Page 20 RAIN Oct./Nov. 1983 nity Memory, the system is not subject to the various kinds of constraints imposed by commercial "information providers." The first Community Memory node is now scheduled to begin operation in the San Francisco Bay Area in late 1983. It will serve as a pilot test and demonstrahon of the system. This demonstration has been a long time coming. The project began nearly a decade ago with a 14-month field test using terminals in two Berkeley stores and a branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The system received enthusiashc response and heavy use, but was discontinued in 1975 because it was based on expensive, obsolete computers and programs that would not allow for expansion or replication. A few years later, the Community Memory Project was revitalized and began work to create appropriate software for the current generation of smaller, cheaper, more powerful computers. The core of the Community Memory database software is now complete. The world into which we are now introducing the Community Memory system has changed greatly since that first field test in 1974. Then, computers themselves were a novelty, and "computerphobia" ran wild. In the present Year of the Computer, we're vying for attenhon with video games and loud promises of a personal computer in every home. Now we must cope with "computerphilia": the notion that pushing a few keys on a terminal will liberate people, make their jobs more interesting, expand their information horizons, and give them unlimited powers. Not only that, but computers are also supposed to rescue the economy and prove that we need not yet awaken from the American Dream. As we introduce Community Memory, we'll stress that its focus is communications, not data processing. Data processing is needed, but, in our opinion, it is not the best way to explore the liberatory potentials of computer technology. Unfortunately, we doubt that even the potentials of a network of small computers can be fully realized within the status quo. In our society, computer technology is most often used to keep track of people, to put them out of work, to control them, and, in the case of military uses, to threaten them. The last thing we want is for the existence of Community Memory somehow to obscure these facts. Computer communications networks that bear some technical resemblance to Community Memory are fast being developed under the sponsorship of governments. Field testing by corporate conglomerates in the United States, Canada, and Europe is underway. These Videotex networks and other information utilities will soon provide teleshipping, telebanking, and telestudy- ing—but not much in the way of interactive communications. Community Memory differs from these commercial systems by virtue of its public nature—its openness and its dependence on the users of the system. The contents of the Community Memory database will come directly from the public, and each user will have full interactive access to the database. The owners of the Community Memory network will be community or nonprofit groups, who will jointly determine how the system develops, how it's run, and how it is supported. Community Memory is an alternative information utility that seeks to establish a different relationship with the public it serves. We hope the project will be a forceful enough example of the potentials of the technology to provide demands for similar interactive services from users of private information utilities. Computer Networks and Bulletin Boards The freely available "electronic bulletin boards" that computer hobbyists use seem to be much more devoted to the public interest than the commercial networks. Among the recent developments in community computer networks and bullehn boards are the Apple Community Grants Program and Communitree. A focus on networking is mandatory for recipients of Apple's Community Grants. Thirty-nine community groups from California to New York have been awarded grants; these groups will form nine networks focusing on disabled people, affordable housing, donated food, youth, arms control, etc. Apple grant recipients receive an Apple He system and other hardware and software. (For information, contact Mark Vermilion at: Community Affairs Program, Apple Computer M/S 23-L, 20525 Mariani Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014.) The Communitree bulletin board software for building small-scale networks via tree-structured conferencing continues to propagate in many different communities of interest. Any group or individual can start a Communitree network. Such networks are telephone accessed and autonomously managed. There is no internetworking, yet. (Contact Dean Gengle at 415/861-TREE.) Other Community Computer Programs A number of other organizations around the country provide community computer services or publish periodicals of interest to community groups. Here are a few examples: • The Public Interest Commuter Association (PICA) has an excellent magazine called Nexus. The publication details generally positive responses to computerization from nonprofit organizations. (PICA, 122 Maryland Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002.) • Peter Grand runs a business called Community Communications in conjunction with San Francisco's Media Alliance, a writers' and editors' organization. Grand teaches word processing, BASIC, and computer graphics, and provides advice on selecting and using a home computer system. (Media Alliance, Bldg. D, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA 94123.) • Computer Use in Social Services Network (CUSS) is a publication that reviews uses of computers for information and referral; also contains software reviews and user group reports. (Information from Dick Schoech, UTA, P.O. Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019.) What's Next The fingernails of the folks at Community Memory get tougher every year from hanging on so hard. Despite delays and regressions, the collective has munched its way through five years of weekly dinner meetings and semi-annual computer shows, done business without bosses or the doubtful benefit of parliamentary proce-
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