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. .