STEVE CISLER
Senior Scientist
Apple Library
Apple Computer
Cupertino, California
Community Computer Networks:
Building Electronic Greenbelts
INTRODUCTION
What are community networks? I am writing as a librarian and network user
who has been involved in using telecommunications to communicate with other
people and to provide information on a wide range of subjects. I have encouraged
people in various towns and counties to use this technology to start and use
networks that can strengthen the community. Many individuals, organizations,
and institutions are becoming involved in these networks. Whether you are
a technical expert, information professional, government official, busi-
nessperson, or interested citizen, there is a role for you to play in incubating,
growing, maintaining, and using these systems.
A community network consists of one or more computers providing services
to people using computers and terminals to gain access to those services and
to each other. While many of these networks tie together geographically
separated individuals linked by a common interest or profession (senior citizens,
pilots, ecologists, librarians), this essay will not cover scholarly or affinity group
networks. Other models and systems exist but have been described elsewhere
(Rheingold, 1993). Instead, "community" will be used in the sense of a mu-
nicipality, county, regional area, or Indian nation. The information contained
in such networks as well as the relationships that form among the participants
make up what I call an electronic greenbelt to reinforce and add value to the
community. These communities do include a variety of other interest groups
whose needs and interests transcend the geographic boundaries of the town,
region, or state. The decisions these communities have made are similar, in
some ways, to what happened with the spread of electrical networks a
century ago.
THE PAST
As David Nye (1992) explains in Electrifying America, a great discussion
took place in American society between 1890 and 1920 about the rol