Mr. Dennis C. Hoops, NPTN, Cleveland, OH
Summarized by: Ms. Susan Smith
This session was presented by Mr. Dennis Hoops, who spoke about the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). The NPTN is a free-net designed to be accessible to all, but especially to those in rural areas who do not have as ready an access to information as those in more urban areas.
Mr. Hoops talked about the many community benefits of having a free-net available. Cash paid into such a system stays in the local community, rather than being paid to vendors and others outside the community who take the money and do not reinvest it locally. There is also more control over content and development of the local information available through the free-net. This is another advantage--the local free-net becomes not just a gateway to the Internet, although that access can be made available through a value-added fee. Starting a community free-net helps build a local telecommunications structure; it is not cost- effective for Bell Telephone or cable companies to do so otherwise. A free-net helps create an electronic market ready for the 21st century. It benefits everyone by helping to foster computer literacy throughout the community. A free-net associated with the NPTN also has other benefits of membership.
Free-nets are springing up where money already is--in urban areas and around academic interests. Rural populations are defined by the Census Bureau as 50,000 people or less. Because of the small populations and the remoteness, rural areas are being cut off from many of the advances of modern technology, from computerized information to cable television. Bell Telephone used to take profits made in the urban areas to set up rural telephone cooperatives so that phone access would be available everywhere. However, in today's market-driven economy, cable companies will not go into rural areas unless they see a way to make a profit.
This is where NPTN comes in. The NPTN is free, and it is breaking down barriers to information accessibility. The user fees charged are strictly used to cover costs. A community-based free-net helps the community by keeping the money flowing in the local economy.
The federal government is working towards having more and more information available electronically, and will soon get to the point of requiring bidding on contracts done electronically. How will small businesses that do not have electronic access be able to compete?
A local free-net helps develop local information and referral on a local basis -- an area in which libraries can help. This phenomenon of local information being made available locally in a new format creates an electronic market ready for the 21st century. What people will need in order to take advantage of this new way of obtaining information is computer literacy. Community-wide computer literacy will become an educational process for all.
This mission of the National Public Telecomupting Network is to assist small communities in organizing their own local free-nets, for those who do not have easy access to information as in urban areas or universities. NPTN is not a bulletin board service, nor is it trying to compete with America Online, and NPTN is not just an on-ramp for the Internet. It helps fill a void for local information that is just as necessary to people as their local electric utility. NPTN gives support and acts as a clearinghouse for setting up local information systems. They advocate free access to information, but at the same time recognize that the costs are there. It should be viewed much as a small business -- but non-profit just like OCLC.
There are ten benefits that the NPTN network "family" provides to its member constituencies. They provide:
Everyone wonders about the future: if everyone is wired into the Internet and signs on at the same time, could the system handle it? Free-nets are not designed to handle that sort of load, but they will be able to provide much of the information people want most of the time on a local basis.
NPTN was started by a doctor and professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio in 1986, who had many requests for health and wellness information. He put the information on a Apple II computer hooked up to a modem, and the demand mushroomed. In 1991, NPTN received a grant to install a gopher server through a program sponsored by AT&T. Now, the Network is working on installing Web servers. In 1992, NPTN received a grant format the Apple Library of Tomorrow to build a cheaper system for under $10,000; with equipment upgrades, it now runs around $10,500. The NPTN currently has a grant for $900,000 that they will use to set up thirty free-nets around the nation.