We are involved in some digital equity initiatives that Digital Divide listserv subscribers might find of interest.
Through a new nonprofit partnership with Computers for Schools, which leads a national network of several hundred computer refurbishment programs, we're offering deeply discounted fully refurbished desktop and laptop PCs bundled with open source productivity software and extensive digital academic content (http://refurb.nici-mc2.org). We also host a free portal on digital equity strategies and resources at http://digitalequity.edreform.net. From this portal's home page users can download a free and newly updated "Digital Equity Toolkit". Lastly, through our nonprofit international Virtual Library Co-op (www.vlibrary.org, December 2005 demo log-in username = virtual, password = conference), subscribers have unlimited access to Encyclopedia Britannica, McGraw Hill's Encyclopedia of science and Technology, World Almanac, Wilson Select Full-Text's database of over a half-million full text journal and magazine articles, Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia, Oxford English Dictionary, National Science Digital Library, and OCLC's World Card Catalog database of bibliographic information on nearly every item ever in print worldwide along with the location of libraries that house a given item so it may be accessed via interlibrary loan. The Virtual Library's two purposes are to make such "Deep Web" academic resources accessible to educators and learners worldwide, and to lower the cost per person by offering databases from only those providers that agree to lower the per person cost as Co-op membership grows. The cost is US$12 per year for individuals, andUS$7/person for groups of 20 or more. The nonprofit co-op has been endorsed by the European Council of International Schools' Librarians Committee, the Assn. of Teacher Educators, New England Assn. of Schools and Colleges, National Staff Development Council and about 20 other organizations. I hope these resources are helpful. Regards, Bob McLaughlin Robert T. McLaughlin, Ph.D. Executive Director National Institute for Community Innovations 2905 North Street Montpelier, Vermont 05602 Tel. (802) 229-1742 Cell (802) 249-1159 Fax (802) 223-4101 www.nici-mc2.org www.vlibrary.org www.edreform.net www.iste.org/sigde _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
