Minutes of the
Williamsburg Internet Association Meeting
September 19, 1996 at 7:00 PM.
MAIN PROGRAM:
Digby Solomon
of the Daily Press discussed "Building
the Digital Community" - Why local news and information still matters
in the age of global communications
The New Wave on the Net: Local Communications Services Digby Solomon, Manager
of DailyXPress and General Manager of Digital City of Hampton Roads, says
that the next wave on the global Internet will be local. That's right, local!
Check it out: Digital City will be a new internet service focusing on information
from and about the community of Hampton Roads. It will offer links to local
news, sports, and weather pages as well as providing local chat and discussion
groups, community and interest groups, a community forum, a "town crier",
"marketplace", and a"cafe".
Take a look! You will be able to find Digital City of Hampton Roads on the
Net in November, if everything goes as planned. But to get a good look at
the new wave now, visit the Daily
XPress web site which is evolving, right now, into Digital City. (Once
Digital City is online, the Daily XPress will be come an archival site for
the Daily Press newspaper.)
A few notes about the site:
Digital City will be a two-platform site: offered to AOL subscribers and
on it's own site on the Internet. AOL subscribers will get a chat focus
and the internet site will contain more hard news. Digby reports that there
will be discussion groups in both places. <http://tribapps.tribune.com/cgi-bin/WebXnn.cgi?14@@/>
The Discussion Area will consist of a variety of groups and will always
be adding new topics to reflect what Hampton Roads is talking about. Check
out a popular site called "Talk
Back to Spencer", where you can respond to Jim Spencer's column
in the Daily Press.
The weather site will feature WAVY forecasts as well as weather in other
areas. A chat room is also planned for a more informal, social interchange.
How can information like this be provided free to the Internet user? Advertisers
purchase space on sites like these hoping to gain business from the people
who surf the site. Digby also talked about the rise of database publishing,
where you indicate what information you are interested in receiving and
then it is delivered to you via email from a service like Digital City.
Services on the Web:
There are other web sites that offer similar services to be included at
Digital City; of course they aren't specific to our area. Because they do
not generate content themselves, many online service providers, like Microsoft,
MSNBC, telephone and cable companies, Internet service providers, and long
distance carriers, want to work in partnership with content-rich newspapers
to create extra value for their Internet customers.
For an example, take a look at the popular Pointcast
site, which is a free service that delivers the news customers want to a
computer's screensaver.
Breakout Session (Advanced) - "Educational Resources
on the Web"
Cathy Curtis, a member of our program committee, gave a demonstration
of how the Internet is used in education. It benefits both students and
teachers...see the possibilities by visiting the sites listed on her handout.
Breakout Session (Beginner)
Internet beginners viewed a PBS video that Introduced the 'net (especially
the World Wide Web). Afterward, Ben Loyall, President of Widomaker
Communications Service, answered questions on a variety of Internet
related topics.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Membership in the Williamsburg Internet Association: Membership is
$10 per year. Membership entitles you to be on the majordomo mailing list
server and to vote on WIA business. Members receive minutes via e-mail and
can correspond with all of other members via the majordomo.
Attendance tonight was 28 people. We need to get the word out that
we are here! If you would like to help with publicity, please contact Dana
Metheny. Thanks!
NEXT MEETING:
TUESDAY, October 15, at 7 P.M. at the Williamsburg Regional Library.
The meeting will include breakout beginner and advanced user sessions, as
well as the featured speaker:
Gary Warren, President of Unified
Research Laboratories will be our featured speaker for October 15. His
general topic will be Internet activities in K-12 schools. Gary lives in
Williamsburg and will also talk about the Williamsburg schools.
Topics for the breakout sessions will be announced ASAP.
DISTRIBUTION
These minutes (and other important announcements from the WIA) are being
e-mailed to all members of the WIA majordomo mailing list. They will also
be posted to the newsgroups:
- comp.org.user-groups.meetings
- va.general (a statewide newsgroup).
- williamsburg.events (a local / regional group)
See you at the next meeting.
