How can a National Information Infrastructure be fairly implemented? Those who receive gigabit bandwidth services may enjoy disproportionate advantages over those, perhaps in the rural United States, who do not. How can we all move forward together? Local electronic bulletin board systems offer a minimal-cost network server model to provide store-and-forward Internet e-mail services, as well as local free access to customized menus containing self-directed training and high-value information specific to the local community, gleaned from the Internet. These can be supplemented by SLIP access to full Internet only as needed, within local budget restraints.
Predictor: Odasz, Frank
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “Public Access to the Internet,” edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller carries the chapter, “Issues in the Development of Community Cooperative Networks” by Frank Odasz, the director of Big Sky Telegraph, Western Montana College of the University of Montana. He writes: ”A model for providing equitable public access to local and national networked information sources: Each community would have a BBS, accessible from home computers, schools, and public sites. Each community would customize its BBS so that users would be guided to resources most valuable to them. In addition, these local networks would help to integrate communities by facilitating communication. These BBSs would connect to the Internet nightly, providing communication with those outside the local community and an affordable initial level of access to resources of the Internet for all communities in the short-term. How can a National Information Infrastructure be fairly implemented? Those who receive gigabit bandwidth services may enjoy disproportionate advantages over those, perhaps in the rural United States, who do not. How can we all move forward together? Local electronic bulletin board systems offer a minimal-cost network server model to provide store-and-forward Internet e-mail services, as well as local free access to customized menus containing self-directed training and high-value information specific to the local community, gleaned from the Internet. These can be supplemented by SLIP access to full Internet only as needed, within local budget restraints.”
Biography:Frank Odasz was an assistant professor of computing education at the University of Colorado and the director of Big Sky Telegraph, a popular community network of the time. He was widely known as a speaker on community networking and educational technologies. (Technology Developer/Administrator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Universal Service
Name of publication: Public Access to the Internet (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Issues in the Development of Community Cooperative Networks
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 122, 123
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne