New office building housing the AFCN Central Office in Blacksburg, VA.

In the last six months, AFCN has made some major changes and has initiated some new programs.

One of the most significant changes for the organization has been hosting and services. Since its start, the AFCN has relied on support from members like Charlotte's Web and RTPNet for the AFCN Web site and email. In the early fall, AFCN made the move to its own Web site, which has allowed us to provide increased member benefits. All AFCN members are now eligible for an email account (of the form jsmith@afcn.org). All members also have access to a phpGroupWare account. phpGroupWare is an Open Source software project that provides a broad set of services via a web interface, including web email, shared calendar, shared to-do list, chat, forums, project manager, and many other features.

Open source projects are likely to become increasingly important sources of software for community networks. Two phenomena are driving this: first, years of open source efforts are now resulting in very mature products that rival commercial products in terms of feature richness and overall robustness. For example, the "trinity" of Apache/PHP/mySQL provides a superb Web hosting and development environment that provides the best set of development tools that I've used in the past thirty years.

One of the criticisms of the Open Source effort has been the lack of a "conversation," in the sense of the Clue Train Manifesto, between open source developers and open source software users. In the traditional marketplace, money provides the basis for a "conversation" about matching customer needs with product features. In the absence of a conversation, open source developers tend to write software that interests them, not necessarily the users. Late in 2001, the AFCN partnered with the Blacksburg Electronic Village to help create a conversation between open source developers and community networks. The BEV and the AFCN are creating an Open Source Software Award with a modest cash prize, in the hope that some open source developers will begin writing software specifically to meet the needs of community networks. If the initial effort is successful, AFCN hopes this will become an annual award that will help sustain the "conversation."

AFCN has also experienced rapid growth this year, with a 40% increase in membership. Last year, virtually all existing members renewed, and new members from around the United States and Canada also joined the association. Part of the increase can be attributed to AFCN's participation and sponsorship of two major community technology conferences. In June, AFCN partnered with CTCNet for a very successful conference in San Diego that had over 700 participants, many of whom attended the five AFCN sessions at the conference. In December, the AFCN sponsored several sessions at the 4th Annual Community Network Conference in Austin. This conference, organized by Gene Crick of the TeleCommunity Resource Center (and incoming AFCN President) had more than 250 participants from more than 40 active community network projects, and many of those projects signed up to become AFCN members.

Finally, the AFCN publishing effort mentioned in the last issue of the Review is now underway, with numerous AFCN members writing articles for the upcoming AFCN "Community Network Guide." The CN "Guide," to be distributed to all AFCN members in late spring, will contain a rich mix of articles that cover a single topic in depth, case studies of operating community networks, and shorter technical articles.

Looking forward, AFCN will again sponsor several sessions at the summer CTCNet conference in Austin. This year should be a particularly interesting meeting because Texas has more active community network projects than any other state in the country; community network projects should be well represented at the meeting.

Community networks (CNs) and community technology centers (CTCs) have evolved over the past fifteen years to provide a wide variety of services, ranging from training classes in neighborhood access centers (relatively low tech) to providing sophisticated networks that include Internet access and commercial quality information services (e.g., email, web hosting, database design, network management, etc.). For many years, these organizations (CNs and CTCs) were largely ignored, but the rise of the digital divide as a political issue and the changing landscape of the telecommunications industry have led to an interesting set of interlocking and conflicting challenges and opportunities.

The challenges focus on competitive pressures, a changing regulatory climate that continually redefines the "rules," and the need to constantly extend technological expertise. But opportunities also abound--increasing demand for services and a fragmented private sector that leaves many communities without adequate access and services.

A Chaordic Alliance

We now live in a world of such complexity, diversity, and multiplicity of scales that there is little possibility of achieving constructive, sustained governance with existing concepts of organization. People, everywhere, are growing desperate for a renewed sense of community. Shared purpose and principles leading to new concepts of self-governance at multiple scales from the individual to the global have become essential (see Dee Hock, Birth of the Chaordic Age, San Francisco: Berett-Koehler, 1999, p. 90).

Dee Hock, the former CEO of VISA, the multinational credit card company, coined the term "chaordic alliance," the adjective being a combination of the words "chaos" and "order." Hock's vision is to create a new organization that is based not on traditional, hierarchical, topdown decision-making, but rather on shared purpose and consensus.

A chaordic alliance does not rely on heroic leadership to make decisions (and having the organization blindly follow), but rather the alliance does only those things that all the partners agree to in advance--that is, the organization initiates actions and activities only when all members of the alliance agree. This is a fundamentally different approach that discards the "I win--you lose" antagonism in favor of a collaborative model based on "I win--you win." Consensus is most likely to be reached when all parties find something of value in the outcome.

A chaordic technology alliance would have three primary, equal, and autonomous organizations, each with its own goals and services. These three organizations are:

• The Community Technology Center (CTC) provides intra-community services. There may be one or more CTCs in a community.
• The Community Network (CN) provides services across an entire community, and may collaborate on programs and services with local CTCs.
• The Regional Technology Alliance (RTA) provides services across an entire region, and works collaboratively with CNs and CTCs on service and infrastructure projects too large for any individual CN or CTC to handle alone.

CTCs would continue to be independent organizations, but find it in their self-interest to collaborate with the local community network on projects or to share service costs (e.g., a community network may run a mail server for several CTCs). Similarly, CNs may collaborate with CTCs and other CNs as needed. The Regional Technology Alliance provides an organizational mechanism to facilitate the "coming together" of individual projects.

Regional Technology Alliances

RTAs could play many important roles, limited only by the interests and needs of the participating partners.

Regional network access and network administration—network access and administration is most effective and cost efficient when aggregated over a large area, ignoring political boundaries. RTAs can act as brokers to purchase Internet access and provide a Network Operations Center (NOC).

Server and services administration and support--most services (e.g., email, web hosting, etc.) also benefit from aggregation. By spreading the cost of the most expensive technical support across many organizations, costs for all are reduced and local organizations have more staff time and budget to spend on delivering core services and avoiding much of the expense of back end systems.

Research and development--RTAs could provide R&D support for member organizations, helping to push more sophisticated services and support out into user hands more quickly.

Training--Support and training/education of staff who would work on the local level in CNs and CTCs. RTAs could provide less expensive and more frequent training opportunities.

Infrastructure development--Telecommunications infrastructure development (such as for fiber and wireless transmission, colocation facilities) is also best done at the regional level, and requires technical expertise that most individual CNs and CTCs lack.

Each RTA might have a staff of 7-8 people plus a director. As the service arm of the chaordic alliance, the RTA would be dedicated to the success of the community networks and community technology centers. The RTA would never initiate projects on its own; it would always provide services and support to projects started by the member organizations of the alliance. These services and systems would never be forced upon a member of the alliance; a consensus would be needed before the RTA initiated an effort.

It would be essentially "invisible" to the public because it would have no public mission. The community networks and community technology centers would work on behalf of the public common good; the RTA would work on behalf of the common good of the chaordic alliance.

Summary

We live in a time when technology is becoming not just ubiquitous but pervasive--nearly every device we touch at home and at work may be "wired" in just a few years. Most of this wiring is being done by transnational corporations with little or no thought about the consequences and effects on individuals, communities, and the common good. Dee Hock asks: "Is this how things ought to be?"

The work of community technology centers and community networks is to ensure that technology supports human goals and aspirations, and that technology supports the growth and development of human relationships, not machine relationships. This commitment to the common good suggests that CNs and CTCs can become not just technology pioneers but organizational pioneers as well, seeking out and enacting new collaborative structures like Regional Technology Alliances.

I find myself rereading Tom Grundner's Letters to the Fourth World, which are far better philosophy than I'm capable of, yet I find myself debating some of his thoughts about the relationship of libraries and librarians to community networking.

Two of those letters are online at www.acorn.net, in the Original Acorn Menus section under "Community Nets Theme Parks"; the Final Letter is also online at the Los Angeles FreeNet.

The first letter was what got me started in community networking. Much of the philosophy of community networking is in that letter, and there's nothing that I can add to it. The Final Letter was one that Tom agreed to write to those of us at ACORN, the Akron Community Online Resource Network, before he retired from community networking.

In that letter he talked about the radius, the idea that within a ten-mile radius of the center of most reasonably well populated areas there is enough knowledge to answer the questions of everyone within that radius. And he saw that knowledge ranging from what we commonly call "book knowledge" to life experience, which is also what folks are looking for—maybe even thirsting for.

So how does that relate to libraries? And how do libraries relate to community networking? In that Final Letter Tom asks "Would the role of librarians remain largely that of managing printed materials, or would it become that of managing community information--in whatever form?"

My knee-jerk reaction is that, of course, librarians will manage information in whatever form it's in; that's our job. We've managed print, and we've specialized as music librarians and art librarians, to mention a few of the non-print specialties.

The major part of library work has been managing large chunks of information, such as books. The Library of Congress classification and subject heading systems were designed to manage these large chunks. The smaller chunks found in periodicals and other serials are managed by indexes which have the hallmarks of subject heading systems if not classifications.

The Internet is, indeed, a horse of an entirely different wheelbase. A quick check of Google for materials about cataloging the Internet brought up a number of very interesting items, indicating that that concept may have been more daunting than originally thought. I find material on the Internet Public Library, "Pathfinder: Organizing the Web -- Resources for Librarians," helpful in this regard as well as a piece by Anne Callery, a Yahoo cataloger, on "Cataloging the Web."

To the extent that the radius contains people with knowledge that is already in print form and available through libraries and increasingly directly in electronic format on the net, community networkers don't have to worry about including it, let alone organizing it. There's no need to reinvent either the wheel or basic library cataloging systems.

But to the extent that the radius contains personal information, we need to consider collecting and organizing it. This personal information might be an individual's self-publishing of a web page to share his writing, his art, his philosophy. One of the things that we've been playing around with on chuh.net, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Community Network, is the idea of showcasing local talent—from artists to writers, etc. This is indeed in keeping with the concept of the radius, concentrating on material that is unique to our community.

And I think that this material is complementary to another part of the radius, the information that citizens need to live productively and fully in their local communities and to participate in the governance of those communities. Most people outside a local community could not care less who won the city council or school board election and have no desire to discuss those matters. But the locals do. And the community networks make it possible to keep that information within reach (archiving) as well as to provide forums in which to discuss it.

And how will we organize this material? I think that most community networks are small enough so that organization has not been a major problem. Although there are site search mechanisms, it's a matter of pride for a librarian to arrange content logically enough so site searches should only be necessary as a last resort.

Early on in my career as a librarian, I was a cataloger in an academic library. The stereotype of catalogers is not pretty, but it is as mistaken as other stereotypes of librarians. Cataloging is an intellectual challenge and involves classification, subject headings, and description of the item being cataloged. We can bring those concepts to bear as we need them in organizing community networks. Try to keep a cataloger away from this challenge!

• Providing Internet access with dialup email accounts and 4 free public access sites;
• Education and training, and;
• A virtual community website.

La Plaza began services in 1994 with a T1 line and 24 modems, 1 free public access site, and free classes in Introduction to Email. In 1996 La Plaza installed two 56Kbps lines, a server and 5 modems in the villages of Questa (25 miles north of Taos) and Penasco (26 miles southeast of Taos) for dialup access and public access sites in each village, as the telecom had no plans to install fiber optic cable to these areas.

Questa Wireless Broadband Initiative

In 1998, La Plaza collaborated with the New Mexico Dept of Communication and developed a microwave radio wireless system with T1 speed for the Village of Questa. This system showcased to the New Mexico State Legislature public/private partnerships in using State microwave towers to develop broadband Internet services into rural areas that will never have fiber optic capabilities.

The Penasco School District, serving 800+ students, became aware of the Questa wireless model and in 1999 requested La Plaza to develop a similar wireless system for their computer labs and classrooms; thus, the Penasco Project was developed. The Penasco Project had some unusual demands, far from the normal WAN installations. The task was to provide Internet connectivity to the rural community of Penasco, located in northern New Mexico and surrounded by mountains on all sides. La Plaza was the closest ISP, some 26 miles to the North, with Picuris Peak, a 10,800-foot peak directly in line between the two towns.

Collaboration for this project required many partners including La Plaza, Penasco School District, U.S. Forest Service, La Serna Land Grant (who claims ownership of the property on the Picuris Peak), Integrity Networking Systems, La Jicarita Enterprises, and a private snow mobile company. La Plaza applied and received permission to use the U.S. Forest Service Ranger Station tower and outbuilding atop Picuris Peak.

One Wireless Technology Solution

Wireless equipment manufacturers have designed radios for specific use in Wide Area Networks, WANs. These radios, designated Wireless Ethernet Bridges, are designed to be fully compatible with computer networking standards. They have standard Ethernet interfaces, 10baseTX or 100BaseTX, which are connected by a standard RJ-45 connector. Many bandwidth options are available from several hundred Kbps to over 100 Mbps.

Tsunami radios, manufactured by Western Multiplex, were selected for the Penasco Project. These Wireless Bridges operate in the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band of 2.4 Ghz and do not require FCC licensing. The wavelength is not affected by adverse weather of rain or snow. The radios have a wide temperature operating range, necessary for locating at the mountain peak where extreme temperatures are common. The radios operate over a wide range of DC voltage, lending themselves to be powered by a solar / storage battery power supply. The radios also provide the maximum RF output allowed by FCC regulation for that frequency. New wires were placed on the tower to ensure proper leverage for placement of the antennas, golf batteries were installed in the outbuilding and 18 solar panels were installed surrounding the outbuilding to supplement the existing systems in place that powered the government and private transmitters.

The following is an account by the Integrity engineer of the actual install:

"The original schedule called for installation during the late summer of 1999. By the time all the approvals from the government agencies and the landowners were obtained it was February 28, 2000 when the install was attempted. Reaching the top of Picuris Peak at that time of year was a major accomplishment in itself. Three snowmobiles were rented and the services of a mountain guide were obtained. The trail wound around the mountain and next to shear cliffs, sometimes through snowdrifts deeper than one could stand. One snowmobile pulled a large sled loaded with radio gear including two large 2-ft diameter antennas. Over the more than six-mile trip up the mountain the sled and pulling snowmobile tipped over and got stuck several times. It took approximately 2.5 hours to reach the ranger station atop the peak. It was a bright sunny day. The air was clear and crisp, and you could see for miles to the horizon. The sun was warming and the temperature was about 35 degrees. As we worked we noticed the air was thin and we tired more quickly. We quickly got the first link up and running and measured very close to the calculated signal strength. The second link was installed with equal success and we started to pack up our equipment as the day was waning and the temperature was dropping. As we started down the mountain the snow was wet and heavy. As we approached the bottom of the mountain we encountered large segments of the trail that had turned to mud. The unusually warm day, which gave us some comfort at the top of the mountain, had melted the shallow snow layer at the base of the mountain. The snowmobile pulling the sled had a great deal of difficulty traveling through the mud. Several times the sled would get bogged down and the drive belt of the snowmobile slipped and burned. About a mile before we reached the meadow next to the parking area, all the snow was gone and an ATV had to haul personnel and equipment through the mud."

With wireless link in place, the Penasco school computer labs were able to connect to La Plaza Telecommunity for Internet access. The link provided T1 bandwidth at a reasonable initial cost and no recurring monthly fee. The 800+ students enjoy T1 speed, as does the public access site sponsored by La Plaza. Through cooperation with the school, other organizations in the Penasco area are able to have fast Internet access. One such organization is the La Jicarita Enterprise Zone office based in Penasco, which provides economic development and e-commerce opportunities to over 9,500 native New Mexicans in three Northern New Mexico counties. The entire Penasco Valley and neighboring communities now have broadband Internet access that would otherwise not be available.

Bridging the Digital Divide With Wireless

This leading edge technology is worthy of recognition due to the many challenges of the remote, rural and mountainous location populated by a tricultural peoples. The U.S. Department of Commerce measures the Digital Divide by household connectivity as a means of determining which Americans are connected to the nation's telecommunications and information infrastructure. In 1998, they found penetration levels differ, often substantially, according to income, race, geography, education level, among other demographic characteristics. The Penasco Valley has the top 4 demographic characteristics of low penetration rates with respect to computers and Internet access. The Penasco Project and La Plaza provides for the entire Penasco community broadband T1 Internet speed, free public access to both computers and the Internet, and free training classes. The Penasco Schools now offer similar educational opportunities to their students as schools in urban and metroplex areas.

The previous solution of the 56Kbps phone line for Internet access to this Village is far surpassed with the wireless system. Penasco Schools is the only school district in New Mexico that is using the existing technology of broadband fixed wireless Internet access. The telecom has no plans to lay fiber now or in the future and without the new wireless system, the schools, enterprise zone offices, and private citizens would continue to be left behind on the information highway. The technology surpasses current solutions as it is less expensive, easier to install, faster and more efficient, takes one day's time of installation, and accessible as a solution.

The application of wireless technology is making a huge contribution to this low-income, geographically challenged community. The school district has in place a state-of-the-art Internet access wireless system for educational purposes. La Plaza provides a Community Outreach Trainer, 15 hours weekly, and has an agreement with Penasco Schools to use the High School computer lab as a public access site. The students use the site to complete homework and research paper assignments. During the school year, there are 300 monthly visits in the site; during the summer, there are 350 monthly visits. A community college, 28 miles south of Penasco, offers distance education courses for the Penasco teachers and these teachers often visit the public access site to complete assignments. La Plaza received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to train northern NM teachers how to integrate the Internet into their class activities. Sixteen of the Penasco teachers were trained and became trainers for the other classroom teachers.

Community members use the site to access email and information on the WWW. Also, La Plaza received a funding from a local foundation to develop a training model for at-risk youth in web design. Six Penasco students are involved in this project. They use the digital equipment, located at the La Jicarita Enterprise office and purchased by La Plaza, to complete their assignments in web development. La Plaza plans to integrate the web development classes in the high school, for not only at-risk youth, but also other interested youth in the Penasco area.

The project contribution is a wired community in a remote, rural, and mountainous area. The future educational and professional contribution is unknown, but we do know without the wireless application this village would remain forever in the Digital Divide "have-nots" of computer and Internet access.

La Plaza reports project results to the La Plaza Board of Directors, Penasco School Board, and the funding sources of the special projects; i.e.; number of dialin users for email accounts, number of students enrolled in Penasco schools, number of visits in the Penasco public access site, and the positive outcomes of the special projects available through this wireless system. To date, no one has considered this project to be problematic.

This project can be replicated in any community, whether remote, rural or mountainous. La Plaza has installed wireless systems to the Town of Taos municipal offices, the county hospital, private businesses, and has a pending project for the Taos Pueblo. The model is based on the geographical challenges and the lack of telecom infrastructure in the area. Any community that is willing to develop partnerships and collaborate with need, engineering design, finances, and solution can replicate this project. A PowerPoint presentation of the project is available online.

At the heart of any community there exist many small connecting points: a conversation at the bus stop, a nod in the grocery store, a shared smile over youthful antics. Through fostering these seemingly insignificant beginnings communities are made. The Community Technology Center where I work, the Rainier Vista Technology and Job Resource Center, is centrally located in a public housing community. The people using our center vary widely in educational background, areas of interest, and level of support needed in their interactions with technology. Some of them come in groups, most come singly. Some of those who walk through the door for the first time are isolated in their own communities, having lived in the same place for ten years, yet not knowing their neighbors. They never attend community events. Their lives revolve around work and family. Their community lives elsewhere.

When people come in for the first time, they find a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere with artwork, photographs and signs up from different language groups and cultures. When I first put up a world map, no one looked at it until I printed out photographs from the various countries and put them on the map; now that's one of the first places people look.

In the orientation and assessment phase we talk a bit to find out what a person's interests are. I introduce new comers around the room telling people not just their name, but what they are interested in learning. We do this each time they come in for a while: "You remember Ayalew, he was here last week. Would you walk him through opening up the typing program?" A couple of week ago, an older Vietnamese gentleman was having trouble controlling his mouse. An eleven-year-old from Ethiopia working on an adjacent computer piped up. "Oh, I remember how I used to do that! Here let me show you. It's really easy once you understand how." It is from such moments that a community begins to come together.

I liketo think of it as a subtext for everything that we do, the foundation for continued learning and dispelling the myths about technology, because for me, technology is really about connecting people, connecting people to resources, new ideas, and each other. I believe that through technology we are able to explore the larger concepts of communities that live in a wider arena than may be contained in physical space.

But I also believe that the process must be conscious, not necessarily engineered but fostered. A few ground rules for interaction are helpful. The first rule is that we are a neighborhood place and we greet our neighbors when they come in the center. If I am not in the room when a newer participant comes in, I ask if anyone greeted them. Then I may introduce them around again. A few times like this and people get the idea. The way learners demonstrate competency in a task or technique is to teach that technique to someone else. I try to suggest as much cross-cultural interaction as possible. If a student has a homework question, I may ask if someone in the room has any information about the topic or suggestions about research avenues. Or if a learner has made a break through, I will announce it to the room for others to offer congratulations. Learners take ownership in such an environment. They include others. They learn to work together and share their experiences. And what is community, after all, than sharing our lives?

The Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (NKLA) project began in 1996 as a web portal for people concerned with improving the conditions of Los Angeles neighborhoods. From the beginning of the project, NKLA has provided free access to a wide range of property and neighborhood data sets, information that can help community residents and activists in Los Angeles monitor neighborhood conditions by tracking early-warning indicators of decline. For example, users can map out indicators such as tax delinquencies, code complaints, or nuisance properties across the city in color-shaded maps to track where conditions are worst. They can also compare these trends with other demographic trends using census data. Moreover, they can access detailed historical property data such as code violations, building permits, and tax liens.

Presentation by Community Coalition

The motto of NKLA, proudly displayed at the top of the welcome page, has always been, "Neighborhood improvement and recovery is not just for the experts!" NKLA was largely designed with community residents and community-based organizations in mind. To our surprise, however, the earliest frequent users of the web site were not community activists, but rather staff from local governmental agencies. We had given policy makers and staff from city council offices and departments such as Housing, Building and Safety, and Community Development a tool for easily accessing data that they should have been able to get through a phone call, but—for one reason or another—preferred to get by going to our web site. Through funding from the US Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program (1998-2001), we were able to conduct extensive community outreach and training on how to take advantage of the data and tools on NKLA for community improvement.

As part of our community-based outreach, we've done training in many community technology centers and community-based organizations throughout Los Angeles over the past three years, and this helped increase usage by community residents and activists. However, we still recognized that there was a need for a greater role for community residents in the project. It was suggested by community partners that we allow residents to be not only consumers of information, but also producers of information on NKLA. Besides governmental data, an important part of neighborhood knowledge is the everyday experience of community residents. In line with a "community building" strategy of community development, we began to look to residents to map out their knowledge of the neighborhoods in which they live. Following the "asset-based community development" approach, popularized by John Kretzmann and John McKnight from Northwestern University's ABCD Institute, we began to work with youth groups and students to map out community assets in the Boyle Heights and Vernon Central neighborhoods of Los Angeles. This asset mapping approach has become increasingly popular in community building projects, and NKLA's Inter Active Mapping Los Angeles (I AM LA) application went one step further by linking this process to the web. Participants enter property-level information into the NKLA data base though a simple web form, thus decentralizing the data collection process. These data points are then displayed on a dynamic map on NKLA, where users can view the community-created data on maps or lists with associated data.

During the summer of 2001, NKLA worked intensively with three different community groups on creating their own web-based mapping systems. With the help of VISTA interns, the NKLA team worked with Youth United for Community Change (YUCA) in the Crenshaw district, the Neighborhoods Fighting Back (NFB) group in South LA, and the Pacoima Beautiful Youth Environmentalists (PBYES) in the Pacoima neighborhood. Each of the groups gave dynamic public presentations of their work at the 2001 NKLA User Conference. The fact that each of these groups had their own approach and geographic focus necessitated a web application and training program that was both flexible and customizable.

As a youth organizing program dedicated to cultivating grassroots leadership, YUCA was looking to use the I AM LA project as means to raise awareness about social and environmental justice in their neighborhood. Since the YUCA youth had taken part in previous training on asset mapping, we focused mostly on asset collection, input and ways to publicize their findings. In a short six week period, the group was able to collect and input 27 assets with full descriptions and images in categories ranging from churches and schools to "kick-it" spots. YUCA drove the process by selecting their own categories and publishing their project in a magazine.

Community-based organizations seeks to show environmental, youth, and recreational assets in their neighborhood.

NFB's work remedying "nuisance" properties took the I AM LA application in new direction. Instead of mapping assets in their neighborhood, NFB leaders envisioned I AM LA as a way to monitor various liquor stores and motels that they had been organizing against since the civil unrest of 1992. In addition, NFB was composed almost entirely of seniors eager to utilize their little-used computer skills. Working closely with NKLA staff, NFB converted many of their paper records into a database on NKLA, and mapped nuisance sites throughout South Los Angeles. Included in their database was information on crime activities, dates of public hearings, and an automated tool for inputting additional comments on each nuisance. To date, NFB has presented their work to city agencies and plans to expand the database to capture all of their historical work.

In Pacoima, the process of community mapping was at least as important as the maps and data that were produced. PBYES was interested in cataloging the cultural and artistic assets in their neighborhood as a method of promoting positive local images. However, as a relatively new group, community mapping was used a means of leadership development for the youth. PBYES's asset maps are part of larger vision of using mapping as a tool for community empowerment by designating potential development sites and organizing for increased resources for youth in Pacoima.

The experience of using NKLA for community mapping has enhanced the community building process in several ways. First, it has served as a vehicle for training youth and seniors on how to utilize information technology and electronic media in their daily lives. For example, the youth in Pacoima used asset mapping to find previously unknown locations and individuals in their neighborhood. Second, I AM LA functions as an efficient data management tool that enables community groups to better document and archive community information. NFB adopted I AM LA as their own information system in order to better share and standardize their data collection. Third, web-enabled community mapping allows them to produce maps and data instantly, and share that information broadly. This means that groups can share their knowledge of their neighborhoods to a wide audience in a variety of formats. For example, YUCA plans to present their research findings to their city council member as a slideshow presentation to argue for increased youth resources. NFB has presented their online maps to local officials as documentary materials in public nuisance cases.Apart from its value to community groups, the community mapping process provides a vital service for other consumers of neighborhood information. I AM LA serves as a platform to organize and present the vastly untapped knowledge base of local residents and neighborhood groups. When this is integrated with other public datasets, it becomes a powerful snapshot that has the ability to aid substantially in building community and neighborhood knowledge.

The challenges we face are very real. So is our potential to solve them. We are at once on the brink of annihilation—and global fulfillment. Information and communications technologies are making it possible for our voices to reach each other, an essential part of the positive solution. And it is local access to information and communications technologies that can be the pathway to a livable future.

But the local access pathway is not a clear, well-traveled one yet. "Community" and "technology" are older than the words we use for them, as are "centers" and "networks." We are using these words in the context of a profound transformation. We search for and create new metaphors to talk about it, to guide us in our next steps on the path, on our quest for a new paradigm.

Science historian Thomas Kuhn pointed out that the mechanistic theory of life was what he called a paradigm, Greek for "pattern," a collectively held model of reality, a belief system or worldview that influences the way we perceive our universe, our institutions and ourselves. Kuhn showed that periods of revolutionary change involve the replacement of old scientific paradigms by new ones.

For millennia Europeans clung to the paradigm that the sun traveled around the Earth. Now we hold a larger paradigm within which we perceive "sunsets" but conceive a solar system nested in a galaxy nested in a cluster of galaxies and so on. Such shifts do not happen easily.

Can you imagine the whole picture, the pattern, existing at every level from individual to organizational to global including the ecosystem of which we are a part?

How do we collectively steer this abundant relation ship of relationships?

The Lap Circle, a trust-building exercise. When you sit down, you create a physical environment out of your physical self, your lap. And you sit on something you trust for support. If a group of people comes together in a circle of trust, the circle can support itself. It looks funny because it's a lot of laughs. (The Lap session pictured here was run in Reno last year with participants from the community technology, parks and recreation, disability fields, and elsewhere.)

The notion of LAP involves both a metaphor and a "macronym," meaning one acronym for many overlapping components of one whole. A community LAP is the safe, nurturing storytelling, teaching/learning, responsibility sharing circle of community made up of Local Access Places, Platforms, Programs, Partners, Participants. The Local Access Purpose is the fulfillment of needs and aspirations that enhances the chances for new generations. The Local Access Process is to run LAPs. At the primary level that means to circle up and share visions according to the Local Access Principles of Love And Peace, Learn At Play, Laughter And Passion, Language And Process, Looking At Possibilities, Leveraging All Participation, Linking Alternate Paradigms, Literacy Artistry Poetry, Legality Accountability Proactivity, Lens Aperture Perspective, and, particularly relevant here, Land And People.

The Local Access Promise is to nurture diverse, interwoven sustainable local communities globally by facilitating and modeling the emergence of computer-empowered, creativity-inspiring, consensus-building community communication centers and networks. These LAPs are emerging in community centers, parks, schools, libraries, housing projects, college and trade school campuses, training centers, and hospitals as well as in public/retail areas such as malls, bookstores, and workplaces. (This is being written from the Vital LAP. The Vital is Southern California's oldest organic farm.)

Community technology practitioners operate in these different organizational circles, connected and integrated with all kinds of media and technology, from broadcast to the Internet. One of the most exciting and essential areas where this is happening is the lapping of community technology and parks and recreation public space. As all the circles grow they overlap and the perception of a field emerges, aided immensely by efforts such as this journal. We need to keep growing the circle thus helping all the circles to grow...and lap with all the circles of community in the circle of life. LAP is an open invitation to an open heart, open mind, open source, open space, open game. No one owns it; everyone can use it; anyone can improve it. LAP.org shows more about LAPs and how they can be run in any and all communities.

Parks and Recreation departments are masters in creating successful partnerships to achieve mutual gain. Be it a partnership between a non-profit and education organization, a partnership between government and a corporation, leisure professionals know how to develop key win-win relationships. For many years, they have struggled to increase their services with fewer financial resources. Even faced with the challenges of "doing more with less," Parks and Recreation departments serve more children during after school hours than any other local agency. They are known as the places where people "cluster." They are safe, welcoming, and nurturing environments for people of all ages, cultures and abilities.

Parks and Recreation Department Centers are perfect sponsors for LAPs because they're open long hours and provide community resources that include day-care services, volunteers and volunteer infrastructure, and access to information and technology that might not be available and affordable elsewhere.

As Andrew Cohill, President of the Association for Community Networking, put it: "Just as recreation centers and parks create gathering places for community residents of all ages, community-wide networks create online gathering places, and the intersection of these two mediums (physical and virtual) creates great opportunities — for technology centers, for learning centers, for technology fairs, community networked offices, and other creative uses."

The National Recreation and Park Association is taking a lead in encouraging the development of public access to technology at Parks and Recreation sites. The NRPA represents over 24,000 citizens and professionals in 5,000 or more communities around the country. There is great opportunity for public Parks and Recreation to add value to existing services through technology based programs and for the public to enjoy the added benefit of connecting with their community in new ways. We are not surprised to see Parks and Recreation programs and staff emerging as leaders in creating the foundation for new and sustainable "local access places."

The following are some examples of Parks and Recreation based programs that represent successful models, as reported by those who staff and work at them.

Technology is creating a shift in the recreation programming paradigm with intergenerational applications of computer training through public recreation in Largo. The many requests about where senior citizens could learn to use computers led our staff to develop a partnership at the Community Center with the city's Recreation, Parks and Arts Department, the Pinellas County Technical Education Center (PTEC), and a private computer education company (that has since gone out of business.) The Community Center offered space and furniture, and scheduling, accounting and advertising services as well as youth members to serve as computer mentors for seniors. PTEC offered the loan and up-keep of 14 state-of-the-art computer systems and trained instructors. The computer education company supplied workbooks and a large collection of interactive, learn-on-your-own programs for various software applications.

The program objectives were designed to create increased mutual esteem for the generations involved through educational interaction; e-mail was actually the number one reason and stimulus motivating senior citizens to learn to use the computer.

Begun in January, 2000, the program became an immediate success because of a well done human interest story published in our regional newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times. In fact, the Largo Community Center was forced by demand to triple the number of course offerings which filled up for the next six months by the end of that January!

Currently, the Largo Community Center is developing a partnership with a local medical facility to create personal home computer applications for physical fitness, dietary, and other wellness management and monitoring issues for use with our patrons. As our elder population has become more confident in their use of new technologies they are helping to define for recreation practitioners those applications best suited to their needs and abilities. The Center is in the process of remodeling space in order to facilitate higher speed Internet connectivity and develop digital photography, voice and digitized music programs and an area for paper craft creations such as birthday cards, flyers, origami, and posters.

Through the use of technology, the relevance of our Community Center programming is being redefined to better suit the needs of today's public recreation patrons. — Michael Whelan

At the North Miami Beach Youth Center with Ella Tavares, Nathaniel Flores, Oscar Bilini, Clarissa Jiminian, Phillip Cheron, Eric Aljure, Tatyana Cheron.

The City of North Miami Beach, Florida, completed the renovation for youth center in July 1999 with infrastructure for a future computer lab. Monies became available through a grant six months later and, with the assistance of the city's Information Technology Department, 12 computers with web cameras, headphones, and a full array of software were purchased and installed.

The lab is open daily under supervision by a computer teacher. Children do homework, email friends and family, play games, take pictures, make holiday theme cards, and receive one on one instruction. They line up to use the lab and it is rare to see an empty seat. In fact, the children have time limits when others are waiting.

Classes for senior citizens held in the morning have proven to be a popular program, with email to their families being the number one priority interest. These are highly successful programs, especially for those in the area who do not have computers in their home. — Harriett Orr

When the Moorhead Recreation Center in North Aurora, Colorado, held an ice cream social in 1999, participants completed a "60 second survey" identifying what they would like to see in this low-income area of the city. One of the top five items for both youth and adults was "library services." It was the number one priority for youth.

Based on this assessment, a branch library learning center was created by renovating an old office and an adjacent closet through a Community Development Block grant. Jointly developed with Recreation and Library staff, the center was initially set up with three computers, providing access to the library online system and the Internet, and a small collection of books and tapes, some in Spanish. Patrons can check out books, request materials from other libraries and pick them up at Moorehead, and they can type resumes, search the web, and perform other computer activities. Last year the Colorado Library Association gave the Moorhead Library Learning Center an award for "best outreach to diverse populations." And thanks to a Gates Foundation grant, Moorhead was the recipient of four state of the art replacement computers loaded with educational software for children and adults.

In March of 2001, a small grant from Parks and Recreation for People was obtained to support a volunteer teen library team to staff the center and encourage its use, especially by youth. "LibTeens" (the name chosen by the group) take turns staffing the library learning center every afternoon, check material in and out and help users on the computers.

We have begun having preschool story and craft times at the Recreation Center for parents and toddlers, scheduled immediately after parents drop off older children at the school across the street. Recreation and Library staff work together to set up snacks, crafts, and conduct the story time sessions. Fifteen to twenty people attend them weekly. — Katherine Nelson

In the Computer Resource Centers (CRC) Program, we incorporate technology directly into recreational programming — mainly sports — building a strong recreation/education partnership. Our students write stories about their favorite players and conduct research on their favorite sports. Our curriculum introduces children to educational technology resources in a fun and approachable way.

We recently began posting our most successful lesson plans on the CRC electronic curricula section of www.nyc.gov/parks. Hotshot Animation is a storytelling and art project where children create a "digital flip book" by stringing images together in a PowerPoint slide show, an exemplary project because children learn a useful software application while doing a creative activity that they enjoy. In the Partners Project, children team up to represent their partners on posters, using a digital camera and design tools. Displaying students' work and photographs in the classroom is a great way to warm up the room and make newcomers feel welcome in the beginning of any class cycle. (It is also helpful to teachers who have to memorize lots of new names in the beginning of the school year.)

Both activities are popular because of their adaptability to various age groups. Anyone can contribute to a simple slide show, and variations can be developed as appropriate. I have used variations of the partners project with adults. In our desktop publishing classes, adults present images that they have edited next to descriptions of their individual editing processes. This reinforces their skills and makes them feel proud of their new abilities. It is also an easy way for adults to swap editing tricks and share new skills. — Ariel Behr

Red Mountain Multigenerational Center in Mesa, Arizona

Red Mountain Multigenerational Center in Mesa, Arizona

The Mesa Red Mountain Multigenerational Center, or "MG" as nicknamed by local youth, is a multi-use 65,000+ square foot Parks and Recreation facility that includes a gym, climbing wall, fitness center and walking track. Six classrooms are programmed for special interest classes and a large dividable hall is used for ongoing recreation programs as well as rentals and special events. Mesa Senior Services, Inc., operates programs from 8am to 5pm weekdays. The center also houses Sirrine Adult Day Health Care, a vital service for families with frail elderly.

Along with these programs and amenities an additional, distinctive partnership was developed to meet the ever-growing demand for community access to computer technology. Beginning in April 1999, City Parks and Recreation staff and representatives from Mesa Community College at Red Mountain (MCC) began discussing their educational and recreational technology objectives and programming needs and found they were very much in line with each other. MCC wanted to develop courses that would appeal to the community. The classes offered would be developed based on feedback from participants and public surveys. Since the partnership developed towards the end of construction of the center, an existing classroom was retrofitted and has 16 student workstations and an instructor station with projector and screen.

The partnership has been operating for nearly three years with all classes and activities, initially targeted for adults and seniors, filled to capacity. Courses cover introduction to the Internet, basics of common desktop programs, and workshops designed for first time computer users. There are 15 to 20 hours per week of free lab time that are open to the public.

During the summer of 2001 drop-in programs were implemented for kids. An unexpected intergenerational program developed from youth participant interest in digital photography and desktop publishing. Senior participants have been interviewed by youth and highlighted in the multigenerational center newsletter that will be further developed in 2002 along with planning for specialty camps and enhanced intergenerational drop-in programs. Most of the credit for the success of the Red Mountain Multigenerational Center computer lab goes to staff and administrators of Mesa Community College who have made a firm and positive commitment to developing community education and technology access opportunities. — Paul Widman

The University Park Computer Technology Center, located in the largest public housing project in Portland, is a partnership between Portland Parks and Recreation and the Intel Foundation. Our computer classes are available to everyone, regardless of age or skill level. Our curriculum and programs include everything from typing, Internet basics, and using educational games such as math in the real world to video/audio creation, photo design, Lego robotics, computer building, and web design.

We have a crew of youth who have been working on creating videos and music to add to them. We are venturing out with web cams and live broadcasting of events in the local neighborhood. We offer a variety of programs for elementary and middle school students, and a laptop program for youth who are heading off to college that requires them to keep up their grade point average and work with the community center on a regular basis.

At University Park we are thinking of new services to offer the community, including starting a business where youth can design and offer web hosting to local businesses. We are also looking for more volunteers and mentors so we can accommodate more people. Please visit www.universitypark.org to keep updated on the projects and programs we are offering. — Farnell Newton

"Bridging the Technology Gap: Action Ideas for Cities & States" is the newest addition to our Young Americans & the Digital Future Campaign, a sustained effort to promote city and state policies that increase young Americans' access to the benefits of the Internet and other information technologies. This multi-year education effort is carried out in conjunction with our partners: Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Urban League, Center for Policy Alternatives, and Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.<

This new action guide is based on seven months of research on activities underway across the country to address the technology gap, from May to November 2001. Based on dozens of interviews with informants in the public and private sectors, along with a review of available analyses and other web resources, we:

· Summarize cities' and states' progress in addressing the technology gap;

· Analyze a number of city and state efforts now underway; and

· Suggest practical action steps that can be taken, now, at the state or local level.

The examples we feature and recommendations we make are specifically designed to be realistic and achievable in these tight fiscal times.

An Overview of What We Found

1. Many city and state leaders are beginning to understand that there is a technology gap affecting low-income communities and are ready to take a leadership role.
2. A wide variety of goals are prompting city and state leaders to promote Digital Divide initiatives, including: workforce development, e-government, e-commerce, building city or state infrastructures, reducing crime or gang activity, transitioning from welfare to work, increasing school achievement, youth development, and civic participation.
3. Similarly, a wide variety of program and funding approaches are being used. The guide reviews in some depth the Digital Divide initiatives in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Washington as well as municipal efforts in Atlanta, Durham, and Seattle.
4. Much of the activity now underway focuses on technology policy and practice in schools, often leaving out the all-important developments affecting technology access and use in local communities.
5. While there are some very promising examples of state and community leaders who are beginning to develop policy responses, relatively little systematic information exists across cities and states about what is being done and what works.
6. Leaders who are active on the issue report feeling isolated, a situation which is particularly worrisome to them because most lack expertise in this uncharted and highly technical area.

Recommendations for Action

The enterprise and creativity exercised by leaders in a host of places suggests a number of practical steps that other cities and states can take to begin to bridge the technology gap.

These ideas take into account the budgetary shortfalls cities and states now face due to the slowing of the economy, terrorism risks, and energy shortages.

1. Tap into existing funding streams that may not be specifically earmarked for technology initiatives. For example, the federal Workforce Investment Act, which directs approximately $3.3 billion to states to prepare youth, adults, and other displaced workers for jobs, is being used in California to support community-based technology centers to train at-risk youth in multimedia job skills.
2. Redeploy personnel previously used for other purposes, located where they can help address the Digital Divide. Washington State uses its land grant university to organize a program deploying resources from its 4-H youth development program toward its Digital Divide efforts.
3. Harness existing facilities (and related staff) that cities and counties can deploy toward technology. The city of Durham, NC, uses existing parks and recreation centers to teach computer skills.
4. Tie activities into city or state initiatives to strengthen and build city and state infrastructures. In California, for example, Governor Davis' Infrastructure Commission on Building for the 21^st Century is developing recommendations for a host of infrastructure systems including water, facilities, and technology.
5. Develop incentives to build high-speed, broadband access in rural and underserved areas through state tax policies. Montana has demonstrated the effectiveness of tax credits for telecommunications providers to build broadband in underserved communities.
6. Influence cable franchise terms between local cable companies and city councils. Atlanta has succeeded in obtaining funds and other kinds of resources to expand access points where residents can use community technology and to support needed training and support.
7. Partner with companies or foundations. North Carolina received in-kind resources like computers or software that are costly to buy.
8. Use legal settlements and targeted tax assessments to generate substantial resources. Texas receives money to build infrastructure by an assessment on telecommunications companies. Illinois recently established a $30 million Digital Divide initiative, funded partly through a settlement with telecommunications companies. Similarly, Ohio, through a series of settlements with Ameritech, has received over $3 million to establish community technology centers in low-income neighborhoods.
9. Urge state public utility commissions to expand telecommunications access in underserved communities. A handful of states have begun to redefine universal service (and the subsidies for it) to extend beyond telephone service.

Examples in "Action Ideas for Cities and States" are organized into different categories to help you find information most relevant to your interests. Whether you want "Examples that Start Small," "Examples that Focus on Rural Needs," or "Cities and States that Involved Community Organizations," you will find leads and practical ideas. We hope this new resource helps spur positive actions to address the Digital Divide in many local communities and states in 2002--and beyond.

The Children’s Partnership is launching a new web site geared toward community technology center staff that focuses on helping build content for and by local under-served communities in early 2002 — Contentbank.org.

When The Children’s Partnership released its study “Online Content for Low-Income and Under-served Communities: The Digital Divide’s New Frontier” in March 2000, it found that of 1000 relevant web sites surveyed:

• 6% or less of online content was the local information users want and need,
• 1% of online content was developed for adults with limited literacy,
• 1% of online content was created in a culturally relevant manner, and
• 2% of sites made information available in a variety of languages.

The research also found that these types of information were precisely what low-income and other underserved users were often looking for to meet their daily needs.  Moreover, community-users were more likely to be using the Internet to increase opportunities for themselves and their families: to find jobs, educational/training opportunities, housing and services.

The release of the research spurred a rich response from communities all around the country, and internationally, amplifying the findings of the report.  In addition, many people sent ideas, requests and examples of community content. 

Based on this outpouring and extensive research, The Children’s Partnership is creating “The Community Contentbank” to assist local communities find, use, build and share content within their underserved communities.  In addition, The Children’s Partnership is working with advisors and community technology centers to make sure Contentbank directly meets the needs of community tech staff.

Contentbank provides three major elements:

• Knowledge (e.g., ready-to-use curriculum, in-depth analysis of groundbreaking initiatives);
• Information (e.g., web resources in general categories, such as health, education and housing);
• Technology resources (e.g., web design, portals, e-learning)

Contentbank.org is envisioned as a “community space” that will provide an ongoing process for users to develop materials for themselves, alongside experts who help quantify and analyze what users need and want.  The results will be shared on Contentbank.org with the broader community of those interested in local content and with policymakers, funders, the media and  the Internet industry.

What to Expect from Contentbank

  The following features are incorporated into the web site: 

• A translation utility to make the site accessible in Spanish;
• A Read-A-Loud utility that reads material out loud to provide assistance for those learning English (ESL users);
• A compilation of program profiles which created interactive manuals to develop community technology programs;
• A collection of reliable web resources approved by a team of content area experts;
• A community section for ‘community learning and sharing’ with seasoned practitioners that will be archived and easy to search;
• An advocacy section to spur community and policy action on community technology issues.  This will be closely linked to The Children’s Partnership’s online advocacy program: Young Americans and the Digital Future.

The web site is one element in a broader national program about content for underserved children and families that will help achieve the following objectives of the program:

• To advance the development of quality content FOR AND BY low-income communities as a key strategy for overcoming social disparities and social divisions;
• To assist organizations, such as community technology access centers, get started with building their own local content for low-income families;
• To serve as a research tool to identify what low-income users need, what exists, and what should be done;
• To foster a link between the needs of low-income communities and the abilities of policymakers, the Internet industry, and other decision-makers, so they fashion their policies and products in a way that includes community interests.

What is Community Informatics?

Community Informatics (CI) is the application of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to enable community processes and the achievement of community objectives including overcoming “digital divides” both within and among communities.  But CI also goes beyond discussions of the “Digital Divide” to examine how and under what conditions ICT access can be made usable and useful to the range of excluded populations and communities and particularly to support local economic development, social justice, and political empowerment using the Internet.

CI is emerging as the framework for systematically approaching Information Systems from a “community” perspective and parallels Management Information Systems (MIS) in the development of strategies and techniques for managing community use and application of information systems.  As well, it is closely linked with the variety of Community Networking research and applications.

CI is based on the assumption that geographically-based communities (also known as “physical” or “geo-local” communities) have characteristics, requirements, and opportunities that require different strategies for ICT intervention and development from the widely accepted implied models of individual or in-home computer/Internet access and use. Because of cost factors, of course, much of the world is unlikely to have in-home Internet access in the near future.  Also, CI addresses the questions of those with a concern for ICT use in Developing Countries as well as among the poor, the marginalized, the elderly, or those living in remote locations in Developed Countries.

CI represents an area of interest both to ICT practitioners and academic researchers and to all those with an interest in community-based information technologies.  CI addresses the connections between the academic theory and research, and the policy and pragmatic issues arising from the tens of thousands of Community Networks, Community Technology Centres, Telecentres, Community Communications Centres, and Telecottages currently in place globally.

What characterizes a CI approach to public computing is a commitment to universality of technology-enabled opportunity including to the disadvantaged; a recognition that the “lived physical community” is at the very center of individual and family well-being-economic, political, and cultural-and a belief that this can be enhanced through the j