Toronto, Feb 1-2 1994)
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 21:13:37 GMT
Sponsored by the Information Technology Association of Canada:
[As is almost always the case in Canada - THERE IS NO E-MAIL
ADDRESS PROVIDED - Canadian government and business types talk a
good game but they would really rather not touch the nets
themselves.]
The Information Superhighway: A Conference on "Powering up North
America". Be in Toronto February 1-2, 1994 for a meeting of
great minds of the Twentieth Century, devoted to the great
challenge of the Twenty-First! Hear confirmed speakers:
Vinton Cerf, President, Internet
James Cullen, President, Bell Atlantic
Stan Davis, Author and Analyst
Rudiger Dornbusch, MIT
Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle Systems Corp.
William Esry, Chair, Sprint Corp.
George Gilder, Author "Telecosm"
George Harvey, Chair, Unitel
Sheryl Handler, Chair, Thinking Machines Corp.
Terry Matthews, CEO and Chair, Newbridge
Sue Miller-Hurst, the Educare Project
Bill Murphy, Chair, Info Testbed Project
Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Media Lab
Russell Neuman, Media Lab
Hon. Bob Rae, Premier of Ontario
Ted Rogers, President and CEO, Rogers Communications
Wes Scott, President and CEO, Stentor Resource Centre
Don Tapscott, Author and DMR Fellow
Contact: Tel 416-862-9067
Fax 416-862-2238
Barry Gander
Information Technology Association of Canada,
Suite 402, 2800 Skymark Avenue, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 5A6
Tel: (416) 602-8345 Fax: (416) 602-8346
TRENDS
1. ENCRYPTION and its role in the future of the nets is a growing
topic of conversation. A number of listservs are dealing with
this subject. It is already clear that it will be a mixed
blessing. It will facilitate financial transactions, encourage
a sense of real privacy, make voting safe and effective,
prevent impersonation of real persons, etc. On the other hand
it will nullify the impact of any laws intended to prevent
copyright enfringement. It will permit the use of the nets to
violate laws against the distributions of certain types of
materials, and it will make it easier to create artificial
persons and use them in a variety of ways.
2. CONVERGENCE OF THE TELECOMMUNICATION MEDIA MOVE ON.
EMI Communications Corporation announced that it will
test market a newly created Internet access information service
with Adelphia Communications Corporation's Syracuse, NY system.
The information service, which allows cable operators to give
subscribers cost effective computer access to information networks
via their cable, will be offered to Syracuse cable subscribers in
early 1994. EMI expects to offer nationwide system availability in
early 1995.
According to Gil Korta, vice president of marketing at EMI, the new
information service will give cable subscribers the ability to
connect directly to Internet as well as government offices,
universities and library systems. Working in conjunction with the
cable operator, EMI will also integrate system-specific local
information such as school events and local news.
The test market will occur in a specific service area which
includes a respresentative sample of business and consumer
subscribers. EMI will provide the necessary equipment to the cable
system, as well as assist them in the design, installation,
management and maintenance of the information network. The service
test will be provided FREE to participating subscribers.
.
