Ms. Kaye Gapen, The Morino Institute, Reston, VA
Summarized by: Ms. Laura Richardson
Ms. Gapen, advisor to The Morino Institute, spoke about the evolution, the mission and goals, the work and the future of the Morino Institute.
The Morino Institute was created in 1994 as an outgrowth of the Morino Foundation which funds scholarships and fellowships. The Morino Institute was created after Mr. Morino's 18-month worldwide "discovery journey" in which he talked to over 900 people to see where his skills would fit in the big picture of truly improving the world. His philosophy then and now was that there needed to be a combining of the business world with social conscience. He wanted to build the library of the future, a community center that would translate what we know about improving opportunities into skills for problem solving via networking.
In his discovery period, he concluded that we are in a definite "new communications" age with tremendous community improvement potential specifically because of its interactivity. However, marked weaknesses in the Information Highway "joy ride" are its lack of focus and leadership. Although Mr. Morino noted a tremendous grass roots desire and need for change, he feels there is too much emphasis on the medium itself and not enough on using it for change. He sees a revolution of interactive communications already transforming society with its blurring of authority and individual empowerment.
After his exploration period, he defined a set of inferences and conclusions of the learning process (see outline below). And then Morino set the mission for the Institute: The Morino Institute is dedicated to opening the doors of opportunity -- economic, civic, health, and education -- and empowering people to improve their lives and communities in the communications age. The Institute helps individuals and institutions harness the power of information and the potential of interactive communications as tools for overcoming the challenges that face them.
In 1994 Morino announced at the "Ties That Bind" conference the formation of the Morino Institute and engaged projects in 1994. The Morino Institute is set up as self-sustaining and does not accept unsolicited project requests.
The Institute focuses on "unlocking the doors to opportunity" -- cultivating ways in which new interactive communications can be used to benefit society, empower individuals and create opportunity. The Institute focuses on areas in which interactive communications can have the greatest chance to improve people's lives: 1) economic opportunity, 2) governance, 3) health, and 4) education.
With this in mind, Morino set four goals for the Institute which deal with helping people educate others in order to prevent them from being exploited or manipulated by this new communications medium and with teaching them to use this medium to empower people to improve their lives.
The Institute has begun fulfilling these goals through its efforts to advance public access networking, to advance the Internet as the core network of networks, to advance information management activities, to connect the public interest and the non-profit sectors, to advance public policy and legislation, to advance the availability of funding sources, and to advance citizen access to government information.
Specifically, the Institute has been involved in such initiatives as the National Youth Center Network, the "Ties That Bind" community networking conference, the Directory of Public Access Networks, the Nebraska Community Networking Institute, the Northern Virginia Project, and others.
Future plans call for the Institute to further implement its current plans and initiatives.