Terman Community Center, 661 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA
Bernie Strojny, Palo Alto Assistant City Manager gave a status on the internet revisions being done by Persimmon. The work is almost done. The address, i.e, URL was at Persimmon.com during initial work, but it was moved back to the old PA URL a few weeks ago while construction continues at Persimmon. It will be complete in a few more weeks. There should be much more information and it will be more attractive and easier to use. The Persimmon contract was a 90 day trial. The city will look at how things worked out and decide whether to renew the contract.
There are advantages having a skilled consultant familiar with HTML working with government agencies to design and maintain the city home page. The follow-on contract will be out for bid later. The new home page will use buttons rather than text, and be easier to get around and use. DEC has supported the City Home Page including the server and Internet access free to date, but that will end soon.
The city also has a separate computer system for internal administration and email service. There was a hardware problem recently with this system that was traced to excessive voltage fluctuations. Some computer boards were replaced but the troubles continued until the power supply problem was found. That disrupted the city e-mail service for almost a month and emails were delivered a month late.
Paul Pease asked Bernie if businesses can be listed on the PA home page. In the past many businesses were listed, apparently by asking. Non-profits have been listed on the home page, but businesses usually are listed on the Chamber of Commerce Home Page that has link to the City Home Page. Organizations such as Varian, H-P, PAMF, etc. were listed on the city pages. Bernie noted there is a problem with many groups listing data on the various pages which sometimes are inaccurate. It's important to keep the city sponsored and controlled information distinct from data that comes from external organizations. Also there can be confusion as to who is posting what, for example Palo Alto Medical Foundation has it's logo heading the pages for community service organization, implying that they somehow sponsored some or all of them. In fact, PAMF just collects and posts information on those groups.
Neighborhood groups are on the city page now, and others could be added later. So far the Barron Park Association is the only neighborhood organization on the city pages.
Louis noted that home pages are subject to frequent revision and correction. Paul described the home page that Levi Straus is creating with an internal home page within the fire wall with corporate information.
City staff is very interested in use of the internet and adding information which is useful. An example is the recent addition of flood zone information which allows people to find out if their property is in a flood zone, and what it means. There will be staff meetings to discuss ways to expand use of the Internet and make information more widely available. Crime news is of great interest also. The Barron Park Association uses the net regularly to give out crime news and get reactions. The city posts informaton on suspects for major crimes.
The first two phases of the telecommunications infrastructure study are done and will be reviewed by the Telecommunications Advisory Panel on Aug. 21. The draft will not be released until it is reviewed and approved by staff and presented to the Utilities Advisory Commission. Much of the information which has been gathered is considered sensitive and in some cases is proprietary, and should not be disclosed to the general public.
Nancy Palmer gave a report on PAUSD activities on the Internet. Every classroom will be wired and have two drops by October. At present they have 56kb leased lines, but are working with Cable Co-op and Com21 to get higher speed access using cable network. Both companies are working very hard to get the high speed access installed and operational, but it probably will not be available until January 1996. PAUSD wants to have their own fiber network eventually. (This does not mean owned, they could lease capacity from others if it's available). They have Microsoft Mail now and they will have to move to something else, but don't know yet what to switch to. They can use advice from the city and others on what works and has been successful for them. Eudora is easy to use, but there are other approaches which should be evaluated. Next meeting of the PAUSD technical advisory comittee is Aug. 21 at Fairmeadow, at 7:30 PM. They appreciate the advice and assistance that's provided by the committee and the community.
They're concerned about what the kids can access on the net, and computer and Internet security in general. There's no way to monitor what the kids are getting into or controlling what they do and how they use the Internet. The high school students are less of a concern than the younger kids. Parents and students are asked to sign contracts on Acceptable Use Policy. If PAUSD has a home page they can be responsible for everything the home page links to, like Yahoo. Naturally this is a potential problem. Some partent don't want their kids to have any Internet access, and certainly not via the schools. Getting everyone in agreement and establishing proceedures acceptable to all will be a real problem.
Marilyn described the status of the conferencing system. Now all we have is PA-COMNET minutes and information on the city home page. She wants to get a list server with voting features set up, and is working to get it running. She also described the Hypermail software that she and others wish the City would install on the City's site. This software would give us slick access to a list archive. She noted that we have volunteers to do the project. She gave Bernie an estimate of disc space needed for our list. Also she sent an e-mail version of the manual for Hypermail to Persimmon for their opinion. It will be easier for the City to look into it now that the hardware problem is fixed. In the long run she wants a conferencing capability, voting, and a simulated meeting, where there are topic outlines which can be accessed in real time. It would be nice to have a Linux system connected to the outside of the City's firewall and using the city's home page, so it's readily accessable. Participate is the closest thing to this kind of software now, but it has no voting feature. Online meetings will help communities learn from each other and aid in making decisions. She can use help in developing the software. It might be possible to have a demonstration of what she has now at an evening meeting sometime this year.
We need to remove the existing interfaces from eVote and Participate and add a natural point & click user interface which makes it easy and intuitive to use. The basic software is not in the public domain, but source code for most of the program is available. Microsoft network has many of these features, and should be considered also.
It would be extremely helpful if some knowledgable people could help to work on the programs and put in the kinds of features that would make true conferencing and voting software. Unfortunately no one seems to see this as a commercial product.
The best approach appears to be a separate evening meeting where Marilyn can demonstrate what's now available, and where a group can discuss what needs to be added or modified to create a final conferencing/voting/communicating software and site. Mary Jo will try to establish a site and date and will notify us when she has it set up. Jay Thorwaldson also will help to set up the evening presentation. Mary Jo will be on vacation in early September and will miss our next meeting, but will arrange for Diane Jennings to get the Terman library for our meeting. (This was confirmed).
J.J Singh (Caresoft Inc.), a consultant to Bay Area Multimedia Alliance, is working to create a true conferencing system. They are working with NASA and various companies, looking for funding and support. We can ask him to attend the next PA-COMNET meeting on Wed. Sept. 6 and discuss the project and status.
Nancy thought that the program and project apparently is designed for work station systems like Suns rather than home computers. It will not be sucessful or widely used until it runs on home computers. Jay offered to confirm what platforms are used. (JJ was conrtacted and will be happy to attend the Sept. 6 meeting. The high-end approach is a start-up transitional phase. Home computer access is part of the vision. We can determine how serious the home-access aspect is in the program at the September presentation).
The meeting adjourned at 8:40
Submitted by Bob Moss