TFN: The People's Freenet

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2 total messages Started by Bob Allisat Tue, 12 Nov 1996 00:00

Author: Bob Allisat
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 00:00

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 The most critical role
 of a Freenet is not in
 the Boardrooms or fancy
 restaurants. It is in
 serving Internet access
 for all citizans of all
 cultures and income levels.
 The wealthy should be
 supported in donating
 to support their fellow
 citzans who cannot pay.

 On a more sophisticated
 level the software the
 Freenet utilizes must be
 simple and easy to use
 and the people directly
  working with members must
 be friendly, approachable
 and well versed in issues
 of English as a second
 language and literacy.

 The current Freenet structure
 as expressed in Toronto and
 other Freenets fails on these
 counts. It is vital we enact
 extremely approachable software
 and bring the unique needs of
 regular citizans into consideration.
 That means multi-lingual services,
 easy to read Clear Language and
 Design (CLAD) and simple non-
 technical, informal attitudes.

 The Freenet is for everyone
 not just the power user or
 Internet afficionado. In fact
 there are plenty of places for
 the experts to go... we must
 set our minds to serving
 average people with normal
 needs and weaknesses. This
 is the only way to achieve
 broad, popular support and
 long term viability of the
 Freenet.

                   Bob Allisat

 Platform
 ^^^^^^^^
       http://spadina.torfree.net:2001/agm96/candidates/allisat
 Bio
 ^^^
   http://spadina.torfree.net:2001/agm96/candidates/allisat.bio

 Recomended Candidates
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
       Patrick Burton        Dmytri Kleiner
       Alex MacKinnon        Marc Bissonnette
       Colin McGregor        Tom Evans
       David Jones           Gard Abrahamsen
       Thomas Main           Richard van Abbe.
       Bob Allisat           Eugene Kashpureff

Re: TFN: The People's Freenet

Author: Nabil M. El-Khodari
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 00:00

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Dear Mr. Allisat:

That is quite a change in quality of posts, which I hope will remain so, 
whether you are selected as a TFN Board member or not, or your account is 
re-activated (or given a new one) by the coming board or not.

Now, there is a subtle difference between Community Network (which I 
believe is the major focus of the TFN and less of TFCN) and community 
access (which I believe is the major focus of TFCN and less of TFN, 
except for providing PUBLIC access terminals as opposed to INTEREST 
GROUPS approach of TFCN).

The role of a community network is mainly information of interest to all 
the community (which TFN is taking with a variable degree of success 
according to your point of view), but TFN may be added more burden to 
itself by also providing community access, whereas most community 
networks simply get a local ISP to donate space on its server and provide 
cheaper access to its user. Something TFN may have to seriously consider, 
if all other approaches to maintain current double responsibility.

In fact the mandate of TFN has to be crystallized and clearly defined 
(some suggestions are in my platform) and all other activities follow the 
identified mandate and/or mission statement.

In my opinion TFN should concentrate on the community network approach 
(which entails training of users and volunteers in effectively accessing 
sources of information particularly local ones, and thus contributing to 
the well-being of the community and developing the skills of the 
community members in areas of using the telecommunication revolution).

The above are just my humble opinion based on feedback from various 
mailing lists that address community networks and public access as well.

Sincerely,
-- 
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Nabil M. El-Khodari      It is too bad that some define "Democracy"
Info. Provider  TFN      as the freedom of the membership to elect     
Board Candidate          those they wish to "rule" them.

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