Terman Community Center, 661 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA
Kathryn began the meeting at 7:40 AM. Mary Jo announced that MPAC won a national award as the best public access cable channel in the country. Kathryn then noted the planned program on MPAC in September where people will be asked to describe how use of the Internet improved things or changed the way they interact with others. It will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 PM on Sept. 14. Anyone who has a story to tell about adventures on the Internet is invited to participate. There will be about 20 to 25 people on the panel. Call Elliot Margolis, 494-8686, e-mail mpac@svpal.org or Kathryn kathryn@get-on-line.com to participate. The draft BPANET article on adventures of a neighborhood organization on the Internet will be posted after comments have been incorporated and it has been edited.
The first Team discussed was a team to work with PAUSD. Louis Bookbinder (booky@leland.stanford.edu) described his interest in the internet connection to the schools. Jordan, Walter Hayes and Paly were wired with help from parents. DEC supplied a T-1 connection to a LAN at Jordan. Cable Co-op invested $35k towards the project in the form of labor and materials to connect the schools to the network, and put drops into the classrooms. Other schools also will be wired later. PAUSD budgeted $175,000 to wire LANs at each school site. Gunn & JLS have a co-op group working together using 3 donated SPARC stations. Russel Mar (ruscal@bbs.tsoft.net) also is on Team 1. There is a need to identify what is being done in each school and by PAUSD in general to get Internet access. Is there any effort to limit access to the net because of fears of what kids might get into? Schools have Internet access agreements for parents to approve to cover any possible liability. PACOMNET should help to clarify issues of access and possible exposure of kids to inappropriate sites. PAUSD will be informed of our interest in cooperating with them and helping.
A meeting with PAUSD is needed to determine plans and needs, so that we can work together with them. Interested parties should contact Russell or Louis. It may not be possible to meet with PAUSD for a while because of summer vacations.
Team 2, Public Access via Internet was next. Elliot Margolis is on vacation, but wants to be on Team 2. Formal training is needed to tell people how to use the card catalog and other available library features. Public Gopher access is available at the libraries to Palo Alto residents. There are 20 trainers showing people how to access the internet via Gopher. By late July there will be direct Internet access at libraries. The Smart Valley Internet terminal now is available at the tech Museum. The other sites such as Frys and Cable Co-op aren't up yet but will be soon. We should put on a training session on Channel 6 to show people how to access the Internet and how to use it effectively. It is very beneficial to have training done by members of the community. Locations of the Smart Valley terminals were selected both for public accessibility and to use sponsor's locations. At least some of these connections will have very high capacity, i.e., 30Meg at Cable Co-op. It would be ideal to have a terminal at the temporary senior center/teen center so both groups could have access. This is a city facility so the city must be willing to do it, and to work with the various groups.
Team 3 should be expanded from just PAMF for health information to include the Stanford Shopping Center Health Library and other interested providers. PAMF is not state of the art yet with computer network systems. They still are working on how best to use the Internet and interface with the community. Active participation by PACOMNET with PAMF would provide useful community services and enhance their image in the community. This Team could be more effective as a general health care group which includes organizations such as Stanford Medical, Kaiser, El Camino Hospital, and others, not limited to PAMF. There could be a series of interest groups and sites for particular problems, illnesses and diseases. A health page could lead people to other sites and interest groups. Eventually we should be able to make appointments or contact advice nurses via the net. We need members and a leader for this Team. Jay Thorwaldson is a natural candidate.
Team 4 to work with Palo Alto on an information utility was discussed. Les Laky is disappointed that Palo Alto isn't moving on Internet use as fast as when they started off. This Team would also work with the consultant study on telecommunications for Palo Alto. Marilyn Davis and Bob Moss also want to be on the Team. (also add Kathryn Johnston) Bob commented to Persimmon about problems with the reworked PA Home Page. He got several replies, but the page still needs work. Copies of his notes will be sent to Imsong, and to Bernie Strojny at bernie_strojny@city.palo-alto.ca.us. Imsong also e-mailed Bernie about Persimmon fouling up the PACOMNET home pages but has no reply yet. This team could assist the city-created study group. There seem to be problems getting the city to make a clear decision about what they want to do and how. We need to push the city to keep current, and we can help by providing advice. The advisory committee has not been established yet. Seth Feury was asked to serve at the Smart Valley representative, but may not be able to now that he is on the Cable Co-op Board. Keith Cooley sent several messages asking for recognition that he was selected as the PACOMNET representative, but has had no reply so far. Joe Villareal, Margaret Cooley, Imsong Lee, and Kathyrn Johnston also are on this Team.
Les Laky mentioned that Palo Alto Business Directory is on Web: http: Seniornet is available via AOL, and ties into many organizations with similar interest, but relatively few seniors are hooked into it. There is a need for a local senior net which will provide health information and programs plus a conferencing mechanism. There is a need for outreach to those over 50. This could include training on the Internet so that they can access sources. PAMF isn't doing an adequate job of providing support to seniors. Maybe PACOMNET can improve outreach to seniors and encourage Internet conferencing and information exchange.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 AM. Next meeting will be Wednesday August 9, 7:30 AM at the Terman Library, Terman Community Center.
Respectfully submitted by Bob Moss