Empowering the Info-Poor: The Community Computing Center Movement (page 2of 2)
By Peter Miller
CPSR

One of the hallmarks of community computing center philosophy and service is open access hours for the general public where anyone in the community can come to, use and get help using equipment, software and peripherals. The SCCC has provided six sessions totaling 14 hours a week of this access and support on Apple tie, Macintosh and IBM-compatible platforms over the last two years. SCCC serves as a useful model and training ground. A $2 donation is generally requested but no one is ever turned away because of financial hardship.

Elsewhere in the Boston area, the United South End Settlements has a Computer Resource Center, which serves all the programs in the Harriet Tubman House as well as such groups as Jewish Vocational Services and the computer literacy and access program for Project Place. Project Place is an adult day shelter, which serves as the magnet program for all the homeless shelters in the Greater Boston Adult Shelter Alliance. The Roxbury Family YMCA has an established computer lab, too, which serves all its programs and provides a key component for its summer camp. The Roxbury YMCA recently collaborated with the Boston Computer Exchange, a local used- computer reseller, in providing more than 40 families with double disk drive clones for less than $100. Boston's famed Computer Museum has just opened a Club House, geared to 10 to 15 year-old low-income youth, with special multi-media resources in virtual reality, robotics, music, desktop publishing and game design.

Community computing centers extend well beyond the PTW network. In just the Boston area, La Alianza Hispana and the Dorchester YMCA have major labs, which serve their communities. Freedom House has an expansive lab of DEC and Macintosh equipment which serves not only all of its agency programs, but is also the facility for an independent business-training program as well.

The Cambridge-based Lotus Development Corporation's Philanthropy Program and the Boston Foundation have funded the Greater Boston Community Technology Access TV and, in collaboration with the Boston Computer Society, provides training to public access TV participants in Deluxe Paint III on its Amigas for the production of short animations for broadcast. Cambridge Community Project. This project supports all of these programs as well as over two dozen special projects involving various Boys and Girls Clubs, unions, immigrant organizations, Survival News (the official newspaper of the National Welfare Rights Organization), and homeless organizations. Staff, board and volunteers with community computing centers have provided key personnel for the first three Boston Computer Society (BCS) and CPSR-sponsored New England Conferences on Computers and Social Change.

A National Movement

The scene in Boston is being replicated to various degrees all across the country. Community computing centers frequently work closely with PC user groups as well as CPSR chapters since they have a strong need to rely on the volunteer support of those with computer skills. Computers and You, the lab-based project of Glide Memorial Church in San-Francisco, is frequently looked to as a model. The North Texas PC Users' Group has helped establish a network of community computing centers in Dallas. The Clerical Skills Training Program of the Metacenter YMCA is Seattle teaches clerical, computer and employment skills to low- income youth. The Association of Personal Computer Users Groups (APCUG) is working with the computer industry in presenting REACH Awards to Recognize Exceptional Achievement in Community Help and publishes a national resource guide of community computing projects.

The Wider Community Technology Movement

As part of the wider community technology movement, community-computing centers are starting to receive attention from local community access television stations. The SCCC has close relations with Somerville Community Access TV and, in collaboration with the Boston Computer Society, provides training to public access TV participants in Deluxe Paint III on its Amigas for the production of short animations for broadcast. Cambridge Community Television is a few doors down from the BCS, and Malden and Lowell cable access are both in the process of developing computer components.

Last year's December issue of Community Television Review was dedicated to computer resources projects. CTR is the publication of the Alliance for Community Media, formerly the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers. The organizational name change and its expanded focus are solid indicators of where all the talk about the convergence of cable, data and the telephone is going. We can certainly anticipate that the future will see the development of community technology centers.

No Easy Road

Community computing centers face many obstacles. What kind of equipment should be acquired? What kind of software? How do we get it? How do we integrate the technology into ongoing agency programs? How do we develop public access components? How do we develop funding sources; establish a support or advisory board; and recruit and train volunteers?

However serious these obstacles, community-computing centers do hold enormous promise and provide a unique volunteer opportunity. If you're interested in helping out, find out what your local PTW affiliate, Boys and Girls Club, Y or community center is doing. Or contact your local CPSR chapter or computer users group. There are lots to do. By the very fact of belonging to CPSR, CPSR members indicate a special combination of skills and interests.

Your assistance on the front lines can make a crucial difference.

This article is from the Fall 1993 issue of the CPSR Newsletter, published by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, PO Box 717, Palo Alto CA 94301.
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