PA-ComNet Meeting Feb. 7, 2001

Bob Moss introduced Craig McAllister of EPRI Solutions and briefly noted the topic of the meeting: giving examples of using the Internet to create communities. We met with Craig several weeks ago and discussed the Jefferson Project in San Diego. We thought his experience would be of interest to PA-ComNet. If you find it worthwhile, the presentation can be expanded and repeated in an evening venue where there is Internet access and the San Diego activities can be experienced in real time. Marvin Lee asked the attendees to introduce themselves.

Craig noted the importance of being connected via the Internet isn’t just having the connection, it is what people do with it and how they use it together. The key to building community is making it simple to operate, useful for a wide range of people and maintaining local content that keeps users coming back to the network sharing more information with their community. In San Diego EPRI Jefferson Solutions was very well received. There is a big demand for the services.

There are about 750 neighborhood networks nationwide that EPRI Solutions tracks to see what they do, the type of information flow, means of transferring data, etc. Based on about 3 years experience evaluating the necessary technical pieces, and analyzing these 750+ projects, EPRI Solutions launched a business unit specifically to operate large scale community networks. Last January the California Energy Commission granted EPRI about $500,000 to start the Jefferson Project. Phase One was to build a community network among 100 families in San Diego that had no PCs or prior Internet access. If the strategy could work at entry level with little or no technical infrastructure already in place, CEC and EPRI Solutions believed it could be even more easily applied elsewhere where there were more and better community resources available. EPRI went around speaking to individuals, community groups, schools, etc. Very few of them had computers. Access was set up with the TV, commanded by a normal remote control, with an added wireless keyboard. PCs could connect to the community web right away. The San Diego Jefferson Project has been up and running continuously since May 2000. The program was very well received. After more than 6 months service everyone is happy with the results. A wide range of people and interests are represented in the trial, and all found it very useful.

It is important to differentiate between a community network and networked neighborhoods. They aren’t the same. Models include B-2-B, B-2-C, providing information, making sales, offering yellow pages, providing energy management etc. Craig noted the San Diego Jefferson Project is a living network of community citizens, not just an electronic marketplace. The users establish the content of the community network, not a central authority. It is user-driven

Craig provided examples of how other community nets have set up graphic home pages, such as Palo Alto CityThink, InTownonline, PaloAltoOnline, etc. offering opportunities to exchange information and interact. The Jefferson Project does all that and more. Some users in San Diego are on-line 1 to 3 hours/day.

The success of the EPRI Solutions approach to building community networks depends upon several not-so-subtle factors, well documented by direct market research. Men, women & kids have different interests and behavior to TV and PC access, and use different information sources. Men generally want basic community services, news, local events, sports, public safety, job information, politics, and classified ads. Women usually want home and security information, local arts, entertainment, religion, health childcare and public safety. Kids want anything free, although not to buy things – just to know what’s available - games, sports, and food, provided they get the information sooner than their friends. Across all demographics, consumers want their home network to be cheap, simple, easy to operate, and low tech. Basic level of service that must be provided for initial users is simple communications. Higher bandwidth (like FTTH) is important for intermediate users and above. The measure of success is that users show neighbors how to use the service and encourage others to want it. That is happening in San Diego now. Since the May 2000 pilot program launch the Jefferson Project had 200 more people ask to participate after the first 100 showed friends and neighbors how it worked.

Requirements for success are pretty simple. You need an entry level device to connect to the Internet, fast convenient Internet access, provide familiar current local content, direct connections to recognized reliable neighbors & services, have available community support, provide fully 2-way secure private communications, make all the technical aspects transparent so that users don’t have to add new wires or learn new skills to benefit from the network, and have a sustainable business foundation that reflects local economics and interests. It is important that key data and screens are readily available when people log in, not be buried many screens deep.

The business architecture was shown. EPRI Solutions gathers upstream resources and works with downstream businesses to deliver a community service. The network is a community extranet that provides public benefit and community information on health, safety, government, traffic, news, weather, education, commercial offerings such as entertainment, shopping, deliveries, utilities, travel, and finance. Personal information offered includes security, privacy, comfort, convenience, health, childcare, etc.

The Jefferson Project used TV sets with full screen home pages for Internet access. People use normal TV remote controls to flip from place to place when watching TV, or when web surfing. When they switch to the Internet there is a small TV picture in the corner so people can see it and switch back to TV if it’s more interesting. The users are tracked to see how much Internet vs. standard TV they watch. When connected to Internet services they spend most time on the Internet, not on TV with the Internet in the background (so-called interactive TV). The way the Jefferson Project is set up, users effectively subscribe to available applications. They can customize the access bar as they wish to get applications and sites of interest to them highlighted.

Craig gave examples of the range of information that is submitted to the home pages, and how it is accessed and used. Sites can be set up so that only particular individuals have access to specific pages or areas. This is important in keeping groups and sub-groups of people together, such as school classrooms, or just adults of a classroom for example. Alerts or messages are broadcast to all interested users with a flashing symbol on screen to tell users that something important is happening. Jefferson now is posting the California Energy Alert and a graph of current electricity supply vs. demand. The PTA went to using the Internet community network instead of a standard phone tree to contact parents because the alert system is much more efficient.

Interested people can visit the site via PC using as identification “visitor” and the password “visitor”. Address is http://www.clairmont.close2home.net The screen will not cover the content or Jefferson Project secure applications, but you will get a good sense of the full-screen TV image and the many consumer information links (look for a circled letter I for their info-bot and search engines).

The local school uses the system extensively. Homework is sent out over the Internet. Students can ask about assignments, check due dates, look up information, and use the Internet for research. Students can post requests for information on specific topics and get extensive free replies in hours.

Because of it’s research grant from CEC, the EPRI Solutions service is free to the trial group until June. After that entry level service will cost about $20/month. Because the project aggregates a geographical neighborhood they can offer 56k dialup access with 5 users sharing the ISP modem for $10/month. This is a much better deal than commercial ISPs who often offer 28.8 kbps access shared among 15-20 users for $20/month. When the trial offer was made 76% signed up in 24 hours. Now that the program is operating, 99% are happy and continue with the program. Many gave testimonials; 50% were active users from the first day. The City council, PTAs, schools, Chamber of Commerce all endorse the Jefferson Project.

Police use it to get messages out about eldercare, community watch, police services, crimes and crime prevention, etc. Most of the users came to EPRI Solutions and asked to participate in the Jefferson Project despite a total lack of advertising and promotion. They heard about it by word of mouth from the small pilot group and were very impressed and wanted to get involved also.

Consumers love the system. It’s relevant, safe, and easy to use. Project staff has gotten many unsolicited testimonials. Although the initial 100 home group is still the basis for the project, community activity has seen some changes and expanded to respond to local interests since the Project began. Now about 2/3 of the participants have computers, but many users still access the Internet via TV. The typical Jefferson Project family, by choice of the project to test the ability to serve all demographic populations is a working class, 38k average income non-technical household. This is not as wealthy or sophisticated as in Palo Alto, but the Project still has been very successful and greatly appreciated by the participants.

The program works best when it meets the specific needs of a neighborhood or community. The business template was designed so that each business client can set up it’s own method for creating a community neighborhood. The financial models are slightly different in different areas, depending on what people want and how they use the network. The idea is to create a shared stakeholder model that works for specific communities and suits that community’s needs.

Craig gave some examples of how higher bandwidth can improve the usefulness of the service, e.g., real time EKG monitoring of a patient and broadcasting the EKG readings to medical personnel who track events in real time and react as required. Including real-time dispatch of patient-specific critical care is very practical with high bandwidth, but EKG monitoring won’t work well with 56k modems.

The consensus of the attendees was that this is a very useful project and of real interest to Palo Alto. It doesn’t depend on fiber or high bandwidth to be useful, but if it is successful it will drive more fiber deeper into the community faster. This area can find lots of things that need broadband and FTTH for best performance.

Neighborspace also is very interested in using something like this, easy software, etc. to improve their service and performance. They would like to be involved with any trial or use of the Jefferson Project in Palo Alto.

Marvin Lee suggested an evening meeting in April in the Council chambers to discuss the Jefferson Project and how EPRI Solutions can work with the FTTH operation, and Palo Alto in general. An evening meeting that is cablecast could go into the program in more detail. Current plans are for an evening meeting, presentation, and demonstration of the Clairmont site, and discussion session. Currently the plan is for a mid to late April date.

The Jefferson Project service that was discussed is potentially very useful, but it’s critical to develop individual pods of people who find areas of interest and activities in common and who are willing to coordinate within a larger operational organization such as the Jefferson Project. Missions are different for different groups, and they have to be brought together. The Jefferson Project can be customized to fit local needs, and scaled to fit our size and applications requirements, but the users define what happens and how successful it is. A funding model proposed by EPRI Solutions is to build a local company where every user has a stake, and local revenues are turned back to the local company and local stakeholders to improve local services. This non-predatory business structure can serve public and private interests, keep people interested in what happens and how useful the project is in building community.

We would welcome reactions and suggestions from PA-ComNet on their reactions to these minutes and suggestions for topics to be discussed at a future presentation by Craig or an associate. What are you interested in, and what should be covered in such a meeting?

Adjourned at 8:55 AM

Submitted by Bob Moss