Park Ridge Community Network Visit

View the powerpoint presentation on Park Ridge Community Network.

Purpose & Vision

#1 What was the need(s) for a community network? What are the benefits?

Needs -

• They wanted to be in the leadership role
• They wanted to make technology accessible to others to justify and optimize the costs.
• Also, a lot of organizations around town were talking on-line access but there needed to be a leader who could take charge of such a project. The public library then saw this as an opportunity to help accomplish their own objectives, which is to provide free access to public information

Benefits -

• Free unlimited internet access (text based for home users and graphical interface on site at the library) for any Park Ridge citizen
• Free web page storage for any local business or organizations.
• Free local access to library's on-line resources, including; infotrac, internet, and card catalog.

#2 What is the mission of your community network? Vision? Purposes? Long range plan? Definition? Any print materials to share?

• To provide free access to local information

Long range plans

• to expand information based services to all community members including browser access to internet and civics involvement, although they are not sure how it will be done at this time.)

Structure & Organization

#3 What is the governance structure? Are there division (education, government, business, health care, etc.)? Who are the organizers?

The divisions can be seen on their homepage, however, these divisions are not groups that meet in person.

• Arts and Entertainment
• Business
• Community Organizations
• Education
• Government and Politics
• Health and Medicine
• Library
• Local Issues
• Local Media
• Park Ridge History
• Religion
• Restaurants and Shopping
• Social Services
• Sports and Recreation
• Transportation

Any organization or business in town can become an information provider and therefore post information on the web site. Each information provider is then responsible for maintaining their own information. The main pages of the web site are coordinated by the library.

What electronic linkages are in place between and among the division?

• Each of the information providers have dial up access to the Internet (they can either use the libraries access or another internet provider). There is not a physical network that links the various partners.

#4 Who are the contact people for any of the following:

Web presence? Kathy Rolsing is in charge of organizing their web site and each information provider maintains their own pages.

Community bulletin board? There is a phone bulletin board that sponsors information on the library, city, park district, and other public institutions. Citizens can call 24 hours a day to found out the latest community information. Each information provider is responsible for their organization's information.

#5 How do you recruit community leaders who are willing to "champion" the cause of the network on behalf of all citizens?

• The director of the library was involved in a community leadership council which was already interested in investigating on-line resources. He was able to peak their interest in the Internet and the community network idea.

• Kathy Rolsing, from the library, sent letters out to various organizations and individuals inviting them to luncheon meeting in which members discussed the idea of building the "Park Ridge Web"

• The library director also made appearances at various community organizations to gain interest in the community network.

#6 What role does the Chamber of Commerce serve?

• Minimal - The Chamber does not have a web page. They are cooperative, but not active.

#7 Who were your early pioneers and partners? How did you recruit and expand to new participants?

The original charter members were the City, School District #64, District #64 Learning Foundation, Maine Township School District #207, Park Ridge Library, Park Ridge Recreation and Park District.

New members were recruited by the following methods:

• one on one meetings
• letters, and written documentation
• word of mouth

#8 What applications are available for the following partners and who are the contact people for each area:

• Each of the information provider have various information available on their organization. The library offers the most applications through the network. They include; the card catalog, infotrac, and text based internet.

Funding

#9 How is your network funded? Any tax? Fees? Grants? Foundations? How do you sustain your network?

• It is mostly funded by tax dollars, approximately $470/month and $20 /phone line/month. This is the cost of internet access for the entire library. However, the server space is provided by North Suburban Library Systems and is free. The library computer network was supported by the local city, which gives $225,000 per year, for a 5 years period to maintain their computers and local area networks.

Training & Support

#10 What training is provided? By whom? Volunteers or salaried staff? Any printed materials to share?

• Originally, the North Suburban Library System (NSLS) provided web page construction and uploading classes with a "train the trainer". This training was available for all of the original charter members.

• NSLS then provided html and uploading classes for additional network members for 1 member and $25 for extra person.

• NSLS continued to do the training until it become too much, and then…

• The Park Ridge Library picked up the training for all new information providers with quarterly training on internet

• Local area high school students then became available to produce web pages for minimal expense, and now they are looking to students to help with their future training needs.

#11 What technical support is provided? By whom? Volunteer or salaried staff? Any printed materials to share?

• NSLS currently provides support for the web server, and the library had previously had their own technician. However, they have lost their technician and are still in the process of filling this position.

Web Presence

#12 Who handles your web page updates? How often are they updated? Are there any requirements for maintaining a presence on your community web site?

• Kathy Rolsing manages the main web pages and each information provider is then responsible for their own content.

• High School Students, currently up to six, are used to produce web pages for local organizations. Students charge $5 to $25 per web page produced. Students then keep this profit.

• They are currently looking at making a policy to keep information current. They have put date on most of their web pages to tell the user how often the page is updated.

Do you have a salaried staff? Who? What are there responsibilities?

1. Kathy Rolsing - Her position is paid for by the library and she is the focal point for the gathering of community information.

Infrastructure

#13 What geography does your network encompass? What are your boundaries? How were they determined? Who is the network provider? ATM, fiber, POTS, ISDN, etc.? Are they overlaps or conflicts?

• NSLS provides the web server and Computerview, inc provides the internet access and has also set up the computer networks for the library. The library is connected by ISDN lines.

Miscellaneous

#14 What has been 3-5 of your greatest successes/results?

• Student participation, especially in the area of web page development.
• They have been selected as the Library of the Year by the NSLS
• They haven't burned them selves out, because they make the providers produce the content
• The Chicago Tribune is going to recognize them in their Digital Cities project
• In a relatively short time period, they have created a lot of community content.

#15 What have been your greatest challenges? What did you do that you would never do again?

• Getting some organizations on board. Example, they had to bring the city in for a one-on-one session to point out the benefits and possibilities of joining. Also, getting the Chamber to participate has been a challenge.

• Finding another technician to work at the library. They would have also liked to train backup personnel to help prepare themselves in case this ever happens again.

• They are glad that they did not try to take on all of the work, because they think that they would have burned themselves out, like some of the other community networks in their area.

• They feel as if they do no have enough time to get things done. It always seems like there is more to do than there is time to do it.