SCN: Re: Re: principles

[Steve Guest]

Joe
This is a personal view.

I see no problem with the statement - we do not stop SCN being available
from any place.  I will agree that we do not provide access equipment and we
never have.  Given that every library in Seattle, King County and several
other  service offer SCN up front and almost every community center now as
some public access, the need is limited.  We might wish to teach there, but
we have no need to provide special equipment or services.

If you look at the City's DOIT web site under the SCTA, you should find that
a project they commissioned from the UW showed that we now have even more
public Internet access then every before and this concluded that there was
no need for further funding of public access in the City.  We may not
believe that and are still helping, but it is hard to seek and justify funds
for what a report says in not required.

You singled out one point from the principles.  One of the things I was told
initially when I began to work with SCN was that "the principles" are just
that, they are an ideal and not the policy.  If you read them there are many
more entries in that list which are even more questionable.  For example,
"We will provide access to databases and other services."  In the same way,
this does not mean that we provide the database nor the data, but the
access.

I personally asked to have them revisited, but was told firmly that as a set
of principles they are sacrosanct and are a part of SCN's culture - much
like Mickey Mouse is to Disney.  So for me these principles and ideals from
1992 are part of SCN heritage.

To help answer your question on public access, the Board has for the last
three years been working closely on this with the City of Seattle, which I
hope you agree is an even more appropriate body to address the issue of
public access.  I have been asked several times to sit on the Mayor's
advisory board, but due to the fact that I live in Bellevue - I can't.
Currently SCN has a City supported project which is giving access to the
public, by providing equipment and training in needy areas of the City.  So
the Board is always aware of these issues and does what it can.

Hopefully, when we get access to the public labs again, we can gear up the
training group and get it back into action.  Losing all our main teaching
sites was devastating for the group, but we still teach at a few other sites
around the City.

Finally, I do wonder why you chose the comment, "Now that access to SCN
merely means access to the Internet" as it seems to imply something changed
and for the worse.  It follows that SCN has stopped offering some functions
which in some way, you feel, diminishes the hard work of the volunteers of
the current and evolving services.  Could you explain why or how SCN has
changed in your eyes?

Thanks
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Mabel" <jmabel at speakeasy.org>
To: "Doug Schuler" <douglas at scn.org>
Cc: "patrick fisher" <clariun at yahoo.com>; "scn" <scn at scn.org>;
<scna-board at scn.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2002 11:58 PM
Subject: BD: Re: principles


> [SNIP]
> >      * We will make the SCN accessible from public places.
> [SNIP]
>
> How long since the Board, or some other appropriate body, gave any thought
to
> what this now means? Now that access to SCN merely means access to the
Internet,
> what (if anything) are we doing to enhance the availability of access to
the
> Internet in pubic places?
>
> JM
>
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