The What For:
This lecture was presented to a small audience of individuals interested in community computing in Prince George's County, Maryland
Presentation - Sunday, May 6th, 2001
Best Western, Oxon Hill
By Bianca P. Floyd
I'd
like to start my lecture with a story about my entry into the online world
a long time ago - a time before Microsoft Windows, before the World-Wide
Web, and before such terms as e-commerce and global economy were household
words.
During the early 80s, the first personal computers that hit the consumer market were monochrome DOS systems that served basic word processing, database, spreadsheet, and other text-based applications. My first computer was a Commodore 128, which came with its own proprietary software.
It quickly became a very useful tool. It proved to be a more efficient way to compose. Tapping the keyboard felt better than banging on the typewriter. The software features offered more flexibility when editing text, and the process was fun. With the entry of the XT (a larger machine) into the consumer market, I was able to purchase my first DOS-based system, which came with only 10 megabytes of hard drive space, and very little RAM memory.
I was always very curious about how my computers operated. I started tinkering with it and began my now familiar process of screwing up my hard drive. Since there was no one around to help me fix it, I very quickly became comfortable with the DOS operating system, and the commands I had to know to undo the damage. And I took to heart something a former manager told me, "Bianca, unless you drop the thing on the floor, its pretty hard to really screw up your computer. There's always a way to fix it."
During that time, I also learned how to install modems, and purchased several 2400 baud modems for family members. I had them bring their PCs over to the house, installed them and set them up using an early DOS version of ProComm Plus software.
I
then met and joined forces with a co-worker on another job, a brother
named Michael Campbell, and along with his wife, Jessica, who started
teaching me how to use something called, FidoNet;
to do electronic bulletin boarding we started communicating with people
across the country, and soon around the world basically discussing how
to use all of the applications that were then required to interact. I
had to learn how to set up early electronic mail systems, to send and
receive mail packets, I got my own point on the ICUG node (a form of an
electronic address on the FidoNet system) and all of us began exchanging
e-mail on a Native American BBS called NativeNet, and also using another
BBS called PerMaNet; owned
by Mark Prado, a man we never met, but who generously shared with us time
on his BBS, and then later access to the Internet at no cost to us.
At the time, little did we know - we were simply a group of people tinkering with this new thing called FidoNet. Later, our focus turned to the Internet when it was generally perceived to be the domain of government, academics, and hobbyists. This was way before the term "geek" became a household word for today's young folks tooling around with computers. We all had a sense that the Internet would be the next big thing; but until the introduction of Mosaic; the first graphic interface to the Web, we had no idea that it would become the force that has so dramatically changed the way we live, work, and communicate today.
[Break in content]
I recently read another study issued by an organization called the Childrens Partnership, entitled, On-line Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans: The Digital Divides New Frontier, A Strategic Audit of Activities Opportunities.
The study underscores the needs of those Americans who face significant barriers to participating in and reaping the benefits of our new information-based society. In this regard, underserved Americans are identified as people who have low-incomes, or those living in rural communities, or those who have limited education, or are members of racial or ethnic minorities.
When it comes to new technology and the online world - what is most important to this segment of the population are the following:
1. Practical employment information, such as local job listings requiring entry-level skills
2. Local housing listings
3. Community information
4. Education-related resources, such as information on preparing for the GED
5. interactive on-line learning materials.
6. Information that can be clearly understood by limited-literacy users , as well as information in multiple languages, such as on-line translation tools , and content in native languages
7. The identification of cultural resources such as local historic sites
8. Links to resources on health-related issues
[Content break]
Key characteristics that define a positive information society are also noted:
· community-driven and meets real community needs
· overcomes major content barriers facing the underserved
· provide people to help
· offers online content that is easy to use
· is sustainable
Critical to meeting this challenge, the report recommends:
First, underserved communities need the infrastructure to support community networking - high-quality hardware and software and high-speed connections (which most of our communities don’t have) that can accommodate advanced applications.
Second, the Children's Partnership recommends that all interested parties - civic leaders, elected officials, and corporate leaders must work together to make sure that the real needs of communities are met.
The report outlines three strategies:
1. Find out what your community values. This means that community residents must decide what information it finds most useful, and how they want it organized.
2. Communities must work to build their own on-line resources.
3. Communities can enlist the help and support within their neighborhoods to build these on-line resources.
4. Once these resources are identified and organized, then those resources should be made available to community technology centers, after-school programs, adult literacy centers, libraries, schools, and related agencies.
5. The study also recommends that corporations take the lead in using existing multimedia tools to make content more useable for people with limited literacy skills.
6. Direct government resources (grants) toward groups that can develop content for underserved communities.
7. Offer incentives for content developed by and for underserved Americans.
8. Build community information portals.
9. Provide community-based information technology preparation and training in underserved communities.
I’d like to offer a small example of one man's effort to do this very thing. In the early 1990s, a co-worker shared with me his idea for a community-based resource center that incorporated technology training as just one of many needed services within a neighborhood. He described his idea as a way skilled professionals could volunteer and bring their knowledge back to the community to help improve the quality of life within.
With
no corporate, government, foundation or venture capital support, International
Computer User's Group, founded by Michael Campbell, took a small step
in the direction of a big idea. ICUG constructed a prototype of small
workstations cobbled together from used, discarded, and rebuilt computer
parts. Interested people began an individualized training program on old
still usable XT-computers learning basic basic DOS commands. While we
like to think that there is no need to learn or know antiquated MS-DOS
commands when the Windows operating system crashes and you're left with
a hard drive and a memory chip - it is those DOS commands that help you
to repair your system, or at least not to panic.
From that computer, the student would then move over to the next computer and learn the basic Windows-operating system, as well as basic office applications such as word processing, database, and spreadsheets. From the next station, the student would learn graphic applications, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. But the lessons didn't stop there. After successfully learning Windows-based personal computer applications, the student would then move on to the Apple-Macintosh platform, where the same process would be applied.
The computer-training program was part of his vision to offer community-based services to a population that may be least able to afford more expensive training offered by commercial programs.
[Content Break]
As a county, economically, professionally, educationally, and within our communities where do we sit in terms of the 21st century and the advances that new technology will/can bring to our jurisdictions, and what are we as a community doing to insure that we are competitive.
While the major players grapple with this issue aggressively and daily, and while the media report on the various impacts that the lack of technology savvy will have on us - I say there are things we can do within our own communities that can speed up tremendously the process of our participation in the 21st century global community. That now old saying "think global, act local" is still the phrase to remember.
It can be done, with less fuss, less money, and less resources because there are many places (both online and off) if used efficiently can help improve the quality of life for us all, and thereby the future prospects for our children.
Now, I'd like to bring all of that down to a purely local level.
Here in Prince Georges County, what are some ideas that one can do with a computer and the Internet:
1. Research your family using software such as Family Tree Maker & Web sites such as My Family.com
2. Plan a Family Reunion online.
3. If you don’t have a telephone, get a free e-mail address, an ICQ or Instant Messenger account to use for business or personal communications and use public access points such as libraries.
4. Conduct job hunts on-line the federal Office of Personnel Management now posts job openings on line at sites such as Washingtonpost.com .
5. Take advantage of the wealth of content available online. There is an infinite wealth of information at your fingertips.
6. Conduct health and quality of life research be it for basic home first aid, new treatments for serious physical conditions, or something my mother taught me to look up something as simple as information on prescribed medicine that you may take.
7. Enjoy yourself on line in a way that improves the quality of your life off-line. By this I don’t mean spending a lot of time on line instead of going outdoors, but rather take advantage of the information that is online to learn something about the things you want to do .
8. Whatever hobbies you have off-line, you can be sure there are hundreds of Web sites that offer information about your hobby, the chance to network with people with similar interest, and the opportunity to purchase crafts, equipment, or whatever items that make up a part of your entertainment or recreational interest.
9. Read some E-books, start your own business . Set up shop on the Web. Build a basic web site, and advertise electronically as well as off line. You don’t have to know HTML. You can download site kits, templates, graphics, or use the easy page wizards that are featured on many of the free Web space Web sites. If youre unsure use a search engine and search on these terms rate free web space.” And it will return a list of web pages that describe and rank the sites that offer free web space.
10. If you need a job and can’t afford to take classes, there are thousands of free web tutorials that you can take on-line without spending a dime on commercial classes. Take as many as you need till you feel secure that you know a particular application.
11. Education: Each and every county school should have a quality Web site that offers such things as: List of staff at that school, Operating hours, Location, Online Homework Hotline tells parents what the homework assignments are for each class that day so that parents, while they are at work, or when they come home will know for themselves, whats due the next day. Kids might not like it, but parents will.
12. A big concern of mine: Services for the Housebound, the Elderly, and the Physically Handicapped: People within the community need to be able to easily locate information that lets them know what services are available in their community that will assist them deal with issues such as physical and mental disabilities in their immediate community or what is within the county. Coupled with on-line corporate and federal information, enhanced local information would help residents who need to locate long-term, short-term or part-time care for the elderly or disabled. Imagine if a directory existed that identified professional services for the autistic, or those with special needs, and how to contact them.
13. How many local referral services do we have online presently. Because there is already a tremendous amount of information available from corporate and federal web sites, if you couple that with enhanced local information it would go along way to providing needed information for those within the community.
Having
said all that what does this mean to me individually. I have been fortunate.
I was introduced to the world of personal computers and on-line activity
very early in the game. I was an early adopter. Because of my own personal
experiences and the things I have learned, I believe that the best use
of new technology and the on-line world is not to spend one's life tied
to a computer (and my family will probably find this hard to believe)
but rather to use the computer and the on-line world to greatly enhance
the quality of your life, and the lives of others off line.
I look forward to following the example of those that have shared and taught me over the last twenty years, and to add my own expertise to community-based technology applications and assistance. I look forward to working with you.
Thank you for your patience and for listening.
Bianca P. Floyd,
Black Ink Archives & Networked Community Activities
bianca@blackinkarchives.com
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