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Okay, Sue -- you started it, so here's my $0.02 worth... Apologies in advance for Toes Stepped Upon, Noses Placed Out-Of-Joint, and Egos Bruised. This is all coming from the perspective of an active member / IP / IPE. I've been involved with the Comms Cttee, the IP Cttee, and currently am editor for Community Support & Development (just to contextualize). I've done internet training for NGOs in Halifax, Cuba, and have seen from near and afar how the larger ISPs are taking "business" away from CCN, other Community Nets and even Web Networks (the Canadian NGO "community net"). Some time ago I sent out a note asking about the origins of the Phoenix WWW-based email service, looking for the rationale, the decision-making process etc. No reply. (it went out to: Michael , David M., Andrew W., ccn-comm, and ccn-tech). This dovetails into other questions for which answers don't seem to be available. I've just attempted to check out the Board's Minutes.... Am I the only one interested in reading them? The last Board Minutes linked are for September 17 / 98, and the link still doesn't work (I've reported this numerous times...). - ah, actually, it's all links from Sept. - onward. Has there been a board meeting in 1999 yet? Page: http://chebucto.ns.ca/Chebucto/FinAdmin/Board-Minutes/index.html FYI, the broken link is a missing quotation mark on the HREF link for Sept.17th (Why does the link text say Sept. 2nd?) I also see that the "Current Action Plan" is "under construction". What is CCN's Action Plan? What is the vision for CCN's future? PPP access -- great idea, if the technical requirements don't adversely affect system performance. As an IP I am very interested in obtaining this service for the benefit of my organization. VDNs - A wonderful service, if we can be clear on the $$$$. $400/year for IPs? Ridiculous! It would make more sense to me if "IP" were replaced with "Business" for the IP w/VDN, IP w/ basic Package and IP w/ Network Package categories. But does anyone on the board seriously think that the IPs we currently have can afford that cost? I'm _trying_ to convince the executive of the IP I represent to contribute the $200 fee for just being an IP. It's not an easy task when organizations that serve the community have programming or other things on which to spend their dwindling $$$. While the VDN would be a great boost to our accessibility (I would love to hand out www.nscuba.org rather than the current URL!), there's no way we can cover that cost. If it's a money-maker, it has to be for commercial clients, because Community Orgs dont' have that kind of cash. Have we surveyed our IPs to see what they feel they'd be able to pay? Again - what is the rationale? A one-time setup fee of $400 to cover the technical / time costs of creating a VDN I can grasp - but after the setup, what costs does CCN incur? A $400 setup, and $70/annual to InterNic seems much more logical and realistic, from _my_ perspective. And, might I add, the perspective of the IP Committee, which is most certainly NOT inactive, despite the inference of some.... I see CCN as facilitating the provision of Community-org information online. That is what (hopefully) attracts visitors to our site: our _content_. As much as we must fulfil the mandate of being an access resource for low-tech, low-income communty members/organizations, we must also be a destination of choice, developed via the provision of content. I see that as an action item: generating content, boosting membership / IPs, and forgoeing some of the bells and whistles (see next item). WWW-based email - Again, I'm hoping to see some rationale on this one. I can't imagine why anyone would want it from CCN, when Hotmail, Canada.com, and a billion other sites are offering this (and where Hotmail has such a huge mental presence already). I would suggest (again, without knowing how the decision to go this route was reached) that our great tech / design people could put their efforts into something a bit more relevant to CCN's survival. As Sue's notes from other Community Nets have shown, PPP access at low/no-cost from commercial ISPs are threatening the viability of organizations like ours. It would seem to me that a priority that has lagged in recent years is the focus on generating community content, helping CCN be the online "mirror" of the community it serves. As an IPE, I feel frustrated at Chebucto's almost nonexistent public image. What P.R. tools do we have? Brochures? Pamphlets? What's our method for reaching out to the community that sees Sympatico as the only onramp worth looking at? Lastly, to beat the sun-bleached bones of a dead horse, what is happening with the years-old issue of redesigning CCN's web-presence? That home page has been talked about since I returned to Canada in 1996 - Three years on, not much has changed. I see from the Board Minutes in September that a "new" or "revamped" CCN logo was approved. Has anyone seen it? Enough bloody talk. It's time for action. Let's move forward to revitalize Chebucto as a presence in the community and online. What, do we need a Glee Club or something? I'm full of questions, I have some suggestions, but I'll hold those back until all of you have weighed in on this. Respectfully, Mark Rushton. ________________________________________________________________ Mark Rushton, Editor, Community Support & Development, Chebucto Community Network Mark@chebucto.ns.ca or via WWW: http://chebucto.ns.ca/~Mark/index.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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