A Study of State-Funded Community Networks in Indiana:

Final Report

Findings

This study gathered empirical evidence using a variety of data collection techniques to answer the research questions mentioned above (summary answers are provided):

1. How have the AI CN grants been used in the development of CNs?

   AI grants have been used to fund connectivity and purchase hardware and software. CNs have acquired their own servers and peripheral equipment (becoming regional ISPs) or have purchased connectivity from a commercial ISP. Grant money has been used to purchase design services for the development of their web sites, and pay for the development of content. A small number of CNs have used some grant money for marketing and promotions.

2. How are these networks organized and managed? What types of management structures and processes are in place?

   Almost all of the CN Boards of Directors are composed of volunteers with good representation from their communities, including local schools and public libraries. Some Board members have very sophisticated technical skills, which is a tremendous advantage for their CNs. Decisions about the CN are voted upon by the Boards, often with much online discussion between meetings. Board members reported that they are pressed for time and typically divide the labor of maintaining their CNs among themselves; a few were experimenting with paid staff (as of November 1997, one CN had hired a paid Director and two others had hired part time staff), and a few are delegating some content development and maintenance tasks to volunteers from the community.

   2a What types of challenges have network organizers faced and how have they been resolved?

   The two main challenges are economic and social. The overwhelming challenge faced by these CNs is the development of viable strategies for attaining self-sufficiency through the generation of revenue streams. A second challenge is for CNs to better integrate themselves into their communities; several have begun to make some progress in this direction. To take this next step in their development, CNs have to create the kinds of social and cultural content and services that will enable them to integrate their systems into the routine lives of their communities. This will involve the development of deep and meaningful local content; there was, however, less mention of the equally important interactive services that will encourage ongoing and regular social interaction among CN members. This initiative may also involve innovative strategies such as the creation of closer ties to local government, libraries, schools, and social service agencies. CNs have to learn more about their communities and user populations to accomplish this. At the time of data collection, some CN Board members reported that they were having difficulties competing as ISPs and others were having problems with the ISPs that were providing them with connectivity.

   2b. What are these networks doing to move toward economic self-sufficiency?

   For the purposes of this research the terms "sustainability" and "self-sufficiency" are considered synonymous. Since the state funded CNs operate as not-for-profit organizations, "sustainability" was operationalized as the ability of the CN to generate a sufficient revenue stream to meet its fixed and variable overhead costs, including the costs of operation and maintenance. Revenue generation could come from activities such as the collection of membership dues, the sale of advertising and/or sponsorship, web site design work, site hosting for businesses and the successful pursuit of additional grants.

   A troubling trend is that there does not seem to be much movement among the CNs to develop strategies for sustainability although many Board members recognize this issue as the most significant challenge they face. There are some discussions about pursuing grants from state government and foundations, seeking revenue from advertising and sponsorships, and providing design work and page hosting for a fee. Some CNs are experimenting with fee-based services including advertising, personalized email services, and web-page design. However, these are local initiatives and there is little evidence of regular information sharing among the CNs about strategies for sustainability.

3. What is the range of content, organizational scheme, and navigational strategies used in CN web sites?

   For the most part, CN web sites follow the requirements set out in Section 7.0 of the ICNA Board Policy Manual 1.17.97), although, as is explained below, compliance seems to be superficial for the majority of CNs.

   3a. Who is creating and maintaining this content?

   The overall design and structure of these web sites is either created by Board members or by paid designers. Maintenance and updating is handled largely by these two groups. One interesting exception is those few sites with interactive community calendars; here CN members can submit updates and calendar items.

4. In what ways are these networks integrated into their communities?

   Although the degree of integration varies among these CNs, the general impression is that, with a few notable exceptions, they are not yet well integrated into their communities. Interviews and site visits indicated that some CNs are working hard to overcome this challenge.

   4a. What types of interactions and relationships have developed between CNs and K-12 schools and public libraries?

   Analysis of the survey data, the content analysis of the web sites, and site visits show that there are not many instances where CNs have established relationships and partnerships with schools and public libraries beyond a relatively superficial provision of location information. The significance of this finding is mitigated by two important intervening factors, neither of which was apparent when the AI program was getting underway and both of which combined to make the establishment of good working relationships between CNs and public schools and libraries more difficult. First, there has been the rapid and pervasive rise of the ISP industry and second is the appearance of state and federal initiatives to provide direct connectivity to public schools and libraries. CNs had been expected to be the main point of physical access to the internet in their communities, offering dial up access to individuals, schools, libraries, and businesses. As ISPs moved into regions across the state, many CNs could not compete and lost the opportunity to establish relationships with public schools and libraries based on the provision of connectivity. As public schools and libraries seek state and federal monies for connectivity, the conditions of the funding programs provide them with incentives to bypass CNs as points of connection.

   4b. How are these relationships affecting public education and public libraries?

   The lack of significant relationships seems to show that these CNs are not having much effect on schools and libraries. As explained above, there is little incentive for public schools and libraries to use their local CNs as physical points of connection, and therefore as gateways, to the internet. This situation forces CNs to search for new ways to establish relationships with schools and libraries in order to have an effect on public education and libraries. These relations will be more likely to take the form of social interactions, perhaps based around collaborative projects, such as resource and content development, or training opportunities

   4c. Who is using these networks? How often and for what purposes?

   Based on this research, these questions could not be answered. Only a few CN Boards have good data about their users and some understanding of what these people are doing when they log on. Copies of access, transaction, and other server logs were not collected for this study, in part because many CNs did not have access to this information. One of the information gaps uncovered in this research has to do with the demographics and online behaviors of individual and corporate CN members.

These findings are discussed in much greater detail below, followed by a set of recommendations.

The findings related to CN Boards and Management are on a separate page (find2.html) as are findings about CN websites (find3.html)

Use this tool to move to any other section of the report or back to the Table of Contents. Select a section and press "GO!"