Please give this wide circulation. Thanks. TC 97 Partnerships Fourth Annual Telecommunities Canada Conference August 15-18 1997 * Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Preliminary Deadline: March 15, 1997 Papers * Panels * Tutorials Workshops * Demonstrations * Posters Sponsored by Chebucto Community Net and Telecommunities Canada _________________________________________________________________ INVITATION The Fourth Annual Conference of Telecommunities Canada will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, August 15-18, 1997. This conference brings together people from across Canada and around the world who are involved in Community Networking. Building on a tradition of combining pragmatism with a vision of the future, this year's conference has as its theme "PARTNERSHIPS". Partnerships can play a crucial role in the stages of community net development from the initial community discussions, through to organizing, building and sustaining the community infrastructure. Technical, organizational and financial aspects of a community net can benefit through bilateral and multilateral partnerships among business, government and social or volunteer sectors. The Industry Canada Community Access Program, (CAP), has provided start-up funding and the initial support for community access sites. We will be interested in success stories (and pitfalls) and will explore strategies for sustaining and further developing these sites. This conference will be of interest to the following people: * committed community netters with interests ranging from the technical to policy issues and visionary concepts, * people involved in Community Access Program, (CAP), sites * people from organizations interested in finding out more about community nets and how they can benefit from participation. (a number of national organizations are being invited to attend) * people interested in exploring the role of the Community Net in community development * government officials involved in any aspect of the information highway, information dissemination or community development. * community educators, distance educators, librarians, community health and social service staff interested in exploring opportunities arising from partnerships with community nets. * members of advocacy groups interested in seeing how a community net can provide support for their organization. We are interested in a variety of approaches to presentation of material including panel discussions, demonstrations, hands-on workshops and papers. This initial call for presentations allows you to influence the shape this conference will take. Your ideas on both topics and format will be considered as we map out the full form of the conference. Possible Topics * Successful partnerships developed by community nets. * The role of partnerships in establishing and sustaining community nets. * Best practices in establishing and sustaining partnerships. * Who are likely candidates for partnerships with community nets. * The role of community nets in community economic development. * How to establish a community net - a comprehensive exploration. * How to move from an "access site" to a community net. * Successful community net and access site models. * Successful uses of community nets by advocacy groups (Status of Women, Environment, Social/Education Issues) * New approaches to fund raising. * What sort of information should be on community nets - the vision. * How to attract information providers. * Designing a web page to get your message across. * Tools for setting up web pages - HTML. * We hope to have a session at which people involved in Community Access sites and Community Nets are able to compare experiences and share solutions. * Technical issues - hardware and software issues. The Site Telecommunities 97 will be held on the campus of Dalhousie University, walking distance from Historic Properties and Halifax's exciting and vibrant harbour front. Conference sessions will be held in the spacious Student Union Building which will be dedicated to our needs. Accomodation will be available in the Dal residence at very attractive rates. If you wish to make other accomodation arrangements, we suggest you reserve early, 97 is predicted to be a busy tourist year for Halifax and space will be at a premium. If we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to ask. CONTACT INFO: Call for Presentations: Ruth Bailey 6461 Liverpool St. Halifax, NS B3L 1Y3 Nova Scotia Canada Registration and Accomodations: Truman Layton -- David Murdoch djm@duncan.alt.ns.ca Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada <"http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~djm">DJM