Roughing it in the electronic bush: community networking in Canada [National Capital FreeNet]

Abstract

In order to ascertain what information and services users of the NCF prefer, [Patrick], Black, & Whalen (1994) surveyed the use of the "Go" feature on the NCF. The "Go" feature allows a user to jump to a certain point on the menu tree, such as "Go Mail" to read e-mail. Breaking down their analysis by the top 25 uses of the "Go" feature indicated that most users chose to access outside communication links, such as e-mail, Usenet newsgroups, gopher, and IRC (Internet Relay Chat). (The survey was conducted before the NCF had text-based access to the World Wide Web through Lynx.) Access to role-playing games, NCF special interest groups (SIGs), and the NCF general announcement area was also popular.

It is also possible to gain some insight into what services NCF users are accessing, and whether NCF use concentrates on local resources and communication or other Internet services, because the menu-oriented Freeport software (from the National Public Telecomputing Network) has been augmented with substantial infrastructure added by a volunteer to measure NCF usage. Communication services (e-mail and public discussion groups) were the main services used on the NCF. The most popular newsgroups, ranked by the number of unique users, are typically split between local NCF and Ottawa newsgroups (ncf.announce, ncf.general, ncf.admin, ott.forsale, ott.events). The most popular newsgroup subclasses of ncf.* include the SIGs (special interest groups), announcements, general news, government information, administration, and on-line newspapers. The most popular SIGs are for recreational uses: IRC (Internet Relay Chat), gaming, computer groups, and hobbies.

Community networking activists have championed the idea of community networks as being a distinctly Canadian communications facility, reflective of the goals of the federal Information Highway Council-jobs, cultural identity, and universal access. Public interest intervenors at the CRTC Information Highway hearings reminded the Commission of the continued surge and enthusiasm for community-based networks, and urged the CRTC to recommend the creation of both social and economic policies to sustain community networks: "We believe that community networking represents a grassroots effort by Canadians to create a truly citizen-based Information Highway, one which reflects what people want from this new technology: a place to think, learn, and communicate with their neighbors and an emerging knowledge-based world" (Stevenson & Searle, 1995, n.p.).