🚀 go-pugleaf

An organizational meeting will be held August 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the
seminar room of the William & Ida Friday Continuing Education Center in
Chapel Hill to discuss the possibility of developing a "Free-Net" for the
Research Triangle area. 

Free-Nets provide free, computer/modem-based services connecting local
people to one another and to local information. They provide access to a
wide variety of public information about local governments, schools,
businesses, the arts, the environment, health, and human services. They
also provide electronic mail, discussion groups, and ask-an-expert
services. Further, they provide access to electronic information
worldwide. 

There currently are Free-Net systems operating in Cleveland, Youngstown,
Cincinnati, and Medina County, Ohio, and Peoria, Illinois, and formal
organizing committees have been established in several cities worldwide.
These systems are operated by the community (the Cleveland Free-Net has
more than 300 volunteers operating it.)

At the public meeting, we will show a 15-minute video describing the
Free-Net in Peoria (which tells better than words what Free-Nets are).
Following the video we will discuss how the Free-Net concept could be
applied in the RTP area, and hopefully sign people and organizations to
become information providers, discussion leaders, and supporters.

A variety of skills would be needed to develop and maintain this service;
for example:
 -- artistic/verbal skills to develop promotional materials
 -- business skills to develop a business plan
 -- computer skills to plan, implement, and maintain the 
       hardware and software
 -- human factors skills to ensure that the local implementation
       is easy to use
 -- legal skills to keep the organization out of trouble
 -- mover/doer skills to obtain valuable information,
       as well as funding
 -- professional skills to lead electronic discussion groups and to
       research answers to questions
 -- secretarial skills to do typing, maintain mailing lists,
       answer the phone
 -- writing and training skills to teach people how to use the
       service and how to maintain it. 

If you are interested in the Free-Net but cannot attend the organizing
meeting, please let me know.
  
Thanks,
Judy Hallman (Judy_Hallman@unc.edu)
311 Wilson Library, CB# 3460
Office of Information Technology
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-3460
(919) 962-9107   FAX (919) 962-5604

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80