by Angela Napili (or jump down another take on Chicago by Marc Miller)

Searching the web for information about the Chicago area can be a cinch. Yahoo! has a "Get Local" page devoted to the Chicago Metropolitan area. On a single page, users can check the weather, skim local headlines, search the phone book, and link to maps and message boards. Excite Local has a similar page. If one wants even more specific local information, or if one is looking for links to non-profit community information systems, these pages are a good place to start. From Yahoo!'s Get Local, one can click on "Community," then on "Guides." From Excite Local, one can click on "Community," and up comes a long list of "Community Networks."

One of the best sources of local information is the Chicago Tribune. When I called the Chicago Public Library Reference Desk, and asked which websites the librarians used to find local event information, the librarian pointed me to the Tribune's "Metromix," an Arts and Entertainment site which also draws on TicketMaster's events database, the Tribune's classified ads, and the Tribune's journalistic strengths, to present a rich and well-written local information source.

Another Tribune partner, Digital City Chicago, is an incredibly useful source of local information, providing public school test scores; health, economic, and demographic statistics by neighborhood; and even a log of fatal city fires. Many features one might expect in a non-profit Community Network -- reunion announcements in the suburbs, local message boards, volunteer opportunities, and a senior women's bridge club listing in the Mt. Prospect events calendar -- can be found on Digital City Chicago. If I were looking for local information, the Tribune's commercial resources would be outstanding.

A leader in the non-profit sector, NorthStarNet describes itself as an information network serving 94 communities in the greater Chicago area. It has the information-gathering power of 48 local libraries. Unfortunately, if I were searching the web for local information, I would probably not come across NorthStarNet. In Yahoo!, the site is catalogued under: Recreation: Travel: Browse By Region: U.S States: Illinois: Complete Listing; and Regional: U.S. States: Illinois: Computers and Internet: Searching the Web. If I weren't a tourist, and if I weren't interested in computer information, I probably would not come across the site. A search for "NorthStarNet" in Yahoo!'s Get Local: Metro Chicago also fails to find NorthStarNet's home page.

As for content, NorthStarNet seems to be a solid source, but the more-easily-found commercial sites seem just as good, if not better. For example, Digital City's Mt. Prospect calendar lists events this week from public libraries, businesses, clubs, and hospitals in or near town. For the same week, NorthStarNet's "Mt. Prospect Area Calendar" lists one event from a local church; the rest of the events are all sponsored by the Mt. Prospect Public Library.

If content is not NorthStarNet's big draw, then what is? NorthStarNet serves a very important need that the commercial sites don't: It provides low-cost internet training and free web hosting to local organizations, government agencies, associations, and small businesses. That is, NorthStarNet allows community groups to speak out on the internet, at a much lower cost than if commercial hosts were their only choice. NorthStarNet also requires those who publish on NSN to work through their public libraries, thus fostering a relationship between libraries and the communities they serve. Groups can draw on the information service skills, knowledge, and experience of librarians. The resulting sites can then be more useful than they might have been otherwise.

by Marc Miller

I started my journey innocently enough, by taking a blind stab at a web address; http://www.chicago.com/ I often find "brand name" URL's typically belong to significant players in whatever topic is being researched. In this case, I was wrong; the address was for an ex-patriot Chicagoan living in California. Fortunately, it turned out to be an excellent resource for links to significant Chicago web sites, commercial, government, and non-profit alike. Similarly, another individual listing of great Chicago digital resources can be found at http://trygstad.rice.iit.edu/chicago.html.

First on the hit parade was the Chicago Mosaic, the official web page of the City of Chicago. This is an extensive web site, with links to a wealth of community information, resources of all kinds, public, private, commercial, tourism, government and non-profit. The only word I can use to describe this, is "mega-site." Everything remotely Chicago seems linked from here. The site does a great job linking to other Chicago-based web resources. It is distinctly aware of other organizations and its best feature is as a "clearinghouse" for information. Wow. What's lacking? Critical thinking. It's all for public consumption. It is Chicago putting its best foot forward. No information on issues of concern to the community, no news, no list of bills before the city council. Still, considering the propensity for complaining about intractable problems that many activist-led sites display, it is refreshing to see a web site emphasize the positive. Bottom line, any web site with significant (and mostly positive) information about Chicago, will probably be linked from here SOMEWHERE. A strength of this site would be A) inclusion of diverse resources, B) public relations and C) building of community pride and spirit.

Speaking of community pride and spirit, an interesting web site was Touring Black Chicago. This site looks at the darker side of Chicago life, one experienced by many African Americans. "Tour Black Chicago provides an expedition through a town where the Black population has grown from 77 to 2 plus million, where some of the most profitable black-owned companies are headquartered, where so much energy is spent fighting nightmares that very little is left to follow dreams, where the 'Promised Land' has became the land of despair for too many." Hmmm. OK, there isn't much substance here, but it was a sobering reminder of another view of the city.

Similar in substance to the upbeat Chicago Mosaic, though much smaller, is the Chicago Center Stage web site. What to do around town, what's neat about Chicago, etc. Many links to things Chicago, but also, not much on the tougher issues of community life.

Digital City Chicago offers a refreshing change, with links to Chicago communities, including some articles that discuss challenges to neighborhoods. It balances this very nicely with positive news about communities successfully facing these challenges. For example, this article on "Lakeview, one of the finest examples of multicultural integration in Chicago." There is much to find about community resources, such as resources for children, elderly, schools, politics and so forth.

The NorthEast Chicago Community Network was an interesting site, perhaps one worth reviewing in the future. It serves "two of the most racially, ethnically and economically-mixed neighborhoods in Chicago." It is focused on particularly local needs.

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) maintains a Neighbors and Nonprofits Network. This is a network of UIC and over 50 Chicago-based community networks. This is more of an umbrella organization for community networks, with fairly significant partners, and some serious collaborative support. Again, a good candidate for future CNI review. This is a good place for finding CN resources in Chicago, not so great for other purposes.

Next up, the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. Typical stuff for a chamber of commerce: calendar of events, membership listings and links, contact information, benefits of membership. What's missing? "Why Chicago is a great place for business." Maybe they think that's obvious, or maybe they don't think it's important to market Chicago's business benefits. I've seen small communities with better resources than this one.

Chicago Public Library has a substantial web site, with lots of information on branches, services offered, on-line search catalog and searchable databases. There is a wealth of information on Chicago history (fun stuff; you can read the inaugural addresses of Mayor's going back 125 years). Alas, a search for Isaac Lawrence Milliken, 13th Mayor of Chicago turned up nothing. He wrote nothing apparently, and had little written about him. About par for a politician I guess. There are an impressive number of online databases available, but not having a library card, I couldn't get access to them. Its strength would be in its mission, not necessarily links to other Chicago resources.

All in all, these resources seemed incredibly rich; Chicagoans are lucky to have such rich resources available. While not all community members (the downtrodden for example) have much to cheer about, they aren't forgotten, as many community networks exist and let their voice be heard--if perhaps less glamorously and loudly.