Past Meetings of the WIA:

---

December 1999

• Feature Presentation- Claire Stephens of Philanthropic Research discussed GuideStar, a searchable database of thousands of nonprofit organizations.
  
• Beginners' Breakout Session - Stan Rockwell discussed staying in touch with friends and family using the Internet. The outline for the presentation can be found at http://luna.moonstar.com/~marion/wia1299.html.
  
• Advanced Breakout Session - Joi Ball led the discussion on search engines: comparisons, hunts, and metasearch.

November 1999

• Feature Presentation- Leonard Holmes, Ph.D. , a clinical psychologist who lives in Williamsburg and works in Hampton presented. He is the About.com Guide to Mental Health Resources (at http://mentalhealth.about.com ) and the Webmaster for NetPsychology.com. For a time he used the Internet for individual mental health consultations (at http://netpsych.com/share ). He is a founding member of the International Society for Mental Health Online and is on the editorial board for the print journal CyberPsychology and Behavior. Dr. Holmes will talk about using the Internet in his clinical practice, and about his experiences as a Guide for About.com. Issues involving the uses of the Internet for healthcare will be discussed. His notes for this presentation can be found at http://netpsych.com/williamsburg until about December 17, 1999.
  
• Beginners' Breakout Session - Stan Rockwell discussed how to find information on the Internet using his site, Find It On The Internet.
  
• Advanced Breakout Session - Joi Ball continued the discussion and planning for the advanced group.

October 1999

• Feature Presentation- Jay Kerr and Brian Callahan of Logon, on 89.5 WHRV FM. Logon is a call-in radio program that airs every Friday at 1:30 PM. Brian and Jay presented the many ways that WHRO is using the Internet. In addition to being Hampton Roads' Public Broadcasting System affiliate, WHRO is an Internet service provider and also sponsors Learning Link and Bay Link.
  
• Ben Loyall, of Widomaker Communications, discussed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service and its coming availability.
  
• Beginners' Breakout Session - Ryan Wynne, a Williamsburg computer consultant, discussed spam and how to prevent it. You can visit Ryan's company web site at http://www.widomaker.com/~toyfish and he can be reached at rwynne@widomaker.com. He presented the following links:
  1. Studio 42: The Deadbeats Hall of Lame
  2. Spam Is Illegal
  3. Abuse.Net
  4. Spam.abuse.net
  5. Virginia AntiSpam Law
  6. Spam Killer
  7. Rhodes DNS Search to find a web site's server or host.
  
  
• Advanced Breakout Session - Joi Ball continued discussion and planning for the advanced group.

September 1999

• Hurricane Floyd forced the cancellation of the meeting.

August 1999

• Feature Presentation- Dave Scherer spoke about y2k and what it means to the older main-frames "out there" that control government services (Social Security is supposedly compliant, but Medicare & Dept of Defense are NOT), production (including food), distribution (including food), crude oil & gasoline etc, & snd how it may affect us. He gave out preparedness pamphlets from the Red Cross.
  
• Second Session - Hank Dorris, Vice-president of the WIA, reported on the proposed James City County (or the Greater Williamsburg Area) Broadband Access, Communication of Knowledge, and Electronic Commerce Network (ACENet). He covered: preparing our community for the impacts of information technology; ACENet objectives, mission, vision, and goals; brief technical overview; master plan overview; and possible WIA role in the long term ACENet plan. You can find his report here.

July 1999

• Feature Presentation- Ellen Rudolph of the North American Nature Photography Association spoke. Dr. Rudolph is the co-chair of the Communications Committee which includes the organization's web site and online activities. She also hosts AOL's nature photography message board. She has a web site called Travelling With Dr. Ellen which has many educational resources.

June 1999

• Feature Presentation- Mary Sinclair of Sights Magazine discussed Sights Magazine, an e-zine covering historic travel.
  
• Breakout Session (Beginners') -Gail Anderson of Widomaker Communications spoke about bandits on the information superhighway. She discussed viruses, email and mailing lists, spam, and finger, including how to change or delete your profile.
• Breakout Session (Advanced)- Did not meet.

May 1999

• Feature Presentation- Chris Hicks of Flamingo Internet Navigators discussed data bases and related topics.
  
• Breakout Session (Beginners') - Ben Loyall of Widomaker Communications spoke about Internet software that needs to be updated or replaced before 2000.
  
• Breakout Session (Advanced)- did not meet.

April 1999

• Featured Presentation - Sherle Abramson of the Williamsburg Regional Library presented the Library's site including databases you can access from the Library's Internet stations and the Phillip West Memorial Cancer Resource Center.
  
• Breakout Session (Beginners') - Janis Walby of Brock Development spoke about the basics of downloading and other Internet essentials. She referenced the Ziff Davis site at http://www.zdnet.com/swlib/easyguide/index.html
  
• Breakout Session (Advanced)- Chris Hicks of Flamingo Internet Navigators discussed style sheets.
  
  

March 1999

• Featured Presentation - Mike Russell of Christopher Newport University spoke about the University's network, CNUonline, and distance learning.
  
• Breakout Session (Beginners') - Petra Klemmack of the Williamsburg Regional Library spoke about tax resources on the Internet.
  
• Breakout Session (Advanced) Did not meet.

February 1999

• Featured Presentation- Laurie Brown of Colonial Williamsburg presented Colonial Williamsburg's site. This year marks the 300th anniversary of the founding of Williamsburg.
  
• Breakout Session (Beginners') - Allison Mulligan of the Williamsburg Regional Library spoke about books beyond Amazon.com: finding books on the Internet.
  
• Breakout Session (Advanced) -Did not meet.
  

January 1999

• Featured Presentation - Ben Loyall of Widomaker Communications Service talked about tech support, ADSL, demonstrated Internet Explorer 5 beta, and answered questions.
  
• Breakout Session (Beginners') - Carl Dolmetsch of Widomaker Communications Service showed how to keep web sites below the 5 megabyte size limit that most Internet service providers have set. Notes for his presentation can be found here.
  
• Breakout Session (Advanced) - Did not meet this month.
  
  

Listing of 2001 Meetings

Listing of 2000 Meetings

Listing of 1998 Meetings

Listing of 1997 Meetings

Listing of 1996 Meetings

8:30 PM (time approximate after presentations) - questions and answers, on the presentations and general topics related to the Internet and the users' group. If there is any association business to transact, it will be taken care of at the end of the Q & A session, before concluding the meeting at 9:00 PM.