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These pages were initially developed
with funding from the UK Government's IT
for All campaign, with
support from BT Labs. There are now more up to date resources
at our other site http://www.makingthenetwork.org
Contents
The
basics of Getting Connected
The
benefits of Getting Connected
- What
use it the Internet?
by Mark Walker offers a personal overview of
what the Internet can offer one community
organisation.
- The
benefits of getting
online.
Michael Mulquin offers an assessment of some
of the basic advantages of going
online.
- Family
fun and learning on the
Net.
Jane Mitra explains that using the Internet
can be very liberating for parents with small
children.
- Baby
boomers join the Information
Age.
Emma Aldridge explains how Age Concern is
helping older people use the Net.
- Opportunities
for work and learning.
Maggie Holgate says there is potential to use
the Internet as a delivery medium to teach
new skills which will make people more
employable in the 21st century.
- A
cry for help answered on the
Internet.
Mark Walker reports that the idea of offering
counselling over the Internet was first
piloted by the Samaritans at the end of 1994,
and has proved highly successful.
- Rural
life and learning benefits from the
Internet.
Rural communities can suffer from lack of
shops and entertainment, health and other
services, plus high costs of travel. Moira
Stone surveyed the field and found IT can
help on several fronts.
- The
community benefits of electronic
networking.
Researcher Peter Day identifies areas where
electronic networks may help support human
networks and combat social exclusion -
provided there is sufficient access and
support.
- Email
as a tool for
campaigning.
US activist and community networker Ed
Schwartz recently wrote a book on the use of
the Internet for campaigning. He believes the
most basic Internet tools are the most
useful.
- Funding
advice on the Web.
FunderFinder, a small national charity, has
produced software for grant-makers since
1991. Jo Habib describes what they considered
in going on the Web.
- The
benefits of Email for community
business.
Kay Caldwell of the National Network of
Community Business explains how the benefits
of the Internet became apparent to community
businesses which - like their for profit
equivalents - need to communicate locally and
globally.
- Teletrade
offers communities an economic safety
net.
Individuals can benefit from teleworking, but
successful communities will need teletrade -
doing business over networks - says Horace
Mitchell of the European Telework Development
Initiative.
- UK
plc can't afford a generation of information
have nots.
Two issues dominate discussion about the
Information Society: how to develop a
globally competitive workforce, and how to
ensure 'have nots' aren't excluded. We can
have both if we use IT for lifelong learning,
says Chris Yapp, Managing Consultant, ICL
Lifelong Learning.
- Cyberskills
open new opportunities in South
Bristol.
South Bristol Learning Network is one of the
pioneers in bringing the benefits of new
technology to communities lacking jobs and
opportunities to develop new skills. Sally
Abram reports on some of their
successes.
- New
networks may help tackle old
problems.
How can the Internet benefit ordinary people
and improve their quality of life? Stephen
Wilson, a former senior BT manager whose
career has embraced many aspects of customer
service, network and information systems
strategy offers a personal
perspective.
- Government
plans electronic information for
all.
David Wilcox reports that the Government aims
to promote the use of online information
services to the point where this is 'the
preferred option for the majority of
government's customers (both citizens and
businesses)'
- The
advantages of online
advice.
Gareth Morgan, Managing Director, Ferret
Information Systems, explains the benefits of
information systems using new
technologies.
The
issues you may face
- Is
the Internet a cause for
concern?
Delia Venables - an independent computer
consultant specialising in computers for
solicitors - examines some of the social,
legal and political issues that cause people
concern about the Internet.
- Turning
information overload into useful
knowledge.
Email and World Wide Web have great
attractions - but the sheer volume of
information can become intimidating. Jan
Wyllie offers some solutions.
- Children
and censorship.
Jane Mitra argues that parental
responsibility for use of the Internet cannot
be avoided as an issue in
families.
- Notes
to a novice.
Peter Durrant offers some hard-won experience
of getting started on the Net.
Promoting
awareness and access
- Seeing
IT is believing.
Sara Gowen describes how Community Links and
the Burley Lodge Centre ran a demonstration
about 'Making Computers work for the
Community', and the lessons they
learned.
- Using
Cybercafes as a community
resource.
Mark Walker reports that many Cybercafes have
moved beyond simply providing access to the
Net.
- Providing
parents with information about new
technology.
Jacquie Disney and Maggie Holgate explain how
the Parents Information Network is using the
Internet and providing advice to
parents.
- How
a community group developed their own
Internet guide.
The Bede Island Community Association (BICA)
is an umbrella organisation with 60 members
operating in the Leicester City Challenge
area. BICA wanted to show members and anyone
else interested how useful the Internet might
be, so volunteers Veronica Frazier and John
Cox carried out some research for a
demonstration.
- Overcoming
scepticism in
Nottingham.
It can take some effort to overcome suspicion
about new technology. Groups in Nottingham
are now taking a positive view, says Jem
Woolley.
Providing
training and support
- CyberSkills
- training for citizens in the digital
economy.
The CyberSkills Association, based in
Bristol, was founded in 1996 to support a
network of locally owned, licensed and
quality assured CyberSkills Development
Agencies, explains Johanna Nicholls
.
- Multi-media?
Make mine a quilt.
University computer experts planning to help
community groups in Bristol use multimedia
thought lack of ideas might be a problem.
Quite the reverse: projects now include
autobiographical quilts and telling the story
of a community through an interactive map,
reports Morris Williams .
- Who
can help with Community
Internet.
Peter Mason found there are some specialist
organisations who can help those interested
in the community use of IT along the road to
getting on-line.
Networking
your organisation
- Think
before you connect,
Voluntary organisations often approach a
technical expert for help with their computer
system. Paul Ticher - who worked as an
adviser on IT to non-profit organisations for
nearly fifteen years - suggests there are
other issues to consider first.
Networking
your community
- Just
do it - advice from a US
networker.
Steve Snow is the Director of the
award-winning Charlotte's Web. Here he writes
an open letter to UK networkers.
- Seven
steps to building electronic
communities.
There are hundreds of community networks in
North America, and growing interest in the UK
in how to create them. Here Philippa Gamse
and Terry Grunwald, who have long experience
of US community IT projects, provide a
checklist.
- Factors
for success in community
networking.
Debbie Ellen is researching factors for
success in creating and running community
networks - so she invited practitioners to
add their criteria through email discussions
in the UK and US. Here is a summary of their
brainstorming, later developed as
10
guidelines for community
networks
- Who's
who in providing community
information.
David Miller of the Department of Information
Studies, Sheffield University, developed the
first Web site listing UK community
information networks. Here he distinguishes
the different types of site under
development.
- Helping
media consumers become
contributors.
The University of Tampere, Finland, is
helping people in local communities use new
media to promote discussion and tackle social
issues. Esa Sirkkunen describes their
Locality in the Net project.
- Keeping
people in touch and up to
date.
Manchester Community Information Network
provides public access points with constantly
updated local information - including one in
the Asda Superstore. They do this, says
project manager Linda Doyle, by ensuring
information providers are responsible for
their content and answering public
enquiries.
- Newnet
and community networking in Newcastle upon
Tyne.
Geoff Walker explains how he is working
within the City Council to provide an
information resource and system for the
voluntary sector.
- Craigmillar
- a community development approach to
cyberspace,
Rousseau, in his CONFESSIONS, sardonically
mused that, "it is never any good foreseeing
the future," for he had, "never known how to
avoid it." Yet in a world of rapid
technological change it would be unwise to
sleepwalk blindly past the opportunities
presented by the Information Society. That
recognition informed the thinking behind the
creation of Craigmillar Community Information
Service in 1994, says its manager Dr Andrew
McDonald.
- How
volunteer enthusiasts created a town's
Community Network,
Community information networks do not have to
be started by councils or even voluntary
organisations. Chris Studman explains how one
Midlands network was started by grassroots
enthusiasts.
- Rural
Lincolnshire concentrates on
communication,
Most local authorities creating local
information systems choose Web publishing.
North Kesteven decided on a more interactive
approach as Clive Redshaw, their Head of
Economic and Community Development,
explains.
- Electronic
networking can help support the 'third
sector'. Sheffield's
Open Information Project doesn't claim to be
a community network, says Mike Powell. Its
aim is establish an electronic information
network which will be cheap, easy to use and
of direct benefit to the work of "third
sector" - voluntary and social economy -
organisations in Sheffield.
- Promoting
electronic democracy,
by Irving Rappaport, co-ordinator of UK
Citizens Online Democracy.
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