![]() However, since we had limited the initial access to beta test members only, this provided a more reasonable environment to address these problems. Some were due in part to the instability of Internet access and telecommunications in general at the time others were simply the result of the normal process of shake down in any new system. Make no mistake, there were many problems that occurred during those first months of Gridnet. Internet sites, receive training and address access problems that occurred. These beta test group meetings were also used to exchange ideas and useful This data was then used to create the "Rural Resources on the Internet" pathfinder that was published as a result of the grant. In exchange, the test group met once a month to report their use of the Internet. ![]() Through the grant, we provided everyone in the beta test group with browser software, log sheets and free local Internet access during the grant period. I believe that the cross section of Gridley residents and institutions in this group provided a spirit of local cooperation as well as helped us to address the variety of needs and issues that arose as we attempted to automate and network the community. After receiving the grant from the Illinois State Library, this group, along with the Gridley Public Library and Gridley schools, became the beta test group for Gridley Internet access. Included in this group were a local telephone company representative, library trustees, business men and women, high school students, senior citizens, the superintendent of the Gridley schools, teachers, village board trustees, a school board representative and a software engineer. These combined circumstances led to the original purpose behind the grant proposal: to provide a more equitable means of access to the Internet for rural areas to document a model for networking and automating a rural community through local, regional and state cooperation and to provide a tool through the creation of a pathfinder for rural librarians to use in meeting the information needs of their patrons.īecause of the high interest in Internet access, a group of Gridley residents had already met before the grant proposal was even written to discuss the possibility for local dial tone access. This factor, along with the media hype of the "information superhighway," had encouraged rural Americans to view Internet access as a necessity for quality of life. Many of these migrating individuals (including myself) had already experienced easy and affordable Internet access in metropolitan areas. These fees were in addition to the usual monthly access fees that most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were charging.Īt the same time of this financial inequity and lack of training for rural librarians, there was an increased awareness and interest in local Internet access due in part to a steady migration of people from metropolitan areas to small town life. In addition, most people in rural areas, including Gridley, were paying exorbitant long distance fees to access the Internet through nodes in nearby cities. At the time of the grant, many small and rural libraries across the country were being connected to the Internet through grant funding but had no training or knowledge of how to use its resources. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the beginnings of Gridnet as a resident of Gridley and project manager for the LSCA grant. In fact, most Gridnet members now view their Internet access not as a luxury, but a necessity and are panic stricken when their e-mail is inaccessible or they can't surf the Web. It is amazing that individuals who in the very recent past were still talking on telephone party lines are now communicating with the entire world through their home computers - and loving it. Through Gridnet (the name we gave to our local Internet access) community members can now do things as varied as transferring computer graphics to clients, playing virtual bridge with Italians, selling antiques from their home and researching dolphins for a school project. Thanks to the LSCA grant, today in this small town of 1,300 not only our vocabulary, but our community has been expanded to include a much broader perspective of the world. At the time, a web was still something that annoyed you in the corners of your ceiling, gophers were animals that dug up your yard, and server was the waitress at the local diner and information was facilitated by a human "net" faster than any Tl line. ![]() Small Town USA to Cyber-Town Internationalįive years ago in the village of Gridley, local dial tone access to the Internet was introduced to the community through an LSCA grant from the Illinois State Library to the Gridley Public Library.
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