🚀 go-pugleaf

[Announcements of portions of the following have been flying around
lately -- pardon if this is a duplicate.]

In case you hadn't heard, last year's state telecomm bill created the
Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which is charged with
funding networking projects for public schools, libraries, hospitals,
etc. in Texas.  The TIF is scheduled to disburse $1.5 billion (that's
billion, with a B) over 10 years.

The official TIF web page is at:

	http://www.state.tx.us/TIF

There are two TIF mailing lists of note.  One appears to be the
official mailing list for TIF announcements, called "tif-info".  To
subscribe, send an e-mail message to majordomo@lists.state.tx.us and
enter the following in the body of the message:

	subscribe tif-info

The other mailing list, called simply "tif", appears to be an
unofficial forum for public discussion of TIF and was started by Gary
Chapman of CPSR fame, now at the LBJ School at UT Austin.  Its charter
message is appended below.  To subscribe, send an e-mail message to
"listproc@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu" and say:

	subscribe tif Your Name

By the way, Chapman had an op-ed piece in the Austin American-Statesman
on 12/12/95 on the subject of the TIF and the kind of projects it is
likely to fund.  Chapman warned that the TIF might be tempted to
emphasize video teleconferencing systems which fit with the standard
classroom educational model (as featured in recent Southwestern Bell TV
ads) rather than taking the more revolutionary step of encouraging
widespread use of the Internet in the classroom.

-- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") riddle@rice.edu
-- Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer.

-------------------------- Forwarded message --------------------------
| Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1995 09:56:40 -0600
| From: Gary Chapman <gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu>
| To: gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu
| Subject: TIF: Welcome, Intro, News
| 
| Hi. Thanks for joining the listserv for discussing the TIF, the
| Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund in Texas. We've had quite a few
| people join the list in the past couple of days, so I thought I'd start
| things off with this message.
| 
| I'm Gary Chapman, coordinator of The 21st Century Project at the LBJ School
| of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. The 21st Century
| Project is a research and education program on science and technology
| policy, with a special emphasis on information technologies. I used to be,
| for many years, national executive director of the public interest
| organization Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Now, in
| addition to my various activities with The 21st Century Project, I write an
| internationally syndicated column on technology and society, which appears
| in various newspapers around the country and overseas, syndicated by The
| Los Angeles Times (no papers in Texas carry it, however).
| 
...
| 
| Some news about the TIF Board: they have had two meetings so far, one on
| November 27th and one on December 11th, both in the Capitol Building in
| Austin. At the first meeting, Governor Bush swore in the nine members of
| the board (I will post a message about who is on the board soon). Both
| meetings were mostly educational for the board members. They have heard
| from various state agency representatives about their legal obligations,
| their finances, and, from the PUC and the Department of Information
| Resources (DIR), about some of the basics of telecommunications in Texas.
| The board has conducted some business, but there has been no indication
| that I know of about their grant schedule. They need to hire a staff, and
| apparently job notices are being prepared. They have indicated a need for
| some long-term strategic planning, which has yet to get underway, as far as
| I know.
| 
| The next meeting is currently scheduled for January 10 and 11, I believe,
| in Austin, and at this meeting there should be a session for the board to
| hear public testimony. I don't have the details about how to get on the
| list for this testimony, but I'm hoping to get those details from the
| Governor's office soon.
| 
| The person in charge of these meetings for Governor Bush is Jim Glotfelty,
| Director, General Government and Communications, Policy Office of the
| Governor, (512) 463-2198. Jim has an e-mail connection, but I don't know
| how often he uses it. I'm going to try and convince him to get on this
| listserv so that he can send out notices about the TIF board meetings
| directly to list subscribers.
| 
| I will pass on any more information I receive as it comes in. Please feel
| free to start using the listserv by sending your thoughts, or to introduce
| yourself, in an e-mail message to:
| 
|                 tif@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu
| 
| Thanks again for your interest and participation.
| 
| Gary Chapman
| Coordinator
| The 21st Century Project
| LBJ School of Public Affairs
| Drawer Y, University Station
| University of Texas
| Austin, TX  78713
| (512) 471-8326
| Electronic mail: gary.chapman@mail.utexas.edu
| http://www.utexas.edu/depts/lbj-school/21cp/
|