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Community Network Planning Guide Contents Introduction Introduction The Electronic Village Technologies (EVT) group at Virginia Tech has played a key role in the development and support of the Blacksburg Electronic Village. Some of the services that we have provided to the community as part of the project include:
This Community Network Planning Guide tries to answer some of the most frequently asked questions that we receive from other communities trying to set up and develop community networks. Virginia Tech is now able to offer a wide variety of education, training, and services on a cost–recovery basis to communities interested in creating a community network. Virginia Tech has a worldwide reputation as the leader in community networks. No other community in the world has as a higher percentage of citizens online, and no other organization has the years of expertise that Virginia Tech has developed in the design and support of community networks. Virginia Tech can offer you the best systems support, training, and education programs on community development. We have state of the art computers and servers for community servicess, and classes are taught in sophisticated computer labs where every class member has their own workstation for hands–on training. The classes are taught by faculty and staff from Virginia Tech, including staff from the Blacksburg Electronic Village. The faculty and staff who work at the Blacksburg Electronic Village also offer comprehensive turnkey electronic village packages designed specifically for community networks, and that is the only kind of customer we support--we do not provide Web space or any services to for-profit businesses. We also work on a strict nonprofit, cost recovery basis. Our experience has shown that training and education are critical success factors, so we emphasize a thorough training program for the people involved in supporting the network in your community. Community network checklist for success Education, not technology Over the past three years, every problem that we have encountered has turned out to be an education problem, not a technology problem.
Show, don't tell The net is different enough from what people know that any successful community network project has to have a place to take people where they can use the network themselves to see firsthand what all the talk is about. The local library is also one of the first public facilities in any community that should get direct high speed Internet connections, so putting the lab there may be less expensive with respect to the connectivity costs associated with running a lab. Many localities have a community college near by, and this is another place where the placement of a computer lab may pay off by doing double duty as a college teaching facility and a public use facility. The third place that may make sense is in a local public school, where again, double duty as a teaching facility for the schools and a public use facility during non-school hours allows the community to maximize the use of the equipment and Internet connection. Find a project evangelist You must find someone who is able to speak about connectedness in plain English. Most people's first experience of the network will probably be from the mouth of a real human being, and that particular human being should be quite comfortable talking with people. Direct connections In Blacksburg, Bell Atlantic began offering low cost routed T1 lines soon after the start of the project. A T1 line is simply a telephone company term for a specialized phone line that is capable of transmitting up to one and a half million bits per second (about a thousand times faster than ordinary modems). When we say it is a routed T1 line, we mean that back at the telephone switching office, it is connected to the Internet. So when a routed T1 line is installed in a building, dozens of computers in the building can be connected directly to the Internet at speeds up to a hundred times faster than using individual modems on each machine. Even more important, direct connections are on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no dialing, no busy signals at the other end, and many fewer technical problems than with modems. For any organization with more than a few computers, direct connections are often cheaper than using modems when you consider the cost of providing phone lines, modems, and individual network access accounts for each machine. Use the local public library It will also take many years for everyone to afford a computer in their home, and until then, libraries can play an important role in providing free access to the community. Even though a computer in every home is the most desirable long term goal, in the short term it will be very important to support community access through libraries and other public facilities. Andrew Carnegie understood this simple principal–he did not propose to buy everyone one book of their own, but knew that the community would be better served by creating a public, shared resource for books, which we now know as the public library. Find a modem pool provider Dial up access is often referred to as a modem pool. When connecting to the Internet via a telephone line, two modems are required. Each user must have a modem connected to their computer and a phone line in their home. First, the user runs a little computer program on his or her computer that calls, via the modem and telephone line, the Internet Service provider. The ISP has a bank of modems, called a modem pool, that answer the the incoming call from the user's modem. Running a modem pool has high costs associated with it, both in the initial equipment investment and the ongoing cost of technical support, means that modempool providers must have a revenue stream adequate to cover all these costs. This means that a modem pool service provider must have a flexible rate structure and a very efficient organization to provide good service and remain solvent. This is not to say that a community or local government should not undertake the provision of a modem pool at all, but there should be an organized and extensive effort to explore for-profit support for this service first. Community support It may be stating the obvious to call this a success factor, but there are find . -follow -type f -print0 |xargs -0 grep 2139 |less
several key players in the community that should be willing to work cooperatively
on a community network. These include the local government, the local public
libraries, the public school system, and some of the key business people in
the private sector. Checklist for building an online community The concept of a virtual community conjures up images of videoconferences with teachers, e-mail with friends, and electronic chats with town council members. Virtual communities aren't frequently associated with routers, hubs, and servers. To the users, the information and the exchanges ARE the community network. To have a successful community network it is important to have a critical mass of users, an adequate supply of information, and an integration of the virtual community into everyday life. Items important to each of these three aspects are outlined below. Get a critical mass of users online Make sure people from all areas of the community are represented on the network. Some of the community groups to target are:
Educate users using a combination of large-scale demonstrations and small-group hands-on training.
Create the Information Space Each community network may offer a different subset of the suite of Internet services. Make the most of the services that your community does provide. E-mail is a standard service and is the most frequently used. Provide an adequate online e-mail directory of users. Listserves are electronic message distribution systems. It's an easy-to-use group discussion tool. Start with a small number of listservs.
Newsletters, whether electronic or paper, can give users a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, help them get more out of their membership, and feature new items and services. Usenet newsgroups provide a forum for discussion of issues and easy posting of classified ads. Unfortunately, cumbersome interfaces on newsreader software often deters people from using them. To encourage their use:
World wide web pages enable multimedia information to be posted about the town. The web serves as an umbrella -- easily linking citizens to other Internet services like Usenet newsgroups, directories, and listservs. To develop usable, valuable content, consider the following:
Merge the Real and Virtual Communities
Although the users' view of the information is the community network, you will have to make some technology choices about how to support that vision. Here are some guidelines on planning and implementing the technology side of community networking: What services do you need to offer? Which network-based information services does your community network need?
Information services on the network require some underlying mechanism to transport data between user and server computers. How will your community access these services?
Who will provide these services? Your goal is to deliver quality information that is relevant to your community, but you don't have to do everything yourself. Who will provide which services?
Who will provide operational support for the services you will will offer?
Where will the equipment go? If you decide to establish an Internet Point-Of-Presence (POP) in your community, you will need to choose a good location for the equipment:
Procurement and installation Internet Access Providers (IAPs) supply a modem pool or connect your Point-Of-Presence to the Internet. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) run web or other network-based servers. Understand what you're getting before you sign the contract:
Depending on what you've decided to offer, you'll need an assortment of software, hardware, and data lines. Here's a menu:
Sources for Funding and Other Support Local Sources of Support Local governments can be the most important source of support because they increase long term sustainability and show outside funding sources that there is strong local commitment. Local funds can come from a variety of sources:
Federal Grant Programs Outside support usually comes from state or federal agencies and private foundations. Some of the major dunding sources aimed especially at community networking, distance learning or economic development are listed below.
State Funds
Private Foundations
Learning more about community networks We offer classes in planning a community network, network design, community information management and related topics. We also provide training in basic Internet mastery which is an important prerequisite to other courses. There is a class suitable for any member of the community such as local leaders, network designers, educators, city planners, or interested citizens. Our classes are taught by faculty and staff from Virginia Tech, including staff from the Blacksburg Electronic Village. No other organization can offer the combination of world class training facilities and expert instructors who are leaders and pioneers in community networks. No other community in the world has as many citizens online, and no other organization has the years of expertise that Virginia Tech has developed in the design and support of community networks. |
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