response 1 of 17:

Apr 2 16:53 UTC 1995

       PEOPLE AND THEIR GOVERNMENTS IN THE INFORMATION AGE
                                                
                   NATIONAL ELECTRONIC OPEN MEETING
                            May 1-14, 1995

                    CALL FOR PUBLIC ACCESS SITES


BACKGROUND:

In recognition of the growing importance of information 
technology as a means for communication and participation in 
democratic government, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA), the National Technical Information Service's (NTIS) 
FedWorld, and the National Performance Review (NPR) will be 
sponsoring an electronic open meeting entitled "People and Their 
Governments in the Information Age," from Monday, May 1 to 
Sunday, May 14, 1995.  The US Government Printing Office (GPO) 
will assist by providing telephone registration for Public Access 
Sites and preconference information.

The meeting will seek to garner public opinion on the use of 
information technology by Federal, State, Tribal and local 
governments.  The electronic open meeting will encourage public 
discussion about the respective roles of the Federal government, 
State, Tribal, and local governments, industry, the public 
interest and library communities, academia, and the general 
citizenry in creating an electronic government.

One of the fundamental tenets of the Clinton Administration is 
that government information is a public asset and valuable 
national resource.  This open meeting is an extension of earlier 
efforts, such as the Government Information Locator Service 
(GILS) initiative, to establish a framework for governments' 
roles and activities in the information age.  In early April, OMB 
will publish a "Notice of Inquiry" in the Federal Register 
setting forth the five topics mentioned below, referencing key 
reports and other documents, and seeking comment.

Along with the traditional method of mailing in responses to a 
"Notice of Inquiry," the open meeting will be conducted through 
our nation's electronic networks including: the World Wide Web, 
newsgroups, e-mail listservs (mailing lists), commercial on-line 
providers, Public Access Sites, and dial-up bulletin board 
connections.


HOW THE CONFERENCE WILL BE CONDUCTED:

FedWorld will create five e-mail discussion groups.  The five 
discussion groups will also be accessible through five 
corresponding Internet newsgroups, the World Wide Web, and  
dial-up bulletin board connection.  Each discussion group will be 
devoted to a specific topic relating to "People and their 
Governments in the Information Age."  Each topic will be hosted 
by one or more experts, who will provide an introductory 
statement to initiate the discussion and who will also take part 
in the discussion.

Attendees will participate in the conference by replying to the 
hosts' introductory statements, posting statements or comments, 
and by replying to the statements and comments of other 
attendees.  We are seeking the broadest possible level of 
participation emphasizing input from a wide spectrum of 
Americans.  The open meeting will focus on five topics: 


     Services -- from emergency help and health care to business 
     licenses.

     Benefits -- from social security and food stamps to small 
     business grants.

     Information -- from declassified secrets and travel aids to 
     satellite weather maps.

     Participatory Democracy -- ensuring everyone's chance to be 
     heard in a democracy.

     Technology -- how the technical portion of electronic 
     government will work. 


NEED FOR PUBLIC ACCESS SITES:

A primary goal of the meeting is to enable as many Americans as 
possible to participate in the dialogue.  This includes people 
who do not have a computer with a modem, or access to the 
Internet.  In order to ensure participation by the "unconnected," 
public and private organizations are needed to volunteer as 
"Public Access Sites."  

The following criteria will apply to institutions interested in 
serving as a Public Access Site:

     *       Willingness and ability to make computer facilities 
     available, free-of-charge, to the general public on a full-
     or part-time basis throughout the two-week meeting, and to   
     provide logistical and technical support to the public.

     *       Ability to access Internet e-mail, newsgroups, or    
     the World Wide Web.  Public Access Sites should not use      
     Telnet to access the FedWorld bulletin board.  Because the   
     number of access ports at FedWorld is finite, FedWorld       
     prefers to reserve dial-in and Telnet capacity for           
     individuals who seek to use the FedWorld BBS as their        
     primary means of participating.

     *       Willingness and ability to publicize your            
     institution's participation as a Public Access Site to the   
     local media and community, and answer local public and press 
     questions about participation.

     *       Willingness to be listed in a national directory     
     of Public Access Sites that will be made available to the    
     public and press, before and during the meeting.

If your institution would like to serve as a Public Access Site, 
please do one of the following: 

     Point your World Wide Web browser to:

                  http://meeting.fedworld.gov 

     Or, send a blank e-mail message to:

                  pas-info@meeting.fedworld.gov 

In response to your e-mail, you will receive an automated 
response detailing how to register as a Public Access Site. If
you do  not presently have e-mail, newsgroup, or World Wide Web 
capability but plan on having such capability by the time of the 
meeting, you may register as a Public Access Site or receive 
general end user information by calling the GPO Access User
Support  Team at (202) 512-1530.

If you would like more information about the content and format 
of the meeting, please send a blank e-mail message to
info@meeting.fedworld.gov.  You will receive an automated 
response providing additional detail for the electronic open 
meeting.

Thank you for your interest in making this meeting more
accessible to the public!

response 3 of 17:

Apr 2 21:19 UTC 1995

If the response here in coop is positive, then this ought to be linked to
agora.

The first criterion there is my concern.  Other than that, I think that
this is a wonderful way to give something back to this national community
that we call the Internet, and to this country that allows us the freedom
to operate in the fashion WE choose.

[set soapbox = off]

response 5 of 17:

Apr 3 02:58 UTC 1995

re: 3 - set soapbox = on - you are on target.

re: 4 - Well - here your are srw!  I have been looking for you, young
man!  Ok, Steve - if HVCN could organize some desktops, some modems,
and some dial-in telephone access at libraries, govt. offices, etc.
could Grex and others take it the next step - what ever that is?
It just seems to me that this is an opportunity to learn and to help
at the same time.  Please, Please, pardon the expression -- but
couldn't this be a Win - Win situation? Ok, I'm sorry, won't do that
again.  Anyway, let's try. [Attended Arbornet Board Meeting tonight -
which explains why I am a little "tired". 

response 7 of 17:

Apr 3 15:27 UTC 1995

  I wonder what kind of volume they're projecting for the mailing
list...like will it be a moderated summary of info, or are they going to
remail anything anyone else in the country mails to them.
 
  If HVCN set up some terminals, I think Grex could help with the
connectivity by including a special script (or account) like srw suggested,
so that the mailing list only needs to be subscribed to once.  I don't
think it will be so overwhelmingly popular that it would add a whole lot
more usage to the dial-ins...even if the public access terminals get a
couple hours usage a day, there would be a small finite number of them.
Also, if Merit/Michnet is still providing free access to Metronet,
UM-GoMLink, or MSU-Gopher, the public access terminals could be configured
via macro to use those services, thereby not using any of Grex's dial-ins.
 
  On the other hand, this seems like something that colleges and
universities, especially around Ann Arbor, can do a *whole* lot better.
Hopefully they'll consider opening up a couple terminals at their computing
labs to the public.

response 9 of 17:

Apr 4 01:25 UTC 1995

Is it possible for us to get just those newsgroups and make them 
public here?

response 11 of 17:

Apr 4 12:10 UTC 1995

Assuming (but you all know what ass-u-me-ing gets you) that HVCN gets 
terminals set up, wouldn't getting those newsgroups be the easiest way
to make them available, and to limit incoming traffic, and to make responding
possible here?  Plus, it could be a test for any Usenet system(s) we are
considering (except verification).

If we do it via e-mail, then I just KNOW that we are going to get a bunch
of dummies subscribing to the list with user@cyberspace.org at the source,
and not use our locally exploded copy.

response 13 of 17:

Apr 5 21:01 UTC 1995

Could we cobble something together ourselves?  Not being in the area, I have
no idea where we might put it, but I do recall hearing that we have the
parts necessary to build a computer or two lying around.....?

And I think we need to be thinking about how to deal w/ppl subscribing to
the list.

response 15 of 17:

Apr 8 03:42 UTC 1995

Nonono...  I mean, we could get a heavy load incoming if ppl subscribe to the
list with their user@cyberspace.org address, and I think we need to have at
least an informal policy for "encouraging" these ppl to NOT do that, to just
get a copy from the locally exploded list.

response 17 of 17:

Apr 9 22:15 UTC 1995

Thank you.  And don't feel TOO stupid; I've done worse before.  :-)

So, any proposals?  Send them e-mail?  Unsubscibe them ourselves and add them
to the local list?  take them out back, shoot them, and THEN unsubscribe them?