Track: Get the Spirit Going
Session:

Starting up a Freenet

Speaker: Penelope McKee, Chief Executive Officer, Edmonton Public Librar ies, Edmonton
Time: Sunday August 18, 9:00 AM
Report by: Mike MacDonald, Student, Audiovisual Communications, Grant MacEwan C ommunity College

This session was headed up as an informal discussion about the political issues involved in the initial setup of a freenet. Ms. McKee shared her experiences with the creation of the Edmonton freenet. She discussed how funding was raised, and how the committees and volunteer base wer e started and managed. Ms. McKee stressed that each community will receive support from different area s of their infrastructure but that some important sponsors can be school boards, telecommunications compa nies and public libraries. She also mentioned CAPS as an important source of additional funding . The floor was then opened for discussion and some of the delegates discussed their experiences wit h setting up networks in some smaller communities. The session was concluded with a general agreement th at communities can make more effective use of their funding and their existing networks by banding together.

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