THEME III - SUSTAINING COMMUNITY; THE USE AND IMPACT OF FREENETS
Thursday, August 19
10:30-11:15 am

FOR BUSINESS AND PROFIT; COMMERCIAL USES
Michael Strangelove, Publisher, The Internet Business Journal, Ottawa

     Michael Strangelove outlined the impact that commercial use has
had on the Internet, and discussed the role that FreeNets might play
in supporting local businesses.

     The Internet has exploded in size since commercial use began in
earnest in the late 1980s. Contrary to the popular opinion that the
Internet is primarily populated by the academic community, Mr.
Strangelove notes that currently, approximately 51% of the hosts on
the net represent industry, rather than academia. He predicts that
there will be around 50 million commercial users connected before
1998.

     FreeNets have not traditionally allowed commercial entities to
use the services of the FreeNet to make money. However, Mr.
Strangelove suggests that they might consider allowing commercial
establishments to provide services, if they serve to benefit the
community as a whole.


THE NCF FEDERAL ELECTION PROJECT
Richard P. Taylor, Board member, National Capital FreeNet

     Richard Taylor described the NCF's attempt to implement a set of
online services to offer an improved communications channel between
the candidates and the voters in the next Federal election.

     Previously, one main avenue for a candidate to present his or her
platform to the public (and to defend that platform), was via All
Candidates Meetings. These meetings offered the opportunity for the
public to ask questions of the candidates, and gave the candidates an
open forum for debate. These meetings have a few problems that the
FreeNet may be able to solve, by using existing services.

     First of all, the NCF now offers an area in which each candidate
can assemble a database of various information. These might include a
basic introduction and background for the candidate, a summary of that
candidate's platform, and records of speeches or press releases that a
candidate wants to offer for public viewing. This allows users to
browse the online information at his or her leisure. Also, this would
allow candidates the chance to confirm in writing the stance they take
on various issues.

     Also, the NCF has public newsgroups, or discussion forums, set up
to allow dialogue between candidates and users. One of the main
problems with the all candidates meetings has to do with the fact that
the candidate must supply an answer to a question instantly, without a
moment's pause for reflection. In a newsgroup, a candidate has a
chance to think about a question before offering an answer. Also, due
to the impersonal nature of the newsgroup, the ideas expressed by the
candidate may be more clearly understood, without misinterpretation
caused by the mannerisms or speaking ability of the candidate. The
candidate can assert his or her viewpoints strongly regardless of how
"telegenic" he or she is.

     So far, response to the services has been disappointing. The
candidates have not taken full advantage of it, though effort has been
made to make them fully aware of it. This effort continues.


ACCESS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Sam Fulton, City of Ottawa

     Sam Fulton offered a look at the FreeNet from the perspective of
a blind user. Textual telecommunications are an invaluable resource to
the blind, as computers can read text aloud as it is received. This
allows for a powerful public forum for these people.

     Approximately 18% of people in the Ottawa area are disabled. This
number is expected to increase over the coming years, as the
population ages, so it is imperative to keep these people in mind as
the Freenet is developed.

     There are already a large number of dial-in bulletin board
systems catering especially to the disabled already in place in
Canada. In Ottawa, the FreeNet is a popular topic of discussion on
these BBSs. The FreeNet stands to capture a large audience of people
from this community, if it learns to adapt to their needs.

     There are a number of resources available over the Internet that
FreeNets could make widely available. "Etexts" -- electronic documents
which would allow visually impaired users access to a wide range of
reading material. This body of electronic text is growing very
quickly. 

     Mr. Fulton offered a few suggestions to keep in mind while
developing FreeNets, with respect to disabled users:

--   Great care should be taken when designing the menu structure. It
     is very important to make navigating the FreeNet universe as
     simple as possible.

--   Many people advocate the use of a "modern" graphical user
     interface to enhance usability of the FreeNet. These interfaces
     cannot be used by visually impaired users [or by many people with
     other disabilities]. If such a system is considered, alternate
     interfaces must be made available.  Similarly, computers which
     read to the visually impaired read EVERY character they see. 
     This becomes tedious in files where people have tried to create
     visual effects with ASCII characters.  A series of dashes (-----)
     or slashes (/////) takes a long time to b read out character by
     character.  Please try to avoid doing this.

--   Many organizations catering to the disabled community (such as
     the Canadian National Institute for the Blind) are unaware of the
     services provided by FreeNets. It is important to make these
     organizations familiar with the resources available.

--   FreeNet administrators may be tempted to create special areas for
     the disabled community, and to steer disabled users only towards
     these areas. Mr. Fulton stresses that effort must be made to
     offer disabled users access to ALL areas of the FreeNet, rather
     than just those specially designed for them. If a FreeNet is
     truly going to endeavour to be an open communication forum for
     all people, it must encourage access to all services for all
     people.