From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Tue Aug 2 09:58:11 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:58:11 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act pending Federal legislation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <42EF7BF3.3020307@ibiblio.org> John McCain is also sponsoring Senate Bill 1294, an amendment to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, that will "preserve and protect the ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and services." The clear contradiction between these two bills sponsored by the same individual is confusing and deserves more investigation. For links to S 1294 and a concise review of Community Internet initiatives, see http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet/. The original Telecommunications Act as well the 1996 revisions have failed to achieve their intended purposes of making cable services more competitive, rather than regulated. The merging of technology, specifically the Internet, and broadcast media is further confusing that purpose. Big business vs open government vs knowledge economy...a debate that will rage on for several more years. I continue to believe that Chapel Hill should act quickly to put some kind of municipal network in place as a contingency measure. In this case, haste might avoid wasted opportunity. Terri Gregg Gerdau wrote: http://www.publicknowledge.org/news/intheknow/intheknow-20050729#story2 is one of the better links, in my opinion, to information and analysis of the Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act that was introduced by Senators Ensign and McCain on July 27th. While there will be much written about the loss of cable franchise fees (and the franchises themselves) contemplated by this legislation, most disappointing is "A state or local government seeking to provide a communications service must give notice of and permit non-government entities to bid to provide such service ? preference is to be given to non-government entities. Existing government owned network offerings are grandfathered." which doesn't appear to be good news for municipal wi-fi projects. Thanks to Bob Avery and Chad Johnston for the initial information. Please share your further thoughts and additional links on this subject. Gregg From chtechboard at yahoo.com Tue Aug 2 14:55:36 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 11:55:36 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act pending Federal legislation In-Reply-To: <42EF7BF3.3020307@ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <20050802185536.69141.qmail@web31510.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Terri, Here's an interesting article on how Philly's muni-network plans seem to have finally spurred the monopolists to start providing service. http://dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4481&src=rss10 The article mentions this report on the current state of muni-networking: http://muniwireless.com/reports/docs/July2005report.pdf Here's the article: As if to faceoff with Wireless Philadelphia, the planned city-wide WiFi network, Cingular Wireless, the country's largest wireless provider, today announced it will invest more than $200 million this year in the Greater Philadelphia area - including turning on-air approximately 140 new cell sites. Nationwide, the company is spending more than $6 billion dollars on its ALLOVER network, the nation's largest digital voice and data network. "Better wireless coverage and performance is exactly what Cingular is delivering in more places than ever before in metropolitan Philadelphia, central and northeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware," said Glen Robinson, Cingular's Executive Director Network Services, Greater Philadelphia. "We have also boosted network capacity by approximately 30% over the last six months so that our customers experience fewer dropped calls whether they're using their Cingular service at home, at work or on vacation." So far this year, Cingular has turned on more than 55 new cell sites in the Greater Philadelphia area. Meanwhile, Verizon now has 500,000 subscribers for EV-DO compared to its 40 or so million voice subscribers. Sprint's just released EV-DO pricing is $80 unlimited, but it also offers a $40 plan for 40 megabytes that is capped at $90 if users exceed their quota. Philadelphia, also the corporate home of Comcast, is building a huge municipal Wifi network, and should decide on a company in the next few days. Meanwhile, The Muniwireless Second Anniversary Report is out. You can download it here (PDF format). The Report contains a list of municipalities around the world that have deployed or are about to deploy citywide wireless broadband networks. In addition to the list are tables that show how much they are spending on their networks, what applications they are using and the business models they are implementing to meet their goals. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Tue Aug 2 19:20:23 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 19:20:23 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] History and Context of IT committee plans Message-ID: <42EFFFB7.4040507@ibiblio.org> At our July meeting, the new members asked for some context to the plans being discussed. I've endeavored to write a not-so-short history and reference those documents that I think are most relevant. I hope this is what you all wanted. -- Terri ************************************* The TechComm (also known as the IT Committee and CTC) was first created, through a Council resolution, in 1999. At that time, the town did not have an IT director. Bob Avery was employed, through the Finance Dept., to keep the desktops and network operational. In 2000, the TechComm presented Council with a comprehensive technology plan with one of the items being to create an independent technology department with its own director. That suggestion was adopted in 2001 and Bob was promoted. Other items on the technology plan were also addressed, but the plan was not adopted in total. As you will see, the financial commitment to technology was considerably less than the committee suggested. See: http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/archives/agendas/ca010226/8(1)-IT%20Report%202001%20Agenda.htm (includes link to original plan and cost analysis) When I joined the committee in the summer of 2002, the majority of members had been on the committee since its inception. The first few monthly meetings I attended consisted of a lot of talk about the importance of GIS, but not much more. That fall, Bill Groves, prior chair, prompted the committee to undertake a new strategic plan. After a couple of months of discussion, the committee asked Bob Avery to send out a survey to all the department chairs. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a copy of the survey or the questions we asked. The town manager endorsed this survey and the responses we got back were informative and detailed. Through text analysis, we identified three (3) primary areas of concern by the managers: 1. Infrastructure: my recollection is that all or nearly all of the departments had serious concerns about infrastructure. Planning and Inspections want to issue permits and licenses online; public safety needs more current data to be available to officers in the field; etc. 2. Communications: several departments were contracting out for their departmental websites. They wanted a consolidated site; better training for staff; and better communications with their public. Public safety, planning and the fire department all want to use GIS tools, which we included here under communications and under document management. 3. Document management: Engineering summed up the problem: "Efforts should continue Townwide to decrease the volume of "paper" In our February 2004 report to Council (part of budget review process), we notified Council that we would be working on a strategic plan focused on these three areas of concern. The presentation (attached) identified a goal, beneficiary, and planned actions for each. We also provided some statistics on what portion of the budget towns of similar sizes commit to technology and notified Council of our intention to formalize policies on network security, data recovery, and environmental sustainability. Our budget recommendations were to hire a web master, a GIS manager, an e-democracy ombudsman, as well as consultants to help flesh out the three (3) plans. We also supported hiring an additional PC technician at Bob's request. In addition, we promised to make quarterly reports on our progress. Outcome: A PC technician and a webmaster were included in the 2004 budget. We've haven't lived up to the promise to make quarterly reports. (presentation attached: CTC Council Participation--2-2004) Following the presentation, which I think we all felt very positive about, members of the committee signed up to work on one of the issues. We separated GIS out into its own separate group at that point and the Communication issue became the web strategy subcommittee, which assumed responsibility for document management. The task for each of the three (3) subcommittees was to develop a plan to accomplish to goals set out in the presentation. Editorial aside: This is where we began to experience some problems. Was our mission to address staff concerns or provide a vision for how technology could be used by citizens? We've tried to straddle the line on this, which has, in my opinion, contributed to some of our internal debates and our failure to elicit more support from Council. The Web Strategy Group, composed of Ralph Beisner, Evelyn Daniel and myself, got right to work and submitted a plan that was voted on and approved by the full committee in July 2004. The plan was intended to "provide an integrated, standards-based website easily accessed by Chapel Hill citizenry, town employees, local businesses, and other interested parties." The plan is deceptively simple and is focused primarily on creating document standards for easy searching and archiving, and accessibility (dial up connections, public computers, Section 508). It included focus groups with citizens and town staff in order to develop a more 'finely grained communications plan.' Our expectation was that Bob would keep the old site running for another 6 months while this plan was implemented. (I believe you have all received a copy of this plan--if not, please let me know and I'll distribute it again.) When we presented the web strategy plan (October 2004?) to Council, the presentation included a 5-minute description of e-democracy (the committee's vision for IT) followed by an explanation for how the web strategy would accomplish that 'vision.' After many emails back and forth, we had agreed to a definition of e-democracy as "the use of digital communication technologies to promote direct and active participation in government." While we succeeded in introducing the concept of e-democracy to Council and showing them excellent websites from smaller, less erudite communities, they didn't take any action (such as referring the plan to staff so that it could be funded). It's my opinion, they didn't understand that we wanted them to accept it since we didn't 'petition' them to do so. In July 2004 the committee had its first significant membership change. Most of the new members of the committee were assigned to the Infrastructure subcommittee. As I recall, Doug Noell is the only senior committee member who worked with that group which began developing their plan in November 2004. They faced a steep learning curve since no one on that group had been involved in the discussions leading up to the February 2004 presentation to Council. The GIS group also got revved up that fall and by spring we had a plan from both groups. I don't remember which months we voted to accept the two but it was before April. Gregg has provided you all with copies of the infrastructure plan I believe. While those two (2) subgroups were working, the committee as a whole made another trip to Council on November 15, 2004 for a 'working' meeting on e-democracy (our vision). Our intention was to listen to what Council members thought about e-democracy. But they didn't speak initially and so (this won't surprise anyone) our members stepped up and started talking. We never did hear what Council members thought before that meeting, but we've heard repeatedly how confused they were afterwards. The problem I think comes for our own internal disagreements on the difference between e-democracy and digital government. The chair, Alan Rimer, sent a follow up memo in December trying to save the situation by answering questions we thought we heard from Council. (see attached: Memo to Council on Meeting of 11-15VF) While the infrastructure and GIS committees were working on their plans, Bob Avery decided to issue a RFP for a new town website. Although the RFP included some elements of the web strategy plan, it focused more on meeting Bob's desire for a content management system than elements such as the document creation standards that were foundational to the committee-endorsed web strategy. After several meetings in which we tried to hash this problem out, we were informed that Bob had entered the town into a contest for a free website and that we had won. At that point, the RFP and the web strategy plans were set aside. The town's new web master, who started work on July 1, is now working with CivicPlus and web managers from the various town departments, to move the town site into their system. The manager has informed all departments that they will move their sites into CivicPlus so that the town will have a unified look and feel (and reduced costs). The preliminary contract was for two (2) years of free hosting of X number of documents. We know the full archive will not be going into CivicPlus, but we have not seen the final contract so no additional details can be provided at this time. In late fall 2004, we began recommending that Steve Irving be appointed, as the committee's representative to the Town Operations Center planning group. We also requested that Gregg Gerdau be appointed as the committee's representative on the Budget Advisory Committee. Neither of these requests was acted upon although Alan Rimer was appointed to the Budget committee so we did have representation. Although we have representatives from the Library and Public Safety attending our meetings somewhat regularly, we have little to no interaction with the rest of the town departments. If we are ever going to make any difference in this town, we need to help Council understand that technology is more than just computers. The fact that they sent the SmartCard for parking issue to us is a step in the right direction even if it did come too late (parking meters had already been purchased). Around January 2005, in preparation for Alan's departure as Chair, along with Roscoe Reeves, Bill Groves, and Doug Noell, all members since the committee's inception, we began developing our own set of bylaws, using the council procedures guide and the planning boards bylaws as our guide. The bylaws were adopted in April 2005, and our first election was conducted in May 2005. This group of members will be the first to operate under these formal guidelines rather than the more casual atmosphere of the past. We have some learning to do in terms of process. (You should each have a copy of the bylaws, if not, please advise.) Our most recent Council appearance was in April 2005. Council had asked each of the advisory boards to make recommendations on how to save the town money. Alan presented our cost savings recommendation along with the 3 technology plans (consisting of a spreadsheet for infrastructure, web strategy, and GIS) as his last official act as chair. Once again, the Council did not forward the plans on to staff so they are, at this time, not officially recognized by the Town Council or the Town Manager. (see attached: 3-23 TC Meeting Talking Points) We were the only advisory board to act upon the Council request for cost savings suggestions. In the process of developing these recommendations, we found the original technology plan from 2000 and the manager's response to that plan. Bob Avery also provided a more current report on the plan's status (see above). To our surprise, that 5-year old plan addressed most of the issues included in our current plans. That fact signaled, to some of us, that the committee's big challenge is to figure out how to push these plans through Council. That is the origin of my statement at the last meeting that we have been "political" failures. We have developed good, solid technology recommendations and presented them to Council. But the council has not taken action on either the plans or the vision of e-democracy. However, our Council representative, Mark Kleinschmidt, has now attended two meetings and has promised to help guide us as we become more sophisticated in pushing forward our agenda. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: CTC Council Participation - 2-2004 V2.ppt Type: application/vnd.ms-powerpoint Size: 131584 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050802/aef2bdc2/attachment.ppt -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 3-23 TC Meeting Talking Points Final Version.doc Type: application/msword Size: 32256 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050802/aef2bdc2/attachment.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Memo to Council on Meeting of 11-15 VF.doc Type: application/msword Size: 34304 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050802/aef2bdc2/attachment-0001.doc From chtechboard at yahoo.com Fri Aug 5 15:31:49 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 12:31:49 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] FYI: Baby Bells no longer have to lease lines to competitors..."he who owns the lines, owns the world"? Message-ID: <20050805193149.62519.qmail@web31506.mail.mud.yahoo.com> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regulators said Friday that Internet services provided by Verizon Communications and other local telephone companies will no longer have to follow traditional telephone rules. The Federal Communications Commission unanimously agreed to treat the high-speed Internet service, known as digital subscriber line (DSL), as an "information service," which insulates it from many traditional telephone rules, such as requirements to lease network access to competitors. The designation would allow the big local telephone companies, called the Baby Bells, to cut off or potentially negotiate new terms for Internet service providers such as EarthLink Inc. (Research) to use their networks for broadband. .... More here: http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/05/technology/verizon_fcc.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs From brussell at ibiblio.org Sun Aug 7 11:28:10 2005 From: brussell at ibiblio.org (Brian Russell) Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 11:28:10 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] When Pigs Wi-Fi Message-ID: <58525.64.69.32.42.1123428490.squirrel@secure.ibiblio.org> The New York Times ------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 7, 2005 When Pigs Wi-Fi =============By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF HERMISTON, Ore. This is cowboy country, where the rodeo is coming to town, the high school's "kiss the pig" contest involves a genuine hog, and life seems about as high-tech as the local calf-dressing competition, when teams race to wrestle protesting calves into T-shirts. But Hermiston is actually a global leader of our Internet future. Today, this chunk of arid farm country appears to be the largest Wi-Fi hot spot in the world, with wireless high-speed Internet access available free for some 600 square miles. Most of that is in eastern Oregon, with some just across the border in southern Washington. Driving along the road here, I used my laptop to get e-mail and download video - and you can do that while cruising at 70 miles per hour, mile after mile after mile, at a transmission speed several times as fast as a T-1 line. (Note: it's preferable to do this with someone else driving.) This kind of network is the wave of the future, and eastern Oregon shows that it's technically and financially feasible. New York and other leading cities should be embarrassed that Morrow and Umatilla Counties in eastern Oregon are far ahead of them in providing high-speed Internet coverage to residents, schools and law enforcement officers - even though all of Morrow County doesn't even have a single traffic light. The big cities should take note, said Kim Puzey, the general manager of the Port of Umatilla on the Columbia River here. "We'd like people to say, 'If they can do it out in the boondocks with a small population, that model can be applied to highly complex areas,' " he said. Mr. Puzey, who says wireless broadband is central to the port's operations, argues persuasively that broadband is just the next step in expanding the national infrastructure, comparable to the transcontinental railroad, the national highway system and rural electrification. Indeed, we need to envision broadband Internet access as just another utility, like electricity or water. Often the best way to provide that will be to blanket a region with Wi-Fi coverage to create wireless computer networks, rather than running D.S.L., cable or fiber-optic lines to every home. So if the first step was to get Americans wired, the next step is to make them wireless. Two pioneers in that process are Portland, Ore., and Philadelphia, which are both moving toward citywide Wi-Fi Internet access. Consumers will still have to pay for broadband, but only about half as much as they do now. Still, Portland and Philadelphia won't have their systems in place until next year. Meanwhile, the system in eastern Oregon covers a larger geographic area, is free for consumers and has been up and running for more than a year and a half. One reason it sprang up here is that a nearby Army depot contains chemical weapons, so there is special concern about what would happen if a cloud of nerve gas escaped from the depot. That fear helped provide a pot of federal money to underwrite safety systems. Usually, the police and fire agencies communicate just by radio, but Hermiston decided to go with a public-private partnership that established a Wi-Fi network. The police chief, Dan Coulombe, showed me the wireless computers that all police officers now carry. They can download data and receive images from video monitors - and, if nerve gas ever escaped, display the cloud's direction and speed. Fingerprint readers are now being added to these portable devices so a police officer can almost instantly run a person's fingerprint through a multistate database. And if there's a report of a burglary, the police rushing to the scene can download floor plans of the building, live images from video monitors and information about the alarm system. The wizard behind the system is Fred Ziari, an Iranian immigrant and Wi-Fi pioneer who runs a high-tech company in Hermiston and Portland, EZ Wireless. Mr. Ziari contracted with the local authorities to provide the Wi-Fi service, which lets consumers piggyback for nothing. Hermiston is already starting to introduce WiMax, the next generation of technology after Wi-Fi, offering much higher speeds and greater range. Other American towns need to follow Hermiston, not necessarily in holding "kiss the pig" contests, but in ensuring broadband Internet access as reliably as they do water or electricity. The fact is, unless you're a cowboy here in eastern Oregon, you're behind the times. E-mail: nicholas at nytimes.com From martha at pobox.com Mon Aug 8 19:58:21 2005 From: martha at pobox.com (Martha Hoylman) Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:58:21 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Digital Divide Network Message-ID: <000e01c59c75$0e4fe1b0$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> I was starting to do some research on the digital divide and ran across this site - you are probably aware of it already, but just in case you're not, here it is http://www.digitaldivide.net. Membership is free and it seems to have good articles and contacts. Martha Martha A. Hoylman 308 Telluride Trail Chapel Hill NC 27514 919-933-4449 (home) 919-949-3958 (cell) martha at pobox.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050808/7bbd96cd/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Martha Hoylman.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 199 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050808/7bbd96cd/attachment.vcf From chtechboard at yahoo.com Mon Aug 8 21:05:24 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 18:05:24 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Digital Divide Network In-Reply-To: <000e01c59c75$0e4fe1b0$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> Message-ID: <20050809010524.62179.qmail@web31514.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thanks Martha, I've found this to be an excellent resource for the policy-side. Will --- Martha Hoylman wrote: > I was starting to do some research on the digital divide and ran across > this site - you are probably aware of it already, but just in case > you're not, here it is http://www.digitaldivide.net. Membership is free > and it seems to have good articles and contacts. > > Martha > > Martha A. Hoylman > 308 Telluride Trail > Chapel Hill NC 27514 > 919-933-4449 (home) > 919-949-3958 (cell) > martha at pobox.com > > > > BEGIN:VCARD > VERSION:2.1 > N:Hoylman;Martha > FN:Martha Hoylman > EMAIL;PREF;INTERNET:martha at pobox.com > EMAIL;INTERNET:mahoylman at hotmail.com > EMAIL;INTERNET:mahoylman at nc.rr.com > REV:20030217T140620Z > END:VCARD > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From martha at pobox.com Mon Aug 8 19:49:03 2005 From: martha at pobox.com (Martha Hoylman) Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:49:03 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] FW: [nclgisa] FW: Muniwireless newsletter no. 98: Second Anniversary Report released Message-ID: <000601c59c73$c1f5ca10$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> Interesting publication...looks like Carrboro's initiatives and our discussions haven't made any national radar...Martha -----Original Message----- From: Stanley Victrum [mailto:SVictrum at ci.fay.nc.us] Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 11:52 AM To: The nclgisa mailing list Subject: [nclgisa] FW: Muniwireless newsletter no. 98: Second Anniversary Report released Read the online version of this newsletter. NCLGISA: Good morning. Per the attached report from Muniwireless.com, to the best of my review, it notes there were no City's or County's in NC which were considering or had completed a broadband wireless implementation. Is this indeed the case? Thanks for the feedback. Respectfully, "Vic" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stanley "Vic" Victrum Assistant City Manager City of Fayetteville Government 433 Hay Street Fayetteville, NC 28301-5537 (910) 433 - 1991 (office) (910) 433 - 1948 (fax) www.cityoffayetteville.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----Original Message----- From: info at muniwireless.com [mailto:info at muniwireless.com] Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 6:38 PM To: Stanley Victrum Subject: Muniwireless newsletter no. 98: Second Anniversary Report released Week 31 of 2005 issue no. 98 Muniwireless.com reports on municipal wireless and broadband projects Dear Stanley Victrum, My Second Anniversary Report is finally out! Unofficially called the July 2005 Report, it's an update of the March 2005 Report and contains the latest (as of July) on municipal and county deployments. What's new? The number of cities and counties issuing RFPs has gone up dramatically and I know many more who are about to do the same (but I am sworn to secrecy). In case you have not noticed, I have two new editors posting on Muniwireless. Sascha Meinrath of the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWIN) will be posting articles in the Community section; Dewayne Hendricks of the Dandin Group in Fremont, California will be posting in the Technology section. I have known Sascha and Dewayne for some time now and they have been valuable, although silent, contributors to Muniwireless. So I decided to make them less silent. In fact, they already started posting this week. * * * Early bird discount for Muniwireless 2005 Conference * * * Planning my conference is very exciting. More speakers have confirmed and I will be posting short pieces from them this week so keep checking Muniwireless. Better yet -- SIGN UP NOW! There's an early bird discount of $100 for anyone who registers before August 25. The conference website is at: http://www.mw05sf.com . Here's a wrap-up of the week's news: * Muniwireless Second Anniversary Report released * Jodi Sherman Jahic on the future of municipal wireless * Wireless parking meters help cities manage tight spaces * Pico-peering: building the community wireless uber-network * Philadelphia closer to wireless Internet deal * Malden deploys citywide Wi-Fi for municipal use * Southlake, Texas deploys citywide Wi-Fi for muni use and public access * Latest news on US federal and state regulations Sponsor of the week: Firetide Instant Mesh Networks Firetide is a leader in mesh networking for easily and affordably deploying wireless instant networks. Firetide's HotPortT High Performance Mesh Network provides a high capacity, self-healing wireless mesh backbone for outdoor and indoor networks. Designed for maximum performance, scalability, and ease of use, the HotPort mesh works indoors and outdoors in 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz spectrums. The HotPort system enables multiple network services and standard Ethernet devices to operate on the wireless backbone creating secure and reliable wireless networks for video, voice and data. Recent deployments include a municipal mesh network in Isla Vista, California providing free wireless Internet access downtown. For a free mesh networking white paper, visit wwwfiretide.com/muniwireless or call 877-FIRETIDE. * * * * Main Event: Muniwireless 2005 San Francisco, September 28-29 Other Events: WiNOG (Wireless Internet Network Operators Group), August 15-17, Park City, Utah * * * * Advertise on Muniwireless: conference, website and newsletter If you want to sponsor the conference, contact me. If you want to advertise on the website and in the weekly newsletter, download the media kit from here and email me. If you want to know about RFPs as soon as I get them, sign up for my (paid) RFP email alerts service. * * * * If you missed previous issues of the newsletter, go to the Newsletter Archive. If you need to change/update your e-mail address, please go to http://ncinfo.iog.unc.edu/forms/listservchange.htm and use the online form to submit the change/update. To access messages through a Web browser go to http://webmail0.isis.unc.edu:82/lists/. To unsubscribe send an unsubscribe message that says [unsubscribe nclgisa] to pyoung at email.unc.edu unsubscribe . studio w mailer If you need to change/update your e-mail address, please go to http://ncinfo.iog.unc.edu/forms/listservchange.htm and use the online form to submit the change/update. To access messages through a Web browser go to http://webmail0.isis.unc.edu:82/lists/. To unsubscribe send an unsubscribe message that says [unsubscribe nclgisa] to pyoung at email.unc.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050808/bce972c3/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Muniwireless July 2005 Report.pdf Type: application/octet-stream Size: 237401 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050808/bce972c3/attachment.obj From martha at pobox.com Wed Aug 10 18:16:58 2005 From: martha at pobox.com (Martha Hoylman) Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:16:58 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] DEDC Meeting Tonight Message-ID: <001201c59df9$39c29c40$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> I can't find a phone listing (is there such a thing?) so I'm sending an email. There's a DEDC meeting tonight, Wednesday, August 10 at 7:30 at the Midway Business Center. The general meeting agenda includes a financial report, an executive director's report, a draft plan of work for the next three months, and a request for the corporation and downtown merchants to collaborate with the university on showcasing downtown Chapel Hill for the Memorial Hall reopening weekend. No mention of the downtown internet access initiatives, unless they are included in the work plan. Perhaps some of us can make it to introduce ourselves, listen to the discussion, and report back? Martha Martha A. Hoylman 308 Telluride Trail Chapel Hill NC 27514 919-933-4449 (home) 919-949-3958 (cell) martha at pobox.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050810/15da3f05/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Martha Hoylman.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 199 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050810/15da3f05/attachment.vcf From martha at pobox.com Wed Aug 10 18:27:52 2005 From: martha at pobox.com (Martha Hoylman) Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:27:52 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] FW: DEDC Meeting Tonight Message-ID: <001f01c59dfa$bf84bf60$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> Never mind - it was this morning...sorry, didn't read carefully. But, did anyone go??? Martha -----Original Message----- From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Martha Hoylman Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 6:17 PM To: 'The ch-tech-advisory mailing list' Subject: [Chtechcomm] DEDC Meeting Tonight I can't find a phone listing (is there such a thing?) so I'm sending an email. There's a DEDC meeting tonight, Wednesday, August 10 at 7:30 at the Midway Business Center. The general meeting agenda includes a financial report, an executive director's report, a draft plan of work for the next three months, and a request for the corporation and downtown merchants to collaborate with the university on showcasing downtown Chapel Hill for the Memorial Hall reopening weekend. No mention of the downtown internet access initiatives, unless they are included in the work plan. Perhaps some of us can make it to introduce ourselves, listen to the discussion, and report back? Martha Martha A. Hoylman 308 Telluride Trail Chapel Hill NC 27514 919-933-4449 (home) 919-949-3958 (cell) martha at pobox.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050810/e840702a/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Martha Hoylman.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 199 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050810/e840702a/attachment.vcf -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00029.txt Url: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050810/e840702a/attachment.txt From martha at pobox.com Sat Aug 13 10:15:52 2005 From: martha at pobox.com (Martha Hoylman) Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 10:15:52 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Another interesting link on e-government Message-ID: <000f01c5a011$831f4540$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/egovstudies.htm#2 Martha A. Hoylman 308 Telluride Trail Chapel Hill NC 27514 919-933-4449 (home) 919-949-3958 (cell) martha at pobox.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050813/e8ad8440/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Martha Hoylman.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 199 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050813/e8ad8440/attachment.vcf From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Sat Aug 13 15:43:24 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (tbuckner at ibiblio.org) Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 15:43:24 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] OneCleveland Message-ID: <1424.68.214.240.18.1123962204.squirrel@secure.ibiblio.org> OneCleveland was just designated as one of the countries premier Technology Innovators by Campus Technology (journal). Thought you all might see some opportunities for us to use their model here in Chapel Hill (and beyond). http://www.onecleveland.org/ Connecting, Enabling and Transforming our Community OneCleveland is a provider of application-based data communication services that foster collaboration and innovation. Our mission is to: Connect our next-generation ultra broadband network to the region's treasures -- our schools, universities, researchers, healthcare providers, government agencies, social services, arts and cultural institutions and other nonprofits. Enable new ideas, new approaches, new capabilities, new services, new collaborations, new models, new products, new applications, new tools and innovation. Transform how we think, how we live, how we deliver services to our regional community. Expand collaborations, share resources, leverage community assets and resources, invest, partner, innovate, and drive economic development. From martha at pobox.com Sun Aug 14 10:51:27 2005 From: martha at pobox.com (Martha Hoylman) Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 10:51:27 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Proposed 2005-2006 Tech Comm Goals Message-ID: <000101c5a0df$a6968280$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> Terri has drafted proposed 2005-2006 goals for the Tech Committee. The idea is to discuss and agree on the committee goals, and on a set of measurable, specific action items that move us toward addressing those goals. Once we all agree on the goals and action items, we would then review them with the Town Manager and Town Council. We would be asking the Town Council for their endorsement of the goals - that endorsement would then set our priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. We have a fairly full agenda for Tuesday's meeting, but perhaps we could spend a few minutes discussing this proposal and next steps. Martha -----Original Message----- From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org [mailto:tbuckner at ibiblio.org] Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2005 3:05 PM To: Martha Hoylman Subject: Re: Comments on proposal -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050814/e7855f84/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: techplan revisions.doc Type: application/msword Size: 29184 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050814/e7855f84/attachment.doc From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Sun Aug 14 14:46:47 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (tbuckner at ibiblio.org) Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:46:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] A washingtonpost.com article from: tbuckner@ibiblio.org Message-ID: <33177698.1124045207416.JavaMail.wlogic@sane5> You have been sent this message from tbuckner at ibiblio.org as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com Broadband Is Too Important to Be Left to Cable-Phone Duopoly By Rob Pegoraro Competition in the market for broadband Internet access remains alive, despite what can look like a concerted campaign by big business and government to abolish it. The latest such steps were a Supreme Court ruling and a Federal Communications Commission vote that allowed cable and phone companies to block competitors from their networks. Be glad that competitors are still around: The phone and cable incumbents still fall short of many customers' needs, and it's up to other companies to meet them. But as long as telephone and cable TV lines are the only affordable ways to pipe data to and from a house, any challenger to Comcast, Verizon and their ilk must first go into business with them. The competitor has to rent a phone or cable company's wires -- lines installed under a government-sanctioned monopoly -- to reach any customer's home. Figuring out how that should happen has consumed thousands of billable hours from lawyers and lobbyists over the past decade. And so far, competition has taken off only in half of the cable-phone duopoly. Since the dawn of cable-modem access, such cable operators as Comcast and Cox have almost never allowed other companies to offer Internet access over their lines. The Supreme Court's "Brand X" ruling in late June codified this state of affairs, ruling that cable operators could not be forced to let in competitors. Phone companies such as Verizon, however, have been far more welcoming. Competing digital-subscriber-line providers did start out with the benefit of regulations mandating their access -- a good thing, given the early obstructionist behavior of many phone carriers -- but they've grown even as those rules have loosened. The FCC's vote two Fridays ago will end the obligation of incumbent phone companies to rent their DSL connections to competitors (they still must sell bare phone lines at a discount, allowing other firms to set up their own DSL services over them). Earlier FCC decisions relieved phone companies from having to lease particular elements of their networks and allowed them to bar competitors from such new networks as Verizon's Fios fiber-optic service. A choice of broadband access that's limited to the cable company and the phone company would be extraordinarily bad. Although such firms have done a remarkable job of rolling out service, they let down customers in other ways. One is price. Far too often, cable and phone companies have balked at cutting rates, instead increasing download speeds whether or not customers want the extra performance. Even the $30 a month that Verizon charges for DSL is more than many dial-up users want to pay. The market should have room for firms that charge less for a slower, but still always-on, connection. Another is reliability -- the subject of numerous complaints from Comcast, Cox and Verizon users. The fault rarely involves a break in cable or phone lines; it's the Internet service provided over them, which competitors often deliver more consistently. Just getting connected can be an ordeal. I've heard from many readers who have waited weeks for Verizon to set up their DSL; some decided to cancel their orders and go with competitors, even though it meant paying more. One of my colleagues actually had Verizon unplug his DSL service -- then offer to charge him more for a slower connection. A competitor quickly had him back online. A third failing is tech support. If you like simply being told to reboot your modem and computer whenever you call, even if it's an obvious service interruption, you'll love the incumbents. The last shortfall is features. The incumbents have been loath to go beyond the same basic bundle -- a handful of e-mail accounts, a personal Web page and so on -- that Internet providers have offered since 1999. If you want such extras as the right to share your connection with neighbors over a wireless network (then charge them for their share of the bill), you need to look elsewhere. Without competing providers, the broadband world would be a much poorer place, but the ongoing regulatory rollback doesn't seem to recognize that. Fortunately, at least one half of the cable-phone duopoly seems to have awakened to the benefits of competition. Not only has Verizon continued to sell access to its lines to other DSL providers, it's also discussing ways to offer access to the fiber-optic service it has zero obligation to share with anybody. Two providers, EarthLink and Seattle-based Speakeasy, said they're talking to Verizon about offering their service over Fios lines. We'd be fools to count on the continued generosity of a Verizon, though. The government needs to do its job as well. As a start, the FCC should turn its recent broadband policy statement -- a declaration that customers should be able to access any legal Internet site and run any legal Internet application -- into an enforceable regulation. The commission also needs to ease the progress of other forms of broadband, such as wireless data services. And it has to watch for abuses of the remaining rules. Broadband Internet access is far too important to be left to the cable guys or the phone company -- especially since it will someday eliminate the need for separate phone and TV service. Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrob at twp.com. Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005081300149&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle Visit washingtonpost.com today for the latest in: News - http://www.washingtonpost.com/?referrer=emailarticle Politics - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/politics/?referrer=emailarticle Sports - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/sports/?referrer=emailarticle Entertainment - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/entertainmentguide/?referrer=emailarticle Travel - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/travel/?referrer=emailarticle Technology - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/technology/?referrer=emailarticle Want the latest news in your inbox? Check out washingtonpost.com's e-mail newsletters: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin/email&referrer=emailarticle Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive c/o E-mail Customer Care 1515 N. Courthouse Road Arlington, VA 22201 ? 2004 The Washington Post Company From wsirving at morgancreek.net Mon Aug 15 14:03:29 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:03:29 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] FW: DEDC Meeting Tonight In-Reply-To: <001f01c59dfa$bf84bf60$c901a8c0@MarthaDell> Message-ID: <0MKoyl-1E4jJH0djR-0007Qf@mrelay.perfora.net> Martha, et. al., Gregg and I both attended the DEDC Board meeting Wednesday morning. Here are some observations and comments Attending DEDC Board members were: Nancy Suttenfield (Vice-Chair, presiding), Tom Tucker, Roger Perry, Allen Fine, Lex Alexander (perhaps one other - there were no introductions) Absent DEDC Board members: Kevin Foy, Andrea Rohrbacher, perhaps others (the list of board members on the web site is out of date) DEDC Staff: Liz Parham, Executive Director Public and press: Lisa Hoppenjans, reporter for The Chapel Hill News; Pat Evans, Friends of Downtown Chapel Hill; Terry Mellville, entrepreneur; Gregg Gerdau, Steve Irving and others The meeting proceeded according to the agenda (Martha ? I could not locate the agenda on line. Please supply a link if you have it.) and initially focused on financial issues. There was a discussion of changing DEDC?s fiscal year end from 12/31 to 6/30 in order to match both the Town?s and UNC?s FYE. Liz presented a series of financial and operational recommendations which were approved. There was much discussion regarding the approaching Memorial Hall re-opening and preparations in the downtown area, including displaying banners along the street and general cleanup. See Herald-Sun article: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-635396.html Lex suggested that some of the empty storefronts could be filled with informational or cultural displays and the board charged Liz with making the appropriate inquiries. During Liz?s discussion of her work plan for the next 4 months, there was no mention of downtown wireless. During the citizen comment part of the meeting, Pat inquired whether DEDC would be conducting any sort of ?welcome back students? campaign such as has been done by the (now defunct) Downtown Commission in the past. No such effort is under way, although Gregg offered to engage local Boy Scouts to assist should it develop. There was a discussion of grants to local businesses to clean up/improve/light storefronts and concern expressed about local flooding vis-?-vis the storm water tax. Gregg presented the Board with the TC?s Mission and Purposes statement and a copy of the Manager?s 2000 electronic meetings memo, informing them that the TC is in the process of developing a best practice for electronic collaboration of public bodies. We both inquired about DEDC?s interest and role in providing wireless internet connectivity downtown, elaborated on the current referrals from Council, discussed other community requirements (North Side / Pine Knolls), advised of the TC?s monthly meetings and offered the TC?s assistance and cooperation on this and any other technology matters DEDC may address. Our attendance and participation was generally appreciated by all, and we were specifically and enthusiastically thanked by Liz, Lex, Pat and others following the meeting. Steve _____ From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Martha Hoylman Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 6:28 PM To: 'The ch-tech-advisory mailing list' Subject: [Chtechcomm] FW: DEDC Meeting Tonight Never mind - it was this morning...sorry, didn't read carefully. But, did anyone go??? Martha -----Original Message----- From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Martha Hoylman Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 6:17 PM To: 'The ch-tech-advisory mailing list' Subject: [Chtechcomm] DEDC Meeting Tonight I can't find a phone listing (is there such a thing?) so I'm sending an email. There's a DEDC meeting tonight, Wednesday, August 10 at 7:30 at the Midway Business Center. The general meeting agenda includes a financial report, an executive director's report, a draft plan of work for the next three months, and a request for the corporation and downtown merchants to collaborate with the university on showcasing downtown Chapel Hill for the Memorial Hall reopening weekend. No mention of the downtown internet access initiatives, unless they are included in the work plan. Perhaps some of us can make it to introduce ourselves, listen to the discussion, and report back? Martha Martha A. Hoylman 308 Telluride Trail Chapel Hill NC 27514 919-933-4449 (home) 919-949-3958 (cell) martha at pobox.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050815/dc67b5a3/attachment.html From wsirving at morgancreek.net Tue Aug 16 08:07:03 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:07:03 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Tonight's Meeting Message-ID: <0MKp2t-1E50EZ0AYL-0008Ri@mrelay.perfora.net> To all, I am travelling on business and will not be able to attend tonight's meeting. Steve -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050816/ac028ebe/attachment.html From chtechboard at yahoo.com Tue Aug 16 08:13:11 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 05:13:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Tonight's Meeting - Roll call? Message-ID: <20050816121312.32942.qmail@web31507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Who will be attending? Steve Irving wrote: >To all, > > > >I am travelling on business and will not be able to attend tonight's >meeting. > > > >Steve > > > > > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From dnoell at chccs.k12.nc.us Tue Aug 16 08:42:34 2005 From: dnoell at chccs.k12.nc.us (Doug Noell) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:42:34 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Tonight's Meeting - Roll call? In-Reply-To: <20050816121312.32942.qmail@web31507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20050816121312.32942.qmail@web31507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: I'm tied up with opening of school tasks and will probably not be able to attend. Doug Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 8:13 AM -0500 wrote: >Who will be attending? > >Steve Irving wrote: > >>To all, >> >> >> >>I am travelling on business and will not be able to attend tonight's >>meeting. >> >> >> >>Steve >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Chtechcomm mailing list >>Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm >> >> > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >http://mail.yahoo.com >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm Douglas W. Noell MIS Director Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools 750 S. Merritt Mill Rd. Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (919) 967-8211 x 274 (919) 918-2502 (fax) dnoell at chccs.k12.nc.us All email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. All email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Tue Aug 16 14:50:01 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 14:50:01 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Boulder Gets Solar-Powered Wi-Fi Message-ID: <43023559.6050400@ibiblio.org> *Boulder Gets Solar-Powered Wi-Fi http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/3525941 * Things have suddenly gotten very busy at Lumin Innovative Products in Boulder, Colorado. On July 15^th , 18 months after the company formed around co-founder Ben Adams's concept for solar-powered Wi-Fi networks, Lumin deployed its first access points at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Since that successful launch, the four-person staff has been deluged with inquiries from press, people looking for work, potential investors, and prospective clients. Lumin's first-generation product is the LightWave AP-1000 solar-powered access point, which comes in two models, single and dual. The Pearl Street deployment utilizes four dual units, each of which is located out of sight on a well-chosen rooftop, and features two hinged solar panels. (The single unit LightWave includes only one panel.) While each access point has a potential range of up to 30 miles, this deployment, which only covers a six-block area, required four APs due to the number of trees interfering with line-of-sight along the cobblestoned outdoor mall. The decision to bring free Wi-Fi to Pearl Street [/though not the first solar-powered Wi-Fi in the country, as was pointed out by/ Daily Wireless ], was made by the Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District . Lumin designed the units with more remote areas in mind, locations where there is little or no available power--obviously not the case in downtown Boulder. But the environmentally-friendly power source enticed the Pearl Street planners into becoming the first clients. The network cost $10,000 to deploy, but upkeep costs will essentially be nil. The rechargeable batteries need to be swapped out every so often, but the solar panels are built to run for 25-30 years. The science behind LightWave is actually quite simple. "Basically, you open the solar panels, they charge the batteries, and the batteries power the system," says Lumin co-founder Sally Lyon. While the weather in Boulder is beautiful much of the year, it's not the kind of place one might think of as a prime location for solar-powered equipment. Cloudy, rainy, snowy, and overcast days are normal. But, says Lyon, the notion that solar panels must be located somewhere with direct sun year-round is a misconception. "The solar panels are so sophisticated that we can register a charge from the moon," says Lyon. "It's a myth that it can only be used in the Southwest. In the complete, pitch black night is the only time when there's no charge. On a cloudy day, it's charging." It only takes five hours of direct sun--or the cumulative equivalent amount of light over a longer period of time--to charge the battery completely. A fully-charged battery can power one LightWave for 72 hours. "Even if you were in a complete snowstorm for a couple of days, you've still got a system running," says Lyon. "The reality is, for all practical purposes, it's a reliable system with an abundant energy source, and in the long term, it's extremely cost-effective." Because a 100 percent solar-powered network will continue to run even when electricity is out, and LightWave offers enterprise level security, it has obvious "homeland security" and emergency management uses. "When power's out, the first 24 hours can be crucial to saving lives," says Lyon. "If the system is already in place, and if a disaster strikes and takes out power, our network will still be operational. They are also very portable, so if FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency ] has a supply of them, they can move into an area that has lost power and set it up very quickly, mobilize search and rescue, do resource management. The infrastructure would already be in place, it could be functioning with VoIP all the time. For instance, the tsunami area... it would have made a major difference in that area. There are smaller examples all over the world." Currently, the company is seeking its next round of funding. The R&D phase was funded by the founders' own resources, along with micro loans from friends and family. "We told people it would work, but now there's a third-party endorsement, we're looking for a pretty major infusion of capital," says Lyon. Adams, Lumin's co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, has a military background along with several months of civilian service during "Operation Iraqi Freedom," both of which sparked his interest in making portable and secure wireless networks possible in desert or other remote conditions. "The last thing he was doing before he left the military," says Lyon, "was building a network for a training in the middle of the desert... He was tasked to do this, but how do you build a network with no power source? He couldn't find anything on the market, so he ended up just sort of putting together a system off a rental car battery, with the antenna on the roof. While he was roasting in the desert, he thought, 'If I only had a solar panel.'" It seems Adams has made his wish come true. But the company isn't stopping there. "Our mission," says Lyon, "is to explore and expand the realm of global communication. We want to empower people and connect them in ways they never before imagined. And we mean /all/ people. We think this technology in the developing world, in terms of information and health care, it just makes sense... Where power is a luxury, we can bring everything to a place like that, because this technology allows us to create networks that have unlimited possibilities." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050816/129c36b5/attachment.html From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Wed Aug 17 12:45:32 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 12:45:32 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Quick Notes from Last Night Message-ID: <430369AC.40903@ibiblio.org> Quick Notes: These notes are not offered in place of official meeting minutes?only as a courtesy to those who were not present at last night?s meeting. If anyone disagrees with what is written here or feels something crucial has been omitted, please post your revisions (we will not discuss them). Called to Order: 5:30 pm Attending: Aris, Brandon, Brian, Alan, Martha, David,Uzoma, Will, Jeremy, Ralph, Terri Guests: Bob, Arek, Chad Johnston Wireless/Municipal Network Andrea Rohrbacher, Chair, Board of Directors, DEDC, and I agreed to call an initial meeting toward the end of August to start discussing the downtown wireless initiative. Representatives from UNC, CHCCS, Town of Carrboro, DEDC and the IT committee will be included in the initial meeting. The committee decided (by unanimous vote) to identify a subcommittee to represent the IT Committee. Following the first Initiative group meeting, the subcommittee will report back on the initial scope of expectations, and the full committee will determine the parameters of the subcommittee involvement and communication protocols. We should all keep in mind that this committee is tasked with making recommendations to Council on the "feasibility" of a downtown wifi network, to include Pine Knolls and Northside. Volunteers for the subcommittee are: <>Jeremy Collins Alan Polak Brian Russell Brandon Perkins Terri Buckner (temporary) If the full committee, or any subset thereof, disagrees with the feasibility report prepared by this subcommittee, a dissenting opinion report will be submitted to Council along with the subcommittee recommendations. We looked at two maps, one that delineated the boundaries of both Pine Knolls and Northside and another of Northside only. Should UNC/CHCCS decide to collaborate on this Initiative, Pine Knolls potentially offers a very easy and relatively inexpensive rollout using university-owned fiber from Lincoln Center. If, due to limitations of the Internet2 agreement and the Umstead Act, UNC is unable to participate in this project, Bob Avery has identified four (4) government-owned structures in the Northside area that also have the potential for quick rollout. He and Will discussed the format (wifi v. wimax v. something else) and the relative cost of each. The subcommittee will pursue each of these options as well as others. Will requested that we begin referring to the "wifi initiative" as the "municipal network" initiative. Objectives and Actions Proposal The document distributed over the weekend identifying 3 objectives and associated actions was developed in response to last month's discussion on committee structure and how to proceed with the strategic plans. This document, which I agreed to draft at the July meeting, is intended to serve as the 'cover sheet' for the three excellent strategic plans submitted to Council in April. Since neither the Mayor nor the Town Manager recognized those documents as strategic plans, this non-technical document is a proposal of what could be submitted to Council, a document they can understand and endorse, to allow us to proceed with the work identified in the strategic plans. Although the details of the strategic plans are not identified in this document, each "recommendation" can be fit into one of the three objectives. Our Council liaison has reviewed the document and feels that it is headed in the right direction but suggested that we add in language to help Council members understand where the three (3) initiatives they have approved will fit in (Open Source, wifi, redistribution of used computers). Committee members are asked to review this document and send any comments directly to me (tbuckner at ibiblio.org) before Monday September 12 (I just added this date--wasn't discussed last night). I will incorporate comments and distribute a revised draft by Thursday, September 15 for discussion at our regularly scheduled meeting on September 20. Technology Planning Our Council liaison has informed us that our (several) requests to include the IT Committee in planning review process have been heard and that sometime this fall, we should expect to begin receiving concept plans. Mark didn?t have details on when this review would be formalized or under what conditions, but we should expect to hear more about this in September. In preparation for this enormous responsibility, the committee will need to move immediately to begin determining standards we might use to communicate with developers and other Town departments. No action was taken on this item, although the level of detail for the standards was discussed and general consensus appeared to be that the standards should be broad and directed at future growth capacity. Further discussion should be postponed until we have clarification from Council. Electronic Meetings The group decided not to take any action on the petition submitted to the Town Manager on August 3. It is unknown at this time whether the petition will be included in the agenda for the Council?s first meeting in September. The group was split (5-5) on whether to endorse the proposal as written. Therefore this item should be included on the September agenda. Adjourned: 7:05 pm From daniel at ils.unc.edu Wed Aug 17 16:08:07 2005 From: daniel at ils.unc.edu (Evelyn Daniel) Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:08:07 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Quick Notes from Last Night In-Reply-To: <430369AC.40903@ibiblio.org> References: <430369AC.40903@ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <21534795.1124294887@DANIEL.ils.unc.edu> Dear Terri and all, It was thoughtful to provide some notes to catch those of us roaming the countryside a sense of what happened. Thank you. I am particularly interested in the proposal to be able to extend our meeting time through some combination of a listserv and blog. I note the group was split on whether to endorse the proposal. I'd be interested to hear the concerns that were expressed and any suggestions that might have been made. Perhaps Terri or others who were there might amplify the notes on this point??? Evelyn --On Wednesday, August 17, 2005 12:45 PM -0400 Terri Buckner wrote: > Quick Notes: These notes are not offered in place of official meeting > minutes?only as a courtesy to those who were not present at last night?s > meeting. If anyone disagrees with what is written here or feels > something crucial has been omitted, please post your revisions (we will > not discuss them). > > Called to Order: 5:30 pm > > Attending: Aris, Brandon, Brian, Alan, Martha, David,Uzoma, Will, > Jeremy, Ralph, Terri > Guests: Bob, Arek, Chad Johnston > > > Wireless/Municipal Network > > Andrea Rohrbacher, Chair, Board of Directors, DEDC, and I agreed to call > an initial meeting toward the end of August to start discussing the > downtown wireless initiative. Representatives from UNC, CHCCS, Town of > Carrboro, DEDC and the IT committee will be included in the initial > meeting. The committee decided (by unanimous vote) to identify a > subcommittee to represent the IT Committee. Following the first > Initiative group meeting, the subcommittee will report back on the > initial scope of expectations, and the full committee will determine the > parameters of the subcommittee involvement and communication protocols. > We should all keep in mind that this committee is tasked with making > recommendations to Council on the "feasibility" of a downtown wifi > network, to include Pine Knolls and Northside. > > Volunteers for the subcommittee are: > > <>Jeremy Collins > Alan Polak > Brian Russell > Brandon Perkins > Terri Buckner (temporary) > > If the full committee, or any subset thereof, disagrees with the > feasibility report prepared by this subcommittee, a dissenting opinion > report will be submitted to Council along with the subcommittee > recommendations. > > We looked at two maps, one that delineated the boundaries of both Pine > Knolls and Northside and another of Northside only. Should UNC/CHCCS > decide to collaborate on this Initiative, Pine Knolls potentially offers > a very easy and relatively inexpensive rollout using university-owned > fiber from Lincoln Center. If, due to limitations of the Internet2 > agreement and the Umstead Act, UNC is unable to participate in this > project, Bob Avery has identified four (4) government-owned structures > in the Northside area that also have the potential for quick rollout. He > and Will discussed the format (wifi v. wimax v. something else) and the > relative cost of each. The subcommittee will pursue each of these > options as well as others. > > Will requested that we begin referring to the "wifi initiative" as the > "municipal network" initiative. > > > Objectives and Actions Proposal > > The document distributed over the weekend identifying 3 objectives and > associated actions was developed in response to last month's discussion > on committee structure and how to proceed with the strategic plans. This > document, which I agreed to draft at the July meeting, is intended to > serve as the 'cover sheet' for the three excellent strategic plans > submitted to Council in April. Since neither the Mayor nor the Town > Manager recognized those documents as strategic plans, this > non-technical document is a proposal of what could be submitted to > Council, a document they can understand and endorse, to allow us to > proceed with the work identified in the strategic plans. Although the > details of the strategic plans are not identified in this document, each > "recommendation" can be fit into one of the three objectives. > > Our Council liaison has reviewed the document and feels that it is > headed in the right direction but suggested that we add in language to > help Council members understand where the three (3) initiatives they > have approved will fit in (Open Source, wifi, redistribution of used > computers). > > Committee members are asked to review this document and send any > comments directly to me (tbuckner at ibiblio.org) before Monday September > 12 (I just added this date--wasn't discussed last night). I will > incorporate comments and distribute a revised draft by Thursday, > September 15 for discussion at our regularly scheduled meeting on > September 20. > > > Technology Planning > > Our Council liaison has informed us that our (several) requests to > include the IT Committee in planning review process have been heard and > that sometime this fall, we should expect to begin receiving concept > plans. Mark didn?t have details on when this review would be formalized > or under what conditions, but we should expect to hear more about this > in September. In preparation for this enormous responsibility, the > committee will need to move immediately to begin determining standards > we might use to communicate with developers and other Town departments. > No action was taken on this item, although the level of detail for the > standards was discussed and general consensus appeared to be that the > standards should be broad and directed at future growth capacity. > Further discussion should be postponed until we have clarification from > Council. > > > Electronic Meetings > > The group decided not to take any action on the petition submitted to > the Town Manager on August 3. It is unknown at this time whether the > petition will be included in the agenda for the Council?s first meeting > in September. The group was split (5-5) on whether to endorse the > proposal as written. Therefore this item should be included on the > September agenda. > > Adjourned: 7:05 pm > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From johnston at thepeopleschannel.org Thu Aug 18 18:01:23 2005 From: johnston at thepeopleschannel.org (Chad A. Johnston) Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:01:23 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] A few thoughts about broadband... Message-ID: <43050533.6010703@thepeopleschannel.org> I thought this might be of interest to the group. Read below... Best, -- Chad Johnston - Station Director The Peoples Channel 300AC South Elliott Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514 919.960.0088 www.thepeopleschannel.org "Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." Ralph Waldo Emerson "If I had my life to live over... I'd dare to make more mistakes next time." Nadine Stair "Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population." Albert Einstein -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [CAnet - news] Broadband reality check Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 09:12:06 -0400 From: Bill St.Arnaud Reply-To: bill.st.arnaud at canarie.ca To: For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 4 Optical Internet program web site at http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/list.html ------------------------------------------- [Here are 2 different perspectives on the state of broadband in the US. But the analysis and conclusions can be applied to most other countries in the world. These debates on broadband penetration remind me of the fear mongering 20 years ago when North America was far behind the rest of the world in terms of deployment of videotext. France, at that time, seemed to be way ahead with its national Minitel system, while in US it was chaos with no coordinated strategy. But despite the appearance of chaos, in the bowels of a number US universities some boffins were working on something called the Internet...as they say the rest is history. I remain a firm believer that the private sector remains the best vehicle for deployment of broadband with facilities based competition. The government's only role should be to ensure a competitive, level playing field and funding research in the next generation of technologies and their applications. But ensuring competition does not mean hobbling the incumbents with regulation. I support the recent decision to remove open access requirements on DSL. This has already resulted in some new creative solutions in the US where companies like Earthlink and AOL are partnering with municipalities to independently deploy broadband. In my personal opinion, municipal governments can play a critical role in the deployment of broadband (and earn valuable revenue), while at the same time not violating any regulations on right of ways or compete with private sector, by building, on a non-exclusive basis, conduit and condominium dark fiber networks open to all. Deregulation, I believe, will accelerate these new innovative approaches. I always point to the Montreal CSEVM municipal conduit networks as a good model of this type of approach, which has won one high praise from competitors and incumbents alike. End of editorial - BSA] [Thanks to Jere Retzer for this pointer from a posting on Gordon Cook's Arch-econ list -- BSA] I recommend this paper: http://aei-brookings.org/admin/authorpdfs/page.php?id=1161 I think it is consistent with my view that the ways to stimulate broadband penetration are: (1) lower the costs (notably franchise and right-of-way costs/obstacles) [see my note above - BSA]; (2) increase the anticipated ROI (related to #1 but also includes encouraging connections from a demand perspective via eduaction, communities of interest, applications); (3) increase competition (by anyone including if necessary government), which has the effect of creating an opportunity cost of NOT taking action (if company A is serving 10 markets and have substantial competition in five they are likely to invest more in those five; if they can hold revenues with no investment they might also not invest at all): and (4) reduce the price to the consumer (including competition and reduced costs to the providers as well as reduced taxes on the service to the consumer - our US taxes on telecom services including universal service charges are quite high) will naturally stimulate consumer demand, "take rate" and therefore penetration. Where I think UNE fouled things up is that the ILECs perceived that by investing in broadband infrastructure they helped the competition so that they were better off not deploying or slowly deploying DSL to avoid feeding the CLECs. One question I have is how do you encourage "open" IP services so that you can have local ISPs as envisioned in Brand X without discouraging access providers from investing? All of this begs the question of what is the best use of universal service funds? [From posting by Dwayne Hendricks on Dave Farber's IPer list -- BSA] Free Press, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union released a report today detailing the ways in which the FCC's recent positive assessment of US broadband penetration is misleading and glosses over serious problems behind an ever-widening digital divide. The three groups have called on Congress to take notice of alarming trends and enact clear policies that will free the broadband market from domination by a handful of large cable and telecommunications companies. Their recommendations include ensuring open access to all high-speed communications networks, removing restrictions on public entities that seek to offer broadband services to consumers, and opening up more of the broadcast spectrum for wireless Internet applications. A full copy of the report, Broadband Reality Check, is available at: Among the findings: . The FCC overstates broadband penetration rates. The FCC report considers a ZIP code covered by broadband service if just one person subscribes. No consideration is given to price, speed or availability of that connection throughout the area. . The FCC misrepresents exactly how many connections are "high- speed." The FCC defines "high-speed" as 200 kilobits per second, barely enough to receive low-quality streaming video and far below what other countries consider to be a high-speed connection. . The United States remains 16th in the world in broadband penetration per capita. The United States also ranks 16th in terms of broadband growth rates, suggesting our world ranking won't improve any time soon. On a per megabit basis, U.S. consumers pay 10 to 25 times more than broadband users in Japan. . Despite FCC claims, digital divide persists and is growing wider. Broadband adoption is largely dependent on socio-economic status. In addition, broadband penetration in urban and suburban in areas is double that of rural areas. . Reports of a broadband "price war" are misleading. Analysis of "low-priced" introductory offers by companies like SBC and Comcast reveal them to be little more than bait-and-switch gimmicks. . The FCC ignores the lack of competition in the broadband market. Cable and DSL providers control almost 98 percent of the residential and small-business broadband market. Yet the FCC recently eliminated "open access" requirements for DSL companies to lease their lines, rules that fostered the only true competition in the broadband market. Weblog at: ------------------------------------- To SUBSCRIBE: send a blank e-mail message to news-join at canarie.ca To UNSUBSCRIBE: send a blank email message to news-leave at canarie.ca ------------------------------------- These news items and comments are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the CANARIE board or management. ----------- Bill.St.Arnaud at canarie.ca www.canarie.ca/~bstarn skype: pocketpro SkypeIn: +1 614 441-9603 _______________________________________________ news mailing list news at canarie.ca http://lists.canarie.ca/mailman/listinfo/news From chtechboard at yahoo.com Sun Aug 21 22:23:18 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 19:23:18 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Corpus Christi Muni-Cloud Message-ID: <20050822022318.22718.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> CC is using a mix of WiMax, Wifi and fibre for their cloud. An interesting cost driver is the savings in reading gas and electric meters. That aside, I've included the article mainly because it shows a stoplight mounted unit. http://www.joejava.com/citychristeneddigital.htm Will __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Mon Aug 22 09:00:35 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:00:35 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Corpus Christi Muni-Cloud In-Reply-To: <20050822022318.22718.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20050822022318.22718.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <4309CC73.1010408@ibiblio.org> Thanks Will. I don't recall that we have ever had a substantive discussion about all the ways in which wifi can be used around town. These uses could also bring in additional funding partners. Wifi and meter reading: http://www.tropos.com/applications/WMR.html Wifi and parking meters: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3243684 Wifi and bus routes: http://muniwireless.com/applications/448 Wifi and real estate sales: http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/real/ei_starbucks.html I'm sure there are many more applications. Terri Will R wrote: > CC is using a mix of WiMax, Wifi and fibre for their cloud. An interesting cost > driver is the savings in reading gas and electric meters. > > That aside, I've included the article mainly because it shows a stoplight mounted > unit. > > http://www.joejava.com/citychristeneddigital.htm > > Will > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Tue Aug 23 10:44:29 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 10:44:29 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Map of Northside and Pine Knolls Message-ID: <430B364D.2010808@ibiblio.org> Scott Simmons from the Planning Dept very kindly shrunk the map we looked at last meeting into a more portable format (NOT PDF). Terri -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Northside & Pine Knolls Map.doc Type: application/msword Size: 217600 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050823/9dd07893/attachment.doc From chtechboard at yahoo.com Tue Aug 23 10:49:06 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 07:49:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Map of Northside and Pine Knolls In-Reply-To: <430B364D.2010808@ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <20050823144906.83593.qmail@web31504.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thanks Terri. --- Terri Buckner wrote: > Scott Simmons from the Planning Dept very kindly shrunk the map we > looked at last meeting into a more portable format (NOT PDF). > > Terri > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs From allan_polak at yahoo.com Tue Aug 23 13:53:09 2005 From: allan_polak at yahoo.com (Allan Polak) Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 10:53:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] WiFi info In-Reply-To: <20050822022318.22718.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20050823175309.54422.qmail@web53909.mail.yahoo.com> Will/Terri, Could you please point me, and other interested parties, in the direction of info regarding not only the technological aspects of municipal WiFi (networking), but also background concerning the decision to implement WiFi in Chapel Hill according to the criteria discussed last week. Thank you, Allan Polak --- Will R wrote: > CC is using a mix of WiMax, Wifi and fibre for their > cloud. An interesting cost > driver is the savings in reading gas and electric > meters. > > That aside, I've included the article mainly because > it shows a stoplight mounted > unit. > > http://www.joejava.com/citychristeneddigital.htm > > Will > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam > protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Tue Aug 23 16:57:07 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 16:57:07 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] WiFi info In-Reply-To: <20050823175309.54422.qmail@web53909.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20050823175309.54422.qmail@web53909.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <430B8DA3.5010209@ibiblio.org> Allan, I'll leave the technological aspects of municipal WiFi to Will. As to the 'background decision to implement wifi/, it doesn't exist. Here's my take on the background. Others may see it differently. We have been charged with working with DEDC and others to investigate the feasibility of pursuing WiFi (as a result of petitions found at: http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/agendas/ca050627/, item #3a). The initial public call for a downtown wifi initiative came from members of DEDC back in late winter/early spring. As far as I can tell, that public call was prompted more by keeping up with Carrboro than any concrete expectations for how such an initiative could be structured or would benefit Chapel Hill. Terri Allan Polak wrote: > Will/Terri, > > Could you please point me, and other interested > parties, in the direction of info regarding not only > the technological aspects of municipal WiFi > (networking), but also background concerning the > decision to implement WiFi in Chapel Hill according to > the criteria discussed last week. > > Thank you, > > Allan Polak > > --- Will R wrote: > > >>CC is using a mix of WiMax, Wifi and fibre for their >>cloud. An interesting cost >>driver is the savings in reading gas and electric >>meters. >> >>That aside, I've included the article mainly because >>it shows a stoplight mounted >>unit. >> >>http://www.joejava.com/citychristeneddigital.htm >> >>Will >> >>__________________________________________________ >>Do You Yahoo!? >>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam >>protection around >>http://mail.yahoo.com >>_______________________________________________ >>Chtechcomm mailing list >>Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm >> > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Wed Aug 24 15:52:45 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:52:45 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Time for a Chapel Hill rally for municipal network? Message-ID: <430CD00D.3070903@ibiblio.org> New Yorkers rally for Community Internet http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=87 Free Press supports effort to bring wireless broadband to the city NEW YORK ? Free Press Campaign Director Timothy Karr made the following remarks today at a rally outside Verizon headquarters in Manhattan: High-speed Internet service is no longer a luxury. As it becomes a necessity for all Americans, control of this vital service has fallen into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations. This consolidation of broadband power is not through the natural ebb and flow of the free market, but through political influence-peddling by corporations who seek to monopolize the multibillion-dollar industry. Today, we stand before the headquarters of one of the biggest influence-peddlers of them all. According to the Center for Public Integrity, Verizon Communications Inc. has spent more than $12 million on political candidates and party committees since 1998. Add to this the more than $82 million Verizon spent on political lobbyists. For New Yorkers, Verizon's million-dollar shopping spree means fewer choices, higher costs and slower speeds. It's the same across the country. Over the past two years, this company has bought up politicians in statehouses, Congress and the FCC to support Verizon-friendly policies that eliminate ISP competitors, squash local broadband alternatives and bar towns and cities across the country from providing citizens their own high-speed Internet services. American broadband prices have not declined and speeds have not increased. That's unheard of in a technology market unless it's monopoly controlled. Over the same time, America has dropped to 16th in the world in broadband penetration, falling behind countries such as South Korea, Canada and Japan ? nations that have drafted national broadband policies, which involve strong public-private sector initiatives, open access and healthy competition. Broadband Reality Check ? a report just released by Free Press, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America ? reveals that the cost of broadband in other countries has dropped dramatically while speeds have increased. On a per megabit basis, U.S. consumers pay 10 to 25 times more than broadband users in Japan. The fallout from Internet price-gouging is a growing digital divide in cities like New York and across the country. Today, 200 million Americans are without high-speed Internet services. More than 5 million of those without broadband are New Yorkers. The growing digital divide is the direct result of Verizon-purchased policies that stifle competition in the name of deregulation. But there's no deregulation going on. Instead, the future of communications is being regulated on behalf of telecom and cable giants like Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and SBC. These are policies that were bought and paid for by companies that have only one interest in mind. You see, Verizon is not in the business of "working for you," as their ads claim. Verizon is in the business of selling out customers to line their pockets. And it's beginning to show. The rising cost of broadband combined with spotty services for urban and rural communities has resulted in declining customer faith in telecom companies like Verizon. These companies now rate at the bottom of this year's American Consumer Satisfaction Index. The problem for frustrated customers is they have few other choices for broadband. For New Yorkers wanting DSL, indeed, it's Verizon or the highway. As Verizon buys up politicians to loosen oversight and consolidate the broadband industry, costs escalate, the digital divide widens and customer service declines. That's why hundreds of cities, towns and neighborhoods across the country are building their own broadband networks, scrapping the shoddy service and high prices of the telecom and cable companies. These "Community Internet" projects are being developed from Philadelphia to Portland, San Francisco to Chicago. They're already up and running in small towns like Scottsburg, Indiana and Chaska, Minnesota. But why not in New York? Fortunately, we have committed community leaders like Andrew Rasiej ? a man who is determined to provide New Yorkers with a broadband alternative. Andrew's plan for citywide wireless service recognizes that New Yorkers need more broadband choices. He understands that we need to break down price-gouging monopolies and build up a low-cost wireless Internet system for all New Yorkers. Rasiej's plan for Wi-Fi New York is based on the experiences of Philadelphia and other municipalities that developed unique public-private partnerships that bridge the digital divide. A similar network here in New York would provide basic broadband service for $20 a month, with discounts for low-income residents and students. The only way this situation is going to change is with leaders who understand that technology is critical to communities and enact policies that get everyone connected in the Information Age. It's time New Yorkers had the courage to stand up against Big Telecom and fight for our right to get connected. Supporting community internet projects like Wi-Fi New York is one way we can win. ### From chtechboard at yahoo.com Wed Aug 24 16:47:44 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:47:44 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live Message-ID: <20050824204744.69795.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ________________________________ From: Bob Avery Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:30 AM To: Cal Horton Subject: New Town Web Site I am pleased to report that the new Town web site is going live later today! We have incorporated several independent departmental sites (Police, Planning, Storm Water), added several that had limited information (Public Works, Inspections, Engineering, Fire) and have linked the three remaining departmental web sites (Transit, Library, Parks and Rec). The result is a cohesive Town presence. We have some new features - email sign-up, staff directory, events calendar - and we have a site that is easier to update. Every department is represented. Departments can list calendar and news that are specific for their department. The site is a result of efforts by the staff Town wide. Each department has a person assigned to review and update their section of the web site. Updates are relatively easy to do and will allow timely updating when weather events occur. The new site is a result of the CivicPlus Extreme Makeover offering that we won earlier in the year. Bob Avery Information Technology Director Town of Chapel Hill 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 (919) 968-2888 Ext 359 Fax (919) 969-2017 ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Wed Aug 24 17:29:33 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 17:29:33 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live In-Reply-To: <20050824204744.69795.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20050824204744.69795.qmail@web31509.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <430CE6BD.5020204@ibiblio.org> Thanks Will. BTW, I've asked Joel Dunn to delete the other list (the old one). Did you go to the DEDC meeting this morning? Terri Will R wrote: > ________________________________ > > From: Bob Avery > Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:30 AM > To: Cal Horton > Subject: New Town Web Site > > > > I am pleased to report that the new Town web site is going live later > today! > > > > We have incorporated several independent departmental sites (Police, > Planning, Storm Water), added several that had limited information > (Public Works, Inspections, Engineering, Fire) and have linked the three > remaining departmental web sites (Transit, Library, Parks and Rec). The > result is a cohesive Town presence. > > > > We have some new features - email sign-up, staff directory, events > calendar - and we have a site that is easier to update. Every department > is represented. Departments can list calendar and news that are specific > for their department. > > > > The site is a result of efforts by the staff Town wide. Each department > has a person assigned to review and update their section of the web > site. Updates are relatively easy to do and will allow timely updating > when weather events occur. > > > > The new site is a result of the CivicPlus Extreme Makeover offering that > we won earlier in the year. > > > > Bob Avery > > Information Technology Director > > Town of Chapel Hill > > 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. > > Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 > > (919) 968-2888 Ext 359 > > Fax (919) 969-2017 > > > > > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________ > Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From chtechboard at yahoo.com Wed Aug 24 17:32:04 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:32:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live Message-ID: <20050824213204.47941.qmail@web31504.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Nope, went to Chamber of Commerce then walked by to intro myself to Liz. We had a nice little talk. Seems like Wifi is a late Sept. discussion for her. Did you know we were going live? Will Terri Buckner wrote: >Thanks Will. BTW, I've asked Joel Dunn to delete the other list (the old >one). > >Did you go to the DEDC meeting this morning? > >Terri > >Will R wrote: > > > >>________________________________ >> >>From: Bob Avery >>Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:30 AM >>To: Cal Horton >>Subject: New Town Web Site >> >> >> >>I am pleased to report that the new Town web site is going live later >>today! >> >> >> >>We have incorporated several independent departmental sites (Police, >>Planning, Storm Water), added several that had limited information >>(Public Works, Inspections, Engineering, Fire) and have linked the three >>remaining departmental web sites (Transit, Library, Parks and Rec). The >>result is a cohesive Town presence. >> >> >> >>We have some new features - email sign-up, staff directory, events >>calendar - and we have a site that is easier to update. Every department >>is represented. Departments can list calendar and news that are specific >>for their department. >> >> >> >>The site is a result of efforts by the staff Town wide. Each department >>has a person assigned to review and update their section of the web >>site. Updates are relatively easy to do and will allow timely updating >>when weather events occur. >> >> >> >>The new site is a result of the CivicPlus Extreme Makeover offering that >>we won earlier in the year. >> >> >> >>Bob Avery >> >>Information Technology Director >> >>Town of Chapel Hill >> >>405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. >> >>Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 >> >>(919) 968-2888 Ext 359 >> >>Fax (919) 969-2017 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>____________________________________________________ >>Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page >>http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Chtechcomm mailing list >>Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm >> >> > > >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From wsirving at morgancreek.net Wed Aug 24 18:12:15 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 22:12:15 -0000 Subject: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live In-Reply-To: <430CE6BD.5020204@ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <0MKp2t-1E83Th1coW-0007PR@mrelay.perfora.net> Terri, Has any consideration been given to migrating, copying or otherwise retaining and archiving the messages on the UNC listserv?? I can see archived messages there going back to January 2001, as well as Will's post earlier today regarding the new web site. I have used this archive as a resource in the past to explore historical issues and background and I would like to have the option of continuing to do so. Also, there may be public record issues associated with these messages. Please advise. Thanks, Steve -----Original Message----- From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Terri Buckner Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 5:30 PM To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live Thanks Will. BTW, I've asked Joel Dunn to delete the other list (the old one). Did you go to the DEDC meeting this morning? Terri Will R wrote: > ________________________________ > > From: Bob Avery > Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:30 AM > To: Cal Horton > Subject: New Town Web Site > > > > I am pleased to report that the new Town web site is going live later > today! > > > > We have incorporated several independent departmental sites (Police, > Planning, Storm Water), added several that had limited information > (Public Works, Inspections, Engineering, Fire) and have linked the three > remaining departmental web sites (Transit, Library, Parks and Rec). The > result is a cohesive Town presence. > > > > We have some new features - email sign-up, staff directory, events > calendar - and we have a site that is easier to update. Every department > is represented. Departments can list calendar and news that are specific > for their department. > > > > The site is a result of efforts by the staff Town wide. Each department > has a person assigned to review and update their section of the web > site. Updates are relatively easy to do and will allow timely updating > when weather events occur. > > > > The new site is a result of the CivicPlus Extreme Makeover offering that > we won earlier in the year. > > > > Bob Avery > > Information Technology Director > > Town of Chapel Hill > > 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. > > Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 > > (919) 968-2888 Ext 359 > > Fax (919) 969-2017 > > > > > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________ > Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm _______________________________________________ Chtechcomm mailing list Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From ravery at townofchapelhill.org Wed Aug 24 19:24:00 2005 From: ravery at townofchapelhill.org (Bob Avery) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 19:24:00 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Web Site Info Message-ID: <04258BB4558ABA49B3516F443B11FCC531C6E2@MAIL2.town.townofchapelhill.org> To all, As follow-on to the message I sent to the Manager and forwarded by Will, I'll add a few more details about the web site. I have shifted the server addresses so that the new web site will be active. It will take between 24-72 hours for the full DNS replication. The old site will remain active so users should not get a "not found" Hopefully you will see the new site by Thursday morning. We incorporated as much into the new site as we could. A couple of department sites hosted on other servers will remain active for a while (Library is on a server at the Library and Parks/Rec is on another commercial server). Transit is the last required resource still on the old server (Road Runner server). The transit information is being migrated so we can abandon the Road Runner server; this should be done by the weekend but the information will be available on the old site until it is shifted. Key item here is to keep bus route info available throughout. The "townhall" server remains the location for Council agenda and minutes. At the moment, the web site search does not tap this. The composite search server (a linux server operating at Town Hall) will bridge the gap and should be active in a few days. (A necessary delay to let the DNS settle out.) One of the goals in the process was to develop the ability for departments to contribute and where possible make immediate updates. This is proceeding well. We have a good group of departmental reps and good support within IT (Bill Rehm) to make it work. Hope you like the new look. Bob -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050824/a3f26268/attachment.html From chtechboard at yahoo.com Wed Aug 24 21:51:45 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 18:51:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Web Site Info Message-ID: <20050825015145.87636.qmail@web31514.mail.mud.yahoo.com> The website http://www.townofchapelhill.org/ is accessible @ 69.149.139.62 but since Civicsplus does what I think is a no-no and uses the URL to redirect to the appropriate website you won't be able to see the site via IP. All should be well when the DNSs sync up (to resolve I'm using a West Coast DNS from Megapath). Will Bob Avery wrote: >To all, > > > >As follow-on to the message I sent to the Manager and forwarded by Will, >I'll add a few more details about the web site. > > > >I have shifted the server addresses so that the new web site will be >active. It will take between 24-72 hours for the full DNS replication. >The old site will remain active so users should not get a "not found" >Hopefully you will see the new site by Thursday morning. > > > >We incorporated as much into the new site as we could. A couple of >department sites hosted on other servers will remain active for a while >(Library is on a server at the Library and Parks/Rec is on another >commercial server). Transit is the last required resource still on the >old server (Road Runner server). The transit information is being >migrated so we can abandon the Road Runner server; this should be done >by the weekend but the information will be available on the old site >until it is shifted. Key item here is to keep bus route info available >throughout. > > > >The "townhall" server remains the location for Council agenda and >minutes. At the moment, the web site search does not tap this. The >composite search server (a linux server operating at Town Hall) will >bridge the gap and should be active in a few days. (A necessary delay to >let the DNS settle out.) > > > >One of the goals in the process was to develop the ability for >departments to contribute and where possible make immediate updates. >This is proceeding well. We have a good group of departmental reps and >good support within IT (Bill Rehm) to make it work. > > > >Hope you like the new look. > > > >Bob > > > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Thu Aug 25 07:39:38 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 07:39:38 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] UNC Listserv In-Reply-To: <0MKp2t-1E83Th1coW-0007PR@mrelay.perfora.net> References: <0MKp2t-1E83Th1coW-0007PR@mrelay.perfora.net> Message-ID: <430DADFA.7000002@ibiblio.org> Joel--please disregard my message from yesterday about deleting the UNC listserv. Thanks, Terri Steve Irving wrote: > Terri, > > Has any consideration been given to migrating, copying or otherwise > retaining and archiving the messages on the UNC listserv?? I can see > archived messages there going back to January 2001, as well as Will's post > earlier today regarding the new web site. > > I have used this archive as a resource in the past to explore historical > issues and background and I would like to have the option of continuing to > do so. > > Also, there may be public record issues associated with these messages. > > Please advise. > > Thanks, > > Steve > > > -----Original Message----- > From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Terri Buckner > Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 5:30 PM > To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee > Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live > > Thanks Will. BTW, I've asked Joel Dunn to delete the other list (the old > one). > > Did you go to the DEDC meeting this morning? > > Terri > > Will R wrote: > > >>________________________________ >> >>From: Bob Avery >>Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:30 AM >>To: Cal Horton >>Subject: New Town Web Site >> >> >> >>I am pleased to report that the new Town web site is going live later >>today! >> >> >> >>We have incorporated several independent departmental sites (Police, >>Planning, Storm Water), added several that had limited information >>(Public Works, Inspections, Engineering, Fire) and have linked the three >>remaining departmental web sites (Transit, Library, Parks and Rec). The >>result is a cohesive Town presence. >> >> >> >>We have some new features - email sign-up, staff directory, events >>calendar - and we have a site that is easier to update. Every department >>is represented. Departments can list calendar and news that are specific >>for their department. >> >> >> >>The site is a result of efforts by the staff Town wide. Each department >>has a person assigned to review and update their section of the web >>site. Updates are relatively easy to do and will allow timely updating >>when weather events occur. >> >> >> >>The new site is a result of the CivicPlus Extreme Makeover offering that >>we won earlier in the year. >> >> >> >>Bob Avery >> >>Information Technology Director >> >>Town of Chapel Hill >> >>405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. >> >>Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 >> >>(919) 968-2888 Ext 359 >> >>Fax (919) 969-2017 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>____________________________________________________ >>Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page >>http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Chtechcomm mailing list >>Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From daniel at ils.unc.edu Thu Aug 25 10:32:17 2005 From: daniel at ils.unc.edu (Evelyn Daniel) Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 10:32:17 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Web Site Info In-Reply-To: <04258BB4558ABA49B3516F443B11FCC531C6E2@MAIL2.town.townofchapelhill.org> References: <04258BB4558ABA49B3516F443B11FCC531C6E2@MAIL2.town.townofchapelh ill.org> Message-ID: <623710277.1124965937@DANIEL.ils.unc.edu> thanks, Bob. I should have read down my long list of messages. I'll check again later today. It sounds like great progress. Evelyn --On Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:24 PM -0400 Bob Avery wrote: > > > To all, > > > > As follow-on to the message I sent to the Manager and forwarded by Will, > I'll add a few more details about the web site. > > > > I have shifted the server addresses so that the new web site will be > active. It will take between 24-72 hours for the full DNS replication. > The old site will remain active so users should not get a "not found" > Hopefully you will see the new site by Thursday morning. > > > > We incorporated as much into the new site as we could. A couple of > department sites hosted on other servers will remain active for a while > (Library is on a server at the Library and Parks/Rec is on another > commercial server). Transit is the last required resource still on the > old server (Road Runner server). The transit information is being > migrated so we can abandon the Road Runner server; this should be done by > the weekend but the information will be available on the old site until > it is shifted. Key item here is to keep bus route info available > throughout. > > > > The "townhall" server remains the location for Council agenda and > minutes. At the moment, the web site search does not tap this. The > composite search server (a linux server operating at Town Hall) will > bridge the gap and should be active in a few days. (A necessary delay to > let the DNS settle out.) > > > > One of the goals in the process was to develop the ability for > departments to contribute and where possible make immediate updates. This > is proceeding well. We have a good group of departmental reps and good > support within IT (Bill Rehm) to make it work. > > > > Hope you like the new look. > > > > Bob > > From wsirving at morgancreek.net Thu Aug 25 12:05:21 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 12:05:21 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] New Town Web Site Message-ID: <0MKp2t-1E8KES0tLi-0007pK@mrelay.perfora.net> Bob, Congratulations!! Whatever work remains to be done, you and your staff have made great strides on this project and your efforts are appreciated. A few comments and observations . On the Technology Committee page (http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=44): The updated roster is nice to see. (Am I the only one surprised to see that we have a vacancy?? Maybe that's what I get for missing a meeting and I should be glad it's not my seat.) The agenda link does not work, as Gregg has already noted. Also, the generic naming of this link (/ABC/agendas/technologyagenda.htm) makes me wonder whether we will be able to maintain (or ever have maintained) historical agendas for future reference, online search and other purposes. It is also nice to see the "Enabling Legislation" section at the bottom of the page, but the link to Resolution 98-3-23/R15 goes to the 98-4-6 Council minutes, in which one must search for Resolution 98-4-6/R-10 to find the origin of our current incarnation. I could not locate a Resolution 98-3-23/R-15 anywhere. Regarding News Releases (http://townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=671): There appear to be only very recent news releases on the site. Is there a plan to bring forward historical information or to forward old links to their new address?? I encountered this when trying to link from the Orange Politics discussion of the web site makeover to the original news release earlier this year. The old link is www.townofchapelhill.org/news/2004-05/websitemakeover.htm Regarding the search function: Both standard and advanced searches for "wireless" return no results, yet this word appears in the strategic plan presented to Council on March 23, 2005. Could this be because the Council agendas and their attachments are on the "townhall" server?? Congratulations, again, and I hope the Town will find a way to publicize this development and generate some citizen interest as well. Perhaps in this Sunday's TownWeek feature?? Regards, Steve -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050825/5ce9494c/attachment.html From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Thu Aug 25 13:57:32 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:57:32 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] New Town Web Site In-Reply-To: <0MKp2t-1E8KES0tLi-0007pK@mrelay.perfora.net> References: <0MKp2t-1E8KES0tLi-0007pK@mrelay.perfora.net> Message-ID: <430E068C.90706@ibiblio.org> Steve, The issue of the link to the enabling legislation and the searchability relate to the document control standards the web strategy committee raised more than a year ago. How documents are created now impacts their functionality in the future. The longer we go without addressing the issue, the more retrofitting work will need to be done in the future to provide targeted links and functional searches. The empty slot is Karim's. I didn't know he resigned either. He hasn't asked to be removed from this list. Terri Steve Irving wrote: > Bob, > > > > Congratulations!! > > > > Whatever work remains to be done, you and your staff have made great > strides on this project and your efforts are appreciated. > > > > A few comments and observations ? > > > > On the Technology Committee page > (http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=44): > > > > The updated roster is nice to see. (Am I the only one surprised to see > that we have a vacancy?? Maybe that?s what I get for missing a meeting > and I should be glad it?s not my seat.) > > > > The agenda link does not work, as Gregg has already noted. Also, the > generic naming of this link (/ABC/agendas/technologyagenda.htm) makes me > wonder whether we will be able to maintain (or ever have maintained) > historical agendas for future reference, online search and other purposes. > > > > It is also nice to see the ?Enabling Legislation? section at the bottom > of the page, but the link to Resolution 98-3-23/R15 goes to the 98-4-6 > Council minutes, in which one must search for Resolution 98-4-6/R-10 to > find the origin of our current incarnation. I could not locate a > Resolution 98-3-23/R-15 anywhere. > > > > Regarding News Releases (http://townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=671): > > > > There appear to be only very recent news releases on the site. Is there > a plan to bring forward historical information or to forward old links > to their new address?? I encountered this when trying to link from the > Orange Politics discussion of the web site makeover to the original news > release earlier this year. The old link is > www.townofchapelhill.org/news/2004-05/websitemakeover.htm > > > > > Regarding the search function: > > > > Both standard and advanced searches for ?wireless? return no results, > yet this word appears in the strategic plan presented to Council on > March 23, 2005. Could this be because the Council agendas and their > attachments are on the ?townhall? server?? > > > > Congratulations, again, and I hope the Town will find a way to publicize > this development and generate some citizen interest as well. Perhaps in > this Sunday?s TownWeek feature?? > > > > Regards, > > > > Steve > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Thu Aug 25 15:37:08 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:37:08 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live In-Reply-To: <0MKp2t-1E83Th1coW-0007PR@mrelay.perfora.net> References: <0MKp2t-1E83Th1coW-0007PR@mrelay.perfora.net> Message-ID: <430E1DE4.9040107@ibiblio.org> Steve, The old listserv is still available. I've never seen where the old messages can be viewed over the web. Would you please share the URL with the group? Terri Steve Irving wrote: > Terri, > > Has any consideration been given to migrating, copying or otherwise > retaining and archiving the messages on the UNC listserv?? I can see > archived messages there going back to January 2001, as well as Will's post > earlier today regarding the new web site. > > I have used this archive as a resource in the past to explore historical > issues and background and I would like to have the option of continuing to > do so. > > Also, there may be public record issues associated with these messages. > > Please advise. > > Thanks, > > Steve > > > -----Original Message----- > From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Terri Buckner > Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 5:30 PM > To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee > Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live > > Thanks Will. BTW, I've asked Joel Dunn to delete the other list (the old > one). > > Did you go to the DEDC meeting this morning? > > Terri > > Will R wrote: > > >>________________________________ >> >>From: Bob Avery >>Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:30 AM >>To: Cal Horton >>Subject: New Town Web Site >> >> >> >>I am pleased to report that the new Town web site is going live later >>today! >> >> >> >>We have incorporated several independent departmental sites (Police, >>Planning, Storm Water), added several that had limited information >>(Public Works, Inspections, Engineering, Fire) and have linked the three >>remaining departmental web sites (Transit, Library, Parks and Rec). The >>result is a cohesive Town presence. >> >> >> >>We have some new features - email sign-up, staff directory, events >>calendar - and we have a site that is easier to update. Every department >>is represented. Departments can list calendar and news that are specific >>for their department. >> >> >> >>The site is a result of efforts by the staff Town wide. Each department >>has a person assigned to review and update their section of the web >>site. Updates are relatively easy to do and will allow timely updating >>when weather events occur. >> >> >> >>The new site is a result of the CivicPlus Extreme Makeover offering that >>we won earlier in the year. >> >> >> >>Bob Avery >> >>Information Technology Director >> >>Town of Chapel Hill >> >>405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. >> >>Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5705 >> >>(919) 968-2888 Ext 359 >> >>Fax (919) 969-2017 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>____________________________________________________ >>Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page >>http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Chtechcomm mailing list >>Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From wsirving at morgancreek.net Thu Aug 25 20:36:02 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 20:36:02 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Archive of UNC Listserve Message-ID: <0MKp2t-1E8SCk1Qgn-0000cx@mrelay.perfora.net> Terri and all, To see where the archive of old messages used to be, go to http://mail.unc.edu/lists, type ch-tech-advisory in the text box beneath "Visit or Manage a Single List" and click the visit button beneath the text box. This will take you to http://lists.unc.edu/read/?forum=ch-tech-advisory. This feature is available for any of the public lists and for any of the private lists to which you belong. Try, for instance, http://lists.unc.edu/read/?forum=alphaphiomega. Steve -----Original Message----- From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Terri Buckner Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 3:37 PM To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live Steve, The old listserv is still available. I've never seen where the old messages can be viewed over the web. Would you please share the URL with the group? Terri Steve Irving wrote: > Terri, > > Has any consideration been given to migrating, copying or otherwise > retaining and archiving the messages on the UNC listserv?? I can see > archived messages there going back to January 2001, as well as Will's post > earlier today regarding the new web site. > > I have used this archive as a resource in the past to explore historical > issues and background and I would like to have the option of continuing to > do so. > > Also, there may be public record issues associated with these messages. > > Please advise. > > Thanks, > > Steve > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050825/3609f25f/attachment.html From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Fri Aug 26 10:32:21 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:32:21 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Archive of UNC Listserve In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <430F27F5.7080208@ibiblio.org> According to the UNC technician assigned to the data recovery question, "The ch-tech-advisory list is set to keep archives for only one day. Since messages older than one day would automatically be purged each night, there are no messages past that one day archive we'd have." This report is consistent with my own investigation of the UNC list archiving capabilities prior to making the decision, in full collaboration with Gregg, back in June. Before deciding to move the list, Gregg asked that we make sure a full archive would be available on ibiblio before finalizing the decision to move. If Steve found a full archive of the UNC list, I applaud his technical skills and feel sure the UNC staff would be interested in knowing where their archiving process is faulty. I agree with Gregg's earlier message (copied below for the record) that advisory board email communications should be addressed in the Town's public records policy. Only staff are covered by the Town's current policy. There is no Town policy on the email communications of elected and appointed officials. Until the Town decides to install its own email list application, I'd suggest that committee members truly concerned about open meetings and the public records aspect of the committees communications should be subscribed to the list and use it so that all communications are fully recorded for public inspection. As it stands now, there is much more private communication than in the past. To subscribe to this list, please go to: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm A full archive of communications through the ibiblio list (established June 2005) can be reviewed at: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/ Terri Gregg Gerdau wrote: > Hi Steve, > > Thanks for sharing the link. Archives of the Ibiblio listserv Terri set > up in July, in addition to archives of the UNC listserv used previously, > are linked on www.techcommittee.org . You > may want to read my post there, noting that UNC's messaging people have > been trying all day to restore those archives. > > I, like you, fully regret they were capriciously destroyed without > regard for the value they may have to past, present and future members > of the TC. Or their ownership. I notified the Town early this morning > that a problem may have occurred. The listserv records, as well as all > individual emails where deliberation of any TC issue took place, are > public records. You may have noted that the proposal in front of the > Town Manager and Attorney for Electronic Meetings contains a provision > to coordinate backups of these archives with the Town's archival > practices, as required by the referenced NC statutes. All members of > the TC received a copy of the proposal draft submitted, via either hand > delivery or as part of their August agenda, that specified the > compliance requirements. > > The Electronics Meeting Proposal can be a key resource for a > relationship with the Town staff and Council, as well as demonstrating > civic technical leadership to any other state entity subject to the Open > Meetings Law. Although a time consuming and detailed effort was > required to produce it, Evelyn, David Lawrence and I are looking forward > to putting it into practice with the requested trial implementation. A > trial can only begin after three sequential events occur: first, the > Town Attorney reviews (and possibly modifies) the proposal; second, the > Town Manager approves a final version of the proposal; third, a public > body, such as a Chapel Hill Board or Commission, agrees to adopt the > proposal to test it. > > First choice would naturally, I believe, be to the Technology > Committee. The initial effort was undertaken because the group had > become exceptionally reliant on the listserv for communication long > before we joined or the Town Manager brought his policy to our > attention. It seems that some members of the TC tried, at the last > meeting, to vote on the proposal. Although not called for on the > agenda, the show of interest and support was welcomed. But it was > premature. > > Keep your fingers crossed for the UNC techies to effect a clean recovery! > > Gregg > > > -----Original Message----- > *From:* Steve Irving [mailto:wsirving at morgancreek.net] > *Sent:* Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:36 PM > *To:* chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > *Cc:* ggerdau at intelor.com > *Subject:* Archive of UNC Listserve > > Terri and all, > > > > To see where the archive of old messages used to be, go to > http://mail.unc.edu/lists, type ch-tech-advisory in the text box > beneath ?Visit or Manage a Single List? and click the visit button > beneath the text box. > > > > This will take you to http://lists.unc.edu/read/?forum=ch-tech-advisory. > > > > This feature is available for any of the public lists and for any of > the private lists to which you belong. Try, for instance, > http://lists.unc.edu/read/?forum=alphaphiomega. > > > > Steve > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Terri Buckner > Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 3:37 PM > To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee > Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] [Fwd: FW: New Town Web Site] - goes live > > > > Steve, > > > > The old listserv is still available. I've never seen where the old > > messages can be viewed over the web. Would you please share the URL > with > > the group? > > > > Terri > > > > Steve Irving wrote: > >> Terri, > >> > >> Has any consideration been given to migrating, copying or otherwise > >> retaining and archiving the messages on the UNC listserv?? I can see > >> archived messages there going back to January 2001, as well as > Will's post > >> earlier today regarding the new web site. > >> > >> I have used this archive as a resource in the past to explore > historical > >> issues and background and I would like to have the option of > continuing to > >> do so. > >> > >> Also, there may be public record issues associated with these > messages. > >> > >> Please advise. > >> > >> Thanks, > >> > >> Steve > >> > > > From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Sat Aug 27 09:24:27 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 09:24:27 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] City-driven network war in the city of brotherly love Message-ID: <4310698B.2050305@ibiblio.org> From National Journal, August 22, 2005 By Drew Clark (Monday, August 22) It is a modern-day ?Philadelphia Story?: A major city bemoans limitations on its high-speed Internet connections, technology vendors pine for the prospect of new sales, and dominant Bell telecommunications and cable companies cry foul in the statehouse. The heightened national controversy over municipal networks can be traced to Philadelphia?s experiment with wireless broadband, announced in 2004. But there is dissension in the City of Brotherly Love. Cities from San Francisco to Corpus Christi in Texas are rushing to follow Philadelphia?s lead, while statehouses are rushing to follow Pennsylvania?s. Last December, at the urging of Verizon Communications and Philadelphia-based Comcast, the commonwealth barred cities and towns from offering Internet access to consumers for a fee. But after protests from Philadelphia Mayor John Street, and technology and public-interest groups, Democratic Gov. Edward Rendell signed a version of the bill that exempted Philadelphia from the legislation. Wireless Philadelphia, the nonprofit corporation to provide Wi-Fi wireless access to the city, was not fully formed until March 31. Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Dianah Neff repeatedly has said the project will be ?cost-neutral.? The city expects to float bonds worth $18 million to hire technology companies to build and run the network, but Neff said it will cover those costs through a monthly per-customer fee. Neff said Wireless Philadelphia is a ?cooperative wholesale model.? That means the city will not sell service directly to the public but ?will contract with between four and seven Internet service providers that will actually do the end-user service deliver.? The ISPs will pay a ?wholesale fee? of about $9 a month, she said, and they will sell broadband at 1 megabit per second for about $20 a month. That is slower than Verizon?s digital subscriber lines or Comcast?s cable modems. ISPs participating in Wireless Philadelphia also must agree ?to meet the social goals? of bridging the city?s digital divide by subsidizing poorer households to purchase broadband for about $10 a month. ?I don?t think we will see high-end customers of Verizon or Comcast? switching to Wireless Philadelphia, Neff said in an interview, although ?they may add it as an adjunct for mobility.? Last week, Philadelphia announced contract negotiations with EarthLink and Hewlett-Packard, the two finalists to become the lead contractor. For EarthLink, the largest ISP unaffiliated with a cable or Bell company, the project has become a high-stakes bid because of the recent decisions by the Supreme Court and FCC limiting competition on cable and Bell networks. Other tech companies are equally supportive. Intel has been a prominent advocate of municipal broadband networks and last week announced a ?Digital Communities? initiative highlighting efforts in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Corpus Christi and Taipei, Taiwan. ?For the last two years in the municipal wireless space, much of the emphasis was on free networks,? said Paul Butcher, Intel?s marketing manager for state and local governments. ?In the past six to nine months, the dialogue has changed to [focus on] the real economic benefits [for cities] and as a way of delivering solutions against the digital divide.? ******************** This article is from National Journal (http://nationaljournal.com/). If you found it informative and valuable, we strongly encourage you to visit their website and register an account to view all their articles on the web. Support quality journalism. *********************** Links to: Wireless Philadelphia (customer), http://www.wirelessphiladelphia.net/ Wireless Philadelphia (business plan, mission statement, etc.): http://www.phila.gov/wireless/ From mhoylman at co.orange.nc.us Tue Aug 30 10:16:45 2005 From: mhoylman at co.orange.nc.us (Martha Hoylman) Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:16:45 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Some Knowledgeplex links that might be of interest Message-ID: I was scanning around knowledgeplex, a web site with resources for folks involved in affordable housing/homelessness issues and found some articles that might be of interest. Another Philadelphia example, but it shows the "marketing" aspect of the municipal internet access issue: http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/97253.html Perhaps we can look at grant funding...maybe the task of applying for the grant would help with articulating what we're trying to do... http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/109732.html Martha -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050830/4a55b3b0/attachment.html From wsirving at morgancreek.net Tue Aug 30 15:59:30 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:59:30 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] UNC Listserv Archive Message-ID: <0MKoyl-1EACHF2l3L-0007io@mrelay.perfora.net> Terri and all, I spent the weekend contemplating whether it would be productive to respond to your latest salvo (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM) in support of deleting the supposedly non-existent UNC message archive dating back to 2001. Although I'm still not convinced this will be productive by any conceivable measure, the tipping point came when I went back to the UNC listserv site and found that ch-tech-advisory no longer exists. You stated (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): ---------- According to the UNC technician assigned to the data recovery question, "The ch-tech-advisory list is set to keep archives for only one day. Since messages older than one day would automatically be purged each night, there are no messages past that one day archive we'd have." This report is consistent with my own investigation of the UNC list archiving capabilities ... ---------- First, is this anonymous technician willing to come forward and discuss the issue? I would like to know the basis for the "one day" comment, and how this squares with the actual existence of an archive which far exceeded one day. I would also like to know whether there is any likelihood that the recovery will succeed and whether the recent disappearance of our forum is a part of the recovery process or an indication that the towel has been thrown in. Second, your own investigation of the UNC List archiving capabilities does not appear to have been terribly thorough, or included the simple steps provided in my earlier message (Thu 8/25/2005 8:36 PM), or made use of your resources - such as the Anonymous Technician - at UNC. You go on to state (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): ---------- If Steve found a full archive of the UNC list, I applaud his technical skills and feel sure the UNC staff would be interested in knowing where their archiving process is faulty. ---------- No special technical skills were required (although I appreciate you compliment and its thinly-veiled sarcasm), and I have not alleged any fault in their archiving process, which seems to me to have worked just fine until immediately after the messages were deleted. Last Wednesday evening, before the messages were deleted from the UNC listserv, I took a snapshot of the cover page of the message archive. This can now be viewed at http://www.morgancreek.net/tc_unc_listserv/Messages.htm, and I hope it will be useful in clearing up the misconceptions you and the Anonymous Technician hold. My thanks to all for your forbearance, and apologies to any who find this to be an unproductive rant. Steve -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/chtechcomm/attachments/20050830/b719515f/attachment.html From aerimer at email.unc.edu Tue Aug 30 19:33:45 2005 From: aerimer at email.unc.edu (Alan Rimer) Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:33:45 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] UNC Listserv Archive In-Reply-To: <0MKoyl-1EACHF2l3L-0007io@mrelay.perfora.net> References: <0MKoyl-1EACHF2l3L-0007io@mrelay.perfora.net> Message-ID: <4314ECD9.8090805@email.unc.edu> For what it's worth, I am am a compulsive saver of emails and I may actually have most of the emails that I was part of. Not a list serve, and not threaded, but there you are. Alan Rimer Steve Irving wrote: > Terri and all, > > I spent the weekend contemplating whether it would be productive to > respond to your latest salvo (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM) in support of > deleting the supposedly non-existent UNC message archive dating back > to 2001. Although I?m still not convinced this will be productive by > any conceivable measure, the tipping point came when I went back to > the UNC listserv site and found that ch-tech-advisory no longer exists. > > You stated (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): > > ---------- > > According to the UNC technician assigned to the data recovery > question, "The ch-tech-advisory list is set to keep archives for only > one day. Since messages older than one day would automatically be > purged each night, there are no messages past that one day archive > we'd have." > > This report is consistent with my own investigation of the UNC list > archiving capabilities ... > > ---------- > > First, is this anonymous technician willing to come forward and > discuss the issue? I would like to know the basis for the ?one day? > comment, and how this squares with the actual existence of an archive > which far exceeded one day. I would also like to know whether there is > any likelihood that the recovery will succeed and whether the recent > disappearance of our forum is a part of the recovery process or an > indication that the towel has been thrown in. > > Second, your own investigation of the UNC List archiving capabilities > does not appear to have been terribly thorough, or included the simple > steps provided in my earlier message (Thu 8/25/2005 8:36 PM), or made > use of your resources ? such as the Anonymous Technician ? at UNC. > > You go on to state (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): > > ---------- > > If Steve found a full archive of the UNC list, I applaud his technical > skills and feel sure the UNC staff would be interested in knowing > where their archiving process is faulty. > > ---------- > > No special technical skills were required (although I appreciate you > compliment and its thinly-veiled sarcasm), and I have not alleged any > fault in their archiving process, which seems to me to have worked > just fine until immediately after the messages were deleted. > > Last Wednesday evening, before the messages were deleted from the UNC > listserv, I took a snapshot of the cover page of the message archive. > This can now be viewed at > http://www.morgancreek.net/tc_unc_listserv/Messages.htm, and I hope it > will be useful in clearing up the misconceptions you and the Anonymous > Technician hold. > > My thanks to all for your forbearance, and apologies to any who find > this to be an unproductive rant. > > Steve > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Tue Aug 30 22:23:53 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:23:53 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] UNC Listserv Archive In-Reply-To: <0MKoyl-1EACHF2l3L-0007io@mrelay.perfora.net> References: <0MKoyl-1EACHF2l3L-0007io@mrelay.perfora.net> Message-ID: <431514B9.2030808@ibiblio.org> To the group: Earlier today, Steve's first attempt to send the message below failed. Along with the correct address for posting to this list, I sent the following note: "FWIW, the technician (who is not part of this argument in any way and shall remain nameless), informed Joel and I yesterday that he was mistaken about the archives. It appears the deletion occurs through a two-step process; first the archives and then the full list. He has reinstated the list, I have verified membership and he is now working to recover the archives. No one there has done this before so we don't know how successful the effort will be, if at all." I find it very curious that none of this concern for the UNC list archives was raised when the decision to move the list to ibiblio was announced back in June. Had the question be raised then, I would have asked two questions. Should the archives be recovered, I think they still deserve discussion: 1. How long should we expect UNC to host these historical documents? 2. If our list communications are such valuable references, shouldn't the committee be urging the town IT staff to install its own email list application? Terri Steve Irving wrote: > Terri and all, > > > > I spent the weekend contemplating whether it would be productive to > respond to your latest salvo (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM) in support of > deleting the supposedly non-existent UNC message archive dating back to > 2001. Although I?m still not convinced this will be productive by any > conceivable measure, the tipping point came when I went back to the UNC > listserv site and found that ch-tech-advisory no longer exists. > > > > > You stated (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): > > > > ---------- > > According to the UNC technician assigned to the data recovery question, > "The ch-tech-advisory list is set to keep archives for only one day. > Since messages older than one day would automatically be purged each > night, there are no messages past that one day archive we'd have." > > > > This report is consistent with my own investigation of the UNC list > archiving capabilities ... > > ---------- > > > > First, is this anonymous technician willing to come forward and discuss > the issue? I would like to know the basis for the ?one day? comment, and > how this squares with the actual existence of an archive which far > exceeded one day. I would also like to know whether there is any > likelihood that the recovery will succeed and whether the recent > disappearance of our forum is a part of the recovery process or an > indication that the towel has been thrown in. > > > > Second, your own investigation of the UNC List archiving capabilities > does not appear to have been terribly thorough, or included the simple > steps provided in my earlier message (Thu 8/25/2005 8:36 PM), or made > use of your resources ? such as the Anonymous Technician ? at UNC. > > > > You go on to state (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): > > > > ---------- > > If Steve found a full archive of the UNC list, I applaud his technical > skills and feel sure the UNC staff would be interested in knowing where > their archiving process is faulty. > > ---------- > > > > No special technical skills were required (although I appreciate you > compliment and its thinly-veiled sarcasm), and I have not alleged any > fault in their archiving process, which seems to me to have worked just > fine until immediately after the messages were deleted. > > > > Last Wednesday evening, before the messages were deleted from the UNC > listserv, I took a snapshot of the cover page of the message archive. > This can now be viewed at > http://www.morgancreek.net/tc_unc_listserv/Messages.htm, and I hope it > will be useful in clearing up the misconceptions you and the Anonymous > Technician hold. > > > > My thanks to all for your forbearance, and apologies to any who find > this to be an unproductive rant. > > > > Steve > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From tbuckner at ibiblio.org Wed Aug 31 09:01:31 2005 From: tbuckner at ibiblio.org (Terri Buckner) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:01:31 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Downtown Wireless report from the DTH Message-ID: <4315AA2B.6020808@ibiblio.org> Downtown wireless network slow to start Dearmin pledges to help with effort BY JAKE POTTER STAFF WRITER August 31, 2005 A downtown wireless Internet initiative that has sat idle for several months is slowly booting up. The Downtown Economic Development Corporation and the town?s Technology Committee are discussing the possibility of bringing wireless Internet access to the downtown sector. After the corporation proposed the idea earlier this year, the Chapel Hill Town Council formally referred the issue to Town Manager Cal Horton and the committee on June 27. Corporation Executive Director Liz Parham, hired in late July, met Monday with committee Chairman Gregg Gerdau and member Steve Irving to discuss plans for moving ahead with the initiative. ?We need to find out how we can get this off the ground,? Parham said. ?We need to find out the best way to do this, what areas we should start with.? The corporation has thrown around the idea of creating a wireless zone within the downtown sector since February, but inactivity has caused some, including Irving, to push the corporation to begin work on the initiative. ?There?s a lot of people talking about it, but there has been no action,? he said. Carrboro completed its downtown wireless setup last fall. Parham said Chapel Hill and the corporation will work to develop surveys for business owners concerning the possibility of making the Franklin Street area wireless. ?We?re surveying them so we can understand their needs, if they really want Wi-Fi,? she said. Businesses like Woody?s Tar Heel Tavern & Grill and Jack Sprat Cafe already offer wireless access to its customers. Residents of the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods might also get a separate survey as some within the committee have called for those districts, which sit just outside the downtown district, to be included in the wireless zone. ?We want to make this inclusive,? Parham said. ?We?ll have different surveys for different needs.? But Irving said the addition of residential networks could pose a dilemma for the effort. ?Some people have talked about including the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods, but at that juncture, it becomes a political issue,? he said. Irving said that continuing the group discussions would be vital to the effort?s success. ?It?s very preliminary,? he said. ?We?re just trying to get a feel for it.? The process could emulate Carrboro?s wireless initiative, Irving said. ?Carrboro took two or three years to establish their service,? he said of the wireless zone that now ranges from Carr Mill Mall to the Century Center and Town Hall. ?It?s a long time frame.? Student Body President Seth Dearmin, who included a wireless initiative in his campaign last spring, said he hopes his administration can help that process move more quickly. ?We?re more than happy to help out, whether it?s writing grants or looking at budgets,? he said. ?We definitely need to work together.? Since being elected in February, Dearmin has consistently pledged to contact the town regarding the project. When asked about the meeting between the corporation and the technology committee, Dearmin said he had not heard of it. The corporation will hold its regularly scheduled meeting at 7:30 a.m. today at the Midway Business Center, off West Franklin Street. From chtechboard at yahoo.com Wed Aug 31 09:20:59 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 06:20:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Downtown Wireless report from the DTH In-Reply-To: <4315AA2B.6020808@ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <20050831132059.12594.qmail@web31508.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Terri, Thank you for the update. Steve, Did you really caution that a rollout would take years? I'm concerned that your statements were taken out of context. Did the reporter understand that you were speaking for yourself and not the TC? Considering that municipalities are rolling out programs in the 6-9 month timeframe, a two to three year horizon for the work ahead of us seems rather a dire prognostication. Will --- Terri Buckner wrote: > Downtown wireless network slow to start > Dearmin pledges to help with effort > > BY JAKE POTTER > STAFF WRITER > August 31, 2005 > > A downtown wireless Internet initiative that has sat idle for several > months is slowly booting up. > > The Downtown Economic Development Corporation and the town?s Technology > Committee are discussing the possibility of bringing wireless Internet > access to the downtown sector. > > After the corporation proposed the idea earlier this year, the Chapel > Hill Town Council formally referred the issue to Town Manager Cal Horton > and the committee on June 27. > > Corporation Executive Director Liz Parham, hired in late July, met > Monday with committee Chairman Gregg Gerdau and member Steve Irving to > discuss plans for moving ahead with the initiative. > > ?We need to find out how we can get this off the ground,? Parham said. > > ?We need to find out the best way to do this, what areas we should start > with.? > > The corporation has thrown around the idea of creating a wireless zone > within the downtown sector since February, but inactivity has caused > some, including Irving, to push the corporation to begin work on the > initiative. > > ?There?s a lot of people talking about it, but there has been no > action,? he said. > > Carrboro completed its downtown wireless setup last fall. > > Parham said Chapel Hill and the corporation will work to develop surveys > for business owners concerning the possibility of making the Franklin > Street area wireless. > > ?We?re surveying them so we can understand their needs, if they really > want Wi-Fi,? she said. > > Businesses like Woody?s Tar Heel Tavern & Grill and Jack Sprat Cafe > already offer wireless access to its customers. > > Residents of the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods might also get > a separate survey as some within the committee have called for those > districts, which sit just outside the downtown district, to be included > in the wireless zone. > > ?We want to make this inclusive,? Parham said. ?We?ll have different > surveys for different needs.? > > But Irving said the addition of residential networks could pose a > dilemma for the effort. > > ?Some people have talked about including the Northside and Pine Knolls > neighborhoods, but at that juncture, it becomes a political issue,? he said. > > Irving said that continuing the group discussions would be vital to the > effort?s success. > > ?It?s very preliminary,? he said. ?We?re just trying to get a feel for it.? > > The process could emulate Carrboro?s wireless initiative, Irving said. > > ?Carrboro took two or three years to establish their service,? he said > of the wireless zone that now ranges from Carr Mill Mall to the Century > Center and Town Hall. ?It?s a long time frame.? > > Student Body President Seth Dearmin, who included a wireless initiative > in his campaign last spring, said he hopes his administration can help > that process move more quickly. > > ?We?re more than happy to help out, whether it?s writing grants or > looking at budgets,? he said. ?We definitely need to work together.? > > Since being elected in February, Dearmin has consistently pledged to > contact the town regarding the project. > > When asked about the meeting between the corporation and the technology > committee, Dearmin said he had not heard of it. > > The corporation will hold its regularly scheduled meeting at 7:30 a.m. > today at the Midway Business Center, off West Franklin Street. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From chtechboard at yahoo.com Wed Aug 31 09:27:00 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 06:27:00 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Philly, schools and Wifi Message-ID: <20050831132700.59712.qmail@web31503.mail.mud.yahoo.com> It's a Microsoft joint experiment but I can find analogues to all their tech using FOSS. >From http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/story?id=1049526&page=1 Aug. 31, 2005 ? Imagine a school of the future, where students use laptops in a wireless building and teachers customize lessons according to each one's ability. The building itself is entirely environmentally friendly, and all administrative processes are efficiently handled with the latest technology. In Philadelphia, the future is set to begin in September 2006. The School of the Future, a partnership with Microsoft, is being built in West Philadelphia for about 800 high school students. The approximately $63 million facility is being funded by the School District of Philadelphia's capital program, with technical assistance provided by Microsoft's Partners in Learning initiative. Half of the students will come from the West Philadelphia region, the rest from other parts of the city, said Paul Vallas, chief executive officer of the district. A lottery will be held if applicants exceed the amount of openings, but the drawing will be random, not based on academic achievement. "We didn't want it to be an elite magnet school," Vallas said. "If you're going to do this high school for the future and see how technology can help instruction and student achievement, turning it into a select-enrollment school, choosing the best and brightest, would rig the experiment so to speak." Improving Instruction, Adding Resources >From Microsoft's perspective, the goal is to create a school where learning is "more continuous, more relevant and more adaptive," said academic program manager Mary Cullinane. She said the school will "break down the dependency on time and place" by sharing resources at school and at students' homes, as well as by utilizing such sites as the nearby Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the city's historic district to bring learning to life. Vallas said he hopes the school will "in effect become an R&D center for the district as a whole." "The object was to use technology in a way to do three things: improve the quality of instruction; two, provide the students with the supplements they would need to enhance student achievement; and three, improve communications between the teacher and what's happening in the classroom and the parent or guardian," Vallas said. "That's been the goal of the district." ...... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From daniel at ils.unc.edu Wed Aug 31 11:38:44 2005 From: daniel at ils.unc.edu (Evelyn Daniel) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 11:38:44 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] UNC Listserv Archive In-Reply-To: <431514B9.2030808@ibiblio.org> References: <0MKoyl-1EACHF2l3L-0007io@mrelay.perfora.net> <431514B9.2030808@ibiblio.org> Message-ID: <1146079084.1125488324@DANIEL.ils.unc.edu> Terri and all, The issues surrounding our email archive wherein we seem to have recently begun worrying about preservation and access to historical records are an immediate example for us of the much larger problem of preservation and access and records management generally for Chapel Hill -- and for all municipalities and businesses in general. We backed into a really important issue. Our own experience will help us understand the broader issue better. If we can develop a workable solution for our small committee, it may have application to other groups. There's a parallel here to our use of the listserv and the open meetings issue. Evelyn --On Tuesday, August 30, 2005 10:23 PM -0400 Terri Buckner wrote: > To the group: > > Earlier today, Steve's first attempt to send the message below failed. > Along with the correct address for posting to this list, I sent the > following note: > > "FWIW, the technician (who is not part of this argument in any way and > shall remain nameless), informed Joel and I yesterday that he was > mistaken about the archives. It appears the deletion occurs through a > two-step process; first the archives and then the full list. He has > reinstated the list, I have verified membership and he is now working to > recover the archives. No one there has done this before so we don't know > how successful the effort will be, if at all." > > I find it very curious that none of this concern for the UNC list > archives was raised when the decision to move the list to ibiblio was > announced back in June. Had the question be raised then, I would have > asked two questions. Should the archives be recovered, I think they > still deserve discussion: > > 1. How long should we expect UNC to host these historical documents? > 2. If our list communications are such valuable references, shouldn't > the committee be urging the town IT staff to install its own email list > application? > > Terri > > > Steve Irving wrote: > >> Terri and all, >> >> >> >> I spent the weekend contemplating whether it would be productive to >> respond to your latest salvo (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM) in support of >> deleting the supposedly non-existent UNC message archive dating back to >> 2001. Although I?m still not convinced this will be productive by any >> conceivable measure, the tipping point came when I went back to the UNC >> listserv site and found that ch-tech-advisory no longer exists. >> >> >> >> >> You stated (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): >> >> >> >> ---------- >> >> According to the UNC technician assigned to the data recovery question, >> "The ch-tech-advisory list is set to keep archives for only one day. >> Since messages older than one day would automatically be purged each >> night, there are no messages past that one day archive we'd have." >> >> >> >> This report is consistent with my own investigation of the UNC list >> archiving capabilities ... >> >> ---------- >> >> >> >> First, is this anonymous technician willing to come forward and discuss >> the issue? I would like to know the basis for the ?one day? comment, and >> how this squares with the actual existence of an archive which far >> exceeded one day. I would also like to know whether there is any >> likelihood that the recovery will succeed and whether the recent >> disappearance of our forum is a part of the recovery process or an >> indication that the towel has been thrown in. >> >> >> >> Second, your own investigation of the UNC List archiving capabilities >> does not appear to have been terribly thorough, or included the simple >> steps provided in my earlier message (Thu 8/25/2005 8:36 PM), or made >> use of your resources ? such as the Anonymous Technician ? at UNC. >> >> >> >> You go on to state (Fri 8/26/2005 10:32 AM): >> >> >> >> ---------- >> >> If Steve found a full archive of the UNC list, I applaud his technical >> skills and feel sure the UNC staff would be interested in knowing where >> their archiving process is faulty. >> >> ---------- >> >> >> >> No special technical skills were required (although I appreciate you >> compliment and its thinly-veiled sarcasm), and I have not alleged any >> fault in their archiving process, which seems to me to have worked just >> fine until immediately after the messages were deleted. >> >> >> >> Last Wednesday evening, before the messages were deleted from the UNC >> listserv, I took a snapshot of the cover page of the message archive. >> This can now be viewed at >> http://www.morgancreek.net/tc_unc_listserv/Messages.htm, and I hope it >> will be useful in clearing up the misconceptions you and the Anonymous >> Technician hold. >> >> >> >> My thanks to all for your forbearance, and apologies to any who find >> this to be an unproductive rant. >> >> >> >> Steve >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Chtechcomm mailing list >> Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From wsirving at morgancreek.net Wed Aug 31 12:20:52 2005 From: wsirving at morgancreek.net (Steve Irving) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:20:52 -0400 Subject: [Chtechcomm] Downtown Wireless report from the DTH In-Reply-To: <20050831132059.12594.qmail@web31508.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <0MKoyl-1EAVLH1VBh-0005HH@mrelay.perfora.net> Will and all, Thanks for your questions. I'll do my best to clarify. First, let me say that I became aware long ago that the questions posed by any reporter and the answers provided by any interviewee are seldom related in sequence or context when finally reported. This is not necessarily bad reporting, it's just the way it is. I took this into account when Mr. Potter contacted me by phone Monday and tried to be very reserved in my responses. My 2-3 year comment was not a specific caution, a prognostication or an estimate, but was in response to Mr. Potter's asking directly whether I thought a downtown wireless network would be established by the end of the current semester. My answer was no, and I elaborated by pointing out that the Carrboro effort took 2-3 years to implement. This information regarding the timeframe for Carrboro is based upon two articles published earlier this year: The Chapel Hill News (3/11/2005, "Chapel Hill May Join Carrboro in 'Wi-fi'") stated, "Carrboro several years ago launched an initiative to provide free wireless coverage throughout its downtown." and, "The bulk of the work in Carrboro will be complete within a few weeks, ...". The Independent (3/23/2005, "The Triangle Unwired", http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2005-03-23/cover.html) stated, "About two years ago it [the Town of Carrboro] launched tocwireless.net ...". I believe that Mr. Potter understood me to be speaking as a citizen and member of the committee, but not as a spokesperson for the committee. Nowhere in the article am I identified as a spokesperson, only a member. I hope this addresses your concerns. Steve -----Original Message----- From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Will R Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 9:21 AM To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] Downtown Wireless report from the DTH Terri, Thank you for the update. Steve, Did you really caution that a rollout would take years? I'm concerned that your statements were taken out of context. Did the reporter understand that you were speaking for yourself and not the TC? Considering that municipalities are rolling out programs in the 6-9 month timeframe, a two to three year horizon for the work ahead of us seems rather a dire prognostication. Will --- Terri Buckner wrote: > Downtown wireless network slow to start > Dearmin pledges to help with effort > > BY JAKE POTTER > STAFF WRITER > August 31, 2005 > > A downtown wireless Internet initiative that has sat idle for several > months is slowly booting up. > > The Downtown Economic Development Corporation and the town's Technology > Committee are discussing the possibility of bringing wireless Internet > access to the downtown sector. > > After the corporation proposed the idea earlier this year, the Chapel > Hill Town Council formally referred the issue to Town Manager Cal Horton > and the committee on June 27. > > Corporation Executive Director Liz Parham, hired in late July, met > Monday with committee Chairman Gregg Gerdau and member Steve Irving to > discuss plans for moving ahead with the initiative. > > "We need to find out how we can get this off the ground," Parham said. > > "We need to find out the best way to do this, what areas we should start > with." > > The corporation has thrown around the idea of creating a wireless zone > within the downtown sector since February, but inactivity has caused > some, including Irving, to push the corporation to begin work on the > initiative. > > "There's a lot of people talking about it, but there has been no > action," he said. > > Carrboro completed its downtown wireless setup last fall. > > Parham said Chapel Hill and the corporation will work to develop surveys > for business owners concerning the possibility of making the Franklin > Street area wireless. > > "We're surveying them so we can understand their needs, if they really > want Wi-Fi," she said. > > Businesses like Woody's Tar Heel Tavern & Grill and Jack Sprat Cafe > already offer wireless access to its customers. > > Residents of the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods might also get > a separate survey as some within the committee have called for those > districts, which sit just outside the downtown district, to be included > in the wireless zone. > > "We want to make this inclusive," Parham said. "We'll have different > surveys for different needs." > > But Irving said the addition of residential networks could pose a > dilemma for the effort. > > "Some people have talked about including the Northside and Pine Knolls > neighborhoods, but at that juncture, it becomes a political issue," he said. > > Irving said that continuing the group discussions would be vital to the > effort's success. > > "It's very preliminary," he said. "We're just trying to get a feel for it." > > The process could emulate Carrboro's wireless initiative, Irving said. > > "Carrboro took two or three years to establish their service," he said > of the wireless zone that now ranges from Carr Mill Mall to the Century > Center and Town Hall. "It's a long time frame." > > Student Body President Seth Dearmin, who included a wireless initiative > in his campaign last spring, said he hopes his administration can help > that process move more quickly. > > "We're more than happy to help out, whether it's writing grants or > looking at budgets," he said. "We definitely need to work together." > > Since being elected in February, Dearmin has consistently pledged to > contact the town regarding the project. > > When asked about the meeting between the corporation and the technology > committee, Dearmin said he had not heard of it. > > The corporation will hold its regularly scheduled meeting at 7:30 a.m. > today at the Midway Business Center, off West Franklin Street. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Chtechcomm mailing list > Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Chtechcomm mailing list Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm From chtechboard at yahoo.com Wed Aug 31 12:33:53 2005 From: chtechboard at yahoo.com (Will R) Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:33:53 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Chtechcomm] Downtown Wireless report from the DTH Message-ID: <20050831163353.9707.qmail@web31506.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thanks Steve, My concern is that if it appears that even beginning a muni-network in Town is some kind of long drawn out affair that any sense of urgency will dissipate. As you're aware, we are probably months away from having our "right" to establish a muni-network legislated away. We need to seize this opportunity and move forward before our hands are tied. Will Steve Irving wrote: >Will and all, > >Thanks for your questions. I'll do my best to clarify. > >First, let me say that I became aware long ago that the questions posed by >any reporter and the answers provided by any interviewee are seldom related >in sequence or context when finally reported. This is not necessarily bad >reporting, it's just the way it is. I took this into account when Mr. Potter >contacted me by phone Monday and tried to be very reserved in my responses. > >My 2-3 year comment was not a specific caution, a prognostication or an >estimate, but was in response to Mr. Potter's asking directly whether I >thought a downtown wireless network would be established by the end of the >current semester. My answer was no, and I elaborated by pointing out that >the Carrboro effort took 2-3 years to implement. > >This information regarding the timeframe for Carrboro is based upon two >articles published earlier this year: > >The Chapel Hill News (3/11/2005, "Chapel Hill May Join Carrboro in 'Wi-fi'") >stated, "Carrboro several years ago launched an initiative to provide free >wireless coverage throughout its downtown." and, "The bulk of the work in >Carrboro will be complete within a few weeks, ...". > >The Independent (3/23/2005, "The Triangle Unwired", >http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2005-03-23/cover.html) stated, "About two >years ago it [the Town of Carrboro] launched tocwireless.net ...". > >I believe that Mr. Potter understood me to be speaking as a citizen and >member of the committee, but not as a spokesperson for the committee. >Nowhere in the article am I identified as a spokesperson, only a member. > >I hope this addresses your concerns. > >Steve > > >-----Original Message----- >From: chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org >[mailto:chtechcomm-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Will R >Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 9:21 AM >To: Chapel Hill Information Technology Advisory Committee >Subject: Re: [Chtechcomm] Downtown Wireless report from the DTH > >Terri, > >Thank you for the update. > >Steve, > >Did you really caution that a rollout would take years? I'm concerned that >your statements >were taken out of context. > >Did the reporter understand that you were speaking for yourself and not the >TC? Considering that >municipalities are rolling out programs in the 6-9 month timeframe, a two to >three year horizon >for the work ahead of us seems rather a dire prognostication. > >Will > >--- Terri Buckner wrote: > > > >>Downtown wireless network slow to start >>Dearmin pledges to help with effort >> >>BY JAKE POTTER >>STAFF WRITER >>August 31, 2005 >> >>A downtown wireless Internet initiative that has sat idle for several >>months is slowly booting up. >> >>The Downtown Economic Development Corporation and the town's Technology >>Committee are discussing the possibility of bringing wireless Internet >>access to the downtown sector. >> >>After the corporation proposed the idea earlier this year, the Chapel >>Hill Town Council formally referred the issue to Town Manager Cal Horton >>and the committee on June 27. >> >>Corporation Executive Director Liz Parham, hired in late July, met >>Monday with committee Chairman Gregg Gerdau and member Steve Irving to >>discuss plans for moving ahead with the initiative. >> >>"We need to find out how we can get this off the ground," Parham said. >> >>"We need to find out the best way to do this, what areas we should start >>with." >> >>The corporation has thrown around the idea of creating a wireless zone >>within the downtown sector since February, but inactivity has caused >>some, including Irving, to push the corporation to begin work on the >>initiative. >> >>"There's a lot of people talking about it, but there has been no >>action," he said. >> >>Carrboro completed its downtown wireless setup last fall. >> >>Parham said Chapel Hill and the corporation will work to develop surveys >>for business owners concerning the possibility of making the Franklin >>Street area wireless. >> >>"We're surveying them so we can understand their needs, if they really >>want Wi-Fi," she said. >> >>Businesses like Woody's Tar Heel Tavern & Grill and Jack Sprat Cafe >>already offer wireless access to its customers. >> >>Residents of the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods might also get >>a separate survey as some within the committee have called for those >>districts, which sit just outside the downtown district, to be included >>in the wireless zone. >> >>"We want to make this inclusive," Parham said. "We'll have different >>surveys for different needs." >> >>But Irving said the addition of residential networks could pose a >>dilemma for the effort. >> >>"Some people have talked about including the Northside and Pine Knolls >>neighborhoods, but at that juncture, it becomes a political issue," he >> >> >said. > > >>Irving said that continuing the group discussions would be vital to the >>effort's success. >> >>"It's very preliminary," he said. "We're just trying to get a feel for >> >> >it." > > >>The process could emulate Carrboro's wireless initiative, Irving said. >> >>"Carrboro took two or three years to establish their service," he said >>of the wireless zone that now ranges from Carr Mill Mall to the Century >>Center and Town Hall. "It's a long time frame." >> >>Student Body President Seth Dearmin, who included a wireless initiative >>in his campaign last spring, said he hopes his administration can help >>that process move more quickly. >> >>"We're more than happy to help out, whether it's writing grants or >>looking at budgets," he said. "We definitely need to work together." >> >>Since being elected in February, Dearmin has consistently pledged to >>contact the town regarding the project. >> >>When asked about the meeting between the corporation and the technology >>committee, Dearmin said he had not heard of it. >> >>The corporation will hold its regularly scheduled meeting at 7:30 a.m. >>today at the Midway Business Center, off West Franklin Street. >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Chtechcomm mailing list >>Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm >> >> >> > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >http://mail.yahoo.com >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > >_______________________________________________ >Chtechcomm mailing list >Chtechcomm at lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/chtechcomm > > > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com