The Kellogg Community Networking Initiative at SI is funded by the Kellogg CRISTAL-ED project, with assistance from the Apple Library of Tomorrow program, and several other funders including USDE Title II-B Community Networking Fellowships. It consists both of general community networking research and development activities and the Kellogg Community Networking Initiative in Flint which serves as a Living Laboratory for the development of community networks using emerging information technologies.
This initiative includes:
The Kellogg/ALOT Community Networking Initiative in Flint (FLINT), one of the Living Laboratories associated with the Kellogg Community Networking Initiative at SI, seeks to:
At the end of the entire report are:
I. The Community Networking Project at SI (CNP-SI)
This activity, coordinated by Joan C. Durrance, the author of this report; it includes research and development as well as instructional components; a group of graduate students work with me on this project. Students are funded by the Digital Information Associates program and/or the US Department of Education Title II-B program. Primary work has been to maintain one of the most complete Community Networking resources (See Appendix) and engage in research and writing about community networks. Maintain highly respected Community Networking resources WWW page.
A. Outcomes of the Community Networking Project at SI (CNP-SI)
1. Community Networking Research, Scholarship, and Grant Activities
Sabbatical Research
This fall (1995), my sabbatical term, I collected data on developmental factors in community networking and began to develop a CN research agenda. In the course of this study visited several notable community networks, including: the Blacksburg Electronic Village (Blacksburg, Va.),; Boulder Community Network (Boulder, Co); Seattle Community Network; Seattle Public Library; and Seattle Public Access Network; the Tallahassee (Florida) Free-Net; and LaPlaza Telecommunity (Taos, New Mexico).
Paper on Public Libraries and Community Networks
Building on my knowledge of community information practices and emerging community networks, I co-authored with one of my graduate students an article on these factors as indicators of the ability the public library to be transformed into an institution which in the 21st Century will be able to meet the needs of communities. This article has been submitted to the proposed monograph to be developed by the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Harvard University on the transformation of the public library.
Community Networking Grant Proposal-USDE
During my sabbatical I developed and submitted (with other SI faculty) a $400,000 research and development Community Networking Research proposal to USDE-OERD which will 1) examine, on a national scale, public library involvement in community networking; 2) identify selected best practice sites and work with them in a strategic partnership designed to document their approaches, identify common problems, and develop and test solutions most responsive to needs; 3) document and distribute the resulting PL/CN model.
For other presentations, papers, dissemination efforts, see IV. Dissemination at the end of the report.
Community Networking Resources WWW Presence
A primary component of this aspect of the project is the WWW page -- Community Networking Resources. This resource began as vehicle for displaying the work of SI students in the Community Networking class. This resource proved to be so valuable to community networkers, researchers, and students around the world that it is now maintained as a major part of the U-M CN project.
During the fall 1995, RAs Karen Schneider, Emily Lenhart, Alison Atkins, and Jenny Stone completely revamped the Community Networking Resources WWW, and documented and researched and prepared profiles of six major Community Networks. Schneider has left the program. The other RAs continue to develop this important resources and maintain it on a weekly basis and respond to requests for information. The CN project regularly receives notes of praise for this resource.
This vehicle has functioned as an important Living Laboratory for Community Networking. It has provided students with knowledge of community networking, helped them gain skill in searching the WWW for CN resources, served as a vehicle for learning how to organize resources on the WWW, and equally important, the application of aesthetic and graphic knowledge to the support of resources on the WWW. In maintaining this resource on the WWW, students have learned: basic UNIX skills, html programming, how to create and manage image maps and various programs which support WWW development such as Photoshop. They have learned how to use shell scripts for editing, and they have learned how to transfer student created pages into more permanent locations on the WWW.
These CN fellows have learned how to work with community network volunteers. They have gained WWW marketing, copyright policies, and management skills through their work on the CN Page. They demonstrate this page to others.
The CN RAs are working with me to develop a study of public library involvement in community networking and thus are gaining survey research knowledge and skills. They gained knowledge of the foremost CNs by preparing detailed profiles of major CNs prior to my fall 1995 sabbatical.
Finally, they have been selected as the html programmers for the 1996 international community networking conference in Taos, New Mexico.
Additional Outcomes Associated With the Cristal-Ed CN Project at SI
All of the three CN projects (CNP, CN Coursework, and Flint) work synergistically although they involve separate activities and almost separate casts of characters. Each have different purposes. A major function of these multiple projects is their role as Living Laboratories which foster the development of Community Networks and permit student involvement in meaningful, relevant community projects. Additional context and discussions will be presented in parts II and III.
The multiple aspects of the project enrich each other and foster the development of other community networks.
II. Community Networking Class -- ILS 725: Community Networking (CN Coursework)
A. Outcomes
The Community Networking course is an important feature of the community networking project at SI. It permits students to work at the Community Networking Living Laboratories in Flint, the Ann Arbor area, and in other parts of Michigan. In addition, students at SI have the opportunity to pursue directed field experiences (internships) in area community networks.
During the 1995 CN class, students first learned the territory by focusing on community networks and engaging in relevant project-based learning activities. Leaders in CNs spoke to the class both through the use of information technologies and in-person panel discussions.
Students prepared html guides which add value to community information such as the following: community economic development information, community health information, child abuse prevention, employment and training resources, and reasons for the Internet in K-12 schools, etc. They become part of another facet of the Community Networking Initiative -- the Community Networking Resources Page.
In an application of the Living Laboratory approach, students in the CN class assisted in the development of two specific community networks -- the Kellogg/Apple Library of Tomorrow Community Networking Initiative in Flint and the Huron Valley Community Network in the Ann Arbor area. I asked the CN in each community to identify the agencies that the students would work with. Students were required to do a needs assessment for the agency and work with them and the community network to develop a WWW presence. Four teams of students worked with four community agencies in Flint; and four worked with the Huron Valley Community Network to work with five agencies.
The purpose was to involve students in the beginning stages of creating content for a community network. Agencies were delighted that the two community networks had chosen them; 20 representatives from the nine community agencies came to the unveiling of the agency home pages at SI on June 20, 1995. (All five of the Ann Arbor agencies and two of the Flint agencies were represented).
Follow-up to the 1995 class: On July 12, 1995 the CN planners met in Flint with 16 representatives from the four agencies students had worked with; The Genesse County Health Department sent four representatives, ready to take the activity over. Greater Flint Arts Council had already sent their URL to the state arts council and became the first arts council in the state with a WWW presence. The state council immediately sent an email to all arts councils to use this one as a model. They agreed to maintain their own page as soon as they get a server (planned for later in the year). Salem Housing, a housing non-profit, is completely new to the WWW and immediately asked to be trained. The Economic Development Council also brand new to this was very pleased to see the connections between their local projects and national resources. Representatives from the Greater Flint Forum, a group of community leaders, and the Mott Foundation also attended this meeting.
III. The Kellogg/ALOT Community Networking Initiative in Flint (Flint)
A. Outcomes
While I am the PI on the Flint CN Initiative, a research and development project which started in March 1995 and will continue for three years, this project is made possible through the collaborative efforts of a number of players including the director and assistant director of the Flint Public Library, Gloria Coles and Charlie Hansen, the director of the Mideastern Michigan Library Cooperative, Sara Behrman, UM-Flint CSR project manager, John Coleman, Sheryl C. Knox, the project cybrarian, Cherie Bowers, project intern, and the 50 librarians who have been trained as the result of this project. This project seeks to use powerful information technologies in community networking, build a CN culture, provide extensive Internet training opportunities for area librarians, develop a professional practice which effectively uses information technologies, and provide new ways for citizens to get and use information.
In this section outcomes are discussed under appropriate descriptive headings:
1. Infrastructure
The first year of the project involved getting the lab ready for training. The second year of the project involves moving toward making the Flint Public Library lab ready for the public.
Milestones include:
Buying/installing server
The hardware was bought by MMLC Internet Training Center grant. S. Knox is funded by the Kellogg project. We now have file space which can be used collaboratively by groups to develop web pages (just FPL staff at this time). Also running WebStar, a Macintosh Web server. Have installed and prototyped interactivity between WebStar and FileMaker Pro. Also supports other vital functions like data backups and software license management.
Securing the lab (In preparation for public use)
Physical security: locks on equipment, locks on doors, some re-cabling to move sensitive equipment behind locked doors, cable management.
Provision of software security (two approaches)
Hired a part-time lab tech, Jeffrey Ryan Morgan is working out extremely well. He is picking things up very quickly. Couldn't be happier with this choice. Frees up Knox for more CN related activities.
Additional milestones
Providing Support For Small Town And Rural Libraries:
Installation of PPP dial-up Internet access at 10 small town and rural libraries in Shiawassee and Lapeer counties (MMLC coop members) throughout November [this was part of the MMLC training effort to ensure the student's practice … SCK advised Sara on modem purchases, researched and downloaded software for a standard configuration, taught Sara and her assistant how to install it, and provided on-call technical support].
2. Training
We seek to build the skills of librarians so that they can be effective players. Training has been a major collaborative activity with funding from multiple sources. The need for training was the catalyst which started the project and formed the basis for the first project activities and outcomes. The initial activity - the Flint CSR Project -- (now completed) is described, briefly, below.
Flint Community Stabilization and Revitalization (CSR) Training Project
The CSR project was an ambitious and exciting beginning to the FLINT project (funded by a $32,250 from Flint-CSR) served as phase one of the Kellogg/ALOT Community Networking Initiative. The CSR project provided Internet and WWW training (net searching, content development, value-added documents) for 30 librarians in the Flint area using funds from HUD and the Mott Foundation. CSR was funded by the University of Michigan-Flint and administered by UM-SI. Phase I of this training project began in June of 1994 and ended January 1995.
The CSR project involved faculty (Joe Janes and myself), three doctoral students (Deb Torres, Leslie Riester and Lou Rosenfeld), several SI master's students (Kristen Garlock, Gary Kilburn, Sarah Maack, Emily Lenhart, Pat Misterovitch), and staff (Dory Leifer, Lee Liming, and Laurie Crum).
A year after the end of that original project, 50 librarians have been trained and the Kellogg-funded Community Networking/Internet Training Lab has been used by other librarians as a training site. The Kellogg project has funded the primary trainer -- Sheryl C. Knox. Other agencies funded other trainers and assisted in the development of training programs. In June 1995 a "graduation" ceremony was held for a select group of advanced graduates which unveiled WWW pages created by graduates as a result of html skills gained.
Sara Behrman, director of MMLC, reports that after the MMLC training this fall, the MMROC put together an LSCA proposal which would buy equipment for I-net access for member libraries. She said the eloquence with which the librarians spoke regarding the potential for using the Internet in their libraries was obviously influenced by their training success.
Training milestones
As of March 96: Trained 50 librarians in Internet skills (E-mail, World Wide Web, searching and communication tools)
CSR training (20 librarians IN 1994-95 through the CSR Project) • MMLC training (18 librarians in Shiawassee, Lapeer, northern Oakland counties; E-mail and WWW; no HTML)
In collaboration with FPL, the project advised and assisted FPL in the training of 12 volunteers who will serve as Internet trainers for members of the general public.
The Flint lab served as a model for two local library based Internet Training Centers. This indicates that this model can be replicated in other locations.
Development of training modules for non-profits
The project developed five modules of a World Wide Web training pilot program with non-profit agency personnel, from August to September 1995 (The agencies participating were Salem Housing Task Force, Community Capital Development Corporation [formerly Flint Community Development Corporation])
3. Changing the way librarians do business
Use of the Internet and WWW
FPL staff use the lab constantly to answer reference questions on a wide variety of topics. As this report is being prepared, there are lots of specialized tax forms. In fact, this has been very helpful for the community because the local IRS office this year stopped providing forms, placing a much higher demand on the libraries. Also, because of the government shutdown, many of the print forms and materials were late, and the Internet access filled the gap. There are other individual stories, but we have not collected them.
Adding Value to Information through the Creation of WWW Pages
WWW pages were created by most FPL librarians as part of their Phase II training (the chauffer's license -- the ability to add value through the net by creating homepages). FPL's distributed approach to the creation of its WWW presence is a monument to the training and goes a long way toward revolutionizing the way these professionals. The Flint Public Library WWW page, therefore is a collaborative effort. The creation of additional homepages by librarians is slower work because initial design takes considerable time (which is added to other responsibilities). At present Cynthia Stilley, Leslie Acevedo, and Becky Jennings are working on a kids' resource page.
One exciting recent development is related to the 1996 Julia Moore contest. SCK helped Tom Powers register and publicize it last in March. A few days later, Tom received a call from the editor of the online edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. It will be featured in an upcoming edition.
4. Building Capacity In the Community-Working With Non-Profit Organizations and Local Government Agencies -- Interagency Partnerships
We have chosen to work with non-profits to help them create local resources for the community and to create a CN culture. The first group of non-profits we teamed with U-M SI students who conducted needs assessments and developed WWW resources for them, including an agency homepage. For two of the agencies (Salem and CCDC [formerly FCDC]) we conducted five training sessions in August and September covering relevant WWW resources. In December 1995 the Flint project purchased a server enabling the project to work with these non-profits to learn to update and to "officially" move their pages to the Flint server.
Other technical assistance to non-profits and local government agencies: All four non-profits and government agencies which students in the SI 725 class worked with initially continue to be active in some way with community net activities.
Highlights of interactions with original inter-agency partnerships
Greater Flint Arts Council (GFAC) -- Gave Coles an award for helping them onto the Web. Greg Fiedler, director of GFAC, also informed SCK in the late fall that he wanted to house the page on our server (as opposed to the state-wide Artswire server) and has the permission of his board to do so. We weren't ready at the time and he is now looking for a home. SCK encouraged them to come to the Invitational Summit meeting in April.
Genesse County Health Department (GCHD) -- Couple of their staff came over to the lab last fall to informally show others their page and other public health resources. SCK and JCD talked with department head Bobby Pestronk at the Invitational; the GCHD is pleased with the pages and is contracting with another UM student to update them. Future of their own server in question because of of dept. reorganization at state level. Attended the invitational meeting in February.
Community Capital Development Corporation (CCDC) -- Name change. Formerly Flint Community Dev. Corp.. 2 staff participated in August training. SCK went to their office several times to try to troubleshoot their connectivity w/o success. Meanwhile, their office moved and they've acquired some new equipment. Connectivity is now working. Worked on the planning committee for the Summit. SCK has already provided Trudy Krueger with copies of her pages and some help with HTML basics so she can update her information. Strong relationship here.
Salem Housing -- Four staff came to August training. One of their volunteers was reworking their computers to provide connectivity but ran into some delays. Not sure if they are up yet. Very interested in updating their web pages. SCK will contact them now that we are ready to help. Another of their volunteers, Lulu Johnson, attended the Invitational and has been helping to plan the Summit. Closely tied to a grassroots effort in the North end called "21st Century Communities Coalition." They have also written Internet related activity into grants they've applied for. Graciously helped with the videotaping for Kellogg. Strong relationship. Lots of potential here.
Additional non-profit activity
Flint Area Medical Educators (FAME) -- Beyond the initial four groups, the project has also fostered a relationship with FAME, Flint Area Medical Educators, a cooperative which serves the needs of the teaching hospitals in Flint to collectively recruit qualified residents into their programs. Sara Behrman at MMLC worked with them on previous projects and consulted with them regarding their own connectivity. She introduced SCK to the group in their efforts to design a homepage. SCK met with them twice to advise in this process. Also helped with recommendations for purchasing their own server. They hope to be online in the next three months. Have also become involved in the Summit efforts. Important names there are John Molidoor, Mark Iverson, and Pam Royston. 5. Culture building through Training the Trainers
We seek to build a culture which will understand, use and benefit from a community network (including raising awareness among agencies and citizens and training same as well as collaborating with others to make this happen).
In March 1996 Eileen Lane (who was trained in the CSR project … more training payoff) has conducted training for 12 community volunteers, who will in turn be the core from which FPL offers training opportunities to the general public. The plan is to do a big program on Log On Day (April 16), use the volunteers to help pull that off, and use it as a kick-off to sign up the public for further training sessions.
6. Culture building through community outreach
Educated and involved the greater Flint community regarding the Internet -- understanding its potential, gaining access, planning their own participation. Agencies, Associations, Community-Based Organizations, grassroots groups, and the general public. To date, 100+ people from 20+ organizations in ad-hoc programs have participated. Currently, at least two orientations for target groups occur each month. Grant writing is in progress to target non-profit agencies, grassroots groups, and at-risk teens.
7. Collaborating with other organizations to create a CN
We seek to build a distributed Community Network in Flint. This goal must be achieved through the collaborative efforts of organizations throughout the community. This effort is being coordinated by the Mideastern Michigan Region of Cooperation, a neutral organization headed by Sara Behrman, one of the partners in the Kellogg Flint CN Initiative. This activity is a political one because we seek the cooperation of groups which normally engage in turf wars. The process was initiated through an Invitational Meeting on CN in February. Those who attended the Invitational on February 2 included:
The planning committee for the Summit (April 30) includes Sheryl Knox, the cybrarian on the Flint project and Behrman as well as a number of community groups, including:
Flint Public Library (Cynthia Stilley); Flint Area Medical Educators (FAME) Pam Royston who is affiliated with the MSU College of Human Medicine); Community Capital Development Corp. (Trudy Krueger, Harry Blecker); North Flint 21st Century Communities Coalition and Salem Housing (Lulu Johnson); Genesee Free-Net (Kirk McClellan and Mary Ann Chick Whiteside); Information Services Division of City of Flint (Mark Foster); and the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (Jerry Preston).
The Greater Flint Community Networking Summit seeks to:
B. Context for the Kellogg/ALOT Community Networking Initiative in Flint (Flint)
Note: These might all be placed under such categories as, "Why didn't we realize that upfront?" or "Things take longer than you think" or "You can't build a community network without a lot of time and human resources" or "The political is MUCH more difficult than the technological."
In 1996-97, the Kellogg CN Initiative at SI will:
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