Greetings to all, (You might imagine that persons on my Holiday and Birthday Card list don't stand a chance of getting anything on time from me.)
Here's a little note on things we're working on, and other tidbits for/from the Association For Community Networking. First, again, I wish to publicly welcome Angela Stuber to the AFCN Advisory Council. Angela and the Ohio Community Computing Network were recognized in November at the ILCTC conference with the Midwest Community Networking Award, and are the first recipient of the award. Angela serves as Executive Director of the OCCN, and the OCCN has just celebrated 10 years. http://www.ohioccn.org Recognizing Angela and the OCCN offers us a moment to reflect upon a few things: the importance of regional community networking and our building our capacity at that level, and also, the importance of the relationship between community networking and the community technology sector. (Many of you will recognize Angela as current President of the Board of CTCNet, and OCCN's historical base in Ohio CTCs.) It is important that we celebrate achievements and collaborations in our field. From the Midwest, we look forward to similar news from other regions. Who should be recognized in your region, and when will you do so? On other fronts, we are working more closely than ever with the folks at the Community Technology Review and the CTC Vista Project. AFCN has been a long-standing partner of the CTR. Over the past several months we've been working to establish a stronger community on the CTR editorial board, trying to find a way to share some of the load that Peter Miller has carried. CTR is looking at publishing two issues this year (Spring & Fall). Among the topics being explored, and which I have made commitment to assisting with is the theme of Community Health and Safety. Last month, Richard Civille, Karen Michaelson, Michael Gurstein (actually MG was volunteered by an unknown party), and myself stepped forward as members of the CTR board to take some responsibility for addressing Community Health and Safety themes in future issues. We think these tie very closely with AFCN and Community Networking in general, and that they demonstrate the relevance of community technology and networking to the wider world. Persons with interest in developing articles on these themes, please get in touch with us. The AFCN is also very excited by recent developments in the CTC Vista project. As many of you know, in the Fall the CTC Vista project leadership transitioned to Paul Hansen and the project established four project priority areas, of which Community Networking is one. Like any new venture, there is much to be learned and much to be adjusted going forward, but the commitment to Community Networking through the project has been a sign of the faith in the relevance of our field to contemporary issues. But the die hards already know this. As fellow board members have commented: We're facing some important challenges and the time for a resurgence in community networking is now. It's happening. I think the times demand it, and technology opens the door. We suffered some sense of declining relevance as getting online became easier for more and more people with the proliferation of ISPs and their subsequent consolidation under the current communications regime. But it is becoming more apparent that space for civic engagement and community activity online requires something more than just access. Telecom and Media Policy should reflect this at a fundamental level, and the future of the Internet and what we considered its greatest values are at stake and will depend upon our efforts and the alliances we can make to promote the Intenet as Commons as opposed to "Broadband the Fat Wasteband". (Kudos to Fred Goldstein for that phrase!). It's time to pull something other than a mouse out of a great destiny, The future of Telecom and Media policy depends upon our efforts and the alliances we make. In closing my note, let me address some basic housekeeping issues. We've long promised a mechanism for notifying members of dues, etc. I'm more and more hopeful we'lll get that done soon. The process of migrating and revamping the website has taken about 3 months longer than planned, for the initial steps. We're moving from Drupal to a CivicSpace build and such delays are to be expected, espcially when key persons are doing much more important things in support of others, such as in the aftermath of the displacements follwing the various hurricanes. Again, these are examples of Community Networking's relevance to Health and Safety so I do expect a great deal from all of you in terms of getting our story out there, and coming up with articles for CTR! These topics, (justifcation enough for our efforts), and a rallying of support for sensible Telecom and Media policy are our specific charge. Best Regards to all, and Warm Wishes for the New Year! (Hey, we're only 9 days in!) -Michael PS Members are welcome to send renewals by mail or to submit an equivalent donation through the site. New members are also welcome! ____________________________________________________________________________ Michael Maranda President, The Association For Community Networking (AFCN) http://www.afcn.org Executive Director, CTCNet Chicago Chapter http://www.ctcnetchicago.org Co-Chair, Illinois Community Technology Coalition (ilCTC) http://www.ilctc.org Vice President, CAAELII http://www.caaelii.org Vice President, NPOTechs http://www.npotechs.org Think ahead to Illinois Community Technology Day, February 16, 2006. http://www.ctcnetchicago.org/techday _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] 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.
