NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY : January 23, 1994 Networks and Community is devoted to encouraging LOCAL resource creation & GLOBAL resource sharing. compiler : Sam Sternberg The 4th report of 1994 is the 10th weekly survey. Coverage includes LEGISLATION and RELATED ACTIVITIES DISCUSSIONS - NEW SERVICES EVENTS - FUNDING - TRENDS CANADIAN COMMUNITY NETWORKING BACKGROUND REPRORT ===================================================== LEGISLATION and RELATED ACTIVITIES The pace of legislative activity outside the Federal arena is picking up dramaticly. This week posting to various lists showed that at least 3 states, Minessota, Vermont, and Washington had groups working on legislation philosophicly in line with the Clinton agenda. In addition municipal legislation is being worked on in Seattle and a neighbourhood oriented effort is underway in Harlem. ------------------------ Efforts to move the agenda on the regulatory front include Bell Atlantic's submission to the Department of Justice for a regulatory waiver. It included evidence that foreign telco- companies operating in the states are free to act in ways that U.S. companies can't. "It is ironic, while Bell Atlantic must wait for a waiver to be approved, foreign telephone companies are already beginning to provide long distance telephone and satellite delivery services on U.S. soil." British Telecom now owns an interest in MCI, which provides long distance and is preparing to enter the local telephone business in the U.S. Similarly, Bell Canada plans to provide local telephone service through its ownership interest in the cable systems of Jones Intercable. Cable TV companies, like TCI and Liberty, have never operated under the restrictions imposed on the Bell companies by the MFJ. As a result, a number of the cable TV properties owned by TCI and Liberty cross existing LATA boundaries, and the companies utilize satellite ransmission to deliver programming. The waiver Bell Atlantic is seeking would resolve decree issues relating to the merger." {between bell and TCI- ed} ---------------------- James Love reports that the TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT is working on the issue of PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NETWORKS, AND THE STATUS OF PUBLIC RECORDS, OPEN MEETINGS, AND FOIA Government officials are trying to avoid making records of their actions and communications public, by using commercial services or storing their records at internet sites outside the U.S. TAP is trying to get legislation passed to prevent this abuse of the public's right to know. In an indirectly related matter the World Wildlife Fund is seeking regulatory assistance from the Whitehouse in " directing all agencies of the federal government to establish processes for accepting on-line comments to public notices. Please express support by sending your comments to president@whitehouse.gov -- Bill Clinton's e-mail address. The issue here is one of refusing to permit citizen access to governmental proceedings by the most expedient means available. ---------------------- One of those active in framing the Washington state legislation is all a proponent of a populist alternative to civic nets. The idea is creating a telecommunication cooperative. This is a legal business form in the U.S. The item makes it clear that the pricing is very attractive and the concept needs very little legislative support to go further. I found the material informative and was struck by the possibility of uniting the cooperative idea with the idea of civic networking. Many people involved in the Civic movement resent those who want to use such organization merely as "onramps to the Internet"; This offers an interesting alternative approach. This material comes from the gopher --> glaids.wa.com ---> SPI-Information The Seattle Peoples's Internet Cooperative ------------------------------------------ (or, how a bunch of people can share a connection to the Internet) Contents ======= -1- Why a cooperative? -2- Other Internet Cooperatives -3- What's involved? -4- How much will it cost? -5- Some (very) rough estimates -6- Other Costs -7- Why not wait for a for-profit company to do this? -8- What a network cooperative is NOT -9- How do we do it? -10- Sign up to the Seattle Peoples's Internet email list! Appendix: -A1- What do you do with a direct Internet connection? ================================================================= ======= -1- Why a cooperative? ======= Cheap, easy, and fast Internet service is something a lot of people look forward to. Why isn't it available now? One answer is that big companies haven't found a way to make a lot of money at it. That doesn't mean it can't be done tho. If you want a product or service that isn't available where you are, one way to get it is to form a cooperative to provide it! A cooperative is a group of people each contributing a little bit of their time, money, and organizational skills to the group for their mutual benefit. Cooperatives have a long and successful history in the United States; there are electric, telephone, and water cooperatives in many communities around the country. Why not an Internet coopera- tive? ======= -2- Other Internet Cooperatives ======= In fact, most of the Internet is already owned and operated by cooperatives; NorthWestNet, BARRnet, CERFnet, and other 'regional networks' are cooperatives that serve organizations (colleges, corporations) instead of individuals. The NSFnet, the 'backbone' of the Internet, is a cooperative that serves the regional cooperatives. ..................................... ======= -4- How much will it cost? ======= Leasing data lines and paying commercial Internet providers costs money, but by sharing it we can reduce the cost to where we can each afford it individually. It's a lot easier nowadays to get a connection without many restrictions on it-- one that we can distribute to other people freely. SprintLink sells service like this, and it is possible to get resellable service from other vendors or organizations. This fairly recent development makes it a great deal easier to share a connection. A high speed (T1) Internet feed from a commercial provider can cost almost $3,000 per month-- but if 60 people share it, the cost per person is only $50; if 120 people share it, it is $25 per month. And that is for near-Ethernet bandwidth to the Inter- net! Until recently the University of Washington, all 50,000 stu- dents and staff, used just one (1) T1 Internet feed...! Of course there are the costs in-city to connect us together, but each group can pay the cost of a lower-cost leased line to connect to the Coop's Internet feed, and pay some of the costs associated with obtaining the feed. ------------------------- Regarding the effort in SEATTLE: "In 1990, Washington State passed a comprehensive Growth Management Act which required municipalities to prepare detailed plans for sustainable development. In April, after three years of consultation with all segments of the community, the City of Seattle published its 531-page Draft Comprhensive Plan (DCP). This contains detailed analyses and proposals around issues of land use, transportation, housing, utilities, economic development, neighborhood planning, and citizen participation. As part of our ongoing work with various City agencies and other groups on community network development, Horse Horse Lion Lion presented a report to the Planning Department on how community networks could further the goals of the DCP. I'm..... putting it up for ftp from ftp.u.washington.edu /usr/ftp/pub/user-supported/horsehorse/ grwth_mgmt11.txt. " For further infornation contact Steve Hodas ---------------------- California's legislation mandating public access to legislative information came into effect on January 1. The first pieces of information are now available. ftp to leginfo.public.ca.gov. dox and files from the Legislative Data Center can be found there. also: Type=1+ Name=California Legislature Path=1/Government/California Legislature Host=svpal.org Port=70 URL: gopher://svpal.org:70/1/1/Government/California Legislature for further information email ray@svpal.org with suggestions. thanx - ray kiddy , Ganymede Resources "btw, for those interested, i am offering gopher access and browsing to all comers for free. i will be offering value-added services (which will not not restrict access) in the future. this would be something like fax-back, and weekly sheets on action for legislation of interest to you. for those who have the time, but not the dineros, please gopher on over! for those who over being over-charged for legislative info and want value- added services, e-mail to ray@svpal.org. thanx." ---------------------------- Despite an effort by one regular participant, postings to the Communet listserv did not respond to last weeks White House request for ideas related to the new empowerment zones initiative. DISCUSSIONS Communet A few messages strongly critical of the administrations approach were posted. These focused on the administrations interest in seeing the net build primarily with corporate funds. One poster said that the initiative ignores the cooperative spirit that characterized the development of the Internet. Another noted that prior efforts to regulate the telecommunications industry have all been deemed failures. The most interesting posting on the theme of business involvement was a speech which reviewed the history of business efforts to produce financially viable network systems. To date dozens of efforts involving hundreds of millions of dollars have largely failed. There are a few exceptions, such as America Online, now emerging. ------------------------- NPTN admin listserv Most of the postings discussed issues related to community support. A secondary thread dealt with the use of World Wide Web. The TREND section includes information on WWW and civic nets. Tom Grunder - the founder of the Civic network movement posted a message designed to redirect some of the focus of the freenet movement back to its original goals. A few respondants felt that focus as Grundner expressed it was too narrow. "we occupy a unique niche, one that is not (as yet) occupied by ANYone else because what we're advocating is perceived as either not profitable enough, not sexy enough, completely crazy, or all three. THAT fact is our shelter, and I believe the key to our survival and eventually our prosperity. Our view is both valid and unique and, more importantly, one that MUST be returned to once the current sugar-high wears off. The following is what I believe a Free-Net is about. It is not to say that what others are doing is wrong--it's just not what WE do. If you depart from it, I think you are doing so at your peril. ........ What constitues a Free-Net? How do you distinguish it from, let's say, a simple BBS that a hobbiest might run? In many ways that is what this entire book is about, but I think there are some distinguishing characteristics that we can summarize. 1) *First and foremost, a Free-Net system is driven by the information and communications needs of the community.* As you will see below, the key ingredient in the operation of any Free- Net are the "sysops" (System Operators)--the community volunteers who, by operating the various SIGs (Special Interest Groups) give your system its unique character. But more importantly, it is these community information providers that cause your system to literally wrap itself around the information needs of your community. In short, a Free-Net is not something that YOU do for the community; it is something the community does for itself. 2) *A community computer has its governance and organizational roots in the community.* No Free-Net was ever created by one person. No Free-Net was ever operated by one person. No one person "owns" any given Free-Net. And it is definitely NOT something you do in your basement as a hobby. It is a professionally operated system that is designed to serve the broadest possible spectrum of people in your community. As a result, the organizing committees you form and the governing boards you create, must reflect the diversity of that population-- schools, government, the business community, senior citizens, handicapped, and so on. 3) *A Free-Net is free--sort'a.* Free-Net community computers were originally designed to be completely free to the user in the same sense that a public library, for example, is free to its patrons. This, however, is not the same thing as saying that they cost nothing to operate; and the on-going challenge of raising the monies to support these systems is one of the critical issues facing community networking today. ........ Most Free-Nets are indeed "free to the user." Some Free-Nets are... well... let's call them "Cheap-Nets." ALL systems, however, are dedicated to bringing the benefits of the Information Age, to as many people as possible, at the lowest cost possible. 4) *A community computer is a multi-user system.* That is, it is a computer that can be accessed by more than one person at a time. This can range from a four or five line system in a very rural area, to 150-200 line system at a large urban site. The mission of a community computer is to serve the information and communications needs of a large and diverse population. You will need a multi-line system to even begin to do that. 5) *A community computer has connectivity to the world outside of itself.* Just as your city does not live in a vacuum, neither does your community computer system. As a result, all of the Free-Nets associated with our organization, the National Public Telecomputing Network, are connected in some way to the Internet. In some cases this connection is via a direct, high-speed, 1.4 mb per second T-1 connection; and in other cases it might be via a 2400 baud "uucp" link that fetches electronic mail twice a day-- but the connection is there. This is an important characteristic. 6) *A community computer is NOT just an on-ramp to the Internet.* What I am about to write is considered heresy in some quarters (nothing new in that), but... I think the Internet is, by itself, a trap. I know that everyone is excited about the prospects of Information Superhighways, and newer, faster, more powerful networks. BUT... I do not believe America's progress into the Information Age will be measured by the number of people we can make *dependent* upon the Internet. I believe that, if we enter this age with equity at all, it will be because of LOCAL people, building LOCAL systems, to meet LOCAL needs. That's YOU, building Free-Nets, in cities and towns all over the country. THAT is how we will enter this new age with equity! ============================================================= NEW SERVICES An electronic mail address list " for people who experience " moods swings, voices, and visions" "I would like to create an Internet electronic mail address list for people " who experience moods swings, voices, and visions ("people who"). The" list would be used to further low cost exchange of information to serve cohesion and mutuality, and support increased power for "people who."" Sylvia Caras " ============================================================= EVENTS UPCOMING PUBLIC INTEREST MEETING a group of some 100 public interest groups is organizing a "Public Interest Summit on the National Data Superhighway" for February 22 in Washington, probably at the Smithsonian. For more information on the Public Interest Data Summit, contact the Center for Media Education, Jeff Chester, 202-628-2620, or email: cme@access.digex.net [ Attendance at events like this is vital if we are to fight for control of part of the net from interests like those holding the next conference listed. ed ] --------------------------- A conference from the Internet Society on the other kind of community networking......This is the corporate version and vision. Notice that the planners are listed alphabeticly by Corporation. Business first - people second. Oh Well.... FIRST INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON COMMUNITY NETWORKING INTEGRATED MULTIMEDIA SERVICES TO THE HOME July 13-14, 1994 Westin Hotel, San Francisco Bay, California, USA Sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society In collaboration with ACM SIGCOMM, the Internet Society, and Smart Valley Community networking concerns the network infrastructures that will bring integrated multimedia services to home users. .......community networking services will not necessarily be work oriented and will range from entertainment to shopping to information services. At present, community networking technology is driven by the requirements of video-on-demand, most notably high bandwidth (compared to narrowband), bandwidth asymmetry, and the delay-jitter constraints imposed by today's limited-storage TV set-top devices. As various other services develop, community networking will evolve to include integrated multimedia communication and user-to-user applications. Community networking must also provide access to resources located outside the community, in an increasingly global repository of information of every conceivable type. Since very little has been published to date on the topic of community networking, this workshop will give researchers and professionals the chance to share their views and advance the state of the art in this field. RELEVANT AREAS: Contributions are encouraged in the four areas listed below with relevant topics: 1. APPLICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS: types of applications; coding; set-top operating systems; QoS networking requirements (symmetric/asymmetric bandwidth, delay, and losses); security and privacy; service models; user interface and navigation facilities. 2. LOCAL DISTRIBUTION TECHNOLOGY: topology; fiber /cable /UTP /wireless; modulation, bandwidth allocation; MAC (reverse channel); role of ATM; dependencies on equipment/network in the home (e.g., TV set-top). ........ SEVERAL TECHNICAL TOPICS OMMITED HERE.................. PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Program Co-Chairs: Martin De Prycker Alcatel Bell Telephone, Antwerp, Belgium Riccardo Gusella Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, Committee Members: Joel Winthrop AT&T Bell Labs Alexander D. Gelman Bellcore Gordon Kerr BT Labs Jurgen Brommelhoff Digital Equipment Corporation Matthew D. Miller General Instruments Jeff H. Derby IBM Corporation David Skellern Macquarie University, Sydney Andrew Lippman MIT, Media Lab Joydeep Bose National Computer Board, Singapore Tetsuya Miki NTT Transmission Systems Laboratories Andrew Laursen Oracle Corporation G. Keith Cambron Pacific Bell Albert J. Stienstra Philips Research H. Allen Ecker Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. Mario P. Vecchi Time Warner Cable, Inc. ---------------------------------- Of more immediate interest is this call for Workshop Proposals "Developing an Effective and Equitable Information Infrastructure" Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC-94) Symposium Cambridge, MA, USA April 23 - 24, 1994 The DIAC-94 symposium is a two-day symposium and will consist of presentations on the first day and workshops on the second day. The DIAC Symposia are held biannually and DIAC-94 will be CPSR's fifth such conference. We encourage your participation both through attending and through conducting a workshop. We are currently soliciting workshop proposals. We suggest proposals on the following themes but any topic relating to the symposium theme is welcome. Systems and Services Policy + Community networks + Funding + Information services + Role of government + Delivery of social services + Economic modeling of networks + Privacy (including medical) + Commercialization of the NII + Educational support + Universal access + Meeting diverse needs + Freedom of expression and community standards Electronic Democracy - Directions and Implications ............................topics ommited International Issues ............................topics ommited Traditional and Virtual Communities ............................topics ommited Networking for indigenous peoples Proposals are due February 15, 1994 and acceptance and rejection notices will be sent by March 15, 1994. To discuss workshops, obtain a submission guide, or to submit proposals for workshops contact the program chair, Doug Schuler, doug.schuler@cpsr.org Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsbility, Co-sponsored by the Internet Society and the MIT Communications Forum. =========================================================== FUNDING these two sites both contain excellent funding sections with material not found at most other sites. gopher ---> eis.calstate.edu -----> GRANTS -------------------> Corporate funding Information gopher ---> fang.cc.lehigh.edu -----> Grants and Funding ============================================================ TRENDS More and more Civic Networks are exploring gopher and World Wide Web. The first WWW based freenet has just been announced. The following material will be useful to those interested in further investigating the use of WWW for their system. ------------------------------- Introduction: What is World Wide Web Rather than merely a menu of items and ascii text or images (as with gopher), hypertext allows fully formatted text. WWW clients can also directly access the following servers: * WAIS * Network News * Gopher * Telnet * Anonymous FTP * TechInfo * X.500 * WHOIS ---------------------------------- The Huron Valley Free-Net will be going on-line on May 1, 1994. For software, the HVFN is taking a progressive step in using the World Wide Web protocol as the core of its Managed Access Shell. The HVFN will not only provide complete and friendly vt100 service, but will also allow access via free GUI clients such as Mosaic. e-mail mythical@mpcc.org The group has started a discussion listserv on Web for civic nets. Conntact the above site for more information. ---------------------------------------- If you'd like to try the World Wide Web, some of the browsers are available in the following directory: "World Wide Web Clients" from the gopher ---> www0.cern.ch * Terminal based browsers * PC Running Windows * Macintosh * X-Windows * NeXTStep ------------------------------------- An upcomming conference relating to Web matters is being planned: the NCSA Software Development Group (SDG) is planning an information technologies software user conference with a focus on Mosaic to be held sometime in late May or early June, 1994. Now is your chance to help determine the topics for that conference. SDG is considering including Collage and HDF as well as Mosaic topics. Please take a look at the topics listed below and tell us which ones would be of interest. Also list any other topics that you think would be of use to a number of people. We are interested in hearing all of your suggestions. Direct all responses to: citconf94@ncsa.uiuc.edu . Topics under consideration: * Future outlooks: 1. Where we stand now - current status. 2. What is the future of Mosaic? 3. What is the future of the network? 4. What is the future of cyberspace? 5. What should be encouraged in WWW development? 6. Who are the communities we should be hearing more from? 7. What is the future of HDF and integration? 8. What is the future of CIT at NCSA? * Interesting applications. Mosaic and WWW use: 1. in libraries 2. in education 3. in medicine 4. in business 5. in government 6. in science 7. in arts and humanities 8. in ... * Tutorials: 1. HTML - building documents, advanced users. 2. Introduction to Mosaic. 3. Advanced features of Mosaic. 4. How to move information between Gopher/Web/FTP/WAIS...databases, other information sources. 5. System administration of Web servers. 6. Management of content on Web servers. Special sessions on Mac, MS Windows and X Mosaic users and uses. * Day preceding or following the main conference for developer discussions. _________________________________________________________________ Those readers who are unfamiliar with web and its workings can take a text based look at it by accessing EIT's WWW server using character terminals using the WWW login at CERN - HOME OF THE WEB (telnet info.cern.ch) for a line-mode interface, or you can find out how to retreive a full screen character interface called "lynx" by logging into a demonstration of it telnet -----> journal.biology.carleton.ca and log in as "www", no password). ------------------------------------- New services like this one are the basis for much of the interest in Web: "Introducing the ****** **** Graphics, Visualization, & Usability Center **** ***** HREF="www.gatech.edu/gvu/gvutop.html" ***** ****** WWW Database Although we have been around for a while, we are still pleased to offically announce our database. With in our database are text, movies, and images on: o Animation o Image Understanding o Image Understanding o Medical Informatics o Scientific Visualization o Software Visualization o Virtual Environments Plus Accss to: o GVU Technical Reports o The GVU Users's Guide o The WWW User Survey o and more! For those of you reading this with a WWW Browser, Click HERE to get there in the point and click way! Rob Kooper & James Pitkow Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center Georgia Institute of Technology GVU Mosaic Staff mosaic@cc.gatech.edu -------------------------------------------- The level of interest has been spectacular. Web use grew over 3,000 percent in 93. The percent of Internet based information now stored on WWW sites has gone from 5% to 50% in one year. All told an estimated 130 Terabytes of data is on web servers. ========================================= THE CANADIAN DOMAIN - A BACKGROUND REPORT ========================================= Canada's various levels of government is just beginning to take a serious interest in the opportunities and challenges presented by the Internet. The per capita growth of the Internet has been slower in Canada that in the U.S. As of January 21, 1994 Canada had a Total of 792 registered domains, with the most impressive numbers coming from the University section; where almost all libraries are now internet connected and have accessible catalogues. The past year saw one other section with remarkable growth. The freenet movement has really taken hold. Freenets will soon stretch across Canada from coast to coast. Every major city has a community network in the planning stages. Gareth Shearman - maintainer of the official Canadian Freenet list - reports the following activity. "First, the three operational Free-Nets (two public and one going public soon): National Capital FreeNet - Ottawa, Ontario Contact: David Sutherland (daves@ccs.carleton.ca) Victoria Free-Net - Victoria, British Columbia contact: Gareth Shearman (shearman@freenet.victoria.bc.ca) Community Information Access Organization (CIAO) - Trail, British Columbia - contact: Ken McClean (kmcclean@ciao.trail.bc.ca) Now, the organizing committees (West to East): Vancouver Regional Free-Net - Vancouver, British Columbia contact: Brian Campbell (briancam@vpl.vancouver.bc.ca) Sea to Sky Free-Net - Squamish/Whistler/Pemberton, British Columbia - contact: Detlef Rudolph (drudolph@cue.bc.ca) Prince George Free-Net - Prince George, British Columbia contact: Lynda Williams (williams@cnc.bc.ca) Fort St. John FreeNet - Fort St. John, British Columbia contact: Ian Baxter (IBAXTER@ftstjohn.env.gov.bc.ca) Rocky Mountain Info Net - Sparwood/Fernie, British Columbia contact: Brian Grainger (ub408@freenet.victoria.bc.ca) Metropolitan Edmonton Information Network (M.E.I.N.) - Edmonton, Alberta - contact: W. Leigh Hill (Leigh_Hill@ae.ucs.ualberta.ca) Calgary Free-Net - Calgary, Alberta contact: Shawn Douglas Henry (henry@acs.ucalgary.ca) Saskatoon Free-Net - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan contact: Peter Scott (scottp@herald.usask.ca) Winnipeg Free-Net - Winnipeg, Manitoba contact: ????? Lakehead (?) - Thunder Bay, Ontario contact: Bruce Handford (FBAHAND@CS-ACAD-LAN.LakeheadU.CA) North Shore Free-Net - Elliot Lake, Ontario contact: Alan Wilson (alanwils@vef.north.net) Niagara Free-Net Association - St. Catharines, Ontario contact: Jon Radue (jradue@sandcastle.cosc.brocku.ca) Toronto Free-Net - Toronto, Ontario contact: Laine G.M. Ruus (laine@vm.utcc.utoronto.ca) Halton Free-Net - Oakville, Ontario contact: Chris Moore (ag956@freenet.carleton.ca) Sudbury Regional Freenet - Sudbury, Ontario contact: STEVE@nickel.laurentian.ca Durham Steering Committee - Oshawa, Ontario contact: Steven Cavanaugh (rn.3756@rose.com) Hamilton (?) - Hamilton, Ontario contact: Jim Bryce (BRYCE@McMaster.ca) HOMEnet - Huron, Oxford, Middlesex and Elgin counties, Ontario contact: ?????? Montreal Free-Net - Montreal, Quebec contact: Sean Marrett (sean@pet.mni.mcgill.ca) Fredericton Free-Net - Fredericton, New Brunswick contact: Greg Sprague (gls@unb.ca) Halifax Free-Net - Halifax, Nova Scotia contact: Renee Davis (davisr@duncan.alt.ns.ca) Cape Breton Free-Net - Nova Scotia contact: Ian MacIntosh (macinto@nssc.library.ns.ca) St. John's Free-Net - St. John's Newfoundland contact: Louise McGillis (mcgillis@morgan.ucs.mun.ca) ============================================== NETWORKS and COMMUNITY is a public service of FUTURE DATA; a partnership of researchers and research system designers. Our research resources include all commercial and non commercial nets, along with over 200 cd-rom databases, 50,000 magazines and more than 30 million books. For commercial services contact Gwyneth Store - circa@io.org This newsletter is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN and may be used as you see fit. To contribute items or enguire about this newsletter contact Sam Sternberg .