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?
Friday, August 24, 2007
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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