March/April 1984 RAIN Page 27 If you just started thinking about all this networking jazz, or if you've been into computer networking stuff since you were a whiz kid at 16, or perhaps just figured it was a variation on dressing for success, then this sociological networking analysis will awestrike you. This is serious stuff, and much of it is important. Here are the things they are talking about these days: Social clusters and opinion clusters, pattern recognition, the group as agent of change, communal diffusion of friendship, estimation of population totals by use of snowball samples, communication networks and information hierarchies in Native American folk medicine, communication of scientific information, diary-keeping: a review of its use and utility as a research tool, and friendship and urban inter- residential social trip length. That, and much more, in Connections—; a sometimes esoteric journal, but it reports on valuable sociological research about how we communicate. Listed below are three community groups that are using computers and telecommunications to analyze, gather, or share information. Environmental Defense Fund 444 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 212/686-4191 The Environmental Defense Fund has developed ELFIN (Electric/Finance), a computer program that allows users to quantify the effects of alternative-energy proposals. It has used the system to present evidence in testimony about the development of energy plants. It is developing similar computer programs to deal with other issues, including alternative methods of farming irrigation in the central plains of Texas and California's Central Valley. Appalachian Network for Environmental Education and Cultural Needs Council of Southern Mountains PO Box 1188 Clintwood, VA 24228 703/926-4495 The Appalachian Network provides a monitoring program for surface and deep mines in the southern Appalachians. Services include a housing referral; establishment of a list of human needs and employment services; information on health data; and a centralized file of news clippings and topical information on the region. Apple Computer's Community Affairs Program supports the network. Eco-Net do Pacific Research Unit University of California Santa Cruz, CA 95064 408/429-2195 Four U.S.-based organizations concerned with appropriate technologies for community self-reliance are developing a transnational computer network for global communities and appropriate technology, to refine existing telecommunication and staff technical abilities and organizational resources. The Apple Community Affairs Program supports Eco-Net. New information and telecommunications services ACRES Farm Bureau 225 Touhy Avenue Park Ridge, IL 60068 ACRES, the Agricultural Communications and Resource Evaluation System, is a cooperative venture of state farm bureaus and the American Farm Bureau. The system provides information on market prices, farming legislative news, and other general farming news. The system is interactive and is available using a communications-equipped small computer or terminal. Community Information Exchange c/o National Urban Coalition 1201 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 4th Floor Washington, DC 20036 202/331-2400 The National Urban Coalition is establishing a Community Information Exchange (with support from the Rockefeller Foundation), which will focus on community economic development and housing. An on-line directory of technical-assistance providers is being developed, as well as a communication system for electronic mail and teleconferencing to facilitate network building among groups working in community development. DATA/NET 1015 18th Street, NW, #300 Washington, DC 20006 202/638-5577 A nonprofit group developing a computer, system for exchange of information between individuals and groups. The focus is on public/private and private/ private partnerships in dealing with issues of concern to local communities and DATA/NET members. Members will access electronic mail, bulletin boards, and other members' newsletters. Interlink Press Service 777 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 Interlink provides U.S. subscribers access, via computer-based delivery systems, to a large volume of news provided by the Inter Press Service, which focuses on news stories in developing countries. Each week. Interlink provides more than 150 feature articles covering economic, development, human rights, population, environmental, energy, urbanization, disarmament and political issues. Partnerships Dataline U.S.A. National Municipal League 55 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036 212/730-7930 A computerized database of 6000 community- and economic-development case studies and sources. Cosponsors of the project are the Citizen's Forum on Self Government and Partners for Livable Places. The now-defunct President's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives gathered the information in the database. Program on Neighborhood and Regional Change Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 9-322 Cambridge, MA 02139 617/253-6305 MIT's Program on Neighborhood and Regional Change was established to measure and analyze change in neighborhoods and regions as a basis for understanding how that change might be directed to the benefit of those living in the areas. The program uses large databases, including basic census data, for its analyses. From this, it provides information through publications and services.
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