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Report
Networks and Community Compiled 003
NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY
Date : December 19, 1993
compiler : Sam Sternberg samsam@vm1.yorku.ca
This is the 3rd weekly issue. Coverage includes:
DISCUSSIONS FUNDING
NEW SERVICES TRENDS
DISCUSSIONS
On the Freenet-admin listserv; [ FREENET-ADMIN@NPTN.ORG ] intense and
occasionally angry discussion of the relationship between commercial
access providers and freenets became focused on the issue of funding.
Some felt that the free in freenet had to go; others argued strongly
that it must remain. The upshot was a call for an immediate conference
to be held in January. All freenet administrators and organizers were
asked to attend. The focus will be on developing policy on funding,
lobbying, and other survival issues.
NPTN also revealed that it hired the attorney at Electronic Frontier
Foundation to investigate liability issues. It is seeking to obtain
liability insurance for freenets. This would provide protection against
the legal repercussions from the presence on a member net of illegal
materials.
-----------------------------------
Communet's discussion of non profit issues led to the creation of a
new listserv for non profits. Details will be presented as soon as they
are made public. It should be operating with a few weeks. There has
also been talk of the need for a coop to purchase access at reduced
rates. The Annenberg gift for education was also discussed. [ Interestingly,
the White House announcement contained not a word on the funding for
electronic libraries aspects of the gift ].
------------------------------------
The Canadian freenet listserv provided calls for intensified efforts
to educate government officials about freenets. Some current activities
of federal officials were described as self serving. Several commercial
access providers actively discussed their feelings and perspective.
I felt the discussion was too negative about the commercial sector;
and 1 announced an equipment donation to the Ottawa freenet. The same
company announced several types of commercial service, including a $17.00
/month + hourly charges enhanced freenet access service. $2.00/month
will go to the Ottawa freenet. [ This fee level contrasts sharply with
the unrestricted Internet access at $5.00/month and no added charges
service in Colorado, and an only slightly more expensive service in
Toronto ].
----------------------------------------
The freenet tech listserv had extensive traffic on both the need for
and methods of implementing more appealing interfaces.
----------------------------------------
An article from Britain describing the legal plight in the U.S. of the
creator of PGP [ public domain encryption software ] and appealing for
contributions to his defense fund was posted to the Cypherwonks listserv.
FUNDING
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., the chairman of the House telecommunications
subcommittee, hopes that the Telecom industries will not oppose efforts
to provide Internet connects to all schools. He has sent letters to
many industry leaders alerting them to the importance of networks to
the future of American education and economic competitiveness. He said
that``historically (education has) been a leader for
economic mobility for people of all social and economic backgrounds.
We must make sure that in the information age, every school has the
technology it needs to provide students with the skills necessary to
participate in a knowledge-based economy.''
This follows on the heels of last week's call by the Chairman of the
FCC for similar action.
While we wait for the result the on-line version of the Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance should be useful to any seeking funding for a community
net. This is a directory of Federal
programs, projects, service and activities which provide assistance
or benefits to the American Public. It contains financial and nonfinancial
assistance programs administered by departments and establishments of
the Federal government.
A floppy diskette version of the Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance on ASCII text may be purchased from GSA by calling (202)
708-5126.
Unlike the equivalent documents in other countries, this is also available
on line. My search revealed 75 programs containing reference to communities
and or communications.
gopher to -> cwis.usc.edu -> LIBRARY & RESEARCH -> research information
-> government information -> CFDA
OR use veronica to search for "domestic assistance" [ this may be faster
].
Steve Cisler let it be known that the NTIA, part of the Dept. of Commerce,
will have about $20+ million for grants for schools, libraries, and
community systems during fiscal 94. NTIA is holding hearings and Cisler
urges us to participate. He said that " you can expect to see an RFP
for the NTIA grants in January. Then there will be a deadline, review
time, and announcement of grants. He can be contacted at the Apple Library
of Tomorrow
sac@apple.com .
NEW SERVICES
THE RURAL DATAFICATION PROJECT, funded by a $1.3 million NSF grant aims
"to bring the power of the Internet to people in traditionally difficult-to-rea
c
h and difficult to serve areas," The project represents a joint effort
by eight mid-western states and the North Central Regional Educational
Laboratory (NCREL) whose charter it is to promote educational excellence
in rural schools. Contact Rhana Jacot, E-mail: rjacot@cic.net for more
information.
--------------------------------------------
The Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guides has
released a group of new guides, of particular interest is
US Technology Public Policy by Steve Kirk David Blair.
My guide to community network information is also avialable there. There
are currently over 60 guides available via
anonymous FTP, Gopher, and WorldWideWeb/Mosaic.
For access use :
anonymous FTP: host: una.hh.lib.umich.edu
path: /inetdirsstacks
Gopher: gopher.lib.umich.edu
--> What's New and Featured Resources -->Clearinghouse...
TRENDS
As Stever Cisler's posting to several listserves pointed out; the trend
is to Coalitions. The commercial sector is leading the way. Two reports
posted this week on recent conferences about community networks also
reiterated this theme.
On the commercial side, Bellcore announced a new coalition to develop
prototype projects to make it practical for consumers to use the ``information
superhighway''. Already involved are a very mixed group of corporations
including some traditional rivals. These include Capital Cities/ABC,
Inc. and ABC News; Digital Equipment Corp.; Hewlett-Packard Co.; JCPenney;
Los Alamos National Laboratory; The Media Lab at MIT; Microware Systems
Corp.; Northern Telecom and WilTel and of course the Baby Bells -- Ameritech,
Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Nynex, Pacific
Telesis, Southwestern Bell and U S West.
The conference reports both show a growing recognition that all the
efforts to network the public have to be unified in their approaches
to funding; and to bringing together a coalition of potential beneficiaries.
The conference on educational networks in Toronto last Monday, heard
the head of the Canadian Schoolnet project say that freenets were the
key to bringing schools onto the Internet.
Echoing a similar theme, Clyde Bion Forrest [ ud793@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
] pointed out in his massive report on a recent west coast conference;
that " Stentor [ the canadian coalition of telcos ] claims that there
is not enough time for open public discussion to reach consensus on
how to best implement Canada's electronic super highway services. However,
the corporate/government world has an abysmal track record on public
computer network services -- i.e. "Telidon" and "Alex" -- because they
have focussed too much on charging for access to information." He goes
on to note the need for " the volunteer efforts of a growing number
of concerned Internet-enabled Canadian citizens", we are rapidly reaching
the critical
mass required to successfully implement the fundamental policies and
services for equitable electronic public discourse, nation-wide"...."
on how we can continue to move ahead at the provincial, federal, and
global levels."
Much of the discussion about a purchasing coop for public nets also
dealt with the advantages of communities working together for improved
economics.
----------------------------------------
In the mean time the growth of the internet shows no signs of slowing.
John Quartermain [ in his most recent matrix report ] now estimates
that, with the completion of Internet access arrangements by the all
of the on-line services like compuserve, there are 35 million person
with at least e-mail access. He also estimates a similar number of people
are on existing nets which are smaller, largely private, and have yet
to be connected to the Internet.
----------------------------------------
While the trend toward no-fee access to government data looks strong
in the U.S.; disturbing signs of a continuing fee oriented government
mentality are showing in Canada.
The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in Ontario has launched
a computerized mining library system to help
prospectors in the province. The Earth Resources and Land Information
System (ERLIS) makes available some 120,000 maps as well as mining databases
and 1.5 million pages of documents related to mining. There will be
fees for using the system, which the ministry is expected to set early
in 1994. There are also no plans to make the data Internet accessible.
.
