RAIN Community Internet quickly worked through a sustainable Framework which represented a model of what a “community internet network” should be.
That first Framework for Community Internet was made of these parts:
•Services to Small Farms, (early Ag-Tourism efforts, Small Farm online marketing)
•Services to community non-profits and community government
•Distance learning services for public schools, charter schools and home schools
•Telemedicine services for rural and chronically underserved urban seniors, families, and youth.
•Services to community Small Business to build new e-commerce skills
•Community Technology Literacy Skills development
•Services to non-English language speaking community residents
RAIN hosted technology skills classes and provided online access at Farmers Markets using the Network’s Internet Bus. The Internet Bus was developed through USDA funding, designed to provide a mobile Computer learning lab with solar panels on the roof of the bus providing power and a satellite dish on the roof providing Internet connectivity.
This early “Community Internet Framework” provided the meta-data for the first GIS datasets we would build to help model how the Network would grow and evolve for the Community.
Along with the new Technology and “Framework” there co-existed, in the very early days of the Network, our core group of Volunteers who spent time every week working to help host community and neighborhood level Internet / Technology Literacy Skills classes.
Early adapters to the Internet seemed to have a desire to teach the community, to share their new knowledge and technology literacy skills. It was a really good, strong energy that helped drive the very first efforts at teaching folks in the community at large how to use email, ftp, newsgroups and listservs. I enjoyed that stage of the Net’s growth, when we all shared a need to let everyone know how to use these new technology tools and folks volunteered their time to teach others. It was a whole new Literacy beginning to evolve. This effort to make the new technology literacy available to anyone in the community reminded me of an early namesake, Professor John Tyndall who lived in England in the mid 1800’s and worked with Thomas Henry Huxley to teach miners and workers in London about Science. You can visit the Tyndall Center in England, or online, to learn more. Go to: http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/ to visit the Tyndall Centre.
RAIN Community Internet was working very much like a new type of Public Library at this point, providing free public access to the Internet, free public literacy classes and hosting a Community Technology Center that made books and computers available. The idea of "Community Technology Centers" became an active part of the new Internet build out.
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Sunday, August 26, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Building an Internet Bridge - Notes on Community Internet Projects
Friday, August 24, 2007
Building Community Internet Networks - Part 3
In the mid-1980’s RAIN Community Network was forming as a BBS system designed to link public library, city hall, community non-profits and small business and small farmers together.
Up until 1992 our main conversations with other Network developers were primarily about the issue of “user interface”. Early work with BBS systems and early Internet tools like Gopher did not provide what was needed. The “Network” or as it was to become the “Internet” was not the main point of discussion.
There was a need to resolve the human to network server interface and get a Framework established for putting education, health, local government and non-profit agency as well as business information online in the most accessible way.
When we decided to move from the University out into the Community there was suddenly a great deal of conversation and cause for meetings regarding the new issue “should the Internet bandwidth be given over to the public? Many in the Academic community felt the Network should be kept for research and academic use only”. We had argued that the Community at large had as much use for the bandwidth for health, education, business and local government as the University did. We were lucky. Then State Senator Jack O’Connell was very supportive of the early efforts to build this new technology into the Community. Ultimately, when we began the first of what would be 5 USDA Rural Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant projects that would take our Network model out to 150 rural communities, he and Congresswoman Capps continued to be a strong supporters of the Community Internet Network as a necessary part of the larger Technology growth.
The Internet is now very much Private Enterprise. Back then there was a feeling that it was a “Public Utility”, something created through Government funding that should remain a resource for the Public.
But back in 1989/90, we sat in the most remarkable meetings with professors, administrators and government representatives while the issue was discussed. In the end, we took RAIN Community Internet out into the community starting up a Hub at the Santa Barbara Unitarian Church where we made our first 100 2400kbps baud modems active in 1991. The Network kept that Community Technology Hub location until 1997 when we moved to State Street in Santa Barbara to open the regions first Technology Literacy Skills campus with a computer lab, teaching tools and a library of resources for the community to grow with. Public Access to the Internet was Free.
As the Internet becomes more and more an Internet Resource with management and control shared between many Countries, it is important to recall what some of the original goals and expectations were. Should management of the Network remain with the United States or should the United Nations be made responsible for management of this Global Resource or should the responsibility go to each Country on a revolving schedule?
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Building Community Internet Networks - Part 2
I've received email asking that I continue discussion of how we started one of the first Community Internet Networks in the U.S. “What were the first projects which got the RAIN Community Internet Network going?”
We had worked for nearly two years designing and building an early BBS based Community Information Network which we tested using servers at the University of California, Santa Barbara. For the first year we worked through the Education Departments server as a test project, designing the user interface and initial content. Second year we were on Engerhub, the Physics and Engineering server. It was there we settled on the first solid interface that let us design a Community level Network that anyone with a modem could log into for access local government, education and health information. It was different from the average local BBS in that it ran off a major server, made use of new interface options like Gopher and provided the first “Internet Bandwidth” available to the Community in Santa Barbara California. That first bandwidth was basically a 56k frame relay circuit from SurfNet, which was what the University used in those days.
We soon needed a more permanent home for the Network, so with the help of the Dean of the Physics Department we received a National Science Foundation Grant for our “Pacific Rim Business and Education Network”. We also received a grant from Sun Microsystems for our first Server. We were a Unix Network from the beginning.
As a result of that first NSF grant we brought together over 900 non-profit agencies and over the next few years put local County and City governments online, put the County School District onto the Internet and created the first regional business Network with over 2,000 local small businesses taking part. All of this soon evolved into an Internet System as we know it today. But not until ppp connections, html, graphics and a whole new generation of windows and mac operating systems became mainstream.
The Public Internet had begun and RAIN's National Public Broadcasting Network became one of the first in the U.S. to take the Internet out to the Community. Crew from the McNeil Lehr Hour spent 3 days with us to interview and learn about this new Internet back in 1994/95 which led to one of the early broadcasts on TV about this new “Internet Phenomena”.
In my next Web Log I'll review how the Network first moved off the University Campus to a local church, brought in frame relay to rival the University's bandwidth and setup 200 24k baud modems for the community and region to dial in with.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Building an Internet Bridge
A community-based multi-agency model
For the creation and exchange of information
The RAIN Network is the Regional Alliance for Information Networking. RAIN is one of the oldest non-profit Community Internet systems in the U.S., founded in 1991, and dedicated to developing Internet-based applications for information sharing that improve technology services to Rural Communities. RAIN Network has received awards for Projects involving Professional Technology Skills Training for Teachers, Physicians and Nurses, for Rural Distance Learning and Telemedicine, for GIS development as a Public Education and Health resource as well as for E-Commerce training programs and Agricultural Education and Ag-Tourism Economic Development programs.
RAIN was founded when a group of librarians in California foresaw the potential of the Internet as a public information access tool, and decided to work to bring the Internet out of the halls of academia and into the hands of the public. As a result, RAIN became one of the first pioneers of public Internet access in the world, and is one of the enduring early pioneers. RAIN is now working on developing Public Internet Broadcasting as a public education medium, and is incorporating new programs that include Community Wellness and Telemedicine, Rural Community distance education and GIS mapping for Emergency Services. RAIN’s Camp Internet online learning and professional development program has received a Smithsonian Institution Technology Innovation Award and provided online learning curriculum for over 25,000 4th-12th grade students.
I have been asked to comment on the original Goals and Mission for RAIN Network when the project first began as the Pacific Rim Business and Education Network, (which then became RAIN, the Regional Alliance for Information Networking). Here are some notes on one of our goals, as we began to bring the Internet out to the Community some 17 years ago, (1990/91). It had to do with “Building an Internet Bridge” out to the Community. That early Goal became a Hallmark of RAIN Community Internet.
One of the hallmarks of RAIN has been it’s emphasis on applications for technology that bring multi-agency consortiums together to develop and deliver Public Internet Broadcasting services of notable benefit to the public. RAIN’s ongoing efforts are to create a Bridge to the Community to help make valuable federal, state, university and local resources accessable, as well as to provide education resource for the public which develop Technology Literacy Skills that make it easy for regular, working class Americans, to understand and utilize these information resources effectively for Education, Community Wellness and Telemedicine, Economic Development, and Emergency Management.
In accomplishing this task, RAIN has sought to demonstrate the important role of a Public Technology Services NGO – non-governmental organization – which can serve as an interpretive bridge between government, scientific and academic resources and the public these resources are destined to serve.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Beginning Community Internet Networks in the U.S.
Notes on the beginning of Community Internet projects in the U.S.
We began the RAIN Community Internet project with the goal of expanding on what had been accomplished in many communities through the setup of “”Community BBS” systems.
In the old days, before the Internet became a public resource, the BBS systems represented a way to get Health, Education, local church and government information and special projects online and accessible by folks in the community with a computer and modem. I always recommend spending a bit of time learning about the BBS efforts of the 1980's that came just before the Internet.
In 1991 we began RAIN Network with the same goal as a Community BBS. Local government, health, school and life long learning resources that could be accessed by anyone in the community with a computer and modem. Our first line was a 56k frame relay line we leased from Cerf Net. It was the same bandwidth the University of California at Santa Barbara was using and so we chose that as the start point for the RAIN public Internet project. Ultimately it led to RAIN's National Public Internet and to our Telemedicine and Rural Development Networks.
Building Community Internet Networks - Part 3
In the mid-1980’s RAIN Community Network was forming as a BBS system designed to link public library, city hall, community non-profits and small business and small farmers together.
Up until 1992 our main conversations with other Network developers were primarily about the issue of “user interface”. Early work with BBS systems and early Internet tools like Gopher did not provide what was needed. The “Network” or as it was to become the “Internet” was not the main point of discussion.
There was a need to resolve the human to network server interface and get a Framework established for putting education, health, local government and non-profit agency as well as business information online in the most accessible way.
When we decided to move from the University out into the Community there was suddenly a great deal of conversation and cause for meetings regarding the new issue “should the Internet bandwidth be given over to the public? Many in the Academic community felt the Network should be kept for research and academic use only”. We had argued that the Community at large had as much use for the bandwidth for health, education, business and local government as the University did. We were lucky. Then State Senator Jack O’Connell was very supportive of the early efforts to build this new technology into the Community. Ultimately, when we began the first of what would be 5 USDA Rural Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant projects that would take our Network model out to 150 rural communities, he and Congresswoman Capps continued to be a strong supporters of the Community Internet Network as a necessary part of the larger Technology growth.
The Internet is now very much Private Enterprise. Back then there was a feeling that it was a “Public Utility”, something created through Government funding that should remain a resource for the Public.
But back in 1989/90, we sat in the most remarkable meetings with professors, administrators and government representatives while the issue was discussed. In the end, we took RAIN Community Internet out into the community starting up a Hub at the Santa Barbara Unitarian Church where we made our first 100 2400kbps baud modems active in 1991. The Network kept that Community Technology Hub location until 1997 when we moved to State Street in Santa Barbara to open the regions first Technology Literacy Skills campus with a computer lab, teaching tools and a library of resources for the community to grow with. Public Access to the Internet was Free.
As the Internet becomes more and more an Internet Resource with management and control shared between many Countries, it is important to recall what some of the original goals and expectations were. Should management of the Network remain with the United States or should the United Nations be made responsible for management of this Global Resource or should the responsibility go to each Country on a revolving schedule?
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Building Community Internet Networks - Part 2
I've received email asking that I continue discussion of how we started one of the first Community Internet Networks in the U.S. “What were the first projects which got the RAIN Community Internet Network going?”
We had worked for nearly two years designing and building an early BBS based Community Information Network which we tested using servers at the University of California, Santa Barbara. For the first year we worked through the Education Departments server as a test project, designing the user interface and initial content. Second year we were on Engerhub, the Physics and Engineering server. It was there we settled on the first solid interface that let us design a Community level Network that anyone with a modem could log into for access local government, education and health information. It was different from the average local BBS in that it ran off a major server, made use of new interface options like Gopher and provided the first “Internet Bandwidth” available to the Community in Santa Barbara California. That first bandwidth was basically a 56k frame relay circuit from SurfNet, which was what the University used in those days.
We soon needed a more permanent home for the Network, so with the help of the Dean of the Physics Department we received a National Science Foundation Grant for our “Pacific Rim Business and Education Network”. We also received a grant from Sun Microsystems for our first Server. We were a Unix Network from the beginning.
As a result of that first NSF grant we brought together over 900 non-profit agencies and over the next few years put local County and City governments online, put the County School District onto the Internet and created the first regional business Network with over 2,000 local small businesses taking part. All of this soon evolved into an Internet System as we know it today. But not until ppp connections, html, graphics and a whole new generation of windows and mac operating systems became mainstream.
The Public Internet had begun and RAIN's National Public Broadcasting Network became one of the first in the U.S. to take the Internet out to the Community. Crew from the McNeil Lehr Hour spent 3 days with us to interview and learn about this new Internet back in 1994/95 which led to one of the early broadcasts on TV about this new “Internet Phenomena”.
In my next Web Log I'll review how the Network first moved off the University Campus to a local church, brought in frame relay to rival the University's bandwidth and setup 200 24k baud modems for the community and region to dial in with.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Building an Internet Bridge
A community-based multi-agency model
For the creation and exchange of information
The RAIN Network is the Regional Alliance for Information Networking. RAIN is one of the oldest non-profit Community Internet systems in the U.S., founded in 1991, and dedicated to developing Internet-based applications for information sharing that improve technology services to Rural Communities. RAIN Network has received awards for Projects involving Professional Technology Skills Training for Teachers, Physicians and Nurses, for Rural Distance Learning and Telemedicine, for GIS development as a Public Education and Health resource as well as for E-Commerce training programs and Agricultural Education and Ag-Tourism Economic Development programs.
RAIN was founded when a group of librarians in California foresaw the potential of the Internet as a public information access tool, and decided to work to bring the Internet out of the halls of academia and into the hands of the public. As a result, RAIN became one of the first pioneers of public Internet access in the world, and is one of the enduring early pioneers. RAIN is now working on developing Public Internet Broadcasting as a public education medium, and is incorporating new programs that include Community Wellness and Telemedicine, Rural Community distance education and GIS mapping for Emergency Services. RAIN’s Camp Internet online learning and professional development program has received a Smithsonian Institution Technology Innovation Award and provided online learning curriculum for over 25,000 4th-12th grade students.
I have been asked to comment on the original Goals and Mission for RAIN Network when the project first began as the Pacific Rim Business and Education Network, (which then became RAIN, the Regional Alliance for Information Networking). Here are some notes on one of our goals, as we began to bring the Internet out to the Community some 17 years ago, (1990/91). It had to do with “Building an Internet Bridge” out to the Community. That early Goal became a Hallmark of RAIN Community Internet.
One of the hallmarks of RAIN has been it’s emphasis on applications for technology that bring multi-agency consortiums together to develop and deliver Public Internet Broadcasting services of notable benefit to the public. RAIN’s ongoing efforts are to create a Bridge to the Community to help make valuable federal, state, university and local resources accessable, as well as to provide education resource for the public which develop Technology Literacy Skills that make it easy for regular, working class Americans, to understand and utilize these information resources effectively for Education, Community Wellness and Telemedicine, Economic Development, and Emergency Management.
In accomplishing this task, RAIN has sought to demonstrate the important role of a Public Technology Services NGO – non-governmental organization – which can serve as an interpretive bridge between government, scientific and academic resources and the public these resources are destined to serve.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Beginning Community Internet Networks in the U.S.
Notes on the beginning of Community Internet projects in the U.S.
We began the RAIN Community Internet project with the goal of expanding on what had been accomplished in many communities through the setup of “”Community BBS” systems.
In the old days, before the Internet became a public resource, the BBS systems represented a way to get Health, Education, local church and government information and special projects online and accessible by folks in the community with a computer and modem. I always recommend spending a bit of time learning about the BBS efforts of the 1980's that came just before the Internet.
In 1991 we began RAIN Network with the same goal as a Community BBS. Local government, health, school and life long learning resources that could be accessed by anyone in the community with a computer and modem. Our first line was a 56k frame relay line we leased from Cerf Net. It was the same bandwidth the University of California at Santa Barbara was using and so we chose that as the start point for the RAIN public Internet project. Ultimately it led to RAIN's National Public Internet and to our Telemedicine and Rural Development Networks.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Social Responsibility and Gaming
Social Responsibility is one of the most important features of Community Internet Networks.
In the world of Gaming we are begining to see the issues of Social Responsibility and Cultural Integrity taken into consideration. A few years ago the idea of moving on beyond combat, conquest, weapons and other less than culturally valuable actions, was thought to be impossible. But:
The time has come to move on. The early models we created for the first generation of computer games were a mix of “edutainment” simulation games and more action oriented games. Around the time of the release of Duke Nukeum and Wolfenstein a big change took place and the major focus of the game development industry turned to first person shooters, action and war games such as we see today on both Console and PC games.
First Generation game designs involved a remarkable amount of combat and conquest, violence and weapons, all in a mix of medieval and space settings.
Folks are ready for games that involve complex interaction, social communication and problem solving. The hours which we put into game play can be hours spent learning about and solving new environmental and social problems, creating new models for Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Agriculture and more. We can teach and learn about new tools and techniques for creating peace just as easily as we can keep on doing what games are doing today, which is teaching how to fight, how to use weapons and how to engage in an endles variety of combat centered quests.
We need to see curriculum in public schools begin to address the ideas of Socially Responsibly and Culturally Sustainable Games and what all that means. Ask the average High School gamer what their opinion is about “Culturally Sustainable Gaming” and then you’ll understand it is time to build new curriculum, new areas of study for our young students.
Games represent a new form of Literacy. Stories are being told, new imaginary and not so imaginary worlds are being woven into intensely social games. Many of our old fairy tales and much of our understanding of religion and culture is being explored in new games. Gaming, like the book and the printing press, has brought forward a new level of communication and social involvement for an astonishingly broad range of people around the world by introducing this new, universal literacy.
Now it is time for our young Game Designers to begin the creation of a next generation of games with an entirely new, culturally and socially sustainable, purpose. It’s time to use our gaming technology to teach the skills of peace not war.
In the world of Gaming we are begining to see the issues of Social Responsibility and Cultural Integrity taken into consideration. A few years ago the idea of moving on beyond combat, conquest, weapons and other less than culturally valuable actions, was thought to be impossible. But:
The time has come to move on. The early models we created for the first generation of computer games were a mix of “edutainment” simulation games and more action oriented games. Around the time of the release of Duke Nukeum and Wolfenstein a big change took place and the major focus of the game development industry turned to first person shooters, action and war games such as we see today on both Console and PC games.
First Generation game designs involved a remarkable amount of combat and conquest, violence and weapons, all in a mix of medieval and space settings.
Folks are ready for games that involve complex interaction, social communication and problem solving. The hours which we put into game play can be hours spent learning about and solving new environmental and social problems, creating new models for Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Agriculture and more. We can teach and learn about new tools and techniques for creating peace just as easily as we can keep on doing what games are doing today, which is teaching how to fight, how to use weapons and how to engage in an endles variety of combat centered quests.
We need to see curriculum in public schools begin to address the ideas of Socially Responsibly and Culturally Sustainable Games and what all that means. Ask the average High School gamer what their opinion is about “Culturally Sustainable Gaming” and then you’ll understand it is time to build new curriculum, new areas of study for our young students.
Games represent a new form of Literacy. Stories are being told, new imaginary and not so imaginary worlds are being woven into intensely social games. Many of our old fairy tales and much of our understanding of religion and culture is being explored in new games. Gaming, like the book and the printing press, has brought forward a new level of communication and social involvement for an astonishingly broad range of people around the world by introducing this new, universal literacy.
Now it is time for our young Game Designers to begin the creation of a next generation of games with an entirely new, culturally and socially sustainable, purpose. It’s time to use our gaming technology to teach the skills of peace not war.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
What is the role of a Community Internet Network during an Emergency?
What is the role of a Community Internet Network during an Emergency?
Community Internet Networks, like RAIN, improve the quality of live in the Communities they serve. They expand the scope of Internet access, encourage seniors, youth and families to learn new technology literacy skills and make the most of the Internet as tool that works for them.
I have always felt this aspect of the Internet to be much like re-weaving the fabric of our community to include value of communication that made tradition American Communities so strong. Finding ways to get Neighborhood communication and Community government and small business out to everyone in the region using the Internet as a new way to link folks together. But Community Internet Networks also play an important role in regional Emergency Services.
A good example of the Internet being used as a tool for Community Information from the National level is the Community Emergency Preparedness Information Network, (CEPIN), located on the web at: http://www.cepintdi.org/.
On the State level California provides a good example of an Emergency Management web site at : http://www.oes.ca.gov/Operational/OESHome.nsf/1?OpenForm
An example of a well prepared County Emergency Management web site is the Santa Barbara County (SBC OES) located on the web at: http://www.sbcfire.com/oes/index.html
After the County comes the Community Network, serving as an NGO, providing an essential bridge between the Community, local, state and federal Government agencies. In Rural communities this can mean a great deal, where folks have learned to use the Community Network as an Information source. In many Communities churches and schools have become familiar with their Community Networks and will turn to those web sites for information.
Community Networks represent an important part of a comprehensive network of Emergency Services. We can rely on our local Community Internet Networks, like RAIN, to provide a bridge to County, State and Federal Information via the web as well as to serve as an additional point of outreach to many parts of the community which might not think to access Government web sites online.
Community Internet Networks, working with local emergency services agencies, can establish a safety net to assist in dealing with emergencies, working within a specific region, providing tools and resources for health education, incident reporting, community to clinic and patient to Doctor online communications. Add to this the ability of Community Internet Systems to develop effective Community Telemedicine GIS datasets and maps which can provide real-time information on available Doctors, vaccines, special care facilities, quarantine sites and other information as needed and you significanly expand the role the Internet can play.
One of the lessons learned in New Orleans was that we have to be prepared to handle emergency situations on a local level as much as possible. The better prepared we are locally the more State and Federal assistance will be able to get in and help. The closer to Neighborhood level the better.
As long as the electricity is on the Internet gives us a powerful tool for Telemedicine, and Community Emergency Information and Reporting.
We should be prioritizing our GIS data readiness, video delivery readiness and the organization of Community Information Volunteers who will keep news current through blogs on the Community Network’s web page.
And even when the electricity goes out, we know it will be back on before long and then we’re going to need all the Information we can get and the Internet, unlike any other Information Technology we have (such as TV, Newspapers and Radio) permits for ongoing User input on a multiple of levels, keeping the flow of information during an emergency going 2 ways all the time.
Go to http://www.rain.org to review the RAIN Community Network homepage. If you have any questions you can email me at rain@rain.org
Community Internet Networks, like RAIN, improve the quality of live in the Communities they serve. They expand the scope of Internet access, encourage seniors, youth and families to learn new technology literacy skills and make the most of the Internet as tool that works for them.
I have always felt this aspect of the Internet to be much like re-weaving the fabric of our community to include value of communication that made tradition American Communities so strong. Finding ways to get Neighborhood communication and Community government and small business out to everyone in the region using the Internet as a new way to link folks together. But Community Internet Networks also play an important role in regional Emergency Services.
A good example of the Internet being used as a tool for Community Information from the National level is the Community Emergency Preparedness Information Network, (CEPIN), located on the web at: http://www.cepintdi.org/.
On the State level California provides a good example of an Emergency Management web site at : http://www.oes.ca.gov/Operational/OESHome.nsf/1?OpenForm
An example of a well prepared County Emergency Management web site is the Santa Barbara County (SBC OES) located on the web at: http://www.sbcfire.com/oes/index.html
After the County comes the Community Network, serving as an NGO, providing an essential bridge between the Community, local, state and federal Government agencies. In Rural communities this can mean a great deal, where folks have learned to use the Community Network as an Information source. In many Communities churches and schools have become familiar with their Community Networks and will turn to those web sites for information.
Community Networks represent an important part of a comprehensive network of Emergency Services. We can rely on our local Community Internet Networks, like RAIN, to provide a bridge to County, State and Federal Information via the web as well as to serve as an additional point of outreach to many parts of the community which might not think to access Government web sites online.
Community Internet Networks, working with local emergency services agencies, can establish a safety net to assist in dealing with emergencies, working within a specific region, providing tools and resources for health education, incident reporting, community to clinic and patient to Doctor online communications. Add to this the ability of Community Internet Systems to develop effective Community Telemedicine GIS datasets and maps which can provide real-time information on available Doctors, vaccines, special care facilities, quarantine sites and other information as needed and you significanly expand the role the Internet can play.
One of the lessons learned in New Orleans was that we have to be prepared to handle emergency situations on a local level as much as possible. The better prepared we are locally the more State and Federal assistance will be able to get in and help. The closer to Neighborhood level the better.
As long as the electricity is on the Internet gives us a powerful tool for Telemedicine, and Community Emergency Information and Reporting.
We should be prioritizing our GIS data readiness, video delivery readiness and the organization of Community Information Volunteers who will keep news current through blogs on the Community Network’s web page.
And even when the electricity goes out, we know it will be back on before long and then we’re going to need all the Information we can get and the Internet, unlike any other Information Technology we have (such as TV, Newspapers and Radio) permits for ongoing User input on a multiple of levels, keeping the flow of information during an emergency going 2 ways all the time.
Go to http://www.rain.org to review the RAIN Community Network homepage. If you have any questions you can email me at rain@rain.org
Monday, August 6, 2007
Notes on Community Emergency Management - Zaca Fire
The Zaca Fire Emergency in Santa Barbara County, California, has given a good example of how the Internet can serve as an important, if not essential, local information and emergency management tool.
Over the past month, as the fire has continued to burn and expand, one of the most reliable sources of information on the fire has been through the Internet with agencies like RAIN's Rural Community Network helping ensure public access to essential information.
Internet news updates and video reports from all 3 of the local TV station's web sites are available by quickly linking to their web sites. State Fire Information web were always online and available. And the Santa Maria Times web site has provided accurate and regular updates.
Regional Internet systems like RAIN make a new, effective approach to Emergency Management a real possibility. As we begin to see County, City and State Agencies work with local Networks like RAIN the scope and accessibility of Emergency Information will expand significantly. For folks who may have to stay in evacuation sites, if the palnning is in place there should be the possibility of library and school lab computers to help ensure folks could be in touch with family during evacuation.
Check these web sites for Information during the Zaca Fire:
Santa Barbara County:
http://www.countyofsb.org/index.asp
Santa Barbara County Fire Department:
http://www.sbcfire.com/
Local Media:
http://www.keyt.com/
http://www.ksby.com/
http://www.kcoy.com/
http://www.santamariatimes.com/
Over the past month, as the fire has continued to burn and expand, one of the most reliable sources of information on the fire has been through the Internet with agencies like RAIN's Rural Community Network helping ensure public access to essential information.
Internet news updates and video reports from all 3 of the local TV station's web sites are available by quickly linking to their web sites. State Fire Information web were always online and available. And the Santa Maria Times web site has provided accurate and regular updates.
Regional Internet systems like RAIN make a new, effective approach to Emergency Management a real possibility. As we begin to see County, City and State Agencies work with local Networks like RAIN the scope and accessibility of Emergency Information will expand significantly. For folks who may have to stay in evacuation sites, if the palnning is in place there should be the possibility of library and school lab computers to help ensure folks could be in touch with family during evacuation.
Check these web sites for Information during the Zaca Fire:
Santa Barbara County:
http://www.countyofsb.org/index.asp
Santa Barbara County Fire Department:
http://www.sbcfire.com/
Local Media:
http://www.keyt.com/
http://www.ksby.com/
http://www.kcoy.com/
http://www.santamariatimes.com/
Friday, August 3, 2007
Rural Area Broadband and DSL Access
One of my most important tasks over the past 10 years has been coordinating rural community Internet access. Over the years we've had to development Community Technology Literacy Skills curriculum and GIS tools that rural area residents can actually work with.
What is the reality of bandwidth in your rural areas? Is DSL available throughout your entire region? I have found that most of the rural communities I work with, including the one where I live, still have no DSL or broadband available. For a price we can use satallite access but why, with all the technology in America, do we still have rural communities using dial up to get to education, telemedicine and community emergency management information?
If you have experience with rural bandwith and rural Internet access let us know what you have learned.
What is the reality of bandwidth in your rural areas? Is DSL available throughout your entire region? I have found that most of the rural communities I work with, including the one where I live, still have no DSL or broadband available. For a price we can use satallite access but why, with all the technology in America, do we still have rural communities using dial up to get to education, telemedicine and community emergency management information?
If you have experience with rural bandwith and rural Internet access let us know what you have learned.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
RAIN Community Technology News
We are here to discuss Technology and Internet as a resource for People, as a Democratizing, Empowering tool that works to improve the quality of life for Seniors, Children and Families in many Rural and Urban Communities. The ability to access Health Information, Voter Information and Job Information really makes a difference.
This month I am working on a Telemedicine Web site for young adults. It will end up being a web site they can access from home, from the library, from school, from an Internet Cafe or from work and it provides information on how to get help and resources that can really make a difference in the life of a young person.
I've been working with Community Internet projects since the beginning. In 1991 I worked with the University of California to gain a National Science Foundation grant to get the whole thing started. We wanted to see the resources of a Community BBS and the new technology of Internet and Gopher put to work for our public schools, libraries and as a tool to increase Community Involvement in local issues of importance.
I've help build Rural Community Networks for 150 very rural, small towns in the Southwest and California. That has given us many lessons in best ways to facilitate Technology as a Tool for local people, a tool for kids and parents and seniors.
If you have an interest in Community or Rural Technology this is the place to share your ideas.
Welcome.
This month I am working on a Telemedicine Web site for young adults. It will end up being a web site they can access from home, from the library, from school, from an Internet Cafe or from work and it provides information on how to get help and resources that can really make a difference in the life of a young person.
I've been working with Community Internet projects since the beginning. In 1991 I worked with the University of California to gain a National Science Foundation grant to get the whole thing started. We wanted to see the resources of a Community BBS and the new technology of Internet and Gopher put to work for our public schools, libraries and as a tool to increase Community Involvement in local issues of importance.
I've help build Rural Community Networks for 150 very rural, small towns in the Southwest and California. That has given us many lessons in best ways to facilitate Technology as a Tool for local people, a tool for kids and parents and seniors.
If you have an interest in Community or Rural Technology this is the place to share your ideas.
Welcome.
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