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The "Information Superhighway", as discussed in the
July/August
1994 issue of Benchmarks,has off-ramps and on-ramps,
speed bumps, access roads, toll-roads, and feeder highways. It also has
"electronic greenbelts" community networks that can be found flourishing
alongside the I-way (as the Information Superhighway is coming to be
called).
(FOOTNOTE: Much of this material comes from a booklet put out by
the National Public Telecomputing
Network (NPTN). For more information about NPTN, send mail to infonptn.org or call
216-247-5800.)
The idea of community computing can be traced back to
1984 when Dr. Tom Grundner, then employeed by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in their Department of Family Medicine, set up a
computerized bulletin board system called St. Silicon's Hospital
and Dispensary with a single phone line. The bulletin board allowed
people to call in, using their home, school, or business computers
and leave medically-related questions which were answered by a board-certified
family physician within 24 hours. St. Silicon's was so successful
that it attracted the attention of AT&T, the Ohio Bell Telephone Company,
and University Hospitals of Clevelend, who supported the expansion
and development of the initial concept.
Based on this support, Dr. Grudner began work on a full-scale
community computer system. The initial system was designed
to serve as a community resource, offering information on law, medicine,
education, arts, sciences and government, and also electronic mail
services for the people of northeast Ohio. The system was up and running,
and on July 16, 1986 it was dubbed the Cleveland Free-Net-the first of its kind.
From the very beginning, according to the NPTN booklet,
one of the central tenets of the project was that, if it was
successful, we would attempt to give the software and our methodology
the widest possible dissemination. With that goal in mind, in September
1989, the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) was formed.
The following text comes directly from Chapter One of
the NPTN Booklet.
Free, open access, community computer systems represent,
in effect, a new application in computing. They work like this.
A multi-user computer is established at a central location
in a given area and the machine is connected to the telephone system
through a series of devices called modems. Running on the machine
is a computer program that provides its users with everything from
electronic mail services to information about health care, education,
technology, government, recreation, or just about anything else the
host operators would like to place on the machine.
Anyone in the community with access to a home, office,
or school computer and a modem can contact the system 24 hours a day.
They simply dial a central phone number, make connection, and a series
of menus appear on the screen which allows them to select the information
or communication services they would like. All of it is free and all
of it can easily be accomplished by a first-time user.
The key to the economics of operating a community computer
system is the fact that the system is literally run by the community
itself. Almost everything that appears on one of these machines is
there because there are individuals or organizations in the community
who are prepared to contribute their time, effort, and expertise to
place it there and operate it over time. This, of course, is in contrast
to the commercial services which have very high personnel and information-acquisition
costs and must pass those costs on to the consumer.
Couple this volunteerism with the rapidly dropping costs
of computing power and the use of inexpensive transmission technology,
and public access computing becomes an economically-viable entity.
Who, exactly, benefits from community computing? To cite
just a few examples:
* The Citizens: First and foremost, these community
computer systems open up information services to very large populations
that would otherwise not be able to afford it. The cost of utilizing
a Free-Net community computer consists of the cost of having standard
telephone service in the home or business, plus the price of the equipment
needed to get on-line. Minimum equipment is now well under $250 virtually
anywhere, and that is assuming the person purchases new. If a person
wishes to attend a few garage sales, flea markets, or computer fairs,
it could be considerably less. With the addition of public access
terminals in a city, anyone would be able to utilize one of these
systems.
* Public and Private Schools: Via community computers,
school systems finally have a cost-effective way to teach telecomputing
to their students, thereby sending a new generation of information-literate
citizens into the work force. In addition, these systems allow students,
teachers, parents, and administrators to communicate with each other
and have access to information bases of interest and importance.
* Government: Community computers provide citizens
with an inexpensive and rapid way to make contact with their elected
representatives at the city, county, state, and national levels
contacts which include everything from obtaining information on governmental
services to providing access to taxpayer supported, governmentally-produced
databases. It should also be pointed out that these communications
are not one way. Elected representatives and other officials also
have the ability to electronically communicate with their constituents.
* Small- and Medium-sized Businesses: Most major
corporations have electronic mail and other computer-driven information
services at their disposal. Most small- and medium-sized businesses
do not. With a Free-Net system in place, these smaller enterprises
are finally able to afford to link their operations together via Free-Net
electronic mail services and have access to a variety of useful business
databasessomething that cannot help but improve the business
infrastructure of any city.
* The Agricultural Community: Among the segments
in our society that were the first to embrace computing were our farmers.
The reason was obvious. Farmers are business people too, but they
have the disadvantage of, in general, being dispersed over wide geographic
areas. A Free-Net system in a central location in a county allows
the agricultural community to access common information bases, share
solutions to farm related problems, access up-to-date crop and price
information, and make electronic connection with the County Agent
and each other all without ever leaving home.
* The Telecommunications and Videotex Industry:
For years the commercial videotex industry has been dividing, subdividing,
and sub-subdividing essentially the same up-scale demo-graphic
group: $60,000+ yearly household incomes, very well educated, overwhelmingly
white, and overwhelmingly male. If the industry is to survive and
flourish, however, it is going to have to find a way to penetrate
the middle class with its services. Free-Net community computers do
exactly that. On the Cleveland system, for example, we draw as many
users from the demographically blue collar areas of the city as we
do out of the wealthier sections. Demographic penetration such as
this, on a nationwide basis, is vital if the telecomputing and videotex
industry is to survive into the 21st century.
* Community Organizations and Institutions: Each
Free-Net is set up using an Electronic City motif. That
motif was not selected by accident. To one degree or another, virtually
every institution in society has an information dissemination function
of some kind a need to tell others about itself and share its
knowledge. The Free-Net makes it possible for any and all of them
to utilize a new medium to accomplish that goal. From artistic and
cultural organizations to medical institutions to hobbyists of all
kinds, all can find a place on a community computer.
As a result of our experience in working with and developing
these systems, we have learned several very important things.
First, it is clear that these community computers represent
the leading edge of what can only be described as a new telecommunications
medium. Telecomputing is not radio, not television, not print, but
has characteristics of all three plus additional characteristics all
its own. This fact alone will inevitably lead to developments and
uses that we cannot now even begin to imagine.
Second, it is clear that a critical mass of people now
exist who are prepared to utilize this new medium. As more and more
modem-equipped microcomputers penetrate the home and especially the
work environment, the utility of public-access computerized information
services goes up.
And third, there is a certain sense of inevitability to
the development of community computing. Simply stated, we find ourselves
unable to imagine a 21st century in which we do NOT have community
computer systems, just as this century had the free public library.
Moreover, we believe that the community computer, as a resource, will
have at least as much impact on the next century as the public library
has had on ours.
Most people do not realize that in the latter part of
the last century there was no such thing as the free public library,
at least not as we know it today. Eventually the literacy rate became
high enough (and the cost of books became cheap enough) that the public
library became feasible. People in cities and towns all across the
country banded together to make free public access to the printed
word a reality. The result was a legacy from which virtually every
person reading this document has, at one point or another, benefited.
In this century, we believe we have reached the point
where computer literacy has gotten high enough (and the
cost of equipment low enough) that a similar demand has formed for
free, public-access, computerized information systems. Indeed, we
believe we have reached a point where the question is no longer whether
it will happen; the question is who and when.
Who will do it and when will it happen?
The National Public Telecomputing Network exists to make
free public access to computerized communications and information
services a reality to hand down a legacy to our children's children
as great as the one handed to us.
Because of the pioneering efforts of Dr. Grunder andNPTN, the concept of community computing is frequently linked to them. This does not have to be the case. The City of Denton, the University of North Texas, and Texas Woman's University have embarked upon a project to create a Civic Information System. This is nota Free-Net, but shares many of the characteristics of one. More information about this
exciting project can be found in the article "The City of Denton, TWU and UNT" that appeared on page 15 of the July/August 1994 issue of Benchmarks and in the article "North Texas Free-Net."
Another community computing project not affiliated with NPTN is LINCT Learning and Information Network for Community Telecomputing. Click here to view that article.
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