🚀 go-pugleaf

Some of us are trying to pull together an organizing meeting of
people interested in a Triangle Free-Net.  We've been looking for a
good meeting place -- one where we can show a video. We have
permission to use the seminar room in The Friday Center (the new
Continuing Education Center in Chapel Hill).  It seats 80. I
reserved it for Tuesday, August 25 at 5:30. Does that time and
place seem OK to you?  It is far enough away to give us time to get
some publicity, yet before classes start here (they start on the
26th).

Here is a proposed announcement. What do you think?
If it looks OK, I'll see about getting some news coverage.
   Judy Hallman (Judy_Hallman@unc.edu)
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Subject: Public organizational meeting for Triangle Free-Net

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 committee have been established in
several cities worldwide. These systems are operated by the
community (the Cleveland Free-Net has over 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
     harware 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 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

--
   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