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Basic Community
Information - government, organizations, resources and events
A wide variety
of information about neighborhoods - profiles, demographics, assets and
activities
Measures of
problems and progress on community issues
A structured community
information system - details about the work of organizations to provide
for better access and coordination
Community education
content - about family, youth, health care, education, safety and many
others
An evolving "community
memory" - documents, minutes and other materials from neighborhood and
city wide activities
An enhanced, open access
system for communication - E-mail directories, working group lists,
working dialogues and a "postbox" service (to include those not on the
network)
Active links with
national network resources - including contributions to the national
resource base by local organizations
Discussion
Individual organizations are beginning to appear on Internet. But organizational material independent of a community system can be severely limited. This document advocates a comprehensive community effort involving the entire nonprofit sector and all other local sectors - government, business, media, schools, etc.
Universities have begun to develop fairly complex online systems called Campus Wide Information Systems (CWIS). A few examples of community information systems are underway. The comprehensive approach to communities has been called a Community Wide Education and Information System (CWEIS) in planning efforts sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - Community Networking Initiative project.
This document proposes a more ambitious perspective on this model than can be recognized in most current efforts. Elements of the model are derived by combining the best of elements of a number of "FreeNet" and community based World Wide Web systems. The importance of a comprehensive approach is central to these recommendations.
The model developed below is not limited to general community information. The design is based upon the integration of telecommunications resources into the work, planning and decision making of the local community
No single organization is likely to be able to build and maintain a community system. But an organized effort is required to create an over-arching structure, to stimulate other consistent activity, to fill in gaps and to weave together the work of others within the broader framework.
Components include:
This includes a basic overview of organizations, resources and activities in the community. Sections would describe government, service systems, educational systems, library resources, business organizations, etc. An overview helps to clarify roles and responsibilities of institutions and programs.
Materials can also be designed for visitors and new residents. This would include tourist and convention bureau material.
This includes descriptions of the community and its neighborhoods. This can include history, features, and trends which help to distinguish one neighborhood from another. Details about assets and activities, city wide and within neighborhoods may also be a part.
Demographic, maps and other statistics serve as background material.
This includes local data of value to local policy issues such as:
Information and Referral services (I&R) have been an important community resource. An online system can be structured to provide levels of detail about programs and organizations so that persons can identify appropriate services.
Many programs include materials for clients and consumers in their work. Programs would be supplemented by including educational, preventative and follow up information about families, youth, health care, education, safety and many other subjects in convenient online formats.
Community reports tend to end up "on the shelf". The results of meetings are frequently unknown to those who have missed them. Documents, minutes and other materials from neighborhood and city wide activities would be organized in a growing local reference pool.
Use of electronic forms of communication can be enhanced through local organization. Internet based pages can include E-mail directories, working group lists and open dialogues about community issues. A "postbox" service can be created to include those not on a network. (In a "postbox" service, E-mail addressed to citizens without access to Internet would be sent to a central location to be delivered by "snail mail". This allows a working group to optimize telecommunications resources without exclusion.)
A local community is not isolated from others. Resources elsewhere on Internet can be important to local residents. Local organizations can also create material as contributions to the national resource base.