"How Communities Can Make the Information Highway Come to Town"
Public Presentation and Cable Television Event
-->> Wednesday, February 15, 1995, 7 - 9 PM <<--
Emerson College Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts
180 Tremont Street (corner Boylston), 12th floor. T Stop: Boylston
Cosponsored by Emerson College
Mass Communication Division and Communication Studies Division
and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Why should local communities and municipal officials care whether the
information highway comes to town?
A hundred years ago, towns without a railroad stop faced a lingering
death. Thirty years ago, communities bypassed by the interstate highways
faced economic decline.
Now, the information superhighway is coming to town. Will your town
be ready? Or will it be bypassed?
In the current climate of media concentration, loss of local
regulatory authority, and hands-off state and federal market policies, how
can municipalities and civil society in general assure that they are not
bypassed by the information superhighway?
Telecommunications Policy Roundtable--Northeast addresses these
questions from the complementary perspectives of municipal government and
grassroots communities.
Panel 1: Local Information Infrastructure
Issues for Municipal Government Officials
"A Municipal Roadmap for the Information Superhighway," Miles Fidelman,
President, The Center for Civic Networking
"Statewide Networking Initiatives: Their Impact on Local Government,"
Robert C. Maier, Head of Library Development, Massachusetts Board of
Library Commissioners
"Working Together to Develop Information Infrastructure that Serves the
Commonwealth's Communities," Geoffrey Beckwith, Executive Director,
Massachusetts Municipal Association
Panel 2: Grassroots Development of Community Networks
Introduction, W. Curtiss Priest, Center for Information, Technology &
Society.
"Learning and Information Network for Community Telecomputing (LINCT)," Ken
Komoski, LINCT Director
"CONETS" (Minnesota COmmunity NETworks under National Science Foundation
grant) Harry Stevens, former Massachusetts Legislator and a computer
teleconferencing pioneer.
"Information Infrastructure Initiatives in Colorado," Gordon Cook,
Publisher, The Cook Report and former analyst with the U.S. Office of
Technology Assessment specializing in the National Information
Infrastructure.
"CPB's Community-Wide Education and Information Services Initiative
(CWEIS)," Jennifer Lawton, Principle, Net Daemons Associations.
Respondents: Barry Kort, Education Department, Bolt, Beranek, and Newman,
Inc.; Nancy Vose, President, MassCue (Massachusetts Computer Using
Educators).
-->> For more information on the program: Miles Fidelman, The Center for
Civic Networking, mfidelman@civicnet.org; or Curtiss Priest, Center
for Information Technology & Society, bmslib@mitvma.mit.edu
-->> For more information on the event and for press relations, contact
Phyllis Haynes, 617-421-0111
-->> For more information on TPR-NE, contact Coralee Whitcomb, 617-356-4309
cwhitcom@bentley.edu; Hans Klein, 617-258-7614 hkklein@mitvma.mit.edu;
Paul Johnson, 508-653-5987 pjbrady@delphi.com
--> Upcoming TPR-NE/Emerson Events <<--
March 15: The Impact of Video Dialtone on Public Broadcasting and Cable
Access
April 20: Health Stops on the Information Highway
May 17: Designing the Next Millennium's Communications Infrastructure:
For Whose Benefit?
June 21: The Dark Side of the Chip: Electronic Exploitation and
Violation of Privacy
July 19: Freedom to Communicate? Internet and Human Rights
Aug 16: How Will the Disabled Navigate the Information Superhighway?
ABOUT THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY ROUNDTABLE -- NORTHEAST
Since 1992, a coalition of non-profit and public interest groups concerned
about the future of the information superhighway has been meeting in
Washington, D.C. This group is known as the Telecommunications Policy
Roundtable (TPR). Its members include public access television
professionals, computer professionals, activists, libraries, museums,
media watchdog groups, educators, and many more. The TPR-Northeast
brings together local counterparts of the national coalition in order
to further the public interest in telecommunications policy -- with a
focus on shaping the New England telecommunications environment.
To subscribe to the TPR-NE electronic mail list on the Internet, send the
message "subscribe tpr-ne yourfirstname yourlastname" (leave out the
quotes) to listserv@mitvma.mit.edu - there's no need to put anything
in the subject field (it's ignored).