Resources for Community Tech. Centers, compiled by Carl Kucharski RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CTCNET MEMBERS Resume building and cover letter writing http://www.umn.edu/ohr/ecep/resume/ For those CTC's involved in job training, this is an excellent award-winning site about resume building and cover letter writing recommended by Steve Schnell, Telecommunications Coordinator, Appalachian Center for Economic Networks. Women and the Net CTCNet's Washington DC Regional Coordinator, Phil Shapiro, suggests these books: SurferGrrrls: Look, Ethel! An Internet Guide for Us! Laurel Gilbert and Crystal Kile. Seal Press, 1996. 243 pp. $15.00. The Internet for Women. Rye Senjen and Jane Guthrey. Spinifex, 1996, 285 pp. $24.95. Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace Dale Spender. Spinifex, 1996. 304 pp. $19.95 Childhood Education on Line http://www.ume.maine.edu/~cofed/eceol/welcome.shtml Bonnie Blagojevic of The Sharing Place, Talmar Wood, The Housing Foundation recommends The Early Childhood Education On Line Website, which exists to promote and facilitate information management and exchange, and to serve as a resource and benefit for all children, their families, and all people who help them grow and learn. Oregon Telecommunications Planning Toolkit http://www.oregontelcom.org/clearinghouse/toolkit/ A blatant plug from Carl Kucharski, who authored the Toolkit: Useful, relevant information and accessible resources are keys to the success of any planning process. The OTFC created the Oregon Telecommunications Planning Toolkit to assist others in developing their local and regional telecommunications plans and projects. This Toolkit is intended to provide ideas to inspire community mobilization, guidance in the local planning process, examples of projects, and links to resources, information, and other communities of interest. Although much of the Toolkit refers to under-served, high-cost rural areas, the planning principles, examples and implementation techniques are applicable to most situations. As a living document, a work in progress, the Toolkit will continue to grow as local and regional plans and projects are added to the kit. TELECOMMUNICATIONS An Internet Service Provider's Guide to the Universal Service $2.25 Billion Fund For Schools and Libraries http://www.cybertelecom.org/usf/usfguide.htm Version 3.0 Updated: October 10, 1997 by the Internet Telecommunications Project Universal Service Documents http://www.ed.gov/Technology/rwrlette.html Enclosed are two documents to help you better understand the FCC ruling and prepare for using your universal service discount. The first document was produced by the Department of Education and provides a technical analysis of the FCC ruling. The second document is an "information kit" produced by EdLiNC that provides useful information and identifies resources where you can learn more about universal service support for schools and libraries. NTIA's Guide to the Universal Service Fund http://www.ntia.doc.gov/opadhome/uniserve/univweb.htm National Center for Technology Planning http://www.nctp.com/ Includes links to technology planning articles, state technology plans, school district technology plans, school building technology plans, higher education technology plans, national, regional and city technology plans. Technology Needs Assessments http://camalott.com/~living/needs.htm Here are a few sources for ideas in developing a useful Technology Needs Assessment Plan (Note: these are not all strictly technology assessments, but the language is useful to study in other types of assessment plans). Municipal Cable Television & Telecommunications News http://pages.prodigy.com/YXSC98A This is an online version of Municipal Cable Television & Telecommunications News, a regular two-page newsletter published by the law firm of O'Reilly, Rancilio, Nitz, Andrews and Turnbull, P.C., 12900 Hall Road, Ste 350, Sterling Heights, Michigan 48313 Telephone 1 810 726-1000. Fax 1 810 726-1560. E-mail nlehto@ameritech.net. COMPUTERS, SOFTWARE Utilities: http://www.download.com/PC/Result/TitleDetail/0,4,0-28055,501000.html The shareware application, Poster, allows printing one image across multiple pages, so you can make poster-sized prints from widely available laser or color inkjet printers by pasting pages together. No Wonder http://www.nowonder.com/ No Wonder provides free 24-hour technical assistance for your computer hardware and software. No strings attached, no marketing data to provide. No Wonder provides two ways of getting support 1) Personal help from one of our experts. This is known as "Personal Support" (you will get a response to your question in under 24 hours) and 2) "'group therapy" via a message board. Mac, Windows, Be, Unix, OS2, Web/HTML. GIS and Environmental Justice. On-line Mapping: Pollution Mapping Projects and Toxics Databases (collection of links): http://www.enviroweb.org/issues/pollution-map/index.html EPA's Maps on Demand (not real time, but can produce large and detailed maps with point sources, population characteristics, drinking water facilities, etc, but also be aware that large maps in some formats need lots of PC memory to display): http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/mod/index.html Surf your watershed (interactive display and retrieval of data by watershed. portions require a Java-capable web browser): http://www.epa.gov/surf/ Demographic Data Viewer (national interactive Census data thematic mapping): http://plue.sedac.ciesin.org/plue/ddviewer/ West Virginia state interactive mapping site (includes a Java applet that you will need a recent web browser to use): http://www.dep.state.wv.us/ Data Sources: Government Information Sharing Project (Oregon State University - collection of national and state-specific population, housing, economic etc data - suitable for download and mapping): http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/ Egrets online guide to geographic information about East St. Louis (mostly a map library of products created by the East St. Louis Action Research Project): http://eslarp2.landarch.uiuc.edu/egrets/ Guide To On-line And Mostly Free U.S. Geospatial and Attribute Data: http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/hunt/index.html Discussion papers: The Providence Plan: Using GIS to Guide Urban Revitalization: http://www.odyssey.maine.edu/gisweb/spatdb/urisa/ur94044.html FUNDING Foundation Resources, Community Networks, Telecenters and Televillages: http://www.aspeninst.org/rural/foundres.html This brief publication was prepared in the hope of helping community technology advocates develop a strategy to approach a private or corporate foundation. I reviewed over 1,000 grant descriptions to develop the attached list of foundation prospects. Based on this groundwork and contact with leading community technology advocates, I can't be optimistic about your prospects for approaching a private foundation. The foundations I chose to list are a judgment call; I'd be a happy to hear corrections from any readers relating their actual experiences. Timothy Walter, Aspen Institute Rural Economic Policy Program,1333 New Hampshire Ave NW #1070, Washington, DC 20036, timothy@aspeninst.org, http://www.aspeninst.org/rural Adobe http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/main.html For more information about Adobe's giving guidelines. At that site, you will also find an application to request a donation of software. LIBRARIES The Library Advocate's Guide to Telecommunications: http://www.lff.org/advocacy/technology/stateguide.html Issues covered are: universal service, educational programming and direct broadcast satellite, and the digital broadcast spectrum give away. Public Library Internet Access Policies http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/poli.htm Policies of 125 public libraries, last updated 8-7-97. All policies, alphabetical by city. All policies, by state. Policies of small libraries, (pop. under 100,000) by state. Policies of medium libraries, (pop. 100-499,000) by state. Policies of large libraries, (pop. over 499,000) by state. Policies written in 1995, by state. Policies written in 1996, by state. Policies written in 1997, by state. Summary data of 26 policy elements for 116 libraries, in both HTML and Word 6.0 for Windows. EDUCATION Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan http://www2.msstate.edu/~lsa1/nctp/guide.html Version 2.0 of the "Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan" was released officially by the National Center for Technology Planning (NCTP) on June 11, 1996, and is available here now for downloading as an Adobe Acrobat file. Perceived Educational Technology Needs Survey http://www.nctp.com/articles/assess.pdf This survey questionnaire is intended to obtain information from teachers and other instructional personnel about their own perceptions of technological needs with respect to their specific responsibilities and working situations. The questionnaire is intended to be administered by allowing respondents to keep it with them in their workplace for approximately five days. (This is an Adobe Acrobat file.) Impact Of Internet On Education Debated: How is the Web doing in school this year? http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schooloverview.html Welcome to the first Web Report Card, presented with the belief that the Net will ultimately become much more than just another multimedia tool in the learning process. In an attempt to measure the impact of the Internet on the American educational system, we gathered a panel of top educators. 10 teachers, administrators, and policy makers from across the United States and asked them to assess the Internet in five major respects: The pace of wiring the nation's schools. The pace of training the nation's teachers. The general effect on student performance. The specific effect on student performance in individual subjects. The overall effect on the educational system. Links: Report Card, including statistics: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolreport.html The Debate: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schooldebate.html The Cost: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolcost.html The Survey: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolsurvey.html Homework Helpers: Elementary: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolelementary.html Highschool: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolhighschool.html College: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolcollege.html Reference Desk: http://www3.zdnet.com/yil/content/mag/9709/schoolreference.html MISCELLANEOUS America's New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports/itsw/itsw.pdf America's New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers, a new US Commerce Department Office of Technology Policy study (available in Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only, suggests that the United States "could face a growing shortage of information technology workers that would have severe consequences for U.S. competitiveness, economic growth, and job creation." It provides evidence that fast growing companies have trouble finding enough information technology workers for their operations. As a solution to this problem, the study recommends that the United States develop its labor force skills to maintain its lead in productivity and competitiveness. Conservation Technology Support Program http://www.ctsp.org/ The Conservation Technology Support Program (CTSP) is an annual grant program awarding in-kind technology donations to conservation organizations to build their Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capacity. GIS makes possible truly interactive collaborations among resource managers, policy setters, scientists and stakeholders enabling both the technical and the social resolution of natural resource issues. CTSP has provided close to $3 million in inkind grants to 150 conservation and environmental groups. CTSP requests letters of inquiry from nonprofit groups that need to initiate or upgrade their geographic information systems (GIS) to address conservation and environmental issues. Letters of inquiry for awards announced in April 1998 were due January 2, 1998. For up to date information about CTSP and future application processes, send an email message to ctsp@lists.desktop.org. U.S. NonProfit Gateway http://www.nonprofit.gov/ The Clinton administration has created a site on the World Wide Web aimed at nonprofits. The site is designed to be a "one-stop shopping center" for government information nonprofits can use to do a better job. ONE/Northwest http://www.onenw.org ONE/Northwest helps people in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington use electronic networking to protect the Northwest environment. Read on to find out more! If you're not sure what you're looking for, we suggest that you begin exploring the Activist Toolkit section, our online library of "how-to" documents and technical recommendations. Tip Sheets http://www.webcom.com/jac/tips.html In the true spirit of the Internet, I've posted these tip sheets to help organizations and individuals reap money-saving, program-enhancing benefits from technology. Most of this material is geared to not-for-profit and public sector organizations, but some is more general. Included are: Database Tip Sheets; Internet & Software-related Tip Sheets & Public Sector Organizations; and Web Development and Maintenance for Not-for-Profit & Public Sector Organizations (Including Schools). http://www.safesurf.com/kids1.htm#kids What you should know as a parent... http://www.yahooligans.com/docs/safety/parents.html Surfin the Net for Kids and Families http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/surfin.html Computers: The new electronic babysitter? http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/061096/info4_23260.html History Of A Child Safe Internet http://www.safesurf.com/time.htm Child Safety on the Information Highway http://www.larrysworld.com/child_safety.html Courtesy Dan Lake, FYI Digest. Expert Rolodex http://www.infonorth.com and http://www.kioskstore.com. San Antonio today becomes the first major U.S. city to fully implement a 'People's Internet' touchscreen network allowing anyone to connect for free to the World Wide Web through a kiosk and conduct secure, private financial transactions with City government. Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies http://www.otal.umd.edu/~rccs Established in January 1997, RCCS is a not-for-profit organization devoted to providing resources and materials to students, teachers, journalists, writers, artists, activists, and creators of cyberculture. Nurturing Neighborhood Nets By Gary Chapman and Lodis Rhodes: http://web.mit.edu/org/t/techreview/www/articles/oct97/chapman.html Providing free access to computer networking can extend the pleasures and benefits of the Net to people living in poor communities. BENTON FOUNDATION Communications Policy Program News-Clipping Service The CPP News-Clipping Service is posted to the Benton e-mail lists Monday through Friday. The Headlines are highlights of news articles summarized by staff at the Benton Foundation. They describe articles of interest to the work of the Foundation - primarily those covering long term trends and developments in communications, technology, journalism, public service media, regulation and philanthropy. While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone does not represent the tone of the original articles. To join the Benton Communications Policy Mailing List, send the following command to listserv@cdinet.com: subscribe benton-compolicy To join the Up For Grabs list send the following command to upforgrabs-request@cdinet.com: subscribe youremail@host.domain (i.e. subscribe kevint@benton.org) Best Practices Tookit http://www.benton.org/Practice/Toolkit/ Includes Resources for the Online Nonprofit, Nonprofit Technical Assistance Providers, Other Helpful Resources Online. The Learning Connection: Schools in the Information Age http://www.benton.org/Library/Schools/ This report examines, through June 1997, how educators are grappling with the difficult interplay of technological change and educational values. It also identifies key factors that make the connection work, and reviews major players in the education technology arena. Open Studio Toolkit http://www.openstudio.org/homepage1594/index.htm Resources - including those developed by access and mentor sites, in partnership with the Benton Foundation- aimed at helping access and mentoring sites do their work more effectively. Includes Public Access Site Resources, Mentor Site Resources, Lessons Learned, Papers, Nonprofit Technical Assistance Providers, Intellectual Property Rights, and Others. EMAIL LISTS ICT-4-LED ICT-4-LED is an open unmoderated forum for the discussion of issues related to the application of Information and Communications Technology for Local Economic/Entrepreneurial Development. It is also a place to network and to share experiences and case studies. To subscribe send the following command in the SUBJECT of the email to: ICT-4-LED@chatsubo.com subject: subscribe (Nothing in the message field) CYBERTELECOM-L CYBERTELECOM-L is a listserv discussion of telecommunication regulatory issues facing the Internet. The goal of this listserv is to create a central discussion space for the Internet Community to discuss, debate, and receive notice of issues. This list is open to Internet service providers, Internet industry, Internet trade associations, public interest groups, scholars, professionals, and all other interested parties. To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command: SUBSCRIBE CYBERTELECOM-L Edupage To subscribe to Edupage: send mail to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: subscribe edupage Ellen Ullman (if your name is Ellen Ullman; otherwise, substitute your own name). To unsubscribe send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu with the message: unsubscribe edupage. (If you have subscription problems, send mail to manager@educom.unc.edu.) Fedix Opportunity Alert (FOA) http://www.rams-fie.com/ Free-to-the-user e-mail service that automatically delivers targeted research & education funding opportunities and other information to its subscribers. It is the fastest, most comprehensive, and cost efficient way to communicate opportunities information to the research and education community. American Library Association Washington Office Newsline ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/. Visit our Web site at http://www.ala.org/washoff/. ALA Washington Office 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 Washington, DC 20004-1701 (800-941-8478 or 202-628-8410) Philanthropy Journal Alert Online updates about issues and trends affecting taxes, volunteers, foundations, technology and nonprofits. Send an e-mail to pjalert-on@mail-list.com. Leave the subject field blank and put subscribe in the body. Just send it and that's it. You may unsubscribe the same way. The Internet Index Past issues and citations to sources can be found at http://www.openmarket.com/intindex/. To subscribe to future issues of the Internet Index, send a message saying "subscribe" in the body to internet-index-request@OpenMarket.com. Locals - Examining the Evolution of Communities On-Line http://www.local.ie Free weekly newsletter from Local Ireland. Each issue of Locals is published in two separate emails. To join or leave, please send an email to locals-request@local.ie, with only the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the body of the message. The Micro$oft Monitor http://www.netaction.org/msoft/ccc.html. The Micro$oft Monitor is a free electronic newsletter, published as part of the Consumer Choice Campaign NetAction is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, policy makers, and the media about technology-based social and political issues, and to teaching activists how to use the Internet for organizing, outreach, and advocacy. To subscribe to The Micro$oft Monitor, write to: <majordomo@netaction.org>. The body of the message should state: <subscribe monitor>. To unsubscribe at any time, send a message to: <majordomo@netaction.org>. The body of the message should state: <unsubscribe monitor> NetAction Notes NetAction Notes is a free electronic newsletter, published by NetAction to promote effective grassroots organizing on the Internet. NetAction is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, policy makers, and the media about technology-based social and political issues, and to teaching activists how to use the Internet for organizing, outreach, and advocacy. To subscribe to NetAction Notes, send a message to: <majordomo@netaction.org>The body of the message should state: <subscribe netaction> To unsubscribe at any time, send a message to: <majordomo@netaction.org>The body of the message should state: <unsubscribe netaction> Email Usage Studies http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/trg/email Links to other studies on email usage, showing how many minutes, etc., people spend communicating, all US based, etc. Child Safety Resources: "The Parents' Guide to the Information Superhighway: Rules and Tools for Families Online" (published by The Children's Partnership, the National PTA, the National Urban League, and the American Library Association): http://www.childrenspartnership.org/parentguide/parguide.html Child safety, censorship, privacy and personal freedom on the Internet: http://www.voicenet.com/~cranmer/censorship.html The American Library Association Guide to Cyberspace for Parents and Kids: http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/ Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library "Using the Internet" pages: http://www.imcpl.lib.in.us/internet.htm The Internet and Your Children - A Smart Parenting Workshop: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/umikerse/Parents/parentingworkshop.html Protecting Kids on the Internet: A Guide for Parents: http://www.yahooligans.com/docs/safety/parents.html This site provides links to 17 Internet filter software packages: http://www.zen.org/~brendan/kids-safe.html Reviews of a few Internet Filters: The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages, 2nd Edition: http://www.netmom.com/ Internet Coach CD ROMs Search for the Black Rhino, Mission to Planet X, Liftoff to Lizard Island contact APTE: http://www.apte.com/ SafeSurf Kid's Wave: http://www.safesurf.com/kids1.htm#kids Kids' Links: http://www.teleport.com/~johnp/kidweb.htm Surfin the Net for Kids and Families: http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/surfin.html Computers: The new electronic babysitter? http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/061096/info4_23260.html Media Values Checklist: http://www.safesurf.com/time.htm Child Safety on the Information Highway: http://www.larrysworld.com/child_safety.html Parent/Child Projects: Walking the Web: A Short Course in Getting Around: http://www.edf.org/Earth2Kids/walking/a_contents.html VIDEO RESOURCES Assembled by Phil Shapiro Simple Sokoban Logic Puzzles This hour-long video shows and explains about the freeware Simple Sokoban logic puzzles for black-and-white or color Macintoshes. The video comes with a disk containing the puzzles. The logic puzzles can be used by kids as young as kindergarten. Older students (and adults) seem to enjoy them a lot, too.The puzzles develop reasoning and insight skills. Runs on computers from the Mac Plus on up. SimpleCard Explained This hour-long video explains about the shareware SimpleCard program for the Macintosh. This $5 program allows you to create color "stacks" mixing photos, sounds, and text. Multimedia for the masses! A SimpleCard Fan Club Web Page has been set up at: http://www.his.com/pshapiro/simplecardfanclub/ SimpleCard runs on any System 7 Mac. Computer Reclamation: A Tour Located in Silver Spring, Maryland, right near the District of Columbia, Computer Reclamation is one of the largest computer recycling outfits in the nation. This hour-long video interviews founder Mike Wiggins, and takes viewer on a tour of the Computer Reclamation warehouse. Computer Reclamation redistributes 1000 computers per month to schools and nonprofit organizations in the Washington DC metropolitan area. comprec@juno.com Produced and filmed by Anita Countee. Institute for Academics - After School Tutorial Program This twenty minute talking-heads video is an outstanding model of how a community organization can tell others about the good work going on at their center. Created by Corliss Grimes. Videography by Betty Rodawalt. Content: A+. Videography: A+. IFA-ASTP is located on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, a mile away from decisionmakers who ought to be taking a closer look at successful community revitalization efforts in their very own backyard. Corliss Grimes can be reached at: oshala@aol.com Seniors Internet Training Project This forty-minute video interviews Thelma Leaffer and Dan Syed, of the Seniors Internet Training Project, a project to train seniors on how to use the Internet to find health care information. Sponsored by the National Insitutes of Health. deltasquare@webtv.com Black Geeks Online: Interviews With Members and Founder Anita Brown This thirty minute video contains interviews with members of Black Geeks Online, a rapidly growing organization that seeks to unite and empower people of color on the net. Filmed at Bailey's Cafe, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Anita Brown can be reached at: missdc@blackgeeks.net http://www.blackgeeks.net Produced by Tony Watkins. These videos are available to Affiliates and Associates for $5 each (including postage) from: Phil Shapiro 5201 Chevy Chase Pkwy. NW Washington DC 20015-1747 pshapiro@his.com Non-CTCNet members can order the videos for $10 each (including postage). All videos may be freely reproduced and redistributed for noncommercial purposes. Community Technology Center Review, January 1998 Table of Contents